upon the several Ways of Working of Human Nature that first stored the World with Moral Truths and put Mankind upon forming such Rules of Practice as best suited with these Observations Reputation I. WHat an ill Name soever a Man has got in the World yet it is almost always in his own Power to recover his Reputation II. The great Characters of being Men of Honour and Iustice are very often grounded more upon Forms and a Knack of appearing to be such than any true and solid Worth III. Those that have the Accomplishments essential to the making a good Man supposing they need no Art neglect Formalities act more according to Nature and consequently live more obscure and in the dark For those that judge of them have something else to do than to examine them and so they pronounce Sentence only according to outward Appearances IV. Reputation would not be so highly valu'd if we did but seriously consider how very unjust the generality of Men are both in the giving and taking it away We should content our selves to deserve it by our Good-behaviour and when that Care is taken not be over-anxious about the Success V. The Vulgar value and extol Actions and other Things not only for their Excellence but more generally for the Uncommonness of them And this gives occasion to all the false Methods Men take to gain the Approbation of the World VI. A great Reputation is a great Charge very hard for a Man to acquit himself well of an obscure Life is more natural and more easie VII The first Step that a Man makes in the World generally determines all the rest and is the Foundation of his Reputation and best Presage of his Fortune and from the first Marches that he makes those that have had Experience will tell how far he will advance 'T is then very necessary to make this first Step with a great deal of Caution and to signalize ones Entry by something that is glorious and great VIII A Great Man ought not to suffer the Depth of his Capacity to be founded if he will be always esteem'd by the Vulgar He ought on the contrary to behave himself after such a manner as never to discover all his Ability and that no Man may assign Limits to his Learning For let a Man be never so Learned the Opinion we have of him when we know him but by halves goes always farther than the Idea we conceive of him when we are wholly acquainted with him IX Reputation is a Noise which strikes nothing but the Ear and which cannot make a sensible Impression upon a Noble Soul it depends less upon our selves than Fortune But as it is impossible to acquire a general one so the possession of it would be absolutely unserviceable X. A Man who is sensible of his Force and knows the Advantages of his Mind if he aspires to Glory and will raise his Reputation ought to dread as a Rock his being suspected that he is govâ—rn'd by others XI Some People lose their Reputation by being too eager in their Endeavours to preserve it This foolish Deportment is ordinary with those who being suspected of any ill thing make use of long passionate Speeches for their Apology for tho' they may be guiltless yet the excess of Words they run into cannot but make us think the contrary XII There is no Passion which makes People more unhappy than this which almost all Men entertain for a general Esteem and Reputation for excepting some Persons of truly Heroical Minds who act only for the Satisfaction of their Conscience and perhaps too for the approbation of good Men all the rest do that for Noise which ought to be done for Virtue and suffer themselves to be inchanted with the Shadow and Appearance of a Thing whose real Body does not so much as affect them XIII Industry holds the Placâ— of the greatest Merit and the Art of making himself esteem'd oftner gives more Reputation than the thing it self XIV * No Man can be said to be truly Great that depends for his Reputation upon the Opinion of the Multitude Self-Love I. SElf-Love is the love of one's self and of every thing else for one's self It makes Men Idolaters of themselves and would make them Tyrants over others if they could prevail with Fortune to get the Power and Opportunities It never rests out of it self and never dwells upon other Subjects but as Bees do upon Flowers to suck out what it thinks may be for its advantage Nothing is so violent as its Desires nothing so secret as its Intrigues nothing so quick and ingenious as its Managements It s Pliantness is past description its Transformations exceed the Poetical Metamorphosis and its Niceties the refining of Chymistry One can neither fathom its depth nor pierce through the Darkness of its Abyss Here it is quite out of the view of the most penetrating and sagacious Eyes here it turns to and fro in a thousand insensible Shapes here it is oftentimes invisible to it self here it hatches and breeds several Affections and Hatreds unknown to it self and some of these are so strange and monstrous that when they come to the Birth either it does not know them or is asham'd to own them From this gross Mist