ing readers, who would gratefully weave for them a coronet of fame! A few lived to receive a sparing reward-many were rewarded with poverty and neglect, and died amid want. Now publishers, made rich by the sweat of the poor author's brow, rear costly monuments to their memory. What a pity that merit is so often the heir of distress, and is so tardily rewarded. Yes, this library is a literary vault, where each work fills the niche of the author, and tells his epitaph, whether he wrought good or ill, or both. There is a case in the library containing relics of historical interest. Among others the original manuscript of "Waverly," in Walter Scott's own hand-writing. Some words are erased with a scratch of the pen, as a person generally does in revising a manuscript. It is written on every alternate page, the blank pages being used for notes and addenda. It also contains letters of Charles I., one of which I have transcribed, which seems to have been written to his father when he was at school, and reads as follows: "Sweete Sweete Father i learne to decline substantives and adiectives give me your blessing i thank you for my best man. The library also contains the original confession and protest of the Covenanters, signed in 1580. It contains some very crooked, trembling autographs. Some are said to have written their names with their blood, extracted from their fingers. I passed through the museum of the University, the most extensive collection of animal and mineral specimens that I have ever seen. As I entered the first floor a huge crocodile, from the Nile, and ferociouslooking lions, tigers, hyenas, bears and wolves were grinning at me with eyes flashing for prey, so that I started back with a shudder. It answers all the purposes of a complete zoological garden, containing hundreds of rare and curious animals, some from species entirely extinct. One of the cases contains an egg of a bird from Madagascar, now extinct, which is said to have been thirteen feet in height. The label says the egg is as large as one hundred and forty-six of a common fowl. EDINBURG, April 2, 1856. A GOOD NAME. BY THE EDITOR. "He that loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend." IN a former article we endeavored to point out the value of a good name; showing that "a good name is rather to be chosen than great riches." We showed also, in a general way, how a good name is obtained. That it is not hereditary; that it is not conferred by title, and that it cannot be bought with money. That, on the contrary, the surest way to loose a good name is to depend too much upon these; that it must be "chosen;" that, under God, it depends upon ourselves; and that he who wills it, seeks it, deserves it, is sure to win it. At this stage in the subject we stopped short for want of time to finish. Hence we ask attention once more to this subject-a subject of such central and momentous importance, especially to the young-a good name. The will itself This amaranthine and in right sur We mentioned that he who would have a good name must choose it, will it, and win it for himself. But it would be a fatal mistake to suppose that such a pearl of great price is to be secured by a mere effort of will, independent of the use of means and helps. needs to be backed and animated by a deeper power. plant, like all plants, can only flourish in right soil roundings. This we desire to illustrate and enforce. I. A good name must have grace as its soil and its soul. loveth pureness of heart, for the grace of his lips the king shall be his friend." "He that Here is a man who has the king as his friend. He enjoys a name, a reputation, an influence in high places. He has risen from out the level of the mass of men, has attracted the attention and secured the confidence of the rulers, and now sits in places of power and honor. What was it that made him known favorably to the king? "The grace of his lips"-the good and seasonable words of wisdom which proceeded from his mouth. Why was there grace on this man's lips? Why is it not found in all men? What is the still deeper ground of these effects, which the king discovers upon his lips? They are traced at length to "pureness of heart"-the inward renovation of grace. Here is the ground. "Out of the heart are the issues of life”— good or bad! It is a plain doctrine of God's word, confirmed by reason and all experience, that all outward goodness must rest upon inward goodness. The outward character dare not be a sham-it must not be hollow. Against this our Saviour protested with unceasing earnestness, as it was exhibited in Pharisaism. It was all their aim to secure to themselves honor and favor by the mere outward assumption of excellence, while they did not possess it at heart. These outward decorations of worth were only the more hateful inasmuch as they were the coverings of the sepulchres of inward uncleanness. "O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A good man, out of the good treasure of the heart, bringeth forth good things: and an evil man, out of the evil treasure, bringeth forth evil things." As no tree, the life of whose trunk and roots is gone, can sustain the crown of a full-orbed top, vigorous branches, fresh leaves, and perfect fruit; so no one can sustain that outward vigor and beauty of character which secures him a good name without the vitality of grace in his heart. It is an axiom of eternal truth, that there is nothing exists that has not the reason and ground of its existence unseen beneath and within. Every thing that awes or charms us, does so because of the secret hidden power which it possesses-that which we see rests, with its one side, in the unseen from which it draws those mysteries before which we bow, and to which we do reverence. It is thus with a good name. It is not so much that which we see in a man which inspires our reverence, as it is the feeling of the presence of still greater excellences farther back and beneath all that we see from the mysterious and hidden power of which all that we see has it freshness and force. The great man is not the one which we see, but "the hidden man of the heart." The only solid foundation for a good name is a good heart; and no heart is truly good without the life of grace. This alone can give it, and the character which it forms, permanent vigor, freshness, and beauty. A willow rail, cut in spring-time, may seem to grow upon the fence and promise fairly to crown itself with the outward decorations of branches and leaves-but how