f wit and good sense,
the vanity of a man's valuing himself upon his ancestors, and
endeavored to show that true nobility consists in virtue, not in
birth. With submission, however, to so many great authorities, I think
they have pushed this matter a little too far. We ought in gratitude
to honor the posterity of those who have raised either the interest or
reputation of their country, and by whose labors we ourselves are more
happy, wise, or virtuous than we should have been without them.
Besides, naturally speaking, a man bids fairer for greatness of soul,
who is the descendant of worthy ancestors, and has good blood in his
veins, than one who is come of an ignoble and obscure parentage. For
these reasons, I think a man of merit, who is derived from an
illustrious line, is very justly to be regarded more than a man of
equal merit who has no claim to hereditary honors. Nay, I think those
who are indifferent in themselves, and have nothing else to
distinguish them but the virtues of their forefathers, are to be
looked upon with a degree of veneration even upon that account, and to
be more respected than the common run of men who are of low and vulgar
extraction.

After having thus ascribed due honors to birth and parentage, I must,
however, take notice of those who arrogate to themselves more honors
than are due to them upon this account. The first are such who are not
enough sensible that vice and ignorance taint the blood, and that an
unworthy behavior degrades and disennobles a man in the eyes of the
world, as much as birth and family aggrandize and exalt him.

The second are those who believe a _new_ man of an elevated merit is
not more to be honored than an insignificant and worthless man who is
descended from a long line of patriots and heroes; or, in other words,
behold with contempt a person who is such a man as the first founder
of their family was, upon whose reputation they value themselves.

But I shall chiefly apply myself to those whose quality sits uppermost
in all their discourses and behavior. An empty man of a great family
is a creature that is scarce conversible. You read his ancestry in
his smile, in his air, in his eyebrow. He has, indeed, nothing but his
nobility to give employment to his thoughts. Rank and precedency are
the important points which he is always discussing within himself. A
gentleman of this turn began a speech in one of King Charles's
parliaments: "Sir, I had the honor to be bor