BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF SIR JOHN LOCKHART ROSS, BART. VICE-ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE

Summary

Methought he bore him in the thickest troop,

As doth a Lion in a herd of Neat;

Or as a Bear encompass'd round with Dogs,

Who having pinch'd a few, and made them cry,

The rest stand all aloof and bark at him.

Shakespeare.

In waves and bloody wars doth honour dwell;

And will be found, with peril and with pain:

Nor can the man that molds in idle cell,

Unto her happy mansion attain.

Before her gate high God did sweat ordain,

And wakeful watches ever to abide.

Spenser.

It was a memorable part of Egyptian wisdom, never to determine on the characters of men, exclusively of the Tomb. While life remains, the fallibility of our nature baffles the final decision of truth; the vices of to-day may be lost in the virtues of to-morrow; and a long series of honourable years has, sometimes, been known to terminate in crime and dishonour.