(Q.) ——— For frugally

They now lived on their Salary.

PAGE 72. LINE 22. When People have small comings in, and are honest withal, it is then that the generality of them begin to be frugal, and not before. Frugality in Ethicks is call’d that Virtue from the Principle of which Men abstain from Superfluities, and despising the operose contrivances of Art to procure either Ease or Pleasure, content themselves with the natural Simplicity of Things, and are carefully Temperate in the Enjoyment of them without any Tincture of Covetousness. Frugality thus limited, is perhaps scarcer than many may imagine; but what is generally understood by it is a Quality more often to be met with, and consists in a Medium between Profuseness and Avarice, rather leaning to the latter. As this prudent Oeconomy, which some People call Saving, is in Private Families the most certain Method to encrease an Estate, so some imagine, that whether a Country be barren or fruitful, the same Method, if generally pursued (which they think practicable) will have the same effect upon a whole Nation, and that, for Example, the English might be much richer than they are, if they would be as frugal as some of their Neighbours. This, I think, is an Error, which to prove I shall first refer the Reader to what has been said upon this head in Remark (L) and then go on thus.

Experience teaches us first, that as People differ in their Views and Perceptions of Things, so they vary in their Inclinations; one Man is given to Covetousness, another to Prodigality, and a third is only Saving. Secondly, that Men are never, or at least very seldom, reclaimed from their darling Passions, either by Reason or Precept, and that if any thing ever draws ’em from what they are naturally propense to, it must be a change in their Circumstances or their Fortunes. If we reflect upon these Observations, we shall find that to render the generality of a Nation lavish, the Product of the Country must be considerable in proportion to the Inhabitants, and what they are profuse of cheap; that on the contrary, to make a Nation generally frugal, the Necessaries of Life must be scarce, and consequently dear; and that therefore let the best Politician do what he can, the Profuseness or Frugality of a People in general, must always depend upon, and will in spight of his Teeth, be ever proportion’d to the Fruitfulness and Product of the Country, the number of Inhabitants, and the Taxes they are to bear. If any body would refute what I have said, let them only prove from History, that there ever was in any Country a National Frugality without a National Necessity.

Let us examine then what things are requisite to aggrandize and enrich a Nation. The first desirable Blessings for any Society of Men are a fertile Soil and a happy Climate, a mild Government, and more Land than People. These Things will render Man easy, loving, honest and sincere. In this Condition they may be as Virtuous as they can, without the least injury to the Publick, and consequently as happy as they please themselves. But they shall have no Arts or Sciences, or be quiet longer than their Neighbours will let them; they must be poor, ignorant, and almost wholly destitute of what we call the Comforts of Life, and all the Cardinal Virtues together won’t so much as procure a tolerable Coat or a Porridge Pot among ’em: For in this State of slothful Ease and stupid Innocence, as you need not fear great Vices, so you must not expect any considerable Virtues. Man never exerts himself but when he is rous’d by his Desires: Whilst they he dormant, and there is nothing to raise them, his Excellence and Abilities will be for ever undiscover’d, and the lumpish Machine, without the Influence of his Passions, may be justly compar’d to a huge Wind-mill without a breath of Air.

Would you render a Society of Men strong and powerful, you must touch their Passions. Divide the Land, tho’ there be never so much to spare, and their Possessions will make them Covetous: Rouse them, tho’ but in Jest, from their Idleness with Praises, and Pride will set them to work in earnest: Teach them Trades and Handicrafts, and you’ll bring Envy and Emulation among them: To encrease their Numbers, set up a variety of Manufactures, and leave no Ground uncultivated: Let Property be inviolably secured, and Priviledges equal to all Men: Suffer no body to act but what is lawful, and every body to think what he pleases; for a Country where every body may be maintained that will be employ’d, and the other Maxims are observ’d, must always be throng’d and can never want People, as long as there is any in the World. Would you have them Bold and Warlike, turn to Military Discipline, make good use of their Fear, and flatter their Vanity with Art and Assiduity: But would you moreover render them an opulent, knowing and polite Nation, teach ’em Commerce with Foreign Countries, and if possible get into the Sea, which to compass spare no Labour nor Industry, and let no difficulty deter you from it: Then promote Navigation, cherish the Merchant, and encourage Trade in every Branch of it; this will bring Riches, and where they are, Arts and Sciences will soon follow, and by the help of what I have named and good Management, it is that Politicians can make a People potent, renown’d and flourishing.

But would you have a frugal and honest Society, the best Policy is to preserve Men in their Native Simplicity, strive not to encrease their Numbers; let them never be acquainted with Strangers or Superfluities, but remove and keep from them every thing that might raise their Desires, or improve their Understanding.

Great Wealth and Foreign Treasure will ever scorn to come among Men, unless you’ll admit their inseparable Companions, Avarice and Luxury. Where Trade is considerable Fraud will intrude. To be at once well-bred and sincere, is no less than a Contradiction; and therefore whilst Man advances in Knowledge, and his Manners are polish’d, we must expect to see at the same time his Desires enlarg’d, his Appetites refin’d, and his Vices encreas’d.

The Dutch may ascribe their present Grandeur to the Virtue and Frugality of their Ancestors as they please; but what made that contemptible spot of Ground so considerable among the principal Powers of Europe, has been their Political Wisdom in postponing every thing to Merchandize and Navigation, the unlimited Liberty of Conscience that is enjoy’d among them, and the unwearied Application with which they have always made use of the most effectual means to encourage and increase Trade in general.

They never were noted for Frugality before Philip II. of Spain began to rage over them with that unheard of Tyranny. Their Laws were trampled upon, their Rights and large Immunities taken from them, and their Constitution torn to pieces. Several of their Chief Nobles were condemn’d and executed without legal Form of Process. Complaints and Remonstrances were punish’d as severely as Resistance, and those that escaped being massacred, were plunder’d by ravenous Soldiers. As this was intollerable to a People that had always been used to the mildest of Governments, and enjoy’d greater Privileges than any of the Neighbouring Nations, so they chose rather to dye in Arms than perish by cruel Executioners. If we consider the Strength Spain had then, and the low Circumstances those Distress’d States were in, there never was heard of a more unequal Strife; yet such was their Fortitude and Resolution, that only seven of those Provinces uniting themselves together, maintain’d against the greatest and best disciplin’d Nation in Europe, the most tedious and bloody War, that is to be met with in ancient or modern History.

Rather than to become a Victim to the Spanish Fury, they were contented to live upon a third part of their Revenues, and lay out far the greatest part of their Income in defending themselves against their merciless Enemies. These Hardships and Calamities of a War within their Bowels, first put them upon that extraordinary Frugality, and the Continuance under the same difficulties for above Fourscore Years, could not but render it Customary and Habitual to them. But all their Arts of Saving, and Penurious way of Living, could never have enabled them to make head against so Potent an Enemy, if their Industry in promoting their Fishery and Navigation in general, had not help’d to supply the Natural Wants and Disadvantages they labour’d under.

The Country is so small and so populous, that there is not Land enough, (though hardly an Inch of it is unimprov’d) to feed the Tenth part of the Inhabitants. Holland it self is full of large Rivers, and lies lower than the Sea, which would run over it every Tide, and wash it away in one Winter, if it was not kept out by vast Banks and huge Walls: The Repairs of those, as well as their Sluices, Keys, Mills, and other Necessaries they are forc’d to make use of to keep themselves from being drown’d are a greater Expence to them one Year with another, than could be rais’d by a general Land Tax of Four Shillings in the Pound, if to be deducted from the neat Produce of the Landlord’s Revenue.

Is it a wonder that People under such Circumstances, and loaden with greater Taxes besides than any other Nation, should be oblig’d to be saving? But why must they be a Pattern to others, who besides that they are more happily situated, are much richer within themselves, and have, to the same number of People, above ten times the Extent of Ground? The Dutch and we often buy and sell at the same Markets, and so far our Views may be said to be the same: Otherwise the Interests and Political Reasons of the two Nations as to the private Oeconomy of either, are very different. It is their Interest to be Frugal and spend little; because they must have every thing from Abroad, except Butter, Cheese and Fish, and therefore of them, especially the latter, they consume three times the quantity, which the same number of People do here. It is our Interest to eat plenty of Beef and Mutton to maintain the Farmer, and further improve our Land, of which we have enough to feed our selves, and as many more, if it was better cultivated: The Dutch perhaps have more Shipping, and more ready Money than we, but then those are only to be considered as the Tools they work with. So a Carrier may have more Horses than a Man of ten times his worth, and a Banker that has not above fifteen or sixteen Hundred Pounds in the World, may have generally more ready Cash by him than a Gentleman of two Thousand a Year. He that keeps three or four Stage-Coaches to get his Bread, is to a Gentleman that keeps a Coach for his Pleasure, what the Dutch are in comparison to us; having nothing of their own but Fish, they are Carriers and Freighters to the rest of the World, whilst the Basis of our Trade chiefly depends upon our own Product.

Another Instance, that what makes the Bulk of the People saving, are heavy Taxes, scarcity of Land, and such Things that occasion a Dearth of Provisions, may be given from what is observable among the Dutch themselves. In the Province of Holland there is a vast Trade, and an unconceiveable Treasure of Money. The Land is almost as rich as Dung itself, and (as I have said once already) not an Inch of it unimprov’d. In Gelderland and Overyssel there’s hardly any Trade, and very little Money: The Soil is very indifferent, and abundance of Ground lies waste. Then what is the Reason that the same Dutch in the two latter Provinces, tho’ Poorer than the first, are yet less stingy and more hospitable? Nothing but that their Taxes in most Things are less Extravagant, and in proportion to the Number of People, they have a great deal more Ground. What they save in Holland, they save out of their Bellies; ’tis Eatables, Drinkables and Fewel that their heaviest Taxes are upon, but they wear better Cloaths, and have richer Furniture, than you’ll find in the other Provinces.

Those that are frugal by Principle, are so in every Thing, but in Holland the People are only sparing in such Things as are daily wanted, and soon consumed; in what is lasting they are quite otherwise: In Pictures and Marble they are Profuse; in their Buildings and Gardens they are extravagant to Folly. In other Countries you may meet with stately Courts and Palaces of great Extent that belong to Princes, which no Body can expect in a Commonwealth, where so much equality is observ’d as there is in this; but in all Europe you shall find no private Buildings so sumptuously Magnificent, as a great many of the Merchant’s and other Gentlemen’s Houses are in Amsterdam, and some other great Cities of that small Province; and the generality of those that build there, lay out a greater proportion of their Estates on the Houses they dwell in than any People upon the Earth.

The Nation I speak of was never in greater streights, nor their Affairs in a more dismal Posture since they were a Republick than in the Year 1671, and the beginning of 1672.³² What we know of their Oeconomy and Constitution with any certainty has been chiefly owing to Sir William Temple, whose Observations upon their Manners and Government, it is evident from several Passages in his Memoirs were made about that time. The Dutch indeed were then very frugal; but since those Days, and that their Calamities have not been so pressing, (tho’ the Common People, on whom the principal Burthen of all Excises and Impositions lies, are perhaps much as they were) a great Alteration has been made among the better sort of People in their Equipages, Entertainments, and whole manner of Living.

Those who would have it that the Frugality of that Nation flows not so much from Necessity, as a general Aversion to Vice and Luxury, will put us in mind of their publick Administration and Smallness of Sallaries, their Prudence in bargaining for and buying Stores and other Necessaries, the great Care they take not to be imposed upon by those that serve them, and their Severity against them that break their Contracts. But what they would ascribe to the Virtue and Honesty of Ministers, is wholly due to their strict Regulations, concerning the management of the publick Treasure, from which their admirable Form of Government will not suffer them to depart; and indeed one good Man may take anothers Word, if they so agree, but a whole Nation ought never to trust to any Honesty, but what is built upon Necessity; for unhappy is the People, and their Constitution will be ever precarious, whose Welfare must depend upon the Virtues and Consciences of Ministers and Politicians.

