"who first kindled the fire within me." And of Sir William Napier
himself, his biographer truly says, that "no thinking person could
ever come in contact with him without being strongly impressed
with the genius of the man.

The career of the late Dr. Marshall Hall was a lifelong
illustration of the influence of character in forming character.
Many eminent men still living trace their success in life to his
suggestions and assistance, without which several valuable lines
of study and investigation might not have been entered on, at
least at so early a period. He would say to young men about him,
"Take up a subject and pursue it well, and you cannot fail to
succeed." And often he would throw out a new idea to a young
friend, saying, "I make you a present of it; there is fortune in
it, if you pursue it with energy."

Energy of character has always a power to evoke energy in others.
It acts through sympathy, one of the most influential of human
agencies. The zealous energetic man unconsciously carries others
along with him. His example is contagious, and compels imitation.
He exercises a sort of electric power, which sends a thrill
through every fibre--flows into the nature of those about him,
and makes them give out sparks of fire.

Dr. Arnold's biographer, speaking of the power of this kind
exercised by him over young men, says: "It was not so much an
enthusiastic admiration for true genius, or learning, or
eloquence, which stirred within them; it was a sympathetic thrill,
caught from a spirit that was earnestly at work in the world--
whose work was healthy, sustained, and constantly carried forward