8. Upon the river's further strand And the hapless toll-man, with babes and wife, 9. When shall the Brave Man's praises swell Ah! name him now, he tarries long; O speed, for the terrible death draws near; 10. Quick gallops up, with headlong speed, And, lo! on high his fingers hold A purse well stored with shining gold. Two hundred pistoles' for the man who shall Yon perishing wretch from the yawning wave!" 11. Who is the Brave Man, say, my song: Though, Heaven be praised, right brave he b O, Brave Man! O, Brave Man! arise, appear! 12. And ever higher swell the waves, And louder still the storm-wind raves, O, Brave Man! Brave Man! haste, appear! 27 13. Again, again before their eyes, High holds the Count the glittering prize; Of all the thousand stirs not one. And the toll-man in vain, through the tumult wì 1 Out-screams the tempest with wife and child. 14. But who amid the crowd is seen, In peasant garb, with simple mien, He hears the Count, and the scream of fear; 15. Into a skiff he boldly sprang; He braved the storm that round him rang: He called aloud on God's great name, 16. The river round him boiled and surged; So fierce rolled the river, that scarce the last 17. Who is the Brave Man? Say, my song, But 't was, perchance, the prize to win. 18. Out spake the Count, “Right boldly done! 19. “Poor though I be, thy hand withhold; Yon hapless man is ruined now; Great Count, on him thy gift bestow." 20. Then loudly let his praises swell So glory to God, by whose gift I raise FROM THE GERMAN OF BURGER. LXXIV. - A PUPIL'S TRIBUTE TO HIS TEACHER. 1. JOHN HENDERSON was born at Limerick, in Ireland, but came to England early in life with his parents. From the age of three years he discovered the pres ́ages of a great mind. Without retracing the steps of his progression, a general idea may be formed of them from the circumstance of his having professionally taught Greek and Latin in a public seminary at the age of twelve years. Some time after, his father commencing a boarding-school in the neighborhood of Bristol, young Henderson undertook to teach the classics; which he did with much reputation, extending, at the same time, his own knowledge in the sciences and general literature to a degree that rendered him a prodigy of intelligence. ΕΙ 2. At the age of eighteen, by an intensity of application of which few persons can conceive, he had not only thoughtfully perused all the popular English authors of a later date, but taker an extensive survey of foreign literature. He had also waded through the folios of the Schoolmen, as well as scrutinized, with the minutest attention, into the more obsolete writers of the ast three centuries; preserving, at the same time, a distinguishing sense of their respective merits, particular sentiments, and characteristic traits; which, on proper occasions, he com ́mented upon in a manner that astonished the learned listener, not more by his profound remarks than by his cool and sententious eloquence. 3. So surprisingly retentive was his memory, that he never forgot what he had once learned, nor did it appear that he ever suffered even an image to be effaced from his mind; whilst the ideas which he had so rapidly accumulated existed in his brain not as a huge chaos, but as clear and well-organized systems, illustrative of every subject, and subservient to every call. It was this quality which made him so superior a disputant; for, as his mind had investigated the various sentiments and hypotheses of men, so had his almost intuitive discrimination stripped them of their deceptive appendages, and separated fallacies from truth, marshalling their arguments so as to elucidate or detect each other. EI ΕΙ ΕΙ EI 4. But, in all his disputations, it was an invariable maxim with him never to interrupt the most tedious or confused oppōnents, though, from his pithy questions, he made it evident that, from the first, he anticipated the train and consequences of their reasonings. His favorite studies were, Philology, History, Astron my, Medicine, Theology, Logic, and Metaphysics, with all the branches of Natural and Experimental Philoso, hy; and that his attainments were not superficial will be readily admitted by those who knew him best. As a linguist, he wa' acquainted with the Persian, Arabic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages, together with the French, Spanish, Italian, and German; and he not only knew their ruling principles and predominant distinc tions, so as to read them with facility, but in the greater part conversed fluently. EI 5. His conversation was such as might have been expected from a man whose fancy was so creative, whose knowledge omnifarious, and whose recollection so unbounded. He combined scholastic accuracy with unaffected ease; condensed and pointed, yet rich and perspicuous. Were it possible for his numerous friends, by any energy of reminiscence, to collect his discourse, John Henderson would be distinguished as a voluminous author, who yet preserved a Spartan frugality of words. 