,a ,,vindication ,,of ,,the ,,rights ,,of ,,men1 ,,in ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,,right ,,honourable ,,edmund ,,burke2 ,,occasioned ,,by ,,his ,,reflections ,,on ,,the ,,revolution ,,in ,,france4 ,by ,,mary ,,wollstonecraft4 ,,the ,,second ,,edition4 ,,london3 ,,printed ,,for ,j4 ,,johnson4 ,,no4 #gb1 ,,st4 ,,paul',s ,,church-,,yard4 ,m4 ,,dcc4 ,,xc4 ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,advertisement4 ,mr4 ,burke's ,reflections on the ,french ,revolution first engaged my attention as the transient topic of the day2 and reading it more for amusement than information1 my indignation was roused by the sophistical arguments1 that every moment crossed me1 in the questionable shape of natural feelings and common sense4 ,many pages of the following letter were the effusions of the moment2 but1 swelling imperceptibly to a considerable size1 the idea was suggested of publishing a short vindication of the ,rights of ,men4 ,not having leisure or patience to follow this desultory writer through all the devious tracks in which his fancy has started fresh game1 ,i have confined my strictures1 in a great measure1 to the grand principles at which he has levelled many ingenious arguments in a very specious garb4 ,a ,,letter ,,to ,,the ,right ,honourable ,,edmund ,,burke4 ,,sir1 ,it is not necessary1 with courtly insincerity1 to apologise to you for thus intruding on your precious time1 not to profess that ,i think it an honour to discuss an important subject with a man whose literary abilities have raised him to notice in the state4 ,i have not yet learned to twist my periods1 nor1 in the equivocal idiom of politeness1 to disguise my sentiments1 and imply what ,i should be afraid to utter3 if1 therefore1 in the course of this epistle1 ,i chance to express contempt1 and even indignation1 with some emphasis1 ,i beseech you to believe that it is not a flight of fancy2 for truth1 in morals1 has ever appeared to me the essence of the sublime2 and1 in taste1 simplicity the only criterion of the beautiful4 ,but ,i war not with an individual when ,i contend for the rights of men and the liberty of reason4 ,you see ,i do not condescend to cull my words to avoid the invidious phrase1 nor shall ,i be prevented from giving a manly definition of it1 by the flimsy ridicule which a lively fancy has interwoven with the present acceptation of the term4 ,reverencing the rights of humanity1 ,i shall dare to assert them2 not intimidated by the horse laugh that you have raised1 or waiting till time has wiped away the compassionate tears which you have elaborately laboured to excite4 ,from the many just sentiments interspersed through the letter before me1 and from the whole tendency of it1 ,i should believe you to be a good1 though a vain man1 if some circumstances in your conduct did not render the inflexibility of your integrity doubtful2 and for this vanity a knowledge of human nature enables me to discover such extenuating circumstances1 in the very texture of your mind1 that ,i am ready to call it amiable1 and separate the public from the private character4 ,i know that a lively imagination renders a man particularly calculated to shine in conversation and in those desultory productions where method is disregarded2 and the instantaneous applause which his eloquence extorts is at once a reward and a spur4 ,once a wit and always a wit1 is an aphorism that has received the sanction of experience2 yet ,i am apt to conclude that the man who with scrupulous anxiety endeavours to support that shining character1 can never nourish by reflection any profound1 or1 if you please1 metaphysical passion4 ,ambition becomes only the tool of vanity1 and his reason1 the weather-cock of unrestrained feelings1 is only employed to varnish over the faults which it ought to have corrected4 ,sacred1 however1 would the infirmities and errors of a good man be1 in my eyes1 if they were only displayed in a private circle2 if the venial fault only rendered the wit anxious1 like a celebrated beauty1 to raise admiration on every occasion1 and excite emotion1 instead of the calm reciprocation of mutual esteem and unimpassioned respect4 ,such vanity enlivens social intercourse1 and forces the little great man to be always on his guard to secure his throne2 and an ingenious man1 who is ever on the watch for conquest1 will1 in his eagerness to exhibit his whole store of knowledge1 furnish an attentive observer with some useful information1 calcined by fancy and formed by taste4 ,and though some dry reasoner might whisper that the arguments were superficial1 and should even add1 that the feelings which are thus ostentatiously displayed are often the cold declamation of the head1 and not the effusions of the heart--what will these shrewd remarks avail1 when the witty arguments and ornamental feelings are on a level with the comprehension of the fashionable world1 and a book is found very amusing8 ,even the ,ladies1 ,sir1 may repeat your sprightly sallies1 and retail in theatrical attitudes many of your sentimental exclamations4 ,sensibility is the manie of the day1 and compassion the virtue which is to cover a multitude of vices1 whilst justice is left to mourn in sullen silence1 and balance truth in vain4 ,in life1 an honest man with a confined understanding is frequently the slave of his habits and the dupe of his feelings1 whilst the man with a clearer head and colder heart makes the passions of others bend to his interest2 but truly sublime is the character that acts from principle1 and governs the inferior springs of activity without slackening their vigour2 whose feelings give vital heat to his resolves1 but never hurry him into feverish eccentricities4 ,however1 as you have informed us that respect chills love1 it is natural to conclude1 that all your pretty flights arise from your pampered sensibility2 and that1 vain of this fancied pre-eminence of organs1 you foster every emotion till the fumes1 mounting to your brain1 dispel the sober suggestions of reason4 ,it is not in this view surprising1 that when you should argue you become impassioned1 and that reflection inflames your imagination1 instead of enlightening your understanding4 ,quitting now the flowers of rhetoric1 let us1 ,sir1 reason together2 and1 believe me1 ,i should not have meddled with these troubled waters1 in order to point out your inconsistencies1 if your wit had not burnished up some rusty1 baneful opinions1 and swelled the shallow current of ridicule till it resembled the flow of reason1 and presumed to be the test of truth4 ,i shall not attempt to follow you through 8horse-way and foot-path20 but1 attacking the foundation of your opinions1 ,i shall leave the superstructure to find a centre of gravity on which it may lean till some strong blast puffs it into air2 or your teeming fancy1 which the ripening judgment of sixty years has not tamed1 produces another ,chinese erection1 to stare1 at every turn1 the plain country people in the face1 who bluntly call such an airy edifice--a folly4 ,the birthright of man1 to give you1 ,sir1 a short definition of this disputed right1 is such a degree of liberty1 civil and religious1 as is compatible with the liberty of every other individual with whom he is united in a social compact1 and the continued existence of that compact4 ,liberty1 in this simple1 unsophisticated sense1 ,i acknowledge1 is a fair idea that has never yet received a form in the various governments that have been established on our beauteous globe2 the demon of property has ever been at hand to encroach on the sacred rights of men1 and to fence round with awful pomp laws that war with justice4 ,but that it results from the eternal foundation of right--from immutable truth--who will presume to deny1 that pretends to rationality--if reason has led them to build their morality#a and religion on an everlasting foundation--the attributes of ,god8 ,i glow with indignation when ,i attempt1 methodically1 to unravel your slavish paradoxes1 in which ,i can find no fixed first principle to refute2 ,i shall not1 therefore1 condescend to shew where you affirm in one page what you deny in another2 and how frequently you draw conclusions without any previous premises3--it would be something like cowardice to fight with a man who had never exercised the weapons with which his opponent chose to combat1 and irksome to refute sentence after sentence in which the latent spirit of tyranny appeared4 ,i perceive1 from the whole tenor of your ,reflections1 that you have a mortal antipathy to reason2 but1 if there is any thing like argument1 or first principles1 in your wild declamation1 behold the result3--that we are to reverence the rust of antiquity1 and term the unnatural customs1 which ignorance and mistaken self-interest have consolidated1 the sage fruit of experience3 nay1 that1 if we do discover some errors1 our feelings should lead us to excuse1 with blind love1 or unprincipled filial affection1 the venerable vestiges of ancient days4 ,these are gothic notions of beauty--the ivy is beautiful1 but1 when it insidiously destroys the trunk from which it receives support1 who would not grub it up8 ,further1 that we ought cautiously to remain for ever in frozen inactivity1 because a thaw1 whilst it nourishes the soil1 spreads a temporary inundation2 and the fear of risking any personal present convenience should prevent a struggle for the most estimable advantages4 ,this is sound reasoning1 ,i grant1 in the mouth of the rich and short-sighted4 ,yes1 ,sir1 the strong gained riches1 the few have sacrificed the many to their vices2 and1 to be able to pamper their appetites1 and supinely exist without exercising mind or body1 they have ceased to be men4--,lost to the relish of true pleasure1 such beings would1 indeed1 deserve compassion1 if injustice was not softened by the tyrant's plea--necessity2 if prescription was not raised as an immortal boundary against innovation4 ,their minds1 in fact1 instead of being cultivated1 have been so warped by education1 that it may require some ages to bring them back to nature1 and enable them to see their true interest1 with that degree of conviction which is necessary to influence their conduct4 ,the civilization which has taken place in ,europe has been very partial1 and1 like every custom that an arbitrary point of honour has established1 refines the manners at the expence of morals1 by making sentiments and opinions current in conversation that have no root in the heart1 or weight in the cooler resolves of the mind4--,and what has stopped its progress8--hereditary property--hereditary honours4 ,the man has been changed into an artificial monster by the station in which he was born1 and the consequent homage that benumbed his faculties like the torpedo's touch2--or a being1 with a capacity of reasoning1 would not have failed to discover1 as his faculties unfolded1 that true happiness arose from the friendship and intimacy which can only be enjoyed by equals2 and that charity is not a condescending distribution of alms1 but an intercourse of good offices and mutual benefits1 founded on respect for justice and humanity4 ,governed by these principles1 the poor wretch1 whose inelegant distress extorted from a mixed feeling of disgust and animal sympathy present relief1 would have been considered as a man1 whose misery demanded a part of his birthright1 supposing him to be industrious2 but should his vices have reduced him to poverty1 he could only have addressed his fellow-men as weak beings1 subject to like passions1 who ought to forgive1 because they expect to be forgiven1 for suffering the impulse of the moment to silence the suggestions of conscience1 or reason1 which you will2 for1 in my view of things1 they are synonymous terms4 ,will ,mr4 ,burke be at the trouble to inform us1 how far we are to go back to discover the rights of men1 since the light of reason is such a fallacious guide that none but fools trust to its cold investigation8 ,in the infancy of society1 confining our view to our own country1 customs were established by the lawless power of an ambitious individual2 or a weak prince was obliged to comply with every demand of the licentious barbarous insurgents1 who disputed his authority with irrefragable arguments at the point of their swords2 or the more specious requests of the ,parliament1 who only allowed him conditional supplies4 ,are these the venerable pillars of our constitution8 ,and is ,magna ,charta to rest for its chief support on a former grant1 which reverts to another1 till chaos becomes the base of the mighty structure--or we cannot tell what8--for coherence1 without some pervading principle of order1 is a solecism4 ,speaking of ,edward the ,i,i,id4 ,hume observes1 that #8he was a prince of great capacity1 not governed by favourites1 not led astray by any unruly passion1 sensible that nothing could be more essential to his interests than to keep on good terms with his people3 yet1 on the whole1 it appears that the government1 at best1 was only a barbarous monarchy1 not regulated by any fixed maxims1 or bounded by any certain or undisputed rights1 which in practice were regularly observed4 ,the ,king conducted himself by one set of principles2 the ,barons by another2 the ,commons by a third2 the ,clergy by a fourth4 ,all these systems of government were opposite and incompatible3 each of them prevailed in its turn1 as incidents were favourable to it3 a great prince rendered the monarchical power predominant3 the weakness of a king gave reins to the aristocracy3 a superstitious age saw the clergy triumphant3 the people1 for whom chiefly government was instituted1 and who chiefly deserve consideration1 were the weakest of the whole4' ,and just before that most auspicious ra1 the fourteenth century1 during the reign of ,richard ,,ii4 whose total incapacity to manage the reins of power1 and keep in subjection his haughty ,barons1 rendered him a mere cypher2 the ,house of ,commons1 to whom he was obliged frequently to apply1 not only for subsidies but assistance to quell the insurrections that the contempt in which he was held naturally produced1 gradually rose into power2 for whenever they granted supplies to the ,king1 they demanded in return1 though it bore the name of petition1 a confirmation1 or the renewal of former charters1 which had been infringed1 and even utterly disregarded by the ,king and his seditious ,barons1 who principally held their independence of the crown by force of arms1 and the encouragement which they gave to robbers and villains1 who infested the country1 and lived by rapine and violence4 ,to what dreadful extremities were the poorer sort reduced1 their property1 the fruit of their industry1 being entirely at the disposal of their lords1 who were so many petty tyrants6 ,in return for the supplies and assistance which the king received from the commons1 they demanded privileges1 which ,edward1 in his distress for money to prosecute the numerous wars in which he was engaged during the greater part of his reign1 was constrained to grant them2 so that by degrees they rose to power1 and became a check on both king and nobles4 ,thus was the foundation of our liberty established1 chiefly through the pressing necessities of the king1 who was more intent on being supplied for the moment1 in order to carry on his wars and ambitious projects1 than aware of the blow he gave to kingly power1 by thus making a body of men feel their importance1 who afterwards might strenuously oppose tyranny and oppression1 and effectually guard the subject's property from seizure and confiscation4 ,richard's weakness completed what ,edward's ambition began4 ,at this period1 it is true1 ,wickliffe opened a vista for reason by attacking some of the most pernicious tenets of the church of ,rome2 still the prospect was sufficiently misty to authorize the question--,where was the dignity of thinking of the fourteenth century8 ,a ,roman ,catholic1 it is true1 enlightened by the reformation1 might1 with singular propriety1 celebrate the epoch that preceded it1 to turn our thoughts from former atrocious enormities2 but a ,protestant must acknowledge that this faint dawn of liberty only made the subsiding darkness more visible2 and that the boasted virtues of that century all bear the stamp of stupid pride and headstrong barbarism4 ,civility was then called condescension1 and ostentatious almsgiving humanity2 and men were content to borrow their virtues1 or1 to speak with more propriety1 their consequence1 from posterity1 rather than undertake the arduous task of acquiring it for themselves4 ,the imperfection of all modern governments must1 without waiting to repeat the trite remark1 that all human institutions are unavoidably imperfect1 in a great measure have arisen from this simple circumstance1 that the constitution1 if such an heterogeneous mass deserve that name1 was settled in the dark days of ignorance1 when the minds of men were shackled by the grossest prejudices and most immoral superstition4 ,and do you1 ,sir1 a sagacious philosopher1 recommend night as the fittest time to analyze a ray of light8 ,are we to seek for the rights of men in the ages when a few marks were the only penalty imposed for the life of a man1 and death for death when the property of the rich was touched8 when--,i blush to discover the depravity of our nature--when a deer was killed6 ,are these the laws that it is natural to love1 and sacrilegious to invade8--,were the rights of men understood when the law authorized or tolerated murder8--or is power and right the same in your creed8 ,but in fact all your declamation leads so directly to this conclusion1 that ,i beseech you to ask your own heart1 when you call yourself a friend of liberty1 whether it would not be more consistent to style yourself the champion of property1 the adorer of the golden image which power has set up8--,and1 when you are examining your heart1 if it would not be too much like mathematical drudgery1 to which a fine imagination very reluctantly stoops1 enquire further1 how it is consistent with the vulgar notions of honesty1 and the foundation of morality--truth2 for a man to boast of his virtue and independence1 when he cannot forget that he is at the moment enjoying the wages of falsehood#b2 and that1 in a skulking1 unmanly way1 he has secured himself a pension of fifteen hundred pounds per annum on the ,irish