236 STUDYING IN THE KIRK. pursuit of knowledge, and the rapidity with which he got through enormous work, soon attracted the attention of the professors, as well as of the literary celebrities of the Modern Athens.' He was accustomed, it is said, to frequent a small bookshop kept by Archibald Constable (afterwards the well-known publisher), who permitted him to read what books he would; and hour after hour, the Roxburgh shepherd's son would sit, perched high upon a ladder, with some elaborate volume in his hand, in complete oblivion of the scanty fare which awaited him in his humble lodging. 3. The college vacations were spent at home, and, as his father's cottage afforded no place for undisturbed study, he looked elsewhere for the accommodation he required. His chief place of retirement,' says Sir Walter Scott, 'was the small parish church, a gloomy and ancient building,_generally believed in the neighbourhood to be haunted. To this. chosen place of study, usually locked during week days, Leyden made entrance by means of a window, read there for many hours in the day, and deposited his books and specimens in a retired pew. It was a well-chosen spot of seclusion, for the Kirk (excepting during Divine service) is rather a place of terror to the Scottish rustic, and that of Cavers was rendered more so by many a tale of ghosts and witchcraft, of which it was the supposed scene, and to which Leyden, partly to indulge his humour, and partly to secure his retirement, contrived to make some modern additions. The nature of his abstruse studies, some specimens of natural history, as toads and adders, left exposed in their spirit-vials, and one or two practical jests played off upon the more curious of the peasantry, rendered his gloomy haunt not only venerated by the wise, but feared by the simple of the parish.' 4. Having completed his studies at Edinburgh, Leyden accepted an engagement as tutor to the sons of Mr. Campbell of Fairfield, and accompanied them to the University of St. Andrew's. While faithfully discharging his duties to his pupils, he nevertheless found time to pursue his investigations into the Oriental languages and history, and published SUCCESS CROWNS THE STRUGGLE. 237 in 1799 a 'Narrative of European Discovery in Northern and Western Africa.' In 1800 he was ordained to the Church. His poetical powers now found vent in the 'Edinburgh Magazine,' and in certain contributions to Lewis's 'Tales of Wonder,' and Scott's 'Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.' Other literary labours widened his celebrity, and promised him a reputable position among Scottish men of letters, but his eager desire to visit foreign parts induced his friends to apply for an appointment in the Indian Civil Service. They could only procure a nomination to the post of surgeon's assistant. But Leyden knew nothing of medicine, and six months only could be allowed before he must pass his examination. Leyden's energy did not fail him. He set to work, and worked so laboriously, so zealously, and with such success, that within the allotted time he passed his examination, and obtained his diploma. He then completed and published his beautiful poem, "The Scenes of Infancy,' and, in December 1802, bade farewell to Scotland for ever. 5. Upon his arrival at Madras his health gave way, and he was compelled to remove to Prince of Wales Island. He remained there for a considerable period, prosecuting a series of researches into the origin, language, and literature of the Indo-Chinese tribes, and making occasional excursions into Sumatra and the peninsula of Malacca. Shortly afterwards his genius and erudition were recognised by his appointment to a judgeship in Calcutta. With characteristic zeal, he laboured in the performance of his new duties, but still devoted every leisure moment to the study of Oriental manuscripts and antiquities. 'I may die in the attempt,' he wrote to a friend; but if I die without surpassing Sir William Jones a hundredfold in Oriental learning, let never a tear for me profane the eye of a Borderer. 6. Leyden, in 1811, accompanied the Governor-General on a military and naval expedition to Java, rejoiced at the opportunity of adding to his stores of recondite information. It proved a fatal voyage. 