o dislike
religion more than ever in other men in whom the jewel was not so well
set. 'We should like your religious men well enough,' will they say, 'if
they all resembled Stanley.' Whereas the truth is, they do not so much
_like_ Mr. Stanley's religion, as _bear_ with it for the pleasure which
his other qualities afford them. She assured me that this was not
altogether the case, for that his other qualities having pioneered his
way, and hewed down the prejudices which the reputation of piety
naturally raises, his endeavors to be useful to them were much
facilitated, and he not only kept the ground he had gained, but was
often able to turn this influence over his friends to a better account
than they had intended. He converted their admiration of him into arms
against their own errors.

"He possesses in perfection," continued Dr. Barlow, "that sure criterion
of abilities, a great power over the minds of his acquaintance, and has
in a high degree that rare talent, the art of conciliation without the
aid of flattery. I have seen more men brought over to his opinion by a
management derived from his knowledge of mankind, and by a principle
which forbade his ever using this knowledge but for good purposes, than
I ever observed in any other instance; and this without the slightest
deviation from his scrupulous probity.

"He is master of one great advantage in conversation, that of not only
knowing _what_ to say that may be useful, but exactly _when_ to say it;
in knowing when to press a point, and when to forbear; in his sparing
the self-love of a vain man, whom he wishes to reclaim, by contriving to
make him feel himself wrong without making him appear ridiculous. The
former he knows is easily pardoned, the latter never. He has studied the
human heart long enough to know that to wound pride is not the way to
cure, but to inflame it; and that exasperating self-conceit will never
subdue it. He seldom, I believe, goes into company without an earnest
desire to be useful to some one in it; but if circumstances are adverse;
if the _mollia tempora fandi_ does not present itself; he knows he
should lose more than they would gain, by trying to make the occasion
when he does not find it. And I have often heard him say, that when he
can not benefit others, or be benefited by them, he endeavors to benefit
himself by the disappointment, which does his own mind as much good by
humbling him with the sense of his own uselessness, as the s