That these minutes be read once a year at the anniversary.
That all fines due be immediately paid in, and the penal laws for
queries and declamations abolished, only he who is absent above ten
times in the year, to pay 10_s._ towards the anniversary
entertainment.
That the secretary, for keeping the minutes, be allowed one shilling
per night, to be paid out of the money already in his hands.
That after the queries are begun reading, all discourse foreign to
them shall be deemed impertinent.
When any thing from reading an author is mentioned, if it exceed a
line, and the Junto require it, the person shall bring the passage or
an abstract of it in writing the next night, if he has it not with
him.
When the books of the library come, every member shall undertake some
author, that he may not be without observations to communicate.
* * * * *
How shall we judge of the goodness of a writing? or what qualities
should a writing on any subject have, to be good and perfect in its
kind?
Answer 1. To be good it ought to have a tendency to benefit the reader
by improving his virtue or his knowledge.
The method should be just, that is, it should proceed regularly from
things known to things unknown, distinctly and clearly, without
confusion.
{412} The words used should be the most expressive that the language
affords, provided they are the most generally understood.
Nothing should be expressed in two words that can as well be expressed
in one; i.e. no synonymes should be used or very rarely, but the whole
be as short as possible, consistent with clearness.
The words should be so placed as to be agreeable to the ear in
reading.
Summarily,—It should be smooth,
clear, and
short,
For the contrary qualities are displeasing.
But taking the query otherwise:
An ill man may write an ill thing well; that is, having an ill design
he may use the properest style and arguments (considering who are to
be readers) to attain his ends.
In this sense, that is best wrote which is best adapted for attaining
the end of the writer.
* * * * *
Can a man arrive at perfection in this life, as some believe; or is it
impossible, as others believe?
Perhaps they differ in the meaning of the word perfection.
I suppose the perfection of any thing to be only the greatest the
nature of that thing is capable of.
Thus a horse is more perfect than an oyster, yet the oyster may be a
perfect oyster, as well as the horse a perfect horse.
And an egg is not so perfect as a chicken, nor a chicken as a hen; for
the hen has more strength than the chicken, and the chicken more life
than the egg—yet it may be a perfect egg, chicken, and hen.
If they mean a man cannot in this life be so perfect as an angel, it
is true, for an angel by being incorporeal, is allowed some
perfections we are at present incapable of, and less liable to some
imperfections that we are liable to. If they mean a man is not capable
of being so perfect here as he is capable of being in heaven, that may
be true likewise.
But that a man is not capable of being so perfect here as he is
capable of being here, is not sense; it is as if I should say, a
chicken in the state of a chicken is not capable of being so perfect
as a chicken is capable of being in that state.
In the above sense there may be a perfect oyster, a perfect horse, a
perfect ship, why not a perfect man? that is, as perfect as his
present nature and circumstances admit?
* * * * *
_Question_. Wherein consists the happiness of a rational creature?
_Answer_. In having a sound mind and a healthy body, a sufficiency of
the necessaries and conveniences of life, together with the favor of
God and the love of mankind.
_Q_. What do you mean by a sound mind?
_A_. A faculty of reasoning justly and truly, in searching after such
truths as relate to my happiness. Which faculty is the gift of God,
capable of being improved by experience and instruction into wisdom.
_Q_. What is wisdom?
_A_. The knowledge of what will be best for us on all occasions and
the best ways of attaining it.
_Q_. Is any man wise at all times and in all things?
_A_. No: but some are much more frequently wise than others.
_Q_. What do you mean by the necessaries of life?
_A_. Having wholesome food and drink wherewith to satisfy hunger and
thirst, clothing, and a place of habitation fit to secure against the
inclemencies of the weather.
_Q_. What do you mean by the conveniences of life?
_A_. Such a plenty * * * * *
* * * * *
_Query_.—Whether it is worth a rational man's while to forego the
pleasure arising from the present luxury of the age in eating and
drinking and artful cookery, studying to gratify the appetite, for the
sake of enjoying a healthy old age, a sound mind and a sound body,
which are the advantages reasonably to be expected from a more simple
and temperate diet?
Whether those meats and drinks are not the best that contain
everything in their natural tastes, nor have any thing added by art so
pleasing as to induce us to eat or drink when we are not athirst or
hungry, or after thirst and hunger are satisfied; water, for instance,
for drink, and bread, or the like, for meat?
Is there any difference between knowledge and prudence?
If there is any, which of the two is most eligible?
Is it justifiable to put private men to death for the sake of the
public safety or tranquillity, who have committed no crime? As in case
of the plague to stop infection, or as in the case of the Welshmen
here executed.
If the sovereign power attempts to deprive a subject of his right,
(or, what is the same thing, of what he thinks his right,) is it
justifiable in him to resist if he is able?
What general conduct of life is most suitable for men in such
circumstances as most of the members of the Junto are? or of the many
schemes of living which are in our power to pursue, which will be most
probably conducive to our happiness?
Which is the best to make a friend of, a wise and good man that is
poor, or a rich man that is neither wise nor good?
Which of the two is the greatest loss to a country, if they both die?
Which of the two is happiest in life?
Does it not, in a general way, require great study and intense
application for a poor man to become rich and powerful, if he would do
it without the forfeiture of his honesty?
Does it not require as much pains, study and application, to become
truly wise and strictly good and virtuous, as to become rich?
Can a man of common capacity pursue both views with success at the
same time?
If not, which of the two is it best for him to make his whole
application to?
* * * * *
The great secret of succeeding in conversation, is to admire little,
to hear much, always to distrust our own reason, and sometimes that of
our friends; never to pretend to wit, but to make that of others
appear as much as possibly we can; to hearken to what is said and to
answer to the purpose.
Ut jam nunc dicat jam nunc debentia dici.
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