with which it is over-cast spring the ridiculous Opinions it has of it self hence procced all its Errours Mistakes and Fopperies concerning it self hence it is that it thinks its Inclinations to be quite dead when they are but lull'd asleep that it fancies to have done running when it does but rest and that it believes to have lost its Appetite when it has only fill'd its Stomach for the present And yet this thick and gloomy Darkness which hinders it from seeing it self is no obstruction to its sight of any thing else in which it is like our Eyes which perceive all and yet are blind only with regard to themselves for in its greatest Concerns where the violence of its Desires summon all its Attention it sees feels and hears it imagines suspects penetrates and guesses every thing even to that degree that a Man is apt to think that each of its Passions has a kind of Witchcraft particular to it Nothing is so strong and close as its Tiâ—s which it strives in vain to break off at the view of the impending Calamities nevertheless it â—ffâ—cts sometimes in a moment and without Pains what it could never accomplish with the most powerful and continu'd Endeavours of many Years From whence we may likely conclude That its Desires are kindled by its self rather than by the Worth or Beauty of its Objects and that its own Palate gives them both the Value that makes them precious and the Gloss that sets them off So that it follows its own self when it seems to pursue any thing else Self-love is all made up of Contraries it is Imperious and Dutiful High-flown and Humble Sincere and Counterfeit Merciful and Cruel Timorous and Bold
Souls are disturb'd at having their Ignorance reprov'd and the reason is that being generally very Blind and Foolish they never trouble themselves with Doubts and are fully satisfied they see those things clearly which they see only through the thick Mist of a clouded Understanding XXVIII To know things judiciously we ought always to be upon our guard against the Reputation of him that speaks them the Air of the Face the manner of Speaking the Quality the Time the Place all imposes XXIX Study makes a greater difference between a Scholar and an Ignorant Man than there is between an Ignorant Man and a Brute But the Air of the World yet makes a greater Distinction between a Polite and a Learned Person Knowledge begins the Gentleman and the Commerce of the World compleats him XXX 'T is the fault of weak Reasoners to venture upon many things they don't understand and to renounce them as soon as they come to know them XXXI All Objects have different Faces and the Mind which is in a continual Motion looks upon them as it turns insomuch that we have nothing If I may so speak but new Aspects thinking to enjoy new Discoveries XXXII The great Commerce with the World hinders all Attention what we see in others keeps us from examining well our selves XXXIII By a little knowledge of Nature Men become Atheists but a great deal returns them back again to a sound and religious Mind * XXXIV Though it may be an Argument of great Wit to give ingenious Reasons for many wonderful Appearances in Nature yet it is an Evidence of small Judgment to be positive in any thing but the acknowledgment of our own Ignorance * XXXV Our Pride is always greater than our Ignorance and what we want in Knowledge we supply by Sufficiency When we have look'd about us as far as we can we conclude there is no more to be seen when we have shot our best we are sure none ever did nor ever can shoot better or beyond it Our own Reason is the certain measure of Truth our own Knowledge of what is possible in Nature Though our Mind and our Thoughts change every seven Years as well as our Strength and our Features Nay though our Opinions change every Week or every Day yet we are sure or at least confident that our present Thoughts and Conclusions are just and true and cannot be deceiv'd And among all the Miseries to which Man is born and subjected in the whole Course of his Life he has this one Felicity to comfort and support him that in all Ages in all things every Man is always in the right A Boy of fifteen is wiser than his Father at forty the meanest Subject than his Prince or Governors and the Modern Scholars because they have for a Hundred Years past learnt their Lesson pretty well are much more knowing than the Ancients Masters * XXXVI It is undoubtedly true that scarce any Man's Mind is so capable of thinking strongly in the presence of one whom he Fears and Reverences as he is when that Restraint is taken off And this is to be found not only in weighty Matters but also in the Arts of Discourse and Raillery themselves For we have often seen Men of bold Tempers that have over-aw'd and govern'd the Wit of most Companies to have been disturb'd and dumb and bashful as Children when some other Man has been near who us'd to out-talk them Such a kind of natural Sovereignty there is in some Mens Minds over others which must needs be much greater when it is advanc'd