Were this not the case, from what would the interest be drawn ?--where would be the incident, if all men, pursuing the quiet paths of non-interference with the rights, the lives, or the liberties of one another, spilt no blood, invaded no territory, robbed no lord of his lady, enslaved and made no captives in war?
A virtuous hero would be a useless personage both in play and poem--and the spectator or reader would fall asleep over the utterance of stale apothegms.

What writer of sense, for instance, would dream of bringing up George Washington to figure in either of these forms before the world--and how, if he did so, would he prevent reader or auditor from getting excessively tired, and perhaps disgusted, with one, whom all men are now agreed to regard as the hero of civilization?
Nor do I utter sentiments which are subjects either of doubt or disputation.

I could put the question in such a form as would bring the million to agree with me.

Look, for instance, at the execution of a criminal.

See the thousands that will assemble, day after day, after travelling miles for that single object, to gape and gaze upon the last agonizing pangs and paroxsyms of a fellow-creature--not regarding for an instant the fatigue of their position, the press of the crowd, or the loss of a dinner--totally insusceptible, it would seem, of the several influences of heat and cold, wind and rain, which at any other time would drive them to their beds or firesides.