they should not bear to have it so much as recommended or mentioned but prefer Slavery and Dependance before living upon their own Stock getting above Fortune and making themselves easy and Masters at all times and places and upon all Accidents alike May we not most justly cry out with Tiberius more justly indeed than He did O Wretches born to be Slaves How absurd is it that we who are such Patrons and Sticklers for Liberty in the Case of our Bodies Estates and all other Properties should not bear to have our Mind free which after all is the only Free-born thing that belongs to any of us We seek and employ conveniences fetch'd from all parts of the World count no expence too great for the Health the Service the Ornament of the Body but grudge every thing for the improvement and enriching of the Mind In short We are so partial as to take all possible pains that the Body may be at large while the Soul is fettered and coop'd up in Prison The other Branch of this Liberty in which the Will is concerned is of yet greater value in which the Wills is concerned is of yet greater value Liberty of the Will and ought to be more endeavour'd after by a Wise Man as indeed it is more serviceable to him than the former Now here I think it necessary to admonish my Reader that the Matter under our present Consideration is not that Faculty and Privilege of Human Nature which Philosophers and Divines commonly stile Free-Will nor shall we treat of it in the same Method with Them But my meaning is That a Wise Man ought to preserve his own Ease and Quiet to keep his Will and Affections free and disengaged and to lay them out upon very few objects and those such as may justify his Choice For indeed the things that deserve our Choice and challenge our Affections if nicely examined will be found but very few But this is not all For even Those that deserve them best will not justify our Vehemence and Eagerness and immoderate Fondness of them And here I find my self under some necessity of encountring two very popular and plausible Opinions The One is That which teaches us to be always forward to serve other people to lay aside all thoughts of one's self for the sake of our Neighbours and especially when the Publick Good is concerned pretends that no private Interest ought to come in Competition with it And the Other prompts us to espouse such Matters with all possible Zeal and to the very utmost of our power He that declines the Former is accused of wanting Good nature and a publick Spirit and He that is remiss in the Latter is suspected of Coldness and Indifference want of Generosity and the Zeal that is required of a Good Man and in short reputed incapable of making a Friend Now whatever there may really be at the bottom of these Opinions yet it is plain the World have overloaded the Foundation and built such Notions upon it as exceed all Reason and Measure and nothing can be more Romantick and Extravagant than what we sind delivered upon these Occasions For our Governors who feel the Advantage of them oftentimes infuse Principles into us not according to the true merits of the Cause but in proportion as they perceive they may prove serviceable and beneficial And it frequently falls out that those Opinions which are in themselves most reasonable and true are not most convenient to be generally entertained And besides this Observing how natural the Love of our Selves and our own private Advantage is and what Partialities and unreasonable Excesses it is apt to carry us into they thought it necessary to divert and draw us off as far from This as possibly and so took the Common Course of bending the Crooked Stick the Contrary way that it might at last stand strait by being forced toward the other Extreme 1 These Opinions when misunderstood and misapplied which is commonly the Fate of most Opinions when they fall into the hands of a Multitude occasion great Injustice and Disorder many Difficulties and grievous Mischiefs As we may plainly observe in those persons that snap at every bait of this kind let themselves out to hire as it were and devote all their Time and Pains to the service of other people These men do not only suffer themselves to be managed and taken absolute Possession of by their Friends but they thrust themselves forward of their own accord and will have an Oar in every Boat It is indifferent to Them whether the Matter concerns them or not whether it be of greater consequence or of none at all still they Interess themselves in all alike for indeed they often do it merely to keep themselves in Motion and Employment It stirs their Spirits put their Soul into a pleasing sort of Agitation and thus * In Negotio sunt negotij causà they are busy purely because they love to be so They cannot bear the having nothing to do nor can they confine their Thoughts to their own Affairs but either do not see or carelesly overlook them and so seek Employment abroad and meddle and turn undertakers in things that are foreign and distant as if they had nothing at all to do at