I contend, nevertheless, that to bid a man be habitually cheerful, he
not being so already, is like bidding him treble his fortune, or add a
cubit to his stature. The quality of a cheerful, buoyant temperament
partly belongs to the original cast of the constitution--like the bone,
the muscle, the power of memory, the aptitude for science or for music;
and is partly the outcome of the whole manner of life. In order to
sustain the quality, the physical (as the support of the mental) forces
of the system must run largely in one particular channel; and, of
course, as the same forces are not available elsewhere, so notable a
feature of strength will be accompanied with counterpart weaknesses or
deficiencies. Let us briefly review the facts bearing upon the point.

The first presumption in favour of the position is grounded in the
concomitance of the cheerful temperament with youth, health, abundant
nourishment. It appears conspicuously along with whatever promotes
physical vigour. The state is partially attained during holidays, in
salubrious climates, and health-bringing avocations; it is lost, in the
midst of toils, in privation of comforts, and in physical prostration.
The seeming exception of elated spirits in bodily decay, in fasting, and
in ascetic practices, is no disproof of the general principle, but
merely the introduction of another principle, namely, that we can feed
one part of the system at the expense of degrading and prematurely
wasting others.

[LIGHT-HEARTEDNESS NOT IN OUR OWN POWER.]

A second presumption is furnished also from our familiar experience. The
high-pitched, hilarious temperament and disposition commonly appear in
company with some well-marked characteristics of corporeal vigour. Such
persons are usually of a robust mould; often large and full in person,
vigorous in circulation and in digestion; able for fatigue, endurance,
and exhausting pleasures. An eminent example of this constitution was
seen in Charles James Fox, whose sociability, cheerfulness, gaiety, and
power of dissipation were the marvel of his age. Another example might
be quoted in the admirable physical frame of Lord Palmerston. It is no
more possible for an ordinarily constituted person to emulate the flow
and the animation of these men, than it is to digest with another
person's stomach, or to perform the twelve labours of Hercules.

A third fact, less on the surface, but no less certain, is, that the men
of cheerful and buo