entreat you not to expend yourself in speechifying on questions of grand political—or rather, I mean, party contention; but, while you take part in the public and general discussions that are of real moment, choose out for yourself some specific object, some line of usefulness.' However praiseworthy the spirit of adventure may be, whoever keeps his post and does his duty at home, will be found to render his country best service at last.2 Let not romantic views your bosom sway; Those, therefore, who determine not to conjecture and guess, but to find out and know; not to invent fables and romances of worlds, but to look into and dissect the nature of this real world, must consult only things themselves. Nor can any force of genius, thought, or argument be substituted for this labour, search, and inspection; not even though all the wits of men were united. This, therefore, must either be had, or the business. be deferred for ever." Believe me, if I knew every thing, if I could read every thing myself, and answer every one myself, all my subjects would be happy.5 I would cut off my own head, if it had nothing 1 Wilberforce (Life). 3 Crabbe. 5 Frederick the Great. 2 Foote (The Nabob). + Bacon (Preliminaries). Life by Shaw. (Life by Lord Dover.) better than wit in it; and tear out my own heart, if it had no better dispositions than to love only myself, and laugh at all my neighbours.' I am confident, they who shall, in spite of all evil examples, continue honest, and steady to their good principles, what distress soever they may for a time suffer, will, in the end, find happiness, even in this world." Nothing so much lightens the burden of receiving benefits as conferring them.3 Le motif seul fait la mérite des actions; et le désintéressement y prête la perfection.* Certain weak people are apt to tell what secrets they know from their vanity of having been trusted." Les hommes sacrifient tout ce qu'ils ont à une espérance, et tout ce qu'ils auroient, et ce qu'ils viennent d'acquérir, à une autre espérance." Toujours occupés de ce qu'ils veulent être, et jamais de ce qu'ils sont, la seule chose qui leur échappe c'est de vivre contens avec leur sort. Very few men can be said truly to live now, but are preparing to live at another time.8 One who has the virtue of making the best of a small fortune may enjoy more real and solid contentment in it, than one that is an unskilful and disorderly possessor of great external riches." A cheerful mind is not only disposed to be affable 1 Pope (Letters). 2 Hyde to Secretary Nicholas. See M'Diarmid (Lives). 3 Mackintosh (Life). 5 Chesterfield. 8 Swift. 6 Fontenelle. 9 Boyle. 4 La Bruyère. and obliging, but raises the same good humour in those who come within its influence. A man finds himself pleased, he does not know why, with the cheerfulness of his companion ;-it is like a sudden sunshine that awakens a secret delight in the mind without our attending to it. Cheerfulness is the best hymn to the Divinity. Ganganelli used to say, "Every man has some wealth which is his natural inheritance; and mine is cheerfulness, which is the only patrimony my father left me, but which I value more than all the treasures of this world." Hume said, that he considered a disposition to see things on the favourable side (with which he was born) as of more value than having been born to an estate of thousands a year. To slacken your hold on life in any agreeable point of connection, is the sooner to reduce yourself to the indifference and passive vegetation of old age:2 L'un et l'autre excès choque, et tout homme bien sage N'y 3 S'il se comporte honnêtement envers chacun; s'il ne donne à certaines femmes ni exclusion, ni préférence; s'il garde le sécret de chaque société où il est reçu; s'il évite les confidences; s'il se refuse aux 1 Letters, xii. 3 Molière (L'Ecole des Maris). 2 Scott. tracasseries; s'il garde partout une certaine dignité, il pourra voir paisiblement le monde, conserver ses mœurs, sa probité, sa franchise même, pourvu qu'il vienne d'un esprit de parti.' Occasions, chances, And all the steeled rubs of this hard world, Yet I've one plank, and that shall never leave me; Honour, my lord, is much too proud to catch. Stand at another bar than that of laws.4 Personal courage is, undoubtedly, a necessary part of the character of a man of honour, and this essential he should establish at his first emerging into man: not by a querulous propensity to contradiction; not by a promptitude to take offence; but by that cool, steady demeanour, which may convince his associates of his resolution to maintain his own rights, and to support his friend in a just cause, even at the expense of a little prudence. 1 La Nouvelle Héloise. 3 Idem. (Henry VII.) 2 Chenevix (Mantuan Revels). 4 Tancred and Sigismunda. This part of his character once established, he will run very little risk of future insult.1 Courage doth prompt boldly to undertake and resolutely to dispatch great enterprises and employments of difficulty; it is not seen in a flaunting garb or strutting deportment; not in hectorly, ruffian-like swaggering or huffing; not in high looks or big words; but in stout and gallant deeds, employing vigour of mind and heart to achieve them.2 The best proof of a man's real courage is to dare, in every situation, to be just to his own principles, to his connections, and to the world: a man so fortified may say with Horace, Si fractus illabatur orbis Impavidum ferient ruinæ.3 Cowards die many times before their deaths, The valiant never taste of death but once : Of all the wonders that I yet have heard, It seems to me most strange that men should fear; Will come when it will come.4 Guard equally against the extremes of arrogance and fawning; let it appear that you set a value upon yourself, but without despising others: if you fall into either of the extremes, you either provoke men's pride by your insolence, or teach them to despise you by your timorous submission, and 1 Berkenhout's Letters. 3 Berkenhout (Letters). 2 Barrow (Sermons). 4 Julius Cæsar. |