Some Cranks and their Crotchets 443 



&quot; Hark, hear that distant boo-oo-oo, 



As, walking by moonlight, 



He whistles, instructing Carlo 



To be still, and not bite.&quot; 



But even this lofty flight of inspiration is out- 

 flown by Mr. John Landis, who was limner and 

 draughtsman as well as poet. In his &quot; Treatise on 

 Magnifying God&quot; (New York, 1843) he gives 

 us an engraved portrait of himself surrounded by 

 ministering angels, and accompanies it by an ode 

 to himself, one verse of which will suffice : 



&quot; With Messrs. Milton, Watts, and Wesley, 

 Familiar thy Name will e er be. 

 Of America s Poets thou 

 Stand st on the foremost list now ; 

 On the pinions of fame does shine, 

 Landis ! brightened by ev ry line, 

 From thy poetic pen in rhyme, 

 Thy name descends to the end of time.&quot; 



Immortality of fame is something desired by 

 many, but attained by few. Physical immortality 

 is something which has hitherto been supposed to 

 be inexorably denied to human beings. The phrase 

 &quot; All men are mortal &quot; figures in text-books of 

 logic as the truest of truisms. But we have lately 

 been assured that this is a mistake. It is only an 

 induction based upon simple enumeration, and the 

 first man who escapes death will disprove it. So, 

 at least, I was told by a very downright person 



