He
was kind and intrepid, yet gentle, of unblameable conversation,
and his heart glowed with love to all men. He was not a man of
many words, but, being of unimpeachable character, every word he
uttered carried weight. "No man had ever a greater power over
himself.... He was very temperate in diet, and a supreme governor
over all his passions and affections; and he had thereby great
power over other men's." Sir Philip Warwick, another of his
political opponents, incidentally describes his great influence in
a certain debate: "We had catched at each other's locks, and
sheathed our swords in each other's bowels, had not the sagacity
and great calmness of Mr. Hampden, by a short speech, prevented
it, and led us to defer our angry debate until the next morning."
A strong temper is not necessarily a bad temper. But the stronger
the temper, the greater is the need of self-discipline and self-
control. Dr. Johnson says men grow better as they grow older, and
improve with experience; but this depends upon the width, and
depth, and generousness of their nature. It is not men's faults
that ruin them so much as the manner in which they conduct
themselves after the faults have been committed. The wise will
profit by the suffering they cause, and eschew them for the
future; but there are those on whom experience exerts no ripening
influence, and who only grow narrower and bitterer and more
vicious with time.
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