Part 4

It must not be such a Prerogative as giveth the Government the Rickets; all the Nourishment to go to the upper part, and the lower starved.

As a Prince is in danger who calleth a stronger than himself to his Assistance; so when Prerogative useth _Necessity_ for an Argument, it calleth in a stronger thing than itself. The same Reason may overturn it. Necessity too is so plain a thing, that every body sees it, so that the Magistrate hath no great privilege in being the Judge of it. Necessity therefore is a dangerous Argument for Princes, since (wherever it is real) it constitutes every Man a Magistrate, and gives as great a Power of dispensing to every private Man, as a Prince can claim.

It is not so proper to say that _Prerogative_ justifieth _Force_, as that _Force_ supporteth _Prerogative_. They have not been such constant Friends, but that they have had terrible _Fallings_ out.

All Powers are of God; and between _Permission_ and _Appointment_, well considered, there is no real difference.

In a limited Monarchy, Prerogative and Liberty are as jealous of one another as any two neighbouring States can be of their respective Incroachments.

They ought not to part for small Bickerings, and must bear little Jealousies without breaking for them.

Power is so apt to be insolent, and Liberty to be saucy, that they are very seldom upon good Terms.

They are both so quarrelsome that they will not easily enter into a fair Treaty. For indeed it is hard to bring them together; they ever quarrel at a distance.

Power and Liberty are respectively managed in the World in a manner not suitable to their Value and Dignity.

They are both so abused that it justifieth the Satires that are generally made upon them. And

They are so in Possession of being misapplied, that instead of censuring their being abused, it is more reasonable to wonder whenever they are _not_ so.

They are perpetually wrestling, and have had their Turns when they have been thrown, to have their Bones broken by it.

If they were not both apt to be out of Breath, there would be no living.

If Prerogative will urge Reason to support it, it must bear Reason when it resisteth it.

It is a Diminution instead of a Glory, to be above treating upon equal Terms with Reason.

If the People were designed to be the sole Property of the supream Magistrate, sure God would have made them of a differing and subordinate Species; as he hath the Beasts, that by the Inferiority of their Nature they might the better submit to the Dominion of Mankind.

If none were to have Liberty but those who understand what it is, there would not be many freed Men in the World.

When the People contend for their Liberty, they seldom get any thing by their Victory but new Masters.

Liberty can neither be got, nor kept, but by so much Care, that Mankind generally are unwilling to give the Price for it. And therefore, in the Contest between Ease and Liberty, the first hath generally prevailed.

_Of_ LAWS.

Laws are generally not understood by three Sorts of Persons, _viz._ by those that make them, by those that execute them, and by those that suffer, if they break them.

Men seldom understand any Laws but those they _feel_.

Precepts, like Fomentations, must be rubbed into us; and with a rough Hand too.

If the Laws could speak for themselves, they would complain of the Lawyers in the first Place.

There is more Learning now required to explain a Law made, than went to the making it.

The Law hath so many Contradictions, and Varyings from itself, that the Law may not improperly be called a Law-breaker.

It is become too changeable a thing to be defined: it is made little less a _Mystery_ than the _Gospel_.

The Clergy and the Lawyers, like the Free-Masons, may be supposed to take an Oath not to tell the Secret.

The Men of Law have a Biass to their calling in the Interpretations they make of the Law.

_Of_ PARLIAMENTS.

The Parliaments are so altered from their original Constitution, that between the Court and the Country, the House, instead of being united, is like Troops of a contrary Party facing one another, and watching their Advantage.

Even the well-meaning Men who have good Sense too, have their Difficulties in an Assembly; what they offer honestly for a good End, will be skilfully improved for an ill one.

It is strange that a gross Mistake should live a Minute in an Assembly; one would expect that it should be immediately stifled by their discerning Faculties. But Practice convinceth that a Mistake is no where better entertained.

In Parliaments, Men wrangle in behalf of Liberty, that do as little care for it, as they deserve it.

Where the People in Parliament give a good deal of Money in exchange for any thing from the Crown, a wise Prince can hardly have an ill bargain. The present Gift begetteth more; it is a Politick kind of Generation; and whenever a Parliament does not bring forth, it is the Unskilfulness of the Government, that is the cause of the Miscarriage.

