U7 



state iike this and all its faazanJs, is the tranquil tenor of ao 

 honorable celibacy. 



Ambition is said to foe the vice of manfcopd, and avarice 

 of old age. They have perhaps attained their excess at tliose 

 periods, but their seeds iiave beeij ;sown much earlier. The 

 intrigues of the conrtk-r have probably tijeir origin in the 

 manceuvres of the sciioolboy — the eoveto-usaegs of decrepi- 

 tude, in the selfishiiess of cliildhootl — and all the evils of the 

 gamblitag tabJe, in tiie triivial biit pernicious games of chance, 

 to which children are Bometimes allowed to devote tliea>-, 

 selves, in dereliction of iHore AnanJ J,, esnergetic, a«d generous 

 s-ports. 



But if the gerans of vice take ^.-n early root in the heart, so 

 do also those of virtUie. Nor tho8.e onJy which consis.t in self- 

 control, and the government of the jpassionSj but the positive 

 and more amiable virtues of veracity, generosity, courage, 

 raa'gnanimity, that philanthropy to which all manlsind, that 

 charity to which all creatures are dear. These two extensive 

 principles of b.enevolence bavetheir source in the narrow circle 

 of domestic affection. Even veracitj' is practised as a duty, 

 long IjefoTC tlie mind can have a distinct conception of truth 

 — courage developes itself in the infant — magnanimity in the 

 schoolboy. It is ahnost three tliousand years since the days 

 of Homer. In the course of that period, how many heroes 

 have sprung from the iuspiratian of his verses. Every pa&- 

 sage teem« with greatness ; and ont might be selected that 

 seems the v«ry matrix of heroism. Fxoin the youthful pye, 



