The being officiously good-natured and civil is something so uncommon in
the world, that one cannot hear a man make profession of it without
being surprised, or, at least, suspecting the disinterestedness of his
intentions. Especially, when one who is a stranger to us, or though
known, is ill-esteemed by us, will be making offers of services, we have
great reason to look to ourselves, and exert a shyness and coldness
towards him. We should resolve not to receive even favours from bad kind
of people; for should it happen that some immediate mischief was not
couched in them, yet it is dangerous to have obligations to such, or to
give them an opportunity of making a communication with us.