d. (4) It is our business here to speak,
for it is by the tongue that we multiply ourselves most influentially.
To speak kindly, wisely, and pleasantly is the first of duties, the
easiest of duties, and the duty that is most blessed in its performance.
For it is natural, it whiles away life, it spreads intelligence; and it
increases the acquaintance of man with man. (5) It is, besides, a good
investment, for while all other pleasures decay, and even the delight in
nature, Grandfather William is still bent to gossip. (6) Solitude is the
climax of the negative virtues. When we go to bed after a solitary day
we can tell ourselves that we have not been unkind nor dishonest nor
untruthful; and the negative virtues are agreeable to that dangerous
faculty we call the conscience. That they should ever be admitted for a
part of virtue is what I cannot explain. I do not care two straws for
all the _nots_. (7) The positive virtues are imperfect; they are even
ugly in their imperfection: for man's acts, by the necessity of his
being, are coarse and mingled. The kindest, in the course of a day of
active kindnesses, will say some things rudely, and do some things
cruelly; the most honourable, perhaps, trembles at his nearness to a
doubtful act. (8) Hence the solitary recoils from the practice of life,
shocked by its unsightlinesses. But if I could only retain that
superfine and guiding delicacy of the sense that grows in solitude, and
still combine with it that courage of performance which is never abashed
by any failure, but steadily pursues its right and human design in a
scene of imperfection, I might hope to strike in the long-run a conduct
more tender to others and less humiliating to myself.

V. SELFISHNESS AND EGOISM.--An unconscious, easy, selfish person shocks
less, and is more easily loved, than one who is laboriously and
egotistically unselfish. There is at least no fuss about the first; but
the other parades his sacrifices, and so sells his favours too dear.
Selfishness is calm, a force of nature: you might say the trees were
selfish. But egoism is a piece of vanity; it must always take you into
its confidence; it is uneasy, troublesome, seeking; it can do good, but
not handsomely; it is uglier, because less dignified, than selfishness
itself. But here I perhaps exaggerate to myself, because I am the one
more than the other, and feel it like a hook in my mouth, at every step
I take. Do what I will, this seems to spoil al