jected and promoted this scene of peaceful industry, has the satisfaction of witnessing the gradual diffusion of comfort; of comfort which, enlarging with the progress of his plans to their full establishment has been completed; not like the successful projects of triumphant ambition, in the oppression and misery of subjugated slaves, but in the freedom and happiness of a contented people. are things, which all men, of all parties, and all characters, equally agree to extol, equally desire to have the credit of possessing. The reputation of patriotism is eagerly coveted by the most opposite characters; and pursued by the most contradictory means; by those who sedulously support the throne and constitution, and by those who labour no less sedulously to subvert them. Even the most factious, those who are governed by the basest selfishness, aspire to the dignity of a character, against which their leading principle and their actual practice constantly militate. To the above important objects of royal attention, such a sovereign as we are contemplating, will naturally add a disposition for the promotion of charitable and religious institutions, as well as of those whose more immediate object is po- But patriots of this stamp are chiefly on the litical utility, proportioning, with a judicious watch to exemplify their public spirit in their discrimination, the measure of support, and own restless way; they are anxiously looking countenance, to the respective degree of excel-out for some probable occurrence, which may lence. To these will be superadded a beneficent patronage to men of genius, learning, and science. Royal patronage will be likely not only to contribute to the carrying of talents into beneficial channels, but may be the means of preventing them from being diverted into such as are dangerous. And when it is received as an universally established principle, that the direction of the best abilities to none but the soundest purposes, is the way to insure the favour of the prince, it will be an additional spur to genius to turn its efforts to the promotion of virtue and of public utility. Such are the views, such the exertions, such the felicities of a patriot king, of a Christian politician. CHAP. XXI. The importance of royal example in promoting loyalty.-On false patriotism.-Public spirit. A WISE prince will be virtuous, were it only through policy. The measure of his power is the rule of his duty. He who practises virtue and piety himself, not only holds out a broad shelter to the piety and virtue of others, but his example is a living law, efficacious to many of those who would treat written laws with contempt. The good conduct of the prince will make others virtuous; and the virtuous are always the peaceable. It is the voluptuous, the prodigal, and the licentious, who are the needy, the unsettled, and the discontented, who love change and promote disturbance. If sometimes the affluent, and the independent, swell the catalogue of public disturbers, they will frequently be found to be men of inferior abilities, used by the designing as necessary implements to accomplish their work. The one set furnish mischief, the other means. Sallust has, in four exquisitely chosen words, given, in the character of one innovator, that of almost the whole tribe, Alieni appetens, sui profusus. But allegiance is the fruit of sober integrity; and fidelity grows on the stock of independent honesty. As there is little public honour, where there is little private principle; so it is to be feared there will be little private principle, at least among young persons of rank, where the throne holds out the example of a contrary conduct. It is true, that public virtue and public spirit draw them into notice, and are more eager to fish for fame, in the troubled waters of public commotion, than disposed to live in the quiet exercise of those habitual virtues, which, if gencral, would preclude the possibility of any commotion at all. These innovating reformers always affect to suppose more virtue in mankind, than they know they shall find, while their own practice commonly exhibits a low standard of that imaginary perfection on which their fallacious reasonings are grounded. There is scarcely any disposition which leads to this factious spirit more than a restless vanity, because it is a temper which induces a man to be making a continual comparison of himself with others. His sense of his own superior merit and inferior fortune, will fill his mind with perpetual competition with the inferior merit and superior fortune of those above him. He will ever prefer a storm in which he may become conspicuous, to a calm in which he is already secure. Such a soidisant patriot does not feel for the general interests of his country, but only for that portion of it which he himself may have a chance of obtaining. Though a loud declaimer for the privileges of universal man, he really sees no part of the whole circle of human happiness, except that segment which he is carving for him. self. He does not rejoice in those plentiful dews of heaven which are fertilizing the general soil, but in those which fatten his own pastures. It is not,' says the admirable South, from the common, but the inclosure, from which he calculates his advantages.' But true public spirit is not the new-born offspring of sudden occasion, nor the incidental fruit of casual emergency, nor the golden apple thrown out to contentious ambition. It is that genuine patriotism, which best prevents disturbance, by discouraging every vice that leads to it. It springs from a combination of disinterestedness, integrity, and content. It is the result of many long cherished domestic charities. Its seminal principles exist in a sober love of liberty, order, law, peace, and justice, the best safeguards of