â—lies a Crown and vanishes out of sight as soon as they come to be invested with Power If these first Years be not made use of to give them good Advice and Instruction there will be no retrieving it in the following part of their Lives For all then goes off in meer juggle and disguise XXIII There wants nothing more to make a Prince compleatly happy than the Sweetness of a private Life If any thing can make him amends for so great a Loss it must be the Charms of Friendship and Fidelity of true Friends XXIV One of the greatest Misfortunes that can attend a Prince is that he has often Secrets that lye heavy upon his Soul and which it is not safe for him to disclose His Happiness is to find a true bosom Friend on whom he may throw off his Burden XXV Nothing is so much for a Princes Credit as the Modesty of his Favourites XXVI What a happy Condition is that which gives a Man so frequent Opportunities to do good to so many Thousands What a dangerous Post is that which exposes a Man to do hurt to so many Millions * XXVIII All Precepts concerning Kings are fummarily comprehended in these two Remember that thou art a Man and that thou art instead of God The one bridles their Power and the other their Will Laughing Raillery Bantering I. NOthing is more rare than to see a Man either Laugh or Weep to the purpose II. The Enjoyments which a Plentiful Fortune affords and the Calm and Smoothness of Prosperity furnish Princes and Great Men with so much Mirth that they can Laugh at a Monkey a Dwarf and oftentimes at an Cold Jest but Men of Inferiour Fortunes seldom Laugh but where there is occasion III. All the World is plagu'd with Cold Iesters we tread every where upon those Insects A good Iester is a thing very uncommon and even those that are born such find it a very hard Task to make good their Character a considerable Time And besides he that makes other People Laugh seldom makes himself to be Esteem'd IV. To Laugh at Witty Men is the Privilege of Blockheads They are in the World what your Scurrilous Iesters are at Court * V. No Men are more unwilling to bear a Jest than those who are forward to break it * VI. The Wounding of a Friend for the sake of a jest is an Intemperance and Immorality not to be endur'd * VII Men ought to find the difference betwixt Saltness and Bitterness for he that has a Satyrical Vein as he makes others afraid of his Wit so he had need be afraid of others Mcmory * VIII It is commonly the Fate of Apes and Buffoons that while they think to make sport with others they serve only in the Conclusion for a Laughing-stock themselves * IX The true Raillery should be a Defence for good and virtuous Works and should only design the Derision of extravagant and the Disgrace of vile and dishonourable Things This kind of Wit ought to have the nature of Salt to which it is usually compar'd which preserves and keeps sweet the good and sound Parts of all Bodies and only frets dries up and destroys those Humours which putrify and corrupt * X. There 's not one Man of a Thousand that understands the just the safe warrantable decent and precise Limits of that which we call Bantering or Fooling but it is either too Course too Rude too Churlish too Bitter too much on 't too Pedantick too Fine out of Measure or out of Season Now the least Error or Mistake in the Management of this Humour lays People open to great Censure and Reproach It is not every Man's Talent to know when and how to cast out a pleasant Word with such a regard to Modesty and Respect as not to Transgress the true and fair Allowances of Wit good Nature and good Breeding The Skill and Faculty of Governing this Freedom within the Terms of Sobriety and Diseretion goes a great way in the Character of an agreeable Conversation for that which we call Raillery in this Sense is the very Sawce of Civil Entertainment and without some such Tincture of Urbanity even in Matters the most serious the good Humour flattens for want of Refreshment and Relief But there is a Medium yet betwixt All-Fool and All-Philosopher I mean a proper and discreet Mixture that in some sort partakes of both and renders Wisdom it self the more grateful and effectual * XI 'T is the Nature and Practice of Jesters and Buffoons to be Insolent towards those that will bear it and as Slavish to others that are more than their Match Life Death I. ONE cannot look either the Sun or Death in the Face II. Very few People are acquainted with Death it is generally submitted to rather out of Insensibility and Custom than Resolution and all Men yield to Death only because they cannot help it III. We often see those that are led to Execution affect a Constancy and Contempt of Death which in truth is nothing else but the fear of looking it in the Face So that this pretended Bravery and Contempt may be said to do their Mind the same good Office that the Head-band or Night-cap does their Eyes IV. Nothing can be more counterseit and deceitful than the Contempt of Death That Contempt of it I mean which the Heathens pretended to out of their natural Reason and Constancy without the Hopes of a better Life There is a great deal of difference between Dying with Bravery and Resolution and slighting Death