her eat the less at Dinneâ— She adds she 's troubled a nights with broken Slumâ—â—rs he bids her never lye a Bed by day She asks how her grossness may be prevented the Oracle replies she ought to rise before noon and now and then make use of her Legs a little She declares that Wine disagrees with her the Oracle bids her drink Water That she has a bad digestion he tells her she must go into a Diet. My sight says she fails Use Spectacles says Aesculapius I grow weak I am't half so strong and healthy as I have been You grow old says the God But how says she shall I cure this Languishing Why you must dye like your Grandfather and Grandmother if youâ—ll get rid onâ—t quickly What advice dost thou give me thou Son of Apollo crys Irene Is this the mighty Skill which men praise and worship you for What hast thou told me rare or mysterious Did not I know thus much before The God answers Why did you not put it in practice then without coming so far out of your way to seek me and shortning your days by a tedious Voyage to no purpose * Let us think when we are sighing for the loss of our past youth which will no more return Dotage will come then we shall regret the age of our full strength which we now enjoy and don 't enough esteem * Inquietude fear and dejection cannot keep Death far from us yet I question if excessive laughter becomes men who are mortal * What there is in Death uncertain is a little sweeten'd by what there is certain There 's something indefinite in time which looks like infinite and is thence called Eternity * We hope to grow old and we fear old age that is we are willing to live and afraid to dye * One had better give way to Nature and fear Death than be always striving against it arming our selves with Reasons and be our own Slaves that we may not fear it * If some men dyâ—d and others did not Death would indeed be a terrible affliction * A long Sickness seems to be placâ—d between Life and Death that Death itself may be a comfort to those who dye and those who survive them * To speak liâ—e Men Death is in one thing very good It puts an end to old age The Death which prevents Dotage comes more seasonable than that which ends it * The regret men have for the time they have ill spent does not always induce them to spend what remains better * Life is a kind of Sleep old men sleep longest They never begin to wake but when they are to dye If then they run over the whole course of their lives year by year they find frequently neither Vertues nor commendable actions enough to distinguish them one from another They confound their different ages They see nothing sufficiently remarkable to measure the time they have livâ—d by They have had confus'd Dreams without any form or coherence However they fancy like those who awake that they have slept a long while * There are but three events which happen to Mankind Birth Life and Death They know nothing of their Birth suffer Death and forget Life * There is a time which precedes Reason when we live like other Animals by instinct of which we can't trace the least footsteps There 's a second time when Reason discovers itself when 't is form'd and might act if it were not obscur'd and almost extinguisht by the vices of Constitution and a Chain of Passions which succeed one another and lead to the third and last age Reason then is in its force and might bring forth but 't is soon lessen'd and weaken'd by years sickness and sorrow render'd useless by the disorder of the Machine which is now declining yet these years imperfect as they are make the Life of a Man * Children are haughty disdainful cholerick envious inquisitive self-interested lazy light fearful intemperate lyers dissemblers laugh easily and are soon pleas'd have immoderate joys and afflictions on the least subjects would not have ill done 'em but love to do ill In this they are men long before they are one and twenty * Children think not of what 's past nor whatâ—s to come but rejoyce o're the present time which few of us do * There seems to be but one character of Childhood The Manners at that age is in all much the same and it must be with a very nice observation that you can perceive a difference It augments with Reason because with it the Passions and Vices increase which make men so unlike one another and so contrary to themselves * Children have in their childhood what old men lose Imagination and Memory which are very useful to them in their little sports and amusements by these helps they repeat what they have heard and mimick what they see done By these they work after others or invent themselves a thousand little things to divert themâ— Make Feasts and entertain themselves with good chear are transported into Inchanted Palaces and Castles have rich equipages and a train of followers lead Armies give Battel and rejoyce in the pleasure of Victory talk of Kings and greatest Princes are themselves Kings have Subjects possess Treasures which they make of Leaves Boughs Shells or Sand and what they are ignorant of in the following part of their lives They know at this Age how to be arbiters of their fortune and masters of their own happiness * There are no exterior vices or bodily defects which are not perceiv'd by Children They strike 'em at first sight and they know how to express 'em in agreeable words Men could not be more happy in their terms but when they become men they are loaded in their turn with the same imperfections and are themselves mock'd * 'T is the only care of Children to find out their Masters weakness and the weakness of those to whom they must be subject when they have found it they get above 'em and usurp an Ascendant over them which they never part with for what depriv'd them of their Superiority will keep them from recovering it * Idleness Negligence and Laziness Vices so natural to Children are not to be seen in 'em while they are at play They are then lively heedful exact lovers of rule and order never pardon one another the least faults Begin again several times if but one thing is wanting Certain presages that they may hereafter neglect their duty but will forget nothing that can promote their pleasure * To Children Gardens Houses Furniture Men and Beasts appear great To Men the things of the world and I dare say for the same reason because they are little * Children begin among themselves with a popular state where every one is master and what is very natural can't agree so long before they go on to a Monarchy One of 'em distinguishes himself from the rest either by a greater vivacity strength or a more exact knowledge
with us and from time to time are fortify'd by Custom There are others which we contract and were before Strangers to us Men are sometimes born with easie Dispositions Complacency a desire to please but by the treatment they meet from those they live with or on whom they depend they are suddenly oblig'd to change their Measures and even their Nature they grow melancholy and flegmatick humours with which they were before unacquainted They have another Complexion and are astonish'd to find themselves petulant and stubborn * Some may ask why Mankind in General don't compose but one Nation and have not a proneness to speak one Language to live under the same Laws to agree amongst themselves in the same Customs and Worship for my part seeing the contrariety of their Inclinations Taste and Sentiments I wonder to see seven or eight Persons live under the same Roof within the same Walls and make a single Family * There are some strange Fathers who seem during the whole course of their Lives to be preparing Reasons for their Children to be comforted with their Deaths * Every thing is strange in the Humours Morals and Manners of Men one lives Sowre Passionate Covetous Furious Submissive Laborious and full of his own Interests who was born Gay Peaceable Idle Magnificent of a noble Courage and far from any thing Base or Pitiful The Cares of Life the Situation they find themselves in and the Law of Necessity force Nature and cause such great Changes Thus at the bottom such a Man canâ—t tell what to make of himself his Outside changes so often has so many Alterations and Revolutions that he is really neither what he thinks he is himself nor what he appears to be * Life is short and tiresom it has always something to do we adjourn our Joy and Repose to the time to come often the Age when our best blessings Youth and Health are already disappear'd The time comes and we are still surpriz'd with new desires The Fever seizes or suppresses us or if we are cur'd 't is only to desire more time * When a Man desires a favour of a Person he renders himself to him on Discretion when he 's sure it cannot be deny'd him he watches his Opportunities Parleys and Capitulatesâ— * 'T is so common for Men not to be Happy and so essential to all Good to be acquir'd with Trouble that what is come at easily is suspected We can hardly comprehend how any thing can be for our advantage which costs us so little or how we could reach the