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HINTS 
 
 HUMAN CONDUCT 
 
 VARIOUS RELATIONS. 
 
 — " do all that may become a man j 
 
 " Who dares do mere, is none."— 
 
 EDINBURGH: 
 
 BELL & BRADFUTE, NO. 12. BANK STREET; 
 AND JAMES DUNCAN, LONDON. 
 
 MDCCCXXXIV. 
 
W34 
 
 Printed by James Walker, 
 
 Old Bank Close, 
 
 Edinburgh. 
 
 I — ya^k & n CD ^l-. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page. 
 
 I. THE CONNEXION BETWEEN NATURAL AND 
 
 REVEALED RELIGION, 1 
 
 II. THE APPROPRIATE ACCOMPANIMENTS OF 
 
 CHRISTIANITY, 11 
 
 III. THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THE GOOD AND 
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL, 14 
 
 IV. THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THE USEFUL AND 
 THE AGREEABLE— THE PALPABLE AND SPI- 
 RITUAL, 17 
 
 V. PARTISANSHIP IN POLITICS, 24 
 
 VI. PREJUDICES AGAINST ARISTOCRACY, 29 
 
 VII. LOYALTY NATIONAL CHARACTER, 35 
 
 VIII. DUELLING, 40 
 
 IX. SYMPATHY WITH INFERIOR CREATURES, .... 71 
 
 X. SOCIAL DUTY, 86 
 
HINTS 
 
 ON 
 
 HUMAN CONDUCT. 
 
 I. — THE CONNEXION BETWEEN NATURAL AND 
 REVEALED RELIGION* 
 
 In every ingenuous bosom there is a chord, at 
 the touch of which, the universal frame will be 
 softened, and all self-built systems dissolved. It 
 only requires the experience of some heavy dis- 
 aster, or sore bereavement, to bring home the 
 fact, that suffering and sorrow are appointed to 
 men ; and that no human remedy can supply the 
 wants or heal the wounds of the spirit. When 
 
 A 
 
Z HINTS ON 
 
 we faint and fail, there is no balm in philosophy, 
 — there is no physician there. But in the infinite 
 compassion of Christ there is solace unspeakable, 
 — in his holy sacrifice, complete salvation. The re- 
 generated soul, ashamed of its past insensibility, 
 follows the impulse of its ardent affections, and 
 regards religion, less as the rule for all moral 
 beings, than as a personal transaction between its 
 author and itself. In its overflowing gratitude 
 the proportions of duty are unconsidered. A de- 
 votional tenderness, — a frame of spirit, similar to 
 that in which Mary Magdalene washed the feet 
 of our Saviour with her tears, and wiped them 
 with her hair, — is the characteristic of the recent 
 convert ; and after the personal intensity of 
 grateful penitence has ceased to exclude consi- 
 derations of a wider compass ; still he is so pene- 
 trated by a sense of the indignities which were 
 endured by the Saviour upon earth, and the pre- 
 ciousness of the blood by which sin is washed 
 away ; that he is inclined to view the world only 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 3 
 
 as the scene of its Redeemer's crucifixion, and 
 all that it contains as fitted for destruction. 
 
 It is of great importance, rightly to discern the 
 alliance between nature and revelation, and to be 
 equally disinclined to flatter humanity by over- 
 rating its inherent principles, and to encourage 
 fanaticism by a wild endeavour to subvert them. 
 Without the atonement of Christ, and the appli- 
 cation of his sacrifice by the Holy Spirit, the 
 condition of man is confessed to be hopeless. 
 His nature is defiled. The effect of the ex- 
 piation is to redeem what was lost, — the work of 
 grace is to purify what was corrupt. The be- 
 liever exists in a probationary state. He begins 
 to be relieved from the burden of indwelling sin, 
 — to put off the old man, and to put on the new 
 man, — to recover not only the energy and purity 
 of his original nature, but to attain to a yet more 
 exalted state than that from which he fell, and 
 to the hope of a still more intimate communion 
 with the author of his being. 
 a 2 
 
4 HINTS ON 
 
 It is undoubtedly the object of the gospel to 
 abase the independent pride and self- righteous- 
 ness of man, — -to convince him of his worthless- 
 ness, and to refer whatever is great or good to a 
 higher source. It is, however, no less the ten- 
 dency of the gospel to exalt the dignity of nature, 
 to exhibit the grandeur of its design and desti- 
 nation, and to develop every sentient principle. 
 It is the error of enthusiasm, when it views the 
 difference between a state of sin and a state of 
 holiness, and is sensible of the mighty change 
 which has been effected, to imagine, that nature 
 must not only be purified, but suppressed and ex- 
 tinguished. Literally interpreting the expressive 
 figures of Scripture, — instead of being animated 
 by the spirit of grace to excite and educe what sin 
 had deadened and contracted, — an idle endeavour 
 is made, to seal up the fountains of human nature, 
 and to cover with contempt those faculties and 
 feelings, by the perversion of which, evil was first 
 introduced. A war is commenced against all 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 5 
 
 that is fair and graceful in humanity. Vulgarity 
 and meanness are substituted for genuine humi- 
 lity ; pride is discerned in every species of re- 
 finement; imagination is deemed an organ of de- 
 lusion — beauty a deceitful show; as if this breath- 
 ing world were a low and unideal scene, and we 
 could possibly offend a God of love, the source 
 of all excellence and beauty, by an expansion of 
 those sentiments which we owe to his goodness. 
 There is indeed one thing needful in religion ; 
 and a complete surrender of the heart to God 
 may be made, without the sign of any other qua- 
 lity than that holy meekness which is declared 
 to be an ornament of great price. That of itself, 
 will communicate a moral beauty, which will 
 attract and affect congenial dispositions. But if, 
 in other respects, there be no very obvious dif- 
 ference, and religion do not produce a greater 
 delicacy of perception and keener sensibilities, 
 it is not because religion and taste are neces- 
 sarily disconnected, or because the one is at va- 
 
6 HINTS ON 
 
 riance with the other. It is a proof only, that a 
 refined taste is neither the substance of religion, 
 nor essential to its development. There is an 
 absence of a quality that humanity can exhibit ; 
 but the absence is not in religion, — it is in the 
 man. To bestow more commendation on the 
 individual who possesses the accessary and 
 unessential quality, would be unjust ; for our 
 judgment here, — the mode of probation being so 
 various, — should depend on relative and not on 
 absolute merit. But surely it does not detract 
 from the preciousness and sufficiency of saving 
 faith, to suppose that the believer may hereafter 
 evolve and mature what at present is scarcely 
 visible ; and that in advancing to perfection, there 
 will be a growth and exfoliation of every germ 
 that God has implanted in the human constitu- 
 tion. 
 
 A complete harmony of action, it is admitted, 
 is not possible in man's present state. The ten- 
 dency towards evil, without exaggeration, may 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 7 
 
 be considered an opposing principle, which, in 
 this life, can never be altogether overcome. Hence 
 the oscillation of the will, and the dissatisfaction 
 of the judgment. But the distraction of internal 
 conflict would pass endurance, if it were necessary 
 not only to guard against selfish and inordinate 
 desires, but to check and resist every natural im- 
 pulse, and to regard as sinful or vain, whatever 
 can communicate a feeling of pleasure not directly 
 derived from revealed religion. If the just and 
 the unjust could have nothing in common, — the 
 sun would cease to shine, and the rain to descend 
 with indiscriminate bounty. God is the source 
 of natural, no less than of religious happiness ; 
 and to refuse to partake of it, because it is shared 
 by the unholy, is to discover a contracted nature, 
 an insensibility to the spirit of goodness, and a 
 lamentable ignorance of the character and dis- 
 pensations of the Deity. 
 
 It may yet be objected, that the Scriptures are 
 adverse to the entertainment of any doctrine that 
 
8 HINTS ON 
 
 gives the least encouragement to nature ; and 
 that they militate against its accessary, as well 
 as its essential qualities. This notion, how- 
 ever, does not appear to be well founded. The 
 Scriptures are adapted to every grade of intelli- 
 gent being, — and weak must be the discernment 
 which does not perceive their majesty and beauty. 
 But the design of the Scriptures must be kept in 
 view. They were to contain the sum of saving 
 knowledge. They were to demonstrate the cor- 
 ruption of nature. So far as the law of God had 
 been defaced on the fleshly tablets where it was 
 first inscribed, revelation restored and added new 
 sanctions to its authority. But its voice is silent, 
 where previous ordination sufficed. With the 
 exercise and improvement of all our faculties God 
 had connected enjoyment. This appointment had 
 not been reversed by transgression, and therefore 
 needed not to be revealed. 
 
 Is, then, the spirit of Christianity no more than 
 that of purified humanity ? Unquestionably it is. 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. ^ 
 
 In the Scriptures there are treasures of wisdom 
 and knowledge, to the discovery of which huma- 
 nity was unequal, — and in Christ there is a love 
 which passeth knowledge. Nature is the dawn, 
 — revelation is the day. What was dark is illu- 
 mined — what was weak is strengthened — what 
 was low is raised and supported. Nature, invi- 
 gorated hy holy influences, disclaims her original. 
 Man could extend forgiveness to his enemies, but 
 the Christian can admit them to the circle of his 
 love. Before, he could suffer with patience — now, 
 he can rejoice even in tribulation. Before, God 
 was known, — but now the glory of the Godhead 
 is disclosed. 
 
 Such being the prominent features of that eco- 
 nomy which relates to human interests, we will 
 perceive the fitness of applying ourselves to the 
 subjects which it embraces with a holy zeal. And 
 whatever the station or circumstances of an indi- 
 vidual may be, religion is his first, his last, and, 
 in truth, his only duty ; for the commonest events 
 
10 HINTS ON 
 
 of every-day life, and the discbarge of the mean* 
 est offices, are as much a part of the divine ad- 
 ministration, as its mightiest movements. We 
 are apt to regard this world as a region remote 
 from the government of God, or at least as a dis- 
 tant province, to which invisible emissaries repair 
 through an unsubstantial expanse. We fancy that 
 all is invisible, except that which we see. We 
 forget that we are at all times in the heart of 
 God's kingdom ; that he is everywhere imme- 
 diately and intimately present; and that the an- 
 gels before the throne are not more under his 
 eye, than the dwellers on earth. Satan, who is 
 denominated the prince of this world* on account 
 of his ascendancy in the heart which is estranged 
 from God, with glozing delusions would lure us 
 to the belief, that the earth is detached from the 
 divine dominions, and that we are left to walk 
 in the sight of our own eyes, and after the coun- 
 sel of our own hearts. But if any confidence may 
 be placed in the combined testimony of reason 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 11 
 
 and revelation, we are already the denizens of a 
 kingdom to which there is no limit, and of which 
 there shall be no end. Our vocation, though in- 
 ferior, is similar to that of the heavenly ministers ; 
 and were the scales removed from our spiritual 
 vision, we should behold ourselves amid a throng 
 of superior intelligences, — the heavens opened, — 
 and the angels ascending and descending. 
 
 ■II.— THE APPROPRIATE ACCOMPANIMENTS OF 
 CHRISTIANITY. 
 
 There is a very general misunderstanding or 
 forgetfulness of the relative circumstances of 
 Christianity. Because God in his wisdom saw it 
 meet to employ means most contrary to human 
 expectation, and by the things that are weak to 
 confound the things that are strong, that no flesh 
 might glory in his presence ; it seems to be sup- 
 posed, that a state of abasement is the natural 
 
12 HINTS ON 
 
 condition of Christianity ; and that all temporal 
 auxiliaries are marks of Babylonish corruption. 
 When external embellishment is substituted for 
 inward purity, it may be well, to remind the per- 
 verter of the faith, of its spiritual origin and cha- 
 racter, and to point to the lowliness of its author. 
 But when religion has exercised so mighty an in- 
 fluence on the progress of society, and in itself has 
 assumed so extended a position, — " of the hand- 
 " ful of corn which was on the top of the moun- 
 " tains, having made the fruit to shake like Leba- 
 " non," — to sever it entirely from secular interests, 
 and to withhold a recognition correspondent to 
 its importance, would be a proof of insensibility, 
 and might justly warrant a suspicion of infidelity. 
 For the distinction between spiritual and tem- 
 poral things, is not in the things themselves, but 
 in the manner in which they are viewed, — and, to 
 a religious man, all things are Christ's. With 
 what appearance of sincerity, then, could Chris- 
 tians acknowledge the extent and unity of their 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 13 
 
 master's kingdom, if, in the midst of affluence and 
 splendour, poverty and insult should be the in- 
 heritance of the church, — if, when the crown 
 and the sceptre have succeeded to the stake and 
 fagot, the holy cause should be exposed to con- 
 tempt ? Prosperity, like adversity, demands an 
 appropriate expression. When we are blessed by 
 the bounty of God, — while the heart alone can 
 make an acceptable return, — an external symbol 
 of our pious gratitude is reverent and becoming. 
 And those who rail at the overgrown revenues 
 of the church, and contrast its present wealth 
 with its original indigence, would perhaps be less 
 eager in their projects of retrenchment, were the 
 members as well as the ministers of the Christian 
 church compelled to revert to their original cir- 
 cumstances. 
 
14 HINTS ON 
 
 III. — THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THE GOOD AND THE 
 BEAUTIFUL. 
 
 Dominant passions have a plastic influence ; 
 and the outward features will in process of time, 
 faithfully indicate the inward dispositions. In 
 the same manner, goodness of heart and great- 
 ness of soul will animate and dignify deformity 
 itself; and the habitual application of moral im- 
 pulse will imperceptibly change even physical 
 properties. The laws of nature may forbid a 
 rapid or visible transition ; but there is reason 
 to think, that as the dispositions operate on the 
 features, and qualities are hereditary, — goodness, 
 continued through generations, will in the end 
 have even physical beauty for its concomitant. 
 
