of that Nation; or that he valued himself a whit the more for his Fidelity, and Contempt of Riches. Even a great Reward, if it be cuftomary, can be no Reward for Virtue; and I know not, withal, whether we can ever call a Thing great, when it is common. Therefore, fince these honorary Rewards are of no other Value and Efteem, than in their being enjoyed only by a few, the being liberal of them is the ready Way to make them none at all. Tho' there fhould be more Men found worthy of this Order now, than in former Times, nevertheless the Honour of it should not be debased, by being made too common. And that more do deserve it now, than then, may easily be the Cafe, for there is no Virtue that expands itself so easily as military Valour. There is another true Virtue, perfect and philofophical, of which I do not treat (and only use the Term as 'tis commonly taken) much greater than this, and fuller; which is a Fortitude and Courage of the Soul equally contemning all cross Accidents whatsoever, even, uniform, and conftant; of which ours is but a very fmall Ray. Ufage, Inftitution, Example, and Custom are capable of doing any thing in the Establishment of that whereof I am treating, and with great Facility render it vulgar, as by the Experience of our civil War is to us very manifeft. And whoever could, at this Inftant, unite us into one Body, and fet all our People upon one joint Enterprise, our ancient Reputation in Arms would flourish again. 'Tis very certain, that in Time past the Order was not barely a Reward of Valour, but had a farther Prospect; it never was the Recompence of a valiant Soldier, but of fome famous General. The Science of Obedience was not reckoned worthy of fuch a Mark of Honour. Anciently there was a more univerfal Expertnefs in Arms. required, which comprehended the most rare Talents, and the greatest Qualities of a military Man; (neque enim eædem militares et imperatorie artes funt, i. e. for the Arts of the common Soldier and of the General are not the fame) who was, moreover, of a Condition to which fuch a Dignity was fuitable. But, I fay, though more Men hould be worthy of it now, than heretofore, yet it ought

not to be ever the more liberally diftributed; and that it were better to fall fhort, in not giving it to all to whom it is due, than for ever to lofe, as we have lately done, the Fruit of fo ufeful an Invention. No Man of Spirit will vouchsafe to avail himself of what is in common to many; and fuch of the prefent Time, as have leaft deferved this Reward, pretend the more to difdain it, in order by that Means to rank themselves with those, to whom fo much Wrong has been done by the unworthy Conferring and Debafing of that Mark of Honour which was particularly due to them..!!

'Tis difficult to bring a new Order of Knighthood in to Gredit.

Now to expect, by obliterating and abolishing this, to create a like Cuftom, and to bring it into Credit all on a fudden, is not an Underta king proper for a Seafon fo licentious and fick at Heart, as the prefent is; and the Confequence will be, that the laft will, from its Origin, incur the fame Inconveniencies that have just ruined the other. The Rules for the Difpenfing of this new Order had need be extremely ftrict and fevere, in order to give it Authority, whereas, in these boisterous Timest fuch a fhort tight Curb will not do; befides that, before this can be brought into Repute, it is neceffary that the Memory of the firft, and of the Contempt into which it is fallen, should be totally loft. This Place might naturally enough admit of fome Dif courfe upon the Confideration of Valour, and of the Difference of this Virtue from others; but Plutarch has fallen upon this Subject fo often, that it will be to no Purpofe for me to repeat what he has faid of it. This is worth Confidering, that our Nation places Valour in the highest Class of the Virtues, as its Name fhews, which is derived from Value; and that, according to our Way of fpeaking, when we mean a Man is worth a great deal of Money, or a Man of Subftance, in the Stile of our Court and Gentry, 'tis only faying he is a valiant Man, after the Manner of the Romans; for the general Appellation of Virtue, with them, derives its Etymology from. Vis, Force. The proper, fule, and effential Form of the Nobleffe in France is the

Valour, the
Thief of the
Vertues among
the French.

Profeffion

Profeffion of Arms. 'Tis probable, that the first Virtue which discovered itself amongst Men, and which gave Advantage to fome over others, was this, by which the ftrongest and most courageous have lorded it over the weaker, and acquired a particular Rank and Reputation, from whence it had that Honour and Dignity of Language; or elfe that thefe, being very warlike Nations, gave the 'Pre-eminence to that of the Virtues which was most familiar to them, and to which they had the best Title; juft fo 'tis owing to our Paffion, and the feverish Solicitude we have of the Chastity of Women, that a good Woman, a Woman of Worth, and a Woman of Honour and Virtue, fignify no more, with us, than a chafte Woman; as if, to oblige them to this Duty, we were indifferent to all the reft, and gave them the Reins to all other Faults whatever, on Condition they would not be guilty of Incontinence.

I'

CHA P. VII.

Of the Affection of Parents to their Children.

