"Oft expectation fails, and most oft there
Where most it promises."
All\'s Well that ends Well.

No man, perhaps, ever made a happier application of a Divine precept to the conduct of human pursuits than Lord Bacon, when he said that the kingdom of man founded in the sciences must be entered like the kingdom of God—that is, as a little child.

Independently of the sublimity of the comparison, it is no less remarkable for its practical excellence.

How many broken friendships, enmities, and heart-burnings might have been prevented, had even a very moderate degree of the temper of mind here so beautifully typified been allowed to preside over human labour! How charitably should we have been led to judge of the works of others! how measured the approbation of the most successful of our own! No doubt, in the pursuit of truth, there is great difficulty in commanding that combination of fearlessness towards the world, and that reverential humility towards the subject, both of which are alike necessary; although the one may be more essential to the discovery of truth, the other the enunciation of it.

To pursue truth regardless of the multiform errors and conventionalisms, amidst which experience has generally shown almost all subjects to have been involved; unmindful of the rebukes and obloquy by which too often the best-conducted investigations are opposed and assailed; and yet to let no angry passion stir, no conviction that we are right engender an improper idea of our own superiority, or a disregard for the claims of others; this overcoming of the world (we had almost said) is intensely difficult,182 for it is in fact overcoming ourselves. Yet we dare not say it is that of which human nature is incapable, for there is nothing that the heart suggests as morally right which is really impossible to us; and instances have not been wanting of the combination of the deepest knowledge with the most profound humility.

On the other hand, it must be admitted that if there were anything especially calculated to bring down the cultivators of science and literature to the level of those who are regardless of the claims, or insensible to the attractions of either; we could hardly find a series of facts more fatally influential than are furnished by the disputes of men who have been employed in the cultivation of these elevating studies. Powerful intellects in teaching the comparative nothingness of man\'s knowledge seem to give great assistance in the acquisition of humility; but how few are the intellects of such power? The contemplation of nature, however, may, we conceive, infuse feelings of humility, which can rarely be attained by the efforts of intellect alone.

We have seen, in Lord Bacon, that the highest powers of intellect afforded for a while no security against the subtle, but one would have thought feeble, suggestions of a degrading cupidity. We all know, in literature, how much the fruits of intellect depend on the dominant feeling under which they are reared and nourished. Even men like Pope and Addison, who had little in common but that which should elevate and adorn human nature, were so dragged down by the demon of controversy, that, commencing with little more than the irritability of poets, they ceased only when they had forgotten even the language of gentlemen. In the controversy in question, Mr. Abernethy\'s position was a very difficult one, and one which shows how easily a man with the best intentions may find himself engaged in a discussion which he never contemplated; be wounded on points on which he was most sensitive, and yet defend himself with dignity, and without compromise of any of those principles which should guide a gentleman and a Christian.

Mr. Lawrence was appointed Professor of Comparative Anatomy in 1816; and we know that Mr. Abernethy hailed his appointment with considerable interest. He was regarded as a183 gentleman of some promise, and had already distinguished himself by a singularly nice, level style of composition, as well as by careful compilation.

Nothing could seem more auspicious than such a prospect. Mr. Abernethy was a man remarkable for the original view he took of most subjects; a vast experience, gathered from various sources by a mind combining vividly perceptive powers with great capacity for reflection, a conformation well adapted for opening out new paths, and extending the boundaries of science. Abernethy was now to be associated with a colleague who had already manifested no ordinary talent for the graceful and judicious exposition of what was already known.

Nothing could have seemed more promising; nor was there anything in the opening of Mr. Lawrence\'s first lecture which seemed calculated to baulk these expectations. His exordium contained an appropriate recognition of Mr. Abernethy, which, as we should only mar it by extract, we give entire. Having referred to the circumstances which immediately preceded his appointment, Mr. Lawrence thus proceeds:

"To your feelings I must trust for an excuse, if any be thought necessary, for taking the earliest opportunity of giving utterance to the sentiments of respect and gratitude I entertain for the latter gentleman (Mr. Abernethy). You and the public know, and have long known, his acute mind, his peculiar talent for observation, his zeal for the advancement of surgery, and his successful exertions in improving the scientific knowledge and treatment of disease; his singular happiness in developing and teaching to others the original and philosophic views which he naturally takes of all subjects that come under his examination, and the success with which he communicates that enthusiasm in the cause of science and humanity which is so warmly felt by himself; the admirable skill with which he enlivens the dry details of elementary instruction are most gratefully acknowledged by his numerous pupils.

"All these sources of excellence have been repeatedly felt in this theatre. Having had the good fortune to be initiated in the profession by Mr. Abernethy, and to have lived for many184 years under his roof, I can assure you, with the greatest sincerity, that however highly the public may estimate the surgeon and philosopher, I have reason to speak still more highly of the man and of the friend, of the invariable kindness which directed my early studies and pursuits, and the disinterested friendship which has assisted every step of my progress in life, the independent spirit and the liberal conduct which, while they dignify the profession, win our love, command our respect for genius and knowledge, converting these precious gifts into instruments of the most extensive public good38."

This graceful exordium, so appropriate to the mutual relations of ............