 There is a pleasure in the exercise of all our 
 feelings and faculties ; and though our nature 
 were freed from its corruption, beauty might not 
 be resolved into goodness. But as the influence 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 15 
 
 of the affections greatly exceeds that of our 
 other powers, the highest rank may be assigned 
 to that moral beauty, which is the expression of 
 love, or the benevolent principle ; and as our in- 
 terest in the general happiness becomes stronger, 
 so may our sense of the beauty of goodness. 
 The beauty that is the subject of mental taste 
 is of a secondary character, — that which appears 
 in connexion with vice — admits of being separa- 
 ted and admired for itself. But while it is of 
 importance to discriminate in our sentiments, 
 and to regard that only, as odious, which is real- 
 ly so, — it is of no less importance to graduate our 
 love for what may be legitimately admired. To 
 subject a moral to an intellectual taste, partakes 
 of the nature of vice. If, however, the taste for 
 intellectual beauty should exceed the love of 
 moral excellence, the error is to be corrected, — 
 not by contracting the former, but by expanding 
 the latter. And it is a high thought, that amidst 
 the finite objects by which we are encompassed, 
 
1G HINTS ON 
 
 an infinite provision has been made for our im- 
 provement both in goodness and intelligence, and 
 that, so far from interfering with each other, the 
 happiest effects result from their mutual in- 
 fluence *. 
 
 * It is an opinion countenanced by high authority, 
 that sensibility, excited by fiction, has a tendency ad- 
 verse to the active charities of life. The habit, it is 
 said, of being moved without having occasion to relieve, 
 hardens the heart against real distress. But it is thought, 
 that on this subject there is often a confusion of ideas, 
 ■with a deference to traditional prejudice, which is not 
 consistent with sound philosophy. Every feeling is 
 strengthened by exercise ; and it would be a curious re- 
 sult, if the expansion of sympathy could in any way con- 
 tribute to the contraction of benevolence. Benevolence 
 itself consists not in the outward act, but in the inward 
 feeling, — in a feeling, that must be classed with those 
 which have less palpable modes of expression ; and it 
 might just as well be said of it, as of them, that its tone 
 is weakened by use. When the affections withhold what 
 they have it in their power to impart; it is not because 
 they have often been employed unproductively, but be- 
 cause they have been associated with certain tastes which 
 have acquired an undue ascendancy over the moral con- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 17 
 
 IV.— THE CONNEXION BETWEEN THE USEFUL AND THE 
 AGREEABLE, — THE PALPABLE AND THE SPIRITUAL. 
 
 The useful and the agreeable are often placed 
 in opposition. The slightest attention is suffi- 
 cient for perceiving, that as happiness is the aim 
 and end of our being, whatever is agreeable 
 must be useful. It is obvious, that imagination 
 and fancy, may be classed among the subjects of 
 utilitarian economy, on the very same principle 
 as agricultural wealth and mechanical industry. 
 
 It is true, that necessities must be provided 
 for in the first instance. And such is the con- 
 dition of human society, that a great portion of 
 time is occupied in obtaining the means of ex- 
 istence. To lessen the number of physical wants 
 is an object of high importance. It would be 
 
 stitution. Whatever encourages the growth of such 
 tastes is indubitably pernicious. But fiction may be em- 
 ployed to extirpate as well as to cherish them. 
 B 
 
18 HINTS ON 
 
 strange, however, if to procure the means of liv- 
 ing were the sole purpose of life, and if what- 
 ever does not contribute to material aliment or 
 tangible riches, could be justly regarded as use- 
 less. 
 
 Even in the vulgar sense, the pursuits and 
 pleasures of refinement have a positive value. 
 They increase the demand for labour, and sti- 
 mulate the powers of production. " Allow not 
 " nature more than nature needs," and the world 
 would be a wilderness of savages. 
 
 But were it otherwise, — could the pleasures of 
 animal existence be indefinitely multiplied — as 
 man is constituted, the character of utility could 
 not be confined to those efforts which minister 
 to physical improvement. It is dishonourable to 
 humanity, that it measures the value of labour 
 by the standard of its infirmity, and minds its 
 corporeal appetites rather than its spiritual capa- 
 city. 
 
 Hence the nominal distinction between the ac- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 19 
 
 tual and ideal, as if thought had not as real an 
 existence as the objects of sense. Reason must 
 acknowledge the entity of the one as certainly 
 as of the other. The immaterial, indeed, must 
 occupy the largest place in every man's attention, 
 how reluctantly soever its importance is admit- 
 ted. We may not entirely concur with Hamlet 
 in the opinion, that " there is nothing good or 
 " bad, but thinking makes it so ;" but we will 
 scarcely deny that the world is coloured by the 
 complexion of our minds, and that the same ex- 
 ternal object will communicate to different indi- 
 viduals impressions as dissimilar, both in kind 
 and in degree, as those which are produced by 
 ravishing music, on the ears of susceptible or in- 
 different auditors. 
 
 -*' We receive but what we give, 
 
 M And in our life alone, does nature live. 
 " Ours is her wedding garment — ours her shroud — 
 " And would we aught behold of higher worth 
 £ 2 
 
20 HINTS ON 
 
 " Than that inanimate cold world, allowed 
 " To the poor, loveless, ever anxious crowd, 
 " Ah from the soul itself, must issue forth — 
 " A light, a glory, and a luminous cloud, 
 " Enveloping the earth> 
 
 " And from the soul itself, must there be sent, 
 " A sweet and potent voice of its own birth, 
 " Of all sweet sounds, the life and element." 
 
 Coleridge. 
 
 Contempt of the immaterial shows itself in a 
 variety of forms. The traditional glory of poetry 
 is still the inheritance of great and gifted spirits ; 
 but their fame consists not in the involuntary tri- 
 bute of reverberating hearts. Except from a 
 small proportion of congenial natures, it is an ho- 
 mage rendered to the descendants of a race, whose 
 ancient nobility admits of no question. To with- 
 hold honour from them, would be self-disparage- 
 ment. The laurel, however, and not the means by 
 which it was obtained, are the object of the gene- 
 ral admiration. Till the poet is crowned, his pre- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 21 
 
 tensions are little respected. His efforts are ex- 
 posed to vulgar ridicule, or, it may be, treated 
 with compassionate condescension. A mortal 
 sin, is often less concealed, than a warm predi- 
 lection for the noblest of arts. The poet and the 
 man of business are conceived to be at the anti- 
 podes. And if contact with selfishness and chi- 
 canery, must excite neither disgust nor indigna- 
 tion, — if the soul must contract its proportions to 
 procure a passage through the dark alleys of hu- 
 man interest, — the conception is just. But, on 
 the other hand, if the real business of life, — the 
 improvement of our moral and rational nature, — 
 depend on the growth and enlargement of our fa- 
 culties ; — address, tact and dexterity, deriving 
 their utility from the vices of society, — can have 
 no claim to be compared with that imaginative 
 vigour and lively apprehension, which impart a 
 double life to their possessor, and are an earnest of 
 clearer intelligence and of a loftier communion. 
 It is not unworthy of observation, that some of 
 
22 HINTS ON 
 
 the fine arts are more respectfully treated. A 
 slender proficiency in painting is not deemed a 
 disgrace ; and the feeblest effort in music will in 
 general be favourably received. In both these 
 cases, the reason of forbearance or commendation 
 may lie in the nearer approach which is made to 
 the sensual and the tangible. Had we an inte- 
 rest in the finer creations of poetry, the same cha- 
 rity, or a greater degree of it than we bestow on 
 inferior essays in the fine arts, would not be with- 
 held from promising, though imperfect endea- 
 vours, in one confessedly superior. 
 
 Were the sublime, the only element of poetry, 
 mediocrity might not be tolerated, on account of 
 the disproportion between the attempt and the 
 attainment. But in poetry, not less, if not great- 
 ly more than in any other of the fine arts, there 
 is a field for the expression of sentiments, diffe- 
 rent in kind and in degree. 
 
 In the coarsest minds there may be an appear- 
 ance of imagination : — Nay, the wilder the ro- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT, 23 
 
 mance, it may present greater attractions to vul- 
 gar fancy. But on considering the elements of 
 such a fictitious composition as pleases the mil- 
 lion, we shall find an additional reason for mea- 
 suring the agreeable effect which is generally pro- 
 duced by the fine arts, by the degree of their 
 proximity to the palpable and the familiar. For 
 the grotesque and the extravagant are merely ex- 
 aggerations of the corporeal and the unideal ; or 
 if, as in superstitious legends, the interest be ex- 
 cited by the mysterious and the indefinite, still it 
 is in relation to personal and bodily feelings. The 
 harlequin who bolts through a window, and plays 
 all manner of tricks with the commonest objects, 
 is more attractive than the spirit that would 
 " circle the earth in forty minutes/' or than any 
 of the gay " creatures of the element." Poeti- 
 cal alcbymy is nothing to actual metamorphosis. 
 The wild adventures and improbable occurrences 
 of a bad romance, are substitutes for the interest 
 and vitality which invention can bestow on the 
 
2i 
 
 HINTS ON 
 
 simplest materials. Like lying, often, but most 
 erroneously, supposed a proof of imagination, un- 
 natural fictions evince a shallow intellect. They 
 are the clumsiest specimens of spiritual mecha- 
 nism, and betray the meagre resources of their 
 contriver. 
 
 V. — PARTISANSHIP IN POLITICS. 
 
 It is generally supposed, that a medium in 
 politics, is negative and inefficacious. And if, 
 from selfish views, an individual should exhibit 
 an alternation of opinion and a hesitancy of con- 
 duct, his vacillating movements will expose him 
 to merited contempt. But a neutral — is not al- 
 ways an undecided policy. It is indeed not a 
 little singular, that, in mixed constitutions, the 
 centre should be deemed, a weak and slippery 
 position. Unless the eulogium on such a constitu- 
 tion as that of Great Britain has been ill bestow- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 25 
 
 ed, we might expect in the national character, a 
 representation of its composite elements, — King, 
 Lords and Commons. In theory, these are sup- 
 posed to coalesce; but so little confidence is 
 placed in human integrity, that the appearance of 
 providing for united interests creates a suspicion 
 of dishonesty ; and a sleepless jealousy of each 
 other, becomes with the opposite parties, the 
 only test of patriotism. 
 
 If the government be utterly corrupt, — if selfish 
 interests predominate in the legislature, and the 
 voice of truth and reason be uplifted in vain, — 
 there may be a necessity for organising a party, 
 and pursuing a system of political tactics. Such 
 a necessity, in times past, has been acknowledged 
 by the most enlightened statesmen ; and the in- 
 fluence of that acknowledgment continues to be 
 felt, when the constraining cause, in one direction 
 at least, has ceased to operate. 
 
 As a check to democracy, however, the orga- 
 nization of party is of less avail. The adoption 
 
26 HINTS ON 
 
 of any means which may not be referred to pure 
 principle, may have the effect of weakening rather 
 than of strengthening an unpopular minority. A 
 party who have recourse to other instruments be- 
 sides reason and justice, — unless the adversary be 
 not only deaf to conviction, but reducible to com- 
 pulsory obedience, — will in the end, gain nothing 
 but reproach. 
 
 In public as in private life, indeed, there may 
 be, on the foundation of correct principle, a se- 
 cure but solitary structure ; and the policy which 
 takes no account of the customs and humours of 
 classes and individuals, will be as little likely to 
 procure success, as an upright but austere cha- 
 racter, to ingratiate himself with society. An 
 amiable manner has been so often assumed as a 
 mask for unworthy purposes, that a smooth ad- 
 dress has been brought into some degree of dis- 
 repute among lovers of truth ; and an ungracious 
 deportment has been reckoned a mark of since- 
 rity. But courtesy and every mode of good-will, 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 27 
 
 are for the most part, indispensable to human 
 agency. They are not selfish arts, but important 
 duties ; and can be slighted or neglected by no 
 one who has an interest in the diffusion of hap- 
 piness. 
 
 So far, therefore, as a party is united for the 
 purpose of disseminating those principles which 
 its members individually respect and cherish, 
 and while their behaviour does not require to be 
 justified by the Jesuitical approval of evil for the 
 sake of good, the association is laudable. But 
 to proceed one step beyond, — to make the least 
 sacrifice of conscientious opinion, — to have the 
 slightest connexion with faction, — is neither ho- 
 nourable nor expedient. To despair of a good 
 cause, without the use of equivocal instruments, is 
 to manifest a disbelief of those superior powers by 
 which the order of the moral world is preserved. 
 While humanity retains its constitution, the hum- 
 blest individual who seeks for happiness by vir- 
 tue, has stronger auxiliaries than rank, talent, or 
 
28 
 
 HINTS ON 
 
 numbers can afford. He is in league with truth, 
 justice, and benevolence, and the slightest dero- 
 gation from one of these, would ill be requited 
 by any support which he could derive from a 
 secular alliance. Let not him therefore, who re- 
 fuses to enlist under the banners of a party, be 
 reckoned either a contradiction or a nullity. His 
 line of action may be no less decided than that of 
 the most eager partisan, though he may be found 
 sometimes on one side, and sometimes on another 
 of an arbitrary boundary. It is not sufficient to 
 convict him of inconsistency, that he has refused 
 to subscribe to a fluctuating creed. If he have 
 adhered to that higher standard to which all poli- 
 tical creeds should conform, he presents a better 
 claim to the character of faithfulness, than the 
 firmest tenacity in respect to conventional arti- 
 cles can offer *. 
 
 * The preference of persons to principles has of late 
 been painfully conspicuous. There are disinterested 
 men in all parties ; but the servile followers of the pre- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 29 
 
 VI. — PREJUDICES AGAINST ARTSTOCRACY. 
 
 There is a growing dislike to aristocracy, not 
 merely as a governing power, but likewise as an 
 
 sent, and those of previous administrations, could scarce- 
 ly be more versatile in their opinions, were they charge- 
 able with open venality. Things as well as persons 
 seem to have changed places. The extreme party have 
 as yet had no opportunity of transmutation. With the 
 exception of inscribing liberty and patriotism on their 
 banners, they make no pretension to loftiness of prin- 
 ciple, but honestly avow their design to make as few 
 sacrifices as possible. Nevertheless, they are not with- 
 out conceit of firmness, and honesty, and public spirit. 
 These are admirable qualities ; but assurance, obtuseness, 
 and a passion for notoriety, are often their substitutes. 
 Any member of the social family may take a prominent 
 part in a work of philanthropy without the slightest pre- 
 sumption ; but if, in the attainment of inferior ends, a 
 person should thrust himself forward with no recom- 
 mendation to popular acceptance which every citizen 
 could not as easily prefer, inordinate vanity may justly 
 be suspected. 
 
