had been trained; but the hardships of that calling
had proved so trying, and its rewards so scanty, that
Dr. Bryant was indisposed to entail it upon any
of his descendants. Perhaps, too, by the time this
crisis occurred in the young man's fortune, Dr.
Bryant had reached the conclusion at which most
intelligent physicians sooner or later arrive, that
they are more dependent for their livelihood upon
the credulity and ignorance of their patients than
upon their own skill, and he did not care to intro-
duce his son to a profession in which he might
prove too conscientious to succeed.

The lively interest in the politics of the country
which William Cullen had exhibited from his ear-
liest youth, and the success with which in his verses
he had on several occasions interpreted popular
emotions, suggested for him a public career. To
that, the profession of the law was then the most
if not the only remunerative avenue. The art of
entering public life penniless and in a few years
blooming into a millionaire was the discovery of a
considerably later stage of republican evolution.

The law was not precisely the calling to which
he could consecrate himself with his whole heart,
and he was not without misgivings that his shy and
sensitive nature unfitted him for the life of con-
flict by which the votaries of Themis have to win
their laurels. Still it offered him the readiest
means then in sight of earning his bread by his
brains and a final exemption, from the detested
"peasant toil." These considerations, strength-

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