, in any enterprise or career of life, so that this once
accomplished, all the rest is easy, all the rest is done, _ce n'est que le
premier pas qui conte_. We will not criticise, nor qualify, nor except;
only this we _will_ say, that many a first step has been made that led
nowhere,--to nothing; that a multitude of professional and other aspirants
would allow, if they reflected on it a moment, that they had, all their
lives long, at certain intervals, been making first steps, and never made
any other. More glory, doubtless, is due to them for having overcome so
many successive difficulties. Whilst, on the other hand, many who have
advanced to eminence in their chosen career, would find it hard to
distinguish, in that gradual progress which toil and talent had together
commanded, any one first step, or stride, which set them going on their
prosperous path, any step a jot more extraordinary than the rest, or that
did more towards the completion of the journey than the first step one
makes in walking from Edinburgh to Leith. They would have as much
difficulty in describing the _premier pas_ which started them on the road
to fortune, as many a good Christian, well brought up from youth to
manhood, would feel if called upon to answer a Whitfield or a Wesley, as
to the precise day and hour of his conversion. The truth is, we apprehend,
that in this popular proverb, two several matters are confused together
under one name, thus giving to it a greater force than it should
legitimately possess; the _premier pas_ not only signifies that first step
one takes on any of the high roads which conduct to wealth or honours, but
under the same title is also included, we suspect, those startling turns
and tricks of fortune, on which no human wit can calculate, and which
raise a man suddenly into some new and unexpected position in the world.
All kinds of fortunate starting points are mingled together in one view,
and under one title; an thus, the _first step_ becomes magnified into half
the journey, as indeed it is sometimes the whole of it.

For instance--a Meinherr Tettenborn was passing the weary, half-employed
hours at a merchant's desk, kicking his heels, probably, on one of those
tall uneasy stools which, with strange mockery of disproportion, raise the
lowest functionary to the highest footing, but which nevertheless
contribute to preserve the due distinctions of society, by inflicting all
possible discomfort on the elevated sitter.