conquerors ought to be classed with Jonathan Wild.
    Mr. Falkland reddened at these citations.
    Accursed blasphemy! Did these authors think that by the coarseness of their
ribaldry they could destroy his well-earned fame? Are learning, sensibility and
taste no securities to exempt their possessor from this vulgar abuse? Did you
ever read, Williams, of a man more gallant, generous and free? Was ever mortal
so completely the reverse of every thing engrossing and selfish? He formed to
himself a sublime image of excellence, and his only ambition was to realise it
in his own story. Remember his giving away every thing when he set out upon his
grand expedition, professedly reserving for himself nothing but hope. Recollect
his heroic confidence in Philip, the physician, and his entire and unalterable
friendship for Ephestion. He treated the captive family of Darius with the most
cordial urbanity, and the venerable Sysigambis with all the tenderness and
attention of a son to his mother. Never take the judgment, Williams, upon such a
subject of a clerical pedant or a Westminster justice. Examine for yourself, and
you will find in Alexander a model of honour, generosity and disinterestedness,
a man who for the cultivated liberality of his mind and the unparalleled
grandeur of his projects must stand alone the spectacle and admiration of all
ages of the world.
    Ah, sir! it is a fine thing for us to sit here and compose his panegyric.
But shall I forget what a vast expence was bestowed in erecting the monument of
his fame? Was not he the common disturber of mankind? Did not he overrun nations
that would never have heard of him, but for his devastations? How many hundred
thousands of lives did he sacrifice in his career? What must I think of his
cruelties; a whole tribe massacred for a crime committed by their ancestors one
hundred and fifty years before; fifty thousand sold into slavery; two thousand
crucified for their gallant defence of their country? Man is surely a strange
sort of creature, who never praises any one more heartily than him who has
spread destruction and ruin over the face of nations!
    The way of thinking you express, Williams, is natural enough, and I cannot
blame you for it. But let me hope that you will become more liberal. The death
of a hundred thousand men is at first sight very shocking; but what in reality
are a hundred thousand such men more than a hundred thousand sheep? It is mind,
Williams, the generation of knowledge and virtue that we ought to love. This was
the project of Alexander; he set out in a great undertaking to civilise