THE

PREFACE.

T

HIS difcourfe was written feveral years ago, for the use of the

author's own family; and a few printed copies of it were diftributed amongst his particular friends. The additions, which he has fince made, have induced him to commit it again to the prefs; not with any view to publication, but to serve, more commodiously, the purposes of paternal inftruction. It constitutes the first part of a plan, which he

has

has long had in contemplation, of teaching the most important branches of ethics, viz. VERACITY, FAITHFULNESS, JUSTICE, and BENEVOLENCE, in a fyftematic and comprehenfive manner, by EXAMPLES. But various caufes have hitherto prevented, and may perhaps continue to prevent, the completion of his defign: And finding himself in the situation, described by the Poet,

"Fond to begin, but ftill to finish loath "His half-writ fcrolls, all caten by the moth;"*

he heartily wishes that fome moralift, of more leifure and of fuperior abilities, into whose hands this little piece may chance to fall, would execute, in its full extent, what is here fo partially and imperfectly attempted.

Thomson's Caftle of Indolence, Cant. 11.

The

The feveral diftinctions and fubordina→ tions of the focial duties may in this way, he apprehends, be more clearly understood, and longer remembered, than they are likely to be in the ufual mode of definition and amplification, without the aid of facts and illuftrations: And the moral tafte and difcernment of young perfons will thus be improved, at the fame time that they are furnished with parallels of comparison, by which to judge, with precifion, of the merit and demerit of human actions. This will prove a powerful barrier against the degeneracy of their manners, which often originate from the feducing influence of vices, that wear the femblance of virtues, and are applauded as fuch by the undistinguishing part of mankind. Even history itself, incautiously perused, may have a tendency to pervert the understanding, and to corrupt the

native

native purity of the heart: For it presents us, too often, with falfe and delufive pictures; and by the gay colouring of the artist, excites our admiration of characters really odious, and of deeds which cannot be justified,

"We liften all intent with fix'd delight,

"Marvelling he can with fuch sweet art unite "The lights and fhades of manners, wrong and right."

To obviate error, is the first step towards rectitude: And what error can be more dangerous, than to "put good for evil, and evil for good?" When Louis XIV was a boy, one of his companions related to him the account, which he had read, of the power and dignity of the

*Caft. of Indolence, Cant. 11.

Grand