The never-dying foliage wreathe, And bid the senseless marble breathe? Her poets 59 long have been your theme, Your youth have they sublimely taught! 6o In thy presumption and thy pride, With destruction at thy gates!-Uncle Timothy. 57 Seneca says of himself, "When I would solace myself with a fool, I reflect upon myself; and there I have him." This is the sage whom Plutarch extols beyond all the Greeks. "Know Thyself" is one of the many things that the "March of Intellect" has yet to learn. . . . 58 Democritus contended that men learnt music and architecture from birds, and weaving from spiders. 59 Alexander, when he was presented with that rich and costly casket of King Darius, and every man advised him what to put in it, he reserved it to keep Homer's Works, as the most precious jewel of human wit. Robert Burton. 60 Not always has the pupil done honor to the instructions of his master, and not unfrequently has the master been blamed for the mis-behaviour of his pupil. Seneca (see "Plutarch to Trajan") is reproached, and his fame still suffers for the vices of Nero. The reputation of Quintilian is hurt by the ill conduct of his scholars, and even Socrates is accused of negligence in the education of Alcibiades. Plutarch and Trajan are illustrious exceptions. Lighted of eloquence your torch, Bear impress of their master's hand! 61 62 Her philosophers of old 2 Taught, 'tis said, but morals cold, The precepts of the master are reflected in the virtues of the prince. 61 One Poet is the father of another. "Milton," remarks Dryden, was the poetical son of Spenser, and Mr. Waller of Fairfax; for we have our lineal descents and clans, as well as other families: Spencer more than once insinuates, that the soul of Chaucer was transfused into his body; and that he was begotten by him two hundred years after his decease. Milton has acknowledged to me, that Spenser was his original; and many besides myself have heard our famous Waller own, that he derived the harmony of his numbers from the Godfrey of Bulloing, which was turned into English by Mr. Fairfax.” From Homer (whom he greatly preferred to Virgil, the Grecian being "choleric and sanguine," the Roman "phleg matic and melancholic") Dryden inherited 66 "The full-resounding line, The long majestic march, and energy divine-" and it is beautiful to hear the glorious old bard, then sixtyeight! though a cripple in his limbs," truly saying, "By the mercy of God, I think myself as vigorous as ever in the faculties of my soul-What judgment I had, increases rather than diminishes; and thoughts, such as they are, come crowding in so fast upon me, that my only difficulty is to choose or to reject."-Who was the poetical father of Shakespeare is yet a mystery. What happy age shall hail the advent of his Son? Has he said, like his own Prospero? "I'll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in the earth, Reformer none could Athens boast And, deeper than did ever plummet sound, 62 The Academicians shall be regarded for their modesty of opinion and rational theology; the Peripatetics for their natural science and logic; the stoics for their belief of a particular providence, and their doctrine of fortitude; (up to that sublime point, beyond which stoicism ceases to be a virtue!) the Epicureans for their refined idea of enjoy. ment, and the Pythagoreans for their instinctive tenderness to the whole animal creation, of itself a religion to soften the cruelty of man!.. 63 The morning of October 27, 1553, broke over Geneva with the calm sweetness of autumn in that delightful country. In this beauty and repose of nature a man was seen tottering from the prison-gate to the council-chamber. He was in the summer of his days, but wasted to a skeleton, and his hair had become white in his chains. The eye fell on piles of oak wood, still in leaf, and a stake with a block and iron chains. The hour was come, and the man. A damp, smoky blaze, drifted heavily upwards; a wild, agonizing shriek for mercy and of despair burst above through smoke and flame, piercing the ears of the crowd, who "fell back with a shudder!" the sun shone brightly overhead; the clock of St. Peter's tower struck twelve-and the soul of Servetus went to its own place! Where was the fanatical and ferocious Frenchman who proclaimed himself a chosen minister, elect and precious, of the Prince of Peace? Where was the High Priest of D Was virtue loved for virtue's sake.64 Wins for Britons crowns of glory, How nobly men can live and die! 67 the Geneva Inquisition, who, to his last hour gloried in the awful guilt of this appalling martyrdom ?—" Servetus,” says M. Audin, "appeared before God, and Calvin closed the window, where he had come to seat himself to assist at the last agonies of his enemy." .... "I am able to assure you," wrote Calvin, jocosely, "that they have acted very humanely towards the guilty (viz. one of the reformer's heretics!); they hoist him up upon the stake, and cause him to lose the earth by suspending him from the two arms." How quietly facetious is this tale of swinging and torture! No wonder that it was a com mon saying in Geneva (a fact recorded even by Calvin's apologists, who have suppressed, and given a false colouring, as best suited their crooked purpose), "It were better to be with Beza in hell than with Calvin in heaven." But why in hell? Not, we fain hope, for writing a few rather free pieces, (see his Poemata, 1548) which bringing scandal and reproach upon him, he suppressed in subsequent editions. If loose lyrics, be such a crying sin how will fare little Tom, alias Tom Little? ... "Ah, Tam! ah, Tam! thou'lt get thy fairin! In hell they'll roast thee like a herrin!" 64 Most of the Orations of Demosthenes enforce this principle; more particularly, that of the crown, that against Aristocrates, that for the immunities, and the Philippics. All antiquity has taught, Every noble deed and thought Cast the weeds, but spare the flowers.68 From the courts above a visitor, (Mr. Motley the inquisitor!) 65 The Athenians were a politic as well as brave people; and when Timagoras, who was sent by them as ambassador to the King of Persia, had the imprudence to degrade his country by the act of prostration, he was condemned to die on his return... 66 When Zeno consulted the oracle in what manner he should live, the answer was, that he should inquire of the dead. "Lives of great men all remind us We may make our lives sublime, Foot-prints on the sands of time!" 67 Cato determined not to outlive his liberty; Themistocles refused to survive his honor. The death of the Roman was noble; that of the Athenian nobler still. 68 Is fickle fortune cross or kind, From envious tongues and lowering looks With leisure that no tedium knows, That ne'er deceive, and ne'er can die! |