However this is the least uncertain Foundation: Fundamental is less improperly applied here than any where else.
Wise and good Men will in all Ages stick to some Fundamentals, look upon them as sacred, and preserve an inviolable Respect for them;but Mankind in general make Morality a more malleable thing than it ought to be.
There is then no certain Fundamental but inNature, and yetthereare Objections too. It is a Fundamental in Nature that the Son should not kill the Father, and yet the Senate ofVenicegave a Reward to a Son who brought in his Father’s Head, according to a Proclamation.
Salus Populiis an unwritten Law, yet that doth not hinder but that it is sometimes very visible; and as often as it is so, it supersedeth all other Laws which are subordinate Things compared.
The great Punishments upon Self-murder, are Arguments that it was rather a tempting Sin to be discouraged than an unnatural Act.
It is a Fundamental that where a Man intendeth no hurt he should receive none, yet Manslaughter,&c.are Cases of Mercy.
That a Boy under Ten shall not suffer Death, yet whereMalitia supplet ætatem, otherwise.
That there were Witches—much shaken of late.
That the King is not to be deceived in his Grant—The practical Fundamental the contrary.
That what is given to God cannot be alienated. Yet in practice it is, Treaties,&c.and even by the Church itself, when they get a better bargain by it.
I can make no other Definition of a true Fundamental than this:viz.That whatever a Man hath a desire to do or to hinder, if he hath uncontested and irresistable Power toeffect it, that he will certainly do it.
If he thinketh he hath that Power, though he hath it not, he will certainly go about it.
Some would define a Fundamental to be the settling the Laws of Nature and common Equity in such a sort as that they may be well administered: even in this case there can be nothingfixed, but it mustvaryfor the Good of the whole.
A Constitution cannot make itself; some body made it, not at once but at several times. It is alterable; and by that draweth nearer Perfection; and without suiting itself to differing Times and Circumstances, it could not live. Its Life is prolonged by changing seasonably the several Parts of it at several times.
The Reverence that is given to a Fundamental, in a general unintelligibleNotion, would be much better applyed to thatSupremacy or Powerwhich is set up in every Nation in differing Shapes, that altereth the Constitution as often as the Good of the People requireth it.
NeitherKingnorPeoplewould now like just theoriginal Constitution, without any varyings.
If Kings are only answerable to God, that doth not secure them even in this World; since if God upon the Appeal thinketh fit not to stay, he maketh the People his Instruments.
I am persuaded that where ever any single Man had Power to do himself right upon adeceitful Trustee, he would do it. That Thought well digested would go a great way towards the discouraging Invasions upon Rights,&c.
I lay down then as a Fundamental, 1st, that in every Constitution there issome Powerwhich neither will nor ought to be bounded.
2. That the King’s Prerogative should be asplaina thing as the People’s Obedience.
3. That a Power which may by parity of Reason destroy the whole Laws, can never be reserved by the Laws.
4. That in all limited Governments it must give the Governor Power tohurt, but it can never be so interpreted as to give him Power todestroy, for then in effect it would cease to be a limited Government.
5. That Severity be rare and great; for asTacitussayeth ofNero, “Frequent Punishments made the People call even his Justice Cruelty.”
6. That it is necessary to make the Instruments of Power easy; forPower is hard enough to be digested by those under it at the best.
7. That the People are never so perfectly backed, but that they will kick and sting if not stroked at seasonable times.
8. That a Prince must think if he loseth his People he can never regain them.
It is both wise and safe to think so.
9. That Kings assuming Prerogative teach the People to do so too.
10. That Perogative is a Trust.
11. That they are not theKing’s Laws, nor theParliament’s Laws, but theLaws of England, in which after they have passed by the Legislative Power, the People have theProperty, and the King theExecutivepart.
12. That no Abilities should qualify a noted Knave to be employed in Business. A Knave canby none of his Dexterities make amends for the Scandal he bringeth upon the Crown.
13. That those who will not be bound by theLaws, rely uponCrimes: a third way was never found in the World to secure any Government.
14. That a Seaman be a Seaman; a Cabinet-Counsellor a Man of Business; an Officer, an Officer.
15. In corrupted Governments the Place is given for the sake of the Man; in good ones the Man is chosen for the sake of the Place.
16. That Crowds at Court are made up of such as would deceive: Thereal Worshippersare few.
17. ThatSalus Populiis the greatest of all Fundamentals, yet not altogether an immoveable one. It is a Fundamental for a Ship to ride at Anchor when it is in Port, but ifa Storm cometh the Cable must be cut.
18.Propertyis not a fundamental Right in one Sense, because in the beginning of the World there was none, so that Property itself was an Innovation introduced by Laws.
Property is only secured by trusting it in the best Hands, and those are generally chosen who are least likely to deceive; but if they should, they have a legal Authority to abuse as well as use the Power with which they are trusted, and there is no Fundamental can stand in their way, or be allowed as an Exception to the Authority that was vested in them.
19.Magna Chartawould fain be made to pass for a Fundamental; and SirEdward Cokewould have it, that the Grand Charter was for themost part declaratory of the principal Grounds of the fundamental Laws ofEngland.
