to action, and in whatever line they may chance to be employed, whether in arms, politics, philosophy, or arts. Events, no doubt, greatly contribute to render different persons what they are for although, as regards their faculties and capacities, they are the children of nature; yet as regards their actions and pursuits, the application of these powers,-they are no less the children of circumstances. Chances and events may change altogether the course, or vary the direction of the latter; but can never actually alter the former. They may cause us to follow different pursuits or professions from what we originally intended; or may serve to call into action latent powers which we had not before exercised; but they can never confer upon us faculties or capacities which we did not before possess,―such as endowing us with genius, or powers of reasoning,-or creating new intellectual talents. They may however conduce to the enlargement, or to the cultivation of any of those powers with which we are already gifted, by stimulating their exercise, and inciting them to make extraordinary efforts. Great men have moreover usually sprung up during revolutions and civil commotions; because then the shackles which bind persons in society are thrown off, and people rise in the world according as they have the ability to do so. In the general scramble, the strongest is sure to succeed; although, while they all stood still, he had no opportunity of proving his strength. A state of civil commotion enables men of extensive talent to rise with more facility, and to make themselves known; both because it affords them so many opportunities for exertion, and because it levels all the barriers of rank and fortune. It also serves to direct men's energies to a certain point, and to sharpen the faculties by the excitement which it produces.

As I have already observed, this endowment arises, in part, from the consciousness of the possession of talents fitted for, and able to achieve particular purposes; as, in some animals the possession of certain qualities leads them instinctively to follow those pursuits for which they are best fitted, and to strive to achieve efforts of great importance, which they only can attain; while in men of inferior or limited mental capacity, as among animals of but feeble power, this faculty does not exist. They are conscious of possessing no extraordinary ability; and consequently feel no desire to make extraordinary exertions.

Men of great abilities in one way, have however frequently very great deficiencies in other respects. Indeed, there are certain defects so generally, nay almost invariably, common to men of talent, that we are led to doubt the existence of the talent, if the defects are not found to accompany it." Hence it happens

9 Mr. F. Galton remarks on this passage:-"I do not agree that the greatest characters have almost invariably certain great deficiencies. Take

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that their very deficiencies come at length to be regarded as a part and parcel of, and as inseparable from, nay even as a proof of their exalted endowments. But the greatest men of all, are unquestionably those who possess these great abilities, unaccompanied by these great defects. Such persons are perhaps extremely rare; and it is among those who are gifted with the endowment of inspiration innate, through the extensive coexistence together of certain capacities in the manner described, that they are most likely to be found.

As this endowment is occasioned by, or results from, the co-existence and combination, in suitable proportions, of certain capacities in the same individual; so it may be inferred that the production of offspring gifted with extraordinary or extensive talents, ensues when those of the parents are of such a nature that, as we see with regard to certain elements in the material world, although when separate they are but of little power or force, when brought together and combined, they constitute a mind of consummate ability. Thus, energy in one parent, and origination in the other, may be developed in children in whom both these endowments are conjoined, and so rendered fruitful; but which, when existing separate, were barren and unproductive.

8. Comparative Variation of different Minds, as regards the Innate Qualities they possess.

The varieties observable in different persons, not only as regards their active powers, but the innate essential qualities of their minds, which have been alluded to in the preceding section, deserve next to be considered. This difference in mental constitutions, cannot but have been noted by every one who has examired attentively the various developments of character exhibited in human nature; and it will have been remarked that the intellectual endowments of different individuals vary as much one from the other as do the physical frames of these several persons. Those minds which are the most volatile and quick, are oftentimes wanting in strength and profundity. A ready and dexterous man is seldom a very deep or profound one. A peer, like a beggar, may have but a penny in his pocket; but the peer will be able to draw upon his bankers for as many pounds as he pleases. Heavy artillery cannot be brought to play in a moment, or to point at any small

Cæsar, spoilt ultimately by absolute power, but naturally a very perfect

object; but when its energies are once aroused, its power is far greater, and its force more efficient than that of light infantry, whose motions are sudden and rapid.

As some souls are more easily moved or excited by emotions and passions than others are either from being more volatile and active, or less grave and solid, and are thus more apt to be affected by trifles--so the intellectual faculties, or active powers, of certain persons, perhaps of the greatest and most energetic, are less agile, and less easily roused to exertion, than those of others are; although very possibly they are when so roused, more powerful in their operations than are minds which every trifle engages. Thus deep men, in ordinary society, are often deemed dull men; and those of the greatest talents are the least liable to be moved or excited by petty objects. So also it is with animals, that the nimblest and most easily roused are by no means the most powerful; and those streams which make the loudest rattle, and which every pebble that lies at the bottom agitates, are never very deep.

Moreover, almost as soon as a child is born, he betrays some marked peculiarity and individuality of character, more especially as regards temper, irritability, quickness in observation, and the like. But if infants, with so little opportunity for this display, evince it thus distinctly and forcibly; and if different infants, in the treatment of whom at this early period there is but little difference pursued, vary so much in this respect, how great in reality must be the difference between them, even before their faculties and powers, either mental, moral, or medial, are developed, and are as yet immature. Nevertheless, this difference, so great in infancy, becomes greater in childhood, widens still further during youth, and when manhood arrives, has increased so immensely that its limits are hardly discernible.