Parliaments would bind and limit one another, and enact that such and such things shall not be made _Precedents_. There is not a word of Sense in this Language, which yet is to be understood the Sense of the Nation, and is printed as solemnly as if it was Sense.

_Of_ PARTIES.

The best Party is but a kind of a Conspiracy against the rest of the Nation. They put every body else out of their Protection. Like the _Jews_ to the _Gentiles_, all others are the Offscowrings of the World.

Men value themselves upon their Principles, so as to neglect Practice, Abilities, Industry, _&c._

Party cutteth off one half of the World from the other, so that the mutual Improvement of Mens Understanding by conversing, _&c._ is lost, and Men are half undone, when they lose the advantage of knowing what their Enemies think of them.

It is like Faith without Works; They take it for a Dispensation from all other Duties, which is the worst kind of _dispensing Power_.

It groweth to be the Master Thought; the Eagerness against one another at home, being a nearer Object, extinguisheth that which we ought to have against our foreign Enemies; and few Mens Understandings can get above overvaluing the Danger that is nearest, in comparison of that more remote.

It turneth all Thought into talking instead of doing. Men get a habit of being unuseful to the Publick by turning in a Circle of Wrangling and Railing, which they cannot get out of: And it may be remarked, that a _speculative_ Coxcomb is not only unuseful, but mischievous: A _practical_ Coxcomb under discipline may be made use of.

It maketh a Man thrust his Understanding into a Corner, and confine it till by degrees he destroys it.

Party is generally an Effect of Wantonness, Peace, and Plenty, which beget Humour, Pride, _&c._ and that is called Zeal and publick Spirit.

They forget insensibly that there is any body in the World but themselves, by keeping no other Company; so they miscalculate cruelly. And thus Parties mistake their Strength by the same reason that private Men overvalue themselves; for we by finding fault with others, build up a partial Esteem of ourselves upon the Foundation of their Mistakes: So Men in Parties find faults with those in the Administration, not without reason, but forget that they would be exposed to the same Objections, and perhaps greater, if it was their Adversary's turn to have the fault-finding part.

There are Men who shine in a Faction, and make a Figure by Opposition, who would stand in a worse light, if they had the Preferments they struggle for.

It looketh so like _Courage_ (but nothing that is like is the same) to go to the _Extream_, that Men are carried away with it, and blown up out of their Senses by the wind of popular Applause.

That which looketh _bold_ is a great Object that the People can discern; But that which is _wise_ is not so easily seen: It is one part of it that it is not seen, but at the _End_ of a Design. Those who are disposed to be wise too late, are apt to be valiant too early.

Most Men enter into a Party rashly, and retreat from it as shamefully. As they encourage one another at first, so they betray one another at last: And because every Qualification is capable of being corrupted by the Excess, they fall upon the extream, to fix mutual Reproaches upon one another.

Party is little less than an Inquisition, where Men are under such a Discipline in carrying on the common Cause, as leaves no Liberty of private Opinion.

It is hard to produce an Instance where a Party did ever succeed against a Government, except they had a good handle given them.

No original Party ever prevailed in a turn; it brought up _something else_, but the first Projectors were thrown off.

If there are two Parties, a Man ought to adhere to that which he disliketh least, though in the whole he doth not approve it: For whilst he doth not list himself in one or the other Party, he is looked upon as such a Straggler, that he is fallen upon by both. Therefore a Man under such a Misfortune of Singularity, is neither to provoke the World, nor disquiet himself, by taking any particular Station.

It becometh him to live in the Shade, and keep his Mistakes from giving Offence; but if they are his Opinions, he cannot put them off as he doth his Cloaths. Happy those who are convinced so as to be of the general Opinions.

Ignorance maketh most Men go into a Party, and Shame keepeth them from getting out of it.

More Men hurt others, they do not know why, than for any reason.

If there was any Party entirely composed of honest Men, it would certainly prevail; but both the honest Men and the Knaves resolve to turn one another off when the Business is done.

They by turns defame all _England_, so nobody can be employed that hath not been branded: There are few Things so criminal as a Place.

_Of_ COURTS.

The Court may be said to be a Company of well-bred fashionable Beggars.