The former is frequent enough but I look upon the other to be never real and sincere and yet Philosophers have us'd all the Arguments that the Subject can bear to perswade us that Death is no Evil and Men of very inferiour Characters as well as Hero's have furnisht us with a great many Eminent Examples in Confirmation of that Opinion Nevertheless I do still question whether any Thinking Man ever gave his assent to it nay the trouble they are at to perswade others and themselves plainly shews that this was no such easie Undertaking A Man indeed may have a great many Reasons to be out of conceit with Life but he can have none to despise Death Even those who voluntarily lay violent hands upon themselves do not look upon it as an inconsiderable matter but are startled at it and decline it as much as others if it approach them in any other shape but that of their own chusing The Unevenness of Courage observable in a World of Brave Men has no other Bortom than the various Influence of Death which works more powerfully upon their Fancy upon some Occasions and at some Times than it does at others Hence it is that after having slighted what they did not know they fear it now when they come to be better acquainted with it If a Man would perswade himself that it is not the greatest of Evils he must decline looking it in the Face and considering all
its Gastly Circumstances The Wisest and Bravest Men are they that take the fairest and most honourable Pretences to keep their View from it But every body that knows it as it really is â—inds it to be a thing full of Horror The Constancy of Philosophers was nothing else but the Necessity of Dying they thought when there was no Remedy but a Man must go it was best to go with a good Grace And since they were not able to make their Lives Eternal they would stick at nothing to make their Names so and secure all that from the Wreck which was capable of being secur'd Let us put the best Face upon the Matter we can content our selves with not speaking all we think and hope more from a happy Constitution than all the feeble Reasonings that gull us with a fancy that we can approach it without concern The Glory of Dying gallantly the Hope of being Lamented when we are gone the desire of leaving a good Name behind us the Assurance of being set free from the Miseries of the present Life and of depending no longer upon a â—ickle and humourfom Fortune are Remedies not altogether to be rejected though they be far from being Sovereign They help no more to put us in Heart than a poor Hedge in an Engagement contributes to encourage the Soldiers that are to march near where the Enemy is firing it appears a good Shelter at a distance but proves a very thin defence at close view We do vainly flatter our selves to think that Death will be the same when near as we fancy it to be when remote and that our Reasonings which in Truth are Weakness it self will prove of so harden'd a Temper as to hold out proof and not yield to the severest of all Tryals Besides it shews we are but little acquainted with Self-Love when we imagine that will do us any Service toward the looking upon that very thing as a Trifle which must unavoidably cause its utter Ruin and Reason from which we expect so many Supplies is then too weak to perswade us what we wish to be true Nay Reason it self generally betrays us upon this occasion and instead of animating us with a Contempt of Death gives us a more lively Representation of all its Terror and Gastliness All it is able to do in our behalf is only to advise us to turn our Heads another way and divert the Thought by fixing our Eyes upon some other Objects Cato and Brutus chose noble Ones A Lackey not long ago satisfied himself with dancing upon the Scaffold whither he was brought to be broke upon the Wheel And thus though the Motives be different they produce still the same Effects So true it is that after all the disproportion between Great Men and the Vulgar People of both sorts do often meet Death with the same Face and Disposition But still with this difference that in the Contempt of Death which Great Men express the desire and love of Honour is the thing that keeps Death from their sight and in the Vulgar 't is Ignorance and Stupidity that leaves them at liberty to think upon something else and keeps them from seeing the greatness of the Evil they are to suffer V. Every thing in this Life is Accidental even our Birth that brings us into it Death is the only thing we can be sure of and yet we behave our selves just as if all the rest were certain and Death alone accidental * VI. We are apt to pick Quarrels with the World for every little Foolery or every trivial Cross But our Tongues run quite to another Tune when we come once to parting with it in earnest * VII Nothing but the Conscience of a virtuous Life can make Death easie to us Wherefore there 's no trusting to a Death-bed Repentance When Men come to that last Extremity once by Langor Pain or Sickness and to lye Agonizing betwixt Heaven and Hell under the stroke either of a Divine Judgment or of Humane Frailty they are not commonly so sensible of their Wickedness or so effectually touch'd with the remorse of a