The Dutch generally endeavour to promote as much Frugality among their Subjects as ’tis possible, not because it is a Virtue, but because it is, generally speaking, their Interest, as I have shew’d before; for as this latter changes, so they alter their Maxims, as will be plain in the following Instance.

As soon as their East India Ships come home, the Company pays off the Men, and many of them receive the greatest part of what they have been earning in seven or eight, and some fifteen or sixteen Years time. These poor Fellows are encourag’d to spend their Money with all Profuseness imaginable, and considering that most of them, when they set out at first were Reprobates, that under the Tuition of a strict Discipline, and a miserable Dyet, have been so long kept at hard Labour, without Money, in the midst of Danger, it cannot be difficult to make them Lavish as soon as they have Plenty.

They squander away in Wine, Women and Musick, as much as People of their Taste and Education are well capable of, and are suffer’d, (so they but abstain from doing of Mischief) to revel and riot with greater Licentiousness than is Customary to be allow’d to others. You may in some Cities see them accompanied with three or four Lewd Women, few of them Sober, run roaring through the Streets by broad Daylight with a Fidler before them: And if the Money, to their thinking, goes not fast enough these ways, they’ll find out others, and sometimes fling it among the Mob by handfuls. This Madness continues in most of them whilst they have any thing left, which never lasts long, and for this reason, by a Nick-name, they are call’d, Lords of six Weeks, that being generally the time by which the Company has other Ships ready to depart; where these infatuated Wretches (their Money being gone) are forc’d to enter themselves again, and may have leisure to repent their Folly.

In this Stratagem there is a double Policy: First, if these Saylors that have been inured to the hot Climates and un-wholsome Air and Dyet, should be frugal and stay in their own Country, the Company would be continually oblig’d to employ fresh Men, of which (besides that they are not so fit for their Business) hardly one in two ever lives in some Places of the East Indies, which would often prove a great Charge as well as Disappointment to them. The second is, that the large Sums so often distributed among those Saylors, are by this means made immediately to circulate throughout the Country, from whence, by heavy Excises and other Impositions, the greatest part of it is soon drawn back into the publick Treasure.

To convince the Champions for National Frugality by another Argument, that what they urge is impracticable, we’ll suppose that I am mistaken in every thing, which in Remark (L) I have said in behalf of Luxury and the Necessity of it to maintain Trade; after that let us examine what a general Frugality, if it was by Art and Management to be forc’d upon People, whether they have occasion for it or not, would produce in such a Nation as ours. We’ll grant then that all the People in Great Britain shall consume but four Fifths of what they do now, and so lay by one Fifth part of their Income: I shall not speak of what Influence this would have upon almost every Trade, as well as the Farmer, the Grazier and the Landlord, but favourably suppose (what is yet impossible) that the same Work shall be done, and consequently the same Handicrafts be employ’d as there are now. The Consequence would be, that unless Money should all at once fall prodigiously in Value, and every thing else, contrary to Reason, grow very dear, at the five Years end all the working People, and the poorest of Labourers, (for I won’t meddle with any of the rest) would be worth in ready Cash as much as they now spend in a whole Year; which, by the by, would be more Money than ever the Nation had at once.

Let us now, overjoy’d with this encrease of Wealth, take a view of the Condition the working People would be in, and reasoning from Experience, and what we daily observe of them, judge what their Behaviour would be in such a Case. Every body knows that there is a vast number of Journymen Weavers, Taylors, Clothworkers, and twenty other Handicrafts; who, if by four Days Labour in a Week they can maintain themselves, will hardly be perswaded to work the fifth; and that there are Thousands of Labouring Men of all sorts, who will, tho’ they can hardly subsist, put themselves to fifty Inconveniencies, disoblige their Masters, pinch their Bellies, and run in Debt, to make Holidays. When Men shew such an extraordinary proclivity to Idleness and Pleasure, what reason have we to think that they would ever work, unless they were oblig’d to it by immediate Necessity? When we see an Artificer that cannot be drove to his Work before Tuesday, because the Monday Morning he has two Shillings left of his last Week’s Pay; why should we imagine he would go to it at all, if he had fifteen or twenty Pounds in his Pocket?

What would, at this rate, become of our Manufactures? If the Merchant would send Cloth Abroad, he must make it himself, for the Clothier cannot get one Man out of twelve that used to work for him. If what I speak of was only to befal the Journeymen Shoemakers, and no body else, in less than a Twelvemonth half of us would go barefoot. The chief and most pressing use there is for Money in a Nation, is to pay the Labour of the Poor, and when there is a real Scarcity of it, those who have a great many Workmen to pay, will always feel it first; yet notwithstanding this great necessity of Coin, it would be easier, where Property was well secured, to live without Money than without Poor; for who would do the Work? For this reason the quantity of circulating Coin in a Country ought always to be proportion’d to the number of Hands that are employ’d; and the Wages of Labourers to the price of Provisions.³³ From whence it is demonstrable, that whatever procures Plenty makes Labourers cheap, where the Poor are well managed; who as they ought to be kept from starving, so they should receive nothing worth saving. If here and there one of the lowest class by uncommon industry, and pinching his Belly, lifts himself above the Condition he was brought up in, no body ought to hinder him; Nay it is undeniably the wisest course for every Person in the Society, and for every private Family to be frugal; but it is the Intrest of all Rich Nations, that the greatest part of the Poor should almost never be Idle, and yet continually spend what they get.

All Men, as Sir William Temple observes very well, are more prone to Ease and Pleasure, than they are to Labour, when they are not prompted to it by Pride or Avarice, and those that get their Living by their daily Labour, are seldom powerfully influenc’d by either: So that they have nothing to stir them up to be serviceable but their Wants, which it is Prudence to relieve, but Folly to cure. The only thing then that can render the labouring Man industrious, is a moderate quantity of Money; for as too little will, according as his Temper is, either dispirit or make him Desperate, so too much will make him Insolent and Lazy.

A Man would be laugh’d at by most People, who should maintain that too much Money could undo a Nation: Yet this has been the Fate of Spain; to this the learned Don Diego Savedra ascribes the Ruin of his Country. The Fruits of the Earth in former Ages had made Spain so rich, that King Lewis XI³⁴ of France being come to the Court of Toledo, was astonish’d at its Splendour, and said, that he had never seen any thing to be compar’d to it, either in Europe or Asia; he that in his Travels to the Holy Land had run through every Province of them. In the Kingdom of Castille alone, (if we may believe some Writers) there were for the Holy War from all Parts of the World got together one hundred Thousand Foot, ten thousand Horse and sixty thousand Carriages for Baggage, which Alonso III maintain’d at his own Charge, and paid every Day as well Soldiers as Officers and Princes, every one according to his Rank and Dignity: Nay, down to the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, (who equip’d Columbus) and some time after, Spain was a fertile Country, where Trade and Manufactures flourish’d and had a knowing industrious People to boast of. But as soon as that mighty Treasure, that was obtain’d with more Hazard and Cruelty than the World till then had known, and which to come at, by the Spaniard’s own Confession, had cost the Lives of twenty Millions of Indians; as soon, I say, as that Ocean of Treasure came rowling in upon them, it took away their Senses, and their Industry forsook them. The Farmer left his Plough, the Mechanick his Tools, the Merchant his Compting-house, and every body scorning to work, took his Pleasure and turn’d Gentleman. They thought they had reason to value themselves above all their Neighbours, and now nothing but the Conquest of the World would serve them.

The Consequence of this has been, that other Nations have supply’d what their own Sloth and Pride deny’d them; and when every body saw, that notwithstanding all the Prohibitions the Government could make against the Exportation of Bullion, the Spaniard would part with his Money, and bring it you aboard himself at the hazard of his Neck, all the World endeavour’d to work for Spain. Gold and Silver being by this means yearly divided and shared among all the Trading Countries, have made all Things dear, and most Nations of Europe Industrious, except their Owners, who ever since their mighty Acquisitions, sit with their Arms across, and wait every Year with impatience and anxiety, the arrival of their Revenues from Abroad, to pay others for what they have spent already: And thus by too much Money, the making of Colonies and other Mismanagements, of which it was the occasion Spain is from a fruitful and well peopled Country, with all its mighty Titles and Possessions, made a Barren and empty Thorough fair, thro’ which Gold and Silver pass from America to the rest of the World, and the Nation, from a rich, acute, diligent and laborious, become a slow, idle, proud and beggarly People; so much for Spain : The next Country where Money may be call’d the Product is Portugal, and the Figure which that Kingdom with all its Gold makes in Europe, I think is not much to be envyed.

The great Art then to make a Nation happy, and what we call flourishing, consists in giving every body an Opportunity of being employ’d; which to compass, let a Government’s first care be to promote as great a variety of Manufactures, Arts and Handicrafts, as Human Wit can invent; and the second to encourage Agriculture and Fishery in all their Branches, that the whole Earth may be forc’d to exert itself as well as Man; for as the one is an infallible Maxim to draw vast multitudes of People into a Nation, so the other is the only Method to maintain them.

It is from this Policy, and not the trifling Regulations of Lavishness and Frugality, (which will ever take their own Course, according to the Circumstances of the People) that the Greatness and Felicity of Nations must be expected; for let the Value of Gold and Silver either rise or fall, the Enjoyment of all Societies will ever depend upon the Fruits of the Earth, and the Labour of the People; both which joyn’d together are a more certain, a more inexhaustible and a more real Treasure than the Gold of Brazil, or the Silver of Potosi.³⁵

(R.) No Honour now, &c.

PAGE 73. LINE 4. Honour in its Figurative Sense is a Chimera without Truth or Being, an Invention of Moralists and Politicians, and signifies a certain Principle of Vertue not related to Religion, found in some Men that keeps ’em close to their Duty and Engagements whatever they be; as for Example, a Man of Honour enters into a Conspiracy with others to murder a King; he is obliged to go thorough Stitch with it, and if overcome by Remorse or good Nature, he startles at the Enormity of his Purpose, discovers the Plot, and turns a Witness against his Accomplices, he then forfeits his Honour, at least among the Party he belong’d to. The Excellency of this Principle is, that the Vulgar are destitute of it, and it is only to be met with in People of the better sort, as some Oranges have Kernels, and others not, tho’ the outside be the same. In great Families it is like the Gout, generally counted Hereditary, and all Lords Children are born with it. In some that never felt any thing of it, it is acquired by Conversation and Reading, (especially of Romances) in others by Preferment; but there is nothing that encourages the Growth of it more than a Sword, and upon the first wearing of one, some People have felt considerable Shutes of it in Four and twenty Hours.

The chief and most important Care a Man of Honour ought to have, is the Preservation of this Principle, and rather than forfeit it, he must lose his Employments and Estate, nay, Life itself; for which reason, whatever Humility he may shew by way of good Breeding, he is allow’d to put an inestimable Value upon himself, as a Possessor of this invisible Ornament. The only Method to preserve this Principle, is to live up to the Rules of Honour, which are Laws he is to walk by: Himself is oblig’d always to be faithful to his Trust, to prefer the publick Interest to his own, not to tell Lies, nor defraud or wrong any Body, and from others to suffer no Affront, which is a Term of Art for every Action designedly done to undervalue him.

The Men of ancient Honour, of which I reckon Don Quixot to have been the last upon Record, were very nice Observers of all these Laws, and a great many more than I have named; but the Moderns seem to be more remiss; they have a profound Veneration for the last of ’em, but they pay not an equal Obedience to any of the other, and whoever will but strictly comply with that I hint at, shall have abundance of Trespasses against all the rest conniv’d at.

A Man of Honour is always counted impartial, and a Man of Sense of course; for no body ever heard of a Man of Honour that was a Fool: For this reason, he has nothing to do with the Law, and is always allow’d to be a Judge in his own Case; and if the least Injury be done either to himself or his Friend, his Relation, his Servant, his Dog, or any thing which he is pleased to take under his Honourable Protection, Satisfaction must be forthwith demanded, and if it proves an Affront, and he that gave it likewise a Man of Honour, a Battle must ensue. From all this it is evident, that a Man of Honour must be possessed of Courage, and that without it his other Principle would be no more than a Sword without a Point. Let us therefore examine what Courage consists in, and whether it be, as most People will have it, a real Something that valiant Men have in their Nature distinct from all their other Qualities or not.

