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It is of importance, not only that we should do good, but that we should do it in the best manner. A little judgment, and a little reflection added to the gift, does not merely enhance the value, but often gives to it the only value which it possesses; and even prevents that mischief of which thoughtless benevolence is sometimes the

cause.

Mankind can never be too strongly, or too frequently cautioned against self-deception. If a state of vice be a state of misery, a state of vice of which we are ignorant is doubly so, from the increased probability of its duration. It is surprising how many men are cheated by flighty sentiments of humanity into a belief that they are humane; how frequently charitable words are mistaken for charitable deeds, and a beautiful picture of misery for an effectual relief of it. There are many who have tears for the chaste, and classical sorrow of the stage, who have never submitted to go into the poor man's cottage, to hear his tedious. narrative, and to come close at hand with poverty, and its dismal, and disgusting

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attendants: Pure moral misery wrought up into an artful tale, is a luxurious banquet for the refined mind, which would turn away from the gross unhappiness of real life, where the low, and the ludicrous are mingled with the sad, where our delicacy is offended, while our feelings are roused, and we are reminded, not only of the misfortunes, but of the infirmities of man. state of delicate sensibility in the moral feelings is commendable, or blame-worthy, according to the consequences to which it leads If strong impressions of human ́misery rouse us to the relief of it, they are faithful monitors to virtue, and cannot be too effectually preserved; but if feelings are mere feelings, and do not stimulate us to action, they can answer no other purpose than to display ostentatious softness, or inflict useless suffering; if men indulge in speculations, far above the level of real life, the danger is, that they become unfit for action: Who can bear the muddy poɔl, and the barren sand of the desert, after he has gazed on the beautiful prodigies of a fancy landscape? If we have drawn romantic notions of misfortune, and annexed to it,

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the ideas of venerable, simple, docile, and grateful, we shall soon become disgusted with the practice of charity, and fly back to the reveries of speculative benevolence, as an asylum from the disappointments we meet with in the world, as it is really constituted.

Another important point in the administration of charity, is a proper choice of the object we relieve. To give promiscuously is better, perhaps, than not to give at all: But instead of risquing the chance of encouraging imposture, discover some worthy family struggling up against the world, a widow with her helpless children, old people incapable of labour, or orphans destitute of protection, and advice; suppose you were gradually to attach yourselves to such real objects of compassion, to learn their wants, to stimulate their industry, and to correct their vices; surely these two species of charity are not to be compared together in the utility, or in the extent of their effects; in the benevolence they evince, or in the merits they confer. If you wish to gratify the feelings, or avoid the

reproaches of your heart, with as little trouble to yourself as possible, you may lavish your bounty upon the first object you meet; without knowing whether you are gratifying vice, or relieving want; this is a kind of middle course, which, though it fall far short of the dignity of virtue, keeps up a sort of comfortable delusion, and reconciles us in some measure to ourselves. Whereas, he who is charitable, not from constitutional feelings, but from a wide, strong, and imperative sense of duty, will remember, that he owes to the poor, not only that which he gives, but he owes to them the happy application, and judicious distribution of the gift; he owes to them a certain portion of his time, and intelligence; the exercise of that influence which education, wealth, and manners always have, and always ought to have, upon the lower orders of mankind: is the steady, enlightened compassion of an ample mind, and a good heart; this is that vigilant, and wise benevolence, which makes happy cottages, and smiling villages, and fills the spirit of a just man with unspeakable delight. This patronage, or adoption of the in

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digent, places the poor under the critical inspection of their superiors; it blends those who want controul, with those who can exercise it; it gives to the rich a taste for doing good; to the poor, a love, and veneration for rank, and power; diffuses civilization, and has a wonderful effect in promoting good order, and general improvement. Those who have taken notice of the very striking difference between such villages in the country, where the poor are deserted by their natural guides, and leaders, and those where they have some truly good model to look up to, will, I am sure, need no other proof of the justice of these remarks.

The true reason why this species of charity is so rarely practised, is, that we are afraid of imposing such a severe task upon our indolence; though, in truth, all these kind of difficulties are extremely overrated. When once we have made ourselves acquainted with a poor family, and got into a regular train of seeing them at intervals, the trouble is hardly felt, and the time scarcely missed; and if it is missed, ought it to be missed? Shall we lay out a whole

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