to lay it upon, or rather, ftore it in my mind. And yet I do not think it a fault, if, as men do with other fciences not near fo profitable, I communicate what I have learned in this point, though I am not much pleased. with the progrefs I have made in it. There is no defcription fo difficult, nor really fo useful, as that of a man's felf; and, withal, a man must adjust, adorn, and fet himself off to the best advantage, to appear in public. Now I am perpetually doing this, for I am inceffantly defcribing myfelf. Whether it is vanity for a man to fpeak fincere ly of himself. Cuftom has made all speaking of a man's felf vicious, and pofitively prohibits it, in hatred to the vanity which feems to be always attached to the testinrony that men give of themfelves; whereas In vitium ducit culpæ fuga *. It often happens, that a cautious fear I think this remedy does more hurt than good. But, though it were true, that it muft neceffarily be prefumption for a man to make himself the fubject of his difcourse, I ought not, in pursuance of my general defign, to forbear an action that publishes this infirmity, fince it is my very cafe; nor ought I to conceal that fault which I not only practife but profefs. Nevertheless, to fpeak what I really think of the matter, it is a wrong custom to condemn wine, because fome people get drunk with it. A man cannot abufe any thing, but what is good in itfelf; and I believe, that this rule regards only to the popular fault. They are bitts which are no check, neither to the faints, whom we hear speak fo highly of themselves, nor to the philofophers, nor to the divines. Neither am I curbed thereby, who am as little of the one as of the other. If they do not write of it expressly, they feign at least, when they have a fair opportunity, not to fpeak of it without referve. Of whom does Socrates treat more largely, than of himself? To what does he more frequently direct the difcourfes of his difciples, than to speak of themselves; not of the leffon of their book, but of the effence and agitation of their fouls? We confefs ourselves religioufly to God and our confeffor, as our neighbours [the Proteftants] do to all the people. But fome will fay, that we fpeak nothing therein, but accufations against ourselves. Why then fo we fay all, for our very virtue itself is faulty, and deserving of repentance. My art and bufinefs is to live. He that forbids me to fpeak according to my own fenfe, experience, and practice, may as well enjoin an architect to fpeak of buildings not in his own ftyle, but in his neighbour's; not according to his own science, but according to another man's. If it be vain-glorious for a man to publifh his own good qualities, why does not Cicero prefer the eloquence of Hortenfius, and Hortenfius that of Cicero Perhaps they mean, that I fhould give teftimony of myself by works and effects, not barely by words. I chiefly paint my thoughts rough as they run, and incapable of being connected. It is as much as I can do to couch the fubject in this airy body of the voice. The wifeft and the devouteft men have lived with the greatest care to avoid all apparent effects. Such effects would speak more of fortune than of me. They manifeft their own office, not mine, unless it be uncertainly and by conjecture. They are fcantlings of a particular figure. I expofe myfelf entire. It is a skeleton where, at one view, the veins, mufcles, and tendons appear, each in its proper place. The production of one part was owing to a cough, and that of another to palenefs, or palpitation of the heart. They are not my deeds which I write, but myfelf, my very effence. I am of opinion, that it is a neceffary prudence in a man to make a true eftimate of himself, and It is a commendthat he should likewise be confcientious to able thing for a declare it indifferently, be it high or low. juft value upon man to fet a If I thought myself perfectly good and himself. wife, I fhould proclaim it with a loud voice. For a man to reprefent himself as more unworthy than he really is, is folly, not modefty; and for him to content himself with less than his equivalent is, according to Ariftotle, pufillanimity, and cowardice. No virtue is the better for the aid of falfhood; and truth is never the subject of error. For a man to speak more of himself than is really true, is not only always presumption, but very often folly. To be pleafed beyond measure with what one is, and to fall indifcreetly in love with one's felf, is, in my opinion, the fubftance of this vice. The fovereign remedy for it, is to do the very contrary to what thele perfons direct, who, in forbidding men to speak of themfelves, do of confequence much more forbid them to think of themselves. Pride dwells in the thoughts, the tongue can have but a very little share in it. A man's mufing with himself is not to take plea fure in himself. They fancy, that for a man to muse is to take delight in himself; and that, if he is often converfant with his own mind, he is overindulgent to himfelf. But this excefs arifes only