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learning indeed were laid with due attention to strength and 

 security, and its base was constructed with solidity and ele- 

 gance, but still the plan was confined, and the dimensions of 

 the intended fabric contracted ; that microscopic nicety, with 

 which they examined every minute particle of the mass, pre- 

 vented them from taking a general survey of the rich mate- 

 rials that lay before them ; and thus when they came to the 

 construction of the pillar itself, they were unable to pro- 

 duce any thing worthy of the exertions or talents employed 

 on it, or of the pedestal prepared for its support. 



Having thus treated at large of this objection, it is proper 

 that we come to the more immediate consideration of the 

 question itself. Without entering therefore into a panegyric 

 on the reasoning faculty, it is fit that we state briefly, that as 

 it is the distinguishing and noblest faculty of men, so like- 

 wise it is that which demands the most diligent cultivation ; 

 its fruits, though the richest and most abundant, are scarcely 

 ever spontaneous, and no high degree of literary excellence, 

 vyhether in polite or scientific learning, has ever been attained 

 without a due discipline and improvement of it. The savage of 

 Otaheite may have been gifted with as much natural talent as 

 Milton or Newton, and yet when we reflect on the transcen- 

 dent sublimity of mind, which characterised these great men, 

 and the groveling spirit of the other, we ace almost tempted to 

 pronounce them not of the same species. There is no one, 

 who will deny the advantage and necessity of this cultivation 

 of the reasoning faculty for the production of the orator, the 



