BOOK III PART III
Before I proceed farther, I must observe two
remarkable circumstances in this affair, which
may seem objections to the present system. The
first may be thus explained. When any qual-
ity, or character, has a tendency to the good
of mankind, we are pleased with it, and ap-
prove of it; because it presents the lively idea
of pleasure; which idea affects us by sympa-
thy, and is itself a kind of pleasure. But as this
sympathy is very variable, it may be thought
that our sentiments of morals must admit of all
the same variations. We sympathize more with
persons contiguous to us, than with persons
remote from us: With our acquaintance, than
with strangers: With our countrymen, than
with foreigners. But notwithstanding this vari-
ation of our sympathy, we give the same appro-
bation to the same moral qualities in China as
in England. They appear equally virtuous, and