N° 39. TUESDAY, June 8. 1779. Non mihi res, fed me rebus fubmittere conor. A HOR. S it is the bufinefs of the politician to beftow his chief attention on the encouragement and regulation of thofe members of the community who contribute most to the strength and permanency of the state; fo it is the duty of the moral writer to employ his principal endeavours to regulate and correct thofe affections of the mind, which, when carried to excefs, often obfcure the most deferving characters, though they are seldom or never to be found among the worthless. It is vain to think of reclaiming, by human means, thofe rooted vices which proceed from a depraved or unfeeling heart. Avarice is not to be overcome by a panegyric on generosity, nor cruelty and oppreffion by the most eloquent difplay of the beauties of compassion and humanity. The moralift speaks to them a language they do not underftand; it is not therefore furprising that they should neither be convinced nor reclaimed. I would not be understood understood to mean, that the enormity of a vice fhould free it from cenfure; on the contrary, I hold fuch glaring deviations from rectitude, the moft proper objects for the feverest lafh of fatire, and that they fhould frequently be held up to public view, that, if the guilty cannot be reclaimed, the wavering may be confirmed, and the innocent warned to avoid the danger. But it is a no lefs ufeful, and a much more pleafing task, to endeavour to remove the veil that covers the luftre of virtue, and to point out, for the purpofe of amending, thofe errors and imperfections which tarnifh deferving characters, which render them ufelefs, in fome cafes hurtful, to fociety. An honeft ambition for that fame which ought to follow fuperior talents employed in the exercife of virtue, is one of the best and moft useful paffions that can take root in the mind of man; and, in the language of the Roman poet, "Terrarum dominos evehit ad "Deos;""heroes lifts to gods." But, when this laudable ambition happens to be joined with great delicacy of tafte and fentiment, it is often the fource of much mifery and uneafinefs. In the earlier periods of fociety, be fore fore mankind are corrupted by the exceffes of luxury and refinement, the candidates for fame enter the lifts upon equal terms, and with a reasonable degree of confidence, that the judgement of their fellow-citizens will give the preference where it is due. In fuch a conteft, even the vanquished have no inconfiderable share of glory; and that virtue which they cultivate forbids them to with-hold their refpect and applause from the superiority by which they are overcome. Of this, the firft ages of the Grecian and Roman republics. are proper examples, when merit was the only road to fame, because fame was the only reward of merit. Though it were unjuft to accuse the present age of being totally regardless of merit, yet this will not be denied, that there are many other avenues which lead to distinction, many other qualities by which competitors carry away a prize, that, in lefs corrupted times, could have been attained only by a steady perfeverance in the paths of virtue. When a man of acknowledged honour and abilities, not unconfcious of his worth, and poffeffed of thofe delicate feelings I have mentioned, fees himself fet afide, and obliged to give way to the worthlefs and contemptible, whofe vices are fometimes the means of their promotion, he is too apt to give way to difguft or defpair; that fenfibility which, with better fortune, and placed in a more favourable fituation, would have afforded him the moft elegant pleasures, made him the delight of his friends, and an honour to his country, is in danger of changing him into a morose and furly mifanthrope, discontented with himself, the world, and all its enjoyments. This weakness (and I think it a great one) of quarrelling with the world, would never have been carried the length I have lamented in fome of my friends, had they allowed them. felves to reflect on the folly of fuppofing that the opinions of the rest of mankind are to be governed by the standard which they have been pleased to erect, had they confidered what a state of languor and infipidity would be produced, if every individual fhould have marked out to him the rank he was to hold, and the line in which he was to move, without any danger of being joftled in his progrefs. The Author of nature has diverfified the mind of man with different and contending paffions, paflions, which are brought into action as chance or circumftances direct, or as he is pleafed to order in the wisdom of his providence. Our limited faculties, far from comprehending the univerfal fcale of being, or taking in at one glance what is best and fittest for the purposes of creation, cannot even determine the best mode of governing the little fpot that furrounds us. I believe moft men have, at times, wished to be creators, poffeffed of the power of moulding the world to their fancy; but they would act more wifely to mould their own prepoffeffions and prejudices to the ftandard of the world, which may be done, in every age and fituation, without tranfgreffing the bounds of the most rigid virtue. A diftafte at mankind never fails to produce peevishnefs and discontent, the most unrelenting tyrants that ever fwayed the human breaft t; that cloud which they caft upon the foul, fhuts out every ray that should warm to manly exertion, and hides, in the bofom of indolence and fpleen, virtues formed to illumine the world. I muft, therefore, earnestly recommend to my readers to guard against the first approaches |