Character | Page 8

his
opponents, as well as to those who are weaker than himself. It was truly

said of Sheridan --who, with all his improvidence, was generous, and
never gave pain--that
"His wit in the combat, as gentle as bright, Never carried a heart-stain
away on its blade."
Such also was the character of Fox, who commanded the affection and
service of others by his uniform heartiness and sympathy. He was a
man who could always be most easily touched on the side of his honour.
Thus, the story is told of a tradesman calling upon him one day for the
payment of a promissory note which he presented. Fox was engaged at
the time in counting out gold. The tradesman asked to be paid from the
money before him. "No," said Fox, "I owe this money to Sheridan; it is
a debt of honour; if any accident happened to me, he would have
nothing to show." "Then," said the tradesman, "I change MY debt into
one of honour;" and he tore up the note. Fox was conquered by the act:
he thanked the man for his confidence, and paid him, saying, "Then
Sheridan must wait; yours is the debt of older standing."
The man of character is conscientious. He puts his conscience into his
work, into his words, into his every action. When Cromwell asked the
Parliament for soldiers in lieu of the decayed serving-men and tapsters
who filled the Commonwealth's army, he required that they should be
men "who made some conscience of what they did;" and such were the
men of which his celebrated regiment of "Ironsides" was composed.
The man of character is also reverential. The possession of this quality
marks the noblest, and highest type of manhood and womanhood:
reverence for things consecrated by the homage of generations--for
high objects, pure thoughts, and noble aims-- for the great men of
former times, and the highminded workers amongst our contemporaries.
Reverence is alike indispensable to the happiness of individuals, of
families, and of nations. Without it there can be no trust, no faith, no
confidence, either in man or God--neither social peace nor social
progress. For reverence is but another word for religion, which binds
men to each other, and all to God.
"The man of noble spirit," says Sir Thomas Overbury, "converts all

occurrences into experience, between which experience and his reason
there is marriage, and the issue are his actions. He moves by affection,
not for affection; he loves glory, scorns shame, and governeth and
obeyeth with one countenance, for it comes from one consideration.
Knowing reason to be no idle gift of nature, he is the steersman of his
own destiny. Truth is his goddess, and he takes pains to get her, not to
look like her. Unto the society of men he is a sun, whose clearness
directs their steps in a regular motion. He is the wise man's friend, the
example of the indifferent, the medicine of the vicious. Thus time goeth
not from him, but with him, and he feels age more by the strength of
his soul than by the weakness of his body. Thus feels he no pain, but
esteems all such things as friends, that desire to file off his fetters, and
help him out of prison." (11)
Energy of will--self-originating force--is the soul of every great
character. Where it is, there is life; where it is not, there is faintness,
helplessness, and despondency. "The strong man and the waterfall,"
says the proverb, "channel their own path." The energetic leader of
noble spirit not only wins a way for himself, but carries others with him.
His every act has a personal significance, indicating vigour,
independence, and self- reliance, and unconsciously commands respect,
admiration, and homage. Such intrepidity of character characterised
Luther, Cromwell, Washington, Pitt, Wellington, and all great leaders
of men.
"I am convinced," said Mr. Gladstone, in describing the qualities of the
late Lord Palmerston in the House of Commons, shortly after his
death--"I am convinced that it was the force of will, a sense of duty,
and a determination not to give in, that enabled him to make himself a
model for all of us who yet remain and follow him, with feeble and
unequal steps, in the discharge of our duties; it was that force of will
that in point of fact did not so much struggle against the infirmities of
old age, but actually repelled them and kept them at a distance. And
one other quality there is, at least, that may be noticed without the
smallest risk of stirring in any breast a painful emotion. It is this, that
Lord Palmerston had a nature incapable of enduring anger or any
sentiment of wrath. This freedom from wrathful sentiment was not the

result of painful effort, but the