ambition,
we must be very careful that we are not merely yielding to temptations
of indolence, of fastidiousness, of cowardice, and calling a personal
motive unworldliness for the sake of the associations. No man need set
himself to seek great positions, but a man who is diffident, and
possibly indolent, will do well to pin himself down in a position of
responsibility and influence, if it comes naturally in his way. There
are a good many men with high natural gifts of an instinctive kind who
are yet averse to using them diligently, who, indeed, from the very
facility with which they exercise them, hardly know their value. Such
men as these--and I have known several--undertake a great
responsibility if they refuse to take advantage of obvious
opportunities to use their gifts. Men of this kind have often a certain
vague, poetical, and dreamy quality of mind; a contemplative gift. They
see and exaggerate the difficulties and perils of posts of high
responsibility. If they yield to temptations of temperament, they often
become ineffective, dilettante, half-hearted natures, playing with life
and speculating over it, instead of setting to work on a corner of the
tangle. They hang spiritless upon the verge of the battle instead of
mingling with the fray. The curse of such temperaments is that they
seem destined to be unhappy whichever way they decide. If they accept
positions of responsibility, they are fretted and strained by
difficulties and obstacles; they live uneasily and anxiously; they lose
the buoyancy with which great work should be done; if, on the other
hand, they refuse to come forward, they are tortured with regrets for
having abstained; they become conscious of ineffectiveness and
indecision; they are haunted by the spectres of what might have been.

The only course for such natures is to endeavour to see where their
true life lies, and to follow the dictates of reason and conscience as
far as possible. They must resolve not to be tempted by the glamour of
possible success, but to take the true measure of their powers. They
must not yield to the temptation to trust to the flattering judgment
that others may form of their capacities, nor light-heartedly to
shoulder a burden which they may be able to lift but not to carry. Such
natures will sometimes attempt a great task with a certain glow and
enthusiasm; but they must ask themselves humbly how they will continue
to discharge it when the novelty has worn off, and