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 ESSAYS 
 
 WRITTEN IN THE INTERVALS 
 OF BUSINESS. 
 
 BY THE AUTHOR OF " FRIENDS IN COUNCIL," «feC, <fcC. 
 
 J&UL. 
 
 THE FIRST PART. 
 
 THIRD AMERICAN, FROM THE FIFTH ENGLISH EDITION. 
 
 <\V 
 
 ' 
 
 NEW-YORK : 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH, 
 
 6 8 3 BROADWAY. 
 18 5 3. 
 
T/?f771 
 
 .N1 1 
 
 z^ 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT TO THE AMERICAN" EDITION. 
 
 This volume, which has already passed to a fifth London Edition, is now 
 first issued from the American press ; and it is thought that it cannot fail to 
 commend itself to those who desire constant instruction in the duties which 
 they owe to themselves and to their fellow-men, and to be governed by the 
 highest principles of conduct in the various departments of public and social 
 life. While the essays composing the Second Part are addressed mainly to 
 business men, and will be found especially valuable to young men, who need 
 wise counsels most of all in a country where commercial transactions involve 
 great risks and demand the utmost prudence, it is believed that they will be 
 found eminently suggestive, and, in their practical character, generally adapted 
 to every class of readers. 
 
 JOHN A. GRAY, PRINTER, 
 54 Gox-d Street. 
 
THE FIRST PART. 
 
 Page 
 
 On Practical Wisdom, 7 
 
 Aids to Contentment, 12 
 
 On Self-Discipline, 22 
 
 On our Judgments of other Men, ...... 29 
 
 On the Exercise of Benevolence, . . 39 
 
 Domestic Rule, 46 
 
 Advice, 56 
 
 Secrecy, 63 
 
 THE SECOND PART. 
 
 On the Education of a Man of Business, 71 
 
 On the Transaction of Business, 80 
 
 On the Choice and Management of Agents, . . . .89 
 
 On the Treatment of Applicants, 94 
 
 Interviews, 99 
 
 Of Councils, Commissions, and, in general, of Bodies 
 
 of Men called together to counsel, or to direct, . . .105 
 
 Party Spirit, . . 115 
 
 On Truth, 129 
 
THE FIRST PART. 
 
" And he that knows how little certainty there is in humane dis- 
 courses, and how we know in part, and prophesie in part, and that 
 of eveiy thing whereof we know a little, we are ignorant in much 
 more, must either be content with such proportion as the thing will 
 bear, or as himself can get, or else he must never seek to alter or t$ 
 perswade any man to be of his opinion. For the greatest part of dis* 
 courses that are in the whole world, is nothing but a heap of probable 
 inducements, plausibilities, and witty entertainments ; and the throng 
 of notices is not unlike the accidents of a battel, in which every man 
 tells a new tale, something that he saw, mingled with a great many 
 things which he saw not ; his eyes and his fear joyning together equally 
 in the instructions and the illusion, these make up the stories." — Jejw 
 emy Tatlob's Ductor Dubitantium. 
 
<Dn ^mrfital SBtetom. 
 
 Practical wisdom acts in the mind, as gravi- 
 tation does in the material world ; combining, 
 keeping things in their places, and maintaining a 
 mutual dependence amongst the various parts of 
 our system. It is for ever reminding us where we 
 are, and what we can do, not in fancy, but in real 
 life. It does not permit us to wait for dainty duties, 
 pleasant to the imagination ; but insists upon our 
 doing those which are before us. It is always 
 inclined to make much of what it possesses ; and 
 is not given to ponder over those schemes which 
 might have been carried on, if what is irrevocable 
 had been other than it is. It does not suffer us to 
 waste our energies in regret. In journeying with 
 it, we go towards the sun, and the shadow of our 
 burden falls behind us. 
 
 In bringing any thing to completion, the means 
 which it looks for are not the shortest, nor the neat- 
 
8 ON PRACTICAL WISDOM. 
 
 est, nor the best that can be imagined. They have, 
 however, this advantage, that they happen to be 
 within reach. 
 
 We are liable to make constant mistakes about 
 the nature of practical wisdom, until we come to 
 perceive that it consists not in any one predomi- 
 nant faculty or disposition, but rather in a certain 
 harmony amongst all the faculties and affections of 
 the man. "Where this harmony exists, there are 
 likely to be well-chosen ends, and means judi- 
 ciously adapted. But, as it is, we see numerous 
 instances of men who, with great abilities, accom- 
 plish nothing, and we are apt to vary our views of 
 practical wisdom according to the particular fail- 
 ings of these men. Sometimes we think it consists 
 in having a definite purpose, and being constant to 
 it. But take the case of a deeply selfish person : 
 he will be constant enough to his purpose, and it 
 will be a definite one. Very likely, too, it may 
 not be founded upon unreasonable expectations. 
 The object which he has in view may be a small 
 thing ; but being as close to his eyes as to his heart, 
 there will be times when he can see nothing above 
 it, or beyond it, or beside it. And so he may fail 
 in practical wisdom. 
 
ON PRACTICAL WISDOM. 9 
 
 Sometimes it is supposed that practical wisdom 
 is not likely to be found amongst imaginative per- 
 sons. And this is very true, if you mean by 
 " imaginative persons," those who have an excess 
 of imagination. For in the mind as in the body, 
 general dwarfishness is often accompanied by a 
 disproportionate size of some part. The large 
 hands and feet of a dwarf seem to have devoured 
 his stature. But if you mean that imagination, of 
 itself, is something inconsistent with practical wis- 
 dom, I think you will find that your opinion is not 
 founded on experience. On the contrary, I believe 
 that there have been few men who have done great 
 things in the world who have not had a large 
 power of imagination. For imagination, if it be 
 subject to reason, is its " slave of the lamp." 
 
 It is a common error to suppose that practical 
 wisdom is something Epicurean in its nature, which 
 makes no difficulties, takes things as they come, is 
 desirous of getting rid rather than of completing, 
 and which, in short, is never troublesome. And 
 from a fancy of this kind, many persons are con- 
 sidered speculative, merely because they are of a 
 searching nature, and are not satisfied with small 
 expedients, and such devices as serve to conceal 
 
 the ills they cannot cure. And if to be practical 
 1* 
 
10 ON PRACTICAL WISDOM. 
 
 is to do things in such a way as to leave a great 
 deal for other people to undo at some future, 
 and no very distant, period, then, certainly, these 
 scrutinizing, pains-taking sort of persons are not 
 practical. For it is their nature to prefer a good, 
 open, visible rent to a time-serving patch. I do 
 not mean to say that they may not resort to patch- 
 ing as a means of delay. But they will not per- 
 mit themselves to fancy that they have done a thing 
 when they have only hit upon some expedient for 
 putting off the doing. 
 
 Bacon says, " In this theatre of man's life, God 
 and angels only should be lookers-on ; that contem- 
 plation and action ought ever to be united, a con- 
 junction like unto that of the two highest planets, 
 Saturn the planet of rest, and Jupiter the planet of 
 action." It is in this conjunction, which seems to 
 Bacon so desirable, that practical wisdom delights; 
 and on that account it is supposed by some men to 
 have a tinge of baseness in it. They do not know 
 that practical wisdom is as far from what they term 
 expediency, as it is from impracticability itself. They 
 see how much of compromise there is in all human 
 affairs. At the same time, they do not perceive 
 that this compromise, which should be the nice 
 
ON PRACTICAL WISDOM. 11 
 
 limit between wilfulness and a desertion of the light 
 that is within us, is the thing of all others which 
 requires the diligent exercise of that uprightness 
 which they fear to put in peril, and which, they 
 persuade themselves, will be strengthened by in- 
 activity. They fancy, too, that high moral resolves 
 and great principles are not for daily use, and that 
 there is no room for them in the affairs of this life. 
 This is an extreme delusion. For how is the world 
 ever made better? Not by mean little schemes, 
 which some men fondly call practical ; not by set- 
 ting one evil thing to counteract another; but by 
 the introduction of those principles of action which 
 are looked upon at first as theories, but which are 
 at last acknowledged and acted upon as common 
 truths. The men who first introduce these princi- 
 ples are practical men, though the practices which 
 such principles create may not come into being in 
 the life-time of their founders. 
 
lib to Contentment 
 
 The first object of this essay is to suggest some 
 antidotes against the manifold ingenuity of self-tor- 
 menting. 
 
 For instance, how much fretting migLc be pre- 
 vented by a thorough conviction that there can be 
 no such thing as unmixed good in this world ! In 
 ignorance of this, how many a man, after having 
 made a free choice in any matter, contrives to find 
 innumerable causes for blaming his judgment ! 
 Blue and green having been the only colors put 
 before him, he is dissatisfied with himself because 
 he omitted to choose pure white. Shenstone has 
 worked out the whole proces with fidelity. " We 
 are oftentimes in suspense betwixt the choice of 
 different pursuits. We choose one at last doubt- 
 ingly, and with an unconquered hankering after 
 the other. We find the scheme which we have 
 
AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 13 
 
 chosen answer our expectations but indifferently — 
 most worldly projects will. We, therefore, repent 
 of our choice, and immediately fancy happiness in 
 the paths which we decline ; and this heightens 
 our uneasiness. We might at least escape the ag- 
 gravation of it. It is not improbable we had been 
 more unhappy, but extremely probable we had 
 not been less so, had we made a different decision." 
 
 A great deal of discomfort arises from over-sensi- 
 tiveness about what people may say of you or your 
 actions. This requires to be blunted. Consider 
 whether any thing that you can do will have much 
 connection with what they will say. And be- 
 sides, it may be doubted whether they will say any 
 thing at all about you. Many unhappy persons 
 seem to imagine that they are always in an amphi- 
 theatre, with the assembled world as spectators ; 
 whereas, all the while, they are playing to empty 
 benches. They fancy, too, that they form the par- 
 ticular theme of every passer-by. If, however, 
 they must listen to imaginary conversations about 
 themselves, they might, at any rate, defy the prov- 
 erb, and insist upon hearing themselves well spo- 
 ken of. 
 
 Well, but suppose that it is no fancy ; and that 
 
14 AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 
 
 you really are the object of unmerited obloquy. 
 What then? It has been well said, that in that 
 case the abuse does not touch you ; that if you are 
 guiltless, it ought not to hurt your feelings any 
 more than if it were said of another person, with 
 whom you are not even acquainted. You may 
 answer that this false description of you is often 
 believed in by those whose good opinion is of 
 importance to your welfare. That certainly is a 
 palpable injury ; and the best mode of bearing up 
 against it is to endeavor to form some just estimate 
 of its nature and extent. Measure it by the world- 
 ly harm which is done to you. Do not let your 
 imagination conjure up all manner of apparitions 
 of scorn, and contempt, and universal hissing. It 
 is partly your own fault if the calumny is believed 
 in by those who ought to know you, and in whose 
 affections you live. That should be a circle within 
 which no poisoned dart can reach you. And for 
 the rest, for the injury done you in the world's esti- 
 mation, it is simply a piece of ill-fortune, about 
 which it is neither wise nor decorous to make much 
 moaning. 
 
 A little thought will sometimes prevent you from 
 being discontented at not meeting with the grati- 
 tude which you have expected. If you were only 
 
AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 15 
 
 to measure your expectations of gratitude by the 
 extent of benevolence which you have expended, 
 you would seldom have occasion to call people un- 
 grateful. But many persons are in the habit of 
 giving such a factitious value to any services which 
 they may render, that there is but little chance of 
 their being contented with what they are likely to 
 get in return, which, however, may be quite as 
 much as they deserve. 
 
 Besides, it is a common thing for people to ex- 
 pect from gratitude what affection alone can give. 
 
 There are many topics which may console you 
 when you are displeased at not being as much 
 esteemed as you think you ought to be. You may 
 begin by observing that people in general will not 
 look about for any body's merits, or admire any 
 thing which does not come in their way. You may 
 consider how satirical would be any praise which 
 should not be based upon a just appreciation of 
 your merits ; 3^ou may reflect how few of your fel- 
 low-creatures can have the opportunity of forming 
 a just judgment about you ; } T ou may then go fur- 
 ther, and think how few of those few are persons 
 whose judgment would influence }^ou deeply in 
 other matters ; and you may conclude by imagin- 
 
16 AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 
 
 ing that such persons do estimate you fairly, though 
 perhaps you never hear it. 
 
 The heart of man seeks for sympathy, and each 
 of us craves a recognition of his talents and his 
 labors. But this craving is in danger of becoming 
 morbid, unless it be constantly kept in check by 
 calm reflection on its vanity, or by dwelling upon 
 the very different and far higher motives which 
 should actuate us. That man has fallen into a piti- 
 able state of moral sickness, in whose eyes the good 
 opinion of his fellow-men is the test of merit, and 
 their applause the principal reward for exertion. 
 
 A habit of mistrust is the torment of some 
 people. It taints their love and their friendship. 
 They take up small causes of offense. They ex- 
 pect their friends to show the same aspect to them 
 at all times; which is more than human nature can 
 do. The}?- try experiments to ascertain whether 
 they are sufficiently loved ; they watch narrowly 
 the effects of absence, and require their friends to 
 prove to them that the intimacy is exactly upon 
 the same footing as it was before. Some persons 
 acquire these suspicious ways from a natural diffi- 
 dence in themselves ; for which they are often loved 
 the more : and they might find ample comfort in 
 
AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 17 
 
 that, if they could but believe it. With others, 
 these habits arise from a selfishness which cannot 
 be satisfied. And their endeavors should be to 
 uproot such a disposition, not to soothe it. 
 
 Contentment abides with truth. You will gen- 
 erally suffer for wishing to appear other than what 
 you are ; whether it be richer, or greater, or more 
 learned. The mask soon becomes an instrument 
 of torture. 
 
 Fit objects to employ the intervals of life are 
 among the greatest aids to contentment that a man 
 can possess. The lives of many persons are an 
 alternation of the one engrossing pursuit, and a sort 
 of listless apathy. They are either grinding, or 
 doing nothing. Now to those who are half their 
 lives fiercely busy, the remaining half is often tor- 
 pid without quiescence. A man should have some 
 pursuits which may be always in his power, and 
 to which he may turn gladly in his hours of recrea- 
 tion. 
 
 And if the intellect requires thus to be provided 
 with perpetual objects, what must it be with the 
 affections ? Depend upon it, the most fatal idle- 
 ness is that of the heart. And the man who feels 
 
18 AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 
 
 weary of life may be sure that he does not love his 
 fellow-creatures as he ought. 
 
 You cannot hope for any thing like contentment, 
 so long as you continue to attach that ridiculous 
 degree of importance to the events of this life which 
 so many people are inclined to do. Observe the 
 effect which it has upon them : they are most un- 
 comfortable if their little projects do not turn out 
 according to their fancy ; nothing is to be angular 
 to them ; they regard external things as the only 
 realities ; and as they have fixed their abode here, 
 they must have it arranged to their mind. In all 
 they undertake, they feel the anxiety of a gambler, 
 and not the calmness of a laboring man. It is, 
 however, the success or failure of their efforts, and 
 not the motives for their endeavor, which gives them 
 this concern. " It will be all the same a hundred 
 years hence." So says the Epicurean, as he saun- 
 ters by. The Christian exhorts them to extend 
 their hopes and their fears to the far future. But 
 they are up to their lips in the present, though they 
 taste it none the more for that. And so they go on, 
 fretting, and planning, and contending ; until an 
 event, about which of all their anxieties they have 
 felt the least anxious, sweeps them and their cob- 
 webs away from the face of the earth. 
 
AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 19 
 
 The misery of others has always been used as a 
 reasonable aid to contentment ; and it is so : not 
 in an Epicurean sense ; for, indeed, I do not believe 
 that that sweetness at beholding the distress of 
 others, which Lucretius speaks of, is ever felt when 
 the distress is really seen or known by us, but only 
 when it is fancied. The misery, however, of his 
 fellows must shame a man into thinking less about 
 his own annoyances ; and it may serve to calm his 
 mind even in the most poignant sorrow. Seneca 
 says, " The poor inhabitant of a narrow alley 
 mourned his son with a more patient mind, having 
 seen premature funerals marshalled forth even from 
 king's palaces ;" and Jeremy Taylor, addressing 
 the men of his own time, exclaims, "When thy 
 little misfortune troubles thee, remember that thou 
 hast known the best of kings and the best of men 
 put to death publicly by his own subjects." In 
 our days, though kings still occupy the tragic stage, 
 it is, alas, for classes and for races of men that our 
 hearts must bleed the most. And, of a truth, a man 
 may well forget his small discomforts, when, at 
 any given moment, he may be sure that there are 
 many thousand human beings on the Atlantic, ex- 
 hausting almost every conceivable form of wretch- 
 
20 AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 
 
 edness ; and most of them " wedged together in a 
 mass of living corruption."* 
 
 1 have no intention of putting forward specifics 
 for real afflictions, or pretending to teach refined 
 methods for avoiding grief. As long, however, as 
 there is any thing to be done in a matter, the time 
 for grieving about it has not come. But when the 
 subject for grief is fixed and inevitable, sorrow is 
 to be borne like pain. It is only a paroxysm of 
 either that can justify us in neglecting the duties 
 which no bereavement can lessen, and which no 
 sorrow can leave us without. And we may re- 
 member that sorrow is at once the lot, the trial, and 
 the privilege of man. 
 
 Most of the aids to contentment above suggested 
 are comparatively superficial ones ; and, though 
 they may be serviceable, there is much in human 
 nature that they cannot touch. Even pagans were 
 
 * Buxton's " African Slave-Trade and its Remedy." 
 On the capture of the Flor de Loando, in 1838, the dead slaves were 
 * drawn out" each morning by the legs, there not being room to go 
 between them " to take up their bodies." Indeed, it was long ago 
 given in evidence by an experienced witness, that slaves were stowed 
 away " so that they had not so much room as a man in his coffin ;" 
 and the horrors of the middle passage are said to have increased since 
 that time. 
 
AIDS TO CONTENTMENT. 21 
 
 wont to look for more potent remedies. They 
 could no help seeking for some great idea to rest 
 upon ; something to still the throbbing of their souls ; 
 some primeval mystery which should be answer- 
 able for the miseries of life. Such was their idea 
 of Necessity, the source of such systems as the Stoic 
 and the Epicurean. Christianity rests upon very 
 different foundations. And surely a Christian's 
 reliance on Divine goodness, and his full belief in 
 another world, should console him under serious 
 affliction, and bear the severer test of supporting 
 him against that under-current of vexations which 
 is not wanting in the smoothest life. 
 
(fit $?lf~li0ripto. 
 
 There is always some danger of self-discipline 
 leading to a state of self-confidence ; and the more 
 so, when the motives for it are of a poor and worldly 
 character, or the results of it outward only, and 
 superficial. But surely when a man has got the 
 better of any bad habit or evil disposition, his sen- 
 sations should not be those of exultation only ; ought 
 they not rather to be akin to the shuddering faint- 
 ness with which he would survey a chasm that he 
 had been guided to avoid, or with which he would 
 recall to mind a dubious deadly struggle which had 
 terminated in his favor ? The sense of danger is 
 never, perhaps, so fully apprehended as when the 
 danger has been overcome. 
 
 Self-discipline is grounded on self-knowledge. 
 A man may be led to resolve upon some general 
 course of self-discipline by a faint glimpse of his 
 
ON SELF-DISCIPLINE. 2 » 
 
 moral degradation : let him not be contented with 
 that small insight. His first step in self-discipline 
 should be to attempt to have something like an 
 adequate idea of the extent of the disorder. The 
 deeper he goes in this matter, the better ; he must 
 try to probe his own nature thoroughly. Men often 
 make use of what self-knowledge they may possess 
 to frame for themselves skilful flattery, or to amuse 
 themselves in fancying what such persons as they 
 are would do under various imaginary circum- 
 stances. For flatteries and for fancies of this kind, 
 not much depth of self-knowledge is required : but 
 he who wants to understand his own nature for 
 the purposes of self-discipline, must strive to learn 
 the whole truth about himself, and not shrink from 
 telling it to his own soul : 
 
 " To thine own self be true, 
 And it must follow, as the night the day, 
 Thou canst not then be false to any man." 
 
 The old courtier Polonius meant this for worldly 
 wisdom ; but it may be construed much more 
 deeply. 
 
 Imagine the soul, then, thoroughly awake to its 
 state of danger, and the whole energies of the man 
 devoted to self-improvement. At this point, there 
 
24 ON SELF-DISCIPLINE. 
 
 often arises a habit of introspection which is too 
 limited in its nature : we scrutinize each action as 
 if it were a thing by itself, independent and self- 
 originating ; and so our scrutiny does less good, 
 perhaps, than might be expected from the pain it 
 gives and the resolution it requires. Any truthful 
 examination into our actions must be good ; but 
 we ought not to be satisfied with it, until it becomes 
 both searching and progressive. Its aim should be 
 not only to investigate instances, but to discover 
 principles. Thus, suppose that our conscience 
 upbraids us for any particular bad habit : we then 
 regard each instance of it with intense self-reproach, 
 and long for an opportunity of proving the amend- 
 ment which seems certain to arise from our pangs 
 of regret. The trial comes : and sometimes oui 
 former remorse is remembered, and saves us; and 
 sometimes it is forgotten, and our conduct is as 
 bad as it was before our conscience was awakened. 
 Now in such a case we should begin at the begin- 
 ning, and strive to discover where it is that we are 
 wrong in the heart. This is not to be done by 
 weighing each particular instance, and observing 
 after what interval it occurred, and whether with 
 a little more or a little less temptation than usual : 
 instead of dwelling chiefly on mere circumstances 
 
ON SELF-DISCIPLINE. 25 
 
 of this kind, we should try and get at the substance 
 of the thing, so as to ascertain what fundamental 
 precept of God is violated by the habit in question. 
 That precept we should make our study ; and then 
 there is more hope of a permanent amendment. 
 
 Infinite toil would not enable you to sweep away 
 a mist ; but, by ascending a little, you may often 
 look over it altogether. So it is with our moral 
 improvement : we wrestle fiercely with a vicious 
 habit, which would have no hold upon us if we 
 ascended into a higher moral atmosphere. 
 
 As I have heard suggested, it is by adding to 
 our good purposes, and nourishing the affections 
 which are rightly placed, that we shall best be 
 able to combat the bad ones. By adopting such a 
 course, you will not have yielded to your enemy, 
 but will have gone, in all humility, to form new 
 alliances ; you will then resist an evil habit with 
 the strength which you have gained in carrying 
 out a good one. You will find, too, that when you 
 set your heart upon the things that are worthy of 
 it, the small selfish ends, which used to be so dear 
 to it, will appear almost disgusting ; you will won- 
 der that they could have had such hold upon you. 
 
26 ON SELF-DISCIPLINE. 
 
 In the same way, if you extend and deepen your 
 sympathies, the prejudices which have hitherto 
 clung obstinately to you will fall away ; your for- 
 mer uncharitableness will seem absolutely distaste- 
 ful ; you will have brought home to it feelings and 
 opinions with which it cannot live. 
 
 Man, a creature of twofold nature, body and soul, 
 should have both parts of that nature engaged in 
 any matter in which he is concerned; spirit and 
 form must both enter into it. It is idol-worship to 
 substitute the form for the spirit ; but it is a vain 
 philosophy which seeks to dispense with the form. 
 All this applies to self-discipline. 
 
 See how most persons love to connect some out- 
 ward circumstance with their good resolutions ; 
 they resolve on commencing the new year with 
 a surrender of this bad habit ; they will alter their 
 conduct as soon as they are at such a place. The 
 mind thus shows its feebleness ; but we must not 
 conclude that the support it naturally seeks is use- 
 less. At the same time that we are to turn our 
 chief attention to the attainment of right principles, 
 we cannot safely neglect any assistance which may 
 strengthen us in contending against bad habits ; far 
 is it from the spirit of true humility to look down 
 
OX SELF-DISCIPLINE. 27 
 
 upon such assistance. Who would not be glad to 
 have the ring of Eastern story, which should re- 
 mind the wearer by its change of color of his want 
 of shame ? Still these auxiliaries partake of a 
 mechanical nature ; we must not expect more from 
 them than they can give : they may serve as aids 
 to memory; they may form landmarks, as it were, 
 of our progress ; but they cannot, of themselves, 
 maintain that progress. 
 
 It is in a similar spirit that we should treat what 
 may be called prudential considerations. We may 
 listen to the suggestions of prudence, and find them 
 an aid to self-discipline ; but we should never rest 
 upon them. While we do not fail to make the due 
 use of them, we must never forget that they do not 
 go to the root of the matter. Prudence may enable 
 a man to conquer the world, but not to rule his 
 own heart; it may change one evil passion for 
 another, but it is not a thing of potency enough to 
 make a man change his nature. 
 
 Prayer is a constant source of invigoration to 
 self-discipline ; not the thoughtless praying, which 
 is a thing of custom, but that which is sincere, 
 intense, watchful. Let a man ask himself whether 
 he really would have the thing he prays for ; let 
 
28 ON SELF-DISCIPLINE. 
 
 him think, while he is praying for a spirit of for- 
 giveness, whether even at that moment he is dis- 
 posed to give up the luxury of anger. If not, what 
 a horrible mockery it is ! To think that a man 
 can find nothing better to do, in the presence of 
 his Creator, than telling off so many words ; alone 
 with his God, and repeating his task like a child ; 
 longing to get rid of it, and indifferent to its mean- 
 ing ! 
 
<t)n nm f tiftgtmnin of oilier 381m. 
 
 In forming these lightly, we wrong ourselves > 
 and those whom we judge. In scattering such 
 things abroad, we endow our unjust thoughts with 
 a life which we cannot take away, and become 
 false witnesses to pervert the judgments of the 
 world in general. Who does not feel that to de- 
 scribe with fidelity the least portion of the entangled 
 nature that is within him would be no easy matter ? 
 And yet the same man who feels this, and who, per- 
 haps, would be ashamed of talking at hazard about 
 the properties of a flower, of a weed, of some 
 figure in geometry, will put forth his guesses about 
 the character of his brother-man, as if he had the 
 fullest authority for all that he was saying. 
 
 But perhaps we are not wont to make such rash 
 remarks ourselves ; we are only pleased to receive 
 
30 ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 
 
 them with the most obliging credence from the lips 
 of any person we may chance to meet with. Such 
 credulity is any thing but blameless. We cannot 
 think too seriously of the danger of taking upon 
 trust these off-hand sayings, and of the positive 
 guilt of uttering them as if they were our own, or 
 had been assayed by our observation. How much 
 we should be ashamed if we knew the slight 
 grounds of some of those uncharitable judgments 
 to which we lend the influence of our name by re- 
 peating them ! And even if we repeat such things 
 only as we have good reason to believe in, we 
 should still be in no hurry to put them forward, 
 especially if they are sentences of condemnation. 
 There is a maxim of this kind which Thomas a 
 Kempis, in his chapter " De Prudentia in Agen- 
 dis," # has given with all the force of expression that 
 it merits : " Ad hanc etiam pertinet, non quibusli- 
 bet hominum verbis credere ; nee audita vel credita, 
 rrtox ad aliorum aures effundere."i 
 
 There are certain things quite upon the surface 
 of a man's character ; there are certain obvious 
 
 * Of Prudence in respect to Actions. 
 
 f With regard to this, it even behooves not to trust any words 
 -whatsoever of men ; nor anon to pour into the ears of others things 
 heard or believed. 
 
ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 31 
 
 facts in any man's conduct ; and there are persons 
 who, being very much before the world, offer plenty 
 of materials for judging about them. Such circum- 
 stances as these may fairly induce you to place 
 credence in a general opinion, which, however, you 
 have no means of verifying in any way for yourself; 
 but in no case should you suffer yourself to be 
 carried away at once by the current sayings about 
 men's characters and conduct. If you do, you are 
 helping to form a mob. Consider what these say- 
 ings are ; how seldom they embody the character 
 discussed, or go far to exhaust the question, if it is 
 one of conduct. It is well if they describe a part 
 with faithfulness, or give indications from which a 
 shrewd and impartial thinker may deduce some 
 true conclusions. Again, these sayings may be 
 true in themselves, but the prominence given to 
 them may lead to very false impressions. Besides, 
 how many of them must be formed upon the opin- 
 ion of a few persons, and those, perhaps, forward 
 thinkers. 
 
 You feel that you yourself would be liable to 
 make mistakes of all kinds, if you had to form an 
 independent judgment in the matter ; do not too 
 readily suppose that the general opinions you hear 
 are free from such mistakes, merely because they 
 
32 ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 
 
 are made, or appear to you to be made, by a great 
 many people. 
 
 If we come to analyze the various opinions we 
 hear of men's characters and conduct, there must 
 be many which are formed wrongly, though sin- 
 cerely, either from imperfect information or erro- 
 neous reasoning. There will be others which are 
 the simple result of the prejudices and passions of 
 the persons judging, of their humors, and some- 
 times even of their ingenuity. There will be 
 others grounded on total misrepresentations, which 
 arise from imperfect hearing, or from some entire 
 mistake, or from a report being made by a person 
 who understood so little of the matter that it was 
 not possible for him to convey, with any thing like 
 accuracy, what he heard about it. Then there are 
 the careless things which are said in general con- 
 versation, but which often have as much apparent 
 weight as if they had been well considered. Some- 
 times these various causes are combined ; and the 
 result is, that an opinion of some man's character 
 and conduct gets abroad, which is formed after a 
 wrong method, by prejudiced persons, upon a false 
 statement of facts, respecting a matter which they 
 cannot possibly understand ; and this is then left 
 
ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 33 
 
 to be inflated by folly, and blown about by idle- 
 ness. 
 
 There is an excellent passage in Wollaston's 
 " Religion of Nature," upon this subject, where he 
 says, " The good or bad repute of men depends in a 
 great measure upon mean people, who carry their 
 stories from family to family, and propagate them 
 very fast ; like little insects, which lay apace, and the 
 less the faster. There are few, very few, who have 
 the opportunity and the will and the ability to repre- 
 sent things truly. Besides the matters of fact them- 
 selves, there are many circumstances which, before 
 sentence is passed, ought to be known and weighed, 
 and yet scarce ever can be known, but to the per- 
 son himself who is concerned. He may have other 
 views, and another sense of things, than his judges 
 have ; and w T hat he understands, what he feels, 
 what he intends, may be a secret confined to his 
 own breast. Or perhaps the cen surer, notwith- 
 standing this kind of men talk as if they were in- 
 fallible, may be mistaken himself in his opinion, 
 and judge that to be wrong which in truth is 
 right." 
 
 Few people have imagination enough to enter 
 into the delusions of others, or indeed to look at 
 the actions of any other person with any prejudices 
 2* 
 
34 ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 
 
 but their own. Perhaps, however, it would be 
 nearer the truth to say that few people are in the 
 habit of employing their imagination in the service 
 of charity. Most persons require its magic aid to 
 gild their castles in the air ; to conduct them along 
 those fancied triumphal processions in which they 
 themselves play so conspicuous a part; to conquer 
 enemies for them without battles ; and to make 
 them virtuous without effort. This is what they 
 want their imagination for ; they cannot spare it 
 for any little errand of charity. And sometimes, 
 when men do think charitably, they are afraid to 
 speak out, for fear of being considered stupid, or 
 credulous. 
 
 We have been considering the danger of adopt- 
 ing current sayings about men's character and con- 
 duct; but suppose we consider, in detail," the dif- 
 ficulty of forming an original opinion on these 
 matters, especially if we have not a personal 
 knowledge of the men of whom we speak. In the 
 first place, we seldom know with sufficient exact- 
 ness the facts upon which we judge ; and a little 
 thing may make a great difference when we come 
 to investigate motives. But the report of a trans- 
 action sometimes represents the real facts no better 
 
ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 35 
 
 than the labored variation does the simple air ; 
 which, amidst so many shakes and flourishes, might 
 not be recognized even by the person who composed 
 it. Then again, how can we insure that we rightly 
 interpret those actions which we exactly know ? 
 Perhaps one of the first motives that we look for is 
 self-interest, when we want to explain an action ; 
 but we have scarcely ever such a knowledge of 
 the nature and fortunes of another, as to be able to 
 decide what is his interest, much less what it may 
 appear to him to be ; besides, a man's fancies, his 
 envy, his wilfulness, every day interfere with and 
 override his interests. He will know this himself, 
 and will often try to conceal it by inventing motives 
 of self-interest to account for his doing what he has 
 a mind to do. 
 
