field he was to occupy till the Master came,--nothing of the influence,
nothing of the authority, he was to exercise over the minds and hearts
of men,--and nothing of that huge oriflamme which was coming up slowly,
to be sure, but certainly, over the distant verge of an ever-widening
horizon. He was utterly discouraged as a lawyer; he knew nothing of
business; he had no capital; and what on earth was he good for? Whither
should he go? What undertake?

And yet he bore up manfully through all this discouragement, and no word
of complaint or murmuring ever escaped his lips. On the whole, he was
one of the most truly conscientious men I ever knew,--and why not one
of the most truly religious, notwithstanding his obnoxious faith?--so
even-tempered that I never saw him disturbed more than once or twice in
all my life, and so patient under wrong that one could hardly believe in
his withering sarcasm, and scorching indignation when he took the field
as a reformer, "in golden panoply complete."

Let me now describe his personal appearance, for the help of those who
have only heard of the man. He was tall, straight, and spare,--six feet,
I should say, and rather ungraceful in fact, though called by the women
of his parish, not only the most graceful, but the most finished of
gentlemen. That he was dignified, courteous, and prepossessing, very
pleasant in conversation, a capital story-teller, and a tolerable--no,
intolerable--punster, exceedingly impressive both in the pulpit and
elsewhere, when much in earnest, and in after life a great lecturer and
platform speaker, I am ready to acknowledge; but he wanted ease of
manner--the readiness and quiet self-possession of a high-bred man, who
cannot be taken by surprise, and is neither afraid of being
misunderstood nor afraid of letting himself down--till after he had
passed the age of threescore.