At Court, if a Man hath too much Pride to be a Creature, he had better stay at home: A Man who will rise at Court must begin, by creeping upon All-four: A Place at Court, like a Place in Heaven, is to be got by being much upon _one's Knees_.

There are hardly two Creatures of a more differing Species than the same Man, when he is pretending to a Place, and when he is in Possession of it.

Mens Industry is spent in receiving the Rents of a Place, there is little left for discharging the Duty of it.

Some Places have such a corrupting Influence upon the Man, that it is a supernatural thing to resist it.

Some Places lye so fair to entertain Corruption, that it looketh like renouncing a due Perquisite, not to go into it.

If a getting Fool would keep out of Business, he would grow richer in a Court than a Man of Sense.

One would wonder that in a Court where there is so little Kindness, there should be so much _whispering_.

Men must brag of kind Letters from Court, at the same time that they do not believe one Word of them.

Men at Court think so much of their own Cunning, that they forget other Mens.

After a Revolution, You see the _same Men_ in the Drawing-room, and within a Week the same _Flatterers_.

_Of_ PUNISHMENT.

Wherever a Government knows _when_ to _show_ the Rod, it will not often be put to _use_ it. But between the want of Skill, and the want of Honesty, Faults generally either escape Punishment, or are mended to no Purpose.

Men are not hang'd for stealing Horses, but that Horses may not be stolen.

Wherever a Knave is not punished, an honest Man is laugh'd at.

A Cheat to the Publick is thought infamous, and yet to accuse him is not thought an honourable part. What a Parodox! 'Tis an ill Method, to make the Aggravation of the Crime a Security against the Punishment; so that the Danger is not to _rob_, but not to _rob enough_.

Treason must not be _inlayed Work_ of _several Pieces_, it must be an entire Piece of itself. _Accumulative_ in that case is a murdering Word, that carrieth Injustice, and no Sense in it.

An _Inference_, though never so rational, should go no farther than to justify a _Suspicion_, not so far as to inflict a _Punishment_. Nothing is so apt to break with Stretching, as an _Inference_; and nothing so ridiculous, as to see how Fools will abuse one.

MORAL THOUGHTS, AND REFLECTIONS.

_Of the_ WORLD.

It is from the Shortness of Thought, that Men imagine there is any great Variety in the World.

Time hath thrown a Vail upon the Faults of former Ages, or else we should see the same Deformities we condemn in the present Times.

When a Man looketh upon the Rules that are made, he will think there can be no Faults in the World; and when he looketh upon the Faults, there are so many he will be tempted to think there are no Rules.

They are not to be reconciled, otherwise than by concluding that which is called _Frailty_ is the incurable _Nature_ of Mankind.

A Man that understandeth the World must be weary of it; and a Man who doth not, for that Reason ought not to be pleased with it.

The Uncertainty of what is to come, is suck a dark Cloud, that neither Reason nor Religion can quite break through it; and the Condition of Mankind is to be weary of what we do know, and afraid of what we do not.

The World is beholden to _generous Mistakes_ for the greatest Part of the Good that is done in it.

Our _Vices_ and _Virtues_ couple with one another, and get Children that resemble both their Parents.

If a Man can hardly inquire into a Thing he undervalueth, how can a Man of good Sense take pains to understand the World?

To understand the World, and to like it, are two things not easily to be reconciled.

That which is called an _Able Man_ is a great Over-valuer of the World, and all that belongeth to it.

All that can be said of him is, that he maketh the best of the General Mistake.

It is the Fools and the Knaves that make the Wheels of the World turn. _They_ are _the World_; those few who have Sense or Honesty sneak up and down single, but never go in Herds.

To be too much _troubled_ is a worse way of over-valuing the World than the being too much _pleased_.

A Man that steps aside from the World, and hath leisure to observe it without Interest or Design, thinks all Mankind as mad as they think him, for not agreeing with them in their Mistakes.

_Of_ AMBITION.

The serious Folly of wise Men in _over-valuing the World_, is as contemptible as any thing they think fit to censure.

The first Mistake belonging to Business is the going into it.

Men make it such a Point of Honour to be fit for Business, that they forget to examine whether Business is fit for a Man of Sense.