There is nothing so universally sincere upon Earth, as the Love which all Creatures, that are capable of any, bear to themselves; and as there is no Love but what implies a Care to preserve the Thing beloved, so there is nothing more sincere in any Creature than his Will, Wishes and Endeavours to preserve himself. This is the Law of Nature, by which no Creature is endued with any Appetite or Passion but what either directly or indirectly tends to the Preservation either of himself or his Species.

The means by which Nature obliges every Creature continually to stir in this Business of Self-Preservation, are grafted in him, and (in Man) call’d Desires, which either compel him to crave what he thinks will sustain or please him, or command him to avoid what he imagines might displease, hurt or destroy him. These Desires or Passions have all their different Symptoms by which they manifest themselves to those they disturb, and from that variety of Disturbances they make within us, their various Denominations have been given them, as has been shewn already in Pride and Shame.

The Passion that is rais’d in us when we apprehend that Mischief is approaching us, is call’d Fear: The Disturbance it makes within us is always more or less violent in proportion, not of the Danger, but our Apprehension of the Mischief dreaded, whether real or imaginary. Our Fear then being always proportion’d to the Apprehension we have of the Danger, it follows, that whilst that Apprehension lasts, a Man can no more shake off his Fear than he can a Leg or an Arm. In a Fright it is true, the Apprehension of Danger is so sudden, and attacks us so lively, (as sometimes to take away Reason and Senses) that when ’tis over we often don’t remember that we had any Apprehension at all; but from the Event, ’tis plain we had it, for how could we have been frighten’d if we had not apprehended that some Evil or other was coming upon us?

Most People are of Opinion, that this apprehension is to be conquer’d by Reason, but I confess I am not: Those that have been frighten’d will tell you, that as soon as they could recollect themselves, that is, make use of their Reason, their apprehension was conquer’d. But this is no Conquest at all, for in a fright the Danger was either altogether imaginary, or else it is past by that time they can make use of their Reason, and therefore if they find there is no Danger, it is no wonder that they should not apprehend any: But when the Danger is permanent, let them then make use of their Reason, and they’ll find that it may serve them to examine the greatness and reality of the Danger, and that if they find it less than they imagin’d, their apprehension will be lessen’d accordingly; but if the Danger proves real, and the same in every circumstance as they took it to be at first, then their Reason instead of diminishing will rather encrease their apprehension. Whilst this Fear lasts, no Creature can fight offensively, and yet we see Brutes daily fight obstinately, and worry one another to Death; so that some other Passion must be able to overcome this Fear, and the most contrary to it is Anger; which to trace to the bottom I must beg leave to make another Digression.

No Creature can subsist without Food, nor any Species of them (I speak of the more perfect Animals) continue long unless young ones are continually born as fast as the old ones die. Therefore the first and fiercest Appetite that Nature has given them is Hunger, the next is Lust; the one prompting them to procreate as the other bids them eat. Now if we observe that Anger is that Passion which is rais’d in us when we are cross’d or disturb’d in our Desires, and that as it sums up all the strength in Creatures, so it was given them that by it they might exert themselves more vigorously in endeavouring to remove, overcome, or destroy whatever obstructs them in the pursuit of Self-Preservation; we shall find that Brutes, unless themselves or what they love, or the Liberty of either are threatned or attack’d, have nothing worth notice that can move them to Anger but Hunger or Lust. ’Tis they that make them more fierce, for we must observe, that the Appetites of Creatures are as actually cross’d, whilst they want and cannot meet with what they desire (tho’ perhaps with less violence) as when hindred from enjoying what they have in view. What I have said will appear more plainly, if we but mind what no body can be ignorant of, which is this: All Creatures upon Earth live either upon the Fruits and Product of it, or else the Flesh of other Animals, their fellow Creatures. The latter, which we call Beasts of Prey, Nature has arm’d accordingly, and given them Weapons and Strength to overcome and tear asunder those whom she has design’d for their Food, and likewise a much keener Appetite than to other Animals that live upon Herbs, &c. For as to the first, if a Cow lov’d Mutton as well as she does Grass, being made as she is, and having no Claws or Talons, and but one Row of Teeth before that are all of an equal length, she would be starv’d even among a Flock of Sheep. Secondly, as to their voraciousness, if Experience did not teach it us, our Reason might: In the first place it is highly probable that the Hunger, which can make a Creature fatigue, harrass and expose himself to danger for every bit he eats, is more piercing than that which only bids him eat what stands before him, and which he may have for stooping down. In the second, it is to be considered, that as Beasts of Prey have an instinct by which they learn to crave, trace, and discover those Creatures that are good Food for them, so the others have likewise an instinct that teaches them to shun, conceal themselves, and run away from those that hunt after them: From hence it must follow, that Beasts of Prey, tho’ they could almost eat for ever, go yet more often with empty Bellies than other Creatures, whose Victuals neither fly from nor oppose them. This must perpetuate as well as encrease their Hunger, which hereby becomes a constant Fuel to their Anger.

If you ask me what stirs up this Anger in Bulls and Cocks that will fight to Death, and yet are neither Animals of Prey nor very voracious, I answer, Lust. Those Creatures, whose Rage proceeds from Hunger, both Male and Female attack every thing they can master, and fight obstinately against all: But the Animals, whose Fury is provok’d by a Venereal ferment, being generally Males, exert themselves chiefly against other Males of the same Species. They may do mischief by chance to other Creatures, but the main objects of their hatred are their Rivals, and it is against them only that their Prowess and Fortitude are shewn. We see likewise in all those Creatures of which the Male is able to satisfy a great number of Females, a more considerable superiority in the Male express’d by Nature in his Make and Features as well as fierceness, than is observ’d in other Creatures where the Male is contented with one or two Females. Dogs, tho’ become Domestick Animals, are ravenous to a Proverb, and those of them that will fight being Carnivorous, would soon become Beasts of Prey, if not fed by us; what we may observe in them is an ample proof of what I have hitherto advanc’d. Those of a true fighting Breed, being voracious Creatures, both Male and Female, will fasten upon any thing, and suffer themselves to be kill’d before they give over. As the Female is rather more salacious than the Male, so there is no difference in their make at all, what distinguishes the Sexes excepted, and the Female is rather the fiercest of the two. A Bull is a terrible Creature when he is kept up, but where he has twenty or more Cows to range among, in a little time he’ll become as tame as any of them, and a dozen Hens will spoil the best game Cock in England; Harts and Deer are counted chaste and timorous Creatures, and so indeed they are almost all the Year long, except in Rutting time, and then on a sudden they become bold to admiration, and often make at the Keepers themselves.

That the influence of those two principal Appetites, Hunger and Lust, upon the temper of Animals, is not so whimsical as some may imagine, may be partly demonstrated from what is observable in our selves; for though our Hunger is infinitely less violent than that of Wolves and other ravenous Creatures, yet we see that People who are in Health and have a tolerable Stomach, are more fretful, and sooner put out of Humour for Trifles when they stay for their Victuals beyond their usual Hours, than at any other time. And again, tho’ Lust in Man is not so raging as it is in Bulls and other salacious Creatures, yet nothing provokes Men and Women both sooner and more violently to Anger, than what crosses their Amours, when they are heartily in Love; and the most fearful and tenderly educated of either Sex, have slighted the greatest dangers, and set aside all other considerations to compass the destruction of a Rival.

Hitherto I have endeavour’d to demonstrate, that no Creature can fight offensively as long as his Fear lasts; that Fear cannot be conquer’d but by another Passion; that the most contrary to it, and most effectual to overcome it is Anger; that the two principal Appetites which disappointed can stir up this last named Passion are Hunger and Lust, and that in all Brute Beasts the proness to Anger and Obstinacy in fighting generally depend upon the violence of either or both those Appetites together: From whence it must follow, that what we call Prowess or natural Courage in Creatures, is nothing but the effect of Anger, and that all fierce Animals must be either very Ravenous or very Lustful, if not both.

Let us now examine what by this Rule we ought to judge of our own Species. From the tenderness of Man’s Skin, and the great care that is required for Years together to rear him; from the Make of his Jaws, the evenness of his Teeth, the breadth of his Nails, and the slightness of both, it is not probable that Nature should have design’d him for Rapine; for this Reason his Hunger is not voracious as it is in Beasts of Prey; neither is he so salacious as other Animals that are call’d so, and being besides very industrious to supply his wants, he can have no reigning Appetite to perpetuate his Anger, and must consequently be a timorous Animal.

What I have said last must only be understood of Man in his Savage State; for if we examine him as a Member of a Society and a taught Animal, we shall find him quite another Creature: As soon as his Pride has room to Play, and Envy, Avarice and Ambition begin to catch hold of him, he is rous’d from his natural Innocence and Stupidity. As his Knowledge encreases, his Desires are enlarg’d, and consequently his Wants and Appetites are multiply’d: Hence it must follow, that he will be often cross’d in the pursuit of them, and meet with abundance more disappointment to stir up his Anger in this than his former Condition, and Man would in a little time become the most hurtful and noxious Creature in the World, if let alone, whenever he could over power his Adversary, if he had no Mischief to fear but from the Person that anger’d him.

The first care therefore of all Governments is by severe Punishments to curb his Anger when it does hurt, and so by encreasing his Fears prevent the mischief it might produce. When various Laws to restrain him from using Force are strictly executed, Self Preservation must teach him to be peaceable; and as it is every body’s business to be as little disturb’d as is possible, his Fears will be continually augmented and enlarg’d as he advances in Experience, Understanding and Foresight. The consequence of this must be, that as the Provocations he will receive to Anger will be infinite in the civiliz’d State, so his Fears to damp it will be the same, and thus in a little time he’ll be taught by his Fears to destroy his Anger, and by Art to consult in an opposite Method the same Self Preservation for which Nature before had furnished him with Anger, as well as the rest of his Passions.

The only useful Passion then that Man is possess’d of toward the peace and quiet of a Society, is his Fear, and the more you work upon it the more orderly and governable he’ll be; for how useful soever Anger may be to Man, as he is a single Creature by himself, yet the Society has no manner of occasion for it: But Nature being always the same in the Formation of Animals, produces all Creatures as like to those that beget and bear them as the place she forms them in, and the various influences from without will give her leave, and consequently all Men, whether they are born in Courts or Forests, are susceptible of Anger. When this Passion overcomes (as among all degrees of People it sometimes does) the whole Set of Fears Man has, he has true Courage, and will fight as boldly as a Lyon or a Tyger, and at no other time; and I shall endeavour to prove, that whatever is call’d Courage in Man, when he is not Angry, is spurious and artificial.

It is possible by good Government to keep a Society always quiet in itself, but no body can ensure Peace from without for ever. The Society may have occasion to extend their limits further, and enlarge their Territories, or others may invade theirs, or some thing else will happen that Man must be brought to fight; for how civiliz’d soever Men may be, they never forget that Force goes beyond Reason: The Politician now must alter his Measures, and take off some of Man’s Fears; he must strive to perswade him, that all what was told him before of the Barbarity of killing Men ceases as soon as these Men are Enemies to the Publick, and that their Adversaries are neither so good nor so strong as themselves. These Things well manag’d will seldom fail of drawing the hardiest, the most quarrelsome, and the most mischievous in to Combat; but unless they are better qualify’d, I won’t answer for their behaviour there. If once you can make them undervalue their Enemies, you may soon stir them up to Anger, and while that lasts they’ll fight with greater Obstinacy than any disciplin’d Troops: But if any thing happens that was unforeseen, and a sudden great Noise, a Tempest, or any strange or uncommon Accident, that seems to threaten ’em, intervenes, Fear seizes ’em, disarms their Anger, and makes ’em run away to a Man.

