STUDY VII. 



23 



very oppofite, are born, however, in the fame ci- 

 ties, breathe the fame air, live on the fame food. 

 Their extraftion, we fhall be told, is not the fame; 

 for pride, among us, afcribes a mighty influence 

 to the power of blood. But the greatefl; part of 

 thofe Janilfaries, fo formidable to the cowardly 

 Greeks, are frequently their own children, whom 

 they are obliged to give in tribute, and who pafs, 

 by a regular procefs, into this firft corps of the 

 Ottoman foldiery. The courtefans of India fo vo- 

 luptuous, and it's penitents fo auftere, are they not 

 of the fame Nation, and, in many cafes, of the 

 fame family ? 



I beg leave to afk, In what inflance was an in- 

 clination to vice or virtue known to be communi- 

 cated with the blood ? Pompey^ fo noted for his 

 generofity, was the fon of Strabo, infamoufly no- 

 torious to the Roman people for his avarice. The 

 cruel Domitian was brother to the gracious T'itus. 

 Caligula and Agrippina^ the mother of Nero^ were, 

 indeed, brother and lifter ; but they were the chil- , 

 dren of Germaniciis^ the darling hope of Rome. 

 The barbarous Commodus was fon to the divine 

 Marcus Aurelms. What a difference is frequently 

 obfervable in the fame man, between his youth 

 and his mature age ; between Nero, faluted as the 

 Father of his Country, when he mounted the 

 throne ; and Nero execrated as it's avowed enemy 



c 4 before 