Probably moreover among different families, and different nations as well, different faculties and capacities will be found to predominate, and to bear the fruit characteristic of each. Thus, artistic studies in Italy, the pursuit of knowledge in one country, and speculative studies in another, may be the prevailing mental efforts induced by the comparative predominance of particular capacities.

How then is this phenomenon satisfactorily to be explained? Perhaps the following solution may suffice for the purpose.

If indeed, as appears absolutely necessary, the soul itself possesses some substance or substratum, in which it exists, then must this very substance possess certain qualities, more especially as regards its texture and temperament; and further, different souls must differ from one another with respect to their individual particular texture and temperament, and also with respect to all other qualities dependent

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upon, or resulting therefrom: and hence it also follows that the various qualities of souls must essentially differ; unless indeed we can show that the same causes do not operate alike in each. Moreover, as material frames vary as to their qualities of vigour, activity, and energy, so also may those which are spiritual.

Different souls however cannot be supposed to differ from one another as regards their form or extension, inasmuch as these may probably vary in each soul at different times, and can constitute no essential property of their being. Even in material substances, size and shape are not necessary to them; and these they may often change, while not only their identity, but their constituent particles, will remain the same.

This variety in different souls, resulting from a difference in their essential being, is important to consider as constituting the difference in the qualities of different minds, and as evincing moreover in what those qualities consist, or on what they depend. From this also we satisfactorily learn, that what we here considered as the powers of the soul are quite independent of its qualities; and that some of its endowments are dependent on its powers, others on its qualities.

Possibly however it may be discerned that certain qualities of the soul extensively influence the bent and exercise of certain of its powers or capacities; and that the co-existence to a large extent of certain powers or capacities, contributes in its turn, although perhaps in a secondary degree only, to produce or originate certain qualities.

Extensive results may indeed be dependent upon the qualities, as well as upon the powers, of the soul. So in material beings, although their powers, whether active or passive, and their essential qualities, are quite distinct; they are nevertheless each alike important to understand, and to bear in mind.

We cannot but attribute to the soul qualities of some sort, as well as powers; and if so, the qualities of vigour, activity, and energy, seem almost essential to it, and to pertain especially to spiritual beings. Moreover, if souls possess these qualities, different souls must necessarily vary as regards the comparative extent to which they respectively possess them.

Energy is probably owing in part to the essential constitution of the soul itself, in part to the essential constitution of

1 From Locke's comparison not only of the organs, but of the faculties of the mind to melted ore, we might almost infer that he considered the mental qualities to a certain extent dependent on the essential constitution of the soul. See his Essay on the Understanding, b. ii. c. 29. s. 3.

"There seems to be no necessity at all for admitting that assertion of Origen's, that all rational souls whatever, even those of men, and those of the highest angelical orders, are universally of one and the same nature, and have no fundamental or essential difference in their constitution."Cudworth's Intellectual System of the Universe, b. i. chap. 4, p. 566. 2 Vide ante, Prel. Diss., vol. i. s. v. a. 3, p. 80.

the body, and in part to the stimulus afforded to the individual, either by the consciousness of the possession of talents fitted for the end to be attained, or by the opportunities held out to him. An animal ordinarily lethargic becomes energetic in defence of its young; and probably to an extent corresponding with the power that it is conscious of being able to exert. Hence, energy itself is a proof of talent, as well as of the existence of a stimulus to exert it. Energy is, in fact and in reality, not a quality or endowment in itself, but merely manifestation of one; an evidence of the strength and power of the soul to accomplish great purposes. As the effort of a man lifting a heavy weight, is not an endowment of itself, but affords proof of his possessing great physical strength; so, when we see a person exerting himself with energy, this may be regarded as evincing the power and vigour of his mind.

It has already been suggested in this Treatise, that the emotions, and passions, and, to a certain extent, also the appetites and affections, are probably dependent rather on the qualities, than on the powers or faculties of the soul.

The possession of qualities inherent in, and inseparable from, the soul, as well as powers, is moreover important to bear in mind in considering the soul as a real being or substance, and not a mere idea, or nonentity, or creation of the imagination. As there is a regular and almost imperceptible gradation between the various species of animals and vegetables, blending the one into the other; so, analogous to this regulation in the order of nature, may there not be a corresponding gradation between the various faculties and capacities of the mind, and between the intellectual faculties and the medial powers and endowments? It is difficult, in some instances, to define where animation ends and vegetation begins. It may be as difficult to point out with certainty where sensation ends, and perception commences; as also what operations are within the province of the understanding, and which are accomplished by reasoning. In particular cases it may happen that those different beings, and powers, and operations, have each of them properties and endowments common to one another, which renders the clear definition of this distinction still more difficult.

9. Dependence of the Faculties and Qualities of the Mind on the Constitution of the Material Frame.

Not only however is it important, and indeed essential, for the constitution of intellectual power generally, but more especially for that of the highest order, and for the existence of inspiration innate, above all, that some particular faculties and capacities should to a certain extent co-exist; but also that