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Book II: Self up to Melancholy; I fay, that, befides Ambition, which may also have a Stroke in the Bufinefs, there is fome Shadow of Delight and Delicacy, which fmiles upon, and flatters us, even in the very Lap of Melancholy. Are there not fome Complexions that feed upon it?

eft quædam flere voluptas ".

i. e.

A certain kind of Pleafure 'tis to Weep.

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And one Attalus, in Seneca, fays, That the Memory of our deceased Friends is as grateful to us, as the Bitternefs in the Wine, very old, is to the Palate ",

Minifter vetulis puer Falerni

Ingere mi calices amariores.

i. e.

Thou, Boy, that fill'ft the old Falernian Wine,
The bitt'reft pour into the Bowl that's ́mine.

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and as Apples that have a fweet Tartnefs.' Nature difcovers this Confufion to us. Painters hold, That the fame Motions and Screwings of the Face that ferve for Weeping, ferve for Laughter too;' and, indeed, before the one or the other be finished, do but observe the Painter's Conduct, and you will be in Doubt to which of the two the Defign does tend: And the Extremity of Laughter is mixed with Tears: Nullum fine autoramento malum eft : No Evil is without its Compensation." When 1 imagine Man furrounded with all the ConveConftant and niences that are to be defired, let us put the univerfal Plea- Cafe, that all his Members were always feized Jure not to be with a Pleasure like that of Generation in its borne by Man. most exceffive Height; I fancy him melting under the Weight of his Delight, and fee him utterly unable to fupport fo Pure, fo Continual, and fo Universal a Pleasure Indeed he is running away whilft he is there, and naturally makes Hafte to escape, as from a Place

m Ovid. Trift. El. 3. v. 37. n Senec. Epift. 63. Epift. 25. v. 1, 2. P Senec. Epift. 69.

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where he cannot ftand firm, and where he is afraid of

finking.

Moral Good and Evil confounded in Man.

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When I religiously confefs myself, I find, that the best good Quality I have has in it fome Tincture of Vice; and am afraid, that Plato, in his pureft Virtue (I who am as fincere and perfect a Lover of him, and of the Virtues of that Stamp, as any other whatever) if he laid his Ear clofe to himself, (and he did fo) he would have heard fome jarring Sound of human Mixture; but fo obfcure as only to be perceived by himself: Man is wholly and throughout but a patched and motly Compofition.

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Even the Laws of Juftice themselves cannot fubfift without fome Mixture of Injuftice: Info- The juftest much that Plato fays, They undertake to Laws have cut off the Hydra's Head, who pretend Some Mixture to purge the Laws, of all Inconvenience.' f Injustice. Omne magnum exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo, quod contra fingulos utilitate publicâ rependitur: Every great Example of Juftice has in it fome Mixture of Injuftice, which recompenfes the Wrong done to particular Men, by its public Utility,' fays Tacitus.

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Common Un- 1 derstanding more proper for Affairs than what is most refined.

It is likewife true, that for the Bufinefs of Life, and the Service of public Commerce, there may be fome Exceffes in the Purity and Perfpicacity of our Mind; that penetrating Light has too much of Subtilty and Curiofity: It must be a little ftupified and blunted, to be rendered more obedient to Example and Practice; and a little veiled and obfcured, to bear the better Proportion to this dark and terreftrial Life: And yet common and lefs fpeculative Souls are found to be more proper, and more fuccefsful in the Management of Affairs; and the elevated and exquifite Opinions of Philofophy are unfit for Bufinefs: This acute Vivacity of the Mind, and the fupple and reftlefs Volubility of it, difturb our Negociations: We are to manage human Enterprises more fuperficially and roughly, and leave a great Part to the Prerogatives of Fortune: It is not neHh3

9 Tacit. Annal. lib. xiv.

ceffary

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ceffary to examine Affairs with fo much Subtlety, and fo deeply: A Man lofes himself in the Confideration of fo many contrary Luftres, and various Forms. Volutantibus res inter fe pugnantes, obtorpuerant animi: Whilft they • confidered of Things fo inconfiftent in themselves, they were astonished.' 'Tis what the Ancients fay of Simonides, That by reason his Imagination fuggested to him, upon the Question King Hiero had put to him (to anfwer which, he had many Days to confider it) several witty and subtle Arguments, whilft he doubted which was the most likely, he totally defpaired of the Truth.' He that dives into, and in his Inquifition comprehends all Circumftances and Confequences, hinders his Choice: A little Engine, well handled, is fufficient for Executions of lefs or greater Weight and Moment: The best Managers are thofe who are leaft able to tell us why they are fo; and the greatest Talkers, for the most part, do nothing to Purpose. I know one of this fort of Men, and a most excellent Manager in Theory, who has miferably let an hundred thousand Livres yearly Revenue flip through his Hands. I know another, who fays, that he is able to give better Advice than any of his Council; and there is not, in the World, a fairer Shew of a Soul, and of a good Understanding, than he has; nevertheless, when he comes to the Te, his Servants find him quite another Thing; not to bring his Misfortune into the Account.

