XLVI.—DISCRETION.ADDISON.
ADDISON.
1. There are many more shining qualities in the mind of man, but there is none so useful as discretion[369]; it is this indeed, which gives a value to all the rest, which sets them at work in their proper times and places, and turns them to the advantage of the person who is possessed of them. Though a man has all other perfections, and wants this one, he will be of no great consequence in the world; but if he has this single talent in perfection, and but a common share of others, he may do what he pleases in his particular station of life. At the same time that I think discretion is the most useful talent a man can be master of, I look upon cunning to be the accomplishment[370]of little, mean, ungenerous minds.
2. Discretion points out the noblest ends to us, and pursues the most proper and laudable means of attaining[371]them; cunning has only private, selfish aims, and sticks at nothing which may make them succeed. Discretion has large and extended views, and, like a well formed eye, commands a whole horizon;[4] cunning is a sort of short-sightedness that discovers the minutest objectswhich are near at hand, but is not able to discern things at a distance.
3. Discretion, the more it is discovered, gives a greater authority to the person who possesses it; cunning, when it is once detected, loses its force, and makes a man incapable of bringing about those events which he might have done had he passed only for a plain man. Discretion is the perfection of reason, and a guide to us in all the duties of life: cunning is a kind of instinct that only looks after our immediate interest and welfare.
4. Discretion is only found in men of strong sense and good understanding: cunning is often to be met with in brutes themselves, and in persons who are but the fewest removes from them. In short cunning is only the mimic[372]of discretion, and may pass upon weak men, in the same manner as vivacity is often mistaken for wit, and gravity for wisdom.
5. The cast of mind which is natural to a discreet man, makes him look forward into futurity, and consider what will be his condition millions of ages hence, as well as what it is at present. He knows that the misery or happiness which is reserved for him in another world, loses nothing of its reality by being placed at so great a distance from him. The objects do not appear little to him because they are remote.[373]He considers that those pleasures and pains which lie hid in eternity, approach nearer to him every moment, and will be present with him in their full weight and measure, as much as those pains and pleasures which he feels at this very instant.
6. For this reason, he is careful to secure to himself that which is the proper business of his nature, and the ultimate[374]design of his being. He carries his thoughtsto the end of every action, and considers the most distant as well as the most immediate effects of it. He supersedes[375]every little prospect of gain and advantage which offers itself here, if he does not find it consistent with the views of a hereafter. In a word, his hopes are full of immortality, his schemes are large and glorious, and his conduct suitable to one who knows his true interest, and how to pursue it by proper methods.
7. I have, in this essay upon discretion, considered it both as an accomplishment and as a virtue, and have therefore described it in its full extent, not only as it is the guide of a mortal creature, but as it is in general the director of a reasonable being. It is in this light that discretion is represented by the wise man, who sometimes mentions it under the name of discretion, and sometimes under that of wisdom. It is, indeed, as described in the latter part of this paper, the greatest wisdom, but, at the same time, in the power of every one to attain. Its advantages are infinite, but its acquisition[376]is easy.
[369]Dis-creˊ-tion, prudence.[370]Ac-comˊ-plish-ments, attainments.[371]At-tainˊ-ing, reaching, obtaining.[372]Mimˊ-ic, imitator, counterfeit.[373]Re-moteˊ, distant.[374]Ulˊ-ti-mate, final.[375]Suˊ-per-sede, to set aside.[376]Ac-qui-siˊ-tion, acquirement, attainment.
[369]Dis-creˊ-tion, prudence.
[369]Dis-creˊ-tion, prudence.
[370]Ac-comˊ-plish-ments, attainments.
[370]Ac-comˊ-plish-ments, attainments.
[371]At-tainˊ-ing, reaching, obtaining.
[371]At-tainˊ-ing, reaching, obtaining.
[372]Mimˊ-ic, imitator, counterfeit.
[372]Mimˊ-ic, imitator, counterfeit.
[373]Re-moteˊ, distant.
[373]Re-moteˊ, distant.
[374]Ulˊ-ti-mate, final.
[374]Ulˊ-ti-mate, final.
[375]Suˊ-per-sede, to set aside.
[375]Suˊ-per-sede, to set aside.
[376]Ac-qui-siˊ-tion, acquirement, attainment.
[376]Ac-qui-siˊ-tion, acquirement, attainment.