true Repentance as they are distracted with the Terrors of Death and the dark Visionary Apprehensions of what 's to come People in that Condition do but discharge themselves of burdensom Reflections as they do of the Cargo of a Ship at Sea that has sprung a Leak Every thing is done in a Hurry and Men only part with their Sins in the one Case as they do with their Goods in the other to fish them up again so soon as the Storm is over Grace must be very strong in these Conflicts wholly to vanquish the Weaknesses of distressed Nature That certainly is none of the Time to make choice of for the great Work of reconciling our selves to Heaven when we are divided and confounded betwixt an Anguish of Body and Mind And the Man is worse than Mad that ventures his Salvation upon that desperate Issue VIII There is not any thing that Men are so prodigal and at the same time so fond of as their Lives IX Death happens but once but the Sense of it renews in all the Moments of our Lives and the fear we have of it is ten times worse than the submitting to it X. That part of Death which is certain is much alleviated by that which is uncertain XI We hope to grow Old and yet we fear Old Age that is to say we love Life and decline Death XII Nature generally makes a long Sickness intermediate betwixt Life and Death with design it seems to make Death it self a kind of Release both to him that Dyes and those that survive him XIII That Death which prevents a crazy Old Age comes in better time than that which terminates it XIV There are but three great Events for us Men Birth Life and Death We are not sensible of our Birth we suffer in Dying and forget to live XV. Most Men spend the first part of their Lives in rendring the other miserable * XVI Men fear Death as Children fear to go in the Dark and as that natural Fear is encreased in Children with Tales so is the other Certainly the Stoicks bestowed too much cost upon Death and by their great Preparations made it appear more fearful It is as natural to die as to be born and to a little Infant perhaps the one is as painful as the other * XVII It is observable that there is no Passion in the Mind of Man but it Masters the Fear of Death And therefore Death is no such terrible Enemy when a Man has so many Friends about him that can gain him the Victory Revenge Triumphs over Death Love â—lights it Honour aspires to it Grief flies to it Fear procures it Nay we read that Pity it self which is the Tenderest of all Affections has provok'd many to die out of meer Compassion Nay Seneca adds Niceness and Satiety A Man says he would die though he were neither Valiant nor
respects extraordinary I can yield them their Choice Dishes their Rich Furniture their â—ine Liveries their Dogs Horses Jesters and Flatterers but I cannot but envy their Happiness of having in their Service those that are equal nay sometimes Superiour to them in Wit and noble Inclinations XXII It costs the Great Ones so little to be generous in Words and their Quality so much dispenses with them for not performing what they Promise that I look upon it as a great piece of Modesty their not being more free of their Promises XXIII We get a great deal more by forsaking the great Ones than by complaining of them XXIV A Coldness in those that are above us a neglect in not returning a Civility makes us perfectly hate them but a Salute or a Smile brings 'em back to our Reconciliation XXV There are a sort of haughty proud Men that are humbl'd and tam'd If I may use the Expression by the Preferment of their Competitors This Misfortune sometimes prevails upon them so far as to make them return you a Salute But Time the great Waster of all Things insensibly softens their Grief and puts them at last into their natural byass XXVI 'T is mere Hypocrisy for a Man in an Eminent Station not to take at first the place which is due to his Quality and which no body disputes with him It is an easie matter for him to be Modest for if he throws himself into a Crowd every body presently shrinks back to make way for him or if he sits below his Rank all the râ—st of the Company presently forces him to sit higher Modesty is of much harder digestion to Men of an inferiour Condition for if they chance to be in a Crowd they run the hazard of being squeez'd to death or if they chuse to sit in an uneasie Place they are sure to be left to the free Enjoyment of it XXVII The Great Ones have no reason to love the First Times they are not favourable to them in the least 'T is a kind of Mortification for them to see that we all come from Brothers and Sisters and that all Men compose but one Family whose several Members only differ as to the degrees of Kindred XXVIII If the Great Ones have the Opportunities of doing us good they have seldom the good will to do it and if they have a mind to do us harm they do not always â—ind the Occasions so that a Man may be extreamly mistaken in the kind and degree of Worship he pays them upon the account of the good or ill he expects from them We ought to honour and respect them because they are great and we are little and because there are others less than we that respect us XXIX We ought to be very much reserv'd upon the Great