This natural Courage therefore, as soon as People begin to have more Wit, must be soon exploded. In the first place those that have felt the smart of the Enemy’s Blows, won’t always believe what is said to undervalue him, and are often not easily provok’d to Anger. Secondly, Anger consisting in an Ebullition of the Spirits, is a Passion of no long continuance (Ira furor brevis est) ³⁶ and the Enemies, if they withstand the first Shock of these Angry People, have commonly the better of it. Thirdly, as long as People are angry, all Counsel and Discipline are lost upon them, and they can never be brought to use Art or Conduct in their Battels. Anger then, without which no Creature has natural Courage, being altogether useless in a War to be manag’d by Stratagem, and brought into a regular Art, the Government must find out an equivalent for Courage that will make men fight.

Whoever would civilize Men, and establish them into a Body Politick, must be thoroughly acquainted with all the Passions and Appetites, Strength and Weaknesses of their Frame, and understand how to turn their greatest Frailties to the advantage of the Publick. In the Enquiry into the Origin of Moral Virtue, I have shewn how easily Men were induc’d to believe any thing that is said in their Praise. If therefore a Law giver or Politician, whom they have a great Veneration for, should tell them, that the generality of Men had within them a Principle of Valour distinct from Anger, or any other Passion, that made them to despise Danger and face Death itself with Intrepidity, and that they who had the most of it were the most valuable of their kind, it is very likely, considering what has been said, that most of them, tho’ they felt nothing of this Principle, would swallow it for Truth, and that the Proudest feeling themselves mov’d at this piece of Flattery, and not well vers’d in distinguishing the Passions, might imagine that they felt it heaving in their Breasts, by mistaking Pride for Courage. If but One in Ten can be perswaded openly to declare, that he is possess’d of this Principle, and maintain it against all Gainsayers, there will soon be half a dozen that shall assert the same. Whoever has once own’d it is engaged, the Politician has nothing to do but to take all imaginable Care to flatter the Pride of those that brag of, and are willing to stand by it, a thousand different ways: The same Pride that drew him in first will ever after oblige him to defend the Assertion, till at last the fear of discovering the reality of his Heart, comes to be so great that it out-does the fear of Death itself. Do but encrease Man’s Pride, and his fear of Shame will ever be proportion’d to it; for the greater value a Man sets upon himself, the more Pains he’ll take and the greater Hardships he’ll undergo to avoid Shame.

The great Art then to make Man Courageous, is first to make him own this Principle of Valour within, and afterwards to inspire him with as much horror against Shame, as Nature has given him against Death; and that there are things to which Man has, or may have, a stronger aversion than he has to Death, is evident from Suicide. He that makes Death his choice, must look upon it as less terrible than what he shuns by it; for whether the Evil dreaded be present or to come, real or imaginary, no body would kill himself wilfully but to avoid something. Lucretia held out bravely against all the attacks of the Ravisher, even when he threaten’d her Life; which shews that she valued her Virtue beyond it: But when he threaten’d her Reputation with eternal Infamy, she fairly surrender’d, and then slew herself; a certain sign that she valued her Virtue less than her Glory, and her Life less than either. The fear of Death did not make her yield, for she resolv’d to die before she did it, and her complyance must only be consider’d as a Bribe to make Tarquin forbear sullying her Reputation; so that Life had neither the first nor second place in the esteem of Lucretia. The courage then which is only useful to the Body Politick, and what is generally call’d true Valour, is artificial, and consists in a Superlative Horror against Shame, by Flattery infused into Men of exalted Pride.

As soon as the Notions of Honour and Shame are received among a Society, it is not difficult to make Men fight. First, take care they are perswaded of the Justice of their Cause, for no Man fights heartily that thinks himself in the wrong; then shew them that their Altars, their Possessions, Wives, Children, and every thing that is near and dear to them is concerned in the present Quarrel, or at least may be influenced by it hereafter; then put Feathers in their Caps, and distinguish them from others, talk of Publick-Spiritedness, the Love of their Country, facing an Enemy with Intrepidity, despising Death, the Bed of Honour, and such like high sounding Words, and every Proud Man will take up Arms and fight himself to Death before he’ll turn tail, if it be by Day light. One Man in an Army is a check upon another, and a hundred of them that single and without witness would be all Cowards, are for fear of incurring one another’s Contempt made Valiant by being together. To continue and heighten this artificial Courage, all that run away ought to be punish’d with Ignominy; those that fought well, whether they did beat or were beaten, must be flatter’d and solemnly commended; those that lost their Limbs rewarded, and those that were kill’d ought, above all, to be taken notice of, artfully lamented, and to have extraordinary Encomiums bestow’d upon them; for to pay Honours to the Dead, will ever be a sure Method to make Bubbles of the Living.

When I say that the Courage made use of in the Wars is artificial, I don’t imagine that by the same Art all Men may be made equally Valiant: As Men have not an equal share of Pride, and differ from one another in Shape and inward Structure, it is impossible they should be all equally fit for the same uses. Some Men will never be able to learn Musick, and yet make good Mathematicians; others will play excellently well upon the Violin, and yet be Coxcombs as long as they live, let them converse with whom they please. But to shew that this is no evasion I shall prove, that, setting aside what I said of artificial Courage already, what the greatest Heroe differs in from the rankest Coward, is altogether Corporeal, and depends upon the inward make of Man. What I mean is call’d Constitution; by which is understood the orderly or disorderly mixture of the Fluids in our Body: That Constitution which favours Courage, consists in the natural Strength, Elasticity, and due Contexture of the finer Spirits, and upon them wholly depends what we call Stedfastness, Resolution and Obstinacy. It is the only Ingredient that is common to natural and artificial Bravery, and is to either what Size is to white Walls, which hinders them from coming off, and makes them lasting. That some People are very much, others very little frighten’d at things that are strange and sudden to them, is likewise altogether owing to the firmness or imbecility in the Tone of the Spirits. Pride is of no use in a Fright, because whilst it lasts we can’t think, which, being counted a disgrace, is the reason People are always angry with any thing that frightens them as soon as the surprize is over; and when at the turn of a Battle the Conquerors give no Quarter, and are very cruel, it is a sign their Enemies fought well, and had put them first into great Fears.

That Resolution depends upon this Tone of the Spirits, appears likewise from the effects of strong Liquors, the fiery Particles whereof crowding into the Brain, strengthen the Spirits; their Operation imitates that of Anger, which I said before was an Ebullition of the Spirits. It is for this reason that most People when they are in Drink, are sooner touch’d and more prone to Anger than at other times, and some raving Mad without any Provocation at all. It is likewise observ’d, that Brandy makes Men more Quarrelsome at the same pitch of Drunkenness than Wine; because the Spirits of distill’d Waters have abundance of fiery Particles mixt with them, which the other has not. The Contexture of Spirits is so weak in some, that tho’ they have Pride enough, no Art can ever make them fight or overcome their Fears; but this is a Defect in the Principle of the Fluids, as other Deformities are faults of the Solids. These pusilanimous People are never thoroughly provok’d to Anger, where there is any Danger, and drinking ever makes ’em bolder, but seldom so resolute as to attack any, unless they be Women or Children, or such who they know dare not resist. This Constitution is often influenced by Health and Sickness, and impair’d by great losses of Blood; sometimes it is corrected by Diet; and it is this which the Duke de la Rochefocault means when he says; Vanity, Shame, and above all Constitution, make up very often the Courage of Men and Virtue of Women.

There is nothing that more improves the useful Martial Courage I treat of, and at the same time shews it to be artificial, than Practice; for when Men are disciplin’d, come to be acquainted with all the Tools of Death and Engines of Destruction, when the Shouts, the Outcries, the Fire and Smoak, the Groans of Wounded, and ghastly Looks of dying Men, with all the various Scenes of mangled Carcasses and bloody Limbs tore off, begin to be familiar to them, their Fears abate apace; not that they are now less afraid to die than before, but being used so often to see the same Dangers, they apprehend the reality of them less than they did: As they are deservedly valued for every Siege they are at, and every Battle they are in, it is impossible but the several Actions they share in must continually become as many solid Steps by which their Pride mounts up, and thus their Fear of Shame, which, as I said before, will always be proportion’d to their Pride, encreasing as the apprehension of the Danger decreases, it is no wonder that most of them learn to discover little or no Fear; and some great Generals are able to preserve a Presence of Mind, and counterfeit a calm Serenity within the midst of all the Noise, Horror and Confusion that attend a Battle.

So silly a Creature is Man, as that, intoxicated with the fumes of Vanity, he can feast on the thoughts of the Praises that shall be paid his Memory in future Ages with so much extasy, as to neglect his present Life, nay court and covet Death, if he but imagines that it will add to the Glory he had acquir’d before. There is no pitch of Self-denial that a Man of Pride and Constitution cannot reach, nor any Passion so violent but he’ll sacrifise it to another which is superior to it; and here I cannot but admire at the Simplicity of some good Men, who when they hear of the Joy and Alacrity with which holy Men in Persecutions have suffer’d for their Faith, imagine that such Constancy must exceed all human Force, unless it was supported by some miraculous Assistance from Heaven. As most People are unwilling to acknowledge all the frailties of their Species, so they are unacquainted with the Strength of our Nature, and know not that some Men of firm Constitution may work themselves up into Enthusiasm by no other help than the violence of their Passions; yet it is certain, that there have been Men who only assisted with Pride and Constitution to maintain the worst of Causes, have undergone Death and Torments with as much chearfulness as the best of Men, animated with Piety and Devotion, ever did for the true Religion.

To prove this assertion I could produce many Instances; but one or two will be sufficient. Jordanus Bruno of Nola, who wrote that silly piece of Blasphemy call’d Spaccio della Bestia triumfante, and the infamous Vannini were both executed for openly professing and teaching of Atheism: The latter might have been pardon’d the Moment before the Execution, if he would have retracted his Doctrine; but rather than recant, he chose to be burnt to Ashes. As he went to the Stake, he was so far from shewing any concern, that he held his Hand out to a Physician whom he happen’d to know, desiring him to judge of the calmness of his Mind by the regularity of his Pulse, and from thence taking an opportunity of making an impious Comparison, utter’d a Sentence too execrable to be mention’d. To these we may joyn one Mahomet Effendi, who, as Sir Paul Ricaut tells us, was put to Death at Constantinople, for having advanc’d some Notions against the Existence of a God. He likewise might have sav’d his Life by confessing his Error, and renouncing it for the future; but chose rather to persist in his Blasphemies, saying, Tho’ he had no Reward to expect, the Love of Truth constrain’d him to suffer Martyrdom in its defence.

I have made this Digression chiefly to shew the Strength of Humane Nature, and what meer Man may perform by Pride and Constitution alone. Man may certainly be as violently rous’d by his Vanity as a Lyon is by his Anger, and not only this, Avarice, Revenge, Ambition, and almost every Passion, Pity not excepted, when they are extraordinary, may, by overcoming Fear, serve him instead of Valour, and be mistaken for it even by himself; as daily Experience must teach every body that will examine and look into the Motives from which some Men act. But that we may more clearly perceive what this pretended Principle is really built upon, let us look into the management of Military Affairs, and we shall find that Pride is no where so openly encouraged as there. As for Cloaths, the very lowest of the Commission Officers have them richer, or at least more gay and splendid, than are generally wore by other People of four or five times their Income. Most of them, and especially those that have Families, and can hardly subsist, would be very glad, all Europe over, to be less Expensive that way; but it is a Force put upon them to uphold their Pride, which they don’t think on.

