I know no evil under the sun so great as the abuse of
the understanding, and yet there is no one vice more
common. It has diffused itself through both sexes and
all qualities of mankind, and there is hardly that person
to be found who is not more concerned for the reputation (59: 5)
of wit and sense, than honesty and virtue. But this unhappy
affectation of being wise rather than honest, witty
than good-natured, is the source of most of the ill habits
of life. Such false impressions are owing to the abandoned
writings of men of wit, and the awkward imitation (10)
of the rest of mankind.
For this reason, Sir Roger was saying last night that
he was of opinion none but men of fine parts deserve
to be hanged. The reflections of such men are so delicate
upon all occurrences which they are concerned in, (15)
that they should be exposed to more than ordinary infamy
and punishment for offending against such quick admonitions
as their own souls give them, and blunting the fine
edge of their minds in such a manner that they are no
more shocked at vice and folly than men of slower capacities.
There is no greater monster in being, than a very
ill man of great parts. He lives like a man in a palsy,
with one side of him dead. While perhaps he enjoys the (60: 5)
satisfaction of luxury, of wealth, of ambition, he has lost
the taste of good-will, of friendship, of innocence. Scarecrow,
the beggar in Lincoln's Inn Fields, who disabled
himself in his right leg, and asks alms all day to get himself
a warm supper ... at night, is not half so despicable (10)
a wretch as such a man of sense. The beggar has no
relish above sensations; he finds rest more agreeable
than motion, and while he has a warm fire ..., never
reflects that he deserves to be whipped.
"Every man who terminates his satisfactions and enjoyments (15)
within the supply of his own necessities and passions,
is," says Sir Roger, "in my eye, as poor a rogue as
Scarecrow. But," continued he, "for the loss of public
and private virtue we are beholden to your men of parts,
forsooth; it is with them no matter what is done, so it is (20)
done with an air. But to me, who am so whimsical in a
corrupt age as to act according to nature and reason,
a selfish man in the most shining circumstance and equipage,
appears in the same condition with the fellow above-mentioned,
but more contemptible in proportion to what (25)
more he robs the public of and enjoys above him.[20] I lay
it down therefore for a rule, that the whole man is to
move together; that every action of any importance is
to have a prospect of public good; and that the general
tendency of our indifferent actions ought to be agreeable
to the dictates of reason, of religion, of good-breeding.
Without this, a man, as I have before hinted, is hopping
instead of walking; he is not in his entire and proper (61: 5)
motion."
[20] _I.e_. the fellow above mentioned.
While the honest knight was thus bewildering himself
in good starts,[21] I looked intentively[22] upon him, which
made him, I thought, collect his mind a little. "What I
aim at," says he, "is to represent that I am of opinion, (10)
to polish our understandings and neglect our manners[23] is
of all things the most inexcusable. Reason should govern
passion, but instead of that, you see, it is often subservient
to it; and, as unaccountable as one would think
it, a wise man is not always a good man." (15)
[21] A term used in hunting. But _is_ Sir Roger bewildering himself?
[22] Attentively.
[23] Notice that the word is used in the broad sense of conduct.
This degeneracy is not only the guilt of particular persons,
but also at some times of a whole people; and
perhaps it may appear upon examination that the most
polite ages are the least virtuous. This may be attributed
to the folly of admitting wit and learning as merit in (20)
themselves, without considering the application of them.
By this means it becomes a rule not so much to regard
what we do, as how we do it. But this false beauty will
not pass upon men of honest minds and true taste. Sir
Richard Blackmore says, with as much good sense as (25)
virtue,--"It is a mighty dishonour and shame to employ
excellent faculties and abundance of wit, to humour and
please men in their vices and follies. The great enemy
of mankind, notwithstanding his wit and angelic faculties,
is the most odious being in the whole creation." He goes (62: 5)
on soon after to say, very generously, that he undertook
the writing of his poem "to rescue the Muses, ... to
restore them to their sweet and chaste mansions, and to
engage them in an employment suitable to their dignity."
This certainly ought to be the purpose of every man who (10)
appears in public; and whoever does not proceed upon
that foundation, injures his country as fast as he succeeds
in his studies. When modesty ceases to be the chief
ornament of one sex and integrity of the other, society
is upon a wrong basis, and we shall be ever after without (15)
rules to guide our judgment in what is really becoming
and ornamental. Nature and reason direct one thing,
passion and humour another. To follow the dictates of
the two latter, is going into a road that is both endless
and intricate; when we pursue the other, our passage is (20)
delightful, and what we aim at easily attainable.
I do not doubt but England is at present as polite a
nation as any in the world; but any man who thinks can
easily see that the affectation of being gay and in fashion
has very near eaten up our good sense and our religion. (25)
Is there anything so just, as that mode[24] and gallantry[25]
should be built upon exerting ourselves in what is proper
and agreeable to the institutions of justice and piety
among us? And yet is there anything more common,
than that we run in perfect contradiction to them? All
which is supported by no other pretension than that it (63: 5)
is done with what we call a good grace.
[24] Fashion.
[25] Politeness, fine manner. Does this sentence seem obscure or
cumbrous? Can you improve it?
Nothing ought to be held laudable or becoming, but
what nature itself should prompt us to think so. Respect
to all kind of superiors is founded, methinks, upon instinct;
and yet what is so ridiculous as age?[26] I make (10)
this abrupt transition to the mention of this vice[27] more
than any other, in order to introduce a little story, which
I think a pretty instance that the most polite age is in
danger of being the most vicious.
[26] _I.e_. what seems nowadays so ridiculous.
[27] The vice of disrespect for age.
It happened at Athens, during a public representation (15)
of some play exhibited in honor of the commonwealth,
that an old gentleman came too late for a place suitable
to his age and quality. Many of the young gentlemen
who observed the difficulty and confusion he was in,
made signs to him that they would accommodate him if (20)
he came where they sat. The good man bustled through
the crowd accordingly; but when he came to the seats
to which he was invited, the jest was to sit close and
expose him, as he stood out of countenance, to the
whole audience. The frolic went round all the Athenian (25)
benches. But on those occasions there were also particular
places assigned for foreigners. When the good
man skulked towards the boxes appointed for the Lacedemonians,
that honest people, more virtuous than polite,
rose up all, to a man, and with the greatest respect
received him among them. The Athenians, being suddenly
touched with a sense of the Spartan virtue and (64: 5)
their own degeneracy, gave a thunder of applause; and
the old man cried out, "The Athenians understand what
is good, but the Lacedemonians practise it!" R.