Perhaps, in giving them this general name, I extend the meaning of the word nffc£lion beyond its common ufe in difcourfe. Indeed our language feems in this to have departed a little from analogy: For ^ve ufe the verb affeB, and the participle affcEled^ in an indif-, ferent fenfe, fo that they may be joined either with good or ill. A man may be faid to be ill afFecled towards another man, or well affected. But the word affeElmi^ which, according to ana- logy, ought to have the fame latitude of lignification with that* from which it is derived, and therefore ought to be applicable to ill affediions as well as to good, feems, by cuflom, to be li- mited to good affedions. When we fpeak of having affection for any perfon, it is always underflood to be a benevolent af- fedlion.
Malevolent principles, fuch as anger, refentment, envy, are not commonly called affeUions, but rsLthev paj^ons.
I take the reafon of this to be, that the malevolent affedlions are almoft always accompanied with that perturbation of mind which we properly call pajfion; and this paflion, being the mofl conlpicuous ingredient, gives its name to the whole.
Even love, when it goes beyond a certain degree, is called a pajfwn. But it gets not that name when it is fo moderate as not to difcompofe a man's mind, nor deprive him in any meafure of the government of himfelf.
As we give the name of pajfwn, even to benevolent affcdion when it is fo vehement as to difcompofe the mind, fo, I think, without CHAP. III. without trerpafling much agahift propriety of words, we may give the name of affe£l'ioii even to malevolent principles, when unattended with that difturhance of mind which commonly, though not always, goes along with them, and which has made them get the name oi pajfwns.
The principles which lead us immediately to defire the good of others, and thofe that lead us to defire their hurt, agree in this, that perfons, and not things, are their immediate objed. Both imply our being fome way affecfted towards the perfon. They ought therefore to have fome common name to exprefs what is common in their nature; and I know no name more proper for this than affcBion.
Taking affedion therefore in this extenfive fenfe, our affec- tions are very naturally divided into benevolent and malevolent, according as they imply our being well or ill affcdled towards their objed.
There are fome things common to all benevolent afFedlions, others wherein they differ.
They differ both in the feeling, or fenfation, which is an in- gredient in all of them, and in the objed;s to which they are direded.
They all agree in two things, to wit. That the feeling which accompanies them is agreeable; and that they imply a defire of good and happinel's to their objedl.
The affedion we bear to a parent, to a child, to a benefador, to a perfon in diftrefs, to a miftrefs, differ not more in their ob- je6l, than in the feelings they produce in the mind. We have not names to exprefs the differences of theie feelings, but every man is confcious of a difference. Yet, with all this difference, they agree in being agreeable feelings.
I OF BENEVOLENT AFFECTION IN GENERAL. 145 I know no exception to this rule, If we diflingulili, as \vc chap, ul ouglu, the feeling which naturally and necclTarily attends the kind affcclion, from tliofc which accidentally, in certain cir- cumftanccs, it may jiroduce.
The parental afFeftion is an agreeable feeling; but it makies the misfortune or mifbehaviour of a child give a deeper wound to the mind. Pity is an agreeable feeling, yet diftrefs, which we are not able to relieve, may give a painful fympathy. Love to one of the other fex is an agreeable feeling; but where it does not meet with a proper return, it may give the mod pun- gent dillrefs.
The joy and comfort of human life confifts in the reciprocal exercife of kind afFedions, and without them life would be unde- firable.
It has been obferved by Lord Shaftesbury, and by many other judicious moralifts. That even the epicure and the debauchee, who are thought to place all their happinefs in the gratifica- tions of fenfe, and to purfue thefe as their only objecft, can find no reliih in folitary indulgences of this kind, but in thofe only that are mixed with focial intercourfe, and a reciprocal exchange of kind afFedions.
Cicero has obferved, that the word convivium, which in Latin fignifies a feaft, is not borrowed from eating or from drinking, but from that focial intercourfe which, being the chief part of fuch an entertainment, gives the name to the whole.
Mutual kind afFcdions are undoubtedly the balm of life, and of all the enjoyments common to good and bad men, are the chief. If a man had no perfon whom he loved or eftecmcd, no perfon who loved or efteeined him, how wretched mufl his con- T d it ion CKAP^^ dition be! Surely a man capable of reflection would chufe to pafs out of exiflence, rather than to live in fuch a ftate.