home no concerns that are essential and necessary to be followed no personal no domestick Cares that lye upon their hands such as ought to be first dispatched and which if duly attended to would leave no room for Sloth nor leisure so great as should prove a Temptation to us to turn Managers for other people that we may keep our selves in Action Many of these persons are good husbands of their purse and careful not to part with a Penny of Money but upon valuable considerations but they are unreasonably prodigal of their Soul their Life squander away their Time and their Pains their Affections and their Will most profusely and unaccountably dedicate Themselves and all their Powers to any occasions that calls for their Assistance And yet when all is done These are the valuable Treasures of which we ought to be exceeding choice and sparing and in such Instances it is chiefly that Frugality and good Management are commendable But alas the Persons we speak of are so far from this that they glory in their Extravagance act all with such Violence and Passion that they are lost to Reason and common Sense and never think they do enough till they have engaged as deep as is possible and given up their Persons and their Wits both to the Cause they espouse Great Men make their Advantage of such Tempers as these Men that will be eager and angry and expose nay lose their lives upon pretences of Friendship and Punctilio's of Honour and Respect are special Tools for Their purpose And they are not wanting to countenance and caress them throw out large Promises and use a thousand little Stratagems to draw them in and six them to their
Progress toward Virtue as to quit all other Vices yet there is but very little Hope or Appearance of its ever renouncing it self It pushes Men to Brave and Illustrious Actions I confess it and the Benefit of these Actions to the Publick is unspeakable but though Others may reap the Fruit and be the better for such Actions yet it will not follow that the Person who does them is one whit the Better for them These may be the Effect of Passion and not of Virtue or Principles and if they be so this Excuse is vain For at present it is not the Profit but the Intrinsick Goodness of such Exploits that we are inquiring into I know indeed this Passion shelters it self under that very excellent Maxime That We are not born for our selves alone but for the General Good of Mankind But how good a Sanctuary this is the Methods made Use of for rising in the World and Mens Behaviour after their Promotions and Successes must shew And These if they be nicely observ'd will give us Cause to suspect that the Men who talk at this Rate speak against their own Consciences and that private Interest is at least an equal if not a stronger Motive to the Generality of Mankind than the Good of others Men look nearer Home in all they do and That how large soever the Pretensions to it may be for we cannot wonder that Men should pretend at least to One of the best and most valuable Qualities in the World yet a truly Publick Spirit is very rarely to be found See Advice and Remedies against this Passion in particular Book III. Chap. 42. CHAP. XXI Of Avarice and the Passions opposite to it BY Avarice is to be understood an inordinate Love What it is and vehement Desire of Riches Tho' indeed it is not only the Love and Fondness for them that deserve this Name but all Sort of over-curious Niceness and sollicitous Concern about Riches will bear it very justly even the Care of distributing them and Liberality it self if it take up too much of our Time and Pains in ordering and making it exact In short All manner of Anxious Thought with Relation to Riches savours strongly of this Passion for they ought to be entertain'd and used with a becoming Negligence and to be looked upon as they really are not worth any earnest Attention of the Mind nor a sit Object of our Care and Trouble The vehement Desire of Riches and the mighty Pleasure of Possessing them is merely Fantastical a Creature of our own Imagination and hath no Being no Foundation in Nature at all 'T is a Canker or Gangrene in the Soul that spreads and mortifies and with its Venom corrodes and quite consumes all Our Natural Affections and fills us with noxious and virulent Humours in their stead No sooner hath This taken up its Dwelling in our Hearts but immediately all those Tendernesses and kind Concerns are banished thence which either Nature inspires or Virtue recommends and improves in us All the Duties and Regards we owe to our Relations to our Friends nay to our very Selves are no longer of any Consideration with us All the World when set in competition with Interest and Profit goes for Nothing and at last we come to that pass as even to over-look and despise our own Persons our Ease our Health our Bodies our Souls All are sacrificed to this Darling this adored Wealth and as the Proverb expresses it We sell the Horse to get the Provender Avarice is a mean sordid Passion the Temper The Folly and Misery of it or