368 THE LIFE OF 



Once difgraced, thofe prudent friends, whom 

 the law alone reftrains from open plunder, aban- 

 don him ; they do worfe, they fhut the door of 

 fociety againft him by their calumnies; his 

 faults are the theme of their converfation, and 

 they (lielter their own want df honefty behind 

 his lofs of fame ; they hunt hini down with un- 

 ceafing clamour, till it needs more than com- 

 mon difcernmcnt and common firmnefs even to 

 dare to befriend himj his timid well-wifhers 

 will not venture to give their countenance to 

 him ; and he is left to perifh I 



Did it always happen that men of warm 

 pafllons, hurried away by pleafures, were vil- 

 lains ; or did it always happen that the cold, 

 the folemn, the plegmatic, were honefl ; fomc 

 cxcufe might be found for fuch perfecutions. 

 But as it happens on the contrary, that the man 

 who is without vices is alfo, for the moll part, 

 without virtues; and that prudence is very often 

 nothing better than low felfiihnefs in difguife, lit- 

 tle can be faid for fuch gratuitous feverity; be- 

 lides, if one good adion is not fufficient to con- 

 ftitute the man of worth, why fhould one bad 

 one be allowed to conftitute the villain ? A fe- 

 ^ rious turn, the effe(ft of experience, may reclaim 

 the libertine, his unruly paffions may fubiide, 

 and he may, if the gate of fociety be left open 

 to him, fome time or other, re-enter it ; but, if 



hunted 