establishment8 ,do honest men1 ,sir1 for ,i am not rising to the refined principle of honour1 ever receive the reward of their public services1 or secret assistance1 in the name of another8 ,but to return from a digression which you will more perfectly understand than any of my readers--on what principle you1 ,sir1 can justify the reformation1 which tore up by the roots an old establishment1 ,i cannot guess--but1 ,i beg your pardon1 perhaps you do not wish to justify it--and have some mental reservation to excuse you1 to yourself1 for not openly avowing your reverence4 ,or1 to go further back2--had you been a ,jew--you would have joined in the cry1 crucify him6--crucify him6 ,the promulgator of a new doctrine1 and the violator of old laws and customs1 that not melting1 like ours1 into darkness and ignorance1 rested on ,divine authority1 must have been a dangerous innovator1 in your eyes1 particularly if you had not been informed that the ,carpenter's ,son was of the stock and lineage of ,david4 ,but there is no end to the arguments which might be deduced to combat such palpable absurdities1 by shewing the manifest inconsistencies which are necessarily involved in a direful train of false opinions4 ,it is necessary emphatically to repeat1 that there are rights which men inherit at their birth1 as rational creatures1 who were raised above the brute creation by their improvable faculties2 and that1 in receiving these1 not from their forefathers but1 from ,god1 prescription can never undermine natural rights4 ,a father may dissipate his property without his child having any right to complain2--but should he attempt to sell him for a slave1 or fetter him with laws contrary to reason2 nature1 in enabling him to discern good from evil1 teaches him to break the ignoble chain1 and not to believe that bread becomes flesh1 and wine blood1 because his parents swallowed the ,eucharist with this blind persuasion4 ,there is no end to this implicit submission to authority--some where it must stop1 or we return to barbarism2 and the capacity of improvement1 which gives us a natural sceptre on earth1 is a cheat1 an ignis-fatuus1 that leads us from inviting meadows into bogs and dunghills4 ,and if it be allowed that many of the precautions1 with which any alteration was made1 in our government1 were prudent1 it rather proves its weakness than substantiates an opinion of the soundness of the stamina1 or the excellence of the constitution4 ,but on what principle ,mr4 ,burke could defend ,american independence1 ,i cannot conceive2 for the whole tenor of his plausible arguments settles slavery on an everlasting foundation4 ,allowing his servile reverence for antiquity1 and prudent attention to self-interest1 to have the force which he insists on1 the slave trade ought never to be abolished2 and1 because our ignorant forefathers1 not understanding the native dignity of man1 sanctioned a traffic that outrages every suggestion of reason and religion1 we are to submit to the inhuman custom1 and term an atrocious insult to humanity the love of our country1 and a proper submission to the laws by which our property is secured4--,security of property6 ,behold1 in a few words1 the definition of ,english liberty4 ,and to this selfish principle every nobler one is sacrificed4--,the ,briton takes place of the man1 and the image of ,god is lost in the citizen6 ,but it is not that enthusiastic flame which in ,greece and ,rome consumed every sordid passion3 no1 self is the focus2 and the disparting rays rise not above our foggy atmosphere4 ,but softly--it is only the property of the rich that is secure2 the man who lives by the sweat of his brow has no asylum from oppression2 the strong man may enter--when was the castle of the poor sacred8 and the base informer steal him from the family that depend on his industry for subsistence4 ,fully sensible as you must be of the baneful consequences that inevitably follow this notorious infringement on the dearest rights of men1 and that it is an infernal blot on the very face of our immaculate constitution1 ,i cannot avoid expressing my surprise that when you recommended our form of government as a model1 you did not caution the ,french against the arbitrary custom of pressing men for the sea service4 ,you should have hinted to them1 that property in ,england is much more secure than liberty1 and not have concealed that the liberty of an honest mechanic--his all--is often sacrificed to secure the property of the rich4 ,for it is a farce to pretend that a man fights for his country1 his hearth1 or his altars1 when he has neither liberty nor property4--,his property is in his nervous arms--and they are compelled to pull a strange rope at the surly command of a tyrannic boy1 who probably obtained his rank on account of his family connections1 or the prostituted vote of his father1 whose interest in a borough1 or voice as a senator1 was acceptable to the minister4 ,our penal laws punish with death the thief who steals a few pounds2 but to take by violence1 or trepan1 a man1 is no such heinous offence4--,for who shall dare to complain of the venerable vestige of the law that rendered the life of a deer more sacred than that of a man8 ,but it was the poor man with only his native dignity who was thus oppressed--and only metaphysical sophists and cold mathematicians can discern this insubstantial form2 it is a work of abstraction--and a gentleman of lively imagination must borrow some drapery from fancy before he can love or pity a man4--,misery1 to reach your heart1 ,i perceive1 must have its cap and bells2 your tears are reserved1 very naturally considering your character1 for the declamation of the theatre1 or for the downfall of queens1 whose rank alters the nature of folly1 and throws a graceful veil over vices that degrade humanity2 whilst the distress of many industrious mothers1 whose helpmates have been torn from them1 and the hungry cry of helpless babes1 were vulgar sorrows that could not move your commiseration1 though they might extort an alms4 #8,the tears that are shed for fictitious sorrow are admirably adapted1' says ,rousseau1 #8to make us proud of all the virtues which we do not possess4' ,the baneful effects of the despotic practice of pressing we shall1 in all probability1 soon feel2 for a number of men1 who have been taken from their daily employments1 will shortly be let loose on society1 now that there is no longer any apprehension of a war4 ,the vulgar1 and by this epithet ,i mean not only to describe a class of people1 who1 working to support the body1 have not had time to cultivate their minds2 but likewise those who1 born in the lap of affluence1 have never had their invention sharpened by necessity are1 nine out of ten1 the creatures of habit and impulse4 ,if ,i were not afraid to derange your nervous system by the bare mention of a metaphysical enquiry1 ,i should observe1 ,sir1 that self-preservation is1 literally speaking1 the first law of nature2 and that the care necessary to support and guard the body is the first step to unfold the mind1 and inspire a manly spirit of independence4 ,the mewing babe in swaddling clothes1 who is treated like a superior being1 may perchance become a gentleman2 but nature must have given him uncommon faculties if1 when pleasure hangs on every bough1 he has sufficient fortitude either to exercise his mind or body in order to acquire personal merit4 ,the passions are necessary auxiliaries of reason3 a present impulse pushes us forward1 and when we discover that the game did not deserve the chace1 we find that we have gone over much ground1 and not only gained many new ideas1 but a habit of thinking4 ,the exercise of our faculties is the great end1 though not the goal we had in view when we started with such eagerness4 ,it would be straying still further into metaphysics to add1 that this is one of the strongest arguments for the natural immortality of the soul4--,every thing looks like a means1 nothing like an end1 or point of rest1 when we can say1 now let us sit down and enjoy the present moment2 our faculties and wishes are proportioned to the present scene2 we may return without repining to our sister clod4 ,and1 if no conscious dignity whisper that we are capable of relishing more refined pleasures1 the thirst of truth appears to be allayed2 and thought1 the faint type of an immaterial energy1 no longer bounding it knows not where1 is confined to the tenement that affords it sufficient variety4--,the rich man may then thank his ,god that he is not like other men--but when is retribution to be made to the miserable1 who cry day and night for help1 and there is no one at hand to help them8 ,and not only misery but immorality proceeds from this stretch of arbitrary authority4 ,the vulgar have not the power of emptying their mind of the only ideas they imbibed whilst their hands were employed2 they cannot quickly turn from one kind of life to another4 ,pressing them entirely unhinges their minds2 they acquire new habits1 and cannot return to their old occupations with their former readiness2 consequently they fall into idleness1 drunkenness1 and the whole train of vices which you stigmatise as gross4 ,a government that acts in this manner cannot be called a good parent1 nor inspire natural 7habitual is the proper word7 affection1 in the breasts of children who are thus disregarded4 ,the game laws are almost as oppressive to the peasantry as press-warrants to the mechanic4 ,in this land of liberty what is to secure the property of the poor farmer when his noble landlord chooses to plant a decoy field near his little property8 ,game devour the fruit of his labour2 but fines and imprisonment await him if he dare to kill any--or lift up his hand to interrupt the pleasure of his lord4 ,how many families have been plunged1 in the sporting countries1 into misery and vice for some paltry transgression of these coercive laws1 by the natural consequence of that anger which a man feels when he sees the reward of his industry laid waste by unfeeling luxury8--when his children's bread is given to dogs6 ,you have shewn1 ,sir1 by your silence on these subjects1 that your respect for rank has swallowed up the common feelings of humanity2 you seem to consider the poor as only the live stock of an estate1 the feather of hereditary nobility4 ,when you had so little respect for the silent majesty of misery1 ,i am not surprised at your manner of treating an individual whose brow a mitre will never grace1 and whose popularity may have wounded your vanity--for vanity is ever fore4 ,even in ,france1 ,sir1 before the revolution1 literary celebrity procured a man the treatment of a gentleman2 but you are going back for your credentials of politeness to more distant times4--,gothic affability is the mode you think proper to adopt1 the condescension of a ,baron1 not the civility of a liberal man4 ,politeness is1 indeed1 the only substitute for humanity2 or what distinguishes the civilised man from the unlettered savage8 and he who is not governed by reason should square his behaviour by an arbitrary standard2 but by what rule your attack on ,dr4 ,price was regulated we have yet to learn4 ,i agree with you1 ,sir1 that the pulpit is not the place for political discussions1 though it might be more excusable to enter on such a subject1 when the day was set apart merely to commemorate a political revolution1 and no stated duty was encroached upon4 ,i will1 however1 wave this point1 and allow that ,dr4 ,price's zeal may have carried him further than sound reason can justify4 ,i do also most cordially coincide with you1 that till we can see the remote consequences of things1 present calamities must appear in the ugly form of evil1 and excite our commiseration4 ,the good that time slowly educes from them may be hid from mortal eye1 or dimly seen2 whilst sympathy compels man to feel for man1 and almost restrains the hand that would amputate a limb to save the whole body4 ,but1 after making this concession1 allow me to expostulate with you1 and calmly hold up the glass which will shew you your partial feelings4 ,in reprobating ,dr4 ,price's opinions you might have spared the man2 and if you had had but half as much reverence for the grey hairs of virtue as for the accidental distinctions of rank1 you would not have treated with such indecent familiarity and supercilious contempt1 a member of the community whose talents and modest virtues place him high in the scale of moral excellence4 ,i am not accustomed to look up with vulgar awe1 even when mental superiority exalts a man above his fellows2 but still the sight of a man whose habits are fixed by piety and reason1 and whose virtues are consolidated into goodness1 commands my homage--and ,i should touch his errors with a tender hand when ,i made a parade of my sensibility4 ,granting1 for a moment1 that ,dr4 ,price's political opinions are ,utopian reveries1 and that the world is not yet sufficiently civilized to adopt such a sublime system of morality2 they could1 however1 only be the reveries of a benevolent mind4 ,tottering on the verge of the grave1 that worthy man in his whole life never dreamt of struggling for power or riches2 and1 if a glimpse of the glad dawn of liberty rekindled the fire of youth in his veins1 you1 who could not stand the fascinating glance of a great ,lady's eyes1 when neither virtue nor sense beamed in them1 might have pardoned his unseemly transport1--if such it must be deemed4 ,i could almost fancy that ,i now see this respectable old man1 in his pulpit1 with hands clasped1 and eyes devoutly fixed1 praying with all the simple energy of unaffected piety2 or1 when more erect1 inculcating the dignity of virtue1 and enforcing the doctrines his life adorns2 benevolence animated each feature1 and persuasion attuned his accents2 the preacher grew eloquent1 who only laboured to be clear2 and the respect that he extorted1 seemed only the respect due to personified virtue and matured wisdom4--,is this the man you brand with so many opprobrious epithets8 he whose private life will stand the test of the strictest enquiry--away with such unmanly sarcasms1 and puerile conceits4--,but1 before ,i close this part of my animadversions1 ,i must convict you of wilful misrepresentation and wanton abuse4 ,dr4 ,price1 when he reasons on the necessity of men attending some place of public worship1 concisely obviates an objection that has been made in the form of an apology1 by advising those1 who do not approve of our ,liturgy1 and cannot find any mode of worship out of the church1 in which they can conscientiously join1 to establish one for themselves4 ,this plain advice you have tortured into a very different meaning1 and represented the preacher as actuated by a dissenting phrensy1 recommending dissensions1 #8not to diffuse truth1 but to spread contradictions#c4' ,a simple question will silence this impertinent declamation4--,what is truth8 ,a few fundamental truths meet the first enquiry of reason1 and appear as clear to an unwarped mind1 as that air and bread are necessary to enable the body to fulfil its vital functions2 but the opinions which men discuss with so much heat must be simplified and brought back to first principles2 or who can discriminate the vagaries of the imagination1 or scrupulosity of weakness1 from the verdict of reason8 ,let all these points be demonstrated1 and not determined by arbitrary authority and dark traditions1 lest a dangerous supineness should take place2 for probably1 in ceasing to enquire1 our reason would remain dormant1 and delivered up1 without a curb1 to every impulse of passion1 we might soon lose sight of the clear light which the exercise of our understanding no longer kept alive4 ,to argue from experience1 it should seem as if the human mind1 averse to thought1 could only be opened by necessity2 for1 when it can take opinions on trust1 it gladly lets the spirit lie quiet in its gross tenement4 ,perhaps the most improving exercise of the mind1 confining the argument to the enlargement of the understanding1 is the restless enquiries that hover on the boundary1 or stretch over the dark abyss of uncertainty4 ,these lively conjectures are the breezes that preserve the still lake from stagnating4 ,we should be aware of confining all moral excellence to one channel1 however capacious2 or1 if we are so narrow-minded1 we should not forget how much we owe to chance that our inheritance was not ,mahometism2 and that the iron hand of destiny1 in the shape of deeply rooted authority1 has not suspended the sword of destruction over our heads4 ,but to return to the misrepresentation4 #d;,blackstone1 to whom ,mr4 ,burke pays great deference1 seems to agree with ,dr4 ,price1 that the succession of the ,king of ,great ,britain depends on the choice of the people1 or that they have a power to cut it off2 but this power1 as you have fully proved1 has been cautiously exerted1 and might with more propriety be termed a right than a power4 ,be it so6--yet when you elaborately cited precedents to shew that our forefathers paid great respect to hereditary claims1 you might have gone back to your favourite epoch1 and shewn their respect for a church that fulminating laws have since loaded with opprobrium4 ,the preponderance of inconsistencies1 when weighed with precedents1 should lessen the most bigoted veneration for antiquity1 and force men of the eighteenth century to acknowledge1 that our canonized forefathers were unable1 or afraid1 to revert to reason1 without resting on the crutch of authority2 and should not be brought as a proof that their children are never to be allowed to walk alone4 ,when we doubt the infallible wisdom of our ancestors1 it is only advancing on the same ground to doubt the sincerity of the law1 and the propriety of that servile appellation--,,our ,,sovereign ,,lord ,,the ,,king4 ,who were the dictators of this adulatory language of the law8 ,were they not courtly parasites and worldly priests8 ,besides1 whoever at divine service1 whose feelings were not deadened by habit1 or their understandings quiescent1 ever repeated without horror the same epithets applied to a man and his ,creator8 ,if this is confused jargon--say what are the dictates of sober reason1 or the criterion to distinguish nonsense8 ,you further sarcastically animadvert on the consistency of the democratists1 by wresting the obvious meaning of a common phrase1 the