ves or
others. To which we may add, that men naturally, without reflection,
approve of that character, which is most like their own. The man of a
mild disposition and tender affections, in forming a notion of the most
perfect virtue, mixes in it more of benevolence and humanity, than
the man of courage and enterprize, who naturally looks upon a certain
elevation of mind as the most accomplished character. This must
evidently proceed from an immediate sympathy, which men have with
characters similar to their own. They enter with more warmth into such
sentiments, and feel more sensibly the pleasure, which arises from them.

It is remarkable, that nothing touches a man of humanity more than any
instance of extraordinary delicacy in love or friendship, where a person
is attentive to the smallest concerns of his friend, and is willing
to sacrifice to them the most considerable interest of his own. Such
delicacies have little influence on society; because they make us regard
the greatest trifles: But they are the more engaging, the more minute
the concern is, and are a proof of the highest merit in any one, who is
capable of them. The passions are so contagious, that they pass with the
greatest facility from one person to another, and produce correspondent
movements in all human breasts. Where friendship appears in very signal
instances, my heart catches the same passion, and is warmed by those
warm sentiments, that display themselves before me. Such agreeable
movements must give me an affection to every one that excites them.
This is the case with every thing that is agreeable in any person. The
transition from pleasure to love is easy: But the transition must here
be still more easy; since the agreeable sentiment, which is excited by
sympathy, is love itself; and there is nothing required but to change
the object.

Hence the peculiar merit of benevolence in all its shapes and
appearances. Hence even its weaknesses are virtuous and amiable; and a
person, whose grief upon the loss of a friend were excessive, would be
esteemed upon that account. His tenderness bestows a merit, as it does a
pleasure, on his melancholy.

We are not, however, to imagine, that all the angry passions are
vicious, though they are disagreeable. There is a certain indulgence due
to human nature in this respect. Anger and hatred are passions
inherent in Our very frame and constitutions. The want of them, on some
occasions, may even be a proof of wea