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A49906
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Reflections upon what the works commonly call good-luck and ill-luck with regard to lotteries and of the good use which may be made of them / written originally in French by Monsieur Le Clerk, done into English.; Reflexions sur ce que l'on appelle bonheur et malheur en matière de loteries et sur le bon usage qu'on en peut faire. English
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Le Clerc, Jean, 1657-1736.
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1699
(1699)
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Wing L825; ESTC R17929
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104,386
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230
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It is for the common Interest of Mankind that virtuous Persons should be encouraged and supported and not lye under the danger of extreme Misery to renounce neglected Virtue and set an ill Example to other People By this the Liberal Man declares that Virtue hath the preference in his Esteem and this preference is of mighty Efficacy towards the procuring it Love and Respect from others But Men quite contrary very often consider only the Assiduity with which People make their Court as if this were a sufficient recommendation of it self Sometimes they scatter their Favours at random upon the first they meet or the first that Interest is made for without any regard to their Deserts This gave occasion as I observed * Ch. vi before to that fantastical Notion of a blind Goddess who distributes Riches and Honours promiscuously without any Choice or Discrimination at all Now since every one should not only do good but do it in such a manner too that as many as may be may find the good Effects of it we are bound no doubt to give the preserence to those Persons who are most useful to the Publick Such then as have more than ordinary Understanding and willing to Communicate their Knowledge to the World such as decline no pains to acquire or to diffuse Wisdom supposing them to be Persons that stand in need of Publick or Private Encouragement and that they are Men of virtuous Conversation have an undoubted Right before others who have not these good Qualities By obliging them we at the same time oblige those infinite other Persons who reap advantage by their Labours which they could never sustain if cramped by extremity of Want They that were Liberal to Erasmus heretofore who was born to no Estate did not only enable that Excellent Person to live comfortably but gave him the opportunity of laying in that vast Stock of Knowledge and composing those admirable Books Posterity reap the Benefit of still So that it was not Erasmus alone but all who are enlightned by his Learning that have reason to bless the Liberality and to celebrate the Praises and Memory of those Generous Spirits that gave him their Assistance and the Fruits of their Kindness will descend to all Ages as long as the Works of this Great Author are in being If Queen Christina and her famous Chancellour Oxenstern had done nothing else but choosing the Eminent Grotius for their Embassador by this means qualifying him to live in good Credit and to be serviceable to the World rather than out of a design to profit themselves by his Aderess in publick Treaties this single act had entitled them both to immortal Thanks And we cannot but extol their Liberality while we continue to value the most Skilful Interpreter of Scripture that perhaps ever lived in the Christian World Such as these are fit Objects for Princes and for all those whose Fortunes put it in their power to be Liberal A Man cannot without a just indignation * J. Howel Vol. 1. §. 4. Let. viii read the account of that Famous Lord Chancellor of England Sir Francis Bacon whom King James I. suffered to languish in Poverty while he advanced worthless Fellows good for nothing if I may so speak but to disgrace their Benefactor This Learned Man a little before his death wrote a very moving Letter Imploring His Majesty's Relief now in his declining Age lest he should be reduced to Beg or Starve and that he who desired to live only that he might Study might not be forced to Study for a Livelihood These Expressions have been charged with Littleness of Soul but I confess that Littleness seems to me chargeable not so much upon my Lord Bacon as upon his Master who drove so great a Man to the necessity of making so poor a Request and who had the Inhumanity to let him dye in Circumstances so deplorable that he had scarce enough left to Bury him That Prince who was a Master of Latin and an Author himself tempted Men to despise Learning by his neglect of Learned Men. There being nothing more recommended by all Antiquity than this kind of Liberality and yet they who profess to read the Antients most often practise it least The World hath seen innumerable Instances of Stewards and Cooks who have got great Estates in the Service of some Prelates For some such there have been who never did good to any but such Trash or a few Chaplains of their own who many times know little more than to Write and Read and Eat and Drink and lead a sauntring useless Life upon a good fat Prebend And this manner of proceeding it is to be feared hath in part at least given occasion to the Laity to shew no more regard to them that best deserve it There have been many Times and Places wherein Men of Learning stood but in too much need of Lotteries to be set up foâ— their Maintenance and where some such Project as this seems the only way left to bring Learning into Credit again We have few or no Maecenas's in our days who like Him support the greatest Wits of the Age and enable them for such Compositions as those of his Favourites which have immortalized his Memory and been the wonder of succeeding times from Augustus until now At present the improvement of Leaâ—ning the study of Sacred and Profane Antiquity skill in Languages a nice Taste and sound Judgment zealous love of Truth a modetate and peaceable Temper wasting a Man's self with perpetual toil for the Instruction of Mankind These are Qualities that turn to little account else than merely the attracting of Envy or the getting some little cold Recommendation If a Man shew himself Liberal 't is commonly toward some wretched Declaimer void of Judgment and true Sense or toward some ignorant Fellow that sets up his Throat and bawls with all his might Great is Diana of the Ephesians that is ready to murder all who do not believe all he says of this Goddess though they excuse themselves with never so much Temper and make no Disturbance at all Or lastly toward some fulsom Flatterer whose Exactness and Diligence in making his Court can only be equalled by his Neglect of those Duties his Character obliges him to This puts me in mind of Crates the Philosopher who makes up an account for a Licentious Fellow by setting those whom he should have given most to but really gave least against them to whom he was lavishly kind and ought to have allowed them little or nothing Set down says he Ten Pound for my Cook and a Groat for my Physician To a Flatterer five Tallents To one that gave me good Advice a little Smoak A Talent to my Whore and three Half-pence to my Tutor that read Philosophy to me But enough of Learned Men We will now proceed to some other Objects of Liberality though we should extend this to as many as is possible yet Philosophers tell us