rather the Disease of Fools and Earth-Worms who esteem Riches as the Supreme Good and most exquisite Attainment Humane Nature is capable of and dread Poverty as the Last of Evils who cannot content themselves with a bare Competency or such Provisions as are necessary for their Subsistence which indeed are so small that very few want them They measure their Riches by the Bags and Weights of Bankers and Goldsmiths whereas Nature teaches us to make a different Judgment and directs us to the Standard of our own just Occasions Now is not this the very Extremity of Folly to fall down and worship That which Nature hath taught us to despise by casting it under our Feet and hiding it in the Bowels and dark Caverns of the Earth as a thing not fit for publick view but to be trampled and trod upon as a just Object of our Neglect and an Intimation of its own Worthlessness There it was Originally and there it had remained to all Eternity had not the Vices of Mankind ransack'd those dark Cells and with great Difficulty and Violence drawn it up And great their Reward of such Industry hath been For what have they gain'd by it but the Ground of Insinite Controversies and Quarrels and Blood-shed and Rapine a Fatal Instrument of devouring and destroying one another * In lucem propter quae pugnaremus excutimus non erubescim us summa apud nos haberi quae fuerunt ima Terrarum We take unspeakable Pains to fetch up that above Ground says one which when we have it serves us only to fight for Nay we are not out of Countenance to have those very Things in highest Esteem which God and Nature had made lowest and thought the deepest Mines of the Earth a Place Good enough for Nature indeed seems in some Measure to have given sure Presages how Miserable those Men should be who are in Love with Gold by the manner of its Growth and the Quality of the Soil that produces it For as That Ground where the Veins of this Metal are found is Unprofitable for other Uses and neither Grass nor Plants nor any other Thing of Value and Service to Mankind will grow there it is in this Respect a most lively Emblem of the Minds of Men which are enamour'd with it They being in like manner the most sordid and abject and abandoned Wretches cursed and condemned to Barrenness void of all Honour lost to all Virue and no kind of thing that is Good in it self or Beneficial to the World is to be obtained or expected from them What a horrible Degradation is this and how do we lessen and disparage our selves when we give up that Dominion and Liberty to which we were born by becoming Servants and Slaves to the very meanest of our Subjects * Apud Sapientem Divitiae sunt in Servitute apud Stultum in Imperio For Riches as is most truly observ'd are the Wise Man's Servants and the Fool 's Masters And in Truth the Covetous Man cannot be so properly said to possess Wealth as That may be said to possess Him He hath it indeed but he hath it in such a Sense only as he hath a Fever or some violent Disease which hath got an absolute Mastery over him and preys upon his Vitals and all his Faculties How extravagant is it to dote upon That which neither hath any Goodness of
indeed the Seat of Trade and private Gain and therefore fit to be the Darling of Merchants and Artificers And it is the Place accommodated to Publick Administrations but this latter but a very small part of Mankind are call'd to or capable of And History tells us that heretofore excellent Persons were fetch'd out of the Country to undertake Affairs of the greatest Importance and assoon as they had finish'd these they retir'd again with wonderful Delight and made the Town not a Matter of Choice but Necessity and Constraint This was the short Scene of Labour and Business to them but the Country was the Seat of their Pleasure and more constant Residence CHAP. LVII Of a Military Life THE Profession and Employment of a Soldier if we respect the Cause and Original Design of it is very worthy and honourable for it pretends to protect the Safety and promote the Grandeur of one's native Country to preserve it in Peace and guard it from the Insults of Enemies abroad and turbulent Spirits at home than which nothing can be more just nothing more universally beneficial It is also noble and great in the Execution of this Design For Courage which is its proper Quality and Character is the bravest most generous most Heroick of all Virtues And of all Humane Actions and Exploits Those of War are the most celebrated and pompous insomuch that the Titles and Ensigns of Honour borrow their Names from and are assign'd as Rewards to Them It hath also many Pleasures peculiar to it the Conversation of Men of the first Quality in heat of Youth and full of Fire and Activity the being familiarly acquainted with strange Accidents and wonderful entertaining Sights freedom of Behaviour and Converse without Trick or Art a Masculine and hardy way of living above Ceremony or Form Variety of Attempts and Successes The moving Harmony of warlike Musick which entertains the Ears charms all