 It is well to be thoroughly impressed with a 
 sense of the difficulty of judging about others ; still, 
 judge we must, and sometimes very hastily ; the 
 purposes of life require it. We have, however, 
 more and better materials, sometimes, than we are 
 aware of: we must not imagine that they are 
 always deep-seated and recondite ; they often lie 
 upon the surface. Indeed, the primary character 
 of a man is especially discernible in trifles ; for then 
 
36 ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 
 
 he acts, as it were, almost unconsciously. It is upon 
 the method of observing and testing these things 
 that a just knowledge of individual men in a great 
 measure depends. You may learn more of a per- 
 son even by a little converse with him, than by a 
 faithful outline of his history. The most important 
 of his actions may be any thing but the most signifi- 
 cant of the man ; for they are likely to be the re- 
 sults of many things besides his nature. To under- 
 stand that, I doubt whether you might not learn 
 more from a good portrait of him, than from two 
 or three of the most prominent actions of his life. 
 Indeed, if men did not express much of their nature 
 in their manners, appearance, and general bearing, 
 we should be at a sad loss to make up our minds 
 how to deal with each other. 
 
 In judging of others, it is important to distinguish 
 those parts of the character and intellect which are 
 easily discernible from those which require much 
 observation. In the intellect, we soon perceive 
 whether a man has wit, acuteness, or logical power. 
 It is not easy to discover whether he has judgment. 
 And it requires some study of the man to ascertain 
 whether he has practical wisdom ; which, indeed, 
 is a result of high moral as well as intellectual 
 qualities. 
 
ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 37 
 
 In the moral nature, we soon detect selfishness, 
 egotism, and exaggeration. Carelessness about 
 truth is soon found out ; you see it in a thousand 
 little things. On the other hand, it is very difficult 
 to come to a right conclusion about a man's tem- 
 per, until you have seen a great deal of him. Of 
 his tastes, some will lie on the surface, others not ; 
 for there is a certain reserve about most people in 
 speaking of the things they like best. Again, it is 
 always a hard matter to understand any man's 
 feelings. Nations differ in their modes of express- 
 ing feelings, and how much more individual men ! 
 
 There are certain cases in which we are pecu- 
 liarly liable to err in our judgments of others. 
 Thus, I think, we are all disposed to dislike, in a 
 manner disproportionate to their demerits, those 
 who offend us by pretension of any kind. We are 
 apt to fancy that they despise us ; whereas, all the 
 while, perhaps, they are only courting our admira- 
 tion. There are people who wear the worst part of 
 their characters outwards : they offend our vanity ; 
 they rouse our fears ; and under these influences 
 we omit to consider how often a scornful man is 
 tender-hearted, and an assuming man, one who 
 longs to be popular and to please. 
 
 Then there are characters of such a different 
 
38 ON OUR JUDGMENTS OF OTHER MEN. 
 
 kind from our own, that we are without the means 
 of measuring and appreciating them. A man who 
 has no humor, how difficult for him to understand 
 one who has ! 
 
 But of all the errors in judging of others, some 
 of the worst are made in judging of those who are 
 nearest to us. They think that we have entirely 
 made up our minds about them, and are apt to 
 show us that sort of behavior only which they 
 know we expect. Perhaps, too, they fear us, or 
 they are convinced that we do not and cannot 
 sympathize with them. And so we move about in 
 a mist, and talk of phantoms as if they were living 
 men, and think that we understand those who 
 never interchange any discourse with us but the 
 talk of the market-place ; or if they do, it is only 
 as players who are playing a part set down in cer- 
 tain words, and to be eked out with stage gestures 
 for each affection, who would deem themselves 
 little else than mad if they were to say out to us 
 any thing of their own. 
 
d&n t[r* (Bxtum of ^mtmkwt 
 
 With the most engaging objects of benevolence 
 around them, men consume the largest part of their 
 existence in the acquisition of money, or of know- 
 ledge ; or in sighing for the opportunities of ad- 
 vancement ; or in doting over some unavailing 
 sorrow. Or, as it often happens, they are out- 
 wardly engaged in slaving over the forms and 
 follies of the world, while their minds are given 
 up to dreams of vanity, or to long-drawn reveries, 
 a mere indulgence of their fancy. And yet hard 
 by them are groans, and horrors, and sufferings of 
 all kinds, which seem to penetrate no deeper than 
 their senses. 
 
 Let them think what boundless occupations there 
 are before us all ! Consider the masses of human 
 beings in our manufacturing towns and crowded 
 cities left to their own devices — the destitute peas- 
 
40 ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 antry of our sister-land — the horrors of slavery wher- 
 ever it exists — the general aspect of the common 
 people — the pervading want of education — the falla- 
 cies and falsehoods which are left, unchecked, to ac- 
 complish all the mischief that is in them — the many 
 legal and executive reforms not likely to meet with 
 much popular impulse, and requiring, on that ac- 
 count, the more diligence from those who have any 
 insight into such matters. By employing himself 
 upon anyone of the above subjects, a man is likely 
 to do some good. If he only ascertains what has 
 been done, and what is doing, in any of these mat- 
 ters, he may be of great service. A man of real in- 
 formation becomes a centre of opinion, and there- 
 fore of action. 
 
 Many a man w T ill say : " This is all very true ; 
 there certainly is a great deal of good to be done. 
 Indeed, one is perplexed what to choose as one's 
 point of action ; and still more how to begin upon 
 it." To which I would answer : Is there no one 
 service for the great family of man which has yet 
 interested you ? Is no work of benevolence brought 
 near to you by the peculiar circumstances of your 
 life ? If there is, follow it at once. If not, still 
 you must not wait for something apposite to occur. 
 Take up any subject relating to the welfare of man- 
 
ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 41 
 
 kind, the first that comes to hand ; read about it ; 
 think about it ; trace it in the world, and see if it 
 will not come to your heart. How listlessly the 
 eye glances over the map of a country upon which 
 we have never set foot ! On the other hand, with 
 what satisfaction we contemplate the mere outline 
 only of a land we have once travelled over ! Think 
 earnestly upon any subject, investigate it sincerely, 
 and you are sure to love it. You will not complain 
 again of not knowing whither to direct your atten- 
 tion. There have been many enthusiasts about 
 heraldry. Many have devoted themselves to chess. 
 Is the welfare of living, thinking, suffering, eternal 
 creatures, less interesting than "azure" and " ar- 
 gent," or than the knight's move, and the progress 
 of a pawn ? 
 
 There are many persons, doubtless, who feel 
 the wants and miseries of their fellow-men ten- 
 derly, if not deeply ; but this feeling is not of the 
 kind to induce them to exert themselves out of their 
 
 own small circle. Thev have little faith in their 
 
 %/ 
 
 individual exertions doing aught towards a remedy 
 for any of the great disorders of the world. If an 
 evil of magnitude forces itself upon their attention, 
 they take shelter in a comfortable sort of belief that 
 the course of events, or the gradual enlightenment 
 
4:2 ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 of mankind, or, at any rate, something which is too 
 large for them to have any concern in, will set 
 it right. In short, they are content to remain spec- 
 tators ; or, at best, to wait until an occasion shall 
 arrive when their benevolence may act at once, 
 with as little preparation of means as if it were 
 something magical. 
 
 But opportunities of doing good, though abun- 
 dant, and obvious enough, are not exactly fitted to 
 our hands ; we must be alert in preparing our- 
 selves for them. Benevolence requires method 
 and activity in its exercise. It is by no means the 
 same sort of thing as the indolent good humor with 
 w r hich a well-fed men, reclining on a sunny bank, 
 looks upon the working world around him. 
 
 As to the notion of waiting for the. power to do 
 good, it is one that we must never listen to. Surely 
 the exercise of a man's benevolence is not to depend 
 upon his worldly good fortune ! Every man has 
 to-day the power of laying some foundation for 
 doing good, if not of doing it. And whoever does 
 not exert himself until he has a large power of 
 carrying out his good intentions, may be sure that 
 he will not make the most of the opportunity when 
 it comes. It is not in the heat of action, nor 
 when a man, from his position, is likely to be 
 
ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 43 
 
 looked up to with some reverence, that he should 
 have to begin his search for facts or principles. He 
 should then come forth to apply results ; not to 
 work them out painfully, and perhaps precipitately, 
 before the eyes of the world. 
 
 The worldly-wise may ask : " Will not these 
 benevolent pursuits prevent a man from following 
 with sufficient force," what they call, " his legiti- 
 mate occupations?" I do not see why. Surely 
 Providence has not made our livelihood such an 
 all-absorbing affair, that it does not leave us room 
 or time for our benevolence to work in However, 
 if a man will only give up that portion of his think- 
 ing time which he spends upon vain-glory, upon 
 imagining, for instance, what other people are 
 thinking about him, he will have time and energy 
 enough to pursue a very laborious system of benev- 
 olence. 
 
 I do not mean to contend that active benevolence 
 may not hinder a man's advancement in the world : 
 for advancement greatly depends upon a reputation 
 for excellence in some one thing of which the world 
 perceives that it has present need ; and an obvious 
 attention to other things, though perhaps not incom- 
 patible with the excellence itself, may easily pre- 
 
44 ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 
 
 vent a person from obtaining a reputation for it. 
 But any deprivation of this kind would be readily 
 endured if we only took the view of our social re- 
 lations which Christianity opens to us. We should 
 then see that benevolence is not a thing to be taken 
 up by chance, and put by at once to make way for 
 every employmeut which savors of self-interest. 
 Benevolence is the largest part of our business, be- 
 ginning with our home duties, and extending itself 
 to the utmost verge of humanity. A vague feeling 
 of kindness towards our fellow-creatures is no 
 state of mind to rest in. It is not enough for us 
 to be able to say that nothing of human interest is 
 alien to us, and that we give our acquiesence, oi 
 indeed our transient assistance, to any scheme of 
 benevolence that may come in our way. No : in 
 promoting the welfare of others we must toil ; we 
 must devote to it earnest thought, constant care, 
 and zealous endeavor. What is more, we must do 
 all this with patience ; and be ready, in the same 
 cause, to make an habitual sacrifice of our own 
 tastes and wishes. Nothing short of this is the visit- 
 ing the sick, feeding the hungry, and clothing the 
 naked, which our creed requires of us. 
 
 Kindness to animals is no unworthy exercise of 
 
ON THE EXERCISE OF BENEVOLENCE. 45 
 
 benevolence. We hold that the life of brutes per- 
 ishes with their breath, and that they are never to 
 be clothed again with consciousness. The inevit- 
 able shortness then of their existence should plead 
 for them touchingly. The insects on the surface of 
 the water, poor ephemeral things, who would need- 
 lessly abridge their dancing pleasure of to-day ? 
 Such feelings we should have towards the whole 
 animate creation. To those animals over which 
 we are masters for however short a time, we have 
 positive duties to perform. This seems too obvious 
 to be insisted upon ; but there are persons who act 
 as though they thought they could buy the right 
 of ill-treating any of God's creatures. 
 
 We should never in any way consent to the ill 
 treatment of animals, because the fear of ridicule, 
 or some other fear, prevents our interfering. As to 
 there being any thing really trifling in any act of 
 humanity, however slight, it is moral blindness to 
 suppose so. The few moments in the course of 
 each day which a man absorbed in some worldly 
 pursuit may carelessly expend in kind words or 
 trifling charities to those around him, (and kindness 
 to an animal is one of these,) are perhaps, in the 
 sight of Heaven, the only time that he has lived to 
 any purpose worthy of recording. 
 
Dnmwrtu Jtimh 
 
 Tacitus says of Agricola, that " he governed 
 his family, which many find to be a harder task 
 than to govern a province." And the worst of this 
 difficulty is, that its existence is frequently unper- 
 ceived, until it comes to be pressingly felt. 
 
 For, either a man thinks that he must needs un- 
 derstand those whom he sees daily, and also, per- 
 haps, that it is no great matter whether he under- 
 stand them or not, if he is resolved to do his duty 
 by them ; or he believes that in domestic rule there 
 is much license, and that each occasion is to be 
 dealt with by some law made at the time, or after ; 
 or he imagines that any domestic matter which he 
 may leave to-day omitted or ill-done can be re- 
 paired at his leisure, when the concerns of the 
 outer world are not so pressing as they are at 
 present. 
 
DOMESTIC RULE. 47 
 
 Bat each day brings its own duties, and carries 
 them along with it ; and they are as waves broken 
 on the shore, many like them coming after, but 
 none ever the same. And amongst all his duties, 
 as there are none in which a man acts more by him- 
 self, and can do more harm with less outcry from 
 the world, so there are none requiring more fore- 
 thought and watchfulness than those which arise 
 from his domestic relations. Nor can there be a 
 reasonable hope of his fulfilling those duties while 
 he is ignorant of the feelings, however familiar he 
 may be with the countenances, of those around him. 
 
 The extent and power of domestic rule are very 
 great; but this is often overlooked by the persons 
 who possess it, and they are rather apt to under- 
 rate the influence of their own authority. They 
 can hardly imagine how strongly it is felt by otners, 
 unless they see it expressed in something outward. 
 The effects of this mistake are often increased by 
 another, which comes into operation when men are 
 dealing with their inferiors in rank and education ; 
 in which case they are rather apt to fancy that the 
 natural sense of propriety, which woull put the 
 right limit to familiar intercourse, belongs only to 
 the well-educated or the well-born. And from 
 
48 DOMESTIC RULE. 
 
 either of these causes, or both united, they are 
 led, perhaps, to add to their authority by a harsh- 
 ness not their own, rather than to impair it, as they 
 fancy, by that degree of freedom which they must 
 allow to those around them, if they would enter 
 into their feelings and understand their dispositions. 
 Perhaps there are some persons who think that they 
 can manage very well without this familiar inter- 
 course ; and certainly there is but little occasion 
 for knowing much about the nature of those whom 
 you only intend to restrain. Coercion, however, is 
 but a small part of government. 
 
 We should always be most anxious to avoid pro- 
 voking the rebel spirit of the will in those who are 
 intrusted to our guidance ; we should not attempt 
 to tie them up to their duties, like galley-slaves to 
 their labor. We should be very careful that, in our 
 anxiety to get the outward part of an action per- 
 formed to our mind, we do not destroy that germ 
 of spontaneousness which could alone give any sig- 
 nificance to the action. God has allowed free will 
 to man, for the choice of good or evil ; and is 
 it likely that it is left to us to make our fellow- 
 creatures virtuous by word of command ? We 
 may insist upon a routine of proprieties being per- 
 
DOMESTIC RULE. 49 
 
 formed with soldier-like precision ; but there is no 
 drilling of men's hearts. 
 
 • It is a great thing to maintain the just limits of 
 domestic authority, and to place it upon its right 
 foundation. You cannot make reason conform to 
 it. It may be fair to insist upon a certain thing 
 being done, but not that others should agree with 
 you in saying that it is the best thing that could 
 have been done ; for there cannot be a shorter 
 way of making them hypocritical. Your submit- 
 ting the matter at all to their judgments may be 
 gratuitous ; but if you do so, you must remember 
 that the courts of reason recognize no difference 
 of persons. Your wishes may fairly outweigh their 
 arguments ; but this, of course, is foreign to the 
 reasonableness or unreasonableness of the thing 
 itself, considered independently. 
 
 Domestic rule is founded upon truth and love. 
 If it has not both of these, it is nothing better than 
 a despotism. 
 
 It requires the perpetual exercise of love in its 
 most extended form. You have to learn the dis- 
 positions of those under you, and to teach them to 
 understand yours. In order to do this, you must 
 sympathize with them, and convince them of your 
 
50 DOMESTIC RULE. 
 
 doing so ; for upon your sympathy will often de- 
 pend their truthfulness. Thus, you must persuade 
 a child to place confidence in you, if you wish to 
 form an open, upright character. You cannot ter- 
 rify it into habits of truth. On the contrary, are 
 not its earliest falsehoods caused by fear, much 
 oftener than from a wish to obtain any of its little 
 ends by deceit? How often the complaint is heard 
 from those in domestic authority, that they are not 
 confided in ! But they forget how hard it is for 
 an inferior to confide in a superior, and that he 
 will scarcely venture to do so without the hope of 
 some sympathy on the part of the latter ; and the 
 more so, as half our confidences are about our fol- 
 lies, or what we deem such. 
 
