[21]

when they come to them. Be not penny-wise; [20] riches have wings, and sometimes they fly away of themselves, sometimes they must be set flying to bring in more. Men leave their riches either to their kindred, or to the public; and moderate portions prosper best in both. A great estate left to an heir, [22] is as a lure to all the birds of prey round about to seize on him, if he be not the better stablished in years and judgment: likewise glorious gifts and foundations are like sacrifices without salt; and but the painted sepulchres of alms, which soon will putrify and corrupt in

to the prevalence of passion or principle), but even offering up solemn prayers to heaven for the prosperity of their native country, and contemplating with joy a flourishing condition of agriculture, manufactures, or commerce; in short, of the sources of her wealth. Such declaimers against wealth resemble the Harpies of Virgil, seeking to excite disgust at the banquet of which they are themselves eager to partake.-W.

[20.] Penny-wise: Equivalent? The common proverb "" penny-wise and pound foolish," may here be adduced.

[22.] Stablished: established. As in 2 Thess. 2: 17, ' Comfort and stablish your hearts.' So in Shakespeare, 'And stablish quietness on every side.' What metaphors are employed in this sentence? The better: What would a

modern writer use instead of this? Glorious: magnificent. Bacon's Latin original reads:-'Fundationes gloriosæ et splen

didæ in usus publicos.'

Are like, &c.: Why like them? But the, &c.: Why so? Advancements: gifts in money or lands. 'The jointure and advancement of the lady was the third part of the Principality of Wales.'-Bacon's Hist.

Therefore measure not, &c.: Another instance in which the English form of Bacon's thought is very obscure, while the Latin form is clearly and beautifully expressed :-' Itaque dona tua magnitudine ne metiaris, sed commoditate; et ad debitam mensuram redigas.' 'Wherefore do not measure thy gifts by their magnitude, but by their just and suitable proportion, and

wardly; therefore, measure not thine advancements by quantity, but frame them by measure; and defer not charities till death; for, certainly, if a man weigh it rightly, he that doth so is rather liberal of another man's than of his own.

bring them down to a proper measure.' Defer not charities till death: Mr. George Peabody of Massachusetts, is now (1867) giving a most splendid illustration of conformity to this sage advice of Lord Bacon, having within a year or two distributed to various institutions of learning, and other objects of beneficence, not less than Eight Millions of Dollars. He is still living, and will probably carry to a still larger magnificence his charities till Death.'

1. Write an Analysis. Paragraph the Essay. Point out the sentences that would be improved by divisions into one or more.

2. Paraphrase the Essay, presenting the thoughts fully, in a clear, easy, ornate style.

3. Point out the words and phrases that have changed their meaning, or form, or have become obsolete since Bacon wrote.

4. Anecdote concerning Bacon's freedom from avarice?

5. The view to be taken of God's providential gifts? The story of Deucalion?

6. What witty things have been said against Usury?

7. The opinion of Bacon, and of many in his day, concerning Usury, shown to be erroneous. How?

8. Last wills and testaments—a source of wealth among the Romans-Cite the instance.

9. What is said of declaimers upon the incompatibility of wealth and virtue?

ESSAY XX.

CUSTOM AND EDUCATION.

MEN's thoughts are much according to their [1] inclination; their discourse and speeches according to their learning and infused opinions; but their deeds

[1.] Their deeds, &c.: Of course, Bacon did not mean his words to be taken literally in their utmost extent; as if natural disposition and instruction had nothing to do with conduct. And, of course, he could not mean any thing so self-contradictory as to say that all action is the result of custom; for it is plain that, in the first instance, it must be by actions that a custom is formed. But he uses a strong expression, to impress it on our mind that, for practice, custom is the most essential thing, and that it will often overbear both the original disposition, and the precepts which have been learned; that whatever a man may think, you cannot fully depend on his conduct till you know how he has been accustomed to act. Bacon, when he says that men speak as they have learned,' only points out to us how much easier it is to repeat a lesson correctly, than to bring it into practice when custom is opposed to it. At the present day it is common to use the words 'custom' and 'habit' as synonymous, and often to employ the latter where Bacon would have used the former. But, strictly speaking, they denote respectively the cause and the effect. Repeated acts constitute the 'custom;' and the 'habit' is the condition of mind or body thence resulting. For instance, a man who has been accustomed to rise at a certain hour, will have acquired the habit of waking and being ready to rise as soon as that hour arrives.-W.

