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moralift in the heathen world, the great and immortal Socrates, feli a facrifice to this pernicious talent: ridicule first mifreprefented, and afterwards deftroyed him: the deluded multitude condemned him, not for what he was, but for what he appeared to be, an enemy to the religion of his country.

The folly and depravity of mankind will always furnish out a fufficient fund for ridicule; and when we confider how vaft and fpacious a field the little scene of human life affords for malice and ill-nature, we fhall not fo much wonder to fee the lover of ridicule rejoicing in it. Here he has always an opportunity of gratifying his pride, and fatiating his malevolence: from the frailties and abfurdities of others, he forms a wreath to adorn his own brow; gathers together, with all his art, the failings and imperfections of others, and offers them up a facrifice to felf love. The lowef and moft abandoned of mankind can ridicule the most exalted beings; those who never could boat of their own perfection,

Nor raife their thoughts beyond the earth they

tread,

Even thefe can cenfure, thofe can dare deride
A Bacon's avarice, or a Tully's pride.

It were well indeed for mankind, if ridicule would confine itself to the frailties and imperfections of human nature, and not extend its baleful influence over the few good qualities and perfections of it: but there is not perhaps a virtue to be named, which may not, by the medium through which it is feen, be diftorted into a vice. The glafs of ridicule reflects things not only darkly, but falfely alfo: it always ditcolours the objects before it ventures to reprefent them to us. The pureft metal, by the mixture of a bafe alloy, fhall feem changed to the meaneft. Ridicule, in the fame manner, will cloath prudence in the garb of avarice, call courage rafhnefs, and brand good-nature with the name of prodigality; will laugh at the compaffionate man for his weakness, the ferious man for his precifenefs, and the pious man for his hypocrify.

Modefly is one of virtue's beft fupports; and it is obfervable, that wherever this amiable quality is moft eminently confpicuous, ridicule is always ready to attack and overthrow it. The man of wit and humour is never fo happy as when he can rane the blush of ingenuous merit, or stamp

the marks of deformity and guilt on the features of innocence and beauty. Thus may our perfections confpire to render us both unhappy and contemptible!

The lover of ridicule will, no doubt, plead in the defence of it, that his defign is to reclaim and reform mankind; that he is lifted in the fervice of Virtue, and engaged in the caufe of Truth;-but I will venture to affure him, that the allies he boasts of disclaim his friendship and defpife his afliftance. Truth defires no fuch foldier to fight under his banner; Virtue wants no fuch advocate to plead for her. As it is generally exercifed, it is too great a punithment for finall faults, too light and inconfiderable for great ones: the little foibles and blemishes of a character deferve rather pity than contempt; the more atrocious crimes call for hatred and abhorrence. Thus, we fee, that in one cafe the medicine operates too powerfully, and in the other is of no effect.

I might take this opportunity to add, that ridicule is not always contented with ravaging and deftroying the works of man, God; enters even into the fanctuary, and but boldly and impioufly attacks thofe of prophanes the temple of the Most High. A late noble writer has made ufe of it to afperfe the characters and deftroy the vali dity of the writers of both the Old and New Testament; and to change the folemn truths of Chriftianity into matter of mirth and laughter. The books of Mofes are called by him fables and tales, fit only for the amufement of children: and St. Paul is treated by him as an enthufiaft, an idiot, and an avowed enemy to that religion which he profeffed. One would not furely think that there was any thing in Chriftianity fo ludicrous as to raife laughter, or to excite contempt; but on the contrary, that the nature of its precepts, and its own intrinfic excellence, would at leaft have fecured it from fuch indignities.

Nothing gives us a higher opinion of thofe ancient heathens whom our modern bigots are fo apt to defpife, than that air of piety and devotion which runs through all their writings; and though the Pagan theolegy was full of abfurdities and inconfiftencies, which the more refined fpirits among their poets and philofophers must have doubtleis defpifed, rejected, and contemned; fuch was their refpect and vene. ration for the established religion of their country, fuch their regard to decency and

ferioufnefs,

ferioufnefs, fuch their modefty and diffidence in affairs of so much weight and importance, that we very feldom meet with jet or ridicule on fubjects which they held thus facred and refpectable.

