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RUFUS CHOATE

BY RICHARD S. STORRS

His relish for thought, and for the powerful expression of thought in the most fit and admirable words, was only matured by his lifelong habit. From the crowd in the courtroom, the pressure of cases, the pursuit of clients, and all the elements and the incidents of suits, still quivering with the excitement which had searched every nerve in his throbbing frame, he retreated to the authors, ancient and modern, in whom he delighted; and it was as if he had changed the noisy world for another more serene and exalting. There were the bloom and the music that he loved, the clearer lights on statelier shores, the spirits that touched his to expand and renew it.

Yet, with his instinctive delight in learning, and in the commerce with illustrious minds to which it introduced him, and the constant impressions upon his own intellect which came from eminent orators and thinkers, he retained, absolutely, the native peculiarities of a genius as genuine, and certainly as striking, as has anywhere appeared among American public men.

His mental eye was as fine as a microscope for almost imperceptible distinctions. He penetrated instantly, with affirmative insight,

to the secret of entangled and complex matters. His logical faculty was as keen and expert as if he had never done anything but state and argue questions of law in the courts. His memory had a grasp which was utterly relentless, on any principle, fact, or phrase; while his judgment was as prompt, within its limits as sagacious, as if he had never heard of Greek particles and never had read a Latin page.

But the imagination was certainly supreme in him; while his fancy was also as sparkling and exuberant as if no argument had ever been wrought by him in its constraining and infrangible links. This made his mind not only stimulating but startling, abundant in surprizes, suddenly radiant on far themes. He said nothing in a commonplace way. A flash of unfamiliar beauty and power was in his slight and casual remarks. The reports of some of them are still, I suspect, as current in court-rooms as when he lived, while, on the larger historical or philosophical subjects, his sentences now and then were as literal sunbursts, enlightening half a continent with their gleam.

He said as little, I should think, as any man who ever lived, of like culture and equal eminence, on the supreme matters of God, destiny, immortality; but I can easily understand, what I used to be told, that, when in rare and preeminent moods he touched upon

these topics among intimate friends, his words were to the usual words of men on similar subjects as superb, tropical, passion-flowers among the duller, common growths, purple and golden in their hues, while inclosing at their heart memorial signs of the divine sad

ness.

THE TRUE, FINE GENTLEMAN

BY SIR RICHARD STEELE

When a good artist would express any remarkable character in sculpture he endeavors to work up his figure into all the perfection his imagination can form, and to imitate not so much what is, as what may or ought to be. I shall follow their example in the idea I am going to trace out of a fine gentleman, by assembling together such qualifications as seem requisite to make the character complete. In order to do this I shall premise in general, that by a fine gentleman I mean a man completely qualified as well for the service and good, as for the ornament and delight, of society. When I consider the frame of mind peculiar to a gentleman, I suppose it graced with all the dignity and elevation of spirit that human nature is capable of. To this I would have joined a clear understanding, a reason free from prejudice, a steady judgment, and an extensive knowledge. When I think of the heart of a gentleman, I imagine

it firm and intrepid, void of all inordinate passions, and full of tenderness, compassion, and benevolence. When I view the fine gentleman with regard to his manners, methinks I see him modest without bashfulness, frank and affable without impertinence, obliging and complaisant without servility, cheerful and in good humor without noise. These amiable qualities are not easily obtained; neither are there many men that have a genius to excel this way. A finished gentleman is, perhaps, the most uncommon of all the great characters in life. Besides the natural endowments with which this distinguished man is to be born, he must run through a long series of education. Before he makes his appearance and shines in the world, he must be principled in religion, instructed in all the moral virtues, and led through the whole course of the polite arts and sciences. He should be no stranger to courts and to camps; he must travel to open his mind, to enlarge his views, to learn the policies and interests of foreign states, as well as to fashion and polish himself, and to get clear of national prejudices, of which every country has its share. To all these more essential improvements, he must not forget to add the fashionable ornaments of life, such as are the languages and the bodily exercises most in vogue; neither would I have him think even dress itself beneath his notice.

It is no very uncommon thing in the world to meet with men of probity; there are likewise a great many men of honor to be found. Men of courage, men of sense, and men of letters are frequent; but a true, fine gentleman is what one seldom sees. He is properly a compound of the various good qualities that embellish mankind. As the great poet animates all the different parts of learning by the force of his genius, and irradiates all the compass of his knowledge by the luster and brightness of his imagination; so all the great and solid perfections of life appear in the finished gentleman, with a beautiful gloss and varnish; everything he says or does is accompanied with a manner, or rather a charm, that draws the admiration and good-will of every beholder.

WIT

BY ISAAC BARROW

But first it may be demanded what the thing we speak of is, or what his facetiousness doth import? To which question I might reply as Democritus did to him that asked the definition of a man, It is that which we all see and know; any one better apprehends what it is by acquaintance, than I can inform him by description. It is indeed, a thing so versatile and multiform, ap

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