to infuse, in its stead, a feeling of past happiness; which, however calm and beautiful it may appear, is injurious when it softens and unstrings the mind, and renders it useless for the struggles of life.

The different degrees of present enjoyment are signified by a vast variety of expressions; from complacency and satisfaction, to the most exalted rapture. The general term for the desire to do good to others, isbenevolence. The most common causes of benevolence are love, gratitude, and compassion: these are very ancient subjects, and it is not very easy to say anything new upon them; but there is another source of benevolence, which is not so commonly animadverted to, nor so frequently discussed, — I mean the benevolence excited by power, and by wealth; not proceeding from any idea of profiting by the power or wealth of others, but a disinterested, impartial admiration of power and wealth, and a high degree of benevolence excited towards the rich, the great, and the fortunate. The operations of envy are very limited; we merely envy those immediately above us, whose advantages might possibly have been ours: but the splendour placed entirely out of our reach, we admire with the fondest enthusiasm.

"When," says Adam Smith, "we consider the con"dition of the great, in those delusive colours in "which the imagination is apt to paint it, it seems "to be almost the abstract idea of a perfect and happy "state. It is the very state which, in all our waking "dreams, and idle reveries, we had sketched out "to ourselves, as the final object of all our desires. "We feel, therefore, a peculiar sympathy with the satis"faction of those that are in it: we favour all their "inclinations, and forward all their wishes. What "pity, we think, that anything should spoil and corrupt so agreeable a situation! We could even wish "them immortal: and it seems hard to us, that death

"should, at last, put an end to such perfect enjoyment. "It is cruel, we think, in Nature to compel them, from "their exalted station, to that humble, but hospitable "home which she has provided for all her children. "Great King, live for ever! is the compliment, which, "after the manner of Eastern adulation, we should "readily make them, if experience did not teach us its "absurdity. Every calamity that befalls them, every injury that is done them, excites in the breast of "the spectator, ten times more compassion and resent"ment than he would have felt, had the same things happened to other men. It is the misfortunes of kings only, which afford the proper subject for tragedy. They resemble, in this respect, the misfortunes "of lovers. Those two situations are the chief that "interest us upon the theatre; because, in spite of all "that reason and experience can tell us to the contrary, "the prejudices of the imagination attach to these two states, a happiness superior to any other. To disturb, "or put an end to, such perfect enjoyment, seems to be "the most atrocious of all injuries."

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Every man's experience, I should think, must have furnished him with sufficient examples of this kind of feeling; of the examples of men who have nothing to wish, or to want; who are utterly incapable of forming a base or ungenerous sentiment; but who, with the most honest and disinterested views, are quite enslaved by the admiration of greatness. Their benefits can extend to a few; but their fortunes interest almost every body. We are eager to assist them in completing a system of happiness, that approaches so near to perfection; and we desire to serve them, for their own sake, without any recompence, but the honour or the vanity of obliging them.

Upon this disposition, however, to go along with the passions of the rich and powerful, is founded the distinction of rarks, and the order of society. Watched

over, and kept within due bounds, it is a sentiment which leads to the most valuable and important consequences. But I hope I shall be pardoned for observing, it is a terrible corrupter of moral sentiments, when it destroys that feeling of modest independence, which is quite as necessary to the real welfare of society, as a wise subordination, and difference of rank.

As every thing which excites pain, is apt to excite resentment, so, everything which excites pleasure, is apt to excite benevolence. A good countenance, or a good figure, always conciliates a considerable degree of favour; certainly, very unjustly; because, no man makes his own figure, or his own face; and the distresses of others, or their merits, are the only legitimate objects of benevolence. The messenger of good news, is always an object of benevolence. Every one knows, that an officer who brings home the news of a victory, receives a donation in money, and is commonly knighted, or promoted. Strictly speaking, it would be just as equitable to mulet him of half a year's pay, for bringing home the news of a defeat, as it would be to present him with 500l. for bringing home the news of a victory: but, if they be not too great, all men sympathise with the excesses of the generous and benevolent passions; while they restrain the malevolent principles within the most rigid bounds of justice. That the messenger of disastrous news should be punished, would appear to the impartial spectator, the most horrible injustice; but no one envies his reward to him who brings good intelligence, though no one pretends to say that he has deserved it. A thousand instances may be observed, where the tendency of pleasure to excite benevolence, gets the better of justice; but, because it is an excess of the right side, it is less noticed, and less blamed. A witty, agreeable man, with a good address, may be guilty, I am afraid, of innumerable faults, which a dull and awkward offender would never be able to get over.

The question always is, "what he is to us;" not, what he is, in his general relations to society. If he succeed in giving pleasure, he is almost certain of exciting benevolence. For this reason it is, that the little excellences so very often beat the great; and that a person who has the dining and supping virtues, so often plays a more conspicuous part in society, than the greatest and most august of human beings. "Those amiable passions," says Adam Smith, even when they are " acknowledged to be excessive, are never regarded with "aversion. There is something agreeable, even in the "weakness of friendship and humanity. The too tender "mother and the too indulgent father, the too gener"ous and affectionate friend, may sometimes, perhaps, on account of the softness of their natures, be looked upon with a species of pity, in which, however, there "is a mixture of love; but can never be regarded with "hatred and aversion, nor even with contempt, unless

by the most brutal and worthless of mankind. It is "always with concern, with sympathy, and kindness, "that we blame them for the extravagance of their "attachment. There is a helplessness in the character "of extreme humanity, which more than anything in"terests our pity. There is nothing in itself, which "renders it either ungraceful or disagreeable: we only 66 regret that it is unfit for the world, because the world "is unworthy of it; and because it must expose the person who is endowed with it, as a prey to the perfidy and ingratitude of insinuating falsehood, and to a "thousand pains and uneasinesses which, of all men, "he the least deserves to feel; and which generally, too, he is, of all men, the least capable of supporting. "It is quite otherwise with hatred and resentment. "Too violent a propensity to these detestable passions, "renders a person the object of universal dread and ab"horrence, who, like a wild beast, ought, we think, to "be hunted out of all civil society."

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There is a species of benevolence, which ought to have an appropriate name; because names are of immense importance in teaching virtue, and in securing it: A love of excellence, - a benevolence excited by all superiority in good, as envy is the hatred excited by that superiority; - an honest and zealous admiration of talent, and of virtue, in whatever corner and nook of the world they are to be found, — an admiration which no disparity of situation, no spirit of party, none of the hateful and disuniting feelings can extinguish. In all ages of the world, the ablest men have been the first to express their admiration of excellence; and, while they themselves were extending the triumphs of the human understanding, they have worshipped its powers in other minds, with veneration bordering upon idolatry. The best cure for envy, is, to inspire the Young, at a very early period of their lives, with the deepest respect for virtue and talent; to kindle this feeling up into a passion; to make their acknowledgment of merit a gratification of pride; the homage they pay to it, an irresistible impulse, -like that which is felt at the image of sublime beauty, or the spectacle of matchless strength.

as,

Respect and esteem are low degrees of benevolence, excited by the severer part of the social virtues; justice and integrity; or, by the prudent virtues, — as, temperance and caution. Affection is always more permanent when it happens to be mingled with respect and esteem; because the absence of respect and esteem implies disapprobation, which in time might destroy benevolence. A certain mixture of fear, is not unfavourable to affection; it must be very small: but, whether it be that we get tired with one attitude, and like to be affected in a different manner, a sprinkling of fear or resentment, upon the sweeter passions, seems to be very well relished, and perhaps serves to keep them from corrupting so soon as they otherwise would do. These