even his inferiors in birth, if by so doing he could feel himself free to escape from the forms and punctilios which the high in station seem to exact as indispensable to their greatness.
Covetous of his possessions, Sir Howard never expended money but to advance his credit or pretensions. The other, prodigal and profuse, lavished even to the smallest mite he earned—to gratify a present wish or desire, he was wholly unmindful of the future. "Let us live to-day, for to-morrow we die!" was the thoughtless maxim by which he was swayed; and though dependent on the mere caprice of Fortune, the same patient endurance was ever his, appearing outwardly a Stoic, whilst in reality he was most truly an Epicurean. How enviable is the state of him who never allows himself to be either depressed by adversity, or elated by prosperity, arising as an effect of calm, profound, and philosophical contemplation; when the soul, acknowledging a Supreme Ruler of the universe, flies to rest itself on the bosom of that Glorious Being!
But alas! how different was it with Melliphant! that quiescent indifference he had acquired, proceeded from a soul blunt and callous to the events of life, and the sufferings of humanity! devoid of feeling for himself, he had none for others; sympathy and compassion were strangers to his heart. Accident, he believed, directed all things—whether good or ill fortune befell us, depended on the chance of a die; and what a folly, thought he, to place happiness upon