 Every one who has paid the slightest attention 
 to this subject knows, that domestic rule is built 
 upon justice, and therefore upon truth ; but it may 
 not have been observed what evils will arise from 
 even a slight deviation into conventionality. For 
 instance, there is a common expression about 
 " overlooking trifles." But what many persons 
 should say, when they use this expression, is, — 
 That they affect not to observe something, when 
 there is no reason why they should not openly 
 recognize it. Thus they contrive to make matter 
 
DOMESTIC RULE. 51 
 
 of offense out of things which really have no 
 harm in them. Or the expression means that 
 they do not care to take notice of something which 
 they really believe to be wrong ; and as it is not 
 of much present annoyance to them, they persuade 
 themselves that it is not of much harm to those 
 who practise it. In either case, it is their duty to 
 look boldly at the matter. The greater quantity 
 of truth and distinctness you can throw into your 
 proceedings, the better. Connivance creates un- 
 certainty, and gives an example of slyness ; and 
 very often you will find that you connive at some 
 practice, merely because you have not made up 
 your mind whether it is right or wrong, and you 
 wish to spare yourself the trouble of thinking. All 
 this is falsehood. 
 
 Whatever you allow in the way of pleasure or 
 of liberty, to those under your control, you should 
 do it heartily ; you should recognize it entirely, 
 encourage it, and enter into it. If, on the con- 
 trary, you do not care for their pleasures, or sym- 
 pathize with their happiness, how can you expect 
 to obtain their confidence? And when you tell 
 them that you consult their welfare, they look upon 
 it as some abstract idea of your own. They will 
 doubt whether you can know what is best for them, 
 
52 DOMESTIC RULE. 
 
 if they have good reason for thinking that you are 
 likely to leave their particular views of happiness 
 entirely out of the account. 
 
 In what has been already said, there has been 
 much that evidently relates to the management of 
 servants. But it may be well to allude more dis- 
 tinctly to our duties towards them ; especially con- 
 sidering that, in this country alone, they are said 
 to amount to about a million of persons. In how 
 many instances, though living under the same root 
 with us, they share none of our feelings, nor we ot 
 theirs ; their presence is felt as a restraint ; we 
 know nothing about them but that they perform 
 certain set duties ; and, in short, they may be said 
 to be a kind of live furniture. There is something 
 very repugnant to Christianity in all this. Surely 
 there might be much more sympathy between mas- 
 ters and servants, without our social system, at 
 least the good part of it, being destroyed, or even 
 in the slighest degree endangered. And, at any 
 rate, we may be certain that a fastidious reserve 
 towards our fellow-creatures is not the way in 
 which true dignity or strength of mind will ever 
 manifest themselves in us. 
 
 We come next to consider some of the various 
 
DOMESTIC RULE. 53 
 
 means which may be made use of in domestic 
 rule. 
 
 Of course it is obvious that his own example 
 must be the chief means in any man's power, by 
 which he can illustrate and enforce those duties 
 which he seeks to impress upon his household. 
 
 Next to this, praise and blame are among the 
 strongest means which he possesses ; and they 
 should not depend upon his humor. He should not 
 throw a bit of praise at his dependents by way of 
 making up for a previous display of anger, not war- 
 ranted by the occasion. 
 
 Ridicule is in general to be avoided ; not that it 
 is inefficient, perhaps, for the present purpose, but 
 because it tends to make a poor and world-fearing 
 character. It is too strong a remedy, and can sel- 
 dom be applied with such just precision as to neu- 
 tralize the evil aimed at, without destroying, at the 
 same time, something that is good. 
 
 Still less should it ever appear that ridicule is di- 
 rected against that which is good in itself, or which 
 may be the beginning of goodness. There is per- 
 haps more gentleness required in dealing with the 
 infant virtues, than even with the vices of those 
 under our guidance. We should be very kind to 
 any attempt at amendment. An idle sneer, or a 
 
54 DOMESTIC RULE. 
 
 look of incredulity, has been the death of many a 
 good resolve. We should also be very cautious in 
 reminding those who now would fain be wiser, of 
 their rash sayings of evil, of their early and unchar- 
 itable judgment of others ; otherwise we run a 
 great risk of hardening them in evil. This is espe- 
 cially to be guarded against with the young ; for, 
 never having felt the mutability of all human things, 
 nor having lived long enough to discover that his 
 former certainties are among the strangest things 
 which a man looks back upon in the vista of the 
 past ; not perceiving that time is told by that pen- 
 dulum, man, which goes backwards and forwards 
 in its progress ; nor dreaming that the way to some 
 opinions may lie through their opposites ; they are 
 mightily ashamed of inconsistency, and may be 
 made to look upon reparation as a crime. 
 
 The following are some general maxims which 
 may be of service to any one in domestic authority. 
 
 The first is, to make as few crimes as he can ; 
 and not to lay down those rules of practice which, 
 from a careful observation of their consequences, 
 he has ascertained to be salutary, as if they were 
 so many innate truths, which all persons alike must 
 at once and fully comprehend. 
 
DOMESTIC RULE. 5£ 
 
 Let him not attempt to regulate other people's 
 pleasures by his own tastes. 
 
 In commanding, it will not always be superflu- 
 ous for him to reflect whether the thing commanded 
 is possible. 
 
 In punishing, he should not consult his anger ; 
 nor, in remitting punishment, his ease. 
 
 Let him consider whether any part of what he 
 is inclined to call disobedience, may have resulted 
 from an insufficient expression of his own wishes. 
 
 He should be inclined to trust largely. 
 
Advice is sure of a hearing when it coincides 
 with our previous conclusions, and therefore comes 
 n the shape of praise or of encouragement. It is 
 not unwelcome when we derive it for ourselves, by- 
 applying the moral of some other person's life to 
 our own, though the points of resemblance which 
 bring it home may be far from flattering, and the 
 advice itself far from palatable. We can even en- 
 dure its being addressed to us by another, when it 
 is interwoven with regret at some error, not of ours, 
 but of his ; and when we see that he throws in a 
 little advice to us, by way of introducing, with 
 more grace, a full recital of his own misfortunes. 
 
 But in general it is with advice as with taxa- 
 tion ; we can endure very little of either, if they 
 come to us in the direct way. They must nol 
 thrust themselves upon us. We do not under 
 
ADVICE. 57 
 
 stand their knocking at our doors ; besides, they 
 always choose such inconvenient times, and are 
 for ever talking of arrears. 
 
 There is a wide difference between the advice 
 which is offered you, and that which you have to 
 seek for ; the general carelessness of the one, and 
 the caution of the other, are to be taken into account. 
 In sifting the latter, you must take care to separate 
 the decorous part of it. I mean all that which the 
 adviser puts in, because he thinks the world would 
 expect it from a person of his character and station ; 
 all that which was to sound well to a third party, 
 of whom, perhaps, the adviser stands somewhat in 
 awe. You cannot expect him to neglect his own 
 safety. The oracles will Philipize, as long as 
 Philip is the master ; but still they have an inner 
 meaning for Athenian ears. 
 
 It is a disingenuous thing to ask for advice, when 
 you mean assistance; and it will be a just punish- 
 ment if you get that which you pretended to want. 
 There is a still greater insincerity in affecting to 
 care about another's advice, when you lay the cir- 
 cumstances before him, only for the chance of his 
 sanctioning a course which you had previously 
 resolved on. This practice is noticed by Roche- 
 
58 ADVICE. 
 
 foucault, who has also laid bare the falseness of 
 those givers of advice who have hardly heard to 
 the end of your story, before they have begun to 
 think how they can advise upon it to their own in- 
 terest or their own renown. 
 
 It is a maxim of prudence, that when you advise 
 a man to do something which is for your own in- 
 terest as well as for his, you should put your own 
 motive for advising him full in view, with all the 
 weight that belongs to it. If you conceal the inter- 
 est which you have in the matter, and he should 
 afterwards discover it, he will be resolutely deaf 
 even to that part of the argument which fairly does 
 concern himself. If the lame man had endeavored 
 to persuade his blind friend that it was pure char- 
 ity which induced him to lend the use of his eyes, 
 it is not improbable that he never would have been 
 carried hpme, though it was the other's interest to 
 carry him. 
 
 To get extended views, you should consult with 
 persons who differ from you in disposition, circum- 
 stances, and modes of thought. At the same time, 
 the most practicable advice may often be oblaii-x d 
 from those who are of a similar nature to yourself, 
 or who understand you so thoroughly that they are 
 
ADVICE. 59 
 
 sure to make their advice personal. This advice 
 will contain sympathy ; for, as it has been said, a 
 man always sympathizes to a certain extent with 
 what he understands. It will not, perhaps, be the 
 soundest advice that can be given in the abstract, 
 but it may be that which 3'ou can best profit by ; for 
 you may be able to act up to it with some consist- 
 ency. This applies more particularly when the 
 advice is wanted for some matter which is not of 
 a temporary nature, and where a course of action 
 will have to be adopted. It is observed in "The 
 Statesman," with much truth, " Nothing can be 
 for a man's interest in the long run which is not 
 founded on his character." 
 
 For similar reasons, when you have to give ad- 
 vice, you should never forget whom you are address- 
 ing, and w T hat is practicable for him. You should 
 not look about for the wisest thing which can be said, 
 but for that which your friend has the heart to 
 undertake, and the ability to accomplish. You 
 must sometimes feel w T ith him, before yo\i can 
 possibly think for him. There is more need of 
 keeping this in mind, the greater you know the 
 difference to be between your friend's nature and 
 your own. Your advice should not degenerate 
 into comparisons between what would have been 
 
CO ADVICE. 
 
 your conduct, and what was your friend's. You 
 should be able to take the matter up at the point 
 at which it is brought to you. It is very well to 
 go back, and to show him what might or what 
 ought to have been done, if it throws any light 
 upon what is to be done, or if you have any other 
 good purpose in such conversation. But remem- 
 ber that comment, however judicious, is not advice; 
 and that advice should always tend to something 
 practicable. 
 
 The advice which we have just been speaking 
 of, is of that kind which relates to points of con- 
 duct. If you want to change a man's principles, 
 you may have to take him out of himself, as it 
 were ; to show him fully the intense difference be- 
 tween your own views and his, and to trace up 
 that difference to its source. Your object is not to 
 make him do the best with what he has, but to 
 induce him to throw something away altogether. 
 
 There are occasions on which a man feels that 
 he has so fully made up his mind, that hardly any 
 thing could move him ; and at the same time, he 
 knows that he shall meet with much blame from 
 those whose good opinion is of value to him, if he 
 acts according to that mind. Let him not think to 
 
ADVICE. 61 
 
 break his fall by asking their advice beforehand. 
 As it is, they will be severe upon him for not hav- 
 ing consulted them ; but they will be outrrageous, 
 if, after having consulted them, he then acts in 
 direct opposition to their counsel. Besides, they 
 will not be so inclined to parade the fact of their 
 not having been consulted, as they would of their 
 having given judicious advice, which was unhap- 
 pily neglected. I am not speaking of those in- 
 stances in which a man is bound to consult others, 
 but of such as constantly occur, where his con- 
 sulting them is a thing which may be expected, but 
 is not due. 
 
 In seeking for a friend to advise you, look for 
 uprightness in him. rather than for ingenuity. It 
 frequently happens that all you want is moral 
 strength. You can discern consequences well 
 enough, but cannot make up your mind to bear 
 them. Let your Mentor also be a person of nice 
 conscience, for such a one is less likely to fall into 
 that error to which we are all so liable, of advising 
 our friends to act with less forbearance, and with 
 less generosity, than we should be inclined to show 
 ourselves, if the case were our own. "If I were 
 you," is a phrase often on our lips; but we take 
 
62 ADVICE. 
 
 good care not to disturb our identity, nor to quit the 
 disengaged position of a bystander. We recom- 
 mend the course we might pursue if we were act- 
 ing for you in your absence, but such as you never 
 ought to undertake in your own behalf. 
 
 Besides being careful for your own sake about 
 the persons whom you go to for advice, you should 
 be careful also for theirs. It is an act of selfish- 
 ness unnecessarily to consult those who are likely 
 to feel a peculiar difficulty or delicacy in being 
 your advisers, and who, perhaps, had better not 
 be informed at all about the matter. 
 
mm\\. 
 
 For once that secrecy is formally imposed upon 
 you, it is implied a hundred times by the concur- 
 rent circumstances. All that your friend says to 
 you, as to his friend, is intrusted to you only. 
 Much of what a man tells you in the hour of afflic- 
 tion, in sudden anger, or in any outpouring of his 
 heart, should be sacred. In his craving for sym- 
 pathy, he has spoken to you as to his own soul. 
 
 To repeat what you have heard in social inter 
 course is sometimes a sad treachery ; and when it 
 is not treacherous, it is often foolish. For you com- 
 monly relate but a part of what has happened, and 
 even if you are able to relate that part with fair- 
 ness, it is still as likely to be misconstrued as a 
 word of many meanings, in a foreign tongue, with- 
 out the context. 
 
 There are few conversations which do not imply 
 
64 SECRECY. 
 
 some degree of mutual confidence, however slight. 
 And in addition to that which is said in confidence, 
 there is generally something which is peculiar, 
 though not confidential ; which is addressed to the 
 present company alone, though not confided to their 
 secrecy. It is meant for them, or for persons like 
 them, and they are expected to understand it rightly. 
 So that, when a man has no scruple in repeat- 
 ing all that he hears to anybody that he meets, 
 he pays but a poor compliment to himself; for he 
 seems to take it for granted that what was said in 
 his presence, would have been said, in the same 
 words, at any time, aloud, and in the market-place. 
 In short, that he is the average man of mankind ; 
 which I doubt much whether any man would like 
 to consider himself. 
 
 On the other hand, there is an habitual and 
 unmeaning reserve in some men, which makes 
 secrets without any occasion ; and it is the least to 
 say of such things that they are needless. Some- 
 times it proceeds from an innate shyness or timid- 
 ity of disposition ; sometimes from a temper natu- 
 rally suspicious ; or it may be the result of having 
 been frequently betrayed or oppressed. From 
 whatever cause it comes, it is a failing. As cun- 
 ning is some men's strength, so this sort of reserve 
 
SECRECY. 65 
 
 is some men's prudence. The man who does not 
 know when, or how much, or to whom to confide, 
 will do well in maintaining a Pythagorean silence. 
 It is his best course. I would not have him change 
 it on any account ; I only wish him not to mistake 
 it for wisdom. 
 
 That happy union of frankness and reserve 
 which is to be desired, comes not by studying 
 rules, either for candor or for caution. It results 
 chiefly from an uprightness of purpose, enlightened 
 by a profound and delicate care for the feelings of 
 others. This will go very far in teaching us what 
 to confide, and what to conceal, in our own affairs ; 
 what to repeat, and what to suppress in those of 
 other people. The stone in which nothing is seen, 
 and the polished metal which reflects all things, 
 are both alike hard and insensible. 
 
 When a matter is made public, to proclaim that 
 it had ever been confided to your secrecy may be 
 no trifling breach of confidence ; and it is the only 
 one which is then left for you to commit. 
 
 With respect to the kind of people to be trusted, 
 it may be observed that grave, proud men are very 
 false confidants ; and that those persons, who have 
 
66 SECRECY. 
 
 ever had to conduct any business in which secrecy 
 was essential, are likely to acquire a habit of re- 
 serve for all occasions. 
 
 On the other hand, it is a question whether a 
 secret will escape sooner by means of a vain man, 
 or a simpleton. There are some people who play 
 with a secret, until at last it is suggested by their 
 manner to some shrewd person who knows a little 
 of the circumstances connected with it. There 
 are others whom it is unsafe to trust ; not that they 
 are vain, and so wear the secret as an ornament ; 
 not that they are foolish, and so let it drop by acci- 
 dent ; not that they are treacherous, and sell it for 
 their own advantage. But they are simple-minded 
 people, with whom the world has gone smoothly, 
 who would not themselves make any mischief of 
 the secret which they disclose, and therefore do 
 not see what harm can come of telling it. 
 
