be at all events agreeably conversational. Notwithstanding this
deliberateness of intention in his talk he is unconscious of falsity,
for he has not enough of deep and lasting impression to find a contrast
or diversity between his words and his thoughts. He is not fairly to be
called a hypocrite, but I have already confessed to the more
exasperation at his make-believe reverence, because it has no deep
hunger to excuse it.




VI.


ONLY TEMPER.

What is temper? Its primary meaning, the proportion and mode in which
qualities are mingled, is much neglected in popular speech, yet even
here the word often carries a reference to an habitual state or general
tendency of the organism in distinction from what are held to be
specific virtues and vices. As people confess to bad memory without
expecting to sink in mental reputation, so we hear a man declared to
have a bad temper and yet glorified as the possessor of every high
quality. When he errs or in any way commits himself, his temper is
accused, not his character, and it is understood that but for a brutal
bearish mood he is kindness itself. If he kicks small animals, swears
violently at a servant who mistakes orders, or is grossly rude to his
wife, it is remarked apologetically that these things mean nothing--they
are all temper.