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"Justice," says a respectable writer,* "is even still more, if possible, the support of society than truth; inasmuch as a man may be more injurious by his actions than by his words. It is for this reason that the whole force of human law is bent to restrain injustice, and the happiness of every society will increase in proportion to this restraint.

men;

"We very much err, however, if we suppose that every thing within the bounds of law is justice. The law was intended only for bad and it is impossible to make the meshes of it so strait but that many great enormities will escape. The well-meaning man, therefore, knowing that the law was not made for him, consults a better guide, his own conscience, informed by religion. And, indeed, the great difference between the good and the bad man consists in this: the good man will do nothing but what his conscience will allow; the bad man will do any thing which

* Gilpin.

which the law cannot reach. It would, indeed, be endless to describe the various ways in which a man may be dishonest within the limits of law. They are as various as our intercourse with mankind."

Commit not, therefore, on the sacred name of justice, the foul sacrilege of perverting its upright designs, by unprincipled arts. Justice not only enjoins the strictest integrity of dealing, but likewise comprehends the exercise of every virtue, which reason prescribes or society expects; and the first reward which that godlike principle diffuses, is the consciousness, that in all respects, we are faithful to it.. こ

"Remember March-the ides of March remember!
Did not great Julius bleed for justice sake?
What villain touch'd his body, that did stab,
And not for justice? What shall one of us,
That struck the foremost man of all this world,
But for supporting robbers; shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,
And sell the mighty space of our large honours,
Fo so much trash, as may be grasped thus ?
I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon,
Than such a Romax.”

Julius Cæsar, A. 4. Sc. 3.

ESSAY XI.

GENEROSITY.

THE excellent adage, which commands us "to be just before we are generous," is essential in its duty, to the character of every honest person,

Notwithstanding all that has been advanced on the subject of justice in the preceding Essay; it cannot be denied, that on some occasions, her decrees are rigorous, and that she is unacquainted with the delightful attribute of mercy.

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Pay me that thou owest," is equally her language to the necessitous as it is to the affluent: if she exacts a performance of the terms of the Bond,* and demands to "have a pound of flesh nearest to the merchant's heart," stern justice cannot relax, but to the unfeeling Shylock must award it: hence may be explained the motto which asserts, that the extremity of justice is the greatest oppression.†

To no purpose are the tender rémonstrances of the generous Portia to alter the cruel determination, the implacable Jew still urges his right, sweet compassion pleads in vain, till at length, by a strong appeal to the avenging law, even justice is disarmed and mercy triumphs!

"In nothing," says the father of Roman eloquence, "do we so much resemble the Gods,

Merchant of Venice.

+"Summum jus summa injuria.”

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Gods, as in actions of benificence."* With the truly generous are associated those liberal sentiments, those endearing affections, and all those noble exertions, which constitute the happiness and dignity of our nature, and most eminently distinguish the good and the great, from the disingenuous and contemptible!

To banish from the world the deeds of the generous, would be to deprive us of the cheerful sun. Every age and every nation have extolled this virtue, and even the narrow and contracted, though they have not the courage to embark in her cause, cannot but yield to it the reluctant sigh of private admiration!

From this celestial impulse is propelled, as it were, from heart to heart, every thing that can mitigate the sufferings of distress, wipe

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* Nullâ re homines propius accedunt ad Deos, quàm salu. tem hominibus dando.-CIC.

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