PREFACE.

These records of the Triumphs of Perseverance and Enterprise have been written with the view to inspire the youthful reader with a glow of emulation, and to induce him to toil and to advance in the peaceful achievements of science and benevolence, remembering the adage, “Whatever man has done, man may do.”

CONTENTS
TO
THE TRIUMPHS OF PERSEVERANCE.

CHAPTER I.
LINGUISTS.
PAGE
Sir William Jones—Dr. Samuel Lee[1]
CHAPTER II.
AUTHORS.
Shakespeare—Spenser—Johnson—Gifford—Gibbon[22]
CHAPTER III.
ARTISTS.
Canova—Chantrey—Salvator Rosa—Benjamin West[45]
CHAPTER IV.
MUSICIANS.
Handel[69]
CHAPTER V.
SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERERS AND MECHANICIANS.
Sir Humphrey Davy—Sir Richard Arkwright—Dr. Edward Cartwright—James Watt—Columbus—Sir Isaac Newton—Sir William Herschel—Reaumur—Hon. Robert Boyle[80]
CHAPTER VI.
MEN OF BUSINESS.
Sir Thomas Gresham—Lackington[112]
CHAPTER VII.
PHILANTHROPISTS.
John Howard[122]
CONCLUSION.
Dignity and advantages of Labour, and encouragements of Perseverance[141]

CONTENTS
TO
THE TRIUMPHS OF ENTERPRISE.

INTRODUCTION.
PAGE
Enterprise—a distinguishing trait of civilisation[145]
CHAPTER I.
Enterprise as displayed in Man’s combats with, and mastery over the Wild Animals—General Putnam’s engagements with Wolves—Lieutenant Evan Davies’s capture of a Tiger—Combats with Wild Elephants in India—Account of the Whale Fishery, its dangers and its excitements—Is Whale Fishery justifiable on humane grounds?[148]
CHAPTER II.
Enterprise as displayed in overcoming natural difficulties in visiting new Regions of the Earth—Travels of the African Discoverers, Major Denham, Dr. Oudney, and Captain Clapperton—Arctic Travellers, Dr. Edward Daniel Clark, Captain Cochrane—Perils of Mr. Temple’s journey from Peru to Buenos Ayres—Humboldt’s description of South America—Suffering occasioned by Mosquitoes—Captain Back’s Arctic Land Expedition—Annoyance of the Sand-flies—Sir John Franklin’s gentleness[165]
CHAPTER III.
Enterprise as displayed in Maritime Discovery—Increased dangers attending the Voyage—Perilous condition of Ross and his companions—Terrors of an Iceberg—Wearisomeness of an Arctic Winter—Departure from the Ship across the Ice—Singular return to his Vessel—Wretched plight of himself and companions—Drake’s Voyage round the World—Safe return and knighthood by Queen Elizabeth[190]
CHAPTER IV.
Belzoni’s Discoveries in Egypt[214]
CHAPTER V.
Enterprise as displayed in construction of Roads, Harbours, Bridges, Lighthouses, &c—Gibbon’s description of the great Roman Highways—Bell’s account of the Great Wall of China—Porcelain Tower of Nankin—Famous Slide of Alpnach in Switzerland—Monument to the memory of Peter the Great—Eddystone Lighthouse—Plymouth Breakwater[243]
CONCLUSION.
Gradual reception of the truth that War, under an circumstances, is an evil to be deplored[279]

THE

TRIUMPHS OF PERSEVERANCE.

CHAPTER I.
LINGUISTS.