dregs of the people2 or your contempt for poverty may have led you into an error4 ,be that as it may1 an unprejudiced man would have directly perceived the single sense of the word1 and an old ,member of ,parliament could scarcely have missed it4 ,he who had so often felt the pulse of the electors needed not have gone beyond his own experience to discover that the dregs alluded to were the vicious1 and not the lower class of the community4 ,again1 ,sir1 ,i must doubt your sincerity or your discernment4--,you have been behind the curtain2 and1 though it might be difficult to bring back your sophisticated heart to nature and make you feel like a man1 yet the awestruck confusion in which you were plunged must have gone off when the vulgar emotion of wonder1 excited by finding yourself a ,senator1 had subsided4 ,then you must have seen the clogged wheels of corruption continually oiled by the sweat of the laborious poor1 squeezed out of them by unceasing taxation4 ,you must have discovered that the majority in the ,house of ,commons was often purchased by the crown1 and that the people were oppressed by the influence of their own money1 extorted by the venal voice of a packed representation4 ,you must have known that a man of merit cannot rise in the church1 the army1 or navy1 unless he has some interest in a borough2 and that even a paltry exciseman's place can only be secured by electioneering interest4 ,i will go further1 and assert that few ,bishops1 though there have been learned and good ,bishops1 have gained the mitre without submitting to a servility of dependence that degrades the man4--,all these circumstances you must have known1 yet you talk of virtue and liberty1 as the vulgar talk of the letter of the law2 and the polite of propriety4 ,it is true that these ceremonial observances produce decorum2 the sepulchres are white-washed1 and do not offend the squeamish eyes of high rank2 but virtue is out of the question when you only worship a shadow1 and worship it to secure your property4 ,man has been termed1 with strict propriety1 a microcosm1 a little world in himself4--,he is so2--yet must1 however1 be reckoned an ephemera1 or1 to adopt your figure of rhetoric1 a summer's fly4 ,the perpetuation of property in our families is one of the privileges you most warmly contend for2 yet it would not be very difficult to prove that the mind must have a very limited range that thus confines its benevolence to such a narrow circle1 which1 with great propriety1 may be included in the sordid calculations of blind self-love4 ,a brutal attachment to children has appeared most conspicuous in parents who have treated them like slaves1 and demanded due homage for all the property they transferred to them1 during their lives4 ,it has led them to force their children to break the most sacred ties2 to do violence to a natural impulse1 and run into legal prostitution to increase wealth or shun poverty2 and1 still worse1 the dread of parental malediction has made many weak characters violate truth in the face of ,heaven2 and1 to avoid a father's angry curse1 the most sacred promises have been broken4 ,it appears to be a natural suggestion of reason1 that a man should be freed from implicit obedience to parents and private punishments1 when he is of an age to be subject to the jurisdiction of the laws of his country2 and that the barbarous cruelty of allowing parents to imprison their children1 to prevent their contaminating their noble blood by following the dictates of nature when they chose to marry1 or for any misdemeanor that does not come under the cognizance of public justice1 is one of the most arbitrary violations of liberty4 ,who can recount all the unnatural crimes which the laudable1 interesting desire of perpetuating a name has produced8 ,the younger children have been sacrificed to the eldest son2 sent into exile1 or confined in convents1 that they might not encroach on what was called1 with shameful falsehood1 the family estate4 ,will ,mr4 ,burke call this parental affection reasonable or virtuous8--,no2 it is the spurious offspring of over-weening1 mistaken pride--and not that first source of civilization1 natural parental affection1 that makes no difference between child and child1 but what reason justifies by pointing out superior merit4 ,another pernicious consequence which unavoidably arises from this artificial affection is1 the insuperable bar which it puts in the way of early marriages4 ,it would be difficult to determine whether the minds or bodies of our youth are most injured by this impediment4 ,our young men become selfish coxcombs1 and gallantry with modest women1 and intrigues with those of another description1 weaken both mind and body1 before either has arrived at maturity4 ,the character of a master of a family1 a husband1 and a father1 forms the citizen imperceptibly1 by producing a sober manliness of thought1 and orderly behaviour2 but1 from the lax morals and depraved affections of the libertine1 what results8--a finical man of taste1 who is only anxious to secure his own private gratifications1 and to maintain his rank in society4 ,the same system has an equally pernicious effect on female morals4--,girls are sacrificed to family convenience1 or else marry to settle themselves in a superior rank1 and coquet1 without restraint1 with the fine gentleman whom ,i have already described4 ,and to such lengths has this vanity1 this desire of shining1 carried them1 that it is not now necessary to guard girls against imprudent love matches2 for if some widows did not now and then fall in love1 ,love and ,hymen would seldom meet1 unless at a village church4 ,i do not intend to be sarcastically paradoxical when ,i say1 that women of fashion take husbands that they may have it in their power to coquet1 the grand business of genteel life1 with a number of admirers1 and thus flutter the spring of life away1 without laying up any store for the winter of age1 or being of any use to society4 ,affection in the marriage state can only be founded on respect--and are these weak beings respectable8 ,children are neglected for lovers1 and we express surprise that adulteries are so common6 ,a woman never forgets to adorn herself to make an impression on the senses of the other sex1 and to extort the homage which it is gallant to pay1 and yet we wonder that they have such confined understandings6 ,have ye not heard that we cannot serve two masters8 an immoderate desire to please contracts the faculties1 and immerges1 to borrow the idea of a great philosopher1 the soul in matter1 till it becomes unable to mount on the wing of contemplation4 ,it would be an arduous task to trace all the vice and misery that arise in society from the middle class of people apeing the manners of the great4 ,all are aiming to procure respect on account of their property2 and most places are considered as sinecures that enable men to start into notice4 ,the grand concern of three parts out of four is to contrive to live above their equals1 and to appear to be richer than they are4 ,how much domestic comfort and private satisfaction is sacrificed to this irrational ambition6 ,it is a destructive mildew that blights the fairest virtues2 benevolence1 friendship1 generosity1 and all those endearing charities which bind human hearts together1 and the pursuits which raise the mind to higher contemplations1 all that were not cankered in the bud by the false notions that #8grew with its growth and strengthened with its strength1' are crushed by the iron hand of property6 ,property1 ,i do not scruple to aver it1 should be fluctuating1 which would be the case1 if it were more equally divided amongst all the children of a family2 else it is an everlasting rampart1 in consequence of a barbarous feudal institution1 that enables the elder son to overpower talents and depress virtue4 ,besides1 an unmanly servility1 most inimical to true dignity of character is1 by this means1 fostered in society4 ,men of some abilities play on the follies of the rich1 and mounting to fortune as they degrade themselves1 they stand in the way of men of superior talents1 who cannot advance in such crooked paths1 or wade through the filth which parasites never boggle at4 ,pursuing their way straight forward1 their spirit is either bent or broken by the rich man's contumelies1 or the difficulties they have to encounter4 ,the only security of property that nature authorizes and reason sanctions is1 the right a man has to enjoy the acquisitions which his talents and industry have acquired2 and to bequeath them to whom he chooses4 ,happy would it be for the world if there were no other road to wealth or honour2 if pride1 in the shape of parental affection1 did not absorb the man1 and prevent friendship from having the same weight as relationship4 ,luxury and effeminacy would not then introduce so much idiotism into the noble families which form one of the pillars of our state3 the ground would not lie fallow1 nor would undirected activity of mind spread the contagion of restless idleness1 and its concomitant1 vice1 through the whole mass of society4 ,instead of gaming they might nourish a virtuous ambition1 and love might take place of the gallantry which you1 with knightly fealty1 venerate4 ,women would probably then act like mothers1 and the fine lady1 become a rational woman1 might think it necessary to superintend her family and suckle her children1 in order to fulfil her part of the social compact4 ,but vain is the hope1 whilst great masses of property are hedged round by hereditary honours2 for numberless vices1 forced in the hot-bed of wealth1 assume a sightly form to dazzle the senses and cloud the understanding4 ,the respect paid to rank and fortune damps every generous purpose of the soul1 and stifles the natural affections on which human contentment ought to be built4 ,who will venturously ascend the steeps of virtue1 or explore the great deep for knowledge1 when the one thing needful1 attained by less arduous exertions1 if not inherited1 procures the attention man naturally pants after1 and vice #8loses half its evil by losing all its grossness#e4'--,what a sentiment to come from a moral pen6 ,a surgeon would tell you that by skinning over a wound you spread disease through the whole frame2 and1 surely1 they indirectly aim at destroying all purity of morals1 who poison the very source of virtue1 by smearing a sentimental varnish over vice1 to hide its natural deformity4 ,stealing1 whoring1 and drunkenness1 are gross vices1 ,i presume1 though they may not obliterate every moral sentiment1 and have a vulgar brand that makes them appear with all their native deformity2 but overreaching1 adultery1 and coquetry1 are venial offences1 though they reduce virtue to an empty name1 and make wisdom consist in saving appearances4 #8,on this scheme of things#f a king is but a man2 a queen is but a woman2 a woman is but an animal1 and an animal not of the highest order4'--,all true1 ,sir2 if she is not more attentive to the duties of humanity than queens and fashionable ladies in general are1 ,i will still further accede to the opinion you have so justly conceived of the spirit which begins to animate this age4--#8,all homage paid to the sex in general1 as such1 and without distinct views1 is to be regarded as romance and folly4' ,undoubtedly2 because such homage vitiates them1 prevents their endeavouring to obtain solid personal merit2 and1 in short1 makes those beings vain inconsiderate dolls1 who ought to be prudent mothers and useful members of society4 #8,regicide and sacrilege are but fictions of superstition corrupting jurisprudence1 by destroying its simplicity4 ,the murder of a king1 or a queen1 or a bishop1 are only common homicide4'--,again ,i agree with you2 but you perceive1 ,sir1 that by leaving out the word father1 ,i think the whole extent of the comparison invidious4 ,you further proceed grossly to misrepresent ,dr4 ,price's meaning2 and1 with an affectation of holy fervour1 express your indignation at his profaning a beautiful rapturous ejaculation1 when alluding to the ,king of ,france's submission to the ,national ,assembly#g2 he rejoiced to hail a glorious revolution1 which promised an universal diffusion of liberty and happiness4 ,observe1 ,sir1 that ,i called your piety affectation4--,a rant to enable you to point your venomous dart1 and round your period4 ,i speak with warmth1 because1 of all hypocrites1 my soul most indignantly spurns a religious one2--and ,i very cautiously bring forward such a heavy charge1 to strip you of your cloak of sanctity4 ,your speech at the time the bill for a regency was agitated now lies before me4--,then you could in direct terms1 to promote ambitious or interested views1 exclaim without any pious qualms--#8,ought they to make a mockery of him1 putting a crown of thorns on his head1 a reed in his hand1 and dressing him in a raiment of purple1 cry1 ,hail6 ,king of the ,british6' ,where was your sensibility when you could utter this cruel mockery1 equally insulting to ,god and man8 ,go hence1 thou slave of impulse1 look into the private recesses of thy heart1 and take not a mote from thy brother's eye1 till thou hast removed the beam from thine own4 ,of your partial feelings ,i shall take another view1 and shew that #8following nature1 which is1' you say1 #8wisdom without reflection1 and above it'--has led you into great inconsistences1 to use the softest phrase4 ,when1 on a late melancholy occasion1 a very important question was agitated1 with what indecent warmth did you treat a woman1 for ,i shall not lay any stress on her title1 whose conduct in life has deserved praise1 though not1 perhaps1 the servile elogiums which have been lavished on the queen4 ,but sympathy1 and you tell us that you have a heart of flesh1 was made to give way to party spirit1 and the feelings of a man1 not to allude to your romantic gallantry1 to the views of the statesman4 ,when you descanted on the horrors of the #fth of ,october1 and gave a glowing1 and1 in some instances1 a most exaggerated description of that infernal night1 without having troubled yourself to clean your palette1 you might have returned home and indulged us with a sketch of the misery you personally aggravated4 ,with what eloquence might you not have insinuated1 that the sight of unexpected misery and strange reverse of fortune makes the mind recoil on itself2 and1 pondering1 traced the uncertainty of all human hope1 the frail foundation of sublunary grandeur6 ,what a climax lay before you4 ,a father torn from his children1--a husband from an affectionate wife1--a man from himself6 ,and not torn by the resistless stroke of death1 for time would then have lent its aid to mitigate remediless sorrow2 but that living death1 which only kept hope alive in the corroding form of suspense1 was a calamity that called for all your pity4 ,the sight of august ruins1 of a depopulated country--what are they to a disordered soul6 when all the faculties are mixed in wild confusion4 ,it is then indeed we tremble for humanity--and1 if some wild fancy chance to cross the brain1 we fearfully start1 and pressing our hand against our brow1 ask if we are yet men8--if our reason is undisturbed8--if judgment hold the helm8 ,marius might sit with dignity on the ruins of ,carthage1 and the wretch in the ,bastille1 who longed in vain to see the human face divine1 might yet view the operations of his own mind1 and vary the leaden prospect by new combinations of thought3 poverty1 shame1 and even slavery1 may be endured by the virtuous man--he has still a world to range in--but the loss of reason appears a monstrous flaw in the moral world1 that eludes all investigation1 and humbles without enlightening4 ,in this state was the ,king1 when you1 with unfeeling disrespect1 and indecent haste1 wished to strip him of all his hereditary honours4--,you were so eager to taste the sweets of power1 that you could not wait till time had determined1 whether a dreadful delirium would settle into a confirmed madness2 but1 prying into the secrets of ,omnipotence1 you thundered out that ,god had hurled him from his throne1 and that it was the most insulting mockery to recollect that he had been a king1 or to treat him with any particular respect on account of his former dignity4--,and who was the monster whom ,heaven had thus awfully deposed1 and smitten with such an angry blow8 ,surely as harmless a character as ,lewis ,x,v,ith2 and the queen of ,great ,britain1 though her heart may not be enlarged by generosity1 who will presume to compare her character with that of the queen of ,france8 ,where then was the infallibility of that extolled instinct which rises above reason8 was it warped by vanity1 or hurled from its throne by self-interest8 ,to your own heart answer these questions in the sober hours of reflection--and1 after reviewing this gust of passion1 learn to respect the sovereignty of reason4 ,i have1 ,sir1 been reading1 with a scrutinizing1 comparative eye1 several of your insensible and profane speeches during the ,king's illness4 ,i disdain to take advantage of a man's weak side1 or draw consequences from an unguarded transport--,a lion preys not on carcasses6 ,but on this occasion you acted systematically4 ,it was not the passion of the moment1 over which humanity draws a veil3 no2 what but the odious maxims of ,machiavelian policy could have led you to have searched in the very dregs of misery for forcible arguments to support your party8 ,had not vanity or interest steeled your heart1 you would have been shocked at the cold insensibility which could carry a man to those dreadful mansions1 where human weakness appears in its most awful form to calculate the chances against the ,king's recovery4 ,impressed as you are with respect for royalty1 ,i am astonished that you did not tremble at every step1 lest ,heaven should avenge on your guilty head the insult offered to its vicegerent4 ,but the conscience that is under the direction of transient ebullitions of feeling1 is not very tender or consistent1 when the current runs another way4 ,had you been in a philosophizing mood1 had your heart or your reason been at home1 you might have been convinced1 by ocular demonstration1 that madness is only the absence of reason4--,the ruling angel leaving its seat1 wild anarchy ensues4 ,you would have seen that the uncontrouled imagination often pursues the most regular