But, then, view the other side.
When once the calamity had taken place, and the idea of the consequent
extensive suffering had got abroad amongst the public, thousands of
pounds came pouring in for the relief of that suffering. The large sum
of L.60,000 was collected for the unfortunates; and it is an
undoubted, though surprising fact, that the collectors had at last to
intimate that they required no more. It is thus that human nature
often appears unworthy and contemptible when contemplated with regard
to some isolated circumstance, as misanthropes, poets, and such like,
are apt to regard it. But take it in wider relations, take it in the
totality of its action, and the lineaments of its divine origin and
inherent dignity are sure to shine out.
REMINISCENCES OF AN ATTORNEY.
THE INCENDIARY.
I knew James Dutton, as I shall call him, at an early period of life,
when my present scanty locks of iron-gray were thick and dark, my now
pale and furrowed cheeks were fresh and ruddy, like his own. Time,
circumstance, and natural bent of mind, have done their work on both
of us; and if his course of life has been less equable than mine, it
has been chiefly so because the original impulse, the first start on
the great journey, upon which so much depends, was directed by wiser
heads in my case than in his. We were school-fellows for a
considerable time; and if I acquired--as I certainly did--a larger
stock of knowledge than he, it was by no means from any superior
capacity on my part, but that his mind was bent on other pursuits.
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