 All pretences are odious. Vulgar ambition cannot 
 
30 HINTS ON 
 
 ingredient in the composition of society. The 
 cause of this may be ascribed partly to the invi- 
 diousness of unparticipated privileges, and partly 
 to their abuse. Artificial distinctions, however, 
 may be defended on substantial grounds. It is 
 
 be raised above its base level by the shouts of a rabble. 
 But, iu an especial manner, secularity in the guise of 
 sacredness is obnoxious. Inconsistency of conduct 
 in a member of the church of Christ, whether as a minis- 
 ter, as an elder, or as a censor of abuses, if habitual, or 
 followed by no regret, is a reproach to the Christian pro- 
 fession. When one who makes himself conspicuous 
 by an apparent zeal for the purest forms of ecclesiastical 
 polity, in a case where his religion is brought to the 
 test, acts in the same manner as the world's most abject 
 minion, — it is evident that he is ignorant of religion, or 
 that he miscalculates egregiously the tolerance that is 
 shewn to hypocrisy. But he, as well as those who 
 think that fame is dependant on utterance, and that, be- 
 cause no one arraigns them openly, they are held in 
 honour and reputation, — should remember, that there are 
 vigilant eyes and searching judgments, where no visible 
 indication is given of their exercise ; and that a man, on 
 whom public applause has been lavished, may notwith- 
 standing be deservedly despised. 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT, 31 
 
 certainly not enough that nature has led the way ; 
 for what nature has already done may admit of 
 no addition. But as men have become great by 
 the study of some eminent model, or by having 
 constantly before them a venerated presence, 
 the image of personified nobility, may prove a 
 perpetual standard of honour and magnanimity. 
 Parental reverence and personal respect will for- 
 bid the disappointment of public expectation. 
 Nor although the fabric of character is mainly 
 constructed by each individual, should the trans- 
 mitted influence of hereditary qualities be over- 
 looked. If national dignity is not an empty name, 
 — if the loftier sentiments of humanity are salutary 
 to the social constitution, — it is expedient that 
 there should be an order in the state, raised above 
 the level of the market place, to whom, as to a 
 priesthood, should be entrusted a sacred charge in 
 the temple of honour. In private transactions, or 
 in public measures, in which men have a private in- 
 terest, their views may be warped ; but in judg- 
 
32 HINTS ON 
 
 ing of others, a generous and elevated policy will 
 produce its effect even on the million, and be 
 more likely to procure a benefit than all the arts 
 which selfishness can employ. In its purest state, 
 however, aristocracy is liable to abuse. A cer- 
 tain degree of distinction being attained without 
 any effort, the spring of activity may be inopera- 
 tive, and corruption be engendered by the breath 
 of flattery and the love of pleasure. When the 
 rank of nobility is conferred, not for illustrious 
 actions and patriotic services, but for secret or 
 shameless reasons, the order is at once degraded, 
 and the object of its existence defeated. When 
 the scions of aristocracy flourish in despite of 
 pernicious qualities, the society in which they 
 are cherished, is itself corrupt. As long as there 
 is soundness in the main body of society, the pri- 
 vileges of aristocracy will require a correspondent 
 demeanour, and the peril attendant on gratuitous 
 honours will be avoided. But when, in spite of 
 mean conduct or flagrant vices, the wearer of a 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 33 
 
 coronet is followed and caressed, the extinction 
 of aristocracy would prove no remedy for the evil. 
 The servility of the minion, rather than the rank 
 of the magnate, should then be obnoxious, and 
 such means adopted, as would purify and regene- 
 rate the corrupted community. 
 
 VII. — LOYALTY, — NATIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 Unlimited monarchy, is scarcely compatible 
 with the voluntary obedience of a civilised peo- 
 ple. External hostilities, or the recent experience 
 of civil dissensions, — the glory of arms, national 
 vanity, or the love of ease, — may for a time pre- 
 serve an irresponsible dynasty in an enlightened 
 country ; but the favour of the government will 
 evanish with the eclat of the individual who made 
 it illustrious, or with the memory of those hor- 
 rors, for which the worst species of tyranny would 
 
 have been a welcome substitute. The lover of 
 c 
 
34? HINTS ON 
 
 learned leisure, may in a careless moment, con- 
 trast the amenities of absolute sovereignty with 
 the agitations of democracy ; but no man who has 
 a regard either for his own, or for the general 
 interest, can think of arbitrary arrests, — -protracted 
 imprisonments, — judicial murders, and the num- 
 berless abuses that may be committed, both with 
 and without law, in a despotic state, and be con- 
 tent within its confines. Despotism in any shape 
 is a dreadful evil. Whether in families, or in 
 states, — whether in one or a thousand — an army 
 or a mob, — a tyrannical will, must be feared if 
 passively obeyed, or hated and resisted. What- 
 ever be the character of the ruler invested with 
 supremacy, the happiness of the community is 
 too precious a deposit to be intrusted to any in- 
 dividual. 
 
 But a limited monarchy presents a very diffe- 
 rent aspect. Under it, are combined the benefits 
 of freedom, and the blessing of peace. On a king 
 who reigns for the good of his subjects; and who 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 35 
 
 has no interest at variance with theirs, the fond- 
 est expressions of loyalty are not unworthily la- 
 vished. Not every sentiment can bear an ana- 
 lysis ; and the combination of several, may pro- 
 duce one, that is entirely distinct from its consti- 
 tuent elements. When loyalty is submitted to 
 the crucible, a spirit evaporates, which, though 
 it may not be weighed nor measured, is eminent- 
 ly conducive to the prosperity of the state. A 
 definition of loyalty, as of religion, must be dero- 
 gatory and incomplete. Yet all the elements of 
 loyalty, are not so subtle and evanescent as to 
 elude apprehension, nor so trivial as to warrant 
 disrespect. In the king of a free state, we do 
 not behold an object of barbarous wonder, or a 
 splendid idol, before which, we are commanded, 
 at the sound of a trumpet, to fall down and wor- 
 ship. The king of any state, is by his office, the 
 father of his people ; but the king of a free state 
 is the express form and image of the nation, — the 
 
 representative of all that is prized and cherished 
 c2 
 
36 HINTS ON 
 
 in the constitution. If associations of antiquity 
 and chivalrous renown have rendered the national 
 chauacter venerable and noble ; it is necessary 
 that the attributes of the sovereign should be in 
 unison with such qualities. A president or chief 
 magistrate chosen from the community, though 
 the best of citizens, could not fulfil these condi- 
 tions. The habits acquired in the prosecution 
 of private interests, could not be thrown off on 
 the threshold of office ; and if they could, would 
 nevertheless be remembered to the prejudice of 
 him who should seem to have forgotten his for- 
 mer estate. Reciprocity is the spirit of commerce; 
 and though merchants become princes, and obtain 
 distinction by justice and liberality ; self-sacrifice, 
 or a disregard of their own advantage, is contrary 
 to their general system. But the most attractive 
 feature in a chief, is devotion to his followers, 
 not dependent on calculations of prudence, but 
 the spontaneous emanation of a high-seated heart. 
 Whatever is admirable in knighthood, we expect 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 37 
 
 from royalty. Were it necessary for the safety 
 of the state that one should die, and the feat 
 of Curtius be reacted, — the prince must be ready 
 to leap into the gulf. It is true, the personal 
 prowess of the sovereign, in modern times, can 
 seldom be exhibited ; but the association remains ; 
 and wherever there is an opportunity, hand and 
 heart, — by life or by death, — the king must pro- 
 mote the weal of his people. 
 
 For the support of royalty, an aristocratic order 
 in the state appears to be essential ; not merely 
 because otherwise democracy would preponderate ; 
 but also, because the sentiments which should 
 belong to the kingly character, would speedily be 
 extinguished without congenial society. Those, 
 therefore, who would abolish aristocracy, should 
 be equally prepared for the extinction of royalty. 
 
 As far as a form of government, can conduce 
 to the welfare of a community in the present 
 state of the world, a limited monarchy is adapt- 
 ed to its object. But the influence of forms of 
 
38 HINTS ON 
 
 government has been much overrated. The ef- 
 fect has been mistaken for the cause. The most 
 perfect theory of government is powerless in a 
 community unprepared for its reception. A du- 
 rable constitution must be made not only for, 
 but by a people ; not that it is to be devised by 
 a popular assembly : but its foundations must be 
 laid in the national history, and its character be 
 accordant with that of the country. Forms of 
 government are but the skeleton — the national 
 character is the life and essence of the constitu- 
 tion. An abrupt or violent change in the forms 
 maybe highly inexpedient; but to lament over 
 the loss of the constitution, on account of its ex- 
 ternal structure being altered, betrays an igno- 
 rance of its vital properties. A needless change 
 should be regretted, less for the form's sake than 
 for the dissolution of character, which render- 
 ed the change an object of desire. While the 
 groundwork remains on which the pile was reared, 
 a substantial edifice might arise even from its 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 39 
 
 overthrow. A bad government, though in a free 
 and uncorrupted state, may be productive of mi- 
 sery for one or two generations. Fire and blood- 
 shed may be necessary to cure the national frenzy; 
 but if the heart be sound, the body will recover 
 its health and vigour. It is of more consequence, 
 therefore, to attend to the means of forming the 
 national character, than to the mechanism of go- 
 vernment. Personal, both includes and surpasses 
 political reform. But government reacts upon 
 the people ; and it being admitted, that the hap- 
 piness of a generation may be involved in a change 
 of its forms, these must always be deemed a sub- 
 ject of great, though not of the first importance ; 
 for however excellent a people may have been 
 originally, a vicious government will in process of 
 time, assimilate them to itself. But in the same 
 manner, however vicious a government may have 
 been, it will be gradually reformed by the im- 
 proving character of the people. 
 
40 HINTS ON 
 
 VIII. — DUELLING. 
 
 In extolling the principle of honour, its coun- 
 terfeit may appear to some the object of enco- 
 mium. But while the glory and happiness of a 
 nation are promoted by the high spirit of the 
 community, yet more than by its physical re- 
 sources ; not only no benefit, but the most serious 
 evil ensues from the existence of a false or fac- 
 titious principle of honour. 
 
 The practice of duelling, as it occurs in mo- 
 dern times, has seldom been defended, except 
 with the view of obviating punishment. Its 
 adoption is generally considered by men of the 
 world as a fatal necessity — a predicament from 
 which, in certain circumstances, there is no pos- 
 sibility of escape. The absurdity, the injustice, 
 the immorality of the act may be admitted ; but 
 so it is, we are told, and therefore, — though the 
 inference is not very obvious, — so it must be. 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 41 
 
 In such a state of things, it might seem at first 
 sight, that the efforts of reason, to remove the 
 evil, would be unavailing. But strong as are 
 the passions and corrupt habits of men ; it is 
 scarcely possible to conceive, that in an enlight- 
 ened age, any custom which is without support 
 from respectable authority should maintain its 
 footing. The reasons of the individual who jus- 
 tifies the practice, and the motives of him who 
 follows it, may be altogether dissimilar. But 
 the former, if not the foundation, may be consi- 
 dered as the bulwark of the latter, even though 
 the connexion should be disowned ; and if irra- 
 tionality and recklessness had no countenance 
 except from each other, their effrontery would 
 be less. 
 
 Accordingly, it is of primary importance to 
 ascertain if there be one tenable position which 
 the defender of duelling can occupy ; and with 
 this view, the character of the act must be im- 
 partially examined. Appeals to religion and hu- 
 
42 HINTS ON 
 
 manity, while the criminality of the custom is not 
 admitted, are premature. If it can be establish- 
 ed, that the good of society is promoted by the 
 tolerance of private warfare, it is not possible that 
 it should be forbidden either by reason or Scrip- 
 ture. 
 
 Where the law of the land treats it as a crime, 
 unless such law be virtually abrogated by the 
 violated feelings of the community, — nothing less 
 than the proof of the prohibition being itself the 
 infraction of a superior law, can justify disobe- 
 dience. 
 
 Let the case, however, be disentangled from 
 positive sanctions, whether of divine or human 
 authority. Let the end of duelling be stated, 
 and the means by which that end is to be accom- 
 plished ; and then we shall be enabled to decide 
 whether, and in what respect, the practice is to be 
 praised or condemned. 
 
 The preservation of manners, and the main- 
 tenance of station which has sometimes been 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT, 43 
 
 termed self-defence, are the chief, if not the only 
 ends that can be plausibly alleged in considering 
 the character of duelling. How far the term 
 self-defence, can be applied to the circumstances 
 to which it is intended to refer, need not be de- 
 termined at present ; for though the definition 
 were unexceptionable, the argument which rests 
 on it, is an evident begging of the question. 
 Reason must decide whether or not duelling is 
 right ; and if the judgment be in the negative, it 
 can neither be reversed nor altered in the slightest 
 degree, though it should be contradicted not 
 merely by a section of society, but by the uni- 
 versal practice of men. To propone self-defence 
 in the first instance, as a justification of duelling, 
 is to admit the delict, and to maintain its neces- 
 sity on account of the predominance of irrational 
 authority. 
 
 An unequivocal plea of self-defence would be 
 entitled to primary notice, — for the protection of 
 individuals is the interest of society. But slight 
 
HINTS ON 
 
 as the claim which rests on the propriety of man- 
 ners may seem, it is in truth the only one which 
 does not in some measure infer culpability. 
 
 There are cases in morality, to reason on which, 
 discredits the superior principles which dictate 
 the decision. Were an illustration required of 
 this supererogation of reason, it would be unne- 
 cessary to go beyond the subject in hand. When 
 it is proposed to guard good manners by conflict 
 and bloodshed, and to put it into the power of 
 a vindictive individual to punish capitally, — 
 where the law, which leaves no substantial wrong 
 without a remedy administered by impartial 
 judges, refuses even civil redress, — the dispro- 
 portion betwixt the means and the end is in- 
 stantly apparent ; and could an argument be de- 
 vised to puzzle the understanding, inability to 
 unravel its sophistry would in no wise prevent 
 a thorough conviction of its falsehood. 
 
 But having made this protest against the sup- 
 position, that reasoning is at all necessary in this 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 45 
 
 part of the inquiry ; let it not be imagined that 
 there is any wish to decline its jurisdiction. Let 
 social politeness be deemed worthy of the highest 
 sacrifice, and it will appear that the price offered 
 cannot purchase the desired advantage. 
 
