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    which has been fairly won by exfclted personal merit ? And in the latter case what need of a title ? Do we need a fiuger * post to point to the sun f In a detnocracy , the really eminent man cannot fail of receiving the deference which is his due , and how different is respect spontaneously and cheerfully offered to the virtn&us and wise , to the conventional and merely external symbols of reference exacted by station .

    Let us enunciate one maxim , one which is no prejudice ; one which should be spoken and written , which should be graven on our hearths and altars , which should be the motto of our temples and market-places , which should be reiterated

    in every possible shape of publication until the heart of every breathing man shall confess that the words are the words of almighty TRUTH . Hear them , they are widely known , and shame they are not as widely respond ed to— virtue is the only nobility . * With this maxim let it be remembered that

    exalted virtue cannot co-exist with ignorance or decided intellectual inferiority . * f The foregoing maxim is indeed compulsorily admitted even by the " orthodox . " Tory parsons , when in tne pulpit , mu 9 t preach anent the sublimity of virtue—must admit that her

    essence is purer than the essence of nobility , that vice tarnishes the lustre of a star , and even sullies the whiteness of the kingly ermine : they must admit these things or falsify their own tenets . But is not their definition of virtue contrary to the true one ?—Yes . Is nut slavish obedience one of the chief precepts they inculcate ? — Yes . Do they not neutralize the whole effect of the doctrine that virtue is nobility , by exerting their whole power , both in and ex officio , for the maintenance and justification of a system which promotes the accident of

    birth above the dignity of intellectual and moral worth ?— - They do . | In a word , — kings , priests , and * nobles , are joined in a * " Nemo altero nobilior , nisi cui rectiua ingepiium , et artibus bonis aptius . " Seneca . t " Virtue demands the active employment of an ardent mind in the promotion of the general good . No man can be eminently virtuous who is not accustomed to an extensive range of reflection . lie must see all the benefits to arise from a

    disinterested nroceedintr . and uiu » t understand the uroner method of uroducinr tlioM terested p roceeding , and uiu » t understand the proper method of producing tliose benefits . Ignorance , the slothful habits and limited views of uncultivated life , have not in them more of true virtue , though they may be more harmless , than luxury , vanity , and Extravagance . "—trodwin , Political Justice * X "It is the characteristic of despotic power , * ' says Helvetius , " to extinguish both genius and virtue . " The power created bv the junction of kings , priests , and

    lords , is despotic , whatever wo inav hear concerning- tlie beauty of the English constitution , and the ju » t balance of democracy thrown into the scale by the House of Commons . Tbe freight of democracy Las * certainly been increased by thm operation of the Reforih Act , to tlie great terror of tbe other branches of tbe " constitution , " and it is to be hoped this is the omen of further increase . Still , the elemen t * of Knglish government are essentially aristocratic , and tlie repelling power if pointed ngain « t ' geuiun and rirtu © , '

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    Cursory Remarks on Prejudice . Sfl

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1836, page 371, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2658/page/43/