HIS DIFFIDENCE. 325 



duced in this matter nearly the same effects as if I had. 

 \ must explain. You remember Addison's description 

 of those trap-doors on the bridge of Mirza, through 

 which the unfortunate passengers were continually 

 dropping into the water? The minds of some men 

 abound with such doors. Their judgments seem 

 stately structures, if I may so speak, that connect the 

 opposite regions of causes and effects of means and 

 ends ; we see their purposes and resolves moving rapidly 

 along the arches, and think they cannot fail of passing 

 from the one extreme point to the other. Suddenly, how- 

 ever, they disappear in the midst, and leave their objects 

 unattained. Or to drop the allegory : How often are 

 we surprised in even superior men by some unthought 

 of inconsistency that mars all their wisdom, some latent 

 weakness that neutralizes all their powers. There is, my 

 dear madam, a weakness, an inconsistency, a trap-door 

 of this kind in the mind of the poor fellow who has now 

 the honour of addressing you. Its appearances and 

 modes of operation are as various as the circumstances 

 in which it exhibits itself, but for a general name, I be- 

 lieve, I may term it diffidence. It torments me as much 

 as conscience does some men. For instance : There 

 are a few excellent people in Cromarty whose company 

 I deem very agreeable, and whose friendship I value 

 very highly, but whose thresholds without a special in- 

 vitation I never cross. Why ? Just because diffidence 

 tells me that I am but a poor mechanic, regarded with 

 a kind, perhaps, but still compassionate feeling, and that 

 if I but take the slightest commonest liberty of social in- 

 tercourse, it is at the peril of being deemed forward and 

 obtrusive. Well, I receive an invitation and accept it. 

 I come in contact with persons whom I like very much ; 

 the better feelings are awakened within me, the intel- 



