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We have now attempted to follow the sense of honour through all its principal bearings, its nature, its propriety, its effects on individuals, and, above all, on nations. It appears that in every age, and under every form of government, it has been productive of great, though not unmingled, happiness and glory. In the remarkable period of chivalry, we have seen it supplying the place of law, of civilization, and philosophy, and elevating the rude warriors of the north to virtues which the Greeks and Romans were unable and unworthy to comprehend. It has, however, been admitted, that while we gaze at the advantages, we are not to overlook the danger, and that selfrespect can claim no good effects, unless moderate in its degree, and wise in its direction.

To obtain this desirable end, no means are so effectual as a deep and steady conviction of the perfect insignificance of every human motive, when put in competition with the eternal claims of reason and virtue.

To a religious sense, indeed, the very praises of a sense of honour must prove its inferiority. Excellent and noble as it sometimes appears, we can only give it credit as a useful secondary motive, a powerful human engine, which derives all its value from being employed in the cause of virtue. Even when well directed, there is always. room to apprehend, that dignity may degenerate into punctiliousness, and honour into a selfish and

lazy pride. Its direction is, however, of most importance; and when we consider that this must entirely depend on the desires or prejudices of those on whose opinion we form our own, we cannot expect in such local and variable laws, a steady criterion of right or wrong, or a code of general morality.

As an auxiliary impulse it may be allowed, as a final object never. There are, it must not be forgotten, there are occasions, when the friendship of the world must be rejected and despised. In the mist and obscurity of our voyage, we may be allowed the aid of human invention, and may steer our course by the timepiece or the compass: but let us not, as we value our safety, let us not forget to correct and regulate their imperfect authority, by a constant reference to those celestial lights, whose truth no man can impeach, and whose laws are the laws of eternity.

REGINALD HEBER,
ALL SOULS.

1805.

POSTHUMOUS FAME.

THERE IS NOT..... A PLACE LESS HANDLED AND MORE WORTHY TO BE HANDLED THAN THIS OF FAME.

BACON'S FRAGMENT OF AN ESSAY ON FAME.

No definition of man can be perfect, which does not represent him as a social being. His pursuits, his passions, his duties, have all a reference to mutual intercourse; and the ties, which attach him to society, are so closely interwoven with his nature, that, if any one can be said to fall below the level of his species, it is the selfish being, who, without regard to country or kindred, terminates all his views of happiness or enjoyment within the narrow limits of personal gratification. But in no instance is this social disposition more strikingly manifested, than in that respect which all men pay to the opinions of each other. Scarcely a transaction is begun, or a scheme meditated, scarcely are any notions of rectitude formed, or maxims of conduct adopted, without some attention to the sentiments of those around us, Even in matters of taste, the standard to which we refer is the general voice of all ages;

and prejudice itself is only an excess of the same principle, an undue deference to popular impressions to the exclusion of private judgment.

It is by this reciprocal influence of opinion, founded, as we see, on the social constitution of our nature, that we become sensible to the love of praise: for he who respects the opinion of his neighbour, must be gratified by his commendation.

Thus is the love of praise an universal passion. We are susceptible of it from our very infancy. The maternal smile awakens the first sense of pleasure; and our earliest incentive to obedience is the hope of parental approbation. Nor even at a more advanced period of our existence is the same passion less conducive to our moral improvement, because from being desirous of praise we are gradually led to deserve it.

It is obvious, however, that the value of praise must ultimately depend on the characters of those who bestow it. The praises of the virtuous must be always useful, and those of the unprincipled dangerous. But the love of promiscuous praise, or, as it is commonly called, the desire of fame, is of a more complex character, and demands a more extended consideration.

Let it be premised then, that Fame is either present or posthumous: and though we are on this occasion concerned only with the latter, yet it will be useful to examine them both in their

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