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ward than from their own Value, and especially to seek it in the Vanity of Human Judgment.

ought to be

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If this falfe Opinion, nevertheless, be of that Ufe to Why the Pub- the Public, as to keep Men in their Duty; lic Approbation if the People are thereby ftirred up to Virtue; if Princes are touched to fee the World courted. blefs the Memory of Trajan, and abominate that of Nero; if it moves them to fee the Name of that great Beast, once fo terrible, and dreaded, fo freely curfed. and reviled by every School-boy, let it, in the Name of God, increase, and be, as much as poffibly, cherished amongst us. And Plato, bending his whole Endeavour to make his Citizens virtuous, does alfo advise them, Not to despise the good Efteem of the People;' and fays, That it falls out, by a certain Divine Inspiration, ⚫ that even the Wicked themselves, oft-times, as well by • Word as Opinion, can rightly diftinguith the Virtuous from the Wicked.' This Perfon, and his Tutor, are marvellous bold Artificers, to add Divine Operations and Revelations wherever human Force is wanting: And, peradventure, for this Reafon it was, that Timon, railing at him, called him, The great Forger of Miracles.' Ut tragici Poeta confugiunt ad Deum, cum explicare argumenti exitum non poffunt: As tragic Poets fly to fome God, when they are at a Lofs to wind up their Piece. Seeing that Men, by their Infufficiency, cannot pay themselves well enough with current Money, let the Counterfeit be fuperadded: 'Tis a Way that has been practised by all the Legislators; and there is no Government that has not fome Mixture, either of ceremonial Vanity, or of falfe Opinion, that ferves for a Curb to keep People in their Duty: 'Tis for this that moft of them have their fabulous Originals and Beginnings, and fo enriched with fupernatural Myfteries: 'Tis this that has given Credit to Bastard Religions, and caufed them to be countenanced by Men of Understanding; and for this that Numa and Sertorius, to poffefs their Men with a better Opinion of them, fed them with this Foppery; one, that the Nymph Egeria, the other, that his white Hind brought them all

t

Cic. de Nat. Deor. llb. i. c. 20.

their

their Refolutions from the Gods. And the Authority that Numa gave to his Laws, under the Title of a Patronage of this Goddefs, Zoroafter, Legiflator of the Bactrians and Perfians, gave to his, under the Name of the God Oromazis; Trismegiftus, Legiflator of the Egyptians, under that of Mercury; Zambooxis, Legislator of the Scythians, under that of Vefta; Charondas, Legiflator of the Chalcedonians, under that of Saturn; Minos, Legiflator of the Candiots, under that of Jupiter; Lycurgus, Legiflator of the Lacedæmonians, under that of Apollo; and Draco and Solon, Legiflators of the Athenians, under that of Minerva. And every Government has a God at the Head of it; others falfely, that truly which Mofes fet over the Jews at their Departure out of Egypt. The Religion of the Bedoins, as the Sire de Joinville reports, amongst other Things, enjoined a Belief, That the Soul of him, amongst them, who died for his Prince, went into another more happy Body, more beautiful and more robust than the former;' by which Means they much more willingly ventured their Lives:

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u

In ferrum mens prona viris, animæque capaces
Mortis, et ignavum eft reditura parcere vitæ ".

i. e.

Men covet Wounds, and ftrive Death to embrace,
To fave a Life, which to return is base.

This is a very comfortable Belief, however erroneous it is. Every Nation has many fuch Examples of its own: But this Subject would require a Treatife by itself.

X

The Difference betwixt that which the Ladies term Honour, and their

To add one Word more to my former Difcourfe, I would advise the Ladies no more to call that Honour, which is but their Duty, Ut enim confuetudo loquitur, id folum dicitur honeftum, quod eft populari fama gloriofum: According to the vulgar Stile, that only is honourable, which has the public Applaufe;' their Duty is the Grape, their Honour but the outward Hufk. Neither would I advise them to give that Excufe as Pay

u In his Memoirs, c. 57. p. 357, 358. *Cic. de Fin. lib. ii. c, 15.

Duty.

ment

* Lucan. lib. i. v. 461.

ment for their Denial: For I prefuppofe, that their Intentions, their Defire and Will, which are Things wherein their Honour is not at all concerned, forafmuch as nothing of it appears externally, are much better regulated than the Effects.

Quæ quia non liceat, non facit, illa facit ".

i. e.

She, who fins not, 'cause it unlawful is,
In being therefore Chafte, has done amifs.

The Offence both towards God, and in the Conscience, would be as great to defire, as to do it: And, befides, they are Actions fo private and fecret of themselves, as would be very easily kept from the Knowledge of others wherein the Honour confifts; if they had no other Refpect to their Duty, and to the Affection they bear to Chastity for its own Sake: Every Woman of Honour rather chufes to wound her Honour, than her Conscience.

