CXIX.

WHO ARE LIKE ONLY IN ONE THING.

THE dog, the wolf, the jackall, and the corsac are all modifications of the same species; their resemblances, therefore, are multitudinous.

Certain blues and greens by candle-light are frequently taken for each other. The one is blue, the other green, nevertheless.

Sir William Waddt, to whom we owe • Rider's Dictionary,'' Hooker's Polity,' and 'Gruter's Inscriptions,' and who was removed from the governorship of the Tower to make way for Sir Gervase Elways, who murdered Sir Thomas Overbury in the reign of James I., kept a friend to admonish him whenever he saw any thing amiss in his conduct. This associates him with Philip of Macedon.

Sargon resembles Cardinal de Retzt and Madame de Beverweert §; he never sleeps so well as when under affliction. If Cardinal de Carbonne resembled || Catherine de Medicis in having an antipathy to the odour of roses, though partial to all other flowers, few women resemble Marshal Suwarrow, in having a strong dislike to looking-glasses.

*Buffon, v. xiv., 350. Desmolins: Mém. du Mus. d'Hist. Nat., tom. x. 315.

† Granger, i. 276.

Memoirs of Cardinal Retz, iii. 283.

§ St. Evremont, i. 55.

Recherches sur les Démons, les Esprits, les Spectres, &c., par

Collin de Plancy.

Cosmo de Medici and John de Medici, also, resembled each other in one thing. Though they could play, as it were, on many instruments, they took care to play only on one at a time. Marcilius Ficinus asserts of the former, that neither Midas nor Crassus were more avaricious. The latter was above all disguise; and, therefore, made no secret of the maxim, that a people are enriched by being compelled to pay additional taxes.

Some resemble in character the styles of various architects and painters. This is distinguished by boldness, strength, manliness, and majesty, like Julio Romano; some by delicacy, ease, and elegance, like Correggio; and others by symmetry, and the blending of ornament with beauty, like Palladio. Some converse with great apparent depth; and yet, when analyzed, are found to prove nothing; thereby reminding us of Warburton's Divine Legation of Moses,' a work pregnant with ingenuity, labour, and learning; yet illuminated by scarcely one solitary demonstration.

Some men resemble each other in certain points and arguments, and then separate, as it were, to such a distance, as to baffle all attempts to associate them. We may instance Newton and Des Cartes. Two attempts, nevertheless, have been made to reconcile the opposing tenets of these philosophers: the one by Luzac of Leyden; the other by Father Paulian, Professor of Physic in the College of Avignon. It was vain, however, for the latter to entitle his Essay a • Traité de 6 Paix entre Descartes et Newton.' Their systems

never can be reconciled.

Charles V. and Donne (the poet) resembled each other,

also, in one point. Charles, as every one knows, had his obsequies performed previous to his death. Donne, after a similar manner, caused himself to be wrapped in a sheet, like a shroud, up to the head, closed his eyes, and desired an artist to take his portrait in that posture, in order to remind him perpetually of death. Thus the gladiator exhausts

- His mighty heart in one last sigh;

And rallies all life's energies to die.'-Chinnery.

CXX.

WHO MAY BE KNOWN BY THEIR WRITINGS IN GENERAL.

THERE are two methods of writing the lives of artists and authors. One is to exhibit their characters with a view of explaining the merits of their works: the other, to show their characters as authors and artists, with a view of explaining, with greater felicity, their cha

racters as men.

Some authors may be known by their works, almost to minuteness. Of these we may instance Xenophon, the younger Pliny, and Apuleius; Petrarch, Montagne, Balzac, Bentivoglio, Marmontel, and Rousseau; Gessner; Franklin, Burns, Cowper, and Byron.

Some poets, however, are not to be known by their poems. Parnell, for instance. His 'Hermit' has been far too highly esteemed. The poetry is mediocre; and the moral inexpressibly vicious. For an angel to steal a cup from a man, because he was hospitable; to murder the son of his host, because that host loved his son with something more than a father's general love; and to drown a servant, that he might not rob his

master, is a lesson in theology not strictly consistent, I think, with the Christian religion *.

In fact, we cannot know men always by their writings; much less from detached passages. La Fare wrote history with great severity; yet, in conversation, he was the mildest and most candid of men. Willing should I be,-nay, I should be proud,-would men judge me, not by my manners, my conversation, or my actions, but by my writings. I dare be sworn as to having always acted as well as I could under pressures, arising out of envy, jealousy, treachery, rapacity, and ingratitude; losses of money, of time, of hopes, and of exertion; but when I contemplate the comparative virtues of other men, I hang my head and-blush!

CXXI.

WHO CONQUER PREJUDICES.

THE beautiful island of Madeira appears, to distant observers, perpetually enveloped by a cloud. This cloud, at noon, floats like a thin fleece over the summit of the mountain. At night, however, it settles on its head; and there remains till morning. In North and South Wales the clouds frequently stream up of a morning; and return at night, sitting on the tops of the mountains like so many night-caps; leaving clear spaces over the valleys beneath. These appearances have often reminded me of the empire of Prejudice.

It is astonishing how closely men hug, nay even in

*The original of this poem may be seen in 'Gesta Romanorum;' a work to which may, also, be traced the incident of the jewels in Shakspeare's Merchant of Venice.'

corporate themselves with, their prejudices! even though those prejudices may be so inordinately prejudicial as to resemble those gloomy shadows deep,'

'Oft seen in charnel vaults and sepulchres,

Lingering, and sitting by a new-made grave,
As loth to leave the body that it loved.'

To encounter a long-established and deep-rooted prejudice requires, sometimes, more courage than it does to face an army of forty thousand men. For some prejudices may be compared to the snows of the north. All markings are lost: and he who travels during a thaw, if once he makes a stop, is swallowed. A soul of divine perspicuity is demanded; and a perseverance and courage worthy the best and most fortunate of men. If we raise trophies to heroes, we should erect monuments, as high as the pyramids, to those who encounter and conquer prejudices, destructive to the welfare of human society. There are no trophies so well deserved as these ; yet who can point out an instance in which a trophy has ever been granted?

I remember hearing Mr. Wilberforce state an opinion, that he was convinced that, provided the prejudices of the Hindoos were not insulted, no people in the world would more willingly listen to instruction in religion and manners. How easy it is for zeal to hoodwink knowledge and conquer reason! To Hindoos prejudices stick so close, that, even when we only attempt to eradicate them,

'Torn is the man, and mortal is the wound!'

And this may serve to remind us of a remark by Lord Erskine, in his Speech for the Council of Madras: