ferred, is in store for them. It is more a disgrace than an apology to say, "I had not thought."* Scipio Africanus used to say that this phrase was the certain mark of mental imbecility. Sometimes those who will not take pains to deliberate, cast all their care upon chance, and hope for good luck. It is true that fortune (felicitas) was anciently reckoned one of the attributes of a successful general; but if that quality were analysed, it would be found probably to be nothing else but a blessing on a zealous use of means. The more wise a man is, and the more experienced, the less will he trust to fortune.

Deliberation may with great advantage be made a daily habit. On rising one might give the first half-hour to self-examination, and planning how to spend the day. Many acts of self-denial, benevolence, and friendship will flow from this fountain of meditation. It is of great consequence how we spend the first part of our day. The morning is the father of the day.

A man may deliberate and plan his future to great advantage, provided he does not become a slave to his programme and fancy he cannot accomplish anything unless he adheres rigidly to what he previously laid down. The plan must have a certain elasticity to allow of being stretched or relaxed, according as unforeseen circumstances may require. This shows that it is well to delay. a final determination as long as possible before the moment of action, because new circumstances arise, and time alters the positions and relations of things. To

* "Non putâram."—Cic., De Off., i. 23.

adhere to one's original purpose, then, despite of changes, is not consistency, but obstinacy. Plutarch tells us that Julius Cæsar, when about to cross the Rubicon, stood in silence revolving the arguments on both sides, and many times changed his opinion. When the mind is in such suspense, a very slight influence often decides.* It may be the season or the weather; and that is so immediately from God, as to show how He is overruling all by his sovereign power.

Some people deliberate to-day on what they should have done yesterday, which is most foolish, unless they wish to discover their faults, and to avoid a repetition of them in future, like a chess-player playing over his yesterday's game in order to see his false moves. But to embark on board a vessel, and when she is out at sea to inquire whither she is bound, is downright puerility, and yet many so embark indeed, not in ships, but in agitations, leagues, joint-stock societies, and other speculations.

Inventors and discoverers must have deliberated much. To the uninitiated reader the occasion of the discovery seems very simple, and he thinks he could have found it out as well; but these inventors had their minds full of the subject, and when they were full of meditation the occurrence arose and was instantly interpreted. A certain physician delighted to be in the dark, and accordingly he caused caves to be made in the earth,† in which, in sum

*Dum in dubio est animus,

Paulo momento huc illuc impellitur."

Terent. Andria, i. 5, 33.

† Some think that there was a god of Counsel among the

mer-time, he was pleased to meditate, and think, and brood over an idea with uninterrupted intensity. Who was he? It was Harvey, who discovered the circulation of the blood.

Deliberation, although precious, is by no means universally appreciated. It is handed down to us by tradition that the celebrated physician Sydenham, at the commencement of his professional life, used, when consulted by patients for the first time, to hear attentively the story of their complaints, and then say: "Well, I will consider of your case, and in a few days will order something for you." But he soon discovered that this deliberate method of proceeding was not satisfactory, and that many of the persons so received forgot to come again. He was consequently obliged to prescribe offhand, and we may suppose his patients were then entirely pleased. Indolent people do not like the trouble of deliberating themselves. Uneducated people cannot appreciate doubt, hesitation, suspense, and balancing of opinion in others. All these things are unpopular; but the multitude is captivated with unqualified confidence and boldness. Many therefore of different sentiments and from different motives may combine to say with Electra: "Nothing is more detestable than base deliberation." †

Rightly regarded, however, deliberation is heroic and almost divine, for it is the present controlling the future.

Romans, called Consus; and that his altar was underground, because counsel should be as private and secret as possible.— Plut. in Rom.

* "Lives of Brit. Phys.," p. 91.

† Soph. Electra, 1047.

To justify this high encomium the control must be on the side of goodness; for we have also a power to influence and arrange our future for evil, as we know by ordinary experience. For instance, one must not make rash engagements, otherwise he will often have to blame his yesterday for pawning his to-day. He must take especial care that his present may not spoil his future.

Deliberation is one of those qualities which approach very near to the divine attributes; and, it would seem as if to check presumption, excessive prudence is apt to pass into the ludicrous. Who would not smile at the King of Spain providing the Armada, causing a scheme to be drawn up for the invasion of England, and for its government afterwards? * The whole history of that scheming valetudinarian, devoting all his life and wealth to the deliberate purpose of crushing civil and religious liberty, and yet, being in the hands of a higher Power, the occasion of its development and establishment— should teach us

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends,
Rough-hew them how we will," +

and it should teach the men who deliberate and plan, not to be presumptuous, but to make all their arrangements dependent on a higher Power. There is a halfanecdote often quoted (and a half-anecdote is as misleading as a half-truth) how Cæsar encouraged the pilot in a storm by saying, "Fear nothing: thou carriest Cæsar

* Such a programme justifies the satiric combination of Burns :"The best-laid schemes of mice and men."

"Hamlet," v. 2.

and his fortune." The sequel of the story is less grandiose. The pilot and the mariners exerted themselves to the utmost, but they were obliged to turn back in spite of their imperial cargo. It is indeed a humiliating fact that events often turn out quite contrary to our expectations, that the remedies we provide have often quite a contrary effect to what we intended, and that our most energetic efforts are often thwarted by some very inconsiderable circumstance. From this we should learn to combine humility and modesty with prudence; but still we should not lose faith in the word, "Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.” *

Deliberation will be of little avail, unless it is followed by decision. A man halting between two opinions is like a feather tossed by gusts of wind, now on this side, now on that, sometimes in the road, sometimes in the kennel; at one time in the air, at another time in the mud, the sport of the eddying winds. Our duty is to consider well, and then, without too much or too little confidence, to decide. It ought to be a grand argument for prudence that our decision is final, and that, in most cases, it is vain to ask back a move in the great game of life.

II.-Industry.

Deliberation considers what is to be done and how to do it. Then a man has a definite purpose in view, and

* Prov. iv. 26. The Roman polytheist held the same truth, but expressed it in his own way :-"No divinity is absent, if foresight is present: ""Nullum numen abest, si sit Prudentia." Juv. Sat., x. 365.