NUMBER XIX.

ON ANTIPATHIES AND VULGAR PREJUDICES.

In other folks we faults can spy,

And blame the mote that dims their eye;
Each little speck and blemish find,
To our own stronger errors blind.

ANTIPATHY and Prejudice seem to be so nearly allied, that, personified, they may be looked upon as twin brothers. Antipathy brings into the world with him all his dreads and aversions-Prejudice imbibes them with his dawning faculties, from his nurse, his parents, his tutors, or his companions. And such is the effect of early impressions, that it is difficult, if not impossible, to eradicate them entirely from the mind. With respect to antipathies, were it not generally agreed that they proceed from physical causes, they would be looked upon as the effect of a disordered imagination. And notwithstanding the ludicrous remarks that one individual will pass upon another; still, it is well known that they are engendered before we can assume the affectation of them. So far, then, they are entitled to com

passion; though sometimes they seem rather calculated to provoke raillery. But prejudices are contemptible;-they are imbibed by pride and ignorance, and are nurtured by weak and unreflecting minds, in defiance of reason, of justice, and of common-sense. So far, then, prejudices are censurable. Yet, they may sometimes be palliated by circumstances, though they cannot be approved; and should rather, perhaps, be attributed to the weakness of the human mind, than to an error of the heart.

That persons without education, instead of drawing conclusions from observation, should give into common errors, is by no means extraordinary; but that well-informed minds should be over-ruled, and without expressing a single idea of their own, or even giving themselves the trouble to bestow a single thought on the object of their alledged aversion or admiration, is most astonishing. But such is the fact, that, however elevated the ideas, however liberal the sentiments in other respects, still the indulgence of unworthy prepossessions is a weakness which, though universally disclaimed and censured, is suffered to preponderate in almost every human breast; and extends not only to unimportant objects, but to persons, sects, and whole countries.

"I hate prejudices," exclaims Sir Jonathan Blunt, who never travelled fifty miles from his own birth-place, "as I hate a Frenchman."__ "And I," replies a certain great lady, and a

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lady of great notoriety too, who would fain persuade you that she is also above the vulgar prejudices of the age, "abhor an Englishman! His stupid sincerity, as it is called, I can't bear. It puts me out of all patience with him. He dare scarcely say a civil thing, lest, forsooth, he should be called a flatterer; for which I call him a right down flat. For one cannot make him understand that truth is not flattery. Surely if one is handsome, witty, and all that, there is no reason in the world that he should withhold a civil expression, just to let one know that he's not insensible to such bewitcheries, as the more polished foreigners term them, in our sex. But really, of all the awkward animals that ever fawned upon me, I must confess that honest John Bull is the most insupportable. Has he travelled-he's an ape. If he has never crossed the channel-he is a right down ba Oh! worse than a bear, for he's a great boar." Then, delighted with her sarcasms on Sir Jonathan, though at the expense of her countrymen, she warbles over some lively French air, breaks out in rhapsodies on foreign manners, and concludes, by proclaiming PARIS le paradis de femmes; and with more asperity than justice, condemns a whole nation for the want of that polish, which is denied only to a few home-spun traders at the east end of our great metropolis.

Sir John and my Lady, unconscious of their weakness, or unwilling to own that they are influ

enced by unworthy prepossessions, would each persuade you that their opinions are perfectly consistent, and the result of observation; whereas they are actually prejudices, imbibed almost from the cradle; the lady having passed the greatest part of her life in foreign courts-the gentleman, in the courts of our great metropolis. Thus the one, with sarcastic acrimony, deals out slander, and rails against her native land, for not producing the "gallant gay Lotharios" of southern climes; and the other, with imperious folly, holds in contempt every human being who is not made up of British clay.

France, however, as well as other countries, impartial minds will discover, has given birth to men of worth, integrity, and good sense; who have minds superior to the ridiculous frivolities, which Sir Jonathan indiscriminately attributes to a whole nation. And England, it will be as readily discerned, in spite of the sarcasms of their facetious countrywoman, is not without her men of wit and gallantry, who know how to appreciate the charms of the British fair; and who, though formed of Albion clay, and moulded in their native soil, can still do justice to the female graces wherever they may chance to meet them. If they be not quite so lavish of their commendations, upon all occasions, as this courteous lady would have them; perhaps their forbearance may be attributed to a just sense of propriety, that leads them to spare the blushes of the timid; and a

fine judgment that prevents their lavishing on vanity, that which they consider as only due to modest merit!

In fine, the indulgence of unworthy prepossess ions may be traced from the cottage to the palacefrom the purlieus of an ignorant rabble, to the circle of a polished court. In the higher classes, it evinces illiberality of sentiment, and disposes rational beings to be influenced by party or public opinion, while they indolently let their own faculties lie dormant. Thus they involve their understanding, and leave no room for the exercise of their better judgment. Among the lower order it is apt to create a vindictive spirit, and therefore ought to be discouraged by their superiors.

Antipathies are certainly more difficult to subdue; but persons of very strong intellect, it is well known, have occasionally overcome them; whereas persons of weaker minds rest satisfied with the impression that they are labouring under a constitutional infirmity, which neither reason nor perseverance can surmount. With this notion, aversions strengthen, that sometimes might be, if not entirely overcome, at least diminished, by the proper exercise of their reasonable faculties.

It is no uncommon thing to hear of antipathies against dogs, cats, spiders, frogs, mice, &c. which some people are apt to attribute, and very justly too, sometimes to fear, and sometimes to affectation; but without doubt, they are diseases incident to human nature. Some, however, are