 Before you make any confidence, you should 
 consider whether the thing you wish to confide is 
 of weight enough to be a secret. Your small 
 secrets require the greatest care. Most persons 
 suppose that they have kept them sufficiently when 
 they have been silent about them for a certain time ; 
 and this is hardly to be wondered at, if there is 
 
SECRECY. 67 
 
 nothing in their nature to remind a person that they 
 were told to him as secrets. 
 
 There is sometimes a good reason for using con- 
 cealment even with your dearest friends. It is 
 that you may be less liable to be reminded of your 
 anxieties when you have resolved to put them 
 aside. Few persons have tact enough to perceive 
 when to be silent, and when to offer you counsel or 
 condolence. 
 
 You should be careful not to intrust another 
 unnecessarily with a secret which it may be a 
 hard matter for him to keep, and which may ex- 
 pose him to somebody's displeasure, when it is 
 hereafter discovered that he was the object of your 
 confidence. Your desire for aid, or for sympathy, 
 is not to be indulged by dragging other people into 
 your misfortunes. 
 
 There is as much responsibility in imparting 
 your own secrets, as in keeping those of your 
 neighbor. 
 
THE SECOND PAKT. 
 
" The wisdom touching negotiation or business hath not been hitherto 
 collected into writing, to the great derogation of learning, and the pro- 
 fessors of learning. For from this root springeth chiefly that note or 
 opinion, which by us is expressed in adage to this effect : ' That there 
 is no great concurrence between learning and wisdom.' For of the 
 three wisdoms which we have set down to pertain to civil life, foi 
 wisdom of behavior, it is by learned men for the most part despised, 
 as an inferior to virtue, and an enemy to meditation ; for wisdom of 
 government, they acquit themselves well when they are called to it* 
 but that happeneth to few ; but for the wisdom of business, wherein 
 man's life is most conversant, there be no books of it, except some few 
 scattered advertisements, that have no proportion to the magnitude ol 
 this subject. For if books were written of this, as the other, I doubt 
 not but learned men with mean experience would far excel men of 
 long experience without learning, and outshoot them in their owu 
 bow." — Bacon's Advancement of Learning. 
 
ON THE 
 
 (Itoata nf a Han nf Itotem 
 
 The essential qualities for a man of business are 
 of a moral nature ; these are to be cultivated first. 
 He must learn betimes to love truth. That same love 
 of truth will he found a potent ctiarm to bear him 
 safely through the world's entanglements — I mean 
 safely in the most worldly sense. Besides, the 
 love of truth not only makes a man act with more 
 simplicity, and therefore with less chance of error, 
 but it conduces to the highest intellectual develop- 
 ment. The following passage in "The Statesman" 
 gives the reason. " The correspondences of wis- 
 dom and goodness are manifold ; and that they will 
 accompany each other is to be inferred, not only 
 because men's wisdom makes them good, but also 
 because their goodness makes them wise. Ques- 
 tions of right and wrong are a perpetual exercise 
 of the faculties of those who are solicitous as to the 
 
72 EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 right and wrong of what they do and see ; and a 
 deep interest of the heart in these questions carries 
 with it a deeper cultivation of the understanding 
 than can be easily effected by any other excitement 
 to intellectual activity. 
 
 What has just been said of the love of truth ap- 
 plies also to other moral qualities. Thus, charity 
 enlightens the understanding quite as much as it 
 purifies the heart. And indeed knowledge is not 
 more girt about with power than goodness is with 
 wisdom. 
 
 The next thing in the training of one who is to 
 become a man of business, will be for him to form 
 principles ; for without these, when thrown on the 
 sea of action, he will be without rudder and com- 
 pass. They are the best results of study. Wheth- 
 er it is history, or political economy, or ethics, that 
 he is studying, these principles are to be the re- 
 ward of his labor. A principle resembles a law 
 in the physical world ; though it can seldom have 
 the same certainty, as the facts which it has to ex- 
 plain and embrace do not admit of being weighed 
 or numbered with the same exactness as material 
 things. The principles which our student adopts 
 at first may be unsound, may be insufficient, but he 
 must not neglect to form some ; and must only nour- 
 
EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 73 
 
 # 
 
 ish a love of truth that will not allow him to hold 
 to any, the moment that he finds them to be erro- 
 neous. 
 
 Much depends upon the temperament of a man 
 of business. It should be hopeful, that it may bear 
 him up against the faintheartedness, the folly, the 
 falsehood, and the numberless discouragements 
 which even a prosperous man will have to endure. 
 It should also be calm ; for else he may be driven 
 wild by any great pressure of business, and lose his 
 time, and his head, in rushing from one unfinished 
 thing to begin something else. Now this wished- 
 for conjunction of the calm and the hopeful is very 
 rare. It is, however, in every man's power to study 
 well his own temperament, and to provide against 
 the defects in it. 
 
 A habit of thinking for himself is one which may 
 be acquired by the solitary student. But the habit 
 of deciding for himself, so indispensable to a man 
 of business, is not to be gained by study. Deci- 
 sion is a thing that cannot be fully exercised until 
 it is actually wanted. You cannot play at decid- 
 ing. You must have realities to deal with. 
 
 It is true that the formation of principles, which, 
 has been spoken of before, requires decision ; but 
 it is of that kind which depends upon deliberate 
 
74 EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 c 
 
 judgment ; whereas the decision which is wanted 
 in the world's business must ever be within call, 
 and does not judge so much as it foresees and 
 chooses. This kind of decision is to be found in 
 those who have been thrown early on their own 
 resources, or who have been brought up in great 
 freedom. 
 
 It would be difficult to lay down any course of 
 study, not technical, that would be peculiarly fitted 
 to form a man of business. He should be brought 
 up in the habit of reasoning closely ; and to insure 
 this, there is hardly any thing better for him than 
 the study of geometry. 
 
 In any course of study to be laid down for him, 
 something like universality should be aimed at, 
 which not only makes the mind agile, but gives 
 variety of information. Such a system will make 
 him acquainted with many modes of thought, with 
 various classes of facts, and will enable him to 
 understand men better. 
 
 There will be a time in his youth which may, 
 perhaps^ be well spent in those studies which are 
 of a metaphysical nature. In the investigation of 
 some of the great questions of philosophy, a breadth 
 and a tone may be given to a man's mode of think- 
 
EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 75 
 
 ing, which will afterwards be of signal use to him 
 in the business of every-day life. 
 
 We cannot enter here into a description of the 
 technical studies for a man in business ; but I may 
 point out that there are works which soften the tran- 
 sition from the schools to the world, and which are 
 particularly needed in a system of education like 
 our own, consisting of studies for the most part 
 remote from real life. These works are such as 
 tend to give the student that interest in the common 
 things about him, which he has scarcely ever been 
 called upon to feel. They show how imagination 
 and philosophy can be woven into practical wisdom. 
 Such are the writings of Bacon. His lucid order 
 his grasp of the subject, the comprehensiveness ol 
 his views, his knowledge of mankind, the greatest 
 perhaps that has ever been distinctly given out by 
 an uninspired man, the practical nature of bis pur- 
 poses, and his respect for any thing of human inter 
 est, render Bacon's works unrivalled in their fitness 
 to form the best men for the conduct of the high- 
 est affairs. 
 
 It is not, however, so much the thing studied, as 
 the manner of studying it. Our student is not in- 
 tended to become a learned man, but a man of busi- 
 
76 EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 ness ; not a " full man," but " a ready man." He 
 must be taught to arrange and express what he 
 knows. For this purpose let him employ himself 
 in making digests, arranging and classifying ma- 
 terials, writing narratives, and in deciding upon 
 conflicting evidence. All these exercises require 
 method. He must expect that his early attempts 
 will be clumsy ; he begins, perhaps, by dividing 
 his subject in any way that occurs to him, with no 
 other view than that of treating separate portions 
 of it separately ; he does not perceive, at first, what 
 things are of one kind, and what of another, and 
 what should be the logical order of their following. 
 But from such rude beginnings, method is devel- 
 oped ; and there is hardly any degree of toil for 
 which he would not be compensated by such a re- 
 sult. He will have a sure reward in the clearness 
 of his own views, and in the facility of explaining 
 them to others. People bring their attention to the 
 man who gives them most profit for it ; and this 
 will be one who is a master of method. 
 
 Our student should begin soon to cultivate a flu- 
 ency in writing ; I do not mean a flow of words, 
 but a habit of expressing his thoughts with accu- 
 racy, with brevity, and with readiness ; which can 
 
EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 77 
 
 only be acquired by practice early in life. You 
 find persons who, from neglect in this part of their 
 education, can express themselves briefly and accu- 
 rately, but only after much care and labor. Again, 
 you meet with others who cannot express them 
 selves accurately, although they have method in 
 their thoughts, and can write with readiness ; but 
 they have not been accustomed to look to the pre- 
 cise meaning of words ; and such people are apt 
 to fall into the common error of indulging in a 
 great many words, as if it were from a sort of hope 
 that some of them might be to the purpose. 
 
 In the style of a man of business, nothing is to 
 be aimed at but plainness and precision. For in- 
 stance, a close repetition of the same word for the 
 same thing need not be avoided. The aversion 
 to such repetitions may be carried too far in all 
 kinds of writing. In literature, however, you are 
 seldom brought to account for misleading people ; 
 but in business you may soon oe called upon to 
 pay the penalty for having shunned the word which 
 would exactly have expressed your meaning. 
 
 I cannot conclude this essay better than by en- 
 deavoring to describe what sort of person a con- 
 summate man of business should be. 
 
 He should be able to fix his attention on details 
 
78 EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS. 
 
 and be ready to give, every kind of argument a 
 hearing. This will not encumber him, for he must 
 have been practised beforehand in the exercise of 
 his intellect, and be strong in principles. One 
 man collects materials together, and there they 
 remain, a shapeless heap ; another, possessed of 
 method, can arrange what he has collected ; but 
 such a man as I would describe, by the aid of 
 
 principles, goes farther, and builds with his ma- 
 terials. 
 
 He should be courageous. The courage, how- 
 ever, required in civil affairs, is that which belongs 
 rather to the commander than the common soldier. 
 But any kind of courage is serviceable. 
 
 Besides a stout heart, he should have a patient 
 temperament, and a vigorous but disciplined im- 
 agination ; and then he will plan boldly and with 
 large extent of view, execute calmly, and not be 
 stretching out his hand for things not yet within 
 his grasp. He will let opportunities grow before 
 his eyes until they are ripe to be seized. He will 
 Lhink steadily over possible failure, in order to pro- 
 vide a remedy or a retreat. There will be the 
 strength of repose about him. 
 
 He must have a deep sense of responsibility. 
 He must believe in the power and vitality of truth, 
 
EDUCATION OF A MAN OF BUSINESS* 79 
 
 and in all he does or says, should be anxious to 
 express as much truth as possible. 
 
 His feeling of responsibility and love of truth 
 will almost inevitably endow him with diligence, 
 accuracy, and discreetness — those commonplace 
 requisites for a good man of business, without 
 which all the rest may never come to be " trans- 
 lated into action.*' 
 
dDn ijje <KranHorttai of *$>mwbb. 
 
 This subject may be divided into two parts. 
 1. Dealing with others about business. 2. Deal- 
 ing with the business itself. 
 
 1. Dealing with others about Business. 
 
 The first part of the general subject embraces 
 the choice and management of agents, the transac- 
 tion of business by means of interviews, the choice 
 of colleagues, and the use of councils. Each of 
 these topics will be treated separately. There 
 remain, however, certain general rules with respect 
 to our dealings with others, which may naturally 
 find a place here. 
 
 In your converse with the world, avoid any thing 
 like a juggling dexterity. The proper use of dex- 
 terity is to prevent your being circumvented by the 
 cunning of others. It should not be aggressive. 
 
ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 81 
 
 Concessions and compromises form a large and 
 a very important part of our dealings with others. 
 Concessions must generally be looked upon as dis- 
 tinct defeats ; and you must expect no gratitude 
 for them. I am far from saying that it may not be 
 wise to make concessions, but this will be done 
 more wisely when you understand the nature of 
 them. 
 
 In making compromises, do not think to gain 
 much by concealing your views and wishes. You 
 are as likely to suffer from its not being known 
 how to please or satisfy you, as from any attempt 
 to overreach you, grounded on a knowledge of your 
 wishes. 
 
 Delay is in some instances to be adopted advi- 
 sedly. It sometimes brings a person to reason 
 when nothing else could ; when his mind is so 
 occupied with one idea, that he completely over- 
 estimates its relative importance. He can hardly 
 be brought to look at the subject calmly by any 
 force of reasoning. For this disease time is the 
 only doctor. 
 
 A good man of business is very watchful, both 
 over himself and others, to prevent things from 
 
8L ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 
 
 being carried against his sense of right in moments 
 of lassitude. After a matter has been much dis- 
 cussed, whether to the purpose or not, there comes 
 a time when all parties are anxious that it should 
 be settled > and there is then some danger of the 
 handiest way of getting rid of the matter being 
 taken for the best. 
 
 It is often worth while to bestow much pains in 
 gaining over foolish people to your way of think- 
 ing ; and you should do it soon. Your reasons 
 will always have some weight with the wise. But 
 if at first you omit to put your arguments before 
 the foolish, they will form their prejudices ; and a 
 fool is often very consistent, and very fond o*. 
 repetition. He will be repeating his folly in sea- 
 son and out of season, until at last it has a hear- 
 ing ; and it is hard if it does not sometimes chime 
 in with external circumstances. 
 
 A man of business should take care to consult 
 occasionally with persons of a nature quite differ 
 ent from his own. To very few are given all the 
 qualities requisite to form a good man of business 
 Thus, a man may have the sternness and the fix 
 edness of purpose so necessary in the conduct o. 
 
ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 83 
 
 affairs, yet these qualities prevent him, perhaps, 
 from entering into the characters of those about 
 him. He is likely to want tact. He will be un- 
 prepared for the extent of versatility and vacillation 
 in other men. But these defects and oversights 
 might be remedied by consulting with persons 
 whom he knows to be possessed of the qualities 
 supplementary to his own. Men of much depth of 
 mind can bear a great deal of counsel; for it does 
 not easily deface their own character, nor render 
 their purposes indistinct. 
 
 2. Dealing with the Business itself. 
 
 The first thing to be considered in this division 
 of the subject is the collection and arrangement of 
 your materials. Do noc fail to begin with the ear- 
 liest history of the matter under consideration. Be 
 careful not to give way to any particular theory, 
 while you are merely collecting materials, lest it 
 should influence you in the choice of them. You 
 mast work for yourself; for what you reject may 
 be as important for you to have seen and thought 
 about, as what you adopt ; besides, it gives you a 
 command of the subject, and a comparative fear- 
 lessness of surprise, which you will never have 
 if you rely on other people for your materials. In 
 
84 ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 
 
 some cases, however, you may save time by not 
 laboring much, beforehand, at parts of the subject 
 which are nearly sure to be worked out in discus- 
 sion. 
 
 When you have collected and arranged your 
 information, there comes the task of deciding upon 
 it. To make this less difficult, you must use 
 method, and practise economy in thinking. You 
 must not weary yourself by considering the same 
 thing in the same way ; just oscillating over it, as 
 it were ; seldom making much progress, and not 
 marking the little that you have made. You must 
 not lose your attention in reveries about the subject ; 
 but must bring yourself to the point by such ques- 
 tions as these: What has been done? What is the 
 state of the case at present? What can be done 
 next? What ought to be done? Express in writing 
 the answers to your questions. Use the pen; there 
 is no magic in it, but it prevents the mind from stag- 
 gering about. It forces you to methodize your 
 thoughts. It enables you to survey the matter with 
 a less tired eye. Whereas, in thinking vaguely, you 
 not only lose time, but you require a familiarity with 
 the husk of the subject which is absolutely injun- 
 rt'is. Your apprehension becomes dull; you estab- 
 
ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 85 
 
 lish associations of ideas which occur again and 
 again to distract your attention ; and you become 
 more tired than if you had really been employed 
 in mastering the subject. 
 
 When you have arrived at your decision, you 
 have to consider how you shall convey it. In do- 
 ing this, be sure that you very rarely, if ever, say 
 any thing which is not immediately relevant to the 
 subject. Beware of indulging in maxims, in ab- 
 stract propositions, or in any thing of that kind. 
 Let your subject fill the whole of what you say. 
 Human affairs are so wide, subtle, and complicated, 
 that the most sagacious man had better content 
 himself with pronouncing upon those points alone 
 upon which his decision is called for. 
 
