less, a secret horror is begotten, by a secret vice. From whence we may undoubtedly conclude, that though the gale of success blow never so full and prosperously, yet no man can be truly happy, who is not truly innocent.

NO MAN IS HONEST, WHO IS NOT SO IN HIS

RELATIONS.

(

BESIDES the general and necessary dependence which every man must, and ought to have, upon God; there is no man, whatsoever, but is, even in this world, particularly related to some person or persons; above the generality of other men. He can neither come into the world nor continue in it, and be an independent man: and by his demeanour, in his strictest relations, he may be guessed at, in his others. Of all the relations which attach to men, those are most binding, which nature has made the nearest, in their several conditions; in which, if a man be not honest, in vain can he be expected to be found so, in others, which are more remote. The highest tie of all, (as most concerning the public good,) I take to be between a born subject, and a legitimate prince pursuing the welfare of the country. He is pater patriæ, and his subjects are, but a little more remoted sons. There is, if possible, a greater obligation upon a prince to be good, than there is upon other men: for, though he be human in his person, as others are; yet, for the public's

sake, his person is sacred, and the government he exercises is divine, and, therefore, ought to be administered with the greater care and virtue, that men may gaze on their sovereign with a loving admiration, and obey him with reverence.

On the other hand; if a man be not honest in his relation towards his prince, that is, in his loyalty; he cannot be expected to be honest in any thing, further than as it conduces to his own particular interest. The breach of this relationship, the laws have, as well from natural reason as political considerations, made more capital than other crimes; not only punishing the person offending, but attainting all his posterity with the confiscation of all that they are capable of owning in this life. To be a traitor, delivers one to the lowest scorn of men, as well as to the heaviest punishments of the law. And no state I ever yet read of, but have held such unworthy of life, and so not fit for society, as having failed in that, which makes one man companionable to another. In like manner, the parent, who is morose, and unkind to his children, hardly will be affable to any. He who loves not his own, it is not probable will be drawn to love those who are nothing to him. So is it, with a child; if he once despises his parents, he exposes himself to be contemned by others. And to shew how horrid sins of this nature are, the Levitical law made disobedience unto parents, the worst of its four capital punishments, stoning; nor was he allowed to live, who had cursed either father or mother. Neither can I believe this law was abrogated, in the

days of Solomon; who tells us, that the eye that mocketh his father, or disdains obedience to his mother, the crows of the valley shall pick it out, or else the young eagles eat it: which, in effect, is to say, that he shall come to some untimely end, either be hanged on some tree, or cast out without burial, for the fowls of the air to feed on. To this inclines the opinion of St. Jerom, where he says, Nec vultu loedenda est pietas parentum: the sacred duty owing to parents, must not be infringed even by a look. He that hath forgotten to be a son, is an Agrippa to the world, and is born averse to nature. It was a good reason the philosopher gave to one, why he should not go to law with his father: if you charge him unjustly, (says he,) all will condemn you: and if your charge be just, you will yet be condemned, for blazing it forth. It was Cassianus who asked an undutiful son: Quem alienum tibi fidum invenies, si tuis hostis fueris? Qui fallere audebit parentes; qualis erit in cæteros? What stranger shall he ever find faithful to him, who to his parents has become an enemy? What will he be to others, who is false to parents?-It is the same, in other relations; between husband and wife; between master and servants. To be false in our rela

tions, is to break our trust; which both religion and nature require us to keep truly. When Judas had betrayed his Master, neither his friends, nor his enemies, nor his own conscience, could endure him afterwards. Whereas, he who behaves himself well. in his relations, gives us hope of his being sound in all other things, in which we have to do with him. If

we can believe the excellent Silius, we shall find that by being false in our relations, we not only lose ourselves as well as others, but we thus become plunged into all the calamities of life, in the several bearings in which we stand to others.

Qui frangere rerum

Gaudebit pacta, ac tenues spes linquet amici ;
Non illi domus, aut conjux, aut vita, manebit
Unquam expers luctûs, lacrymæque: Aget æquore semper,
Ac tellure premens; aget ægrum, nocte dieque

Dispecta, ac violata fides.

Who loves to break

Ital. 1. 13.

Wise nature's bonds, and cheat his friend's poor hope,
Contracts turmoil, and tears that never stop.

Nor house, nor wife, nor life is safe: but he
O'erwhelm'd with earth, ploughs the unquiet sea:
A broken faith discern'd, is sickness ever.

Certainly, there is no man but some way, stands connected with others, either by religion, policy, nature, alliance, or humanity;-therefore, as a Christian, a friend, a kindred, a superior, or a man, to all, a man has an honest course of conduct to pursue. Though I comply not with all their ways, yet Christian piety and natural probity are never to be parted with. He who loses, or throws away these, descends into a beast, and has not reason for his guide, and is human in shape alone.

THERE

WHENCE A MAN'S FAME ARISES.

HERE is not a greater cheat, than fame and reputation sometimes prove to be. Few converse enough with persons abroad, for them to shew their real

humours and inclinations. To their superiors, they put on obsequiousness and dress out their virtues, while they studiously conceal their vices; to their inferiors, they are all courtesy and profession; to all, there is a disguise. They are like ladies, who, careful of their beauty, admit none into their presence, till they are dressed and trimmed out to the best advantage. It is only, in a man's retirement, and among his domestics and friends, that he opens himself with freedom, and without care. He then walks among them, as nature framed him: among them, he may be seen, not as he seems, but as he is; without the deceptions of art, or the varnish of counterfeit virtue. Indeed, no one is able to pass a true judgment upon another, but he who familiarly and inwardly knows him and has viewed him, by the light of time. While Tiberius had a noble fame among strangers, he who read him rhetoric, hesitated not to pronounce him luto et sanguine maceratum.

It is much harder to read the actions, and rightly to understand the characters of great persons, than those of men of inferior condition: for, though they be extravagant, yet their greatness is some kind of awe to the loose and scattered reports that fly about from mean men's tongues: and their attendants not only palliate their vices, as improper for them to divulge, but, at the same time, magnify their good parts, and represent them to the world, as greater than they are; so that oftentimes, those pass with the world at large, for persons rarely qualified, who, being strictly viewed, are but shew and deceiving outside. And besides this, many a man, while he has a curb upon him, can be kept in