to a joke--rather hard than
firm--reasoning with no one--not even himself--a good father, and
doubtless a good husband--(a duty, by the way, and not a virtue;) in
short, evil but not bad. The principal, the diagonal line of this
man's character was obstinacy; he was proud of it, and therein
compared himself to Napoleon, when he had once fixed what he called
_his will_ upon an absurdity, he went to its furthest length, holding
his head high, and despising all obstacles. Such violence of purpose
without reason, is only folly tied to the tail of brute force, and
serving to lengthen it. For the most part, whenever a catastrophe,
whether public or private, happens amongst men, if we look beneath the
rubbish with which it strews the earth, to find in what manner the
fallen fabric had been propped, we shall, with rare exceptions,
discover it to have been blindly put together by a weak and obstinate
man, trusting and admiring himself implicitly. Many of the smaller of
these strange fatalities pass in the world for providences. Such was
he who was the director of the work-rooms in the House of Correction
where poor Sam Needy was sent to undergo his sentence. Such was the
stone with which society daily struck its prisoners to draw sparks
from them. The sparks which such stones draw from such flints often
kindle conflagrations.

In a short time Sam found the prison air natural to him, and appeared
to have forgotten every thing; a certain severe serenity, which
belonged to his character, had resumed its mastery.

In about the same time he had acquired a singular ascendency over all
his companions, as if by a sort of silent agreement, and without any
one knowing wherefore, not even himself. All these men consulted him,
listened to him, admired and imitated him, (the last point to which
admiration can mount.) It was no slight glory to be obeyed by all
these lawless natures; the empire had come to him without his own
seeking--it was a consequence of the respect with which they beheld
him. The eye of a man is a window, through which may be seen the
thoughts which enter into and issue from his heart.

Place an individual who possesses ideas among those who do not, at the
end of a given time, and by a law of irresistible attraction, all
their misty minds shall draw together with humility and reverence
round his illuminated one. There are men who are iron, and there are
men who are loadstone. Sam Needy was loadstone. In less than three