Herald of the times. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1849-1856, 1849-12-06

even though they accomplish more than
himself, and rise more rapidly in tho scale
Of being The man who measures great
ness by the depth Of the possessors purse,
is the smallest of all created things. He
who tries 10 assume dignity, and would
awe his associates into profound respect
for his position, by his dollars and cents,
has soul that is not worth the easement
which contains it, And yet, how many
such there are The acquisition Of few
thousand dollars so swels them with lofty
conceptions and exalted ideas of greatness,
that they entirely lose all consciousness Of
their natural and real inftriority, and it is
difficult to find weapon sufficiently point
cd TO bring them down to a common-sense
level IN life. Poor busting things, they
deserve mans deepest commlseratlon ; their
/ balloon has been inflated with the gas Of
sslf-esIe until they are lost in a sea of
/ immensty which their own sickly fancy
has conceived. In the language OF Scot.
land S noble bard, always so true to nature,
. wal somo pow'r the gillie glo us
To see oursels az others see us
Ii wad fflc monte a blunder free us
And foolish notion.
This lttleness Of which We have spoken
forms no part of The composition of truly
great man wealth cannot make US great
and talents, no matter how brilliant, if per-
vertcd, can never make us great. Wash
ington Irving, speaking OF the tomb Of Ed
ward the Confcssor, in Westminster Abbey,
says" From This emnegcc the eye looks
| down between pillars and funeral trophies
! to the chapels and chambers below, crowd
| ed with tombs where warriors, prelates,
! courliers, and statesmen, lie mouldeIing in
the (" beds of darkness" Close by me
stood the great chair of coronation, rudely
| carved of oak, in the barbarous taste OF Il
remote and gothic age. The scene seemed
most as If conlrived with theatrical artl-
flee, to produce an effect upon the bcholder.
/
end of human poinp and power; here 1t was
! literally but step from the throne to the
sepulchre. Would not one think that these
Incongruous mementos had been gathered
together as lesson to living greatness to
show it, even in the moment Of It's proudcst
exal'ation, the neglect and dishonoI to
which it must soon arrive how soon that
| crown which encircles its brow must pass
away, and il must lie down in the dust and
disgrace of the tomb, and be uampled up
Il on by the neanest Of the multitude. For,
strange t. tell, even the grave is here no
longer a sanctuary. There is a shocking
levity in some natures, which leads them
to sport with awful and haIlowed things
and there are base minds, which delight TO
revenge on the illusirious dead tho abjec
homage and groyelling servllity which they
! pay 10 the living. The coffin ol Edward
the Confessor has been broken open, and
! his remains despoiIed of their funeral orna-
! the hand of the lmperious Elizabeth, and
the efiigy of iIenry the Fifth lies headess.
Not n royaI monument but bears some proof
how false and fugitive is the homage OF
mankind. Some arc plundered some mu-
tilaled some covered with ribaldry and IN
sult-,ll more or less outraged an dis
honored ~
/ Again the same polished author says, "lt
seems az if the awful nature Of the place
presses down upon the soul, and bushes the
beholder into noiseless reverence. We fee!
that we are surrounded by the congregaled
bones of the great men of past times, who
have filled history with their deods, and
! the earth with their reno~n. And yet 1t
almost provokes smile at the vanity OF
human ambition, TO see how they arc crow
ded together and jostled in the dust what
parsimony is observed in doing out scan
ty nook, a gloomy corner, little portion
of earth, to those, whom, when alive, king
doms could not satisfy and how many
shapes, and forms and ar:ihces, are devised
10 catch the casual notice Of the passenger,
and save from forgetfulness, for few short
years, a name which once asprcd to occupy
ages of the worlds thought AMI admiration
81 passed some time in Poets Corner
which occupies an end oi ono of the tran
cents or cross ascs of the abbey. The
monuments arc generally simple for the
lives of literary men afford no striking
themes for the sculptor. Shakespeare anc
Addison have statues erected to their mem
orics but tho greater part have busts, me
dallious, and sometimes mere inscriptions
Il Notwithstanding the simplicity ct ihes
memorials, have always observed that 'h'
visitors to the Abbey remained lonecs
about them. a kinder and !onder feeling
takes place of that cold curiosity or vague
admiration y nh which they gaze on 'h'
,plendld monuments Of the great and th
\ heroic. They hngcr about these as abou
|, tho tomb, of friends AMI compaLions 70
II indeed there is something of companions u
between the author ard lhc reader Othe