If that referreth to the Common Law, it must be made out that every thing inMagna Chartais always and at all times necessary in itself to be kept, or else the denying a subsequent Parliament the Right of repealing any Law doth by consequence deny the preceding Parliament the Right of making it. But they are fain to say it was only a declarative Law, which is very hard to be proved. Yet suppose it, you must either make the Common Law so stated a thing that all Men know it before-hand, or else universally acquiesce in it whenever it is alledged, from the Affinity it hath to the Law of Nature. Now I would fain know whether the Common Law is capable of being defined, and whetherit doth not hover in the Clouds like the Prerogative, and bolteth out like Lightening to be made use of for some particular Occasion? If so, the Government of the World is left to a thing that cannot be defined; and if it cannot be defined, you know not what it is; so that the supream Appeal is, we know not what. We submit to God Almighty though he is incomprehensible, and yet He hath set down His Methods; but for this World, there can be no Government without a stated Rule, and a Supream Power not to be controled neither by the Dead nor the Living.
The Laws under the Protection of the King govern in the ordinary Administration; the extraordinary Power is in Acts of Parliament, from whence there can be no Appeal but to the same Power at another time.
To say a Power is Supream, and not Arbitrary, is not Sense. It is acknowledg’d Supream, and therefore,&c.
If the Common Law is Supream, then those are so who judge what is the Common Law; and if none but the Parliament can judge so, there is an end of the Controversy; there is noFundamental; for the Parliament may judge as they please, that is, they have the Authority, but they may judge against Right, their Power is good, though their Act is ill; no good Man will outwardly resist the one, or inwardly approve the other.
There is then no other Fundamental, but thatevery Supream Power must be Arbitrary.
Fundamental is a Word used by the Laity, as the Word Sacred is by the Clergy, to fix every thing tothemselves they have a mind to keep; that nobody else may touch it.
OfPrinces.
A Princewho will not undergo the Difficulty of Understanding, must undergo the Danger of Trusting.
A wise Prince may gain such an Influence, that his Countenance would be the last Appeal. Where it is not so in some degree, his Authority is precarious.
A Prince must keep up the Power of his Countenance, which is not the least of his Prerogatives.
The Conscience, as well as the Prerogative of a King, must be restrained or loosened as is best for his People.
It may without Scandal be made of stretching Leather, but it must be drawn by a steady Hand.
A King that lets Intercession prevail, will not be long worshipped.
A Prince used to War getteth a military Logick that is not very well suited to the Civil Administration.
If he maketh War successfully, he groweth into a Demi-God; if without Success, the World throweth him as much below Humanity as they had before set him above it.
A Hero must be sometimes allowed to make bold Strokes, without being fettered by strict Reason.
He is to have some generous Irregularities in his Reasoning, or else he will not be a good Thing of his Kind.
Princes(their Rewards of Servants).
Whena Prince giveth any Man a very extravagant Reward, it looketh as if it was rather for an ill thing than a good one.
Both the Giver and Receiver are out of countenance where they are ill suited, and ill applyed.
Serving Princes will make Men proud at first, and humble at last.
Resolving to serve well, and at the same time resolving to please, is generally resolving to do what is not to be done.
A Man that will serve well must often rule the Master so hard that it will hurt him.
It is thought an unsociable Quality in a Court to do ones Duty better than other Men.
Nothing is less forgiven than setting Patterns Men have no mind to follow.
Men are so unwilling to displease a Prince, that it is as dangerous to inform him right, as to serve him wrong.
Where Men get by pleasing, and lose by serving, the choice is so easy that no body can miss it.
Princes,their Secrets.
Menare so proud of Princes Secrets, that they will not see the danger of them.
When a Prince trusteth a Man with a dangerous Secret, he would not be sorry to hear the Bell toll for him.
Love of the Subjects to aPrince.
TheHeart of the Subjects yieldeth but a lean Crop where it is not cultivated by a wise Prince.
The Good-will of the Governed will be starved, if it is not fed by the good Conduct of the Governors.
Suffering forPrinces.
Thosewho merit because they suffered, are so very angry with those that made them suffer, that though their Services may deserve Employment, their Temper rendereth them unfit for it.
OfMinisters.
TheWorld dealeth with Ministers of State as they do with ill Fidlers, ready to kick them down Stairs for playing ill, though few of the Fault-finders understand their Musick enough to be good Judges.
A Minister who undertaketh to make his Master very great, if he faileth, is ruin’d for his folly; if he succeedeth, he is feared for his Skill.
A good Statesman may sometimes mistake as much by being too humble as by being too proud: He must take upon him in order to do his Duty, and not in order to the setting himself out.
A Minister is not to plead the King’s Command for such things as he may in justice be supposed to have directed.
It is dangerous to serve where the Master hath the Privilege not to be blamed.
It is hard for a Prince to esteem the Parts of a Minister without either envying or fearing them; and less dangerous for a Minister to shew all the Weakness than all the Strength of his Understanding.
There are so many things necessary to make up a good Minister, that no wonder there are so few of them in the World.
There is hardly a rasher thing, than for a Man to venture to be a good Minister.
A Minister of State must have a Spirit of liberal Oeconomy, not a restrained Frugality.
He must enlarge his Family-Soul, and suit it to the bigger Compass of a Kingdom.
A Prince should be asked, why hewilldo a thing, but not why hehathdone it.
If the Boys were to choose a School-master, it should be one that would not whip them; the same thing if the Courtiers were to choose a Minister.
They would have a great many Play-days, no Rods, and leave to rob Orchards.——The Parallel will hold.
WickedMinisters.
ACunning Minister will engage his Master to begin with a small wrong Step, which will insensibly engage him in a great one.
A Man that hath the Patience to go by Steps, may deceive one much wiser than himself.
State-business is a cruel Trade; Good-nature is a Bungler in it.
Instruments ofState-Ministers.
