ebt; till his parents, unable any longer to support such expenses,
were glad to seize the first opening in his _cursus_, and recall him.
He returned to them with a mind fevered by intemperance, and a
constitution permanently injured; his heart burning with regret, and
vanity, and love of pleasure; his head without habits of activity or
principles of judgment, a whirlpool where fantasies and hallucinations
and 'fragments of science' were chaotically jumbled to and fro. But
he could babble college-latin; and talk with a trenchant tone about
the 'revolutions of Philosophy.' Such accomplishments procured him
pardon from his parents: the precentorial spirit of his father was
more than reconciled on discovering that Daniel could also preach and
play upon the organ. The good old people still loved their prodigal,
and would not cease to hope in him.

As a preacher Schubart was at first very popular; he imitated Cramer;
but at the same time manifested first-rate pulpit talents of his own.
These, however, he entirely neglected to improve: presuming on his
gifts and their acceptance, he began to 'play such fantastic tricks
before high Heaven,' as made his audience sink to yawning, or explode
in downright laughter. He often preached extempore; once he preached
in verse! His love of company and ease diverted him from study: his
musical propensities diverted him still farther. He had special gifts
as an organist; but to handle the concordance and to make 'the heaving
bellows learn to blow' were inconsistent things.

Yet withal it was impossible to hate poor Schubart, or even seriously
to dislike him. A joyful, piping, guileless mortal, good nature,
innocence of heart, and love of frolic beamed from every feature of
his countenance; he wished no ill to any son of Adam. He was musical
and poetical, a maker and a singer of sweet songs; humorous also,
speculative, discursive; his speech, though aimless and redundant,
glittered with the hues of fancy, and here and there with the keenest
rays of intellect. He was vain, but had no touch of pride; and the
excellencies which he loved in himself, he acknowledged and as warmly
loved in others. He was a man of few or no principles, but his nervous
system was very good. Amid his chosen comrades, a jug of indifferent
beer and a pipe of tobacco could change the earth into elysium for
him, and make his brethren demigods. To look at his laughing eyes, and
his effulgent honest face, you were tempted