His ambition was
grievously mortified at the obscurity in which he was plunged; and his
great talents, in spite of real modesty, forcibly convinced him, that this
was not the station for which nature had formed him. But he had an
enthusiasm of virtue, that led him for a time to overlook these
disadvantages. "I am going," said he, "to dwell among scenes of unvitiated
nature. I will form the peasant to generosity and sentiment. I will teach
laborious industry to look without envy and without asperity upon those
above them. I will be the friend and the father of the meanest of my
flock. I will give sweetness and beauty to the most rugged scenes. The
man, that banishes envy and introduces contentment; the man, that converts
the little circle in which he dwells into a terrestrial paradise, that
renders men innocent here, and happy for ever, may be obscure, may be
despised by the superciliousness of luxury; but it shall never be said
that he has been a blank in creation. The Supreme Being will regard him
with a complacency, which he will deny to kings, that oppress, and
conquerors, that destroy the work of his hands."
Such were the suggestions of youthful imagination. But Mr. Godfrey
presently found the truth of that maxim, as paradoxical as it is
indisputable, that the heart of man is naturally hard and unamiable. He
conducted himself in his new situation with the most unexceptionable
propriety, and the most generous benevolence.
Pages:
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78