ends we propos'd by such just Measures We think we deserve Good Fortune but ought not to have it very often * The Man who says He was not born Happy may at least become so if he would make use of his Friends and Relations good fortune and did not envy rob him of this advantage * Tho perhaps I have said somewhere or other that the afflicted are wrong'd yet men seem to be born for Misfortune Grief and Poverty few escape and since all sorts of disgraces may befal them they ought to be prepar'd for all sorts of disgrace * Men meet one another about their affairs with so much difficulty are so sharp where the least interest is concern'd so apt to be intangl'd with the least intricacies are so willing to deceive and so unwilling to be deceiv'd set so great a value on what belongs to themselves and so mean a price on what belongs to others that I protest I know not how or which way they can conclude Marriages Contracts Acquisitions Peace Truces Treaties and Alliances * Among some people Arrogance supplies the place of Greatness Inhumanity of Stedfastness and Cheating of Wit Cheats easily believe others as bad as themselves They cannot be deceived and then will not deceive a long while I would willingly purchase the Character of a Cheat if it were only by being stupid or passing for such We are never honestly deceiv'd for Malice and Lying always attend Cheating * We hear nothing in the Streets of great Cities and out of the mouths of those that pass by us but such words as these Writs Executions Interrogatories Bonds and Pleading Is it thus because the least equity ought not to be seen in the world or should it be on the conâ—â—ary fill'd with persons who are always demanding what is not their due or refusing very plainly to pay what they owe. * The Invention of Parchments is a scandal to Humanity what a shame 't is that men can't keep their words without being forc'd to it If you carry away Passion Interest and Injustice what a Calm would there be in the greatest Cities subsistance and the cares of Life would not make a third part of the confusion * Nothing helps a man more to bear quietly the injuries he receives from Parents and Friends than a reflection on the vices of humanity and how costly 't is for persons to be constant generous and faithful or to love any thing better than their own Interests He knows their capacity and does not require them to penetrate a solid fly in the Air or be equitable He hates Mankind in general for having no greater respect for Vertue But he excuses it in particulars he even is tempted by the highest motives to love 'em and studies as much as possible to deserve the same indulgence * There are certain Goods which we most passionately desire and the Idaea of them only moves and transports us If we happen to obtain 'em we enjoy them more peaceably than we thought we should and are less busie in rejoycing over them than in aspiâ—ing after greater * There are some evils some frightful and horrible misfortunes which we dare not think on the prospect of 'em only makes us tremble If they chance to fall on us we find more succour than we could imagine arm our selves against our fortune and do better than our hopes * Sometimes a pleasant House falling to us a fine Horse or a pretty Dog presented us a Suit of Tapestry or a Watch will mittigate a vast loss * I often suppose that men were to live for ever in this world And reflect afterwards whether 't is possible for them to do more towards their establishment than they do now * If Life is miserable 't is painful to live if happy 't is dreadful to dye one comes from t'other * Thereâ—s nothing Men are â—o fond to preserve and less careful about it than Life * We are afraid of old age but we aâ—e not sure we can attain it * Death never happens but once yet we feel it every moment of our Lives 'T is worse to apprehend than to suffer * Irene is with difficulty convey'd to the Temple of Aesculapius to consult the God about all her Ills. She complains fiâ—st that she 's weary and fatigu'd The God pronounces 't is occasion'd by the length of her Journey She says she has no stomach to her Supper the Oracle bids
person whom she ought to Love In Smyrna there liv'd a young Lady of extraordinary Beauty call'd Emira who yet was not more famous for her Beauty than for the severity of her Manners and above all for a strange Indifference that she had for all Men whom as she said she beheld without any danger and without any other concernment than what she felt for her Friends or her Brothers She cou'd not believe the thousandth part of all the follies which she was told Love had been the cause of and those which she saw herself she cou'd not comprehend Friendship was the only thing she had any notion of and that she made the first experiment of in a young and beautiful person of her own Sex She found in her friendship something so very soft and pleasing that her only Study was how to continue it never imagining that any other Inclination cou'd arise which shouâ—d make her less to cherish that esteem and confidence which she prizâ—d so much then Her discourse was only of Euphrosina which was the name of that faithful friend and the discourse of all Smyrna was only of Euphrosina and her Their Friendship became a Proverb Emira had two Brothers both so young and so handsome that all the Women of that City were in love with 'em and whom she lov'd herself as became a Sister One of the Priests of Iupiter had access to her Fathers house and being ravisht with her Beauty ventur'd to declare his Passion to her but came off only with Scorn and Contempt An old man who relying on his great Birth and Estate had the same assurance met with the same success She Triumphs on this she was surrounded by her Brothers a Priest and an Old Man and cou'd boast herself Insensible but these were not the greatest Tryals that Heaven had reserv'd â—or her yet they too had no other effect but to render her still more Vain and to confirm her in the reputation of being a person that was not to be toucht with Love Of three Lovers whom her Charms had gain'd her one after another and all whose Passions she was not afraid to see and to slight the first in an Amorous Transport stabb'd himself at her feet the second in Despair of ever succeeding wenâ— to seek his Death in the Wars of Crete and the third ended his days in a Miserable Languishment and Distraction The man that was to revenge all these had not yet appear'd The old Spark who was so unfortunate in his Amours was cur'd at length by reflecting on his Age and on the character of the person to whom he had made his Addresses However he was desirous to visit her sometimes and had her Permission One day he carry'd along with him his Son a Youth of a most agreeable Aspect and of a noble Mein She beheld him with some Interest more than ordinary but observing him very silent as he was in the presence of his Father she made a judgment of his Wit from thence not much to his advantage She cou'd have wisht he had had more He saw her afterwards alone and then he talkt to her sufficiently and wittily too but when he regarded her less and talkt to her less about her self and her Beauty than she expected she was surpriz'd and had as it were some indignation that a Man who was so well made and had so much Wit shou'd be so little Gallant Her Friend had exprest a Desire to see him and was in company when she entertain'd him that was the reason 'T was for Euphrosina alone that he had Eyes and her Beauty alone which he commended This made Emira from being Indifferent to become Jealous and then she perceivâ—d that Ctesiphon was sensible of what he said and that he not only was capable of Gallantry but of Tenderness From that time she is more reserv'd to her friend yet desirous to see 'em together once more The second Interview more than satisfy'd her in all her fears her doubt was turn'd into certainty She now flyes from Euphrosina no longer knows that Merit which charm'd her before she loses all relish of her conversation she loves her no longer and this alteration made her sensible that 't was Love which in her heart had supply'd the place of friendship Ctesiphon and Euphrosina see one another every day They love mutually they agree to marry They are marryâ—d The news is spread about the Town and People publish it the more for the rarity of it that two persons who Love so well shou'd be blest in Enjoyment Emira hears of it and is all enrag'd she feels then to what height her Passion was grown She seeks out Euphrosina again only for the pleasure of one sight of Ctesiphon but that young Husband has not yet quitted the Lover in a new Wife he finds all the Charms of a Mistriss which makes him that he cannot look on Emira but as on the friend of her that 's dear to him This compleats the poor Lady's misfortune She can take no rest refuses all sustenance her Body grows weak and her Mind disturb'd She mistakes her Brother for Ctesiphon and speaks to him as to a Lover She recollects her self and blushes