by which our opinions, sentiments, and conduct ought to be governed, is greatly obscured, and makes but slight impression. They all imply something wrong in our habits, education, ways of thinking, or usual state of feeling. In their more intense degrees, they are unquestionably criminal, frequently they are highly so. Many of them are contracted very early in life; but all of them are injurious, and it is our duty to divest ourselves of them as far as possible.

“In such a state of society," says Dugald Stewart, "as that in which we live, the prejudices of a moral, political, and religious nature, which we imbibe in early life, are so various, and, at the same time, so intimately blended with the belief we entertain of the most sacred and important truths, that a great part of the life of a philosopher must necessarily be devoted, not so much to the acquisition of new knowledge, as to unlearn the errors, to which he had been taught to give an implicit assent, before the dawn of reason and reflection. And, unless he submit in this manner to bring all his opinions to the test of a severe examination, his ingenuity and his learning, instead of enlightening the world, will only enable him to give an additional currency, and an additional authority, to established errors. To attempt such a struggle against early prejudices, is, indeed, the professed aim of all philosophers; but how few are to be found, who have force of mind sufficient for accomplishing their object; and who, in freeing themselves from one set of errors, do not allow themselves to be carried away with another? To succeed in it completely, Lord Bacon seems to have thought to be more than can well be expected from human frailty. If then we are responsible for our opinions, sentiments, feelings, and conduct; if it is important for us to have the conscience unperverted, the reason undisturbed, and the understanding unclouded; it is a high personal duty to guard ourselves against these classes and modifications of our feelings, and, as far as possible, to divest ourselves of their influence.

But the subject admits of a more particular illustration. The old man is dissatisfied with every thing around him, seizes every

occasion, like Nestor, to praise the times that are past, and insists that every thing has changed for the worse since he was a young man. It is all the effect of prejudice. Youth is a season of joy and delight, the sensibilities are active, the affections warm, the imagination buoyant and creative, all the powers of body and mind are fresh and elastic, want and anxiety have not begun to distress us, and, more than all, hope sheds its bright illusions on our path, and gilds all our prospects with its rays. No wonder, then, that the reminiscences of youth are, as age advances, extremely pleasant, and that the old man believes every thing has changed, since he was young, for the worse; when, in truth, the essential change has been in himself.

Again, we have prejudices in favor of our country, its institutions, and even its customs and fashions. A just attachment to our native country and its institutions is an important duty; but this is quite different from a blind and bigoted attachment to every thing of native origin and growth, and is quite consistent with a liberal feeling and enlightened judgment respecting foreign countries, their inhabitants, and their institutions. Such prejudices. often do much mischief. They are seen in the feelings, opinions, and sentiments, which the English, French, Spaniards, Italians, and Germans mutually entertain for one another. The existence of such feelings cannot be denied, and their influence in perplexing our judgments of men and things is extensively felt. There is great diversity among nations in respect to fashions of dress, and forms of civility and polite intercourse; and these are the subject of many prejudices. Unless they encroach upon health, morals, religion, or something else involving considerations of moral duty, they are essentially a matter of indifference, and every wise man, wherever he is, will pay a suitable respect to them. They form no reason why one nation, or one age, should ridicule and despise another, or arrogate to itself any superiority over another. Custom and fashion have a rightful jurisdiction in things which nature has left indifferent; but in every particular that can be denominated proper or improper, right or wrong, the principle of duty takes precedence of every other; custom and fashion have little authority, and ought to have none.*

* Kames's Elements of Criticism, Chap. XIV. pp. 130, 131.

Besides these, there are professional prejudices; and what may be termed prejudices of authority. Men often adopt unsound opinions, merely because they are proposed by writers of great celebrity. The writings of Aristotle had such authority in Europe, during many centuries, that nothing more was necessary to sustain any opinion or sentiment, than to cite them in its favor. There are, too, prejudices arising from personal friendship and dislike. But, of all the classes of prejudices which may blind and mislead us, none more require to be understood by every good man, that he may guard against their influence, than those which spring from sects and parties. There are parties in science, in politics, in religion, and on every other subject involving important interests. The spirit which animates all parties and all sects, although it differs much in intensity and virulence according to circumstances, is still essentially the same. It is not many centuries, since the controversies between the philosophical sects of the Realists and Nominalists ran so high, that the parties, after a public disputation of some days' continuance between their respective champions, drew themselves up in battle array, and an abstract metaphysical discussion was terminated by the use of fists, clubs, and swords, by the killing of some and the wounding of many. The virulence of political prejudice and antipathy is too familiar to us all, to require more than a single illustration. "Political charity," says Gouverneur Morris, "is puss's velvet paw, soft so long as she purrs with pleasure; but, let the meanest little mouse of an opposite party peep at the veriest paring of an office, away jumps the cat, her claws extended, her eyes flashing fire." It is due to the subject of religious party prejudice to say, that the bitterness, with which its controversies were once waged, has been greatly softened, as public opinion has become enlightened, as knowledge has advanced, and as the claims of toleration and Christian charity have been more generally understood and acknowledged. Most religious controversies are now conducted with a degree of moderation, decorum, and good temper, well becoming their sacred subject.

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* Life and Correspondence, by J. Sparks, Vol. III. p. 305.

Probably most persons can recollect the history of prejudice in their own minds. They can remember, when their favorable opinions of men and things did not extend beyond their own neighbourhood, parish, or city. The distant parts of even their own State were believed to be far inferior, in all respects, to those in which they had their birth and education. The inhabitants of other, and especially far distant States, were supposed to be far less moral, respectable, and estimable, than those of their own State. The inhabitants of all foreign countries were considered little better than semi-barbarians. As they have advanced in life, however, and become more acquainted with men and things, these prejudices have gradually vanished, and upon actual acquaintance, the people of distant States, cities, and countries, have been found to be very much like those of the neighbourhood or city, which was the original scene of their observations and attachments. In like manner, the superiority which we claim for the times in which we live, over times long since gone by, is, in great part, founded in prejudice.

A REVIEW OF THE CHIEF PROFESSIONS AND EMPLOYMENTS OF LIFE, SO FAR AS REGARDS THE MORAL DUTIES WHICH THEY INVOLVE; THEIR MORAL PRINCIPLES, PRACTICES, INFLUENCES,

AND TENDENCIES.

THE multifarious professions and employments of men all require corresponding qualifications of body and mind. Like the various relations of life, each has its appropriate sphere of duty and usefulness; each has its measure of responsibility; each induces peculiar habits, ways of thinking, partialities, and even prejudices; each has its well-known customs and practices; each has its peculiar trials and temptations, as well as encouragements; each is accompanied by peculiar tendencies and influences of a moral kind; and all these, combined, give to men of every walk of life a peculiar cast of character. More than this, they fasten on almost every man certain peculiarities of person, and even of countenance.*

To the various professions and employments, a well ascertained rank in general estimation is attached, which, somewhat modified either by the internal state of society, or by controlling external circumstances, has been much the same at all times, and in all countries where civilization has made any considerable advancement. Cicero has touched this topic, though not with his usual fulness and exactness of knowledge. Still I shall avail myself of his observations so far as they are just, and, so far as they suit my object, I shall incorporate them with my own.f

The employments of all those classes of hired persons are humble, and have nothing liberal in them, whose labor (opera),

* Alison on Taste, p. 375.

De Officiis, Lib. I. c. 42. 22.