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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 pleafure; and yet if human life be not a little moved with the gentle gales of hope and fears, there may be fome danger of its ftagnating in an unmanly indolence and fecurity. It is a known ftory of Domitian, that after he had poffeffed himself of the Roman empire, his defires turned upon catching flies. Active and masculine fpirits 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 cease to grow, but will quickly fhoot out at the bottom. The man indeed who goes into the world only with the narrow views of felf-intereft, who catches at the applause of an idle multitude, as he can find no folid contentment at the end of his journey, so he deferves to meet with disappointments in his way; but he who is actuated by a nobler principle, whofe mind is fo far enlarged as to take in the profpect of his country's good, who is enamoured with that praise which is one of the fair attendants of virtue, and values not thofe acclamations which are not feconded by the impartial teftimony of his own mind; who repines not at the low ftation 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 mifchief 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 bafe and unworthy purposes. It is the business of religion and philofophy not so much to extinguish our paffions, as to regulate and direct them

to valuable well-chofen objects: when these have pointed out to us which courfe we may lawfully fteer, it is no harm to fet out all our fail; if the ftorms and tempefts of adverfity fhould rife upon us, and not fuffer us to make the haven where we would be, it will however prove no finall confolation to us in these circumftances, that we have neither mistaken our courfe, nor fallen into calamities of our own procuring.

Religion therefore, were we to confider it no farther than as it interpofes 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 fociety; as it infpires rational ambition, correct love, and elegant defire.

N° 225.

Saturday, November 17.

Nullum numen abeft, fi fit prudentia

Juv. Sat. 10. ver. 365.

Prudence fupplies the want of ev'ry god.

I HAVE often thought if the minds of men were laid

open, we fhould fee but little difference between that of the wife man and that of the fool. There are infinite reveries, numberlefs 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 converfation, 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 elfe but thinking aloud. VOL. III. K

Tully has therefore very juftly expofed a precept delivered by fome ancient writers, that a man fhould 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 should not be in his power to hurt him. The first 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 cunning than of difcretion, and would cut a man off from the greatest pleasures 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 fon of Sirach calls him, a bewrayer of fecrets, the world is juft enough to accufe the perfidioufness 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 circumftances of action; and is like an underagent 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 discretion; it is this indeed which gives a value to all the reft, which sets 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 itself looks like weakness; the best parts only qualify a man to be more sprightly in errors, and active to his own prejudice.

Nor does difcretion only make a man the master of his own parts, but of other mens. The difcreet man finds out the talents of thofe he converses 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 discreet man, not the witty, nor the learned, nor the brave, who guides the converfation, and gives meafures to the fociety. 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 fight is of no use to him.

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 fhare 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 sticks 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 fhort-fightednefs, that difcovers the minuteft objects which are near at hand, but is not able to difcern things at a distance. Difcretion, the more it is discovered, gives the 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 instinct, that only looks out after our immediate intereft and welfare. Difcretion is only found in men of strong fenfe and good understanding cunning is often to be met with in brutes themfelves, and in perfons who are but the feweft removes from them. În fhort, cunning is only the mimic 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 confider what will be his condition millions of ages hence, as well as what it is at prefent. He knows that the mifery or happiness which are referved 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 those pleasures and pains which lie Eid in eternity, approach nearer to him every moment, and will be

prefent with him in their full weight and measure, as much as thofe pains and pleasures which he feels at this very inftant. For this reafon he is careful to secure to himself that which is the proper happiness of his nature, and the ultimate defign of his being. He carries his thoughts to the end of every action, and confiders the moft diftant, as well as the moft immediate effects of it. He fuperfedes every little profpect of gain and advantage which offers itself here, if he does not find it confiftent with his views of an hereafter. In a word, his hopes are full of immortality, his fchemes are large and glorious, and his conduct fuitable to one who knows his true intereft, and how to purfue it by proper methods.

I have, in this effay upon discretion, confidered it both as an accomplishment and as a virtue, and have therefore defcribed it in its full extent; not only as it is converfant about worldly affairs, but as it regards our whole existence; not only as it is the guide of a mortal creature, but as it is in general the director of a reasonable being. It is in this light that difcretion is represented by the wife man, who fometimes mentions it under the name of difcretion, and fometimes under that of wisdom. It is indeed, as defcribed in the latter part of this paper, the greatest wisdom, but at the fame time in the power of every one to attain. Its advantages are infinite, but its acquifition eafy; or to fpeak of her in the words of the apocryphal writer whom I quoted in my laft Saturday's paper, "Wisdom is glorious, and never "fadeth away, yet fhe is eafily feen of them that love "her, and found of fuch as feek her. She preventeth "them that defire her, in making herself first known unto them. He that feeketh her early, fhall have no great travel: for he fhall find her fitting at his doors. "To think therefore upon her is perfection of wisdom, "and whofo watcheth for her thall quickly be without << care. For fhe goeth about feeking fuch as are worthy "of her, fheweth herself favourably unto them in the ways, and meeteth them in every thought."

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