and personal--is to go about under a constant burden; the difference
between a thorough-going and an easy-going circumspection is a large
additional demand upon the forces of the brain. The being on the alert
to duck the head at every bullet is a charge to the vital powers; so
much so, that there comes a point when it is better to run risks than to
pile up costly precautions and bear worrying anxieties.

Lastly, the attribute of our active nature called Belief, Confidence,
Conviction, is subject to the same line of remark. This great
quality--the opposite of distrust and timidity, the ally of courage, the
adjunct of a buoyant temperament--is not fed upon airy nothings. It is,
indeed, a true mental quality, an offshoot of our mental nature; yet,
although not material, it is based upon certain forces of the physical
constitution; it grows when these grow, and is nourished when they are
nourished. People possessed of great confidence have it as a gift all
through life, like a broad chest or a good digestion. Preaching and
education have their fractional efficacy, and deserve to be plied,
provided the operator is aware of nature's impassable barriers, and does
not suppose that he is working by charm. It is said of Hannibal that he
dissolved obstructions in the Alps by vinegar; in the moral world,
barriers are not to be removed either by acetic acid or by honey.

* * * * *

[PREJUDICES DUE TO PERSONAL DIGNITY.]

II. The question of Free-will might be a text for discoursing on some of
the most inveterate erroneous tendencies of the mind.

For one thing, it gives occasion to remark on the influence exerted over