for her Distraction yet relapses into greater which she does not blush for She knows not what she does Then is she apprehensive of Men when 't is too late 'T is her Folly now She has her Intervals of Reason but 't is of Reason that she most complains In this condition she lyes so sad and miserable that the Youth of Smyrna who before had seen her so proud and insensible now think Heaven has punisht her but too severely Of the Heart * PUre Friendship is something which none can attain to the taste of but those who are well Born * There may be a Friendship between persons of different Sexes which may subsist without Enjoyment yet a Woman will always look upon a Man as a Man and so will a Man still look upon a Woman as a Woman This Engagement is neither Love nor pure Friendship 'T is something of another kind * Love seizes on us suddenly without giving us time to consider and our Disposition or our Weakness favours the Surprize One Look one Glance from the Fair fixes and determins us Friendship on the contrary is a long time in forming and that by degrees by a long Acquaintance and Familiarity How much Wit good Nature Affection how many good Offices and Civilities are there among Friends to do that in many years which sometimes a fair Face or a fair Hand does in a minute * Friendship the older it grows is the stronger Love is the weaker for its Age. * Love as long as it does last subsists of itself and sometimes subsists by those very means which shou'd seem rather to extinguish it Severity Cruelty Absence Jealousy Friendship on the contrary stands in need of all helps Care Confidence and Complaisance If 't is not supply'd with these it
abound in Riches * To make one's Fortune is so fine a Phrase and so very significant that t is universally us'd it past from the Court to the City broke its way into the Cloysters scal'd the Walls of the Abbyes of both Sexes There is no place sacred or prophane where it has not penetrated it pleases Strangers and Barbarians 't is met with in all Languages and there is scarce any one now who can speak but has learnt to make use on 't * He who has cunning enough to make Contracts and fill his Coffers thinks presently he has a Head fit for Government * To make one's Fortune a Man ought to have some sort of Wit but neither the good nor the fine the great nor the sublime the strong nor the delicate I cannot exactly tell which it is and am yet to be inform'd Custom and Experience are more useful in making one's Fortune than Wit We think of it too late and when at last we resolve on t we begin by those Faults which we have not always time to repair Whence perhaps it proceeds that Fortunes are so rarely acquired A Man of a little Genius may be fond of advancing himself and in such case neglecting all things else he will think on 't from morning till night and then break his Rest with contriving how to effect it He begins early and sets out in his youth in the way to Preferment If he finds any thing oppose his passage he naturally turns his byass and goes on the right-hand or left according as he sees it most convenient If new Obstacles arise here he returns into the old path he quitted and disposes himself by the nature of the Difficulties sometimes to surmount 'em sometimes to avoid em or take other measures as Use Interest and Opportunity direct him Is so good a Head and such great Talents necessary for a Traveller to follow at first sight the great Road and if that is full or crowded to cross the Fields and continue in a bye and a nearer way till by this means he gets again at last into the former Road and finishes his Journey Is so much Sense requisite in an ambitious Man to attain his Ends Is he then a Wonder or only a Coxcomb who by his Riches purchases himself Favour and Advancement There are some stupid and weak Men who place themselves in fine Stations and die rich yet we ought not to suppose they have contributed to it by the least Industry or Labour Some body has directed em to the fountain-head or perhaps chance only led 'em to it They have been then askt Would you have water Draw and they have drawn it * Whâ—n wâ— arâ— young wâ— arâ— often poor we havâ— neither made Acquisitions nor are our Inheritances fallen yet into our hands We become rich and old at the same time thus â—tis rare that Men can unite all their Advantages And if perhaps any Person is so fortunate he deserves not our Envy since he may by Death be so great a Loser rather when we consider his Circumstances and the Shortness of their Continuance we ought to pity him * A Man should be thirty years old before he thinks of his Fortune â—Tis seldom compleated before fifty he goes to Building in his old Age and dies amongst the Painters and Glasiers * What is the fruit of a great Fortune Unless it be to possess the Vanity Industry Labour and Expence of those who went before us and to work our selves in Planting Building and Inlarging for our Posterity * Men open their Shops and set out their Wares every Morning to cheat their Customers and lock 'em up at night after having cheated all day * In all Conditions the poorest Man is the nearest Neighbour to Honesty and the rich as little distant from Knavery Ability and Cunning seldom get a Man excessive Riches A shew of Honesty is in all Trades the surest way to grow rich * The shortest and best way to make your Fortune is to convince People 't is their Interest to serve you * Men tempted by the Cares of Life or a desire to acquire Riches and Glory incourage themselves in their Deceit and cultivate wicked Talents and Knavish Practices forgetting the Danger and Consequence till they Quit 'em afterwards for a discreet Devotion which was never seen in 'em before their Harvests were gathered and they were in Possession of a well-establishâ—d Fortune * There are Miseries which make People Cowards some who want Food dread the Winter and are afraid of living whilst others elsewhere are eating early fruits forcing the Earth and the Seasons to furnish 'em with Delicates I have known meer Citizens have the Impudence to swallow at a Morsel the Nourishment of a hundred Families let who will set themselves against such Extremities Iâ—ll render my self as little obnoxious to the World as possible and if I can will neither be happy or unhappy but hide and secure my self in the Littleness of my Condition * The Poor are troubled that they want all things and no body comforts them The Rich are angry that they can want the least thing or that any one would resist them * He is rich whose Receipt is more than his Expences and he is poor whose Expences are more than his Receipt There is nothing keeps longer than a little Fortune and nothing is sooner done than a great one Great Riches are near Neighbours to Poverty If he is only rich who wants nothing a very wise Man is a very rich Man If he is only poor who desires much and is always in want the Ambitious and the Covetous languish in extream Poverty * The Passions tyrannize over Mankind Ambition reigns over the rest and gives them a little while the Appearance of all the Vertues I once believ'd Tryphon who commits every vice sober chaste liberal humble and even devout and I might have believ'd it still if he had not made his Fortune * There is no end to a Man's desire of growing rich and great when the Cough seizes him when Death approaches his Face shrivel'd and his Legs weak he cries My Fortune my Establishment * There is but two ways of rising in the World by your own Industry and anotherâ—s Weakness * Features discover Complexion and Manners and an Air the Goods of Fortune you may see by a Man's Countenance if he has great or small Revenues * Crysantes a wealthy impertinent Man would not be seen with Eugeneus who is a Man of Wit but poor lest he should dishonour him Eugeneus has the same Dispositions for Crysantes and there 's no great fear they will often run against one another * If good Thoughts good Books and their Authors depended on Riches or such as have acquir'd 'em What a hard Fate would the Learn'd lie under What a Power would then be assum'd over them With what Authority would they treat those poor Wretches whose Merit has not advanc'd or enrich'd them And for this reason they
