No. I.
In an age when supernatural influence was universally acknowledged, in a
country where temples innumerable rose to the fancied deities of every
department of nature and of art; where even the different and opposite
combinations of accident and exertion were reverenced as the decrees of
a being divine and irresistable; convinced no less perhaps by self
experience than observation on others, discarding the prejudices of his
nation and his times, an historian published to the world and to
posterity, the opinion: “Fabrum esse suæ quemque fortunæ.” Whatever
_then_ might have been the case, it would _now_ perhaps be impossible to
extend universally this proposition, and denying at once the influence
of accident and chance, to prove the power of man to accomplish his
wishes in every circumstance of situation and in every sphere of action.
The partiality of favours and the crash of unforeseen misfortune too
often expose neglected merit and ruined industry, as warning monitors in
the road to honour and to riches. While sudden unlooked for prosperity
not unfrequently demonstrates the best grounded fears of men unjustified
by events. But, however incompetent may be our power at all times to
acquire and confirm extraneous and adventitious greatness, or however
limited and erroneous our views of distant consequences in the common
affairs of life, as it respects the endowments of mind, it may with no
little propriety be averred, Fabrum else suæ quemque fortunæ. By the
great philosophers of nature, Newton and Buffon, genius was defined only
a superior degree of patience and perseverence, and at the present day
the advocates of this doctrine are not inconsiderable either in numbers
or in talents. True indeed it is, that they incur no disgrace by
entering the lists with many of their opponents. On the subject of
genius three distinct opinions appear to be entertained. By some it is
held to be an innate superiority of aptitude to knowledge, independent
of the labours of its possessor and unsubjected to the influence of
circumstance or situation. Others rejecting altogether the idea of
original difference in capacity, ascribe it to the co-operation of
accident and tuition confirming after years of infancy a greater or less
degree of comprehension. A third set denying at once innate distinction
and the agency of chance, give all the credit to assiduity and allow to
the mind no other wealth than the requisitions of its industry. Of these
opinions the first has long been upon the decline, and the sentiments of
the generality of speculative men, are now divided between the second
and the last. But on which ever side of this question we enlist our
conviction, we shall find an investigation, that so much is owing to
their own exertions as to afford to the present demonstration sufficient
for a moral proposition. Pity that a truth so grateful to the friend of
humanity, so encouraging to the aspiring mind, should be so seldom and
so feebly inculcated. Ardent in pursuit, sanguine in expectation, with
this impression what obstacles would obstruct what difficulties
dishearten the youthful devotee of science. On the improvement of mind
much has been written to enlarge its stores and strengthen its capacity,
many and different methods have been recommended; but if want of
attention to rules of acknowledged necessity can warrant a repetition,
a few hints on this subject will need no excuse. In nothing probably are
the generality of men more deceived than in the opinion they form of the
mental progress of different individuals. To the lifeless soul whose
diseased eyes bespeak his labours over the midnight lamp--who, secluded
from society in the solitude of a study, loses his vivacity beneath a
ponderous load of immethodized undigested matter; duped by specious
appearance they give without examination the palm of learning. But in
the hour of exigence, when the intellectual host is summoned to the
field; when profit to ourselves and benefit to mankind stand the
criterions of useful acquisitions, then will it uniformly be proved that
reading well is infinitely better than reading much. In many who have
formed a taste for reading, that taste so productive of benefit and
delight; curiosity active and aspiring, still urging on even to flights
beyond its sketch, hurries attention over the field of view. The
different objects are but transiently inspected, and a mass of faint and
indistinct impressions are mixed in the brain, of which each in
succession makes the last less clear. With far less rapidity must he
travel who would explore with advantage the land of knowledge. Selecting
from the multitude of objects those most worthy of examination, he
should with persevering care investigate their principles and structure
and leave them not till satisfied he possesses all the information they
can give. To read as we ought, we must read with attention and with
thought. Many there are who read with attention, but few with thought.
Simply to comprehend the meaning and keep in mind the connection of an
author’s arguments is not sufficient, we must see and feel their force.
Never to take upon trust the sentiments of another, to examine with
minuteness his principles and his deductions, and to be assured of the
justness of the former and the accuracy of the latter, before he adopts
them as his own, should be the constant practice of him who would read
with real and permanent utility. In order to this, it is necessary to
form in youth a habit of deep severe persevering thought. To form this
habit is at first indeed difficult, nay painful. Inclined to ease, the
mind especially in early life, averts from the labour of reflection; but
when confirmed, it finds in it a never ending treasure: every
surrounding object affords it employment; the man who possesses it
discovers in the worlds of sentiment, of manners, of science and of art,
sources of continual unbounded improvement. An eminent instance of this
was the celebrated Gibbon, “I have been led by a novel (says that
elegant historian) into a deep and instructive train of thinking.”
(_To be concluded in our next._)
[[Notes:
“an historian published to the world and to posterity”: Sallust,
quoting Appius]]
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