Ir 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 cenfure 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 closet, 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 so well pleased, 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 speak, that he was unable to utter a word. The story tells us, that the fathers were more moved at this inftance of modesty and ingenuity, than they could have been by the moft 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, a mind fixed and determined in itself to do nothing against the rules of honour and decency. An open and affured behaviour is the natural confequence of fuch a refolution. A man thus armed, if his words or actions are at any time mifinterpreted, retires within himself, and from a consciousness of his own integrity, affumes force enough to despise the little cenfures of ignorance or malice,

EVERY

EVERY one ought to cherish and encourage in himself the modesty 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 without modefty is loft to all fenfe of honour and virtue.

It is more than probable, that the Prince above-mentioned poffeffed both thefe qualifications in a very eminent degree, Without affurance he would never have undertaken to speak before the most auguft affembly in the world; without modefty he would have pleaded the cause he had taken upom 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 just mean between bafhfulness and impudence.

I SHALL conclude with observing, that as the fame man. may be both modest and assured, so it is also 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 villanies, or most 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 restraints his temper and complexion seem to have laid in his way..

UPON the whole, I would endeavour to establish this maxim,, That the practice of virtue is the most proper method to give a man. a. becoming affurance in his words and

actions. Guilt always feeks to fhelter itself in one of the extremes, and is fometimes attended with both.

SPECTATOR.

I

CHA P. II.

ON CHEERFULNESS.

HAVE always preferred Cheerfulness to Mirth. The latter I confider as an act, the former as a habit of the mind. Mirth is fhort and tranfient, cheerfulness fixed and permanent. Thofe are often raifed into the greatest tranfports of mirth, who are fubject to the greatest depreffions of melancholy on the contrary, cheerfulnefs, though it does not give the mind fuch an exquifite gladness, prevents us from falling into any depths of forrow. Mirth is like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloom of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfulness keeps up a kind of day-light in the mind, and fills it with a steady and perpetual ferenity.

MEN of auftere principles look upon mirth as too wanton and diffolute for a state of probation, and as filled with a certain triumph and infolence of heart that is inconfiftent with a life which is every moment obnoxious to the greatest dangers. Writers of this complexion have obferved, that the facred Perfon who was the great pattern of perfection, was never feen to laugh.

CHEERFULNESS of mind is not liable to any of these exceptions; it is of a ferious and composed nature; it does not throw the mind into a condition improper for the prefent ftate of humanity, and is very confpicuous in the characters of thofe who are looked upon as the greatest philofophers among the Heathens, as well as among those who have been

defervedly

deservedly esteemed as faints and holy men among Chrif

tians.

If we confider cheerfulness in three lights, with regard to ourselves, to those we converfe with, and to the great Author of our being, it will not a little recommend itself on each of thefe accounts. The man who is poffeffed of this excellent frame of mind, is not only eafy in his thoughts, but a perfect mafter of all the powers and faculties of his foul: his imagination is always clear, and his judgment undisturbed his temper is even and unruffled, whether in action or in folitude. He comes with a relifh to all thofe goods which nature has provided for him, taftes all the pleafures of the creation which are poured upon him, and does not feel the full weight of thofe accidental evils which may befal him.

If we confider him in relation to the perfons wliom he converses with, it naturally produces love and good-will towards him. A cheerful mind is not only difposed to be affable and obliging, but raifes the fame good-humour in those who come within its influence. A man finds himfelf pleafed, he does not know why, with the cheerfulness of his companion: it is like a fudden funfhine that awakens a facred delight in the mind, without her attending to it. The heart rejoices of its own accord, and naturally flows out into friendship and benevolence towards the perfon who has fo kindly an effect upon it.

WHEN I Confider this chearful fate of mind in its third relation, I cannot but look upon it as a conftant habitual gratitude to the Author of nature. An inward cheerfulness is an implicit praife and thankfgiving to Providence under all its difpenfations. It is a kind of acquiefcence in the flate.

;

wherein we are placed, and a fecret approbation of the Divine will in his conduct towards man.

A MAN, who uses his best endeavours to live according to the dictates of virtue and right reafon, has two perpetual fources of cheerfulnefs in the confideration of his own nature, and of that Being on whom he has a dependence. If he looks into himself, he cannot but rejoice in that existence, which is fo lately bestowed upon him, and which, after millions of ages, will be ftill new, and still in its beginning. How many felf-congratulations naturally rife in the mind, when it reflects on this its entrance into eternity; when it takes a view of those improveable faculties, which in a few years, and even at its firft fetting out, have made fo confiderable a progrefs, and which will be ftill receiving an increase of perfection, and confequently an increafe of happinefs? The consciousness of fuch a being fpreads a perpetual diffufion of joy through the foul of a virtuous man, and makes him look upon himself every moment as more happy than he knows how to conceive.

THE fecond fource of cheerfulness to a good mind, is its confideration of that Being on whom we have our dependence, and in whom, though we behold him as yet but in the first faint difcoveries of his perfections, we fee every thing that we can imagine as great, glorious, or amiable. We find ourfelves every where upheld by his goodnefs, and. furrounded with an immenfity of love and mercy. In short, we depend upon a Being, whofe power qualifies him to make us happy by an infinity of means, whose goodness and truth engage him to make those happy who defire it of him, and whofe unchangeableness will fecure us in this happiness to all eternity.

SUCH