But let us accept the more probable and certainly more generous opinion that Homer like Shakspeare was indebted to hisstory. Yes, let us give Homer all the praise of the Iliad. But now examine it carefully and you will discover quite as much interna evidence of severe and pains-taking labor as of "inspiration." The fidelity of its Geography and Topography, as well as the minuteness and accuracy of its descriptions o

eise of charity, which had just been inculcated, but teleioi-finished, complete, perfect men, possessed of every excellence. And what is to be our model of excellence? "Even as your Father in Heaven is perfect." Could there be a more unlimited range given to the exercise of the noble faculties with which we are endowed, than this? Could ambition ask a greater license than is here granted? "But," says the troubled hero-worship-natural objects and above all its faithful deper, "allowing that ambition be right and praiseworthy, the question recurs--How can I succeed, who am not blest with the sacred fire of genius?"

We

The sacred fire of genius, indeed! deny its existence altogether. "Ah!" says one, "you deny the existence of this sacred fire, do you? That is because you have it not! It is only the blind who cannot see the light." We answer-prove that you have it before you use this as an argument. Unless you prove this point the two edged

sword will cut him who handles it as well as his opponent. We admit that there are Home who, from the natural peculiarities of their mental constitution are better fitted for certain tasks than others; but even they cannot accomplish anything worthy of fame without severe and unremitting labor."Nil sine labore" is a maxim which has the

The

lineations of the intricate and subtle phenomena of human character, are sufficient evidence that its author had studied well both nature and the human mind. Many preparatory years must he have passed in wide extended and careful observation.— Southey possessed an imagination perhaps more luxuriant, certainly more extravagan than Homer. It is this greater quality of careful and laborious preparation and its consequent fidelity to truth which has perhaps more than any other ever contributed to place Homer so immeasurably above Southey in the judgment of critics. energy and perseverance of the author of the Iliad must have been of no common character. From isle to isle of the wide spread Egean he must have sailed in the track where later his fancy wafted the bark of the "crafty Ulysses." The weary feet of the wandering minstrel must have trod the streets of many an Asian city ere he could have acquired that accurate knowledge of localities which has been the wonder and admiration of succeeding ages. Both the Iliad and Odyssey are enduring monuments to the laborious and persevering character of their writer; though it is the "Blind old man of Scio's rocky isle." common fashion to pervert these excellent Who has been enshrined by Hero-worship- examples, by ascribing what in them is expers higher than he upon that inaccessible cellent to a sort of inspiration called the eminence where "inspired" pocts sit en-inspiration of genius in which the recipient throned. Yet many learned men suppose is passive as the Pythoness.

credit of centuries of experience. Nothing valuable has ever been added to the mass of human knowledge which has not been the result of patient and laborious toil. To whom have all the extravagant epithets lavished upon genius, such as "afflatus" inspiration," "the divine gift of poesy" &c., been more profusely applied than to the

It more than probable that he was but the jeweler who collected and arranged in golden setting those scattered gems of tradition which through long generations of men had seen slowly consolidating and crystalizing.

The same enduring qualities which we have just mentioned in Homer have ever been the ground-work of Shakspeare's fame with his enlightened admirers. To have written as much, not to say as well, as

Shakspeare wrote implies an ardor and per- the significant-is energy. That quality severance in literary pursuits and an amount will do any thing that can be done in the of actual labor seldom found in the Prophet-world.” Bards” of modern days. At the same time his wonderful acquaintance with the secret springs and winding labyrinths of human character could have been obtained only by the most searching and unremitted observation and the most intense reflection. It is impossible that Shakspeare could have been ought else than one of the most studious and profound thinkers that the world ever produced. It could not be otherwise.

