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INFLTJENCE 01" THE ABA-FAITH. 81Y
pendence into self-will. If on the one liand we find
a noble self-command, devoted faithfulness in friend-
ship and love, noble-hearted hospitality and gene-
rosity, a love of right and of legal order, we also see
on the other, unyielding stubbornness, a fierce spirit
of revenge, a repulsive arrogance, a far-reaching
self-interest and an excessive dependence upon the
formalities of the law. A cold and unmoved ex-
terior often concealed a soul t6rn ,by the bitterest
grief, or stirred up by the wildest passions. A pas-
sionate outburst of- joy, or of grief, was considered
undignified. Few words, but energetic action, was
esteemed in conduct, and complaint was silenced in
order that vengeance could strike the more surely
and heavily. Under a tranquil, indiGEerent mien
were concealed the boldest and most deep-laid plans,
and the real intentions first cam6 to light in the de-
cisive moment. On the whole there was certainly
an impress of rigidity, insensibility, and self-good-
ness stamped upon the popular character; but this
stamp was more upon the outside than in its innermost
character, more the result of inordinate pru-
dence than of an evil disposition ; and through all its
failings there shines forth a dignity of soul which
ennobled power and held up glory in this life and in
after-ages as the highest object of human under-
takings;