in the Vices of his Mind We must discharge all Impediments and make way for Philosophy as a Study Inconsistent with Common Business To all other things we must deny our selves openly and frankly When we are Sick we refuse Visits keep our selves Close and lay aside all Publick Cares and shall we not do as much when we Philosophize Business is the Drudgery of the World and only fit for Slaves but Contemplation is the Work of Wise Men. Not but that Solitude and Company may be allow'd to take their Turns the One Creates in us the Love of Mankind the Other That of our selves Solitude Relieves us when we are Sick of Company and Conversation when we are weary of being Alone So that the One Cures the Other There is no Man in fine so miserable as he that is at a Loss how to spend his Time He is Restless in his Thoughts unsteady in his Counsels Dissatisfy'd with the Present Sollicitous for the Future whereas he that prudently computes his Hours and his Business does not only fortifie himself against the Common Accidents of Life but Improves the most Rigorous Dispensations of Providence to his Comfort and stands Firm under all the Tryals of Humane Weakness CHAP. XXI The Contempt of Death makes all the Miseries of Life Easy to us IT is a hard Task to Master the Natural Desire of Life by a Philosophical Contempt of Death and to convince the World that there is no hurt in 't and crush an Opinion that was brought up with us from our Cradles What help What Encouragement What shall we say to Humane Frailty to carry it Fearless through the Fury of Flames and upon the Points of Swords What Rhetorick shall we use to bear down the Universal Consent of People to so dangerous an Error The Captious and Superfine Subtilties of the Schools will never do the Work They speak many sharp things but utterly unnecessary and void of Effect The Truth of it is there is but one Chain that holds all the World in Bondage and that 's the Love of Life It is not that I propound the making of Death so Indifferent to us as it is whether a Mans Hairs be Even or Odd For what with self-Self-Love and an Implanted Desire in every thing of Preserving it self and a long Acquaintance betwixt the Soul and Body Friends may be loth to part and Death may carry an Appearance of Evil though in truth it is it self no Evil at all Beside that we are to go to a strange Place in the Dark and under great Uncertainties of our Future State So that People Dye in Terror because they do not know whither they are to goe and they are apt to Phancy the worst of what they do not understand and these Thoughts indeed are enough to startle a Man of great Resolutionâ—… without a wonderful Support from Above And moreover our Natural Scruples and Infirmities are assisted by the Wits and Phancies of all Ages in their Infamous and Horrid Descriptions of another World Nay taking it for granted that there will be a Reward and Punishment they are yet more affraid of an Annihilation than of Hell it self BUT What is it we fear Oh! 'T is a terrible thing to Dye But is it not better Once to Suffer it than always to Fear it the Earth it self suffers both With me and Before me How many Islands are swallow'd up in the Sea How many Towns do we Sail over Nay How many Nations are wholly Lost either by Inundations or Earthquakes And Shall I be afraid of my little Body Why should I that am sure to Dye and that all other things are Mortal be fearful of coming to my last Gasp my Self It is the Fear of Death that makes us Base and troubles and destroys the Life that we would preserve That Aggravates all Circumstances and makes them Formidable We depend but upon a Flying Moment Dye we must but When VVhat 's that to us It is the Law of Nature the Tribute of Mortals and the Remedy of all Evils 'T is only the Disguise that affrights us as Children that are Terrify'd with a Visor Take away the Instruments of Death the Fire the Axe the Guards the Executioners the VVhips and the VVracks take away the Pomp I say and the Circumstances that accompany it and Death is no more than what my Slave yesterday Contemn'd The Pain is nothing to a Fit of the Stone if it be Tolerable it is not Great and if Intolerable it cannot last long There is nothing that Nature has made Necessary which is more Easie than Death VVe are longer a coming into the VVorld than going out of it and there is not any Minute of our Lives wherein we may not Reasonably Expect it Nay 't is but a Moments VVork the parting of the Soul and Body VVhat a shame is it then to stand in Fear of any thing so Long that is done so Soon NOR is it any great matter to overcome this Fear For we have