Thrasymene, when there happened an earthquake which overturned whole cities, changed the course of rivers, and tore off the tops of mountains-yet not one of the combatants was in the least sensible of that violent motion.

What is well done is done quickly. But this by no means inclines a Business man to reckless haste; it points to quite a different conclusion, namely, that the well-doing bears no respect to length of time. A general surprised a fortress, but traversed a thousand miles, and watched four months before he did so. Whatever the alertness of a man's faculties, he has, under all circumstances, to possess his soul with Patience; events must ripen, and the world will revolve many times before Opportunity greatly presents itself. So imperative is this virtue, that he will write it as a daily precept, of which only the largest anticipation will justify the violation,-Go slow and win! and in the mastering of all his schemes our hero has no anxious unrest as to their quick issue, but charges himself with the resignation which the Persian would inculcate when he says, It is a rule of reason that the archer should have patience, for when the arrow has left the bow it will

not return.

Flowing from the habit of Patience is the qualification of Delay, which is frequently of more importance than ten legions horsed and armed. This needs no better descriptive illustration than the answer given by Talleyrand, amidst the heat and furious hurry of the French Revolution, to the question, What will you do? I will do nothing, he replied-I wait, in which the weary, frigid politician but applied the main root of the Epicurean philosophy, which introduced the expression of Waiting, as if, before pronouncing that a thing is a tower, we must wait till we come near, and learn what it looks like when we are near it. It is by this that a man will thwart the most dangerous machinations, trip up the fiercest opponent. But it has a more eminent use, for it keeps the mind in the quiescent state necessary for the reception of the true nature of all passing affairs and men; thus:

"Occasion, circumstance, futurity,

Impress on him their image; thus chance and lot
Are sacred things."

A Business man in his dealings will specially show Directness, which implies precision and clearness. His purpose he sets straight before him, and his language and manner partake of this simplicity, and these greatly help him in gaining his ends. The potency of such Directness has an example, in Pyrrho, who in his investigations was never despised by any one, because he always spoke explicitly and straight to the question put to him.

This naturally requires Brevity, in speech, in action, and in writing. This is energy conlensed, is style is the heroic, compressing a myriad of circumstances into one line, the whole range of thought, feeling, and adventure, to one act: I came, I saw, I conquered, is the diction of Cæsar, and its own, in beginning, continuing, and concluding: no less, Suwarrow's rhyming brevity, Glory to God and the Empress, Ismails ours.

Let us not, however, disguise from ourselves that although the Business man abases himself to humblest service, as set forth in the outset of this chapter, he is inflamed by the immortal spark of Ambition. This is a weakness which yields supernatural strength: "The desire of active souls,

That pushes them beyond the bounds of nature,
And elevates the hero to the gods."

This incentive he can only justify from its being inherent in nature, as being native to man in all his pursuits as the beating of his heart, and as speaking to him from the shining examples of the great, the good, the wise. His spirit flies out in sympathy with Themistocles, when he said, The trophies of Miltiades will neither suffer me to sleep nor to be idle; and he is ready to recognise all the hardships of his self-imposed endeavour, in the very words of our pleasant Steele, The way to Fame is like the way to heaventhrough much tribulation.

And it is in the full inspiration of this proud, uplifting, inextinguishable feeling that he appraises his work and aim as inferior to few under the sun, and as fully as any needing man's most exalted recognition of his duty thereto.

"Let each man think himself an act of God,

His mind a thought, his life a breath of God.”

He holds that every detail is approved of by the gods, and blessed according to its scope and intent-that as opinions would not change and yet the humblest arts subsist, as empires would not vanish, and yet sciences continue to grow towards its golden perfection-unless art and science were of greater need to mankind than any special race or form of dominion, so, because over art and science Business rolls its starry course, it is thereby approved to be of more trans endent utility, human and divine in brief, of its faculties and labours the words of the son of Sirach are to him the declaration of its immortality and its sanctification, All these things live and remain for ever for all uses, and thus are all obedient.

THE MAID OF ERCILDOUNE.

An ancient Ballade, wherein are set forth the Dangers of Disobedience unto Parents, as well as entering the holy state of Matrimonie for Filthy Lucre.

COME, all ye pretty maidens,

And a story ye shall hear

Such as you never heard before,

Nor will for many a year.

There lived a Priest in Ercildoune,

And he was wise and good;
And had an only daughter,

Who foolish was and rude.

Most beautiful in form was she,

She was both tall and fair;

Like bright blue violets were her eyes,

And golden was her hair.

But beauty was to her a curse,

As it doth often prove,

And served to fill her youthful breast

With pride and vain self-love.

She scorned her aged father
Because he was so poor,

And in her rage did threaten once
To turn him to the door,

Because he did advise her
A saintly youth to wed,
Who, for the love of Jesus,
Would willingly have bled.

"No, no!" the haughty damsel said,

"A rich man I prefer ;

And rather than a saint I'll wed,

I'll marry Lucifer."

Her father was much grieved at her,

And said, she should prefer

A virtuous man, whoe'er he was—
Even an artificer.

"No, no!" the damsel loud did cry,
"A rich man I will have;

And rather than a saint I'll take
I'll go into my grave."

So to a neighbouring town she went,
A bridegroom to seek there;
And that he might be rich and gay
She made her daily prayer.

She prayed to God at morning tide,

She prayed at evening, too,

That He to her some one would send

Who would her richly woo,

Some great rich man, who could provide

All things that pleasant be,

And keep away that grim black wolf,
Whose name is Poverty.

So one day led by sounds most sweet,
Which echoed in the air,

Unto the woods that skirt that town
The damsel did repair.

And while she wandered to and fro

Her prayer to God did rise,

That some rich man might come to her,

And cheer her longing eyes.

And scarcely had she prayed the prayer
Than there before her stood

A man in raiment rich and gay,

And with a crimson hood.

He looked like some young valiant knight,

Or like a courtier gay,

Who in the woods had come to spend

A pleasant holiday.

A large star blaz'd upon his breast,

And it diffused a sheen

As bright as that which ever came

From crown of king or queen.

His voice, it was most musical,

And with it he could speak

All tongues that now are known on earth,
Nor have one word to seek.

His tunic was of purple,
Embroidered o'er with gold;

In sooth, he was a princely man,

And goodly to behold.

In his hand, he held a dulcimer,

And while he music made,

The sounds were so sweet, the birds came to his feet, And flew about his head.

Nor did that pleasant instrument

The birds alone enchant ;

The damsel it no sooner heard,

Than she began to pant.

"Oh, what," she said, "would I not give

That dulcimer to play,

And to have so gay a minstrel

For my husband, lov'd, to-day !"

"Fair maiden," said the minstrel,
"This dulcimer I'll give,

If thou wilt be my faithful wife,
And with me always live.

At twenty-three I will come for thee,

And thou shalt be my bride;

And stand, a queen, in robes of state,
Deep blushing at my side.

I live in a palace, large and high,

In its walls is many a gem;

And I sit alone on a high-built throne,
And wear a diadem.

Unnumbered princes me obey,

They run to do my will

As run the locusts, when they fly,
O'er plain, and sea, and hill.