would therefore not be allow'd to think or write Judiciously We must confess the present time is for Riches Futurity for the Vertuous and Ingenious Homer Lives still and will ever flourish whilst a thousand Treasurers and Collectors are no more They are forgot and we may now ask if they ever have been Are their Names or their Country known Were there no Pensioners in Greece What is become of all those who despised Homer who were careful to avoid him who never saluted him or saluted him bluntly who disdained to see him at their Tables who lookt on him as one who was not rich and had writ a Book What is become of the Fauconets Will they go as far in Posterity as Descartes Born a Frenchman and dead in Sweden * The same Pride which makes a Man mount himself haughtily over his Inferiours forces him to crawl vilely before those who are above him The Property of this Vice founded on Riches Posts Credit and useless Sciences without personal Merit or solid Vertue obliges one equally to despise those who are below us in Fortune and to over-value those whose Circumstances exceed our own * There are some filthy Souls fed by Nastiness and Ordure who are inflam'd by Interest and Gain as great Souls are fir'd by Glory and Vertue They taste no pleasure in any thing but getting and never losing are covetous and nice even to the last penny busied wholly about their Debtors restless in making Abatements or in railing against the Money lost and immerg'd in Writings Parchments Titles and Covenants These People are neither Relations Friends Citizens Christians or perhaps Men but they have Silver and Gold in abundance * Let us first except those noble and courageous Souls if there are any of this kind in being who are helpful to such as are in want who make use only of their Ingenuity to grow rich whom no Cares Disproportions or Malice can separate from those they once chose for their Friends And let us after this pronounce a Truth sad and doleful to be imagin'd There 's not a Man in the World whom Love Inclination and a long Society have engaged to us who has offered us a thousand Services and sometimes given us a part of 'em that has not yet in himself by the ties of his Interest a Disposition to break with us and become our Enemy * Whilst Orontes was increasing his years his Wealth and his Revenue a Girl was born in a certain Family she grew up flourish'd and enter'd into her sixteenth year He begg'd this witty young and fair Creature to marry him and she preferr'd him without Birth or the least Merit to all his Rivals * Marriage which ought to be the fountain of all good things is often by the Disposition of Mens Fortunes a heavy Load that suppresses 'em with its weight When their Wives and Children tempt 'em to Violence Falshood and unlawful Gains for Maintenance When they find themselves strangely situated between Indigence and Knavery To marry a Widow is in plain English to make one's Fortune though it does not always prove as it signifies * He whose Portion with his Brethren would only maintain him like a tolerable Lawyer is presently for being a Sergeant The Sergeant would be a Judge and the Judge a Chancellor and thus he goes from one Condition to another tempting his Fortune forcing his Destiny and giving himself neither Leisure or Opportunity to grow rich but languishes in an honourable Indigence * Dine well Clearcus make a good Supper sit by large Fires buy you a Lac'd Cloak hang your Chamber with Tapestry what need you care who is to come after you You have either no Heir or you don't know him or what is worse you have no love for him * When we are young we keep for old Age when we are old we save for Death a Prodigal Heir makes a pompous Funeral and devours the rest * The Miser spends more the day of his Death than he did in ten years and his Heir in ten months more than he could part with in all his Life * The Prodigal robs his Heir the sordid Miser robs himself the middle way between both is Justice to our selves and others * Children perhaps would be dearer to their Parents and Parents to their Children were it not for the title of Heirs * 'T is a bad Condition and it makes Life distasteful to watch sweat submit and depend for a little Fortune which we expect after the last Pangs of our nearest Relations He who masters himself so far that he does not wish his Father's Death is an honest Man * The Character of one who would be an Heir is to be found amongst the Complaisant we are never better flatter'd better obey'd more follow'd more courted more attended and more carest than by the Persons who hope to get by our Deaths and wish they may happen quickly * All Men by different Posts Titles and Successions look on themselves as one anothers Heirs And for this reason are ever breeding a Secret desire for each others Deaths He is the happiest Man in each Condition who has more to leave to his Successor by his Death than he can expect by the Decease of another * 'T is said of Play that it equals all Qualities but there is often such strange Disproportions and the distance between this and that Condition is so vast and boundless that the eye is weary in reaching to such Extremities 'T is like Discord in Musick like Colours ill sorted like Oaths that offend the Ear or Sounds and Noises which Jar and are ungrateful In a word 't is overturning all Order and Decency If any one tells me 't is the practice of all the West I answer 't is perhaps one of those things which render us Barbarous to the other part of the World What the Eastern People who come this way remark of us in their Journals and I question not but they are as much disgusted with this excess of Familiarity as we are shock'd with their Zombaye and their other Prostrations * A Room of State or a Chamber of Justice in capital Cases shews nothing so serious and grave as a Table of Gamesters playing for high Stakes A melancholly Severity reigns in their Looks implacable towards one another and irreconcilable Enemies while the Meeting lasts They consider neither Friendship Alliances Birth nor Distinctions Chance alone that blind and wild Divinity presides over the Circle and desides Soveraignly there on all Occasions They all adore her by a profound Silence and an Attention they can never observe elsewhere all the passions seem suspended a while to give place to one of them the Courtier is at this time neither sweet flattering complaisant nor even devout * We can't perceive in those persons who have risen by Play and Gain the least trace of their former condition by their conversation they lose sight of their Equals and associate with persons of the first quality 'T
considered when the publick is in question 'T is some comfort for the People when they find themselves prest a little to know that 't is for the service of their Prince and to enrich him that they put themselves to some inconveniency 'T is not to Ergastus that they think themselves oblig'd for having got a vast Estate * War pleads its antiquity from all ages it has always stor'd the World with Widows and Orphans drain'd families of their Heirs and destroy'd several Brothers in one Battel Young Soyecour how do I mourn thy loss thy vertue and modesty thy wit just ripe sagacious lofty and conversible I must bemoan that untimely death which transported thee to thy magnanimous Brother and snatcht thee from a Court where thou hadst only time to shew thy self Oh misfortune too deplorable and yet common For Men in all ages for a little spot of Earth have agreed to destroy burn and murther one another which to accomplish with the greater certainty and ingenuity they 've invented exquisite rules of destruction which they call the Art of War The practice of which they reward with Glory and the most lasting Honour and every age improves in the art of mutual destruction The Injustice of the first men made Souldiers necessary to the establishment of their right and pretensions and doubtless was the primary source of War for could they have been content with their own and not violated the rights of their neighbours the World would have enjoyed an uninterrupted peace and liberty * Those who sit under their own Vines and enjoy the goods of fortune in a secure part of the Town where there is no danger of their lives or estates are the Men that generally breathe Fire and Sword They are taken up with Wars and Ruins Conflagrations and Massacres 'T is with a great deal of impatience that they can bear two Armies being in the field and not meeting or if they 're in sight that they don't engage when they 're engag'd that the fight was not more bloody that there was scarce ten thousand kill'd on the spot These are sometimes so far transported that they would quit their darling interest their repose and security out of a passionate desire of change and extravagant relish of novelty nay some of 'em go so far theyâ—d be content to see the Enemy at the very Gates of the City and make Barricadoes draw the Chains cross the streets in apprehension of his Assault for the bare itch of hearing and telling the News * Demophilus here on my right hand laments and cries all 's lost we 're just on the brink of ruin how can we resist so strong and so general a Confederacy Which way can we I dare not say overcome but hold out against so many and so potent enemies 't is unpresidented in our Monarchy an Achilles a Hero must succumb Besides we 've been guilty of many gross errors in our management I know it particularly I 've been a Souldier my self Iâ—ve seen some Battels and improv'd very much by Reading Then he admires Olivier de Daim and Iacques Caeur Those were men says he those were Ministers indeed He disperses his News which is the most disadvantageous and melancholy that can be feign'd Now a party is faln into the Enemies Ambuscade and are cut in pieces presently