him time lost, and words uttered in vanity. He
retires from the scene with dissatisfaction and disgust. He pities the
man who _knows_ nothing, whose intellect revolves in universal haziness,
and whose soul is steeped in the quagmires of unrestrained scepticism.

Cowper does admirable justice to this talker in the following lines:--

"_Dubious_ is such a scrupulous good man--
Yes--you may catch him tripping if you can:
He would not with a peremptory tone
Assert the nose upon his face his own;
With hesitation admirably slow,
He humbly hopes--presumes--it may be so.
His evidence, if he were called by law
To swear to some enormity he saw,
For want of prominence and just relief,
Would hang an honest man and save a thief.
Through constant dread of giving truth offence,
He ties up all his hearers in suspense;
Knows what he knows as if he knew it not;
What he remembers, seems to have forgot;
His sole opinion, whatsoe'er befall,
Centring at last in having none at all.
Yet, though he tease and baulk your listening ear,
He makes one useful point exceeding clear;
Howe'er ingenious on his darling theme
A sceptic in philosophy may seem,
Reduced to practice, his beloved rule
Would only prove him a consummate fool;
Useless in him alike both brain and speech,
Fate having placed all truth above his reach,
His ambiguities his total sum,
He might as well be blind, and deaf, and dumb."

XXVIII.

_THE SUSPICIOUS._

"Foul suspicion! thou turnest love divine
To joyless dread, and mak'st the loving heart
With hateful thoughts to languish and repine,
And feed itself with self-consuming smart;
Of all the passions of the mind thou vilest art."
SPENCER.

The words of his mouth live with a spirit of doubt, incredulity, and
jealousy. Actions, thoughts, motives, are questioned as to their reality
and disinterestedness. Good counsel given in time of perplexity is
attributed to some ulterior purpose which is kept out of view. Gifts of
beneficence are said to be deeds of selfishness--patronage is expected
in an affair you have on hand, or you anticipate as much or more in
return in some other ways. A family visited with a severe affliction is
suspected to have the cause in some secret moral delinquency in the
father, or mother, or elder son or daughter. A merchant meets with
reverses in his business, and