the Senses warms the Soul and inspires it with Valour the Gracefulness of Motion and Discipline that transport and delight us with a pleasing Horrour that Storm of Shouts and Alarms which the louder it grows the more ravishing and animating it is and the roaring Ordinance of so many Thousand Men that fall on with incredible fury and eagerness But when all These and as many more Excellencies as its most zealous Patrons can attribute to this Calling have been allow'd every reasonable Man must acknowledge on the other hand that the Plundering Undoing Murdering one another and especially the making These a Matter of Art and Study a Science and a Commendation seems highly unnatural and the effect of Barbarity and Madness Nothing is a stronger Evidence against Mankind of their Weakness and Imperfection and foul Degeneracy for it sets us below the very Brutes themselves in the most savage of which the Original Impressions of Nature are not defac'd to this scandalous Degree What an infinite Folly what an execrable Rage is it to create all this Disturbance and turn the World upside-down to encounter and run thro' so many Hazards by Sea and Land for a Prize so very doubtful and full of Chance as the event of a Battle Why should we make Campaigns abroad and turn Volunteers to foreign Princes to run with so much eagerness and appetite after Death which may be found nay which of its own accord meets us at home and offers it self every where and that without proposing to our selves so much as decent Burial To fall on and kill Men that we have no Spite no Resentment against nay Men that are absolute Strangers and whom we never saw in all our Lives Why this mighty Heat and Fury to one that hath done thee no hurt given thee no provocation What a Madness is it to venture Loss of Limbs and Blood Wounds and Bruises which when they do not take Life quite away make it subject to Remedies and Pains a Thousand times more grievous and insupportable than Death Had you Obligations of Duty and Conscience it were another Matter but to do this for Breeding and Fame to sacrifice and destroy one's self for a Man that you never saw who hath no manner of Tenderness or Concern for you and only striveâ— to mount upon the dead or maim'd Body that he may stand a little higher and enlarge his own Prospect Nothing but very weighty Reasons and the necessary Defence of all that is dear to us can make such an Undertaking prudent and commendable And in such Cases all personal Considerations ought to be despised as much as otherwise they are fit to be valu'd And I hope too the Reader takes notice all along that I speak of those who choose the Trade for Mercenary Ends or out of false Notions of Gallantry and not with any intention to discourage the Duty of Subjects to their Prince whose just Quarrels they ought always to account their Own The Fifth and Last Difference between Some Men and Others taken from the Advantages and Disadvantages by which Nature or Fortune hath distinguished them PREFACE THis Last Distinction is abundantly notorious and visible to every Eye It hath indeed several Branches and Considerations included under it but all I think may be conveniently enough reduced to Two General Heads which according to the vulgar way of Expression may be termed Happiness and Unhappiness being High or Low in the World To that of Happiness or Greatness belong Health Beauty and other Qualifications and Advantages of Body and Person Liberty Nobility Honour Authority Learning Riches Reputation Friends In Unhappiness or Meanness of Condition are comprehended the Contraries of all These which without naming particularly we easily understand to be the privation or want of the foremention'd Advantages Now these Particulars are the occasion of infinite variety in Men's Circumstances and Conditions of Life for a Man may be happy in the Enjoyment of One or Two or Three of these Qualities and yet not so in the rest and even in Those he hath he may be happy in a greater or less Degree and those Degrees are capable of being so many that it is not easie if at all possible to express or conceive them But upon the whole Matter in the Distribution and Disposal of our Fortunes and Affairs Providence hath so ordered it that Few or None should be either happy or unhappy in every one of these Respects He then that partakes of most and particularly those Three Advantages of Nobility Dignity or Authority and Riches is esteem'd Great and he that hath none of those Three is reckoned among the mean Men. But several Persons have only One or Two of the Three and so they stand in a sort of middle Capacity between the two Extremes and are neither High nor Low We will speak very briefly to each of them As for Health and Beauty Chap. VI Chap. X and other Advantages that relate to the Body and Persons of Men enough hath been said of them already and so likewise of Sickness and Pain
