character of its own, which,
with rare exceptions, it inflicts on those who follow it. There is the
shopkeeper type, the manufacturer type, the lawyer type, the medical
type, the clerical type, the soldier's, the sailor's. The nature of a
man is

Like the dyer's hand,
Subdued to what it works in;

and we can distinguish with ease, on the slightest intercourse, to what
class a grown person belongs. It is to be seen in his look, in his
words, in his tone of thought, his voice, gesture, even in his
hand-writing; and in everything which he does. Every human employment
has its especial moral characteristic, its peculiar temptations, its
peculiar influences--of a subtle and not easily analysed kind, and only
to be seen in their effects. Here, therefore--here, if anywhere, we want
Mr. Emerson with his representatives, or the Church with her advice and
warning. But, in fact, what attempt do we see to understand any of this,
or even to acknowledge it; to master the moral side of the professions;
to teach young men entering them what they are to expect, what to avoid,
or what to seek? Where are the highest types--the pattern lawyer, and
shopkeeper, and merchant? Are they all equally favourable to excellence
of character? Do they offer equal opportunities? Which best suits this
disposition, and which suits that? Alas! character is little thought of
in the choice. It is rather, which shall I best succeed in? Where shall
I make most money? Suppose an anxious boy to go for counsel to his
spiritual mother; to go to her, and ask her to guide him. Shall I be a
soldier? he says. What will she tell him? This and no more--you may,
without sin. Shall I be a lawyer, merchant, manufacturer, tradesman,
engineer? Still the same answer. But which is best? he demands. We do
not know: we do not know. There is no guilt in either; you may take
which you please, provided you go to church regularly, and are honest
and good. If he is foolish enough to persist further, and ask, in what
goodness and honesty consist in _his especial department_ (whichever he
selects), he will receive the same answer; in other words, he will be
told to give every man his due and be left to find out for himself in
what 'his due' consists. It is like an artist telling his pupil to put
the lights and shadows in their due places, and leaving it to the
pupil's ingenuity to interpret such instructive directions.

One more instance of an obviously practical kin