Self Help - Samuel Smiles (children's ebooks free online TXT) 📗
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acquired. In a case in which he was engaged, he urged a legal
point against the wishes both of the attorney and client who
employed him. The Master of the Rolls decided against him, but on
an appeal to the House of Lords, Lord Thurlow reversed the decision
on the very point that Scott had urged. On leaving the House that
day, a solicitor tapped him on the shoulder and said, “Young man,
your bread and butter’s cut for life.” And the prophecy proved a
true one. Lord Mansfield used to say that he knew no interval
between no business and 3000l. a-year, and Scott might have told
the same story; for so rapid was his progress, that in 1783, when
only thirty-two, he was appointed King’s Counsel, was at the head
of the Northern Circuit, and sat in Parliament for the borough of
Weobley. It was in the dull but unflinching drudgery of the early
part of his career that he laid the foundation of his future
success. He won his spurs by perseverance, knowledge, and ability,
diligently cultivated. He was successively appointed to the
offices of solicitor and attorney-general, and rose steadily
upwards to the highest office that the Crown had to bestow—that of
Lord Chancellor of England, which he held for a quarter of a
century.
Henry Bickersteth was the son of a surgeon at Kirkby Lonsdale, in
Westmoreland, and was himself educated to that profession. As a
student at Edinburgh, he distinguished himself by the steadiness
with which he worked, and the application which he devoted to the
science of medicine. Returned to Kirkby Lonsdale, he took an
active part in his father’s practice; but he had no liking for the
profession, and grew discontented with the obscurity of a country
town. He went on, nevertheless, diligently improving himself, and
engaged on speculations in the higher branches of physiology. In
conformity with his own wish, his father consented to send him to
Cambridge, where it was his intention to take a medical degree with
the view of practising in the metropolis. Close application to his
studies, however, threw him out of health, and with a view to re-establishing his strength he accepted the appointment of travelling
physician to Lord Oxford. While abroad he mastered Italian, and
acquired a great admiration for Italian literature, but no greater
liking for medicine than before. On the contrary, he determined to
abandon it; but returning to Cambridge, he took his degree; and
that he worked hard may be inferred from the fact that he was
senior wrangler of his year. Disappointed in his desire to enter
the army, he turned to the bar, and entered a student of the Inner
Temple. He worked as hard at law as he had done at medicine.
Writing to his father, he said, “Everybody says to me, ‘You are
certain of success in the end—only persevere;’ and though I don’t
well understand how this is to happen, I try to believe it as much
as I can, and I shall not fail to do everything in my power.” At
twenty-eight he was called to the bar, and had every step in life
yet to make. His means were straitened, and he lived upon the
contributions of his friends. For years he studied and waited.
Still no business came. He stinted himself in recreation, in
clothes, and even in the necessaries of life; struggling on
indefatigably through all. Writing home, he “confessed that he
hardly knew how he should be able to struggle on till he had fair
time and opportunity to establish himself.” After three years’
waiting, still without success, he wrote to his friends that rather
than be a burden upon them longer, he was willing to give the
matter up and return to Cambridge, “where he was sure of support
and some profit.” The friends at home sent him another small
remittance, and he persevered. Business gradually came in.
Acquitting himself creditably in small matters, he was at length
entrusted with cases of greater importance. He was a man who never
missed an opportunity, nor allowed a legitimate chance of
improvement to escape him. His unflinching industry soon began to
tell upon his fortunes; a few more years and he was not only
enabled to do without assistance from home, but he was in a
position to pay back with interest the debts which he had incurred.
The clouds had dispersed, and the after career of Henry Bickersteth
was one of honour, of emolument, and of distinguished fame. He
ended his career as Master of the Rolls, sitting in the House of
Peers as Baron Langdale. His life affords only another
illustration of the power of patience, perseverance, and
conscientious working, in elevating the character of the
individual, and crowning his labours with the most complete
success.
Such are a few of the distinguished men who have honourably worked
their way to the highest position, and won the richest rewards of
their profession, by the diligent exercise of qualities in many
respects of an ordinary character, but made potent by the force of
application and industry.
“A coeur vaillant rien d’impossible.”—Jacques Coeur.
“Den Muthigen gehort die Welt.”—German Proverb.
“In every work that he began … he did it with all his heart,
and prospered.”—II. Chron. XXXI. 21.
