650 AUGUSTUS LOWELL. 



on the contrary they stir us all the deeper, if we stop to think, for the 

 very fact that they do not stir us without such thought. We are im- 

 pressed the more by what seems superior to the impression it makes. 



There is, too, another merit in the absence of effect — a gain in effec- 

 tiveness. It is the greatest compliment to a man's ability that he should 

 succeed without seeming to do so, because it shows that all his force has 

 been massed upon the one strategic point. We are all familiar with this 

 when it is done of intent aforethought. 



As potent is the principle when the self-effacement is unconscious. 

 The one obliteration differs from the other only in being instinctive in- 

 stead of being thought out; and the one is as telling as the other. How- 

 ever it be brought about, the fact that the self is effaced is proof that the 

 work has been done well. For it shows that the result has been brousht 

 to pass with the least expenditure of force. Personality causes friction, 

 and evidence of self is therefore proof that force has been uselessly em- 

 ployed. The fact that a man has succeeded in having his idea prevail 

 without forcing himself along with it is sign of the best kind of work. 



Now tliis was the case with Mr. Lowell. It was so because of an un- 

 usual combination of characteristics, a singular wedding of energy in deed 

 with dislike of its external trappings. 



To an exceptional extent, therefore, Mr. Lowell's distinction lay in 

 character. Three qualities he possessed to an unusual degree, qualities 

 each rare enough as it is : will, ability, and integrity. He was, in the first 

 place, a combination of force and ability as simple and as uncommon as 

 success, which is its immediate consequence. The one is but the neces- 

 sary premiss to the other's conclusion. If a man be originally possessed 

 of the first he is sure eventually to possess the second. Schopenhauer's 

 definition of the world as all will and representation certainly holds of 

 one part of it, — the affairs of men. If the affairs consist rather in the 

 dealing with men than nature the representation takes the form of words, 

 and may be paraphrased as first the skill to put a thing convincingly 

 and then the will to put it through. Mr. Lowell combined the two 

 qualities. 



Will he possessed to the full. He was noted for his determination. 

 To his lot, in consequence, fell many necessary and thankless tasks. He 

 likewise escaped many empty honors. For where he went he worked. 

 No one ever thought of preferring him to a post merely honoris causa. 

 For people knew that in getting him they jjot not a figure-head, but a man 

 who was certain to make himself felt ; not because he tried to do so, but 

 because it was in him to do it. He entered concerns not by the postern 