But the ways and means to rouse Man’s Pride, and catch him by it, are no where more grossly conspicuous than in the Treatment which the Common Soldiers receive, whose Vanity is to be work’d upon, (because there must be so many) at the cheapest Rate imaginable. Things we are accustom’d to we don’t mind, or else what Mortal that never had seen a Soldier could look without laughing upon a Man accoutred with so much paultry Gaudiness and affected Finery? The coursest Manufacture that can be made of Wool dy’d of a Brickdust colour, goes down with him, because it is in imitation of Scarlet or Crimson Cloth, and to make him think himself as like his Officer as ’tis possible with little or no Cost, instead of Silver or Gold Lace, his Hat is trim’d with white or yellow Worsted, which in others would deserve Bedlam; yet these fine Allurements, and the noise made upon a Calf’s Skin, have drawn in and been the Destruction of more Men in reallity, than all the killing Eyes and bewitching Voices of Women ever slew in Jest. To Day the Swineherd puts on his red Coat, and believes every body in earnest that calls him Gentleman, and two Days after Sergeant Kite³⁷ gives him a swinging wrap with his Cane, for holding his Musket an Inch higher than he should do. As to the real Dignity of the Employment, in the two last Wars Officers, when Recruits were wanted, were allow’d to list Fellows convicted of Burglary and other Capital Crimes, which shews, that to be made a Soldier is deem’d to be a Preferment next to hanging. A Trooper is yet worse than a Foot Soldier; for when he is most at Ease, he has the Mortification of being Groom to a Horse that spends more Money than himself. When a Man reflects on all this, the Usage they generally receive from their Officers, their Pay, and the Care that is taken of them, when they are not wanted, must he not wonder how Wretches can be so silly as to be proud of being call’d Gentlemen Soldiers? Yet if they were not, no Art, Discipline or Money would be capable of making them so Brave as Thousands of them are.

If we will mind what Effects Man’s Bravery without any other Qualifications to sweeten him, would have out of an Army, we shall find that it would be very pernicious to the Civil Society, for if Man could conquer all his Fears, you would hear of nothing but Rapes, Murthers and Violences of all sorts, and Valiant Men would be like Gyants in Romances: Politicks therefore discover’d in Men a mixt Mettle-Principle, which was a Compound of Justice, Honesty and all the Moral Virtues joyn’d to Courage, and all that were possess’d of it turn’d Knights-Errant of course. They did abundance of Good throughout the World, by taming Monsters, delivering the Distress’d, and killing the Opressors. But the Wings of all the Dragons being clipt, the Gyants destroy’d, and the Damsels every where set at liberty, except some few in Spain and Italy, who remain’d still Captivated by their Monsters, the Order of Chivalry, to whom the Standard of Ancient Honour belong’d, has been laid aside some time. It was like their Armours very massy and heavy; the many Virtues about it made it very troublesome, and as Ages grew wiser and wiser, the Principle of Honour in the beginning of the last Century, was melted over again, and brought to a new Standard; they put in the same weight of Courage, half the quantity of Honesty, and a very little Justice, but not a Scrap of any other Virtue, which has made it very easie and portable to what it was. However, such as it is there would be no living without it in a large Nation; it is the tye of Society, and though we are beholden to our Frailties for the chief Ingredient of it, there is no Virtue at least that I am acquainted with, that has been half so instrumental to the civilizing of Mankind, who in great Societies would soon degenerate into cruel Villains and treacherous Slaves, were Honour to be remov’d from among them.

As to the Duelling Part which belongs to it, I pity the Unfortunate whose Lot it is; but to say, that those who are guilty of it go by false Rules, or mistake the Notions of Honour, is ridiculous; for either there is no Honour at all, or it teaches Men to resent Injuries, and accept of Challenges. You may as well deny that it is the fashion what you see everybody wear, as to say that demanding and giving Satisfaction is against the Laws of true Honour. Those that rail at Duelling, don’t consider the Benefit the Society receives from that Fashion: If every ill bred Fellow might use what Language he pleas’d, without being call’d to an Account for it, all Conversation would be spoil’d. Some grave People tell us, that the Greeks and Romans were such valiant Men, and yet knew nothing of Duelling but in their Country’s Quarrel. This is very true, but for that reason the Kings and Princes in Homer gave one another worse Language than our Porters and Hackney Coachmen would be able to bear without Resentment.

Would you hinder Duelling, pardon no body that offends that way, and make the Laws against it as severe as you can, but don’t take away the thing itself, the Custom of it. This will not only prevent the Frequency of it, but likewise by rendring the most resolute and most Powerful cautious and circumspect in their Behaviour, polish and brighten Society in general. Nothing civilizes a Man equally as his Fear, and if not all, (as my Lord Rochester said) at least most Men would be Cowards if they durst³⁸: The dread of being call’d to an Account keeps abundance in awe, and there are thousands of Mannerly and well accomplish’d Gentlemen in Europe, who would have been insolent and insupportable Coxcombs without it; besides if it was out of Fashion to ask Satisfaction for Injuries which the Law cannot take hold of, there would be twenty times the Mischief done there is now, or else you must have twenty times the Constables and other Officers to keep the Peace. I confess that though it happens but seldom, it is a Calamity to the People, and generally the Families it falls upon; but there can be no perfect Happiness in this World, and all Felicity has an Allay. The Act itself is uncharitable, but when above Thirty in a Nation destroy themselves in one Year, and not half that number are kill’d by others, I don’t think the People can be said to love their Neighbours worse than themselves. It is strange that a Nation should grudge to see perhaps half a dozen Men sacrifis’d in a Twelvcmonth to obtain so valuable a Blessing, as the Politeness of Manners, the Pleasure of Conversation, and the happiness of Company in general, that is often so willing to expose, and sometimes loses as many thousands in a few Hours without knowing whether it will do any good or not.

I would have no body that reflects on the mean Original of Honour complain of being gull’d and made a Property by cunning Politicians, but desire every body to be satisfied, that the Governors of Societies and those in high Stations are greater Bubbles to Pride than any of the rest. If some great Men had not a superlative Pride and every body understood the Enjoyment of Life, who wou’d be a Lord Chancellor of England, a Prime Minister of State in France, or what gives more Fatigue, and not a sixth part of the Profit of either, a Grand Pensionary of Holland? The reciprocal Services which all Men pay to one another, are the Foundation of the Society. The great ones are not flatter’d with their high Birth for nothing, ’tis to rouse their Pride, and excite them to glorious Actions, that we extol their Race, whether it deserves it or not, and some Men have been complimented with the Greatness of their Family, and the Merit of their Ancestors, when in the whole Generation you cou’d not find two but what were uxorious Fools, silly Bigots, noted Poltroons or debauch’d Whoremasters. The establish’d Pride that is inseparable from those that are possess’d of Titles already, makes them often strive as much not to seem unworthy of them, as the working Ambition of others that are yet without, renders them industrious and indefatigable to deserve them. When a Gentleman is made a Baron or an Earl, it is as great a Check upon him in many respects, as a Gown and Cassock are to a young Student that has been newly taken into Orders.

The only thing of weight that can be said against modern Honour is, that it is directly opposite to Religion. The one bids you bear Injuries with Patience, the other tells you if you don’t resent them, you are not fit to live. Religion commands you to leave all Revenge to God, Honour bids you trust your Revenge to no body but your self, even where the Law wou’d do it for you. Religion plainly forbids Murther, Honour openly justifies it. Religion bids you not shed Blood upon any account whatever, Honour bids you fight for the least Trifle. Religion is built on Humility, and Honour upon Pride. How to reconcile them must be left to wiser Heads than mine.

The Reason why there are so few Men of real Virtue, and so many of real Honour, is, because all the Recompence a Man has of a Virtuous Action, is the Pleasure of doing it, which most People reckon but poor Pay; but the Self denial a Man of Honour submits to in one Appetite, is immediately rewarded by the Satisfaction he receives from another, and what he abates of his Avarice, or any other Passion is doubly repaid to his Pride: Besides, Honour gives large Grains of Allowance, and Virtue none. A Man of Honour must not cheat or tell a Lye; he must punctually repay what he borrows at Play, though the Creditor has nothing to shew for it; but he may drink and swear and owe Money to all the Tradesmen in Town, without taking Notice of their dunning. A Man of Honour must be true to his Prince and Country, whilst he is in their Service; but if he thinks himself not well used, he may quit it, and do them all the Mischief he can. A Man of Honour must never change his Religion for Interest, but he may be as Debauch’d as he pleases, and never practise any. He must make no Attempts upon his Friend’s Wife, Daughter, Sister, or any body that is trusted to his Care, but he may lye with all the World besides.

(S.) No Limner for his Art is famed;

Stone-cutters, Carvers are not named:

PAGE 74. LINE 6. It is, without doubt, that among the Consequences of a National Honesty and Frugality, it wou’d be one not to build any new Houses, or use new Materials, as long as there were old ones enough to serve. By this three Parts in four of Masons, Carpenters, Bricklayers, &c. would want Employment; and the building Trade being once destroy’d, what wou’d become of Limning, Carving, and other Arts that are ministring to Luxury, and have been carefully forbid by those Lawgivers that preferr’d a good and honest, to a great and wealthy Society, and endeavour’d to render their Subjects rather Virtuous than Rich. By a Law of Lycurgus, it was enacted, That the Ceilings of the Spartan Houses should only be wrought by the Ax, and their Gates and Doors only smooth’d by the Saw; and this, says Plutarch, was not without Mystery; for if Epaminondas could say with so good a Grace, inviting some of his Friends to his Table, Come, Gentlemen, be secure, Treason would never come to such a poor Dinner as this: Why might not this great Law giver, in all probability, have thought, that such ill-favour’d Houses would never be capable of receiving Luxury and Superfluity?

It is reported, as the same Author tells us, that King Leotichidas, the first of that Name, was so little used to the sight of Carv’d Work, that being entertain’d at Corinth in a stately Room, he was much surpriz’d to see the Timber and Ceiling so finely wrought, and ask’d his Host whether the Trees grew so in his Country.

The same want of Employment wou’d reach innumerable Callings, and among the rest, that of the

Weavers that join’d rich Silk with Plate,

And all the Trades subordinate.

(As the Fable has it) wou’d be one of the first that shou’d have reason to complain; for the Price of Land and Houses being, by the removal of the vast numbers that had left the Hive, sunk very low on the one side, and every body abhorring all other ways of Gain, but such as were strictly honest on the other, it is not probable that many without Pride or Prodigality shou’d be able to wear Cloath of Gold and Silver, or rich Brocades. The Consequence of which wou’d be, that not only the Weaver but likewise the Silver-spinner, the Flatter, the Wire-drawer, the Bar-man, and the Refiner, wou’d in a little time be affected with this Frugality.

(T.) ³⁹ ——— To live Great,

Had made her Husband rob the State.

PAGE 74. LINE 20. What our common Rogues when they are going to be hang’d chiefly complain of, as the Cause of their untimely End, is next to the Neglect of the Sabbath their having kept Company with ill Women, meaning Whores; and I don’t question, but that among the lesser Villains many venture their Necks to indulge and satisfy their low Amours. But the Words that have given Occasion to this Remark, may serve to hint to us, that among the great ones Men are often put upon such dangerous Projects, and forc’d into such pernicious Measures by their Wives, as the most subtle Mistriss never could have persuaded them to. I have shewn already that the worst of Women and most profligate of the Sex did contribute to the Consumption of Superfluities, as well as the Necessaries of Life, and consequently were Beneficial to many peaceable Drudges, that work hard to maintain their Families, and have no worse design than an honest Livelyhood. – Let them be banish’d notwithstanding, says a good Man: When every Strumpet is gone and the Land wholly freed from Lewdness, God Almighty will pour such Blessings upon it as will vastly exceed the profits, that are now got by Harlots. – This perhaps would be true; but I can make it evident, that with or without Prostitutes, nothing could make amends for the detriment Trade would sustain if all those of that Sex, who enjoy the happy State of Matrimony should Act and behave themselves as a Sober Wise Man could wish them.

The variety of Work that is perform’d, and the number of Hands employ’d to gratify the Fickleness and Luxury of Women is prodigious, and if only the married ones should hearken to Reason and Just Remonstrances, think themselves sufficiently answer’d with the first refusal, and never ask a second time, what had been once denied them: If, I say, Married Women would do this, and then lay out no Money but what their Husbands knew and freely allow’d of, the Consumption of a thousand things they now make use of would be lessened by at least a fourth part. Let us go from House to House and observe the way of the World only among the midling People, Creditable Shopkeepers, that spend Two or Three hundred a Year, and we shall find that the Women, when they have half a score Suits of Cloaths, Two or Three of them not the worse for wearing, will think it a sufficient Plea for new Ones, if they can say that they have never a Gown or Petticoat, but what they have been often seen in, and are known by, especially at Church; I don’t speak now of profuse extravagant Women, but such as are counted Prudent and Moderate in their Desires.