Examples as well of the meanest of Men as of the greatest that have done it There was a Fellow to be expos'd upon the Theatre who in disdain thrust a Stick down his Own Throat and Chok'd himself And another on the same Occasion pretending to nod upon the Chariot as if he were asleep cast his head betwixt the Spokes of the Wheel and kept his Seat till his Neck was broken Caligula upon a dispute with Canius Iulus do not flatter your self sayes he for I have given Order to put you to Death And I thank your most Gracious Majesty for it sayes Canius giving to understand perhaps that under his Government Death was a Mercy For he knew that Caligula seldome fail'd of being as good as his Word in that Case He was at Play when the Officer carry'd him away to his Execution and beckoning to the Centurion Pray sayes he will you bear me Witness when I am dead and gone that I had the better of the Game He was a Man exceedingly belov'd and lamented And for a Farewell after he had Preach'd Moderation to his Friends You sayes he are here disputing about the Immortality of the Soul and I am now a going to learn the Truth of it If I discover any thing upon that Poynt you shall hear on 't Nay the most Timorous of Creatures when they see there 's no escaping they oppose themselves to all Dangers the Despair gives them Courage and the Necessity overcomes the Fear Socrates was Thirty dayes in Prison after his Sentence and had time enough to have Starv'd himself and so to have prevented the Poyson but he gave the World the Blessing of his Life as long as he could and took that Fatal Draught in the Meditation and Contempt of Death Marcellinus in a Deliberation upon Death call'd several of his Friends about him One was Fearful and Advis'd what he himself would have done in the Case Another gave the Counsel which he thought Marcellinus would like
Land but still disgusted with the Present The Town pleases us to day the Country to Morrow the Splendors of the Court at one time the Horrors of a Wilderness at another but all this while we carry our Plague about us for 't is not the place that we are weary of but our selves Nay our weakness extends to every thing for we are Impatient equally of Toyl and of Pleasure This Trotting of the Ring and only treading the same steps over and over again has made many a Man lay violent hands upon himself It must be the Change of the Mind not of the Climate that will remove the Heaviness of the Heart our Vices go along with us and we carry in our selves the Causes of our Disquiets There 's a great weight lies upon us and the bare shocking of it makes it the more Uneasie changing of Countries in this Case is not Travelling but Wandring We must keep on our Course if we would gain our Journeys end He that cannot live Happily any where will live happily no where What is a Man the better for Travelling as if his Cares could not find him out wherever he goes Is there any retiring from the Fear of Death or of Torments or from those Difficulties which beset a Man wherever he is It is only Philosophy that makes the Mind Invincible and places us out of the Reach of Fortune so that all her Arrows fall short of us This is it that reclaimes the Rage of our Lusts and sweetens the Anxiety of our Fears Frequent Changing of Places or Councels shewes an Instability of Mind and we must fix the Body before we can fix the Soul We can hardly stir abroad or look about us without encountring some thing or other that revives our Appetites As he that would cast off an unhappy Love avoids whatsoever may put him in Mind of the Person so he that would wholly deliver himself from his Beloved Lusts must shun all Objects that may put them in his head again and remind him of them We travel as Children run up and down after strange sights for Novelty not Profit we return neither the better nor the sounder nay and the very Agitation hurts us We learn to call Towns and Places by their Names and to tell Stories of Mountains and of Rivers but Had not our time been better spent in the Study of Wisdome and of Virtue In the Learning of what is already discover'd and in the Quest of things not yet found out If a Man break his Leg or strain his Ancle he sends presently for a Surgeon to set all right again and does not take Horse upon 't or put himself on Ship-board No more does the Change of place work upon our Disorder'd Minds than upon our Bodies It is not the Place I hope that makes either an Orator or a Physician Will any Man ask upon the Road Pray which is the way to Prudence to Justice to Temperance to Fortitude No matter whither any Man goes that carries his Affections along