course in its most daring flight2 and that the eccentricities are boldly relieved when judgment no longer officiously arranges the sentiments1 by bringing them to the test of principles4 ,you would have seen every thing out of nature in that strange chaos of levity and ferocity1 and of all sorts of follies jumbled together4 ,you would have seen in that monstrous tragi-comic scene the most opposite passions necessarily succeed1 and sometimes mix with each other in the mind2 alternate contempt and indignation2 alternate laughter and tears2 alternate scorn and horror#h4--,this is a true picture of that chaotic state of mind1 called madness2 when reason gone1 we know not where1 the wild elements of passion clash1 and all is horror and confusion4 ,you might have heard the best turned conceits1 flash following flash1 and doubted whether the rhapsody was not eloquent1 if it had not been delivered in an equivocal language1 neither verse nor prose1 if the sparkling periods had not stood alone1 wanting force because they wanted concatenation4 ,it is a proverbial observation1 that a very thin partition divides wit and madness4 ,poetry therefore naturally addresses the fancy1 and the language of passion is with great felicity borrowed from the heightened picture which the imagination draws of sensible objects concentred by impassioned reflection4 ,and1 during this #8fine phrensy1' reason has no right to rein-in the imagination1 unless to prevent the introduction of supernumerary images2 if the passion is real1 the head will not be ransacked for stale tropes and cold rodomontade4 ,i now speak of the genuine enthusiasm of genius1 which1 perhaps1 seldom appears1 but in the infancy of civilization2 for as this light becomes more luminous reason clips the wing of fancy--the youth becomes a man4 ,whether the glory of ,europe is set1 ,i shall not now enquire2 but probably the spirit of romance and chivalry is in the wane2 and reason will gain by its extinction4 ,from observing several cold romantic characters ,i have been led to confine the term romantic to one definition--false1 or rather artificial1 feelings4 ,works of genius are read with a prepossession in their favour1 and sentiments imitated1 because they were fashionable and pretty1 and not because they were forcibly felt4 ,in modern poetry the understanding and memory often fabricate the pretended effusions of the heart1 and romance destroys all simplicity2 which1 in works of taste1 is but a synonymous word for truth4 ,this romantic spirit has extended to our prose1 and scattered artificial flowers over the most barren heath2 or a mixture of verse and prose producing the strangest incongruities4 ,the turgid bombast of some of your periods fully proves these assertions2 for when the heart speaks we are seldom shocked by hyperbole1 or dry raptures4 ,i speak in this decided tone1 because from turning over the pages of your late publication1 with more attention than ,i did when ,i first read it cursorily over2 and comparing the sentiments it contains with your conduct on many important occasions1 ,i am led very often to doubt your sincerity1 and to suppose that you have said many things merely for the sake of saying them well2 or to throw some pointed obloquy on characters and opinions that jostled with your vanity4 ,it is an arduous task to follow the doublings of cunning1 or the subterfuges of inconsistency2 for in controversy1 as in battle1 the brave man wishes to face his enemy1 and fight on the same ground4 ,knowing1 however1 the influence of a ruling passion1 and how often it assumes the form of reason when there is much sensibility in the heart1 ,i respect an opponent1 though he tenaciously maintains opinions in which ,i cannot coincide2 but1 if ,i once discover that many of those opinions are empty rhetorical flourishes1 my respect is soon changed into that pity which borders on contempt2 and the mock dignity and haughty stalk1 only reminds me of the ass in the lion's skin4 ,a sentiment of this kind glanced across my mind when ,i read the following exclamation4 #8,whilst the royal captives1 who followed in the train1 were slowly moved along1 amidst the horrid yells1 and shrilling screams1 and frantic dances1 and infamous contumelies1 and all the unutterable abominations of the furies of hell1 in the abused shape of the #8vilest of women#i4' ,probably you mean women who gained a livelihood by selling vegetables or fish1 who never had had any advantages of education2 or their vices might have lost part of their abominable deformity1 by losing part of their grossness4 ,the queen of ,france--the great and small vulgar1 claim our pity2 they have almost insuperable obstacles to surmount in their progress towards true dignity of character2 still ,i have such a plain downright understanding that ,i do not like to make a distinction without a difference4 ,but it is not very extraordinary that you should1 for throughout your letter you frequently advert to a sentimental jargon which has long been current in conversation1 and even in books of morals1 though it never received the regal-stamp of reason4 ,a kind of mysterious instinct is supposed to reside in the soul1 that instantaneously discerns truth1 without the tedious labour of ratiocination4 ,this instinct1 for ,i know not what other name to give it1 has been termed common sense1 and more frequently sensibility2 and1 by a kind of indefeasible right1 it has been supposed1 for rights of this kind are not easily proved1 to reign paramount over the other faculties of the mind1 and to be an authority from which there is no appeal4 ,this subtle magnetic fluid1 that runs round the whole circle of society1 is not subject to any known rule1 or1 to use an obnoxious phrase1 in spite of the sneers of mock humility1 or the timid fears of some well-meaning ,christians1 who shrink from any freedom of thought1 lest they should rouse the old serpent1 to the eternal fitness of things4 ,it dips1 we know not why1 granting it to be an infallible instinct1 and1 though supposed always to point to truth1 its pole-star1 the point is always shifting1 and seldom stands due north4 ,it is to this instinct1 without doubt1 that you allude1 when you talk of the #8moral constitution of the heart4' ,to it1 ,i allow1 for ,i consider it as a congregate of sensations and passions1 ,poets must apply1 #8who have to deal with an audience not yet graduated in the school of the rights of men4' ,they must1 it is clear1 often cloud the understanding1 whilst they move the heart by a kind of mechanical spring2 but that #8in the theatre the first intuitive glance' of feeling should discriminate the form of truth1 and see her fair proportion1 ,i must beg leave to doubt4 ,sacred be the feelings of the heart6 concentred in a glowing flame1 they become the sun of life2 and1 without his invigorating impregnation1 reason would probably lie in helpless inactivity1 and never bring forth her only legitimate offspring--virtue4 ,but to prove that virtue is really an acquisition of the individual1 and not the blind impulse of unerring instinct1 the bastard vice has often been begotten by the same father4 ,in what respect are we superior to the brute creation1 if intellect is not allowed to be the guide of passion8 ,brutes hope and fear1 love and hate2 but1 without a capacity to improve1 a power of turning these passions to good or evil1 they neither acquire virtue nor wisdom4--,why8 ,because the ,creator has not given them reason#aj4 ,but the cultivation of reason is an arduous task1 and men of lively fancy1 finding it easier to follow the impulse of passion1 endeavour to persuade themselves and others that it is most natural4 ,and happy is it for those1 who indolently let that heaven-lighted spark rest like the ancient lamps in sepulchres1 that some virtuous habits1 with which the reason of others shackled them1 supplies its place4--,affection for parents1 reverence for superiors or antiquity1 notions of honour1 or that worldly self-interest that shrewdly shews them that honesty is the best policy3 all proceed from the reason for which they serve as substitutes2--but it is reason at second-hand4 ,children are born ignorant1 consequently innocent2 the passions1 are neither good nor evil dispositions1 till they receive a direction1 and either bound over the feeble barrier raised by a faint glimmering of unexercised reason1 called conscience1 or strengthen her wavering dictates till sound principles are deeply rooted1 and able to cope with the headstrong passions that often assume her awful form4 ,what moral purpose can be answered by extolling good dispositions1 as they are called1 when these good dispositions are described as instincts3 for instinct moves in a direct line to its ultimate end1 and asks not for guide or support4 ,but if virtue is to be acquired by experience1 or taught by example1 reason1 perfected by reflection1 must be the director of the whole host of passions1 which produce a fructifying heat1 but no light1 that you would exalt into her place4--,she must hold the rudder1 or1 let the wind blow which way it list1 the vessel will never advance smoothly to its destined port2 for the time lost in tacking about would dreadfully impede its progress4 ,in the name of the people of ,england1 you say1 #8that we know we have made no discoveries2 and we think that no discoveries are to be made in morality2 nor many in the great principles of government1 nor in the ideas of liberty1 which were understood long before we were born1 altogether as well as they will be after the grave has heaped its mould upon our presumption1 and the silent tomb shall have imposed its law on our pert loquacity4 ,in ,england we have not yet been completely emboweled of our natural entrails2 we still feel within us1 and we cherish and cultivate those inbred sentiments which are the faithful guardians1 the active monitors of our duty1 the true supporters of all liberal and manly morals#aa4'--,what do you mean by inbred sentiments8 ,from whence do they come8 ,how were they bred8 ,are they the brood of folly1 which swarm like the insects on the banks of the ,nile1 when mud and putrefaction have enriched the languid soil8 ,were these inbred sentiments faithful guardians of our duty when the church was an asylum for murderers1 and men worshipped bread as a ,god8 when slavery was authorized by law to fasten her fangs on human flesh1 and the iron eat into the very soul8 ,if these sentiments are not acquired1 if our passive dispositions do not expand into virtuous affections and passions1 why are not the ,tartars in the first rude horde endued with sentiments white and elegant as the driven snow8 ,why is passion or heroism the child of reflection1 the consequence of dwelling with intent contemplation on one object8 ,the appetites are the only perfect inbred powers that ,i can discern2 and they like instincts have a certain aim1 they can be satisfied--but improvable reason has not yet discovered the perfection it may arrive at--,god forbid6 ,first1 however1 it is necessary to make what we know practical4 ,who can deny1 that has marked the slow progress of civilization1 that men may become more virtuous and happy without any new discovery in morals8 ,who will venture to assert that virtue would not be promoted by the more extensive cultivation of reason8 ,if nothing more is to be done1 let us eat and drink1 for to-morrow we die--and die for ever6 ,who will pretend to say1 that there is as much happiness diffused on this globe as it is capable of affording8 as many social virtues as reason would foster1 if she could gain the strength she is able to acquire even in this imperfect state2 if the voice of nature was allowed to speak audibly from the bottom of the heart1 and the native unalienable rights of men were recognized in their full force2 if factitious merit did not take place of genuine acquired virtue1 and enable men to build their enjoyment on the misery of their fellow-creatures2 if men were more under the dominion of reason than opinion1 and did not cherish their prejudices #8because they were prejudices#ab8' ,i am not1 ,sir1 aware of your sneers1 hailing a millennium1 though a state of greater purity of morals may not be a mere poetic fiction2 nor did my fancy ever create a heaven on earth1 since reason threw off her swaddling clothes4 ,i perceive1 but too forcibly1 that happiness1 literally speaking1 dwells not here2--and that we wander to and fro in a vale of darkness as well as tears4 ,i perceive that my passions pursue objects that the imagination enlarges1 till they become only a sublime idea that shrinks from the enquiry of sense1 and mocks the experimental philosophers who would confine this spiritual phlogiston in their material crucibles4 ,i know that the human understanding is deluded with vain shadows1 and that when we eagerly pursue any study1 we only reach the boundary set to human enquires4--,thus far shalt thou go1 and no further1 says some stern difficulty2 and the cause we were pursuing melts into utter darkness4 ,but these are only the trials of contemplative minds1 the foundation of virtue remains firm4--,the power of exercising our understanding raises us above the brutes2 and this exercise produces that #8primary morality1' which you term #8untaught feelings4' ,if virtue be an instinct1 ,i renounce all hope of immortality2 and with it all the sublime reveries and dignified sentiments that have smoothed the rugged path of life3 it is all a cheat1 a lying vision2 ,i have disquieted myself in vain2 for in my eye all feelings are false and spurious1 that do not rest on justice as their foundation1 and are not concentred by universal love4 ,i reverence the rights of men4--,sacred rights6 for which ,i acquire a more profound respect1 the more ,i look into my own mind2 and1 professing these heterodox opinions1 ,i still preserve my bowels2 my heart is human1 beats quick with human sympathies--and ,i ,,fear ,god6 ,i bend with awful reverence when ,i enquire on what my fear is built4--,i fear that sublime power1 whose motive for creating me must have been wise and good2 and ,i submit to the moral laws which my reason deduces from this view of my dependence on him4--,it is not his power that ,i fear--it is not to an arbitrary will1 but to unerring reason ,i submit4--,submit--yes2 ,i disregard the charge of arrogance1 to the law that regulates his just resolves2 and the happiness ,i pant after must be the same in kind1 and produced by the same exertions as his--though unfeigned humility overwhelms every idea that would presume to compare the goodness which the most exalted created being could acquire1 with the grand source of life and bliss4 ,this fear of ,god makes me reverence myself4--,yes1 ,sir1 the regard ,i have for honest fame1 and the friendship of the virtuous1 falls far short of the respect which ,i have for myself4 ,and this1 enlightened self-love1 if an epithet the meaning of which has been grossly perverted will convey my idea1 forces me to see2 and1 if ,i may venture to borrow a prostituted term1 to feel1 that happiness is reflected1 and that1 in communicating good1 my soul receives its noble aliment4--,i do not trouble myself1 therefore1 to enquire whether this is the fear the people of ,england feel3--and1 if it be natural to include all the modifications which you have annexed--it is not#ac4 ,besides1 ,i cannot help suspecting that1 if you had the enlightened respect for yourself1 which you affect to despise1 you would not have said that the constitution of our church and state1 formed1 like most other modern ones1 by degrees1 as ,europe was emerging out of barbarism1 was formed #8under the auspices1 and was confirmed by the sanctions1 of religion and piety4' ,you have turned over the historic page2 have been hackneyed in the ways of men1 and must know that private cabals and public feuds1 private virtues and vices1 religion and superstition1 have all concurred to foment the mass and swell it to its present form2 nay more1 that it in part owes its sightly appearance to bold rebellion and insidious innovation4 ,factions1 ,sir1 have been the leaven1 and private interest has produced public good4 ,these general reflections are not thrown out to insinuate that virtue was a creature of yesterday3 ,no2 she had her share in the grand drama4 ,i guard against misrepresentation2 but the man who cannot modify general assertions1 has scarcely learned the first rudiments of reasoning4 ,i know that there is a great portion of virtue in the ,romish church1 yet ,i should not choose to neglect clothing myself with a garment of my own righteousness1 depending on a kind donative of works of supererogation4 ,i know that there are many clergymen1 of all denominations1 wise and virtuous2 yet ,i have not that respect for the whole body1 which1 you say1 characterizes our nation1 #8emanating from a certain plainness and directness of understanding4'--,now we are stumbling on inbred feelings and secret lights again--or1 ,i beg your pardon1 it may be the furbished up face which you choose to give to the argument4 ,it is a well-known fact1 that when we1 the people of ,england1 have a son whom we scarcely know what to do with--we make a clergyman of him4 ,when a living is in the gift of a family1 a son is brought up to the church2 but not always with hopes full of immortality4 #8,such sublime principles are not constantly infused into persons of exalted birth2' they sometimes think of #8the paltry pelf of the moment#ad'--;and the vulgar care of preaching the gospel1 or practising self-denial1 is left to the poor curates1 who1 arguing on your ground1 cannot have1 from the scanty stipend they receive1 #8very high and worthy notions of their function and destination4' ,this consecration for ever2 a word1 that from lips of flesh is big with a mighty nothing1 has not purged the sacred temple from all the impurities of fraud1 violence1 injustice1 and tyranny4 ,human passions still lurk in her sanctum sanctorum2 and1 without the profane exertions of reason1 vain would be her ceremonial ablutions2 morality would still stand aloof from this national religion1 this ideal consecration of a state2 and men would rather choose to give the goods of their body1 when on their death beds1 to clear the narrow way to heaven1 than restrain the mad career of passions during life4 ,such a curious paragraph occurs in this part of your letter1 that ,i am tempted to