such a will, moved by high moral principle and guided by sound judgment, is directed to the accomplishment of a great enterprise, it wins for its possessor a name among the benefactors of the race. John Howard was an illustrious

example of this class of men. The most masterly delineation of this form of character found, so far as I know, in any language, is contained in John Foster's Essays; a book which I should fail in my duty did I not recommend to the thoughtful perusal of every young man.

Such instances of energetic will are, however, rare, and it becomes us to inquire whether the control over our faculties can be obtained by those who are less happily constituted. The most important means of cultivation, if we desire to improve ourselves, lies in the will itself. The more constantly we exercise it, the greater does its power become. The more habitually we do what we resolve to do, instead of doing what we are solicited to do by indolence, or appetite, or passion, or the love of trifles, the more readily will our faculties obey us. At first the effort may yield only a partial result, but perseverance will render the result more and more apparent, until at last we shall find ourselves able to employ our faculties in such manner as we desire. If, then, the student finds his mind unstable, ready to wander in search of every other object than that directly before him, let him never yield to its solicitations. If it stray from the subject, let him recall it, resolutely determining that it shall do the work that he bids it. He who will thus faithfully deal with his intellectual faculties will soon find that his labor has not been in vain.

But, in order to arrive at this result, we must be thoroughly in earnest, and willing to pay the price for so invaluable an acquisition. We must forego many a sensual pleasure, that the action of our faculties may be free and unembarrassed. We must resolutely resist all tendencies.

to indolence, both physical and mental. We must learn to be alone. We must put away from us all reading and all conversation that would encourage the tendencies which we wish to suppress. By doing this, and exerting to the full the present power of our will, we cannot fail to make progress in mental discipline.

It may not be improper to add a remark respecting a kind of reading in which a student is, at the present day, strongly tempted to indulge. I have no disposition here to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the reading of works of fiction. It is sufficient for my purpose to observe, first, that this kind of mental occupation evidently requires no effort of the will to arrest the attention. The mind follows pleasantly and unconsciously the train of conceptions presented by the author. Disquisitions requiring mental effort are always considered blemishes in a romance, and are, I believe, generally passed over unread. And, secondly, the mind becomes filled with interesting and exciting images, which remain with us long after the reading has been finished. From these causes, reading of this character must enfeeble the will, and create a tendency to wander from a course of thought which follows entirely different laws of association. These reasons seem to me sufficient for advising any person desirous of cultivating the habit of attention, either to abandon the reading of fiction altogether, or, at least, to indulge in it with such severe discretion as shall prevent it from fostering those habits which we desire to eradicate. After we have accomplished our object, and the victory of the will over our other powers has been acknowledged, we may allow ourselves a larger liberty. Until this is done, the stricter the discipline which we enforce upon ourselves, the more rapid will be our attainment in the habit of self-government.

3. The power of the will over our other faculties is

greatly assisted by punctuality; that is, by doing everything in precisely the time and place allotted for the doing of it. If, when the hour for study has arrived, we begin to waste our time in frivolous reading or idle musing, we shall find our real work more distasteful, the longer we procrastinate. If, on the contrary, we begin at once, we the more easily conquer our wandering propensities, and our minds are fully occupied before trifles have the opportunity of alluring us. The men who have accomplished the greatest amount of intellectual labor have generally been remarkable for punctuality; they have divided their time accurately between their different pursuits, have rigidly adhered to the plan which they have adopted, and have been careful to improve every moment to the utmost advantage.

4. The control of the will over our faculties is much assisted by the use of the pen. The act of writing out our own thoughts, or the thoughts of others, of necessity involves the exercise of continuous attention. Every one knows that, after he has thought over a subject with all the care in his power, his ideas become vastly more precise by committing them to paper. The maxim of the schoolmen was studium sine calamo somnium. The most remarkable thinkers have generally astonished their contemporaries by the vast amount of manuscript which they have left behind them. I think that universal experience testifies to the fact that no one can attain to a high degree of mental cultivation, without devoting a large portion of his time to the labor of composition.

It is a very valuable habit to read no book without obliging ourselves to write a brief abstract of it, with the opinions which we have formed concerning it. This will oblige us to read with attention, and will give the results of that attention a permanent place in our recollection. We should thus, in fact, become reviewers of every book that we read.

The learned and indefatigable Reinhardt was thus able to conduct one of the most valuable reviews in Germany, by writing his opinions on every work which came under his perusal. The late Lord Jeffrey commenced his literary career in precisely this manner. When a youthful student at the university, he not only wrote a review of every book which he read, but of every paper which he himself composed. His strictures were even more severe on his own writings than on the writings of others. He thus laid the foundation of his immense acquisitions, and attained to so great a power of intellectual analysis, that for many years he was acknowledged the most accomplished critic of his time.

REFERENCES.

Consciousness — Reid, Essay 1, chap. 1; Abercrombie, Part 2, sect. 2; Locke, book 2, chap. 6, sect. 2; chap. 9, sect. 1.

Is consciousness distinguished from perception? chap. 2.

Stewart, vol. i.,

Cases of Abnormal Consciousness - Abercrombie, Part 3, sect. 4; part 2. Attention and Reflection-Reid, Essay 1, chap. 5; Essay 4, chap. 4. Stewart, vol i., chap. 2. Abercrombie, Part 2, chap. 1.

Improvement of Attention and Reflection, Part 2, chap. 1.

Consciousness --Cousin, sect. 1, p. 12, 8vo: Hartford, 1834. Henry's translation, and note A, by Prof. H.

CHAPTER III.

ORIGINAL SUGGESTION, OR THE INTUITIONS OF THE INTELLECT.

SECTION I.- - EXAMINATION OF THE OPINIONS OF LOCKE.

WE have thus far considered those powers of the human mind by which it obtains a knowledge of the existence and qualities of the external world, and of the existence and energies of the thinking subject. This knowledge, as I have said, is all either of individual existences or of individual acts, or states of the subjective mind. It is, of course, all concrete, and the conceptions derived from it are of the same character. This knowledge is original, direct and immediate. It is the constitutional testimony of our faculties as soon as they are brought into relation to their appropriate objects. It always contemplates as an object something now existing, or something which at some time did exist.

Let us, then, for a moment consider what would be the condition of a human being possessed of no other powers than those of which we have thus far treated. He would be cognizant of the existence and qualities of the objects which he perceived, and of the state of mind which these objects called into exercise; and, if endowed with memory, he could retain this knowledge in recollection. Here, however, his knowledge would terminate. Each fact would remain disconnected from every other, and each separate knowledge would terminate absolutely in itself. No relation between