But

     that is down need fear no fall,
      He that is low no pride.

And there can be now no more chance of these bitter and self-revealing incidents, which show one, as in a clear mirror, the secret weaknesses of the heart.

But in setting aside the desire for the crowns and thrones of ambition, we must be very careful that we are not merely yielding to temptations of indolence, of fastidiousness, of cowardice, and calling a personal motive unworldliness for the sake of the associations.  No man need set himself to seek great positions, but a man who is diffident, and possibly indolent, will do well to pin himself down in a position of responsibility and influence, if it comes naturally in his way.  There are a good many men with high natural gifts of an instinctive kind who are yet averse to using them diligently, who, indeed, from the very facility with which they exercise them, hardly know their value.  Such men as these—­and I have known several—­undertake a great responsibility if they refuse to take advantage of obvious opportunities to use their gifts.  Men of this kind have often a certain vague, poetical, and dreamy quality of mind; a contemplative gift.  They see and exaggerate the difficulties and perils of posts of high responsibility.  If they yield to temptations of temperament, they often become ineffective, dilettante, half-hearted natures, playing with life and speculating over it, instead of setting to work on a corner of the tangle.  They hang spiritless upon the verge of the battle instead of mingling with the fray.  The curse of such temperaments is that they seem destined to be unhappy whichever way they decide.  If they accept positions of responsibility, they are fretted and strained by difficulties and obstacles; they live uneasily and anxiously; they lose the buoyancy with which great work should be done; if, on the other hand, they refuse to come forward, they are tortured with regrets for having abstained; they become conscious of ineffectiveness and indecision; they are haunted by the spectres of what might have been.

The only course for such natures is to endeavour to see where their true life lies, and to follow the dictates of reason and conscience as far as possible.  They must resolve not to be tempted by the glamour of possible success, but to take the true measure of their powers.  They must not yield to the temptation to trust to the flattering judgment that others may form of their capacities, nor light-heartedly to shoulder a burden which they may be able to lift but not to carry.  Such natures will sometimes attempt a great task with a certain glow and enthusiasm; but they must ask themselves humbly how they will continue to discharge it when the novelty has worn off, and when the prospect that lies before them is one of patient and unpraised labour.  It leads to worse disasters to over-estimate one’s powers than to under-estimate them.  A man who over-estimates his capacities is apt to grow impatient, and even tyrannical, in the presence of difficulties.