with him He that would make his Travels delightful must make himself a Temperate Companion A great Traveller was complaining That he was never the better for his Travels That 's very true said Socrates because you travell'd with your self Now had not he better have made himself another Man than to transport himself to another Place 'T is no matter what Manners we find any where so long as we carry our own But we have all of us a Natural Curiosity of seeing fine sights and of making new discoveries turning over Antiquities Learning the Customes of Nations c. We are never quiet To day we seek an Office to morrow we are sick on 't We divide our Lives betwixt a dislike of the Present and a desire of the Future but he that lives as he should orders himself so as neither to fear nor to wish for to morrow If it comes 't is welcome but if not there 's nothing lost for that which is to come is but the same over again that is past As Levity is a pernicious Enemy to Quiet so Pertinacity is a great one too The One Changes Nothing the Other Sticks to Nothing and which of the two is the worse may be a question It is many times seen that we beg earnestly for those things which if they were offer'd us we would refuse And it is but just to punish this Easiness of Asking with an equal Facility of Granting There are some things which we would be thought to desire which we are so far from desiring that we dread them I shall tire you sayes one in the Middle of a Tedious Story No pray be pleas'd to go on we cry though we wish'd his Tongue out at half way Nay we do not deal Candidly even with God himself We should say to our selves in these Cases This have I drawn upon my self I could never be quiet till I had gotten this Woman this Place this Estate this Honor and now see what 's come on 't ONE Sovereign Remedy against all Misfortunes is Constancy of Mind the Changing of Parties and Countenances looks as if a Man were driven with the Wind. Nothing can be above him that is above Fortune It is not Violence Reproach Contempt or whatever else from without that can make a Wise Man quit his Ground but he is Proof against all Calamities both great and small Only our Error is that what we cannot do our selves we think no body else can so that we judge of the Wise by the Measures of the Weak Place me among Princes or among Beggers The One shall not make me Proud nor the Other Asham'd I can take as sound a sleep in a Barn as in a Palace and a Bottle of Hay makes me as good a Lodging as a Bed of Down Should every day succeed to my wish it should not Transport me Nor would I think my self Miserable if I should not have one quiet hour in my whole Life I will not transport my Self with either Pain or Pleasure but yet for all that I could wish that I had an easier Game to play and that I were put rather to Moderate my Joyes than my Sorrows If I were an Imperial Prince I had rather Take than be Taken and yet I would bear the same Mind under the Chariot of my Conqueror that I had in my Own It is no great matter to trample upon those things that are most coveted or fear'd by the Common People There are those that will laugh upon the Wheel and cast themselves upon a Certain Death only upon a Transport of Love perhaps Anger Avarice or Revenge How much more then upon an Instinct of Virtue which is Invincible and Steady If a short Obstinacy of Mind can do this How much more shall a Compos'd and a Deliberate Virtue whose Force is equal and perpetual TO secure our selves in this World first we must aim at nothing that Men count worth the wrangling for Secondly We
Dangers whereas the Indulgence of a Fond Mother makes us weak and spiritless God loves us with a Masculine Love and turns us loose to Injuries and Indignities he takes delight to see a Brave and a Good Man Wrastling with Evil Fortune and yet keeping himself upon his Legs when the whole World is in disorder about him And Are not we our selves delighted to see a bold Fellow press with his Lance upon a Bore or Lyon And the Constancy and Resolution of the Action is the Grace and Dignity of the Spectacle No Man can be Happy that does not stand firm against all Contingences and say to himself in all Extremities I should have been content if it might have been so or so but since 't is otherwise determin'd God will provide better The more we struggle with our Necessities we draw the Knot the harder and the worse 't is with us And the more the Bird Flaps and Flutters in the Snare the surer she is Caught So that the best way is to submit and lie still under this double Consideration That the Proceedings of God are Unquestionable and his