when
it is unpopular. It was said of Colonel Hutchinson by his wife, that he
never sought after popular applause, or prided himself on it: "He
more delighted to do well than to be praised, and never set vulgar
commendations at such a rate as to act contrary to his own conscience or
reason for the obtaining them; nor would he forbear a good action which
he was bound to, though all the world disliked it; for he ever looked
on things as they were in themselves, not through the dim spectacles of
vulgar estimation." [148]

"Popularity, in the lowest and most common sense," said Sir John
Pakington, on a recent occasion, [149] "is not worth the having. Do
your duty to the best of your power, win the approbation of your own
conscience, and popularity, in its best and highest sense, is sure to
follow."

When Richard Lovell Edgeworth, towards the close of his life, became
very popular in his neighbourhood, he said one day to his daughter:
"Maria, I am growing dreadfully popular; I shall be good for nothing
soon; a man cannot be good for anything who is very popular." Probably
he had in his mind at the time the Gospel curse of the popular man, "Woe
unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers
to the false prophets."

Intellectual intrepidity is one of the vital conditions of independence
and self-reliance of character. A man must have the courage to be
himself, and not the shadow or the echo of another. He must exercise
his own powers, think his own thoughts, and speak his own sentiments.
He must elaborate his own opinions, and form his own convictions. It has
been said that he who dare not form an opinion, must be a coward; he who
will not, must be an idler; he who cannot, must be a fool.

But it is precisely in this element of intrepidity that so many persons
of promise fall short, and disappoint the expectations of their friends.
They march up to the scene of action, but at every step their courage
oozes out. They want the requisite decision, courage, and perseverance.
They calculate the risks, and weigh the chances, until the opportunity
for effective effort has passed, it may be never to return.

Men are bound to speak the truth in the love of it. "I had rather
suffer," said John Pym, the Commonwealth man, "for speaking the truth,
than that the truth should suffer for want of my speaking." When a man's
convictions are honestly formed, after fair and full consideration, he
is justified in str