The privilege of publicly laughing at religion, and the profeffion of it, of making the laws of God, and the great concerns of eternity, the objects of mirth and ridicule, was referved for more enlightened ages; and denied the more pious heathens, to reflect difgrace and ignominy on the Chriftian æra.

It hath indeed been the fate of the beft and pureft religion in the world, to become the jet of fools; and not only, with its Divine Founder, to be fcourged and perfecuted, but with him to be mocked and fpit at, trampled on and defpifed. But to confider the dreadful confequences of ridicule on this occafion, will better become the divine than effayift; to him therefore I fhall refer it, and conclude this effay by obferving, that after all the undeferved encomiums fo lavishly beftowed on this child of wit and malice, fo univerfally approved and admired, I know of no fervice the pernicious talent of ridicule can be of, unlefs it be to raise the blush of modefty, and put virtue out of countenance; to enhance the miferies of the wretched, and pollon the feast of happiness; to infult man, affront God; to make us, in fhort, hateful to our fellow-creatures, uneasy to ourselves, and highly difpleafing to the Almighty. Smollet.

§ It is the fate of almoft every paffion, when it has paffed the bounds which nature prefcribes, to counteract its own purpose. Too much rage hinders the warrior from circumipetion; and too much eagernefs of proft hurts the credit of the trader. Too mach ardour takes away from the lover that eafinefs of addrefs with which ladies are delighted. Thus extravagance, though dictated by vanity, and incited by voluptuoufnefs, feldom procures ultimately either applaufe or pleasure.

113. On Prodigality.

If praife be justly eftimated by the character of thofe from whom it is received, httle fatisfaction will be given to the fpendthrift by the encomiums which he purchases. For who are they that animate him in his purfuits, but young men, thoughtless and abandoned like himself, unacquainted with all on which the wifdom of nations has imprefied the ftamp of excellence, and de

void alike of knowledge and of virtue? By whom is his profufion praifed, but by wretches who confider him as fubfervient to their purposes; Syrens that entice him to fhipwreck; and Cyclops that are gaping to devour him?

Every man whofe knowledge, or whofe virtue, can give value to his opinion, looks with fcorn or pity (neither of which can afford much gratification to pride) on him whom the panders of luxury have drawn into the circle of their influence, and whom he fees parcelled out among the different minifters of folly, and about to be torn to pieces by tailors and jockies, vintners and attornies; who at once rob and ridicule him, and who are fecretly triumphing over his weaknefs, when they, prefent new incitements to his appetite, and heighten his defires by counterfeited applaufe.

Such is the praife that is purchafed by prodigality. Even when it is yet not dif covered to be falfe, it is the praife only of thofe whom it is reproachful to pleafe, and whofe fincerity is corrnpted by their intereft; men who live by the riots which they encourage, and who know, that whenever their pupil grows wife, they fhall lofe their power. Yet with fuch flatteries, if they could laft, might the cravings of vanity, which is feldom very delicate, be fatisfied: but the time is always haftening forward, when this triumph, poor as it is, fhall vanish, and when thofe who now furround him with obfequioufnefs and compli ments, fawn among his equipage, and animate his riots, fhall turn upon him with infolence, and reproach him with the vices promoted by themselves.

And as little pretenfions has the man, who fquanders his eftate by vain or vicious expences, to greater degrees of pleafure than are obtained by others. To make any happiness fincere, it is necefiary that we believe it to be lafting; fince whatever we fuppofe ourselves in danger of lofing, must be enjoyed with folicitude and uneafinefs, and the more value we fet upon it, the more muft the prefent poffeffion be imbittered. How can he, then, be envied for his felicity, who knows that its continuance cannot be expected, and who is confcious that a very thort time will give him up to the gripe of poverty, which will be harder to be borne, as he has given way to more exceffes, wantoned in greater abundance, and indulged his appetite with more profufenefs.

