544 On the Moral Influence lyfllisfbrij. 



^o unfavourahk a judgment both of 06(1 and 

 man, admit of a v^i*y satisfactory 'd Ad dignified 

 reply. But the argmnent lies too deep, and is 

 of a character toa abstract and sublime for 

 common minds; and history furnishes no ail- 

 tidote to the poison, no argument to him^ who 

 «WduM vvisli to retain his good opinion both of 

 God^dnd man. The man, who f6rms his judg- 

 ment of hum^n character and of human enjoy- 

 ment froiii the representation of history, com- 

 mits himself to a supposed insructor, who cer- 

 ^tain-Iy does not, and who probably means not 

 to givei him dny adequate informatfcn of either. 

 His Indeed is a very different objiect, with *^ery 

 littte, rf any, iiioral investigation whatever/ to 

 tell you what one part, and that infinitely the 

 smallest part of the human race, have acted on 

 the stage of Hfe ; a class of men, who generally 

 in the very outset abandon all virtuous restraint, 

 or in the prosecution of their viev^^s perceive a 

 Icind of necessity of quitting so confined a path; 

 and if they have happiness in view, seek it where 

 God and nature never meant it to be found. 

 Who is competent 'to estimate the quantum of 

 virtue 'Ctf- of quiet <^njoyment of an hundred 

 million of subjects of the Roman empire from 

 the history of Tiberius, Caligula c-r Nero ? 

 Are their profusion, their libertinism, their 

 jcraekies, or those of their parasites and in- 



