Iough, or is good enough, and who does not 

 ive to know more and to become better, will 

 obably find in the long run that the love of wis- 

 ^m and virtue was the condition of their remain- 

 ing with him, and that the penalty of his apathy 

 has been to forfeit their companionship. There 

 are many lesser reasons why the duty of self- 

 improvement should not be neglected, of which 

 the most obvious is, that if we fail in this respect, 

 others may not, and may therefore attain to dis- 

 tinctions and advantages from which we will be 

 shut out 



In ordinary circumstances, young men em- 

 barrassed by onerous, and perhaps exhausting 

 labours, have little time for mental culture. Borne 

 down by professional drudgery, where are those 

 hours they can spare for useful study ? Every one 

 will answer this question for himself. We can 

 fully understand that innumerable difficulties lie 

 in the pursuit of knowledge ; yet, can it be for- 

 gotten that a vast amount of valuable time is 

 systematically misspent worse than wasted 

 which might be devoted to a good purpose. How 

 many hours in the morning are thrown away in 

 bed ! How many are wasted listlessly in the 

 streets ! What a misexpenditure of time, means, 

 and health in coarse convivialities ! And what 

 might not society be, were these things properly 

 considered ! Assuming that you have at com- 

 mand only two out of each twenty-four hours, 

 much may be done with that brief period during 

 successive years, if, as Johnson says, you set to work 

 ' doggedly.' It might be possible, with no greater 

 opportunities, to learn Latin and one or two living 

 languages, to acquire a good knowledge of Eng- 

 lish composition, and to be acquainted with the 

 writings of some of the best authors. All this has 

 been repeatedly done, and there is no reason why 

 it should not be done again. 



The perusal of the biographies of distinguished 

 men will shew some remarkable instances of 

 triumph over early difficulties. Could there be 

 anything more discouraging than the early help- 

 lessness of Gifford, who ultimately became the 

 distinguished editor of the Quarterly Review? 

 He was left an orphan at the age of thirteen ; 

 was put to sea as a cabin-boy ; was afterwards 

 bound apprentice to a shoemaker ; and in this 

 condition was so poor that he could not buy 

 paper, but used to work algebraical questions 

 with a blunted awl on fragments of leather. 

 Through the kindness of a gentleman who 

 noticed his abilities, he was rescued and educated, 

 and he afterwards manfully fought his way into 

 public notice. But were not many of the distin- 

 guished men of modern times originally shoe- 

 makers, gardeners, carpenters, printers, masons, 

 or connected with other employments equally 

 humble? And is it not seen that their mental 

 improvement was due in a great measure to their 

 own resolute determination ? Telford, who became 

 an eminent civil engineer, was originally a stone- 

 mason, and spent his leisure hours in poring over 

 such volumes as fell within his reach, with no 

 better light than that afforded by the fire, or 'ingle' 

 as he calls it, of his mother's cottage. 



A more recent instance of self-culture in a stone- 

 mason is that of the late lamented Hugh Miller, 

 who became eminent as a geologist and man of 

 letters. How, while a boy, he took a fancy to 

 geological inquiry, and, unaided, made some 



PRACTICAL MORALITY. 



remarkable discoveries among the rocks on the 

 sea-coast at Cromarty ; how, when working for a 

 livelihood with chisel and mallet as a stone-hewer, 

 he devoted his spare hours to his favourite study, 

 and lived untainted amidst dissolute companions ; 

 and how, in the course of events, he very naturally 

 arrived at literary eminence are all facts well 

 known. 



On the Formation of Opinions. 



Opinion signifies belief. There are right and 

 wrong opinions. It is our duty as rational beings 

 to cultivate correct opinions upon every subject, 

 and to eschew those which are of a contrary de- 

 scription. There is nothing more easy than to 

 form hasty, inaccurate opinions, but it is very 

 difficult to form a correct belief on many topics. 

 Opinion is found to be more or less dependent on 

 times, circumstances, and bodily temperaments. 

 It frequently arises out of prejudice, and is often 

 influenced by impulse. When we form an opinion 

 upon any subject, we are inclined to believe that 

 all opinions of an opposite character are erroneous. 

 We are apt to laugh at everybody's opinion but 

 our own. All this betrays a deficiency of sober 

 reflection, an ignorance of the history and faculties 

 of mankind, and a want of knowledge of the world. 

 The people of every country entertain opinions 

 favourable to their own fashions, customs, laws, 

 and religion, and unfavourable to those of other 

 nations. A love of one's own country is certainly 

 a commendable feeling, but it should be a love 

 arising from examination and conviction, not from 

 prejudice. The Hindu worships the river Ganges." 

 We have been so brought up that this is seen by 

 us to be superstitious foUy. The bigoted but con- 

 scientious Turk will go to death upon it that 

 Mohammed was a true prophet We believe this 

 to be a delusion. The people who lived in our 

 own country a hundred years ago were con- 

 vinced that certain old women, whom they termed 

 witches, could, by supernatural powers, raise tem- 

 pests at sea and land, and malevolently interrupt 

 the course of human affairs. Yet we are now 

 as firmly convinced that this opinion was a gross 

 absurdity. Opinion is therefore a thing of time and 

 place. The opinion that is supposed to be right in 

 one century, is wrong in the next. What is con- 

 sidered to be a right opinion in Asia, is thought 

 wrong in Europe. What is deemed a correct and 

 praiseworthy belief in Britain, is reckoned an 

 absurdity in France. Indeed, it is often seen that 

 the opinion which is held good in one district of 

 a country, is looked upon with contempt in other 

 districts so that the whole world is found to be 

 covered, as it were, with a variety of opinions and 

 shades of opinions like the diversified colours by 

 which countries are depicted in a map. Opinion, 

 we have said, is also dependent on temperament 

 of the body. This is a melancholy truth. A fat 

 and choleric man does not think in exactly the 

 same way as a lean man. A man who enjoys all 

 the comforts which opulence can purchase, has a 

 tendency to think differently in some things from 

 a man who is suffering under misfortunes or 

 poverty. Nay, most men have reason to alter 

 their opinions on many points in their progress 

 through life. 



\Yhat does all this wonderful contrariety of 

 opinion teach us? Since we see that opinion is 

 dependent on the locality of our birth, on the age 



549 



