borate panegyrics on that famous city, have chiefly triumphed in displaying the warlike atchievements. LySIAS, THUCYDIDES, PLATO, and ISOCRATES difcover, all of them, the fame partiality; which tho' condemned by calm reafon and reflection, appears fo natural in the mind of man.

'Tis obfervable, that the great charm of poetry confifts in lively pictures of the fublime paffions, magnanimity, courage, difdain of fortune; or thofe of the tender affections, love and friendship; which warm the heart, and diffuse over it fimilar fentiments and emotions. And though all kinds of paffion, even the moft difagreeable, fuch as grief and anger, are observed, when excited by poetry, to convey a fatisfaction, from a mechanism of nature, not easy to be explained: Yet thofe more elevated or fofter affections have a peculiar influence, and please from more than one cause or principle. Not to mention, that they alone intereft us in the fortune of the perfons represented, or communicate any esteem and affection for their character.

And can it poffibly be doubted, that this talent itself of poets, to move the paffions, this PATHETIC and SUBLIME of fentiment, is a very confiderable merit, and being enhanced by its extreme rarity, may exalt the perfon poffeffed of it, above every character of the age in which he lives? The prudence, addrefs, fteadiness, and benign government of AUGUSTUS, adorned with all the fplendor of his noble birth and imperial crown, render him but an unequal competitor for fame with VIRGIL, who lays nothing into the opposite scale but the divine beauties of his poetical genius.

as

The very fenfibility to these beauties or a DELICACY of tafte, is itself a beauty in any character; conveying the pureft, the moft durable, and most innocent of all enjoyments.

Thefe

These are some instances of the species of merit, that are valued for the immediate pleasure, which they communicate to the perfon poffeffed of them. No views of utility or of future beneficial confequences enter into this sentiment of approbation; yet is it of a kind fimilar to that other sentiment, which arifes from views of a public or private utility. The fame social sympathy, we may obferve, or fellow-feeling with human happiness or misery, gives rise to both; and this analogy in all the parts of the present theory, may justly be regarded as a confirmation of it.

SECTION

VIII.

Of QUALITIES IMMEDIATELY AGREEABLE to OTHERS +.

S the mutual shocks, in fociety, and the oppofitions

of intereft and felf-love have constrained mankind to establish the laws of justice; in order to preserve the advantages of common affiftance and protection: In like. manner, the eternal contrarieties, in company, of men's pride and felf-conceit, have introduced the rules of GOOD-MANNERS or POLITENESS; in order to facilitate the intercourfe of minds, and an undisturbed commerce and conversation. Among well-bred people, a mutual deference is affected: Contempt of others difguised: Authority concealed: Attention given to each in his turn: And an easy stream of conversation maintained, without vehemence, without mutual interruption, without eagerness for victory, and without any airs of fuperiority. These attentions and regards are immediately agreeable to others, abftracted from any confideration of utility or beneficial tendencies: They conciliate affection, promote esteem, and enhance extremely the merit of the perfon, who regulates his behaviour by them.

+ 'Tis the nature, and, indeed, the definition of virtue, that 'tis a quality of the mind agreeable to or approved of by every one, who confiders or contemplates it. But fome qualities produce pleasure, because they are useful to society, or useful or agreeable to the perfon himself; others produce it more immediately: Which is the class of virtues here confidered.

Many'

Many of the forms of breeding are arbitrary and cafual: But the thing expreffed by them is ftill the fame. A SPANIARD goes out of his own house before his guest, to signify that he leaves him mafter of all. In other countries, the landlord walks out laft, as a common mark of deference and regard.

But, in order to render a man perfect good company, he must have WIT and INGENUITY as well as goodmanners. What wit is, it may not be easy to define : but 'tis easy surely to determine, that 'tis a quality immediately agreeable to others, and communicating, on its first appearance, a lively joy and fatisfaction to every one who has any comprehension of it. The most profound metaphysics, indeed, might be employed, in explaining the various kinds and fpecies of wit; and many claffes of it, which are now received on the fole teftimony of taste and fentiment, might, perhaps, be refolved into more general principles. But this is fufficient for our present purpose, that it does affect tafte and fentiment, and bestowing an immediate enjoyment, is a fure fource of approbation and affection.

In countries, where men pass most of their time in conversation, and vifits and affemblies, thefe companionable qualities, fo to fpeak, are of high eftimation, and form a chief part of perfonal merit. In countries, where men live a more domeftic life, and either are employed in bufinefs or amufe themselves in a narrower circle of acquaintance, the more folid qualities are chiefly regarded. Thus, I have often obferved, that among the FRENCH, the first questions, with regard to a stranger, are, Is he polite? Has he wit? In our own country, the chief praise bestowed, is always that of a good-natured, fenfible fellow.

In conversation, the lively fpirit of dialogue is agreeable, even to those who defire not to have any fhare of

the difcourfe: Hence the teller of long ftories, or the pompous declaimer, is very little approved of. But moft men defire likewife their turn in the converfation, and regard, with a very evil eye, that loquacity, which deprives them of a right they are naturally fo jealous of.

There are a fet of harmless liars, frequently to be met with in company, who deal much in the marvelous. Their ufual intention is to pleafe and entertain; but as men are most delighted with what they conceive to be truth, these people mistake extremely the means of pleafing, and incur universal blame. Some indulgence, however, to lying or fiction is given in humorous ftories; because it is there really agreeable and entertaining; and truth is not of any importance.

Eloquence, genius of all kinds, even good fenfe, and found reasoning, when it rises to an eminent degree, and is employed upon fubjects of any confiderable dignity and nice difcernment; all thefe endowments feem immediately agreeable, and have a merit distinct from their ufefulness. Rarity, likewife, which fo much enhances the price of every thing, muft fet an additional value on thefe noble talents of the human mind.

Modefty may be understood in different fenfes, even abftracted from chastity, which has been already treated of. It fometimes means that tenderness and nicety of honour, that apprehenfion of blame, that dread of intrufion or injury towards others, that PUDOR, which is the proper guardian of every kind of virtue, and a fure prefervative againft vice and corruption. But its most ufual meaning is when it is opposed to impudence and arrogance, and expreffes a diffidence of our own judgment, and a due attention and regard to others. In young men. chiefly, this quality is a fure fign of good fenfe; and is alfo the certain means of augmenting that endowment, by preferving their ears open to inftruction, and making

them