There is Reason to think the most celebrated Philosophers would have been Bunglers at Business; but the Reason is because they despised it.

It is not a Reproach but a Compliment to Learning, to say, that _Great Scholars_ are less fit for Business; since the truth is, Business is so much a lower thing than Learning, that a Man used to the last cannot easily bring his Stomach down to the first.

The Government of the World is a great thing; but it is a very coarse one too, compared with the Fineness of Speculative Knowledge.

The Dependance of a great Man upon a greater, is a Subjection that lower Men cannot easily comprehend.

Ambition hath no Mean, it is either upon _all four_ or upon _Tiptoes_.

Nothing can be humbler than Ambition, when it is so disposed.

Popularity is a Crime from the Moment it is sought; it is only a Virtue where Men have it whether they will or no.

It is generally an Appeal to the People from the Sentence given by Men of Sense against them.

It is stepping very low to get very high.

Men by Habit make irregular Stretches of Power, without discerning the Consequence and Extent of them.

Eagerness is apt to overlook Consequences, it is loth to be stopt in its Career; for when Men are in great haste, they see only in a straight Line.

_Of_ CUNNING _and_ KNAVERY.

Cunning is so apt to grow into Knavery, that an honest Man will avoid the Temptation of it. But Men in this Age are half bribed by the Ambition of circumventing, without any other encouragements. So proud of the Character of being _able_ Men, that they do not care to have their Dexterity confined.

In this Age, when it is said of a Man, He knows _how to live_, it may be imply'd he is not very honest.

An honest Man must lose so many Occasions of Getting, that the World will hardly allow him the Character of an Able one.

There is however more _Wit_ requisite to be an honest Man, than there is to be a Knave.

The most necessary thing in the World, and yet the least usual, is to reflect that those we deal with, may know how to be as arrant Knaves as ourselves.

The Eagerness of a Knave maketh him often as catchable, as Ignorance maketh a Fool.

No Man is so much a Fool as not to have Wit enough sometimes to be a Knave; nor any so cunning a Knave, as not to have the Weakness sometimes to play the Fool.

The Mixture of Fool and Knave, maketh up the parti-coloured Creatures that make all the Bustle in the World.

There is not so pleasant a Quarry, as a Knave taken in a Net of his own making.

A Knave leaneth sometimes _so hard_ upon his Impudence, that it breaketh and lets him fall.

Knavery is in such _perpetual Motion_, that it hath not always Leisure to look to its own Steps; 'tis like sliding upon Scates, no Motion so smooth or swift, but none gives so terrible a _Fall_.

A Knave loveth _Self_ so heartily, that he is apt to overstrain it: by never thinking he can get enough, he gets so much less. His thought is like Wine that fretteth with too much fermenting.

The Knaves in every Government are a kind of Corporation; and though they fall out with one another, like all Beasts of Prey, yet upon occasion they unite to support the common Cause.

It cannot be said to be such a Corporation as the Bank of _England_, but they are a numerous and formidable Body, scarce to be resisted; but the Point is, they can never rely upon one another.

Knaves go chain'd to one another like Slaves in the Gallies, and cannot easily untie themselves from their Company. Their Promises and Honour indeed do not hinder them, but other intangling Circumstances keep 'em from breaking loose.

If Knaves had not foolish Memories, they would never trust one another so often as they do.

Present Interest, like present Love, maketh all other Friendship look cold to it, but it faileth in the holding.

When one Knave betrayeth another, the one is not to be blamed, nor the other to be pitied.

When they complain of one another as if they were honest Men, they ought to be laugh'd at as if they were Fools.

There are some Cunning-men who yet can scarce be called Rational Creatures; yet they are often more successful than Men of Sense, because those they have to deal with are upon a looser Guard; and their Simplicity maketh their Knavery unsuspected.

There is no such thing as a venial Sin against Morality, no such thing as a small Knavery: He that carries a small Crime easily, will carry it on when it grows to be an Ox. But the little Knaves are the greater of the two, because they have less the Excuse of Temptation.

Knavery is so humble, and Merit so proud, that the latter is thrown down because it cannot stoop.

_Of_ FOLLY _and_ FOOLS.

