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rated; but yet ask counsel of both times-of the ancient time what is best, and of the latter time what is fittest. Seek to make thy course regular, that men may know beforehand what they may expect; but be not too positive and peremptory, and express thyself well when thou digressest from thy rule. Preserve the right of thy place, but stir not questions of jurisdiction; and rather assume thy right in silence, and de facto, than voice it with claims and challenges. Preserve likewise the rights of inferior places, and think it more honour to direct in chief than to be busy in all. Embrace and invite helps and advices touching the execution of thy place; and do not drive away such as bring thee information, as meddlers, but accept of them in good part.

2

The vices of authority are chiefly four: delays, corruption, roughness, and facility. For delays, give easy access; keep times appointed; go through with that which is in hand, and interlace not business but of necessity. For corruption, do not only bind thine own hands or thy servants' hands from taking, but bind the hands of suitors also from offering; for integrity used doth the one, but integrity professed, and with a manifest detestation of bribery, doth the other; and avoid not only the fault, but the suspicion. Whosoever is found variable, and changeth manifestly without manifest cause, giveth suspicion of corruption; therefore, always when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, and declare it, together with the reasons that move thee to change, and do not think to steal3 it. A servant or a favourite, if he be inward, and no other apparent cause of esteem, is commonly thought but a by-way to close corruption. For roughness, it is a needless cause of discontent severity breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth hate. Even reproofs from authority ought to be grave, and not taunting. As for facility, it is worse than bribery, for bribes

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come but now and then; but if importunity or idle respects' lead a man, he shall never be without; as Solomon saith, To respect persons it is not good, for such a man will transgress for a piece of bread.'

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It is most true what was anciently spoken- A place showeth the man;' and it showeth some to the better, and some to the worse. 'Omnium consensu, capax imperii, nisi imperasset,' saith Tacitus of Galba; but of Vespasian he saith, ‘Solus imperantium, Vespasianus mutatus in melius'3-though the one was meant of sufficiency, the other of manners and affection." It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous spirit, whom honour amends—for honour is, or should be, the place of virtue -and as in nature things move violently to their place, and calmly in their place, so virtue in ambition is violent, in authority settled and calm.

All rising to great place is by a winding stair; and if there be factions, it is good to side a man's self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed. Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will surely be paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues, respect them; and rather call them when they look not for it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible or too remembering of thy place in conversation and private answers to suitors; but let it rather be said, 'When he sits in place, he is another man.'

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Respects. Considerations; motives. Whatsoever secret respects were likely to

move them.'-Hooker.

'I would have doff'd all other respects.'-Shakespere.

One whom all would have considered fit for rule, if he had not ruled.'

3 Alone of all the emperors, Vespasian was changed for the better.'-Tacit. Hist. i. 9, 50.

Affection. Disposition; general state of mind.

There grows

In my most ill-composed affection, such
A stanchless avarice.'-Shakespere.

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A work entitled The Bishop (by the late Dr. Cooke Taylor, but without his name), contains so many appropriate remarks, that I take the liberty of giving several quotations from it. It consists of letters professed to be addressed to a recentlyappointed Bishop.

'Power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring.'

'Two classes of men occupy high station: those whose time has been spent in thinking how it could be attained; and those who have mainly bestowed their attention on the use that should be made of it when attained. Were there no world but this, the conduct of the latter would justly be reckoned preposterous; they would be regarded as 'seers of visions and dreamers of dreams.' When, however, they do by chance find themselves preferred, they are not only well disposed but ready qualified to use their advantages rightly; for the art of true obedience is the best guide to the art of true command. On the contrary, he who has thought only of the means by which he might climb, however good his intentions, is generally somewhat abroad when he has completed the ascent. He is like those whom we frequently meet, that have spent the best part of their life in

making a fortune, and then do not know what to do with it. Eager to get up, they forget to determine the nature of the ground on which they stand, and they consider not how it is related to that which they desire to attain: when they have ascended, their former station is at too great a distance to be surveyed accurately, and the reciprocal influences cannot be understood, because one side is removed beyond the reach of observation.' (Page 329.)

'After a time set before thee thine own example.'

There is a strong temptation to sacrifice the consciousness. of individuality for the sympathy of the multitude. The peril of being seduced from our proper orbit is not less great, when we seek to join, than when we try to avoid others. There are those who are willing to err with Plato, and there are those who are unwilling to go right with Epicurus. A cause is not necessarily good because some good men have favoured it, nor necessarily bad because bad men have supported it; yet we all know that many well-meaning men voted against the abolition of the slave-trade, because it was advocated by some partisans of the French Revolution.

'It might at first sight appear that the absurdities of party, so obvious to every thinking man, would render the adoption of a right course a matter of no very great difficulty; indeed, an aphorism is already provided for our guidance, which apparently is as simple and easy as the rule of party itself: 'Steer clear of both parties; hold the middle course.' But simple and sound as the maxim may appear, its validity will be greatly weakened by a close examination. Both parties are not absolutely wrong; each is partially wrong and partially right; to keep always equidistant from both is to keep away from the truths as well as from the falsehoods, and to expose yourself to the chance, or rather to the certainty, of being influenced by each in turn.

It is impossible for a man to realize the fable of Mohammed's coffin, and remain for ever balanced between equipollent attractions; but he may oscillate like a pendulum between the two extremes. In such a case, he will yield to both parties, be duped by both, and be despised by all. The truly independent course is to act as if party had no existence; to follow that which is wisest and best in itself, irrespective of the side which

makes the loudest claim to the monopoly of goodness. No doubt, such a course will often approach, or rather be ap proached by, the orbit of one party at one time, and the other at another, just as each of them chances to come the nearer to what is really right. Nay more, as each party does possess some truth mingled with its falsehoods, it is perfectly possible to be identified with one of two bigoted and opposed parties on some special question, and to be similarly identified with the other party on a different question.

These coincidences may be called the Nodes of the different orbits; and when they occur, the proper movements are most subject to disturbing influences. The attraction of party varies inversely as the square of the distance; when you are brought near a powerful and organized mass, there is a strong temptation to pass over the intervening space.' (Pages 46-48.)

The demand on a great man's liberality is greatly increased if he holds himself aloof from party; for this offence, forgiveness can only be purchased by a very lavish system of disbursements; and, after all, he must be prepared to find that every shilling bestowed by party-men is equivalent to his pound. It is not necessary to dilate on the merits of prudent economy, but assuredly nowhere is such a virtue more indispensably required than when demands on expenditure are regulated, not by realities, but by imaginations.

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'Great as is the evil of having your expenditure of money and time measured by the imagination of persons who do not trouble themselves to investigate realities, the evil is fearfully aggravated by the diversity of objects to which each set of imaginings refers. Those who surround you seem to act literally on Swift's advice to servants, each of whom is recommended to do his best in his own particular department, to spend the whole of his master's property. Thus it is with your money and time: every person seems to expect that both should be bestowed on his favourite project to their extreme amount; and no one is disposed to take into account that there are other claims and demands which should not be abridged in their fair proportions. There will be a combination to entrap you into a practical exemplification of 'the sophism of composition;' men will say, you can afford this, that, or the other expense: forgetting that all together will ruin you.' (Page 84.)

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