Tired, however, of leading an inactive life, he soon began to project other schemes of foreign travel. He visited successively France, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark; after which, returning to England, he undertook, under the auspices of the government, to prosecute the perilous attempt of penetrating into central Africa. His plan was to endeavour, in the first instance, to reach Timbuctoo, thence to direct his course eastward towards Sennaar, and then to return through Nubia and Egypt. But even his experience, skill, and extraordinary personal strength and prowess, did not save him from falling a victim in the cause in which so many gallant men had already perished. He left England towards the end of the year 1822 for Gibraltar, on reaching which he immediately embarked for Tangiers. From this he proceeded to Fez, where he was well received by the Emperor of Morocco, and obtained permission to join a caravan for Timbuctoo, which was to set out in a few days. Unexpected difficulties, however, arose when he was on the point of departure; and after a residence at Fez of five months, he was obliged to give up all hope of commencing his journey by the route he had originally fixed upon. On this disappointment he sailed for Madeira, and from thence, in October, 1823, he set out for the mouth of the river Benin on the west coast of Africa, with the intention of making his way to the interior from that point. He entered upon this journey accompanied by an English merchant, who was to conduct him as far as the town of Benin, and to introduce him there to the king of the country; but by the time he had arrived at this place a malady, which had attacked him almost as soon as he had set his foot on shore, had reached such a height, that he was unable to proceed any farther; and he begged his companion to have him taken back to Gato. He arrived here on the 2nd of December in a dreadfully exhausted state, and, being immediately attacked with delirium, expired on the following day. His remains were interred under a planetree on the shore, while the English vessels on the station honoured his memory by discharges of their cannon during the ceremonial. An inscription in English was afterwards placed over his grave, recording his melancholy fate, and expressing a hope that every European who might visit the spot would, if necessary, cause the ground to be cleared, and the fence repaired, around the resting-place of the enterprising and intrepid traveller.

Many other names of persons of both sexes remain in the records of literature, science, and art, and the other departments of intellectual exertion, which might be referred to as illustrating the Pursuit of Knowledge under Difficulties. But the selection of examples we have made,

regulated as it has been with a view to give as much diversity of interest as possible to our work, will probably be thought sufficiently extensive for that purpose. The lesson we would teach is, that in no situation of life, be it what it may, is the work of mental cultivation impossible to him who in good earnest sets about it. What is chiefly wanted to invigorate the mind to the encounter and conquest of the most formidable difficulties which any circumstances can oppose to it, is simply a clear conception and abiding conviction of that truth.

We will make only one additional remark. In other pursuits, the most unremitting endeavours often fail to secure the object sought, which, being usually something which only one individual can appropriate, is equally within the grasp of other competitors, some one of whom may snatch it away before it can be reached by him who best deserves it; but in the pursuit of knowledge it matters not how many may be the competitors: no one stands in the way of another, or can deprive him of any part of his chance, we should rather say of his certainty, of success; on the contrary, they are all fellow-workers, and may materially help each other forward. The wealth which each seeks to acquire has, as it were, the property of multiplying itself to meet the wants of all.

But it is not merely as a direction for the student that we ought to account the lesson valuable which teaches how much every man has it in his power to do for himself, if he will but set resolutely about the doing of it; it is still more valuable as a moral lesson. Indeed, if knowledge were not itself one of the supports of morality, it would not be worthy of the commendations which have universally been bestowed upon it; nor would its diffusion deserve the warm encouragement it has uniformly received from an enlightened philanthropy. But, though it is not true that the man who has accomplished himself in science or literature is always a more virtuous character than he who is without any intellectual culture, there can be no doubt of the generally humanizing and elevating tendency of a devotion to such pursuits; and, more especially, must the best effects be experienced from this dedication of his faculties by him whom it compels to learn and practice, to an extraordinary extent, the duties of steadiness, diligence, husbanding of time, concentration of attention, perseverance, courage, endurance of hardships, and every other habit and quality which depends upon the exercise of self-command or self-denial. In acquiring these virtues he acquires what is more precious than any knowledge, and will go farther to render him a useful and even influential member of society, than if he were to make himself master of all the learning that ever was stored up in libraries.