It appears evident, that frugality is ne 9 ceffary

ceffary even to compleat the pleasure of expence; for it may be generally remarked of thofe who fquander what they know their fortune not fufficient to allow, that in their moft jovial expence there always breaks out fome proof of difcontent and impatience; they either featter with a kind of wild defperation and affected lavifhnefs, as criminals brave the gallows when they connot escape it; or pay their money with a peevish anxiety, and endeavour at once to fpend idly, and to fave meanly; having neither firmness to deny their paffions, nor courage to gratify them, they murmur at their own enjoyments, and poifon the bowl of pleasure by reflection on the cost.

Among thefe men there is often the vociferation of merriment, but very feldom the tranquillity of chearfulness; they inflame their imaginations to a kind of momentary jollity, by the help of wine and riot; and confider it as the firft bufinefs of the night to ftupify recollection, and lay that reafon afleep, which difturbs their gaiety, and calls upon them to retreat from ruin.

But this poor broken fatisfaction is of fhort continuance, and must be expiated by a long feries of mifery and regret. In a fhort time the creditor grows impatient, the laft acre is fold, the paffions and appetites ftill continue their tyranny, with inceffant calls for their ufual gratifications and the remainder of life paffes away in vain repentance, or impotent defire.

$114. On Honour.

Rambler,

i

Every principle that is a motive to good actions ought to be encouraged, fince men are of fo different a make, that the fame principle does not work equally upon all minds. What fome men are prompted to by confcience, duty, or religion, which are only different names for the fame thing, others are prompted to by honour.

The fenfe of honour is of fo fine and delicate a nature, that it is only to be met with in minds which are naturally noble, or in fuch as have been cultivated by great examples, or a refined education. This effay therefore is chiefly defigned for thofe, who by means of any of thefe advantages are, or ought to be, actuated by this glorious principle.

But as nothing is more pernicious than a principle of action, when it is mifunderftood, I fhall confider honour with refpect to three forts of men. First of all, with

X

regard to those who have a right notion of it. Secondly, with regard to those who have a mistaken notion of it. And thirdly, with regard to thofe who treat it as chime, rical, and turn it into ridicule.

In the first place, true honour, though it be a different principle from religion, is that which produces the fame effects. The lines of action, though drawn from different parts, terminate in the fame point. Religion embraces virtue as it is enjoined by the laws of God; honour, as it is graceful and ornamental to human nature. The religious man fears, the man of honour fcorns, to do an ill action. The latter confiders vice as fomething that is beneath him; the other, as fomething that is offenfive to the Divine Being: the one, as what is unbecoming; the other, as what is forbidden. Thus Seneca fpeaks in the natural and genuine language of a man of honour, when he declares "that were there no God to fee or punish vice, he would not commit it, because it is of fo mean, so base, and fo vile a nature."

I fhall conclude this head with the de

fcription of honour in the part of young Juba:

Honour's a facred tie, the law of kings,

The noble mind's diftinguifhing perfection,
That aids and ftrengthens virtue when it
meets her,

And imitates her actions where she is not;
It ought not to be fported with. CATO.

In the fecond place, we are to confider thofe, who have mistaken notions of honour. And thefe are fuch as eftablish any thing to themfelves for a point of honour, which is contrary either to the laws of God, or of their country; who think it more honourable to revenge, than to forgive an injury; who make no fcruple of telling a lye, but would put any man to death that accufes them of it; who are more careful to guard their reputation by their courage than by their virtue. True fortitude is indeed fo becoming in human nature, that he who wants it fcarce deferves the name of a man; but we find several who fo much abufe this notion, that they place the whole idea of honour in a kind of brutal courage; by which means we have had many among us, who have called themselves men of honour, that would have been a difgrace to a gibbet. In a word, the man who facrifices any duty of a reasonable creature to a prevailing mode or fashion; who looks upon any thing as honourable that is difpleafing to his Maker, or deftructive to fo

ciety;

§ 115. On Modefty.

