l to try with teaching, all
being thoroughly taught,--I will then send them to operate on _these_
regiments of the line: then, and, assure yourself, never till then. The
truth is, I am sick of scoundreldom, my esteemed Benefactor; it always
was detestable to me; and here where I find it lodged in palaces and
waited on by the benevolent of the world, it is more detestable, not to
say insufferable to me than ever.

Of Beneficence, Benevolence, and the people that come together to talk
on platforms and subscribe five pounds, I will say nothing here; indeed
there is not room here for the twentieth part of what were to be said of
them. The beneficence, benevolence, and sublime virtue which issues in
eloquent talk reported in the Newspapers, with the subscription of
five pounds, and the feeling that one is a good citizen and ornament to
society,--concerning this, there were a great many unexpected remarks to
be made; but let this one, for the present occasion, suffice:--

My sublime benevolent friends, don't you perceive, for one thing,
that here is a shockingly unfruitful investment for your capital of
Benevolence; precisely the worst, indeed, which human ingenuity could
select for you? "Laws are unjust, temptations great," &c. &c.: alas, I
know it, and mourn for it, and passionately call on all men to help in
altering it. But according to every hypothesis as to the law, and the
temptations and pressures towards vice, here are the individuals who, of
all the society, have yielded to said pressure. These are of the
worst substance for enduring pressure! The others yet stand and
make resistance to temptation, to the law's injustice; under all the
perversities and strangling impediments there are, the rest of the
society still keep their feet, and struggle forward, marching under
the banner of Cosmos, of God and Human Virtue; these select Few, as I
explain to you, are they who have fallen to Chaos, and are sworn
into certain regiments of the line. A superior proclivity to Chaos is
declared in these, by the very fact of their being here! Of all the
generation we live in, these are the worst stuff. These, I say, are the
Elixir of the Infatuated among living mortals: if you want the worst
investment for your Benevolence, here you accurately have it. O my
surprising friends! Nowhere so as here can you be certain that a given
quantity of wise teaching bestowed, of benevolent trouble taken, will
yield zero, or the net _Minimum_ of r