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Life and Character of Nathaniel Bowditch. A5 
poverty is no dishonor, and need be no hiudeence; that the great- 
est obstacles may be surmounted by persevering ‘asdnatey and an 
indomitable will. He has shown them to what heights of great- 
ness and glory they may ascend, by truth, temperance, and toil. 
He has proved to them that fai need not be sought for solely 
in political life ; although that is a worthy field, and the country 
must be served,—and served, too, not by the worst but by the 
best of men,—not by the factious, the ignorant, the scheming, 
but by the wisest, the most enlightened, the best accomplished, 
that we have among us; by men who dare to tell the people of 
their duties as well as of thete rights ; and who, instead of meanly 
flattering them for their votes, will boldly speak to them the words 
of truth and soberness, and point out to them their errors and 
faults. 
Above all, Dr. Bowditch has left us a most glorious and pre- 
cious legacy in his example of integrity, love of truth, moral 
courage, and independence. He has taught the young men here, 
and the world over, that there is nothing so grand and beautiful 
as moral principle, nothing so sublime as adherence to truth, and 
right, and duty, through good 1 -and through evil report. He 
has, indeed, blessed the world greatly by his science and his prac- 
tical wisdom ; but quite as much, nay, far more, I think, by his 
upright and npaily character. He has taught mankind that rev- 
erence for duty, and trust in Providence, and submission to His 
will, and faith in the rectitude of all His appointments, and a fil- 
ial reliance upon His love, are its not unworthy nor unbe- 
coming the greatest philosopher: For this we honor and eulogize 
him ; not for wealth, title, fortune, hose mi 
trappings of humanity, but for she dea aliti 
which still live, and will live hnoeer:: Hid stindied the stars on 
the earth—may he not now be tracking their courses through the 
heavens? Long ere this, perhaps, he knows all the beauties and 
the mysteries of their tangled mazes—has examined the rings of 
Saturn and the belts of Jupiter, traversed the milky way, and 
chased the comet through infinity. Methinks I hear his depart- 
ing and ascending spirit exclaiming, as it wings its flight upwards, 
in the language of the beautiful hymn :— 
“Ye golden lamps of heaven! farewell, 
With all your feeble light : 
Farewell, thou ever-changing moon, 
Pale empress of the night! 
