Page:The Hunterian Oration for 1850.djvu/58

42 fugitive and evanescent class of our mental phenomena, it evinces that power of separating universal associations, from such as are local or personal, which more than any other quality of the mind is the foundation of good sense, both in scientific pursuits, and in the conduct of life. The intellec- tual efforts by which such a taste is formed, are in reality much more nearly allied than is commonly suspected, to those, which are employed in prosecuting the most important and difficult branches of the philosophy of the human mind.”

In truth, a man’s just taste for what is elegant, whether in art or in nature, and his delicacy in moral conduct, are but one and the same sense, exerting itself on the same subject,— viz., a love of beauty, of order, of propriety, extended to all their various intellectual exhibitions. ‘ We observe in such a man, the same elegance, pointing towards the simplicity of nature; the same refined, correct, and judicious mode of thought expressed in all his relations to the world, whether in his step, in his attire, his furniture, his equipage, his garden, or his actions.”

“The dignity of every occupation,” says Burke, “ wholly depends on the quantity and the kind of virtue that may be exerted in it.” What are the requisitions of our profession ? Test it by the claims of the other professions, or test it by its own. Can it be said that our duties demand a lower standard of moral excellence? Are we content with mediocrity of intellectual power? On the contrary, does any pursuit demand for its full efficiency a higher order of intellect, a deeper fund of moral courage, more quickness of perception, a greater boldness in action? Truly, the soldier is the occasional arbiter of the fate of thousands, but there are few who