Decrees not to be resisted CHAP. IX Of Levity of Mind and other Impediments of a Happy Life NOW to Summ up what is already deliver'd we have shew'd what Happiness is and wherein it consists That it is founded upon Wisdom and Virtue for we must first know what we Ought to do and then Live according to that Knowledge We have also discours'd the Helps of Philosophy and Precepts toward a Happy Life The Blessing of a Good Conscience That a Good Man can never be Miserable nor a Wicked Man Happy nor any Man Unfortunate that chearfully submits to Providence We shall now Examine How it comes to pass that when the certain Way to Happiness lies so fair before us Men will yet steer their Course on the other side which as Manifestly leads to Ruine THERE are some that live without any Design at all and only pass in the World like Straws upon a River they do not Go but they are Carry'd Others only deliberate upon the Parts of Life and not upon the Whole which is a great Error for there 's no disposing of the Circumstances of it unless we first propound the main Scope How shall any Man take his Aim without a Mark or What wind will serve Him that is not yet resolv'd upon his Port We Live as it were by Chance and by Chance we are Govern'd Some there are that Torment themselves afresh with the Memory of what is Past Lord What did I endure Never was any Man in my Condition every body gave me over my very Heart was ready to break c. Others again Afflict themselves with the Apprehension of Evils to Come and very ridiculously Both For the One does not Now concern us and the Other not Yet Beside that there may be Remedies for Mischiefs likely to happen for they give us warning by Signs and Symptoms of their Approach Let him that would be Quiet take heed not to provoke Men that are in Power but live without giving Offence and if we cannot make all Great Men our Friends it will suffice to keep them from being our Enemies This is a thing we must avoid as a Mariner would do a Storm A Rash Seaman never considers what Wind blows or what Course he steers but runs at a Venture as if he would brave the Rocks and the Eddies whereas he that is Careful and Considerate informs himself beforehand where the Danger lies and what weather it is like to be He consults his Compass and keeps aloof from those places that are Infamous for Wrecks and Miscarriages So does a Wise Man in the common business of Life he keeps out of the Way from those that may do him hurt but it is a point of Prudence not to let them take notice that he does it on purpose for that which a Man shuns he tacitely condemns Let him have a care also of List'ners Newsmongers and Medlers in other Peoples Matters for their discourse is commonly of such things as are never Profitable and most commonly Dangerous either to be spoken or heard LEVITY of Mind is a great Hindrance of Repose and the very Change of Wickedness is an Addition to the Wickedness it self for it is Inconstancy added to Iniquity We relinquish the thing we sought and then we take it up again and so divide our Lives between our Lusts and our Repentances From one Appetite we pass to another not so much upon Choice as for Change and there is a Check of Conscience that casts a Damp upon all our Unlawful Pleasures which makes us lose the Day in expectation of the Night and the Night it self for fear of the Approaching Light Some people are never at quiet others are alwayes so and they are Both to blame For that which looks like Vivacity and Industry in the one is only a Restlessness and Agitation and that which passes in the other for Moderation and Reserve is but a Drouzy and an Unactive sloth Let Motion and Rest both take their turns according to the Order of Nature which made both the Day and the Night Some are perpetually shifting from one thing to another Others again make their whole Life but a kind of Uneasie sleep Some lie tossing and turning till very weariness bring them to Rest Others again I cannot so properly call Inconstant as Lazy there are many Proprieties and Diversities of Vice but it is one never failing effect of it to live Displeas'd We do all of us labour under Inordinate Desires we are either timorous and dare not venture or venturing we do not succeed or else we cast our selves upon uncertain Hopes where we are perpetually Sollicitous and in Suspence In this distraction we are apt to propose to our selves things dishonest and hard and when we have taken great pains to no purpose we come then to repent of our Undertakings We are afraid to go on and we can neither Master our Appetites nor obey them We live and die Restless and Irresolute