that his hair is grey, and that sorrow seems half
his immortality."

"I."

CLAUD ARIAN HELVETIUS.

If France, at the present day, has not reason to be proud of its
"leading man," it has in former times produced those minds that shed
lustre upon the country, and who, by their literature, add immortality
to its renown. During the eighteenth century, when religious persecution
and intolerance were rampant throughout Europe, France furnished men to
check oppression and expose superstition, while others followed to
lay the foundation of excellence and greatness in the examination and
cultivation of its true source--the mind. Heivetius sought to direct
men's attention to self-examination, and to show how many disputes might
be avoided if each person understood _what_ he was disputing about.
"Helvetius on the Mind" is a work that ought to be read widely, and
studied attentively, especially by "rising young men," as it is one of
those _Secular_ works too rarely found among our literature.

Claud Arian Helvetius was born in Paris in the year 1715. After his
preparatory studies, he was sent to the College of Louis le Grand,
having for his tutor the famous Poree, who bestowed additional attention
upon Heivetius, perceiving in him great talent and genius. Early in life
Heivetius formed the friendship of some of the leading minds of France,
Montesquieu being his intimate friend. Voltaire, too, sought his
correspondence when at the age of twenty-three, calling him his "Young
Apollo," and his "Son of Parnassus." The first literary attempts of
Helvetius consisted of poetry--"Epistles on Happiness," which appeared
as a posthumous production, with the "lavish commendations" of Voltaire.
After ten years' thought and study Helvetius in 1758, published a
work entitled "De L'Esprit," which brought upon him a great amount of
persecution. The Parliament of Paris condemned it, and Helvetius was
removed from the office he held of "Maitre d'Hotel to the Queen."
Voltaire remarks:--"it is a little extraordinary that they should have
persecuted, disgraced, and harassed, a much respected philosopher of our
days, the innocent, the good Helvetius, for having said that if men
had been without hands they could not have built houses, or worked in
tapestry. Apparently those who have condemned this proposition, have a
secret for cutting stones and wood, and for sewing with the feet.... I
have no doubt that they will soon condemn to the galleys th