better to have a true view of what we take cognizance of. The rule applies equally to things, to acts, and to individuals. I know my man, I make a right estimate, when I comprehend not merely what he accomplished, but the circumstances in which he moved and acted, the obstacles overcome, the incidents which favored his designs. Every body knows that there never flourished, within our precincts, a more beautiful wood than that which ornamented Hoboken and Wechawken. It has been famous in prose and in song; but when we are told that within that forest, in its best estate, Kalm, the botanist of Abo, enriched the species plantarum of Linnæus; that here the enthusiastic Masson discovered new plants of interesting character and properties; that Volney here at times luxuriated while in philosophical contemplation; that here, amidst these beautiful and majestic trees, Michaux the younger composed some portions of his American Flora; that Pursh added to his great botanical treasures from these woods, as did also the unfortunate Douglass; that in these walks Irving and Paulding and Verplanck, in their earlier days, cherished those sympathies with nature which give vitality to their descriptive powers; that here the ornithologist, Wilson, and his successor, Audubon, passed many of the choicest hours of their pilgrimage of life; that hare Cooke, the tragedian, after undue excitement, found alleviation of sorrow, and Matthews, the comedian, a solace for grievous melancholy; that the soil of Hoboken yielded to Bruce the magnesian lime-stone, a product most precious in a mineralogical cabinet; that here the elder Stevens made experiments, the first in either hemisphere, in demonstration of the practicability of railroad communication; and more, when we find that our congenial Halleck has enlisted his poetic gifts in laudation of this captivating spot, our gratification swells, every tree seems clothed with richer verdure, and becomes sacred to our feelings. I walk through these shady groves with emotions enhanced an hundred-fold by such associations, and consider how many rich minds have surveyed them, and what treasures they have yielded to the philosophical and rational pursuits of the disciples of knowledge.
But, passing from these general reflections on the prolific subject of the acquisition of knowledge under extreme difficulties, and the
