3. At the midnight in the silence of the sleep-time,

When you set your fancies free,

Will they pass to where by death, fools think, imprisonedLow he lies who once so loved you, whom you loved so,-Pity me?

Oh, to love so, be so loved, yet so mistaken!

What had I on earth to do

With the slothful, with the mawkish, the unmanly?

Like the aimless, helpless, hopeless, did I drivel-Being-who?

One who never turned his back, but marched breast forward, Never doubted clouds would break,

Never dreamed, tho right were worsted, wrong would triumph, Held we fall to rise, are baffled to fight better, Sleep to wake.

No, at noonday in the bustle of man's work-time

Greet the unseen with a cheer!

Bid him forward, breast and back as either should be,

"Strive and thrive!" cry "Speed,-fight on, fare ever There as here!"

"Epilog."

BROWNING.

4. Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him. No man yet knows what it is, nor can, till that person has exhibited it. Where is the master who could have taught Shakespeare? Where is the master who could have instructed Franklin, or Washington, or Bacon, or Newton? Every great man is a unique. The Scipionism of Scipio is precisely that part he could not borrow. Shakespeare will never be made by the study of Shakespeare. Do that which is assigned you, and you can not hope too much or dare too much. There is at this moment for you an utterance brave and grand as that of the colossal chisel of Phidias, or trowel of the Egyptians,

or the pen of Moses or Dante, but different from all these. Not possibly will the soul, all rich, all eloquent, with thousandcloven tongue, deign to repeat itself; but if you can hear what these patriarchs say, surely you can reply to them in the same pitch of voice; for the ear and the tongue are two organs of one nature. Abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart and thou shalt reproduce the Foreworld again.

"Self-reliance."

5. Grow old along with me! the best is yet to be, The last of life, for which the first was made:

EMERSON.

Our times are in His hand who saith, "A whole I planned, Youth shows but half; trust God: see all, nor be afraid!"

Then, welcome each rebuff that turns earth's smoothness rough, Each sting that bids nor sit nor stand but go!

Be our joys three parts pain: strive and hold cheap the strain; Learn, nor account the pang; dare, never grudge the throe!

So take and use Thy work, amend what flaws may lurk, What strain o' the stuff, what warpings past the aim! My times be in Thy hand! perfect the cup as planned! Let age approve of youth, and death complete the same! "Rabbi Ben Ezra." BROWNING.

6. And did I say, my friends, that I was unable to furnish an entirely satisfactory answer to the question, in what the true excellence of the character of Washington consists? Let me recall the word as unjust to myself and unjust to you. The answer is plain and simple enough; it is this, that all the great qualities of disposition and action, which so eminently fitted him for the service of his fellow men, were founded on the basis of a pure Christian morality, and derived their strength and energy from

that vital source. He was great as he was good; and I believe, as I do in my existence, that it was an important part in the design of Providence in raising him up to be the leader of the revolutionary struggle, and afterwards the first President of the United States, to rebuke prosperous ambition and successful intrigue; to set before the people of America, in the morning of their national existence, a living example to prove that armies may be best conducted and governments most ably and honorably administered, by men of sound moral principle; to teach to gifted and aspiring individuals, and the parties they lead, that, tho a hundred crooked paths may conduct to a temporary success, the one plain and straight path of public and private virtue can alone lead to a pure and lasting fame and the blessings of posterity.

"The Character of Washington."

EDWARD EVERETT.

CHAPTER XI

CONFIDENCE

A resourceful self-reliance is necessary to complete confidence. Emerson says, "Knowledge is the antidote to fear." A man must train himself to be equal to any emergency. He should examine himself, thoroughly prepare himself and make up his mind to take the risk of failure if necessary. Successive failures should be an incentive to greater effort. Above all he should do his work under the immediate inspiration of duty. The habit of clear and deliberate utterance should be cultivated both in conversation and public address. He should be bold, but not too bold. More failures in public speaking are due to egotism than to anything else. The first possession of every man. should be self-possession, and this can best be acquired through the practise of concentration, modesty of manner, thorough preparation, and physical earnestness.

EXAMPLES

1. What, my lord, shall you tell me, on the passage to the scaffold which that tyranny, of which you are only the intermediate minister, has erected for my murder, that I am accountable for all the blood that has been and will be shed, in this struggle of the oppressed against the oppressor? Shall you tell me this, and must I be so very a slave as not to repel it? I, who fear not to approach the Omnipotent Judge, to answer for the conduct of my short life,-am I to be appalled here, before a mere remnant

of mortality?—by you, too, who, if it were possible to collect all the innocent blood that you have caused to be shed, in your unhallowed ministry, in one great reservoir, your lordship might swim in it!

"On Being Found Guilty

of High Treason."

ROBERT EMMET.

2. No one in a hurry can possibly have his wits about him; and remember that in law there is ever an opponent watching to find you off your guard. You may occasionally be in haste, but you need never be in a hurry; take care-resolve-never to be so. Remember always that others' interests are occupying your attention, and suffer by your inadvertence-by that negligence which generally occasions hurry. A man of first-rate business talentsone who always looks so calm and tranquil that it makes one's self feel cool on a hot summer's day to look at him-once told me that he had never been in a hurry but once, and that was for an entire fortnight at the commencement of his career. It nearly killed him; he spoiled everything he touched; he was always breathless and harassed and miserable. But it did him good for life; he resolved never again to be in a hurry-and never was, no, not once, that he could remember, during twenty-five years' practise! Observe, I speak of being hurried and flustered-not being in haste, for that is often inevitable; but then is always seen the superiority and inferiority of different men. You may indeed almost define hurry as the condition to which an inferior man is reduced by haste. I one day observed, in a committee of the House of Commons sitting on a railway bill, the chief secretary of the company, during several hours, while great interests were in jeopardy, preserve a truly admirable coolness, tranquillity, and temper, conferring on him immense advantages. His suggestions to counsel were masterly, and exquisitely well-timed; and by the close of the day he had triumphed. "How is it that one never sees you in a hurry?" said I, as we were pacing the long corridor, on our way from the committee-room. "Because it's so expensive," he replied, with a significant smile. I shall never forget that observation; and don't you.

"Attorneys and Solicitors."

WARREN.