Governor-General from Simla. The army retired without any other molestation than a few attacks from predatory tribes, and reached Peshawur in the beginning of November. Never was joy more sincere than was now felt in every European breast in India. 40. A MEMORIAL BY LEIBNITZ.1 It was the ingenious Leibnitz, who in the seventeenth century directed the attention of the French court to the extraordinary political and mercantile importance of Egypt. The patriotic German philosopher wished to avert the ambitious plans of Louis XIV. from Germany and the Netherlands, and give them a useful direction. For this purpose he presented to the king in the year 1672 a memorial, in which he proposed to him the conquest of Egypt. He declares in it, that after devoting four years of study to the subject, he had arrived at the conclusion that in the whole known world there existed no country of such extraordinary importance as Egypt. It was, according to his conviction, to the interest of the human race, and the Christian religion, that France should unite itself with Egypt as closely as possible. This remarkable memorial was long considered a state secret, and was made known only at the beginning of the present century. 2 41. TRUE VIRTUES. Whatever ornamental or engaging endowments you now possess, virtue is a necessary requisite, in order to their shining with proper lustre. Feeble are the attractions of the fairest form, if it be suspected that nothing within 3 corresponds to the pleasing appearance without. Short are the triumphs of wit, when it is supposed to be the vehicle of 1 Leibnitz 1646-1716, a famous German philosopher and states man, one of the most ingenious polyhistors that ever lived. 2 In order to their shining = if they shall shine. 3 Within, im Innern. malice. By whatever means you may at first attract the attention, you can hold the esteem, and secure the hearts of others, only by amiable dispositions, and the accomplishments of the mind. These are the qualities whose influence will last, when the lustre of all that once sparkled and dazzled has passed away. 42. HOW EDMUND STONE TAUGHT HIMSELF MATHEMATICS. Stone was born about the year 1700; his father was gardener to the Duke of Argyle, who, walking one day in his garden, observed a Latin copy of Newton's Principia lying on the grass, and thinking it had been brought from his own library, called some one to carry it back to its place. Upon this, Stone, who was then in his eighteenth year, claimed the book as his own. 'Yours!' replied the Duke; 'do you understand geometry, Latin, and Newton?' 'I know a little of them,' replied the young man. The Duke was surprised; and having a taste for the sciences, conversed with the young mathematician, and was astonished at the force, the accuracy, and the candour of his answers. 'But how,' said the Duke, 'came you by the knowledge of all these things?' Stone replied, 'A servant taught me ten years since to read. Does one need to know anything more than the twenty-four letters in order to learn everything else that one wishes?' The Duke's curiosity redoubled: he sat down on a bank, and requested a detail of the whole process by which he had become so learned. 43. AUTUMNAL PLEASURES. My greenhouse is never so pleasant as when we are just on the point of being turned out of it. The gentleness of the autumnal suns, and the calmness of this latter season, make it a much more agreeable retreat than we ever find it in summer; when the winds being generally brisk, we cannot cool it by admitting a sufficient quantity of air, without being at the same time incommoded by it. But now I sit with all the windows and the door wide open, and am regaled with the scent of every flower in a garden as full of flowers as I have known how to make it. We keep no bees, but if I lived in a hive I should hardly hear more of their music. All the bees in the neighbourhood resort to a bed of mignonette, opposite to the window, and pay me for the honey they get out of it by a hum, which, though rather monotonous, is as agreeable to my ear as the whistling of my linnets. All the sounds that nature utters are delightful. I should not, perhaps, find the roaring of lions in Africa, or of bears in Russia, very pleasing; but I know no beast in England whose voice I do not account musical, save and except perhaps the braying of an ass. The notes of all our birds and fowls please me without one exception. 44. THE BLACK PRINCE'S ADDRESS TO HIS WARRIORS. Ten years after the battle of Crecy, the Black Prince, at the head of 7,500 men, found himself in the neighbourhood of Poitiers surrounded by a French army of 50,000 warriors. When all his dispositions were made, the Prince thus addressed his little band: 'Now, my gallant fellows, though we be a small body, do not let us be cast down on that account, for victory does not always follow numbers, but where Almighty God pleases to bestow it. If, through good fortune, the day be ours, we will gain the greatest honour and glory in the world; if the contrary should happen, and we be slain, I have a father and beloved brethren alive, and you all have some relations or good friends who will avenge our deaths. I therefore entreat you to exert yourselves and combat manfully, for if it please God and St. George, you shall see me this day act like a true knight.' 45. QUEEN ELIZABETH ADDRESSING THE SOLDIERS. The more to excite the martial spirit of the nation, the Queen appeared on horseback in the camp, and, riding through the lines with a cheerful and animated countenance, exhorted the soldiers in the following words: 'My loving people, we have been persuaded by some that are careful for our safety to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes for fear of treachery, but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful people. Let tyrants fear; I have always so behaved myself, that under God I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the hearts and the good-will of my subjects. I know I have but the body of a weak woman, but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England too; and think foul scorn that Parma, or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm.' 1 46. HOW WALTER SCOTT BECAME THE FIRST IN HIS CLASS. 2 'There was,' says Walter Scott, ‘a boy in my class who stood always at the top, and I could not, with all my efforts, supplant him. Day came after day, and still he kept his place; at length I observed that when a question was asked him he always fumbled with his fingers at a particular button on the lower part of his waistcoat while seeking an answer. I thought, therefore, if I could remove the button slily the surprise at not finding it might derange his ideas at the next interrogation of the class, and give me a chance of taking him down. The button was therefore removed without his perceiving it. Great was my anxiety to know the result of my measure, and it succeeded but too well. The hour of interrogation arrived, and the boy was questioned. He sought, as usual, with his fingers for the friendly button, but he could not find it. Disconcerted he looked down, the talisman was gone, his ideas became confused, he could not reply. I seized the opportunity, answered the 3 1 To think foul scorn that, ich denke mit Verachtung daran, daß ... question and took his place, which he never recovered, nor do I believe he ever suspected the author of the trick.' 47. THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 1 The battle of life, in by far the greater number of cases, must necessarily be fought up-hill, 1 and to win it without a struggle were perhaps to win it without honour. If there were no difficulties, there would be no success; if there were nothing to struggle for, there would be nothing to be achieved. Difficulties may intimidate the weak, but they act only as a wholesome stimulus to men of pluck and resolution. All experience of life, indeed, serves to prove that the impediments thrown in the way of human advancement, may for the most part be overcome by steady good conduct, honest zeal, activity, perseverance, and above all by a determined resolution to surmount difficulties, and stand up manfully against misfortune. The school of difficulties is the best school of moral discipline for nations as for individuals. Indeed, the history of difficulty would be but a history of all the great and good things that have yet been accomplished by men. 48. THE GOVERNMENT OF THE TUDORS. It has long been the fashion, a fashion introduced by Mr. Hume, to describe the English monarchy in the sixteenth century as an absolute monarchy. And such undoubtedly it appears to a superficial observer. Elizabeth, it is true, often spoke to her parliament in language as haughty and imperious as that which the Great Turk would use to his divan. She punished with great severity members of the House of Commons who, in her opinion, carried the freedom of debate too far. She assumed the power of legislating by means of proclamations. She imprisoned her subjects without bringing them to a legal trial. Torture was often employed, 1 Up-hill, bergan. |