FRANCIS WILLUGHBY. 
137 
or, in the words of Mr Ray, “ he did not 
willingly let slip one moment of it unemployed.” 
He had not, therefore, yielded to the delusion, 
that talent is a compensation for every other 
deficiency ; and that it especially exempts the 
possessor from the industry which is sometimes 
spoken of as more appropriate to less gifted indi- 
viduals. It had, however, been well for those 
who hold this erroneous notion had they under- 
stood, that talent, without the knowledge to be 
acquired by application, is mere power without 
skill ; and that there are strong reasons for be- 
lieving, that what is called genius consists greatly 
in the aptitude for patient attention. But there 
were other component qualities in the character 
of Mr Willughby, of equal value with any of the 
preceding, — namely, his entire dominion over the 
carnal propensities of his nature, the indulgence 
of which has ever been most justly reckoned as 
the most deadly foe to greatness. Hence, his time 
was not devoured by the long intervals which 
even occasional excesses demand from their com- 
mencement to the cessation of their effects, nor 
his faculties beclouded anjl weakened by the sym- 
pathy of his mind with a disordered body, nor his 
moral feelings perverted by the grossness which 
is transferred to them from the pampered appetites 
of the voluptuary ; but his understanding and 
heart were ever replete with the tranquillity, purity, 
and brightness of the early summer’s morning, 
rendering every perception correct, every emotion 
just, every purpose exalted. 
