appoint expectation. And others, again, show talents and courage, and other qualifications, when these are called forth by high office, beyond what any one gave them credit for before, and beyond what they suspected to be in themselves. It is unhappily very difficult to judge how a man will conduct himself in a high office, till the trial has been made. It must not, however, be forgotten that renown and commendation will, as in other cases, be indiscriminate. By those whose nearness, or easiness of access, enables them to form an accurate judgment, many a public man will be found neither so detestable nor so admirable as perhaps he is thought by opposite parties. This truth is well expressed in the fable of 'The Clouds."

'Two children once, at eventide,

Thus prattled by their parents' side:-
'See, mother, see that stormy cloud!
What can its inky bosom shroud?
It looks so black, I do declare
I shudder quite to see it there.'
And father, father, now behold
Those others, all of pink and gold!
How beautiful and bright their hue!
I wish that I were up there too:
For, if they look so fine from here,
What must they be when one is near!'
'Children,' the smiling sire replied,
'I've climbed a mountain's lofty side,
Where, lifted 'mid the clouds awhile,
Distance no longer could beguile:
And closer seen, I needs must say
That all the clouds are merely grey;
Differing in shade from one another,
But each in colour like his brother.
Those clouds you see of gold and pink,
To others look as black as ink;
And that same cloud, so black to you,
To some may wear a golden hue.
E'en so, my children, they whom fate
Has planted in a low estate,
Viewing their rulers from afar,

Admire what prodigies they are.

O! what a tyrant! dreadful doom!

His crimes have wrapped our land in gloom!

* See Fourth Book of the Lessons for the Use of National Schools, page 49.

A tyrant! nay, a hero this,

The glorious source of all our bliss!
But they who haunt the magic sphere,
Beholding then its inmates near,
Know that the men, by some adored,
By others flouted and abhorred,
Nor sink so low, nor rise so high,
As seems it to the vulgar eye.
The man his party deems a hero,
His foes, a Judas, or a Nero-
Patriot of superhuman worth,
Or vilest wretch that cumbers earth,
Derives his bright or murky hues
From distant and from party views;
Seen close, nor black nor gold are they,
But every one a sober grey.”

IT

ESSAY XII. OF BOLDNESS.

is a trivial grammar-school text, but yet worthy a wise man's consideration: question was asked of Demosthenes," what was the chief part of an orator? He answered, action: what next? action: what next again? action. He said it that knew it best, and had by nature himself no advantage in that he commended. A strange thing, that that part of an orator which is but superficial, and rather the virtue of a player, should be placed so high above those other noble parts, of invention, elocution, and the rest; nay, almost alone, as if it were all in all. But the reason is plain. There is in human nature generally more of the fool than of the wise; and therefore those faculties by which the foolish part of men's minds is taken, are most potent. Wonderful like is the case of boldness in civil business; what first? boldness: what second and third boldness. And yet boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness, far inferior to other parts: but, nevertheless, it doth fascinate, and bind hand and foot those that are either shallow in judgment or weak in courage, which are the greatest part, yea, and prevaileth with wise men at weak times; therefore we see it hath done wonders in popular States, but with senates and princes lessand more, ever upon the first entrance of bold persons into action, than soon after; for boldness is an ill keeper of promise. Surely, as there are mountebanks for the natural body, so there are mountebanks for the politic' Body-men that undertake great cures, and perhaps have been lucky in two or three experiments, but want the grounds of science, and therefore cannot hold out. Nay, you shall see a bold fellow many times do Mahomet's miracle. Mahomet made the people believe that he would call a hill to him, and from the top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his law. The people assembled; Mahomet called the hill to come to him again and again; and when the hill stood still, he was never a whit'abashed, but

'Whit. The least degree; the smallest particle. Not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles,'—2 Cor. xi. 5.

said, 'If the hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the hill.' So these men, when they have promised great matters, and failed most shamefully, yet, if they have the perfection of boldness, they will but slight it over,' and make a turn, and no more ado.' Certainly, to men of great judgment, bold persons are sport to behold-nay, and to the vulgar also boldness hath somewhat of the ridiculous: for, if absurdity be the subject of laughter, doubt you not that great boldness is seldom without some absurdity: especially it is a sport to see when a bold fellow is out of countenance, for that puts his face into a most shrunken and wooden posture, as needs it mustfor in bashfulness the spirits do a little go and come-but with bold men, upon like occasion, they stand at a stay ;' like a stale at chess, where it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir; but this last were fitter for a satire than for a serious observation. This is well to be weighed, that boldness is ever blind, for it seeth not dangers and inconveniences; therefore it is ill in counsel, good in execution; so that the right use of bold persons is, that they never command in chief, but be seconds, and under the direction of others; for in counsel it is good to see dangers, and in execution not to see them, except they be very great.

ANNOTATIONS.

'Boldness is a child of ignorance and baseness far inferior to other parts.'

Bacon seems to have had that over-estimate of those who are called the 'prudent' which is rather common. One cause of the supposed superiority of wisdom often attributed to the over-cautious, reserved, non-confiding, non-enterprising charac

Slight over. To treat carelessly.

'His death, and your deliverance,

Were themes that ought not to be slighted over.-Dryden.

Ado. Much ado about nothing.'-Shakespere.

Stay. Stand; cessation of progression.

'Never to decay

Until his revolution was at stay.'-Milton.

ters, as compared with the more open, free-spoken, active, and daring, is the tendency to over-rate the amount of what is distinctly known. The bold and enterprising are likely to meet with a greater number of tangible failures than the overcautious; and and yet if you take a hundred average men of each description, you will find that the bold have had, on the whole a more successful career. But the failures-that is, the non success of the over-cautious, cannot be so distinctly traced. Such a man only misses the advantages-often very greatwhich boldness and free-speaking might have gained. He who always goes on foot will never meet with a fall from a horse, or be stopped on a journey by a restive horse; but he who rides, though exposed to these accidents, will, in the end, have accomplished more journeys than the other. He who lets his land lie fallow, will have incurred no losses from bad harvests; but he will not have made so much of his land as if he had ventured to encounter such risks.

The kind of boldness which is most to be deprecated-or at least as much so as the boldness of ignorance—is daring, unaccompanied by firmness and steadiness of endurance. Such was that which Tacitus attributes to the Gauls and Britons: 'Eadem in deposcendis periculis audacia; eadem in detrectandis, ubi advenerint, formido." This character seems to belong to those who have-in phrenological language-Hope, and Conbativeness, large, and Firmness small.

1 The same daring in rushing into dangers, and the same timidity in shrinking from them when they come.