JB/015/424/001

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108

The prudential management of discourse is a difficult
but most important branch of morals. The aberrations of the
tongue have been from time immemorial the topic upon which
prose & poetry have poured forth their judgments, – tho'
neither prose nor poetry has hitherto given us any complete set of
rules by which the faculty of speech may be made most
subservient to the creation of happiness & the diminution
of misery. With that great object in view the functions
of the tongue like all the other functions of the bodyother functions of the body may be made the instruments of good may be made the instruments of good.

In a great part of the regions of conversation
boundless as they are, the dictates of benevolence are in
complete accordance with those of prudence – & the topics
are multitudinous in which are at the sar while they are
pernicious to no one, – are pleasurable to the hearer,
pleasurable to the speaker, & pleasurable or useful to
mankind at large. And such topics should undoubtedly
be those of primary choice where the direction of conversation
is in the our hands & where at the same time the more
urgent claims of a particular present interest do not
interfere. But the mistake must be specially guarded
against, which is too frequently made of supposing that a topic interesting
to the speaker is necessarily so to the hearer, – however really important
that topic may be. The prudential as well as the
benevolent motives dictate an abstention from
conversation which is annoying to others – & even that
which is indifferent to them. Nay that which is
pleasurable to both parties may be in disaccordance
with the great rule of virtue – the ultimate balance
of good.

Identifier: | JB/015/424/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 15.
Date_1		Marginal Summary Numbering
Box	015	Main Headings	deontology
Folio number	424	Info in main headings field
Image	001	Titles
Category	linking material	Number of Pages	1
Recto/Verso	recto	Page Numbering	f108
Penner	sir john bowring	Watermarks	[[watermarks::[monogram with leaves motif]]]
Marginals		Paper Producer
Corrections		Paper Produced in Year
Notes public		ID Number	5640
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