Also, as in old cities many buildings will fall to decay, while new ones are added; you must expect to forget much of what you now know. No man can give equal attention to every object; and as we advance in life, we, in general, only learn new things at the expence of the old ones. But then they are the more valuable articles of knowledge, the more general and leading principles, which remain with us; while the more useless ones, things to which we give less attention because we find them to be of less use, disappear. Yet it is no uncommon thing for ingenious students to despise old scholars who are not so ready in the _minutiae_ of literature, though they may have forgotten more than those youths ever knew, and may retain what they cannot acquire without forgetting as much. Another observation proper to lessen the conceit of literary men, is, that genius is not confined to _them_, but is equally great, though not equally conspicuous, in every other line of life, and especially in manufactures and the arts. Here, however, discoveries equal, with respect to _sagacity_, to those of Newton, contribute little to posthumous fame, because the discoverers are not writers. But the greatest branch of intellectual excellence with respect to which every other is nothing, and which, from its nature, can never be foundation of any self-conceit, is _virtue_, or right dispositions of mind, leading to right conduct in life. Proper sentiments, and just affections of mind, arise from just, and often comprehensive, views of things, past, present, and to come. And if the real greatness of any thought, or action, be estimated by the number of elements that constitute it, and its remoteness from the dictates of sense and natural appetite, a virtuous and pious man will appear to be a much more dignified character, more proper to be viewed with admiration and esteem, than the greatest scholar; discovering, in fact, greater comprehension and force of mind. I mean, however, that virtue which is the result of reflection, of discipline, and much voluntary exertion, which, though operating with equal promptness and facility, is as much superior to mere _innocence_, and what is commonly called _good nature_, as motions secondarily automative are to those that are primarily so; a comparison which you who have studied _Hartley's Theory of the Mind_ will see the force of.