May we
not believe this--nay, we must, and exult, on behalf of humanity--that,
in the eternal progress of change, the nature which is its aliment no
less than its element, restores not less than its destiny removes. Yet,
the knowledge that we lose not, does not materially lessen the pang when
we behold the mighty fall--when we see the great mind, which, as a star,
we have almost worshipped, shooting with headlong precipitance through
the immense void from its place of eminence, and defrauding the eye of
all the glorious presence and golden promise which had become associated
with its survey.
The intellect of Guy Rivers had been gigantic--the mistake--a mistake
quite too common to society--consisted in an education limited entirely
to the mind, and entirely neglectful of the _morale_ of the boy. He was
taught, like thousands of others; and the standards set up for his moral
government, for his passions, for his emotions, were all false from the
first. The capacities of his mind were good as well as great--but they
had been restrained, while the passions had all been brought into
active, and at length ungovernable exercise.
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