long? No one in midsummer will sit under its extending branches and bless its shade! Why? It has no inner life to sustain its outward pretensions. So it is with outward character that roots in no inward grace. A bubble may seem large and full-orbed; it may seem permanent as the arch and the dome which its shape is mimicing; it may glisten with light, and sparkle with rainbow colors and hues-but it is a bubble! It was created amid the tumult and froth of excited and dashing waters. It is a thing which has existence only on the surface. It will soon break, because it has no within to rest upon-it is hollow! II. He that would form a good character, and have a good name, must begin in youth. We know there are cases where the mistakes and disgraces of early life have been made to fade into forgetfulness by the long and steady influence of a pious and honorable after life; but as a general thing the blemishes remain, and if not the blemishes the sorrow. The tree may outgrow the wound which the scion has received, yet the mark remains; and it very often becomes, long after, a weak spot and sore, which still becomes the ruin of the tree before its time. How often do the follies of youth, subdued in manhood, return in old age and assert their former power to disgrace a period of life in which folly receives but little charity. The habits of the soul can only receive a graceful training and polish when proper influences mold it in its formative period. It is in morals as it is in manners. One whose early life has been spent boorish and rude, will scarcely ever afterwards attain to true refinement of manner, however favorably he may be situated for making such attainments. So one whose spirit receives spiritually a wrong bias in the formative period of life, will hardly surmount the evil. It will be like changing an old suit into a new fashion-there is the old bent and set which the new fails forever to bring into harmony with itself. Character is not something to be assumed and put on at a certain period of life, like a suit of clothes. It must grow with our growth, and strengthen with our strength. If our character is to be natural, harmonious, and symmetrical, it must unfold itself with the regular process of our life; so that in this respect also― "The child is father to the man As those have the best developed physical systems who did not neglect or abuse themselves in early life, so those will present the greatest beauty and harmony of character whose early moral life has been unfolded under holy influences. There lies a momentous and solemn truth in the lines 'A pebble in the streamlet scant Has turned the course of many a river; A dew-drop on the infant plant, Has warped the giant oak forever!" In this view there is a deep and grand significance in the few words upon record concerning our Saviour's youth: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man.” Here there is a gradual development, from infancy on, toward that "name which is above every name." Youth is the spring-time-the seed-time-the formative period-the season of hope and promise. III. He that would have a good name must subject himself to the right kind of outward educational influences. It is not enough that a plant be inwardly good, stand in good soil, and be guarded against scars and blemishes; it needs also the prunings, trainings, and supplyings of a careful hand-it needs, in short, the right kind of outward surroundings and appliances. So it is with the spirit. Take two seeds of the same kind-plant them in the same soilprotect them alike; but withhold from the one all training appliances— and mark the difference. So it is with the spirit. These educational influences cannot be dispensed with, no more than you can omit weeding in the garden, or training and pruning at the vine. Grow up without it, and you will be a moral monster! This training is furnished-1. In the family. Prov. 22: 6. 2. In the school. 3. In the church. Ps. 92: 12-14. 4. By the general social atmosphere. IV. He who would have a good name must study, commune with, and imitate the best models. By a deep law we become gradually, silently, but more and more like that which we love and admire. It is a remarkable fact that even all pagan nations become in character like the gods which they worship. If their gods are warlike, revengeful, vicious, so are they. Thus they are gradually molded into the image of their models. For this reason, no doubt, the scripture is not confined to precepts, but abounds in examples-models. No doubt, also, one great end in view in the Saviour's incarnation in our nature, was to afford us a perfect model, that in all things we might "look unto Jesus." 2 Cor. 3: 18. Christ our Saviour is of course the most perfect model. As parents call their children after great and good men, with the hope that they will study their characters and imitate them, so we are called christians, after Christ, because it is our high aim to become ever more like him. The more we can imitate him, the higher will be the degree in which we shall enjoy a good name. It is also highly important to study models of human greatness as they appear to our view in the history of the past. This can be done by means of biographies. Here we have living exemplifications of greatness; while we study them they are impressing us, and holding over us a powerful influence for good. There arises within us, as we read, an appropriating, an assimilating power-and we rise toward our model. Ever after all that falls beneath the excellence which we have seen, is more despicable in our eyes than it ever was before. Our hopes of obtaining what others have reached are raised; and we are encouraged to attempt the elevation of our own character. "Lives of great men all remind us, He We must not forget to profit by models of goodness around us. that fixes his mind and heart upon the best models of excellence around him, and sighs in his heart: "O that I were such !"-is better after that than before. "Set your affections on things above," is an injunction not to be limited. It is good and correct in its widest sense. Always love that which is above you-never what is beneath you. So shall you rise, and not sink in the scale of being. Select your society-choose your associates, for they will mold you. "He that walketh with wise men shall be wise; but a companion of fools shall be destroyed." WEEP NOT FOR BROAD LANDS LOST. WEEP not for broad lands lost; Weep not for fair hopes crost; Weep not when friends grow cold; |