SAINTS, AND THEIR BODIES 5 
divine lost his parish by swimming the Merri- 
mack River, and that another was compelled to 
ask a dismissal in consequence of vanquishing 
his most influential parishioner in a game of ten- 
pins ; it seemed to the beaten party very uncleri- 
cal. The writer further remembers a match, in 
a certain seaside bowling-alley, in which two 
brothers, young divines, took part. The sides 
being made up, with the exception of these two 
players, it was necessary to find places for them 
also. The head of one side accordingly picked his 
man, on the avowed presumption that the best 
preacher would naturally be the worst bowler. 
The athletic capacity, he thought, would be in 
inverse ratio to the sanctity. It is a satisfaction 
to add, that in this case his hopes were signally 
disappointed ; but it shows which way the pop- 
ular impression lies. 
The poets have probably assisted in maintain- 
ing the delusion. How many cases of consump- 
tion Wordsworth must have accelerated by his 
assertion that “the good die first”! Happily he 
lived to disprove his own maxim. Professor 
Peirce has proved by statistics that the best 
scholars in our colleges survive the rest ; and 
virtue, like intellect, doubtless tends to longev- 
ity. The experience of the literary class shows 
that all excess is destructive, and that we need 
the harmonious action of all the faculties. Of 