the throne, and the only happiness of the people. Instead of that selfish patriotism which, in ancient Rome, consisted in subverting the comfort of the rest of the world, the public spirit of a British patriot is not only consistent with Christianity, but (maugre the assertion of a wit already quoted)* in a good degree dictated * Soame Jenyns. of a mind struggling to conceal its faults; nor of that pride, which is not conscious of possessing any. This genuine politeness resulting from illustrious birth, inherent sense, and implanted virtue, will render superfluous the documents of Chesterfield, and the instructions of Castiglione. by it. His religion, so far from forbidding, even | any tincture of that vanity, which is the effect enjoins him to consider himself as such a mem ber of the body politic, such a joint of the great machine, that, remembering the defect of a pin may disconcert a system, he labours to fill up his individual part as assiduously as if the motion of every wheel, the effect of every spring, the success of the whole operation, the safety of the entire community depended on his single conduct. This patriotism evinces itself by sacrifices in the rich, by submission in the poor, by exertions in the able, strong in their energy, but quiet in their operation; it evinces itself by the sober satisfaction of each in cheerfully fill ing the station which is assigned him by Providence, instead of aspiring to that which is pointed out by ambition, by each man performing with conscientious strictness his own proper duty, instead of descanting with misleading plausibility, and unprofitable eloquence on the duties of other men. CHAP. XXII. On the graces of deportment.-The dispositions necessary for business.-Habits of domestic life. THOSE,' says lord Bacon, who are accomplished in the forms of urbanity, are apt to please themselves in it so much as seldom to aspire to higher virtue.' Notwithstanding the general truth of the maxim, and the high authority by which it comes recommended, yet condescending and gracious manners should have their full share in finishing the royal character; but they should have only their due share. They should never be resorted to as a substitute for that worth, of which they are the best decoration. In all the graces of deportment, whatever appears outwardly engaging, should always proceed from something deeper than itself. The fair fabric, which is seen, must be supported by a solid foundation which is out of sight; the loftiest pyramid must rise from the broadest base; the most beautiful flower from the most valuable root; sweetness of manners must be the effect of benevolence of heart; affability of speech should proceed from a well regulated temper; a solicitude to oblige should spring from an inward sense of the duty owing to our fellow-creatures; the bounty of the hands must result from the feelings of the heart; the proprieties of conversation, from a sound internal principle; kindness, attention, and all the outward graces, should be the effect of habit and dispositions lying in the mind, and ready to show themselves in action, whenever the occasion presents itself. Just views of herself, and of what she owes to the world, of that gentleness which Christianity inculcates, and that graciousness which her station enjoins, will, taking the usual advantages into the account, scarcely fail to produce in the royal pupil a deportment, at once dignified and engaging. The firmest substances alone are susceptible of the most exquisite polish, while the meanest materials will admit of being varnished. True fine breeding never betrays But the acquisition of engaging manners, and all the captivating graces of deportment, need less occupy the mind of the royal person, as she will acquire these attractions by a sort of instinct, almost without time or pains. They will naturally be copied from those illustrious examples of grace, ease, and condescending dignity, which fill, and which surround the throne. And she will have the less occasion for looking to remote, or foreign examples, to learn the true arts of popularity, while the illustrious personage who wears the crown, continues to exhibit not only a living pattern by what honest means the warm affections of a people are won, but by what rectitude, piety, and patriotism, they may be preserved, and increased, under every succession of trial, and every vicissitude of circum stance. prince to acquire, there is not one more essenAmong the habits which it is important for a tial than a love of business.-Lord Bacon has, among his essays, an admirable chapter, both of counsel and caution, respecting despatch in affairs, which as it is short and pointed, the royal pupil might commit to memory. He advises to measure despatch not by the time of sitting to business, but by the advancement of the business itself: and reprobates the affectation of those, who, to gain the reputation of men of despatch, are only anxious for the credit of having done a great deal in a little time; and who abbreviate, not by contracting, but by cutting off.'