In another memorable confession which I regret not having at hand this great poet declares that after the most searching analysis of his mind he discovers in himself but the faintest trace of originality; he finds that he is little more than the resultant of external influences of his companions, of his books, of all the labors of preceding ages. Such a confession is noble in its simplicity and it bears with it the conviction of truth. Such

It is a divine law imposed upon humani-a confession exalts him who makes it. Is ty and upon nature that excellence shall it not a nobler thing to be the matured proever be the product of persevering toil.- duct of the world's enlarged and combined Nothing but Infinity can create by the mere experience than the upstart of an hour. Such "fiat" of its will; and even the Infinite testimony as the above ought to weigh conBeing seems not to choose so to act in the vincingly upon the minds of those who are present constitution of nature. Only by debating whether they shall arouse to the slow and laborious cultivation does the earth undertaking of great and noble ends, and yield her rich treasures, and are the who are deterred by the shadow of geniuswild products of the forest transformed into a fearful spectre in the way. the cultivated fruits of the garden. Slowly and with almost infinite waste of human labor and life does cultivation bloom on the border of receding sterility. The grass that springs up in a day flourishes but for a day, while the oak which is the growth of years outlasts the century. It is so with the human mind. The trifling warbler of a summer lay flits but a day before the public eye while the majestic pile which a Milton uprears in a lifetime stands a monument for succeeding ages.

But behold another example taken from a very different walk of poetry. If ever mortal enjoyed the popular reputation of an easy access to the Castalian fount that person was "Tom Moore" as every body likes to call him. It is true that many of his juvenile versifications were thrown off with great facility and they are now generally acknowledged to be about as worthless as they were facile. Moore himself, in later life, regretted perhaps more than any one else has ever done, their publication.

His Irish Melodies which will be immortal, were but the expression of the feeling which swelled in every bosom. They were written in sympathy with the popular pa

But some of our readers may think it in very bad taste at least, to degrade genius to the level of common sense and to make it amenable to a common law of labor. "Genius" say they, "is a wayward thing-triotism of the masses. They arose from a it spurns at slavish toil. It is a law to itself and it acknowledges no other." In answer to such we cannot do better than to cite the words of Goethe once more-an authority which no Hero-worshiper dare gainsay at the risk of his literary reputation Hear this "acknowledged chief." "The longer I live the more certain I am that the great difference between men, the great and

long acquaintance and deep familiarity with the wrongs, with the passions, and with the hopes of an oppressed Nation of PoetsOther men doubtless felt more deeply and mourned more passionately over the calamities of Ireland. Moore's alone was the gift of Poesy-that easy flow of numbers which like amber caught the passion of the day and enshrined it forever in the popular mem

ory. His task was but the polishing and setting of those diamonds which need such humble aids for popular appreciation, but which owe their intrinsic value to no jewel

er's art.

But the private history of "Lalla Rookh" -Moore's greatest poem is so interesting as a literary curiosity and bears so pertinently the present discussion that we venture to transcribe it although it has once before appeared in a popular magazine in this country.

upon

ced the formidable task of working himself up into a proper Oriental state of mind for the accomplishment of his work. The first part of this process consisted in reading every work of authority that treated of the topography, climate, zoology, ornithology, entomology, floriculture, horticulture, agriculture, manners, customs, religion, ceremonies, Asiatic Regisand languages of the East. ters, D'Herbelot, Jones, Tavernier, Fleming, and a host of other writers, were industriously consulted; and so perfect did Mr. In 1812 Moore determined on writing an Moore become in these various branches of Eastern tale in verse; and his friend Mr. knowledge, that a great Eastern traveler, afPerry of the "Chronicle" accompanied him ter reading “Lalla Rookh," and being assuto Messrs. Longman the publishers to ar-red that the poet had never visited the scenes range for the sale of a work of which the in which he placed his stories, remarked that, proposed author had not yet written a line if it were so, a man might learn as much of nor even settled the subject. Mr. Perry ap- those countries by reading books, as by ripears to have been an invaluable intermedi-ding on the back of a camel! This, however, was but a part of the requiary. He proposed at once as the basis of the negotiation that Moore should have the site preparation. "I am," says Mr. Moore, largest sum ever given for such a work.- "a slow, pains-taking workman, and at once "That" observed the Messrs. Longman "was very imaginative and very matter-of-fact ;" three thousand guineas." And three thousand he goes on to say that the slightest exand guineas it was ultimately covenanted terior interruption or contradiction to the the price should be, thanks to Moore's repu- imaginary state of things he was endeavortation and the business abilities of his friending to conjure up in his brain, threw all his Perry. It was further agreed that the manuscript should be furnished at whatever time might best suit the authors convenience, and that Messrs. Longman should accept it for better, for worse, and have no power or right to suggest alterations or changes of any kind. The bargain was altogether a safe one on Moore's side, and luckily it turns out equally profitable for the publishers.