Menin Business are in as much danger from those that work under them, as from those that work against them.
When the Instruments bend under the Weight of their Business, it is like a weak-legg’d Horse that brings his Rider down with him.
As when they are too weak they let a Man fall, so when they are too strong they throw him off.
If Men of Business did not forget how apt their Tools are to break or fail, they would shut up Shop.
They must use things calledMenunder them, who will spoil the bestScheme that can be drawn by Human Understanding.
Tools that are blunt cannot cut at all, and those that are sharp are apt to cut in the wrong place.
Great difference between a good Tool and a good Workman.
When the Tools will be Workmen they cut their own Fingers, and every body’s else.
Of thePeople.
Thereis more Strength inUnionthan inNumber; witness the People that in all Ages have been scurvily used, because they could so seldom agree to do themselves Right.
The more the weaker, may be as good a Proverb as, The more the merrier.
A People can no more stand without Government, than a Child can go without Leading-Strings: as old and as big as a Nation is, it can’t go by itself, and must be led. TheNumbersthat make its Strength, are at the same time the Cause of its Weakness and Incapacity of Acting.
Men have sodiscovered themselvestoone another, that Union is become a mere Word, in reality impracticable.
They trust, or suspect, not upon Reason but ill-grounded Fame; they would be at ease, saved, protected,&c.and give nothing for it.
The lower Sort of Men must be indulged the Consolation of finding fault with those above them; without that, they would be so melancholy, that it would be dangerous, considering their Numbers.
They are too many to be told of their Mistakes, and for that Reason they are never to be cured of them.
The Body of the People are generally either so dead that they cannot move, or so mad that they cannot be reclaimed: to be neither all in a Flame, nor quite cold, requireth more Reason than great Numbers can ever attain.
The People can seldom agree to move together against a Government, but they can to sit still and let it be undone.
Those that will be Martyrs for the People, must expect to be repayed only by theirVanity, or theirVirtue.
A Man that will head the Mob is like a Bull let loose, tyed about with Squibs and Crackers.
He must be half mad that goeth about it, yet at sometimes shall be too hard for all the wise Men in aKingdom: For though good Sense speaketh against Madness, yet it is out of Countenance whenever it meets it.
It would be a greater Reproach to the People that theirFavouris short-liv’d, if theirMalicewas not so too.
The Thoughts of the People have no regular Motion, they come out by Starts.
There is an accumulative Cruelty in a number of Men, though none in particular are ill-natured.
The angry Buzz of a Multitude is one of the bloodiest Noises in the World.
OfGovernment.
Anexact Administration, and good choice of proper Instruments doth insensibly make theGovernment in a manner absolute without assuming it.
The best Definition of the best Government is, that it hath no Inconveniences but such as are supportable; but Inconveniences there must be.
The Interest of the Governors and the Governed is in reality the same, but by Mistakes on both Sides it is generally very differing. He who is a Courtier by Trade, and the Country Gentleman who will be popular, right or wrong, help to keep up this unreasonable Distinction.
There are as many apt to be angry at being well, as at being ill governed. For most Men to be well governed must be scurvily used.
As Mankind is made, the keeping it in order is an ill-natured Office.
It is like a great Galley where the Officers must be whipping with littleIntermission, if they will do their Duty.
It is in a disorderly Government as in a River, the lightest Things swim at the top.
A Nation is best to be judged by the Government it is under at the time. Mankind is moulded to good or ill, according as the Power over it is well or ill directed. A Nation is a Mass of Dough, it is the Government that kneadeth it into Form.
Where Learning and Trade flourish in a Nation, they produce so much Knowledge, and That so much Equality among Men, that the Greatness of Dependencies is lost, but the Nation in general will be the better for it: For if the Government be wise, it is the more easily governed; if not, the bad Government is the more easily overturned, by Mens being more united against it than whenthey depended upon great Men; who might sooner be gained over and weakend by being divided.
There is more reason for allowingLuxuryin a Military Government than in another; the perpetual Exercise of War not only excuseth but recommendeth the Entertainments in the Winter. In another it groweth into a Habit of uninterrupted Expences and idle Follies, and the Consequences of them to a Nation become irrecoverable.
CLERGY.
Ifthe Clergy did not live like temporal Men, all the Power of Princes could not bring them under the temporal Jurisdiction.
They who may be said to be of God Almighty’s Houshold, should shew by their Lives that he hath a well disciplined Family.
The Clergy in this Sense, of Divine Institution; that God hath made Mankind so weak that it must be deceived.
RELIGION.
Itis a strange thing that the way to save Mens Souls should be such a cunning Trade, as to require a skilful Master.
The time spent in praying to God, might be better employed in deserving well from him.
Men think praying the easier Task of the two, and therefore choose it.
The People would not believe in God at all, if they were not permitted to believe wrong in him.
The several Sorts of Religion in the World are little more than so many spiritual Monopolies.
If their Interests could be reconciled, their Opinions would be so too.
Men pretend to serve God Almighty who doth not need it, but make use of him because they need him.
Factions are like Pirates that set out false Colours, when they come near a Booty Religion is put under Deck.
Most Mens Anger about Religion is as if two Men should quarrel for a Lady, they neither of them care for.
OfPrerogative,PowerandLiberty.
APrerogative that tendeth to the Dissolution of all Laws must be void in itself,felo de se; for a Prerogative is a Law. The reason of any Law is, that no Man’s Will should be a Law.
The King is the Life of the Law, and cannot have a Prerogative that is mortal to it.
