CHAPTER LXIV.

Of Honorary Rewards.

*

ought to be

with very

THE writers of the Life of Augustus Cæsar ob- Honorary serve, that in his military discipline he was wonder- rewards fully liberal of his gifts to men of merit, but that dispensed he was altogether as sparing of rewards merely great dishonorary, though he had himself been gratified by cretion. his uncle with all the military rewards, before he had ever been at war. It was a pretty invention, and received in most governments of the world, to establish certain vain and cheap distinctions for the honour and recompence of virtue; such as crowns of laurel, oak, and myrtle; the particular fashion of some garment; the privilege to ride about the city in a coach, or to have a torch in the night; some particular seat in the public assemblies; the prerogative of some surnames and titles; certain distinctions in their coats of arms, and the like; the use of which has been, and is to this day, variously received, according to the humours of the several nations.

hood, a

institution,

We (in France) as also several of our neighbours, Orders of have certain orders of knighthood, that are insti- knighttuted only for this end. And, in truth, it is a good laudable and a profitable custom to find out a way to acknow- and of ledge the worth of rare and excellent men, and to great use. satisfy them with rewards that are not at all chargeable, either to the people or to the prince. And that which has been always found, both by ancient experience, and what we ourselves may also have observed in former times, viz. that the men of quality are fonder of such rewards than of those that bring gain and profit, is founded on a very apparent reason. If, with a regard which ought to be purely

* Suetonius, in the Life of Augustus, cap. 25. Dona militaria, &c.

The order

of St. Michael, so

much es

teemed at

contempt.

honorary, riches, or other emolument, were mingled, such mixture, instead of augmenting esteem, would debase and diminish it.

The order of St. Michael, which has been so long in repute amongst us, had no greater advantage than that it communicated no profit; which produced first, how this effect, that heretofore there was no office nor fallen into rank whatsoever, to which the gentry aspired with so much desire, as they did to this order; nor any class which brought with it more respect and grandeur, virtue being more eager to obtain a reward purely its own, and rather honourable than profitable. For, in truth, there is not such a dignity in the use of other rewards, because they are employed on all manner of occasions. With money a man pays the wages of a servant, the diligence of a courier, the dancer, the tumbler, the tongue-pad, and the vilest offices that are done for us: nay, vice is rewarded with it, as flattery, pimping, and treachery. It is no wonder, therefore, if virtue is not so fond of receiving or being paid in this common coin, as in that which is proper and peculiar to it, altogether noble and generous. Augustus had reason to be far more thrifty and sparing of this than the other, forasmuch as honour is a privilege which is principally esteemed for its rarity, as is the case with virtue itself:

Cui malus est nemo, quis bonus esse potest ?*

Who can seem good to him who thinks none bad?

It is not remarked as a commendation of a man, that he takes care of the education of his children, by reason it is a common act, how just soever it be, no more than we praise a tall tree, where the whole forest consists of the same. I do not think that any citizen of Sparta boasted of his valour, it being the universal virtue of that nation; or that he valued himself a whit the more for his fidelity, and contempt

* Martial. lib. xii. ep. 82.

of riches. Even a great reward, if it be customary, can be no reward for virtue; and I know not, withal, whether we can ever call a thing great, when it is common. Therefore, since these honorary rewards are of no other value and esteem, than in their being enjoyed only by a few, the being liberal of them is the ready way to make them none at all. Though there should be more men found worthy of this order now, than in former times, nevertheless, the honour of it should not be debased, by being made too common. And that more do deserve it now, than then, may easily be the case, for there is no virtue that expands itself so easily as military valour. There is another true virtue, perfect and philosophical, of which I do not treat (and only use the term as it is commonly taken), much greater than this; which is a fortitude and courage of the soul, equally contemning all cross accidents whatsoever, even, uniform, and constant; of which ours is but a very small ray. Usage, institution, example, and custom, are capable of doing any thing in the establishment of that whereof I am treating, and with great facility render it vulgar, as by the experience of our civil war is to us very manifest. And whoever could, at this instant, unite us into one body, set all our people upon one joint enterprise, our ancient reputation in arms would flourish again. It is very certain, that in time past the order was not barely a reward of valour, but had a farther prospect; it never was the recompence of a valiant soldier, but of some famous general. The science of obedience was reckoned worthy of such a mark of honour. Anciently there was a more universal expertness in arms required, which comprehended the most rare talents, and the greatest qualities of a military man (Neque enim eadem militares et imperatoria artes sunt: i. e. "For the arts of the "common soldier and of the general are not the "same"); who was, likewise, of a condition to which such a dignity was suitable. But, I say,

VOL. I.

2 K

It is difficult to

bring a

of knight

credit.

though more men should be worthy of it now than formerly, yet it ought not to be ever the more liberally distributed; and that it were better to fall short, in not giving it to all to whom it is due, than for ever to lose, as we have lately done, the fruit of so useful an invention. No man of spirit will vouchsafe to avail himself of what is in common to many; and such of the present time, as have least deserved this reward, pretend the more to disdain it, in order by that means to rank themselves with those, to whom so much wrong has been done by the unworthy conferring and debasing of that mark of honour which was particularly due to them.

Now to expect, by abolishing this, to create a like custom, and to bring it into credit all on a sudden, new order is not an undertaking proper for a season so licentihood into ous as the present is; and the consequence will be, that the last, from its origin, will incur the same inconveniences that have just ruined the other. The rules for the dispensing of this new order ought to be extremely strict and severe, in order to give it authority; whereas, in these boisterous times, such a short tight curb will not do; besides that, before this can be brought into repute, it is necessary that the memory of the first, and of the contempt into which it is fallen, should be totally lost.

Valour, the

chief of the

French.

This place might naturally enough admit of some virtues a discourse upon valour, and of the difference of this mong the virtue from others; but Plutarch has mentioned this subject so often, that it will be to no purpose for me to repeat what he has said of it. It is worthy of consideration, that our nation places valour in the highest class of the virtues, as its name shows, which is derived from value; and that, according to our way of speaking, when we mean a man is worth a great deal of money, or a man of substance, in the style of our court and gentry, it is only saying he is a valiant man, after the manner of the Romans; for the general appellation of virtue, with them, derives its etymology from vis, force. The proper and

essential profession of the noblesse in France is that of arms. It is probable this was the first virtue which discovered itself amongst men, and which gave advantage to some over others; whereby the strongest and most courageous have lorded it over the weaker, and acquired a particular rank and reputation, from whence it obtained that dignity of appellation; or else that these, being very warlike nations, gave the pre-eminence to the virtues which were most familiar to them, and to which they had the best title. Just so, it is owing to our passion, and the feverish solicitude we have of the chastity of women, that a good woman, a woman of worth, and a woman of honour and virtue, signify no more, with us, than a chaste woman; as if, to oblige them to this duty, we were indifferent to all the rest, and gave them the reins to all other faults whatever, on condition they would not be guilty of incontinence.

CHAPTER LXV.

Of the Affection of Parents to their Children.

MADAM,

To Madam d'Estissac.

IF the strangeness and novelty of my subject, which are wont to give a value to things, do not save me, I shall never come off with honour from this foolish attempt; but it is so whimsical, and has so uncommon an aspect, that this, perhaps, may make it pass. It was a melancholy humour, and by consequence a humour very much an enemy to my natural constitution, engendered by the chagrin of the solitude into which I have cast myself for some years past, that first put into my head this idle whim