36 MORE IMPASSIONED AND REFLECTIVE MAN. 



him : one is on his way to a bishopric ; another should 

 grace the woolsack; a third will one day lead the 

 House of Commons. 



The impassioned man is never, and indeed cannot 

 be, an habitual scold. There are however as many 

 scolds among men as among women, only we give 

 them finer names. We are but too ready to call a 

 sharp-ton gued woman a scold, while, with the same 

 breath, we call the scolding man a " thinker," " seer," 

 " prophet." Praise is usually flat, while clever scolding, 

 with tongue or pen, is always interesting and impres- 

 sive. Herodotus, it seems, is held in less esteem than 

 Thucydides. Herodotus was given to genial praise, 

 Thucydides to disapproval. Goethe remarks that the 

 German language (it is probably true of all languages) 

 contains more words for the expression of blame than 

 of praise. In every field of human performance he 

 comes to the front who throws strong vitriol with a 

 strong hand ; he is thrust aside in his turn, but only 

 when a stronger hand throws stronger acid. 



There is much, very much, around us and within us 

 which deserves scolding; but there is much also that 

 does not ; hence the exalted genius who scolds every- 

 thing, evil and good alike, occupies a singular position : 

 the wisest man does not speak wiser words than he ; 

 the greatest fool does not utter greater folly. 



No times have produced more effective scolds than 

 our own. It may be repeated here that vigorous, 

 stirring, repeated speech is often most marked when 

 passion is least intense. It is quite possible too that 

 the slightly emotional speaker or writer may perchance 

 utter the language of love and hate with more cogency 

 than an individual of deep feeling but of restricted 

 powers of speech. 



