Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-02-02

struction and facility; that even in the
dreams of the night we are helped for
ward. There is great difference In our
activity of mind Sometimes we have
heavy periods when we don't think for
days, or weeks, or months; then periods
of activity. think these depend very
much upon ourselves-upon our good be-
havior. If we use our opportunities, OPP
portunities are multiplied. five neglect
them, If we give up to idle pleasures and
amusements they are withdrawn. The
idle person ceases to have thoughts The
active person is always assisted. There
are great many mysterious facts in our
history which the mind, attentive to itself,
will always discover, and the admoni-
tions that come thence.
aIDBoN-BoswELL' JoHNsoN--THE ELIz-
ABETHAN ERA.
trust that every man has his own
ways, as say and perhaps no method or
matter would become another; and always
the instruction, the hint, is given to the
young mind from its own desires. 1t Is
urged in single direction, and that is
the direction 1t is to take. 1t soon knows
what is awrongurgency andwhat is Alright.
All things are propitious in one direction;
all things are adverse in the other Every
book has its own attractions; but certain
books would charm US all-charm every
good mind. / should give every young
man "Gbbon's History of the Roman
Empire" to read as an education in itself.
No one can read it without seeing that
Gibbon was the best read man in England
in his time, and that, therefore, few men
could have accomplished so much. He
was a perfect library himself; a man of a
brilliant mind; not man of a high
m0rale-at least a skeptical man, and a
man of the world also. But his moral
sentiment was always erect for justice and
truth; yet not man of quite pure mind.
He was clear man in his life, but his
moral sentiment was not equal to his in
tellectual. Still, "Gibbon's History of
Rome" cannot be omitted by any intelli
gent young man who wishes to have, in
English, the best history of the past.
If he wants, however, moralist; if he
wants noble soul, every way instructive,
he should read the Life of Johnson"
"Boswelps Life of Johnson" is an excel
lent book to read; one Of the most enter
tanning, one of the greatest variety in its
charms, because it brings in the history
of the greatest men in England, at time
of great brillancy; that is, when Burke
and Fox and Gibbon and Goldsmith were
on the stage together, and were continu-
ally meeting in conversation. l should
think "Boswells Life of Johnson" is
good book for young man, out of the
line of difficult study; for it should be an
entertainment to him, and nothing more.
No wise young man can do without read
ing 'Bacons Essays" They are little
Bible of earthly wisdom. They are full
of sense and truth If he is led to the
;fn Of nrJ Ronpn - ha NV ha-
comes acquainted with the most impor-
tant period in English history; the time
when the two greatest lights Of England,
at that period, and one of them the great
est light that ever was in England-Shak-
speare-were surrounded by able men; ;
the time of Elizabeth and of
James the time of the great concentra-
tion of intellectual light in England.
There never was such period in the
world. The only one comparable to it is
that of the Greek age when Pericles was
surrounded by the great artists, the great
poets, the great historians and philoso-
pliers of Greece. Those arc the two re-
markable periods OF the intellectual light
the time of Elizabeth and the time of
Pericles.
sHAKsPEARE.
No one can speak of books, however
without saying to you, what you already
know, that of all books depending purely
upon their intrinsic excellence, Shak-
speare Is the one book of the world |
leave out, of cousse, the religious books,
which depend directly upon the reverence
of mankind, addressed according to the
opinion and sentiment of each, according
to his education in this or that church,
in this or that society. Heaven has pro-
vided each nation with its own religious
instruction. We have had, in Asia, the
grandest revelation that has been made
to the world. 1t is very curious that these
Asiatic minds seem, more than any other
portion of the world, to have had the
religious inspiration not only in our
gospels and in our Jewish histories, but
the Hindoos have also the most extraor.
binary books, which they compare
with certain happiness to those of our
own, which we also owe to Asia. So
the Chinese have also their books of
Confucius, in which we are very happy
to trace almost identical inspirations
with those which we have received from
Judea. For instance, the great doctrine,
"Thou shalt do to others rs thou wouldst
have others do to thyself," is 600 years
before the coming of Christ, as given us
by the Confucians. This singular genius
the Asiatics seem to have had for moral
revelations; and it is given in these
commanding forms to the nations there
Ours, which we owe directly to the Jewish
nation, we esteem the most pure and most
commanding of all. But it is delightful
to me, as a believer in the universally of
religious truth, to find that it is framed in
similar and almost in the same language
in distant nations.
But, out of the circle ofreligious books,
| set Shakespeare as the one unparalleled
mind. No nation has produced anything
like his equal. There is no quality in
the human mind, there is no class of
topics, there is no region of thought, in
which he has not scared or descended,
and none in which he has not said the
commanding word. All men are I'M
pressed, in proportion to their own ad-
vancement in thought, by the genius of
Shakespeare. The greatest mind values
Shakespeare the most. 1t is wonderful
that it has taken ages to esteem him. We
find with wonder that he was not appre-
ciated in his own time that you can
hardly find any cotempprary who did him
any justice. Still, his fame and the in
tluence of his genius have risen with the
progress of time. AS there has been OPP
portunity to compare him with other
poets and writers, his superiority has
been felt, aud never so much as at this
day. In reading Shakespeare, you will
find yourself armed for the law, for divin-
ity, and for commerce with men.
EDMUND BURKE-GoETHE.
Burke is an author that no young man,
certainly in the law, can live without.
For the nobility of his sentiment for the
truth, honor, and justice of the man; for
his great powers, for his fine perceptions,
| should think it would be the pride of all
the young men studying law, that they
had man so commanding and so beau
tiful as Burke always before them. His
character was as pure as his mind There
is period in the education of every young
man literally educated, when Burke is
his master: Happy is that young man. l
have found such young men always in
colleges. They always come to- time