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
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
imaginary those shew themselves in Fables From whence it comes to pass that the Ancients held themselves oblig'd to some Deity or other either upon the account of descending from it or else because they acknowledg'd a particular Care and Protection from its Tutelary Virtue IX * It is the Saying of a Great Man That if we could trace our Descents we should find all Slaves to come from Princes and all Princes from Slaves But Fortune has turn'd all Things topsie-turvy in a long Story of Revolutions But it matters not whence we come but what we are nor is it any more to our Honour the Glory of our Predecessors than it is to their Shame the Wickedness of their Posterity X. It is a great Advantage for a Man to be Nobly descended but it is still a greater one for him to be such by his own Merit that People never enquire whether he be a Gentleman or no. XI * Nâ—bility of Birth commonly abates Industry and he that is not industrious envies him that is Beside Noble Persons cannot go much higher and he that stands at a stay when others rise can hardly avoid Motions of Envy XII * A Monarchy where there is no Nobility at all is a pure absolute Tyranny for Nobility attempers Soveraignty and draws the Eyes of the People somewhat aside from the Royal Line XIII * Those that are first rais'd to Nobility are commonly more virtuous but less innocent than their Descendants for there is rarely any Rising but by a commixture of good and evil Arts. Obstinacy Contradiction I. STubborness and Obstinacy are the Effects of a shallow Wit for we can never believe what we cannot apprehend II. Men of mean Capacities but especially your half-witted Fellows and pedantick Scholars are most apt to be stiff and peremptory None but Manly Souls can unsay what they have said and forsake an Errour when they find themselves on the wrong side III. Contradiction should awaken our Attention and Care and not our Passion Our Interest ought to be no other than that of Truth and therefore we must rather hear those that oppose it than avoid them which is little better than yielding the Victory IV. There can be no arguing with a Man obstinate in his Opinion for when he has once contradicted his Mind is barr'd up against all Light and better Information Arguments tho' never so well grounded do but provoke him and make him even afraid to be convinc'd of the Truth VI. The generality of Men do not make it their Business to be in the right so much as to be thought so This makes them stickle so stifly for their own Opinions even when they know and are satisfied they are false VII The Obstinacy of some People in contradicting Opinions generally receiv'd is the effect rather of Pride than Ignorance Those that are on the right side have got the upper hand and they scorn to take up with the lower VIII No Men are so often in the wrong as those who pretend to be always in the right Passions I. PAssion often makes a Fool of a witty Man and no less frequently a witty Man of a Fool. II. It is with our Passions as it is with Fire and Water they are good Servants and bad Masters and Sub-minister to the best and worst of Purposes at once III. The continuance of our Passions is no more in our own Power than the Term of our Lives IV. Those great and glittering Actions which dazzle the Eyes of most Men and are represented by Politicians as the Effects of great Wisdom and Design are indeed generally influenc'd by litte Humours and Passions Thus the War of Augustus and Anthony for the purpose which is ascrib'd to the violent Ambition each of them had to get the Mastery of the whole World was occasion'd perhaps by a little rise of Iealousie between them V. Passions are Nature's never-failing Rhetorick and the only Orators that can master our Affections The plainest Man inspir'd by a Passion perswades much better than the most eloquent who is inspir'd by none VI. There is in all Passions a kind of Injustice and Self-interest which makes them very dangerous to be follow'd and we ought not to trust them even when they appear most fair and reasonable VII There is in our Hearts a constant Generation of Passions so that the Destruction of one is generally the Production of another VIII As wary and cautious Men are to conceal their Passions under the specious Dress of Honour and Piety this Disguise is too thin and they seldom fail to break through it at one time or other IX The Passions often give birth to others of a Nature quite contrary to their own Avarice sometimes brings forth Poodigality and Prodigality Avarice Some are Resolute out of Weakness and Bold out of Timorousness and Fear X. All Passions are nothing else but the different degrees of Heat and Cold in the Blood XI The Victory we gain sometimes over our Passions is owing to their Weakness more than our own Strength XII The Health of the Mind is as frail and uncertain as that of the Body And tho' a Man may seem free from all manner of Passions yet is he in so much danger of falling into them as one in a perfect state of Health is of having a fit of Sickness XIII It is one of the greatest Secrets of Nature that Men's Passions are more capable of being rais'd to higher degrees in Companies than in Solitude and that we sooner grieve fear rejoice love admire c. when we behold many others so mov'd than when we are alone XIV No Man can guess in cold Blood what he may do in a Passion XV. While our Heart is ruffled by the remains of a Passion it is more susceptible of a new one than if it was entirely setled XVI Those that have had great Passions find themselves perpetually happy and unhappy in being cur'd of them XVII We are to blame not to distinguish between the several sorts of Anger for there is a Light and as it were a harmless one which results from a warm Complexion and another exceeding vicious which is in strict speaking the Rage and Fierceness of Pride XVIII Nature it seems has treasur'd up in the bottom of our Hearts some secret Talents and Abilities which Passions only have the priviledge to improve and which upon some Exigencies gives us a surer prospect of Things than ever Art could do XIX It is is as unseasonable to recompence in a â—it of Ioy as to punish in a Passion XX. * That Mind is truly happy which can entirely deny some Passions and only unbend it self to some others XXI The Soul is tir'd to be always in the same posture and at a long run it would lose all its Vigour if it were not awaken'd by the Passions Penetration I. PEnetration is so Conjuring like that it flatters our Vanity more than any other Accomplishment of the Mind II. The greatest Fault of a