r means. It is the soul of man which constitutes the dignity of his
being, and makes him the king of the universe. Now the body is the
dwelling of the soul--the palace of this noble king; the nobility of the
soul must induce us to attend to its palace--to the health and strength
and beauty of the body;--health, strength and beauty are the noble
qualities of the body.

The noble qualities of the soul are virtue and learning. Virtue and
learning are the two trees planted by God in Paradise; they are the two
great luminaries created by God to give light to the world; they are the
two Testaments, the Old and the New; they are the two sisters, Martha
and Mary, living under one roof in great union and harmony, and mutually
supporting each other.

Learning is, next to virtue, the most noble ornament and the highest
improvement of the human mind. It is by learning that all the natural
faculties of the mind obtain an eminent degree of perfection. The memory
is exceedingly improved by appropriate exercise, and becomes, as it
were, a storehouse of names, facts, entire discourses, etc., according
to every one's exigency or purposes. The understanding--the light of the
soul--is exceedingly improved by exercise, and by the acquisition of
solid science and useful knowledge. Judgment, the most valuable of all
the properties of the mind, and by which the other faculties are poised,
governed and directed, is formed and perfected by experience, and
regular well-digested studies and reflection; and by them it attains to
true justness and taste. The mind, by the same means, acquires a
steadiness, and conquers the aversion which sloth raises against the
serious employments of its talents.

How much the perfection of the mind depends upon culture, appears in the
difference of understanding between the savages (who, except in
treachery, cunning and shape, scarce seem to differ from the apes which
inhabit their forests) and the most elegant and civilized nations. A
piece of ground left wild produces nothing but weeds and briers, which
by culture would be covered with corn, flowers and fruit. The difference
is not less between a rough mind and one that is well cultivated.

The same natural culture, indeed, suits not all persons. Geniuses must
be explored, and the manner of instructing proportioned to them. But
there is one thing which suits all persons, and without which knowledge
is nothing but "a sounding brass and tinkling cymbal": this is