Ones There is generally a great deal of Flattery in the Praises we give them and it is as dangerous to speak ill of them when they are alive as 't is base when they are out of the way * XXX It is a common thing for Men to hate the Authors of their Preferments as the Witnesses of their mean Original * XXXI A Man that enters the World must be Industrious but not affected in disclosing his Abilities The best way is to observe a Gradati on for the lowest steps to Greatness are the most secure but swift Rises are often attended with precipitate Falls and what is soonest got is generally short in the Possession * XXXII A Man rais'd to Grandeurs that makes others find their Fortunes in his joins a great Merit to a great Happiness He is not the more happy by the Wealth which he enjoys than by that which he knows how to give * XXXIII 'T is a Consolation for Inferiour Persons to find their Infirmities in those that have the Authority to govern them and a great delight to those that are distinguished by Power to be made like others for Pleasures * XXXIV He that is asham'd of a mean Condition would be proud of a Splendid one * XXXV Great Men had need borrow other Mens Opinions to think themselves happy for if they judge by their own Feeâ—ing they cannot find it * XXXVI In Place there is License to do Good and Evil whereof the latter is a Curâ—e for in Evil the best Condition is not to Will the second not to Can but power to do good is the true and lawful end of Aspiring for good Thoughts tho God accept them yet towards Men are little better than good Dreams except they be put in use and that cannot be without Power and Place * XXXVII A Place shews the Man some for the better and some for the worse * XXXVIII It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous Spirit whom Honour mends for Honour is or should be the place of Virtue And as in Nature things move violently to their Place and calmly in their Place So Virtue in Ambition is violent in Authority settled and calm * XXXIX Ostentation and Pride upon the account of Honours and Preferments is much more offensive than upon any personal Qualifications It argues Men do not deserve great Places when they can value themselves upon them if a Man would be truly valued the way to it is to be illustriously Good For even the greatest Men are more respected for the Eminence of their Parts and Virtue than for that of their Fortune * XL. Great Offices and great Honours are most truly said to be great Burdens the slavery of them is but so much the greater because it concerns the Service of the Publick who of all Masters is the hardest to be pleas'd XLI 'T is no small Misfortune for Great Men to have but few things to with or hope for and to have thousands to lose Envy I. MEN are often so foolish as to boast and value themselves upon their Passions even those that are most vicious But Envy is so ungenerous and shameful a Passion that no body ever had the Confidence to own it II. There is something to be said for Iealousie because it only designs the Preservation of some good which we either have or think we have a right to But Envy is a raging Madness that cannot be satisfied with the good of any body III. The Applause we give to Men that are just setting up for Reputation in the World is often from a Spirit of Envy and a secret way of detracting from others that have established a good Reputation to themselves already IV. Our Envy out lives generally the Prosperity of those we Envy V. There are fewer Men free from Eâ—vy than void of Interest VI. If we look nicely into the several Effects of Envy it will be found to carry a Man farther from his Duty than Interest does VII The surest sign of a great and noble Soul is to be free from Envy VIII Envy is less capable of Reconciliation than Hatred IX That Man that complains of being born to Misfortunes and Crosses might in a
Miserable only upon a Weariness to do the same thing so oft over and over Liberality Prodigality I. LIberality is oftentimes nothing else but the Vanity of Giving of which we are more fond than the Things we give II. There goes a great deal of Art and Address to make a Denial go down and by fair and civil Expressions to supply the Kindness we cannot grant III. There are a sort of Persons that say No so very naturally that their No always ushers in whatever they are about to say This renders them so disagreeable that though they be prevail'd upon with much Importunity to grant any Request yet all the Grace and Commendation of such Grants are utterly lost by so very untoward a beginning IV. All things are not to be granted at all times nor all Men to be gratified And it is altogether as commendable to refuse upon Occasion as to give This makes some Peoples No better received than other Peoples Yes A Denial accompanied with Sweetness and Civility pleases more a Man of Understanding than a Courtesie granted coldly and rudely V. We engage others more effectually to serve us by Promises than by Presents for while Men are kept upon the Tenters they endeavour to deserve those Kindnesses they expect from us * VI. He that gives to all without Diseretion will soon stand in need of every Body * VII He that defers