by long use and the venerable name of a Master * XXXVII Those who take their Opinions from others Rules are commonly stricter imposers upon their Scholars than their own Authors were on them or than the first Inventors of things themselves are upon others Whatever the Cause of this be whether the first Men are made meek and gentle by their long search and by better understanding all the difficulties of Knowledge while those that learn afterwards only hastily catching things in small Systems are soon satisfied before they have broken their Pride and so become more imperious or whether it arises from hence that the same meanness of Soul which made them bound their Thoughts by others Precepts makes them also Insolent to their Inferiours as we always find Cowards the most Cruel Or whatever other Cause may be alledg'd the Observation is certain that the Successors are usually more positive and tyrannical than the Beginners * XXXVIII It is Liberty alone which inspires Men with losty Thoughts and elevates their Souls to a higher Pitch than Rules of Art can direct Books of Rhetorick make Men Copious and Methodical but they alone can never infuse that true Enthusiastick Rage which Liberty breaths into their Souls who enjoy it and which guided by a sedate Judgment will carry Men further than the greatest Industry and the quickest Parts can go without it * XXXIX All Men who make a Mystery of Matters of Learning and industriously oblige their Scholars to conceal their Dictates give the World great Reason to suspect that their Knowledge is all Juggling and Trick * XL. No Pretences to greater measures of Knowledge grounded upon account of long Successions of Learned Men in any Country ought to gain belief when set against the Learning of other Nations who make no such Pretences unless Inventions and Discoveries answerable to those Advantages be produced by their Advocates * XLI The growth of Learning as well as of Natural Bodies has some short Periods beyond which it cannot reach and after which it must begin to decay It falls in one Country or one Age and rises again in others but never beyond a certain Pitch One Man or one Country at a certain time runs a great length in some certain kinds of Knowledge but lose as much ground in others that were perhaps as useful and valuable There is a certain degree of Capacity in the greatest Vessel and when 't is full if you pour in still it must run out some way or other and the more it runs out on one side the less runs out at the other So the greatest Memory after a certain degree as it learns or retains more of some Things or Words loses and forgets as much of others The largest and deepest reach of Thought the more it pursues some certain Subjects the more it neglects others * XLII It is natural to all Ranks of Men to have some one Darling upon which their Care is chiefly fixt If Mechanicks alone were to make a Philosophy they would bring it all into their Shops and force it wholly to consist of Springs and Wheels and Weights If Physicians they would not depart from their Art scarce any thing would be consider'd besides the Body of Man the Causes Signs and Cures of Diseases So much is to be found in Men of all Conditions of that which is called Pedantry in Scholars which is nothing else but an obstinate
Addiction to the forms of some private Life and not regarding general things enough XLIII We meet with very few Authors that are plain and natural for even the Best are seldom contented either with their first Thoughts or with those Expressions which present themselves without study The generality of Men mistake the Perâ—ection of the Productions of Wit and value them in Proportion to the pains and troubles they stand them in as if Thoughts and Expressions were like Silver and Gold which must be digg'd out of Earth and purg'd of their Dross with great Labour before they can be good for any thing XLIV A Dogmatical Tone is generally the effect of a great Ignorance He that knows nothing thinks that he teaches others what he has learnt himself a Moment before On the contrary he that knows much does hardly think that what he says can be unknown to other People and so he speaks with a kind of Indifference * XLV The Men of Reading do very much busie themselves about such Conceptions which are no where to be â—ound out of their own Chambers The Sense the Custom the Practice the Iudgment of the World is quite a different thing from what they imagine it to be in private And therefore it is no wonder if when they come abroad into Business the Sight of Men the Tumult and Noise of Cities and the very Brightness of Day it self affright them * XLVI The studious Men while they continue heaping up in their Memories the Customs of past Ages fall insensibly to imitate them without any manner of Care how suitable they are to Times and Things In the Ancient Authors which they turn over they find Descriptions of Virtues more perfect than indeed they were The Governments are represented better and the ways of