Saxique instar globosi, prædicant volubilem,
Quia quo saxum impulerit fors, eo cadere fortunam autumant;
Cæcam ob eam rem esse iterant, quia nihil cernit quo sese applicet
Insanam autem aiunt, quia atrox, incerta instabilisque sit
Brutam, quia dignum atque indignum nequeat internoscere.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
The remarks and sketches which are subjoined, appear to have been among those which were last written in our Sexagenarian’s Recollections. They were evidently written under strong emotions of mind, and to have been intended for a longer and better digested dissertation. He observes in a sort of concise introduction, that they were suggested in consequence of a visit which he paid to the place of his nativity, after an absence of twenty years. His astonishment was great, and his sympathy strongly excited, by discovering on enquiry, that, with some few exceptions, a total change had taken place among the persons whom he once more familiarly knew. That the rich were become poor, and the poor rich; that many who formerly had influenced the politics, directed the counsels, and commanded the reverence of their fellow-citizens, had been precipitated by Fortune to the bottom of her wheel. On the contrary, that others, who had filled humble and even menial offices, were in lofty situations, discharging the higher functions of their little Republic, building palaces, and rolling in wealth.
The contemplation of these events induced him to turn the matter more seriously in his mind, and to exercise his memory upon such individuals, as in the progress of life he had personally known, who from humble origin, and no other pretensions than those which, though honourable in themselves, are not always successful, namely, diligence and talent, had risen to stations of great dignity and emolument.
Happy Britain! our Sexagenarian on this occasion exclaims, happy beyond all other nations, where alone, between the lowest and most exalted station, no obstacle is interposed, which genius cannot subdue, and perseverance remove.
The Recollections next present us with a somewhat extended catalogue of illustrious names, whose lives and success exemplify the above remark, which perhaps exclusively applies to this our country. The following is prefixed as a sort of preliminary observation.