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    relists who have cast a new light from within on these great subjects of human inquiry , we have almost none . To Montaigne , indeed , we are largely indebted ? and we allow that valuable hints are scattered among autobiographical works , slight glimpses into the dim vistas of human thought , which could not otherwise have been obtained : but they are few and tantalizing . If a man have sufficiently studied himself and others to know in what

    respects out knowledge is most deficient , and to wish to supply the deficiency , more courage is required than perhaps any one can command . It is pamtul enough to fix our gaze steadily on any foul stain or festering sore within , which is hidden from every other human eye ; it is difficult enough to detect every slight obliquity , and to acknowledge to ourselves the permanence of any deformity which we have long laboured to rectify : and how can we

    summon courage to stand the examination of the public , to invite the careless observation of those who cannot feel with us , or the rigid scrutiny of some who will not spare us ? The best parts of ourselves it is yet more difficult to expose , as the most exalted virtues are the most modest , and the most refined parts of the human machine are the most sensitive . We may heroically give ourselves over to dissection , provided the process be delayed

    till we are past feeling : but if our tender-hearted friends shrink from delivering us up even then to the operation , how can it be expected that we should begin the work upon ourselves , when every nerve is quivering and ^ very touch is pain ? It is im possible . We may unveil our faces , but we must leave it to others to lay bare our muscles and sinews . But even these difficulties are not the greatest . Much regard as we owe to our own

    feelings , we owe more to others ; and our lives are so interwoven , the texture of any one mind is wrought of such various materials gathered from others , the relations of every individual are so complex , that no man can give a faithful description of himself without letting out many a secret which he has no right to disclose . If we consider for a moment how we should set about writing a history of ourselves , we shall find that so much of our character has been derived from the virtues of those with whom we live , and

    so much from their failings , that this consideration alone puts a seal on our lips , though we may be aware of the possession of some valuable facts which need not else be secret , and long to assist others with the experience which we have obtained from some peculiarity of circumstances whose results must be confined to ourselves through this restraint on the liberty of speech . We may give the results of our experience in conversation , in letters , &c , as general remarks ; but in the form of biography , it appears impossible that

    any one involved in the common relations of society should present a faithful picture of the growth of his spiritual , or even the development of his intellectual part . It has been often attempted to get rid of some of the peculiar difficulties attending the publication of a life , by delaying it till all the contemporaries of the person celebrated are dead . One point is thus gained ; their feelings are spared ; but the feelings of their descendants-sometimes deserve as much respect as their own . Another point is gained ; there is less danger of

    partiality , less temptation to colour and suppress ; but , to counterbalance this advantage , there is commonly a deficiency of information , and ( unless the subject be one of peculiar attraction ) a failure of interest , when the scenes in which he acted are gone by , and the society in which he mingled has passed away . If , however , the character should be one of permanent attraction , ' dnd the circumstances of his lot such as men can generally sympathize in ; if the materials of every kind should be ample , and if they should be depo- *

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    18 Doddridge ' s Correspondence and Diary .

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1830, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2580/page/18/