and which is worst of all when we grow weary of the Publick and betake our selves to Solitude for Relief our Minds are Sick and Wallowing and the very House and Walls are troublesome to us we grow Impatient and asham'd of our selves and suppress our Inward vexation till it breaks our heart for want of vent This is it that makes us Sour and Morose Envious of others and dissatisfy'd with our selves till at last betwixt our Troubles for other Peoples Successes and the Despair of our Own we fall foul upon Fortune and the Times and get into a Corner perhaps where we sit brooding over our own Disquiets In these Dispositions there is a kind of pruriginous Phancy that makes some people take delight in Labour and Uneasiness like the Clawing of an Itch till the blood starts THIS is it that puts us upon rambling Voyages one while by Sea another while by
only the want of Success has Kept us from being Criminals This very thing methinks should make us more favourable to Delinquents and to forgive not only our selves but the Gods too of whom we seem to have harder thoughts in taking that to be a Particular Evil directed to us that befalls us only by the Common Law of Mortality In fine no Man living can Absolve himself to his Conscience though to the World perhaps he may 'T is true that we are also Condemn'd to Pains and Diseases and to Death too which is no more than the quitting of a Soul house But Why should any Man complain of Bondage that wheresoever he looks has his way open to Liberty That Precipice that Sea that River that Well there 's Freedome in the bottom of it It hangs upon every Crooked Bow and not only a Mans Throte or his Heart but every vein in his Body opens a Passage to 't TO Conclude where my Proper Virtue fails me I will have recourse to Examples and say to my self Am I greater than Philip or Augustus who both of them put up greater Reproches Many have pardon'd their Enemies and shall not I forgive a neglect a little freedome of the Tongue Nay the Patience but of a Second Thought does the business for though the first shock be violent take it in parts and 't is subdu'd And to wind up all in one word The great Lesson of Mandkin as well in this as in all other Cases is to do as he would be done by CHAP. XII Of Cruelty THERE is so near an Affinity betwixt Anger and Cruelty that many People confound them as if Cruelty were only the Execution of Anger in the Payment of a Revenge which holds in some Cases but not in others There are a sort of Men that take delight in the spilling of Humane blood and in the Death of those that never did them any Injury nor were ever so much as suspected for it As Apollodorus Phalaris Sinis Procrustes and others that burnt Men alive whom we cannot so properly call Angry as Brutal For Anger does necessarily presuppose an Injury either Done or Conceiv'd or Fear'd but the other takes Pleasure in Tormenting without so much as pretending any Provocation to 't and kills merely for killing sake The Original of this Cruelty perhaps was Anger which by frequent Exercise and Custome has lost all sence of Humanity and Mercy and they that are thus affected are so far from the Countenance and Appearance of Men in Anger that they will Laugh Rejoyce and Entertain themselves with the most horrid Spectacles as Racks Iails Gibbets several sorts of Chains and Punishments Dilaceration of Members Stigmatizings and Wild Beasts with other exquisite Inventions of Torture And yet at last the Cruelty it self is more Horrid and Odious than the Means by which it works It is a Bestial madness to Love Mischief beside that 't is Womanish to Rage and Tear a Generous Beast will scorn to do 't when he has any thing at his Mercy It is a Vice for Wolves and Tigers and no less Abominable to the World than Dangerous to it self THE Romans had their Morning and their Meridian Spectacles In the Former they had their Combats of Men with Wild Beasts and in the Latter the Men fought One with Another I went sayes our Author the other day to the Meridian Spectacles in hope of Meeting somewhat of Mirth and Diversion to sweeten the humors of those that had been entertain'd with Blood in the Morning But it prov'd otherwise for compar'd with this Inhumanity the former was a Mercy The whole business was only Murther upon Murther the Combatants fought Naked and every Blow was a Wound They do not contend for Victory but for Death and he that kills one Man is to be kill'd by another By Wounds they are forc'd upon Wounds which they Take and Give upon their bare Breasts Burn that Rogue they cry What Is he afraid of his Flesh Do but see how sneakingly that Rascal dies