“I quite agree with you,” replied Mr. Wilmot: “the very mortifications they endure may induce self-love, or, I should rather say, self-righteousness; and nothing, I think it will be generally allowed, can be more contrary to the tenor of the gospel spirit. Very different was the conduct of Bernard Palissy, a native of Saintes, in the south of France, who lived in the reign of Henry the Third. He was a potter by trade; but, having an innate genius for the sciences, he devoted all the time he could spare from his pottery, to the cultivation of them.
“The king hearing of him, and curious to see so extraordinary a character, sent for him to Paris, and had several interviews with him. Palissy was, by religion, a protestant; and it was thought his religious principles were the great obstacles to his fortune.
“One day the king told him, unless he would change his religion he should be compelled to withdraw his protection from him. Palissy heard the king with the respect due to his rank, but answered with a firm and dignified tone: ‘Your majesty has frequently told me that you pitied my case, but since you can say that you shall be compelled to withdraw your protection from me, I now pity yours. This is not the language of a king; yet know, Sire, that not the whole faction of the Guises, nor all the catholic subjects united, shall ever compel a potter of Saintes to bow the knee to senseless images of wood and stone.’
“The king was so struck with the answer, that he never after mentioned the subject of changing his religion to Palissy; but suffered him, in a short time, to return home to his native town, where he remained in peace to the end of his life. He lived to a great age; never forsaking his business, nor ceasing, in his moments of leisure to follow his favourite scientific pursuits.”
“I am admiring,” said Mrs. Spencer, “this figure of Demosthenes addressing the multitude. What energy and spirit there is in his action.”
“Yes,” replied Mr. Wilmot; “and every thing that relates to such a character, is highly interesting, both because it is intimately connected with the history of the times, and because it is a striking example of the influence of mind over the greatest physical powers. Though he neither wore the insignia of royalty, nor presided as supreme magistrate over a powerful republic, nor commanded fleets and armies; yet, by the mere thunder of his eloquence, he made the mightiest monarchs of his day tremble upon their thrones, and roused the slumbering energies of Greece. He was the son of an opulent Athenian manufacturer.
“The style of oratory that charmed his youthful fancy, was not the mild and flowing eloquence of Isocrates, who was then the most celebrated rhetorician in Athens; but the nervous and impassioned harangues of Isæus, whose school, as well as that of the philosophical Plato, he constantly attended.
“It is said, that he made the most determined efforts to conquer some natural defects which seemed very formidable, and gradually acquired a dignified and manly eloquence. For a time he secluded himself almost entirely from society, that he might form his style on the purest models, and induce a habit of chaste and elegant composition. During this period, he transcribed the history of the Peloponnesian wars, by Thucydides, eight times; so desirous was he of acquiring a style of composition similar to that of the justly-admired historian. But this was not the only advantage derived from the study of Thucydides. Whilst employing himself in copying the works of that historian, Demosthenes imbibed his patriotic spirit; his imagination was filled with the former glory of his country; a generous indignation was kindled in his bosom, in comparing the ancient splendour of Athens with its present state of voluntary degradation; and a noble, but perhaps a romantic ambition possessed his soul, to be the instrument of renovating a decayed republic. Animated with these hopes and various prospects, he appeared in the public assembly; and, in his orations against Philip, poured forth such a strain of eloquence, that none of the venal orators of Athens were able to resist.
“The magistrates and common people were borne along by the mighty torrent, ere they were aware: his audience, instead of finding leisure or inclination to admire the splendid corruscations of his genius, found themselves imperceptibly animated by the same patriotic spirit, and roused from their lethargy by the impassioned vehemence of the youthful orator. In those unequalled specimens of ancient eloquence, which have been preserved amid the wreck of ages, we meet with such elevated sentiments, clothed in such glowing language, that, while reading them with delight approaching to admiration, we are no longer surprised at the powerful effect they produced on the popular assemblies of Greece. We cannot wonder that multitudes should throng from every province, to hear him declaim on a subject so deeply interesting to their feelings;—that so many states rose at his hope-inspiring call, from the slumber of inactivity, or the shades of despair, to make a vigorous effort for their expiring liberties;—or that Philip should have confessed, that the eloquence of Demosthenes injured him more than all the armies and fleets of the Athenians. ‘His harangues,’ said the Macedonian monarch, ‘are like the machines of war and distant batteries raised against me, by which all my projects are subverted, and my enterprises ruined, in spite of all my efforts. I believe,’ continued that generous adversary, ‘had I been present and listened to his orations, I should have been the first to conclude on the necessity of waging war with myself.’
“During the active reigns of Philip and Alexander, Demosthenes sounded a perpetual alarm, and ceased not to warn his countrymen against yielding to the ambitious projects of these enterprising monarchs. But when Antipater obtained possession of Athens, the orator fled to the isle of Calauria, and took sanctuary in a temple dedicated to Neptune. Fully persuaded that he had nothing to hope from the clemency of Antipater, he withdrew into the interior; and, under a pretence of writing to his family, put a poisoned quill in his mouth, which, in a few minutes, terminated his mortal existence, and disappointed the meditated vengeance of his enemies.