knowledge only; if it come out, glory in it; if not, let it sleep,
for it is an unprofitable thing to turn over bad ground.

And of distrust, distrust all men, most of all thine own friends;
they will know thee best, and thou them; thy real worth cannot
escape them, think not then that thou wilt get service out of them
in thy need, think not that they will deny themselves that thou
mayest be saved from want, that they will in after life put out a
finger to save thee, when thou canst be of no more use to them, the
clique having been broken up by time. Nay, but be in thyself
sufficient; distrust, and lean not so much as an ounce-weight upon
another.

These things keep and thou shalt do well; keep them all and thou
wilt be perfect; the more thou keep, the more nearly wilt thou
arrive at the end I proposed to thee at the commencement, and even
if thou doest but one of these things thoroughly, trust me thou wilt
still have much power over thy fellows.



A SKIT ON EXAMINATIONS



[It should be explained that Tom Bridges was a gyp at St. John's
College, during Butler's residence at Cambridge.]

We now come to the most eventful period in Mr. Bridges' life: we
mean the time when he was elected to the shoe-black scholarship,