It has been, by the Poets, reprefented as the ftate of Tome bloody and barbarous tyrants; but Poets are allowed to paint a little beyond the life. Atreus is reprefented as faying, Ode- rint dum metuant. " I care not for their hatred, providing they " dread my power." I believe there never.was a man fo dif- pofed towards all mankind. The moft odious tyrant that ever was, will have his favourites, whofe affedllon he endeavours to deferve or to bribe, and to whom he bears fome good will.
We may therefore lay it down as a principle, that all benevo- lent aiFedions are, in their nature, agreeable; and that, next to a good confcience, to which they are always friendly, and never can be adverfe, they make the capital part of human hap- pinefs.
Another ingredient ellential to every benevolent affedion, and from which it takes the name, is a delire of the good and happinefs of the objedt.
• The objedt of benevolent affedion therefore, muft be fome be- ing capable of happinefs. When we fpeak of affed:ion to a houfe, or to any inanimate thing, the word has a different meaning. For that which has no capacity of enjoyment, or of fuffering, may be an objedl of liking or difguft, but cannot pofGbly be an ob- jedl either of benevolent or malevolent affedion.
A thing may be defired either on its own account, or as the ineans in order to fomething elfe. That only can properly be called an obje6b of defire, which is defired upon its own account j and it is only fuch defires that I call principles of adion. When any thing is defired as the means only, there muft be an end for OF BENEVOLENT AFFECTION IN GENERAL. 147 for which it is dcfired; and the defire of the enti is, in this CHAP. ill. cafe, the principle of adion. The means are dell red only as they tend to that end; and if different, or even contrary means tended to the fame end, they would be equally defired.
On this account I confider thofe affedions only as benevo- lent, where the good of the objedt is defired ultimately, and not as the means only, in order to fomething elfe.
To fay that we defire the good of others, only in order to procure fome pleafure or good to ourfelves, is to fay that there is no benevolent affedlion in human nature.
This indeed has been the opinion of fome Philofophers, both in ancient and in later times. I intend not to examine this opi- nion in this place, conceiving it proper to give that view of the principles of adlion in man, which appears to me to be jufl, be- fore I examine the fyflems wherein they have been miftakcn or mifreprefented.
I obferve only at prefent, that it appears as unreafonahle to refolve all our benevolent affections into felf-love, as it would be to refolve hunger and thirfl into felf-love.
Thefe appetites are neceflary for the prefervation of the indi- vidual. Benevolent affedlions are no lefs neceffary for the pre- fervation of fociety among men, without which man would be- come an eafy prey to the beafts of the field.
We are placed in this world, by the Author of our being, furrounded with many objedls that are neceffiry or ufeful to us, and with many that may hurt us. We are led, not by rcafon and felf-love only, but by many inlHnds, and appetites, and natural defires, to feek the former and to avoid the latter.
T 2 Bur CHAP. III. But of all the things of this world, mau may be the mofl ufe- "^ ful, or the moft hurtful to man. Every man is in the power of every man with whom he lives. Every man has power to do much good to his fellow-men, and to do more hurt.
We cannot live without the fociety of men; and it would be impoffible to live in fociety, if men were not difpofed to do much of that good to men, and but little of that hurt, which it is in their power to do.
But how fhall this end, fo neceflary to the exiftence of human fociety, and confequently to the exiftence of the human fpecies, be accompliihed?
If we judge from analogy, we muft conclude, that in this, as in other parts of our conduit, our rational principles are aided by principles of an inferior order, fimilar to thofe by which ma- ny brute animals live in fociety with their fpecies; and that by means of fuch principles, that degree of regularity is obferved, which we find in all focieties of men, whether wife or foolifh, virtuous or vicious.
The benevolent affedions planted in human nature, appear therefore no lefs neceffary for the prefervation of the human fpecies, than the appetites of hunger and thirfl.
Of the particular Benevolent AffeB'tons.
HAVING premifed thefe things in general concerning be- nevolent affediions, I ihall now attempt fome enumera- tion of them.
I. The OF PARTICULAR BENEVOLENT AFFECTIONS. 149 I. The firj] 1 mention Is tlint of parents and cliildrcn, and o- CHAP. iv. thcr near relations. """ '""^"^ This we commonly call natural affedion. Every language has a name for it. It is common to us with moft of the brute- animals J and is varioufly modified in different animals, accor- ding as it is more or Icfs nccellary for the prcfervation of the fpecies.
