HOW FAR THE IDEA OF BEAUTY MAY BE APPLIED TO THE QUALITIES OF THE MIND.
Nor is this remark in general less applicable to the qualities of the
mind. Those virtues which cause admiration, and are of the sublimer
kind, produce terror rather than love; such as fortitude, justice,
wisdom, and the like. Never was any man amiable by force of these
qualities. Those which engage our hearts, which impress us with a sense
of loveliness, are the softer virtues; easiness of temper, compassion,
kindness, and liberality; though certainly those latter are of less
immediate and momentous concern to society, and of less dignity. But it
is for that reason that they are so amiable. The great virtues turn
principally on dangers, punishments, and troubles, and are exercised,
rather in preventing the worst mischiefs, than in dispensing favors; and
are therefore not lovely, though highly venerable. The subordinate turn
on reliefs, gratifications, and indulgences; and are therefore more
lovely, though inferior in dignity. Those persons who creep into the
hearts of most people, who are chosen as the companions of their softer
hours, and their reliefs from care and anxiety, are never persons of
shining qualities or strong virtues. It is rather the soft green of the
soul on which we rest our eyes, that are fatigued with beholding more
glaring objects. It is worth observing how we feel ourselves affected in
reading the characters of Cæsar and Cato, as they are so finely drawn
and contrasted in Sallust. In one the _ignoscendo largiundo_; in the
other, _nil largiundo_. In one, the _miseris perfugium_; in the other,
_malis perniciem_. In the latter we have much to admire, much to
reverence, and perhaps something to fear; we respect him, but we respect
him at a distance. The former makes us familiar with him; we love him,
and he leads us whither he pleases. To draw things closer to our first
and most natural feelings, I will add a remark made upon reading this
section by an ingenious friend. The authority of a father, so useful to
our well-being, and so justly venerable upon all accounts, hinders us
from having that entire love for him that we have for our mothers, where
the parental authority is almost melted down into the mother's fondness
and indulgence. But we generally have a great love for our
grandfathers, in whom this authority is removed a degree from us, and
where the weakness of age mellows it into something of a feminine
partiality.