NOSMET IPSI — ENJOYING A BREEZE. 277 



and exclaimed : — ^ Behold the extended line before 

 you. See the surprising effects of order and union. 

 This mighty work is composed of rude and single 

 stones, which being dropped to the direction of the 

 skilful designer ; are certain of securing their firm 

 and permanent level. Each stone, of itself, though 

 massive, is but as a pebble, and would be subject to 

 the continual controul of the embodied billow ; but, 

 in union, the billow approaches — it retires — broken 

 — vanquished. As such, fellow soldiers, let us con- 

 sider ourselves ! separated from our companions in 

 arms, we are as the pebbles beneath us, scattered 

 and broken by the fury of the tempest : — but united ! 

 the defiance of our proud -created foes — the barrier 

 wall and citadel of ourselves and of our country ! ' 

 Ah ! " continued my friend, '^ Plato himself might 

 have selected this spot for docttine, though he re- 

 jected the mountain's brow, when recommended by 

 his physicians, for health and longevity. We will 

 therefore suppose him, after having ascended the 

 steep, like ourselves, occupying our position, and 

 thus addressing his scholars : — ^ I have selected and 

 trodden this tedious course for the purpose of im- 

 pressing on your minds the necessity of mental 

 exertion to him who is desirous of enjoying mental 

 delight. We might have continued in the valley, but 

 by such continuance we must have lost the beautiful 

 and almost boundless view before us. See you that 

 extended sea-wall, the performance of skilful and 

 continued labour. Behold you the surge, lifting its 

 infuriated head, in seeming derision of the check 

 before it. Even as this wall, am I, your monitor. 

 The troubled waters outside are as the roughness of 

 natural manners — the tranquil waters inside as the 

 serenity of the cultivated mind. Both are portions 

 of one and the same element—but how seemingly 

 different, in character. The one side exhibiting the 

 rashness of ignorance ; the other the placidity of 

 instruction. There only great power can secure to 

 itself even physical existence. — Here the smallest 