 There may have been a time, when the pride 
 of physical strength, and the consciousness of per- 
 sonal prowess, had a domineering influence on 
 society, — when insolence of tongue, or tyranny 
 of temper, unrestrained by opinion, stood in need 
 of a violent check, — though it is not easy to see 
 how the same qualities which incited to insult, 
 preponderant as they would generally be in a 
 personal encounter, could be curbed or repressed 
 by the penalty — or what, in chivalrous language, 
 would rather be termed — the pastime of a chal- 
 lenge. Society, however, at such a time, was in 
 a semi-barbarous condition. In civilised eras, so- 
 ciety permits not animal ascendancy. Both for 
 its entertainment and its defence, it relies chiefly 
 on moral and intellectual resources ; — it upholds 
 
46 HINTS ON 
 
 the standard of taste ; and, in considering the pre- 
 tensions or the conduct of its members, is wholly 
 independent of physical constraint. To urge the 
 necessity of the sword and the pistol, is to assume 
 an uncivilised state of manners ; and therefore, 
 unless it is contended, that barbarism is still a so- 
 cial characteristic, the argument is, — not that duel- 
 ling now preserves, but that it originally procured 
 the alleged benefit. 
 
 It is difficult to imagine, that we are in any 
 notable degree, indebted to a preventive influence, 
 for the peace and propriety of social communion. 
 Against the enemies of society, fear and its auxi- 
 liaries may be of signal efficacy; but among 
 friends and acquaintances, or in general inter- 
 course, the courtesy which prevails must be as- 
 cribed to a worthier principle. In referring to 
 past times, an endeavour is made to hide an in- 
 defensible practice in the mists of antiquity, or to 
 derive from the sanction of a ruder age a pre- 
 scriptive title to observance. But it must be re- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 47 
 
 membered, that at the time to which reference is 
 made, the combat, — so far from resembling the 
 presumptuous attempt at personal retribution 
 which the modern duel exhibits, was a judicial 
 appointment — a solemn transaction — an appeal to 
 the Deity in matters of such moment as appeared 
 to warrant his providential interposition. Subse- 
 quently the institution was perverted ; and for 
 causes comparatively trivial the issue was referred 
 to arms. Before the discovery of gunpowder, the 
 custom of deciding quarrels by the lance or the 
 sword could have operated little in favour of the 
 weak, if indeed it had not a contrary tendency. 
 Since then — the influence of civilization should it- 
 self have proved a sufficient protection. Here, 
 however, we return to the question of the duel 
 as it is. If the preceding view be correct, there 
 is no reason to think that society has been bene- 
 fited by a practice in any respect similar to the 
 duel of modern times. 
 
 But had it been otherwise — had the benefit of 
 
48 
 
 HINTS ON 
 
 duelling at one time been manifest — it will not 
 surely be maintained, that on that account it 
 ought never to be discontinued. As well might 
 perpetual war be waged, for the purpose of pro- 
 curing peace. It in no wise follows, that the 
 means by which an object is procured, are those 
 by which it must be preserved ; and if the agency 
 of the instrument be at all questionable, the end 
 being accomplished — whatever is not indispensable 
 to the continuance of the effect, should forthwith 
 be discontinued. If then there be, in the moral 
 sense of society, a sufficient safeguard against in- 
 decent and ferocious manners, — the employment 
 of mortal weapons in private quarrels, indicates an 
 unjusti6able recklessness of human life, and, in 
 the great majority of instances, is the disguised 
 substitute of assault and assassination. 
 
 It is possible, however, that the influence of 
 civilization may be deemed inadequate to the 
 maintenance of good manners ; and the number of 
 duels which actually occur, may be deemed a proof 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 49 
 
 of prevailing offences. If from that number be 
 deducted, the cases in which the demand for sa- 
 tisfaction was dictated by a blamable resentment, 
 and those in which no offence would have been 
 taken, but for the arbitrary code by which the of- 
 fence was created, — the remainder would be found 
 to be insignificant. Except in rare instances, the 
 field of social intercourse is protected from the fury 
 of passion, by a feeling of common interest, as well 
 as mutual benevolence. Superficial politeness and 
 formal grimace may consist with the dread of our 
 companions ; but the spirit of enlightened cour- 
 tesy is cordial and expansive. It acts not in con- 
 formity to frigid modes, but to the free impulses 
 of a generous heart and an intelligent mind. Un- 
 fortunate, indeed, in respect of the society which 
 he has himself chosen, or on which he has been 
 cast, must be the individual, who thinks that social 
 amenity can be preserved only by the dread of a 
 latent weapon. For such, the awaiting cartel, in 
 reality is. To outward appearance, a gentleman 
 
 D 
 
50 HINTS ON 
 
 no longer wears his sword in society ; but if he 
 have reserved to himself a privilege of challenge, 
 on the slightest cause of real or on fancied provo- 
 cation ; it is only to appearance, that his sword is 
 abandoned. He is still armed, not in moral proof, — 
 in goodness and in honesty, — but with the same 
 weapons as the felon and the outlaw. When the 
 sword was laid aside, it certainly could not have 
 been intended that its place should be so vul- 
 garly supplied. 
 
 Nature, indeed, is various, and there is perhaps 
 no circle where her unchecked tendencies may 
 not sometimes be rudely developed. The fierce 
 and the imperious may have occasionally restrain- 
 ed their natural inclinations from no worthier mo- 
 tive than the avoidance of danger. But had their 
 wrath and arrogance known no control, and made 
 society a witness of their excess, exclusion or 
 disgrace would have followed as a consequence ; 
 so that in this view, the duel, instead of banish- 
 ing the injurious from society, has only the effect 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 51 
 
 of retaining them in it, by saving tbern from pub- 
 lic exposure, while the irritation of their sup- 
 pressed humours will incite to every species of 
 unchallenged annoyance. At the same time, it 
 should be considered how far duelling may not 
 have directly contributed to the very evil which 
 it is professedly designed to repress ; and how 
 often, trusting to a formidable repute, and the 
 general reluctance to have recourse to compul- 
 sory vindication, the bully and the ruffian have 
 endeavoured to bear down the better sense of 
 society. There is reason to believe that false- 
 hood is much encouraged by passing without 
 contradiction^ on account of the disagreeable re- 
 sults that might ensue. To the communion of 
 intelligent and honourable men, a habitual liar 
 must be a stranger. But as the offence is not 
 so palpable as that of outrageous manners, a sta- 
 tion in promiscuous society may frequently be 
 maintained by a person, whose total disregard of 
 veracity is alike an insult to the understanding, 
 i> 2 
 
52 HINTS ON 
 
 and a cause of loathing to the moral taste of his 
 unwilling auditors. 
 
 Farther, the character of duelling may incur 
 some suspicion from that of its patrons. 
 
 It may here be remarked, that if the custom 
 were necessary for the conservation of civilised 
 intercourse, it would be not a little strange that 
 it was entirely unknown to the ancient world, 
 and to those nations that have furnished sur- 
 passing specimens of taste, and signal examples 
 of manly virtue *• 
 
 But confining ourselves to our own times, let 
 us examine the pretensions of the advocates of 
 duelling and the champions of honour. Are 
 they to be considered as the Percies of the age, 
 to whom " it were an easy leap, to pluck bright 
 " honour from the pale-faced moon ?" Does their 
 jealousy of affront proceed from a knightly re- 
 
 * See the Letter of Julie to St Preux, in which she 
 endeavours to dissuade him from sending a challenge. 
 This observation, as well as others in the course of this 
 argument, are there, most happily enforced. 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 53 
 
 gard for reputation, and an unsullied nobility of 
 nature ? Are they models of refinement and 
 patterns of propriety ? Experience is at hand 
 with a negative reply. It is not denied, that 
 amiable and honourable men have been unable 
 to resist the current of fashionable or professional 
 opinion, j and have conformed to a custom which 
 they either condemned, or conceived it impos- 
 sible to do away. Statesmen, indeed, have so 
 far forgot the dignity of their office as to enter 
 the arena of personal contention. But the fire- 
 eater, and he who submits to a conventional 
 ordeal, are easily distinguished. The stronghold 
 of duelling, is the den of vice, — its warmest sup- 
 porters are the slaves of sensuality. Gamblers 
 and adulterers, sharpers, rakes and bullies, — men 
 whose ideas have almost a material grossness, 
 and whose speech to a delicate ear is a pain or 
 a pollution, — the possessors, it may be, of ani- 
 mal courage, but destitute of moral fortitude, 
 and often cowards at heart,— these are the per- 
 
54 HINTS ON 
 
 sons with whom the credit of duelling is con- 
 nected, and from whom any argument against 
 it meets with the most unfavourable reception. 
 The reasons are obvious. A savage redress re- 
 commends itself to an obtuse and brutified in- 
 tellect. But there is a want of will, yet more 
 than of power, to resort to a moral analysis. By 
 the observance of one factitious ordinance, an im- 
 munity is sought for the breach of every moral 
 obligation. If inadvertently, we have given of- 
 fence to a man of character and feeling, recon- 
 ciliation will not be difficult ; but if we have 
 come into collision with a person all but infa- 
 mous, the reverse will be the result. He cannot 
 afford to abate one jot of his demand. If not 
 combative, he is nothing. A virtuous man may 
 refuse a challenge without fear of inconsistency. 
 The profligate must fight, or submit ever after 
 to moral restraints. Thus duelling is the covert 
 of delinquency. It may perhaps with safety be 
 affirmed, that in modern times at least, a dial- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 55 
 
 lenge was never accepted by an individual, whose 
 morality, even in the eyes of the world, was not 
 in some other respect open to exception. 
 
 Against occasional interruptions to the peace 
 of society, while the human constitution is sub- 
 ject to its present impulses, no means will be al- 
 together available. But for the production of any 
 effect which makes intercourse pleasant, or even 
 tolerable, a prohibitive and compulsory influence 
 is worse than useless. To protect the weak 
 against the strong is a benevolent design ; but to 
 power, in one shape or other, deference will in- 
 variably be rendered ; and if there be any un- 
 willingness in its owner to wave his superiority, 
 no great ingenuity will be required to depress 
 and mortify a humble antagonist, without afford- 
 ing the slightest pretext for a challenge. The 
 most amiable of human beings may remember in- 
 stances, in which, by no positive sign of dis- 
 pleasure, but by a mere negation of good-will on 
 his part, an act apparently gracious was meant 
 
56 HINTS ON 
 
 and understood as an opposite demonstration. If 
 the elements of strife abound in society, their 
 hostile tendencies will operate, though not with 
 convulsive violence ; but social complacency is 
 more disturbed by a constant fermentation, than 
 by an unusual explosion. To create an unplea- 
 sant feeling, it is not necessary to say or do what 
 is disagreeable — the inward sentiment will find 
 an interpreter. Withdraw the will to please — 
 and alienation will inevitably ensue. There is 
 as great a difference between formal and free 
 courtesy, as between a mechanical and a living 
 impulse. The spirit of reciprocal amity is the 
 only conservative principle of society. Imbued 
 with it, the possessor of power is not inclined to 
 misuse his advantages. Whatever be the predo- 
 minant influence of a circle, it constitutes the 
 standard of power among its members. The 
 athlete, the author, and the philanthropist have 
 their several criteria. In general society, bene- 
 volence is power. By it — the physically weak 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 57 
 
 may be morally strong, and the stronger they be- 
 come, the more will they be loved. 
 
 The plea of self- defence, claims our notice less 
 on account of its intrinsic importance, than of the 
 grave authority by which it has been supported, 
 and the confidence with which it has been urged 
 before public tribunals. In an abstract discussion, 
 it is strictly inadmissible — for if it do not con- 
 demn, it makes no attempt to justify the majority. 
 It is a palliative plea, addressed not to general 
 reason, but to the lenity of those individuals by 
 whom a particular case may be tried. It asserts 
 the necessity, without upholding the propriety of 
 the action ; or at least maintains that it is proper 
 only because it is necessary. 
 
 Now, though, as a plea in mitigation, the cus- 
 tom of society may be worthy of attention till 
 the rule and the mode of manners are more in 
 unison — the plea should rest on its proper footing, 
 and not be confounded with a claim of undeniable 
 justice. 
 
58 HINTS ON 
 
 Applied to this subject, the term self-defence, 
 is an unwarranted assumption. It conveys a 
 meaning., wholly different from that which it bears 
 in every other instance. The life of the person 
 is endangered, only by that act which is alleged 
 to be necessary for self-defence. It is admitted, 
 that character and station may be dearer than life ; 
 but still they are a species of property, and not 
 existence itself. If they cannot be preserved 
 without the peril or the forfeiture of life, duell- 
 ing may be vindicated ; but if the case admit of 
 any alternative — if there be a possibility of pre- 
 serving otherwise — not a factitious and nominal 
 good, but interests incalculably precious, — both 
 reason and law forbid the redress, which a real 
 necessity alone could have justified. 
 
 Neither good name, nor any other interest that 
 is truly valuable, are or can be affected by a prac- 
 tice which is contrary to reason. Consistency of 
 character is its own defence. An upright con- 
 science, strong in itself, might stand against the 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 59 
 
 world. But the world — all the abiding power 
 that is in the world — is on its side. For fashion 
 and convention, potent as they appear^ have a 
 limited and transient influence ; they are crea- 
 tures of accident and fancy ; " a breath dissolves 
 " them as a breath has made ;" while truth and 
 reason, founded in nature, exercise a dominion 
 co-extensive with humanity, and are as little 
 affected by the folly of the day, as is the stream, 
 by the bubbles on its surface. By the refusal of 
 a challenge, the opinion of no good man will be 
 lost. Nay, more, while some would acknowledge, 
 in the opposer of a vicious custom, an additional 
 claim to respect, — his station in promiscuous so- 
 ciety will not be in the slightest degree lowered. 
 The recognition of a particular class may be with- 
 held ; though, if the individual were known to act 
 upon principle, even that will not be a likely re- 
 sult. If it were otherwise, however, it would 
 prove the heartlessness of the caste ; and though 
 the slight of the unworthy may be offensive, their 
 
60 HINTS ON 
 
 communion would be avoided as a matterof choice, 
 and their countenance deemed of little importance. 
 Were there any profession, in which pecuniary- 
 interests might depend on the acknowledgment of 
 false notions of honour, it would be a partial ex- 
 ception to the general rule. The army * has 
 sometimes, but falsely, been supposed to exhibit 
 an example of so pernicious an alliance. The 
 soldier is expressly prohibited from duelling — 
 and it is not conceivable, that in the administra- 
 tion even of military law, an individual should be 
 punished, pecuniarily at least, for declining that 
 which he was forbidden to do. Practice, indeed, 
 so far as opinion is concerned, may annul the 
 prohibition. It has modified it considerably. 
 But there is not now, if there ever were, a neces- 
 sity imposed upon the soldier, from which the 
 civilian is free. A right motive will be estimated 
 
 * The observations in this paragraph apply equally to 
 both branches of the national service. 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT, 61 
 
 in the army, as in every place where it operates. 
 If the soldier he more quick to resent an affront 
 — it is because he so far participates in the sen- 
 timents of the unreasoning portion of society, and 
 belongs to a profession, that whatever be received 
 as the code of honour, must be forward to obey 
 it. 
 