In order to obtain the necessary leisure and quiet for the composition of such a work, Moore resolved to retire from the gaieties of Holland and Lansdowne Houses,and other mansions of his distinguished patrons and friends, to the seclusion and tranquility of the country. He made choice of Mayfield Cottage, near Ashbourne, in Derbyshire, and not far distant from Donnington Park, Lord Moira's country-seat, where an excellent library was at his service. He now commen

ideas into confusion and disarray. It was necessary, therefore, to surround himself, in some way or other, with an Eastern atinosphere. How this could be managed, in the face of the snows of the Derbyshire winters during which the four stories which compose "Lalla Rookh" were written, it is difficult to conceive; and perhaps to the fact that it could not be effectually done, must be ascribed the ill success which beset the poet during an entire twelvemonth. Vainly did he string together peris, and bulbuls, and sunny apples of Totkahar; the inspiration would not come. It was all Double, double, toil and trouble," to no purpose.. Each story, however trippingly it began, soon flagge drooped, and less fortunate than that of

"The bear and fiddle,

Begun and broke off in the middle," expired of collapse after a brief career of a few score of lines only-frequently nothing

like so many.

Some of these fragments of study and careful labor, which, if once
properly realized by many a lazy, but ambi-
tious wisher, would forever put to flight the
This" aspirations" of his "genius.” But it is
unnecessary to pursue these illustrations far-
ther. The object with which we have intro-
duced them, has been to establish the fact
that works of great and enduring fame re-
quire corresponding application and toil;
that one great secret of literary success is en-
ergetic and persevering labor.
seen that even in those lighter departments
of Literature and the Fine Arts, which most
have had the reputation of spurning the de-

We have

have since been published. One of them, "The Peri's Daughter," ran to some length, and is rather pretty and sparkling. uninspiring state of things seemed interminable the three thousand guineas were as far off as possible—and apprehension of the necessity of a bodily journey to the East, in order to get at the genuine "atmosphere," must have suggested itself, when a gleam of light, in the idea of the "Fire-Worshippers," broke in upon the poet; the multifarious collection of Eastern materials deposited in the chambers of his brain, arranged themselves in flowing numbers, without encoun-grading fetters of a common law of labor, this tering any further accident; and at the end of three years," Lalla Rookh" was ushered before an admiring world. Its success was immense, and the work ran rapidly through many editions.”

law, nevertheless, holds most strictly true.— We need but to mention the words, History, Natural Science, Mathematics, to lead the intelligent mind at once to the vast life-labors of a Gibbon and a Robertson, a Humboldt and an Audubon, a La Place and a Newton, and to vindicate the kingly rule of the universal law of labor. Great things have always been done by Titanic efforts of

But, gentle reader, who hast patiently followed us thus far, do not accuse us of going into the other extreme. Do not charge us with degrading all the noble and beautiful productions of the past into mere drudgery.

The above case is not the only one of the kind upon record in the history of Genius.But not to multiply instances at the expense of the poets, let us glance at the kindred art of Painting. In this beautiful art, as is self-great minds. evident, the most unremitting patience and perseverance are necessary to acquire even passable proficiency. Here, most emphatically, fidelity to nature, and accuracy in the most minute particulars-that accuracy and fidelity which cannot be attained but by years of laborious toil and study-are essential as the very ground-work and first principles of the art. How ridiculous would that artist appear, who, confiding in the aspirations of Genius, should dash his crude conceptions on the canvass, hot from the seething brain, as they say the "afflatus", ever comes, while his inexperienced hand turned his chargers into mules, defaced his Torsos with muscles new to anatomy, and fixed one eye of his Hebe upon a mocking bird in the tree-top, and another upon a vioThe greatest painters, it is true, have not always been those who copied nature the most closely. But the greatest painters have always been true to nature in the loftiest flights of their imagination.

let at its root.

