to vain and fantastical recitals of his own performances: His difcourfe generally leans one way, and, whatever is the fubject of it, tends obliquely either to the detracting from others, or to the extolling of himfelf. Vanity is naturally the weakness of an ambitious man, which expofes him to the fecret fcorn and derifion of thofe he converses with, and ruins the character he is fo induftrious to advance by it. For tho' his actions are ever fo glorious, they lose their luftre when they are drawn at large, and fet to fhow by his own hand; and as the world is more apt to find fault than to commend, the boat will probably be cenfured, when the great action that occafioned it is forgot

ten.

Befides, this very defire of fame is looked on as a meannefs and imperfection in the greatest character. A folid and fubftantial greatnefs of foul looks down with a generous neglect on the cenfures and applaufes of the multitude, and places a man beyond the little noife and ftrife of tongues. Accordingly we find in ourfelves a fecret awe and veneration for the character of one who moves above us in a regular and illuftrious course of virtue, without any regard to our good or ill opinions of him, to our reproaches or commendations. As on the contrary, it is ufual for us, when we would take off from the fame and reputation of an action, to afcribe it to vain glory, and defire of fame in the actor. Nor is this common judgment and opinion of mankind il! founded: For certainly it denotes no great bravery of mind to be worked up to any noble action by fo felfish a motive, and to do that out of a defire of fame, which we could not be prompted to by a difinterested love to mankind, or by a generous paffion for the glory of him who made us.

Thus is fame a thing difficult to be obtained by all, but particularly by thofe who thirft after it, fince moft men have fo much either of ill-nature, or of wariness, as not to gratify or footh the vanity of the ambitious man, and fince this very thirft after fame naturally betrays him into fuch indecencies as are a leffening to VOL. II.

E

his reputation, and is itself looked upon as a weakness in the greatest characters.

In the nex: place, fame is eafily loft, and as difficult to be preferved as it was at firft to be acquired. But this I fhall make the fubject of a following paper.

SPECTATOR, Vol. IV. No. 256. C.

There are many paffions and tempers of mind which naturally difpofe us to deprefs and vilify the merit of one rifing in the esteem of mankind. All thofe who

made their entrance into the world with the fame advantages, and were once looked on as his equals, are apt to think the fame of his merit a reflection on their own indeferts; and will therefore take care to reproach him with the scandal of fome past action, or derogate from the worth of the prefent, that they may ftill keep him on the fame level with themselves. The like kind of confideration often firs up the envy of fuch as were once his fuperiors, who think it a detraction from their merit to fee another get ground upon them and overtake them in the purfuits of glory; and will therefore endeavour to fink his reputation, that they may the better preferve their own. Those who were once his equals envy and defame him, because they now fee him their fuperior; and those who were once his fuperiors, because they look upon him as their .equal.

But farther, a man whofe extraordinary reputation thus lifts him up to the notice and obfervation of mankind, draws a multitude of eyes upon him that will narrowly infpect every part of him, confider him nicely in all views, and be not a little pleafed when they have taken him in the worst and moft difadvantageous light. There are many who find a pleasure in contradicting the common reports of fame, and in fpreading abroad the weakneffes of an exalted character. They publish their ill-natured difcoveries with a fecret pride, and applaud themselves for the fingularity of their judgment which has fearched deeper than others, detected what the reft of the world have overlooked, and found a flaw in what the generality of mankind

