BOOK II PART II
teem? His ancestors, therefore, though dead,
are respected, in some measure, on account
of their riches, and consequently without any
kind of expectation.
But not to go so far as prisoners of war and
the dead to find instances of this disinterested
esteem for riches, let us observe with a little at-
tention those phaenomena that occur to us in
common life and conversation. A man, who is
himself of a competent fortune, upon coming
into a company of strangers, naturally treats
them with different degrees of respect and def-
erence, as he is informed of their different for-
tunes and conditions; though it is impossible
he can ever propose, and perhaps would not
accept of any advantage from them. A traveller
is always admitted into company, and meets
with civility, in proportion as his train and