THE GREAT CONVERSERS, and OtherTM Essays. 1 volume. 12mo. Pages 304. Price 1 50

WILLIAM MATHEWS, LL.D.,

PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC AND ENGLISH LITERATURE IN THE UNIVERSITY

OF CHICAGO.

Fungar vice cotis, acutum

Reddere quæ ferrum valet, exsors ipsa secandi.

HORACE.

Do not shun this maxim as commonplace. On the contrary, take the closest
heed of what observant men, who would probably like to show originality, are
yet constrained to repeat. Therein lies the marrow of the wisdom of the world.
-ARTHUR HELPS.

FIFTY-FOURTH THOUSAND.

CHICAGO:

S. C. GRIGGS AND COMPANY.
1883.

1

PUBLIC LIBRARY

75251 A

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.

PRESS OF

KNIGHT & LEONARD

CHICAGO

Quit yourselves like men. -1 Samuel iv. 9.

A sacred burden is the life ye bear,
Look on it, lift it, bear it solemnly,
Stand up and walk beneath it steadfastly.

Fail not for sorrow, falter not for sin,

But onward, upward, till the goal ye win.
FRANCES ANNE KEMBLE.

In general I have no patience with people who talk about "the thoughtlessness of youth" indulgently; I had infinitely rather hear of thoughtless old age, and the indulgence due to that. When a man has done his work, and nothing can any way be materially altered in his fate, let him forget his toil, and jest with his fate, if he will; but what excuse can you find for wilfulness of thought at the very time when every crisis of fortune hangs on your decisions? A youth thoughtless, when all the happiness of his home forever depends on the chances or the passions of an hour! A youth thoughtless, when the career of all his days depends on the opportunity of a moment! A youth thoughtless, when his every action is a foundation-stone of future conduct, and every imagination a fountain of life or death! Be thoughtless in any after years, rather than now, though, indeed, there is only one place where a man may be nobly thoughtless, his deathbed. Nothing should ever be left to be done there. RUSKIN.

There is no fault nor folly of my life that does not rise up against me, and take away my joy and shorten my power of possession, of sight, of understanding. And every past effort of my life, every gleam of rightness or good in it, is with me now, to help me in my grasp of this art and its vision. — Ib.

For of all sad words of tongue or pen,

The saddest are these, "It might have been!

WHITTIER.

The well-known, worn-out topics of consolation and of encouragement are become trite because they are reasonable. - RICHARD SHARP.

NSFER FROM C. JAN

1923