FRANCIS WILLUGHBY. 129 



them whose history is peculiarly hallowed in his 

 recollections.* 



In reviewing the short but brilliant career of 

 Mr Willughby, our observations must be di- 

 rected to his merits viewed in relation to his 

 advantages. He seems to have been possessed 

 of every pre-requisite for great scientific attain- 

 ments ; being an instance of the rare union 

 of intellectual powers of the highest order, a 

 sound constitution of body, and a natural inclina- 

 tion for exalted pursuits. Had any one of these 

 endowments been wanting, or possessed by him 

 in a lower degree, his character might have been 

 less admirable. An inequality of the mental 

 powers might have made him merely a well- 

 meaning and virtuous man, qualities, indeed, 

 whose absence cannot be compensated by the 

 possession of any others, but which would not 

 have raised him to the position of eminence and 

 usefulness which he occupied. Still less valuable 

 and illustrious might have been the results, had 

 not every other qualification been directed by an 

 excellence of disposition. It need not here be 

 attempted to assign the causes of that violent 

 propensity to evil which has often been associated 

 with great talents, and which, if indulged, has 



* And if a sage's bust arrests thee, there, 



Pause, and his features with his thoughts compare. 



ROGERS' Pleasures of Memory. 



" Dryden drew inspiration from the * majestic face' of 

 Shakespeare, and a portrait of Newton was the only orna- 

 ment of the closet of Buffon." Notes. 