transcribe it#ae1 and must beg you to elucidate it1 if ,i misconceive your meaning4 ,the only way in which the people interfere in government1 religious or civil1 is in electing representatives4 ,and1 ,sir1 let me ask you1 with manly plainness--are these holy nominations8 ,where is the booth of religion8 ,does she mix her awful mandates1 or lift her persuasive voice1 in those scenes of drunken riot and beastly gluttony8 ,does she preside over those nocturnal abominations which so evidently tend to deprave the manners of the lower class of people8 ,the pestilence stops not here--the rich and poor have one common nature1 and many of the great families1 which1 on this side adoration1 you venerate1 date their misery1 ,i speak of stubborn matters of fact1 from the thoughtless extravagance of an electioneering frolic4--,yet1 after the effervescence of spirits1 raised by opposition1 and all the little and tyrannic arts of canvassing are over--quiet souls6 they only intend to march rank and file to say ,,yes--or ,,no4 ,experience1 ,i believe1 will shew that sordid interest1 or licentious thoughtlessness1 is the spring of action at most elections4--,again1 ,i beg you not to lose sight of my modification of general rules4 ,so far are the people from being habitually convinced of the sanctity of the charge they are conferring1 that the venality of their votes must admonish them that they have no right to expect disinterested conduct4 ,but to return to the church1 and the habitual conviction of the people of ,england4 ,so far are the people from being #8habitually convinced that no evil can be acceptable1 either in the act or the permission1 to him whose essence is good#af2' that the sermons which they hear are to them almost as unintelligible as if they were preached in a foreign tongue4 ,the language and sentiments rising above their capacities1 very orthodox ,christians are driven to fanatical meetings for amusement1 if not for edification4 ,the clergy1 ,i speak of the body1 not forgetting the respect and affection which ,i have for individuals1 perform the duty of their profession as a kind of fee-simple1 to entitle them to the emoluments accruing from it2 and their ignorant flock think that merely going to church is meritorious4 ,so defective1 in fact1 are our laws1 respecting religious establishments1 that ,i have heard many rational pious clergymen complain1 that they had no method of receiving their stipend that did not clog their endeavours to be useful2 whilst the lives of many less conscientious rectors are passed in litigious disputes with the people they engaged to instruct2 or in distant cities1 in all the ease of luxurious idleness4 ,but you return to your old firm ground4--,art thou there1 ,true-penny8 ,must we swear to secure property1 and make assurance doubly sure1 to give your perturbed spirit rest8 ,peace1 peace to the manes of thy patriotic phrensy1 which contributed to deprive some of thy fellow-citizens of their property in ,america3 another spirit now walks abroad to secure the property of the church4--,the tithes are safe6--,we will not say for ever--because the time may come1 when the traveller may ask where proud ,london stood8 when its temples1 its laws1 and its trade1 may be buried in one common ruin1 and only serve as a by-word to point a moral1 or furnish senators1 who wage a wordy war1 on the other side of the ,atlantic1 with tropes to swell their thundering bursts of eloquence4 ,who shall dare to accuse you of inconsistency any more1 when you have so staunchly supported the despotic principles which agree so perfectly with the unerring interest of a large body of your fellow-citizens2 not the largest--for when you venerate parliaments--,i presume it is not the majority1 as you have had the presumption to dissent1 and loudly explain your reasons4--,but it was not my intention1 when ,i began this letter1 to descend to the minuti of your conduct1 or to weigh your infirmities in a balance2 it is only some of your pernicious opinions that ,i wish to hunt out of their lurking holes2 and to shew you to yourself1 stripped of the gorgeous drapery in which you have enwrapped your tyrannic principles4 ,that the people of ,england respect the national establishment ,i do not deny2 ,i recollect the melancholy proof which they gave1 in this very century1 of their enlightened zeal and reasonable affection4 ,i likewise know that1 according to the dictates of a prudent law1 in a commercial state1 truth is reckoned a libel2 yet ,i acknowledge1 having never made my humanity give place to ,gothic gallantry1 that ,i should have been better pleased to have heard that ,lord ,george ,gordon was confined on account of the calamities which he brought on his country1 than for a libel on the queen of ,france4 ,but one argument which you adduce to strengthen your assertion1 appears to carry the preponderancy towards the other side4 ,you observe that #8our education is so formed as to confirm and fix this impression1 7respect for the religious establishment72 and that our education is in a manner wholly in the hands of ecclesiastics1 and in all stages from infancy to manhood#ag4' ,far from agreeing with you1 ,sir1 that these regulations render the clergy a more useful and respectable body1 experience convinces me that the very contrary is the fact4 ,in schools and colleges they may1 in some degree1 support their dignity within the monastic walls2 but1 in paying due respect to the parents of the young nobility under their tutorage1 they do not forget1 obsequiously1 to respect their noble patrons4 ,the little respect paid1 in great houses1 to tutors and chaplains proves1 ,sir1 the fallacy of your reasoning4 ,it would be almost invidious to remark1 that they sometimes are only modern substitutes for the jesters of ,gothic memory1 and serve as whetstones for the blunt wit of the noble peer who patronizes them2 and what respect a boy can imbibe for a butt1 at which the shaft of ridicule is daily glanced1 ,i leave those to determine who can distinguish depravity of morals under the specious mask of refined manners4 ,besides1 the custom of sending clergymen to travel with their noble pupils1 as humble companions1 instead of exalting1 tends inevitably to degrade the clerical character3 it is notorious that they meanly submit to the most servile dependence1 and gloss over the most capricious follies1 to use a soft phrase1 of the boys to whom they look up for preferment4 ,an airy mitre dances before them1 and they wrap their sheep's clothing more closely about them1 and make their spirits bend till it is prudent to claim the rights of men and the honest freedom of speech of an ,englishman4 ,how1 indeed1 could they venture to reprove for his vices their patron3 the clergy only give the true feudal emphasis to this word4 ,it has been observed1 by men who have not superficially investigated the human heart1 that when a man makes his spirit bend to any power but reason1 his character is soon degraded1 and his mind shackled by the very prejudices to which he submits with reluctance4 ,the observations of experience have been carried still further2 and the servility to superiors1 and tyranny to inferiors1 said to characterize our clergy1 have rationally been supposed to arise naturally from their associating with the nobility4 ,among unequals there can be no society2--giving a manly meaning to the term2 from such intimacies friendship can never grow2 if the basis of friendship is mutual respect1 and not a commercial treaty4 ,taken thus out of their sphere1 and enjoying their tithes at a distance from their flocks1 is it not natural for them to become courtly parasites1 and intriguing dependents on great patrons1 or the treasury8 ,observing all this--for these things have not been transacted in the dark--our young men of fashion1 by a common1 though erroneous1 association of ideas1 have conceived a contempt for religion1 as they sucked in with their milk a contempt for the clergy4 ,the people of ,england1 ,sir1 in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries1 ,i will not go any further back to insult the ashes of departed popery1 did not settle the establishment1 and endow it with princely revenues1 to make it proudly rear its head1 as a part of the constitutional body1 to guard the liberties of the community2 but1 like some of the laborious commentators on ,shakespeare1 you have affixed a meaning to laws that chance1 or1 to speak more philosophically1 the interested views of men1 settled1 not dreaming of your ingenious elucidations4 ,what1 but the rapacity of the only men who exercised their reason1 the priests1 secured such vast property to the church1 when a man gave his perishable substance to save himself from the dark torments of purgatory2 and found it more convenient to indulge his depraved appetites1 and pay an exorbitant price for absolution1 than listen to the suggestions of reason1 and work out his own salvation3 in a word1 was not the separation of religion from morality the work of the priests1 and partly achieved in those honourable days which you so piously deplore8 ,that civilization1 that the cultivation of the understanding1 and refinement of the affections1 naturally make a man religious1 ,i am proud to acknowledge4--,what else can fill the aching void in the heart1 that human pleasures1 human friendships can never fill8 ,what else can render us resigned to live1 though condemned to ignorance8--,what but a profound reverence for the model of all perfection1 and the mysterious tie which arises from a love of goodness8 ,what can make us reverence ourselves1 but a reverence for that ,being1 of whom we are a faint image8 ,that mighty ,spirit moves on the waters--confusion hears his voice1 and the troubled heart ceases to beat with anguish1 for trust in ,him bade it be still4 ,conscious dignity may make us rise superior to calumny1 and sternly brave the winds of adverse fortune1--raised in our own esteem by the very storms of which we are the sport--but when friends are unkind1 and the heart has not the prop on which it fondly leaned1 where can a tender suffering being fly but to the ,searcher of hearts8 and1 when death has desolated the present scene1 and torn from us the friend of our youth--when we walk along the accustomed path1 and1 almost fancying nature dead1 ask1 ,where art thou who gave life to these well-known scenes8 when memory heightens former pleasures to contrast our present prospects--there is but one source of comfort within our reach2--and in this sublime solitude the world appears to contain only the ,creator and the creature1 of whose happiness he is the source4--,these are human feelings2 but ,i know not of any common nature or common relation amongst men but what results from reason4 ,the common affections and passions equally bind brutes together2 and it is only the continuity of those relations that entitles us to the denomination of rational creatures2 and this continuity arises from reflection--from the operations of that reason which you contemn with flippant disrespect4 ,if then it appears1 arguing from analogy1 that reflection must be the natural foundation of rational affections1 and of that experience which enables one man to rise above another1 a phenomenon that has never been seen in the brute creation1 it may not be stretching the argument further than it will go to suppose1 that those men who are obliged to exercise their reason have the most reason1 and are the persons pointed out by ,nature to direct the society of which they make a part1 on any extraordinary emergency4 ,time only will shew whether the general censure1 which you afterwards qualify1 if not contradict1 and the unmerited contempt that you have ostentatiously displayed of the ,national ,assembly1 be founded on reason1 the offspring of conviction1 or the spawn of envy4 ,time may shew1 that this obscure throng knew more of the human heart and of legislation than the profligates of rank1 emasculated by hereditary effeminacy4 ,it is not1 perhaps1 of very great consequence who were the founders of a state2 savages1 thieves1 curates1 or practitioners in the law4 ,it is true1 you might sarcastically remark1 that the ,romans had always a smack of the old leaven1 and that the private robbers1 supposing the tradition to be true1 only became public depredators4 ,you might have added1 that their civilization must have been very partial1 and had more influence on the manners than morals of the people2 or the amusements of the amphitheatre would not have remained an everlasting blot not only on their humanity1 but on their refinement1 if a vicious elegance of behaviour and luxurious mode of life is not a prostitution of the term4 ,however1 the thundering censures which you have cast with a ponderous arm1 and the more playful bushfiring of ridicule1 are not arguments that will ever depreciate the ,national ,assembly1 for applying to their understanding rather than to their imagination1 when they met to settle the newly acquired liberty of the state on a solid foundation4 ,if you had given the same advice to a young history painter of abilities1 ,i should have admired your judgment1 and re-echoed your sentiments#ah4 ,study1 you might have said1 the noble models of antiquity1 till your imagination is inflamed2 and1 rising above the vulgar practice of the hour1 you may imitate without copying those great originals4 ,a glowing picture1 of some interesting moment1 would probably have been produced by these natural means2 particularly if one little circumstance is not overlooked1 that the painter had noble models to revert to1 calculated to excite admiration and stimulate exertion4 ,but1 in settling a constitution that involved the happiness of millions1 that stretch beyond the computation of science1 it was1 perhaps1 necessary for the ,assembly to have a higher model in view than the imagined virtues of their forefathers2 and wise to deduce their respect for themselves from the only legitimate source1 respect for justice4 ,why was it a duty to repair an ancient castle1 built in barbarous ages1 of ,gothic materials8 ,why were the legislators obliged to rake amongst heterogeneous ruins2 to rebuild old walls1 whose foundations could scarcely be explored1 when a simple structure might be raised on the foundation of experience1 the only valuable inheritance our forefathers could bequeath8 ,yet of this bequest we can make little use till we have gained a stock of our own2 and even then1 their inherited experience would rather serve as lighthouses1 to warn us against dangerous rocks or sand-banks1 than as finger-posts that stand at every turning to point out the right road4 ,nor was it absolutely necessary that they should be diffident of themselves when they were dissatisfied with1 or could not discern the almost obliterated constitution of their ancestors#ai4 ,they should first have been convinced that our constitution was not only the best modern1 but the best possible one2 and that our social compact was the surest foundation of all the possible liberty a mass of men could enjoy1 that the human understanding could form4 ,they should have been certain that our representation answered all the purposes of representation2 and that an established inequality of rank and property secured the liberty of the whole community1 instead of rendering it a sounding epithet of subjection1 when applied to the nation at large4 ,they should have had the same respect for our ,house of ,commons that you1 vauntingly1 intrude on us1 though your conduct throughout life has spoken a very different language2 before they made a point of not deviating from the model which first engaged their attention4 ,that the ,british ,house of ,commons is filled with every thing illustrious in rank1 in descent1 in hereditary1 and acquired opulence1 may be true1--but that it contains every thing respectable in talents1 in military1 civil1 naval1 and political distinction1 is very problematical4 ,arguing from natural causes1 the very contrary would appear to the speculatist to be the fact2 and let experience say whether these speculations are built on sure ground4 ,it is true you lay great stress on the effects produced by the bare idea of a liberal descent#bj2 but from the conduct of men of rank1 men of discernment would rather be led to conclude1 that this idea obliterated instead of inspiring native dignity1 and substituted a factitious pride that disemboweled the man4 ,the liberty of the rich has its ensigns armorial to puff the individual out with insubstantial honours2 but where are blazoned the struggles of virtuous poverty8 ,who1 indeed1 would dare to blazon what would blur the pompous monumental inscription you boast of1 and make us view with horror1 as monsters in human shape1 the superb gallery of portraits proudly set in battle array8 ,but to examine the subject more closely4 ,is it among the list of possibilities that a man of rank and fortune can have received a good education8 ,how can he discover that he is a man1 when all his wants are instantly supplied1 and invention is never sharpened by necessity8 ,will he labour1 for every thing valuable must be the fruit of laborious exertions1 to attain knowledge and virtue1 in order to merit the affection of his equals1 when the flattering attention of sycophants is a more luscious cordial8 ,health can only be secured by temperance2 but is it easy to persuade a man to live on plain food even to recover his health1 who has been accustomed to fare sumptuously every day8 ,can a man relish the simple food of friendship1 who has been habitually pampered by flattery8 ,and when the blood boils1 and the senses meet allurements on every side1 will knowledge be pursued on account of its abstract beauty8 ,no2 it is well known that talents are only to be unfolded by industry1 and that we must have made some advances1 led by an inferior motive1 before we discover that they are their own reward4 ,but full blown talents may1 according to your system1 be hereditary1 and as independent of ripening judgment1 as the inbred feelings that1 rising above reason1 naturally guard ,englishmen from error4 ,noble franchises6 what a grovelling mind must that man have1 who can pardon his step-dame ,nature for not having made him at least a lord8 ,and who will1 after your description of senatorial virtues1 dare to say that our ,house of ,commons has often resembled a bear-garden2 and appeared rather