If by this pattern we should in proportion Judge of the highest Ranks, where the richest Cloaths are but a trifle to their other Expences, and not forget the Furniture of all sorts, Equipages, Jewels and Buildings of Persons of Quality, we would find the fourth part, I speak of a vast Article in Trade, and that the Loss of it would be a greater Calamity to such a Nation as ours, than it is possible to conceive any other, a raging Pestilence not excepted: for the Death of half a Million of People could not cause a tenth part of the disturbance to the Kingdom, that the same number of Poor unemploy’d would certainly create, if at once they were to be added to those, that already one way or other are a Burthen to the Society.

Some few Men have a real Passion for their Wives, and are fond of them without reserve; others that don’t care, and have little Occasion for Women, are yet seemingly uxorious, and love out of Vanity; they take delight in a Handsome Wife, as a Coxcomb does in a Fine Horse, not for the use he makes of it, but because it is His: The Pleasure lies in the consciousness of an uncontroulable Possession, and what follows from it, the Reflection on the mighty thoughts he imagines others to have of his Happiness. The Men of either sort may be very lavish to their Wives, and often preventing their wishes crowd New Cloaths and other Finery upon them faster, than they can ask it, but the greatest part are wiser than to indulge the Extravagancies of their Wives so far, as to give them immediately every thing they are pleas’d to Fancy.

It is incredible what vast quantity of Trinkets as well as Apparel are purchas’d and used by Women, which they could never have come at by any other means, than pinching their Families, Marketting, and other ways of cheating and pilfring from their Husbands: Others by ever teazing their Spouses, tire them into Compliance, and conquer even obstinate Churls by perseverance and their assiduity of asking: A Third sort are outragious at a denial, and by downright Noise and Scolding Bully their tame Fools out of any thing they have a mind to; Whilst Thousands by the force of wheedling know how to overcome the best weigh’d Reasons and the most positive reiterated refusals; the Young and Beautiful especially laugh at all remonstrances and denials, and few of them scruple to Employ the most tender Minutes of Wedlock to promote a sordid Interest. Here had I time I could inveigh with warmth against those Base, those Wicked Women, who calmly play their Arts and false deluding Charms against our Strength and Prudence, and act the Harlots with their Husbands! Nay, she is worse than Whore, who impiously prophanes and prostitutes the Sacred Rites of Love to Vile Ignoble Ends; that first excites to Passion and invites to Joys with seeming Ardour, then racks our fondness for no other purpose than to extort a Gift, whilst full of Guile in Counterfeited Transports she watches for the Moment when Men can least deny.

I beg pardon for this start out of my way, and desire the experienc’d Reader duly to weigh what has been said as to the main Purpose, and after that call to mind the temporal Blessings, which Men daily hear not only toasted and wish’d for, when People are merry and doing of nothing; but likewise gravely and solemnly pray’d for in Churches, and other religious Assemblies, by Clergymen of all Sorts and Sizes: And as soon as he shall have laid these Things together, and, from what he has observ’d in the common Affairs of Life, reason’d upon them consequentially without prejudice, I dare flatter my self, that he will be oblig’d to own, that a considerable Portion, of what the Prosperity of London and Trade in general, and consequently the Honour, Strength, Safety, and all the worldly Interest of the Nation consist in, depends entirely on the Deceit and vile Stratagems of Women; and that Humility, Content, Meekness, Obedience to reasonable Husbands, Frugality and all the Virtues together, if they were possess’d of them in the most eminent Degree, could not possibly be a thousandth Part so serviceable, to make an Opulent, powerful, and what we call a flourishing Kingdom, than their most hateful Qualities.

I don’t question, but many of my Readers will be startled at this Assertion, when they look on the Consequences that may be drawn from it; and I shall be ask’d, whether People may not as well be virtuous in a populous, rich, wide, extended Kingdom, as in a small, indigent State or Principality, that is poorly inhabited: And if that be impossible, Whether it is not the Duty of all Sovereigns to reduce their Subjects, as to Wealth and Numbers, as much as they can. If I allow they may, I own my self in the wrong; and if I affirm the other, my Tenets will justly be call’d impious, or at least dangerous to all large Societies. As it is not in this Place of the Book only, but a great many others, that such Queries might be made even by a well-meaning Reader, I shall here explain my self, and endeavour to solve those Difficulties, which several Passages might have rais’d in him, in order to demonstrate the Consistency of my Opinion to Reason, and the strictest Morality.

I lay down as a first Principle, that in all Societies great or small, it is the Duty of every Member of it to be good, that Virtue ought to be encourag’d, Vice discountenanc’d, the Laws obey’d, and the Transgressors punish’d. After this I affirm, that if we consult History both Antient and Modern, and take a View of what has past in the World, we shall find that Human Nature since the Fall of Adam has always been the same, and that the Strength and Frailties of it have ever been conspicuous in one Part of the Globe or other, without any Regard to Ages, Climates, or Religion. I never said nor imagin’d, that Man could not be virtuous as well in a rich and mighty Kingdom, as in the most pitiful Commonwealth; but I own it is my Sense that no Society can be rais’d into such a rich and mighty Kingdom, or so rais’d, subsist in their Wealth and Power for any considerable Time without the Vices of Man.

This I imagine is sufficiently prov’d throughout the Book; and as Human Nature still continues the same, as it has always been for so many thousand Years, we have no great Reason to suspect a future Change in it, whilst the World endures. Now I cannot see, what Immorality there is in shewing a Man the Origin and Power of those Passions, which so often, even unknowingly to himself, hurry him away from his Reason; or that there is any Impiety in putting him upon his Guard against himself, and the secret Stratagems of Self-Love, and teaching him the difference between such Actions as proceed from a Victory over the Passions, and those that are only the result of a Conquest which one Passion obtains over another; that is, between real, and Counterfeited Virtue. It is an admirable Saying of a worthy Divine,⁴⁰ That tho’ many Discoveries have been made in the World of Self-Love, there is yet abundance of Terra incognita left behind. What hurt do I do to Man if I make him more known to himself than he was before? But we are all so desperately in Love with Flattery, that we can never relish a Truth that is mortifying, and I don’t believe that the Immortality of the Soul, a Truth broach’d long before Christianity, would have ever found such a general reception in human Capacities as it has, had it not been a pleasing one, that extoll’d and was a Compliment to the whole Species, the Meanest and most Miserable not excepted.

Every one loves to hear the Thing well spoke of, that he has a share in, even Bayliffs, Goal-keepers, and the Hangman himself would have you think well of their Functions; nay Thieves and House-breakers have a greater Regard to those of their Fraternity than they have for Honest People, and I sincerely believe, that it is chiefly Self Love that has gain’d this little Treatise, as it was before the last Impression, so many Enemies; every one looks upon it as an affront done to himself, because it detracts from the Dignity, and lessens the fine notions he had conceiv’d of Mankind, the most Worshipful Company he belongs to. When I say that Societies cannot be rais’d to Wealth and Power, and the top of Earthly Glory without Vices, I don’t think that by so saying I bid Men be Vicious any more, than I bid ’em be Quarrelsome or Covetous, when I affirm that the Profession of the Law could not be maintain’d in such Numbers and Splendour, if there was not abundance of too Selfish and Litigious People.

But as nothing would more clearly demonstrate the falsity of my Notions, than that the generality of the People should fall in with them, so I don’t expect the Approbation of the Multitude. I write not to many, nor seek for any Well-wishers, but among the few than can think abstractly, and have their Minds elevated above the Vulgar. If I have shewn the way to worldly Greatness I have always without hesitation preferr’d the Road that leads to Virtue.

Would you banish Fraud and Luxury, prevent Profaneness and Irreligion, and make the generality of the People Charitable, Good and Virtuous, break down the Printing-Presses, melt the Founds and burn all the Books in the Island, except those at the Universities, where they remain unmolested, and suffer no Volume in private hands but a Bible: Knock down Foreign Trade, piohibit all Commerce with Strangers, and permit no Ships to go to Sea, that ever will return, beyond Fisher-Boats. Restore to the Clergy, the King and the Barons their Ancient Privileges, Prerogatives and Possessions: Build New Churches, and convert all the Coin you can come at into Sacred Utensils: Erect Monasteries and Almshouses in abundance, and let no Parish be without a Charity-School. Enact Sumptuary Laws, and let your Youth be inured to hardship: Inspire them with all the nice and most refined notions of Honour and Shame, of Friendship and of Heroism, and introduce among them a great variety of imaginary Rewards: Then let the Clergy Preach Abstinence and Self-denial to others, and take what Liberty they please for themselves; let them bear the greatest sway in the management of State Affairs, and no Man be made Lord-Treasurer but a Bishop.

By such pious Endeavours, and wholesome Regulations, the Scene would soon be alter’d; the greatest part of the Covetous, the Discontented, the Restless and Ambitious Villains would leave the Land, vast swarms of Cheating Knaves would abandon the City, and be dispers’d throughout the Country: Artificers would learn to hold the Plough, Merchants turn Farmers, and the sinful over-grown Jerusalem, without Famine, War, Pestilence, or Compulsion, be emptied in the most easy manner, and ever after cease to be dreadful to her Sovereigns. The happy reform’d Kingdom would by this means be crowded in no part of it, and every thing Necessary for the Sustenance of Man be cheap and abound: On the contrary, the Root of so many Thousand Evils, Money would be very scarce, and as little wanted, where every Man should enjoy the Fruits of his own Labour, and our own dear Manufacture unmix’d be promiscuously wore by the Lord and the Peasant. It is impossible, that such a Change of Circumstances should not Influence the Manners of a Nation, and render them Temperate, Honest, and Sincere, and from the next Generation we might reasonably expect a more healthy and robust Off-spring than the present; an harmless, innocent and well-meaning People, that would never dispute the Doctrine of Passive Obedience, nor any other Orthodox Principles, but be submissive to Superiors, and unanimous in Religious Worship.

Here I fancy my self interrupted by an Epicure, who not to want a restorative Diet in case of Necessity, is never without live Ortelans, and I am told, that Goodness and Probity are to be had at a cheaper rate than the Ruin of a Nation, and the Destruction of all the comforts of Life; that Liberty and Property may be maintain’d without Wickedness or Fraud, and Men be Good Subjects without being Slaves, and religious tho’ they refus’d to be Priest-rid: that to be frugal and saving is a Duty incumbent only on those, whose Circumstances require it, but that a Man of a good Estate does his Country a Service by living up to the Income of it: that as to himself he is so much Master of his Appetites that he can abstain from any thing upon occasion: that where true Hermitage was not to be had he could content himself with plain Bourdeaux, if it had a good Body; that many a Morning instead of St. Lawrence he has made a shift with Fronteniac, and after Dinner given Cyprus Wine, and even Madera, when he has had a large Company, and thought it Extravagant to treat with Tockay; but that all voluntary Mortifications are Supersticious, only belonging to blind Zealots and Enthusiasts. He’ll quote my Lord Shaftsbury against me, and tell me that People may be Virtuous and Sociable without Self-denial, that it is an affront to Virtue to make it inaccessible, that I make a Bugbear of it to frighten Men from it as a thing impracticable; but that for his part he can praise God, and at the same time enjoy his Creatures with a good Conscience; neither will he forget any thing to his purpose of what I have said page 149. He’ll ask me at last, whether the Legislature, the Wisdom of the Nation itself, whilst they endeavour as much as is possible to discourage Prophaneness and Immorality, and promote the Glory of God, do not openly profess at the same time to have nothing more at Heart than the Ease and Welfare of the Subject, the Wealth, Strength, Honour and what else is call’d the true Interest of the Country; and moreover, whether the most Devout and most Learned of our Prelates in their greatest Concern for our Conversion, when they beseech the Deity to turn their own as well as our Hearts from the World and all Carnal Desires, do not in the same Prayer as loudly sollicit him to pour all Earthly Blessings and Temporal Felicity on the Kingdom they belong to.

