PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 211 



He was as remarkable for the simplicity of his nature as for 

 the breadth of his mind and the acumen of his intellect. Those 

 who analyze the nature and charm of simplicity in a great mind 

 suppose themselves to find the secret of both in the fact that 

 simplicity, allied with greatness, works its marvels with a sweet 

 unconsciousness of its own superior excellence, and it works 

 them witli this unconsciousness because it is greater than it 

 knows. Talent does what it can. Genius does what it must. 

 And in this respect, as an English writer has said, there is a 

 great analogy between the highest goodness and the highest 

 genius; for under the influence of either, the spirit of man, 

 " whenever it lifts up its head and shakes its locks," may scatter 

 light and splendor around it, without admiring itself or seeking 

 the admiration of others. And it was in this sense that the 

 simplicity of Henry's nature expressed itself in acts of goodness 

 and in acts of high intelligence, with a spontaneity which hid 

 from himself the transcendent virtue and dignity of the work 

 he was doing ; and hence all his work was done without the 

 slightest taint of vanity or tarnish of self-complacency. 



As might be expected, he was a fervent lover of the best lit- 

 erature. His acquaintance with the English poets was not only 

 wide but intimate. His memory was stored with choice pas- 

 sages, didactic, sentimental, witty, and humorous, which he re- 

 produced at will on occasions when they were apt to his purpose. 

 His familiarity with fiction dated, as we have seen, from early 

 boyhood, and in this fountain of , the imagination he continued 

 to find refreshment for the " wear and tear" of the hard and con- 

 tinuous thought to which he was addicted in the philosopher's 

 study. His knowledge of history was accurate, and it was not 

 simply a knowledge of facts, but a knowledge of facts as seen in 

 the logical coherence and rational explanation which make them 

 the basis of historic generalization. The genesis of the Greek 

 civilization was a perpetual object of interest to his speculative 

 mind, as called to deal with the phenomena of Grecian literature, 

 art, philosopliy, and polity. 



He was a terse and forcible writer. If, as some have said, 

 it is the perfection of style to be colorless, the style of Henry 

 might be likened to the purest amber, which, invisible itself, holds 

 in clear relief every object it envelops. Without having that 

 fluent delivery which, according to the well-known comparison 



