many a Man is more rakish and extravagant than he would willingly be, were there not others to look on and give their Approbation.

ONE very common, and at the same time the most abfurd Ambition that ever fhewed it felf in human Nature, is that which comes upon a Man with Experience and old Age, the Season when it might be expected he fhould be wifeft; and therefore it cannot receive any of thofe leffening Circumstances which do, in fome measure, excufe the diforderly Ferments of youthful Blood: I mean the Paffion for getting Money, exclufive of the Character of the provident Father, the affectionate Husband, or the generous Friend. It may be remarked, for the Comfort of honeft Poverty, that this Defire reigns moft in those who have but few good Qualities to recommend them. This is a Weed that will grow in a barren Soil. Humanity, Good-nature, and the Advantages of a liberal Education, are incompatible with Avarice. 'Tis ftrange to fee how fuddenly this abject Paffion kills all the noble Sentiments and generous Ambitions that adorn human Nature; it renders the Man who is over-run with it a peevish and cruel Mafter, a fevere Parent, an unfociable Husband, a diftant and miftruftful Friend. But it is more to the prefent Purpose to confider it as an abfurd Paffion of the Heart, rather than as a vicious Affection of the Mind. As there are frequent Inftances to be met with of a proud Humility, fo this Paffion, contrary to moft others, affects Applaufe, by avoiding all Show and Appearance; for this Reafon it will not fometimes endure even the common Decencies of Apparel. A covetous Man will call himself poor, that you may footh his Vanity by contradicting him. Love, and the Defire of Glory, as they are the most natural, fo they are capable of being refined into the moft delicate and rational Paffions. "Tis true, the wife Man who ftrikes out of the fecret Paths of a private Life, for Honour and Dignity, allured by the Splendor of a Court, and the unfelt Weight of publick Employment, whether he fucceeds in his Attempts or no, ufually comes near enough to this painted Greatnefs to difcern the Dawbing; he is then defirous of extricating himself out of the Hurry of Life, that he may pafs away the Ramainder of his Days in Tranquillity and Retirement.

IT

IT may be thought then but common Prudence in a Man not to change a better State for a worfe, nor ever to quit that which he knows he fhall take up again with Pleasure; and yet if human Life be not a little moved with the gentle Gales of Hopes and Fears, there may be fome Danger of its stagnating in an unmanly Indolence and Security. It is a known Story of Domitian, that after he had poffeffed himself of the Roman Empire, his Defires turn'd upon catching Flies. Active and mafculine Spirits in the Vigour of Youth neither can nor ought to remain at Reft; If they debar themselves from aiming at a noble Object, their Defires will move downwards, and they will feel themselves actuated by fome low and abject Paffion. Thus if you cut off the top Branches of a Tree, ⚫ and will not fuffer it to grow any higher, it will not therefore ceafe to grow, but will quickly fhoot out at the Bottom. The Man indeed who goes into the World only with the narrow Views of Self-Intereft, who catches at the Applaufe of an idle Multitude, as he can find no folid Contentment at the End of his Journey, fo he deserves to meet with Disappointments in his Way; but he who is actuated by a noble Principle, whofe Mind is fo far enlarged as to take in the Profpect of his Country's Good, who is enamoured with that Praife which is one of the fair Attendants of Virtue, and values not those Acclamations which are not feconded by the impartial Teftimony of his own Mind; who repines not at the low Station which Providence has at prefent allotted him, but yet would willingly advance himself by juftifiable Means to a more rifing and advantageous Ground; fuch a Man is warmed with a generous Emulation; it is a virtuous Movement in him to wish and to endeavour that his Power of doing Good may be equal to his Will.

THE Man who is fitted out by Nature, and fent into the World with great Abilities, is capable of doing great Good or Mischief in it. It ought therefore to be the Care of Education to infufe into the untainted Youth early Notices of Juftice and Honour, that fo the poffible Advantages of good Parts may not take an evil Turn, nor be perverted to base and unworthy Purposes. It is the Bufinefs of Religion and Philofophy not fo much to extinguish our Paffions, as to regulate and direct them

to

to value well-chofen Objects: When these have pointed out to us which Course we may lawfully fteer, 'tis no Harm to fet out all our Sail; if the Storms and Tempefts of Adversity should rife upon us, and not fuffer us to make the Haven where we would be, it will however prove no fmall Confolation to us in these Circumstances, that we have neither mistaken our Course, nor fallen into Calamities of our own procuring.

RELIGION therefore (were we to confider it no farther than as it interposes in the Affairs of this Life) is highly valuable, and worthy of great Veneration; as it fettles the various Pretenfions, and otherwife interfering Interefts of mortal Men, and thereby confults the Harmony and Order of the great Community; as it gives a Man room to play his Part, and exert his Abilities; as it animates to Actions truly laudable in themselves, in their Effects beneficial to Society; as it infpires rational Ambition, correct Love, and elegant Defire.

