All is confused, a stunning pain, As whirled a mill-wheel in my brain.
Despairing of science, he throws himself into the arms of pleasure. He drinks with full draught from the cup of joy, and finds himself with exultation again conscious of his youthful strength. Full of proud and lofty feeling, he now rushes forward in the new and open path, often bursting through all bounds. This is called the lost time. But it is not lost. If the man is not to be overwhelmed by the excess of external influence, if he is to be borne through all without loss of his independence, he requires in the mean time such a period of rest; in which, from an undisturbed point of view, he can look back into the past; can there weigh what he has so far accomplished; can look forward, and acquire a clear consciousness of his future purposes, and can gather strength for the necessary enterprise. Thus, in the transition from the school to the university, this introductory laziness is a necessary crisis for the majority, in order to shake off the old school dust, and to awake to a new existence. That very dissipation must throw the youth back upon knowledge. He has now learnt, out of the multitude of things, to choose and appropriate those which befit himself, his character, and designs; he has learnt to maintain his independence in the midst of the in-streaming outer-world; and, finally, by association with so many companions who, though equally with himself gay of heart and enjoying life, are still happily prosecuting the acquisition of knowledge, he has arrived at higher views of life, and of individual study. He is now first ripe for the university.
We have in other places spoken of the advantage which a young man derives from associate life with so many others. He who desires to rule or to exercise an influence over men, must first learn to live amongst many. He who studies a science will not perpetually confine himself to one work, though it be that of a most celebrated master, but will compare as many as possible, that amongst all their theories he may select that which most meets his approbation, or may create a new one for himself. Of the numbers, moreover, who find themselves at a High School, if some lose sight of their true object, and sink in the slough of sensuality, yet the far greater portion pursue the path of knowledge with zeal, and push forward on the direct course, though they may occasionally diverge into the smiling and blooming fields that lie right and left, to gather odorous nosegays to bear with them on their earnest track. Every one of these wanderers has his individual theory of life, of morals, of religion, and of every department of science and literature; and it betrays a self-punishing conceit, when an individual regards his own views as so exalted that they need no comparison with those of others, and when he can learn nothing from this intercourse. Youth seizes upon every thing so freshly and with such force, and endeavours to defend it against the encroachments of strangers. Shall a young man only educate himself under the instructions of experienced teachers? Certainly not. He must live amongst those who will hereafter be his fellow-labourers in life. But as the age exerts an undeniable influence on the greatest men that it produces, and even, when in other respects they shoot forth far beyond their time, binds them fast to the time with the strong bonds of prospects and prejudices; so also place operates materially on men through the influences which are bound upon the place.