sists in the active accomplishment of certain
things which we are bound to do, as well as in the
abstaining from things which we are bound not to do.
And here the warp and woof vary in shade and pattern.
Many a man, with the help of circumstances may pick
his way clear through life, never having violated one
prohibitive commandment, and yet at last be fit only
for the place of the unprofitable servant--he may not
have committed either sin or crime, yet never have felt
the pulsation of a single unselfish emotion. Another,
meanwhile, shall have been hurried by an impulsive
nature into fault after fault, shall have been reckless,
improvident, perhaps profligate, yet be fitter after all
for the kingdom of Heaven than the Pharisee--fitter,
because against the catalogue of faults there could
perhaps be set a fairer list of acts of comparative
generosity and self-forgetfulness--fitter, because to those
who love much, much is forgiven. Fielding had no
occasion to make Blifil, behind his decent coat, a traitor
and a hypocrite. It would have been enough to have
coloured him in and out alike in the steady hues of
selfishness, afraid of offending the upper powers as he
was afraid of offending Allworthy,--not from any love
for what was good, but solely because it would be
imprudent--because the pleasure to be gained was not
worth the risk of consequences. Such a Blifil would
have answered the novelist's purpose--he would still
have been a worse man in the estimation of some of us
than Tom Jones.

So the truth is; but unfortunately it is only where
accurate knowledge is stimulated by affection, that we
are able to feel it. Persons who live beyond our own
circle, and still more persons who have lived in another
age, receive what is called justice, not charity; and
justice is supposed to consist in due allotments of censure
for each special act of misconduct, leaving merit
unrecognized. There are many reasons for this harsh
method of judging. We must decide of men by what
we know, and it is easier to know faults than to know
virtues. Faults are specific, easily described, easily
appreciated, easily remembered. And again, there is,
or may be, hypocrisy in virtue; but no one pretends to
vice who is not vicious. The bad things which can be
proved of a man we know to be genuine. He was a
spendthrift, he was an adulterer, he gambled, he fought
a duel. These are blots positive, unless untrue, and
when uncorrected tinge the whole ch