Let it be here remarked, that in speaking of it as an error to take reverse of wrong for right, I use the words in their ordinary sense, as generally understood.  In common language the reverse of a thing is taken to mean the thing at the opposite end of the scale from it.  Thus, black is the reverse of white, bigotry of latitudinarianism, malevolence of benevolence, parsimony of extravagance, and the like.  Of course, in strictness, these things are not the reverse of one another.  In strictness, the reverse of wrong always is right; for, to speak with severe precision, the reverse of steering upon Scylla is simply not steering upon Scylla; the reverse of being extravagant is not being parsimonious—­it is simply not being extravagant; the reverse of walking eastward is not walking westward—­it is simply not walking eastward.  And that may include standing still, or walking to any point of the compass except the east.  But I understand the reverse of a thing as meaning the opposite extreme from it.  And you see, the Latin words quoted above are more precise than the English.  It is severely true, that while fools think to shun error on one side, they run into the contrary error—­i. e., the error that lies equi-distant, or nearly equi-distant, on the other side of the line of right.

One class of the errors into which men are prone to run under this natural impulse are those which have been termed Secondary Vulgar Errors.  A vulgar error, you will understand, my reader, does not by any means signify an error into which only the vulgar are likely to fall.  It does not by any means signify a mistaken belief which will be taken up only by inferior and uneducated minds.  A vulgar error means an error either in conduct or belief into which man, by the make of his being, is likely to fall.  Now, people a degree wiser and more thoughtful than the mass, discover that these vulgar errors are errors.  They conclude that their opposites (i. e., the things at the other extremity of the scale) must be right; and by running into the opposite extreme they run just as far wrong upon the other side.  There is too great a reaction.  The twig was bent to the right—­they bend it to the left, forgetting that the right thing was that the twig should be straight.  If convinced that waste and sauciness are wrong, they proceed to eat the grounds of their tea; if convinced that self-indulgence is wrong, they conclude that hair-shirts and midnight floggings are right; if convinced that the Church of Rome has too many ceremonies, they resolve that they will have no ceremonies at all; if convinced that it is unworthy to grovel in the presence of a duke, they conclude that it will be a fine thing to refuse the duke ordinary civility; if convinced that monarehs are not much wiser or better than other human beings, they run off into the belief that all kings have been little more than incarnate demons; if convinced that representative government often works very imperfectly, they raise a cry for imperialism; if convinced that monarchy has its abuses, they call out for republicanism; if convinced that Britain has many things which are not so good as they ought to be, they keep constantly extolling the perfection of the United States.