i.] ANTECEDENTS. 13 



the highest natural endowments may be starved 

 by defective nurture, while no carefulness of 

 nurture can overcome the evil tendencies of an 

 intrinsically bad physique, weak brain, or brutal 

 disposition. Differences of nurture stamp un- 

 mistakable marks on the disposition of the 

 soldier, clergyman, or scholar, but are wholly in- 

 sufficient to efface the deeper marks of individual 

 character. The impress of class distinctions is 

 superficial, and may be compared to those which 

 give a general resemblance to a family of 

 daughters at a provincial ball, all dressed alike, 

 and so similar in voice and address as to puzzle 

 a recently-introduced partner in his endeavours 

 to recollect with which of them he is engaged 

 to dance ; but an intimate friend forgets their 

 general resemblance in the presence of the far 

 greater dissimilarity which he has learned to 

 appreciate. There are twins of the same sex 

 so alike in body and mind that not even 

 their own mothers can distinguish them. Their 

 features, voice, and expressions are similar ; they 

 see things in the same light, and their ideas 

 follow the same laws of association. This close 



