they would have adopted the above
definition, and not spent their time in frivolous disputes. To the false
philosophy of former ages, our gross ignorance of the true signification
of words is principally owing; as the art of abusing them made up the
greatest part of that philosophy. This art, in which the whole science
of the schools consisted, confounded all ideas; and the obscurity
it threw on the expressions, generally diffused itself over all the
sciences, especially morality."

The following remarks show Helvetia's notions of the "love of glory":--

"By the word Strong-Passion, I mean a passion the object of which is so
necessary to our happiness, that without the possession of it life would
be insupportable. This was Omar's idea of the passion, when he said,
'Whoever thou art, that lovest liberty, desirest to be wealthy without
riches, powerful without subjects, a subject without a master, dare to
condemn death: kings will then tremble before thee, whilst thou alone
shalt fear no person.'.... It was the passion of honor and philosophic
fanaticism alone that could induce Timicha, the Pythagorean, in the
midst of torture, to bite off her tongue, that she might not expose
herself to reveal the secrets of her sect. Cato, when a child, going
with his tutor to Sylla's palace, at seeing the bloody heads of the
proscribed, asked with impatience the name of the monster who had caused
so many Roman citizens to be murdered. He was answered, it was Sylla:
'How,' says he, 'does Sylla murder thus, and is Sylla still alive?'
'Yes,' it was replied, 'the very name of Sylla disarms our citizens.'
'Oh! Rome,' cried Cato, 'deplorable is thy fate, since within the vast
compass of thy walls not a man of virtue can be found, and the arm of a
feeble child is the only one that will oppose itself against tyranny!'
Then, turning towards his governor, 'Give me,' said he, 'your sword; I
will conceal it under my robe, approach Sylla, and kill him. Cato lives,
and Rome is again free.' If the generous pride, the passion of
patriotism and glory, determine citizens to such heroic actions, with
what resolution and intrepidity do not the passions inspire those who
aim at distinction in the arts and sciences, and whom Cicero calls the
peaceable heroes? It is from a desire of glory that the astronomer is
seen, on the icy summits of the Cordileras, placing his instruments in
the midst of snows and frost; which conducts the botanist to the brinks
of pr