some of our Troops shut up in a Castle surrender upon discretion and are all put to the Sword and if you tell him this report is false and wants confirmation he will not hear you but adds that such a General 's killâ—d tho you truly assure him that he has but a slight wound he deplores his death he mourns for his Widow and Children and bemoans his own loss he has lost a good friend and a potent patronage He tells us the Dutch Horse are invincible and turns pale if you name the Imperial Cuirassiers If we attack that place continues he we shall be oblig'd to raise the Siege If we stand on the defensive and avoid fighting we shall have the worst on 't or if we joyn Battel we shall lose it and if we are beaten look he crys the Enemy's upon the Frontiers and according to Demophilus will be presently in the heart of the Kingdom He fancies the Bells ring an Alarm heâ—s in pain for his Estate he 's considering whither he shall remove his Money his Moveables and Family whether he shall fly to the Swiss Cantons or Venice But on my left Basilidius raises an Army of 300000 men in a minute he won't abate ye a single Brigade but has a list of the Squadrons Batallions Generals and Officers not omitting the Artillery and Baggage These Forces he absolutely disposes some into Germany others into Flanders and reserves a certain number for the Alps a lesser for the Pyrenees and transports the rest beyond the Seas He knows their marches he can tell you what they have and what they have not done you 'd think he had the Kings Ear or were the only confident to his chief Minister If the Enemies are beaten and lose ten thousand he positively avers 't was thirty not one more or less for his numbers are always as fixt and certain as if he had the best Intelligence Tell him in the morning weâ—ve lost a paultry Village he not only sends to excuse himself to the Guests he has invited to Dinner but fasts himself and if he Sups 't is without appetite If we besiege a place naturally strong regularly fortified and well stor'd with Ammunition and Provision besides a good Garrison commanded by a Hero he tells you the Town has its weak places is very ill fortify'd wants Powder and its Governour Experience and that 't will capitulate in 8 days after the opening the Trenches At another time he runs himself out of breath and after he 's recover'd a little he opens I have News great News to tell you They are beaten totally routed the General and Chief Officers at least a great part of them are kill'd There 's a very great slaughter Fortune 's on our side and we 've much the best of the Game Then he sits down and rests after this extraordinary News which wants this only circumstance 'T is certain there has not been a Battle He assures us further That such a Prince has renounc'd the League and quitted the Confederacy a second is inclin'd to follow him He believes firmly with the Populace a third is dead and names you the place of his Interment and even when the whole Town is undeceiv'd he alone offers to lay Wagers on it He has unquestionable Intelligence that Teckeley is very successful against the Emperor that the Grand Seignior is making great pâ—eparations and will not hear of a Peace and the Vizier will once more sit down before Vienna He 's in an extasie as much transported as if there were not the least doubt of it The triple Alliance is a Cerberus with him and the Enemies so many Monsters to be
This way of management is found even in the most vertuous actions and often in Religion itself * Duty is that which costs us most because in practising it we do only what we are strictly obligâ—d to and we are seldom praisâ—d forâ—t Pâ—aise is of all things the greatest excitement to commendable Actions and supports us in our enterprizes Nicius loves a pompous Charity which gets him the Government over the necessities of the poor makes him the Depository of their Income and his house an Hospital to distribute it in his Gates are open for any Man or Woman that has a blue Gown and a Badge Every one sees and talks of him thus and who is there that dare suspect his honesty besides his Creditors * Gerontes dy'd of meer old Age without signing the Will that had lain by him thirty years His Estate fell among several Relations though he had been kept alive purely by the care of his Wife Asteria who young as she was stood always near him comforted his old Age and at last clos'd his Eyes But he has not left her money enough to get her another old Husband * When people are loath to sell their Offices in their doatageâ— or to resign 'em to others they perswade themselves that they are immortal and hope certainly that death has nothing to do with them or if they believe death may one time or other overtake 'em yet their loving themselves and no body else forces 'em to keep what they have * Faustus is a Rake a Prodigal a Libertine Ungrateful and Cholerick yet his Unkle Aurelius can't hate him nor disinherit him Frontin his other Nephew after twenty years known honesty and a blind complaisence for this old man could never gain his favour nor get any thing at his Death but a small pension which Faustus his Unkles Exeâ—utor is to pay him * Hatred is so durable and so obstinate that reconciliation on a sick Bed is the greatest sign of death * We insinuate our selves into the favour of others either by flattering their passions or pittying their afflictions These are the only ways we have to shew our concern for 'em whence it proceeds that the rich are least tractable * Softness and voluptuousness are innate they are born with men and die with them happy or unhappy accidents never cure 'em good and bad fortune equally produce them * The worst sight in the world is an old man in Love * Few people remember that they have been young and how hard it was then to live chaste and temperate The first thing men do when they have renounc'd pleasure either out of decency surfeit or conviction is to condemn it in others This sort of management is however seldom free from a particular affection for those very things they left off but they would have no body enjoy the pleasure they can no longer enjoy themselves which proceeds more from Jealousie than any thing else * 'T is not that old men apprehend that they shall want money one time or other which makes them covetous for some of them have such prodigious heaps that 't is impossible for those fears to prevail over them Besides how can they fear in their doatage that they shall want necessaries when they voluntarily deny themselves of 'em to satisfie their Avarice Neither is it a desire to leave vast summs to their Children for they naturally love no body but themselves and supposing otherwise there are many Misers who have no Heirs This Vice is rather the effect of Age and Constitution in old men who as naturally abandon themselves to it then as they did to their pleasures in their youth or their ambition in their Manhood * There 's no need of vigor youth or Health to be covetous nor is there any occasion for a manâ—s being always scraping up Money or giving himself the least disquiet to save it Such deprive themselves of riches only to lock 'em up in their Coffers This agrees with their years 't is a passion incident to every one that 's old and they would be more than men if it never touch'd them There are some people who are badly lodg'd lye hard wear wretched Cloaths and eat the worst meat who deprive themselves of the society of men and live in a continual solitude who are in pain for the time present past and to come whose Lives are a perpetual pennance who have cunningly found out the most troublesom way to Perdition I mean the covetous * Old men please themselves in remembering their youth They love the places where they past it The persons with whom they then began an acquaintance are dear to them They affect certain words which they usâ—d to speak when they were young They keep up the old manner of singing and dancing boast of the fashions in use formerly in cloaths furniture and equipages They can't yet disapprove the things which serv'd their passions but are always calling 'em to mind How can one imagin they should prefer new Customs and Modes which they have no share in from which they have nothing to hope which young men have invented and in their turn get by them such great advantages over the old * Too much negligence as well as too much nicety in dressing encreases old mens wrinckles and makes em look older * An old man is proud disdainful and troublesom if he has not a great deal of sense * An old man who has liv'd at Court has good sense and a faithful memory is an inestimable treasure he is full of deeds and maxims One may find in him the history of the Age adornâ—d with a great many curious circumstances which we never met with in our reading from him we may learn such rules for our conduct and manners that are to be depended on being founded on experience * Young men are incapacited by their passions for accommodating themselves to soâ—itude as well as the old can * Phidippus old as he is is very nice and effeminate even to little delicacies he eats drinks sleeps and plays by art he scrupulously observes the least Rules he has prescrib'd himself which tend to the ease of his person and if according to his usual measures he ought not to break 'em a Mistress would not tempt him to do it He is almost o'rewhelm'd with superfluities which custom has at last render'd necessary for him he does all he can to keep himself alive and employs the remains of his life in making its loss more grievous Imagine then if he is not enough afraid of dying * Gnathon lives for no body but himself The rest of the world are to him as if they were not in being not satisfyâ—d in taking the first seat at a board he alone fills the place of two other men he forgets the Dinner is provided for him and all the company he makes himself master of the Dish and looks on each Service as his own he never fixes himself to one sort of Meat he
