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hours。  Is not every man sometimes a radical in politics?  Men are

conservatives when they are least vigorous; or when they are most

luxurious。  They are conservatives after dinner; or before taking

their rest; when they are sick; or aged: in the morning; or when

their intellect or their conscience have been aroused; when they hear

music; or when they read poetry; they are radicals。  In the circle of

the rankest tories that could be collected in England; Old or New;

let a powerful and stimulating intellect; a man of great heart and

mind; act on them; and very quickly these frozen conservators will

yield to the friendly influence; these hopeless will begin to hope;

these haters will begin to love; these immovable statues will begin

to spin and revolve。  I cannot help recalling the fine anecdote which

Warton relates of Bishop Berkeley; when he was preparing to leave

England; with his plan of planting the gospel among the American

savages。  〃Lord Bathurst told me; that the members of the Scriblerus

club; being met at his house at dinner; they agreed to rally

Berkeley; who was also his guest; on his scheme at Bermudas。

Berkeley; having listened to the many lively things they had to say;

begged to be heard in his turn; and displayed his plan with such an

astonishing and animating force of eloquence and enthusiasm; that

they were struck dumb; and; after some pause; rose up all together

with earnestness; exclaiming; ‘Let us set out with him immediately。'〃

Men in all ways are better than they seem。  They like flattery for

the moment; but they know the truth for their own。  It is a foolish

cowardice which keeps us from trusting them; and speaking to them

rude truth。  They resent your honesty for an instant; they will thank

you for it always。  What is it we heartily wish of each other?  Is it

to be pleased and flattered?  No; but to be convicted and exposed; to

be shamed out of our nonsense of all kinds; and made men of; instead

of ghosts and phantoms。  We are weary of gliding ghostlike through

the world; which is itself so slight and unreal。  We crave a sense of

reality; though it come in strokes of pain。  I explain so;  by this

manlike love of truth;  those excesses and errors into which souls

of great vigor; but not equal insight; often fall。  They feel the

poverty at the bottom of all the seeming affluence of the world。

They know the speed with which they come straight through the thin

masquerade; and conceive a disgust at the indigence of nature:

Rousseau; Mirabeau; Charles Fox; Napoleon; Byron;  and I could

easily add names nearer home; of raging riders; who drive their

steeds so hard; in the violence of living to forget its illusion:

they would know the worst; and tread the floors of hell。  The heroes

of ancient and modern fame; Cimon; Themistocles; Alcibiades;

Alexander; Caesar; have treated life and fortune as a game to be well

and skillfully played; but the stake not to be so valued; but that

any time; it could be held as a trifle light as air; and thrown up。

Caesar; just before the battle of Pharsalia; discourses with the

Egyptian priest; concerning the fountains of the Nile; and offers to

quit the army; the empire; and Cleopatra; if he will show him those

mysterious sources。 The same magnanimity shows itself in our social

relations; in the preference; namely; which each man gives to the

society of superiors over that of his equals。  All that a man has;

will he give for right relations with his mates。  All that he has;

will he give for an erect demeanor in every company and on each

occasion。  He aims at such things as his neighbors prize; and gives

his days and nights; his talents and his heart; to strike a good

stroke; to acquit himself in all men's sight as a man。  The

consideration of an eminent citizen; of a noted merchant; of a man of

mark in his profession; naval and military honor; a general's

commission; a marshal's baton; a ducal coronet; the laurel of poets;

and; anyhow procured; the acknowledgment of eminent merit; have this

lustre for each candidate; that they enable him to walk erect and

unashamed; in the presence of some persons; before whom he felt

himself inferior。  Having raised himself to this rank; having

established his equality with class after class; of those with whom

he would live well; he still finds certain others; before whom he

cannot possess himself; because they have somewhat fairer; somewhat

grander; somewhat purer; which extorts homage of him。  Is his

ambition pure? then; will his laurels and his possessions seem

worthless: instead of avoiding these men who make his fine gold dim;

he will cast all behind him; and seek their society only; woo and

embrace this his humiliation and mortification; until he shall know

why his eye sinks; his voice is husky; and his brilliant talents are

paralyzed in this presence。  He is sure that the soul which gives the

lie to all things; will tell none。  His constitution will not mislead

him。  If it cannot carry itself as it ought; high and unmatchable in

the presence of any man; if the secret oracles whose whisper makes

the sweetness and dignity of his life; do here withdraw and

accompany; him no longer; it is time to undervalue what he has

valued; to dispossess himself of what he has acquired; and with

Caesar to take in his hand the army; the empire; and Cleopatra; and

say; ‘All these will I relinquish; if you will show me the fountains

of the Nile。' Dear to us are those who love us; the swift moments we

spend with them are a compensation for a great deal of misery they

enlarge our life;  but dearer are those who reject us as unworthy;

for they add another life: they build a heaven before us; whereof we

had not dreamed; and thereby supply to us new powers out of the

recesses of the spirit; and urge us to new and unattempted

performances。  As every man at heart wishes the best and not inferior

society; wishes to be convicted of his error; and to come to himself;

so he wishes that the same healing should not stop in his thought;

but should penetrate his will or active power。  The selfish man

suffers more from his selfishness; than he from whom that selfishness

withholds some important benefit。  What he most wishes is to be

lifted to some higher platform; that he may see beyond his present

fear the transalpine good; so that his fear; his coldness; his custom

may be broken up like fragments of ice; melted and carried away in

the great stream of good will。  Do you ask my aid?  I also wish to be

a benefactor。  I wish more to be a benefactor and servant; than you

wish to be served by me; and surely the greatest good fortune that

could befall me; is precisely to be so moved by you that I should

say; ‘Take me and all nine; and use me and mine freely to your ends'!

for; I could not say it; otherwise than because a great enlargement

had come to my heart and mind; which made me superior to my fortunes。

Here we are paralyzed with fear; we hold on to our little properties;

house and land; office and money; for the bread which they have in

our experience yielded us; although we confess; that our being does

not flow through them。  We desire to be made great; we desire to be

touched with that fire which shall command this ice to stream; and

make our existence a benefit。  If therefore we start objections to

your project; O friend of the slave; or friend of the poor; or of the

race; understand well; that it is because we wish to drive you to

drive us into your measures。  We wish to hear ourselves confuted。  We

are haunted with a belief that you have a secret; which it would

highliest advantage us to learn; and we would force you to impart it

to us; though it should bring us to prison; or to worse extremity。

Nothing shall warp me from the belief; that every man is a lover of

truth。  There is no pure lie; no pure malignity in nature。  The

entertainment of the proposition of depravity is the last profligacy

and profanation。  There is no skepticism; no atheism but that。  Could

it be received into common belief; suicide would unpeople the planet。

It has had a name to live in some dogmatic theology; but each man's

innocence and his real liking of his neighbor; have kept it a dead

letter。  I remember standing at the polls one day; when the anger of

the political contest gave a certain grimness to the faces of the

independent electors; and a good man at my side looking on the

people; remarked; 〃I am satisfied that the largest part of these men;

on either side; mean to vote right。〃 I suppose; considerate observers

looking at the masses of men; in their blameless; and in their

equivocal actions; will assent; that in spite of selfishness and

frivolity; the general purpose in the great number of persons is

fidelity。  The reason why any one refuses his assent to your opinion;

or his aid to your benevolent design; is in you: he refuses to accept

you as a bringer of truth; because; though you think you have it; he


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