Hor. You have said several Things which I cannot disprove, and some of
them, I own, are probable enough; but you are like to leave me as you
found me. The Principle of Honour has lost no Ground in my Esteem; and
I shall continue to act from it as I did before. But since you imagine
to have so plainly proved, that we are Idols to our Selves, and that
Honour is diametrically opposite to Christianity, I wonder you don't
call it the Beast in the _Apocalypse_, and say, that it is the Whore of
_Babylon_. This would be a notable Conceit, and suit Papists as well as
Protestants; nay, I fancy, that the Colour of the Whore, and her
Thirst after Blood, might be better accounted for from Duelling, than
any other Way that has been tried yet.
Cleo. The Revelations of St. _John_ are above my Comprehension; and I
shall never laugh at Mysteries for not understanding them.
Hor. What you say of Mysteries, I think, ought to be more justly
applied to the Principle of Honour, which we do understand; for
whatever it may be derived from, the Advantages the Civil Society
receives from it, both in Peace and War, are so many and so manifest,
that the Usefulness of it ought to exempt and preserve it from being
ridicul'd. I hate to hear a Man talk of its being more or less
portable, the melting of it over again, and reducing it to a new
Standard.
Cleo. I know, you dislike this in the Fable of the _Bees_; but if you'll
examine into what you have read there, you'll find, that my Friend has
ridicul'd Nothing but what deserves it.
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