Honesty.

abundantly shown by the characters of their gods and goddesses as recited by their | poets , take for instance Juno ' s deceit described in the fourteenth book of the Iliad , practised upon Zeus , when the Queen of Heaven was grieved , by the favour shown to Ilion : —

Jove to deceive , what methods shall she try , What arts to blind his all-beholding eye At length she trusts her power ; resolved to prove The old , yet still successful , cheat of iove Against his wisdom to oppose her charms , And lull the Lord of Thunders in her arms . This moreover . was about the worst kind of

dishonesty , because of the intensity of hypocrisy and deceit involved in it , and yet Homer does not hesitate to attribute it to the supreme goddess .

The Eomans were perhaps less honest in endeavouring to appear more so , for notwithstanding their glorious institutions and their liberty , the dee Is perpetrated by the Patricians , often with the assistance of their freed-men , were many of them far from being even passable .

Even that immaculate race , the chosen people , seemed rather to delight in trickery , and almost to make deception a part of their religion . In proof of this we may refer to the dealings of Jacob with his father ancl his brother , to say nothing of certain other transactions of hiswhich do not in

, appear our eyes to have been very straightforward . While mentioning the Hebrews , it occurs to us that it was amongst them that the profession of the law first appears , but of that , more hereafter . The Hindoos naturally are gifted with a faculty of perverting the truth , but their circumstances

are peculiar , with them the consideration is not as to whether their statements be accurate or not , that does not consume their time , the only matter of cogitation is what will best answer their purpose , and in this , be it observed , they have also ound their match in some of those illustrious Europeans who aided in establishing our Indian

empire . We have not cited these various races of people as dishonest in the mass for the purpose of excusing the present generation , but as a kind of research into the question whether honesty at any time or place ever was iu the ascendant , or if haply there might be any ground for the Pharisaical cry : —

" Hen pietas ! heu prisca fides !" To come to those of our observations which may be more immediately interesting , those which refer to our own time and country , let us first comment upon the effects of different professions and trades upon the moral development of that rare virtue to which our remarks are devoted .

The Church , of course , we do not touch upon , as it would be impious in us- to critise the actions of her ministers , and because taking all things connected with her in faith and not upon argument , we are convinced that they , the ministers , act conscientiously , and that if they appear blemished to

us , the defect is due to the feebleness of our perceptions . Jn the medical profession there is much temptation to laxity , which arises from the whims and caprices of patients , more especially those moving amongst the " upper ten thousand , " who having

so much leisure time on their hands must needs devote some of it to illness , real or imaginary , but let the " medical attendant" once hint that her ladyship only fancies she is unwell and he loses part of his practice . Plow then can a fashionable doctor exist , except

he deals in bread pills rolled in silver leaf ? We have ourselves known some talented practitioners who could scarcely get a decent livelihood , because they could not bring themselves to conform to such customs of the profession . The next class of professional gentlemen

demands a somewhat lengthy analysis , because them mental visual organs appear to be differently trained from those of the remaining portion of mankind . Lawyers now require our attention ; it has been a custom to be rather hard upon them as a body , which we think very unfair , and no doubt

we shall be able to show that much for which they are blamed is due to circumstances of education ; we think that , as a whole they are very honest in their way , and are they to blame because that way usually happens to be a rather peculiar one ? So long as the legal profession exists lawyers

must take up unjust causes , for there must be two sides to a trial , or there would be little chance of fees ; and if there be two sides , one must be wrong ; hence we think the immortal Tom Moore rather too hard in saying in his " Epitaph on a Lawyer , "

" But do him justice—short and rare His wish thro' honest paths to roam ; Born with a taste for the unfair , Where falsehood called ho still was there , And u-hen least honest most at home . " It is not very long since an attorney , of

considerable experience and good practice , was at great pains to explain to us how the whole of the details of his profession were necessarily based individually and collectively upon truth and konesfcy , and how , without those , it would be impossible to progress . Unfortunately we are not

in a position to reproduce the arguments now , as probably from their abstruse , though logical character , they failed to leave a lasting impression on

our memory . If the ancient theory of the patrician pleading for his client—not for money , but for honour and renown—could now be practically carried into execution ; then perhaps the legal profession would command as much respect from the

illiterate and vulgar as it now does from those who are better qualified to judge of the characters of those who swell its ranks . Legal honesty is very different from conscientious honesty , inasmuch as the former means any