Charity till Death is rather Liberal of another Man's than of his own VIII Liberality does not consist so much in giving largely as in giving seasonably IX There is something Heroical in great Liberality as well as in great Valour and there is a great Analogy between those two Virtues the one raises the Soul above the Consideration of Wealth as the other beyond the Management and Desire of Life But with all these Gay and Generous Motives the one becomes Ruinous and the other Fatal X. There are some Men jealous of the Honour of their Motions who refuse all things at the Inspirations of others because they would not be prevented in their Designs and troubled in the order of the good they would do That may proceed sometimes from a good Principle and be met with in very loâ—ty Souls but for the most part they are Dishonest Jealous and â—alse Niceties of Honour which produce a true Repugnancy to the doing of Favours XI Those whom cross Accidents of Fortune have undone are pity'd by all the World because it is a Misfortune the Condition of Humanity submits us to But those who are reduc'd to Misery by Vain Profusion raise more Contempt than Commiseration because it is the issue of a peculiar Folly from which every Man has the good conceit to think himself exempt Love I. IN Friendship we take notice of those Failings that may prejudice our Friends In Love we never see in the Party beloved but those Defects only by which we are offended II. There is but the first Quarrel in Love as the first Fault in Friendship which may turn to good account III. Coldness or Slackness in Friendship has generally a Cause In Love there is most commonly no other reason for People loving no more than their having lov'd too much IV. Both the Beginning and Decay of Love shew themselves by the Uneasiness and Trouble Lovers are in when they are together by themselves V. When a Man has a Passion for an ill-favour'd Woman it must needs be an extraordinary one For either his Love proceeds from his own Weakness or is influenc'd by more secret and irresistible Charms than those of Beauty VI. When a Passion is worn out we often visit a Mistress out of Custom and tell one another that we love still when our Actions testiâ—ie that we love no more VII Being absent from what we love is a Good in comparison of living with that we hate VIII As disinterested as a Man may be either in Friendship or Love he ought sometimes to put a Constraint upon himself and be so generous as to receive IX Love is to the Soul of a Lover what the Soul is to the Body X. It is very hard to give a just Definition of Love the most we can say of it is this That in the Soul it is a greedy Desire to Govern in Spirits it is a Sympathy and in the Body it is only a nice and secret Longing to enjoy the thing beloved after a great deal of Bustle and Formality XI If there be any such thing as Love pure and untained with the Mixture of any other Passion it is that which lurks in the deepest Recesses of our Hearts unknown to our selves XII Love has such peculiar distinguishing Characters that it is as hard to hide it when true as to dissemble it when false XIII Considering how little the Beginning or the Ceasing to love is in our own Power it is equally unreasonable for a Lover no complain of his Mistress's Fickleness as for a Mistress of her Lover's Inconstancy XIV If we judge of Love according to most of its Effects we shall find that it more resembles Hatâ—ed than Friendship XV. Love can no more continue without a constant motion than Fire can and it ceases to be when it ceases either to Hope or Fear XVI It is with true Love as it is with Ghosts and Apparitions a thing that every body talks of and scarce any body has seen XVII We father upon Love several Dealings and Intercourses in which it is no more concern'd than the Doge is in what is done at Venice XVIII When we have loved our selves weary the kindest and most welcome thing that can be is the Infidelity of others which may give us a fair Pretence to disengage our Faithfulness XIX The more passionately a Man loves his Mistress the readier he is to hate her XX. When a Woman has once given her self over to entertain Love Loving is then the least Fault she can be guilty of XXI Some Persons had never been in love had they never been entertain'd with any discourse of it XXII The greatest Pleasure of Love is Loving and a Man is more happy in his own Passion than in that he influences in another XXIII Absence cools moderate Passions and inflames violent ones just as the Wind blows out Candles but kindles Fires XXIV It is much easier to usher in Love into one's Breast than to drive it out when it is once admitted XXV In Love loving but little proves often the best way to be lov'd again XXVI The Sincerity which Lovers and their Mistresses bargain for in agreeing to tell one another when they can love no longer is not ask'd so much out of a Desire to know when their Love is at an end as to be satisfy'd that Love does really continue so long as they are told nothing to the contrary XXVII In Love he that 's first cur'd is best cur'd XXVIII To speak feelingly of Love is as coquetish in a young Woman as 't is ridiculous in an old Man XXIX