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
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
if it be not stopp'd but if it cannot have its way it becomes adult and thereby malign and venomous So Ambitious Men if they find their way open to their Rising and still get forward they are rather busie than dangerous but if they be checkt in their Desires they become secretly discontent and look upon Men and Masters with an evil Eye and are best pleas'd when Things go backward which is the worst Property in a Servant of a Prince or State Therefore it is good for Princes if they be obliged to make use of Ambitious Men to handle 'em so as they be still Progressive and not Retrogade Afflictions I. UNder what disguise soever we conceal our Afflictions they seldom proceed but either from Vanity or Interest II. There are in our Afflictions several kinds of Hypocrisy Sometimes we weep for our selves under colour of Weeping for our Friends we lament the loss of the good Opinion they had of us We bewail the diminution of our Advantages Pleasures and Credit Thus the Dead have the honour of those Tears which indeed are shed for the Living I call this a sort of Hypocrisy because in these Afflictions People impose upon themselves There is another kind not so harmless as this because it imposes upon all the World I mean the Affliction of those who have the vanity of valuing themselves upon a deep and desperate Sorrow When Time the great Physician of Sorrows has worn off their real grief they do not leave off being obstinate in Crying Sobbing Groaning and Lamenting and with a mournâ—ul and melancholy Countenance endeavour to make the World believe that nothing but Death will end their Affliction This dismal and troublesome Vanity is most prevailing with Ambitious Women for their Sex rendring them unable to advance themselves by eminent Virtues they strive to signalize their Reputation by the Pageantry of an inconsolable Sorrow There is still another sort of Tears which flowing from shallow Springs will run and dry up very easily Men weep sometimes to gain the Reputation of Good-Nature and Tenderness sometimes to be pity'd and lamented by others and sometimes to avoid the shame of being accounted insensible III. Some Men are more miss'd than lamented and others again are very much lamented and very little miss'd IV. Our Affliction for a Dead Friend is great or small not according to his Merit but the Opinion we think he had of our deserts V. A pretty House a fine Horse a Dog a Watch any thing that comes to our share is enough sometimes to soften a great Grief and lessen the sense of a great Loss VI. The Duties of Interment are called the last Duties for beyond the Funeral all that is given to the Dead is taken away from the Living-Lamentations that are too long not only prejudice Nature but Society likewise they render us incapable of the Duties of a Civil Life and one may say that out of Complaisance to those Friends we have lost they make us wanting to those we still enjoy VII A skilful Coâ—â—orter must begin by the Aggravation of Evils to obtain a free admittance to the Mind of the Afflicted and to surprise their Belief * VIII To Mourn without measure is Folly nor to Mourn at all Insensibility The best Temper is betwixt Piety and Reason to be sensible but neither to be transported nor cast down * IX Most People shew in their Afflictions more Ambition than Piety for when any body is within hearing what Groans and Outcries do they make but when they are alone and in private all is hush and quiet So soon as any body comes in they are at it again but their Sorrow goes off with the Company * X. The most desperate Mourners are they who care least for their Friends for they think to redeem their Credit for want of Kindness to the Living by extravagant Ravings after the Dead * XI To weep excessively for the Dead is a kind of an Affront to the Living Ages of Life I. OUr Life being nothing else but a perpetual Change and Revolution we come altogether fresh and raw into the several Periods of it and want often Experience instead of Gray-Hairs II. Young People change their Taste and Inclinations by the Mettle and heat of Blood and Old ones keep to theirs by the Sullenness of Habit and Custom III. Youth is a perpetual Debauchery and the very Fever of Reason IV. The Lukewarmness of Old-Age is as great a Foil to a Man's Salvation as the Heat and Passions of Youth V. Young Men that come first upon the Stage of the World ought to be either very Modest or very Brisk for a sober grave and composed Temper commonly turns to Impertinence VI. Old People love mightily to give good Advice to comfort themselves of their Incapacity of setting ill Examples VII Both Wisdom and Folly grow still proportionably with Age. VIII Most Men shew upon the turning of their Age where their Mind and Body will begin to decay IX Nothing is more ridiculous in Old People that have been Handsom formerly than to forget that they are so no more X. 