PARENTAL AFFECTION.
Parental affection is, perhaps, the blindeſt modification of perverſe ſelf-love; for we have not, like the French[1], two terms to diſtinguiſh the purſuit of a natural and reaſonable deſire, from the ignorant calculations of weakneſs. Parents often love their children in the moſt brutal manner, and ſacrifice every relative duty to promote their advancement in the world.—To promote, ſuch is the perverſity of unprincipled prejudices, the future welfare of the very beings whoſe preſent exiſtence they embitter by the moſt deſpotic ſtretch of power. Power, in fact, is ever true to its vital principle, for in every ſhape it would reign without controul or inquiry. Its throne is built acroſs a dark abyſs, which no eye muſt dare to explore, leſt the baſeleſs fabric ſhould totter under inveſtigation. Obedience, unconditional obedience, is the catch-word of tyrants of every deſcription, and to render 'aſſurance doubly ſure,' one kind of deſpotiſm ſupports another. Tyrants would have cauſe to tremble if reaſon were to become the rule of duty in any of the relations of life, for the light might ſpread till perfect day appeared. And when it did appear, how would men ſmile at the ſight of the bugbears at which they ſtarted during the night of ignorance, or the twilight of timid inquiry.
- ↑ L'amour propre. L'amour de ſoi-même.