truckle and submit not only to the Fickleness and Variety of infinite several Judgments but to the Changeable and Humoursome Sentiments of one and the same Person That which binds the Law upon Men's Consciences is the Authority of the Legislative Power and the Sanction it receives from thence the Reasonableness of the Duty contained in it is only an additional and collateral Obligation How many Laws have there been in the World so far from any appearance of Piety or Justice that they have really been exceeding trifling extravagant and sensless such as no Man's Reason knew what to make of And yet Mankind have submitted nay and enjoyed as much Peace and good Order and been as regularly governed as highly contented as if they had been the Justest and most reasonable that ever Human Wisdom and Policy enacted Now he that should have gone about to create a Dissatisfaction and Dislike to such Laws or attempted to repeal or to amend them would have deserved to be suspected as an Enemy to the Publick and not to be endured or harken'd to in a wise Government There are very few things but Human Nature may in process of Time reconcile it self to and when once the Difficulty is overcome and things sit easy upon People it is no better in effect than an Act of Hostility to offer at the dissetling them again We should always be content to let the World jog on in its own beaten Path for it is but too often seen that your Removers of Ancient Land-marks and busy Politicians under their plausible Pretences of Reforming spoil and ruin All. There is seldom or never any considerable Alteration made in established Laws received Opinions acknowledged Customs and ancient Ordinances and Discipline but it is of very pernicious Consequence The Attempt is always extremely hazardous there is commonly more Hurt than Good done by it at least this deserves to be duly weighed That the Mischief if less in it self is yet sooner felt for the Disorders every Change creates are certain and present but the Advantages it produces are distant and doubtful so that we exchange a Good in Possession for one in Expectation only and where we submit to That there ought to be very great Odds in value to justify the Prudence of our Proceeding This is certain that Men are but too fond of Novelties before they have tried them and Innovators never want some very fair and plausible Pretences to catch and feed their Fancies with but the more of this kind they pretend the more ought we to suspect and be aware of them For how indeed can we forbear detesting the vain and ambitious Presumption of Persons who undertake to see farther and be wiser than all Mankind besides What an intolerable Arrogance is it in such Turbulent and Factious Spirits to persuade Men into Compliance with their Humours at the Expence of the Publick Peace and to think it worth while that the Government should run the Risque of its own Ruin merely for the sake of establishing a fresh Scheme and passing a private Opinion into an Universal Law I have already hinted and do repeat it here again That we are not by any means obliged to obey all Laws and Constitutions whatsoever which our Superiors shall think fit to impose without any Distinction or Reserve For where we find them evidently to contradict the Laws of God and Nature in such case we must neither comply on the one hand nor disturb the Publick Peace by our refusing to do so on the other How Men ought to behave themselves in such Critical Junctures will fall more properly under Consideration when we come in the next Book to treat of our Duty to Princes And indeed this Inconvenience is much more frequent upon Subjects with regard to Their Arbitrary Commands than the Established Laws Nor is it sufficient that we submit to Laws and Governors upon the account of their Justice and particular Worth but this must not be done servilely and cowardly upon Motives of Fear and Force This is a Principle sit only for the Meanest and most Ignorant it is part of a Wise Man's Character to do nothing unwillingly and upon Compulsion but to delight in his Duty and find a sensible Pleasure in a reasonable Obedience He keeps the Laws for his own sake because he is jealous and tender of doing any thing he ought not and a rigid Master over himself He needs no Laws to constrain him in what is decent and good This distinguishes Him from the Common Populace who have no other Sense or Direction of their Duty but what Positive Laws can give In strictness according to the old Stoical Notions the Wise Man is above the Laws and a Law to himself But however he pays all outward Deference to them and a free voluntary Obedience This is due from him as a Member of Society as the inward Freedom of his Mind is owing to the Prerogative of a Philosopher In the Third Place I affirm it to be the Effect of extreme Levity a Presumption vain in it self and injurious to others nay a Mark of great Weakness and Insufficiency of Judgment to Condemn all those Laws and Customs abroad which are not conformable to those of our own Native Countrey This indeed is owing either to want of Leisure and Opportunity or to want of Ability and Largeness of Mind for the