 It will often be a nice question whether or not to 
 state the motives for your decisions. Much will 
 depend upon the nature of the subject, upon the 
 party whom you have to address, and upon your 
 power of speaking out the whole truth. When 
 you can give all your motives, it will in most cases 
 be just to others,' and eventually good for yourself, 
 to do so. If you can only state some of them, then 
 you must consider whether they are likely to mis- 
 lead, or whether they tend to the full truth. For 
 your own sake there is this to be considered in giv- 
 
86 ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 
 
 mg only a part of your reasons : that those which 
 you give are generally taken to be the whole, or at 
 any rate, the best that you have. And, hereafter, 
 you may find yourself precluded from using an 
 argument which turns out to be a very sound one, 
 which had great weight with you, but which you 
 were at the time unwilling, or did not think it 
 necessary, to put forward. 
 
 When you have to communicate the motives for 
 an unfavorable decision, you will naturally study 
 how to convey them so as to give least pain, and 
 to insure least discussion. These are not unwor- 
 thy objects ; but they are immediate ones, and 
 therefore likely to have their full weight with you. 
 Beware that your anxiety to attain them does not 
 carry you into an implied falsehood ; for, to say the 
 least of it, evil is latent in that. Each day's con- 
 verse with the world ought to confirm us in the 
 maxim that a bold but not unkind sincerity should 
 be the ground-work of all our dealings. 
 
 It will often be necessary to make a general state- 
 ment respecting the history of some business. It 
 should be lucid, yet not overburdened with details. 
 It must have method not merely running through it, 
 but visible upon it ; it must have method in its form. 
 
ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 87 
 
 You must build it up, beginning at the beginning, 
 giving each part its due weight, and not hurrying 
 over those steps which happen to be peculiarly fa- 
 miliar to yourself. You must thoroughly enter into 
 the ignorance of others, and so avoid forestalling 
 your conclusions. The best teachers are those who 
 can seem to forget what they know full well ; who 
 work out results, which have become axioms in 
 their minds, with all the interest of a beginner, and 
 with footsteps no longer than his. 
 
 It is a good practice to draw up, and put on 
 record, an abstract of the reasons upon which you 
 have come to a decision on any complicated sub- 
 ject; so that if it is referred to, there is but little 
 labor in making yourself master of it again. Of 
 course this practice will be more or less necessary, 
 according as your decision has been conveyed with 
 a reserved or with a full statement of the reasons 
 upon which it was grounded. 
 
 Of all the correspondence you receive, a concise 
 record should be kept ; which should also contain 
 a note of what was done upon any letterr, and of 
 where it was sent to, or put away. Documents 
 relating to the same subject should be carefully 
 brought together. You should endeavor to establish 
 
88 ON THE TRANSACTION OF BUSINESS. 
 
 such a system of arranging your papers, as may 
 insure their being readily referred to, and yet not 
 require too much time and attention to be carried 
 into daily practice. Fac-similes should be kept of 
 all the letters which you send out. 
 
 These seem little things ; and so they are, unless 
 you neglect them. 
 
ON THE 
 
 CIjow ant Management of %nfc 
 
 The choice of agents is a difficult matter, but 
 any labor that you may bestow upon it is likely to 
 be well repaid ; for you have to choose persons for 
 whose faults you are to be punished, to whom you 
 are to be the whipping-boy. 
 
 In the choice of an agent, it is not sufficient to 
 ascertain what a man knows, or to make a cata- 
 logue of his qualities; but you have to find out how 
 he will perform a particular service. You may be 
 right in concluding that such an office requires cer- 
 tain qualities, and you may discern that such a man 
 possesses most of them ; and in the absence of any 
 means of making a closer trial, you may have done 
 the best that you could do. But some deficiency, 
 or some untoward combination of these qualities, 
 may unfit him for the office. Hence the value of 
 
00 CHOICE AND MANAGEMENT OF AGENTS. 
 
 any opportunity, however slight, of observing his 
 conduct in matters similar to those for which you 
 want him. 
 
 Our previous knowledge of men will sometimes 
 mislead us entirely, even when we apply it to cir- 
 cumstances but little different, as we think, from 
 those in which we have actually observed their 
 behavior. For instance, you might naturally ima- 
 gine that a man who shows an irritable temper in 
 his 'conversation is likely to show a similar temper 
 throughout the conduct of his business. But ex- 
 perience does not confirm this ; for you will often 
 find that men who are intemperate in speech are 
 cautious in writing. 
 
 The best agents are, in general, to be found 
 amongst those persons who have a strong sense of 
 responsibility. Under this feeling a man will be 
 likely to grudge no pains ; he will pay attention to 
 minute things ; and, what is of much importance, 
 he will prefer being considered ever so stupid, 
 rather than pretend to understand his orders before 
 he does so. 
 
 You should behave to your subordinate agents 
 in such a manner, that they should not be afraid to 
 be frank with you. They should be able to com- 
 
CHOICE AND MANAGEMENT OF AGENTS. 91 
 
 ment freely upon your directions, and may thus 
 become your best counsellors. For those who are 
 intrusted with the execution of any work are likely 
 to see things which have been overlooked by the 
 person who designed it, however sagacious he 
 may be. 
 
 You must not interfere unnecessarily with your 
 agents, as it gives them the habit of leaning too 
 much upon you. Sir Walter Scott says of Can- 
 ning, "I fear he works himself too hard, under the 
 great error of trying to do too much with his own 
 hand, and to see every thing with his own eyes. 
 Whereas the greatest general and the first states- 
 man must, in many cases, be content to use the 
 eyes and fingers of others, and hold themselves 
 contented with the exercise of the greatest care in 
 the choice of implements." Most men of vigorous 
 minds and nice perceptions will be apt to interfere 
 too much. But it should always be one of the chief 
 objects of a person in authority to train up those 
 around him to do without him. He should try to 
 give them some self-reliance. It should be his aim 
 to create a standard as to the way in which things 
 are to be done, not to do them all himself. That 
 standard is likely to be maintained for some time, 
 in case of his absence, illness, or death; and it will 
 
92 CHOICE AND MANAGEMENT OF AGENTS. 
 
 be applied daily to many things that must be done 
 without a careful inspection on his part, even when 
 he is in full vigor. 
 
 With respect to those agents whom you employ 
 to represent you, your inclination should be to treat 
 them with hearty confidence. In justice to them, 
 as well as for your own sake, the limits which you 
 lay down for their guidance should be precise. 
 Within those limits you should allow them a large 
 discretionary power. You must be careful not to 
 blame your agent for departing from your orders, 
 when in fact the discrepancy which you notice is 
 nothing more than the usual difference in the ways 
 in Vhich different men set about the same object, 
 even when they employ similar means for its ac- 
 complishment. For a difference of this kind you 
 should have been prepared. But if you are in haste 
 to blame your representative, your captiousness 
 may throw a great burden upon him unnecessarily. 
 It is not the success of the undertaking only that 
 he will thenceforward be intent upon ; he will be 
 anxious that each step should be done exactly after 
 your fancy. And this may embarrass him, render 
 him indecisive, and lead to his failing altogether. 
 
 The surest way to make agents do their work is 
 
CHOICE AND MANAGEMENT OF AGENTS. 93 
 
 to show them that their efforts are appreciated with 
 nicety. For this purpose, you should not only be 
 very careful in your promotions and rewards, but 
 in your daily dealings with them, you should be- 
 ware of making slight or hap-hazard criticisms on 
 any of their proceedings. Your praise should 
 not only be right in substance, but put upon the 
 right foundation ; it should point to their most 
 strenuous and most judicious exertions. I do not 
 mean that it should always be given at the time of 
 those exertions being made, but it should show that 
 they had not passed by unnoticed. 
 
(On l\)t treatment of Ipplimnk 
 
 The maxim, " Pars beneficii est, quod petitur si 
 bene neges,"* is misinterpreted by many people. 
 They construe " bene" kindly, which is right ; but 
 they are inclined to fancy that this kindness con- 
 sists in courtesy, rather than in explicitness and 
 truth. 
 
 You should be very loth to encourage expecta- 
 tions in a suitor which you have not then the power 
 of fulfilling, or of putting in a course of fulfilment ; 
 for Hope, an architect above rules, can build, in 
 reverse, a pyramid upon a point. From a very 
 little origin there often arises a wildness of expecta- 
 tion which quite astounds you. Like the fisherman 
 in the Araoian Nights, when you see " a genie twice 
 as high as the greatest of giants," you may well 
 wonder how he could have come out- of so small a 
 
 It is part of the favor, if you refuse kindly what is asked for. 
 
ON THE TREATMENT OF APPLICANTS. 95 
 
 vessel ; but in your case, there will be no chance 
 of persuading the monster to ensconce himself 
 again, for the purpose of convincing you that such 
 a feat is not impossible. 
 
 In addition also to the natural delusions of hope, 
 there is sometimes the artifice of pretending to take 
 your words for more than they are well known to 
 mean. 
 
 There is a deafness peculiar to suitors ; they 
 should therefore be answered as much as possible 
 in writing. The answers should be expressed in 
 simple terms, and all phrases should be avoided 
 which are not likely to convey a clear idea to the 
 man who hears them for the first time. There are 
 many persons who really do not understand forms 
 of writing which may have become common to you. 
 When they find that courteous expressions mean 
 nothing, they think that a wilful deception has been 
 practised upon them. And, in general, you should 
 consider that people will naturally put the largest 
 construction upon every ambiguous expression, and 
 every term of courtesy which can be made to ex- 
 press any thing at all in their favor. 
 
 It will often be necessary to see applicants ; and in 
 this case you must bear in mind that you have not 
 
96 ON THE TREATMENT OF APPLICANTS. 
 
 only the delusions of hope and the misinterpretation 
 of language to contend against, but also the imper- 
 fection of men's memories. If possible, therefore, do 
 not let the interview be the termination of the mat- 
 ter ; let it lead to something in writing, so that you 
 may have an opportunity of recording what you 
 wished to express. Avoid a promising manner, as 
 people will be apt to find words for it. Do not 
 resort to evasive answers for the purpose only of 
 bringing the interview to a close ; nor shrink from 
 giving a distinct denial, merely because the person 
 to whom you ought to give it is before you, and 
 you would have to witness any pain which it might 
 occasion. Let not that balance of justice which 
 Corruption could not alter one hair's breadth, be 
 altogether disturbed by Sensibility. 
 
 To determine in what cases the refusal of a suit 
 should be accompanied by reasons, is a matter of 
 considerable difficulty . It must depend very much 
 on what portion of the truth you are able to bring 
 forward. This was mentioned before as a general 
 principle, in the transaction of business, and it may 
 be well to abide by it in answering applications. 
 You will naturally endeavor to give somewhat of a 
 detailed explanation, when you are desirous of 
 showing respect to the person whom you are ad 
 
ON THE TREATMENT OF APPLICANTS. 97 
 
 dressing ; but if the explanation is not a sound or a 
 complete one, it would be better to see whether the 
 respect could not be shown in some other way. 
 
 In many cases, and especially when the suit is 
 a mere project of effrontery, it will perhaps be pru- 
 dent to refuse, without entering at all upon the 
 grounds of your refusal. In an explanation ad- 
 dressed to the applicant, you will be apt to omit the 
 special reasons for your refusal, as they are likely 
 to be such as would mortify his self-love ; and so 
 you lay yourself open to an accusation of unfair- 
 ness, when he finds, perhaps, that you have selected 
 some other person, who came as fully within the 
 scope of your general objections as he did himself. 
 Therefore, where you are not required, and do not 
 like, to give special reasons, it may often be the best 
 course simply to refuse, or to couch your refusals 
 in impregnable generalities. 
 
 Remember that, in giving any reason at all for 
 refusing, you lay some foundation for a future re- 
 quest. 
 
 Those who have constantly to deal with suitors 
 
 are in danger of giving way too much to disgust at 
 
 the intrusion, importunity, and egotism which they 
 
 meet with. As an antidote to this, they should re- 
 5 
 
98 ON THE TREATMENT OF APPLICANTS. 
 
 member that the suit whi^h is a matter of business 
 to them, and which, perhaps, from its hopeless- 
 ness, they look upon with little interest, seems to 
 the suitor himself a thing of absorbing importance. 
 And they should expect a man in distress to be as 
 unreasonable as a sick person, and as much occu- 
 pied by his own disorder. 
 
toferota<&, 
 
 There is much that cannot be done without in» 
 terviews. It would often require great labor, not 
 only on your part, but also on the part of others 
 whom you cannot command, to effect by means of 
 writing what may easily be accomplished in a sin- 
 gle interview. The pen may be a surer, but the 
 tongue is a nicer instrument. In talking, most men 
 sooner or later show what is uppermost in their 
 minds ; and this gives a peculiar interest to verbal 
 communications. Besides, there are looks, and 
 tones, and gestures, which form a significant lan- 
 guage of their own. In short, interviews may 
 be made very useful, and are, in general, some- 
 what hazardous things ; but many people look upon 
 them rather as the pastime of business than as a 
 part of it requiring great discretion. 
 
 Interviews are perhaps of most value when they 
 
100 INTERVIEWS. 
 
 bring together several conflicting interests or opin- 
 ions, each of which has thus an opportunity of as- 
 certaining the amount and variety of opposition 
 which it must expect, and so is worn into modera- 
 tion. It would take a great deal of writing to 
 effect this. 
 
 Interviews are to be resorted to when you wish 
 to prevent the other party from pledging himself 
 upon a matter which requires much explanation ; 
 where you see what will probably be his answer 
 to your first proposition, and know that you have a 
 good rejoinder, which you would wish him to hear 
 before he commits himself by writing upon the sub- 
 ject. In cases of this kind, however, there is the 
 similar danger of a man's talking himself into 
 obstinacy before he has heard all that you have 
 to say. 
 
 Interviews are very serviceable in those matters 
 where you would at once be able to come to a de- 
 cision, if you did bat know the real inclination of 
 the other parties concerned ; and, in general, you 
 should take care occasionally to see those with 
 whom you are dealing, if the thing in question is 
 likely to be much influenced by their individual 
 peculiarities, and you require a knowledge of the 
 men. Now this is the case with the greatest part 
 of human affairs. 
 
INTERVIEWS. 101 
 
 You frequently want verbal communication, in 
 order to encourage the timid, to settle the un- 
 decided, and to bring on some definite stage in the 
 proceedings. 
 
 The above are instances in which interviews are 
 to be sought for on their own account ; but they 
 are sometimes necessary, merely because people 
 will not be satisfied without them. There are per- 
 sons who can hardly believe that their arguments 
 have been attended to, until they have had verbal 
 evidence of the fact. They think that they could 
 easily answer all your objections, and that they 
 should certainly succeed in persuading you, if they 
 had an opportunity of discussing the matter orally ; 
 and it may be of importance to remove this delu- 
 sion by an interview. 
 
 On the other hand, interviews are to be avoided, 
 when you have reasons which determine } r our 
 mind, but which you cannot give to the other 
 party. If you do accede to an interview, you are 
 almost certain to be tempted into giving some rea- 
 sons ; and these, not being the strong ones, will very 
 likely admit of a fair answer ; and so, after much 
 shuffling, you will be obliged to resort to an appear- 
 ance of mere wilfulness at last. 
 
102 INTERVIEWS. 
 
 You should also be averse to transacting busi- 
 ness verbally with very eager, sanguine persons, 
 unless you feel that you have sufficient force and 
 readiness for it. There are people who do not 
 understand any dissent or opposition on your part, 
 unless it is made very manifest. They are fully 
 prepossessed by their own views, and they go on 
 talking as if you agreed with them. Perhaps you 
 feel a delicacy in interrupting them, and undeceiv- 
 ing them at once. The time for doing so passes 
 by ; and ever afterwards they quote you as an 
 authority for all their folly. Or it ends by your 
 going away pledged to a course of conduct which 
 is any thing but what you approve. 
 
