vain-glory, and a defire of fame in the actor. Nor is this common judgment and opinion of mankind illfounded for certainly it denotes no great bravery of mind to be worked up to any noble action by fo selfish 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 that made us. Thus is fame a thing difficult to be obtained by all, but particularly by those who thirft after it, fince most 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 thirst after fame naturally betrays him into fuch indecencies as are a leffening to his reputation, and is itself looked upon as a weakness in the greatest characters. In the next place, fame is eafily loft, and as difficult to be preferved as it was at first to be acquired. But this I fhall make the fubject of a following paper. N° 256. Monday, December 24. Φήμη γάρ τε κακὴ πέλεται· νέφη μὲν ἀεῖραι Ρεῖα μάλ', ἀργαλέη δὲ φέρειν. Defire of fame by various ways is croft, THERE C. HES. HERE 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 faine of his merits a reflection on their own indeferts; and will therefore take care to reproach him with the fcandal of fome paft 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 ftirs up the envy of fuch as were once his fuperiors, who think it a de traction from their merit to fee another get ground upon them and overtake them in the pursuits of glory; and will therefore endeavour to fink his reputation, that they may the better preserve 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 inankind, draws a multitude of eyes upon him that will nar rowly infpect every part of him, confider him nicely: in all views, and not be a little pleafed when they have taken him in the worft and moft difadvantageous: light. There are many who find a pleasure in contradieting the common reports of fame, and in fpreading abroad the weakneffes of an exalted character. They publifh 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 rest 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 themfelves; 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 themfelves for refembling a perfon of an exalted reputation, though in the blamable parts of his character. If all these fecret fprings of detraction fail, yet very often a vain oftentation of wit fets a man on attacking an established 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 thews 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 measure 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 a 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 impoffible 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 be rays us into fuch flips and unwarineffes as are not incident to men of a contrary difpofition.. After all it must be confeff d, that a noble and triumphant merit often breaks through and diffipates these little fpots and fullies in its reputation; but if by a miftaken purfuit after fame, or through human infirmnity, 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 disappear amidst the brightnefs 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 therefore is it to preferve a great name, when he that has acquired it is fo obnoxious to fuch little weakneffes and infirmities as are no finall diminution to it when discovered, efpecially when they are fo induftriously proclaimed, and aggravated by fuch as were once his fuperiors or equals; by fuch as would fet to fhew 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 thefe difpofitions in others to cenfure a famous man, nor any fuch mifcarriages in himfelf, yet would he meet with no finall trouble in keeping up his reputation in all its height and splendor. There must be always a noble train or actions to preferve his fame in life and motion. For when it is once at a ftand, it naturally flags and languishes Admiration is a very fhort-lived paffion, that immediately decays upon growing familiar with its object, unless it be ftill fed with freth difcoveries, and kept alive by a new perpetual fucceffion of miracles rifing up to its view. And even the greatest actions of a celebrated perfon labour under this difadvantage, that however furprising 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 raife the reputation of another, they are a diminution to his. One would think there fhould be fomething wonderfully pleafing in the poffeffion of fame, that, notwithstanding 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 ftill the more furprised to see so many rettlefs candidates for glory. Ambition raises a fecret tumult in the foul, it inflames the mind, and puts it into a violent hurry of thought it is ftill reaching after an empty imaginary good, that has not in it the power to abate or fatisfy it. Moft 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 na 27 tures, 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 thirst, as it excites fresh defires, and fets the foul on new enterprises. For how few ambitious men are there, who have got as much fame as they defired, 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 circumftance in Cæfar's character which gives me a greater idea of him, than a faying which Cicero tells us he frequently made ufe of in private conversation, "That he was fatisfied with his share of life and fame." Se fatis vel ad naturam, vel adgloriam vixiffe. Many indeed have given over their purfuits after fame, but that has proceeded either from the difappointments they have met in it, or from their experience of the little pleasure which attends it, or from the better informations or natural coldnefs of old feldom from a full fatisfaction and acquiefcence in their age; but prefent enjoyments of it. Nor is fame only unfatisfying in itself, but the defire of it lays us open to many accidental troubles which thofe are free from who have not fuch a tender regard for it. How often is the ambitious man caft down and difappointed, if he receives no praife where he expected it? nay how often is he mortified with the very praises he receives, if they do not raise fo high as he thinks they ought, which they feldom do unless increased by flattery, fince few men have fo good an opinion of us as we have of ourselves? But if the ambitious man can be fo much grieved even with praise itself, how will he be able to bear up under fcandal and defamation? for the fame temper of mind which makes him defire fame, makes him hate reproach. If he can be tranfported with the extraordinary praifes of men, he will be as much dejected by their cenfures. How little therefore is the happiness of an ambitious man, who gives every one a dominion over it, who thus fubjects himself to |