He faid, the poor in England were better provided for than in any other country of the fame extent; he did not mean little Cantons or petty Republics. "Where a great proportion of the people (faid he) are fuffered to languifh in helpless mifery, that country must be ill policed, and wretchedly governed; a decent provifion for the poor, is the true teft of civilization. Gentlemen of education, he observed, were pretty much the fame in all countries; the condition of the lower orders, the poor efpecially, was the true mark of national difcrimination."

"Raifing the wages of day-labourers (faid he) is wrong; for it does not make them live better, but only makes them idler, and idleness is a very bad thing for human nature."

Obferving fome beggars in the fireet, a gentleman remarked, that there was no civilized country in the world, where the mifery of want in the loweft claffes of the people was prevented. -JOHNSON. “I believe, Sir, there is not; but it is better that fome fhould be unhappy, than that none fhould be happy, which would be the cafe in a general ftate of equality."

"At dinner one day at Mr. Hoole's with Dr. Johnson (fays Mr. Bofwell), when Mr. Nicol, the King's bookfeller, and I, attempted to controvert the maxim, better that ten guilty fhould

efcape, than one innocent perfon fuffer;' we were answered by Dr. Johnson with great power of reafoning and eloquence. He ably fhewed, that unless civil inftitutions infured protection to the innocent, all the confidence which mankind fhould have in them would be loft."

Talking on the fubject of Toleration, one day when fome friends were with him in his study, he made a remark, that the State has a right to regulate the religion of the people, who are the children of the State. A clergyman having readily acquiefced in this, Johnfon, who loved difcuffion, obferved, "But, Sir, you must go round to other States than our own. You do not know what a Bramin has to say for himself. In fhort, Sir, I have got no further than this: Every man has a right to utter what he thinks truth, and every other man has a right to knock him down for it. Martyrdom is the teft."

66

At another time, when in a literary converfation at Mr. Dilly's one of the company introduced the fubject of toleration, Johnfon faid, Every Society has a right to preserve public peace and order, and therefore has a good right to prohibit the propagation of opinions which have a dangerous tendency. To fay the magiftrate has this right, is ufing an inadequate word: it is the Society for which the magistrate

P 2

magiftrate is agent. He may be morally or theologically wrong in reftraining the propa gation of opinions which he thinks dangerous, but he is politically right."-DR. MAYO. " I am of opinion, Sir, that every man is entitled to liberty of confcience in religion; and that the magiftrate cannot restrain that right."— JOHNSON. "Sir, I

agree with you. Every

man has a right to liberty of conscience, and with that the magiftrate cannot interfere. People confound liberty of thinking with liberty of talking; nay with liberty of preaching. Every man has a physical right to think as he pleafes; for it cannot be discovered how he thinks. He has not a moral right, for he ought to inform himself, and think justly. But, Sir, no member of a fociety has a right to teach any doctrine contrary to what the fociety holds to be true. The magistrate, I say, may be wrong in what he thinks; but while he thinks himself right, he may and ought to enforce what he thinks."-M. "Then, Sir, we are to remain always in error, and truth never can prevail; and the magiftrate was right in perfecuting the first chriflians."-7. « Sir, the only method by which religious truth can be established is by martyrdom. The magiftrate has a right to enforce what he thinks; and he who is confcious of the truth has a right

2

to

to fuffer. I am afraid there is no other way of afcertaining the truth, but by perfecution on the one hand, and enduring it on the other."GOLDSMITH. "But how is a man to act, Sir? Though firmly convinced of the truth of his doctrine, may he not think it wrong to expose himself to perfecution? Has he a right to do fo? Is it not, as Is it not, as it were, committing yoluntary fuicide?"-7. "Sir, as to voluntary fuicide, as you call it, there are twenty thoufand men in an army who will go without fcruple to be shot at, and mount a breach, for fivepence a day."-G." But have they a moral right to do this?"-7. "Nay, Sir, if you will not take the univerfal opinion of mankind, I have nothing to fay. If mankind cannot defend their own way of thinking, I cannot defend it. Sir, if a man is in doubt whether it would be better for him to expofe himself to martyrdom or not, he fhould not do it. He must be convinced that he has a delegation from heaven."-G. "I would confider whether there is the greater chance of good or evil upon the whole. If I fee a man who has fallen into a well, I would wifh to help him out; but if there is a greater probability that he shall pull me in, than that I fhould pull him out, I I would not attempt it. So were I to go to Turkey, I might wish to convert the Grand

Signior to the Chriftian faith; but when I confidered that I should probably be put to death without effectuating my purpose in any degree, I fhould keep myself quiet."-7. "Sir, you

must confider that we have perfect and imperfect obligations. Perfect obligations, which are generally not to do fomething, are clear and pofitive; as thou shalt not kill.' But charity, for instance, is not definable by limits. It is a duty to give to the poor; but no man can fay how much another should give to the poor, or when a man has given too little to fave his foul. In the fame manner, it is a duty to inftruct the ignorant, and of confequence to convert infidels to christianity; but no man in the common courfe of things is obliged to carry this to fuch a degree as to incur the danger of martyrdom, as no man is obliged to ftrip himself to the shirt in order to give charity. I have faid, that a man must be perfuaded that he has a particular delegation from Heaven."-G." How is this to be known? Our first reformers, who were burnt for not believing bread and wine to be Chrift-” 7. (interrupting him), "Sir, they were not burnt for not believing bread and wine to be Chrift, but for infulting those who did believe it. And, Sir, when the firft reformers began, they did not intend to be martyred; as many

of