the sense in which I have interpreted the saying."

_Parson._--"Knowledge is _one_ of the powers in the moral world, but one
that, in its immediate result, is not always of the most worldly
advantage to the possessor. It is one of the slowest, because one of the
most durable, of agencies. It may take a thousand years for a thought to
come into power; and the thinker who originated it might have died in
rags or in chains."

_Riccabocca._--"Our Italian proverb saith that 'the teacher is like the
candle, which lights others in consuming itself.'"

_Parson._--"Therefore he who has the true ambition of knowledge should
entertain it for the power of his idea, not for the power it may bestow
on himself; it should be lodged in the conscience, and, like the
conscience, look for no certain reward on this side the grave. And since
knowledge is compatible with good and with evil, would not it be better
to say, 'Knowledge is a trust?'"

"You are right, sir," said Leonard cheerfully; "pray proceed."

_Parson._--"You ask me why we encourage you to KNOW. First, because (as
you say yourself in your Essay), knowledge, irrespective of gain, is in
itself a delight, and ought to be something far more. Like liberty, like
religion, it may be abused; but I have no more right to say that the
poor shall be ignorant, than I have to say that the rich only shall be
free, and that the clergy alone shall learn the truths of redemption.
You truly observe in your treatise that knowledge opens to us other
excitements than those of the senses, and another life than that of the
moment. The difference between us is this, that you forget that the same
refinement which brings us new pleasures exposes us to new pains--the
horny hand of the peasant feels not the nettles which sting the fine
skin of the scholar. You forget also, that whatever widens the sphere of
the desires, opens to them also new temptations. Vanity, the desire of
applause, pride, the sense of superiority--gnawing discontent where that
superiority is not recognized--morbid susceptibility, which comes with
all new feelings--the underrating of simple pleasures apart from the
intellectual--the chase of the imagination, often unduly stimulated, for
things unattainable below--all these are surely amongst the first
temptations that beset the entrance into knowledge."

Leonard shaded his face with his hand.

"Hence," continued the Parson, benignantly--"hence, so far from
considering that we d