It frequently happens that in proportion as we are
taught to dislike persons and countries, not knowing why, we feel an
ardor of esteem upon the removal of the mistake: it seems as if
something was to be made amends for, and we eagerly give in to every
office of friendship, to atone for the injury of the error.
But, perhaps, there is something in the extent of countries,
which, among the generality of people, insensibly communicates
extension of the mind. The soul of an islander, in its native state,
seems bounded by the foggy confines of the water's edge, and all
beyond affords to him matters only for profit or curiosity, not for
friendship. His island is to him his world, and fixed to that, his
every thing centers in it; while those who are inhabitants of a
continent, by casting their eye over a larger field, take in
likewise a larger intellectual circuit, and thus approaching nearer to
an acquaintance with the universe, their atmosphere of thought is
extended, and their liberality fills a wider space. In short, our
minds seem to be measured by countries when we are men, as they are by
places when we are children, and until something happens to
disentangle us from the prejudice, we serve under it without
perceiving it.
In addition to this, it may be remarked, that men who study any
universal science, the principles of which are universally known, or
admitted, and applied without distinction to the common benefit of all
countries, obtain thereby a larger share of philanthropy than those
who only study national arts and improvements.
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