you will find, if you read well, a pair of extremely remarkable nations shining in the records left by themselves as a kind of pillar to light up life in the darkness of the past ages; and it will be well worth your while, if you can get into the understanding of what these people were and what they did. You will find a great deal of hearsay, as I found, that does not touch on the matter; but perhaps some of you will get to see Romans face to face; you will know in some measure how they contrived to exist, and to perform those feats in the world; I believe, also, you will find a thing not much noted, that there was a very great deal of deep religion in its form in both nations. That is noted by the wisest of historians, and particularly by Ferguson, who is particularly well worth reading on Roman history; and I believe he was an alumnus in our own University. His book is a very creditable book. He points out the profoundly religious nature of the Roman people, notwithstanding the wildness and ferociousness of their nature. They believed that Jupiter OptimusJupiter Maximus-was lord of the universe, and that he had appointed the Romans to become the chief of men, provided they followed his commands-to brave all difficulty, and to stand up with an invincible front-to be ready to do and die; and also to have the same sacred regard to veracity, to promise, to integrity, and all the virtues that surround that noblest quality of men-courage to which the Romans gave the name of virtue, manhood, as the one thing ennobling for a man. In the literary ages of Rome, that had very much decayed away; but still it had retained its place among the lower classes of the Roman people. "Of the deeply religious nature of the Greeks, along with their beautiful and sunny effulgences of art, you have a striking proof, if you look for it. In the tragedies of Sophocles there is a most distinct recognition of the eternal justice of Heaven, and the unfailing punishment of crime against the laws of God. elieve You Whiting in a histories that that has been at head and foundation of them all, and that no nation that did #contemplate this wonderful myerse with an awe-stricken aderential feeone that there was a great unknown. maiOFERI INVE TEL-Vous Being, superintending terests Tation ever Come D an either vno forgot that I TOOL the most important partrot is 18 poster the feeluge Ju boyhood, and the leg in after years, beware of the profligate and the icons CHAPTER XI. CONCLUSION. FTER your father was honourably admitted a member of one of the Inns of Court, he relinquished his printing administration for legal studies, to which, you are aware, he assiduously applied himself. To describe all the battles of the press in which your father had been engaged-fights against the stamp duty-fights against the paper duty-struggles to establish papers and publications-fights against the cheap immoral press-to tell you of his calmness in success, and the boldness with which he met reverses, would not only be irrelevant to the purport of this work, but would appear egotistic, in which your father fears he is already a bankrupt. One thing, however, your father must state, that during a long period of his life as a printer and editor, when immorality blurred the pages of the cheap press, your father's aim and influence was to support its dignity; and whether it was the Mirror, the Home Companion, or any other publication with which he was connected, not one line was printed that could in the slightest degree taint the mind of youth, or cause a blush to crimson the cheek of modesty. On one occasion, as your father passed through the office, he observed an engraving that had an offensive appearance. He at once ordered the machine to be stopped, saying, "Send the ormes to the person they came from, and tell him from me, hat rather than disgrace humanity, I will take all responility with respect to the fortnight's notice to which he is יי! ן On another occasion a person called, with whom your father had been on friendly terms. He had been machinist of a well-known morning newspaper, had subsequently started in business, and had brought out a new publication, entitled “P—— T." That man called upon your father to have his publication machined; but observing an engraving of a questionable character, "S————,” your father said, “let me have a proof." Your father looked at the proof, and then looked at the man. “You have a daughter—or daughters?” The reply was, “Yes, one daughter.” “Do you mean to tell me that the types of this publication are set up on your premises ?" "Yes." “I am ashamed of you. Take your formes away.” That man, my son, like all men who lend themselves to bad ends, did not prosper. His daughter, mixing with the profligate contributors to such a periodical, naturally fell, and the father went to Australia, where in poverty he ended his days. A bad man cannot prosper, my son; nor can any man who tries to secure gain by debasing or dishonest means. History and our own experience confirm the fact that to live well is to live honestly and in love with all mankind. "A dishonest man cannot do anything real;" and, as Carlyle says, "it would be greatly better if he were tied up from doing anything. He does nothing but darken counsel by the words he utters. This is a very old doctrine, but a very true one; and you will find it confirmed by all the thinking men that have ever lived in this long series of generations, of which we are the latest." THE END. |