can tell us to the contrary, the pre|judices of the imagination attach to these two states a happiness superior to any other. To disturb, or to put an end to such per|fect enjoyment, seems to be the most atro|cious of all injuries. The traitor who conspires against the life of his monarch, is thought a greater monster than any other murderer. All the innocent blood that was shed in the civil wars, provoked less indignation than the death of Charles I. A stranger to human nature, who saw the indifference of men about the misery of their inferiors, and the regret and in|dignation which they feel for the misfor|tunes and sufferings of those above them, would be apt to imagine, that pain must be more agonizing, and the convulsions of death more terrible to persons of high rank, than to those of meaner stations.
Upon this disposition of mankind, to go along with all the passions of the rich and the powerful, is founded the distinction of ranks, and the order of society. Our obsequiousness to our superiors more fre|quently arises from our admiration for the advantages of their situation, than from