-On the other hand, procrastination wears out time, and accomplishes nothing. In. distinctness also in the framing of ideas, and confusion in the disorderly disposition of them, perplex business as much as irresolution impedes it. Julius Cæsar was a model in this respect; with all his turbulence of ambition, with all his eagerness of enterprise, with all his celerity of despatch, his judgment uniformly appears to have been cool and serene; and even in the midst of the most complicated transactions, no perplexity is ever manifest in his conduct, no entanglement in his thoughts, no confusion in his expressions. Hence, we cannot but infer, that an unambiguous clearness in the planning of affairs, a lucid order in arranging, and a persevering but not precipitate, despatch in conducting them, are the unequivocal marks of a superior mind. Yet though distribution, order, and arrangement, are the soul of business, even these must not be too minute, for he that does not divide,' says the great authority above cited, will never enter clearly into business, and he who divides too much, will not come out of it clearly.' A prince should come to the transaction of business, with a prepared, but not with a prejudiced mind: and the mind which is best furnished for the concern which it is about to inves. tigate, while it will be least liable to be drawn aside by persuasion, will be most open to truth,, and most disposed to yield to conviction, because it will have already weighed the arguments, and balanced the difficulties. A great statesman of that nation to which we are rather apt to ascribe steadiness than rapidity, has bequeathed a valuable lesson to princes for the despatch of business. It is well known that De Wit assigned as the chief reason why he had himself been enabled to prosecute such a multiplicity of concerns so easily was, by always doing one thing at a time. It is therefore important, not only fully to possess the mind with the affair which is under consideration, but to bestow on it an undivided attention, an application which cannot be diverted by irrelevant or inferior objects; and to possess a firmness which cannot be shaken from its purpose by art or flattery; cautions the more necessary, as we are assured by a penetrating observer, that even the strong mind of Elizabeth was not always proof against such attacks. One of the secretaries of this great queen never came to her to sign bills, that he did not first take care to engage her in deep discourse about other weighty business, that, by thus pre-occupying her mind, he might draw off her attention from the bills to which he wanted her sig nature. For the private habits of life, and propriety of conduct to those around her, queen Mary, as described by bishop Burnet* and Fowler, seems to have been a model. Her goodness was the most unostentatious, her gentleness the most unaffected, her piety the most inwoven into her habits, her charity the best principled, and her generosity the most discriminating! Vanity and self love seem to have been not merely outwardly repressed from a sense of decorum, but to have been inwardly extinguished; and she did not want the veil of art to conceal faults which were not working within. She seems to have united consummate discretion, with the most conscientious sincerity. She could deny, says her admiring biographer, the most earnest solicitations, with a true firmness, when she thought the person for whom they were made did not merit them. She possessed one quality of peculiar value in her station, a gentle, but effectual method of discouraging calumny. If any indulged a spirit of censoriousness in her presence, continues he, she would ask them if they have read archbishop Tillotson's sermon on evil-speaking? or give them some other pointed, but delicate reproof. Princes should never forget, that where sin. cerity is expected, freedom must be allowed; and, that they who show themselves displeased at truth, must not be surprised if they never hear it. In all their intercourse, they should not only be habituated to expect from others, but to practise themselves, the most simple veracity; they should no more employ flattery, than exact it. It will be necessary for them to bear in mind, that such is the selfishness of the human heart, that we are not disinterested in our very praises; and that, in excessive commendation, we commonly consider ourselves the * See especially bishop Burnet's essay on queen Mary · more than the person we commend. It is often rather a disguised effect of our own vanity, than any real admiration of the person we extol. That flattery which appears so liberal is in fact, one of the secret artifices of self-love; it looks generous, but it is in reality covetous; and praise is not so much a free gift, as a mercenary commerce, for which we hope to receive, in return, more than an equivalent. Is there not something far more cunning than noble, in that popular art, which Pliny recommends, to be liberal of praise to another for any thing in which you yourself excel ?'— The motive is surely selfish, that whether you deserve it or not, you may thus either way, be certain of securing the superiority to yourself. -If censure wants the tenderness of charity to make it useful, praise requires the modesty of truth, and the sanctity of justice to render it safe. It is observable, that in the sacred Scripture, which we should do well always to consult as our model, though there is sometimes simple commendation, yet there is no excessive praise, nor even the slightest tincture of exaggeration. But there is a fault, the direct opposite to flattery, which should with equal vigilance be guarded against. There is nothing which more effectually weans attachment, and obstructs popularity, than the indulgence of intemperate speech, and petulent wit. And they who in very exalted stations, unfortunately feel a propensity to impetuosity or sarcasm, would do well, if they will not repress the feeling (which would be the shortest way) not to let it break out in pointed sentences, or cutting sayings, sharp enough to give pain, and short enough to be remembered. It has this double disadvantage, every wound made by a royal hand is mortal to the feelings of those on whom it is inflicted; and every heart which is thus wounded is alienated. Besides, it is an evil, which gathers strength by going.' The sayings of princes are always repeated, and they are not always repeated faithfully. Lord Bacon records several instances of sovereigns who ruined themselves by this sententious indiscretion. The mischief of concise sayings, he observes, is that they are darts, supposed to be shot from their secret intentions, while long discourses are flat, less noticed, and little remembered.' CHAP. XXIII On the choice of society.