TH

CHAP. XVII.

Of PRESUMPTION.

HERE is another Sort of Glory, which is the having too good an Opinion of our own Merit. 'Tis an inconfiderate Affection, with which we flatter ourselves, and that reprefents us to ourselves other than what we truly are: Like the Paffion of Love, that lends Beauties and Graces to the Object of it; and makes thofe who are caught with it, by a depraved and corrupt Judgment, confider the Thing they love other and more perfect

than it is.

I would not, nevertheless, that a Man, for fear of failing in this Point, fhould mistake himself, or think himfelf less than he is; the Judgment ought, in all Things,

› Ovid. Amor. lib. iii. El、 4. v. 4.

to

The Fear of being guilty of Prefumption ought not to give us too mean an Opiion of ourfelves, nor to hinder us from making ourSelves known.

to keep its Prerogative: 'Tis all the Reafon in the World
he fhould difcern, in himself, as well as in
others, what Truth fets before him; if he
be Cafar, let him boldly think himself the
greatest Captain in the World. We are no-
thing but Ceremony; Ceremony carries us
away, and we leave the Subftance of Things;
we hold by the Branches, and quit the Trunk.
We have taught the Ladies to blufh, when
they hear but that named, which they are
not at all afraid to do: We dare not call our
Members by their right Names, and yet are not afraid
to imploy them in all Sorts of Debauchery. Ceremony
forbids us to exprefs, by Words, Things, that are lawfub
and natural, and we obey it: Reafon forbids us to do
Things unlawful and ill, and No-body obeys it. I find
myself here fettered by the Laws of Ceremony; for it
neither permits a Man to fpeak well of himself, nor ill.
We will leave her there for this Time: They whom For-
tune (call it good or ill) has made to pass their Lives in
some eminent Degree, may, by their public Actions, ma-
nifest what they are: But they whom fhe has only im-
ployed in the Croud, and of whom No-body will speak,
if they don't speak for themselves, are to be excufed, if
they take Courage to talk of themselves, to fuch who are
concerned to know them, by the Example of Lucilius,
Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim

Credebat libris, neque fi malè cefferat, ufquam
Decurrens; alio neque fi bene: Quo fit ut omniș
Votiva pateat veluti defcripta tabella

Vita fenis

î. e.

His Secrets to his Books he did commend,
As free as to his dearest Bofom Friend:
Whether he wrote with, or against the Grain,
The Old Man's Life his Verfes do explain.

He committed to Paper his Actions and Thoughts, and there pourtrayed himself fuch as he found himself to

3

z Hor. lib. ii. Sat. 1. v. 30, c.

be.

be.

a

.

Nec id Rutilio, et Scauro citra fidem, aut obtrectationi fuit: Nor were Rutilius or Scaurus mifbelieved or condemned for fo doing.'

Montaigne's particular Gef ture a plain Token of his filly Pride.

b

I remember then, that, from my Infancy, there was observed in me I know not what kind of Carriage and Gesture, that feemed to relish of foolish Pride. I will fay this, in the first Place, that it is not unlikely, that there are Qualities and Propenfions fo proper and incorporated into us, that we have not the Means to feel and know them: And of fuch natural Inclinations the Body is apt to retain a certain Bent, without our Knowledge or Confent. It was quaint Affectation, Confederate of Beauty, that made Alexander carry his Head on one Side, and Alcibiades to lifp; Julius Cæfar scratched his Head with one Finger, which is the Mark of a Man posfeffed with uneafy Thoughts; and Cicero, as I remember, was wont to turn up his Nose, a Sign of a Man given to Scoffing Such Motions, as these, may, imperceptibly, happen in us. There are other artificial ones, which I meddle not with; as Salutations and Congees, by which Men, for the most part, unjustly acquire the Reputation of being humble and courteous; or, perhaps, humble out of Pride. I am prodigal enough of my Hat, especially in Summer, and never am fo faluted, but I pay it again, from Perfons of what Quality foever, unless they be in my Pay. I should be glad, that fome Princes, whom I know, would be more fparing of that Ceremony, and beftow that Courtefy where it is more due; for, being fo indifcreetly profufe of it, 'tis thrown away to no Purpose, if it be without Refpect of Perfons: Amongst irregular Countenances, let us not forget that fevere one of the Emperor Conftantius, who always, in Public, held his Head upright and straight, without bending or turning it on either Side, not fo much as to look upon those who faluted him on one Side, planting his Body in a stiff immoveable Pofture, without fuffering it to yield to the Motion of his Coach; not daring fo much as to fpit, blow his Nose, or wipe his Face

C

b Plutarch in the Life of Cafar,

* Tacit. in Vita Agricolæ, c. 1.
Ammian. Marcell. lib. xxi. c. 14.

C. I.

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