trys all tasts all no hands are seen on the Table but his he turns about the Dishes manages the Meat tears it to pieces and if the Guests will dine it must be on his leavings He never spares any of his nasty customs enough to spoyl the stomachs of such as are most hungry You see the Gravy and the Sauce run over his Beard and Chin if he takes part of a Ragou out of a Dish he spills it by the way on other Dishes on the Cloath and you may distinguish his Plate by the tracts he makes to it he eats with a great deal of bustle and noise rouls his eyes and uses the Table as if it were a Manger picks his teeth and continues eating he thinks himself always at home and behaves himself at a Play as if he were in his Bed-chamber when he rides in the Coach it must be always forward he grows pale and swoons if he 's set backward when he travels he gets first to the Inn chuses the best Chamber and Bed for himself His own and other mens Servants run about his occasions baggage and equipage every thing is his he lays his hands on he troubles every one troubles himself for none pities none knows no evils but his own his Spleen and Choler weeps for no body's death and fears no body's but his own and to save himself would willingly consent to the extirpation of mankind * Cliton never had but two things to do in his life to dine at noon and sup at night he seem'd only born for digestion his whole life was but one entertainment he was always talking of the Courses which were serv'd up at his last Meal how many Soupes there were what sort what Roast-meat what dainties and he never forgot the Dishes that made the first Course he remember'd the several Fruits and different kinds of Sweetmeats all the Wines and every sort of Liquor that was drank he was perfectly well verst in the language of the Kitchin and 't would have been difficult to have din'd at a good Table where he was not known he had however a certain Palace which he seldom chang'd and was never expos'd to the dismal inconveniency of making a bad Dinner eating a bad Ragou or drinking indifferent Wine He was in short a person admirable in his way he brought the art of feeding one self well to the highest perfection and 't is to be fear'd we shall never see his fellow who will eat so much and so nicely as hâ— did he was the judge of good Bits and it had been criminal to like any which he did not approve But he is no more he was to the last gasp born to the Table he eat in his last minutes he eats where ever he is and should he rise again from the Grave 't wou'd be only to eat * Ruffinus begins to turn grey but he 's healthy his Colour and his quick Eye promise him at least twenty years more He is gay jolly familiar and indifferent he laughs heartily aloudâ— and fears nothing he is content with himself and what belongs to him he 's satisfy'd with his little fortune and calls himself happy Some time since his only Son dy'd who was the hopes of the Family and might have been its honour he resign'd his tears to others he said My Son is dead 't will be the death of his Mother and was comforted He has no passions no friends nor enemies no body troubles him all the world agrees with him every thing suits him he talks to those he never saw before with the same liberty and confidence as to those he calls his old friends he tells them presently all his Stories and Puns He is accosted forsaken he takes no notice on 't but the tale he begun to one person he finishes to another that comes afrer him * N .... is less worn out with age than disease the poor Gentleman is but threescore and eight but alas he has the Gout and the Gravel looks meagre and has all the symptoms of decay he marles his Lands and reckons that he must not dung 'em this fifteen years he plants a young Wood and hopes that in less than twenty years 't will be a good shade for him He builds him a Stone House makes its corners firm with Iron plates and assures you coughing in a weak languishing tone that he shall never see the end on 't He walks into his Laboratory supported by his Valets he shews his friends what he has doneâ— and tells them what he desâ—gns to do He does not build for his Children for he has none nor for his Heirs they are mean persons and he long since quarrelled with them 'T is for himself only who must expire to morrow * Antagoras has a trivial and popular Phiz 'T is as well known to the Mob as the Gyants at Guild-hall Every morning he runs up and down the Courts of Justice and every evening walks the Streets and Squares as if he had every where a Cause on foot He has been a Pettyfogger these 40 years always nearer the end of his life than his business There has not been a troublesome Suit depending since he put on the Gown but he has had a hand in 't His name becomes the Sollicitors mouth and agrees as well with Plaintiff and Defendant as the substantive with the adjective He 's every bodyâ—s Kinsman and every one's Enemy There 's scarce a Family but has some quarrel with him or he with them He is perpetually in Commissions of Bankrupt and Statutes always putting Judgments in Execution and scattering Writs He finds some leisure minutes for a few private visits where he talks of Briefs Tryals and false News You leave him one hour at one end of the Town and find him the next at another If perhaps he has been there before you you 'll hear of him by the lyes he has left behind him His fellow Lawyers meet him frequently at a Judge's Chamber where his affairs must be first expedited or neither they nor the Judge will have any peace with him * Men live a great while opposing some and injuring others and dye at last worn out with age after having causâ—d as many evils as they suffer'd * There must I confess be Judgments Seizures Prison and Executions But Justice and Law apart 't is always strange to me when I consider with what violence and fury men act towards one another * We meet with certain wild Animals male and female spread over the Country They are black and tann'd united to the Earth which they are always digging and turning up and down with an unweary'd resolution They have something like an articulate voice when they stand on their feet they discover a manlike face and indeed are men at night they retire into their Burries where they live on black Bread Water and Raysons They spare other men the trouble of sowing labouring and reaping for their maintainance and deserve one would think that
they should not want the Bread they themselves sow * Don Fernando in his Province lives lazy is ignorant quarrelsom knavish intemperate and impertinent draws his Sword against his Neighbours and exposes his Life for nothing he kills men for trifles and must expect to be himself kill'd for as little reason * A Country Nobleman useless to his nation family or himself oftentimes without house cloaths or the least merit tells you ten times a day that heâ—s a Gentleman despises Citizens and Tradesmen spends his time among Parchments and old Deeds which he would not part with for a Chancellours Mace * Power favours genius richesâ— dignity nobility force industâ—y capacity vertue love weakness stupidity poverty impotence vilenage and servility mingle one with another in a thousand various manners and compound one for the other in several subjects and this agreement makes the harmony we find in different qualities and conditions When people know each others strength and weaknesses they act reciprocally as they believe it their duty They know their equals understand the respect they owe their superiours and what others owe them from whence proceed familiarity deference pride and contempt This is the reason which induces men in places of concourse and publick meeting to be willing to avoid some and court others that they are proud of some and ashamâ—d of others This is the reason why the very person who Complemented you with whom you are desirous to converse thinks you troublesom and quits you the same perhaps finds the next step the treatment he gave The same person that blushes to meet a man another