Life pleasanter than they deserv'd Upon this these Bookish Wise Men strait compare what they read with what they see and here beholding nothing so heroically Transcendent because they are able to mark all the Spots as well as Beauties of every thing that is so close to their sight they presently begin to despise their own Times to exalt the past to contemn the Virtues and aggravate the Vices of their Country not indeavouting to amend them but by such Examples as are now unpracticable by reason of the Alteration of Men and Manners Kings Princes Government I. A Prince makes himself first unhappy when he makes others so II. There are some fierce Souls who have but an imperfect Pleasure in being Masters iâ— they don't make their Power felt by others who place Greatness in Force and the Happiness of their Condition in making People miserable at their pleasure III. 'T is as great a Severity in a Prince to pardon all Crimes as to pardon none IV. Frequent Executions cast as great blemish on the Reputation of a King as frequent Funerals on that of a Physician * V. The Publick is but one Body and the Prince the Head on 't so that what Member soever withdraws his Service from the Head is no better than a Negative Traitor to his Country and himself VI. Princes and their Ministers have their Nature much like that of Celestial Bodies they have much Splendor but no Rest. * VII Princes are no farther touch'd with one anothers Misfortunes than concerns their own Interest * VIII The Periods of Empire like Natural Bodies grow for a certain Time and to a certain Size which they are not to exceed * IX The Sources of Conquests like those of great Rivers are generally obscure or taken little notice of until their Streams increasing by the Influence of many others make so mighty Inundations as to grow famous in Stories as well as Maps of the World * X. Usurpers and Tyrants do commonly Justice upon themselves for the Injuries they have done to others their own Consciences doing the Office of Tormentors and avenging their Publick Crimes by their Private Sufferings for they live in a perpetual Anguish of Thought with Fears and Jealousies * XI It is an easie matter for Princes to cover and deâ—end their unlawful Desires and unfaithful Vows with many outward seeming fair Pretences especially seeing there is no Umpire or Moderator of Matters concluded upon to whom a Reason should be tendred * XII When Princes that ought to be common Parents make themselves as a Party and lean to a Side it is a Boat that is over-thrown by uneven weight on the one side For when the Authority of Princes is made but an Accessary to a Cause and that there are other Bands that tye faster than the Band of Sovereignty Kings begin to be almost put out of Possession * XIII It is a miserable state of Mind to have few things to desire and many things to fear and yet that commonly is the Case of Kings who being at the highest want matter of Desire which makes their Minds more languishing and have many Representations of Perils and Shadows which makes their Minds the less clear * XIV Kings that have been fortunate Conquerors in their first Years it being not possible for them to go forward infinitely but that they must have some Check or Arrest in their Successes turn generally in their later Years to be Superstitious and Melancholy * XV. Nothing destroys Authority so much as the unequal and untimely interchange of Power press'd too far and relaxed too much * XVI The Honour of a Prince is a good Excuse when he has no mind to engage in a deceitful or unjust War but it is often forgotten when the Circumstances are more favourable * XVII There is no way more effectual to engage all to adhere to the Crown than the grateful Acknowledgments of past Services * XVIII In a weak Government an ill digested Insurrection raises the Power of the Prince and adds as much Spirit to his Friends as it depresses the Faction against him and it also gives a handle to do some things for which it were not easie otherwise to find either Colours or Instruments * XIX A Prince that does not secure Friends to himself while he is in Power and Condition to oblige them must never expect to find 'em when he is Old and Impotent and no longer able to do them any Good If he Governs Tyrannically in his Youth he will be sure to be treated contemptibly in his Old Age and the baser his Enemies are the more insolent and intolerable will be the Affront * XX. There is no Subject so inconsiderable but his Prince at one time or other may have occasion for him and it holds through the whole Scale of the Creation that the Great and the Little have need of one another * XXI There 's no medling with Princes either with Text or Argument Morality is not the Povince of a Cabinet-Council and Ghostly Fathers signifie no more than Spiritual Bug-bears in the Case of an unaccountable Privilege XXII Truth discovers it self to Princes no longer than while they are Young and under Age It
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