CHANGE IN CHARACTER. Ill 



the effects of circumstance. The successive revelation 

 of the several phases is full of interest and possibly of 

 surprises, especially if the family history is either 

 unknown or ignored. The phases may begin to unfold 

 early or late; they may follow each other quickly or 

 slowly ; they may differ from each other slightly or 

 extremely. Infancy sometimes disappears slowly 

 or not at all ; traces of senility may arrive quickly. 

 Circumstance may operate somewhat powerfully on 

 one organisation and very slightly on another. 

 Jacques declared that a man plays many parts : at 

 one time he is a sighing lover (his capacity little or 

 much of sighing like a furnace is assuredly determined 

 by his organisation) ; then he seeks the bubble repu- 

 tation; later he is full of wise saws and instances. 

 The astute Gracian was in his most cynical vein when 

 he described a man as being a peacock at twenty ; 

 at thirty, a lion ; at forty, a camel ; at fifty, a snake ; 

 at sixty, a dog; at seventy, an ape. The essayist 

 John Foster believed that the successive epochs of a 

 man's character differ so widely that, if the epochs 

 could be represented by several men, and those men 

 were to meet they would quarrel and part from each 

 other, not caring to meet again. Shakspere and 

 Gracian and Foster were speaking of what they con- 

 sidered to be the natural unfolding of character. 

 Although treating expressly of character they seem 

 indeed strangely oblivious of the influence of circum- 

 stance. A very different view of the potency of 

 environment was held by the Khalif Omar : he de- 

 clared that a man is more like his neighbours than his 

 fathers. The saying is plausible ; there is some truth 

 in it but still more of untruth. Does not a man give 

 out as well as receive neighbourly forces ? Are his 