blushes to meet him The same person who disdains here is disdain'd there 'T is common enough too for people to despise such as dispise them Miserable disposition since then t is certain that what we gain on one side we lose on another should not us do better if we even renouncâ—d all manner of Pride and Haughtiness which so little agree with humane frailties and resolvâ—d among our selves to treat each other with mutual goodness by which means we should at once gain these two mighty advantages never to be mortify'd our selves and never to mortify others * Instead of being frighted or asham'd at the Title of Philosophers every body ought to have a good knowledge in Philosophy it agrees with every one its practice is useful to people of all Ages Sexes and Conditions It comforts us for others happinesses and for the advancement of such as we think did not deserve it for our own misfortunes the declension of our Estate or Beauty it arms us against Poverty Age Sickness and Death against Fools and Buffoons 'T will help us to live well without a Wise or to make her tolerable if we have one * Men are one hour overjoy'd with little accidents and overcome with grief the next for the least disappointments Nothing is more unequal and incoherent than such sudden revolutions in menâ—s hearts and minds This would be prevented if we set a true value on the things of this worldâ— * â—Tis as difficult to find a vain man who believes himself too happy as a modest man who believes he 's too unhappy * When I look on Princes or their Ministers Fortune I always am prevented from thinking my self unhappy by considering at the same time the fate of the Plowman Soldier and Mason * There 's but one real misfortune which can befal a man and that is to find himself in a fault or have any thing to reproach himself with * Men are generally more capable of great endeavours to obtain their ends than of a long perseverance Their laziness and inconstancy rob them of the fruits of the best beginnings They are overtaken by such as they left behind them such as marcht perhaps slowly but with a constant resolution * I dare affirm that men know better how to take good measures than how to pursue 'em or to resolve on what they must say and do than to do and say what they ought A man promises himself that in such an affair which he is to negotiate he will keep a certain secret and afterwards either thro passion intemperance of Tongue or a warmth of Conversation t is the first thing escapes him * Men act very negligently in what is their duty but they think it meritorious or rather please their vanity to busy themselves about such things as donâ—t belong to them nor suit with their Condition and Character * When a man puts on a Character which he 's a stranger to thereâ—s as much difference between what he appears and what he is really in himself as there is between a personâ—s Vizaâ—d and his Face Telephas has Wit but ten times less if 't is rightly cast up then he presumes he has 'T is necessary then in every thing he says does meditates and projects that he should have ten times as much Wit as he has Thus he never acts according to the tâ—ue measure of his parts and capacity And this reasoning Iâ—m sure is just He is limitted within certain bounds which he ought not to pass but he leaps over 'em gets out of hiâ— sphere and tho he perceives his own weakness always discovers it by pretending most to what he least understands he talks most about what he knows nothing or but very little of attempts things above his power and aims at what is too much for him If he does something of what kind soever to a degree of perfection he judges of himself by that what he has in him good and commendable is obscurâ—d by his affecting something great and wonderful we can easiâ—y see what he is not but we must strive to find out what he is Heâ—s a man who never measures his ability who knows nothing of himself cannot tell his own Characterâ— but always takes on him one which does not belong to him * The greatest Wit have their ebbings and flowings they are sometimes capricious but are not so long If they are wise they will then talk little and câ—ase writing they will not then endeavour to invent or please should a man sing when he has a cold should he not rather wait till his voice is restor'd him A Blockhead is a meer Machine he moves by springs and weights which turn him about alwaâ—s in one manner and keep him in an equality he is uniform he never alters his figure if you have seen him once you have seen him as he eveâ— was The Ox meughs the Black-bird whistles and he is fixt and setled by nature I may venture to say 't is his species to be so what you see least is his Soul she never acts is never exercis'd but always at rest * A Blockhead never dies or if according to our manner of speaking he must once dye I may lawfully say he gets by 't and that in the moment when others dye he begins to live his Soul then thinks reasons infers concludes judges foresees and does every
of some body or other which he is able to relieve by his intercession to others at least if not immediately out of his own pocket Neither are all men qualified for the Pulpit or fit publickly to deliver their Doctrine and Exhortations But what man is there who at some time or other doth not meet with some Sinner whom he may attempt to reclaim by his private discourses and his friendly admonitions should a man make but one Convert through the whole course of his Life he could not be said to have bestow'd his time in vain or to have been a useless burden upon Earth * There are two worlds one we already dwell in but must leave it so as never to return The other we must shortly be transported to there to abide for ever Interest Dominion Friends Reputation and Riches are most useful in the first The despising of all these things is most useful for the next Now which of them had a man best to choose * Who has liv'd one day hath liv'd a thousand still the same Sun the same Earth the same World the same Enjoyments Nothing more like this day than to morrow Death only would be new to us Which is but an exchange of this Bodily state for one thaâ— is all Spiritual But man though so greedy of novelties hath no curiosity for this Tho unsettl'd in his mind and still growing weary of whatever he enjoys he never thinks his Life too long and would perhaps consent to live for ever What he sees of Death makes a deeper impression on his mind than what he knows of it The fear of pain and sickness the horror of the Grave make him lose the desire of knowing another World And the strongest motives of Religion can but just bring him to receive his doom with submission * Had God left it to our choice to dye or to live for ever And did we consider how dismal it is for a man to see no end of his Poverty Subjection Sickness or Sorrow or at best to enjoy Riches Greatness Health and Pleasure with an absolute necessity of exchanging them shortly for their contraries by the continual vicisâ—itude of times and thus to be tost to and fro by the wheel of Fortune betwixt Happiness and Misery It wou'd pose any one to make a choice Nature having ty'd us to the former saves us the labour of choosing And the necessity of dying is made easy by Religion * If my Religion be false it is a snare at least which you must own to be laid with such temptations that I could not avoid rushing into it and being intangl'd by it What Majesty what Glory in its Mysteries what a connexion in all the several parts of its Doctrine How very rational is it how candid and innocent in its Moraâ—s and who can stand against the strength of so many millions of witnesses the most moderate and the wisest of men who during three whole ages have succeeded each other and whom the sense of the same truth so constantly supported in their Exiles in the darkest Dungeons and even in death itself and the most painful torments Set open the Books of History run it over through all its parts take it from the beginning of the world and even from before that if you can was there ever any thing like this Could all the power of God himself have laid a fitter plot to seduce me How then shall I escape Whether shall I run And how shall I find any thing that 's better nay thaâ— is but half so good Since I must be led into ruin this shall be my way to it Denying the Being of a God would indeed suit my inclinations much better than suffering my self to be deluded though by so plausible and so specious a pretence But I have examin'd thoroughly have endeavour'd all I could and still want the power of being an Atheist This then must be my doom and I am forc'd again to stick to my Religion * The grounds on which Religion is founded are either true or false If false the Religious man and the strictest observer of all the precepts of Self-denial ventures no more than just the loss of threescore years which I 'll allow to be foolishly bestow'd But if true the vicious man is of all men most miserable And I tremble at the very thoughts