in those who have but a fuperficial idea of themfelves; who infpect themselves, after their affairs are over; who call meditation dreaming and idlenefs; and who fay, that for men to study to polish and form themselves is to build caftles in the air, looking upon themfelves only as a third perfon, and a stranger to their very felves. If any one be intoxicated with his own knowledge, whilft he looks only on his inferiors, let him but turn back his eyes to paft centuries, and his pride will be abated, when he there finds how many thoufand geniufes there are vaftly his fuperiors. If he enter into a vain conceit of his valour, let him remember the lives of Scipio, Epaminondas, and fo many armies and nations, that leave him fo far behind them. No particular quality can puff up a man, who will put in the counterbalance his inany other imperfections and infirmities, and the nothingnefs of the human ftate at beft. Becaufe Socrates was the only man that heartily adopted the precept of his God, "To know "himself," and by that study acquired a contempt of himself, he was reckoncel the only one worthy to be called the wife Why Socrates was reckoned the only wife man. man. Whofoever fhall know himfelf" in the fame manner, let him boldly be his own trumpeter. THE CHA P. VII. Of Honorary Rewards. he was won Honorary re wards ought to be difpenfed with very great difcretion. HE writers of the Life of Auguftus Cæfar obferve, that in his military difcipline derfully liberal of his gifts to men of merit, but that he was altogether as fparing of rewards merely honorary, though he had himself been gratified by his uncle with all the military rewards, before he had ever been at war. It was a pretty invention, and received in most governments of the world, to establish certain vain and cheap diftinctions for the honour and recompence of virtue; fuch as crowns of laurel, oak, and myrtle; the particular fashion of fome garment; the privilege to ride about the city in a coach, or to have a torch in the night; fome particular feat in the public affem- . blies; the prerogative of fome furnames and titles; certain diftinctions in their coats of arms, and the like; the use of which has been, and is to this day, varioufly received, according to the humours of the feveral nations. neighbours, Orders of knighthood, a laudable inftitution, and of great ufe. fatisfy them either to the We (in France) as also feveral of our have certain orders of knighthood, that are inftituted only for this end. And, in truth, it is a good and a profitable custom to find out a way to acknowledge the worth of rare and excellent men, and to with rewards that are not at all chargeable, people or to the prince. And that which has been always found, both by ancient experience, and what we ourfelves may also have obferved in former times, viz. that the men of quality are fonder of fuch rewards than of those that bring gain and profit, is founded on a very Suetonius, in the Life of Auguftus, cap. 25. Dona militaria,&c. VOL. II. F apparent apparent reafon. If, with a regard which ought to be purely honorary, riches, or other emolument, were mingled, fuch mixture, inftead of augmenting efteem, would debafe and diminish it. The order of St. Michael, fomuch esteemed at firit, How fallen into contempt. The order of St. Michael, which has been fo long in repute amongst us, had no greater advantage than that it communicated no profit; which produced this effect, that heretofore there was no office nor rank whatfoever, to which the gentry afpired with fo much defire, as they did to this order; nor any class which brought with it more refpect and grandeur, virtue being more eager to obtain a reward purely its own, and rather honourable than profitable. For, in truth, there is not fuch a dignity in the ufe of other rewards, because they are employed on all manner of occafions. With money a man pays the wages of a fervant, the diligence of a courier, the dancer, the tumbler, the tongue-pad, and the vileft offices that are done for us; nay, vice is rewarded with it, as flattery, pimping, and treachery. It is no wonder therefore, if virtue is not fo fond of receiving or being paid in this common coin, as in that which is proper and peculiar to it, altogether noble and generous. Auguftus had reafon to be far more thrifty and fparing of this than the other, forafmuch as honour is a privilege which is principally esteemed for its rarity, as is the cafe with virtue itfelf: Cui malus eft nemo, quis bonus effe poteft * ? Who can feem good to him who thinks none bad? It is not remarked as a commendation of a man, that he takes care of the education of his children, by reafon it is a common act, how juft foever it be, no more thanwe praise a tall tree, where the whole foreft confists of the fame. I do not think that any citizen of Sparta boafted of his valour, it being the univerfal virtue of that nation; or that he valued himfelf a whit the more for his fidelity, and contempt of riches. Even a great. Martial. lib. xii. ep. 82. reward, |