He has too much sense to be
affronted at insults, he is too well employed to remember
injuries, and too indolent to bear malice.
"He is patient, forbearing, and resigned, on philosophical
principles; he submits to pain because it is inevitable, to
bereavement because it is irreparable, and to death because it is
his destiny. If he engages in controversy of any kind his
disciplined intellect preserves him from the blundering
discourtesy of better, perhaps, but less educated minds, who, like
blunt weapons, tear and hack instead of cutting clean, who mistake
the point in argument, waste their strength in trifles,
misconceive their adversary, and leave the question more involved
than they find it. He may be right or wrong in his opinion, but he
is too clear-headed to be unjust, he is as simple as he is
forcible, and as brief as he is decisive.
"Nowhere shall we find greater candour, consideration, indulgence;
he throws himself into the minds of his opponents, he accounts for
their mistakes. He knows the weakness of human reason as well as
its strength, its province, and its limits. If he be an unbeliever
he will be too profound and large-minded to ridicule religion or
to act against it; he is too wise to be a dogmatist or fanatic in
his infidelity.
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