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15 MAR I 18 if power acting on

the intellectual and moral nature of others; these again on the age succeeding and thus the influence of a single mind may be traced through all the generations of time, and even amid the destinies of the future world. Compared with this power, how poor a thing is the glory which has been won on a hundred fields! To teach a body of men certain physical movements or military manœuvres, and by some superior tact so dispose them on the day of battle as to insure a triumph, is not to be named with the achievement of educating a single mind, and qualifying that mind to conquer every difficulty that lies between itself and the acquisition of knowledge. And he who in the pursuit of knowledge adds a single additional truth to the existing facts and discoveries of science, has done more to benefit the world and his race than the hero who has subdued nations.

There are men who glory in their physical strength; and yet the most limited knowledge of mechanics is inconceivably to be preferred to the muscular power of a Samson. This is seen in the difference between the brawny labourer who can lift and carry a heavy weight, and the mechanist who constructs an engine, which, by the simplest process, enables him to dispose of masses which no arm of flesh could ever move. This difference lies wholly in a point of knowledge. Intelligence and information have worked wonders. In the late unpropitious expedition on the Niger, all the engineers on board the steam vessel were either swept away or laid prostrate by a deadly fever. The vessel was up the river, far from the ocean; and on those pestilential waters she must have rested till her whole crew had fallen victims to the fatal malady. No individual fit for service knew how to work the engine. A gentleman, who belonged to the expedition, having consulted a treatise on the steam engine, and after receiving some trivial directions from a surviving but suffering engineer, with a boldness which desperation made necessary, undertook to work the engine. Heaven prospered his effort:-under his direction the "Albert" sped her way down the river, and Dr. Stanger, from this slight knowledge, became the instrument of saving both himself and those that were with him. But for him, and a few days would have seen the vessel floating with a crew of corpses -holding out a dark trophy of the triumph of disease and death over science and courage. Amid the endless contingencies incident to our present state of being, there will not be wanting occasions when we may make the most successful application of our knowledge; and, in proportion to the depth and extent of that knowledge, is the power which we possess. The power of knowledge is felt and acknowledged in all the relations of life. If one member of a family be distinguished for his wider intelligence and enlarged information, his voice is regarded as an oracle, and to his judgment, in everything great and important, willing homage is paid. If in a house of business, there be a situation of trust and confidence to fill up, it is (ceteris paribus) bestowed on the most enlightened and intelligent among those employed. If parties are disposed to assist young men in their efforts to rise to independence, they generally confine their favours to those who exhibit some degree of mental cultivation. If in any association of individuals there be a mind of superior order, it becomes the presiding genius. In the pulpit, and at the bar, real talent takes the precedence. Justly so. The adventitious circumstances of birth, or rank, or riches, are not to be put in competition with intellectual power;-these may be the property of the most unenlightened and illiterate among men. It is not on

herent in his nature;-these are the result of patient investigation and repeated thought. And just as you thus proceed, increased light will flash upon your mind, and fresh truths command your belief:-your progress and your profit will run parallel the one with the other. If Archimedes, on entering a bath, and observing how the weight of his own body displaced the water, discovered the specific gravities of different bodies, and forgetful of his situation, ran out into the street, exclaiming, "I have found it-I have found it," we may conceive of the satisfaction enjoyed by the individual who has reached his first result in intellectual effort, or his delight at each successive result. It would be more than painful for him to withdraw from the path on which he has entered. Here ignorance would not be bliss:—it is scarcely possible to conceive of a state more distressing. As has been said with great beauty and force-"Begin to the child in the nursery some ballad, which involves a tale of marvellous incident, and stop in the very midst of the tale, and his little heart will be almost in agony till you resume the narrative." So it will be with the man, who is but a full-grown child, when he has entered on the pursuit of knowledge. Arrest him at the point where the mind has become truly inquisitive, and it is like an attempt to destroy his intellectual being-to annihilate his whole

nature.

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It is a trite, but full-meaning remark, that-KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. influence is greater than that of any earthly possession. It will lift a man into a position which he could not purchase with the gold of Peru. Wealth may surround him with his sycophants and slaves:-there are thousands who will fall down and worship the golden image-prostrate both soul and body, and, for the sake of the sordid thing, lick the very dust. But what respect do we offer to such a man; nay, in what contempt do we hold him? Riches can never be substituted for intelligence-never command the high ground to which knowledge rises. That a man should have been born in a humble station, have moved in the lower walks of life, and have had to struggle with difficulties, are no reasons why he should not endeavour to ascend, and gain one of the many eminences which rise before him. Professor Heyne, of Gottingen, who ranked as the first classical scholar in Europe, was the son of a poor weaver in Saxony, and one of a numerous family for whom parental industry was barely sufficient to provide. His difficulties in the pursuit of knowledge were many and depressing :—he conceived that Fortune had thrown him among the dust. Still he was induced to try whether he could not rise by the power of effort. The humiliation of his condition was the stimulus that incessantly spurred him on-the shame and degradation which the want of a good education would impose upon him. He resolved to encounter his difficulties-to battle courageously with Fortune. The conflict was great, but signal was the victory. After many years of trial and suffering, his reputation was established for firstrate scholarship. He soon received an appointment to one of the professorial chairs of Gottingen, which he filled for nearly half a century; and, when he died in 1812, his fellow-citizens felt that their university and city had sustained no common loss. Such a man, in such a position, exerted an influence beyond all human calculation. During the fifty years he occupied the professorial chair, he came into contact with mind in its most interesting circumstances. Thousands of young men sat at his feet with eager and opening intelligence-received his thoughts, and imbibed his spirit. Each of these minds became in itself a centre of power acting on

the intellectual and moral nature of others; these again on the age succeeding and thus the influence of a single mind may be traced through all the generations of time, and even amid the destinies of the future world. Compared with this power, how poor a thing is the glory which has been won on a hundred fields! To teach a body of men certain physical movements or military manoeuvres, and by some superior tact so dispose them on the day of battle as to insure a triumph, is not to be named with the achievement of educating a single mind, and qualifying that mind to conquer every difficulty that lies between itself and the acquisition of knowledge. And he who in the pursuit of knowledge adds a single additional truth to the existing facts and discoveries of science, has done more to benefit the world and his race than the hero who has subdued nations.