I know no two words that have been more abused by the different and wrong interpretations, which are put upon them, than thefe two, Modefty and Affurance.

times indeed paffes for a good character; but at prefent is very often used to fignify a fheepish, awkward fellow, who has neither good-breeding, politeness, nor any knowledge of the world.

ciety; who thinks himself obliged by this principle to the practice of fome virtues, and not of others, is by no means to be reckoned among true men of honour. Timogenes was a lively inftance of one actuated by falfe honour. Timogenes would fmile at a man's jell who ridiculed his Ma-To fay fuch a one is a modeft man, fomeker, and at the same time run a man through the body that spoke ill of his friend. Timogenes would have fcorned to have betrayed a fecret that was intrufted with him, though the fate of his country depended upon the difcovery of it. Timogenes took away the life of a young fellow in a duel, for having fpoken ill of Belinda, a lady whom he himself had feduced in her youth, and betrayed into want and ignominy. To clofe his character, Timogenes, after having ruined feveral poor tradefmen's families who had trusted him, fold his eftate to fatisfy his creditors; but, like a man of honour, difpofed of all the money he could make of it, in paying off his play debts, or, to fpeak in his own language, his debts of honour.

In the third place, we are to confider thofe perfons, who treat this principle as chimerical, and turn it into ridicule. Men who are profeffedly of no honour, are of a more profigate and abandoned nature than even thofe who are actuated by falfe notions of it; as there is more hope of an heretic than of an atheift. Thefe fons of famy confider honour, with old Syphax in the play before-mentioned, as a fine imagicary notion that leads aftray young unexperienced men, and draws them into real chiefs, while they are engaged in the parfait of a fhadow. Thefe are generally perions who, in Shakespeare's phrafe," are worn and hackneyed in the ways of men;" weefe imaginations are grown callous, and have loft all thofe delicate fentiments which are natural to minds that are innocent and undepraved. Such old battered mifcreants ridicule every thing as romantic, that comes in competition with their prefent intereft; and treat thofe perfons as vifionaries, who dare to fand up, in a corrupt age, for what has not its immediate reward joined to it. The talents, intereft, or experience of fuch men, make them very often ufeful in all parties, and at all times. But whatever wealth and dignities they may arrive at, they ought to confider, that every one ftands as a blot in the annals of his country, who arrives at the temple of honour by any other way than through that of virtue.

Guardian.

Again: A man of affurance, though at first it only denoted a perfon of a free and open carriage, is now very ufually applied to a profligate wretch, who can break through all the rules of decency and morality without a blush.

I shall endeavour, therefore, in this effay, to restore these words to their true meaning, to prevent the idea of Modesty from being confounded with that of Sheepifhnefs, and to hinder Impudence from paffing for Affurance.

If I was put to define Modefty, I would call it, The reflection of an ingenuous mind, either when a man has committed an action for which he cenfures himself, or fancies that he is expofed to the censure of others.

For this reafon, a man, truly modeft, is as much fo when he is alone as in company; and as fubject to a blush in his clofet as when the eyes of multitudes are upon him.

I do not remember to have met with any inftance of modefty with which I am fo well pleafed, as that celebrated one of the young Prince, whofe father, being a tributary king to the Romans, had feveral complaints laid against him before the fenate, as a tyrant and oppreffor of his fubjects. The Prince went to Rome to defend his father; but coming into the fenate, and hearing a multitude of crimes proved upon him, was fo oppreffed when it came to his turn to fpeak, that he was unable to utter a word. The story tells us, that the fathers were more moved at this inftance of modefty and ingenuity, than they could have been by the most pathetic oration; and, in fhort, pardoned the guilty father for this early promife of virtue in the fon.

