The history of England, from the accession of James the Second . aily see men do for their party,for their sect, for their countr\, for their favourite schemes of politicaland social reform, what the\ would not do to enrich or to avenge them-selves. At a temptation directly addressed to our private cupidity orto our private animosity, whatever virtue we have takes the alarm. Butvirtue itself may contribute to the fall of him who imagines that it is inhis power, by violating some general rule of morality, to confer animportant benefit on a church, on a commonwealth, on mankind. He ^Johnsons Tou
The history of England, from the accession of James the Second . aily see men do for their party,for their sect, for their countr\, for their favourite schemes of politicaland social reform, what the\ would not do to enrich or to avenge them-selves. At a temptation directly addressed to our private cupidity orto our private animosity, whatever virtue we have takes the alarm. Butvirtue itself may contribute to the fall of him who imagines that it is inhis power, by violating some general rule of morality, to confer animportant benefit on a church, on a commonwealth, on mankind. He ^Johnsons Tour to the Hebrides. -Lockharts Memoirs. ^ What under heaven was the Masters l3)-ass in this matter? I can imagine none.—Impartial Account, 1695. Nor can any man of candour and ingenuity imagine that the Earlof Stair, who had neither estate, friendship nor enmity in that countiy, nor so much as knowledgeof these persons, and who was never noted for cruelty in his temper, should have thirsted afterthe blood of these wretches.—Complete History of Europe, SIR JOHN DALRYMPLE, MASTER, AFTERWARDS FIRST EARL OF STAIR From a painting by Sir G. Kneller 2154 HISTORY OF ENGLAND chap, xvm silences the remonstrances of conscience, and hardens his heart againstthe most touching; spectacles of miser}-, 1)\- rc[)calin!^ to himself thathis intentions are pin-e, that his objects are noble, that he is doinga little evil for the sake of a great good. B\- degrees he comes alto-<^ether to forcret the turi)itude of the means in the excellence of the end,and at length perpetrates without one internal twinge acts whicli wouldshock a buccaneer. There is no reason to believe that Dominic would,for the best archbishopric in Christendom,have incited ferocious maraudersto plunder and slaughter a peaceful and industrious population, thatEverard Digby would, for a dukedom, have blown a large assembly ofpeople into the air, or that Robespierre would have murdered for hireone of the thousands whom h
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