152
strong force of circumstance and temptation.***Remorse, unattended by repentance, always works for evil,—it adds bitterness and anger to error."
But we must pass on to the one portrait of deepest interest in the whole series—Jeannie Deans. We thus distinguish it, partly for its own sake, for the fine moral lesson it embodies, and partly for its association with a personal characteristic of L. E. L.,—a characteristic which essentially belongs to an enlarged and generous mind, viz., openness to conviction, with a candid acknowledgment of error. It is the ignorant and narrow mind, with its short sighted and one-sided view of things, that is ever the blinded slave of prejudice, and the obstinate assertor of its own infallibility. The enlightened and expanded mind, on the contrary, as it proceeds on its ever-widening way, sees how much more knowledge there is to be acquired than was at first deemed to exist, and consequently how often previously-formed opinions must stand corrected by sources of judgment continually opening up in its progress; and while the intellect in such a nature is quick to discern its own errors, the heart is equally prompt to confess the wrong and acknowledge the right. Thus was it with Miss Landon. Not the least arrogance ever marked her expressed opinions, although sometimes, in the excitement of conversation, she would throw out sentiments which she found after reflection or further information would not defend; then with the utmost frankness was the former assertion immediately retracted. Of this her comment on Jeannie Deans is a delightful exemplification. The whole passage is peculiarly interesting. After observing, that "although we are continually hearing of evil in the world, yet how should we be startled to find crime had been committed by one dear to