—Sincerity the_bond of familiar intercourse.—Liberality.—Instances of ingratitude in princes.-On raising the tone of conversation—and of manners. PRINCES can never fall into a more fatal error, than when, in mixing with dishonourable society, they fancy, either that their choice can confirm merit, or their presence compensate for the want of it. It is, however, sometimes very difficult for them to discover the real character of those around them, because there may be a kind of conspiracy to keep them in the dark. But there is one principle of selection, which will in general direct them well, in the choice of their companions, that of choosing persons,, sion, than never to seem burthened with a sewho, in their ordinary habits, and in selecting cret of one's own; nor a surer mark of true pothe companions of their own hours of relaxation, liteness, than not to pry curiously into that of show their regard for morality and virtue. another. The perfection of behaviour,' says From such men as these, princes may more Livy, though he said it on another occasion, is reasonably expect to hear the language of truth. for a man (he might have said a prince) to reSuch persons will not be naturally led to connive tain his own dignity without intruding on the at the vices of their master, in order to justify liberty of another.' their own; they have no interest in being dis. honest. The people are not unnaturally led to form their judgment of the real principles and character of the prince, from the conduct and manners of his companions and favourites. Were not the subjects of the unhappy Charles I. in some degree excusable for not doing full justice to the piety and moral worth, which really belonged to his character, when they saw that those who were his most strenuous advocates, were, in general, avowedly profligate and profane?—If a monarch have the especial happiness of possessing a friend, let him be valued as the most precious of all his possessions. Let him be encouraged to discharge the best office of friendship, by finding, that the frankest reproofs, instead of generating a formality too fatally indicative of decaying affection, are productive, even when they may be conceived to be misplaced, of warmer returns of cordiality. Those who have solicitations to make, should never have reason given them to suspect, that they can work their way to the royal favour by flatteries which sooth rather than by truths which enlighten. Above all a prince should avoid discovering such weaknesses as may encourage suiters to expect success in their applications, by such a spirit of accommodation, such silly compliments, servile sacrifices, and unworthy adulation, as are derogatory to his understanding, and disgraceful to his character.* A royal person should early be taught that it is no small part of wisdom and virtue to repel improper requests. But while firm in the principle, as Christian duty requires, it is no violation of that duty to be as gentle in the expression, as christian kindness demands; never forgetting the well known circumstance, that of two sovereigns of the house of Stuart, one refused favours in a more gracious manner than the other granted them. It is, therefore, not But kings, whether actual or expectant, must enough that a prince should acquire the disposinot hope, in general, to find this honest frank- tion to confer favours, he should also cultivate ness. They must not expect to have their the talent. He should not only know how and opinions controverted, or their errors exposed when to commend, and how and when to bedirectly or openly. They should, therefore ac- stow, but also how and when to refuse; and custom themselves to hear and understand the should carefully study the important and happy still small voice, in which any disapprobation art of discriminating between those whose merit will be likely to be conveyed; they should use deserves favour, and those whose necessities themselves to catch a hint, and to profit from an demand relief. It should be established into a analogy: they should be on the watch to dis-habit, to make no vague promises, raise no false cover the sense which is entertained of their hopes, and disappoint no hopes which have been own principles or conduct, by observing the lan- fairly raised. guage which is used concerning similar principles and conduct in others. They must consider themselves as lying under special disadvantages, in respect to the discovery of truth, wherever they are themselves concerned; and must, therefore, strive to come possessed of it, with proportionate diligence and caution. If an insinuating favourite find it more advantageous to himself to flatter than to counsel his prince, counsel will be withheld, and obsequiousness will be practised. The prince, in return, will conclude himself to be always in the right, when he finds that he is never opposed; and the remembrance of his faults, and the duty of correcting them, will be obliterated in the constant approbation which he is confident of receiving. Princes should never shelter their meaning under ambiguous expressions: nor use any of those equivocal or general phrases, which may *It would seem superfluous to guard the royal mind against such petty dangers, did not history furnish so many instances of their ill effects. How much the weak vanity of king James I. laid him open to these despica ble flatteries, we have some curious specimens in a letter of lord Thomas Howard to Sir John Harrington, from which we extract the following passage. In advising his friend how to conduct