There are men who glory in their physical strength; and yet the most limited knowledge of mechanics is inconceivably to be preferred to the muscular power of a Samson. This is seen in the difference between the brawny labourer who can lift and carry a heavy weight, and the mechanist who constructs an engine, which, by the simplest process, enables him to dispose of masses which no arm of flesh could ever move. This difference lies wholly in a point of knowledge. Intelligence and information have worked wonders. In the late unpropitious expedition on the Niger, all the engineers on board the steam vessel were either swept away or laid prostrate by a deadly fever. The vessel was up the river, far from the ocean; and on those pestilential waters she must have rested till her whole crew had fallen victims to the fatal malady. No individual fit for service knew how to work the engine. A gentleman, who belonged to the expedition, having consulted a treatise on the steam engine, and after receiving some trivial directions from a surviving but suffering engineer, with a boldness which desperation made necessary, undertook to work the engine. Heaven prospered his effort:-under his direction the "Albert" sped her way down the river, and Dr. Stanger, from this slight knowledge, became the instrument of saving both himself and those that were with him. But for him, and a few days would have seen the vessel floating with a crew of corpses -holding out a dark trophy of the triumph of disease and death over science and courage. Amid the endless contingencies incident to our present state of being, there will not be wanting occasions when we may make the most successful application of our knowledge; and, in proportion to the depth and extent of that knowledge, is the power which we possess. The power of knowledge is felt and acknowledged in all the relations of life. If one member of a family be distinguished for his wider intelligence and enlarged information, his voice is regarded as an oracle, and to his judgment, in everything great and important, willing homage is paid. If in a house of business, there be a situation of trust and confidence to fill up, it is (ceteris paribus) bestowed on the most enlightened and intelligent among those employed. If parties are disposed to assist young men in their efforts to rise to independence, they generally confine their favours to those who exhibit some degree of mental cultivation. If in any association of individuals there be a mind of superior order, it becomes the presiding genius. In the pulpit, and at the bar, real talent takes the precedence. Justly so. The adventitious circumstances of birth, or rank, or riches, are not to be put in competition with intellectual power;-these may be the property of the most unenlightened and illiterate among men. It is not on

gle which cannot be completed until all the young people—men and women, are enjoy ing similar privileges. But, Sir, we are met to do more than congratulate each other. We are met to say that we have erected a monument, and to open the doors of it to the public-a monument which combines the utile et dulce-a monument where science sits in its most inviting form -science for the young and the old-science for the rich and the poor-science for the churchmen and the dissenter, without the slightest shade of distinction being recognised between the young and old, the rich and poor, the churchman and the dissenter." -Cheltenham Free Press.

Two Lectures have been delivered in this town, in support of the movement. We sincerely hope that the public and the employers of Cheltenham will lend their aid and concurrence to the assistants in curtailing the hours of business.

HIGH WYCOMBE. — An Association of Assistants was formed during last summer for obtaining an abridgement of the hours of toil. The result of their labours has been

that, during the winter, the business hours terminate at 7, during the spring and autumn at 8, and during the summer at 9. Thus released, they have formed an Institute, and lectures have been and are being delivered on interesting and important subjects.

PENZANCE. Here, in consequence of the earlier closing of shops, one of the most appropriate rooms in the town has been engaged, in which lectures have been delivered during the winter. "But," remarks our correspondent, "the spring and the summer months are coming on, when nature puts on her gay and inviting dress, and with them returns the old practice late shutting. I would ask why may not the shops be closed early through the summer months too?"

PORTSMOUTH. Here, many of our readers are aware, the question of short hours was first agitated in the autumn presided over by the Mayor, and the imporof 1843, when a public meeting was held, usually devoted to business, was very ably tance of doing something to shorten the hours set forth by several ministers and gentlemen. An association for effecting the above object was subsequently formed, which determined on recommending to the inhabitants that the shops be closed at 8 o'clock in winter, and 9 o'clock in summer. We regret to learn that this recommendation has not been

rigorously observed, and that with the exception of the Drapers, there has been no uniformity in the hours of closing business; in the immediate vicinity, but without the and even some of the latter trade residing walls of the town, keep open, to the injury HULL.-Lectures and sermons, in sup-going regulation. We learn, too, that a deof their neighbours, who observe the foreport of the movement against the late-hoursystem of business, have been delivered by the Revs. J. H. Bromley, N. B. Hall, J. Pulsford, and R. Thompson. A favorable impression has been produced, and all the Drapers' establishments, with the exception of four, have consented to close at past 7, 8, and 9, P. M. according to the season of the year. The Grocers and Ironmongers at 8, and the Chemists at 8 and 9.

is our

LEICESTER.-A movement, partially successful, has been proceeding here; earnest desire to see it become more general.

gree of apathy exists among the employed, in reference to this subject, which is much to be deplored. Surely it is a matter that deeply concerns their immediate interests, and they, of all others, should seek, by every legitimate means, to rivet public attention to the important fact that they are sufferers from late hours of business.

REDDITCH.-The Drapers, and other houses of business generally, have agreed to close their shops at 8 o'clock all the year round, excepting on Saturdays.