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energies of the vegetable world. He is directly stimulated, as it were, by a solar warmth, and, like the plant, he may be said to grow. He immediately tastes and relishes the cup of knowledge; he is inspired by its virtues; he recollects, that he is of the same species—perhaps, of the same country,—with a Newton, a Bacon, a Shakespeare, a Milton, a Harvey, a Davy, or a Hunter :—the association is flattering to him; his diffident hopes are encouraged; and a generous ambition is at once kindled in his bosom.
Is there a mind so basely constituted, as to be totally indifferent to the fate of science? So dull, as not to be conscious of her beauty, if not of her power and usefulness? So regardless of reputation and honour, as not to wish to merit some small niche in the temple of fame, or to belong to that list of honoured names, which virtue and public spirit pronounce to be imperishable?
Such an insusceptibility of the attractions of knowledge, and so total a disregard of all its pleasures and rewards, it is impossible to
