Dr. Johnson used to relate, that he was once applied to by a man who was clerk to a very eminent trader, and who was half-crazed with some scrupulosity of conscience. "I asked him," said Johnson, "when he left the counting-house of an evening? 'At seven o'clock, sir.' 'And when do you go to bed, sir?' At twelve o'clock.' 'Then,' replied I; I have at least learned thus much by my new acquaintance-that five hours of the four-and-twenty unemployed are enough for a man to go mad in: so I would advise you, sir, to study algebra, if you are not an adept already in it; your head would get less muddy.'"* In correspondence with this, the same great scholar used to advise young people never to be without a book in their pocket, to be read at times when they had nothing else to do. "It has been by that means," said he one day to a boy at Mr. Thrale's, "that all my knowledge has been gained, except what I have picked up by running about the world with my wits ready to observe, and my tongue ready to talk." While Learn to husband your odd moments. a companion keeps you out of employment you may gain a new idea. I have been acquainted with a man who committed to memory much valuable matter while he was shaving; and have known many who were accustomed to read on horseback; one of these being the late learned and eloquent Dr. Speece of Virginia. Since the * Croker's Boswell: 1781. application of steam to spinning, those who attend the mules may read during the intervals. A mule spinner in England told Mr. Tuffnell, that in this manner he had perused several volumes. While dinner waits, one may study a minute, or even write. "I had heard," says Madame de Genlis, "that M. d'Aguesseau had written in a few years four volumes quarto, by employing the fifteen minutes a day which Madame d'Aguesseau occupied in arranging her dress before coming down to dinner. I profited by the example. The hour of dinner at the Palais Royal was fixed at two, but the Duchesse de Chartres was never ready for a quarter of an hour later; and when I came down at the appointed time, I was always desired to wait fifteen or twenty minutes. I spent that time in writing in a distinct and small hand a selection of poetry from various authors." Here is a lesson, the benefit of which need not be confined to lords and ladies. In shops, and factories, and sitting-rooms, and nurseries, the same thing may be attempted. Make the most of reading aloud. Where there is a room full of people, one who has leisure may thus instruct a dozen, or a score ; provided the work is not noisy. In country places, or where operations are carried on at home, a little child may instruct the whole family. The wife and daughters may hear as well as sew. Indeed, it needs but little contrivance, in some large families, to have some instruction or entertainment going on all the while. There are few men who do not undervalue what may be attained drop by drop. But rocks are worn away thus, and fortunes are made thus. Through the little slit in the counter, pence and sixpences fall into the till, which in the end make the tradesman's fortune. Why should not knowledge be gained in the same way? That it is not, is generally because it is not sought; no plan is laid; no effort begun. "It is astonishing," says Sir Walter Scott, "how far even half an hour a day, regularly bestowed on one object, will carry a man in making himself master of it. The habit of dawdling away time is easily acquired, and so is that of putting every moment either to use or amusement." In order to gain the most, the book must be chosen, to prevent all vacillation; and in the very spot, to prevent all delay. It is well if it be in the pocket, or on the bench, or ready opened at the place in the window-seat. O! who but those who have experienced it can tell the rapture with which knowledge is gathered in these hurried moments! What is thus read cannot but stick fast. The man who studies thus keeps his mind always on the alert. While the wealthy scholar often lounges away whole afternoons on the sofa of his library, unable to fix upon a topic of study, the poor fellow who hangs over a book-stall, or snatches a moment from his work, is enjoying a paradise of intellectual satisfaction. These are the cheap pleasures which can be caught only under pressure: for there are joys peculiar to men in straits. I have cited Johnson: his greatest attainments were made during his greatest poverty. At one time, when he was called upon by a learned friend, he had but one chair in his apartment, and that stood on three legs he probably enjoyed his books as much as when his library consisted of five thousand volumes. Every child knows the avidity with which he poaches among forbidden books. Little Walter Scott used to creep out of bed and read for several hours by fire-light: no man has done more to lay similar temptations in the way of others. In fine, where there is a will there will be a way; and there is nothing so much to be deplored as the stupid indifference with which many who most need the awakening influence of letters, will receive all my suggestions. Yet, if one in five hundred be helped up a single round of the ladder, I shall be of good cheer still. XIV. THE ART OF DRAWING VALUABLE TO "From hence the rudiments of art began; DRYDEN. MANY persons look upon drawing as a mere accomplishment; something fitted for the misses of a boarding-school, or the parlour of a travelling dandy. This is a very partial and absurd view of the subject. However the art may be abused, as the sister art of writing also is, it is, in many respects, and to many persons, one of the useful rather than the fine arts. It has been properly said, by Mr. Rembrandt Peale, that writing is nothing else than drawing the forms of letters; and drawing is little more than writing the forms of objects. If proper methods were employed, the art might be very advantageously introduced into the primary instruction of every school. It has a manifest tendency to cultivate the faculty of accurate observation, and there is no trade in which form is concerned, to which it may not contribute in a |