"footprints which perhaps another" has observed with allurement and stimulus; and they have not lived in vain.

Raleigh was unsuccessful; but he left a name that will forever be associated with heroic endeavor and noble character. Kossuth was unsuccessful; but who will say that his patient and high-spirited career, his brilliant oratory and steadfast conduct, have been fruitless? O'Connell was unsuccessful; but who has left a more brilliant name as an orator, and a nobler name as a patriot and liberator?

Even disease and "that fell sergeant Death" do not always conquer genius. The historian Green, though he knew that death would overtake him in a few weeks or months, kept on working until he completed what he had undertaken. Never was there a more striking example of the superiority of mind over body than in the case of this heroic spirit. His wife tells us that when he knew all hope was vain, and that death was a matter of a few weeks or months, he made up his mind to do his utmost to complete one of his histories before laying down his pen forever. "The way of success was closed," says Mrs. Green; "the way of courageous effort still lay open. Touched with the spirit of that impassioned patriotism which animated all his powers, he believed that before he died some faithful work might be accomplished for those who should come after him; and at the moment of his greatest bodily weakness, when fear had deepened into the conviction that he had scarcely a few weeks to live, his decision was made. The old plans for work were taken out, and from these a new scheme was rapidly drawn up, in such a form that, if strength

lasted, it might be wrought into a continuous narrative; while, if life failed, some finished part of it might be embodied in the earlier history. Thus, under the shadow of death, the 'Making of England' was begun, and during the five months in which it was written that shadow never lifted." Who will say that death conquered this indomitable spirit? Such an achievement, greater than any triumph of genius, covers its author with imperishable glory.

Genius is never lost it will out, under the most adverse circumstances, even among the poorest, least cultivated people. I shall, in the next chapter, give you some examples of men in the very humblest station of life-the station which Gray had in view when he wrote his Elegy examples of men who, in spite of the most complete poverty, in spite of apparently insurmountable difficulties, succeeded in "unrolling the page of knowledge," in developing and giving vent to their genius, and in pushing their way up to eminence and fame. I might give you a hundred such examples; nothing could be easier; but two or three will suffice for my purpose. Samuel Smiles's books are full of them; in fact, Smiles is the Plutarch of poor men of genius. His works are more encouraging to struggling genius than those of any other author that I know.

True genius hath electric power

Which earth can never tame:

Bright suns may scorch, and dark clouds lower,

But never quench th' immortal flame.

CHAPTER VIII.

၂၀

EXAMPLES OF GENIUS OVERCOMING DIFFICULTY.

OHN BROWN of Haddington, was born at Carpow, Scotland, in 1722. Losing both his parents at eleven years of age, he became assistant to a venerable shepherd named Ogilvie, who tended his flock on the neighboring hills. The boy showed a strong inclination for study, and Ogilvie encouraged him in his efforts to learn. While minding his flock, the young shepherd not only mastered the Greek and Latin languages, but acquired such large stores of knowledge in various branches, that the country people round about looked upon him as a young Doctor Faustus, in league with the devil. Besides vast stores of Calvinistic divinity and Biblical history, he acquired a knowledge of nine or ten languages, classical, Oriental, and modern; of which knowledge, as we shall see, he subsequently made good use. Weary of the monotony of shepherd-life, and wishing to see the world, he became a peddler, and tramped over the whole country; then a soldier, and fought in the Rebellion of 1745; then a schoolmaster, and studied divinity and general literature while teaching the humanities; then a clergyman, and wrote a famous book, The SelfInterpreting Bible, while earnestly performing the duties of his sacred office.

As a preacher and writer, Brown became one of the most popular men in Scotland; and as a man, one of the most highly esteemed and sincerely loved. One story about him, which I heard when I was a very little boy, made an indellible impression on my mind. While still employed as a shepherd laddie, he had walked to St. Andrews, a distance of twenty miles, in his shepherd-dress, to buy a Greek Testament. He had been tramping all night, and doubtless looked somewhat rough and unkempt on entering the bookseller's shop. The bookseller, surprised at being asked for such a book by such a customer, began to make sport of him. Fortunately, one of the college professors entered the shop at this moment, and the bookseller mentioned the strange request of the shepherd lad. Equally incredulous of the boy's acquirements, the professor said to him, "Now, if you will read a verse of that Testament, and translate it to me, you shall have the book for nothing." The shepherd laddie took it up, read off and translated several verses with ease, and carried off his Greek Testament in triumph!

Valentine Duval was born in Champagne, France, in 1695. Losing his father at ten years of age, he earned a scanty living by herding geese and pulling weeds; then, when this failed, he determined to travel in search of employment. The only thing he knew of geography was that the sun rises in the east; and, imagining that the farther east he went the nearer to the sun he would come, and the warmer he would feel, he travelled steadily eastward. After walking for about one hundred and fifty miles, he came to the foot of the Vosges mountains, where he made the

acquaintance of a farmer, who gave him his flocks to keep. Then, after a time, he pushed on, still eastward; and finding himself, toward the approach of night, in the middle of an unknown forest, he kept on till he came near the outskirts of the same, when, fortunately, he espied a little hut, which he found occupied by a hermit. This man, who had been a priest, perceiving the boy to be bright and intelligent, offered to teach him to read and write, if he would stay with him. Valentine accepted the offer, and, after two or three months, found he had learned as much as his master could teach him. Then he went forward again, still eastward, and coming to a monastery in Lorraine, in which he had heard Learning had taken up her abode, he applied for admission as a servant. The monks received him joyfully, and he contracted with them to herd sheep a certain number of hours every day in reward for food and clothing. When off duty, he hunted for wild cats and other fur-bearing animals in the mountains; skinned his prey; carried the skins to a neighboring town, where he sold them, and bought books with the proceeds. I fancy I see him, coming in, like a wild man of the woods, laden with skins; and going off, like a man who had found a treasure, laden with books! This is what the "divine hunger" impelled him to do.

One day, while herding his sheep on the hills, he spread out a map of the world on the grass; and was leaning over it, trying to find out some spot of particular interest, when a gentleman approached, looked at him with surprise, and asked him what he was doing. "Why, you see what I am doing; I am