Mer] AND SYMBOLS. 221 



the dispensers of fertility. In the world of mind there are souls 

 which rise above the common plains of human thought as those 

 mountains ascend above the levels of the land. They tower up- 

 wards into the heavens of genius. They commune with truth. 

 They send down its refreshing influences to the arid wastes of 

 commonplace, and make the intellectual desert blossom like the 

 rose. They are the mental fertilisers of society. BE. 



The Mercenary Spirit. 



The mercenary spirit among men is like the heron among the 

 birds. Now look at the heron and you will see the resemblance 

 at once. Of all other birds he commits the greatest devastation 

 in fresh waters ; and there is scarcely a fish, though never so 

 large, that he will not strike at and wound, though unable to 

 carry it away. But the smaller fry are his chief subsistence ; 

 these, pursued by their larger fellows of the deep, are obliged to 

 take refuge in shallow waters, where they find the heron a still 

 more formidable enemy. His method is to wade as far as he 

 can into the water, and there patiently wait the approach of his 

 prey, which when it comes within sight, he darts upon with 

 inevitable aim. In this manner he is found to destroy more in 

 a week than an otter in three months. In general he is seen 

 taking his gloomy stand by the lake side, as if meditating mis- 

 chief, motionless, and gorged with plunder. But though in 

 Reasons of fine weather the heron can always find a plentiful 

 supply, in cold or stormy seasons his prey is no longer within 

 reach, and the heron is obliged to support himself upon his long 

 habits of patience, and even to take up the weeds that grow 

 upon the water. At those times he contracts a consumptive 

 disposition, which succeeding plenty is not able to remove. 

 Hence, notwithstanding the care with which he takes his prey 

 and the amazing quantity he devours, the heron is always lean 

 and emaciated. And though his crop be usually found full, yet 

 his flesh is scarcely sufficient to cover the bones. Thus he is 

 like the man of mercenary spirit. The mercenary man is active, 

 daring, diligent, patient, cruel, and voracious, and he, also, is 

 unhappy. He wants more than is good for him, and consumes 



