CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



it becomes developed. The love of self causes a 

 person to do that which he believes will most 

 advance his own interests. If he take a right 

 view of what constitutes his interests, he will be 

 induced to practise those rules which have for 

 their object the furtherance of human well-being 

 and happiness ; and to systematically discharge 

 the duties which he owes to himself and to others. 

 But if, on the other hand, he takes a false and 

 perverted view of what he believes to be his 

 interests, if he entertains the notion that they are 

 separable from those of the rest of the community, 

 he becomes liable to drift into those habits of 

 selfishness which have, from the earliest periods, 

 been the cause of so much trouble and misery. 

 The miser who hoards his gold in secret, the 

 drunkard who spends upon himself the money 

 which ought to assist in the support of his family, 

 the political place-hunter who sacrifices principles 

 and friends to secure the accomplishment of his 

 ambitious desires, the gambler who squanders the 

 heritage of his children to his passion for play, 

 are each a type of self-love in its most objection- 

 able guise, that of unmitigated selfishness. 



This feeling sometimes takes the form of PRIDE, 

 which is frequently mistaken for self-respect, 

 arising as it does out of the degree of esteem in 

 which a man holds himself. This self-estimation 

 may have reference to the qualities of his mind, 

 his attainments, his possessions, his strength, 

 his personal appearance, his parentage, or descent. 

 It may also be founded in a consciousness of 

 virtue, and of having done one's duty in all the 

 relations of life. It seems to arise necessarily 

 from comparing one's self with other persons. If 

 this be the right meaning of pride, it is very clear 

 that it is not always a sentiment which entitles 

 one to respect himself. A man would be thought 

 very unwise or weak-minded who should openly 

 declare that he valued himself, in comparison 

 with other men, on account of his wealth, his 

 personal appearance, or his family connection ; 

 equally unwise or weak-minded, if he should 

 declare his opinion of himself to be, that he was 

 superior to other men in the gift of natural 

 intellect, in the cultivation of it, or in the practice 

 of the different virtues. Yet, we are continually 

 meeting with such instances of false pride, the 

 persons guilty of this absurd failing flattering 

 themselves that in so doing they are impressing 

 with a sense of their importance all with whom 

 they may come in contact In reality, however, 

 they elicit sentiments directly opposed to those 

 desired by them. In all ages and in all countries 

 this kind of pride has ever formed a theme for 

 ridicule and satire. There are, however, other 

 kinds of pride, which so closely approach self- 

 respect as to be scarcely distinguishable from it ; 

 for instance, the feeling which animates a man 

 who has done his fellow-men a real and substan- 

 tial service, not from a love of popularity or a 

 desire to promote his own interests, but from pure 

 and conscientious motives ; or the feeling with 

 which a brave and honest man vindicates his 

 honour or defends his rights when they are 

 assailed. This warmth of self-respect does not 

 proceed from the petty sentiment of vanity, or 

 the natural instinct of self-preservation, but from 

 the laudable desire to preserve unsullied those 

 qualities and privileges in one's self which com- 

 mand our respect when we see them in others. 



552 



SOCIAL DUTIES. 



These are divisible into general and specific 

 that is, some are incumbent upon us in reference 

 to society at large, and at all times ; we are never 

 exempt from the obligation to discharge them ; 

 others arise out of the particular relations into 

 which we enter with separate persons or with 

 communities ; and we are only required to perform 

 them so long as these relations subsist. To the 

 former class belong Truthfulness, Benevolence, 

 Magnanimity, Civility or Courtesy ; to the latter, 

 our political duties as Subjects, Jurors, Electors, 

 our social duties as Neighbours, Masters and 

 Servants, &c. ; and the duties that spring out of 

 the family relationship Husband and Wife, 

 Parents, Children, &c. We shall consider these 

 in the order we have indicated. 



I. GENERAL SOCIAL DUTIES. 



Truthfulness. 



There are many reasons why men should al- 

 ways speak the truth. One of these reasons is, 

 that the knowledge which any one person can 

 have from the use of his own senses, in many 

 things which it most materially concerns him to 

 know, is very limited. He must therefore often 

 depend for his knowledge on what others say to 

 him ; and when the thing spoken of is exclusively 

 known to the party speaking, the other must rely 

 entirely on what he says. If, therefore, it be con- 

 sidered how great a part of the most serious con- 

 cerns in life proceed on declarations made by one 

 person to another, we may readily conceive, that 

 if these could not be relied on, the affairs of man- 

 kind would be greatly embarrassed, and con- 

 fidence in each other would be destroyed. As 

 this matter of speaking the truth is one which 

 concerns all persons, so all persons agree in 

 holding liars in contempt. Even the very lowest 

 persons consider themselves to be disgraced when 

 charged with the guilt of lying. They can endure 

 charges which would subject them to public pun- 

 ishment, with more composure than they can 

 endure this. A lie is always understood to be 

 resorted to, to secure some advantage or prevent 

 some evil to the person who resorts to it ; or to 

 occasion some disadvantage or injury to the 

 person to whom, or of whom, the lie is told ; 

 sometimes both these purposes concur. The 

 object in view is always an immoral one, and the 

 means used are always regarded as disgraceful. 

 It is at once obvious that wilful falsehood is for- 

 bidden by natural law, which is intended to regu- 

 late our social relations, and is expressly forbidden 

 by Divine law, which condemns all acts of fraud 

 and deceit, and commands us to do to others as 

 we would have them to do to us. Besides the 

 falsehoods which people designedly speak, there is 

 a kind which springs from negligence, hastiness, 

 or a warm imagination. Dr Samuel Johnson was 

 of opinion that most lying arises from indifference 

 about the truth, rather than from a wish to 

 deceive. People are not sufficiently anxious to be 

 correct ; they say anything that comes upper- 

 most, or what they think will please, without 

 reflecting whether it be strictly true or not. It is 

 a common error of tradesmen, from a desire to 

 please, or for worse reasons, to promise to have 

 work done at a particular time, when they are not 



