IT is good for every Man to fortify himself on his weak side: and if he loves his Peace, he must not be Inquisitive, and hearken to Tale-bearers; for the Man that is over-curi­ous to hear, and see every thing, multiplies Trou­bles to himself: For a Man does not feel, what he does not know. He that is listening after private Discourse, and what People say of him, shall never be at Peace. How many things that are Innocent in themselves, are made Injurious yet, by miscon­struction? Wherefore some things we are to pause upon, others to laugh at, and others again to par­don. Or if we cannot avoid the Sense of Indignities, let us however shun the open profession of it; which may be easily done as appears by many Ex­amples of those, that have suppress'd their Anger, under the Awe of a greater Fear. It is a good Caution not to believe any thing till we are very cer­tain of it, for many probable things prove false, and a short time will make Evidence of the un­doubted Truth. We are prone to believe many Things which we are unwilling to hear, and so we [Page 2]conclude, and take up a prejudice before we our judge. Never [...] a Friend unheard; or with­out letting him know his Accuser or his Crime. 'Tis a common thing to say, Do not you tell that you had it from me, for if you do, I'le deny it, and never tell you any thing again. By which means, Friends are set together by the Ears, and the Infor­mer slips his Neck out of the Collar. Admit no Stories upon these terms; for it is an unjust thing to Believe in private, and to be Angry openly. He that delivers himself up to Guess, and Conjecture, runs a great hazard; for there can be no Suspicion without some probable Grounds; so that without much Candor, and Simplicity, and making the best of every thing, there is no living in Society with Mankind. Some things that offend us we have by report; others we see, or hear. In the first Case, let us not be too Credulous; some People frame Stories that they may deceive us: Others, only tell what they hear, and are deceiv'd Themselves. Some make it their Sport to do ill Offices; others do them only to pick a Thank: There are some that would part the dearest Friends in the World; Others love to do Mischief, and stand aloof off, to see what comes on't. If it be a small matter, I would have witnesses, but if it be a greater, I would have it upon Oath, and allow time to the Accused, and Counsel too, and hear it over and over again.

IN those Cases where we ourselves are Witnesses, we should take into Consideration all the Circum­stances. If a Child, 'twas Ignorance: If a Woman, a Mistake: If done by Command, a Necessity; If a Man be Injur'd, 'tis but Quid pro quo. If a Judge be [...] what he does: If a Prince, I must Sub­mit; [Page 3]either, if Guilty, to Justice, or if Innocent; to Fortune: If a Brute, I make myself one by Imitat­ing it: if a Calamity, or Disease, my best Relief is Patience: If Providence, 'tis both Impious and Vain to be Angry at it: If a Good Man I'll make the Best on't; If a Bad, I'll never Wonder at it. Nor is it only by Tales, and Stories, that we are inflam'd, but Suspicions, Countenances; nay, a Look, or a Smile is enough to blow us up. In these Cases let us suspend our Displeasure, and plead the Cause of the Absent. Perhaps he is innocent; or if not, I have time to consider on't, and may take my Revenge at Leisure: but when it is once Executed, 'tis not to be Recall'd. A Jealous Head is apt to take that to himself which was never meant him. Let us therefore trust to nothing, but what we see: And chide our selves where we are over Credulous. By this Course we shall not be so easily impos'd upon; nor put to trouble ourselves about things not worth the while; as the Loytring of a Servant upon an Erand, the Tumbling of a Bed; or the Spilling of a Glass of Drink. 'Tis a Madness to be disorder'd at these Fooleries. We consider the thing done, and not the Doer of it. It may be he did it Unwil­lingly; or by Chance. It was a trick put upon him, or he was forc'd to't. He did it for Reward per­haps, not Hatred; nor of his own Accord; but he was egg'd on to't. Nay some regard must be had to the Age of the Person, or to Fortune; and we must consult Humanity, and Candor in the Case. One does me a Great Mischief at Unawares. A­nother does me a very small one by Design: Or peradventure none at all, but intended me one. The Latter was more in Fault, but I'll be Angry [Page 4]with neither. We must distinguish betwixt what a Man cannot do, and what he will not. 'Tis true; he has once offended me, but, How often has he [...] me? He has offended me often, and in other kinds. And why should not I hear it as well now as I have done? Is he my Friend? why then [...] against his will. Is he my Enemy? 'Tis no more then I look'd for. Let us give way to wise Men, and not squabble with Fools, and say thus to our selves, We have all of us our Errors; No Man is so Circum­spect, so considerate, or so fearful of offending, but he has much to answer for. A Generous Prisoner cannot immediately comply with all the sordid, and Laborious Offices of a Slave. A Footman that is not breath'd, cannot keep pace with his Master's Horse: He that is over-watch'd, may be allow'd to be Drowzy. All these things are to be weigh'd before we give any Ear to the first Impulse. If it be my Duty to love my Country, I must be kind also to my Countrymen: If a Veneration be due to the Whole so is a Piety also to the Parts: And it is the Common Interest to preserve them. We are all Members of one Body, and it is as Natural to help one another, as for the hands to help the feet, or the eyes the hands. Without the Love, and Care of the Parts, the whole can never be pre­serv'd, and we must spare one another, because we are born for Society, which cannot be maintain'd, without a Regard to Particulars. Let this be a Rule to us, never to deny a Pardon that does no Hurt either to the Giver, or Receiver. That may be well enough in One, which is Ill in Another; and therefore we are not to condemn any thing that is Common to a Nation: for Custom defends it. But [Page 5]much more Pardonable are those things which are Common to Mankind.

