EXCELSIOR. FIRST-RATES. OFTEN as we hear of a redundant population and overstocked professions, there is one class of labourers for whom there is a constant demand. These are the men preeminent in their several departments,-the men who either can do something which no others can, or who can do it a great deal better than their neighbours. When trade is dull, among thousands of disengaged artisans it is a chance. if you will find a first-rate mechanic-so loth are employers to let their best hands go. When times are hard, and the staff of a counting-house is reduced, the firm would as soon think of parting with the money-safe as they would discard the clerk whose punctuality is clock-work, whose penmanship is copper-plate, and whose head is a calculating engine. And although it may not be in every statesman's power to say what Lord Chatham somewhat arrogantly said to the Duke of Devonshire, “My Lord, I am sure that I can save this country, and that nobody else can ;"-and although it is not every officer to whom the Commander-in-chief will say, as the Duke of Wellington said to Sir Charles Napier, "If you won't go to India, I must go myself,"-it is in the power of every one to turn his talents to such account that he shall be essential in some sphere, and the world will feel that it cannot do without him. These pages may meet the eye of some studious aspirant, who has already chosen his profession, but. who is visited with occasional misgivings as to his eventual success. But if you really feel such a fondness for your calling as to consecrate to it the days and nights of a lifetime, there is no good reason for despondency. For the moment you may find yourself outstripped by coevals of readier wit or cooler self-possession; but, looking to the long result, the highest prizes and the unfading palms are reserved for the perseverance and the steadfastness of enthusiastic devotion. With good health, good sense, and good principle, and, above all, with God's blessing, there is no pinnacle of attainment which the lover of his calling need despair of ascending, and no post in the ministry of human improvement which he may not hope one day to occupy. With a view to success in the line of things you have chosen, our first advice, would be, CONCENTRATE. Young scholars are frequently urged to aim at universal excellence ; and such an example is quoted as that of Sir William Jones, who resolved to perfect himself in twelve languages as the means of acquiring insight into every branch of knowledge. But we demur to the maxim, and we refuse to be ruled by the splendid precedent. The days of universal knowledge are past; and even Sir William at last obeyed his own mental bias, and, in the progress of his studies, philology, chronology, and a few favourite topics, received a preference all but exclusive. On the other hand, there is reason to fear that the student whose aim is encyclopedic, will soon dwindle down to a mere dilettante or a flimsy sciolist. His life of literary luxury may be pleasant to himself, but it is not likely to yield aught for which his fellows will thank him. Like the butterfly, whose range is a whole paradise of blossom, he spins no cocoon; whilst his industrious kinsman, who makes the most of a few mulberry-leaves, in preparing for himself a silken shrine, contributes withal to the wealth of the world and to the glory of Solomon. The true plan is to make your chosen pursuit the ruling passion, and then, by a sort of elective affinity, all secondary tastes and subordinate acquisitions will fly towards this centre and arrange themselves round it. The surgeon, for example, who has withal a turn for mechanical science, will be likely to devise many ingenious contrivances to the infinite relief of mortal anguish; whilst the lawyer, who has a knowledge of chemistry, will be tolerably certain to win the cause for his client when the question turns on the action of a poison, the composition of a fuel, or the invasion of an alkaline patent. To his knowledge of cotton-machinery, alongside of his knowledge of law, Lord Eldon owed that first successful appearance which eventually placed the Great Seal of England in the hand of the briefless barrister. And although evangelistic benevolence was the ruling passion of Chalmers, his researches in political economy and physics enabled him to set forth God's wisdom and goodness as no other preacher ever did, in his peerless pulpit orations. When you have chosen your line of things, that is, when you have found a subject on which you are willing to concentrate the efforts of existence, our next maxim would be, PERSEVERE. If it be the calling in which you can best serve God and your generation, you can do no better than give yourself to it with all your heart and soul. Never mind though you are far behind your competitors at preIt is a high calling. It takes half a lifetime to reach the top of the hill. And if you only take care to do something in the upward direction every day, a few years hence you will find yourself abreast of the strongest climber, and far ahead of the swiftest runner. sent. Seventy years ago a young cobbler might be seen wearily threading the cross-country roads near Northampton. Newly |