like a committee of ways and means than a dignified legislative body1 though the concentrated wisdom and virtue of the whole nation blazed in one superb constellation8 ,that it contains a dead weight of benumbing opulence ,i readily allow1 and of ignoble ambition2 nor is there any thing surpassing belief in a supposition that the raw recruits1 when properly drilled by the minister1 would gladly march to the ,upper ,house to unite hereditary honours to fortune4 ,but talents1 knowledge1 and virtue1 must be a part of the man1 and cannot be put1 as robes of state often are1 on a servant or a block1 to render a pageant more magnificent4 ,our ,house of ,commons1 it is true1 has been celebrated as a school of eloquence1 a hot-bed for wit1 even when party intrigues narrow the understanding and contract the heart2 yet1 from the few proficients it has accomplished1 this inferior praise is not of great magnitude3 nor of great consequence1 ,mr4 ,locke would have added1 who was ever of opinion that eloquence was oftener employed to make #8the worse appear the better part1' than to support the dictates of cool judgment4 ,however1 the greater number who have gained a seat by their fortune and hereditary rank1 are content with their pre-eminence1 and struggle not for more hazardous honours4 ,but you are an exception2 you have raised yourself by the exertion of abilities1 and thrown the automatons of rank into the back ground4 ,your exertions have been a generous contest for secondary honours1 or a grateful tribute of respect due to the noble ashes that lent a hand to raise you into notice1 by introducing you into the house of which you have ever been an ornament1 if not a support4 ,but1 unfortunately1 you have lately lost a great part of your popularity3 members were tired of listening to declamation1 or had not sufficient taste to be amused when you ingeniously wandered from the question1 and said certainly many good things1 if they were not to the present purpose4 ,you were the ,cicero of one side of the house for years2 and then to sink into oblivion1 to see your blooming honours fade before you1 was enough to rouse all that was human in you--and make you produce the impassioned ,reflections which have been a glorious revivification of your fame4--,richard is himself again6 ,he is still a great man1 though he has deserted his post1 and buried in elogiums1 on church establishments1 the enthusiasm that forced him to throw the weight of his talents on the side of liberty and natural rights1 when the will#ba of the nation oppressed the ,americans4 ,there appears to be such a mixture of real sensibility and fondly cherished romance in your composition1 that the present crisis carries you out of yourself2 and since you could not be one of the grand movers1 the next best thing that dazzled your imagination was to be a conspicuous opposer4 ,full of yourself1 you make as much noise to convince the world that you despise the revolution1 as ,rousseau did to persuade his contemporaries to let him live in obscurity4 ,reading your ,reflections warily over1 it has continually and forcibly struck me1 that had you been a ,frenchman1 you would have been1 in spite of your respect for rank and antiquity1 a violent revolutionist2 and deceived1 as you now probably are1 by the passions that cloud your reason1 have termed your romantic enthusiasm an enlightened love of your country1 a benevolent respect for the rights of men4 ,your imagination would have taken fire1 and have found arguments1 full as ingenious as those you now offer1 to prove that the constitution1 of which so few pillars remained1 that constitution which time had almost obliterated1 was not a model sufficiently noble to deserve close adherence4 ,and1 for the ,english constitution1 you might not have had such a profound veneration as you have lately acquired2 nay1 it is not impossible that you might have entertained the same opinion of the ,english ,parliament1 that you professed to have during the ,american war4 ,another observation which1 by frequently occurring1 has almost grown into a conviction1 is simply this1 that had the ,english in general reprobated the ,french revolution1 you would have stood forth alone1 and been the avowed ,goliah of liberty4 ,but1 not liking to see so many brothers near the throne of fame1 you have turned the current of your passions1 and consequently of your reasoning1 another way4 ,had ,dr4 ,price's sermon not lighted some sparks very like envy in your bosom1 ,i shrewdly suspect that he would have been treated with more candour2 nor is it charitable to suppose that any thing but personal pique and hurt vanity could have dictated such bitter sarcasms and reiterated expressions of contempt as occur in your ,reflections4 ,but without fixed principles even goodness of heart is no security from inconsistency1 and mild affectionate sensibility only renders a man more ingeniously cruel1 when the pangs of hurt vanity are mistaken for virtuous indignation1 and the gall of bitterness for the milk of ,christian charity4 ,where is the dignity1 the infallibility of sensibility1 in the fair ladies1 whom1 if the voice of rumour is to be credited1 the captive negroes curse in all the agony of bodily pain1 for the unheard of tortures they invent8 ,it is probable that some of them1 after the sight of a flagellation1 compose their ruffled spirits and exercise their tender feelings by the perusal of the last imported novel4--,how true these tears are to nature1 ,i leave you to determine4 ,but these ladies may have read your ,enquiry concerning the origin of our ideas of the ,sublime and ,beautiful1 and1 convinced by your arguments1 may have laboured to be pretty1 by counterfeiting weakness4 ,you may have convinced them that littleness and weakness are the very essence of beauty2 and that the ,supreme ,being1 in giving women beauty in the most supereminent degree1 seemed to command them1 by the powerful voice of ,nature1 not to cultivate the moral virtues that might chance to excite respect1 and interfere with the pleasing sensations they were created to inspire4 ,thus confining truth1 fortitude1 and humanity1 within the rigid pale of manly morals1 they might justly argue1 that to be loved1 woman's high end and great distinction6 they should #8learn to lisp1 to totter in their walk1 and nick-name ,god's creatures4' ,never1 they might repeat after you1 was any man1 much less a woman1 rendered amiable by the force of those exalted qualities1 fortitude1 justice1 wisdom1 and truth2 and thus forewarned of the sacrifice they must make to those austere1 unnatural virtues1 they would be authorized to turn all their attention to their persons1 systematically neglecting morals to secure beauty4--,some rational old woman indeed might chance to stumble at this doctrine1 and hint1 that in avoiding atheism you had not steered clear of the mussulman's creed2 but you could readily exculpate yourself by turning the charge on ,nature1 who made our idea of beauty independent of reason4 ,nor would it be necessary for you to recollect1 that if virtue has any other foundation than worldly utility1 you have clearly proved that one half of the human species1 at least1 have not souls2 and that ,nature1 by making women little1 smooth1 delicate1 fair creatures1 never designed that they should exercise their reason to acquire the virtues that produce opposite1 if not contradictory1 feelings4 ,the affection they excite1 to be uniform and perfect1 should not be tinctured with the respect which moral virtues inspire1 lest pain should be blended with pleasure1 and admiration disturb the soft intimacy of love4 ,this laxity of morals in the female world is certainly more captivating to a libertine imagination than the cold arguments of reason1 that give no sex to virtue4 ,if beautiful weakness be interwoven in a woman's frame1 if the chief business of her life be 7as you insinuate7 to inspire love1 and ,nature has made an eternal distinction between the qualities that dignify a rational being and this animal perfection1 her duty and happiness in this life must clash with any preparation for a more exalted state4 ,so that ,plato and ,milton were grossly mistaken in asserting that human love led to heavenly1 and was only an exaltation of the same affection2 for the love of the ,deity1 which is mixed with the most profound reverence1 must be love of perfection1 and not compassion for weakness4 ,to say the truth1 ,i not only tremble for the souls of women1 but for the good natured man1 whom every one loves4 ,the amiable weakness of his mind is a strong argument against its immateriality1 and seems to prove that beauty relaxes the solids of the soul as well as the body4 ,it follows then immediately1 from your own reasoning1 that respect and love are antagonist principles2 and that1 if we really wish to render men more virtuous1 we must endeavour to banish all enervating modifications of beauty from civil society4 ,we must1 to carry your argument a little further1 return to the ,spartan regulations1 and settle the virtues of men on the stern foundation of mortification and self-denial2 for any attempt to civilize the heart1 to make it humane by implanting reasonable principles1 is a mere philosophic dream4 ,if refinement inevitably lessens respect for virtue1 by rendering beauty1 the grand tempter1 more seductive2 if these relaxing feelings are incompatible with the nervous exertions of morality1 the sun of ,europe is not set2 it begins to dawn1 when cold metaphysicians try to make the head give laws to the heart4 ,but should experience prove that there is a beauty in virtue1 a charm in order1 which necessarily implies exertion1 a depraved sensual taste may give way to a more manly one--and melting feelings to rational satisfactions4 ,both may be equally natural to man2 the test is their moral difference1 and that point reason alone can decide4 ,such a glorious change can only be produced by liberty4 ,inequality of rank must ever impede the growth of virtue1 by vitiating the mind that submits or domineers2 that is ever employed to procure nourishment for the body1 or amusement for the mind4 ,and if this grand example be set by an assembly of unlettered clowns1 if they can produce a crisis that may involve the fate of ,europe1 and #8more than ,europe#bb1' you must allow us to respect unsophisticated reason1 and reverence the active exertions that were not relaxed by a fastidious respect for the beauty of rank1 or a dread of the deformity produced by any void in the social structure4 ,after your contemptuous manner of speaking of the ,national ,assembly1 after descanting on the coarse vulgarity of their proceedings1 which1 according to your own definition of virtue1 is a proof of its genuineness2 was it not a little inconsistent1 not to say absurd1 to assert1 that a dozen people of quality were not a sufficient counterpoise to the vulgar mob with whom they condescended to associate8 ,have we half a dozen leaders of eminence in our ,house of ,commons1 or even in the fashionable world8 yet the sheep obsequiously pursue their steps with all the undeviating sagacity of instinct4 ,in order that liberty should have a firm foundation1 an acquaintance with the world would naturally lead cool men to conclude that it must be laid1 knowing the weakness of the human heart1 and the #8deceitfulness of riches1' either by poor men1 or philosophers1 if a sufficient number of men1 disinterested from principle1 or truly wise1 could be found4 ,was it natural to expect that sensual prejudices should give way to reason1 or present feelings to enlarged views8--,no2 ,i am afraid that human nature is still in such a weak state1 that the abolition of titles1 the corner-stone of despotism1 could only have been the work of men who had no titles to sacrifice4 ,the ,national ,assembly1 it is true1 contains some honourable exceptions2 but the majority had not such powerful feelings to struggle with1 when reason led them to respect the naked dignity of virtue4 ,weak minds are always timid4 ,and what can equal the weakness of mind produced by servile flattery1 and the vapid pleasures that neither hope nor fear seasoned8 ,had the constitution of ,france been new modelled1 or more cautiously repaired1 by the lovers of elegance and beauty1 it is natural to suppose that the imagination would have erected a fragile temporary building2 or the power of one tyrant1 divided amongst a hundred1 might have rendered the struggle for liberty only a choice of masters4 ,and the glorious chance that is now given to human nature of attaining more virtue and happiness than has hitherto blessed our globe1 might have been sacrificed to a meteor of the imagination1 a bubble of passion4 ,the ecclesiastics1 indeed1 would probably have remained in quiet possession of their sinecures2 and your gall might not have been mixed with your ink on account of the daring sacrilege that brought them more on a level4 ,the nobles would have had bowels for their younger sons1 if not for the misery of their fellow-creatures4 ,an august mass of property would have been transmitted to posterity to guard the temple of superstition1 and prevent reason from entering with her officious light4 ,and the pomp of religion would have continued to impress the senses1 if she were unable to subjugate the passions4 ,is hereditary weakness necessary to render religion lovely8 and will her form have lost the smooth delicacy that inspires love1 when stripped of its ,gothic drapery8 ,must every grand model be placed on the pedestal of property8 and is there no beauteous proportion in virtue1 when not clothed in a sensual garb8 ,of these questions there would be no end1 though they lead to the same conclusion2--that your politics and morals1 when simplified1 would undermine religion and virtue to set up a spurious1 sensual beauty1 that has long debauched your imagination1 under the specious form of natural feelings4 ,and what is this mighty revolution in property8 ,the present incumbents only are injured1 or the hierarchy of the clergy1 an ideal part of the constitution1 which you have personified1 to render your affection more tender4 ,how has posterity been injured by a distribution of the property snatched1 perhaps1 from innocent hands1 but accumulated by the most abominable violation of every sentiment of justice and piety8 ,was the monument of former ignorance and iniquity to be held sacred1 to enable the present possessors of enormous benefices to dissolve in indolent pleasures8 ,was not their convenience1 for they have not been turned adrift on the world1 to give place to a just partition of the land belonging to the state8 ,and did not the respect due to the natural equality of man require this triumph over ,monkish rapacity8 ,were those monsters to be reverenced on account of their antiquity1 and their unjust claims perpetuated to their ideal children1 the clergy1 merely to preserve the sacred majesty of ,property inviolate1 and to enable the ,church to retain her pristine splendor8 ,can posterity be injured by individuals losing the chance of obtaining great wealth1 without meriting it1 by its being diverted from a narrow channel1 and disembogued into the sea that affords clouds to water all the land8 ,besides1 the clergy not brought up with the expectation of great revenues will not feel the loss2 and if bishops should happen to be chosen on account of their personal merit1 religion may be benefited by the vulgar nomination4 ,the sophistry of asserting that ,nature leads us to reverence our civil institutions from the same principle that we venerate aged individuals1 is a palpable fallacy #8that is so like truth1 it will serve the turn as well4' ,and when you add1 #8that we have chosen our nature rather than our speculations1 our breasts rather than our inventions#bc'1 the pretty jargon seems equally unintelligible4 ,but it was the downfall of the visible power and dignity of the church that roused your ire2 you could have excused a little squeezing of the individuals to supply present exigencies2 the actual possessors of the property might have been oppressed with something like impunity1 if the church had not been spoiled of its gaudy trappings4 ,you love the church1 your country1 and its laws1 you repeatedly tell us1 because they deserve to be loved2 but from you this is not a panegyric3 weakness and indulgence are the only incitements to love and confidence that you can discern1 and it cannot be denied that the tender mother you venerate deserves1 on this score1 all your affection4 ,it would be as vain a task to attempt to obviate all your passionate objections1 as to unravel all your plausible arguments1 often illustrated by known truths1 and rendered forcible by pointed invectives4 ,i only attack the foundation4 ,on the natural principles of justice ,i build my plea for disseminating the property artfully said to be appropriated to religious purposes1 but1 in reality1 to support idle tyrants1 amongst the society whose ancestors were cheated or forced into illegal grants4 ,can there be an opinion more subversive of morality1 than that time sanctifies crimes1 and silences the blood that calls out for retribution1 if not for vengeance8 ,if the revenue annexed to the ,gallic church was greater than the most bigoted protestant would now allow to be its reasonable share1 would it not have been trampling on the rights of men to perpetuate such an arbitrary appropriation of the common stock1 because time had rendered the fraudulent seizure venerable8 ,besides1 if ,reason had suggested1 as surely she must1 if the imagination had not been allowed to dwell on the fascinating pomp of ceremonial grandeur1 that the clergy would be rendered both more virtuous and useful by being put more on a par with each other1 and the mass of the people it was their duty to instruct2--where was there room for hesitation8 ,the charge of presumption1 thrown by you on the most reasonable innovations1 may1 without any violence to truth1 be retorted on every reformation that has meliorated our condition1 and even on the improvable faculty that gives us a claim to the pre-eminence of intelligent beings4 ,plausibility1 ,i know1 can only be unmasked by shewing the absurdities it glosses over1 and the simple truths it involves with specious errors4 ,eloquence has often confounded triumphant villainy2 but it is probable that it has more frequently rendered the