| Before I leave this subject of natural abilities, I must observe, that, perhaps, one source of the esteem and affection, which attends them, is derived from the importance and weight, which they bestow on the person possessed of them. |
| He becomes of greater consequence in life. |
| His resolutions and actions affect a greater number of his fellow-creatures. |
| Both his friendship and enmity are of moment. |
| And it is easy to observe, that whoever is elevated, after this manner, above the rest of mankind, must excite in us the sentiments of esteem and approbation. |
| Whatever is important engages our attention, fixes our thought, and is contemplated with satisfaction. |
| The histories of kingdoms are more interesting than domestic stories: The histories of great empires more than those of small cities and principalities: And the histories of wars and revolutions more than those of peace and order. |
| We sympathize with the persons that suffer, in all the various sentiments which belong to their fortunes. |
| The mind is occupied by the multitude of the objects, and by the strong passions, that display themselves. |
| And this occupation or agitation of the mind is commonly agreeable and amusing. |
| The same theory accounts for the esteem and regard we pay to men of extraordinary parts and abilities. |
| The good and ill of multitudes are connected with their actions. |
| Whatever they undertake is important, and challenges our attention. |
| Nothing is to be over-looked and despised, that regards them. |
| And where any person can excite these sentiments, he soon acquires our esteem; unless other circumstances of his character render him odious and disagreeable. |
| SECT. V SOME FARTHER REFLECTIONS CONCERNING THE NATURAL VIRTUES |
| It has been observed, in treating of the passions, that pride and humility, love and hatred, are excited by any advantages or disadvantages of the mind, body, or fortune; and that these advantages or disadvantages have that effect by producing a separate impression of pain or pleasure. |
| The pain or pleasure, which arises from the general survey or view of any action or quality of the mind, constitutes its vice or virtue, and gives rise to our approbation or blame, which is nothing but a fainter and more imperceptible love or hatred. |
| We have assigned four different sources of this pain and pleasure; and in order to justify more fully that hypothesis, it may here be proper to observe, that the advantages or disadvantages of the body and of fortune, produce a pain or pleasure from the very same principles. |
| The tendency of any object to be useful to the person possess d of it, or to others; to convey pleasure to him or to others; all these circumstances convey an immediate pleasure to the person, who considers the object, and command his love and approbation. |
| To begin with the advantages of the body; we may observe a phaenomenon, which might appear somewhat trivial and ludicrous, if any thing coued be trivial, which fortified a conclusion of such importance, or ludicrous, which was employed in a philosophical reasoning. |