Look to your selves my Masters and consider on 't Who knows but this may come to be your own Case Wicked Examples seldome fail of Coming home at last to the Authors To destroy a Single Man may be Dangerous but to Murther whole Nations is only a more Glorious Wickedness Private Avarice and Rigour are Condemn'd But Oppression when it comes to be Authoriz'd by an Act of State and to be publickly Commanded though particularly Forbidden becomes a Point of Dignity and Honor. What a shame is it for Men to Enterworry one another when yet the fiercest even of Beasts are at peace with those of their own kind This Brutal Fury puts Philosophy it self to a stand The Drunkard the Glutton the Covetous may be reduc'd Nay and the mischief of it is that no Vice keeps it self within its proper Bounds Luxury runs into Avarice and when the Reverence of Virtue is extinguish'd Men will stick at nothing that carryes profit along with it Mans Blood is shed in Wantonness his Death is a Spectacle for Entertainment and his Grones are Musick When Alexander deliver'd up Lysimachus to a Lyon how glad would he have been to have had Nails and Teeth to have devour'd him himself It would have too much derogated he thought from the dignity of his Wrath to have appointed a Man for the Execution of his Friend Private Cruelties 't is true cannot do much Mischief but in Princes they are a War against Mankind C. CAESAR would commonly for Exercise and Pleasure put Senators and Roman Knights to the Torture and Whip several of them like Slaves or put them to Death with the most accurate Torments merely for the satisfaction of his Cruelty That Caesar that wish'd the People of Rome had but one Neck that he might cut it off at one Blow It was the Employment the Study and the Joy of his Life He would not so much as give the Expiring leave to Grone but caus'd their Mouthes to be stopt with Spunges or for want of them with Rags of their own Cloths that they might not breathe out so much as their last Agonies at Liberty Or perhaps least the tormented should speak something which the Tormentor had no mind to hear Nay he was so Impatient of Delay that he would frequently rise from Supper to have Men kill'd by Torch-light as if his Life and Death had depended upon their dispatch before the next morning To say Nothing how many Fathers were put to death by him in the same night with their Sons which was a kind of Mercy in the prevention of their Mourning And was not Sylla's Cruelty prodigious too which was only stopt for want of Enemies He caused 7000 Citizens of Rome to be slaughter'd at once and some of the Senators being startled at their Cryes that were heard into the Senate-house Let us mind our business sayes Sylla This is nothing but a few Mutineers that I have Order'd to be sent out
Man of Sobriety and Business and then to drop one word after another is as bad on the other side The Interruption is Tedious and tires out the Auditor with Expectation Truth and Morality should be deliver'd in Words Plain and without Affectation for like Remedies unless they stay with us we are never the better for them He that would work upon his Hearers must no more expect to do it upon the Post than a Physitian to Cure his Patients only in passing by them Not but that I would have a Wise Man in some Cases to Raise himself and mend his Pace but still with a regard to the Dignity of his Manners though there may be a great force also in Moderation I would have his Discourse smooth and Flowing like a River not Impetuous like a Torrent There is a Rapid Lawless and Irrevocable Velocity of Speech which I would scarce allow even to an Orator for if he be transported with Passion or Ostentation a Mans Attention can hardly keep him Company It is not the Quantity but the Pertinence that does the business Let the words of an Antient Man flow Soft and Gentle let those of an Orator come off Round and Powerful but not run on without Fear or Wit as if a whole Declamation were to be but one Period Cicero wrote with Care and that which will for ever stand the Test. All Publick Languages are according to the Humor of the Age A Wantonness and Effeminacy of Speech denotes Luxury for the Wit follows the Mind If the Latter be Sound Compos'd Temperate and Grave the Wit is Dry and Sober too but if the One be Corrupted the other is likewise unsound Do we not see when a Mans Mind is heavy how he Creeps and Draws his Legs After him A Finical Temper is read in the very Gesture and Cloths if a Man be Cholerick and Violent it is also discover'd in his Motions An Angry Man speaks Short and Quick the Speech of an Effeminate Man is Loose and