CHARACTERISTICS OF EMINENT ME N. SIR ROGER L'ESTRANGE, who was in his day Censor of the Press, has remarked that "Men are not to be judged by their looks, habits, and appearances; but by the character of their lives and conversations and by their works. 'Tis better that a man's own works, than that another man's words should praise him." And Bruyere has shown that "there are peculiar ways in men, which discover what they are, through the most subtle feints and closest disguise. A blockhead cannot come in, nor go away, nor sit, nor rise, nor stand, like a man of sense." Upon these sententious passages we are content to found the direction given to our humble labour in the preparation of this little book of Characteristics of men, manners, opinions, and times, selected with especial regard to that which constitutes character, or distinguishes any thing or person from others; and in the like proportion that Swift avoided publicly to characterize any person, without long experience, have we appreciated the sources of our information? Pope considered Homer to exert this vast invention "in a manner superior to that of any other poet-it is the great and peculiar characteristic which distinguishes him from all others." Characteristics will, of course, be remembered as the celebrated work of the Earl of Shaftesbury, which is a complete collection of his various pieces which he had employed his last days in preparing. Shaftesbury's writings excited great attention and admiration in his own day. His philosophy as a system has little claim to originality; but it is animated by a lofty spirit of sentiment, wisdom, and beauty; and is full of glimpses and hints of important and sometimes new truths. EDUCATIONAL TRAINING. GREEK CULTURE. MR. GLADSTONE maintains the Greek moral culture to be independent of Hebrew aids. Now, the Greek Alpha, Beta, is but a reproduction of the Hebrew Aleph, Beth, &c.; and for a thousand years before Christ, there is a presumable intercourse between Syria and Egypt, seen in Solomon's Grecian Temple, surmised in the proximity of Continental Greece to Phoenicia, and in the migratory habits of the Jews, that led adventurous members of that nation to settle in all the great towns along the Mediterranean. Mr. Gladstone, however, draws fine liberal inferences in favour of the heathen culture and development, and the relation of the Greek races to the common Father of mankind; but clearer data are wanted whereon to build, that Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and the Sages, that loved the right 66 were not indebted to Hebrew sources for some of their moral illumination."-Notes and Queries, 3rd. S., No. 211. GREEK TRADITION. The following beautiful tradition is quoted from the Unseen World, said to be by the late Dr. Neale:-"When Adam was dying, he sent his son to the garden of Eden to request that the angel who kept the way thereto would send him some of the fruit of the Tree of Life that he might taste and live. The angel denied the request, but gave to the son of Adam three seeds, 'Place them,' said he, ‘in thy father's mouth, and when they shall have grown into trees, he shall be freed from his sickness.' The son returned and found that Adam had already expired. Taking the three grains, he placed them in his father's mouth and buried him there. From these grains, in process of time, sprang three trees, of which the wood of the cross was made." A LESSON FROM XENOPHON. "To draw the bow, to ride, and speak the truth," is a specimen of the principles sought to be enunciated in the Cyropædia, one of the most laboured of Xenophon's works, and containing his views on the training of youth, and of the characters of a perfect prize. It is an agreeable exposition of principle, under the form of a history; and, like Xenophon's other treatises, it contains more of plain practical precepts, founded on observation, and supported by good sense, than any profound views. The dying speech of Cyrus is worthy of a pupil of Socrates. Xenophon appears to have been humane and gentle in character. He evidently liked quiet. He was fond of farming, hunting, and rural occupations generally. GRECIAN MYTHOLOGY. The Greeks, whose imagination was lively, peopled all nature with invisible beings, and supposed that every object in nature, from the sun and sea to the smallest fountain and rivulet, was under the care of some particular divinity. Wordsworth, in his Excursion, has beautifully developed this view of Grecian Mythology: "In that fair clime, the lonely herdsman, stretched And in a fit of weariness, if he, When his own breath was silent, chanced to hear A distant strain far sweeter than the sounds Which his poor skill could make; his fancy fetched, A beardless youth, who touched a golden lute, Swept in the storm of chase, as moon and stars The traveller slaked His thirst from rill or rushing fount, and thanked The Naiad. Sunbeams upon distant hills, Gliding apace, with shadows in their train, Might, with small help from fancy, be transformed The Zephyr fanning, as they passed their wings, From depth of shaggy covert peeping forth HERCULES HIS LABOURS AND LEGENDS. Hercules (in Greek, Heracles) was a celebrated hero of Greek mythology, the offspring of Zeus by Alcmena, daughter of Electryon, a son of Perseus, and King of Mycena. His reputed father was Amphitryon (son of Alcæus, another of the children of Perseus), who, having accidentally killed his fatherin-law, Electryon, was compelled to leave Mycena and take refuge in Thebes. Here Hercules was born and educated, and here his early feats of strength and valour were done-such as slaying the lion of Citharon, delivering Thebes from the tribute to Erginus, King of Orchomenos, and taking in marriage the daughter of Creon. Being forced to serve Eurystheus, King of Mycenæ, he performed what are called his labours, in obedience to the commands of his master. These were:-(1.) To bring the skin of the Nemean lion; (2.) To destroy the Hydra; (3.) To catch the hind of Artemis; (4.) To bring to Eurystheus the Erymanthian boar alive; (5.) To cleanse the stables of Augeas; (6.) To drive away the water-fowl of Lake Stymphalis; (7.) To fetch the Cretan bull; (8.) To bring to Mycenae the mares of Diomedes; (9.) To obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons; (10.) To bring the oxen of Geryon from the Island of Erythia; (II.) To bring the apples of the Hesperides; (12.) To conduct Cerberus from the under-world. Many other exploits did he perform, such as the taking of Troy, which are all related by the mythologists, Apollodorus, and others. There are three distinct kinds of tradition relating to Hercules, the first consisting of stories drawn from some eastern or other religion, and applied to the Theban hero. Such are his wanderings round the coast of Greece, which exhibit in a mythical form the establishment of the worship of a wandering god of the Phoenicians. Such also is his voluntary death on Mount Eta; and, according to Müller, his murdering his children. Another, and the second class of traditions, are those which represent him performing labours, such as would be naturally those of a young community. A third class exhibits him in the light of a conqueror and destroyer of tyrants, and here the awkwardness of ascribing the deeds of the Pelopon |