BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF THE RIGHT HON. WILLIAM LORD RADSTOCK, ADMIRAL OF THE BLUE SQUADRON

Summary

“In war was never lion raged more fierce;

“In peace was never gentle lamb more mild.”

Shakespeare

It may be questioned by casuists, whether, to emblazon virtue in her loveliest hues, or to depict vice in her most glaring features of deformity, be more beneficial to the moral interests of man; but, to the heart which has any sense of goodness or honour itself, there can be no hesitation in fixing upon the task. The satirist, indeed, may derive pleasure from exposing, and holding up to detestation, the vices of his fellow-creatures; from exhibiting, in terrorem, those crimes at which humanity must shrink with horror; but, to a congenial mind, it is far more soothing to trace the noble deeds of virtue, to entice her from her modest recess, to display her to the world be-decked with all her charms, and thus to excite an honest emulation in those who live but to tread in the footsteps of their superiors.

That there is a greater portion of moral goodness to be found in the higher ranks of society, is an assertion which we will not venture to make; for we have ever considered that virtue, shunning extremes, more frequently fixes her residence in the middle walks of life; yet, as in some noble achievement have most great families originated, to maintain or increase the honour of that achievement should be the task of succeeding generations; and in the descendants of an illustrious race we have a right to expect an hereditary possession of those qualities which ennobled their ancestors.