 Is there, then, nothing of which an individual 
 may be deprived by declining a hostile reference ? 
 Nothing certainly that a wise man should for a 
 moment regret. An allowance, however, may 
 be made to human imperfection. The feelings 
 are sometimes wounded, when reason reproves 
 their sensibility. It were in vain to deny, that a 
 position which is shared by the recreant is disagree- 
 able, and that the ban of any portion of our fel- 
 low-beings is a cause of annoyance. The peril 
 that is encountered to avoid such a predicament, 
 sufficiently evinces the uneasiness which it oc- 
 casions. The mind may be rendered as really 
 miserable, by shadowy as by substantial griev- 
 
62 HINTS ON 
 
 ances. Yet no one would propose to indulge the 
 humours of caprice, or to feed the wants of a dis- 
 eased imagination. The value of the abstracted 
 good, must not be left to the fantastic appreciation 
 of the individual, but must be declared by the 
 common judgment of mankind. 
 
 Fully admitting, that the interest of the mind 
 to preserve its peculiar sources of enjoyment, is 
 an appreciable advantage, and may be defended 
 as a property, the right must be maintained with 
 a due regard to that of others. Without calling 
 in question the power of demanding life for ex- 
 tensive and systematic violations of property ; it 
 is certain, that if the retribution be out of all pro- 
 portion to the loss, in the general estimation ; it 
 is injurious and criminal. An apple on a bough 
 may have attracted the particular regard of its 
 owner ; but if an urchin, having seized it, should 
 flee and refuse to stop, to shoot him on the in- 
 stant would be a flagrant act of moral injustice. 
 
 This leads us to the consideration of the means, 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 63 
 
 by which the end of duelling is effected. Here 
 a lengthened detail is unnecessary. A gloomy 
 picture might be drawn of the calamitous results 
 of personal conflicts. The extinction of high 
 hopes — the sudden termination of a thoughtless 
 or guilty career — the shock of widowed affec- 
 tions — the loss of fortune and the ruin of fami- 
 lies, will readily suggest themselves to every re- 
 collection. But it is enough to know, that for the 
 purpose of the duellist, a lethal instrument is re* 
 quisite — that punctilio is enforced by the penalty 
 of death. The frequent escapes on the field of 
 danger may expose the pretence, or the flurry of 
 the combatants ; but the severity of the sanction 
 remains unaltered. As the argument now stands 
 — for a solace to injured pride — in a case where 
 reason would prohibit a demand of restitution ; 
 nothing will suffice but the blood of a fellow-crea- 
 ture, with whose existence may be entwined a 
 thousand sensibilities, not selfish and morbid, hut 
 the offspring of sacred relations and domestic cha- 
 
64 HINTS ON 
 
 rities. A more wanton act can scarcely be con- 
 ceived. 
 
 The true nature of duelling, is often concealed 
 by the multiplicity and mixture of ideas which 
 the subject suggests. But having separately exa- 
 mined the component parts — having seen, that so 
 far from being conducive, the custom is adverse 
 to the concord of society; and that the plea of 
 self-defence is wholly untenable — the character of 
 the act cannot be mistaken. Duelling must be 
 deemed a crime — a crime of no lighter dye, and 
 entitled to no milder designation, than that of 
 wilful and deliberate murder. 
 
 From so grave a charge, it is easier to recoil 
 than to escape, — for it will be difficult to shew, in 
 what respect, it is either excessive or inapplicable. 
 
 A desperate case, betimes, gives birth to a 
 desperate argument. The analogy of public 
 and private war, would not have been attempt- 
 ed, except in a lamentable scarcity of resources. 
 For supposing, that the legal and authoritative 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 65 
 
 acts of a national executive, and the unlawful and 
 arbitrary proceedings of a private individual, were 
 on the same footing, the question already answer- 
 ed would be tried only on a larger scale, and 
 would fall to be resolved in the very same man- 
 ner. Who can doubt, that the promoters of an 
 unnecessary war are guilty of the highest crime, 
 or imagine, that the guilt can be diminished by 
 the number or magnitude of the offenders ? 
 
 Still the charge of murder, grates upon the un- 
 accustomed ear ; and the man who engages in a 
 transaction before honourable witnesses, and in- 
 curs an equal risk with a consenting antagonist, 
 can have no conception that he is worthy of the 
 scaffold. The reasons, however, on which he 
 would exculpate himself, would probably have 
 little weight, with him, or with any sensible jury- 
 man, in a case of revenge, where the code of ho- 
 nour had no application. The openness of the 
 act might then be an evidence of hardihood ; and 
 the peril incurred might indicate callous indiffe- 
 
 E 
 
66 HINTS ON 
 
 rence, or intense animosity. With regard to the 
 other particular — the consent of his adversary — 
 from that — if it be a defence — the duellist is 
 plainly precluded : For, according to him, the ac- 
 ceptance of a challenge is not matter of option ; 
 its refusal is, in his view, an abdication of the 
 world — an instant forfeiture of social existence. 
 But waving the personal exception, consent, to be 
 valid, must be legitimate. Would it be a de- 
 fence against the claim of the lawful owner, that 
 the custodier of goods betrayed his trust, and was 
 a party to the theft ? No more is it a defence 
 against any of the authorities, to which man owes 
 his allegiance, that he consented to dispose of that 
 which was not within his power. 
 
 But the charge is not yet exhausted. The 
 duellist not onlydisregards the laws of men and the 
 rights of humanity — he violates the express com- 
 mandments of God, and declares himself an infi- 
 del. The slightest infraction of natural equity is 
 an offence against the Deity ; but if nature and 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 67 
 
 revelation concur in a prohibitory ordinance, — if 
 it be equally legible on the tablet of the heart, and 
 on the sacred record — disobedience or defiance can 
 be referred to no other cause than infidelity. The 
 delinquent may perhaps be unconscious of his cha- 
 racter. He may profess, and even think that he 
 believes the most orthodox creed ; but his conduct 
 contradicts the supposition. A faith that has a 
 firm foundation, will evince itself by the energy 
 of positive principles more than by negative re- 
 straints. While every commandment will be 
 cheerfully obeyed, its possessor will manifest the 
 love that " casteth out fear ;" and walk by the will, 
 as well as by the statutes of the Deity. A fainter 
 belief may acknowledge an inferior and ungra- 
 cious influence. To it, the Deity may be asso- 
 ciated with the whirlwind, the earthquake, and the 
 fire, rather than with the still small voice. But 
 no one, who is actuated either by the love or the 
 fear that are the necessary accompaniments of a 
 strong or a weaker faith, can consider the will 
 e 2 
 
68 HINTS ON 
 
 and commandment of God, in relation to the life 
 of the creature, and desire or dare to oppose it. 
 With regard to the assured believer, there can be 
 no doubt — and if the penalty be kept in view — 
 it will appear just as evident, that from a preme- 
 ditated contravention of a prominent law, the 
 mere bond-slave of religion will be scared by the 
 terror of transgression. 
 
 Eternal punishment is a theme which ought 
 not to be lightly handled. It has often been in- 
 troduced with more force than discretion, and its 
 effect may have been somewhat impaired by its 
 indiscriminate employment. On the present oc- 
 casion it could scarcely be thought impertinent : 
 but to prove the insanity of the duellist, if he be- 
 lieve that his act exposed him to the divine dis- 
 pleasure — it is not necessary to throw back the 
 gates of Hell, and to uncover the pit of darkness. 
 If he be convinced, that a punishment will be in- 
 flicted in proportion to the offence — that the pe- 
 nalty of his crime will be a greater evil than the 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 69 
 
 satisfaction of his immediate desire ; he will be 
 constrained, by the laws of his moral constitution, 
 from deliberately committing an act inimical to 
 his happiness. 
 
 Apprehension of consequences is often refer- 
 red to timidity of disposition. Courage, like many 
 other qualities, has been invested with imagi- 
 nary attributes. Some will profess that they 
 never knew fear — others will admit no acquain- 
 tance with shame. Imposture, effrontery and 
 ignorance are the source of such pretensions. 
 Whoever has hoped, must also have feared — who- 
 ever has erred, must have reason for shame. In 
 proportion to the sensibility of good will be that 
 of evil — the higher the standard of taste or mo- 
 rals, the more painful the consciousness of fail- 
 ure or imperfection. 
 
 No fabulous invention surpasses the idea of a 
 man without fear. There is indeed a blind cou- 
 rage, which the aspect of danger seems unable to 
 appal. The rush of impetuous blood, and the 
 
7Q HINTS ON 
 
 twang of resilient nerves, disturb the equipoise of 
 reason ; and animal force, like an engine of war, 
 discharges its fire in the face of destruction. 
 The danger is unfelt, because it is indistinctly 
 perceived. In cases of the most imminent hazard, 
 a child or a drunkard may be equally fearless. 
 Animal excitement is in truth a species of intoxi- 
 cation. True courage, consists in the firm per- 
 formance of duty, with a full knowledge of the 
 peril, countervailed by the influence of superior 
 principles. 
 
 Of the invigorating power of such principles, 
 the duellist can have no experience. He must 
 therefore, either be blind to his danger, and con- 
 sequently entitled to no credit for courage, or he 
 must disbelieve that the danger exists — and so 
 prove his infidelity. 
 
 In every point of view, then, the custom of 
 duelling is odious. It is adverse to good man- 
 ners — contrary to reason — inconsistent with hu- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 71 
 
 manity. It is a contempt of law, and an abnega- 
 tion of religion. 
 
 IX. — SYMPATHY WITH INFERIOR CREATURES. 
 
 Satirical pleasantry is not the entertainment 
 of an earnest or sensitive mind— otherwise the 
 compassion bestowed on the simple individual 
 who can live in the country without a gun or 
 any other implement of sport, would be matter 
 of ridicule. 
 
 When a sportsman, elate with the success of 
 consecutive seasons, expects to facilitate his in- 
 tercourse with a stranger by a question as to a 
 common pursuit, and hears, to his amazement, 
 that his new acquaintance does not partake in it ; 
 he almost feels vexed for having extorted the con- 
 fession, and assumes an air of patronage towards 
 the unhappy being who uttered it. 
 
 It is really conceived, by a large class of intel- 
 
72 HINTS ON 
 
 ligent and educated men, that the country is ap- 
 propriated to farmers and sportsmen. Garden- 
 ing, in their eye, is merely a refined species of 
 agriculture — and the breath of scented fields is 
 but a medicinal restorative. If in any of them 
 the trace of an imaginative or poetical nature be 
 discernible — it is of that rude and palpable kind 
 which is attracted by stirring action and sensual 
 imagery. To them, contemplation is synonymous 
 with melancholy ; and the spiritual and the in- 
 visible are not mysteries — but non-entities. The 
 beauty of a flower is associated with their right 
 of acquisition or personal embellishment. They 
 may relish a minstrel's tale of feud and foray, and 
 their blood may glow with the impulse of woman, 
 war and wine ; but they have no delight in com- 
 munion with nature, and in the personification of 
 inanimate objects. They would as soon expect 
 to find fish in the fields and fruits in the sea, as 
 
 " Tongues in the trees — books in the running brooks, 
 " Sermons in stones, and good in every thing," 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 73 
 
 Yet nobody thinks that he has a better title to 
 be called a lover of nature than the sportsman. 
 Upland and meadow, dingle, lake and stream are 
 the haunts of his happiest hours, — they abound 
 in their respective species of game. To him, na- 
 ture is not a varied manifestation of power and 
 beauty — an expression of the love that pervades 
 the universe, — but an exhibition of animal and 
 vegetable properties, — a picture of objects that 
 administer to his favourite pursuits. Nothing ap- 
 pears to him so exquisitely natural as a trout 
 gasping on a bank, or a heathfowl beating the 
 ground with blood-stained plumage. If in a col- 
 lection of paintings he were asked to point out 
 the most vivid representation of nature, he 
 would pass by as fine a landscape as ever was de- 
 lineated, and turn to a barege simile of some- 
 thing homely or familiar, such as, " Dead or living 
 " game," — or a dresser heaped with a medley of 
 viands : or if he should prefer a more animated 
 subject, his choice would fall on a fox-chase, or 
 
74 HINTS ON 
 
 perhaps he might find no match to the rat-hunt 
 in a stack-yard. 
 
 When men are hunters from necessity, and 
 when the pursuit is accompanied with peril not 
 wantonly incurred ; the quest of wild animals may 
 be consistent with the love of nature. The In- 
 dian delights in the pathless forest, — not so much 
 because it supplies to him the means of existence, 
 and is the scene of those efforts which he counts 
 among his labours rather than his pleasures, — as 
 because it protects his liberty, and permits the 
 indulgence of his wandering habits. Though 
 every inferior animal acts in subservience to its 
 instinctive propensities ; a carnivorous bird, or a 
 savage beast of prey, may be destroyed without 
 violence to human sympathy. To despatch the 
 vulture feeding on a carcase, or the tiger couching 
 in the jungle, would excite a feeling of satisfac- 
 tion. The chamois hunter, connecting the ex- 
 citement of his occupation, and his hair-breadth 
 escapes, with the game that he follows, may be 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 75 
 
 attached at the same time to nature and the chase. 
 Nor, though it might occasion some regret, — being 
 personally secure, — to strike down an eagle soar- 
 ing in its " pride of place,"- — could he, who, at the 
 imminent peril of his life, had scaled its abode in 
 the cliffs, be accused of inhumanity,— if he pluck- 
 ed a feather from its wing, and wore it on his cap 
 as a badge of his conquest. 
 