we should more especially do it to such as Blood or Friendship or civil Engagements or Acquaintance or Religion and such other Endearments have more closely obliged us to And that they ought to have the Preference upon these if they be equal upon other Accounts It is not necessary to insist upon this Consideration because when Men give at all they usually do it to Persons whom they have some of these Obligations to It will rather be convenient to advise Men that they would not be too nice in observing this kind of Liberality A * Cic. de off L. 1. good Philosopher observes very well that Liberality must always be attended with Justice and severely condemns as they deserve those who injure one Man to be Bountiful to another Such is a Prince who squeezes his People and regards not what burdensom Taxes he loads them with to get Mony for his Mistresses Such a Conqueror that lays whole Countries Desolate and Ruins Millions of Families to Enrich his Officers and Souldiers This is not Liberality but Rapine and Robbery But the Great are not the only Persons offending in this Point those of inferior Condition almost every where are guilty of the same Fault For each Man thinks it is his Duty to hold his Hand and spare all that possibly he can both from himself and others that he may leave his Children Rich. And in this they think it in possible to â—â—ceed since no Estate can be too great for a Family This is a mighty hinderance to Liberality and the most plausible Excuse they have for refusing to give And yet how far soever Custom may have Corrupted Men I will put my Reader in mind of two things which every Father in good Condition is indispensably obliged to and beyond which he must not go if he will be Governed by the Rules of Virtue and sober Reason First He ought not to grudge any Expence necessary for Educating his Children Virtuously and improving their Understandings He should get the best Masters for Forming them to that sort of Life he designs to six them in It is much better and kinder to leave them less in Mony provided they be rich in good Sense and good Principles for without these Qualifications an Estate does more hurt than good There is no Father who would choose to leave behind him a Spend-thrift or a Miser rather than a Man of Prudence and Conduct who by giving and sparing in their proper Seasons engages the Esteem and Friendship of all that know him Secondly To regard somewhat of one's own is absolutely necessary to supply the most moderate Expence of a Man's Condition and to keep him above the Temptation of doing dishonest and little Things it must be allowed very reasonable for a Father to be desirous to leave his Children in such Circumstances as may be a Guard sufficient against this Temptation But then this Reason will not hold to the heaping up for them beyond all measure A certain Proportion with Industry and Frugality we know may serve to set the Owner above the Perplexities of Want And if our own Reason did not teach us this yet we might learn it from the many Instances of several in the same Condition who set out with as little and yet live very comfortably And these are so many that we can never be at a loss for them A Father who discharges his part in these two points to the best of his power and leaves his Family enough to subsist creditably upon Either by making out their short Fortune with their Labour or by being good Husbands according to their Quality He ought to set his heart at rest and give the rest to Works of Charity and Publick use But the mischief is We affect to leave our Chrildren in great Plenty that they may live High and have nothing to do but to over-look their Estates and upon this Principle a Man never thinks himself Rich and consequently never in Circumstances to be Liberal This is plainly a Passion contrary both to Reason and Religion No man ought to wish to have wherewithall to live himself an idle useless Creature and consequently no man should aim at leaving his Children so Poverty indeed hath its dangers but nothing is so bad that Riches and Laziness will not betray a Man to It is not only the doing no good to others by turning a Man's hand to nothing at all but the doing them great harm by an ill Example Not to mention other mischiefs of Idleness which is justly termed the Mother of all Evils A Man's desires therefore which should be moderate for himself must not exceed all bounds for his Children Nay I will venture to say that a Father who hath just ground to suspect his Children will make an ill use of what he leaves them if it be too much is bound to provide against that Inconvenience in his own Life time and to bestow part of it in good uses and to those that are in want There is no Command of God a Rule of Prudence or Affection or Charity that enjoyns us to leave to Children of prodigal or stingy Dispositions that which will confirm them in their Vices while at the same time we deny to Persons in need that which would enable them to live in Comfort and become useful to the World There is likewise another Error very common and that is confining our Liberality to Persons of our own Religion and choosing to be kind to one of our own Party who hath nothing to recommend him rather than to the brightest Virtue and most valuable Qualifications of any Denomination of Christians differing from our own This shews Men acted not so much by a Spirit of Liberality as of Partiality and Interest and Faction They love not the good Qualities that ought to engage us but they are fond of a Passion like their own and this they think can never be rewarded above its Desert Christina's Bounty to many differing from her at least while they sat upon the Throne of Sweden and especially to Grotius who was no profest Lutheran can never be too much Extolled Many Protestants have sometimes tasted the Liberality of a Roman Catholick Prince and his Ministers But these Examples are not frequent among the Laity and yet less so with the Clergy If one of them be kind to a Man of Learning and Piety of another Perswasion he deserves immortal Praise This argues in such a one a nobleness of Soul above the little Interest of his Party and that he loves what is truly amiable wheresover he finds it And in regard all Societies of Christians ought to agree in and indeed are purposely designed for promoting that which is good and useful to Mankind every Man of any Society ought to encourage a Person whom he finds capable of contributing more to this End than common Men to what Party soever he belongs It cannot be pretended that a Man's good Qualities whom we think of an erroneous