rather in myself. And yet I do not think it a Fault, if, as Men do with other Sciences not near fo profitable, I communicate what I have learned in this Point, though I am not much pleased with the Progress I have made in it. There is no Defcription fo difficult, nor really fo ufeful, as that of a Man's felf; and, withal, a Man must adjust, adorn, and fet himself off to the beft Advantage, to appear in Public. Now I am perpetually doing this, for I am inceffantly defcribing myself.

Whether 'tis

Vanity for a Man to peak fincerely of himfelf.

Cuftom has made all Speaking of a Man's Self vicious, and does pofitively prohibit it, in Hatred to the Vanity which feems to be always attached to the Teftimony that Men give of themselves; whereas

In vitium ducit culpæ fuga".

i. e.

Often it happens, that a cautious Fear
Of erring, is a direct Way to err.

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 Subject of his Difcourse, I ought not, in Purfuance of my general Design, to forbear an Action that publifhes this Infirmity, fince 'tis 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, 'tis a wrong Cuftom to condemn Wine, because fome People get drunk with it. A Man cannot abufe any Thing, but what is good in itself; and I believe, that this Rule has only Regard to the popular Default. They are Bitts which are no Check, neither to the Saints, 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 exprefly, they feign at leaft, 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 Disciples,

Hor. Art. Poet. v. 31.

Difciples, than to speak of themselves; not of the Leffon of their Book, but of the Effence and Agitation of their Souls? We confefs ourfelves religiously to God and our Confeffor, as our Neighbours [the Proteftants] do to all the People. But fome will fay, that we speak nothing therein, but Accufations against ourselves. Why then fo we fay all, for our very Virtue itself is faulty, and deferving of Repentance. My Art and Business is to live. He that forbids me to speak according to my own Senfe, Experience, and Practice, may as well enjoin an Architect to speak of Buildings not in his own Stile, 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 publish his own good Qualities, Why does not Cicero prefer the Eloquence of Hortenfius, and Hortenfius that of Cicere? Peradventure they mean, that I fhould give Teftimony of myfelf by Works and Effects, not barely by Words. I chiefly paint my Thoughts rough as they run, and incapable of being connected. 'Tis as much as I can do to couch the Subject in this airy Body of the Voice. The wifeft and the devoutest Men have lived with the greatest Care to avoid all apparent Effects. Such Effects would fpeak more of Fortune than of me. They manifeft their own Office, not mine, unlefs it be uncertainly and by Conjecture. They are Scantlings of a particular Figure. I expofe myself entire. 'Tis 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 Paleness, or Palpitation of the Heart. They are not my Deeds which I write, but myself, my very Ef fence.

I am of Opinion, that 'tis a neceffary Prudence in a Man to make a true Eftimate of himfelf, and that he fhould likewife be confcientious to

Tis a com mendable

Thing for a juft Value upon himself.

Man to fet a

declare it indifferently, be it high or low. If I thought myself perfectly good and wife, I fhould proclaim it with a loud Voice. For a Man to fpeak lefs of himself than what he really is, is a Folly, not Modefty; and for him to content himself with

Book II lefs than his Equivalent is, according to Ariftotle, Pufilla nimity 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, 'tis not always Prefumption only, 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 Substance of this Vice. The fovereign Remedy to cure it, is to do the very contrary to what these 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.

They fancy, that for a Man to mufe with himself is to A Man's Mu- take Delight in himself; and that, if he is fing with him- often converfant with himself, he is overfelf is not to indulgent to himself. But this Excefs arifes take Pleasure only in those who have but a fuperficial Idea in himself. of themselves; who infpect themselves, after their Affairs are over; who call Meditation Dreaming and Idlenefs; and who fay, that for Men to ftudy to polish and form themselves is to build Castles in the Air, looking upon themselves only as a third Person, and a Stranger to their very Selves. If any one be intoxicated with his own Knowledge, whilft he looks only on his Inferiors, let him but turn his Eyes back to paft Centuries, and his Pride will be abated, when he there finds how many thoufand Geniuses there are vaftly his Superiors. 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 many other Imperfections and Infirmities, and the Nothingnefs of the human State at beft.

Because Socrates was the only Man that heartily swallowed the Precept of his God, To know himfelf, and by that Study acquired a Contempt of himself, he was reckoned the only one worthy to be called the Wife Man. Whofo

Why Socrates was reckoned the only wife Man.

ever fhall know himself in the fame Manner, let him boldly be his own Trumpeter.

T

CHA P. VII.

Of HONORARY REWARDS.

HE Writers of the Life of Auguftus Cafar obferve this: That in his military Discipline he was won

n

Honorary Rewards ought to be difpenfed with very great Difere

tion.

derfully liberal of his Gifts to Men of Merit, but that he was altogether as sparing of Rewards merely honorary; yet he had himself been gratified by his Uncle with all the military Rewards, before he had ever been at War. 'Twas a pretty Invention, and received in moft 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 Seat in the public Affemblies; the Prerogative of fome Surnames and Titles; certain Distinctions in their Coats of Arms, and the like; the Ufe of which has been, and is to this Day, variously received, according to the Humours of the feveral Nations.

Orders of

Knighthood, a laudable Inftitution, and of great Ufe.

We (in France) as alfo feveral of our Neighbours, have certain Orders of Knighthood, that are inftituted only for this End. And, in Truth, 'tis a good and a profitable Cuftom to find out a Way to acknowledge the Worth of rare and excellent Men, and to fatisfy them with Rewards that are not at all chargeable, either to the People or to the Prince. And that which has been always found, both by ancient Experience, and what we ourselves may alfo have obferved in, former Times, viz. that the Men of Quality are, fonder of fuch Rewards than of thofe that bring Gain and Profit, is founded on a Reafon that is VOL. II. Suetonius, in the Life of Auguftus, ch. 25. Dona militaria, &St.

F

very

very apparent. If, with a Reward 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, which has been so long The Order of in Repute amongst us, had no greater Ad8. Michael, Jo vantage than that it communicated no much efteenud Profit which produced this Effect, that at firft, how fallen into Con- heretofore there was no Office nor Rank tempt. whatfoever, to which the Gentry aspired with so much Defire and Affection, as they did to this Order; nor any Clafs which brought with it more Refpect and Grandeur, Virtue being more eager to embrace and to aspire to 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, by reason they are employed on all Manner of Occafions. With Money a Man pays the Wages of a Servant, 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. 'Tis 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. Augustus had Reason 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° ?

i. e.

Who can feem Good to him who thinks none Bad? 'Tis not remarked as a Commendation of a Man, that he takes Care of the Education of his Children, by Reafon 'tis a common Act, how juft foever it be, no more than we praife a tall Tree, where the whole Forest confits of the fame. I do not think that any Citizen of Sparta boasted of his Valour, it being the univerfal Virtue

• Martial. lib. xii. Ep. 82.

of