boundary that separates virtue and vice doubtful4--,poisons may be only medicines in judicious hands2 but they should not be administered by the ignorant1 because they have sometimes seen great cures performed by their powerful aid4 ,the many sensible remarks and pointed observations which you have mixed with opinions that strike at our dearest interests1 fortify those opinions1 and give them a degree of strength that render them formidable to the wise1 and convincing to the superficial4 ,it is impossible to read half a dozen pages of your book without admiring your ingenuity1 or indignantly spurning your sophisms4 ,words are heaped on words1 till the understanding is confused by endeavouring to disentangle the sense1 and the memory by tracing contradictions4 ,after observing a host of these contradictions1 it can scarcely be a breach of charity to think that you have often sacrificed your sincerity to enforce your favourite arguments1 and called in your judgment to adjust the arrangement of words that could not convey its dictates4 ,a fallacy of this kind1 ,i think1 could not have escaped you when you were treating the subject that called forth your bitterest animadversions1 the confiscation of the ecclesiastical revenue4 ,who of the vindicators of the rights of men ever ventured to assert1 that the clergy of the present day should be punished on account of the intolerable pride and inhuman cruelty of many of their predecessors#bd8 ,no2 such a thought never entered the mind of those who warred with inveterate prejudices4 ,a desperate disease required a powerful remedy4 ,injustice had no right to rest on prescription2 nor has the character of the present clergy any weight in the argument4 ,you find it very difficult to separate policy from justice3 in the political world they have frequently been separated with shameful dexterity4 ,to mention a recent instance4 ,according to the limited views of timid1 or interested politicians1 an abolition of the infernal slave trade would not only be unsound policy1 but a flagrant infringement of the laws 7which are allowed to have been infamous7 that induced the planters to purchase their estates4 ,but is it not consonant with justice1 with the common principles of humanity1 not to mention ,christianity1 to abolish this abominable mischief8 #be,there is not one argument1 one invective1 levelled by you at the confiscators of the church revenue1 which could not1 with the strictest propriety1 be applied by the planters and negro-drivers to our ,parliament1 if it gloriously dared to shew the world that ,british senators were men3 if the natural feelings of humanity silenced the cold cautions of timidity1 till this stigma on our nature was wiped off1 and all men were allowed to enjoy their birth-right--liberty1 till by their crimes they had authorized society to deprive them of the blessing they had abused4 ,the same arguments might be used in ,india1 if any attempt were made to bring back things to nature1 to prove that a man ought never to quit the cast that confined him to the profession of his lineal forefathers4 ,the ,bramins would doubtless find many ingenious reasons to justify this debasing1 though venerable prejudice2 and would not1 it is to be supposed1 forget to observe that time1 by interweaving the oppressive law with many useful customs1 had rendered it for the present very convenient1 and consequently legal4 ,almost every vice that has degraded our nature might be justified by shewing that it had been productive of some benefit to society3 for it would be as difficult to point out positive evil as unallayed good1 in this imperfect state4 ,what indeed would become of morals1 if they had no other test than prescription8 ,the manners of men may change without end2 but1 wherever reason receives the least cultivation--wherever men rise above brutes1 morality must rest on the same base4 ,and the more man discovers of the nature of his mind and body1 the more clearly he is convinced1 that to act according to the dictates of reason is to conform to the law of ,god4 ,the test of honour may be arbitrary and fallacious1 and1 retiring into subterfuge1 elude close enquiry2 but true morality shuns not the day1 nor shrinks from the ordeal of investigation4 ,most of the happy revolutions that have taken place in the world have happened when weak princes held the reins they could not manage2 but are they1 on that account1 to be canonized as saints or demi-gods1 and pushed forward to notice on the throne of ignorance8 ,pleasure wants a zest1 if experience cannot compare it with pain2 but who courts pain to heighten his pleasures8 ,a transient view of society will further illustrate arguments which appear so obvious that ,i am almost ashamed to produce illustrations4 ,how many children have been taught conomy1 and many other virtues1 by the extravagant thoughtlessness of their parents2 yet a good education is allowed to be an inestimable blessing4 ,the tenderest mothers are often the most unhappy wives2 but can the good that accrues from the private distress that produces a sober dignity of mind justify the inflictor8 ,right or wrong may be estimated according to the point of sight1 and other adventitious circumstances2 but1 to discover its real nature1 the enquiry must go deeper than the surface1 and beyond the local consequences that confound good and evil together4 ,the rich and weak1 a numerous train1 will certainly applaud your system1 and loudly celebrate your pious reverence for authority and establishments--they find it pleasanter to enjoy than to think2 to justify oppression than correct abuses4--,the rights of men are grating sounds that set their teeth on edge2 the impertinent enquiry of philosophic meddling innovation4 ,if the poor are in distress1 they will make some benevolent exertions to assist them2 they will confer obligations1 but not do justice4 ,benevolence is a very amiable specious quality2 yet the aversion which men feel to accept a right as a favour1 should rather be extolled as a vestige of native dignity1 than stigmatized as the odious offspring of ingratitude4 ,the poor consider the rich as their lawful prey2 but we ought not too severely to animadvert on their ingratitude4 ,when they receive an alms they are commonly grateful at the moment2 but old habits quickly return1 and cunning has ever been a substitute for force4 ,that both physical and moral evil were not only foreseen1 but entered into the scheme of ,providence1 when this world was contemplated in the ,divine mind1 who can doubt1 without robbing ,omnipotence of a most exalted attribute8 ,but the business of the life of a good man should be1 to separate light from darkness2 to diffuse happiness1 whilst he submits to unavoidable misery4 ,and a conviction that there is much unavoidable wretchedness1 appointed by the grand ,disposer of all events1 should not slacken his exertions3 the extent of what is possible can only be discerned by ,god4 ,the justice of ,god may be vindicated by a belief in a future state2 but1 only by believing that evil is educing good for the individual1 and not for an imaginary whole4 ,the happiness of the whole must arise from the happiness of the constituent parts1 or the essence of justice is sacrificed to a supposed grand arrangement4 ,and that may be good for the whole of a creature's existence1 that disturbs the comfort of a small portion4 ,the evil which an individual suffers for the good of the community is partial1 it must be allowed1 if the account is settled by death4--,but the partial evil which it suffers1 during one stage of existence1 to render another stage more perfect1 is strictly just4 ,the ,father of all only can regulate the education of his children4 ,to suppose that1 during the whole or part of its existence1 the happiness of any individual is sacrificed to promote the welfare of ten1 or ten thousand1 other beings--is impious4 ,but to suppose that the happiness1 or animal enjoyment1 of one portion of existence is sacrificed to improve and ennoble the being itself1 and render it capable of more perfect happiness1 is not to reflect on either the goodness or wisdom of ,god4 ,it may be confidently asserted that no man chooses evil1 because it is evil2 he only mistakes it for happiness1 the good he seeks4 ,and the desire of rectifying these mistakes1 is the noble ambition of an enlightened understanding1 the impulse of feelings that ,philosophy invigorates4 ,to endeavour to make unhappy men resigned to their fate1 is the tender endeavour of short-sighted benevolence1 of transient yearnings of humanity2 but to labour to increase human happiness by extirpating error1 is a masculine godlike affection4 ,this remark may be carried still further4 ,men who possess uncommon sensibility1 whose quick emotions shew how closely the eye and heart are connected1 soon forget the most forcible sensations4 ,not tarrying long enough in the brain to be subject to reflection1 the next sensations1 of course1 obliterate them4 ,memory1 however1 treasures up these proofs of native goodness2 and the being who is not spurred on to any virtuous act1 still thinks itself of consequence1 and boasts of its feelings4 ,why8 ,because the sight of distress1 or an affecting narrative1 made its blood flow with more velocity1 and the heart1 literally speaking1 beat with sympathetic emotion4 ,we ought to beware of confounding mechanical instinctive sensations with emotions that reason deepens1 and justly terms the feelings of humanity4 ,this word discriminates the active exertions of virtue from the vague declamation of sensibility4 ,the declaration of the ,national ,assembly1 when they recognized the rights of men1 was calculated to touch the humane heart--the downfall of the clergy1 to agitate the pupil of impulse4 ,on the watch to find fault1 faults met your prying eye2 a different prepossession might have produced a different conviction4 ,when we read a book that supports our favourite opinions1 how eagerly do we suck in the doctrines1 and suffer our minds placidly to reflect the images that illustrate the tenets we have previously embraced4 ,we indolently acquiesce in the conclusion1 and our spirit animates and corrects the various subjects4 ,but when1 on the contrary1 we peruse a skilful writer1 with whom we do not coincide in opinion1 how attentive is the mind to detect fallacy4 ,and this suspicious coolness often prevents our being carried away by a stream of natural eloquence1 which the prejudiced mind terms declamation--a pomp of words6 ,we never allow ourselves to be warmed2 and1 after contending with the writer1 are more confirmed in our opinion2 as much1 perhaps1 from a spirit of contradiction as from reason4 ,a lively imagination is ever in danger of being betrayed into error by favourite opinions1 which it almost personifies1 the more effectually to intoxicate the understanding4 ,always tending to extremes1 truth is left behind in the heat of the chace1 and things are viewed as positively good1 or bad1 though they wear an equivocal face4 ,some celebrated writers have supposed that wit and judgment were incompatible2 opposite qualities1 that1 in a kind of elementary strife1 destroyed each other3 and many men of wit have endeavoured to prove that they were mistaken4 ,much may be adduced by wits and metaphysicians on both sides of the question4 ,but1 from experience1 ,i am apt to believe that they do weaken each other1 and that great quickness of comprehension1 and facile association of ideas1 naturally preclude profundity of research4 ,wit is often a lucky hit2 the result of a momentary inspiration4 ,we know not whence it comes1 and it blows where it lifts4 ,the operations of judgment1 on the contrary1 are cool and circumspect2 and coolness and deliberation are great enemies to enthusiasm4 ,if wit is of so fine a spirit1 that it almost evaporates when translated into another language1 why may not the temperature have an influence over it8 ,this remark may be thought derogatory to the inferior qualities of the mind3 but it is not a hasty one2 and ,i mention it as a prelude to a conclusion ,i have frequently drawn1 that the cultivation of reason damps fancy4 ,the blessings of ,heaven lie on each side2 we must choose1 if we wish to attain any degree of superiority1 and not lose our lives in laborious idleness4 ,if we mean to build our knowledge or happiness on a rational basis1 we must learn to distinguish the possible1 and not fight against the stream4 ,and if we are careful to guard ourselves from imaginary sorrows and vain fears1 we must also resign many enchanting illusions3 for shallow must be the discernment which fails to discover that raptures and ecstasies arise from error4--,whether it will always be so1 is not now to be discussed2 suffice it to observe1 that ,truth is seldom arrayed by the ,graces2 and if she charms1 it is only by inspiring a sober satisfaction1 which takes its rise from a calm contemplation of proportion and simplicity4 ,but1 though it is allowed that one man has by nature more fancy than another1 in each individual there is a spring-tide when fancy should govern and amalgamate materials for the understanding2 and a graver period1 when those materials should be employed by the judgment4 ,for example1 ,i am inclined to have a better opinion of the heart of an old man1 who speaks of ,sterne as his favourite author1 than of his understanding4 ,there are times and seasons for all things3 and moralists appear to me to err1 when they would confound the gaiety of youth with the seriousness of age2 for the virtues of age look not only more imposing1 but more natural1 when they appear rather rigid4 ,he who has not exercised his judgment to curb his imagination during the meridian of life1 becomes1 in its decline1 too often the prey of childish feelings4 ,age demands respect2 youth love3 if this order is disturbed1 the emotions are not pure2 and when love for a man in his grand climacteric takes place of respect1 it1 generally speaking1 borders on contempt4 ,judgment is sublime1 wit beautiful2 and1 according to your own theory1 they cannot exist together without impairing each other's power4 ,the predominancy of the latter1 in your endless ,reflections1 should lead hasty readers to suspect that it may1 in a great degree1 exclude the former4 ,but1 among all your plausible arguments1 and witty illustrations1 your contempt for the poor always appears conspicuous1 and rouses my indignation4 ,the following paragraph in particular struck me1 as breathing the most tyrannic spirit1 and displaying the most factitious feelings4 #8,good order is the foundation of all good things4 ,to be enabled to acquire1 the people1 without being servile1 must be tractable and obedient4 ,the magistrate must have his reverence1 the laws their authority4 ,the body of the people must not find the principles of natural subordination by art rooted out of their minds4 ,they must respect that property of which they cannot partake4 ,they must labour to obtain what by labour can be obtained2 and when they find1 as they commonly do1 the success disproportioned to the endeavour1 they must be taught their consolation in the final proportions of eternal justice4 ,of this consolation1 whoever deprives them1 deadens their industry1 and strikes at the root of all acquisition as of all conservation4 ,he that does this1 is the cruel oppressor1 the merciless enemy1 of the poor and wretched2 at the same time that1 by his wicked speculations1 he exposes the fruits of successful industry1 and the accumulations of fortune1' 7ah6 there's the rub7 #8to the plunder of the negligent1 the disappointed1 and the unprosperous#bf4' ,this is contemptible hard-hearted sophistry1 in the specious form of humility1 and submission to the will of ,heaven4--,it is1 ,sir1 possible to render the poor happier in this world1 without depriving them of the consolation which you gratuitously grant them in the next4 ,they have a right to more comfort than they at present enjoy2 and more comfort might be afforded them1 without encroaching on the pleasures of the rich3 not now waiting to enquire whether the rich have any right to exclusive pleasures4 ,what do ,i say8--encroaching6 ,no2 if an intercourse were established between them1 it would impart the only true pleasure that can be snatched in this land of shadows1 this hard school of moral discipline4 ,i know1 indeed1 that there is often something disgusting in the distresses of poverty1 at which the imagination revolts1 and starts back to exercise itself in the more attractive ,arcadia of fiction4 ,the rich man builds a house1 art and taste give it the highest finish4 ,his gardens are planted1 and the trees grow to recreate the fancy of the planter1 though the temperature of the climate may rather force him to avoid the dangerous damps they exhale1 than seek the umbrageous retreat4 ,every thing on the estate is cherished but man2--yet1 to contribute to the happiness of man1 is the most sublime of all enjoyments4 ,but if1 instead of sweeping pleasure-grounds1 obelisks1 temples1 and elegant cottages1 as objects for the eye1 the heart was allowed to beat true to nature1 decent farms would be scattered over the estate1 and plenty smile around4 ,instead of the poor being subject to the griping hand of an avaricious steward1 they would be watched over with fatherly solicitude1 by the man whose duty and pleasure it was to guard their happiness1 and shield from rapacity the beings who1 by the sweat of their brow1 exalted him above his fellows4 ,i could almost imagine ,i see a man thus gathering blessings as he mounted the hill of life2 or consolation1 in those days when the spirits lag1 and the tired heart finds no pleasure in them4 ,it is not by squandering alms that the poor can be relieved1 or improved--it is the fostering sun of kindness1 the wisdom that finds them employments calculated to give them habits of virtue1 that meliorates their condition4 ,love is only the fruit of love2 condescension and authority may produce the obedience you applaud2 but he has lost his heart of flesh who can see a fellow-creature humbled before him1 and trembling at the frown of a being1 whose heart is supplied by the same vital current1 and whose pride ought to be checked by a consciousness of having the same infirmities4 ,what salutary dews might not be shed to refresh this thirsty land1 if men were more enlightened6 ,smiles and premiums might encourage