lucre and profession;"--[that is, for most of those
objects which are meant by the ordinary citers of the saying, 'Knowledge
is power;'] "and seldom, sincerely, to give a true account of these
gifts of reason to the benefit and use of men; as if there were sought
in knowledge a couch whereupon to rest a searching and restless spirit;
or a terrace for a wandering and variable mind to walk up and down, with
a fair prospect; or a tower of state for a proud mind to raise itself
upon; or a fort or commanding ground for strife and contention; or a
shop for profit or sale--and not a rich storehouse for the glory of the
Creator, and the relief of men's estate."--ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING, BOOK
I.

UNCLE JOHN; OR, THE ROUGH ROAD TO RICHES.

England affords, even in these degenerate days of peace, innumerable
examples of the class called "lucky fellows;" that is to say, men who
have begun life with a charity-school education and a shilling, and are
now prosperous in wealth and station. Perhaps it is hardly fair to
impute to good-luck, what may be mainly owing to industry, frugality,
patience, and perseverance. But, after all, one may starve with all
these virtues, in spite of all that copy-book maxims may say to the
contrary. There is good-luck in success, whatever may have been the
qualities by which that good luck has been seized at the right moment
and turned to good account. Industry, frugality, patience, and
perseverance, form a perfect locomotive--good-luck is the engine-driver
who turns the handle and sets them in motion at the right moment.

Men who have been the "architects of their own fortunes," never admit
that good luck has had any thing to do with their prosperity. Their
pardonable vanity at their own success makes them guilty of a species
of ingratitude to Providence. Listen to one of these old gentlemen
holding forth to his hopeful son or nephew on his, the said old
gentleman's, past life; on his early poverty, his self-denial, his hard
work, and his subsequent reward; and the burden of his discourse is ever
the same,

"_Alone_ I did it, boy!"

Should the listener at any point be tempted rashly to exclaim "how
lucky!" the old gentleman will turn on him with a severe frown and say,
"luck, sir; nonsense. There's no such thing as luck. Live on a crust,
sir; that's the only way for a man to get on in the world." The old
gentleman quite forgets that if his first venture in the _Chutnee_ East
Indiaman ha