 But perhaps there are no interviews less to be 
 sought after than those in which you have to 
 appear in connection with one or two other parties 
 who have exactly the same interest in the matter 
 as your own, and must be supposed to speak your 
 sentiments, but with whom you have had little or 
 no previous communication, or whose judgment 
 you find that you cannot rely upon. In such a 
 case you are continually in danger of being com- 
 promised by the indiscretion of any one of your 
 associates. For you do not like to disown one of 
 your own side before the adverse party ; or you are 
 
INTERVIEWS. 103 
 
 afraid of taking all the odium of opposition on your- 
 self. You may perhaps be quite certain that your 
 indiscreet ally would be as anxious as yourself to 
 recall his words, if he could perceive their conse- 
 quences ; but these are things which you cannot 
 explain to him in that company. 
 
 The men who profit least by interviews are often 
 those who are most inclined to resort to them. 
 They are irresolute persons, who wish to avoid 
 pledging themselves to any thing, and so they 
 cnoose an interview as the safest course which oc- 
 curs to them. Besides, it looks like progress, and 
 makes them, as they say, see their way. Such 
 persons, however, are very soon entangled in their 
 own words, or they are oppressed by the earnest 
 opinions of the people they meet. For to conduct 
 an interview in the manner which they intend, 
 would require them to have at command that cour- 
 age and decision which they never attain, without 
 along and miserly weighing of consequences. 
 
 Indolent persons are very apt to resort to inter- 
 views : for it saves them the trouble of thinking 
 steadily, and of expressing themselves with preci- 
 sion, which they are called upon to do if they come 
 to write about the subject. Now they certainly 
 
104 INTERVIEWS. 
 
 may learn a great deal in a short time, and with 
 very little trouble, by means of an interview ; but 
 if they have to take up the position of an antagonist, 
 of a judge, or indeed any but that of a learner, then 
 it is very unsafe to indulge in an interview, with- 
 out having prepared themselves for it. To con- 
 duct an interview successfully, requires not only 
 information and force of character, but also a cer- 
 tain intellectual readiness. People are so apt to 
 think that there are but two ways in which a thing 
 can terminate. They are ignorant of the number of 
 combinations which even a few circumstances will 
 admit of. And perhaps a proposal is made which 
 they are totally unprepared for, and which they 
 cannot deal with, from being unable to apprehend 
 with sufficient quickness its main drift and conse- 
 quences. 
 
 There are cases where the persons meeting are 
 upon no terms of equality respecting the interview ; 
 where one of them has a great deal to maintain, and 
 the other nothing to lose. Such an instance occurs 
 in the case of a minister receiving a deputation. 
 He has the interests of the public to maintain, and 
 the intentions of the government to keep concealed. 
 He has to show that he fully understands the argu- 
 
INTERVIEWS. 105 
 
 ments laid before him ; and all the while to conceal 
 his own bias, and to keep himself perfectly free 
 from any pledge. Any member of the deputation 
 may utter any thing that he pleases, without much 
 harm coming of it ; but every word that the minister 
 says is liable to be interpreted against him to the 
 uttermost. There are similar occasions in private life, 
 where a man has to act upon the defensive, and where 
 the interview may be considered not as a battle, 
 but as a siege. A man should then confine himself 
 to few words. He should bring forward his strong- 
 est arguments only, and not state too many of them 
 at a time ; for he should keep a good force in 
 reserve. Besides, it will be much more difficult for 
 the other party to mystify and pervert a few argu- 
 ments than a set speech. And he will leave them 
 no room for gaining a semblance of victory by 
 answering the unimportant parts of his statement. 
 
 Again, whatever readiness and knowledge of the 
 subject he may possess, he should have somebody 
 by him on his side. For he is opposed to num- 
 bers, and must expect that amongst them there 
 will always be some one ready to meet his argu- 
 ments, if not with argument, at any rate with pro- 
 per fallacies ; or at least that there will be some 
 one stupid enough to commence replying without 
 
106 INTERVIEWS. 
 
 an answer. He should therefore have a person 
 who should be able to aid him in replying ; and 
 there will be a satisfaction in having somebody in 
 the room who is not in a hostile position towards 
 him. Besides, he will want a witness ; for he must 
 not imagine that the number of his opponents is any 
 safeguard against misrepresentation, but rather a 
 cause, in most people, of less attention, and less 
 feeling of responsibility. And, lastly, the most 
 precise man in the world, if he speaks much on 
 any matter, may be glad to hear what was the im- 
 pression upon another person's mind ; in short, to 
 see whether he conveyed exactly what he meant 
 to convey. 
 
 The best precaution, however, which any man 
 can take under these circumstances, is to state in 
 Writing, at the conclusion of the interview, the sub- 
 stance of what he apprehends to have been said, 
 and of what he intends to do. This would require 
 great readiness and the most earnest attention; but, 
 in the end, it would save very much trouble and 
 misapprehension. A similar practice might be 
 adopted in most interviews of business where the 
 subject would warrant such a formality. It would 
 not only be good in itself, but its influence would 
 be felt throughout the interview; and people would 
 
INTERVIEWS. 107 
 
 come prepared, and would speak with precision, 
 when there was an immediate prospect of their 
 statements being recorded. 
 
<Df Conntib, Coramtaion^, 
 
 AND, IN GENERAL, OF BODIES OF MEN CALLED TOGETHER TO 
 COUNSEL, OR TO DIRECT. 
 
 Such bodies are the fly-wheels and safety-valves 
 of the machinery of business- They are sometimes 
 looked upon as superfluities, but by their means 
 the motion is equalized, and a great force is ap- 
 plied with little danger. 
 
 They are apt contrivances for obtaining an aver- 
 age of opinions, for insuring freedom from corrup- 
 tion, and the reputation of that freedom. On ordi- 
 nary occasions, they are more courageous than 
 most individuals. They can bear odium better. 
 The world seldom looks to personal character as 
 the predominating cause of any of their doings, 
 though this is one of the first things which occur to 
 it when the public acts of any individual are in 
 question. The very indistinctness which belongs 
 to their corporate existence adds a certain weight 
 lo their decisions. 
 
OF COUNCILS AND COMMISSIONS. 109 
 
 Councils are serviceable as affording some means 
 of judging how things are likely to be generally 
 received. It is seldom that any one person, how- 
 ever capable he may be of framing or of executing 
 a good measure, can come to a satisfactory conclu- 
 sion as to the various appearances which that mea- 
 sure will present, or can be made to present, to 
 others. In some instances he may be so little 
 under the influence of the common prejudices 
 around him, as not to understand their force, and 
 therefore not to perceive how a new thing will be 
 received. Now, if he has the opportunity of con- 
 sulting several persons together, he will not only 
 have the advantage of their common sense and 
 joint information, but he will also have a chance of 
 hearing what will be the common nonsense of or- 
 dinary men upon the subject, and of providing as 
 far as possible against it. 
 
 On the other hand, these bodies are much 
 tempted by the division of responsibility to sloth, 
 and therefore to dealing with things superficially 
 and inaccurately. Another evil is the want of that 
 continuity of purpose in their proceedings which is 
 to be found in those of an individual. 
 
 As it tends directly to diminish many of the 
 advantages before mentioned, it is, in general, a 
 
110 OF COUNCILS AND COMMISSIONS. 
 
 wrong thing for a member of a council or commis- 
 sion to let the outer world know that his private 
 opinion is adverse to any of the decisions of his col- 
 leagues ; or indeed to indicate the part, whatever 
 it may have been, that he has taken in the transac- 
 tions of the general body. 
 
 The proper number of persons to constitute such 
 bodies must vary according to the purpose for 
 which they are called together. Such a number 
 as would afford any temptation for oratorical dis- 
 play should in general be avoided. Another limit, 
 which it may be prudent to adopt, is to have only 
 so many members as to make it possible in most 
 cases for each to take a part in the proceedings. 
 By having a greater number, you will not insure 
 more scrutiny into the business. It will still be 
 done by a few, but with a feeling of less responsi- 
 bility than if they were left to themselves, and with 
 the interruptions and inconvenience arising from 
 the number of persons present. Besides, the 
 greater the number, the more likelihood there is of 
 parties being formed in the council. 
 
 Whether the members are many or few, there 
 should be formalities, strictly maintained. This is 
 essential in the conduct of business. Otherwise 
 there will be such a state of things as that de- 
 
OF COUNCILS AND COMMISSIONS. Ill 
 
 scribed by Pepys in his account of a meeting of 
 the Privy Council ; which, like most of his descrip- 
 tions, one feels to be true to the life. "We to a 
 committee of the Council, to discourse concerning 
 pressing of men ; but Lord ! how they meet ; never 
 sit down ; one comes, now another goes, then 
 comes another; one complaining that nothing is 
 done, another swearing that he hath been there 
 these two hours and nobody come. At last my 
 Lord Annesley says, ' I think we must be forced 
 to get the King to come to every committee ; for I 
 do not see that we do any thing at any time but 
 when he is there.' " 
 
 The great art of making use of councils, com- 
 missions, and such like bodies, is to know what 
 kind of matter to put before them, and in what 
 state to present it. " There be three parts of busi- 
 ness ; the preparation ; the debate or examination ; 
 and the perfection; whereof, if you look for de- 
 spatch, let the middle only be the work of many, 
 and the first and last the work of few."* 
 
 There is likely to be a great waste of time and 
 labor when a thing is brought in all its first vague- 
 ness to be debated or examined bv a number of 
 
 * Bacon's Essay on Despatch. 
 
112 OF COUNCILS AM) COMMISSIONS. 
 
 persons. And there will be much in the " prepara- 
 tion" and " perfection" of a matter, which will only 
 become confused by being submitted to a full as- 
 sembly. You might as well think of making love 
 by a council or a board. It should therefore be 
 the business of some one, either in the council or 
 subordinate to it, to bring the matter forward in a 
 distinct and definite shape. Otherwise there will 
 be a wilderness of things said before you arrive 
 at any legitimate point of discussion. And hence 
 Bacon adds, " The proceeding upon somewhat con- 
 ceived in writing doth for the most part facilitate 
 despatch ; for though it should be wholly rejected, 
 yet that negative is more pregnant of direction 
 than an indefinite, as ashes are more generative 
 than dust." 
 
 In order to bring the responsibility of any act of 
 the general body home to the individuals composing 
 it, no method seems so good as that of requiring 
 the signatures of a large proportion of the council 
 or commission to the directions given in the matter. 
 Even the most careless people have a sort of aver- 
 sion to signing things which they have never con- 
 sidered. This plan is better than requiring the 
 signatures of the whole body. For it is less likely 
 
OF COUNCILS AND COMMISSIONS. 113 
 
 to degenerate into a mere formality; and besides, 
 the other course would give any one crotchety man 
 too great a power of hindrance. 
 
 The responsibility, also, of those persons who 
 settle the details of a matter, whether secretaries 
 or committees of the council, should be clearly 
 attested, either by their signatures or by a memo- 
 randum, showing what part of the business had 
 been intrusted to them. 
 
 As to the kind of men to be especially chosen or 
 rejected, it would be trifling to lay down any mi- 
 nute rules. You often require a diversity of natures, 
 in order that the various modes of acting congenial 
 to different minds and tempers should have an 
 opportunity of being canvassed. 
 
 When a man's faults are those which come to 
 the surface in social life, they must be noted as cer- 
 tain hindrances to his usefulness as a member of 
 any of these bodies. A man may be proud or 
 selfish, and yet a good councillor; he may be se- 
 cretly ill-tempered, and yet a reasonable man in 
 his converse with the world, capable of bearing- 
 opposition, and an excellent coadjutor ; but if he is 
 vain, or fond of disputes, or dictatorial, you know 
 that his efficiency in a council must to a certain 
 extent be counteracted. 
 
114 OF COUNCILS AND COMMISSIONS. 
 
 Those men are the grace and strength of councils 
 who are of that healthful nature which is content to 
 take defeat with good-humor, and of that practical 
 turn of mind which makes them set heartily to 
 work upon plans and propositions which have been 
 originated in opposition to their judgment ; who are 
 not anxious to shift responsibility upon others ; and 
 who do not allude to their former objections with 
 triumph, when those objections come to be borne 
 out by the result. In acting with such persons, you 
 are at your ease. You counsel sincerely and boldly, 
 and not with a timorous regard to your own part 
 in the matter. 
 
 The men who have method, and, as it were, a 
 judicial intellect, are most valuable councillors. 
 Without some such in a council, a great deal ot 
 cleverness goes for nothing ; as there is nobody to 
 see what has been stated and answered, to what 
 their deliberations tend, and what progress has been 
 made. Such persons can gather the sense of a 
 mixed assembly, and suggest some line of action 
 which may honestly meet the different views of the 
 various members. They will bring back the sub 
 ject-matter when it has all but floated away, while 
 the others have been looking for sea- weed, or throw 
 ing stones at one another on the shore. 
 
^artt} Ifirit 
 
 Party Spirit gives a pretext for the exercise of 
 such scorn and malice as could not be tolerated, 
 if they did not claim to have their origin in fervent 
 wishes for the public welfare. It consumes in idle 
 contests that energy which the State has need of. 
 By the perpetual interchange of hard names, it tends 
 to make a people suspicious and uncharitable ; or 
 it inclines them to think lightly of the kind of of- 
 fences which they hear so often charged against their 
 most eminent public men; or it "gives them a 
 habit of using epithets and affecting sensations of 
 moral indignation which bear no proportion to the 
 thing itself, or to their own real feelings about the 
 thing ; of taking the names of Truth and Virtue in 
 vain." 
 
 Under the influence of party spirit, a nation some- 
 times acts towards its dependencies, and in its for- 
 
116 PARTY SPIRIT. 
 
 eign relations, not with the whole force of the coun- 
 try, but with a portion of it only, bearing some ref- 
 erence to the excess of strength in the ruling party. 
 
 Party spirit makes people abjure independent 
 thinking. It can leave nothing alone. It must 
 uplift a hand in every man's quarrel, as a knight- 
 errant of old, but with small sense of chivalry. It 
 forces its odious friendship or its unprovoked hos- 
 tility where neither is fitting. Even the wisest 
 require to be constantly on their guard against it ; 
 or its insidious prejudices, like dirt and insects on 
 the glasses of a telescope, will blur the view, and 
 make them see strange monsters where there are 
 none. 
 
 Party spirit incites people to attack with rash- 
 ness, and to defend without sincerity. Violent 
 partisans are apt to treat a political opponent in 
 such a manner, when they argue with him, as to 
 make the question quite personal, as if he had been 
 present, as it were, and a chief agent in all the 
 crimes which they attribute to his party. Nor does 
 the accused hesitate to take the matter upon him- 
 self, and, in fancied self-defence, to justify things 
 which otherwise he would not hesitate, for one 
 moment, to condemn. 
 
 These evils must not be allowed to take shelter 
 
PARTY SPIRIT. 117 
 
 under the unfounded supposition that party deal- 
 ings are different from any thing else in the world, 
 and that they are to be governed by much looser 
 laws than those which regulate any other human 
 affairs. It is a very dangerous thing to acknow- 
 ledge two sorts of truth, two kinds of charity. 
 
 Is there no harm in never looking farther than 
 the worst motive that can possibly be imagined for 
 the actions of our political adversaries ? Are we 
 to consider the opposite party as so many Samari- 
 tans ; and is there nothing that we have ever heard 
 or read, which should induce us to abate our Jew- 
 ish antipathy to these brethren of ours, who do not 
 worship at our temple ? This is an illustration 
 from which political bigots cannot escape. Even 
 their own pretensions of being always in the right 
 will only bring the instance more home to them. 
 The Jews were right about the matter in dispute 
 between them and the Samaritans. " Salvation is 
 with the Jews." But this is never held out to us 
 as any justification of their behavior. 
 
 To hear some men talk, one would suppose that 
 political distinctions were natural distinctions ; and 
 that they depended upon a man's personal qual- 
 ities. These people seem to think that all tiie good 
 
118 PARTY SPIRIT. 
 
 are ranged in a row on one side, and all the bad 
 on the other. Now the utmost that can reason- 
 ably be alleged is, that there exists in most men 
 a predisposition to one or other of the two great 
 parties which are to be found in every free coun- 
 try ; but this cannot be depended upon as the cause 
 which determines men in general to attach them- 
 selves to a party. 
 