The Law is to have a Soul in it, or it is a dead thing. The King is by his Sovereign Power to add Warmth and Vigour to the meaning of the Law. We are by no means to imagine there is such an Antipathy between them, that the Prerogative, like a Basilisk, is to kill the Law, whenever it looks upon it.
The Prince hath very rarely use of his Prerogative, but hathconstantly a great Advantage by the Laws.
They attribute to the Pope indeed, that all the Laws of the Church are in his Breast; but then he hath the Holy Ghost for his learned Counsel,&c.
The People’s Obedience must beplain, and withoutEvasions. The Prince’s Prerogative should be so too.
KingCharles the Firstmade this Answer to the Petition of Right, (to the Observation whereof he held himself obliged in Conscience, as well as of his Prerogative.) “That the People’s Liberties strengthen the King’s Prerogative, and the King’s Prerogative is to defend the People’s Liberties.”
That Prince’s Declarations allow the Original of Government to comefrom the People. Prerogative never yet pretended to repealing.
The first ground of Prerogative was to enable the Prince to dogood, not to doevery thing.
If the ground of a King’s desire of Power be his assurance of himself that he will do no hurt by it; is it not an Argument for Subjects to desire tokeepthat which they will neverabuse?
It must not be such a Prerogative as giveth the Government the Rickets; all the Nourishment to go to the upper part, and the lower starved.
As a Prince is in danger who calleth a stronger than himself to his Assistance; so when Prerogative usethNecessityfor an Argument, it calleth in a stronger thing than itself. The same Reason may overturn it. Necessity too is so plain a thing, that every body sees it, so that theMagistrate hath no great privilege in being the Judge of it. Necessity therefore is a dangerous Argument for Princes, since (wherever it is real) it constitutes every Man a Magistrate, and gives as great a Power of dispensing to every private Man, as a Prince can claim.
It is not so proper to say thatPrerogativejustifiethForce, as thatForcesupportethPrerogative. They have not been such constant Friends, but that they have had terribleFallingsout.
All Powers are of God; and betweenPermissionandAppointment, well considered, there is no real difference.
In a limited Monarchy, Prerogative and Liberty are as jealous of one another as any two neighbouring States can be of their respective Incroachments.
They ought not to part for small Bickerings, and must bear little Jealousies without breaking for them.
Power is so apt to be insolent, and Liberty to be saucy, that they are very seldom upon good Terms.
They are both so quarrelsome that they will not easily enter into a fair Treaty. For indeed it is hard to bring them together; they ever quarrel at a distance.
Power and Liberty are respectively managed in the World in a manner not suitable to their Value and Dignity.
They are both so abused that it justifieth the Satires that are generally made upon them. And
They are so in Possession of being misapplied, that instead of censuring their being abused, it is more reasonable to wonder whenever they arenotso.
They are perpetually wrestling, and have had their Turns when they have been thrown, to have their Bones broken by it.
If they were not both apt to be out of Breath, there would be no living.
If Prerogative will urge Reason to support it, it must bear Reason when it resisteth it.
It is a Diminution instead of a Glory, to be above treating upon equal Terms with Reason.
If the People were designed to be the sole Property of the supream Magistrate, sure God would have made them of a differing and subordinate Species; as he hath the Beasts, that by the Inferiority of their Nature they might the better submit to the Dominion of Mankind.
If none were to have Liberty but those who understand what it is,there would not be many freed Men in the World.
When the People contend for their Liberty, they seldom get any thing by their Victory but new Masters.
Liberty can neither be got, nor kept, but by so much Care, that Mankind generally are unwilling to give the Price for it. And therefore, in the Contest between Ease and Liberty, the first hath generally prevailed.
OfLaws.
Lawsare generally not understood by three Sorts of Persons,viz.by those that make them, by those that execute them, and by those that suffer, if they break them.
Men seldom understand any Laws but those theyfeel.
Precepts, like Fomentations, must be rubbed into us; and with a rough Hand too.
If the Laws could speak for themselves, they would complain of the Lawyers in the first Place.
There is more Learning now required to explain a Law made, than went to the making it.
The Law hath so many Contradictions, and Varyings from itself, that the Law may not improperly be called a Law-breaker.
It is become too changeable a thing to be defined: it is made little less aMysterythan theGospel.
The Clergy and the Lawyers, like the Free-Masons, may be supposed to take an Oath not to tell the Secret.
The Men of Law have a Biass to their calling in the Interpretations they make of the Law.
OfParliaments.
TheParliaments are so altered from their original Constitution, that between the Court and the Country, the House, instead of being united, is like Troops of a contrary Party facing one another, and watching their Advantage.
Even the well-meaning Men who have good Sense too, have their Difficulties in an Assembly; what they offer honestly for a good End, will be skilfully improved for an ill one.
It is strange that a gross Mistake should live a Minute in an Assembly; one would expect that it should be immediately stifled by their discerning Faculties. But Practice convinceth that a Mistake is no where better entertained.
In Parliaments, Men wrangle in behalf of Liberty, that do as little care for it, as they deserve it.
Where the People in Parliament give a good deal of Money in exchange for any thing from the Crown, a wise Prince can hardly have an ill bargain. The present Gift begetteth more; it is a Politick kind of Generation; and whenever a Parliament does not bring forth, it is the Unskilfulness of the Government, that is the cause of the Miscarriage.
Parliaments would bind and limit one another, and enact that such and such things shall not be madePrecedents. There is not a word of Sense in this Language, which yet is to be understood the Sense of the Nation, and is printed as solemnly as if it was Sense.
