XXXII ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND

with ///.s' refentment, and that I fhall become theobjedl of general indignation.

When, upon any occafion, I am led by theviolence of paffion to overlook thefe confiderations,and, in the cafe of a competition of interefls, toadf according to my own feelings, and not accord-ing to thofe of impartial fpedlators, I never fail toincur the purudiment of remorfe. When mypaffion is gratified, and I begin to refleci coolly onmy condudl, I can no longer enter into the mo-tives from which it proceeded; it appears as im-proper to me as to the reft of the world ; I lamentthe effedfs it has produced} I pity the unhappyfufferer whom I have injured; and I feel myfelfa juft objedt of indignation to mankind. “ Such,fays Mr. Smith , is the nature of that fentiment“ which is properly called remorfe. It is made“ up of ffiame from the fenfe of the impropriety“ of paft condudl; of grief for the effedfs of it; of“ pity for thofe who fuffer by it; and of the dread“ and terror ofpunillmient from the confcioufnefs“ of the juftly provoked refentment of all rational<£ creatures.”

The oppofite behaviour of him who, from pro-per motives, has performed a generous adiion,infpires , in a limilar manner, the oppofite fen-timent of confcious merit, or of del'erved reward.

The foregoing obfervations contain a generalfummary of Mr. Smith’s principles with refpcdl