'His spirit of romantic adventure,' writes Sir Walter Scott, 'led him literally to rush 238 THE LAMP IS QUENCHED. upon death; for, with another volunteer who accompanied the expedition, he threw himself into the surf, in order to be the first Briton of the expedition who should set foot upon Java. When the success of the well-concerted movements of the invaders had given them possession of the town of Batavia, Leyden displayed the same ill-omened precipitation, in his haste to examine a library, or rather a warehouse of books, in which many Indian manuscripts of value were said to be deposited. A library in a Dutch settlement was not, as might have been expected, in the best order. The apartment had not been regularly ventilated, and either from this circumstance, or already affected by the fatal sickness peculiar to Batavia, Leyden, when he left the place, had a fit of shivering, and declared the atmosphere was enough to give any mortal a fever. The presage was too just: he took his bed, and died in three days (August 28, 1811), on the eve of the battle which gave Java to the British Empire.' 7. From these examples, then, we may conclude that the true student will never suffer himself to be thwarted by any obstacles, but will rather regard them as additional incentives to renewed exertions. 'Difficulty,' said Edmund Burke, 'is a severe instructor, set over us by the supreme ordinance of a parental guardian and legislator, who knows us better than we know ourselves; and He loves us better too. He that wrestles with us strengthens our nerves and sharpens our skill. Our antagonist is our helper. This amicable conflict with Difficulty obliges us to an intimate acquaintance with our object, and compels us to consider it in all its relations. It will not suffer us to be superficial. CHAPTER V. EXAMPLES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS FROM THE LIVES OF MEN EMINENT FOR COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE, PHILANTHROPY, OR SCIENTIFIC ACQUIREMENTS. Man is his own star, and the soul that can BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. PROLOGUE. 1. PERHAPS no other country than England can offer so many examples of men whose industry and commercial enterprise have raised them to the most distinguished positions. The ancestor of the ducal family of Leeds was Osborne, the cloth-worker's apprentice, on old London Bridge. Jedediah Strutt, the founder of the Belper peerage, was a cotton-spinner. The father of the late Sir Robert Peel, and first baronet of that name, was also a magnate of the cotton trade. Lord Dudley and the Earl of Romney trace their descent from members of the Goldsmiths' Guild. The present Lord Overstone was formerly Jones Loyd the banker. Mr. W. S. Lindsay, the active Member of Parliament and wealthy shipowner, began life as a cabin boy. The late Mr. Herbert Ingram, M.P. for Boston, and proprietor of the 'Illustrated London News,' 240 THE DILIGENT HAND was, at the outset of his career, an obscure news-agent. Joseph Brotherton, late Member for Salford, toiled for years as a factory boy in a cotton mill. Even while we write, baronetcies have been bestowed on several successful merchants-on William Brown, David Baxter, and others -and, indeed, to the steady perseverance of the 'lords of commerce' England delights to throw open the golden avenues to honour. 6 2. But in commercial pursuits, as in all others, 'strenuous individual application' is 'the price paid for distinction.' Whether a man devote himself to commerce, science, or philanthropy, Work and Purpose are the spells which charm the Goddess of Fortune. It is the diligent hand and head alone that maketh rich in self-culture, growth in wisdom, and in business. Even when men are born to wealth and high social position, any solid reputation which they may individually achieve is only attained by energetic application; for though an inheritance of acres may be bequeathed, an inheritance of knowledge and wisdom cannot. The wealthy man may pay others for doing his work for him, but it is impossible to get his thinking done for him by another, or to purchase any kind of self-culture. Indeed, the doctrine that excellence in any pursuit is to be achieved by laborious application only, holds as true in the case of the man of wealth as in that of Drew and Gifford, whose only school was a cobbler's stall, or Hugh Miller, whose only college was a Cromarty stone quarry.'" 3. The first Sir Robert Peel may be taken as a satisfactory example of the commercial magnates of Saxon England. He was born in 1750, near Blackburn. His father was a calico-maker, and a man of great shrewdness, energy, and perseverance, who introduced into the manufacture the process of printing the calico by machinery. He possessed, as his son declared, 'a mechanical genius and a good heart,' and, ambitious, perhaps, to found a family, he placed all his sons, as they advanced in years, so that they might assist each other, and contribute to the general prosperity. Robert, when only twenty years of age, commenced business on his own account as a cotton |