moment, we shall pass over them as beneath our notice.

I now recommend to the young student to enrol himself in the second of the above-mentioned classes, as being the one most likely to raise him to eminence. For whilst the first contents itself with such exertion only as is calculated to raise its members to a kind of mediocrity; and whilst the third, by the exercise of an injudicious zeal, defeats its own intentions; the second will be found to maintain a rational medium between both; uniting in itself the vigor of the first, without its unjustifiable waste of time, and the zeal of the third without its enthusiastic indiscretion.

CHAPTER XII.

Youth is the time for exertion.

NOTHING is more favorable to our entrance upon the field of literature, than youth. With a mind eager in the pursuit of knowledge, thoroughly imbued with a love of learning, and determined at all events to acquire it; what is there to obstruct the tyro in the accomplishment of his most honorable enterprise? O happy youth, how often do I envy the pliability of thy limbs, the ruddy glow of health which blooms upon thy cheeks, thy progress along the path of life, the greater part of which is by thee, as yet, unexplored and untrodden; but, above all, the hope which the promise of a long life holds out to thee, of ranking thyself amongst the illustrious of the earth!—Or perhaps, I should rather have exclaimed, O unhappy man, who hast foolishly wasted the best of thy years in folly and imprudence!-Would that it could be given to me, I will not say to exchange places with thee, but to return to my former state of youth and activity! With what delight should I again occupy my seat in the school, and listen to the precepts of my instructor! Never more would I waste the precious moments in play or indolence! No! I would rather endeavor to distinguish myself above others by increasing diligence and unwearied application. But in vain I thus complain that my years are rapidly drawing to a close-in vain I prefer

such prayers-in vain my tears flow-the time is gone, never, ah, never to return. What little space yet remains between me and the tomb, I will regard, not as so many years, but as so many victories gained over the ruthless combatant, Time. May such be the conduct of all those, the more valuable part of whose life has passed away without fruit. But O ye youths, who are just entered upon the great stage of human existence-if ye possess minds-if ye would wish to distinguish yourselves-if ye would desire to enjoy the delicious fruits of labor, learn to place a just value upon time. O that the flower of my age might again return! What hopes would stimulate me to exertion! What ardor would glow within my breast! But, alas, even whilst I have been indulging in vain wishes, the time has passed away! Let me then exhort you, as ye hope not to live without honor, nor to die without remembrance, cheerfully to submit to labor-seek itlet the soul pant after it*-rush fearlessly upon it. Fortitude and perseverance will conquer all things.

* "Studium et ardorem quendam amoris, sine quo in vitâ quidquam egregium nemo unquam assequetur."-Cic. de Orat., XXX.-[Am. Ed.]

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CHAPTER XIII.

We must not suffer a moment to escape us without profit.

THE proper cultivation of time is of such vast importance, that without it, it is impossible for any one, however great his talents, to acquire the reputation of being either learned or wise. The mind of man is a garden which Providence has bestowed upon him to cultivate, and if he be not diligent to mark the times and seasons proper for planting and bringing to perfection the various fruits and flowers peculiar to its soil, he will find that weeds will spring up of their own accord, and not only retard the growth of the more valuable plants, but eventually destroy the plants themselves. So that, instead of delighting the eye of him who looks upon it, by its beauty and fertility, it will present nothing but the harsh aspect of a barren wilderness. Time is continually on the wing, and when once past can never be recovered. Let me then exhort the student upon no account to suffer a moment to pass him without improvement. The life of man is made up of moments, and the fruit thus momentarily gathered, will, in the lapse of years, amount to a noble and imperishable possession.

I would even recommend the improvement of the hours usually devoted to sleep. I need not inform him who is alive to the fascinations of study, that there are hours when the activity of the mind renders slum

ber impossible. Let not these be wasted, but let the student have at hand tablets on which he may note down whatever ideas and observations may enter his mind, and let him re-transcribe them by daylight. The greater part of this treatise was actually thus written; and by this means a considerable portion of our time which is usually lost, might be rendered not only eminently productive, but highly interesting.

Should any one court your society, who is more desirous to embrace the follies and vanities of youth than to excel in literary pursuits, avoid his company and fly immediately to your studies; for it is better that such an one stigmatize you with a want of politeness, than that you should waste your time. Regard not what indolent or unthinking men may say of you; but always keep in view the opinion of posterity. How many useful volumes might we not write during those hours which are too often devoted to idle and unprofitable conversation! If we were to keep an account of the time so wasted but for a year, we should find it to amount to a very considerable portion of the whole. There is no portion of time so brief that we might not make some advancement towards excellence. The space of life remaining even to young men is but short, perhaps ten, twenty, or thirty years at most; and yet, they almost invariably live as though they were certain of surviving a thousand.