MADAME GEOFFHIN. 339 



a Of all methods of obliging the unfortunate, the 

 fitteft is, to do them ourfelves that kindnefs, that we 

 are defired to requeft for them of others. 



' ' We mould never advife people who are in want of 

 advice, never reprove thofe that deferve reproof, nor 

 endeavour to enliven thofe that are a plague to them- 

 felves. 



H We mould never vindicate a friend that is at- 

 tacked, on the fide whereon he is accufed, but on the 

 good fide, that is not difputed by his accufers. 



" We mould praife the perfons whom we love and 

 efteem, only in general, and not in the detaih" 



To many> perhaps, thefe maxims will appear para- 

 doxical ; but whoever had heard Madame Geoffrin ex- 

 plain them, would certainly have found them replete 

 with fenfe and truth. 



The knowledge of mankind, which fo often con- 

 duces to mifanthropy, and retrains us from taking an 

 active part in the profperity of our fellow-creatures, 

 never produced this effect in the heart of Madame 

 Geoffrin. She had that indulgence, which reconciles 

 us, if not with vice, yet with human frailty, and 

 which takes for its motto that verfe, as flmple as true, 

 of the hierophant in the Oiympia : 



Helas, tous les humains ont befoin de clemence ! 

 Beneficence was her conflant employment. The prac- 

 tice of it was grown fo habitual to her, that it was in a 

 manner one or her necefTaries of life. Her fervants 

 remarked that flie always rofe more early than ufuai 

 when flie had any prefent to make or any affiftance to 

 bellow. 



z a Titus 



