by law, such as are theft, assault, and the like, and partly from the fact that their education and associations make them more amenable to the social, and, in most cases, to the moral and religious sanctions, about to be described presently.  Few persons in what are called the higher or middle ranks of life have any temptation to commit, say, an act of theft, and, if they experienced any such temptation, they would be at least as likely to be restrained by the consideration of what their neighbours would think or say about them, even apart from their own moral and religious convictions, as by the fear of imprisonment.

[Footnote 1:  There are a few exceptions to the rule that the sanctions employed by the state assume the form of punishments rather than of rewards.  Such are titles and honours, pensions awarded for distinguished service, rewards to informers, &c.  But these exceptions are almost insignificant, when compared with the numerous examples of the general rule.]

One of the most effective sanctions in all conditions of life, but especially in the upper and better educated circles of a civilized society, is what may be called the social sanction, that is to say, a regard for the good opinion and a dread of the evil opinion of those who know us, and especially of those amongst whom we habitually live.  It is one of the characteristics of this sanction that it is much more far-reaching than the legal sanction.  Not only does it extend to many acts of a moral character which are not affected, in most countries, by the legal sanction, such as lying, backbiting, ingratitude, unkindness, cowardice, but also to mere matters of taste or fashion, such as dress, etiquette, and even the proprieties of language.  Indeed, as to the latter class of actions, there is always considerable danger of the social sanction becoming too strong.  Society is apt to insist on all men being cast in one mould, without much caring to examine the character of the mould which it has adopted.  And it frequently happens that a wholly disproportionate value thus comes to be attached to the observance of mere rules of etiquette and good-breeding as compared with acts and feelings which really concern the moral and social welfare of mankind.  There is many a man, moving in good society, who would rather be guilty of, and even detected in, an act of unkindness or mendacity, than be seen in an unfashionable dress or commit a grammatical solecism or a broach of social etiquette.  Vulgarity to such men is a worse reproach than hardness of heart or indifferent morality.  In these cases, as we shall see hereafter, the social sanction requires to be corrected by the moral and religious sanctions, and it is the special province of the moral and religious teacher in each generation to take care that this correction shall be duly and effectively applied.  The task may, from time to time, require the drastic hand of the moral or religious reformer, but, unless some one has the courage to undertake