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| | Earl of Chatham, REPLY TO WALPOLE ON A CHARGE OF YOUTH, MARCH 6, 1741. |
 | | Whether youth can be imputed to any man as a reproach, I will not, sir, assume the province of determining; but surely age may become justly contemptible, if the opportunities which it brings have passed away without improvement, and vice appears to prevail when the passions have subsided. |
 | | Much more, sir, is he to be abhorred, who, as he has advanced in age, has receded from virtue, and becomes more wicked with less temptation; who prostitutes himself for money which he can not enjoy, and spends the remains of his life in the ruin of his country. |
 | | In the first sense, sir, the charge is too trifling to be confuted, and deserves only to be mentioned to be despised. |
| www.classicpersuasion.org /cbo/chatham/chat03B.htm (862 words) |
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