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    Ifc is difficult to see how &ny other inference is to be drawn from the comparison of these two passages , than that benevolence is a mere fiction , a poetical licence for the adornment of the prelections of moralists . The same reduction of all the sympathetic virtues to prudence is apparent in the following ingenious theory , on which their wh ole obligation is made to rest :

    ' By every act of virtuous beneficence which a man exercises , he contributes to a sort of fund , a savings-bank , a depository of general goodwill , out of which services of all sorts maybe looked for , as about to flow from other hands into his ; if not positive services , at any rate , negative services ; services consisting in the forbearance to vex him by annoyances with which he might otherwise have been vexed/—Vol . ii . p . 260 . Again ,

    Described in general terms , the inducement to positive beneficence , in all its shapes , is the contribution it makes to the man ' s general goodwill fund ; to the general good-will fund , from which draughts in his favour may come to be paid : the inducement to negative beneficence is the contribution it keeps back from his general ill-will fund—the general ill-will fund hanging over his head ; and besides its own particular use , any exertion made to keep the ill-will fund empty , maybe productive of advantage in the same shape as that produced by contribution made to a man ' s general good-will fund/—Vol . ii . p . 264 .

    Now , with all respect for the Utilitarian philosopher , we appeal in this matter from him to the universal sentiments and language of mankind . Their feelings are in accordance with the maxim , ' if ye do good to them that do good to you , what thank have ye ? ' Show them that , in his acts of kindness , a man is looking

    to his own ends , that he is meditating a draught on the good-will fund , and the spell of admiration is broken ; it may be all very ^ ell ; he may be a shrewd fellow enough , and wonderfully longsi ghted ; but as for generosity or benevolence , this banking s ystem will never win such praise . And the people are not wrong . There is no delusion in the belief that thousands of kind actions

    are performed every day , which are not offered to society as ^ posits , to be posted in its books , but tendered in the pure spirit ° f a free-gift ; acts silent , unseen , let fall where they can never !* ar a harvest of praise ; acts to the child , to the outcast , to the insane , to the dying . The impulse which produces all that the human heart most loves in virtue , which bears on such men as

    Howard and Washington , is an impulse from within , inspiring l with a love , not of praise , but of praiseworthiness ; and , "tetend of leading them to look abroad for their reward , enabling tttem , if needs be , to stand alone , and yet erect in the mere strength Jjf a hi gh purpose . Scepticism of such forms of virtue would k grade all the nobility of human language , as wtfll as mar the pures t sympathies of human life .

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    Bentham ' s Deortlotogy . 893

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    2 Y 2

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1834, page 623, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2637/page/19/