OfParties.
Thebest Party is but a kind of a Conspiracy against the rest of the Nation. They put every body else out of their Protection. Like theJewsto theGentiles, all others are the Offscowrings of the World.
Men value themselves upon their Principles, so as to neglect Practice, Abilities, Industry,&c.
Party cutteth off one half of the World from the other, so that the mutual Improvement of Mens Understanding by conversing,&c.is lost, and Men are half undone, when they lose the advantage of knowing what their Enemies think of them.
It is like Faith without Works; They take it for a Dispensation fromall other Duties, which is the worst kind ofdispensing Power.
It groweth to be the Master Thought; the Eagerness against one another at home, being a nearer Object, extinguisheth that which we ought to have against our foreign Enemies; and few Mens Understandings can get above overvaluing the Danger that is nearest, in comparison of that more remote.
It turneth all Thought into talking instead of doing. Men get a habit of being unuseful to the Publick by turning in a Circle of Wrangling and Railing, which they cannot get out of: And it may be remarked, that aspeculativeCoxcomb is not only unuseful, but mischievous: ApracticalCoxcomb under discipline may be made use of.
It maketh a Man thrust his Understanding into a Corner, and confine it till by degrees he destroys it.
Party is generally an Effect of Wantonness, Peace, and Plenty, which beget Humour, Pride,&c.and that is called Zeal and publick Spirit.
They forget insensibly that there is any body in the World but themselves, by keeping no other Company; so they miscalculate cruelly. And thus Parties mistake their Strength by the same reason that private Men overvalue themselves; for we by finding fault with others, build up a partial Esteem of ourselves upon the Foundation of their Mistakes: So Men in Parties find faults with those in the Administration, not without reason, but forget that they would be exposed to the same Objections, and perhaps greater,if it was their Adversary’s turn to have the fault-finding part.
There are Men who shine in a Faction, and make a Figure by Opposition, who would stand in a worse light, if they had the Preferments they struggle for.
It looketh so likeCourage(but nothing that is like is the same) to go to theExtream, that Men are carried away with it, and blown up out of their Senses by the wind of popular Applause.
That which lookethboldis a great Object that the People can discern; But that which iswiseis not so easily seen: It is one part of it that it is not seen, but at theEndof a Design. Those who are disposed to be wise too late, are apt to be valiant too early.
Most Men enter into a Party rashly, and retreat from it as shamefully. As they encourage one another at first, so they betray one another at last: And because every Qualification is capable of being corrupted by the Excess, they fall upon the extream, to fix mutual Reproaches upon one another.
Party is little less than an Inquisition, where Men are under such a Discipline in carrying on the common Cause, as leaves no Liberty of private Opinion.
It is hard to produce an Instance where a Party did ever succeed against a Government, except they had a good handle given them.
No original Party ever prevailed in a turn; it brought upsomething else, but the first Projectors were thrown off.
If there are two Parties, a Man ought to adhere to that which he disliketh least, though in the whole he doth not approve it: For whilst he doth not list himself in one or the other Party, he is looked upon as such a Straggler, that he is fallen upon by both. Therefore a Man under such a Misfortune of Singularity, is neither to provoke the World, nor disquiet himself, by taking any particular Station.
It becometh him to live in the Shade, and keep his Mistakes from giving Offence; but if they are his Opinions, he cannot put them off as he doth his Cloaths. Happy those who are convinced so as to be of the general Opinions.
Ignorance maketh most Men go into a Party, and Shame keepeth them from getting out of it.
More Men hurt others, they do not know why, than for any reason.
If there was any Party entirely composed of honest Men, it would certainly prevail; but both the honest Men and the Knaves resolve to turn one another off when the Business is done.
They by turns defame allEngland, so nobody can be employed that hath not been branded: There are few Things so criminal as a Place.
OfCourts.
TheCourt may be said to be a Company of well-bred fashionable Beggars.
At Court, if a Man hath too much Pride to be a Creature, he had better stay at home: A Manwho will rise at Court must begin, by creeping upon All-four: A Place at Court, like a Place in Heaven, is to be got by being much uponone’s Knees.
There are hardly two Creatures of a more differing Species than the same Man, when he is pretending to a Place, and when he is in Possession of it.
Mens Industry is spent in receiving the Rents of a Place, there is little left for discharging the Duty of it.
Some Places have such a corrupting Influence upon the Man, that it is a supernatural thing to resist it.
Some Places lye so fair to entertain Corruption, that it looketh like renouncing a due Perquisite, not to go into it.
If a getting Fool would keep out of Business, he would grow richer in a Court than a Man of Sense.
One would wonder that in a Court where there is so little Kindness, there should be so muchwhispering.
Men must brag of kind Letters from Court, at the same time that they do not believe one Word of them.
Men at Court think so much of their own Cunning, that they forget other Mens.
After a Revolution, You see thesame Menin the Drawing-room, and within a Week the sameFlatterers.
OfPunishment.
Wherevera Government knowswhentoshowthe Rod, it will not often be put touseit. But between the want of Skill, and the want of Honesty, Faults generally either escape Punishment, or are mended to no Purpose.
Men are not hang’d for stealing Horses, but that Horses may not be stolen.
Wherever a Knave is not punished, an honest Man is laugh’d at.
A Cheat to the Publick is thought infamous, and yet to accuse him is not thought an honourable part. What a Parodox! ’Tis an ill Method, to make the Aggravation of the Crime a Security against the Punishment; so that the Danger is not torob, but not torob enough.