Many of the infect-tribe need no other care of parents, than that the eggs be laid in a proper place, where they iliall have neither too little nor too much heat, and where the animal, as foon as it is hatched, ftiall find its natural food. This care the parent takes, and no more.
In other tribes, the young mufl be lodged in fome fecret place, where they cannot be eafily difcovered by their enemies. They rnuft be cheriflied by the warmth of the parent's body. They mull be fuckled, and fed at firft with tender food; attended in their excurfions, and guarded from danger, till they have learn- ed by experience, and by the example of their parents, to pro- vide for their own fubfirtence and fafety. With what afllduity and tender affection this is done by the parents, in every fpecies that requires it, is well known.
The eggs of the feathered tribe are commonly hatched by in- cubation of the dam, who leaves off at once her fprightly mo- tions and migrations, and confines herfelf to her folitary and painful talk, cheered by the fong of her mate upon a neighbour- ing bough, and fometimes fed by him, fomctinies relieved in her incubation, while (lie gathers a fcanty meal, and with the greateft difpatch returns to her port.
The young birds of many fjiecies are fo very tender and deli- cate, that man, with all his wifdom and experience, would not be ESSAY III.
CHAP. IV. be able to rear one to maturity. But the parents, without any experience, know perfectly how to rear fometimes a dozen or more at one brood, and to give every one its portion in due fea- fon. They know the food beft fuited to their delicate confll- tution, which is fometimes afforded by nature^, fometimes muft be cooked and half digefted in the flomach of the parent.
In fome animals, nature hath furnifhed the female with a kind of fecond womb, into which the young retire occafionally, for food, warmth, and the conveniency of being carried about with the mother.
It would be endlefs to recou-nt all the various ways in which the parental affedtion is exprefled by brute-animals.
He muft, in my apprehenfion, have a very flrange complexion of underftanding, who can furvey the various ways in which the young of the various fpecies are reared, without wonder, with- out pious admiration of that manifold wifdom, which hath fo fkilfully fitted means to ends, in fuch an infinite variety of ways.
In all the brute-animals we are acquainted with, the end of the parental affedion is completely anfwered in a fliort time; and then it ceafes as if it had never been.
The infancy of man is longer and more helplefs than that of any other animal. The parental affedlion is neceffary for many years j it is highly ufeful through life^ and therefore it termi- nates only with life. It extends to children's children without any diminution of its force.
How common is it to fee a young woman, in the gayefl; period of life, who has fpent her days in mirth, and her nights in profound fleep, without foUicitude or care, all at once transformed into the careful, the folicitous, the watchful nurfe of her dear in- fant: OF PARTICULAR BENEVOLENT AFFECTIONS. 151 flint: doing nothing by day but gazing upon it, and fcrving it Sll^Il!^* in the meaneft oflices; by night, depriving hcrfelf of found flecp for months, that it may lie Cafe in her arms. Forgetful of her- felf,- her whole care is centered in this little ohjed.
Such a fudden transformation of her whole habits, and occu- pation, and turn of mind, if we did not fee it every day, would appear a more wonderful mctamorphofis than any that Ovid has defcribed.
This, however, is the work of nature, and not the effed of rcafon and refledion. For we fee it in the good and in the bad, in the moll thoughtlefs, as well as in the thoughtful.
Nature has afllgned different departments to the father and mother in rearing their offspring. This may be feen in many brute-animals; and that it is fo in the human fpecies, was long ago obferved by Socrates, and mofl beautifully illuftrated by him, as we learn from Xenophon's Oeconom'icks. The parental affecftion in the different fexes is exadly adapted to the ollice affigned to each. The father would make an awkward nurfe to a new-bom child, and the mother too indulgent a guardian. But both adl with propriety and grace in their proper fphere.
It is very remarkable, that when the office of rearing a child is transferred from the parent to another perfon, nature feems to transfer the affedion along with the office. A wet nurfe, or even a dry nurfe, has commonly the fame affedion for her nurf- ling, as if fhe had bom it. The fad is fo well known that nothing needs be faid to confirm it 3 and it feems to be the work of nature.
Our affedlons are not immediately in our power, as our out- ward adions are. Nature has direded them to certain objeds.
We CHAP IV. ^^\TQ jnay do kind offices without affedion i but we cannot create an affedion which nature has not given.
