Anger lays open thofe Defects which Friendship cou'd not fee, and Civility might be willing to forget. Malice needs no fuch Invitation to encourage it, neither are any Pains more fuperfluous, than those we take to be ill-fpoken of. If Envy, which never dies, and feldom fleeps, is content sometimes to be in a Slumber, it is very unskilful to make a Noise to awake it.

Besides, your Wit will be misapply'd, if it is wholly directed to disarm the Faults of others, when it is so ne ceffary to be often us'd, to mend and prevent your own. The fending our Thoughts too much abroad, has the fame Effect, as when a Family never stays at home. Neglect and Disorder naturally follow (as they must do) within ourselves, if we do not frequently turn our Eyes inwards, to see what is amifs with us: Where it is a fign we have an unwelcome Prospect, when we do not take care to look upon it, but rather feek out Confolations in the Faults of those we converfe with.

Let us avoid being the first in fixing a hard Censure. Let it be confirm'd by the general Voice, before we give into it. Neither are you then to give Sentence like a Magiftrate, or as if you had a special Authority to bestow a good or ill Name at your Difcretion. Do not dwell too long upon a weak Side; touch and go away. Take pleasure to stay longer where you can commend ; like Bees, that fix only upon those Herbs, out of which they may extract the Juice their Honey is compos'd of. A Virtue ftuck with Briftles is too rough for this Age; it must be adorn'd with fome Flowers, or else it will be unwillingly entertain'd. Thus, where it may be fit to ftrike, it must be done gently; and affure yourself, that where you care to do it, you will wound others more, and hurt yourself less by foft Strokes, than by being harfh or violent.

The Triumph of Wit is to make your Good-nature fubdue your Cenfure; to be quick in feeing Faults, and flow in expofing them. You are to confider, that the invifible thing called a good Name, is made up of the

Breath of Numbers that speak well of you. If by a difobliging Word you filence the Meaneft, the Gale will be less ftrong which is to bear up your Efteem: And tho' nothing is fo vain, as the eager Pursuit of empty Applause, yet to be well thought of, and to be kindly us'd by the World, is like a Glory about a Woman's Head; 'tis a Perfume fhe carries about with her, and leaves where-ever fhe goes; 'tis a Charm against Ill-will. Malice may empty her Quiver, but cannot wound. The Dirt will not stick; the Jeft will not take. Without the Confent of the World a Scandal does not go deep; it is only a flight Stroke upon the injur'd Party, and returns with the greater Force upon those that gave it. I have read the Character of Aricia, and was pleas'd with that Part of it which related to Scandal.

She never suffer'd any Body, be they who they wou'd, to be flander'd in her Prefence: She had a thousand ways to turn off the Conversation, when it roll'd upon Scandal. If the Perfons who gave the Offence were below her, fhe always impofed Silence upon them; if their Quality demanded more Respect, she shew'd by her own Silence, and by her Looks, that she did not approve of it; always finding out Reasons to justify those that were accus'd.

Perfons of Dignity and Rank are apt to take great Liberties, with respect to their Inferiors: However they ought to be on their Guard, and not to mortify any one by fhocking Words. Their Condition does not excufe their being unpolite. Their Contempt of People creates a Difguft, which is the hardest thing in the World to wear off. A paffionate Expreffion is often forgiven, but Rallery in cold Blood never; it being a fure Sign of want of Efteem.

Silence is an excellent Remedy againft Slander. Complaints and Reproaches fharpen instead of blunting it. People let a Man alone, when they fee he takes no notice of the disobliging things that are said to him: "Tis a great Virtue, and cofts little, to speak mildly to thofe

those that talk impertinently to you. We muft live with the Paffionate and Whimfical, as well as the Goodnatur'd and Wife; we shou'd pity their Weakness and their Whims; and to flight them, will be a more effectual way to mortify them, than to reprove.

Slander and Cenfure use many Arts to conceal their Malignity But whether they make ufe of direct and exprefs Terms, or of obscure and oblique; whether by way of downright Reproach, or with fome crafty Preface of Recommendation; if they have the Effect to vilify, the Manner of Address does not alter the Cafe. The one may be more dextrous, but is not one Jot less faulty. For many times the deeper Wounds are given by these smoother, and more artificial ways of Slander, as by asking Questions, Have you not heard fo and fo of fucb a Man? Ifay no more; I only ask the Queftion. Or by general Intimations, That they are loth to fay what they have heard of fuch a one; are very forry for it, and do not at all believe it, if you will believe them. This many times, without telling the thing, but leaving you in the dark to fufpect the worst.

