292 FARMERS AND MECHANICS, 



Who was itj when the veteran armies of Great Britain 

 faltered and fled in the Indian war, safely conducted 

 the retreat, and secured the remnant of the army, 

 though he had 'never set a squadron in the field, nor 

 the division of a battle, knew more than a spinster ? ' 

 One George Washington, a Virginia planter. Who 

 was it that shed the brighest halo around the brightest 

 reign that the world ever knew, — the reign of Eliza- 

 beth, the age of the Raleighs, the Bacons, Sidneys ? 

 Why, it was one Ben Johnson, a quondam apprentice 

 to a bricklayer, and one Will Shakspeare, a peasant boy, 

 shrewdly suspected of poaching upon his neighbor's 

 deer. Or, passing from astronomy and poetry to law, 

 who was it rose from a low beginning to be lord chief 

 justice of England? One Charley Abbott, whose 

 father was a barber. Who was it that rose to be lord 

 high chancellor of England ? One Jack ' Copley, 

 "v^hose father was an American painter. Who was it 

 that became the brightest star in the judicial constella- 

 tion of Great Britain ? One Phil. Yorke, whose father 

 no one knew. Or, passing to a still further illustra- 

 tion — * * # # 



" Although I do not mean to say that there never 

 was a great man among the wealthy, curled darlings of 

 the nation, yet I do mean to say, and history sustains 

 the assertion, that luxury and afliuence are calculated 

 to enfeeble the mind, and that those, therefore, who 

 are great in despite of them, would probably be much 

 greater if removed from their influence. It is a well- 

 known fact among gentlemen of the turf, that blooded 

 horses, which for years have been permitted to browse 

 and cater on broken, irregular, and mountainous pas- 

 tures, have acquired a much greater muscular strength, 

 in sportsman's phrase, better bottom, than those which 

 are fed upon a level surface. The application of this, 

 although a physical illustration, is not difficult. Men 

 whose lives have been an uninterrupted course of diffi- 

 culty, a perfect up-hill work, acquire in time a self- 



