Before pronouncing a hasty judgment in such cases, it would be well to bear in mind the motto of Helvetius, which Bentham says proved such a real treasure to him: "POUR AIMER LES HOMMES, IL FAUT ATTENDRE PEU." We have thus far spoken of shyness as a defect.

But there is another way of looking at it; for even shyness has its bright side, and contains an element of good.

Shy men and shy races are ungraceful and undemonstrative, because, as regards society at large, they are comparatively unsociable.

They do not possess those elegances of manner, acquired by free intercourse, which distinguish the social races, because their tendency is to shun society rather than to seek it.
They are shy in the presence of strangers, and shy even in their own families.

They hide their affections under a robe of reserve, and when they do give way to their feelings, it is only in some very hidden inner-chamber.