And among these stars there may be many larger, but assuredly there is none clearer, than this Newton.

From these earnest explorers of the magnificent wilderness of the night, we turn to the daring explorer of the seas, Christopher Columbus. This remarkable man was born in Genoa, about the year 1436. His father was a poor wool-comber. At fourteen, he left his native town as a sailor. He afterwards settled in Madrid, and earned his bread by making and selling of Maps. Here he matured that great idea, the product of which was-America. We next find him visiting John II., of Portugal, seeking the means of realizing his idea, without success; visiting his native city with the like purpose, and the same success; making offers to the Venetian Government, which are rejected. Next visiting Spain; for five years remaining there in uncertainty; sends his brother to England, who is captured by pirates; in 1491 is refused all assistance by Spanish sovereigns, and offers to Spanish nobles are equally without success. New efforts to obtain assistance from the Spanish government are successful; and, finally, on the 3rd day of August, 1492, eighteen years after he had matured his project, and in the 56th year of his age, he set forth upon that voyage which in its result has changed the character of Europe.

We look upon the character of Columbus with deep interest; for that Spirit of Enterprise whose representative he was, is the same spirit that found this England covered with tallspreading old forest trees, savage men dwelling beneath their shadows, or journeying through wide jungles in the track of the wolf, or the wild-boar, with the sun for their sole guide, trembling in the roll of the thunder, bowing before the whirlwind as a God, and turning back from the liquid girdle of the sea, as from the limit of space. We

say, the spirit that found England thus, has felled the forest-swept away the jungle called forth armies of teaching and working, and fighting men, many millions strong-built London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool Manchester, and Leeds-rendered the old melancholy main cheerful with the sounds of human voices-subdued and made servant of the savage elements of Nature-of fire and water fashioned steeds, that truly laugh at the strength and swiftness of the War-Horseand, finally, has taken captive the nimble lightning, and made it the messenger of men. In contemplating

the character of Columbus, we shall discern those forms of nobleness which are essentials in the Apostle of Enterprise.

Great discoveries are rarely, perhaps we may say never, effected by a single mind. Previous to the advent of a new fact, dim ideas of the matter hover on many minds; men in all countries feel themselves to be on the point of making a revelation, and when the revelation is made, from all sides rises the cry, "We knew it," or "We spoke it," rendering it difficult at any distance of time to determine who was the speaker.

Whilst Columbus was sailing the Mediterranean Sea, undistinguished by any notable deed, but like the hero of Wordsworth's story, "Known to all the stars and all the winds that blow," the scientific mind of his country was filled with unactable ideas, dim traditions, and, resulting from these, conjectures vague enough, concerning certain strange lands, rich in gold and diamonds, and spices, lying somewhere amidst the great sea,-he received into his mind, as in the crucible of a chemist, all the vague matter, and from such materials fashioned an idea, capable of bearing the body of action. This power of receiving the vague and producing the compact, is the form of nobleness visible first in the Ministers of Enterprise.

We observe next that there is a certain sublimity in the faith which this man had in himself. He had not to draw his strength from others. No great deed has ever been done by the man whose strength comes from without. The world has two descriptions of strong men: the first are strong from power of soul, and we rely upon their being in their place and doing their duty, as we rely upon night and day and the seasons; the second are the strong men of society, to-day strong for evil or strong for good, and to-mor row as the sand ofthe Desert. Columbus belonged to the strong from power of soul, and he was nobly conscious that he did so. It required none of the soft fanning winds of friendship or flattery to prevent the active fires of enthusiasm in him from sinking into dusty inactivity. Behold him when his great idea was matured, journeying from Court to Court, here treated as a madman, there as an impostor, by all mildly judging men as a visionary. He felt that he was no madman-he knew that he was no impostor-he believed that he was no visionary, but a

man having a faith, and a reason for the faith that was in him, and strength of heart to combat the world's unreason, though the battle should last for years. In consequence of this faith in himself, he had no dread of the future. He knew that before the future could have any effect upon him, it must become the present, and having so often wrestled with the difficulties of to-day and put them under his foot, he felt able to do the same with the difficulty of to-morrow. He knew that if a man do the work of to-day honestly and wisely, to-morrow will be his friend. Columbus believed himself equal to the exigencies of the time, and he was so,-whether his work was sailing Mediterranean Crafts, making maps, or travelling in search of Patrons, treating with Sovereigns or commanding seas so silent, that he might have said with Coleridge's Ancient Mariner, "God himself scarce seemed there to be." He stood proudly towering above the event a superior, a director. His faith was that the vital strength of a man did not proceed from gold, nor from land, nor from trade, or profession, or office, nor from the symbols of power, lawn, ermine or Crown, but from quality of Soul in the man, and he felt that he, under the sky, on the rockbuilt earth, or on the multitude of waters, was a power able to will and to do!

