cles, entertained different views; but they agreed in considering the world to be composed of numberless small particles of different kinds and shapes, by the change of whose relative position all phenomena were produced.* Anaxagoras traced them to a Supreme Reason, the author of all that is regular and harmonious in the disposition of these elementary atoms. This distinguished man inherited a splendid patrimony, and appeared destined to fill high offices in the state; but he disregarded all external greatness, and determined by his native powers to rear for himself an imperishable fame. Looking with contempt on the talent of his native city, he sought in Athens to attain the objects of his desires. The stirring epoch which followed was calculated to aid his purpose; for the age of Pericles had come -Athens was then the "queen of Greece!" The critics and scholars of the period delighted to behold the triumphs of Eschylus; Sophocles enjoyed universal admiration. There the Ionian philosophy found a home, and the young Anaxagoras shared his time with Homer and Anaximenes. Anaxagoras may be regarded as the first philosopher who clearly and boldly avowed the leading distinctions between mind and matter-an anticipation of one of the first discoveries of modern psychology, though by him dimly shadowed forth.

Epicurus is said to have been born in the neighborhood of Athens, about 344 years before Christ, though some declare that Samos was his birth-place. His parents were poor, yet his philosophic career began at the early age of thirteen; for, on hearing the verse of Hesiod, wherein all things are said to arise from chaos, Epicurus asked, "And whence came chaos ?" The writings of Democritus occupying his attention, he devoted his time to philosophic pursuits, and ultimately, in his thirty-sixth year, opened a school at Athens, in a spot suited to the doctrine he promulgated, over which he presided till his death. The Platonists had their Academic Grove; the Aristotelians walk- | ed in the Lyceum; the Cynics occupied the Cynosarges; the Stoics were in the

Porch; and the Epicureans had their Garden, on the entrance of which was inscribed, "The hospitable keeper of this mansion, where you will find pleasure the highest good, will present you liberally with barley-cakes, and water fresh from the spring. The gardens will not provoke your appetite by artificial dainties, but satisfy it with natural supplies. Will you not be well entertained?"

The Epicureans declared as their great maxim, That pleasure constituted happiness; and as all animals instinctively pursue it, and avoid pain, man should do so deliberately. The difference between the philosophic and the ignorant consists in this, that while both pursue pleasure, the former does it completely, by foregoing certain enjoyments that will cause pain and vexation hereafter; while the ignorant seize on the pleasure of the present, and forfeit much that might also be gained in the future. Thus the Epicureans maintained the law of temperance; and it was their great principle that wealth consisted not in great possessions, but in having few wants. They regarded the gods as serene, majestic beings, too far distant, and too much at their ease, to trouble themselves with human affairs. It followed, that while reverence and admiration were deemed suitable, all worship was declared to be useless and absurd.

Zeno, having undertaken a voyage to Athens, was shipwrecked, and lost the whole of a valuable cargo of Phoenician purple, which reduced him to poverty, and probably was the means of leading him to embrace the doctrines of the Stoics, whose ostentatious display of poverty had captivated many minds. But he could not continue long a disciple, and the Stoa, or Porch, which was variegated with the pictures of Polygnotus, and had once been the resort of the poets, was the scene of his instructions, inculcating disregard alike of pleasure and of pain. Many disciples of the Porch and the Garden, however, while avowing their attachment to the principles of their respective masters, allowed themselves to be carried away by every kind of excess.

Socrates was another philosopher who disseminated his principles in the city of Athens. His character was eccentric in the extreme. Ungainly in his movements, and rude in his manners, he wandered barefooted about the streets; stood unmoved

on him. He was assailed by the people, who supposed that he thus urged on their regard deities of which they had not before heard. They believed that, as they were in the habit of deifying virtues, vices, health, or diseases, that Jesus who was thus preached unto them by the Apostle was such a god, and that Anastasis, or the Resurrection, was another which he wished should enjoy their admiration. Certain Epicureans and Stoic philosophers therefore led him to Areopagus, that they might know more of this new doctrine. Whether or not he was criminally arraigned is undecided; but it is beyond dispute that his bearing was most dignified, and his address most eloquent.

Singularly interesting and impressive were the

associations which could not fail to crowd on his mind, as he stood on the Hill of Mars.

With his face toward the north-his most probable position-he would have immediately behind him the long walls which ran down to the sea. Near the Egean on one side was the harbor of Piræus, on the other Phalerum, with their gallant ships, their crowded arsenals, and their busy artisans. Turning toward his right was the Pnyx, the scene of the mightiest eloquence of Greece. Stretching immediately before him was the crowded city, full of memorials of its arts, though shamefully debased by idolatry. On his left hand, but beyond the walls, he might look on

"The olive-grove of Academe, Plato's retirement, where the Attic bird Thrills her thick-warbled notes the summer long."