Thefe and fuch like Arts, tho' they may feem to be gentler and tenderer ways of ufing Mens Reputation, yet in truth, they are the moft malicious and effectual Methods of Slander; because they infinuate fomething that is much worse than is faid, and yet are very apt to create in unwary Men, a strong belief of something that is very bad, tho' they know not what it is. It matters not in what Fashion Slander is dreit up, if it tends to defame a Man, and diminish his Reputation.

Cenfure, in fome Cafes, is not only lawful, but very commendable. 'Tis many times our Duty to do it, in order to the probable Amendment of the Person that has committed the Offence. A Man may, and ought to be told of his Faults privately; or where it may not be fit for us to ufe that Boldnefs and Freedom, we may reveal his Faults to one who is more fit and proper to reprove him, and will probably make no other use of

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this Discovery, but in order to his Amendment. This is fo far from being a Breach of Charity, that it is one of the best Testimonies of it: For, perhaps, the Party may not be guilty of what is reported of him, and then it is a Kindness to give him an Opportunity of vindi cating himself; or if he be guilty, perhaps being privately and prúdently told of it, he may reform. In this Cafe, the Son of Sirach advises to reveal Mens Faults, Admonish a Friend, fays he, it may be he hath not done it; and if he have done it, that he do it no more: Admonish a Friend, it may be he hath not faid it; and if he have, that he speak it not again: Admonish a Friend, for many times it is a Slander, and believe not every Tale.

We must take care that this be done out of Kindness, and that nothing of our own Paffion be mingled with it: That under Pretence of reproving and reforming Men, we do not reproach and revile them, and tell them of their Faults in fuch a manner, as if we did it to fhew our Authority rather than our Charity. It requires a great deal of Addrefs and gentle Application, fo to manage the Bufinefs of Reproof, as not to irritate and exafperate the Person whom we reprove, inftead of curing him.

This is our Duty; when, as has been hinted, we are legally call'd to bear Witness, concerning the Fault and Crime of another. A good Man would not be an Accufer, unless the Publick Good, or the Prevention of fome great Evil, fhould require it: And then, the plain Reason of the thing will fufficiently juftify a voluntary Accufation. Otherwife, it has always, among wellmanner'd People, been esteem'd very odious, for a Man to be officious in this kind, and a forward Informer concerning the Mifdemeanor of others. Magiftrates may fometimes think it fit to give Encouragement to fuch Perfons, and to set one bad Man to catch another; becaufe fuch Men are fitteft for fuch dirty Work; but they

can

can never inwardly approve them, nor will they ever make them their Friends and Confidents.

When a Man is call'd to give Testimony in this kind, in obedience to the Laws,and out of reverence to theOath taken in fuch Cafes, he is so far from deferving Blame for fo doing, that it would be an unpardonable Fault in him to conceal the Truth, or any part of it.

It is lawful to publish the Faults of others, in our neceffary Defence and Vindication. When a Man cannot conceal another's Faults, without betraying his own Innocency, no Charity requires him to fuffer himself to be defam'd, to fave the Reputation of another Man. Charity begins at home; and tho' a Man had never so much Goodness, he wou'd firft fecure his own good Náme, and then be concern'd for other Mens. It would be well for the World if our Charity would rife thus high, and no Man would hurt another's Reputation but where his own is in real Danger.

Cenfure and Reproof are lawful, as well for Caution and Warning to a third Perfon, as for Amendment to the firft: The former may be in danger to be infected by the Company, or ill Example of another, or may be greatly prejudiced by repofing too much Confidence in him.

In ordinary Conversation, Men may mention that Ill of others, which is already made as publick as it well can be. One Friend may, in freedom, fpeak to another, of the Miscarriage of a third Perfon, where he is fecure no ill ufe will be made of it, and that it will go no farther to his Prejudice. One of the deepest and most common Causes of Cenfures, is Ill-nature and Cruelty of Difpofition. Ill-nature, by a general Miftake, paffes for Wit, as Cunning does for Wisdom; tho' in truth they are nothing akin to one another, but as far diftant

as Vice and Virtue.

There is no greater Evidence of the bad Temper of Mankind, than the general proneness of Men to this Vice. They commonly incline to Cenforioufnefs, and