simpleton into a man of sense and prudence. There must be a peculiar fitness furnished by nature for any particular department of art, science, or literature, ere it is possible to excel. But when any special gifts are bestowed by nature, culture brings them out to greater advantage. Education can polish the gem, revealing beauties that would have escaped our observation had it always remained in the rough; and yet no polishing under heaven can convert the common pebble into a precious stone.

Mind is impartially bestowed by nature. It is not a gift given to any one privileged class. No class of society has any monopoly here. And for the encouragement of poor men, be it remembered, that poverty, so far from crushing talent or extinguishing natural genius, rather acts as a stimulus. Only recollect that Hugh Miller was a stonemason; and without the privilege of university education, he raised himself by his own efforts to the peerage of intellect. His life is full of lessons of self-culture and self-reliance. John Foster was a poor weaver; and with comparatively little assistance he became one of the most profound and philosophic writers of his age. Dr. Adam Clarke was the son of a poor Irish schoolmaster; and without anything like great advantages at home, and certainly with but few opportunities in after-life at all favourable to his literary pursuits, he became one of the first scholars of his day, and earned himself a name and reputation that will live for generations. And it would be easy to go on enumerating instances and examples of men in every department of business, art, science, and literature, who have risen from the ranks, and left a name engraven on the affectionate memories of their countrymen. It was so in ancient Greece

and Rome: it is so in Europe and America at the present day; and so among ourselves. 'Men great in science, literature, and art,' says Dr. Smiles in Self-Help, 'the apostles of great thoughts and lords of the heart, have sprung indiscriminately from the English farm and the Scotch hill-side, from the workshop and the mine, from the blacksmith's stithy and the cobbler's stool.' The Record newspaper said some time ago, referring to the bishops in the Established Church: 'Dr. Longley is the son of a working barrister, who became a police magistrate; Dr. Thomson was the son of a country draper at Whitehaven, in Cumberland; Dr. Tait was a younger son of an Edinburgh writer to the signet; Dr. Philpott was placed at Cambridge at the expense of a small evangelical society for privately assisting promising young men at the universities; and Dr. Jacob, the Bishop of Chester, was originally educated for the Nonconformist ministry at the Dissenting college at Homerton, when Dr. Pye Smith was the tutor and Dr. Binney was his fellow pupil.'

It is well known that there have been noble examples of mental and moral worth in the higher and middle classes of society, in all ages and nations. And men ought to acknowledge and appreciate worth and excellence wherever found-whether 'clothed in purple and fine linen,' or clothed in honest rags-whether in the humble cottage or beautiful mansion-whether seated on a throne, or toiling for a livelihood in a garret or a cellar. It is no disgrace to be poor. Christ Himself, as to His worldly condition, was a poor man. There may, and frequently is to be found, poverty without any connection whatever with talent and moral worth. All that can be contended for is this-the

condition of birth, in general language, is a mere accident of existence, and to no man's praise or blame. But being poor goads men on in self-culture, rather than fetters the strong-minded, or keeps a truly noble soul from rising. Generally speaking genius is rarely nursed upon the lap of fortune. Riches are a strong temptation to ease and selfindulgence, and it is perfectly clear they are not necessary for man's highest cultivation. While it should be remembered to the honour of the aristocracy, that many of them toil hard in parliament, and furnish valuable contributions to science and literature, and indeed this order gave Bacon to the world, the father of inductive philosophy, Rosse, the constructor of the most extraordinary telescope that was ever made up to that time, and many others, whose names will never perish, it should likewise be remembered that the majority of great and distinguished men have risen from the middle and lower classes. True talent or genius, like the lark or the eagle, soars upward and upward, and circumstances or men can seldom if ever keep it down. All have to attend personally to mental culture, or pass through life in profound ignorance; but for some the struggle is very great as compared with others.

The rich have means

and opportunities which the poor do not possess. It is easier for men who in early life attended some good grammar school, or some public school like Rugby or Harrow, and from thence passed on to Oxford or Cambridge. But for some it is hard indeed, whose only schools and schoolmasters were circumstances and men around them; or perhaps a night school in some remote village, where they learnt little arithmetic and less grammar, and after learning the letters of the alphabet had to do

almost all the rest for themselves. This was all the education which many distinguished men got far on into the present century. Mr. Isaac Holden, of Oakworth, Yorkshire, whose father was a miner, has told us how in his teens he used to work in a mill, often from five in the morning to eight or nine at night, and then go to a night school after working fifteen or sixteen hours. In this way he qualified himself to become mathematical teacher in a boarding-school in Leeds by the time he was twenty or twenty-one years of age. He then became a book-keeper and got some small interest in a mill at Cullingworth. He afterwards invented or perfected a machine for combing wool. He then went into France from a somewhat unsuccessful attempt at manufacturing on his own responsibility in Bradford. To-day his works in France are immense, and his influence marvellous; to say nothing of the large place in Bradford and the great number of hands employed there. He became member of parliament for Knaresborough, and since his retirement he has been active for the public good in various ways. His wealth is great, and so is his liberality. His history teaches what can be accomplished by perseverance and industry, with small means and few aids, and should encourage every poor young man to make the best of the opportunities within his reach.

Some men have said it is self-assertion and not selfculture which is necessary to getting on in life. There is no doubt that boldness, the impudence and self-importance that perpetually tries to elbow others out of the way, is helpful to some people in material prosperity. But they never gain a very lofty kind of elevation; they never

rise above coarseness and vulgarity; and theirs is an education of selfishness at best. It is right that men should dare to be men, and not weakly yield to difficulties or circumstances or the undue self-assertion of other people. A man must firmly, but modestly and kindly, hold his own in life. But culture is better than coarse boldness, leading to vulgar luxuries, as the earthly paradise for which thousands are striving to-day, and caring precious little for any other paradise to follow. Let it be yours to possess a paradise of intellectual and spiritual pleasure. And if material success come, be thankful to God for it, and put it to the right use, leaving vulgar souls to their vulgar joys.