Providence, and might well exclaim, if it had but an understanding and a tongue, “Go thy ways, old world, swing round in blue ether, voluble to every age, you and I shall no more jostle!”
It is amazing how soon the rich and titled, and even some of those who have wielded great political power, are forgotten.
Is all the great and mighty have
Betwixt the cradle and the grave”—
and, after its short date, they hardly leave a name behind them. “A great man’s memory may, at the common rate, survive him half a year.” His heirs and successors take his titles, his power, and his wealth—all that made him considerable or courted by others; and he has left nothing else behind him either to delight or benefit the world. Posterity are not by any means so disinterested as they are supposed to be. They give their gratitude and admiration only in return for benefits conferred. They cherish the memory of those to whom they are indebted for instruction and delight; and they cherish it just in proportion to the instruction and delight they are conscious they receive. The sentiment of admiration springs immediately
