(and who may _not_?) to a
steady contemplation of the benign influence of such a favourable
Register lying open to the eyes of all. Without being so far lulled as
to imagine I saw in a village church-yard the eye or central point of a
rural Arcadia, I have felt that with all the vague and general
expressions of love, gratitude, and praise, with which it is usually
crowded, it is a far more faithful representation of homely life as
existing among a community in which circumstances have not been
untoward, than any report which might be made by a rigorous observer
deficient in that spirit of forbearance and those kindly prepossessions,
without which human life can in no condition be profitably looked at or
described. For we must remember that it is the nature of vice to force
itself upon notice, both in the act and by its consequences.
Drunkenness, cruelty, brutal manners, sensuality and impiety,
thoughtless prodigality and idleness, are obstreperous while they are in
the height and heyday of their enjoyment; and when that is passed away,
long and obtrusive is the train of misery which they draw after them.
But on the contrary, the virtues, especially those of humble life, are
retired; and many of the highest must be sought for or they will be
overlooked. Industry, economy, temperance, and cleanliness, are indeed
made obvious by flourishing fields, rosy complexions, and smiling
countenances; but how few know anything of the trials to which men in a
lonely condition are subject, or of the steady and triumphant manner in
which those trials are often sustained, but they themselves? The
afflictions which peasants and rural citizens have to struggle with are
for the most part secret; the tears which they wipe away, and the sighs
which they stifle,--this is all a labour of privacy. In fact their
victories are to themselves known only imperfectly; for it is
inseparable from virtue, in the pure sense of the word, to be
unconscious of the might of her own prowess. This is true of minds the
most enlightened by reflection; who have forecast what they may have to
endure, and prepared themselves accordingly. It is true even of these,
when they are called into action, that they necessarily lose sight of
their own accomplishments and support their conflicts in
self-forgetfulness and humility. That species of happy ignorance, which
is the consequence of these noble qualities, must exist still more
frequently, and in a greater degree, in th