118 A LOGICAL DISQUISITION ON EXALTED GENIUS. 



strained themselves, that, in carrying one of the posts of the troops, 

 they merely disarmed the soldiers of the line, and sent them about 

 their business, without maltreating- them, or inflicting the slightest 

 injury. Their clemency was worthy of their courage, and the events 

 of the following day clearly showed that such conduct had been 

 duly appreciated even by their enemies. This post, it is true, was 

 burnt in the night by a party of workmen on their return from the 

 centre of the capital ; but these very men took the greatest care that 

 a little shed attached to it should not suffer from the conflagration. 

 This shed belonged to a poor woman of the neighbourhood, who, by 

 the sale of fried potatoes, and similar articles of consumption, con- 

 trived to gain her subsistence. This little shed, which has now be- 

 come a monument of national glory, was religiously preserved from 

 the flames. 



A LOGICAL DISQUISITION ON 

 EXALTED GENIUS. 



AFTER having devoted the best part of an active life Ho the cul- 

 tivation of "polite literature" and the geographical knowledge of 

 my own, and most of the European countries ; and having in the 

 meanwhile assisted in the utilitarian enterprise, set on foot by the 

 great Brougham, of a general NATIONAL EDUCATION; I thought it 

 incumbent on me to do something that might at once be a " hand- 

 some" conclusion to my works, and a grateful acknowledgment of 

 the catholic patronage this patriotic community had shown them, 

 both which ends I hope are answered in the following essay ; for 

 as it is my latest, and therefore best performance, I cannot leave the 

 " generous public" a more valuable legacy ; nor can I ever so hap- 

 pily conclude my works as by this " paper," which my literary friends 

 (for I have consulted them) assure me is the ne plus ultra of my 

 vigorous mind, and no mean proof of my capacity. What. I have 

 hitherto published has been the produce either of my " reading" or 

 invention ; this is the fruit of my experience. The fame which (absit 

 vanitas) the world has condescended to allow me was almost, if not 

 altogether, owing to the mode of life I now, for the first time, re- 

 commend, and which I now make public, that all who are willing 

 to follow my example may partake not only of my literary ease and 

 enjoyment but of my success therein. 



I conceive it to be rather a singular happiness that nearly all my 

 early life was spent in the open air, and in the continuous study of 

 not only " men and manners," but variegated and beautiful nature. 