Reafon might teach a man that his children are particularly committed to his care by the providence of God, and, on that account, that he ought to attend to them as his particular charge; but reafon could not teach him to love them more than other children of equal merit, or to be more afflidled for their misfortunes or mifbehaviour.
It is evident, therefore, that that peculiar fenfibility of affec- tion, with regard to his own children, is not the effect of reafon- ing or reflection, but the effed: of that conllitution which na- ture has given him.
There are fome affe<!^ions which we may call rational^ becaufe they are grounded upon an opinion of merit in the objed:. The parental affediou is not of this kind. For though a man's af- fedion to his child may be encreafed by merit, and diminifhed by demerit, I think no man will fay, that it took its rife from an opinion of merit. It is not opinion that creates the affedion, but affedion often creates opinion. It is apt to pervert the judgment, and create an opinion of merit where there is none.
The abfolute neceflity of this parental affedion, in order to the continuance of the human fpecies, is fo apparent, that there is no need of arguments to prove it. The rearing of a child from its birth to maturity requires fo much time and care, and fuch infinite attentions, that, if it were to be done merely from confiderations of reafon and duty, and were not fweetened by affeftion in parents, nurfes and guardians, there is reafon to doubt, whether one child in ten thoufand would ever be reared.
Befide the abfolute neceflity of this part of the human con- ftitution to the prefervation of the fpecies, its utility is very great OF PARTICULAR BENEVOLENT AFFECTIONS. 155 great, for tempering the giddinefs and impetuofity of youth, Cir.AP. iv.
and improving its knowledge by the prudence and experience of age, for encouraging induflry and frugah'ty in the parents, in order to provide for their children, for the folace and fupport of parents under the infirmities of old age; not to mention that it probably gave rife to the firft civil governments.
It does not appear that the parental, and other family affec- tions, are, in general, either too ftrong or too weak for anfwer- ing their end. If they were too weak, parents would be moft apt to err on the fide of undue fe verity; if too ftrong, of un- due indulgence. As they are in facl, 1 believe no man can fay, that the errors are more general on one fide than on the other.
When thefe afiedlions are exerted according to their inten- tion, under the diredtion of wifdom and prudence, the econo- my of fuch a family is a mod delightful fpedlacle, and furnifhes the moft agreeable and affeding fubjedl to the pencil of the painter, and to the pen of the orator and poet. "^ 2. The w^x/ benevolent affedtion I mention is gratitude to be- nefadors.
That good ofiices are, by the very conftitution of our nature, apt to produce good will towards the benefa(ftor, in good and bad men, in the favage and in the civilized, cannot furely be de- nied by any one, in the leaft acquainted with human nature.
The danger of perverting a man's judgment by good deeds, where he ought to have no bias. Is fo well known, that it is difhonourable in judges, In witnefll-s, in eledlors to offices of truft, to accept of them; and, in all civilized nations, they are, in fuch cafes, prohibited, as the means of corruption.
U Tiiofe ESSAY III.
CHAP. IV. Thofe who would corrupt the fentence of a judge, the tefli- mony of a witnefs, or the vote of an elecftor, know well, that they muft not make a bargain, or ftipulate what is to be done in return. This would fhock every man who has the leaft pre- tenfion to morals. If the perfon can only be prevailed upon to accept the good office, as a teflimony of pure and difinterefted friendlhip, it is left to work upon his gratitude. He finds hira- felf under a kind of moral obligation to confider the caufe of his benefador and friend in the moft favourable light. He finds it eafier to jullify his condudl to himfelf, by favouring the intereil of his benefaiflor, than by oppofing it.
Thus the principle of gratitude is fuppofed, even in the na- ture of a bribe. Bad men know how to make this natural prin- ciple the moft effedual means of corruption. The very befl things may be turned to a bad ufe. But the natural texidency of this principle, and the intention of nature in planting it in the human breaft, are, evidently, to promote good-will among men, and to give to good offices the power of multiplying their kind, like feed fown in the earth, which brings a return, with increafe.
Whether there be, or be not, in the more fagacious brutes, fomething that may be called gratitude, I will not difpute. We muft allow this important difference between their gratitude and that of the human kind, that, in the laft, the mind of the be- nefadlor is chiefly regarded, in the firft, the external adlion only. A brute-animal will be as kindly affedled to him who feeds it in order to kill and eat it, as to him who does it from affedion.