 In admitting that the chase is not an unfeeling 
 nor improper occupation, provided there be a 
 sufficient degree of excitement, or a natural an- 
 tipathy to the qualities by which the object of 
 pursuit is characterised ; it may be thought that 
 a very large allowance has been made to the love 
 of sport. For, in the hunting field, the spirits are 
 at the acme of excitement, — the cry of the dogs, 
 — the fervour of the horses, and the glee of the 
 company kindle the blood ; and the flame is not 
 lessened by dashing through hedges, spanning 
 ditches, and leaping over five-barred gates. Again, 
 not to speak of the animals which pass by the 
 
76 HINTS ON 
 
 name of vermin, — either those which lurk in the 
 woods, or those which infest the barn and breed 
 in every cranny, — the cunning nature and preda- 
 tory habits of the fox seem to have but a slender 
 claim to sympathy. 
 
 Notwithstanding, the opinion before expressed 
 requires no modification. In all rural employ- 
 ments, the healthful influence of fresh breezes 
 and pure air must not be entirely kept out of 
 view ; but beyond this, the pleasures of the fox- 
 hunter depend in no degree upon the rural cha- 
 racter of the scene in which they are procured. 
 His excitement is akin to the fever of the cock- 
 pit. He would rather breathe the im purest at- 
 mosphere with a throbbing pulse, than inhabit 
 another Eden with unruffled veins. It would 
 perhaps be unfair to assign the proverbial repu- 
 tation of the old to the modern fox-hunter. But 
 the latter retrieves himself from the predicament 
 only by a diminished devotion and less cordial 
 participation. For the time he occupies a simi- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 77 
 
 lar position. He uses noble materials for an insig* 
 nificant purpose. Any danger which he en- 
 counters is not necessary for the end. but is sought 
 for its own sake. But even in the extinction of 
 noxious creatures, — if the end be subordinate to 
 the mean, the reflective, nay the rational na- 
 ture, — has been dormant. Humanity has been 
 misemployed. 
 
 A great proportion, however, of the sportsman's 
 toils derive no interest from danger, and no motive 
 from antipathy. The most timid and defenceless 
 animals — creatures distinguished by elegance and 
 beauty — forms that discover the most amiable at- 
 tributes of sentient being, are the victims of his re- 
 morseless persecution. To suppose that the per- 
 son who can witness a hare pursued by greyhounds, 
 and listen to its dying cries without a feeling of 
 pain, has any perception of Nature's love, or the 
 impulses of true humanity, would involve an un- 
 paralleled anomaly. Let convention judge as it 
 will, — such a person, if not a stock or a stone, ci- 
 
78 HINTS ON 
 
 ther degrades his better feelings under its influ- 
 ence — or he is at heart a ruthless savage, and is 
 indebted for whatever correctness of deportment 
 he may exhibit in society to imitation and re- 
 straint. 
 
 Is the earth then to be overrun by the inferior 
 animals — are the fruits of industry to be spoiled — 
 or is provision to be made for vermin, as it is said 
 to be among some of the Hindoos, on a principle 
 of religion ? Undoubtedly not. An alternate pro- 
 cess of generation and destruction takes place in 
 the economy of nature ; and by the obedience of 
 every creature to the law of its being — the ba- 
 lance is preserved, and the general good promoted. 
 By instinct, some animals pursue and make prey 
 of others ; — by reason, man is induced to check the 
 redundance of both. His constitution is evidently 
 adapted for the consumption of animal as well as 
 vegetable food. He partakes, not only without re- 
 pugnance, but with relish, of the meat that has 
 been procured from the shambles. The butcher 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 79 
 
 who puts an animal to death with the least pos- 
 sible expense of time and suffering, has a dis- 
 agreeable, and to many a revolting, but yet not 
 an unreasonable occupation. But to haunt the 
 slaughter-house, and to wield the hatchet as a 
 pastime, would give cause to suspect a sangui- 
 nary disposition. 
 
 Opposition to sporting on rational principles is 
 not to be confounded with a Brahminical supersti- 
 tion, or an affectation or excess of sentiment. For 
 purposes of utility, the lower animals are at the 
 free disposal of man. He is authorised by rea- 
 son to provide for his own necessities, and to 
 check their superabundance, by the speediest 
 modes of capture and destruction. But he is in 
 like manner forbidden, by reason and the best 
 feelings of humanity, from making their slaughter 
 the source of his amusement. 
 
 The resources to which men betake themselves 
 to defend the acts of a selfish will are manifold. 
 So far from being chargeable with inhumanity, 
 
BO HINTS ON 
 
 the sportsman sometimes contends, that when the 
 miseries to which the inferior races are subject 
 in the course of nature are considered — he has 
 a claim to be reckoned their benefactor — for 
 abridging the term of a painful existence. He 
 would have us to believe that a sporting excur- 
 sion is a mission of benevolence. His doings, 
 nevertheless, we would class with the tender 
 mercies that are cruel. The grateful savour of 
 existence, under almost any form, may be guess- 
 ed from our own consciousness. If Providence 
 permit a lengthened age — it cannot be presumed, 
 without an impeachment of His goodness, that he 
 does not co-extend the meaus of enjoyment. If 
 he have ordered its abbreviation by the destruc- 
 tive powers conferred on other creatures — a hu- 
 man agent in co-operating, classes itself with 
 
 them, or the inadequacy of unreasoning instinct 
 
 is left to be supplied by the sympathies of reflec- 
 tive humanity. 
 
 This would imply, either a conversion of rea- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 81 
 
 son into instinct, or exhibit the extraordinary 
 phenomenon of a sentiment of pain, being trans- 
 muted by a process of reason, into a feeling of 
 pleasure. The idea of a sportsman's motive be- 
 ing other than that of his own gratification or be- 
 nefit, when gravely exposed, is too favourably 
 treated. Either view him in the field — or hear 
 him at the table— and the sparkle of exulting va- 
 nity betrays the ascendancy of personal triumph, 
 in a manner not to be mistaken. 
 
 There is a mode of treating a subject, which 
 if not unfair, is illiberal and severe. An act is 
 submitted to a searching analysis — it is exhibited 
 in its different bearings, and viewed in all its re- 
 lations. The latent truth, when prominently set 
 forth, cannot be gainsaid ; and in the moment 
 of his concession, and when he is encompassed 
 with irresistible convictions, the individual who 
 committed the act in a state of inconsideration or 
 ignorance, is arraigned, as if he had been fully 
 aware of every circumstance by which an earnest 
 F 
 
82 HINTS ON 
 
 accuser can aggravate the charge. The pleasure 
 that accompanies every exercise of power, is pre- 
 sent even in the force of a moral impeachment — 
 especially if the accused be intrenched in public 
 opinion, or possessed of any other stronghold — 
 and without intending to be disingenuous, the 
 impetus of invective may carry the assailant be- 
 yond the legitimate object of attack ; — while the 
 latter, overwhelmed by indignant obloquy, and 
 impressed more by present than by previous con- 
 victions, may feel condemned in the eyes of 
 others ; and himself conclude that there is a fal- 
 lacy, only by being conscious, that if possessed 
 of his moral identity, he was incapable of the tur- 
 pitude which is laid to his charge. 
 
 To accuse the sportsman of wilful cruelty, would 
 exemplify such a mode of treatment. The palpi- 
 tating breast and lacerated nerve might be pain- 
 fully pourtrayed. He could not deny that the 
 dying convulsions of an animated creature were 
 simultaneous with his own complacent smiles. 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 83 
 
 But except where the appeal to humanity is so 
 clamant, that it must either be admitted or reject- 
 ed — inattention being impossible — -he might ne- 
 vertheless refuse to plead guilty to the charge of 
 wilful cruelty. Knowing that his heart is respon- 
 sive to the calls of affection, and alive to domes- 
 tic and social charities, he would deem such a 
 charge utterly false, instead of being, as it is, only 
 exaggerated. If he had been aware of all that 
 ought to have been present to his mind, it would 
 be perfectly true. In many cases the plea of in- 
 consideration would be inadmissible. In the pre- 
 sent instance, however, it would be unjust to 
 overlook it, paying a due regard to the difference 
 between an undesigned and a purposed inadver- 
 tence. 
 
 It is not then maintained, that the sportsman is 
 in the general case, wilfully cruel. He is cruel 
 only in so far as he shuts his eyes, or stops his 
 ears, against obvious impressions. The alembic 
 of malice could scarcely extract from unmixed 
 f2 
 
84 HINTS ON 
 
 pain a feeling of pleasure. Even with demoniac 
 spite we connect a craving for sympathy. But 
 in consideration may be in a high degree culpable. 
 When it proceeds from ignorance, it implies a 
 gross or a contracted nature, and defective intel- 
 lect. When it is voluntary, though the influ- 
 ence on the affections may be less pernicious, 
 than if sights and sounds of torture had been cal- 
 lously encountered, it is in moral estimation, a like 
 cruelty. The hand that orders, and the eye that 
 witnesses, the pains of the rack, belong to kin- 
 dred temperaments ; and any difference which there 
 is between them, may be ascribed, not to humane, 
 but selfish regards. 
 
 The key to the whole question is contained in 
 the closing stanza of a poem, which cannot be 
 read without an expansion of natural sympathies, 
 " Wordsworth's Hart Leap Well." 
 
 " One lesson, Shepherd, let us two divide, 
 
 " Taught by what nature shews, and what conceals, 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 85 
 
 « Never to blend our pleasure or our pride, 
 
 " With sorrow of the meanest thing that feels V 
 
 * The praise which Wordsworth bestows upon Walton, 
 in one of his sonnets, 
 
 " While flowing rivers yield a harmless sport, 
 
 " Shall live the name of Walton ; sage benign" — 
 
 is not very consistent with the moral of Hart Leap Well. 
 The author of the Seasons, in like manner, has condemn- 
 ed the cruelty of hare-hunting, and described the delights 
 of salmon-fishing. To deem the fish a cold-blooded, 
 and comparatively impassive animal, approaches very 
 near to the philosophy of the eel-skinner. But poets 
 have often a pleasure in description, which they have not 
 in pursuit. 
 
 A still greater inconsistency is exhibited by a person, 
 who, with a profession — sincere it may be — of extraor- 
 dinary devoutness, unites a love of sport, and devotes 
 himself alternately to the saving of souls and the killing 
 of game. Does the man, who for his selfish pleasure, 
 wounds and slays a number of happy creatures, conceive 
 that he possesses a Christian tenderness of spirit ? If so, 
 what an exaggerated idea does he entertain of his own 
 importance, — how limited a view of his relations, — how 
 little sympathy does he manifest with the divine good- 
 ness ! To such a person we would recommend the per- 
 
86 HINTS ON 
 
 X. — SOCIAL DUTY. 
 
 In the principles which should regulate an in- 
 dividual, his social duty is necessarily involved. 
 
 usal of Dr Chalmers's Sermon on Cruelty to Animals, 
 and would draw his notice, in a particular manner, to 
 the concluding appeal. 
 
 " The lesson of this day is not the circulation of bene- 
 ' ' volence within the limits of one species. It is the trans- 
 " mission of it from one species to another. The first is 
 " but the charity of a world. The second is the charity 
 " of a universe. Had there been no such charity, no 
 " descending current of love and of liberality from spe- 
 " cies to species, what, I ask, should have become of our- 
 " selves? Whence have we learned this attitude of lofty 
 <l unconcern about the creatures who are beneath us ? 
 " Not from those ministering spirits who wait upon the 
 " heirs of salvation. Not from those angels who circle 
 " the throne of heaven, and make all its arches ring with 
 " joyful harmony, when but one sinner of this prostrate 
 " world turns his footsteps towards them. Not from that 
 " mighty and mysterious visitant, who unrobed Him of 
 " all his glories, and bowed down his head unto the sacri- 
 " fice, and still, from the seat of his now exalted media- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 87 
 
 The development of particular excellence implies 
 the public advantage ; — and no one who has been 
 
 (< torship, pours forth his intercessions and his calls in 
 " behalf of the race he died for. Finally, not from the 
 -" Eternal Father of all, in the pavilion of whose residence 
 " there is the golden treasury of all those bounties and 
 " beatitudes that roll over the face of nature, and from 
 li the footstool of whose empyreal throne there reaches a 
 " golden chain of providence to the very humblest of his 
 " family. He who hath given his angels charge concern- 
 " ing us, means that the tide of beneficence should pass 
 " from order to order through all the ranks of his magni- 
 " ticent creation ; and we ask, is it with man that this 
 " goodly provision is to terminate, — or shall he, with all 
 " his sensations of present blessedness, and all his visions 
 " of future glory let down upon him from above, shall he 
 " turn him selfishly and scornfully away from the rights 
 u of those creatures whom God hath placed in depen- 
 " dence under him ? We know that the cause of poor 
 " and unfriended animals has many an obstacle to con- 
 li tend with in the difficulties or the delicacies of legisla- 
 " tion. But we shall ever deny that it is a theme beneath 
 " the dignity of legislation ; or that the nobles and sena- 
 " tors of our land stoop to a cause which is degrading, 
 " when, in the imitation of heaven's high clemency, they 
 " look benignly downward on these humble and helpless 
 
88 HINTS ON 
 
 rightly instructed as to his personal conduct, will 
 be ignorant of what he owes to the community. 
 
 c< sufferers. Ere we can admit this, we must forget the 
 " whole economy of our blessed gospel. We must for- 
 " get the legislations and the cares of the upper sanctuary 
 " in behalf of our fallen species. We must forget that 
 " the redemption of our world is suspended on an act of 
 " jurisprudence which angels desired to look into, and 
 " for effectuating which, the earth we tread upon was 
 c * honoured by the footsteps, not of angel or of archangel, 
 " but of God manifest in the flesh. The distance up- 
 " ward between us and that mysterious Being, who let 
 " himself down from heaven's high concave upon our 
 " lowly platform, surpasses by infinity the distance down- 
 " ward between us and every thing that breathes. And 
 " he bowed himself thus far, for the purpose of an ex- 
 " ample, as well as for the purpose of an expiation, that 
 " every Christian might extend his compassionate regards 
 " over the whole of sentient and suffering nature. The 
 " high court of Parliament is not degraded by its atten- 
 " tions and its cares in behalf of inferior creatures, else 
 " the sanctuary of heaven has been degraded by its coun- 
 " cils in behalf of the world we occupy, and in the exe-* 
 " cution of which the Lord of heaven himself relinquish- 
 " ed the highest seat of glory in the universe, and went 
 " forth to sojourn for a time on this outcast and accursed 
 " territory.' ' 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 89 
 
 A social obligation in any degree different from 
 a private duty could scarcely arise — if the sepa- 
 rate members of society duly cultivated their se- 
 veral capacities. A general supervision has a 
 regard to individual neglect ; and the reform of a 
 common evil can be effected only by the definite 
 and well-directed exertions, both of the prime 
 movers, and those to whom the impulse is com- 
 municated. The effectual agents in such a re- 
 form, are they who stand in need of it. The per- 
 sons who recommend it, can do little more than 
 point, to what others must prosecute. 
 
