...
Not only a man's actions are effaced and vanish with him; his
virtues and generous qualities die with him also. His intellect
only is immortal, and bequeathed unimpaired to posterity. Words
are the only things that last for ever." (18)
NOTES
(1) 'Kaye's 'Lives of Indian Officers.'
(2) Emerson, in his 'Society and Solitude,' says "In contemporaries,
it is not so easy to distinguish between notoriety and fame. Be
sure, then, to read no mean books. Shun the spawn of the press or
the gossip of the hour.... The three practical rules I have to
offer are these:- 1. Never read a book that is not a year old;
2. Never read any but famed books; 3. Never read any but what you
like." Lord Lytton's maxim is: "In science, read by preference
the newest books; in literature, the oldest."
(3) A friend of Sir Walter Scott, who had the same habit, and prided
himself on his powers of conversation, one day tried to "draw out"
a fellow-passenger who sat beside him on the outside of a coach,
but with indifferent success. At length the conversationalist
descended to expostulation. "I have talked to you, my friend,"
said he, "on all the ordinary subjects--literature, farming,
merchandise, gaming, game-laws, horse-races, suits at law,
politics, and swindling, and blasphemy, and philosophy: is there
any one subject that you will favour me by opening upon?" The
wight writhed his countenance into a grin: "Sir," said he, "can
you say anything clever about BEND-LEATHER?" As might be
expected, the conversationalist was completely nonplussed.
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