not appear so clearly when he was basking in the sun of popular favor, as when, in old age, he staked his life on his character in opposing the arts of a tyrant, then incipient, later fully developed. His constancy, courage, and patriotism neither favor could enhance, nor tyranny abate.

Four men have now passed in review, men noted respectively for great talent, large wealth, high position, and public favor. It is clear that it was not this distinction that was the cause of their renown, but something beneath it all without which all these would have been of trifling value. It was in fact the talent of character, the wealth, elevation, and stability of character, whose natural effect has been to render these names illustrious and enshrine them in the hearts of men.

An idea of the proper estimate of character is thus obtained. It may be said to be measured by candor and honor, integrity and conscientious devotion to duty, and it may be defined as the one thing about us that abides; as personal identity; who we are, as well as what we are; the moral status, and of much greater importance than the social status, a talented mind, or a gifted person.

Character is a coin that passes current and at par value in all countries. It is like a gold monetary standard whose value is universally recognized. Posterity estimates men not so much by what they did as by what they were. It honors and reveres those who, under severe strain, have maintained their integrity, whose devotion to principle is their legacy to man, and their highest claim to perpetuity of fame. It holds in lasting contempt those who have betrayed their country, have taken the bribe, or have resorted to unscrupulous methods for party or personal advantage; in a word, men devoid of principle.

It must not be inferred from what has been said, that wealth, talent, and popular regard are not desirable. They are indeed desirable, and are often of great service, but they are of secondary importance. The ancient Stoics made a distinction of relative values that is worthy of a modern philosophy. Their conception of virtue quite coincides with the estimate of char

acter herein presented. As its elements they named justice, temperance, courage, and prudence, whose union in the same individual constitutes the sage-the type of perfect character. Wealth and power, beauty and health, popularity and fame, can neither add to manhood nor detract from it, and were therefore esteemed as matters of indifference. This is a philosophic distinction that accords with a common sense distinction, although one need not go the whole length with the Stoics and claim absolute perfection for the man of honor and of character.

But let the mind return from these reflections to a further brief study of the men whose names have been mentioned. Was it easy and natural for them to be what they were? Were they subject to no temptations? Did it cost no struggle to incorporate into their lives that which shall abide, and which constitutes them models of integrity and true manhood? We are very prone to idealize our heroes and to forget that they were human like ourselves, and subject to like passions. The world is full of men of the grandest endowments who fail because they lack the needful character. Were it not for this, many of them in due time would take their places in our list of heroes.

To answer the questions proposed above, it must be affirmed that temptations are peculiarly severe to those who in some respects excel their fellows. It is a shrewd saying of one of the seven wise men of Greece that "the possession of power will bring out the man"; and power here may have a broad application. For a brief illustration, take first its most obvious application. Nero was a wise ruler for five years; Domitian was a model emperor for a brief period after his accession; Caligula gave promise of bringing great relief to a people oppressed by the morose tyranny of his predecessor. But in each case the consciousness of almost unrestricted power and of full opportunity, without the conserving grace of high motive and patriotic purpose, resulted in a rapid downward career and ultimate ruin. High station demands peculiar stability of character.

But to make a broader application of the aphorism of the sage quoted above, and to make still clearer the true value of character from historical illustration, set opposite the names of the four men who were proposed as its worthy exponents, those of other men similarly gifted or favored, but of quite different character. And it might add interest to the contrast, and render clearer the lesson of the illustration, if, antithetic to each, another of the same nationality were named. Who could then be more fittingly selected than Bacon the Englishman, for intellectual brilliancy, Crassus the Roman, for affluence, Aaron Burr the American, for high station, and Themistocles the Athenian, for popular favor?

Why does not the talented Bacon shine by the side of the "grand old man" of these later days? Why must he forever occupy a lower pedestal? The answer may be found in the historical stamp that he bears and must ever bear. The characterization of Pope that is inseparably connected with his name will bear evidence to the latest generation of the fatal defect in his character.

"If parts allure thee, see how Bacon shined,

The wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind."

Would any discreet young man ask for the nobility of Bacon's intellect if it must be accompanied with the curse of his character? If wealth constituted character as it does create social respectability, the Roman Dives and usurer would rank with the philosopher Seneca, and a nearly contemporaneous barber would outrank even him. But the wisdom and stability of the Roman sage, the beauty and moral elevation of whose sentiments are worthy to be compared with the precepts of the great letter writer of the New Testament, give him unquestioned claim to an honorable immortality, while the vulgar triumvir is remembered only for his money, his joint usurpation of power, and his unsuccessful generalship.

If character were estimated by political preferment, Aaron Burr would rank next to the highest, whereas such good qualities as he did possess are powerless to save him from perpetual

dishonor, and are easily forgotten in disgust at his baseness. If popular favor were the patent of this true nobility, Themistocles, immediately after the battle of Salamis, would be a famous exponent, but instability and insincerity wrought his ruin in disgraceful but merited exile. Who would venture now to name him in the same breath with his fellow countryman Solon, or Burr with Lincoln, Crassus with Seneca, Bacon with Gladstone? And the reason for this just verdict of the popular jury is clearly manifest.

The tests of prosperity are perhaps even more severe than those of adversity. Both are valuable; both operate to effect an equitable adjustment, howsoever fortuitous circumstances may have misplaced men in the shaking of the lots. The assurance, however, is gratifying, that although genius may be the gift of the favored, integrity is never exclusive and is denied to none, and while few acquire wealth or attain distinction, a spotless character more royal than any endowment or distinction - is the privilege of all.

Reputation is not Character.

PROF. N. L. ANDREWS, LL.D., Dean of Colgate University.

WHAT

HAT is reputation? Etymology answers that it is an estimate, a repeated and so an established judgment. As computation gives arithmetical values, so reputation is an estimate of human values.

The word character is even more luminous in suggestion. It signified first a graving-tool for marking upon stone or metal. Next it was a mark thus made, then a symbolic or alphabetio sign, and again some distinguishing feature of an object. Most naturally, then, it has come to denote that combination of qualities and traits, both intellectual and moral, which marks a personality. Who has impressed them upon us? First of all, our ancestors. No one may deny the effect of heredity. There is a race-character, and a family-character. "If you wish to reform a man, begin with his grandfather." Environment, also, is potent. By conduct, by speech, even by look or by gesture, the people with whom we associate impress us continually. But let us not exaggerate these hereditary and external forces. The sharpest graving-tool, most constantly in use, most efficient to form character, is in our own hands.

What is attributed to us makes our reputation; what we are, constitutes our character. Is not the latter obviously more important? Yet reputation has more votaries. Witness on every hand the straining to gain public attention and to make a But men cannot escape the world's daily testings. On some wall or other is ever appearing the handwriting, "Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting." Many are the true and good, who often, without public notice, endure