There is a famous speech recorded of an old Norseman, thoroughly
characteristic of the Teuton. “I believe neither in idols nor
demons,” said he, “I put my sole trust in my own strength of body
and soul.” The ancient crest of a pickaxe with the motto of
“Either I will find a way or make one,” was an expression of the
same sturdy independence which to this day distinguishes the
descendants of the Northmen. Indeed nothing could be more
characteristic of the Scandinavian mythology, than that it had a
god with a hammer. A man’s character is seen in small matters; and
from even so slight a test as the mode in which a man wields a
hammer, his energy may in some measure be inferred. Thus an
eminent Frenchman hit off in a single phrase the characteristic
quality of the inhabitants of a particular district, in which a
friend of his proposed to settle and buy land. “Beware,” said he,
“of making a purchase there; I know the men of that department; the
pupils who come from it to our veterinary school at Paris DO NOR
STRIKE HARD UPON THE ANVIL; they want energy; and you will not get
a satisfactory return on any capital you may invest there.” A fine
and just appreciation of character, indicating the thoughtful
observer; and strikingly illustrative of the fact that it is the
energy of the individual men that gives strength to a State, and
confers a value even upon the very soil which they cultivate. As
the French proverb has it: “Tant vaut l’homme, tant vaut sa
terre.”
The cultivation of this quality is of the greatest importance;
resolute determination in the pursuit of worthy objects being the
foundation of all true greatness of character. Energy enables a
man to force his way through irksome drudgery and dry details, and
carries him onward and upward in every station in life. It
accomplishes more than genius, with not one-half the disappointment
and peril. It is not eminent talent that is required to ensure
success in any pursuit, so much as purpose,—not merely the power
to achieve, but the will to labour energetically and perseveringly.
Hence energy of will may be defined to be the very central power of
character in a man—in a word, it is the Man himself. It gives
impulse to his every action, and soul to every effort. True hope
is based on it,—and it is hope that gives the real perfume to
life. There is a fine heraldic motto on a broken helmet in Battle
Abbey, “L’espoir est ma force,” which might be the motto of every
man’s life. “Woe unto him that is fainthearted,” says the son of
Sirach. There is, indeed, no blessing equal to the possession of a
stout heart. Even if a man fail in his efforts, it will be a
satisfaction to him to enjoy the consciousness of having done his
best. In humble life nothing can be more cheering and beautiful
than to see a man combating suffering by patience, triumphing in
his integrity, and who, when his feet are bleeding and his limbs
failing him, still walks upon his courage.
Mere wishes and desires but engender a sort of green sickness in
young minds, unless they are promptly embodied in act and deed. It
will not avail merely to wait as so many do, “until Blucher comes
up,” but they must struggle on and persevere in the mean time, as
Wellington did. The good purpose once formed must be carried out
with alacrity and without swerving. In most conditions of life,
drudgery and toil are to be cheerfully endured as the best and most
wholesome discipline. “In life,” said Ary Scheffer, “nothing bears
fruit except by labour of mind or body. To strive and still
strive—such is life; and in this respect mine is fulfilled; but I
dare to say, with just pride, that nothing has ever shaken my
courage. With a strong soul, and a noble aim, one can do what one
wills, morally speaking.”
Hugh Miller said the only school in which he was properly taught
was “that world-wide school in which toil and hardship are the
severe but noble teachers.” He who allows his application to
falter, or shirks his work on frivolous pretexts, is on the sure
road to ultimate failure. Let any task be undertaken as a thing
not possible to be evaded, and it will soon come to be performed
with alacrity and cheerfulness. Charles IX. of Sweden was a firm
believer in the power of will, even in youth. Laying his hand on
the head of his youngest son when engaged on a difficult task, he
exclaimed, “He SHALL do it! he SHALL do it!” The habit of
application becomes easy in time, like every other habit. Thus
persons with comparatively moderate powers will accomplish much, if
they apply themselves wholly and indefatigably to one thing at a
time. Fowell Buxton placed his confidence in ordinary means and
extraordinary application; realizing the scriptural injunction,
“Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might;” and
he attributed his own success in life to his practice of “being a
whole man to one thing at a time.”
Nothing that is of real worth can be achieved without courageous
working. Man owes his growth chiefly to that active striving of
the will, that encounter with difficulty, which we call effort; and
it is astonishing to find how often results apparently
impracticable are thus made possible. An intense anticipation
itself transforms possibility into reality; our desires being often
but the precursors of the things which we are capable of
performing. On the contrary, the timid and hesitating find
everything impossible, chiefly because it seems so. It is related
of a young French officer, that he used to walk about his apartment
exclaiming, “I WILL be Marshal of France and a great general.” His
ardent desire was the presentiment of his success; for the young
officer did become a distinguished commander, and he died a Marshal
of France.
Mr. Walker, author of the ‘Original,’ had so great a faith in the
power of will, that he says on one occasion he DETERMINED to be
well, and he was so. This may answer once; but, though safer to
follow than many prescriptions, it will not always succeed. The
power of mind over body is no doubt great, but it may be strained
until the physical power breaks down altogether. It is related of
Muley Moluc, the
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