FRANCIS WILLUGHBY. 129 
them whose history is peculiarly hallowed in his 
recollections.* 
In reviewing the short but brilliant career of 
Mr Willughby, our observations must be di- 
rected to his merits viewed in relation to his 
advantages. He seems to have been possessed 
of every pre-requisite for great scientific attain- 
ments ; being an instance of the rare union 
of intellectual powers of the highest order, a 
sound constitution of body, and a natural inclina- 
tion for exalted pursuits. Had any one of these 
endowments been wanting, or possessed by him 
in a lower degree, his character might have been 
less admirable* An inequality of the mental 
powers might have made him merely a well- 
meaning and virtuous man, — qualities, indeed, 
whose absence cannot be compensated by the 
possession of any others, but which would not 
have raised him to the position of eminence and 
usefulness which he occupied. Still less valuable 
and illustrious might have been the results, had 
not every other qualification been directed by an 
excellence of disposition. It need not here be 
attempted to assign the causes of that violent 
propensity to evil which has often been associated 
with great talents, and which, if indulged, has 
* And if a sage’s bust arrests thee, there, 
Pause, and his features with bis thoughts compare. 
Rogers’ Pleasures of Memory. 
“ Dryden drew inspiration from the ‘ majestic face’ of 
Shakespeare, and a portrait of Newton was the only orna- 
ment of the closet of Buffon.” — Notes. 
I 
