Page:The genuine remains in verse and prose of Mr. Samuel Butler (1759), volume 2.djvu/524

512 Virtue loses itself and turns Vice in doing that which is contrary to its own Nature—Many Virtues may become Vices by being ill managed, but no one Vice by any Means a Virtue.

Pleasures have the same Operations upon the Understanding that Sweet-meats have upon the Palate; the one being rendered as unapt to judge of the true State of Things, as the other is of Tastes.

No Man's Reputation is safe where Slander is become a Trade and Railing a Commodity; where Men may get a Living by defaming others, and eat upon any Man's Credit, that has any Reputation to lose; where a Scribler at once satisfies his Itch of writing, his Petulance, Malice, or Envy, and his Necessity.

Greatness and Baseness of Mind endure Injuries, Afflictions, and Affronts so equally, that it is a hard Matter to distinguish which is the true Cause; and sometimes perhaps both may at once contribute to the same Effect.