No. 225. Saturday, November 17.

I

Nullum numen abeft fi fit Prudentia

Juv. Sat. 10. v. 365. Prudence fupplies the Want of ev'ry God.

Have often thought if the Minds of Men were laid open, we should fee but little Difference between that of the wife Man and that of the Fool. There are infinite Reveries, numberless Extravagancies, and a perpetual Train of Vanities which pafs through both. The great Difference is that the firft knows how to pick and cull his Thoughts for Conversation, by fuppreffing fome, and communicating others; whereas the other lets them all indifferently fly out in Words. This fort of Difcretion, however, has no Place in private Converfation between intimate Friends. On fuch Occafions the wifeft Men very often talk like the weakeft; for indeed the talking with a Friend is nothing else but thinking aloud. TULLY

TULLY has therefore very juftly expofed a Precept delivered by fome ancient Writers, That a Man should live with his Enemy in fuch a manner, as might leave him room to become his Friend; and with his Friend in fuch a manner, that if he became his Enemy, it fhould not be in his Power to hurt him. The firft Part of this Rule, which regards our Behaviour towards an Enemy, is indeed very reasonable, as well as very prudential; but the latter Part of it which regards our Behaviour towards a Friend, favours more of Čunning than of Difcretion, and would cut a Man off from the greateft Pleafures of Life, which are the Freedoms of Converfation with a Bofom Friend. Befides that when a Friend is turned into an Enemy, and, (as the Son of Sirach calls him) a Bewrayer of Secrets, the World is juft enough to accuse the Perfidioufnefs of the Friend, rather than the Indifcretion of the Perfon who confided in him.

DISCRETION does not only fhew itself in Words, but in all the Circumstances of Action; and is like an Under-Agent of Providence, to guide and direct us in the ordinary Concerns of Life.

THERE are many more fhining Qualities in the Mind of Man, but there is none fo useful as Difcretion; it is this indeed which gives a Value to all the reft, which fets them at work in their proper Times and Places, and turns them to the Advantage of the Perfon who is poffeffed of them. Without it Learning is Pedantry, and Wit Impertinence; Virtue itfelf looks like Weaknefs; the beft Parts only qualify a Man to be more fprightly in Errors, and active to his own Prejudice.

NOR does Difcretion only make a Man the Mafter of his own Parts, but of other Mens. The difcreet Man finds out the Talents of thofe he converfes with, and knows how to apply them to proper Ufes. Accordingly if we look into particular Communities and Divifions of Men, we may obferve that it is the difcreet Man, not the Witty, nor the "Learned, nor the Brave, who guides the Converfation, and gives Meafures to the Society. A Man with great Talents, but void of Difcretion, is like Polyphemus in the Fable, ftrong and blind, endued with an irrefiftible Force, which for want of Sight is of no Use to him.

THOUGH

THOUGH a Man has all other Perfections, and wants Difcretion, he will be of no great Confequence in the World; but if he has this fingle Talent in Perfection, and but a common Share of others, he may do what he pleases in his particular Station of Life.

AT the fame time that I think Difcretion the most useful Talent a Man can be Mafter of, I look upon Cunning to be the Accomplishment of little, mean, ungenerous Minds, Difcretion points out the nobleft Ends to us, and purfues the moft proper and laudable Methods of attaining them: Cunning has only private felfifh Aims, And flicks at nothing which may make them fucceed. Difcretion has large and extended Views, and, like a well formed Eye, commands a whole Horizon : Cunning is a Kind of Short-fightedness, that difcovers the minuteft Objects which are near at hand, but is not able to difcern things at a diftance. Difcretion, the more it is difcovered, gives a greater Authority to the Perfon who poffeffes it: Cunning, when it is once detected, lofes its Force, and makes a Man incapable of bringing about even thofe events which he might have done, had he paffed only for a plain Man. Difcretion is the Perfection of Reafon, and a Guide to us in all the Duties of Life; Cunning is a kind of Inftin&t, that only looks out after our immediate Intereft and Welfare. Difcretion is only found in Men of strong Senfe and good Understandings Cunning is often to be met with in Brutes themfelves, and in Perfons who are but the feweft Removes from them. In fhort Cunning is only the Mimick of Difcretion, and may pafs upon weak Men, in the fame manner as Vivacity is often mistaken for Wit,, and Gravity for Wisdom.

THE Caft of Mind which is natural to a difcreet Man, makes him look forward into Futurity, and con-* fider what will be his condition Millions of Ages hence, as well as what it is at prefent. He knows that the Mifery or Happinefs which are referv'd for him in another World, lofe nothing of their Reality by being placed at fo great a Distance from him. The Objects do not appear little to him because they are remote. He confiders that thofe Pleasures and Pains which lie hid in Eternity, approach nearer to him every Moment, and will be

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