 Often as the illusions of an ambitious philan- 
 thropy have been exposed — the mind, from its 
 natural tendency to be affected by magnitude, 
 continues to prefer a wide to a narrow sphere ; 
 and sometimes overlooks a real and immediate 
 benefit in pursuit of an imaginary and distant 
 good. It may be true, that there is a reflex in- 
 fluence in the progressive movement; and that 
 the promoter of general schemes of benevolence 
 
90 HINTS ON 
 
 will most readily engage in its particular exer- 
 cises. But the welfare of the receiver would be 
 entitled to more regard than the feelings of the 
 giver — if their interests were not completely in 
 unison. They are, however, quite accordant. It 
 must be the desire of benevolence, to operate 
 where its exertions are most likely to be attend- 
 ed with benefit ; and though not deadened by dis- 
 appointment, it must derive encouragement from 
 success ; and delight in the fulfilment of its fond 
 expectations. 
 
 Magnificent projects admit of no comparison 
 with actual achievements. The desires of man 
 are infinite, and his mind ranges through creation 
 with untraceable celerity. But beyond the con- 
 sciousness of spiritual existence, and immaterial 
 attributes, this excursive flight leads to no dis- 
 covery. In nature, the growth of what is destin- 
 ed to endure, is rarely the object of ocular per- 
 ception. Science advances by slow degrees, and 
 though i rapt' Genius 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 91 
 
 " Glances from heaven to earth — from earth to heaven,'* 
 its progress for the most part is through a re- 
 sisting medium, and its enduring monuments, 
 like the pyramids, are reared by accumulated la- 
 bours. In the acquisition of material advantages, 
 the expediency of proceeding, with a respect to 
 our means of securing and maintaining the object 
 of our pursuit, will be readily acknowledged ; — 
 and in aiming at results, where the good is of a 
 mixed nature — being composed of both moral and 
 physical benefit — if sufficient attention be bestow- 
 ed, the same expediency will not fail to be recog- 
 nised. 
 
 It is of the utmost importance, therefore, even 
 when the interest of society is the end to be con- 
 sidered, that every man should be convinced, that 
 he can in no way advance it so effectually, as 
 by a right formation of his individual character. 
 Whatever be the degree of his activity, or the 
 extent of his munificence in his public relations, — 
 while there is disorder in his own bosom, with its 
 
92 HINTS ON 
 
 concomitant expression, — though it should produce 
 no worse effect than a saturnine aspect — instead 
 of being valuable to society, on account of his zeal 
 and generosity, he interrupts its harmony by his 
 internal discord. There is a gross deception in 
 supposing, that benevolence can exist without a 
 focus ; and that its glow can be imparted to dis- 
 tant objects, while those which are intermediate 
 or nearer, partake not in its radiation. The cha- 
 rity that embraces the horizon of humanity must 
 emanate from home. The niggard in domestic, can- 
 not be liberal in social affection. The same foun- 
 tain cannot send forth sweet water and bitter. Spe- 
 cious designs and grand undertakings, for the good 
 of others, must be attributed to superstition, va- 
 nity or policy, when the private conduct of their 
 supporters is inconsistent with the idea of bene- 
 volence. A sincere, though sanguine, tempera- 
 ment may be partial to a comprehensive enter- 
 prise : but its exertions will be disproportioned — 
 not contradictory. If not disheartened at the out- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT, 93 
 
 set, it will derive, from experience, an increase 
 of discretion, without an abatement of zeal. The 
 efficacy of an influence is not to be estimated by 
 its outward potency, and the claims which it pre- 
 sents to vulgar notice. There are principles in 
 the moral as in the natural world, which, by 
 silent and constant operation, transcend, in actual 
 effect, the most sublime displays of visible ener- 
 gy. Good, like evil, has an assimilating tendency, 
 Its least particle may produce an infinite result ; 
 and the latent power of humble virtue exceed in 
 salutary operation, the flash of enthusiasm and 
 the burst of emotion, — as much as the secret 
 force by which the globe is upheld — the instant 
 lightning, and the reverberating thunder. 
 
 The conviction of this truth is a powerful en- 
 couragement to perseverance in duty. In the 
 humblest nature there are high aspirations ; and 
 though the man of thorough principle would not 
 withhold his best endeavours, if he had no other 
 stimulus, than the sense of his obligation ; it must 
 
94 HINTS ON 
 
 be cheering to reflect, that his least effort has a 
 productive sequence, and that however insignifi- 
 cant he may be in the world's estimation, he dis- 
 charges an honourable part, and will, in no wise, 
 pass unrewarded. When the meridian of life is 
 attained, without a wreath of civil or military 
 fame, the heart that once swelled with ambitious 
 hopes is ready to sink, and its obscure possessor 
 to count himself a cipher. If he have abandoned 
 himself to unavailing regrets, he is not so blame- 
 less. But, on the other hand, if he have drawn 
 from adversity " its sweet uses," if he have been 
 " faithful among the faithless," if, amid abounding 
 corruption, he have maintained his purity and 
 truth ; he may have better fulfilled the purpose of 
 his being, and be more worthy of honour, than if, 
 with less of moral worth, he had reached the sum- 
 mit of worldly distinction. 
 
 The importance of private virtue, and the ad- 
 vantage to be derived from the exercise of bene- 
 volence in a defined locality, have been forcibly 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 95 
 
 exhibited by a writer *, whose imaginative power 
 has not withdrawn him from minute and practi- 
 cal inquiries. There is no reason that in any in- 
 stance such a separation should take place. It is 
 often imagined that enthusiasm and zeal are in- 
 compatible with plain and ordinary duties. But 
 the chief recommendation of a distinct and fami- 
 liar sphere in the exercise of duty, is the superior 
 means which it affords for keeping alive, and aug- 
 menting that ardour and devotedness of spirit 
 which are the soul of charity — but which, in am- 
 bitious projects, if active at the beginning, soon 
 languishes for want of appropriate nourishment, 
 and often evanishes altogether, or reappears only 
 in momentary gleams. 
 
 The first locality, then, which a friend to so- 
 ciety should occupy, is his own heart. Its culti- 
 vation and improvement will benefit himself and 
 his household — through them it will pass to the 
 neighbourhood — from the neighbourhood to the 
 
 * Chalmers. 
 
98 HINTS ON 
 
 community — from the community to the country 
 —from the country to the world, and through 
 every ramification of society. 
 
 But in the present condition of mankind, no 
 individual of right feeling can regard his own im- 
 provement as the sum of his social duty. If the 
 poverty and misery that certainly exist in the 
 community were visibly present to its prosperous 
 members, their enjoyment would be at an end. 
 We are so constituted, that our immediate sym- 
 pathies produce a deeper impression than our re- 
 flective judgments. This is the cause of our be- 
 ing painfully affected by the sight of distress, 
 notwithstanding of our confidence in the good- 
 ness of the Deity. On the other hand, we can 
 pursue the business, and partake in the pleasures 
 of life, when we know, but do not actually see 
 the affliction by which we are surrounded. Un- 
 less it be brought home to us by striking or par- 
 ticular circumstances — it is then the subject of 
 reflexion rather than of feeling ; and instinctive 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 97 
 
 sympathies are no hindrance to the operation of 
 reason. 
 
 We must beware, however, of abusing a salu- 
 tary principle, and must not convert our trust in 
 Providence into a motive for inactivity. There is 
 every reason to conclude, that the worst evils, are 
 in the hands of the Sovereign Disposer, instru- 
 ments of good. The relief and the removal of 
 human ills are evidently the objects of a divine 
 economy; but the sympathies of men are as 
 evidently subservient to its purposes. So far as 
 they are available, they must be willingly bestow- 
 ed ; and it is only when an individual has endea- 
 voured to discharge his duty, by doing all within 
 the compass of humanity, that he can derive any 
 consolation from reflecting that evil overruled, is 
 a minister of good ; and that " man's extremity 
 " is God's opportunity." 
 
 There being no doubt, therefore, as to the ob- 
 ligation of an individual to use every effort for the 
 
 G 
 
98 HINTS ON 
 
 diminution of social evils ; it is necessary to as- 
 certain the manner in which the object is to be 
 effected. For the application of improper reme- 
 dies aggravates the disease — injudicious assis- 
 tance is a premium to misconduct. The evils of 
 pauperism can hardly be overrated. Idleness, — 
 improvidence, — want of self-dependence and re- 
 spect — interference with the wages of industry — 
 increasing rapacity — destruction of capital — con- 
 tamination of public morals — these, if not inse- 
 parable from any system of poor laws, have 
 hitherto accompanied their abused administration. 
 Without deciding on the possibility of poor laws 
 under a proper management being available to 
 the purpose of their enactment — we may at least 
 conclude, that in themselves — with any thing 
 but a bare subsistence in cases of otherwise irre- 
 mediable indigence — a subsistence inferior to that 
 of the poorest labourer — no provision being made 
 for an amendment of morals, — though in form a 
 benefit — they are, in fact, a bane to any country. 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 99 
 
 Voluntary contributions on a comprehensive 
 scale — where the evil admits of increase by a re- 
 laxation of industrial effort, — are exposed to simi- 
 lar objections. A large class of cases remains, in 
 which no injury can result from public benevo- 
 lence. The blind, — the deaf and dumb, — the maim - 
 ed and diseased, — the fatuous and the insane, and 
 all those whose misfortunes are not the offspring 
 of their own imprudence and neglect, may receive 
 the bounty of an unrestrained compassion. Nor 
 would we abandon the outcast, or the victim of 
 repented folly. God forbid ! We would treat 
 him still with brotherly tenderness. We would 
 only prevent him from abusing the public sym- 
 pathy, by mistaking his position, and claiming as 
 a right what he should regard as a boon *. 
 
 * Scripture is sometimes cited as an authority, where 
 a change of circumstance renders an obedience of the 
 letter, a contradiction of the spirit. The poverty produ- 
 ced by misfortune or oppression, and that which proceeds 
 from a reliance on other men's labours, cannot be deser- 
 ving of the same treatment. The principle of benevo- 
 
 g2 
 
100 
 
 HINTS ON 
 
 If the system of locality, which has been so 
 strongly recommended by the writer, to whom 
 we have already alluded, were carried into effect 
 — methodised schemes for the relief of poverty 
 might be superseded ; and surely, the adoption of 
 such a system is not to be reckoned among the 
 day-dreams of a visionary philanthropy. We 
 would hope that the time is not far distant, when 
 in the largest cities there will be such a division 
 of benevolent superintendency, that every indivi- 
 dual will be the subject, not of a suspicious in- 
 quisition, but of a welcome communion, — when 
 innocent distress, and inevitable indigence, will 
 be as sure of relief as imposture of detection. 
 
 In the meanwhile, however, the experiment of 
 dissolving societies of doubtful tendency might 
 be severe. While we have provided no substitute, 
 the refusal of our alms, where feeling and rea- 
 
 lence — the desire to effect the greatest amount of good — 
 preserves its identity, how contrary soever may be the 
 modes of its operation. 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 101 
 
 son are in opposition, approaches, in some de- 
 gree, to that presumptuous trust which implies 
 a forgetfulness of our own duty. But this should 
 urge us to lose no time in procuring the substi- 
 tute. 
 
 Nor will a tedious search be necessary. A re- 
 ligious and moral education is the only effectual 
 bulwark against pauperism. Whether a legal 
 rate or voluntary charity is to meet the claims of 
 indigence, — without public instruction there can 
 be no basis of progressive amelioration. The 
 prejudice which exists against the diffusion of 
 knowledge among the people, calls for compassion 
 rather than exposure. The advantage of acqui- 
 ring the signs of knowledge may have been over- 
 rated. To read and write are not, to know, but 
 to have the means of knowing *. The value of 
 mere intelligence, also, may have been too highly 
 
 * Journal of Education, art. Public Instruction, 
 No. 11, p. 50. 
 
102 HINTS ON 
 
 prized. If the apprehensive faculties only, have 
 been exercised, the moral powers may be languid 
 or dormant. The effect of intelligence appears 
 to hold a middle place, between the exaggeration 
 of one class, and the depreciation of another. It 
 is neither an absolute preventive, nor a likely 
 provocative of evil. It increases the capacity of 
 the sentient being. The enlargement of the mind, 
 and the prosecution of intellectual pursuits, have 
 a salutary tendency ; and their influence may well 
 counterpoise the danger of enlivened susceptibi- 
 lity, — if the Will exhibit no oblique inclination ; 
 but if selfish passion be its governor, the benefit 
 of intelligence may not only be counteracted, 
 but perverted. For great as is the power of know- 
 ledge in regulating the affections, it either has an 
 independent existence, or by the manner in which 
 it is exercised may be considered as ,if it were 
 altogether distinct, and may act either as a sove- 
 reign or a minister. Till it passes into wisdom, 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 103 
 
 and assumes the moral supremacy, it will be sub- 
 servient to passionate volitions, and perhaps to 
 vicious propensities *. 
 
