To insult people in distress, is the characteristic of a cruel,
indiscreet, and giddy temper; and he must surely have a very bad
heart, and no very good head, who can look on the day of grief, and
the hour of distress, as a time for impertinent raillery. If any other
arguments were necessary, or might be supposed capable of enforcing
moral precepts on those who cannot be actuated by humanity, it might
be added, that the vicissitudes of human affairs render such behaviour
imprudent, as well as barbarous; since we cannot tell how soon we may
be ourselves reduced to lament the woes which are now the objects of
our derision: for nobody knows whose turn may be the next.
[Illustration]
[Illustration] [Page 231]