No, Sir, I wish him to drive on.'
Rousseau's treatise on the inequality of mankind was at this time a
fashionable topick. It gave rise to an observation by Mr. Dempster, that
the advantages of fortune and rank were nothing to a wise man, who ought
to value only merit. JOHNSON. 'If man were a savage, living in the woods
by himself, this might be true; but in civilized society we all depend
upon each other, and our happiness is very much owing to the good
opinion of mankind. Now, Sir, in civilized society, external advantages
make us more respected. A man with a good coat upon his back meets with
a better reception than he who has a bad one. Sir, you may analyse this,
and say what is there in it? But that will avail you nothing, for it
is a part of a general system. Pound St. Paul's Church into atoms, and
consider any single atom; it is, to be sure, good for nothing: but, put
all these atoms together, and you have St. Paul's Church. So it is with
human felicity, which is made up of many ingredients, each of which may
be shewn to be very insignificant.
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