(*) “The noonday light is a compound, the triune shadow of Jehovah." Page 70. The rainbow, which is light analyzed, is but three colours, blue, yellow, and red, with their intermediate shades. I think no one of these can be mixed or made of others, and in their union they produce colourless light. (*) “Upon whose lips the mystic bee," &c. Page 78. The classical reader will not need to be reminded of the omen that hap ened to the infant Pindar. (22) “Let another Omar burn the full library of knowledge." Page 79. The Alexandrian library, compiled by Ptolemy Euergetes, contained 700,000 manuscripts, all of which were burnt by the fanatical calif Omar. (3) "The strange skin garments cast upon the shore suggest another hemisphere." Page 86. An anecdote I have somewhere heard of Columbus, who, having sailed as far as Flores, one of the Western Islands, was induced to proceed further from hearing that savage robes and weapons had been cast up by the sea, after the Drevalence of westerly gales. It will probably be met with in Washington Irving's Life of Columbus. (24) "The lichen dying, diggeth its own grave.” Page 86. One of the great uses of these pioneers of vegetation is to corrode and fret the smooth surface of the rocks, by an acid which they generate during decomposition. (25) "Ridicule-the test of truth. Page 89. One of the weakest points in the Shaftesbury philosophy, which would weigh principles against puns. (*) “And being but men, as men, ye own to all the sympathies of manhood.” Page 100. The noble and masculine sentiment of Terence, which of old electrified the whole theatre "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienem puto." (27) “Ganesa.” Page 113. The elephant-headed god of prudence who is invoked on every occasion by the Hindoos. Kali, called also Durga, is a destroying power. Kamala signi fies "lotus-like," a type of beauty, and one of the names of Lakshmi. Vishnu is the great Preserver in the Brahmin triad: his incarnations are called avatars. (28) “God will not love thee less, because men love thee more." Page 116. It may be scarcely necessary to remark, that the gist of the argument in Matt. v. 11, Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you," lies in the "falsely, for my sake." This verse has all the characteristics of an epigram,-paradox, brevity, and final satisfaction. PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. INTRODUCTORY. COME again, and greet me as a friend, fellow-pilgrim upon life's highway: Leave awhile the hot and dusty road, to loiter in the greenwood of Ro flection. Come, unto my cool dim grotto, that is watered by the rivulet of truth, Taste my simple store, and rest one soothing hour. Behold. I would count thee for a brother, and commune with thy charitable soul; Though wrapt within the mantle of a prophet, I stand mine own weak scholar. Heed no disciple for a teacher, if knowledge be not found upon his tongue; And this poor pensioner of Mercy-should he boast of merit? The grafted stock,—should that be proud of apples not its own? Into the bubbling brook I dip my hermit shell; Man receiveth as a cup, but Wisdom is the river. Moreover, for this fillagree of fancy, this Oriental garnish of similitude, Alas, the world is old,-and all things old within it: I walk a trodden path, I love the good old ways: Proplets, and priests, and kings have tuned the harp I faintly touch. |