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In what Pof

Jf

* С Н А Р. XXI.

Against SLOT H.

HE Emperor Vefpafian, being fick of the Disease whereof he died, did not, for all that, neglect to inquire after the State of the Empire; and, even in Bed, continually difpatched very maAffairs of great Confequence; for which,

ture a Prince bught to die.

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Livy, lib. xxxii. c. 20.

being

King Hiero had defired him to define what God was. Cic. de Nat. Deor. lib. i. c. 22.

being reproved by his Physician, as a Thing prejudicial to his Health, An Emperor, faid he, muft die standing'. A fine Saying, in my Opinion, and worthy of a great Prince ". The Emperor Adrian afterwards made Ufe of one to the fame Purpose; and Kings fhould be often put in mind of it, to make them know, that the great Office conferred upon them, of the Command of fo many Men, is not an idle Employment; and that there is nothing can so justly difguft a Subject, and make him unwilling to expofe himfelf to Labour and Danger for the Service of his Prince, than to fee him, in the mean Time, devoted to his Eafe, and to vain and unmanly Amusements: Nor will the Subject be follicitous of his Prince's Preservation, who fo much neglects that of his People.

He ought to command hist Armies in Per

fon.

Whoever offers to maintain, that 'tis better for a Prince to carry on his Wars by others, than in his own Perfon, Fortune will furnish him with Examples enough of those whofe Lieutenants have brought great Enterprises to happy Iffue, and of thofe alfo whofe Prefence has done more Hurt than Good. But no virtuous and valiant Prince can bear to be tutored with fuch fcandalous Leffons; under Colour of faving his Head, like the Statue of a Saint, for the Happiness of his Kingdom, they degrade him from, and make him incapable of, his Office, which is Military throughout. I know one, who had much rather be beaten, than to fleep whilst another fights for him; and who never, without Envy, heard of any brave Thing done, even by his own Officers, in his Abfence: And Selima the First faid, with very good Reason, in my Opinion, That Victories, obtained without the Sovereigns, were never Complete. Much more readily would he have faid, that that Sovereign ought to bluth for Shame, to pretend to any Share in it, when he had contributed nothing to it, but his Voice and Thought; nor even fo much as thofe, confidering, that, in fuch Works as that, the Direction and Command that deferve Honour, are only fuch as are given upon the Place, and in the Heat Hh 4

Suetonius in Vefpafian. fe&t. xxiv.
El. Spartiani Alius Verus, fect. xvi. Hit Auguft.

of

Book II. of the Business. No Pilot performs his Office by standing till. The Princes of the Ottoman Family, the chiefeft in the World in Military Fortune, have warmly embraced this Opinion; and Bajazet the Second, with his Son that swerved from it, fpending their Time in the Sciences, and other Employments within Doors, gave great Blows to their Empire: And Amurath the Third, now reigning, following their Example, begins to do the fame. Was it not Edward the Third, King of England, who faid this of our King Charles the Fifth? There never was King who fo feldom put on his Arms, and yet never King who cut me out fo much Work.' He might well think it ftrange, as an Effect of Chance more than of Reason And let thofe feek out fome other Advocate for them than me, who will reckon the Kings of Caftile and Portugal amongst the warlike and magnanimous Conquerors, becaufe, at the Distance of twelve hundred Leagues from their lazy Refidence, by the Conduct of their Agents, they made themselves Mafters of both Indies; of which, 'tis a Question, if they had but the Courage to go and enjoy them.

The Activity and Sobriety requifite in Princes.

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The Emperor Julian said yet further, That a Philofopher, and a brave Man, ought not so much as to breathe'; that is to fay, not to allow any more to bodily Neceffities, than what we cannot refufe; keeping the Soul and Body ftill intent and bufy about Things Honourable, Great, ⚫ and Virtuous: He was afhamed, if any one in Public faw him fpit or fweat, (which is faid by fome also of the Lacedæmonian young Men, and which Xenophon fays of the Perfian) because he conceived, that Exercise, continual Labour, and Sobriety, ought to have dried up all thofe Superfluities. What Seneca fays will not be unfit for this Place; which is, That the ancient Romans kept their Youth always ftanding, and taught them nothing that they were to learn, fitting "."

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'Tis a generous Defire to wifh to Die ufefully, and like a Man; but the Effect lies not fo much in our Refolution, as in our good Fortune. A thousand have proposed

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