in consequence of having acted
upon the advice of some very knowing and experienced person indeed. We
have all read, when we were boys, Captain Marryat's "Midshipman Easy."
There is a passage in that story which may serve as an illustration of
what is constantly happening in actual life. The boats of the _Harpy_
were ordered to board one of the enemy's vessels; young Easy was in
command of one of these boats, and as they had to wait he began to fish.
After they had received the order to advance, he delayed a little to
catch his fish, and this delay not only saved him from being sunk by the
enemy's broadside, but enabled him to board the Frenchman. Here the
pitfall was avoided by idling away a minute of time on an occasion when
minutes were like hours; yet it was mere luck, not wisdom, which led to
the good result. There was a sad railway accident on one of the
continental lines last autumn; a notable personage would have been in
the train if he had arrived in time for it, but his miscalculation saved
him. In matters where there is no risk of the loss of life, but only of
the waste of a portion of it in unprofitable employment, it frequently
happens that procrastination, which is reputed to be the thief of time,
becomes its best preserver. Suppose that you undertake an enterprise,
but defer the execution of it from day to day: it is quite possible that
in the interval some fact may accidentally come to your knowledge which
would cause a great modification of your plan, or even its complete
abandonment. Every thinking person is well aware that the enormous loss
of time caused by the friction of our legislative machinery has
preserved the country from a great deal of crude and ill-digested
legislation. Even Napoleon the Great who had a rapidity of conception
and of action so far surpassing that of other kings and commanders that
it seems to us almost supernatural, said that when you did not quite
know what ought to be done it was best to do nothing at all. One of the
most distinguished of living painters said exactly the same thing with
reference to the practice of his art, and added that very little time
would be needed for the actual execution of a picture if only the artist
knew beforehand how and where to lay the color. It so often happens
that mere activity is a waste of time, that people who have a morbid
habit of being busy are often terrible time-wasters, whilst, on the
contrary, those who are judiciously deliberate