Treason must not beinlayed Workofseveral Pieces, it must be an entire Piece of itself.Accumulativein that case is a murdering Word, that carrieth Injustice, and no Sense in it.
AnInference, though never so rational, should go no farther than to justify aSuspicion, not so far as to inflict aPunishment. Nothing is so apt to break with Stretching, as anInference; and nothing so ridiculous, as to see how Fools will abuse one.
Moral Thoughts,ANDREFLECTIONS.
Of theWorld.
Itis from the Shortness of Thought, that Men imagine there is any great Variety in the World.
Time hath thrown a Vail upon the Faults of former Ages, or else we should see the same Deformities we condemn in the present Times.
When a Man looketh upon the Rules that are made, he will think there can be no Faults in the World; and when he looketh upon the Faults, there are so many he will be tempted to think there are no Rules.
They are not to be reconciled, otherwise than by concluding that which is calledFrailtyis the incurableNatureof Mankind.
A Man that understandeth the World must be weary of it; and a Man who doth not, for that Reason ought not to be pleased with it.
The Uncertainty of what is to come, is suck a dark Cloud, that neither Reason nor Religion can quite break through it; and the Condition of Mankind is to be weary of what we do know, and afraid of what we do not.
The World is beholden togenerous Mistakesfor the greatest Part of the Good that is done in it.
OurVicesandVirtuescouple with one another, and get Children that resemble both their Parents.
If a Man can hardly inquire into a Thing he undervalueth, howcan a Man of good Sense take pains to understand the World?
To understand the World, and to like it, are two things not easily to be reconciled.
That which is called anAble Manis a great Over-valuer of the World, and all that belongeth to it.
All that can be said of him is, that he maketh the best of the General Mistake.
It is the Fools and the Knaves that make the Wheels of the World turn.Theyarethe World; those few who have Sense or Honesty sneak up and down single, but never go in Herds.
To be too muchtroubledis a worse way of over-valuing the World than the being too muchpleased.
A Man that steps aside from the World, and hath leisure to observe it without Interest or Design, thinksall Mankind as mad as they think him, for not agreeing with them in their Mistakes.
OfAmbition.
Theserious Folly of wise Men inover-valuing the World, is as contemptible as any thing they think fit to censure.
The first Mistake belonging to Business is the going into it.
Men make it such a Point of Honour to be fit for Business, that they forget to examine whether Business is fit for a Man of Sense.
There is Reason to think the most celebrated Philosophers would have been Bunglers at Business; but the Reason is because they despised it.
It is not a Reproach but a Compliment to Learning, to say, thatGreat Scholarsare less fit for Business; since the truth is, Business is so much a lower thing than Learning, that a Man used to the last cannot easily bring his Stomach down to the first.
The Government of the World is a great thing; but it is a very coarse one too, compared with the Fineness of Speculative Knowledge.
The Dependance of a great Man upon a greater, is a Subjection that lower Men cannot easily comprehend.
Ambition hath no Mean, it is either uponall fouror uponTiptoes.
Nothing can be humbler than Ambition, when it is so disposed.
Popularity is a Crime from the Moment it is sought; it is only a Virtue where Men have it whether they will or no.
It is generally an Appeal to the People from the Sentence given by Men of Sense against them.
It is stepping very low to get very high.
Men by Habit make irregular Stretches of Power, without discerning the Consequence and Extent of them.
Eagerness is apt to overlook Consequences, it is loth to be stopt in its Career; for when Men are in great haste, they see only in a straight Line.
OfCunningandKnavery.
Cunningis so apt to grow into Knavery, that an honest Man will avoid the Temptation of it. But Men in this Age are half bribed by the Ambition ofcircumventing, without any other encouragements. So proud of the Character of beingableMen, that they do not care to have their Dexterity confined.
In this Age, when it is said of a Man, He knowshow to live, it may be imply’d he is not very honest.
An honest Man must lose so many Occasions of Getting, that the World will hardly allow him the Character of an Able one.
There is however moreWitrequisite to be an honest Man, than there is to be a Knave.
The most necessary thing in the World, and yet the least usual, is to reflect that those we deal with, may know how to be as arrant Knaves as ourselves.
The Eagerness of a Knave maketh him often as catchable, as Ignorance maketh a Fool.
No Man is so much a Fool as not to have Wit enough sometimes to be a Knave; nor any so cunning a Knave, as not to have the Weakness sometimes to play the Fool.
The Mixture of Fool and Knave, maketh up the parti-coloured Creatures that make all the Bustle in the World.
There is not so pleasant a Quarry, as a Knave taken in a Net of his own making.
A Knave leaneth sometimesso hardupon his Impudence, that it breaketh and lets him fall.
Knavery is in suchperpetual Motion, that it hath not always Leisure to look to its own Steps; ’tis like sliding upon Scates, no Motion so smooth or swift, but none gives so terrible aFall.
A Knave lovethSelfso heartily, that he is apt to overstrain it: bynever thinking he can get enough, he gets so much less. His thought is like Wine that fretteth with too much fermenting.
The Knaves in every Government are a kind of Corporation; and though they fall out with one another, like all Beasts of Prey, yet upon occasion they unite to support the common Cause.
It cannot be said to be such a Corporation as the Bank ofEngland, but they are a numerous and formidable Body, scarce to be resisted; but the Point is, they can never rely upon one another.
Knaves go chain’d to one another like Slaves in the Gallies, and cannot easily untie themselves from their Company. Their Promises and Honour indeed do not hinder them, but other intangling Circumstances keep ’em from breaking loose.
