For this great captain was not great because he had slain his ten thousands while others had only slain their thousands; he was not great because he had dethroned usurpers and meted out provinces with his sword; but because, as the proverb says, "He that ruleth his spirit is greater than he that taketh a city." (Prov. xv. 32.) Hence, in my opinion, the poet pays him a higher compliment than if he had called him the hero of a hundred fights, when he addresses him as "Wellington, sovereign of thyself!"1 con and the historian, when he tells us that he had " quered the love of glory, the last infirmity of noble minds, by the love of peace, the first grace of the Christian character." When you consider the long life of Wellington, that it took in some portion of the last and the first half of the present century; when you consider that these sixty years I speak of were, more than any others since the beginning of history, crowded with great events; when you reflect that, full of thrilling interest as this period was to the actors and spectators, it is yet more full of results and consequences to us who look back upon it,-for the peace and prosperity which we enjoy are the fruits of Wellington's stern resolve, when Europe was the battle-field, and kings and emperors the actors in that long, doubtful struggle; when you consider that through all these events, whether of war or peace, Wellington was the chief actor, you will see how truly it has been said of him, that while "his infancy saw the origin of European change, his manhood restrained its ravages, and his old age secured its repose."2 The history of this long period may be called, with 1 Lines by B. Disraeli, many years ago printed in the Morning Post. 2 Dr. Croly. equal propriety, the History of Europe, or the History of Wellington. Our hero entered the army at the age of eighteen, in the year A.D. 1787. He entered the Irish parliament before the Union, on attaining his twenty-first year, in 1790. All the time he was fighting his battles he was a member of Parliament. From his youth up, therefore, his life may be compared to two parallel straight lines, (for straight they were in the truest sense of the word,) the one military, ending with Commander-inChief, the other civil, ending with Prime Minister; so that he attained what no other man, save the American Washington, has ever done, the highest honours in both what we should call at Oxford a double firstclass man. How astonishing must have been that man's mind, who was at home alike in court or camp, in the senate and the battle-field. We must compute life by energy, rather than by years; for as the Apocryphal writer says, "Honourable age is not that which standeth in length of time; but wisdom is the grey hairs unto men, and an unspotted life is age." (Wisd. iv. 8, 9.) Estimating our hero by this standard, he had lived long when he returned from Waterloo forty years ago, to take his place on the pedestal of fame as the greatest soldier of his time; and had he died like Nelson in the moment of victory at Waterloo, universal consent would have called him the greatest captain of this or any other age. But, truly "Man is immortal till his work be done," : and so, strange to say, his second life was only then beginning; for a second life he was to have, as long and as honourable as the first and as the rose gardens under sunny skies are said to bloom twice a year,1 so our hero was to have the first and the second blossom, and to bear both the red rose of war and the white rose of peace. 1 "... biferique rosaria Pæsti."—Georgic iv. 119. The former in the spring-time.of his life, the latter in the autumn of his days; both in equal perfection. When Napoleon escaped from Elba, and put himself at the head of the army with which he was to fight at Waterloo, thinking he should then regain a greater dominion than he had resigned, he said, in bis usual boasting manner, "The world have read the first volume of my life: I am now going to give them the second.”1 But his life was destined to be comprised in one volume. The second would contain only the records of his imprisonment and death at St. Helena. Wellington was to have two lives-one of war, another of peace. Of these two we must now choose one-the one which will profit us most to consider. Now we may wonder at him as a warrior, but we cannot imitate him; we may never see war, and if we do, there can never be a second Wellington without a second Napoleon for him to conquer. In his peaceful character we may all imitate him; and it shall be my endeavour, in touching upon his several qualities, not only to show you how they existed in him, but also how we may imitate them in our several stations of life. And if we may not attain to his stature, for he was a giant in his growth of English qualities,-let us endeavour to be at least miniature portraits of this great original. Mr. Gladstone, in his eulogy pronounced in the Commons at the Duke's funeral, thus speaks :2-"If the achievements of the Duke of Wellington are beyond our imitation, there are many of his virtues, and these not the least signal, and many of those mental qualities which made him great, which are not placed beyond the range of imitation of every man. Love of truth and honour, devotion to public service, singlemindedness, and a noble contempt of fraud, are quali 1 Quoted in the Quarterly Review of 1816. ties which it is open to every one to cultivate." And Mr. Disraeli expresses the same in still stronger language, in his eulogy delivered on the same occasion. These are his words:- "The Duke of Wellington has left to his country a great legacy, greater even than his fame; he has left the contemplation of his character. I believe that, from the highest of those who are called upon to incur the severest responsibilities of State, to him who exercises the humblest duty of society, there are moments of difficulty and depression, when the image of the Duke of Wellington may occur to his memory, and the sense of duty may sustain and support him." The American poet, Longfellow, tells us the proper use to be made of the biographies of great men, and dwells on this same thought; the way in which, when we are inclined to despond and sink under accumulated difficulties, an heroic example, like that of Wellington, may occur to our mind, and bid us take heart again. The words are taken from the "Psalm of Life" they are these: : "Lives of great men, all remind us, We can make our lives sublime, TRUTH. I I am to show you, as best I may be able, those solid qualities which make Wellington great as a man. shall endeavour to classify these qualities as I imagine them to have stood in order of pre-eminence in the formation of his colossal character. We are to consider the edifice of his fame. The foundation of it is the only one that can be lasting. It is composed of "sterling moral qualities" such as truth, duty, loyalty, mercy. These form the basis. Next come the intellectual faculties, such as foresight, prudence, stern resolve, common sense. These are crowned with what we may call "habits," which set them off to the best advantage: plodding industry, attention to little things, punctuality, businesslike habits. First in order let me speak to you of his truth. Even when a boy at school at Chelsea, Arthur Wellesley was known for his contempt of fraud; for even in the games of their play-hours, he always exposed any unfairness if he detected it among his schoolfellows. It was the same principle strong in him, even at ten years old, which afterwards made him "To write an anonymous letter is the meanest action of which a man can be guilty." say, Mr. Gleig tells us a story, which shows how the Duke's private friends, early in life, knew how his word was to be depended on. A lady, an intimate connection of his, said to him one day, "I know that whatever you promise, you will do: promise me that you will read a chapter every day out of the Bible which I now give you." The Duke answered, "Well, I promise. I know why you do this: you imagine that I have no religion; you are very much mistaken. I am most sensible that my life is not such as is consistent with my convictions, but I have the deepest reverence for Christianity. I accept your Bible, and I promise to read." The Duke (adds Mr. Gleig, who, as chaplain of the forces, was likely to know the Duke's habits,) the Duke kept his word. Wherever he went, at home or abroad, in the field, or at the courts of foreign princes, his Bible went with him. In India, Wellington met the treachery and cunning |