'T is a hard Lesson to learn how to be Old XI Old Age is a Tyrant that forbids us all the Pleasures of Youth upon the severest Penalties XII There is no part of our Life wherein we ought to study our own Humour with more Application than in Old-Age for it is never so difficult to be discover'd as then An impetuous Young Fellow has a hundred returns when he is dissatisfied with his Extravagances but Old People devote themselves to their Humour as if it were a Virtue and take pleasure in their own Defects because they carry a false Resemblance of Commendable Qualities They are perpetually crying up the Time-past and enviously condemning the Present They rail at Pleasures when they are past them or censure Diversions whose only Fault is their own Incapacity A serious Air passes with them for Iudgment Phlegm for Wisdom and hence proceeds that imperious Authority they allow themselves to censure every thing XIII We see nothing more ordinary for Old Men than to desire a Retirement and nothing so rare with them as not to repent of it when they are once retired Their Souls that are in too great a Subjection to their Humours are disgusted with the World for being tiresome But scarce can they quit this false Object of their Misfortune but they are as angry with Solitude as they were with the World disquieting themselves where nothing but themselves can give them any disquiet XIV Scarce do we begin to grow Old but we begin to be displeased with some distaste which we secretly frame in our selves Then our Soul free from Self love is easily fill'd with that which is suggested to us and what would have pleas'd us before but indifferently charms us at present and enslaves us to our own Weakness By this Mistresses dispose of their old Lovers to their own fancy and Wives of their old Husbands
* XV. 'T is with our Lives as with our Estates a good Husband makes a little go a great way Whereas let the Revenue of a Prince fall into the Hands of a Prodigal 't is vanisht in a Moment So that the Time allotted us if it were well employ'd were abundantly enough to answer all the Ends and Purposes of Mankind XVI A neglected Dress in Old People multiplies their Wrinkles and exposes their Infirmities An affected Curiosity of Apparel has the same Effect Avarice Riches I. WHat a Man squanders away he takes away from his Heir what he lays up by sordid Avarice he takes away from himself The Medium is to do one's self Justice and others II. Children would perhaps be dearer to their Fathers and again Fathers to their Children but for the name of Heir III. All Men by their several Places Titles and Successions look upon themselves as Heirs one of another and by that Interest entertain all along a secret desire of their Neighbour's death The most fortunate Man in each particular Condition is he that has most to lose and leave to his Successor * IV. It is not for acquiring Wealth but for misemploying it when he has acquir'd it that Man ought to be blamed * V. I cannot call Riches better than the Baggage of Virtue for as the Baggage is to an Army so is Riches to Virtue * VI. Of great Riches there is no real Use except it be in the Distribution the rest is but Conceit * VII Covetousness is enough to make the Master of the World as Poor as he that has just nothing for a Man may be brought to a Morsel of Bread by Griping as well as by Profuseness 'T is a madness for a Man that has enough already to hazard all for the getting of more and then upon the Miscarriage to leave himself nothing VIII Avarice is in many Cases more opposite to a Man's Interest than Liberality IX Some Men despise Mony but not one of a Thousand knows how to part with it X. Avarice is often the Cause of contrary Effects There are a World of People that Sacrifice all their present Possessions to remote and uncertain Hopes and others again slight great Advantages to come for some mean Interest in present XI Riches do by no means teach us to be less fond of Riches The possessing of abundance is very far from giving us the quiet that there is in not desiring them XII Nothing is so hard to perswade Men to as the contempt of Riches except ones Arguments be drawn from the Stores of Christian Religion and therefore the Wise Men among the Ancients were in truth very foolish who without any light of Faith or Expectation of a better State despised Riches and Pleasures They endeavour'd to distinguish themselves by uncommon and unnatural Notions and so to triumph over the rest of Mankind by an imaginary Elevation of Soul Those that were the Wisest among them were satisfied with talking of these things in Publick but behaved themselves after another rate in Private XIII 'T is the Infatuation of Misers to take Gold and Silver for things really good whereas they are only some of the means by which good Things are procured XIV A Covetous Man renders himself the most miserable of Men wrongs many and obliges none but when he dyes XV. The Condition of a Miser is so wretched that the greatest Curses a