If Knaves had not foolish Memories, they would never trust one another so often as they do.
Present Interest, like present Love, maketh all other Friendship look cold to it, but it faileth in the holding.
When one Knave betrayeth another, the one is not to be blamed, nor the other to be pitied.
When they complain of one another as if they were honest Men, they ought to be laugh’d at as if they were Fools.
There are some Cunning-men who yet can scarce be called Rational Creatures; yet they are often more successful than Men of Sense, because those they have to deal with are upon a looser Guard; and their Simplicity maketh their Knavery unsuspected.
There is no such thing as a venial Sin against Morality, no such thing as a small Knavery: He that carries a small Crime easily, will carry it on when it grows to be an Ox. But the little Knaves are the greater of the two, because they have less the Excuse of Temptation.
Knavery is so humble, and Merit so proud, that the latter is thrown down because it cannot stoop.
OfFollyandFools.
Thereare five Orders of Fools, as of Building: 1. The Blockhead, 2. Coxcomb, 3. Vain Blockhead, 4. Grave Coxcomb, and 5. The Half-witted Fellow; this last is of the Composite Order.
The Follies of grave Men have the Precedence of all others, aridiculous Dignity, that gives them a Right to be laughed at in the first place.
As the masculine Wit is the strongest, so the masculine Impertinence is the greatest.
The Consequence of a Half-Wit is a Half-Will, there is not Strength enough in the Thought to carry it to the End.
A Fool is naturally recommended to our Kindness by setting us off by the Comparison. Men are grateful to Fools for giving them the Pleasure of contemning them.
But Folly hath a long Tail that is not seen at first: for every single Folly hath a Root, out of which more are ready to sprout; and a Fool hath so unlimited a Power of mistaking, that a Man of Sense can never comprehend to what degree it may extend.
There are some Fools so low, that they are preferred when they are laught at. Their being named putteth them in the List of Men, which is more than belongeth to them.
One should no more laugh at a contemptible Fool, than at a dead Fly.
The Dissimulation of a Fool should come within the Statute of Stabbing. It giveth no Warning.
A Fool will be rude from the Moment he is allowed to be familiar; he can make no other use of Freedom than to be unmannerly.
Weak Men are apt to becruel, because they stick at nothing that may repair the ill Effect of their Mistakes.
Folly is often more cruel in the Consequence, than Malice can be in the Intent.
Many a Man is murthered by the well-meant Mistakes of his unthinking Friends.
A weak Friend, if he will be kind, ought to go no farther than Wishes; if he proffereth either to say, or to do, it is dangerous.
A Man had as good go to Bed to a Razor, as to be intimate with a foolish Friend.
Mistaken Kindness is little less dangerous than premeditated Malice.
A Man hath not the Relief of being angry at the Blows of a mistaken Friend.
A busy Fool is fitter to be shut up than a downright Madman.
A Man that hath only Wit enough not to do Hurt, committeth a Sin if he aimeth at doing Good.
His passive Understanding must not pretend to be active.
It is a Sin against Nature for such a Man to be meddling.
It is hard to find a Blockhead so wise as to be upon the Defensive; he will be sallying, and then he is sure to be ill used.
If a dull Fool can make a Vow and keep it, never to speak his own Sense, or do his own Business, he may pass a great while for a rational Creature.
A Blockhead is as ridiculous when he talketh, as a Goose is when it flieth.
The grating a Gridiron is not a worse Noise, than the jingling of Words is to a Man of Sense.
It is Ill-manners to silence a Fool, and Cruelty to let him go on.
Most Men make little other use of their Speech than to give evidence against their own Understanding.
A great Talker may be a Man of Sense, but he cannot be one, who will venture to rely upon him.
There is so much Danger in Talking, that a Man strictly wise can hardly be called a sociable Creature.
The great Expence of Words is laid out insetting ourselves out, ordeceivingothers; toconvincethem requireth but a few.
Many Words are always either suspicious or ridiculous.
A Fool hath no Dialogue within himself, the first Thought carrieth him without the Reply of a second.
A Fool will admire or like nothing that he understands, a Man of Sense nothing but what he understands.
Wise Men gain, and poor Men live, by the Superfluities of Fools.
Till Follies become ruinous, the World is better with than it would be without them.
A Fool is angry that he is the Food of a Knave, forgetting that it is the End of his Creation.
OfHope.
Hopeis a kind Cheat; in the Minute of our Disappointment we are angry, but upon the whole matter there is no Pleasure without it.
It is so much a pleasanter thing than Truth to the greatest Part of the World, that it hath all their Kindness, the other only hath their Respect.
Hope is generally a wrong Guide, though it is very good Company by the way. It brusheth through Hedgeand Ditch till it cometh to a great Leap, and there it is apt to fall and break its Bones.
It would be well if Hopes carried Men only to the top of the Hill, without throwing them afterwards down the Precipice.
The Hopes of a Fool are blind Guides, those of a Man of Sense doubt often of their Way.
Men should do with their Hopes as they do with tame Fowl, cut their Wings that they may not fly over the Wall.
AhopingFool hath such terrible Falls, that his Brains are turned, though not cured by them.
TheHopesof a Fool are Bullets he throws into the Air, that fall down again and break his Skull.
There can be no entire Disappointment to a wise Man, because he maketh it a Cause of succeedinganother time. A Fool is so unreasonably raised by hisHopes, that he is half dead by a Disappointment: his mistaken Fancy draweth him so high, that when he falleth, he is sure to break his Bones.