IT is a kind of Spiteful Comfort, that whoever does me an Injury, may receive one, and that there is a Power over him that is above me. A Man should stand as firm against all Indignities, as a Rock does against the Waves. As it is some satis­faction to a Man in a Mean Condition, that there is no Security in a more prosperous; And as the Loss of a Son in a Corner is born with more Patience, upon the sight of a Funeral carry'd out of a Palace; So are Injuries, and Contempts, the more tolerable from a meaner Person, when we consider, that the Greatest Men, and Fortunes are not exempt. The wisest also of Mortals, have their failings, and no Man living is without the same Excuse. The dif­ference is, that we do not all of us transgress the same way: but we are oblig'd in Humanity to bear one with another. We should, every one of us be­think ourselves how remiss we have been in our Duties: How immodest in our Discourses; how Intemperate in our Cups; and why not as well how Extravagant we have been in our Passions. Let us clear our selves of this Evil, purge our minds, and utterly root out all those Vices, which, upon leaving the least string will grow again, and recover. We must Think of every thing, Expect every thing that we may not be Surpriz'd. It is a Shame, says Fabius, for a Commander to excuse himself, by say­ing, I was not aware of it.

—The general Cause of Anger, is the Sense, or Opinion of an Injury; that is the Opinion either of [Page 6]an Injury simply [...] of an Injury done which we have not deserv'd. Some are Naturally given to Anger; Others are provok'd to't by Occasion; The Anger of Women, and Children, is commonly sharp, but not lasting: Old Men are rather queru­lous, and peevish. Hard Labour, Diseases, Anxiety of Thought, and whatsoever hurts the Body, or the Mind, disposes a Man to be Froward, but we must not add fire to fire.

HE that duly considers the subject Matter of all our Controversies, and Quarrels, will find them Low, and Mean, and not worth the Thought of a Gene­rous Mind; but the greatest Noise of all is about Money. This is it, that sets Fathers and Children together by the Ears; Husbands and Wives; and makes way for Sword and Poison: This is that, tires out Courts of Justice; enrages Princes, and lays Cities in the Dust, to seek for Gold, and Silver in the Ruins of them. This is it, that finds work for the Judge, to determine, which side is least in the wrong; And whose is the more plausible Ava­rice, the Plantiffs, or the Defendants: And what is it that we contend for all this while, but those Baubles that make us Cry, when we should Laugh? To see a Rich old Cuff, that has no Body to leave his Estate to, break his Heart for a handful of Dirt; And a Gouty Usurer, that has no other Use of his Fingers left him, but to Count withal; to see him I say, in the Extremity of his Fit, wrangling for the odd Money in his Interest:—If all that's precious in Nature were gather'd into one Mass, it were not worth the trouble of a Sober Mind. It were end­less to run over all those ridiculous Passions that are mov'd about Meats, and Drinks, and the matter of [Page 7]our Luxury; Nay, about Words, Looks, Actions, Jealousies, Mistakes, which are all of them as Con­temptible Fooleries as those very Baubles that Chil­dren Scratch, and Cry for. There is nothing Great, or Serious in all that which we keep such a Clutter about; the Madness of it is, that we set too great a value upon Trifles. One Man flies out upon a Sa­lute, a Letter, a Speech, a Question, a Gesture, a Wink, a Look. An Action moves one Man; A Word affects another: One Man is tender of his Family; another of his Person; One sets up for an Orator; Another for a Philosopher; This Man will not bear Pride, nor that Man Opposition. He that plays the Tyrant at Home, is as gentle as a Lamb Abroad. Some take Offence if a Man ask a Favour of them, and others, if he does not. Eve­ry Man has his weak side; Let us learn which that is and take a care of it; for the same thing does not work upon all Men alike. We are moved like Beasts, at the Idle appearances of things; and the fiercer the Creature, the more is it startled. The sight of a Red Cloth enrages a Bull. A Shadow pro­vokes the Asp; Nay, so unreasonable are some Men, that they take Moderate Benefits for Injuries; and Squabble about it, with their nearest Relations; They have done this and that for others, they cry; And they might have dealt better with us if they had plea­sed. Very Good! And if it be less than we look'd for, it may be yet more than we deserve. Of all Unquiet humours, this is the worst, that will never suffer any Man to be happy, so long as he sees a happier Man than himself.

HOW Vain, and Idle are many of those things that make us stark Mad! A resty Horse, the over­turning [Page 8]of a Glass; the falling of a Key, the Drag­ging of a Chair, a Jealousie, a Misconstruction. How shall that Man endure the Extremities of Hunger, and Thirst, that flies out into a rage only for the putting of a little too much Water in his Wine? What haste is there to lay a Servant by the Heels, or break a Leg or an Arm immediately for't, as if he were not to have the same power over him an hour after, that he has at that Instant.

When we are abroad we can bear well enough with foul ways, nasty Streets, noisom Ditches; but a spot upon a Dish at home, or an unswept Hearth, absolutely distracts us. And what's the Reason, but that we are Patient in the one Place, and phantasti­cally Peevish in the other? Nothing makes us more Intemperate than Luxury, that shrinks at every stroke, and starts at every shadow. 'Tis Death to some to have another sit above them, as if a Body were ever the more, or the less honest for the Cushion.

HOW ridiculous was that of Cyrus; who, in his design upon Babylon, found a River in his way that put a stop to his March: The current was strong, and carried away one of the Horses that be­longed to his own Chariot: upon this he swore, that since it had obstructed his Passage, it should never hin­der any Body's else: And presently set his whole Ar­my to work upon't, which diverted it into a hundred and fourscore Channels, and laid it dry. In this Ig­noble, and unprofitable employment, he lost his Time, and the Soldiers their Courage, and gave his Adver­saries an opportunity of providing themselves, while he was waging War with a River, instead of an Enemy.