 As it is, some range themselves on one side, and 
 some on the other, just as they used to do in their 
 school games, and with about as much reflection. 
 A large number of persons in all ranks hold hered- 
 itary opinions. There are thousands who make 
 their convictions on all political subjects subservi- 
 ent to their feelings as members of a class, and to 
 what they believe to be the interests of that class. 
 Then there are those who think whatever the little 
 mob in which they live pleases to think ; and this is 
 the most comfortable way of thinking. Direct self 
 interest decides some men. The merest accidents 
 determine others. For instance, how much of a 
 man's opinions through life will depend upon any 
 strong-minded or earnest person that he may have 
 lived with at a time when he was uninformed him- 
 self and malleable. Remember, too, that it requires 
 but a slight bias to send a man into a party ; for 
 
PARTY SPIRIT. 119 
 
 let him agree with it only in a few points, and he 
 will be set down as belonging to it. Then, per- 
 haps, he is called upon to act in some way or other 
 politically, and a very little determines a man 
 whose thoughts upon the subject altogether have 
 been few and vague. Thus a political character is 
 impressed upon him without his having had much 
 to do in the matter ; but, afterwards, many things 
 will probably occur to deepen that impression, and 
 to make him a decided partisan. 
 
 A true analysis of the composition of parties 
 would afford a good lesson of political tolerance. 
 We should learn from it what a mixed thing a party 
 is ; that there is no single law that will explain its 
 cohesion ; and still less is there any good ground 
 for insisting that the distinctions of party have 
 their origin in moral worth or turpitude. 
 
 It is of importance that we should train ourselves 
 to make the fitting allowance for the political pre- 
 judices of others. 
 
 Pascal asks, " Whence comes it to pass that we 
 have so much patience with those who are maimed 
 in body, and so little with those who are defective 
 in mind ?" And he says, " It is because the crip- 
 ple acknowledges that we have the use of our legs ; 
 whereas the fool obstinately maintains that we are 
 
£20 PARTY SPIRIT. 
 
 the persons who halt in understanding. Without 
 this difference in the case, neither object would 
 move our resentment, but both our compassion." 
 We might try to overlook this difference, and find 
 it an aid to charity to consider that men's preju- 
 dices are the same kind of things as their personal 
 defects. Whether a man is laboring under some 
 degree of physical deafness ; or under some strong 
 prejudice, which, being ever by his side, is always 
 sure of the first hearing, and produces a sort of 
 numbness to any thing else ; it comes nearly to the 
 same thing, as regards the weight which he is likely 
 to attach to any of our arguments, when adverse 
 to his prejudice. In both cases the cause is de- 
 cided without our being fully heard. 
 
 But at the same time that we have recourse to 
 such views as the above, to moderate our impa- 
 tience of other people's prejudices, we should keep 
 a vigilant watch on our own. We often forget that 
 we are partisans ourselves, and that we are con- 
 tending with partisans. We first give ourselves 
 credit for a judicial impartiality in all that concerns 
 public affairs ; and then call upon our opponents 
 actually to be as impartial as we assert ourselves 
 to be. Bat few of us, I suspect, have any right to 
 take this high ground. Our passions master us ; 
 
PARTY SPIRIT. 121 
 
 and we know them to be our enemies. Our preju- 
 dices imprison us ; and, like madmen, we take our 
 jailors for a guard of honor. 
 
 I do not mean to suggest that truth and right are 
 always to be found in middle courses ; or that 
 there is any thing particularly philosophic in con- 
 cluding that "both parties are in the wrong," and 
 " that there is a great deal to be said on both sides 
 of the question," phrases which may belong to in- 
 dolence as well as to charity and candor. Let a 
 man have a hearty, strong opinion, and strive by all 
 fair means to bring it into action — if it is, in truth, 
 an opinion, and not a thing inhaled like some in- 
 fectious disorder. 
 
 Many persons persuade themselves that the life 
 and well-being of a State are something like their 
 own fleeting health and brief prosperity. And 
 hence they see portentous things in every subject 
 of political dispute. Such fancies add much to the 
 intolerance of party spirit. But the State will beai 
 much killing. It has outlived many generations of 
 political prophets, and it may survive the present 
 ones. 
 
 Divisions in a State are a necessary consequence 
 
122 PARTY SPIRIT. 
 
 of freedom ; and the practical question is not to 
 dispense with party, but to make the most good of 
 it. The contest must exist ; but it may have some- 
 thing of generosity in it. And how is this to be ? 
 Not by the better kind of men abstaining from any 
 attention to politics, or shunning party connections 
 altogether. Staying away from a danger which in 
 many instances it is their duty to face, would be 
 but a poor way of keeping themselves safe. It 
 would be a doubtful policy to encourage political 
 indifference as a cure for the evils of party spirit } 
 even if it were a certain cure ; but we cannot take 
 this for granted, especially when we observe that 
 the vices of party are not always to be seen most 
 in those who have the most earnest political feel- 
 ings. Indeed, the attachment to a party may be 
 and often is, an affection of the most generous kind ; 
 and it must, I think, be allowed that even with 
 men who do not discern the true end of party, noi 
 its limits, party spirit is often a rude kind of pa- 
 triotism. 
 
 The question then is, how to regulate party 
 spirit. Like all other affections, its tendency is to 
 overspread the whole character. One who has noth- 
 ing in his soul to resist it, or much that assimilates 
 with its worst influences, is carried away by it to evil 
 
PARTY SPIRIT. 123 
 
 But a good man will show the earnestness of his 
 attachment to his party by his endeavor to elevate 
 its character ; and in the utmost heat of party con- 
 tests, he will try to maintain a love of truth, and a 
 regard for the charities of life. 
 
<Dn €m\\f.< 
 
 Truth is a subject which men will not suffer to 
 grow old. Each age has to fight with its own false- 
 hoods ; each man with his love of saying to himself 
 and those around him pleasant things and things 
 serviceable for to-day, rather than the things which 
 are. Yet a child appreciates at once the divine 
 necessity for truth; never asks, "What harm is 
 there in saying the thing that is not ?" and an old 
 man finds in his growing experience wider and 
 wider applications of the great doctrine and disci- 
 pline of truth. 
 
 Truth needs the wisdom of the serpent as well 
 as the simplicity of the clove. He has gone but a 
 little way in this matter who supposes that it is 
 
 * This Essay is taken from " Friends in Council, a Series of Readings 
 and Discourse thereon," by the author of the preceding Essays, re- 
 printed in this country by James Munroe & Co., of Boston. 
 
ON TRUTH. 125 
 
 an easy thing for a man to speak the truth, " the 
 thing he troweth ;" and that it is a casual function, 
 which may be fulfilled at once, after any lapse of 
 exercise. But, in the first place, the man who 
 would speak truth must know what he troweth. 
 To do that he must have an uncorrupted judgment. 
 By this is not meant a perfect judgment, or even a 
 wise one, but one which, however it may be 
 biased, is not bought — is still a judgment. But 
 some people's judgments are so entirely gained over 
 by vanity, selfishness, passion, or inflated preju- 
 dices and fancies long indulged in ; or they have the 
 habit of looking at every thing so carelessly, that 
 they see nothing truly. They cannot interpret the 
 world of reality. And this is the saddest form of 
 lying, " the lie that sinketh in," as Bacon says, 
 which becomes part of the character, and goes on 
 eating the rest away. 
 
 Again, to speak truth, a man must not only have 
 that martial courage which goes out, with sound of 
 drum and trumpet, to do and suffer great things ; 
 but that domestic courage which compels him to 
 utter small-sounding truths, in spite of present in 
 convenience and outraged sensitiveness or sensibil- 
 ity. Then he must not be in any respect a slave 
 to self-interest. Often it seems as if but a little 
 
126 ON TRUTH, 
 
 misrepresentation would gain a great good for us ; 
 or, perhaps, we have only to conceal some trifling 
 thing, which, if told, might hinder unreasonably, 
 as we think, a profitable bargain. The true man 
 takes care to tell, notwithstanding. When we think 
 that truth interferes at one time or another with all 
 a man's likings, hatings and wishes, we must admit, 
 I think, that it is the most comprehensive and 
 varied form of self-denial. 
 
 Then, in addition to these great qualities, truth- 
 telling in its highest sense requires a well-balanced 
 mind. For instance, much exaggeration, perhaps 
 the most, is occasioned by an impatient and easily- 
 moved temperament, which longs to convey its own 
 vivid impressions to other minds, and seeks by am- 
 plifying to gain the full measure of their sympathy. 
 But a true man does not think what his hearers 
 are feeling, but what he is saying. 
 
 More stress might be laid than has been on the 
 intellectual requisites for truth, which are probably 
 the best part of intellectual cultivation, and as 
 much caused by truth as causing it. But, putting 
 the requisites for truth at the fewest, see of how 
 large a portion of the character truth is the result- 
 ant. If you were to make a list of those persons 
 accounted the religious men of their respective 
 
ON TRUTH. 127 
 
 ages, you would have a ludicrous combination of 
 characters essentially dissimilar. But true people 
 are kindred. Mention the eminently true men, and 
 you will find that they are a brotherhood. There 
 is a family likeness throughout them. 
 
 If we consider the occasions of exercising truth- 
 fulness, and descend to particulars, we may divide 
 the matter into the following heads : truth to one's 
 self; truth to mankind in general; truth in social 
 relations ; truth in business ; truth in pleasure. 
 
 1. Truth to one's self. All men have a deep 
 interest that each man should tell himself the truth. 
 Not only will he become a better man, but he will 
 understand them better. If men knew themselves, 
 ihey could not be intolerant to others. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say much about the 
 advantage of a man knowing himself for himself. 
 To get at the truth of any history is good ; but a 
 man's own history — when he reads that truly, and, 
 without a mean and over-solicitous introspection, 
 knows what he is about and what he has been 
 about, it is a Bible to him. "And David said unto 
 Nathan, I have sinned before the Lord." David 
 knew the truth about himself. But truth to one's 
 self is not merely truth about one's self. It consists 
 
128 ON TRUTH. 
 
 in maintaining an openness and justness of soul 
 which brings a man into relation with all truth 
 For this, all the senses, if you might so call them, 
 of the soul must be uninjured ; that is, the affec- 
 tions and the perceptions must be just. For a man 
 to speak the truth to himself, comprehends all good- 
 ness, and for us mortals can only be an aim. 
 
 2. Truth to mankind in general. This is a mat- 
 ter which, as I read it, concerns only the higher 
 natures. Suffice it to say, that the withholding 
 large truths from the world may be a betrayal of 
 
 the greatest trust. 
 
 3. Truth in social relations. Under this head 
 come the practices of making speech vary accord- 
 ing to the person spoken to ; of pretending to agree 
 with the world when you do not ; of not acting ac- 
 cording to what is your deliberate and well-advised 
 opinion, because some mischief may be made of it 
 by persons whose judgment in the matter you do 
 not respect ; of maintaining a wrong course for the 
 sake of consistency ; of encouraging the show of 
 intimacy with those whom you never can be inti- 
 mate with ; and many things of the same kind. 
 These practices have elements of charity and pru- 
 
ON TRUTH. 129 
 
 dence as well as fear and meanness in them. Let 
 those parts which correspond to fear and meanness 
 be put aside. Charity and prudence are not para- 
 sitical plants, which require boles of falsehood to 
 climb up upon. It is often extremely difficult in 
 the mixed things of this world to act truly and 
 kindly too ; but therein lies one of the great trials 
 of a man, that his sincerity should have kindness in 
 it, and his kindness truth. 
 
 4. Truth in business. The more truth you can 
 get into any business, the better. Let the other 
 side know the defects of yours, let them know how 
 you are to be satisfied, let there be as little to be 
 found out as possible, (I should say nothing;) and 
 if your business be an honest one, it will be best 
 tended in this way. The talking, bargaining and 
 delaying that would thus be needless, the little 
 that would then have to be done over again, the 
 anxiety that would be put aside, would even in a 
 worldly way be " great gain." It is not, perhaps, 
 too much to say, that the third part of men's lives 
 is wasted by the effect, direct or indirect, of false- 
 hoods. 
 
 Still, let us not be swift to imagine that lies are 
 never of any service. A recent prime minister said, 
 
130 ON TRUTH. 
 
 that he did not know about truth always prevailing 
 and the like ; but lies had been very successful 
 against his government. And this was true enough. 
 Every lie has its day. There is no preternatural 
 inefficacy in it by reason of its falseness. And 
 this is especially the case with those vague inju- 
 rious reports which are no man's lies, but all men's 
 carelessness. But even as regards special and 
 unmistakable falsehood, we must admit that it has 
 its success. A complete being might deceive with 
 wonderful effect; however, as nature is always 
 against a liar, it is great odds in the case of ordi- 
 nary mortals. Wolsey talks of 
 
 " Negligence 
 « Fit for a fool to fall by," 
 
 when he gives Henry the wrong packet ; but the 
 Cardinal was quite mistaken. That kind of negli- 
 gence was just the thing of which far-seeing and 
 thoughtful men are capable; and which, if there 
 were no higher motive, should induce them to rely 
 on truth alone. A very close vulpine nature, all 
 eyes, all ears, may succeed better in deceit. But it 
 is a sleepless business. Yet, strange to say, it is 
 had recourse to in the most spendthrift fashion, as 
 the first and earliest thing that comes to hand. 
 In connection with truth in business, it may be 
 
ON TRUTH. 131 
 
 observed, that if you are a truthful man, you should 
 be watchful over those whom you employ ; for your 
 subordinate agents are- often fond of lying for your 
 interests, as they think. Show them at once that 
 you do not think with them, and that you will dis- 
 concert any of their inventions by breaking in with 
 the truth. If you suffer the fear of seeming unkind 
 to prevent your thrusting well-meant inventions 
 aside, you may get as much pledged to falsehoods 
 as if you had coined and uttered them yourself. 
 
 5. Truth in pleasure. Men have been said to be 
 sincere in their pleasures ; but this is only that the 
 tastes and habits of men are more easily discerni- 
 ble in pleasure than business. The want of truth 
 is as great a hindrance to the one as to the other. 
 Indeed, there is so much insincerity and formality 
 in the pleasurable department of human life, espe- 
 cially in social pleasures, that instead of a bloom 
 there is a slime upon it, which deadens and cor- 
 rupts the thing. One of the most comical sights to 
 superior -beings must be to see two human creatures, 
 with elaborate speech and gestures, making each 
 other exquisitely uncomfortable from civility ; the 
 one pressing what he is most anxious that the other 
 should not accept, and the other accepting only 
 
132 ON TRUTH. 
 
 from the fear of giving offense by refusal. There 
 is an element of charity in all this too ; and it will 
 be the business of a just and refined nature to be 
 sincere and considerate at the same time. This 
 will be better done by enlarging our sympathy, so 
 that more things and people are pleasant to us, than 
 by increasing the civil and conventional part of our 
 nature, so that we are able to do more seeming 
 with greater skill and endurance. Of other false 
 hindrances to pleasure, such as ostentation and pre- 
 tenses of all kinds, there is neither charity nor com- 
 fort in them. They may be got rid of altogether, 
 and no moaning made over them. Truth, which is 
 one of the largest creatures, opens out the way to 
 the heights of enjoyment as well as to the depths 
 of self-denial. 
 
 It is difficult to think too highly of the merits and 
 delights of truth ; but there is often in men's minds 
 an exaggerated notion of some bit of truth, which 
 proves a great assistance to falsehood. For in- 
 stance, the shame of some particular small 'false- 
 hood, exaggeration, or sincerity becomes a bug- 
 bear which scares a man into a career of false deal- 
 ing. He has begun making a furrow a little out of 
 the line, and he ploughs on in it, to try and give 
 
ON TRUTH. 133 
 
 some consistency and meaning to it. He wants 
 almost to persuade himself that it was not wrong, 
 and entirely to hide the wrongness from others. 
 This is a tribute to the majesty of truth ; also to 
 the world's opinion about truth. It proceeds, too, 
 upon the notion that all falsehoods are equal, which 
 is not the case ; or on some fond craving for a show 
 of perfection, which is sometimes very inimical to 
 the reality. The practical as well as the high- 
 minded view in such cases, is for a man to think 
 how he can be true now. To attain that, it may, 
 even for this world, be worth while for a man to 
 admit that he is inconsistent, and even that he has 
 been untrue. His hearers, did they know any thing 
 of themselves, would be fully aware that he was 
 not singular, except in the courage of owning his 
 insincerity. 
 
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