These are the Apologies, the Excuses and common Pleas, not only of those, who are notoriously vicious, but the generality of Mankind, when you touch the Copy-hold of their Inclinations, and trying the real value they have for Spirituals, would actually strip them of what their Minds are wholly bent upon. Ashamed of the many Frailties they feel within, all Men endeavour to hide themselves, their Ugly Nakedness, from each other, and wrapping up the true motives of their Hearts in the Specious Cloak of Sociableness, and their concern for the publick Good, they are in hopes of concealing their filthy Appetites and the deformity of their Desires; whilst they are conscious within of the fondness for their darling Lusts, and their incapacity, barefac’d to tread the arduous, Ruggid Path of Virtue.

As to the two last Questions, I own they are very puzling: To what the Epicure asks I am oblig’d to Answer in the Affirmative; and unless I would (which God forbid!) arrain the Sincerity of Kings, Bishops and the whole Legislative Power, the Objection, stands good against me: All I can say for my self is, that in the connexion of the Facts there is a Mystery past Human Understanding; and to convince the Reader, that this is no Evasion, I shall Illustrate the Incomprehensibility of it in the following Parable.

In Old Heathen Times there was, they say, a Whimsical Country, where the People talk’d much of Religion, and the greatest part as to outward appearance seem’d really Devout: The chief moral Evil among them was Thirst, and to quench it a Damnable Sin; yet they unanimously agreed that every one was born Γhirsty more or less: Small Beer in moderation was allow’d to all, and he was counted an Hypocrite, a Cynick, or a Madman, who pretended that one could live altogether without it; yet those, who owned they loved it, and drank it to excess, were counted Wicked. All this while the Beer it self was reckon’d a Blessing from Heaven, and there was no harm in the use of it; all the enormity lay in the abuse, the Motive of the Heart, that made them drink it. He that took the least Drop of it to quench his Thirst, committed a heinous Crime, whilst others drank large Quantities without any Guilt, so they did it indifferently, and for no other Reason than to mend their Complexion.

They Brew’d for other Countries as well as their own, and for the Small Beer they sent abroad, they receiv’d large returns of Westphaly-Hams, Neats-Tongues, Hung-Beef, and Bolonia-Sausages; Red-Herrings, Pickl’d-Sturgeon, Cavear, Anchovis and every thing that was proper to make their Liquor go down with Pleasure. Those, who kept great stores of Small Beer by them without making use of it, were generally envied, and at the same time very odious to the publick, and no body was easy that had not enough of it come to his own Share. The greatest Calamity they thought could befall them, was to keep their Hops and Barley upon their hands, and the more they yearly consumed of them, the more they reckon’d the Country to flourish.

The Government had made very wise Regulations concerning the returns that were made for their Exports, encouraged very much the Importation of Salt and Pepper, and laid heavy Duties on every thing that was not well season’d, and might any ways obstruct the Sale of their own Hops and Barley. Those at Helm when they acted in publick, shew’d themselves on all Accounts exempt and wholly divested from Thirst, made several Laws to prevent the Growth of it, and punish the Wicked who openly dared to quench it. If you examin’d them in their private Persons, and pry’d narrowly into their Lives and Conversations, they seem’d to be more fond, or at least drank larger Draughts of Small Beer than others, but always under pretence that the mending of Complexions required greater quantities of Liquor in them, than it did in those they Ruled over; and that, what they had chiefly at Heart, without any regard to themselves, was to procure great plenty of Small Beer among the Subjects in general, and a great demand for their Hops and Barley.

As no body was debarr’d from Small Beer, the Clergy made use of it as well as the Laity, and some of them very plentifully; yet all of them desired to be thought less Thirsty by their Function than others, and never would own that they drank any but to mend their Complexions. In their Religious Assemblies they were more sincere; for as soon as they came there, they all openly confess’d, the Clergy as well as the Laity, from the highest to the lowest, that they were Thirsty, that mending their Complexions was what they minded the least, and that all their Hearts were set upon small beer and quenching their Thirst, whatever they might pretend to the contrary. What was remarkable is, that to have laid hold of those Truths to any one’s Prejudice, and made use of those Confessions afterwards out of their Temples, would have been counted very impertinent, and every body thought it an heinous Affront to be call’d Thirsty, tho’ you had seen him drink Small-Beer by whole Gallons. The chief Topicks of their Preachers was the great Evil of Thirst, and the Folly there was in quenching it. They exhorted their Hearers to resist the Temptations of it, enveigh’d against Small-Beer, and often told them it was Poyson, if they drank it with Pleasure, or any other Design than to mend their Complexions.

In their Acknowledgments to the Gods they thank’d them for the Plenty of comfortable Small-Beer they had receiv’d from them, notwithstanding they had so little deserv’d it, and continually quench’d their Thirst with it; whereas they were so thorowly satisfy’d, that it was given them for a better Use. Having begg’d Pardon for those Offences, they desired the Gods to lessen their Thirst, and give them Strength to resist the Importunities of it; yet, in the midst of their sorest Repentance, and most humble Supplications, they never forgot Small-Beer, and pray’d that they might continue to have it in great Plenty, with a solemn Promise, that how neglectful soever they might hitherto have been in this Point, they would for the future not drink a Drop of it with any other Design than to mend their Complexions.

These were standing Petitions put together to last; and having continued to be made use of without any Alterations for several hundred Years together; it was thought by some, that the Gods, who understood Futurity, and knew that the same Promise they heard in June would be made to them the January following, did not rely much more on those Vows, than we do on those waggish Inscriptions by which Men offer us their Goods, to day for Money, and to morrow for nothing. They often began their Prayers very mystically, and spoke many things in a spiritual Sense; yet, they never were so abstract from the World in them, as to end one without beseeching the Gods to bless and prosper the Brewing Trade in all its Branches, and, for the Good of the Whole, more and more to increase the Consumption of Hops and Barley.

(V.) Content the Bane of Industry.

PAGE 75. LINE 8. I have been told by many, that the Bane of Industry is Laziness, and not Content; therefore to prove my Assertion, which seems a Paradox to some, I shall treat of Laziness and Content separately, and afterwards speak of Industry, that the Reader may judge which it is of the two former that is most opposite to the latter.

Laziness is an Aversion to Business, generally attended with an unreasonable desire of remaining unactive, and every body is lazy, who without being hinder’d by any other warrantable Employment, refuses or puts off any Business which he ought to do for himself or others. We seldom call any body lazy, but such as we reckon inferior to us, and of whom we expect some Service. Children don’t think their Parents lazy, nor Servants their Masters, and if a Gentleman indulges his Ease and Sloth so abominably, that he won’t put on his own Shoes, though he is young and slender, no body shall call him lazy for it, if he can keep but a Footman or some body else to do it for him.

Mr. Dryden has given us a very good Idea of superlative Slothfulness in the Person of a Luxurious King of Ægypt.⁴¹ His Majesty having bestow’d some considerable Gifts on several of his Favourites, is attended by some of his chief Ministers with a Parchment which he was to sign to confirm those Grants. First he walks a few Turns to and fro with a heavy uneasiness in his Looks, then sets himself down like a Man that’s tired, and at last with abundance of Reluctancy to what he was going about, he takes up the Pen, and falls a complaining very seriously of the length of the Word Ptolomey, and expresses a great deal of Concern, that he had not some short Monosyllable for his Name, which he thought wou’d save him a world of Trouble.

We often reproach others with Laziness, because we are guilty of it our selves. Some days ago as two young Women sate knotting together, says one to the other, there comes a wicked Cold through that Door, you are the nearest to it, Sister, pray shut it. The other, who was the youngest, vouchsav’d indeed to cast an Eye towards the Door, but sate still and said nothing; the eldest spoke again two or three times, and at last the other making her no Answer, nor offering to stir, she got up in a Pet and shut the Door herself; coming back to sit down again, she gave the younger a very hard Look, and said, Lord, Sister Betty, I would not be so lazy as you are for all the World; which she spoke so earnestly, that it brought a Colour in her Face. The youngest should have risen I own, but if the eldest had not over-valued her Labour, she would have shut the Door herself, as soon as the Cold was offensive to her, without making any words of it. She was not above a Step farther from the Door than her Sister, and as to Age, there was not eleven Months difference between them, and they were both under Twenty. I thought it a hard Matter to determine which was the laziest of the two.

There are a thousand Wretches that are always working the Marrow out of their Bones for next to nothing, because they are unthinking and ignorant of what the Pains they take are worth; whilst others who are cunning and understand the true value of their Work, refuse to be employ’d at under Rates, not because they are of an unactive Temper, but because they won’t beat down the Price of their Labour. A Country Gentleman sees at the back side of the Exchange a Porter walking to and fro with his Hands in his Pockets. Pray, says he, Friend, will you step for me with this Letter as far as Bow Church, and I’ll give you a Penny. I’ll go with all my Heart, says t’other, but I must have Two-pence, Master; which the Gentleman refusing to give, the Fellow turn’d his Back, and told him, he’d rather play for nothing than work for nothing. The Gentleman thought it an unaccountable piece of Laziness in a Porter, rather to saunter up and down for nothing, than to be earning a Penny with as little trouble. Some Hours after he happen’d to be with some Friends at a Tavern in Threadneedlestreet, where one of them calling to mind that he had forgot to send for a Bill of Exchange that was to go away with the Post that Night, was in great Perplexity, and immediately wanted some body to go for him to Hackney with all the Speed imaginable. It was after Ten, in the middle of Winter, a very rainy Night, and all the Porters thereabouts were gone to Bed. The Gentleman grew very uneasy, and said whatever it cost him that some body he must send; at last one of the Drawers seeing him so very pressing, told him that he knew a Porter, who would rise, if it was a Job worth his while. Worth his while, said the Gentleman very eagerly, don’t doubt of that, good Lad, if you know of any body, let him make what haste he can, and I’ll give him a Crown if he be back by Twelve o’Clock. Upon this the Drawer took the Errand, left the Room, and in less than a Quarter of an Hour came back with the welcome News that the Message would be dispatch’d with all Expedition. The Company in the mean time diverted themselves as they had done before, but when it began to be towards Twelve, the Watches were pull’d out, and the Porter’s return was all the Discourse. Some were of Opinion he might yet come before the Clock had struck; others thought it impossible, and now it wanted but three Minutes of Twelve when in comes the nimble Messenger smoaking hot, with his Cloaths as wet as Dung with the Rain, and his Head all over in a Bath of Sweat. He had nothing dry about him but the inside of his Pocket-Book, out of which he took the Bill he had been for, and by the Drawer’s Direction, presented it to the Gentleman it belonged to; who being very well pleas’d with the Dispatch he had made, gave him the Crown he had promis’d, whilst another fill’d him a Bumper, and the whole Company commended his diligence. As the Fellow came nearer the Light, to take up the Wine, the Country Gentleman I mention’d at first, to his great Admiration, knew him to be the same Porter that had refus’d to earn his Penny, and whom he thought the laziest Mortal Alive.

This Story teaches us, that we ought not to confound those who remain unemploy’d for want of an Opportunity of exerting themselves to the best Advantage, with such as for want of Spirit, hug themselves in their Sloth, and will rather starve than stir. Without this Caution, we must pronounce all the World more or less lazy, according to their Estimation of the Reward they are to purchase with their Labour, and then the most Industrious may be call’d lazy.

Content I call that calm Serenity of the Mind, which Men enjoy whilst they think themselves happy, and rest satisfy’d with the Station they are in: It implies a favourable Construction of our present Circumstances, and a peaceful Tranquillity, which Men are Strangers to as long as they are sollicitous about mending their Condition. This is a Virtue of which the Applause is very precarious and uncertain; for according as Men’s Circumstances vary, they’ll either be blam’d or commended for being possess’d of it.

A single Man that works hard at a laborious Trade, has a hundred a Year left him by a Relation: This Change of Fortune makes him soon weary of working, and not having Industry enough to put himself forward in the World, he resolves to do nothing at all, and live upon his Income. As long as he lives within Compass, pays for what he has, and offends no body, he shall be call’d an honest, quiet Man. The Victualler, his Landlady, the Taylor and others divide what he has between them, and the Society is every Year the better for his Revenue, whereas, if he should follow his own or any other Trade, he must hinder others, and some body would have the less for what he should get; and therefore, tho’ he should be the idlest Fellow in the World, lie a’ Bed Fifteen Hours in Four and twenty, and do nothing but sauntring up and down all the rest of the time, no body wou’d discommend him, and his unactive Spirit is honoured with the Name of Content.

