in the exact middle. All this, of course, is part of the great fact
that in this world Evil has the advantage of Good. It is easier to
go wrong than right.

It is very natural to think that if one thing or course be wrong,
its reverse must be right. If it be wrong to walk towards the east,
surely it must be right to walk towards the west. If it be wrong to
dress in black, it must be right to dress in white. It is somewhat
hard to say, Dum vitant stulti vitia, in contraria currunt--to
declare, as if that were a statement of the whole truth, that
fools mistake reverse of wrong for right. Fools do so indeed, but
not fools only. The average Jiuman being, with the most honest
intentions, is prone to mistake reverse of wrong for right. We
are fond, by our natural constitution, of broad distinctions--of
classifications that put the whole interests and objects of this
world to iho Tight-hand and to the left. We long for Aye or No--for
Heads or Tails. We are impatient of limitations, qualifications,
restrictions. You remember how Mr. Micawber explained the philosophy
of income and expenditure, and urged people never to run in debt.
Income, said he, a hundred pounds a year; expenditure ninety-nine
pounds nineteen shillings: Happiness. Income, a hundred pounds a
year; expenditure a hundred pounds and one shilling: Misery. You
see the principle involved is, that if you are not happy, you must
be miserable--that if you are not miserable, you must be happy.
If you are not any particular thing, then you are its opposite. If
you are not For, then you are Against. If you are not black, many
men will jump to the conclusion that you are white: the fact probably
being that you are gray. If not a Whig, you must be a Tory: in
truth, you are a Liberal-Conservative. We desiderate in all things
the sharp decidedness of the verdict of a jury--Guilty or Not