he deprecation of Divine
anger, or other misfortunes"--in short, Ritual. That is to say, it is
the aggregate of the different parts of religion, of which many take
one for the whole. But this aggregation was the result of earnest
patience and had good results. And it is by the careful analysis and
all-round examination of Ideas that we acquire valuable knowledge, and
may learn how very few there are current which are more than very
superficially understood--as I have shown in what I have said of the
Will, the Imagination, Forethought, and many other faculties which are
flippantly used to explain a thousand problems by people who can
hardly define the things themselves.

CHAPTER V.

WILL AND CHARACTER.

"And I have felt
A Presence that disturbs me with the joy
Of elevated thoughts, a sense sublime
Of something far more deeply interposed,
Whose dwelling is . . . all in the mind of man;
A motion and a spirit that impels
All thinking things."--_Wordsworth_.

As the vast majority of people are not agreed as to what really
constitutes a Gentleman, while a great many seem to be practically, at
least, very much abroad as to the nature of a Christian, so it will be
found that, in fact, there is a great deal of difference as regards
the Will. I have known many men, and some women, to be credited by
others, and who very much credited themselves, with having iron wills,
when, in fact, their every deed, which was supposed to prove it, was
based on brazen want of conscience. Mere want of principle or
unscrupulousness passes with many, especially its possessors, for
strong _will_. And even decision of character itself, as MAGINN
remarks, is often confounded with talent. "A bold woman always gets
the name of clever"--among fools--"though her intellect may be of a
humble order, and her knowledge contemptible." Among the vulgar,
especially those of greedy, griping race and blood, the children of
the thief, a robber of the widow and orphan, the scamp of the
syndicate, and soulless "promoter" in South or North America, bold
robbery, or Selfishness without scruple or timidity always appears as
Will. But it is not the whole of the real thing, or real will in
itself. When MUTIUS CAIUS SCAEVOLA thrust his hand into the flames no
one would have greatly admired his endurance if it had been found that
the hand was naturally insensible and felt no pain. Nor would there
have been any plaudits for MARCUS CURTI