LECTURE XVI.

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TELL THE TRUTH, AND SHAME THE DEVIL.

ENGLISHMEN consider themselves the most honest, straightforward, and truthful people in the world. The Spaniard is chivalrous, the Frenchman is polite, the Italian is treacherous, the Greck is crafty, the German is mystical, the Scot is cunning, the Irishman is given to blarney, the Yankee is 'cute; but if you want a man. with no nonsense about him-a man who will tell you his mind, who loves plain dealing, and who can be depended upon-choose an Englishman, by all means. This is what Englishmen say of themselves; but whether such a magnificent character is really theirs or not, may perhaps be questioned. I cannot pretend to such an acquaintance with the natives of other countries, as would justify me in either affirming or denying the truth of this very common opinion; therefore, I do neither affirm nor deny it; but I should like to know on what it is based, and what grounds Englishmen have for assuming that, of all men, they are the purest in their dealings, and the most sincere in their speech. It's all very fine for people to blow their own trumpet; but still, self-praise is no great commendation. This only do I

know, that amongst Englishmen there is so large a proportion of men who are anything but straightforward. fair, and open-so large a proportion of deep, designing, crafty, guileful men, men thoroughly versed in all crooked ways-that, if other nations are, in these respects, worse, and more largely stored with such characters, they must be bad indeed. And certainly, until some better evidence than any I have yet seen is adduced, in proof of the superior truthfulness of the English character, I do not feel at all bound to fall in with the general notion, however grateful and flattering it may be; but indeed, when I consider many of the facts which have recently been brought to light, demonstrating the existence of so many grossly dishonest practices in trade and commerce, I very much fear that, even if Englishmen have heretofore merited their reputation for truthfulness, they are losing it as rapidly as they can. And I really think that a foreigner, after reading our newspapers, such as have been published during the last two or three years, to go no farther back, after observing the course of things amongst us-things political, things ecclesiastical, things commercial, and things criminalI say a foreigner, after thus studying us as we depict ourselves, might be excused if he came to this conclusion, that the boasted straightforwardness and truthfulness of the English character is all a bag of moonshine, all selfrighteous twaddle; and that deceit and duplicity and low cunning and scoundrelism of every description flourished as extensively in England as anywhere else in the world; nay, that in England, and among these truthloving and lie-hating English, roguery had been culti

vated to a perfection hitherto unknown amongst civilised nations. I think it is quite time to sing a little smaller than we have done this song of self-glorification. In point of honesty and veracity, we are very little better, perhaps we are even worse, than some of our neighbors. In anything low, dirty, shabby, and untrue, we have men amongst us whom we could back against all the world. You will challenge all nations to beat Englishmen in plain dealing? Now, my friend, be cautious; you will be much safer of winning, if you challenge all nations to beat Englishmen in knavery.

It is a very common thing to meet with a man who boasts much of his straightforwardness and honesty. The probability is that he will insult you, and speak in a rough and most unkind manner. He calls that his blunt, open way. "I like plain dealing, I do; I say what I mean, and mean what I say; I don't mince matters-not I, indeed; out with it-that's my motto; I'll have everything above-board, up right and down straight; you see I am a plain-spoken John Bull-that's what I am." Now, I confess that I always suspect a man who blusters in that fashion about his straightforwardness. The love of truth, like piety and most other things, can very easily be counterfeited. John Bull, indeed! The wolf sometimes puts on the sheep's clothing, to make himself appear very mild and gentle; but the wolf sometimes puts on the bull's hide, and imitates the bull's bellowing, that he may seem to be that honest, straightforward creature, which the Englishman regards as his own best type and representative in the animal world. If a man is a John Bull, he knows very well

that he needs say nothing about it, and probably he will say nothing about it. I have known men obtain a great reputation for this straightforward, thoroughly honest character, who were as far as possible from deserving it, and, in fact, put on their straightforwardness as a mask and a cloak, to conceal their deep, and far-reaching, and over-reaching cunning. I think you may rely upon this -that the man who boasts of his bluntness, and tells you in a voice of thunder that, as for him, he is a plainspoken John Bull, you may rely upon it that such a man is generally a great rascal. If other people give him a favorable character, well and good; let us hope he deserves it; but most men of good sense will suspect the man who sounds his own perfections. And further, let it be observed that bluntness is not candor, rudeness is not straightforwardness, and bad manners are no evidence that a man is telling the truth.

Now, instead of boasting that as a nation we love the truth and tell the truth, blurting it forth in our native unsophisticated style, not caring whether it pleases or displeases, it is much more sensible and much more honest to consider to what extent we as individuals are really truthful. That truthfulness is a virtue, and a virtue of a high order, that it is right, that it is in accordance to the will of God, every one will admit; nay, even he, who, to his great misfortune, does not believe in a God, still believes that it is every man's duty to speak what he honestly believes to be true, and that it is wrong, utterly wrong, to utter the language of falsehood and deception. Excepting the criminal classes, there is no man, I suppose, who does not feel that to stand before

the world a convicted liar would be about the heaviest and foulest disgrace that could fall upon him. If there be not in every heart the love of truth, there is at least the desire to appear and to be reputed truthful; of all insults, to have the lie direct given to any statement you have made is about the most unbearable. And yet, with all this love of a reputation for truthfulness and the impatience of everything that looks like a reflection upon our veracity, it is a fact that there is very much untruthfulness in society, untruthfulness in various forms. However admirable truth is in itself, still, the immediate results of truthful speech and truthful conduct may be anything but pleasant and profitable; on the other hand, a lie often procures immediate deliverance from some evil, or immediate possession of something desirable. We ought to walk by faith-by faith in the ultimate blessedness of truth, but this faith all men have not attained to; on the contrary, there is a very general belief in lies; men believe that lies can make them rich, that lies can enable them to get on in the world, that lies can get them out of difficulties. They see lies doing these things for many men, and they think that for this world, at all events, honesty is not always the best policy; hence we are all more or less tempted to forsake the truth, to speak and to act untruthfully.

Ministers of religion are not more free from this temptation than other men. Suppose, for instance, that a clergyman who has risen to high preferment in the Church felt some doubts and scruples as to some point of doctrine which he had subscribed to, and was expected to hold and defend, his position, with the certainty of losing it in