ition, from the office he had entrusted to him. We do not know Moses
as a man, as a brother man.'

_April_ 7, 1846.--I went to the Mount to-day, to pay my respects to Mr.
Wordsworth on his birthday. I found him and dear Mrs. Wordsworth very
happy, in the arrival of their four grandsons. The two elder are to go
to Rossall next week. Some talk concerning schools led Mr. Wordsworth
into a discourse, which, in relation to himself, I thought very
interesting, on the dangers of emulation, as used in the way of help to
school progress. Mr. Wordsworth thinks that envy is too likely to go
along with this, and therefore would hold it to be unsafe. 'In my own
case,' he said, 'I never felt emulation with another man but once, and
that was accompanied by envy. It is a horrid feeling.' This 'once' was
in the study of Italian, which, he continued, 'I entered on at college
along with ----' (I forget the name he mentioned). 'I never engaged in
the proper studies of the university, so that in these I had no
temptation to envy any one; but I remember with pain that I _had_
envious feelings when my fellow-student in Italian got before me. I was
his superior in many departments of mind, but he was the better Italian
scholar, and I envied him. The annoyance this gave me made me feel that
emulation was dangerous for _me_, and it made me very thankful that as a
boy I never experienced it. I felt very early the force of the words,
"Be ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect," and as a
teacher, or friend, or counsellor of youth, I would hold forth no other
motive to exertion than this. There is, I think, none other held forth
in the gospels. No permission is given to emulation there.... There must
always be a danger of incurring the passion of vanity by emulation. If
we try to outstrip a fellow-creature, and succeed, we may naturally
enough be proud. The true lesson of humility is to strive after
conformity to that excellence which we never can surpass, never even by
a great distance attain to.' There was, in the whole manner as well as
matter of Mr. Wordsworth's discourse on this subject, a deep veneration
for the will of God concerning us, which I shall long remember with
interest and delight--I hope with profit. 'Oh! one other time,' he
added, smiling, 'one other time in my life I felt envy. It was when my
brother was nearly certain of success in a foot race with me. I tripped
up his heels. This _must_ have been envy.'

*