_ad hominem_ consisted; and when he went up along with me to
enter my name at Jesus College, in * * * *, it was a matter of just
wonder with my worthy tutor and two or three Fellows of that learned
society that a man who knew not so much as the names of his tools
should be able to work after that fashion with them."

Surely we all know men of this kind, and the
consternation--comparable only to that of M. Jourdain under the
impromptu carte-and-tierce of his servant-maid--which their sturdy
if informal dialectic will often spread among many kinds of "learned
societies." But such men are certainly not of the class which Scott
supposed to have been ridiculed in the character of Walter Shandy.

Among the crotchets of this born dialectician was a theory as to the
importance of Christian names in determining the future behaviour
and destiny of the children to whom they are given; and, whatever
admixture of jest there might have been in some of his other fancies,
in this his son affirms he was absolutely serious. He solemnly
maintained the opinion "that there was a strange kind of magic bias
which good or bad names, as he called them, irresistibly impressed
upon our character and conduct." How many Caesars and Pompeys, he
would say, by mere inspiration of their names have been rendered
worthy of them! And how many, he would add, are there who might have
done exceeding well in the world had not their characters and spirits
been totally depressed and Nicodemus'd into nothing! He was astonished
at parents failing to perceive that "when once a vile name was
wrongfully or injudiciously given, 'twas not like a case of a man's
character, which, when wronged, might afterwards be cleared; and
possibly some time or other, if not in the man's life, at least after
his death, be somehow or other set to rights with the world." This