 * Fully to develop the relative offices of the human 
 faculties, would occupy more space, than the generality 
 of readers would patiently survey. The primary truths 
 of mental philosophy, it is to be feared, often share the 
 same fate, as the cobwebs of metaphysical sophistry. 
 The constitution of mind and body excites little inte- 
 rest, even among those, who have received what is term- 
 ed, a liberal education. But while recondite inquiries 
 may be left to men of science, — an elementary know- 
 ledge both of the mental and bodily powers, can be with- 
 held from none, without injurious consequences. It is 
 of little avail, that duties are explained and enforced ; 
 if the capacities of the agent be not applied to their re- 
 spective uses. To apprehend moral truth, by a purely 
 intellectual process, is a vain endeavour ; and yet, it is 
 very common to regard the understanding, as the sole 
 medium of judgment, and entirely to overlook the fact, 
 that there is a moral, as well as an intellectual reason ; 
 and that the most valuable knowledge, has no other 
 avenue, than that of the affections. Much of what ap- 
 pears at first sight, an intellectual exercise, has a refe- 
 rence to moral action ; and this is a reason for attribut- 
 
104 HINTS ON 
 
 The utmost depravity is often combined with 
 great intelligence ; but, generally speaking, an intel- 
 
 ing to it more efficacy, than if it had no connexion 
 with the will. 
 
 On the following points, if the evidence were pon- 
 dered, a large proportion of impartial observers would 
 probably coincide : 
 
 1. That the mind, though existing at different times, 
 in different states, is simple, and indivisible in its es- 
 sence. 
 
 2. That there are certain first principles of knowledge, 
 and likewise inherent feelings, which cannot be ascri- 
 bed to any mental process. 
 
 3. That the mind, perceiving the relation between 
 objects of simple apprehension, and discerning their 
 difference, understands, and reasons. 
 
 4. That the mind, directed by its emotions, not only 
 acts and feels ; but discovers and eliminates moral truth. 
 The same remark may be applied to the perception of 
 beauty. 
 
 5. That conscience is to the moral, what understand- 
 ing is to the intellectual nature. 
 
 6. That the mental faculties have a mutual influence ; 
 and though, what at first was received by the under- 
 standing only, may afterwards have an effect on the con- 
 duct, — not in consequence of the original admission 3 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 105 
 
 ligent will be a reputable member of society. Misery 
 is both the consequence and the cause of crime. 
 Ignorance begets idleness, and idleness engenders 
 misery ; therefore, the removal of ignorance must 
 be beneficial. That degree of activity which the 
 possession of intelligence implies, is incompatible 
 with a passive submission to the ills of an abject 
 and grovelling condition. The man who has any 
 knowledge of himself, or of the world's resources, 
 will not be content to starve or beg, or to feed at 
 the swine trough. If the field of supply admitted 
 of no extension, intelligence might furnish more 
 weapons to rapacity ; but it adds to the old and 
 opens up new materials. To anticipate a redun- 
 dance of mankind, does not belong to this, nor 
 will probably to any generation ; but, till the earth 
 
 — but of the subsequent application, — the opposite in- 
 fluence is both more frequent and powerful : — That 
 the will, except in the face of the most rigid demon- 
 stration, refuses to admit an unwelcome conclusion ; 
 and that vicious passions, hinder not merely the prac- 
 tice, but also, the perception of virtue. 
 
106 HINTS ON 
 
 is exhausted, the work of improvement may be 
 zealously promoted*. 
 
 * Were it not for the pressure of population in one 
 place, vast regions of the earth might continue to bear 
 ungathered fruits. This surely cannot be presumed to 
 be the plan of the divine economy. The opponents of 
 population would postpone the time of marriage, so as 
 to render emigration unnecessary. Are they aware of 
 the extent of the requisite protraction ? Do they not see, 
 that they must come at length to a point in time, in the 
 same manner as they allege their adversaries must arrive 
 at a point in space, where marriage must cease? And in 
 the meantime, what becomes of the influence of irregular 
 passion? Do they suppose that it can be generally coun- 
 teracted by improved morality ? and if it could — has the 
 Deity provided inadequately for the temperate desires of 
 moral beings? 
 
 A right view of this subject is of vital importance 
 to all classes of society ; for the association of marriage 
 with inferior purposes has a tendency to debase the tone 
 of every station. The advocate of late marriages exclaims 
 against sensual indulgence, while the reward which he 
 holds out to abstinence, is, after all, only an accumulated 
 store of physical comfort. It seems to be forgotten, that, 
 as the body has its wants, the heart has its yearnings ; and 
 that to provide for the former at the expense of the latter, 
 is a manifest inversion. The neglect of either, nature 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 107 
 
 There is no reason, however, to contend stre- 
 nuously for the advantage to be derived from 
 
 forbids, — and annexes to her decrees proportionate penal- 
 ties. To degrade woman to a species of household com- 
 modity ; or to look upon her merely as an instrument of 
 pleasure and productiveness ; lowers her character, and 
 withdraws a most powerful inducement to interior cul- 
 ture. The conversion of matrimony from a communion 
 of hearts to a participation of the bed, has already told 
 with fearful effect on female education, and has of course 
 extended its influence to the other sex, rendering them 
 frivolous and superficial. External garniture and mere- 
 tricious embellishments abound. If a man be in search 
 of a woman to bear his name, spend his money, and be 
 the mistress of his establishment, his pursuit needs not be 
 tedious. But a woman fitted alike for prosperous and 
 adverse fortune, who, instead of a barren surface, decked 
 with artificial garlands, has in herself the germ of loveli- 
 ness, and whose constant expression is a development of 
 feminine excellence and beauty, — a woman, worthy of 
 the name, — is as rare as she is valuable. As long as mar- 
 riage is reckoned the voluptuous reward of garnered 
 wealth, and unsolaced labours — rather than an encourage- 
 ment to united perseverance — under the guise of wedlock 
 a system of legalised prostitution, with all its attendant 
 evils, must accompany the bane of unlicensed profligacy. 
 The honest indignation which arises against an unna- 
 
108 HINTS ON 
 
 mere intelligence. If it really were noxious without 
 proper accompaniments, the consequence would 
 be, — not that intelligence should be withheld, but 
 that morality should be superadded. Perhaps none 
 of our seminaries of education has attended suf- 
 ficiently to the compound nature of the human 
 constitution. Every plan for the training of youth 
 which does not make provision for a proportionate 
 exercise of the physical, intellectual, and moral 
 powers, is incomplete. But the principle begins 
 to be recognised, and the most salutary results 
 may be expected from its adoption. There may 
 be a difference of opinion with respect to the exe- 
 cution, but there seems no ground for denying 
 the practicability of the object. Other states have 
 set the example of rendering education universal. 
 If the community were moral and intelligent, the 
 
 tural theory is not to be rated as a puerile sentimentality. 
 And they who cannot offer their own experience in proof 
 of their doctrines, should be especially diffident in recom- 
 mending to others a state of which they are ignorant. 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 109 
 
 particular mechanism of local agencies for the 
 supply of its wants, would be rendered compara- 
 tively immaterial by the efficacy of a pervading 
 principle. How varied soever the means, the end 
 is one, — the sound education of every individual. 
 To the teachers, an acquaintance with human 
 nature will be indispensable. But, fortunately, 
 neither they nor their pupils will be left to the 
 unassisted light of nature in their respective ex- 
 ertions. The Bible is the interpreter and the 
 guide of humanity — a luminous exponent of that 
 part of nature to which it relates ; and if the com- 
 munication of the Scriptures be not attended with 
 greater difficulty than that of any other species of 
 knowledge, the advantage of a moral, as well as 
 an intellectual education, may be offered to all the 
 families of the realm *. 
 
 * The necessity of religion, not only as the basis, but 
 as the end of education, may be admitted without that 
 superstitious confidence, which is sometimes bestowed on 
 the instruments of spiritual culture. The Bible itself is 
 frequently regarded as an amulet, possessing a mysterious 
 
110 HINTS ON 
 
 The instruction of the ignorant is a preventive 
 — the support of the needy, under the guise of 
 
 potency against the powers of evil ; and the utterance of 
 a text as endued with exorcising virtue. Instead of be- 
 ing explained, illustrated and applied, — the Word of God, 
 which, when brought to bear upon the conscience, by 
 earnest preaching, or by prayer and meditation, is quick 
 and powerful, and sharper than any " tw r o- edged sword, 
 " piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, 
 " and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the 
 ct thoughts and intents of the heart," — considered as a 
 holy charm, and as miraculously energetic, — betrays both 
 those who communicate and those who receive it, into a 
 fatal neglect of the means, which the Spirit employs in the 
 administration of His bounty. In like manner, — a church, 
 — the mere external edifice, with perhaps the unimportant 
 addition of a frigid service upon the Sabbath, is con- 
 ceived to have a sanative influence, in the midst of a 
 tainted community. An increase of churches, has been 
 represented, as indispensable for the commonwealth. 
 This proposition must be admitted, or denied, according 
 to the idea which is entertained, of a church. If it be 
 thought, that to constitute a church, no more is necessary 
 than a building with a belfry, — a clergyman with a sti- 
 pend, — and a congregation with some degree of reverence 
 for ecclesiastical routine, — there might be churches in 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 1 1 1 
 
 relief, is often a cause — of the evil which it would 
 cure. As the most important charity that can 
 
 every street, — and the populace remain in a state of un- 
 redeemed wretchedness. Public worship, performed as 
 a duty, rather than embraced as a privilege, is a dreary 
 ceremonial : — and it might quicken the zeal of many, who 
 content themselves with doling out a weekly prelection, 
 to know with what weariness of heart, their passive 
 auditors listen to discourses, which instead of enlivening 
 the affections and moving the conscience of " creatures 
 " hastening to death and to judgment," — are composed 
 and delivered, as if the preacher had studied humanity, 
 only in his closet, and wanted either power or will to par- 
 ticipate in its sympathies. But, if by a church, be signi- 
 fied, — not only a house dedicated to the worship of God, 
 but also, a complete apparatus of ecclesiastical tuition ; 
 by means of which, a defined district may be thoroughly 
 superintended, — the advantages to be derived from such 
 institutions are probably not overrated. To take from 
 the Church, a single fraction for purposes wholly secular, 
 would be a dangerous precedent; and to appropriate 
 what is otherwise vested — even to similar uses, may be a 
 boon to selfishness; but if no farther encroachment were 
 made on the revenues of the Church, than to apply them 
 to the most effectual mode of promoting religious educa- 
 tion, — the friends of the establishment would have no 
 great cause of alarm. 
 
112 HINTS ON 
 
 occupy the regards of philanthropy, it is the duty 
 of all, in their respective stations, to promote the 
 interests of education by every means in their 
 power. But while individuals are required to ren- 
 der their best services in their peculiar spheres ; 
 and while, on their vigilant supervision of ma- 
 nageable departments, the success of any general 
 system will depend ; the education of the people 
 must be deemed the interest of the common- 
 wealth, and must be viewed, not as a public good 
 only, but as a national necessity. 
 
 The rulers of a country cannot be too frequent- 
 ly reminded, that the welfare of the state depends 
 on the character of the people, and that the go- 
 vernment is responsible for the conduct of its sub- 
 jects. The development of moral power, as a 
 source of political strength, has been long neglect- 
 ed. Its effect is for the most part unheeded ; and 
 when it is acknowledged ; it is more as an object of 
 religious respect than of visible and practical uti- 
 lity. In public discussions, the arguments em- 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT. 113 
 
 ployed frequently exhibit the utmost sensitiveness, 
 in subjects of finance, and a total indifference in 
 matters of principle. Their intimate connexion 
 is overlooked. The dependence of physical on 
 moral influence, in a pecuniary point of view, is 
 not even surmised. For the defeat of foreign 
 competition, some would permit a sacrifice of hu- 
 manity. They do not consider, that outraged 
 nature is a violent avenger ; and that disruption 
 and disorder are the results of undue compres- 
 sion. Men cannot be used like machines, with- 
 out a dissolution of morals. Immorality is the 
 precursor of anarchy. In a season of groundless 
 alarm, or when there is the most remote appre- 
 hension of anarchy, the productive powers of the 
 country are paralysed. When it actually arrives, 
 the arts of civilised life are annihilated. 
 
 The philanthropy of others would spurn the 
 idea of purchasing commercial advantage at the 
 cost of human life : They would carefully regard 
 and humanely provide for physical necessities ; 
 
114 HINTS ON 
 
 but their social affections would carry them no 
 farther. 
 
 The importance of attending to the material, as 
 well as to the spiritual part of our nature, has 
 been already noticed ; and much might be done, 
 both by those in public authority, and by private 
 individuals, for invigorating the health, and in- 
 creasing the cleanliness and comfort of the peo- 
 ple. Public parks and abounding fountains — 
 spacious streets and ventilated passages — merry 
 games and athletic exercises — spade tillage, and 
 the culture of plants and flowers, contribute large- 
 ly to the content and happiness of a community. 
 
 Nor is the taste of the people a matter of small 
 moment. Noble monuments, majestic statues, 
 and grand edifices, have a tendency to elevate 
 and refine their ideas. A national gallery and 
 museum are worthy of legislative encouragement, 
 not only as they are a source of mental pleasure, 
 but also, because they serve to connect the inte- 
 rests of the rich and the poor, and to soften the 
 
HUMAN CONDUCT, 115 
 
 asperity which has been engendered, by the spi- 
 rit of exclusiveness, to such a degree, that even 
 public ornaments, in which all have, as it were, 
 a right of property, are sometimes vindictively de- 
 faced. 
 
 But no exercise of the body, and no enjoyment 
 of the mind, that either blunts the feelings or en- 
 dangers morality, is entitled to the least tolerance. 
 Prize-fighting brutalizes those who witness, as 
 well as those who engage in it, and calls for a full 
 measure of penal severity. The abuse of the 
 lower animals, though at all times an object for 
 moral reprobation, may not always be exposed 
 to legal prosecution, without the hazard of inex- 
 pedient results. But where the offence is not 
 only committed, but patronised, as in the case of 
 animals baited in a ring, — a legislature, not con- 
 scious of a similarity between the pastimes of its 
 members, and those of the populace, would not 
 hesitate to interfere. The manliness of the na- 
 tional character has sometimes been associated 
 
116 HINTS ON HUMAN CONDUCT. 
 
 with these brutal diversions. Our candour in 
 peace, and our courage in war, have been ascribed 
 to bold brows and iron sinews. We underrate 
 not the value of muscular vigour. On the con- 
 trary, we would sedulously cultivate the means 
 by which, it, as well as a greater, may be attain- 
 ed. These we believe to be health and virtue ; 
 and though from this time forward, the arena 
 should be closed, — we should neither be less sure 
 of our fellows' sincerity in social intercourse, nor 
 feel more anxious for the national standard, in the 
 hour of conflict. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 Printed by James Walker, 
 
 Old Bank Close, 
 
 Edinburgh.