Man can give him is That he may Live long XVI That Man is Rich who receives more than he lays out and on the contrary that Man is to be accounted Poor whose Expence exceeds his Revenue XVII Nothing maintains it self so long as a moderate Fortune and nothing so soon dwindles away as a great one XVIII Great Riches are generally the nearest occasion of Poverty XIX A Covetous Man lays up for Old Age when Young and for Death when Old A Prodigal Heir makes him a fine Funeral and devours the rest of his Wealth XX. The Covetous Man spends more in one Day when Dead than he did in Ten Years when Alive * XXI There are two sorts of Avarice a True and a Bastard True Covetousness is a restless and insatiable desire of Riches not for any further end or use but only to hoard and preserve and perpetually increase them This is the greatest Evidence of a base ungenerous Mind and at the same time the highest Injustice in the World For what can be more unreasonable than for a Man to ingross to himself all that which is for the Common Support and Conveniency of Mankind and to propagate his Crime by locking up his beloved Treasures and thereby robbing continually the Publick of what he has once gotten from private Persons The Bastard kind of Avarice is the rapacious Appetite of Gain not for the Mony 's own sake but for the pleasure of Refunding it immediately through all the Channels of Pride and Luxury That Man who iâ— guilty of this is in a manner excusable sincâ— by his Prosuseness he makes a kind of Restitution * XXII 'T is said of a Virtuous and Wise Man that having nothing he had all when a Miser having all things yet has nothing * XXIII There is not a greater Argumenâ— of a narrow wretched Soul than to dote upon Mony nothing more reasonable than to despise it when we have it not and nothing more honourable than to employ it generously and do good with it when we have it * XXIV The Patriarchs before the Flood who lived Nine Hundred Years scarcely provided for a few Days and we who live but a few days provide at least for Nine Hundred Years * XXV As Riches at first make a Gentleman so the want of them degrades him * XXVI As Riches go off from a Man they expose to the World his Weakness that lay undiscovered before * XXVII There is one kind of Affliction which never leaves us and that is which proceeds from the loss of our Fortunes Time which softens and allays all other Griefs does but exasperate and increase this and the Sense of itâ— renews even as often as we feel the pinch oâ— preâ—â—ing Necessities Beauty Homeliness I. IF we consider Agreeableness distinct from Beauty we may call it a sort of Symmetry or Proportion the Rules of which no body can positively define or a secret Relation and Affinity of the Features one to another and of all these together to the Complexion Looks and Air of the Person II. Few Women's Worth out lives their Beauty III. Gracefulness is to the Body what good Sense is to the Mind IV. There is nothing so natural to Persons of the Fair-Sex as to take a pleasure in their own Beauty They please themselves as much as 't is possible for others to please them and are the first that discover their own Charms and fall in Love with them V. A Beautiful Woman is more concern'd to preserve her Beauty than her Lover and shews less Tenderness for a Heart already vanquish'd than
honoured and look upon their Friends as Victims devoted to their Reputation XLII The Offices of True Friends have something of Liveliness which always precedes our Wants and even prevents our very Desires But Honour which disguiseth it self under the Name of Friendship is nothing but a Self Love that serves it self in the Person it makes an appearance of serving The Friend who Acts but by this Motive advances to do good in Proportion only to the encrease of his Reputation He stops short when his Witnesses are gone 'T is a false Brave that turns his Eyes to see if he is regarded 'T is a Hypocrite that gives Alms with an unwilling Mind and pays this Tribute to God only to impose upon Men. Gesture Countenance I. ALL Passions and Resentments of the Soul have their Tone of Voice their Gestures of the Body and their Forms and Air peculiar to them and the mutual Relation of them either good or bad makes accordingly Persons either pleasant or unpleasant II. All Men affect an Air and Out side suitable to their Profession that may make them appear what they have a mind to be taken for So that we may say That the World is made up of nothing but formal Countenances and Shews III. The Air and Affectation of a Citizen is sometimes lost in an Army but never in a Court. Hatred Revenge I. WHen our Hatred is too fierce it subjects us to the Persons we hate II. The exposing of a Man and making him Ridiculous dishonours him more than a real Dishonour III. The most illustrious Revenge is to pardon where we might destroy IV. As we love more and more those we still oblige so we hate most violently those we have injur'd V. It is as hard to smother the