The Arkansas advocate., 1830-09-15

l often preceded by some who have come from great distance, and who have at tained 1t by lneansless certain, but more direct.7
 1 could not sympathize with them, and therefore gladly availed myself of his proposal tostroll leisurely up the noun tala. Wy attention was soon attracted by Q collection of people at little dis tance, some of whom were gazing up ward with an intensity of expression that seemed to indicate the deepest de- votion, wtiIlst others were busiiy enga- ged with boxes of sand, mathematical instruments, &c.
 ''Fhat, remarked my companion, lis the E ale of Astroiogy. its inhabitants are all professors of the art of divina- tion; and though equally bent with their fellow travellers upon the acquisi- tion of fame, they attempt it by very different means, and look down with contempt upon those whose inelinations or abilities lead them to prefer the rug ged pathway of knowledge to the fever- ished flights of a distempered imagiaa- tion. Some of them are. as you .naY perceive, wholly engrossed in the pur- suit of the glittering bubbles that hover deceitfully over their heads, whilst others are wholly engaged in casting horoscopes, calculating abstruse theo- fenass or solving metaphysical niceties, and in the construction of wings, in the vain prospect of thus accomplishing their hopes; but their bubbles univer- sally explode, their horoscopes deceive them, their conclusions prove erroneous, and their wings invariably become un- manageable and useless ere they have attained to any great height
 We had now penetrated to con- siderable eminence, and as all the paths diyerged like radii from the summit of the mountain, ] could now distinguish the voices of many that were before unin- teiligible. Upon one side of me no- thing could be heard but endless iargon aboutnouns, ,pronous, and the grammati- cal constaction of language: upon the other, nothing met the ear but sYlIo- gisms, major and rainor propositions aud consequences. Here nothing was per- eeptible but sines, ce-sines, angles, and circumferences; whilst there stood a group dilating with energy upon co-efli- clients, opponents, positive, negative, and compound quantities. These un- derstood were from the several states of Rhetoric and Grammar, Geometry, Logic, and Arithmetic; and were com mingled with thousand otherswhose insignia l could not recolleet, and whose titles 1t were idle to describe. l turned from this scene oE Babel-like and was going te express my dissatisfaction, when l discovered before me a structure very little inferior in beauty to the Temple itself, towards which we were advancing.
 "This,o said the sage, ssis the palace of Puplic Opinion. 1t encircles, like a wall of circumyallation, the Temple of Fame, and none can approach the lat ter without passing the ordeal here in- stituted to examine into the validity of their pretensions. "The unsuccessful,' he added, "are plunged into an abyss located beneath the building, called the Waters ofOblivion, whose eallen waves soon hurry them from observation.
 ]" But is 1t not folly," inquired, ssto attempt that which cannot terminate in success?"
 " Behold yon eagle,7 he returned " towering in conscious pride among the clouds of heaven; thinkest thou that he feareth the arrow that is destined for his boson9 And man! revelleth he not upon the brink of a precipice?-yet how secure is he of the coming mo- ments2n
 ! appreciated the justness of his alu- sion, and meditatiHg upon it, entered the palace of Public Opinion. Here was an ample subject for reflection. Characters of every description, and of every degree of merit, were around me; each anxious to outstrip his fellows, and to secure the favor of his judges. But what surprised me most was the circumstances, that though an almost countless multitude thronged the en- frances for admission, l could find but an ill portioned number, indeed, who left the tribunal with applause 10 pur- sue the remainder of their journey.
 As was aware it would be some time before my claims could receive in- vestigation, l determined to amuse n.y. seiiif tby observing the fate of those who