A man may be juftly entitled to our gratitude, for an office that is ufeful, though it be, at the fame time, difagreeable; and not only for doing, but for forbearing what he had a right to do. Among men, it is not every beneficial office that claims our gratitude, but fuch only as are not due to us in juftice. A favour OF PARTICULAR BENEVOLENT AFFECTIONS. 155 favour alone gives a claim to gratitude; and a favour muft be chap. jv.
fomcthing more than juftice requires. It does not appear that brutes have any conception of juftice. They can neither diflinguifli hurt from injury, nor a favour from a good office that is due.
3. A third natural benevolent affedion is pity and compaflioii towards the diftrefled.
Of all perfons, thofe in diftrefs ftand mod in need of our good otTices. And, for that reafon, the Author of nature hath planted in the breaft of every human creature a powerful advo- cate to plead their caufe.
In man, and in fome other animals, there are figns of diftrefs, which nature hath both taught them to ufe, and taught all men to underlland without any interpreter. Thefe natural figns are more eloquent than language; they move our hearts, and pro- duce a fympathy, and a defire to give relief.
There are few hearts fo hard, but great diftrefs will conquer their anger, their indignation, and every malevolent affedion.
We fympathife even with the traitor and with the afta/TIn, when we fee him led to execution. It is only felf-prefervation, and the public good, that makes us reludantly aflent to his being cut off from among men.
The pradlice of the Canadian nations toward their prifoners would tempt one to think, that they have been able to root out the principle of compafllon from their nature. But this, I ap- prehend, would be a rafti conclufion. It is only a part of the prifoners of war that they devote to a cruel death. This grati- fies the revenge of the women and children who h.ave loft their U 2 hulbaud'; CHAP. IV. hulbands and fathers in the v/ar. The other pri loners are khul- ly ufed, and adopted as brethren.
Compaflion with bodily pain is no doubt weakened among thefe favages, becaufe they are trained from their infancy to be fuperior to death, and to every degree of pain; and he is thouglit unworthy of the name of a man, who cannot defy his tormentors, and fing his death-fbng in the midft of the moft cruel tortures. He who can do this, is honoured as a brave man, though an enemy. But he mud perifli in the experiment.
A Canadian has the mofi: perfedl contempt for every man who thinks pain an intolerable evil. And nothing is fo apt to flifle compaflion as contempt, and an apprehenlion, that the evil fuf- fered is nothing but what ought to be manfully borne.
It muft alfo be obferved, that favages fet no bounds to their revenge. Thofe who find no protedion in laws and government never think themfelves fafe, but in the deftrudlion of their ene- my. And one of the chief advantages of civil government is, that it tempers the cruel paffion of revenge, and opens the heart to compaflion with every human woe.
It feems to be falfe religion only, that is able to check the tear of compaflion.
We are told, that, in Portugal and Spain, a man condemned to be burned as an obftinate heretick, meets with no compaflion, even from the multitude. It is true, they are taught to look upon him as an enemy to God, and doomed to hell-fire. But Ihould not this very circumftance move compaflion? Surely it would, if they were not taught, that, in this cafe, it is a crime to fliew compaflion, or even to feel it.
4. A fourth benevolent affedion is, efleem of the wife and the good» The OF PARTICULAR BENEVOLENT AFFECTIONS. 157 The word: men cannot avoid feeling this in fome degree. CITAP. iv. Eftecm, veneration, devotion, are different degrees of the fame ' ' ~^ urtec'lion. The perfedion of -wirdom, power and goodnefs, which belongs only tu the Almighty, is the objed of the liO.
It may be a doubt, whether this principle of efleem, as well as that of gratitude, ought to be ranked in the order of animal prin- ciples, or if they ought not rather to be placed in a higher or- der. They are certainly more allied to the rational nature than ' the others that have been named; nor is it evident, that there is any thing in brute-animals that delerves the fame name.
There is indeed a fubordination in a herd of cattle, and in a flock of fheep, which, I believe, is determined by ftrength and courage, as it is among lavage tribes of men. I have been in- formed, that, in a pack of hounds, a ftanch hound acquires a degree of efteem in the pack; fo that, when the xlogs arc wan- dering in queft of the fcent, if he opens, the pack immediately clofes in with him, \?hen they would not regard the opening of a dog of no reputation. This is fomething like a refpedl to wifdom.
But I have placed efteem of the wife and good in the order of animal principles, not from any perfuafion that it is to be found in brute-animals, but becaufe, I think, it appears in the mod un- improved and in the moft degenerate part of our fpecies, even in thofe in whom we hardly perceive any exertion, either of rea- fon or virtue.
