Part 24

"Are you sure that the quotation is from Milton?" inquired Mr. Smith, who was listening to the conversation.

"Certainly," said Sidney.

"Are they, Arthur?" asked Smith, who had his suspicions, and apprehended another display of Sidney's pedantry, and was determined if possible to put a check on his folly.

"If you require me to be candid in my answer," said Arthur, quietly, "I do not think that they do belong to Milton at all."

"Whose are they, then?" asked Sidney, rather petulantly.

"They are Cowley's, to be found in vol. i., p. 132, of his works."

"I never knew that Milton's poem was tragedy, and that he wrote it in German until now," observed Mr. Smith, ironically.

"Who said he did?" asked Arthur.

"Sidney."

"That is new historical fact, if fact it be," said Arthur. "I always thought he wrote it in English, and that the poem was of the epic order."

"I always thought so too," said Smith.

Sidney sat confounded, but not conquered in his fault. He would not admit his error, nor would he cease his pedantic exhibitions. He gave two or three more displays before the party separated, and with similar results. Enough, however, has been given here to show the excessive folly of this habit, and the just ridicule to which it is exposed.

* * * * *

"What a pity that Sidney makes such preposterous pretensions to learning in his conversation," said Smith the next day to Arthur.

"It certainly is," answered Arthur; "but he is generally so when in the company of any he thinks educated. He aims at equality with them, and even to rise above them, with his comparatively limited acquirements. He rarely, or ever, attains his end. His folly almost invariably meets with an exposure in one way or another. I have met with him on several occasions previous to last night, and he was the same on every one."

"It is to be hoped he will grow wiser as he grows older," said Smith.

"I hope so," said Arthur. "If he do not, he will always be contemptible in the eyes of the wise and learned; and they will do their utmost to shun his society and keep him out of their reach. Were his professions of learning to accord with his real abilities there would be no objection--nothing unseemly; but he aims at that which he has little competency to reach, and so makes himself ludicrous in his attempts. And then he does it withal in such self-confidence and ostentation as is perfectly revolting to good taste. As his friend, I feel very much for him, and wish he may get a knowledge of his real acquirements, and make no display of his learning beyond what he can honourably sustain, and in which he will be justified by wisdom and propriety. In this way he might obtain a position in which he would receive the respect of society according to the real merits of which he gave obvious proof."

"Those are exactly my views," said Smith, "and I wish they were the views of Sidney too."

XVII.

THE DETRACTOR.

"The ignoble mind Loves ever to assail with secret blow The loftier, purer beings of their kind." W. G. SIMMS.

"Detraction's a bold monster, and fears not To wound the fame of princes, if it find But any blemish in their lives to work on." MASSINGER.

A detractor is one whose aim is to lessen, or withdraw from, that which constitutes a good name or contributes to it.

The love of a good name is natural to man. He who has lost this love is considered most desperately fallen below himself.

To acquire a good name and to maintain it, what have not men done, given, and suffered in the world of Literature, Labour, Science, Politics, and Religion?

And who has blamed them for it? It is declared by the highest wisdom, that "A good name is better than great riches," and "better than precious ointment." "The memory of the just shall be blessed, but the name of the wicked shall rot." "Whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be any praise, think on these things."

"It is," as one says, "that which gives us an inferior immortality, and makes us, even in this world, survive ourselves. This part of us alone continues verdant in the grave, and yields a perfume."

Considering, then, the worth of a good name, we cannot wonder that a man should wish to preserve and guard it with all carefulness.