cleanliness1 industry1 and emulation4--,a garden more inviting than ,eden would then meet the eye1 and springs of joy murmur on every side4 ,the clergyman would superintend his own flock1 the shepherd would then love the sheep he daily tended2 the school might rear its decent head1 and the buzzing tribe1 let loose to play1 impart a portion of their vivacious spirits to the heart that longed to open their minds1 and lead them to taste the pleasures of men4 ,domestic comfort1 the civilizing relations of husband1 brother1 and father1 would soften labour1 and render life contented4 ,returning once from a despotic country to a part of ,england well cultivated1 but not very picturesque--with what delight did ,i not observe the poor man's garden6--,the homely palings and twining woodbine1 with all the rustic contrivances of simple1 unlettered taste1 was a sight which relieved the eye that had wandered indignant from the stately palace to the pestiferous hovel1 and turned from the awful contrast into itself to mourn the fate of man1 and curse the arts of civilization6 ,why cannot large estates be divided into small farms8 these dwellings would indeed grace our land4 ,why are huge forests still allowed to stretch out with idle pomp and all the indolence of ,eastern grandeur8 ,why does the brown waste meet the traveller's view1 when men want work8 ,but commons cannot be enclosed without acts of parliament to increase the property of the rich6 ,why might not the industrious peasant be allowed to steal a farm from the heath8 ,this sight ,i have seen2--the cow that supported the children grazed near the hut1 and the cheerful poultry were fed by the chubby babes1 who breathed a bracing air1 far from the diseases and the vices of cities4 ,domination blasts all these prospects2 virtue can only flourish amongst equals1 and the man who submits to a fellow-creature1 because it promotes his worldly interest1 and he who relieves only because it is his duty to lay up a treasure in heaven1 are much on a par1 for both are radically degraded by the habits of their life4 ,in this great city1 that proudly rears its head1 and boasts of its population and commerce1 how much misery lurks in pestilential corners1 whilst idle mendicants assail1 on every side1 the man who hates to encourage importers1 or repress1 with angry frown1 the plaints of the poor6 ,how many mechanics1 by a flux of trade or fashion1 lose their employment2 whom misfortunes1 not to be warded off1 lead to the idleness that vitiates their character and renders them afterwards averse to honest labour6 ,where is the eye that marks these evils1 more gigantic than any of the infringements of property1 which you piously deprecate8 ,are these remediless evils8 ,and is the humane heart satisfied with turning the poor over to another world1 to receive the blessings this could afford8 ,if society was regulated on a more enlarged plan2 if man was contented to be the friend of man1 and did not seek to bury the sympathies of humanity in the servile appellation of master2 if1 turning his eyes from ideal regions of taste and elegance1 he laboured to give the earth he inhabited all the beauty it is capable of receiving1 and was ever on the watch to shed abroad all the happiness which human nature can enjoy2--he who1 respecting the rights of men1 wishes to convince or persuade society that this is true happiness and dignity1 is not the cruel oppressor of the poor1 nor a short-sighted philosopher--,,he fears ,god and loves his fellow-creatures4--,behold the whole duty of man6--the citizen who acts differently is a sophisticated being4 ,surveying civilized life1 and seeing1 with undazzled eye1 the polished vices of the rich1 their insincerity1 want of natural affections1 with all the specious train that luxury introduces1 ,i have turned impatiently to the poor1 to look for man undebauched by riches or power--but1 alas6 what did ,i see8 a being scarcely above the brutes1 over which he tyrannized2 a broken spirit1 worn-out body1 and all those gross vices which the example of the rich1 rudely copied1 could produce4 ,envy built a wall of separation1 that made the poor hate1 whilst they bent to their superiors2 who1 on their part1 stepped aside to avoid the loathsome sight of human misery4 ,what were the outrages of a day#bg to these continual miseries8 ,let those sorrows hide their diminished head before the tremendous mountain of woe that thus defaces our globe6 ,man preys on man2 and you mourn for the idle tapestry that decorated a gothic pile1 and the dronish bell that summoned the fat priest to prayer4 ,you mourn for the empty pageant of a name1 when slavery flaps her wing1 and the sick heart retires to die in lonely wilds1 far from the abodes of men4 ,did the pangs you felt for insulted nobility1 the anguish that rent your heart when the gorgeous robes were torn off the idol human weakness had set up1 deserve to be compared with the long-drawn sigh of melancholy reflection1 when misery and vice are thus seen to haunt our steps1 and swim on the top of every cheering prospect8 ,why is our fancy to be appalled by terrific perspectives of a hell beyond the grave8--,hell stalks abroad2--the lash resounds on the slave's naked sides2 and the sick wretch1 who can no longer earn the sour bread of unremitting labour1 steals to a ditch to bid the world a long good night--or1 neglected in some ostentatious hospital1 breathes his last amidst the laugh of mercenary attendants4 ,such misery demands more than tears--,i pause to recollect myself2 and smother the contempt ,i feel rising for your rhetorical flourishes and infantine sensibility4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ,taking a retrospective view of my hasty answer1 and casting a cursory glance over your ,reflections1 ,i perceive that ,i have not alluded to several reprehensible passages1 in your elaborate work2 which ,i marked for censure when ,i first perused it with a steady eye4 ,and now ,i find it almost impossible candidly to refute your sophisms1 without quoting your own words1 and putting the numerous contradictions ,i observed in opposition to each other4 ,this would be an effectual refutation2 but1 after such a tedious drudgery1 ,i fear ,i should only be read by the patient eye that scarcely wanted my assistance to detect the flagrant errors4 ,it would be a tedious process to shew1 that often the most just and forcible illustrations are warped to colour over opinions you must sometimes have secretly despised2 or1 at least1 have discovered1 that what you asserted without limitation1 required the greatest4 ,some subjects of exaggeration may have been superficially viewed2 depth of judgment is1 perhaps1 incompatible with the predominant features of your mind4 ,your reason may have often been the dupe of your imagination2 but say1 did you not sometimes angrily bid her be still1 when she whispered that you were departing from strict truth8 ,or1 when assuming the awful form of conscience1 and only smiling at the vagaries of vanity1 did she not austerely bid you recollect your own errors1 before you lifted the avenging stone8 ,did she not sometimes wave her hand1 when you poured forth a torrent of shining sentences1 and beseech you to concatenate them--plainly telling you that the impassioned eloquence of the heart was calculated rather to affect than dazzle the reader1 whom it hurried along to conviction8 ,did she not anticipate the remark of the wise1 who drink not at a shallow sparkling dream1 and tell you that they would discover when1 with the dignity of sincerity1 you supported an opinion that only appeared to you with one face2 or1 when superannuated vanity made you torture your invention8--,but ,i forbear4 ,i have before animadverted on our method of electing representatives1 convinced that it debauches both the morals of the people and the candidates1 without rendering the member really responsible1 or attached to his constituents2 but1 amongst your other contradictions1 you blame the ,national ,assembly for expecting any exertions from the servile principle of responsibility1 and afterwards insult them for not rendering themselves responsible4 ,whether the one the ,french have adopted will answer the purpose better1 and be more than a shadow of representation1 time only can shew4 ,in theory it appears more promising4 ,your real or artificial affection for the ,english constitution seems to me to resemble the brutal affection of some weak characters4 ,they think it a duty to love their relations with a blind1 indolent tenderness1 that will not see the faults it might assist to correct1 if their affection had been built on rational grounds4 ,they love they know not why1 and they will love to the end of the chapter4 ,is it absolute blasphemy to doubt of the omnipotence of the law1 or to suppose that religion might be more pure if there were fewer baits for hypocrites in the church8 ,but our manners1 you tell us1 are drawn from the ,french1 though you had before celebrated our native plainness#bh4 ,if they were1 it is time we broke loose from dependence----,time that ,englishmen drew water from their own springs2 for1 if manners are not a painted substitute for morals1 we have only to cultivate our reason1 and we shall not feel the want of an arbitrary model4 ,nature will suffice2 but ,i forget myself3--,nature and ,reason1 according to your system1 are all to give place to authority2 and the gods1 as ,shakespeare makes a frantic wretch exclaim1 seem to kill us for their sport1 as men do flies4 ,before ,i conclude my cursory remarks1 it is but just to acknowledge that ,i coincide with you in your opinion respecting the sincerity of many modern philosophers4 ,your consistency in avowing a veneration for rank and riches deserves praise2 but ,i must own that ,i have often indignantly observed that some of the enlightened philosophers1 who talk most vehemently of the native rights of men1 borrow many noble sentiments to adorn their conversation1 which have no influence on their conduct4 ,they bow down to rank1 and are careful to secure property2 for virtue1 without this adventitious drapery1 is seldom very respectable in their eyes--nor are they very quick-sighted to discern real dignity of character when no sounding name exalts the man above his fellows4--,but neither open enmity nor hollow homage destroys the intrinsic value of those principles which rest on an eternal foundation1 and revert for a standard to the immutable attributes of ,god4 ,,the ,,end4 ----- ,footnote #a3 ,as religion is included in my idea of morality1 ,i should not have mentioned the term without specifying all the simple ideas which that comprehensive word generalizes2 but as the charge of atheism has been very freely banded about in the letter ,i am considering1 ,i wish to guard against misrepresentation4 ,footnote #b3 ,see ,mr4 ,burke's ,bills for conomical reform4 ,footnote #c3 ,page #ae4 ,footnote #d3 #8,the doctrine of hereditary right does by no means imply an indefeasible right to the throne4 ,no man will1 ,i think1 assert this1 that has considered our laws1 constitution1 and history1 without prejudice1 and with any degree of attention4 ,it is unquestionably in the breast of the supreme legislative authority of this kingdom1 the ,king and both ,houses of ,parliament1 to defeat this hereditary right2 and1 by particular entails1 limitations1 and provisions1 to exclude the immediate heir1 and vest the inheritance in any one else4 ,this is strictly consonant to our laws and constitution2 as may be gathered from the expression so frequently used in our statute books1 of 8the ,king's ,majesty1 his heirs1 and successors40 ,in which we may observe that1 as the word 8heirs0 necessarily implies an inheritance1 or hereditary right1 generally subsisting in 8the royal person20 so the word successors1 distinctly taken1 must imply that this inheritance may sometimes be broken through2 or1 that there may be a successor1 without being the heir of the king4' ,i shall not1 however1 rest in something like a subterfuge1 and quote1 as partially as you have done1 from ,aristotle4 ,blackstone has so cautiously fenced round his opinion with provisos1 that it is obvious he thought the letter of the law leaned towards your side of the question--but a blind respect for the law is not a part of my creed4 ,footnote #e3 ,page #aac4 ,footnote #f3 ,as you ironically observe1 p4 #aad4 ,footnote #g3 ,in ,july1 when he first submitted to his people2 and not the mobbing triumphal catastrophe in ,october1 which you chose1 to give full scope to your declamatory powers4 ,footnote #h3 ,this quotation is not marked with inverted commas1 because it is not exact4 ,p4 #aa4 ,footnote #i3 ,page #ajf4 ,footnote #aj3 ,i do not now mean to discuss the intricate subject of their mortality2 reason may1 perhaps1 be given to them in the next stage of existence1 if they are to mount in the scale of life1 like men1 by the medium of death4 ,footnote #aa3 ,page #abh4 ,footnote #ab3 ,page #abi4 ,footnote #ac3 ,vide ,reflections1 p4 #abh4 8,we fear ,god2 we look up with awe to kings2 with affection to parliaments2 with duty to magistrates2 with reverence to priests2 and with respect to nobility40 ,footnote #ad3 ,page #acg4 ,footnote #ae3 #8,when the people have emptied themselves of all the lust of selfish will1 which without religion it is utterly impossible they ever should2 when they are conscious that they exercise1 and exercise perhaps in an higher link of the order of delegation1 the power1 which to be legitimate must be according to that eternal immutable law1 in which will and reason are the same1 they will be more careful how they place power in base and incapable hands4 ,in their nomination to office1 they will not appoint to the exercise of authority as to a pitiful job1 but as to an holy function2 not according to their sordid selfish interest1 nor to their wanton caprice1 nor to their arbitrary will2 but they will confer that power 7which any man may well tremble to give or to receive7 on those only1 in whom they may discern that predominant proportion of active virtue and wisdom1 taken together and fitted to the charge1 such1 as in the great and inevitable mixed mass of human imperfections and infirmities1 is to be found4' ,p4 #adj4 ,footnote #af3 ,page #adj4 ,footnote #ag3 ,page #adh4 ,footnote #ah3 ,page #ea4 #8,if the last generations of your country appeared without much lustre in your eyes1 you might have passed them by1 and derived your claims from a more early race of ancestors4 ,under a pious predilection to those ancestors1 your imaginations would have realized in them a standard of virtue and wisdom1 beyond the vulgar practice of the hour3 and you would have risen with the example to whose imitation you aspired4 ,respecting your forefathers1 you would have been taught to respect yourselves4' ,footnote #ai3 ,page #ec4 #8,if diffident of yourselves1 and not clearly discerning the almost obliterated constitution of your ancestors1 you had looked to your neighbours in this land1 who had kept alive the ancient principles and models of the old common law of ,europe meliorated and adapted to its present state--by following wise examples you would have given new examples of wisdom to the world4' ,footnote #bj3 ,page #di4 #8,always acting as if in the presence of canonized forefathers1 the spirit of freedom1 leading in itself to misrule and excess1 is tempered with an awful gravity4 ,this idea of a liberal descent inspires us with a sense of habitual native dignity1 which prevents that upstart insolence almost inevitably adhering to and disgracing those who are the first acquirers of any distinction6' ,footnote #ba3 ,page #f4 #8,being a citizen of a particular state1 and bound up in a considerable degree1 by its public will1' c4 ,footnote #bb3 ,page #aa4 #8,it looks to me as if ,i were in a great crisis1 not of the affairs of ,france alone but of all ,europe1 perhaps of more than ,europe4 ,all circumstances taken together1 the ,french revolution is the most astonishing that has hitherto happened in the world4' ,footnote #bc3 ,page #ej4 #8,we procure reverence to our civil institutions on the principle upon which nature teaches us to revere individual men2 on account of their age2 and on account of those from whom they are descended4 ,all your sophisters cannot produce any thing better adapted to preserve a rational and manly freedom than the course that we have pursued2 who have chosen our nature rather than our speculations1 our breasts rather than our inventions1 for the great conservatories and magazines of our rights and privileges4' ,footnote #bd3 ,vide ,page #baj4 ,footnote #be3 #8,when men are encouraged to go into a certain mode of life by the existing laws1 and protected in that mode as in a lawful occupation--when they have accommodated all their ideas1 and all their habits to it1' c4--#8,i am sure it is unjust in legislature1 by an arbitrary act1 to offer a sudden violence to their minds and their feelings2 forcibly to degrade them from their state and condition1 and to stigmatize with shame and infamy that character and those customs which before had been made the measure of their happiness4' ,page #bcj4 ,footnote #bf3 ,page #cea4 ,footnote #bg3 ,the #fth of ,october4 ,footnote #bh3 ,page #aah4 #8,it is not clear1 whether in ,england we learned those grand and decorous principles1 and manners1 of which considerable traces yet remain1 from you1 or whether you took them from us4 ,but to you1 ,i think1 we trace them best4 ,you seem to me to be--gentis incunabula nostr4 ,france has always more or less influenced manners in ,england2 and when your fountain is choaked up and polluted1 the stream will not run long1 or not run clear with us1 or perhaps with any nation4 ,this gives all ,europe1 in my opinion1 but too close and connected a concern in what is done in ,france4' ---------------------------------------- -------------------------------- ,,transcriber',s ,,notes #a4 ,p4 #ib1 changed 8very prejudies0 to 8very prejudices04 #b4 ,p4 #aad1 changed 8quaities0 to 8qualities04 #c4 ,p4 #abf1 changed 8triumphant villany0 to 8triumphant villainy04 #d4 ,silently corrected typographical errors and variations in spelling4 #e4 ,archaic1 non-standard1 and uncertain spellings retained as printed4 #f4 ,footnotes were re-indexed using numbers and collected together at the end of the last chapter4 #g4 ,enclosed italics font in underscores4