nary they may be, they are no more than what are expected from him; but on the contrary, if they fall any thing below the Opinion that is conceived of him, tho' they might raise the Reputation of another, they are a Diminution to his.

ONE would think there fhould be fomething wonderfully pleafing in the Poffeffion of Fame, that, notwithstanding all these mortifying Confiderations, can engage a Man in so desperate a Purfuit; and yet if we confider the little Happiness that attends a great Charater, and the Multitude of Difquietudes to which the Defire of it fubjects an ambitious Mind, one would be ftill the more furprifed to fee fo many restlefs Candidates for Glory.

AMBITION raifes a fecret Tumult in the Soul, it inflames the Mind, and puts it into a violent Hurry of Thought: It is ftill reaching after an empty imaginary Good; that has not in it the Power to abate or fatisfie it. Moft other things we long for can allay the Cravings of their proper Senfe, and for a while fet the Appetite at reft: But Fame is a Good fo wholly foreign to our Natures, that we

have

have no Faculty in the Soul adapted to it, nor any Organ in the Body to relish it; an Object of Defire placed out of the Poffibility of Fruition. It may indeed fill the Mind for a while with a giddy kind of Pleasure, but it is fuch a Pleasure as makes a Man reftlefs and uneafie under it; and which does not fo much fatisfie the prefent Thirft, as it excites fresh Defires, and fets the Soul on new Enterprises. For how few ambitious Men are there, who have got as much Fame as they defired, and whose Thirft after it has not been as eager in the very height of their Reputation, as it was before they became known and eminent among Men? There is not any Circumstance in Cafar's Character which gives me a greater Idea of him, than a Saying which Cicero tells us he frequently made use of in private Con→ verfation, That he was fatisfied with his Share of Life and Fame. Se fatis vel ad Naturam, vel ad Gloriam vixiffe. Many indeed have given over their Fursuits after Fame, but that has proceeded either from the Disappointments they have met in it, or from their Experience of the little Pleasure that attends it, or from the better Informations or natural Cold

nefs

nefs of Old Age; but feldom from a full Satisfaction and Acquiefcenceintheir prefent Enjoyments of it.

NOR is Fame only unfatisfying in it felf, but the Defire of it lays us open to many accidental Troubles which thofe are free from who have no fuch a tender Regard for it. How often is the ambitious Man caft down and difappointed, if he receives no Praise where he expected it? Nay how often is he mortified with the very Praises he receives, if they do not rife fo high as he thinks they ought, which they feldom do unless encreased by Flattery, fince few Men have fo good an Opinion of us as we have of our felves? But if the ambitious Man can be fo much grieved even with Praife it felf, how will he be able to bear up under Scandal and Defamation? For the fame Temper of Mind which makes him defire Fame, makes him hate Reproach. If he can be transported with the extraordinary Praifes of Men, he will be as much dejected by their Cenfures. How little therefore is the Happiness of an ambi→ tious Man, who gives every one a Dominion over it, who thus fubjects himfelf to the good or ill Speeches of o

thers,

thers, and puts it in the Power of every malicious Tongue to throw him into a Fit of Melancholy, and destroy his natural Reft and Repofe of Mind? Efpecially when we confider that the World is more apt to cenfure than applaud, and himself fuller of Imperfections than Virtues.

う

WE may further obferve, that fuch a Man will be more grieved for the Lofs of Fame, than he could have been pleafed with the Enjoyment of it. For tho' the Prefence of this imaginary Good cannot make us happy, the Abfence of it may make us miferable: Because in the Enjoyment of an Object we only find that Share of Pleafure which it is capable of giving us, but in the Lofs of it we do not proportion our Grief to the real Value it bears, but to the Value our Fancies and Imaginations fet upon it.

SO inconfiderable is the Satisfaction that Fame brings along with it, and fo great the Difquietudes to which it makes us liable. The Defire of it ftirs up very uneafie Motions in the Mind, and is rather inflamed than fatisfied by the Prefence of the Thing defired. The Enjoyment of it brings but very little Plea

fure,

fure, tho' the Lofs or "Want of it be very fenfible and afflicting; and even this little Happiness is fo very precarious, that it wholly depends on the Will of others. We are not only tortured by the Reproaches which are offered us, but are difappointed by the Silence of Men when it is unexpected; and humbled even by their Praises. C

N° 257.

Tuesday, December 25.

Ουχ εὕδει Διὸς

Οφθαλμός. ἐξγὺς δ ̓ ἔτι καὶ παρῶν πόνῳ.

T

Incert. ex Stob.

HAT I might not lofe my self upon a Subject of fo great Extent as that of Fame, I have treated it in a parti

cular Order and Method. I have first of all confidered the Reasons why Providence may have implanted in our Mind fuch a Principle of Action. I have in the next place fhewn, from many Confiderations, firft, that Fame is a Thing difficult to be obtained, and ea

fily