Even on the hill where Paul stood was the court-house of the council; here, also, were two silver stones, on one of which stood the accuser, on the other the accused; while a temple to the Furies, oth

er national and commemorative buildings, and various altars, would not fail to meet his eye. The reader will do well to consider attentively the appeal of the inspired apostle, as recorded in the book of the Acts. It did not fail of effect: though some mocked, and others procrastinated, yet others believed, among whom was Dionysius, a member of the council.— Athens: its Grandeur and Decay.

G

IDLENESS AND VICE.

REAT examples to virtue, or to vice, are not so productive of imitation as might at first sight be supposed. The fact is, there are hundreds that want energy for one that wants ambition, and sloth has prevented as many vices in some minds as virtues in others. Idleness is the grand Pacific Ocean of life; and in that stagnant abyss the most salutary things produce no good, the most noxious no evil. Vice, indeed, abstractedly considered, may be, and often is, engendered in idleness; but the moment it becomes efficiently vice, it must quit its cradle, and cease to be idle.

JOHN STERLING AND THOMAS

THE

CARLYLE.

HE notoriety attaching to the name of John Sterling, affords a singular instance of a reputation extremely disproportionate to the qualities and deeds of him who has obtained it; and is owing entirely to the eminence of his biographers -Archdeacon Hare and Thomas Carlyle, both his elect friends-and to the opposed points of view from which they have regarded his character. Archdeacon Hare, in editing "Sterling's Literary Remains," prefaced them with a brief memoir, in which the religious aspect of his life was chiefly prominent, and its errors and failures marked and deplored. To Mr. Carlyle this proved vexation indeed, even seemed misrepresentation and untruth, and was provocative first of anger, and then of a determination himself to draw Sterling's portrait, and to tell the world his life-story as he read it. So poor Sterling's memory has become a controversy, the interest of which is not in Sterling, but in the questions started by his differing biographers. It is not wonderful that this should occasion only pain to those who knew and loved him best; nor that his brother-in-law and affectionate friend, Professor Maurice, should refuse, as it is said, to read either of the biographies.

Of Sterling himself let the kindliest words be spoken; let condemnations be gentle, as they will be on the part of all whose religious opinions are convictions, not traditions, and whose enjoyment of the serene light of faith has been reached through the gloom and storm of unsolicited doubt. Yet in Sterling's beliefs and works there is little that is of much significance, or that has an interest for the general world. In the two volumes of his "Remains," Archdeacon Hare's Memoir was the chiefly noticeable thing; and in the new life by Mr. Carlyle, all the interest belongs to Mr. Carlyle himself. purpose of this paper, however, demands that there be a brief sketch of Sterling, and then there is something to be said of what Mr. Carlyle has set down concerning him.

The

At a kind of dilapidated baronial residence in the Isle of Bute, having a small farm attached to it, and called Kaimes Castle, John Sterling was born, on the

20th of July, 1806. His father, Captain Edward Sterling, was then on half-pay, and trying his hand at farming. His mother was of "a refined female nature, tremulously sensitive," says Mr. Carlyle, "and strong chiefly on the side of the affections, and the graceful insights and activities dependent on these." From her John Sterling derived "the delicate aroma of his nature." His stronger qualities, and especially his restless impetuosity, came to him from his father, a man of great energy and stormy rapidity of character. Yet he grew up a noble boy, clever, joyous, adventurous, and withal somewhat impetuous. At twelve, he ran away from school, at Blackheath, and managed to get to Dover, with the view of crossing the Channel; but he was there detected, and compelled to confess, and write home to his mother; and it was very characteristic of him that he wrote a letter in what Carlyle calls "the steady, historical style, narrating merely, not in the least apologizing."

At sixteen, John Sterling was sent to the University of Glasgow, his brother Antony being already there. He remained, however, but one year. Subsequently, when eighteen, he entered at Trinity College, Cambridge; with the good fortune of having for his tutor the Rev. Julius Hare, who became at once a cordial friend, and remained so ever afterward. Sterling paid but little attention to the prescribed studies of the university; they were not the discipline and knowledge he required. Yet he made progress in less formal study, devoured and digested multifarious books, and reached a very high degree of culture. The chief advantage of the university to him, was in the circle of noble and loving friends with which he became surrounded,-among whom were Frederic Maurice, Richard Trench,Charles Buller, Richard Milnes, and others who have since distinguished themselves in literature and public life. Amongst these Sterling was celebrated for his clear intelligence, brilliant conversation, and unusual eloquence in debate. He had the gift of being loved,—of powerfully attracting others to himself by his genial spirit and sincerity of soul. In the admiration he won, there was generally tenderness; and the ties that bound him to his friends were of singular tenacity. The university career was not of long continuance; at