Resentment of a fresh Injury as to preserve it after a certain Time * VI. Some People to gratifie their Resentments court their Enemies Persecution that they may have deeper grounds for Revenge VII Hatreds are generally so obstinate and sullen that the greatest sign of Death in a sick Body is his desire of being reconciled to his Enemies VIII The most subtile and artificial Revenge is to make as if one was not offended For the grief and smart our Enemy intended us by the Aâ—front falls soul upon him and cruelly Torments him with the Sting of the Disappointment IX Weakness makes us hate an Enemy and seek to be reveng'd on him But Laziness generally allays our Resentment and makes us pass by the Aâ—â—ront * X. Revenge is a kind of wild Justice which the more Man's Nature runs to the more ought Law to weed it out For as the first Wrong it does but offend the Law but the Revenge of that Wrong puts the Law out of Office Certainly in taking Revenge a Man is but even with his Enemy but in passing it over he is Superiour for it is only a Princes part to pardon * XI The most tolerable sort of Revenge is for those Wrongs which there is no Law to Redresâ— But then let a Man take heed that the Revenge â—e such as there is no Law to punish else a Man's Enemy is still before-hand and it is two for one * XII Some People are Slaves to their Revenge and are sometimes so angry with others as to hurt themselves for it Health I. 'T IS a troublesom sort of Disease the Living strictly by Rule for the Preservation of Health II. Sobriety in the generality of Men is only a fondness of Health or the effect of a weak Constitution which will not bear Intemperance III. We ingratiate our selves with other People either by humouring their Reigning Passion or being compassionate to and bearing with their Bodily Infirmities To these may be referr'd all our Applications and Attendances and hence it is that Men in perfect Health or free from Passions are more difficult to be managed Heaviness I. IF we consider the several Effects of Heaviness we shall find that it makes us neglect our Duty more than our Interest does Honour I. HOnour and Disgrace are mistaken and imaginary Appellations if not related to the real good or ill that attends them II. Nothing can be more Foolish and Chimerical than the Passion of those that through a World of Hardships and Dangers endeavour to transmit a famous Name to after Ages All this Honour and Reputation which they look upon as boundless is yet confin'd within the narrow compass of their Imagination which crowding all Posterity into one Age sets before their Eyes as if they were present together those future Honours which they shall never live to enjoy III. It is with Glory as with Beauty for as a single sine Lineament cannot make a handsom Face neither can a single good Quality render a Man Accomplisht but a Concurrence of many fine Features and good Qualities makes True Beauty and True Honour IV. Honour is but an imaginary Duty which robs us often of real Conveniences * V. Every Man sets up a Court of Honour within himself Pronounces every thing Honourable that serves his purpose and laughs at them that think otherwise Humour I. THE Caprices of our Humours are more whimsical and unaccountable than those of Fortune II. We are sensible only of great Transports and extraordinary Emotions in our Humour and Constitution as of Anger when it is violent but very few take notice that these Humours have a regular and stated Course which moves and winds our Wills to different Actions by gentle and insensible Impressions They go their Rounds as it were and command us by turns so that a considerable part of what we do is theirs though we are not able to see how it is so III. All the Gifts of Fortune are no more than our Humour is pleas'd to rate them IV. There are always more Defects in the Humour than in the Mind V. It is with our Humours as with the generality of Buildings they have several Facings and Prospects some of them â—ine and pleasant and some rough and disagreeable VI. Fools and Blockheads see every thing through their own Humour VII The Composedness or Perturbation of our Humour does not depend so much upon the great and most considerable Accidents of our Lives as upon a suitable or unsuitable Management of little Things that befal us every day VIII Some Men adapt themselves to all sorts of Characters with so dextrous a Compliance that one would swear their Humour were that of all others they appear Generous with Men of Honour subtile with Intriguing Persons without Parts to the Stupid and commit voluntary Fopperies to agree with real Fops IX As those who concert things the best don 't always stick to the justice of Rules so the most Irregular don't always follow the Disorders of their Inclinations and Humours * X. Some People are always in good Humour because they are never out of Conceit with themselves XI When we say of a Man who is hasty passionate inconstant quarrelsom morose exceptious whimsical c.