considering the Reasons and Grounds impartially upon which Foreign Establishments are founded It is a great Wrong done to our own Judgment to pronounce a Rash Sentence which when we come to a more perfect understanding of the Cause we shall in many Instances find our selves obliged to retract and be ashamed of And it is an Argument that we forget the Extent and Condition of Human Nature how many and how different things it is susceptible of It is a shutting the Eyes of our Mind and suffering them to be laid asleep and deluded with the often repeated Impressions of the same thing the daily Dream of Long Use and to submit so far to Precedent and Prescription that These should overbear the plainest Reason and give Example the Ascendent over Judgment Lastly It is the Business and the Character of a generous Mind and such a Wise Man as I am here drawing the Idea of to examine all things First To take each apart and consider it by it self Then to lay them one over against another and compare them together that so the several Laws and Customs of the whole World so far as they shall come to his Knowledge may have a full and a fair Trial and that not for the directing his Obedience but to assert his Right and execute his Office When This is done he ought to pass an honest and impartial Judgment upon them as he shall find them upon this enquiry to be agreeable or otherwise with Truth and Reason and Universal Justice For This is the Rule This the Standard which all of them are to be Tried and Measured
oftentimes with a Malefactor's Repentance and esteem the Sense of his Guilt his Shame and Remorse and Self-condemnation a Punishment sufficient †Ignoscere pulchrum Jam misero poenaeque genus vidisse precantem Relenting Misery inclines the Brave Conquerours are most triumphant when they save Justice and Mercy may suspend their Strife He suffers for his Crime who yields to beg his Life Nor is there any just Ground of that Apprehension which some People very inconsiderately pretend upon these Occasions that such Mercy will be taken for Tameness or Impotence that it makes a Prince despicable in the Eyes of his People gives his Enemies Advantage provokes turbulent Spirits to insult and loosens the Nerves of Government For the Effect is really quite contrary Such Mildness is a mighty strengthening to a Prince adds Vigour and Efficacy to his Commands and wonderfully raises his Reputation A Prince that is well belov'd shall be able to do more with the Hearts of his Subjects than all the Awe and Terror in the World This may put Men into trembling and astonishment but it gives them no true Principle of Obedience and as Salust argued in his Oration to Caesar such Governments are never Stable and of long Continuance because they are built upon an ill bottom Whoever he be that is feared by a great many hath a great many whom he hath reason to be afraid of too The Fear which he sheds down upon all about him dashes back again upon his own Head Such a sort of Life is full of Anxieties and Misgivings and a Man is surrounded with Dangers that threaten him continually from every Quarter It is true indeed this Clemency ought not to be extended without any Distinction Judgment as was said in the beginning of the Paragraph must direct and determine it For as it is a Virtue and that which attracts the profoundest Veneration when judiciously managed so is it a Vice of most pernicious Consequence when degenerating into soft and easie Tameness After these Four Principal Virtues which are the brightest Jewels in a Prince's Diadem Liberality there follow some others of a Second Form and these though inferiour to the former in Lustre have yet their just Value and are necessary and useful though not so absolutely and in so high a degree Liberality for instance which is so much more suitable to a Prince's Character as it is a greater Reflection upon him to be vanquish'd by Bounty and Magnificence than to be worsted in the Field But here too there is great need of Discretion for where That is wanting this Quality will be apt to do more Hurt than Good There are two Kinds of Liberality The one consists in Sumptuousness and Shew and this is to very little purpose Of two Kinds It is certainly a very idle and vain Imagination for Princes to think of raising their Character and setting themselves off by August and Splendid and expensive Appearances especially too among their own Subjects where they can do what they please and are sure to have no Rival of their Grandeur This seems rather a Mark of a little Soul an Argument that they want a due Sense of what they really are and is both beneath Them to do and very unacceptable to their People to see For however for the present Subjects may gaze at their Pomps with Delight yet assoon as the Entertainment is over they presently begin to reflect that Their Princes are thus enrich'd and adorn'd with Their Spoils that This is no better than being sumptuously feasted at Their Cost and that the Money which now feeds their Sight with Triumphs and Gaudy