Custom regulates our ideas of shame. In China, the emperor orders the
bastinado to be given to a minister or a mandarin; and afterward these
persons continue in their employments, without thinking themselves
dishonoured or degraded. They are like scholars who return to their
places after having been whipped.
The idea of virtue is become so effaced, that scarcely do we hear the
name of it pronounced. The usual expression now is, an _honest man_,
which contains but negative qualities; or sometimes qualities are
mentioned, as bravery, fidelity, &c. but a collective word which
expresses them all is seldom made use of.
* * * * *
* * * *
_For the +New-York Weekly Magazine+._
* * *