Price of a Pearl that shews best by Day but it will not rise to the Price of a Diamond or Carbuncle that shews best in varied Lights A mixture of a Lye does ever add Pleasure Does any Man doubt that if there were taken out of Men's Minds vain Opinions flattering Hopes false Valuations and ill-grounded Conceits but it would leave the Minds of most Men poor shrunken things full of Melancholy and Indisposition and unpleasing to themselves But to pass from Philosophical Truth to the Truth of Civil Business it will be acknowledg'd even by those that practice it not that clear and â—ound Dealing is the Honour of Man's Nature and that mixture of Falshood is like Allay in Coin of Gold and Silver which may make the Metal work the better but it embases it There is no Vice that does so cover a Man with Shame as to be found false and perfidious And therefore the Word Lye is such a Disgrace and too odious a Charge because to say that a Man Lyes is as much as to say that he is brave toward God and a Coward toward Men for a Lye faces God and shrinks from Man Vanity I. THey that speak without Vanity are contented with saying but little II. The Pomp and Solemnity of Funerals is not so much to do Honour to the Dead as to gratifie the Vanity of the Living III. If Vanity does not quite over-turn Virtue yet it gives it terrible Shocks and keeps it in a tottering Condition IV. We cannot bear with other People's Vanity because it is offensive to our own V. The strongest Passions sometimes remit of their Violence but Vanity tosses and hurries Men continually VI. The generality of Men speak ill of other People rather out of Vanity than Malice VII Vanity prevails with us to deny our selves more than Reason can do VIII We are all of us desirous to live in the Opinion of others by a fantastical sort of Life If we are Generous Honest Temperate c. we presently endeavour to acquaint others with it to join those Virtues to that external and imaginary Being of ours we would sooner part with our best Qualities than with that Chimara and could be content to be Cowards so we might get the Reputation of being Valiant IX We do sometimes out of Vanity or Decency what we could do out of Inclination and Dâ—ty How many a Man has catch'd his Death by sitting up with a sick Wife that he did not love X Vanity makes a Man find his Pleasure and Satisfaction in speaking either well or ill of himself A modest Man never speaks of himself XI Nothing so much betrays how ridiculous and shameful a Vice Vanity is as it s not daring to shew its self but under the appearance of its Contrary XII Vanity and the good Opinion we have of our selves make us often think that other People are proud and slight us when there is no such thing A modest Person is never troubled with those Niceties Virtue Vice I. GReat Vices are disguis'd under the Resemblance of eminent Virtues II. What we take for Virtue is frequently nothing else but the Concurrence of several Actions and Interests gather'd and brought together either by Fortune or our own Industry It is not always from a Principle of Valour that Men are Stout or from a Principle of Modesty that Women are Chast. III. Some Vices are mingled with Virtue just as poisonous Ingredients are put sometimes into the best Medicines A wise and skilful Hand tempers them together and makes excellent use of them against the Misfortunes that attend Human Life IV. We generally run Vice down and cry up Virtue according to our Interests V. Nature seems at each Man's Birth to have mark'd out the Bounds of his Virtue and Vices VI. Vices may be said to take us one after another in the course of our Lives just as Inn-keepers where we lodge upon a Journey do And I question whether the Experience of having been ill us'd would prevail with us to change our House if we could travel the same Road over again VII When Vices leave us we flatter our selves that we leave them VIII There are Relapses in the Distempers of the Soul as well as in the Diseases of the Body and we often take that for a full Recovery which is only a Relaxation or an Alteration of the Fit IX The multiplicity of Vices keep often a Man from giving himself over entirely to one X. Some Persons are so extreamly Trifling and inconsiderable that they are as far from real Faults as they are from substantial Virtues XI Virtue would seldom make such Advances did not Vanity bear it company XII Hypocrisie is a sort of Homage which Vice pays to Virtuâ— XIII There is no better Proof a Man's being truly Good than his desiring to be constantly under the Observation of good Men. XIV Tho' Men be never so wicked yet they have not the Confidence to profess themselves Enemies to Virtue and when they persecute it they either pretend not to think it real or forge some Faults to lay them to its charge XV. Some Good Qualities degenerate into Vices when natural and others again are never perfect when acquir'd as for instance A Man should learn Good-Husbandry in his Estate and his Confidences from Reason and Experience and on the other side Courage and Good-Nature must be innate with us or else we can never have them in any good degree XVI Our Qualities are doubtful and uncertain and apt to be either Good or Evil according to our Circumstances XVII When great Men think to impose upon the World by the shew of Virtue it is of ill consequence to work them out of their Conceit for by that means we take away that pique of Honour which prompts them to do those good Actions that are agreeable to the Virtues they pretend to XVIII * Old Sinners Continency is much like Gamesters for swearing Play when they have 〈◊〉 their Money XIX * Many things that are innocent in themselves are made criminal and injurious by Misconstruction XX. * General Reformers are of all Men the most troublesome to themselves and others XXI A Man in much Business does generally either make himself a Knave or else the World makes him a Fool. XXII It is with our Manners as with our Healths 't is a degree of Virtue the abatement of Vice as it is a degree of Health the abatement of a Fit XXIII * It is the Practice of the Multitude to bark at eminent Men as little Dogs do at Strangers for they look upon other Men's Virtues as the upbraiding of their own Wickedness XXIV * The Complaint of the present Times is the general Complaint of all Times it ever has been so and it ever will be so not considering that the Wickedness of the World is always the same as to the degree of it tho' it may change Places perhaps and vary a little in the Matter XXV * Wickedness comes on by degrees