EDITORIAL OBSERVATIONS. 
593 
distinguished, not so generally by intellectual wealth as by 
the earnest and substantial application of the powers at their 
command. On the other hand, what pitiable spectacles had 
been presented by the grandest intellectual powers when 
accompanied by what Coleridge in his wretchedness described 
as ‘impotence of the volition.’ Truly, there was no slavery 
so abject as that which sprung from want of self-control, no 
victory so fruitful as that we achieve over ourselves. Thus 
those who had been great, who had been successful in ac¬ 
complishing some high and noble purpose in life, had been 
remarkable for character rather than intellect. This dis¬ 
tinction was an important one. The latter might accomplish 
great things, but it was the former which secured success in 
life. Men differed in ability, but infinitely more in conduct, 
and they were not responsible for the powers they pos¬ 
sessed, but for the use they made of the powers at their 
command. - ” 
Lastly, we would say, if you wish to make progress and 
be esteemed for your work’s sake, you must not be a 
laggard, but— 
“ Once 
Begun, work then all tilings into the work, 
And set thyself about it as the sea 
About the earth, lashing it day and night.” 
It has been well remarked that idleness is hard work for 
those who are not used to it, and dull work for those who 
are. Nothing is so hard to do as to do nothing. Further, 
that the human mind is like the stones of a mill: if you 
put corn between them, they grind it and make it into 
flour; but if you put none, they keep turning till they grind 
themselves away. Newton, whose mind was very compre¬ 
hensive, so that, perhaps, it took in as much of the universe 
as that of any man of modern times, compared himself, 
after his greatest discoveries, to a child gathering shells on 
the margin of the ocean. He saw before him the multi¬ 
tudinous waves, but whither they extended or what they 
covered he could not tell. 
XXXIV. 
45 
