There is a homely proverb, which speaks a shrewd truth, that
whoever the devil finds idle he will employ. And what but
habitual idleness can hereditary wealth and titles produce? For
man is so constituted that he can only attain a proper use of his
faculties by exercising them, and will not exercise them unless
necessity, of some kind, first set the wheels in motion. Virtue
likewise can only be acquired by the discharge of relative
duties; but the importance of these sacred duties will scarcely
be felt by the being who is cajoled out of his humanity by the
flattery of sycophants. There must be more equality established
in society, or morality will never gain ground, and this virtuous
equality will not rest firmly even when founded on a rock, if one
half of mankind be chained to its bottom by fate, for they will
be continually undermining it through ignorance or pride.