of what unutterable and incomprehensible torments I see him daily heaping upon himselfâ— Tho the truth of Religion was much less demonstrated than it really is certainly there is no prudent man but would choose to be virtuous * Those who dare presume to deny the Being of a God hardly deserve that one should strive to demonstrate it to them or at least that one should argue with them with more seriousness than I have done hitherto They are for the generality so ignorant that it makes them unqualify'd for the understanding of the clearest principles and of the truest and most natural inferences Yet I am willing to offer this to their reading provided they don 't fancy that it is all that can be said upon the subject of so noble and so perspicuous a truth Forty years ago I was not neither was it in my power ever to be any more than now that I am it is in my power to cease from being My existence therefore hath had its beginning and is now continu'd thro the influence of somethiâ—g which is without me which will subsist after me which is better and more powerful than I. Now if that something is not God let me but know what it is I exist But this existence of mine proceeds perhapâ— you 'll say from the power only of an universal nature which has been such as we see it now from all Eternity But this nature is either only spiritual and then â—tis God or only material and consequently could not create that part of my Being which is spiritual my Soul or else it is a compound of Spirit and Matter and then that part of it which you say is a Spirit is that which I call God Again Perhaps you 'll add that what I call my Soul is nothing but a part of Matter which subsists through the power of an universal Nature which also is material which always was and ever will be such as we see it now and which is not God But at least you must grant that what I call my Soul let it be what it will is something which thinks That if it is made up of Matter it is such a Matter as thinks for you can never beat it into me that at the time I am thus arguing there is not something within me that thinks Now this something since you will have it to owe its being and its preservation to an universal Nature which always was and every will be as to the first cause of both it necessarily follows that this universal Nature either thinks or is nobler and more perfect than that which thinks And if nature
their presence that the Wine he commonly used was prejudicial to him ordered Wine to be brought him both of Rhodes and Lesbos he drinks of both of them and says they did not in the least conceal their Country and that each in its kind was excellent the first was very strong but that of Lesbos more pleasant and to that it was he gave the preference Whatsoever we read of this Story in Aulus Gellius 't is certain that when Aristotle was accused by Eurimedon a Priest of Ceres of having spoken ill of the Gods fearing the fate of Socrates left Athens and retired to Chalâ—is a City of Euboea and left his School to a Lesbian whom he intrusted with his Writings on condition he should conceal them and 't is to this Theophrastus that we are obliged for the works of that great Man His name became so famous thro all Greece being successor to Aristotle that he could reckon soon after in the School that was left him near two thousand Scholars He was envied by Sophocles Son to Amphiclides and who at that time was chief Magistrate who out of Enmity to him but under a pretext of an exact polity and to hinder publick asâ—â—mblies made a Law which prohibited under pain of Death any Philosopher to teach in Schools They all submitted to it but the following year Philo succeeding Sophocles who was discharged his Office the Athenians repealed this detestable Law that the other had made and â—aying a fine of five Talents upon him re-established Theophrastus and the rest of the Philosophers He was in this more fortunate than Aristotle who was forced to submit to Eurimedon He had like to have seen one Agnonides punished by the Athenians as impious only because he durst accuse him of Impiety so great was the opinion this People had of him and which he merited by his Vertue They gave him the Character of a man of singular prudence zealous for the publick good Laborious Officious Affable Liberal Plutarch reports that when Eresus was opprest with Tyrants who usurped the Government of the Country he joyned Phydius his Countryman and out of his own Estate contributed with him to arm the banished men who entring into their City expelled the Traytors and restored the whole Isle of Lesbos to its liberty His many and excellent accomplishments did not only acquire him the good will of the People but the esteem and familiarity of Kings he was a friend of Cassander's who succeeded Arideus Brother to Alexander the Great in the Kingdom of Macedon and Ptolomy Son of Lagus and first King of Egypt kept a constant correspondence with this Philosopher At last he died worn out with Age and Fatigues and ceased at the same time both to Labour and Live all Grâ—ece lamented him and all the Athenians assisted at his Funeral It is said that in his extream old age not being able longer to go on Foot he caused himself to be carried on a Litter thro the City that he might be seen by the people to whom he was so dear It s reported also that his Scholars that stood about his Bed before his Death asking him if he had nothing to recommend to them he addrest himself to them after this manner Life deceives us it promises us great pleasure in the possession of Honour but Life and Misery begin together which end in Death there is often nothing more unprofitable than the love of reputation Therefore my Disciples be content if you contemn the esteem of men you 'll save your selves a great deal of trouble if it abate not your courage it may come to pass that Honour may be your reward remember only that in Life are many useless things and but few that tend to a solid end I have now no leisure to determine what Sect I ought to espouse but for you my Survivors you cannot too seriously consider what you ought to do These were his last words Cicero in the third Book of his Tusculan Questions says that Theophrastus dying complained of nature that she had given Harts and Crows so long a Life which was altogether useless and had alotted Man too short a time in regard it was of such consequence for them to live long that if the age of men were extended to a greater number of years their Life would be cultivated by an universal knowledge and all Arts and Sciences might be brought to perfection And St. Ierome concerning the matter before cited assures us that Theophrastus at one hundred and seven years old taken ill of that distemper of which he died lamented that he was obliged to quit Life at a time when he just began to be wise He used to say we ought not to love Friends to try them but to try them to love them That Friends ought to be common amongst brethren as all things are common amongst Friends That you ought as soon to trust to a Horse without a Bridle as to a Man that speaks without Judgment The greatest expence that a man can be at is that of his time He said once to a person that sate silent at Table during the entertainment If you are a Man of sense you are to blame to say nothing but if otherwise you do very well These were some of his Maxims But if we speak of his works they are infinities and we cannot find that any of the Antients wrote more than Theophrastus Diogones Laertius reckoned up more than two hundred different Tracts and the suctjects of which they treated the greatest part of which are lost by the injuries of time and the other remaining parts he reduces to twenty Tracts which are collected out of the Volumes of his works there are Nine Books of the History of Plants Six Books of their causes he wrote of Winds of Fire of Stones of Honey of the signs of fair Weather the signs of Tempests of the signs of Rain of Smells of Sweat of the Vertigo of Weariness of the Relaxations of the Nerves of Swooning of Fish that live out of the Water of Animals that change their colour of Animals that are suddenly born of Animals subject to envy the Characters of Manners these are what remain of his Writings amongst which this last only which I translate is not inferiour in beauty to any of those which are preserved but may be â—uperior in merit to any of those which are lost But if any one should coldly receive this moral Treatise on the account of those things they may observe there which are only applicable to the times in which they were wrote and are not suitable to their Manners what can they do more advantageous and obliging to themselves than to get loose from that prepossession in favour of their own Customs and Manners which they not only take up on trust without any deliberation but peremptorily pronounce all others contemptible which are not conformable to them and thereby deprive themselves of that pleasure and instruction which the reading of