There are five Orders of Fools, as of Building: 1. The Blockhead, 2. Coxcomb, 3. Vain Blockhead, 4. Grave Coxcomb, and 5. The Half-witted Fellow; this last is of the Composite Order.

The Follies of grave Men have the Precedence of all others, a ridiculous Dignity, that gives them a Right to be laughed at in the first place.

As the masculine Wit is the strongest, so the masculine Impertinence is the greatest.

The Consequence of a Half-Wit is a Half-Will, there is not Strength enough in the Thought to carry it to the End.

A Fool is naturally recommended to our Kindness by setting us off by the Comparison. Men are grateful to Fools for giving them the Pleasure of contemning them.

But Folly hath a long Tail that is not seen at first: for every single Folly hath a Root, out of which more are ready to sprout; and a Fool hath so unlimited a Power of mistaking, that a Man of Sense can never comprehend to what degree it may extend.

There are some Fools so low, that they are preferred when they are laught at. Their being named putteth them in the List of Men, which is more than belongeth to them.

One should no more laugh at a contemptible Fool, than at a dead Fly.

The Dissimulation of a Fool should come within the Statute of Stabbing. It giveth no Warning.

A Fool will be rude from the Moment he is allowed to be familiar; he can make no other use of Freedom than to be unmannerly.

Weak Men are apt to be _cruel_, because they stick at nothing that may repair the ill Effect of their Mistakes.

Folly is often more cruel in the Consequence, than Malice can be in the Intent.

Many a Man is murthered by the well-meant Mistakes of his unthinking Friends.

A weak Friend, if he will be kind, ought to go no farther than Wishes; if he proffereth either to say, or to do, it is dangerous.

A Man had as good go to Bed to a Razor, as to be intimate with a foolish Friend.

Mistaken Kindness is little less dangerous than premeditated Malice.

A Man hath not the Relief of being angry at the Blows of a mistaken Friend.

A busy Fool is fitter to be shut up than a downright Madman.

A Man that hath only Wit enough not to do Hurt, committeth a Sin if he aimeth at doing Good.

His passive Understanding must not pretend to be active.

It is a Sin against Nature for such a Man to be meddling.

It is hard to find a Blockhead so wise as to be upon the Defensive; he will be sallying, and then he is sure to be ill used.

If a dull Fool can make a Vow and keep it, never to speak his own Sense, or do his own Business, he may pass a great while for a rational Creature.

A Blockhead is as ridiculous when he talketh, as a Goose is when it flieth.

The grating a Gridiron is not a worse Noise, than the jingling of Words is to a Man of Sense.

It is Ill-manners to silence a Fool, and Cruelty to let him go on.

Most Men make little other use of their Speech than to give evidence against their own Understanding.

A great Talker may be a Man of Sense, but he cannot be one, who will venture to rely upon him.

There is so much Danger in Talking, that a Man strictly wise can hardly be called a sociable Creature.

The great Expence of Words is laid out in _setting ourselves out_, or _deceiving_ others; to _convince_ them requireth but a few.

Many Words are always either suspicious or ridiculous.

A Fool hath no Dialogue within himself, the first Thought carrieth him without the Reply of a second.

A Fool will admire or like nothing that he understands, a Man of Sense nothing but what he understands.

Wise Men gain, and poor Men live, by the Superfluities of Fools.

Till Follies become ruinous, the World is better with than it would be without them.

A Fool is angry that he is the Food of a Knave, forgetting that it is the End of his Creation.

_Of_ HOPE.

Hope is a kind Cheat; in the Minute of our Disappointment we are angry, but upon the whole matter there is no Pleasure without it.

It is so much a pleasanter thing than Truth to the greatest Part of the World, that it hath all their Kindness, the other only hath their Respect.

Hope is generally a wrong Guide, though it is very good Company by the way. It brusheth through Hedge and Ditch till it cometh to a great Leap, and there it is apt to fall and break its Bones.

It would be well if Hopes carried Men only to the top of the Hill, without throwing them afterwards down the Precipice.

The Hopes of a Fool are blind Guides, those of a Man of Sense doubt often of their Way.

Men should do with their Hopes as they do with tame Fowl, cut their Wings that they may not fly over the Wall.

A _hoping_ Fool hath such terrible Falls, that his Brains are turned, though not cured by them.