admires. Others there are who proclaim the errors and infirmities of a great man with an inward fatisfaction and complacency, if they difcover none of the like errors and infirmities in themselves: For while they are expofing another's weakneffes, they are tacitly aiming at their own commendations, who are not fubject to the like infirmities, and are apt to be tranfported with a fecret kind of vanity to fee themselves fuperior in fome refpects to one of a fublime and celebrated reputation. Nay, it very often happens, that none are more induftrious in publishing the blemishes of an extraordinary reputation, than fuch as lie open to the fame cenfures in their own characters, as either hoping to excufe their own defects by the authority of fo high an example, or raifing an imaginary applaufe to themselves for refembling a perfon of an exalted reputation, though in the blamable parts of his character. If all thefe fecret fprings of detraction fail, yet very øften a vain oftentation of wit fets a man on attacking an cftablished name, and facrificing it to the mirth and laughter of thofe about him. A fatire or a libel on one of the common ftamp, never meets with that reception and approbation among its readers, as what is aimed at a perfon whofe merit places him upon an eminence, and gives him a more confpicuous figure among men.. Whether it be that we think it fhews greater art to expofe and turn to ridicule a man whofe character feems fo improper a fubject for it, or that we are pleafed, by fome implicit kind of revenge, to fee him taken down and humbled in his reputation, and, in fome meafure, reduced to our own rank, who had fo far raised himself above us in the reports and opinions of mankind..

Thus we fee how many dark and intricate motives there are to detraction and defamation, and how many malicious fpies are fearching into the actions of a great man, who is not always the best prepared for fo narrow an infpection. For we may generally obferve, that our admiration of a famous man leffens upon our nearer acquaintance with him; and that we feldom hear the defcription of a celebrated perfon, without -3

catalogue of fome notorious weakneffes and infirmities. The reafon may be, because any little flip is more confpicuous and obfervable in his conduct than in another's, as it is not of a piece with the rest of his character, or because it is impoflible for a man at the fame time to be attentive to the more important part of his life, and to keep a watchful eye over all the inconfiderable circumftances of his behaviour and converfation; or because, as we have before obferved, the fame temper of mind which inclines us to a defire of fame, naturally betrays us into fuch flips and unwarineffes as are not incident to men of a contrary difpofition.

After all, it must be confeffed, that a noble and triumphant merit often breaks through and diffipates thefe little fpots and fullies in its reputation; but if by a mistaken purfuit after fame, or through humaninfirmity, any falfe ftep be made in the more momentous concerns of life, the whole fcheme of ambitious defigns is broken and difappointed. The fmaller ftains and blemishes may die away and difappear amid the brightness that furrounds them; but a blot of a deeper nature cafts a fhade on all the other beauties, and darkens the whole character. How difficult there, fore is it to preferve a great name, when he who has acquired it is fo obnoxious to fuch little weaknefies and infirmities as are no finall diminution to it when difcovered, especially when they are fo induftriously proclaimed, and aggravated by fuch as were once his fuperiors or equals; by fuch as would fet to fhow their judgment or their wit, and by fuch as are guilty or innocent of the fame flips or mifconducts in their own behaviour!

But were there none of these difpofitions in others to cenfure a famous man, nor any fuch mifcarriages in himfelf, yet would he meet with no fmall trouble in keeping up his reputation in all its height and fplendor. There must be always a noble train of actions to preferve his fame in life and motion. when it is once at a ftand, it naturally flags and languishes. Admiration is a very fhort-lived paflion,

For

that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be ftill fed with fresh discoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual fucceffion of mira-cles rifing up to its view. And even the greatest actions of a celebrated perfon labour under this difadvantage, that however furprifing and extraordinary 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, though they might raise the reputation of another, they are a diminution to bis.

One would think there fhould be fomething wonderfully pleafing in the poffeffion of fame, that, not-withstanding all thefe mortifying confiderations, can engage a man in fo defperate a purfuit; and yet if we confider the little happiness that attends a great character, and the multitude of difquietudes to which the defire of it fubjects an ambitious mind, one would.. be still the more furprised to fee fo many restless candidates for glory.

Ambition raises a fecret tumult in the foul, it inflames the mind, and puts it into a violent hurry of to't: Itis ftill reaching after an empty, imaginary good, that has not in it the power to abate or fatisfy it. Most other things we long for can allay the cravings of their proper fenfe, and for a while fet the appetite at reft: But fame is a good fo wholly foreign to our natures, that we have no faculty in the foul 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 uneafy under it; and which does not fo much fatisfy the prefent thirft, as it excites fresh defires, and fets the foul on new enterprifes. For how few ambitious men are there, who have got as much fame as they desired, and whofe 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. VOL. II. E 2