I take Affurance to be, The faculty of poffeffing a man's felf, or of faying and doing indifferent things without any uneafinefs or emotion in the mind. That which generally gives a man affurance, is a moderate knowledge of the world; but above

all,

all, a mind fixed and determined in itself to do nothing against the rules of honour and decency. An open and assured behaviour is the natural confequence of fuch a refolution. A man thus armed, if his words or actions are at any time misinterpreted, retires within himself, and from a confciousness of his own integrity, affumes force enough to defpife the little cenfures of ignorance or malice.

Every one ought to cherish and encourage in himself the modefty and affurance I have here mentioned.

A man without affurance is liable to be made uneafy by the folly or ill-nature of every one he converfes with. A man with out modefty is loft to all fenfe of honour and virtue.

It is more than probable, that the Prince above-mentioned poffeffed both thofe qualifications in a very eminent degree. Without affurance, he would never have undertaken to speak before the moft auguft affembly in the world; without modefty, he would have pleaded the cause he had taken upon him, though it had appeared ever fo fcandalous.

From what has been faid, it is plain that modefty and affurance are both amiable, and may very well meet in the fame perfon. When they are thus mixed and blended together, they compofe what we endeavour to exprefs, when we fay, a modeft affurance; by which we understand, the juft mean between bathfulness and impudence.

I fhall conclude with obferving, that as the fame man may be both modest and affured, fo it is alfo poffible for the fame perfon to be both impudent and bafhful.

We have frequent inftances of this odd kind of mixture in people of depraved minds and mean education; who, though they are not able to meet a man's eyes, or pronounce a fentence without confufion, can voluntarily commit the greatest villainies or molt indecent actions.

Such a perfon feems to have made a refolution to do ill, even in fpite of himself, and in defiance of all thofe checks and re

ftraints his temper and complexion feem to have laid in his way.

Upon the whole, I would endeavour to eftablish this maxim, That the practice of virtue is the moft proper method to give a man a becoming affurance in his words and actions. Guilt always feeks to fhelter itfelf in one of the extremes; and is fometimes attended with both. Speciater.

§ 116. On difinterested Friendship.

I am informed that certain Greek writers (Philofophers, it feems, in the opinion of their countrymen) have advanced fome very extraordinary pofitions relating to friendship; as, indeed, what fubject is there, which thefe fubtle geniufes have not tortured with their fophiitry?

The authors to whom I refer, diffuade their difciples from entering into any ftrong attachments, as unavoidably creating fupernumerary difquietudes to those who engage in them; and, as every man has more than fufficient to call forth his folicitude in the courfe of his own affairs, it is a weakness they contend, anxioufly to involve himself in the concerns of others. They recommend it alfo, in all connections of this kind, to hold the bands of union extremely loofe; fo as always to have it in one's power to ftraiten or relax them, as circumstances and fituations fhall render most expedient. They add, as a capital article of their doctrine, that "to live exempt from cares, is an effential ingredient to conftitute human happinefs: but an ingredient, however, which he, who voluntarily diftreffes himself with cares in which he has no neceffary and perfonal intereft, must never hope to poffefs."

I have been told likewife, that there is another fet of pretended philofophers, of the fame country, whofe tenets, concerning this fubject, are of a ftill more illiberal and ungenerous caft.

The propofition they attempt to eftablish, is, that " friendship is an affair of felf-intereft entirely, and that the proper motive for engaging in it, is, not in order to gratify the kind and benevolent affections, but for the benefit of that affiftance and fupport which is to be derived from the connection." Accordingly they affert, that thofe perfons are moft difpofed to have recourfe to auxiliary alliances of this kind, who are least qualified by nature, or fortune, to depend upon their own strength and powers: the weaker fex, for instance, being generally more inclined to engage in friend hips, than the male part of our fpecies; and thofe who are depreft by indigence, or labouring under misfortunes, than the wealthy and the profperous.

Excellent and obliging fages, thefe, undoubtedly! To ftrike out the friendly affections from the moral world, would be like extinguishing the fun in the natural;

each

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