But if the same Man marries, gets three or four Children, and still continues of the same easy Temper, rests satisfied with what he has, and without endeavring to get a Penny, indulges his former Sloth: First, his Relations, afterwards all his Acquaintance will be allarm’d at his Negligence: They foresee that his Income will not be sufficient to bring up so many Children handsomely, and are afraid some of them may, if not a Burden, become a Disgrace to them. When these Fears have been for some time whisper’d about from one to another, his Uncle Gripe takes him to Task, and accosts him in the following Cant; What, Nephew, no Business yet! Fie upon’t! I can’t imagine how you do to spend your Time; if you won’t work at your own Trade, there are fifty ways that a Man may pick up a Penny by: You have a Hundred a Year, ’tis true, but your Charges encrease every Year, and what must you do when your Children are grown up? I have a better Estate than you my self and yet you don’t see me leave off my Business; nay, I declare it, might I have the World I could not lead the Life you do. ’Tis no Business of mine, I own, but every body crys, ’tis a shame a young Man as you are, that has his Limbs and his Health should not turn his Hand to something or other. If these Admonitions do not reform him in a little time, and he continues half a Year longer without Employment, he’ll become a Discourse to the whole Neighbourhood, and for the same Qualifications that once got him the Name of a quiet contented Man, he shall be call’d the worst of Husbands and the laziest Fellow upon Earth: From whence it is manifest, that when we pronounce Actions good or evil, we only regard the Hurt or Benefit the Society receives from them, and not the Person who commits them. (See Page 86).

Diligence and Industry are often used promiscuously, to signify the same thing, but there is a great difference between them. A poor Wretch may want neither Diligence nor Ingenuity, be a saving Pains taking Man, and yet without striving to mend his Circumstances remain contented with the Station he lives in; but Industry implies besides the other qualities a Thirst after Gain, and an Indefatigable desire of meliorating our Condition. When Men think either the Customary Profits of their Calling, or else the share of Business, they have too small, they have two ways to deserve the Name of Industrious, and they must be either Ingenious enough to find out uncommon, and yet warrantable Methods to encrease their Business or their Profit, or else supply that Defect by a multiplicity of Occupations. If a Tradesman takes care to provide his Shop, and gives due Attendance to those that come to it, he is a diligent Man in his Business, but if, besides that, he takes particular Pains to sell to the same Advantage a better Commodity than the rest of his Neighbours, or if by his absequiousness, or some other good quality, getting into a large Acquaintance, he uses all possible Endeavours of drawing Customers to his House, he then may be call’d Industrious. A Cobler, tho’ he is not employ’d half of his Time, if he neglects no Business, and makes dispatch when he has any, is a diligent Man; but if he runs of Errants when he has no work, or makes but Shoepins, and serves as a Watchman a Nights, he deserves the Name of Industrious.

If what has been said in this Remark be duely weigh’d, we shall find either that Laziness and Content are very near a’kin, or if there be a great difference between them, that the latter is more contrary to Industry than the former.

(X.) To make a Great an honest Hive.

PAGE 76. LINE 2. This perhaps might be done where People are contented to be poor and hardy; but if they would likewise enjoy their Ease and the Comforts of the World, and be at once an opulent, potent, and flourishing as well as a Warlike Nation, it is utterly impossible. I have heard People speak of the mighty Figure the Spartans made above all the Common-Wealths of Greece, notwithstanding their uncommon Frugality and other exemplary Virtues. But certainly there never was a Nation whose Greatness was more empty than theirs: The Splendor they liv’d in was inferior to that of a Theatre, and the only thing they could be proud of, was, that they enjoy’d nothing. They were indeed both fear’d and esteem’d Abroad: They were so fam’d for Valour and Skill in Martial Affairs, that their Neighbours did not only court their Friendship and Assistance in their Wars, but were satisfy’d and thought themselves sure of the Victory, if they could but get a Spartan General to Command their Armies. But then their Discipline was so rigid, and their manner of Living so Austere and void of all Comfort, that the most temperate Man among us would refuse to submit to the Harshness of such uncouth Laws. There was a perfect equality among them: Gold and Silver Coin were cried down; their current Money was made of Iron, to render it of a great Bulk and little worth: To lay up Twenty or Thirty Pounds, requir’d a pretty large Chamber, and to remove it nothing less than a Yoke of Oxen. Another Remedy, they had against Luxury, was, that they were oblig’d to eat in common of the same Meat, and they so little allow’d any body to Dine or Sup by himself at Home, that Agis, one of their Kings, having vanquish’d the Athenians, and sending for his Commons at his return Home (because he desir’d privately to eat with his Queen) was refus’d by the Polemarchi.

In training up their Youth, their chief Care, says Plutarch, was to make them good Subjects, to fit them to endure the fatigues of long and tedious Marches, and never to return without Victory from the Field. When they were Twelve Years old, they lodg’d in little Bands, upon Beds made of the Rushes, which grew by the Banks of the River Eurotas; and because their Points were sharp, they were to break them off with their Hands without a Knife: If it were a hard Winter, they mingled some Thistle down with their Rushes to keep them warm (see Plutarch in the Life of Lycurgus.) From all these Circumstances it is plain, that no Nation on Earth was less effeminate; but being debarr’d from all the Comforts of Life, they could have nothing for their Pains but the Glory of being a Warlike People inur’d to Toils and Hardships, which was a happiness that few People would have car’d for upon the same Terms: And tho’ they had been Masters of the World, as long as they enjoy’d no more of it, Englishmen would hardly have envy’d them their Greatness. What Men want now adays has sufficiently been shewn in Remark (O) where I have treated of real Pleasures.

(Y.) T’ enjoy the World’s Conveniencies.

PAGE 76. LINE 3. That the Words Decency and Conveniency were very ambiguous, and not to be understood, unless we were acquainted with the Quality and Circumstances of the Persons that made use of them, has been hinted already in Remark (L). The Goldsmith, Mercer, or any other of the most creditable Shopkeepers, that has Three or Four Thousand Pounds to set up with, must have two Dishes of Meat every Day, and something extraordinary for Sundays. His Wife must have a Damask Bed against her lying in, and two or three Rooms very well furnish’d: The following Summer she must have a House, or at least very good Lodgings in the Country. A Man that has a Being out of Town, must have a Horse; his Footman must have another. If he has a tolerable Trade, he expects in Eight or Ten Years time to keep his Coach, which notwithstanding he hopes that after he has slaved (as he calls it) for Two or Three and Twenty Years, he shall be worth at least a Thousand a Year for his Eldest Son to inherit, and Two or Three Thousand Pounds for each of his other Children to begin the World with; and when Men of such Circumstances pray for their daily Bread, and mean nothing more extravagant by it, they are counted pretty modest People. Call this Pride, Luxury, Superfluity, or what you please, it is nothing but what ought to be in the Capital of a flourishing Nation: Those of inferiour Condition must content themselves with less costly Conveniencies, as others of higher Rank will be sure to make theirs more expensive. Some People call it but Decency to be serv’d in Plate, and reckon a Coach and Six among the necessary Comforts of Life; and if a Peer has not above Three or Four Thousand a Year, his Lordship is counted Poor.⁴²

Since the first Edition of this Book, several have attack’d me with Demonstrations of the certain Ruin, which excessive Luxury must bring upon all Nations, who yet were soon answer’d, when I shew’d them the Limits within which I had confin’d it; and therefore that no Reader for the Future may misconstrue me on this Head, I shall point at the Cautions I have given, and the Proviso’s I have made in the former as well as this present Impression, and which if not overlook’d, must prevent all Rational Censure, and obviate several Objections that otherwise might be made against me. I have laid down as Maxims never to be departed from, that the^* Poor should be kept strictly to Work, and that it was Prudence to relieve their Wants, but Folly to cure them; that Agriculture^† and Fishery should be promoted in all their Branches in order to render Provisions, and consequently Labour cheap. I have named^‡ Ignorance as a necessary Ingredient in the Mixture of Society: From all which it is manifest that I could never have imagined, that Luxury was to be made general through every part of a Kingdom. I have likewise required^* that Property should be well secured, Justice impartially administred, and in every thing the Interest of the Nation taken care of: But what I have insisted on the most and repeated more than once is the great Regard that is to be had to the Ballance of Trade, and the care the Legislature ought to take that the Yearly^† Imports never exceed the Exports; and where this is observed, and the other things I spoke of are not neglected, I still continue to assert that no Foreign Luxury can undo a Country: The height of it is never seen but in Nations that are vastly populous, and there only in the upper part of it, and the greater that is the larger still in proportion must be the lowest, the Basis that supports all, the multitude of Working Poor.

Those who would too nearly imitate others of Superior Fortune must thank themselves if they are ruin’d. This is nothing against Luxury; for whoever can subsist and lives above his Income is a Fool. Some Persons of Quality may keep three or four Coaches and Six, and at the same time lay up Money for their Children; whilst a young Shopkeeper is undone for keeping one sorry Horse. It is impossible there should be a rich Nation without Prodigals, yet I never knew a City so full of Spendthrifts, but there were Covetous People enough to Answer their Number. As an Old Merchant breaks for having been extravagant or careless a great while, so a young beginner falling into the same Business gets an Estate by being saving or more industrious before he is Forty Years Old: Besides that the frailties of Men often work by contraries: Some Narrow Souls can never thrive because they are too stingy, whilst longer Heads amass great Wealth by spending their Money freely, and seeming to despise it. But the vicissitudes of Fortune are necessary, and the most lamentable are no more detrimental to Society than the Death of the Individual Members of it. Christnings are a proper Ballance to Burials. Those who immediately lose by the Misfortunes of others are very sorry, complain and make a noise; but the others who get by them, as there always are such, hold their Tongues, because it is odious to be thought the better for the Losses and Calamities of our Neighbour. The various Ups and Downs compose a Wheel that always turning round gives motion to the whole Machine. Philosophers, that dare extend their Thoughts beyond the narrow compass of what is immediately before them, look on the alternate changes in the Civil Society no otherwise than they do on the risings and fallings of the Lungs, the latter of which are as much a Part of Respiration in the more perfect animals as the first; so that the fickle Breath of never Stable Fortune is to the Body Politick, the same as floating Air is to a living Creature.

Avarice then and Prodigality are equally necessary to the Society. That in some Countries Men are more generally lavish than in others proceeds from the difference in Circumstances that dispose to either Vice, and arise from the condition of the Social Body as well as the Temperament of the Natural. I beg pardon of the attentive Reader, if here in behalf of short memories I repeat some things the substance of which they have already seen in Remark (Q). More Money than Land, heavy Taxes and scarcity of Provisions, Industry, Laboriousness, an active and stiring Spirit, Ill Nature and a Saturnine Temper; Old Age, Wisdom, Trade, Riches acquired by our own Labour, and Liberty and Property well secured, are all things that dispose to Avarice. On the contrary, Indolence, Content, Good Nature, a Jovial Temper, Youth, Folly, Arbitrary Power, Money easily got, plenty of Provisions and the uncertainty of Possessions are Circumstances that render Men prone to Prodigality: Where there is the most of the first the prevailing Vice will be Avarice, and Prodigality where the other turns the Scale; but a National Frugality there never was nor never will be without a National Necessity.

Sumptuary Laws may be of use to an indigent Country, after great Calamities of War, Pestilence, or Famine, when Work has stood still, and the Labour of the Poor been interrupted; but to introduce them into an opulent Kingdom is the wrong way to consult the Interest of it. I shall end my Remarks on the Grumbling Hive with assuring the Champions of National Frugality that it would be impossible for the Persians and other Eastern People to purchase the vast quantities of fine English Cloth they consume, should we load our Women with less Cargo’s of Asiatick Silks.