possession of fame without its emptiness, and the indulgence of
knowledge without its vanity; energy turned to the most practical and
lofty uses of man; and the full feast of an ambition superior to the
tinsel of the world, and alike pure in its motives, and immeasurable in
its rewards."

"And, yet," said I, naming one or two of our clerical slumberers, "the
profession seems not to be a very disturbing one."

"Those men, was the answer, would have been slumberers at the bar, in
senates, or in the field. I may be prejudiced in favour of the choice
which I made so long since, and which I have never found reason to
repent. But I have not the slightest wish to prejudice any one in its
favour. There is no profession which more requires a peculiar mind;
contentment, with whatever consciousness of being overlooked; patience,
with whatever hopelessness of success; labour, for its own sake; and
learning, with few to share, few to admire, and fewer still to
understand."

"If my father had lived," said I, "it was his intention to have tried my
chance in diplomacy."

"Probably enough; for he had figured in that line himself. I remember
him secretary of embassy at Vienna. Perhaps you will scarcely believe,
that I, too, have had my experience on the subject? Accident once made
me an attaché to our envoy at Naples. The life is an easy one. Idleness
was never more perfectly reduced to a system, than among the half dozen
functionaries to whom the interests of the British empire were entrusted
in the capital of the Lazzaroni. As the Frenchman said of the Academy,
'We had nothing to do, and we did it.'"