himself in the king's presence, in order to advance his fortune, after some other coun sel, he adds, Touch but lightly on religion. Do not of yourself say, this is good or bad;" but if it were your majesty's good opinion, I myself should think so. In temper, discretion, or good virtues; so meddle not at all; private discourse, the king seldom speaketh of any man's but find out a clue to guide you to the heart, most delightful to his mind. I will advise one thing: the roan Jennet, whereon the king rideth every day, must not be forgotten to be praised, and the good furniture above all. What lost a great man much notice the other day, a noble did come in suit of a place, and saw the king mounting the roan, delivered his petition, which was heeded and read, but no answer given. The noble de parted, and came to court the next day, and got no an Discretion is a quality so important in the royal person, that he should early be taught the most absolute controul over his own mind! He should learn, that no momentary warmth of feeling should ever betray a prince into the disclo-swer again. The lord treasurer was then pressed to sure of any thing which wisdom or duty requires move the king's pleasure touching the petition. When him to conceal. But while he is thus vigi- wrath, shall a king give heed to a dirty paper when the king was asked for answer thereto, he said in some lantly careful not to commit himself, he should the beggar noticeth not his gilt stirrups ?" Now it fell seldom appear to entertain any distrust of out, that the king had new furniture, when the noble saw him in the court yard, but he being over charged those, in whom prudence forbids him to conwith confusion, passed by admiring the dressing of the fide. There is scarcely a more unquestion-horse. Thus, good night, our noble failed in his suit.'— able evidence of sound sense and self-posses. Nuga Antiquæ. THE WORKS OF HANNAH MORE. A munificent be interpreted any way, and which either from, In habituating princes to delight to confer favours on the deserving, it should be remembered, that where it is right to bestow them at all, it is also right not to wait till they are solicited. But while the royal person is taught to consider munificence as a truly princely virtue, yet an exact definition of what true, and especially what royal, munificence is, will be one of the most salutary lessons he can learn. Liberality is one of the brightest stars in the whole constellation of virtues; but it shines most benignantly, when it does not depend on its own solitary lustre, but blends its rays with the confluent radiance of the surrounding lights. The individual favour must not intrench on any superior claim; no bounty must infringe on its neighbouring virtues, justice, or discretion; nor must it take its character from its outwardly resembling vices, ostentation, vanity or profusion. Real merit of every kind should be remunerated; but those who possess merits foreign from their own profession, though they should be still rewarded, should not be remunerated out of the resources of that profession. Nor shonld talents, however considerable, which are irrelevant to the profession, be made a motive for placing a man in it. Louis XIV. chose father la Chaise for his confessor, because he understood something of medals! make their court to him. Examples of this un- We have already mentioned the remuneration ration the wit of Butler: a wit not transiently employed to promote his pleasure, or to win his favour; but loyally and laboriously exercised in composing one of the most ingenious and original, and unquestionably the most learned poem in the English language. A poem, which independently of its literary merit, did more to advance the royal cause, by stigmatizing with unparalleled powers of irony and ridicule, the fanaticism and hypocrisy of the usurper's party, than had perhaps been effected by all the histo rians, moralists, divines, and politicians put together. It is not meant, however, to give unqualified praise to this poem. From the heavy charges of levity, and even of profaneness, Hudibras cannot be vindicated; and a scrupulous sovereign would have wished that his cause had been served by better means.-Such a sovereign was not Charles. So far from it, may it not be feared, that these grievous blemishes, instead of alienating the king from the poet, would too probably have been an additional motive for his approbation of the work, and consequently, could not have been his reason for neglecting the author.* A somewhat similar imputation of ingratitude towards Philip de Comnines, though on different grounds of service, detracts not a little from the it was this monarch's honourable boast, on anofar more estimable character of Louis XII. As ther occasion, that the king of France never resented the injuries offered to the duke of Orleans, it should have been equally his care, that the *Dryden also materially served the royal cause by There is an idea of beautiful humanity sug. gested to princes in the Spectator, in a fictitious account of the emperor Pharamond, who made it his refreshment from the toils of business, and the fatigues of ceremony, to pass an hour or two his admirable poem of Absalom and Achitophel which in the apartment of his favourite, in giving au-determined the conquest of the tories, after the exclu dience to the claim of the meritorious, and in drying the tears of the afflicted. The entrance by which the sorrowful obtained access, was ** Number 84. sion parliaments. But Dryden was a profligate, whom a prince refuses to remunerate the actual services of a no virtuous monarch could patronise. Though, when first rate genius, because he is an unworthy man, it would be acting consistently to withhold all favour from those who have only the vices without the talents. |