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he might have had, if you had permitted him to think until it had occurred to himself. Even after a move or moves, you must not, by replacing the pieces, show how they might have been placed better; for that displeases, and may occasion disputes and doubts about their true situation. All talking to the players lessens or diverts their attention, and is therefore unpleasing. Nor should you give the least hint to either party, by any kind of noise or motion. If you do, you are unworthy to be a spectator. If you have a mind to exercise or show your judgment, do it in playing your own game, when you have an opportunity, not in criticising, or meddling with, or counselling the play of others.

Lastly, if the game is not to be played rigorously, according to the rules above mentioned, then moderate your desire of victory over your adversary, and be pleased with one over yourself. Snatch not eagerly at every advantage offered by his unskilfulness or inattention; but point out to him kindly, that by such a move he places or leaves a piece in danger and unsupported; that by another he will put his king in a perilous situation, etc. By this generous civility (so opposite to the unfairness above forbidden) you may, indeed, happen to lose the game to your opponent; but you will win, what is better, his esteem, his respect, and his affection, together with the silent approbation and good-will of impartial spectators.

SELF-CULTURE

BY

WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING

WILLIAM ELLERY CHANNING

1780-1842

The greatest organizer of the Unitarian movement in America, William Ellery Chaning, was born at Newport, Rhode Island, in 1780. He was prepared for college under the tuition of his uncle, the Rev. Henry Channing, and entered Harvard in 1794. He was precocious as a boy, and later thorough as a student, but of a delicate constitution. When only twenty-three years old he became pastor of the Federal Street Church in Boston, and in a few years had won a wide fame for eloquence, and put himself at the head of the Unitarian party in the schism of the Congregational Church. In 1822 Channing made an extended tour in Europe, bringing back with him perhaps more of the spirit of Old World culture than any American that had been abroad.

Not only were his pulpit discourses powerful and stimulating far beyond those of any of his contemporaries, still in bondage to the narrow theology of the Mathers, but his published writings on topics other than divinity were widely read and appreciated. In his essay on "SelfCulture" Channing advocated the study of foreign literature, and insisted strongly on the importance of a more thorough culture. He looked upon self-culture as a religious duty, and pointed out and defined the connection between moral and intellectual culture. In his admirable essays on Napoleon, Milton and Fénelon, Dr. Channing contributed to American literature critical essays of genuine merit. These articles, which were first published in the "Christian Examiner," broadened the literary horizon of many American thinkers, and thus incited many to the attainment of that culture for which Channing so earnestly pleaded.

Dr. Channing was a friend of the father of Emerson, and a classmate and friend of the father of Longfellow. His influence on the minds of his contemporaries was remarkable, and can only be appreciated at the present day by remembering what a dearth of real literary ability there was in this country in his time. In 1830 Dr. Channing published 'Discourses, Reviews, and Miscellanies." In later collections of his works many additional articles were printed, bringing the complete edition of his works up to six volumes. He died at Bennington, Vermont, in 1842.

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SELF-CULTURE

Y RESPECTED FRIENDS: By the invitation of the committee of arrangements for the Franklin Lectures I now appear before you to offer some remarks introductory to this course.1 My principal inducement for doing so is my deep interest in those of my fellow-citizens for whom these lectures are principally designed. I understood that they were to be attended chiefly by those who are occupied by manual labor; and, hearing this, I did not feel myself at liberty to decline the service to which I had been invited. I wished by compliance to express my sympathy with this large portion of my race. I wished to express my sense of obligation to those from whose industry and skill I derive almost all the comforts of life. I wished still more to express my joy in the efforts they are making for their own improvement, and my firm faith in their success. These motives will give a particular character and bearing to some of my remarks. I shall speak occasionally as among those who live by the labor of their hands. But I shall not speak as one separated from them. I belong rightfully to the great fraternity of working men. Happily in this community we all are bred. and born to work; and this honorable mark, set on us all, should bind together the various portions of the community.

I have expressed my strong interest in the mass of the people; and this is founded, not on their usefulness to the community, so much as on what they are in themselves. Their condition is indeed obscure; but their importance is not on this account a whit the less. The multitude of men cannot, from the nature of the case, be distinguished; for the very idea of distinction is, that a man stands out from the multitude: They make little noise and draw little notice in their narrow spheres of action; but still they have their full pro

This essay was originally delivered at Boston in September, 1838, as an introductory address to the Franklin Lectures.

portion of personal worth and even of greatness. Indeed every man, in every condition, is great. It is only our own diseased sight which makes him little. A man is great as a man, be he where or what he may. The grandeur of his nature turns to insignificance all outward distinctions. His powers of intellect, of conscience, of love, of knowing God, of perceiving the beautiful, of acting on his own mind, on outward nature, and on his fellow-creatures-these are glorious prerogatives. Through the vulgar error of undervaluing what is common we are apt indeed to pass these by as of little worth. But as in the outward creation, so in the soul, the common is the most precious. Science and art may invent splendid modes of illuminating the apartments of the opulent; but these are all poor and worthless compared with the common light which the sun sends into all our windows, which he pours freely, impartially over hill and valley, which kindles daily the eastern and western sky; and so the common lights of reason, and conscience, and love, are of more worth and dignity than the rare endowments which give celebrity to a few. Let us not disparage that nature which is common to all men; for no thought can measure its grandeur. It is the image of God, the image even of his infinity, for no limits can be set to its unfolding. He who possesses the divine powers of the soul is a great being, be his place what it may. You may clothe him with rags, may immure him in a dungeon, may chain him to slavish tasks. But he is still great. You may shut him out of your houses; but God opens to him heavenly mansions. He makes no show indeed in the streets of a splendid city; but a clear thought, a pure affection, a resolute act of a virtuous will, have a dignity of quite another kind, and far higher than accumulations of brick and granite and plaster and stucco, however cunningly put together, or though stretching far beyond our sight. Nor is this all. If we pass over this grandeur of our common nature, and turn our thoughts to that comparative greatness, which draws chief attention, and which consists in the decided superiority of the individual to the general standard of power and character, we shall find this as free and frequent a growth among the obscure and unnoticed as in more conspicuous walks of life. The truly great are to be found everywhere,

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