Greatness is pinch'd from more necessary Occasions and wou'd have been much better sav'd to feed their Bellies And besides all this a Prince should be so far from Lavish and Profuse that he should make great Conscience of Frugality for indeed he should think nothing he enjoys strictly his own since engag'd in a Trust that requires his All his very Life and Person to be devoted to the Good of others The Second sort of Liberality is that which consists in distributing Gifts and making Presents Of This indeed there is considerable Use and a just Commendation due to it But then this must be discreetly manag'd too and good Care should always be taken To what Persons in what Proportions and after what Manner this is done As to the Persons They ought to be well chosen such whose Merits recommend them to their Bounty such as have been serviceable to the Publick such as have hazarded their Fortunes and their Persons and run thro' the Dangers and Fatigues of War These are such Persons as none but the Unthinking or the very Ill-natur'd can grudg any thing to or envy the Favour so as to represent the Prince as Partial or Undistinguishing in his Liberality Whereas quite otherwise great Gratuities distributed without any regard to Merit and where there really is none derive Shame and Odium upon the Receiver and are entertain'd without those due Acknowledgments and that grateful Sense which the Favours of a Prince ought to find Some Tyrants have been sacrific'd and given up to the Rage and Spite of an incens'd Rabble by those very Servants whom they had rais'd from Nothing while these Creatures of theirs have been as much diverted with their Masters Misfortunes as any of their Enemies and have taken this Course to ingratiate themselves with the Mobb and for securing their own Fortunes by giving Demonstrations of the Hatred and Contempt to the Person from whom those Fortunes were entirely deriv'd Nor is it less necessary that the Proportion of a Prince's Liberality should be strictly regarded for otherwise this may run out into such Squandering and Excess That both the Giver and the Government may be impoverish'd and brought to Ruine by it For to give to every body and upon every Occasion is to play with a losing Hand and till all 's gone Private Men are for making their Fortunes and it is not possible to satisfie them they will soon grow extravagant in their Requests if they find their Prince to be so in his Favours and the Rule they Measure by is not Reason but Example not how much is fit to be granted to Them but how much hath already been granted to Others However by this Means the Publick Treasures will be exhausted and a King be necessitated to seize other Peoples Rights that * Quod Ambiticne exhaustum per Scelera supplendum so Injustice and Oppression may heal and reimburse these Wants which Ambition and Prodigality have created Now it were insinitely better to give nothing at all than to take away from one to give to another For after all our Kindness the Gratitude and Affection of those that are obliged by us never makes so deep Impressions nor sticks half so close as the Resentments of them that have been injur'd and plunder'd Besides This Profuseness is its own Destruction for the Spring
Parts The Preventing Ill Habits and Cultivating Good Ones The Former is the more Necessary and Requires the more diligent Attention of the Two And This is a Business which ought to be begun very early indeed a Man can hardly set about it too soon For Vicious Dispositions grow into Habits apace so that the Corruption of Nature is sure to be beforehand with us and if these Things be not stifled in the Birth it is very difficult Dealing with them afterwards I suppose I need not say that this Endeavour ought to be Universal and bend it self against all Vice without Exception But some there are which I shall mention and recommend the subduing of more especially because they are more incident to that Condition of Life and therefore more formidable than the rest The First is Lying A pitiful poor-spirited Vice the Character of Slaves and Cowards the most ungenteel Quality that can be and certain Indication of a base degenerate and timorous Soul but more particularly sit to be caution'd against in this Place because harsh Methods and rigorous Severities in the Education of Children very often fright them into it at first and lay the seeds of Fear and Falshood for their whole Lives The Second is an Aukward Bashfulness which puts them upon hiding their Faces hanging down their Heads blushing and looking out of Countenance when they are spoken to makes them incapable of bearing any sort of Correction or the least angry Word without being disordered and put quite out of Humor A great deal of This is owing to the Natural Weakness and Tenderness of their Minds but this Infirmity must be corrected by Study and Application by learning them to bear Admonition and Rebukes using them to see Company and fortifying them with a becoming Assurance and Presence of Mind Thirdly All Affectation