In other words, to what degree do I value my faculties and my
attainments for their own sakes? or are they chiefly prized by me on
account of the distinction which they confer, or the superiority which
they give me over others? Am I aware that immediate influence and a
general acknowledgment of merit are no necessary adjuncts of a
successful adherence to study and meditation in those departments of
knowledge which are of most value to mankind;--that a recompense of
honours and emoluments is far less to be expected; in fact, that there
is little natural connection between them? Have I perceived this truth;
and, perceiving it, does the countenance of philosophy continue to
appear as bright and beautiful in my eyes?--Has no haze bedimmed it? Has
no cloud passed over and hidden from me that look which was before so
encouraging? Knowing that it is my duty, and feeling that it is my
inclination, to mingle as a social being with my fellow men; prepared
also to submit cheerfully to the necessity that will probably exist of
relinquishing, for the purpose of gaining a livelihood, the greatest
portion of my time to employments where I shall have little or no choice
how or when I am to act; have I, at this moment, when I stand as it were
upon the threshold of the busy world, a clear intuition of that
pre-eminence in which virtue and truth (involving in this latter word
the sanctities of religion) sit enthroned above all denominations and
dignities which, in various degrees of exaltation, rule over the desires
of men? Do I feel that, if their solemn mandates shall be forgotten, or
disregarded, or denied the obedience due to them when opposed to others,
I shall not only have lived for no good purpose, but that I shall have
sacrificed my birth-right as a rational being; and that every other
acquisition will be a bane and a disgrace to me? This is not spoken with
reference to such sacrifices as present themselves to the youthful
imagination in the shape of crimes, acts by which the conscience is
violated; such a thought, I know, would be recoiled from at once, not
without indignation; but I write in the spirit of the ancient fable of
Prodicus, representing the choice of Hercules. Here is the World, a
female figure approaching at the head of a train of willing or giddy
followers: her air and deportment are at once careless, remiss,
self-satisfied, and haughty: and there is Intellectual Prowess, with a
pale cheek and serene brow, leading