The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1858-08-26

,nou cusn80 Snem, ana tney email De changed !:
but thou art the same, and thy years shall have
no end"
From D'Israelis Curiosiles of Literature
DISCOVERIES OF SECLUDED MEN.
Those who are ursccustomed to the labors
OF the closet are unacqusinted with the secret
and silent hiumphs obtained in the pursuits of
studions men. That ap itude, which in poetry
is sometimes called inspiration, in knowledge
We may call sagacity; and it is probable that
the vehemence of the one does not excite more
pleasure than the still tranquility of the other
they are both, according to the strict signi6cs
ton of the Latin term from whence we have
borrowed ours of inpention, finding out, the
result of . combination which no other has
formed but ourselves.
/ will produce several remarkable instances
Of the felicity of this aptitude of the learned in
making discoveries, which could only have been
effectusted BY an uninterrupted intercourse
with the objects of their studies, making things
remote and disappeared, familiar and present
Oae of ancient date 10 better known to the
reader than those / am preparing for him.
When the magistrates of Syracuse were show
ing to Cicero the curiosities of the place, he
desired to visit the tomb of Archimedes; but
TO his surprise, they acknowledged that they
knew nothing of any such tomb, and denied
that it ever existed. The learned Cicero, con.
WINGED by the authorities of ancient writer's, by
the verses of the inscription which he remem.
bered, and the circumstance of sphere with
cylinder being engraven on it, requested them
to assist him in the search. They conducted
the illustrious but obstinate stranger to their
most ancient burying ground. Amidst the
number of sepulcbres, they observed q small
column overriding with brsmbles; Cicero, look.
ing on while they we're clearing away the rub
bish, suddenly exclaimed, Here is the thing
We are looking forl" His eye had caught the
geometrical figures on the tomb, and the in.
scriptiou soon confirmed his conjecture. Cicero
long after exulted in the triumph of this dis.
covery. Thus" he says, one of the noblest
cities of Greece. and once the most learned,
had known nothing Of the monument of its
most deserving and ingenious citizen, had it
not been discovered to them by q native of Ar.
pinuml"
The great French antiquary, Psiresc, exhib.
tied singular combination OF learning, patient
thought, and luminous ssgacity, which could
restore an airy nothing" to Q local habita.
ton and name" There was found an amethyst,
and the same afterwards occurred on the front
y
indents, which had long perplexed inqurers,
more particularly as similar marks or indents
we're equently observed in ancient monu.
ments. 1t was agreed on, as no one could nm.
derstand them and all would be satisfied, that
they were secret hieroglyphics. 1t occurred to
Peiresc, that these marks were nothing more
than the holes for small nails, which had for
merly fastened little lamine, which represent
ed SO many Greek letters. This hint of his
own suggested to him to draw lines from one
hole to another; and he beheld the amethys,
reveal the name of the sculptor, and the fritze
of the temple the name Of the god This Gu
rious discovery has been since frequently ap
piled but it appears to have originated with
this great antiquary, who by his learning and
sagacity explained supposed hieroglyphic
which has been locked up in the silence Of
seventeen centuries.
Learned men, confined to their study, have
often recti6ed the errors of travellers; they
have done more-they have found out paths for
them to explore, or opened seas for them to
navigate. The situation of the vale Of Tempe
had been mistaken by modern travellers; and
it is singular, observes the Quarterly Reviewer,
yet not so singular as it appears to the elegant
critic, that the only good directions for finding
it had been given by person who was never
in Greece. Arthur Browne, a man of letters
of Trinity College, Dublin, lit is gratifying to
quote an Irish philosopher and man of letters,
from the extreme rarity of the chsracter,) was
the first to detect the Inconsistencies of Pea
cock and Busching, and to send future travel
lers to look for Tempe in it's real situation, the
defles between CASA and olympus discov.
cry subsequently realized. When DR.. Clarke
discovered an inscription purporting that the
pass of Tempe had been fortified by Cassius
Longinus, Mr.. Walpole, with equal felicity, de.
tected, in C@sar's History of the Civil War, the
name and the mission of this very person.
A living geographer, to whom the world
stands deeply indebted, does not read Herodo
tus in the original; yet, by the exercise of bis
extraordinary aptitude, it is we'll known that he
has often corrected the Greek historian, ex.
planned obscurities in text which he never
read, by his own happy conjectures, ard con.
6rmed his own discoveries by the subsequent
knowledge which modern travellers have af
forded.
Gray's perseverance, in studying geogrophs
of India and Persia, at time when our coun,
try had no immediate interests with those an.
Gent empires, would have been placed by Gym.
ical observer among the curious idleness Of a
man of letters. These studies were indeed
prosecuted, as Mr.. Matthias observes, on the
disinterested principles of liberal investigation,
not on those of policy, nor Of thAsEegulation
of trade, nor the extension of empire, nor OF
permanent establishments, but simply and sole.
ly on the grand view of what il, and of what is
past. They were the researches of q solitary
scholar in academical retirement" Since the
time of Gray, these very pursuits have been
carried on by two consummste geogrsphers, Ma.
jor Kennel and DR.. Vincent, Who have opened
to the classical and the political reader all he
wished to learn, at time when India and Persia
had become objects interesting snd important
to Us. The fruits of Gray's learning, long after
their author was no more, became valuable
The studies of the solitary scholar are al.
ways useful to the world, although they may
not always be timed to present wants with
him, indeed, they are not merely designed for
purpose. Gray discovered India for himself
but the solitary pursuits Of . great student,
shaped to q particular end, will never fail OF
being useful to the world, though it may hap.
pen that century may elapse between the pc.
RODS of the discovery and its practical utility.
Halley's version Of an Arabic MS. on a
mathematical subject, offers an instance of the
extraordinary sagacity am aluding to; it
may also serve a. demonstration of the pecu.
liar and supereminent advantages possessed bv
mathensticians, observes Mr.. rDugsld Stewart,
in their fixed relations, which form the objects
of their science, and the correspondent pre-.
cision in their language and reasoninRs. Az
matter Of literary history, it is highly curious
DR.. Bernard accidentally discovered in the
Bodleian library an Arabic version of Apollonius
de Sectione Ratiosis, which he determined to
translate in Latin, bat only finished a tenth
part. HALEY, extremely inters sted by the sub
ject, but with an entire ignorance of the Arabic
language, resolved to complete the imperfect
version Assisted only by the manuscript
which Bernard had left, it served him as key
for investigating the seDss of the original; be