6. In all companies he led the conversation. But in no instance was his superiority oppressive. Calm, attentive and cheerful, he confuted more gracefully than others compliment; the tone of dogmatism and the smile of contempt were equally unknown to him. Sometimes, indeed, he raised himself stronger and more lofty in his eloquence; then chiefly, when, fearful for his weaker brethren, he opposed the arrogance of the illiterate deist, or the worse jargon of sensual and cold-blooded atheism. He knew that the clouds of ignorance which enveloped their understandings steamed up from the pollutions of their hearts, and, crowding his sails, he bore down upon them with salutary violence. 7. But the qualities which most exalted John Henderson in the estimation of his friends were his high sense of honor and the great benevolence of his heart; not that honor which originates in a jealous love of the world's praise, nor that benevolence which delights only in publicity of well-doing. His honor was the anxious delicacy of a Christian, who regarded his soul as a sacred pledge, that must some time be re-delivered to the Almighty lender; his benevolence a circle, in which self indeed might be the centre, but all that lives was the circumference. tribute of respect to thy name and virtues, my beloved Henderson! is paid by one who was once proud to call thee tutor and friend, and who will do honor to thy memory till his spirit rests with thine! This 8. Those who were unacquainted with John Hendersor's char acter may naturally ask, “What test has he left the world of the distinguished talents thus ascribed to him?" None! He cherished a sentiment, which, whilst it teaches humility to ho proud, explains the cause of that silence so generally regretted. Upon the writer of this brief notice once expressing to him some regret at his not having benefited mankind by the result of his deep and varied investigations, he replied, "More men become writers from ignorance than from knowledge, not knowing that they have been anticipated by others. Let us decide with cau tion, and write late." Thus the vastness and variety of his acquirements, and the diffidence of his own mental maturity, alike prevented him from illuminating mankind, till death called him to graduate in a sphere more favorable to the range of his soaring and comprehensive mind. He died on a visit to Oxford, in November, 1788, in the thirty-second year of his age. 9. It would be wrong to close this brief account of John Henderson without naming two other excellences with which he was eminently endowed. First, the ascendency he had acquired over his temper. There are moments in which most persons are susceptible of a transient irritability, but the oldest of his friends never beheld him otherwise than calm and collected. It was a condition he retained under all circumstances, and which, to those over whom he had any influence, he never failed forcibly to inculcate, together with that unshaken firmness of mind which encounters the unavoidable misfortunes of life without repining; and that from the noblest principle, a conviction that they are regulated by Him who cannot err, and who, in His severest allotments, designs only our ultimate good. 10. As a proof of his self-command, the following incident may be adduced. During his residence at Oxford, a student of a neighboring college, proud of his logical acquirements, was solicitous of a private disputation with the renowned Henderson. Some mutual friends introduced him, and, having chosen his subject, they conversed for some time with equal candor and moderation; but at length Henderson's antagonist, perceiving his confutation inevitable, in the height of passion threw a full glass of wine in John Henderson's face. Henderson, without altering his features or changing his position, gently wiped his face, and then coolly replied, "This, sir, is a digression; now for the argument." It is hardly necessary to add, the insult was resented by the company turning the aggress'or out of the room. 11. In a letter from Oxford to my brother Amos, his late pupil, for whom John Henderson always entertained the highest esteem, he thus expresses himself: "See that you govern your p'ussions. What should grieve us but our infirmities? What make us angry but our own faults? A man who knows he is mortal, and that all the world will pass away, and by and by seem only like a tale, a sinner who knows his sufferings are all less than his sins, and designed to break him from them, one who knows that everything in this world is a seed that will have its fruit in eternity, that God is the best, the only good friend, that in Him is all we want, that everything is ordered for the best, so that it could not be better, however we take it. he who believes this in his heart is happy." -- 12. The other excellence referred to was the simplicity and condescension of his manners. From the gigantic stature of his understanding, he was prepared to trample down his pigmy com |