He rose to his greatest heights in moments when other men despaired. No
other man who ever sat upon the throne of England was this man's match."

Or, take Webster. Sydney Smith said: "Webster is a living lie; because
no man on earth can be as great as he looks." Carlyle said of him: "One
would incline at sight to back him against the world." His very physique
was eloquent. Men yielded their wills to his at sight.

The great prizes of life ever fall to the robust, the stalwart, the
strong,--not to a huge muscle or powerful frame necessarily, but to a
strong vitality, a great nervous energy. It is the Lord Broughams,
working almost continuously one hundred and forty-four hours; it is the
Napoleons, twenty hours in the saddle; it is the Franklins, camping out
in the open air at seventy; it is the Gladstones, firmly grasping the
helm of the ship of state at eighty-four, tramping miles every day, and
chopping down huge trees at eighty-five,--who accomplish the great
things of life.

To prosper you must improve your brain power; and nothing helps the
brain more than a healthy body. The race of to-day is only to be won by
those who will study to keep their bodies in such good condition that
their minds are able and ready to sustain that high pressure on memory
and mind, which our present fierce competition engenders. It is health
rather than strength that is now wanted. Health is essentially the
requirement of our time to enable us to succeed in life. In all modern
occupations--from the nursery to the school, from the school to the shop
or world beyond--the brain and nerve strain go on, continuous,
augmenting, and intensifying.

As a rule physical vigor is the condition of a great career. Stonewall