Men's thoughts, &c.: In Bacon's Antitheta we find the same thought tersely expressed :-' Cogitamus secundum naturam; loquimur secundum præcepta, sed agimus secundum consuetudinem:' i. e. 'we think according to nature, speak according to precept, but act according to costom.'

are after as they have been accustomed: and, therefore, as Machiavel well noteth (though in an ill-favoured instance), there is no trusting to the force of nature, nor to the bravery of words, except it be corroborate [2] by custom. His instance is, that, for the achiev

Inclination: There is a proverb of similar import :-'The wish is father to the thought.' Learning and infused opinions: Paraphrase. After as: according to what. "Deal not with us after our sins.'-Litany. Synonyme ? corroborate.'-Shak.

Bravery: Corroborate: corroborated. 'His heart is

[2.] Machiavel: Whoever would understand the character and writings of this famous Florentine author and statesman, (born in 1469, died in 1527,) must read the eloquent article of Macauley from the Edinburgh Review of 1827, on Machiavel. He says:-"We doubt whether any name in literary history be so generally odious as that of this man. The terms in which he is commonly described would seem to import that he was the Tempter, the Evil Principle, the discoverer of ambition and revenge, the original inventor of perjury; that, before the publication of his fatal work ('The Prince '), there had never been a hypocrite, a tyrant or a traitor, a simulated virtue, or a convenient crime. Out of his surname our own countrymen have coined an epithet for a knave, and out of his Christian name (Niccolo) a synonyme for the Devil. It is indeed scarcely possible for any person not acquainted with the history and literature of Italy to read, without horror and amazement, this celebrated treatise which has brought so much obloquy on the name of Machiavelli. Such a display of wickedness, naked yet not ashamed, such cool, judicious, scientific atrocity, seem rather to belong to a fiend than to the most depraved of men. Principles which the most hardened ruffian would scarcely hint to his most trusted accomplice, or avow, without the disguise of some palliating sophism, even to his own mind, are professed without the slightest circumlocution, and assumed as the fundamental axioms of all political science."

"After this it may seem ridiculous to say, that we are acquainted with few writings which exhibit so much elevation

ing of a desperate conspiracy, a man should not rest upon the fierceness of any man's nature, or his resolute undertakings: but take such a one as hath had his hands formerly in blood: but Machiavel knew not of a friar Clement, nor a Ravillac, nor a Jaureguy, nor a Baltazar Gerard; yet his rule holdeth still, that nature,

of sentiment, so pure and warm a zeal for the public good, or so just a view of the duties and rights of citizens, as those of Machiavelli. Yet so it is. And even from the Prince itself we could select many passages in support of this remark."

"This is strange, and yet the strangest is yet behind. There is no reason whatever to think that those amongst whom he lived saw any thing shocking or incongruous in his writings. Abundant proofs remain of the high estimation in which both his works and his person were held by the most respectable of his contemporaries."

It is important to add (from the new American Cyclopedia) that the researches of modern Italian scholars, and a better consideration of the political state of Italy in the fifteenth century, have at length established the true object of "The Prince," and vindicated in some measure the name of its author from the opprobrium heaped upon it. The work is a scientific account of the art of acquiring and preserving despotic power, and is a calm, unvarnished, and forcible exposition of the means by which tyranny may be established and sustained. If it be a guide to princes desiring to become despots, it is also, as Machiavelli himself remarked, a guide to the people who wish to destroy tyrants. It weakens despotism, by exposing its most subtile secrets. At the same time it exhibits an obliquity of moral principle on the part of its author, so far as political matters are concerned, which can only be palliated by alleging that dissimulation and treachery were universally looked upon in Italy, and indeed throughout Europe in his day, as legitimate political weapons, whose use was creditable to the acuteness, and not discreditable to the character of those who were able to wield them with skill and success. Crimes which required for their perpetration, selfcommand, address, quick observation, fertile invention, and profound knowledge of human nature, were regarded with a