I will not, however, difpute with any man who thinks that it deferves a more honourable name than that of an animal prin- ciple. It is of fmall importance what name we give it, if we are fatisfied that there is fuch a principle in the human conftl- tution.
5. Friendfliip X CHAP. IV. ^. Friendfliip is another benevolent affedtion.
Of this we have fome inftances famous in hlftory: Few in- deed; but fufficient to fhew, that human nature is fufceptlble of that extraordinary attachment, fympathy and affedllon, to one or a few perfons, which the ancients thought alone worthy of the name of friendfhip.
The Epicureans found it very difficult to reconcile the ex- Iftence of friendfhip to the principles of their fedl. They were not fo bold as to deny its exiftence. They even boafted that there had been more attachments of that kind between Epicure- ans than in any other fed. But the difficulty was, to account for real friendfhip upon Epicurean principles. They went into different hypothefes upon this point, three of which are explained by ToRQUATUs the Epicurean, in Cicero's book, De Finibus.
Cicero, in his reply to ToRquATUs, examines all the three, and {hews them all to be either Inconfiflent with the nature of true friendfhip, or inconfiflent with the fundamental principles of the Epicurean fed:.
As to the friendfhip which the Epicureans boafled of among thofe of their fed, Cicero does not queftlon the fad, but ob- ferves, that, as there are many vvhofe pradice is worfe than their principles, fo there are fome wliofe principles are worfe than their pradice, and that the bad principles of thefe Epicu- reans were overcome by the goodnefs of their nature.
6. Among the benevolent affedions, the paflion of love be- tween the fexes cannot be overlooked.
Although it is commonly the theme of Poets, it is not un- worthy of the pen of the Philofopher, as it is a moft important part of the human confHtution.
It OF PARTICULAR BENEVOLENT AFFECTIONS. 159 It is no doubt made up of various ingredients, as many other CHAP. iv. principles ot action are, but it certainly cannot exifl without a very flrong benevolent affcrtion toward its objedl; in whom it finds, or conceives, every thing that is amiable and excellent, and even fomething more than human. I confider it here, only as a benevolent affedion natural to man. And that it is lb, no man can doubt who ever felt its force.
It is evidently intended by nature to dired a man in the choice of a mate, with whom he defires to live, and to rear an offspring.
It has effedually fecured this end in all ages, and in every (late of fociety.
The paflion of love, and the parental affecftion, are counter- parts to each other; and when they are conduded with pru- dence, and meet with a proper return, are the fource of all do- mcftic felicity, the greatelt, next to that of a good coafcience, which this world affords.
As, in the prefent ftate of things, pain often dwells near to pleafure, and forrov? to joy, it needs not be thought ftrange, tliat a paffion, fitted and intended by nature to yield the great- eft worldly felicity, ftioiild, by being ill regulated, or wrong di- reded, prove the occafion of the moft pungent diftrefs.
But its joys and its griefs, its different modifications in the different fexes, and its influence upon the charader of both, though very important fubjeds, are fitter to be fung than faid; and I leave them to thofe who have llept upon the two-topped Parnaffus.
7. The /o/? benevolent affedion I fhall mention is, what we commonly ESSAY III.
CHAP. IV. commonly call public fpirit, that is, an affediion to any coramu- nity to which we belong.
If there be any man quite deftitute of this affedlion, he muft be as great a monfter as a man born with two heads. Its ef- fects are manifefl in the whole of human life, and in the hiftory of all nations.
The lituatlon of a great part of mankind, indeed, is fuch, that their thoughts and views muft be confined within a very narrow fphere, and be very much engrofled by their private con- cerns. With regard to an extenfive public, fuch as a ftate or nation, they are like a drop to the ocean, fo that they have rare- ly an opportunity of acting with a view to it.
In many, whofe adlions may affed the public, and whofe rank and ftation lead them to think of it, private paflions may be an overmatch for public fpirit. All that can be inferred from this is, that their public fpirit is weak, not that it does not exift.
If a man wifhes well to the public, and is ready to do good to it rather than hurt, when it cofts him nothing, he has fome affedtion to it, though it may be fcandaloufly weak in degree.
I believe every man has it in one degree or another. What man is there who does not refent fatyrical refledions upon his country, or upon any community of which he is a member.''