And this fidelity has ever required an amount

We hold the maxim, "Nil sine labore;" but not that other, "Labor omnia vincit." Labor cannot do it all. Labor carnot make a Shakspeare or a Milton, a Raphael or a Michael Angelo. The truth is found in neither extreme. The best effort I have ever seen to crystalize the vague popular idea of genius into form, is in that definition by Coleridge, if I recollect aright-" Genius I suppose to be nothing more than a fitness for a particular pursuit, and a strong bent of the mind towards that pursuit." But as the popular imagination cannot dissociate genius from its successful results, we would add, to complete the definition-"An energy in the prosecution of that pursuit, which absorbs the best powers of the whole mind, and thus obtains its object."

Oh! ambitious Dreamer! search the depths of your own soul! Have you not glorious gifts of Genius?

Were you alone created for no purpose,

Impossible! In deciding what is to be your pursuit, obey first the monitions of duty as an imperative law never, for an instant, to be lost sight of, for this will certainly guide you into your proper sphere, and out of it how can you thrive? Then study your capacities, and yet study your preferences more, for your capacities are yet unknown to yourself, and can only be developed in the heat of the action. But the prevailing bent and desire of your mind you can now ascer

It has been fashionable to talk of another gift as indispensable, viz.: an "inspiration" -a "fine frenzy"-which comes from some higher source than the human mind. This was the error of the ancients, and it arose while every summer plant and every humprobably from their habit of ascribing eve-ming insect has its mission and its work.— ry thing extraordinary to the immediate agency of a vast number of inferior deities, which peopled the streams, the woods, the air, and the sea. Common sense will teach us, at this day, not to adopt such an error from mere thoughtlessness. In fact, the modern mistake seems not precisely this, but to lie in the notion that some minds are, from birth, of a superior order, and that such, by the force of their innate endowments, rise almost spontaneously to heights at which the vulgar brain grows dizzy with gazing.-tain, by a little careful thought. Your They saw with wonder how the rocks burst "honest purpose onco fixed," then nerve asunder at the birth of genius, and how ob- yourself to the struggle. Let a sleepless stacles fell away to the right and left, before energy bear you up the rugged hill of learnits steady march. Here lies the error. They ing, or into the hard fought field of humanoverlooked the mighty throes of the hidden ity, where Benevolence is struggling with engine, in the delicate play of the machinery Misery. Let all-conquering energy crush which was exposed to the common gaze.-every weakness, mental or physical; crush They wondered at the burnished armor of every hesitation and every vacillation from adamant, so impenetrable to mortal attack, your steady life-purpose. It is wonderful and at the unequaled temper of the glitter--the power of the will over the mental and ing spear with which Genius, by a touch physical energies. It is impossible for you opened its way through the host of its foes. to estimate, if you have never made the exThey knew not of those subterranean cav-periment, the results that energetic labor erns, where, by the lurid light of molten will produce in your mind, in a very little seas of metal, Cyclopean laborers toiled at the forge, and where, amid suffocating heat. from many a ponderous stroke, the steel received its temper. Such hidden engines and Vulcanic laborers, Genius does have, nevertheless. Without them, it would be no more than mediocrity is. With them, it does wonders. The fact has uniformly been,even with those great men whose greatness has been developed in early life, that they were great in activity, in intense application, in labors, as well as great in the attainments they have made.

We conclude, then, that a careful analysis will reduce the elements of Genius to these two-fitness for a particular pursuit, and persevering energy in its prosecution.

time. How much greater will be the product in after times, when these energies, strengthened by the severest discipline, have at their command the accumulation of years, whether of wealth, of moral worth, of the lore of the learned, or of intellectual power! Suppose that you do not become a Shakspeare or a Goethe, a Newton or a Humboldt, will you not be a far nobler man with this energetic labor than without it? But who shall tell you what you shall not be?Slumbering at the mercy of your own will may lie faculties of whose energy you have no conception. It may be that they could place your name in that bright constellation of "fixed stars" which the world, from its infancy, has gone on selecting and arranging