To Madame d'ESTISSA C.

MADAM,

F the Strangeness and Novelty of my Subject, which are wont to give a Value to Things, do not fave me, 1 fhall never come off with Honour from this foolifh Attempt; but 'tis fo whimsical, and has fo uncommon an Afpect, that this, perhaps, may make it país. 'Twas a melancholic Humour, and by Confequence a Humour very much an Enemy to my natural Conftitution, engendered by the Chagrine of the, Solitude into which I have caft myself for fome Years paft, that first put into my Head this idle Whim of commencing an Author: And afterwards, finding myfelf totally unfurnished and destitute of any other Subject, I delivered myfelf over to myfelf both for the Thefis and, the Argument. 'Tis the only Book of its kind in the World, ona, Plan fo wild and extravagant; nor is there any Thing worthy of Ra

mark upon this Occafion, but the Whimsicalnefs of it; for the best Workman in the World could not have given a Form to a Subject so vain and frivolous, fit to recommend it to Esteem. Now, Madam, being about to draw my own Picture to the Life, I fhould have forgot one Feature of Importance, if I had not therein reprefented the Veneration which I always paid to your Merit: And this I purposely chose to mention in the Beginning of this Chapter, by reason that among your other excellent Qualities, that of the Affection which you have manifefted to your Children has a Place in one of the higheft Claffes. Whoever hears at what Age M. d'Eftiffac, your Husband, left you a Widow; the great and honourable Matches that have been offered to you, as many as to any Lady in France of your Rank; the Conftancy and Steadiness with which you have, for fo many Years, and in Oppofition to fo many Croffes and Difficulties, fuftained the Weight and Conduct of their Affairs, whereby you have been teazed in almoft every Part of France, and which still harrafs you; and the happy Train you have put them into by your fingle Prudence or good Fortune; he will be ready to fay with me, that we have not, in our Times, a more lively. Inftance of maternal Affection than Yours. God be praised, Madam, that it has been employed to fo good Purpose; for the great Hopes that M. d'Eftiffac, the Son, gives of himself, are a fufficient Warrant, that, when he comes of Age, you will reap from him the Obedience and Gratitude of a very good Son. But forafmuch as, by reafon of his tender Years, he is not in a Capacity to take Notice of the many extraordinary kind Offices which he has received from you, I am willing that, if thefe Papers happen to fall into his Hands fome Day when I have no Speech left to declare it, he fhould receive this true Testimony from me, which will be more fully proved to him by the good Effects which, with God's Permiffion, will convince him, that there is not a Gentleman in France who owes more to his Mother than he does, and that he cannot, for the future, give a furer Teftimony of his Goodness and Virtue than by acknowledging you for fo excellent a Mother.

If

every A

How it happens that the Affection of

Parents to their
Children is

greater than
that of Chil
dren to their

Parents.

If there be any Law truly natural, that is to fay, any Instinct that is univerfally and perpetually imprinted both on Man and Beast, (which is a difputed Point) I may give it as my Opinion, that, next to the Care which nimal has of Self-preservation, and of avoiding every Thing that is hurtful, the Affection which the Breeder or Begetter bears to the Off-spring stands in the fecond Place: And, because Nature feems to have recommended it to us, in Regard to the Extenfion and Progreffion of the feveral Pieces of this its Machine, 'tis no Wonder that the Love of Children does not go back to their Parents in fo great a Degree. To which we may add this other Ariftotelian Notion, that he who does a Benefit to any one, loves him better than he is beloved by him; and he to whom a Benefit is due, loves better than he who owes it: So every Artificer is fonder of his Workinanship than, if that Piece of Work had Senfe, it would be of him, forafmuch as 'tis dear to us to exift, and as Existence confifts in Motion and Action: For this Reafon every one has, in fome fort, a Being in his Work. He who does a good Office, does a Thing that is brave and honeft: He who receives it only practises the Utile. Now the Utile is not near fo amiable as the Honeftum. The Honeftum is ftable and permanent, fupplying him who has performed it with a conftant Satisfaction. The Utile lofes itfelf, and easily flides away; nor is the Memory of it either fo fresh or fragrant. Those Things are deareil to us that have coft moft, and Giving is more chargeable than Receiving. Since it has pleased God to endue us with fome Capacity of difcuffing Things, to the End that we To what End may not be flavishly fubject, like the brute Men are creaAnimals, to the common Laws of Nature, red capable of but that we may apply ourselves to them with Reasoning. Judgment and Free-will; we ought, indeed, to yield a little to the mere Authority of Nature, but not to fuffer ourfelves to be tyrannically hurried away by her; for Reafon ought to be the fole Conducter of our Inclinations. For my own Part, I have a strange Difgult to thofe ProF 4

penfions