s and small successes.

There is a very marked tendency amongst persons of culture to feel
dissatisfied with themselves and their success in life when they do not
exercise some direct and visible influence over a considerable portion
of the public. To put the case in a more concrete form, it may be
affirmed that if an intellectual young man does not exercise influence
by literature, or by oratory, or by one of the most elevated forms of
art, he is apt to think that his culture and intelligence are lost upon
the world, and either to blame himself for being what he considers a
failure, or else (and this is more common) to find fault with the world
in general for not giving him a proper chance of making his abilities
tell. The facilities for obtaining culture are now so many and great,
and within the reach of so many well-to-do people, that hundreds of
persons become really very clever in various ways who would have
remained utterly uncultivated had they lived in any previous century. A
few of these distinguish themselves in literature and other pursuits
which bring notoriety to the successful, but by far the greater number
have to remain in positions of obscurity, often being clearly conscious
that they have abilities and knowledge not much, if at all, inferior to
the abilities and knowledge of some who have achieved distinction. The
position of a clever man who remains obscure is, if he has ambition,
rather trying to the moral fibre, but there are certain considerations
which might help to give a direction to his energy and so procure him a
sure relief, which reputation too frequently fails to provide.

The first consideration is one which was offered to me many years ago by
Mr. Matthew Arnold, and which I can give, though from memory, very
nearly in his own words. The multiplicity of things which make claim to
the attention of the public is in these days such that it requires
either uncommon strength of will or else the force of peculiar
circumstances to make men follow any serious study to good result, and
the great majority content themselves with the general enlightenment of
the epoch, which they get from newspapers and reviews. Hence the efforts
of the intellectual produce little effect, and it requires either
extraordinary talent or extraordinary fanaticism to awaken the serious
interest of any considerable number of readers. Yet, in spite of these
discouragements, we ought to remember that our labors, if not appla