and Singularity in their Dress their Mean their Gate their Gestures their Speech and every other Part of Behaviour Making their Deportment and Conversation Masculine and free easie and unconstrained For Affectation is a sure Sign of Vanity an inordinate Desire of recommending themselves by doing somewhat particular and out of the common Road and is extremely Nauseous and Offensive to all Companies it displeases even where it labours to oblige and casts a Blemish upon our best Actions and kindest Intentions * Licet sapere sine pompâ sine invidià A Man may be Wise without Ostentation and should labour to be so without giving Prejudice or Offence But especially They must check and utterly banish all Anger and Peevishness and Spight and Obstinacy And in order hereunto It will be a good Rule to settle a Resolution never to gratifie Children when they are froward nor give them any thing they cry and are outragious for To make them sensible betimes that these Arts will never do them service and are therefore unprofitable as well as unbecoming Another necessary Course to this purpose will be never to flatter or wheedle or caress them in their querulous Humours for Fondness and Indulgence which is blameable at all times is of most dangerous consequence at such times as these This absolutely ruines them to all Intents and Purposes incourages them to be Passionate and Sullen if they have not what they ask for and renders them at length Obstinate and Headstrong Intractable and Insolent For * Nihil magisreddet Iracundos quam Educatio mollis blanda Nothing disposes Men more to extravagant Passion and Resentment than the being humour'd and cocker'd in their Infancy and the greatest part of those Fretful Exceptious and Self-conceited Qualities which render Conversation so difficult and so full of Cavils as we find it are owing most certainly to a Failure in this part of Education The Niceness and Tenderness they have been us'd with in their Infancy and the Unreasonable Compliances with their Passions then have absolutely broke their Tempers and make them Whimsical and Jealous Furious and domineering all their Life-long They expect because Mothers and Nurses have done it to my young Master and Miss that all the World shou'd submit to their Humours when they come to be Men and Women But it is not sufficient to clear the Soil of Weeds and Bryars except you sow it with good Seed and therefore at the same time you root out Ill Habits Care must be taken to implant Good ones The first and most important part whereof is to Infuse into them and take care they be throughly season'd with a becoming Reverence and awful Fear of God learning them to tremble at his infinite and incomprehensible Majesty to admire and adore the Perfection of his Holiness to take his Name into their Mouths but very seldom and when they do to mention it with Gravity and great Respect to discourse of his Power his Wisdom his Eternal Essence his Will his Word and his Works not indifferently and upon every Occasion but with such Seriousness and Submission such Modesty and Humility and at Seasons so proper that all the World may perceive we have due Dread and a constant Awe of that Being which we take care to treat so very respectfully Not to use themselves to dispute upon Religion or call the Mysteries of it in into Question but resign their Understandings to the Oracles of God and be content to believe the Scriptures in such a Sense as the truly Catholick Church hath embrac'd and commanded to be taught and receiv'd In the Second Place The Spirit of Children shou'd be strengthen'd and confirm'd by Ingenuity and Frankness of Temper Openness and Easiness of Conversation Candor and Integrity and especially they shou'd be fix'd in the Fitness and the Necessity of Virtue and so made resolute and zealous in Justice and Goodness deaf and inflexible to every thing which is Vicious and Dishonourable Thus the Youth must by degrees be brought to embrace and stick to Virtue upon a true and solid Principle for its Own sake and real Excellence and exact Congruity to the Dictates of uncorrupt Reason and not be induc'd meerly by the force of Fear or Interest or some other Consideration so slavish and mercenary that it cannot deserve a Name so noble as Virtue These Two Directions are principally for a Man 's private use and centre in his own proper Benefit The Third regards other People and hath a more immediate tendency to fit him for and render him easie and agreeable in Company And to this purpose you must use all means possible for the Sweetning his Temper teach him the Rules of Civility and Complaisance and shew him the Deference that ought to be paid to all Qualities let him know how to make himself acceptable how far it is fit to accommodate himself to other People's Humours and submit to their Manner Alcibiades's peculiar Excellence was said to lie in this obliging Easiness of Humour And Aristippus was a Man of perfect Address so far from Moroseness or suffering the Study of Philosophy to sowre him that