When a truth has been lived by a man it receives a profound emphasis. One truth that received this emphasis in the life of Columbus is worthy of notice here. A man should not refuse to do that which he can do, because, by certain hindrances, he is prevented from doing the great thing which he feels himself capable of. Let him un

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derstand that if he cannot trample upon all such hindrances and do the thing, that it will require a different sort of man to do it. It is a deep truth, that what a man does effect, is the limit of what a man can effect; a truth which, sufficiently considered, would relieve us of much of that idle murmuring so common among young men, about wrong positions in society," "work unworthy of their talents," and so forth. This Columbus believed that he could find strange countries, and he did find them; yet, until it was in his power to begin the search, he was content to make maps and remain silent. The life of every man is a revelation, written on eternity by the eternal; and although the divinest truths therein may be slow in evolving themselves, yet, there ever are some truths which those who run may read: that the result of a life of honest thought and action does not necessarily bear any proportion to the means at a man's disposal in the commencement of that life, is impressively taught by that of Columbus. At thirty a sailor of no note; at forty a drawer and seller of maps; at fifty pointed to by children in the streets, as the mad Italian; yet he, when the snows of well-nigh sixty winters had blown in his face, gave to civilized Europe half a world. Four hundred years have rolled over since that old Italian mariner endured the storm of life on this earth, in all that four hundred years, no braver soul has dwelt upon it. Look upon the strong and become strong, says a wise proverb, and truly a man cannot in all the ages look upon a stronger-hearted man than this valiant World-Finder.

(To be concluded in next number.)

[WE have much pleasure in laying the following address before our readers. It was delivered on the occasion of the Discussion Class resuming its meetings last autumn, and assembling for the first time in the Club-house. In compliance with the strongly-expressed wish of those to whom it was delivered, Mr. Estill most kindly consented to its publication, and we rejoice that we are permitted to give it insertion in our pages.-EDIT.] :

It was my intention on offering you my congratulation on this, our first meeting under our own roof, to have availed myself of the position in which, with more of courtesy I fear, than good judgment, you have placed me, to lay before you in a somewhat connected form, my ideas as to the course of proceeding in the conduct of this class, best calculated to attain the ultimate object for which I apprehend it is established-mental improvement in the highest sense of that term. But the anticipated leisure which I had intended to devote to the consideration of the subject, was very unexpectedly interrupted by other matters of importance, which could not be put aside, and it is only just at the eleventh hour that I have been able to throw together the few crude suggestions with which I shall now briefly trouble you.

I need not advert to the importance of this class, that I doubt not is well understood by you-nor will it be necessary to enlarge on the advantages to be derived from free discussion, and the cultivation of the power of conveying with clearness and facility our thoughts and ideas to others. The mere fact of your presence, of your attendance on this class, is evidence that, to some extent at least, you comprehend and appreciate these advantages. My remarks will therefore be directed chiefly to what, as I before observed, I conceive to be the ultimate object of our meetings-Mental Improvement.

There can be no doubt that the attempt to give clear, precise utterance to thought, is one of the most effectual processes of mental discipline; and in no way can we more effectually aid our

own intellect than by a reciprocity and free expression to others of the results of our individual reflections. We understand ourselves better, our conceptions grow clearer, by the very effort to make them clear to others. "We are not born for ourselves alone but for all the world!" Any talents we may possess, our powers of thought and reflection, as well as our other faculties, are of value to ourselves, in proportion as we can make them available to the advantage, improvement, and well-being of others. But while it is difficult to overrate the great advantages of the power of expression, and the ready communication of what we may ourselves know for the benefit of others, and while I attach due weight to the importance of forming and cultivating this habit, I conceive there is a higher purpose to which this class may be made conducive, I mean the conscientious, disinterested, earnest desire to arrive at right conclusions, the acquirement of correct and just opinions, the attainment of enlarged views-of a just appreciation of what is right and truein short the acquisition of truth itself, which it must ever be remembered is the "great object of the understanding"-ready utterance, acute reasoning, clearness of intellect, will be of little value if they be not applied earnestly, disinterestedly, and, I would almost say, exclusively, towards the great end and purpose of all intellectual culture, all mental discipline, worthy of the name-the acquisition of Truth.

It appears to me, therefore, that the amount of real, substantial benefit to be derived from this class, will depend most materially

In the first place, on the subjects selected for discussion; and,

Secondly, on the mode and spirit in which those subjects are discussed. The greater or less degree in which you make the pursuit of truth, the groundwork and principle on which your proceedings are based.

If this view be correct, therefore, the first duty of your committee, when any subject is proposed to them, will be to consider whether, keeping this principle in view, any profit can be derived in its discussion-not simply whether it will afford matter for debate, or ingenuity of argument-but whether it is calculated to enlarge our views, to