Melting A Queint and Sollicitous way of speaking is the sign of a Weak Mind but a Great Man speaks with Ease and Freedom and with more Assurance though less care Speech is the Index of the Mind When you see a Man Dress and set his Cloths in Print you shall be sure to find his Words so too and nothing in them that is Firm and Weighty It does not become a Man to be Delicate As it is in Drink the Tongue never Trips till the Mind be Over-born So it is with Speech so long as the Mind is Whole and Sound the Speech is Masculine and Strong but if one Failes the other follows EPIST. II. Of Stiles Compositions and the Choice of Words That 's the best way of Writing and Speaking which is Free and Natural Advice concerning Reading YOU cannot expect any Certain and Universal Rule either for the Stile or for the Manner of Speaking or Writing because they vary according to Usage and Occasion So that we must content our selves with Generals Men Write and Speak commonly according to the humor of the Age they live in And there is also a Correspondence betwixt the Language and the Life of Particular Persons as one may give a near Guess at a Man by his very Gate Furniture and Cloths In the first place let the Sence be Honest and Noble not pinch'd up into Sentences but Substantial and of Higher Design with nothing in it Superfluous Let the Words be fitted to the Matter and where the Subject is Familiar let the Stile be so too But great thoughts must have suitable Expressions and there ought to be a kind of Transport in the One to Answer it in the Other It is not enough to compose a pleasant Fable and tickle the Phansie but he that Treats of Weighty Matters must do it in Grave and Sober Terms There are some that have not much of the vigor of an Orator or of that Sententious Sharpness and yet the Worthiness of the Sence makes amends for the Lowness of the Stile Our Fore-fathers were not at all delighted with fine Words and Flowers But their Compositions were Strong Equal and Manly We have now adayes here and there a Poynt but the Work is Uneven where only This or That Particular is Remarkable We never admire This or That single Tree where the Whole Wood is all of a Height A Specious Title-Page may commend a Book to Sale but not for Use. An Eminent Author is to be taken down Whole and not here and there a Bit. 'T is a Maiming of the Body to take the Members of it apart Nor is it a Handsom Leg or Arm that makes a Handsom Man but the Symmetry and Agreement of all together It is the Excellency of Speaking and Writing to do it Close and in Words accommodate to the Intention and I would yet have somewhat more to be signify'd than is Deliver'd It being also a Mark of Strength and Solidity of Judgment The Propriety of words in some Cases is Wonderful especially when we are well read in the Knowledge of Things and of Duties and there is a Singular Grace in the Gentleness of Numbers when they run Smooth and without Perturbation Some are rais'd and Startl'd at Words as a Horse is at a Drum and indue the very Passion of the Speaker Others are mov'd with the Beauty of things and when they hear any thing bravely urg'd against Death or Fortune they do secretly wish for some Occasion of Experimenting that Generosity in themselves But not one of a Thousand of them that carries the Resolution home with him that he had conceiv'd It is an easie matter to excite an Auditory to the Love of Goodness having already the Foundation and the Seeds of Virtue within themselves So that it is but awakening the Consideration of it where all Men are agreed before-hand upon the Main Who is so Sordid as not to be rouz'd at such a Speech as this The Poor Man wants many things but the Covetous Man wants All. Can any Flesh forbear being delighted with This saying though a Satyre against his own Vice As to forc'd Metaphors and wild Hyperbole's I would leave them to the Poets And I am utterly against Fooling with Tinckling Conceipts and Sounds Not that I would wholly forbid the use of Hyperboles which although they exceed the Truth may yet be a means by things Incredible to bring us unto things Credible And there may be great use made also of Parables For the way of Application does usually more affect the Mind than the downright Meaning That Speech which gains upon the Passions is much more Profitable than that which only works upon the Judgment Chrysippus was a Great Man and of an Acute Wit but the Edge of it was so fine that every thing turn'd it and he might be said in truth rather to Prick the Subject that he handled than to Pierce it Through As it is not for the Honor of a Philosopher to be Sollicitous