OfAnger.
Angeris a better Sign of the Heart than of the Head; it is a breaking out of the Disease of Honesty. Just Anger may be as dangerous as it could be if there was no Provocation to it; for a Knave is not so nice a Casuist but that he will ruin, if he can, any Man that blameth him.
Where Ill-nature is not predominant, Anger will be short-breathed, it cannot hold out a long Course. Hatred can be tired and cloyed aswell as Love: for our Spirits, like our Limbs, are tired with being long in one Posture.
There is a Dignity in Good-sense that is offended and defaced by Anger.
Anger is never without an Argument, but seldom with a good one.
Anger raiseth Invention but it overheateth the Oven.
Anger, like Drink, raiseth a great deal of unmannerly Wit.
True Wit must come by Drops; Anger throweth it out in a Stream, and then it is not likely to be of the best kind.
Ill Language punisheth Anger by drawing a Contempt upon it.
OfApologies.
Itis a dangerous Task to answer Objections, because they are helped by the Malice of Mankind.
A bold Accusation doth at first draw such a general Attention, that it gets the World on its side.
To a Man who hath a mind to find a Fault, an Excuse generally giveth farther hold.
Explaining is generally half confessing.
Innocence hath a very short Style.
When a Jealousy of any kind is once raised, it is as often provoked as cured by any Arguments, let them be never so reasonable.
When Laziness letteth things alone, it is a Disease; but when Skill doth it, it is a Vertue.
Malice may help a Fool to aggravate, but there must beSkillto know how to extenuate.
To lessen an Object that at the first Sight giveth Offence, requireth a dexterous Hand: There must be Strength as well as Skill to take off the Weight of the first Impression.
When a Man is very unfortunate, it looketh like a saucy thing in him to justify himself.
A Man must stoop sometimes to his ill Star, but he must never lie down to it.
The Vindications Men make of themselves toPosteritywould hardly be supported by Good-Sense, if they were not of some Advantage to their own Families.
The defending an ill Thing is more criminal than the doing it, because it wanteth the Excuse of its not being premeditated.
An Advocate for Injustice is like a Bawd that is worse than her Client who committeth the Sin.
There is hardly any Man so strict as not to vary a little from Truth when he is to make an Excuse.
Not telling all the Truth is hiding it, and that is comforting or abetting a Lye.
A long Vindication is seldom a skilful one.
Longdoth at least implyDoubtfulin such a Case.
A Fool should avoid the making an Excuse, as much as the committing a Fault; for a Fool’s Excuse is always a second Fault: and whenever he will undertake either to hide or mend a thing, he proclaimeth and spoileth it.
OfMaliceandEnvy.
Maliceis a greater Magnifying-Glass than Kindness.
Malice is of a low Stature, but it hath very long Arms. It often reacheth into the next World, Death itself is not a Bar to it.
Malice, like Lust, when it is at the Height, doth not know Shame.
If it did not sometimes cut itself with its own Edge, it would destroy the World.
Malice can mistake by beingkeenas well as by beingdull.
When Malice growethcritical, it loseth its Credit.
It must go under the Disguise of Plainness, or else it is exposed.
Anger may have some Excuse for being blind, but Malice none: for Malice hath time to look before it.
When Malice is overgrown, it cometh to be the highest degree of Impertinence. For that reason, it must not be fed and pampered, which is apt to make it play the fool. But where it is wise and steady, there is no Precaution, that can be quite Proof against it.
Ill-will is seldom cured on a sudden, it must go off by degrees, by insensible Transpiration.
Malice may be sometimes out of Breath, Envy never. A Man may make Peace with Hatred, but never with Envy.
No Passion is better heard by our will, than that of Envy: No Passion is admitted to have Audience with less Exception.
Envy taketh the Shape ofFlattery, and that maketh Men hug it so close, that they cannot part with it.
The sure way to be commended is to get into a Condition of being pitied. For Envy will not give its leave to commend a Man, till he is miserable.
A Man is undone, when Envy will not vouchsafe to look upon him.
Yet after all, Envy doth Virtue as much good as hurt, by provoking it to appear. Nay, it forcibly draweth out, and inviteth Virtue, by giving it a Mind to be revenged of it.
OfVanity.
TheWorld is nothing but Vanity cut out into several Shapes.
Men oftenmistakethemselves, but they neverforgetthemselves.
A Man must not so entirely fall out with Vanity, as not to take its Assistance in the doing great Things.
Vanity is like some Men who are very useful, if they are kept under; and else not to be endured.
A little Vanity may be allowed in a Man’s Train, but it must not sit down at Table with him.
Without some Share of it, Mens Talents would be buried like Ore in a Mine unwrought.
Men would be less eager to gain Knowledge, if they did not hope to set themselves out by it.
It sheweth the Narrowness of our Nature, that a Man that intendeth any one thing extreamly, hath not Thought enough lest for any thing else.
Our Pride maketh us over-value our Stock of Thought, so as to trademuch beyond what it is able to make good.
Many aspire to learn what they can never comprehend, as others pretend to teach what they themselves do not know.
The Vanity of teaching often tempteth a Man to forget he is a Blockhead.
Self-conceit driveth away the suspecting how scurvily others think of us.
Vanity cannot be a Friend to Truth, because it is restrained by it; and Vanity is so impatiently desirous of shewing itself, that it cannot bear the being crossed.
There is a Degree of Vanity that recommendeth; if it goeth further, it exposeth.