He spoke in advantageous terms of my disposition and
talents, adding, that he foresaw obstacles which would prevent my
profiting by them; thus, according to him, they were to serve less
as steps by which I should mount to fortune, than as resources which
might enable me to exist without one. He gave me a true picture of
human life, of which, hitherto, I had formed but a very erroneous
idea, teaching me, that a man of understanding, though destined to
experience adverse fortune, might, by skillful management, arrive at
happiness; that there was no true felicity without virtue, which was
practicable in every situation. He greatly diminished my admiration of
grandeur, by proving that those in a superior situation are neither
better nor happier than those they command. One of his maxims has
frequently returned to my memory: it was, that if we could truly
read the hearts of others we should feel more inclination to descend
than rise: this reflection, the truth of which is striking without
extravagance, I have found of great utility, in the various
exigences of my life, as it tended to make me satisfied with my
condition. He gave me the first just conception of relative duties,
which my high-flown imagination had ever pictured in extremes,
making me sensible that the enthusiasm of sublime virtues is of little
use in society; that while endeavoring to rise too high we are in
danger of falling; and that a virtuous and uniform discharge of little
duties requires as great a degree of fortitude as actions which are
called heroic, and would at the same time procure more honor and
happiness.
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