hame, and the last
calamity of death. But what philosophy could ever thoroughly console him
for the ingratitude of a friend, the worthlessness of a child, the death
of a mistress? Hence, only when he stands alone, can a man's soul say to
Fate, 'I defy thee.'"

"You think then," said the Earl, reluctantly diverting the conversation
into a new channel "that in the pursuit of knowledge lies our only
active road to real happiness. Yet here how eternal must be the
disappointments even of the most successful! Does not Boyle tell us of
a man who, after devoting his whole life to the study of one mineral,
confessed himself, at last, ignorant of all its properties?"

"Had the object of his study been himself, and not the mineral, he would
not have been so unsuccessful a student," said Aram, smiling. "Yet,"
added he, in a graver tone, "we do indeed cleave the vast heaven of
Truth with a weak and crippled wing: and often we are appalled in our
way by a dread sense of the immensity around us, and of the inadequacy
of our own strength. But there is a rapture in the breath of the pure
and difficult air, and in the progress by which we compass earth,
the while we draw nearer to the stars,--that again exalts us beyond
ourselves, and reconciles the true student unto all things,--even to the
hardest of them all,--the conviction how feebly our performance can
ever imitate the grandeur of our ambition! As you see the spark
fly upward,--sometimes not falling to earth till it be dark and
quenched,--thus soars, whither it recks not, so that the direction be
above, the luminous spirit of him who aspires to Truth; nor will it back
to the vile and heavy clay from which it sprang, until the light which
bore it upward be no more!"

CHAPTER IV.

A DEEPER EXAMINATION INTO THE STUDENT'S HEART.--THE VISIT TO
THE CASTLE.--PHILOSOPHY PUT TO THE TRIAL.

I weigh not fortune's frown or smile,
I joy not much in earthly joys,
I seek not state, I seek not stile,
I am not fond of fancy's toys;
I rest so pleased with what I have,
I wish no more, no more I crave.
--Joshua Sylvester.

The reader must pardon me, if I somewhat clog his interest in my tale
by the brief conversations I have given, and must for a short while cast
myself on his indulgence and renew. It is not only the history of his
life, but the character and tone of Aram's mind, that I wish to stamp