44 HUNTERIAN ORATION. 



which they advance in knowledge, their 

 frequent failures, and the imperfection 

 of their own powers ; they also compare 

 the aggregate of their advances with the 

 illimitable nature of those objects to which 

 they have merely approximated. Whilst 

 those who make power, wealth, or any 

 species of notoriety, the object of their 

 ambition, are secret, selfish, suspicious, 

 cunning, and conceited. In general, they 

 are ashamed or afraid of avowing their de- 

 signs, and therefore obliged to enveigle 

 the co-operation of others. They suspect 

 that they may be counteracted ; and in 

 proportion as they attain their ends, they 

 feel elated with their own abilities, from 

 the belief that no one but themselves 

 could have atchieved • them in the like 

 manner and degree. The choice of our 

 objects manifests the natural dispositions of 

 our minds, which are confirmed and aug- 

 mented in their pursuit. 



Mr. Hunter was an excellent example of 

 the former class of men. My desire to 

 know why a man of such intellectual 

 powers did not display them in a manner 



