hed merit. Each of you has given
a stroke of the pencil to his figure; and you have unawares exceeded all
the pictures drawn by Gratian or Castiglione. A philosopher might select
this character as a model of perfect virtue.

And as every quality which is useful or agreeable to ourselves or others
is, in common life, allowed to be a part of personal merit; so no other
will ever be received, where men judge of things by their natural,
unprejudiced reason, without the delusive glosses of superstition and
false religion. Celibacy, fasting, penance, mortification, self-denial,
humility, silence, solitude, and the whole train of monkish virtues; for
what reason are they everywhere rejected by men of sense, but because
they serve to no manner of purpose; neither advance a man's fortune in
the world, nor render him a more valuable member of society; neither
qualify him for the entertainment of company, nor increase his power of
self-enjoyment? We observe, on the contrary, that they cross all these
desirable ends; stupify the understanding and harden the heart, obscure
the fancy and sour the temper. We justly, therefore, transfer them to
the opposite column, and place them in the catalogue of vices; nor has
any superstition force sufficient among men of the world, to pervert
entirely these natural sentiments. A gloomy, hair-brained enthusiast,
after his death, may have a place in the calendar; but will scarcely
ever be admitted, when alive, into intimacy and society, except by those
who are as delirious and dismal as himself.

It seems a happiness in the present theory, that it enters not into that
vulgar dispute concerning the DEGREES of benevolence or self-love, which
prevail in human nature; a dispute which is never likely to have any
issue, both because men, who have taken part, are not easily convinced,
and because the phenomena, which can be produced on either side, are so
dispersed, so uncertain, and subject to so many interpretations, that it
is scarcely possible accurately to compare them, or draw from them any
determinate inference or conclusion. It is sufficient for our present
purpose, if it be allowed, what surely, without the greatest absurdity
cannot be disputed, that there is some benevolence, however small,
infused into our bosom; some spark of friendship for human kind; some
particle of the dove kneaded into our frame, along with the elements of
the wolf and serpent. Let these generous sentiments be supposed ev