This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1832 Excerpt: ...feel this sentiment: They inscribe their names on monuments, not as durable as brass or marble, but the best which they can find, and where they hope to enjoy a kind of immortality. Others of a higher class build houses, which they never can inhabit, that they may be known to be theirs; and call lands, the fruits of ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1832 Excerpt: ...feel this sentiment: They inscribe their names on monuments, not as durable as brass or marble, but the best which they can find, and where they hope to enjoy a kind of immortality. Others of a higher class build houses, which they never can inhabit, that they may be known to be theirs; and call lands, the fruits of which they can never taste, after their own names. The love of a name is a principle, which operates most powerfully in the breasts of the learned, the heroic, and the ambitious. For this do some men wear out their eyes in writing books; whilst others wade through blood, that they may live in the memories of their contemporaries and posterity. The desire of posthumous fame is the passion of great minds. It may be thought singular, that they, who disbelieve a future state of existence, should generally be the most anxious to obtain it; but perhaps, on reflection, it will appear natural enough that men, who do not expect any other life, should wish to secure that of their name. A celebrated atheist, who professed to believe that in a few months he should be nothing more than an insensible heap of dust, at the close of his life, wrote a vain book, in which he describes and extols himself, and makes large demands on posterity for their praise. The licentious poets of ancient times boast in proud language of the perpetual monuments, which they have built to their fame. Alexander, we are informed, undertook the conquest of Persia and India, chiefly for the sake of being celebrated by the orators and historians of Athens; and the all-conquering hero of the pres-ent day, whose terrific roar alarms even these distant shores, if we may judge from his arrogant and bombastic language, appears to be governed by a similar motive, and hopes to rival in the opi...
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