8 PRECEPT AND PEACTICE. 



is apt, in technical phrase, to "kick" at being 

 told how to use his horse when out of the stable — 

 for there is scarcely a man to be found who has 

 not occasionally driven a gig, or mounted a horse ; 

 and if he has done so, and has not run foul of an 

 omnibus, or if on horseback he has guided his 

 horse home, he does not know enough of the matter 

 to be thankful to Providence that he got home safe 

 — a little bit of truism it would be somewhat difficult 

 to persuade him of, and would require to be couched 

 in most conciliatory terms to render digestible. 



It unfortunately happens that in writing on any 

 subject in which the vanity of a man is necessarily 

 attacked by doubting his proficiency in it, he is apt 

 to think that the writer who doubts it really shows a 

 degree of ignorance, or at least bad judgment, in so 

 doing ; that what he may say on the subject comes 

 in very questionable shape. It is therefore useless to 

 mince the matter ; the writer may just as well, indeed 

 far better, honestly tell such a man that he knows 

 nothing at all about the matter, as to express a doubt 

 about it. But, fortunately, I address no one per- 



