Page:The Hunterian oration, for the year 1819.djvu/48

 which they advance in knowledge, their frequent failures, and the imperfection of their own powers; they also compare the aggregate of their advances with the illimitable nature of those objects to which they have merely approximated. Whilst those who make power, wealth, or any species of notoriety, the object of their ambition, are secret, selfish, suspicious, cunning, and conceited. In general, they are ashamed or afraid of avowing their designs, and therefore obliged to enveigle the co-operation of others. They suspect that they may be counteracted; and in proportion as they attain their ends, they feel elated with their own abilities, from the belief that no one but themselves could have atchieved them in the like manner and degree. The choice of our objects manifests the natural dispositions of our minds, which are confirmed and augmented in their pursuit.

Mr. Hunter was an excellent example of the former class of men. My desire to know why a man of such intellectual powers did not display them in a manner