24 
SCENES IN INDIA. 
applauses with an apparent modesty of demeanour 
which was no doubt rather the result of constitutional 
apathy than refinement of feeling, for these jugglers 
are generally among the most depraved of their caste. 
The mildness of the Hindoo has been frequently 
, extolled by writers who have only superficially consi- 
dered this general trait of national character. Mild- 
ness is at best but an equivocal virtue ; for if it pro- 
ceed from the mere absence of emotion, which it 
but too often does, it is as great a moral defect as 
the most vehement paroxysm of passion : in fact, 
the elements of good are far more prevalent in the 
latter than in the former. Negative good is always 
allied to positive evil; they are the points of contact 
in the sphere of human infirmity, and so closely ap- 
proximate, that they may be said to merge in one 
inseparable union. The absence of good pre-supposes 
the presence of evil, which, whether passive or active, 
moral or practical, is, in every circumstance and 
under every variety of modification, still evil. Mild- 
ness is often the symptom of an insensibility that is 
not to be softened by the appeals of human sympathy, 
or roused into action by the apprehension of dangers 
which are distant or uncertain ; it is only really a 
virtue when it is remote from those cold and negative 
qualities of the moral temperament which can find no 
centre of attraction beyond the narrow circle of self- 
love. The mildness of the Hindoo is mere apathy ; 
and that apathy which would cause us to witness a 
murder with indifference is infinitely more detestable, 
and surely a greater moral enormity, than the passion 
which, after a desperate conflict with a man's better 
