EVIL SPEAKING.
IT occasionally happens that in certain states of the atmosphere the dwellers of towns are invaded by hideous exhalations, and the reluctant mind is forced to think of things which we do our best to bury and forget : so it sometimes befals at seasons of political or social disturbance, that we are visited with moral exhalations equally noxious and offensive. A "Ministerial crisis" induces a flood of scandal, backbiting, and evil speaking. AS round the gaming-table, bad petty passions are let loose ; the souls of men are seen naked ; and the ill make or warped figure which is concealed by the costume of conventional manners is disclosed. It is an un- pleasant view.
Usually the propensity to malignant tattle is confined to more private circles : old ideas associate it with the tea-party; and an erroneous interpretation of the fearful joy which is taken in touch- ing forbidden topics by maids who have no longer a future, has un- duly ascribed an illnatured preeminence to them. The vice is not ex- clusively feminine, nor servile, nor vulgar in the etymological sense of that word : it has extended, and is extending, among men of all ages and of the highest grades ; the ugly tide is rising from " fashionable " to political society, and at these adverse seasons of political rain and fog it floods the very pinnacles of the legislatorial heights. Every man has something ill to say of his neighbours—from the grossest imputation to the keenest insinuation. It is not enough to impute irredeemable weakness, or unwise conduct, but bad mo- tives are ascribed with a glibness which confesses the unhealthy state of the utterer's own moral constitution in that regard. For we ever suspect others of that to which we are prone, especially if we think that we have hitherto succeeded in concealing the special proneness. The vice is not only a sign but a cause of degeneracy : manly men, engaged in manly pursuits, have neither the time nor the morbid appetite for these petty and depraved indulgences. But what is more to the present purpose, the vice is a fatal canker to personal and political influence. It alienates the confidence of others. It destroys in ourselves the qualities which are essential to the highest influence. Nobleness of soul is, for all our modern improvements, the one thing that exalts men the highest and most invites the trusting affection of others. An intelligent kindliness imparts to a well-known nobleman of our day a personal influence which, to a superficial view, seems wholly incompatible with his administrative feebleness. Some of the " ablest" parties have forgotten that truth, and suffer accordingly ; while traditional habit of more chivalrous bearing preserves the influence of parties that would otherwise be without a hold on modern times. If pub- lic men were to try a little nobleness though it were but mode- rately and experimentally, we think they would be surprised at its success. But they should remember, that, like courage and most of the sterling qualities, it is one of those things of which you can- not filch the advantages by acting it : to obtain the benefits of nobleness, you must be noble.
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