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ment for their Denial: For I presuppose, that their Intentions, their Defire and Will, which are Things wherein their Honour is not at all concerned, forasmuch as nothing of it appears externally, are much better regulated than the Effects.

Quæ quia non liceat, non facit, illa facit.

i. e.

She, who fins not, 'cause it unlawful is,
In being therefore Chaste, has done amiss.

The Offence both towards God, and in the Confcience, would be as great to defire, as to do it: And, besides, they are Actions so private and fecret of themselves, as would be very easily kept from the Knowledge of others wherein the Honour confifts; if they had no other Respect to their Duty, and to the Affection they bear to Chastity for its own Sake: Every Woman of Honour rather chuses to wound her Honour, than her Confcience.

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CHAP. XVII.

OF PRESUMPTION.

THR

HERE is another Sort of Glory, which is the having too good an Opinion of our own Merit. 'Tis an inconfiderate Affection, with which we flatter ourselves, and that represents us to ourselves other than what we truly are: Like the Passion of Love, that lends Beauties and Graces to the Object of it; and makes those who are caught with it, by a depraved and corrupt Judgment, confider the Thing they love other and more perfect than it is.

I would not, nevertheless, that a Man, for fear of failing in this Point, should mistake himself, or think himself less than he is; the Judgment ought, in all Things,

• Ovid. Amor. lib. iii. El. 4. v. 4.

to

The Fear of being guilty of Presumption ought not to give us too mean an Opi

to keep its Prerogative: 'Tis all the Reason in the World he should difcern, in himself, as well as in others, what Truth fets before him; if he be Cafar, let him boldly think himself the greatest Captain in the World. We are nothing but Ceremony; Ceremony carries us away, and we leave the Substance of Things; we hold by the Branches, and quit the Trunk. We have taught the Ladies to blush, when they hear but that named, which they are

nion of ourselves, nor to hinder us from making ourfelves known.

not at all afraid to do: We dare not call our
Members by their right Names, and yet are not afraid
to imploy them in all Sorts of Debauchery. Ceremony
forbids us to express, by Words, Things, that are lawful
and natural, and we obey it: Reason forbids us to do
Things unlawful and ill, and No-body obeys it. I find
myself here fettered by the Laws of Ceremony; for it
neither permits a Man to speak well of himself, nor ill.
We will leave her there for this Time: They whom For-
tune (call it good or ill) has made to pass their Lives in
fome eminent Degree, may, by their public Actions, ma-
nifest what they are: But they whom she has only im-
ployed in the Croud, and of whom No-body will speak,
if they don't speak for themselves, are to be excused, if
they take Courage to talk of themselves, to such who are
concerned to know them, by the Example of Lucilius,

Ille velut fidis arcana fodalibus olim
Credebat libris, neque fi malè cesserat, usquam
Decurrens; alio neque si bene: Quo fit ut omniş
Votiva pateat veluti defcripta tabella

Vita fenis

i. e.

His Secrets to his Books he did commend,
As free as to his dearest Bosom Friend:

Whether he wrote with, or against the Grain,
The Old Man's Life his Verses do explain.

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He committed to Paper his Actions and Thoughts, and there pourtrayed himself fuch as he found himself to

* Hor. lib. ii. Sat. 1. v. 30, 5.

be. * Nec id Rutilio, et Scauro citra fidem, aut obtrectationi fuit: Nor were Rutilius or Scaurus misbelieved or condemned for fo doing.'

Montaigne's particular Gef

I remember then, that, from my Infancy, there was observed in me I know not what kind of Carriage and Gesture, that seemed to relish of foolish Pride. I will say this, in the first Place, that it is not unlikely, that there are

ture a plain Token of his filly Pride.

Qualities and Propensions so proper and incorporated into us, that we have not the Means to feel and know them: And of such natural Inclinations the Body is apt to retain a certain Bent, without our Knowledge or Consent. It was quaint Affectation, Confederate of Beauty, that made Alexander carry his Head on one Side, and Alcibiades to lifp; Julius Cæfar scratched his Head with one Finger, which is the Mark of a Man poffefsed with uneasy Thoughts; and Cicero, as I remember, was wont to turn up his Nofe, a Sign of a Man given to Scoffing: Such Motions, as these, may, imperceptibly, happen in us. There are other artificial ones, which I meddle not with; as Salutations and Congees, by which Men, for the most part, unjustly acquire the Reputation of being humble and courteous; or, perhaps, humble out of Pride. I am prodigal enough of my Hat, especially in Summer, and never am so saluted, but I pay it again, from Persons of what Quality foever, unless they be in my Pay. I should be glad, that some Princes, whom I know, would be more sparing of that Ceremony, and bestow that Courtesy where it is more due; for, being fo indifcreetly profuse of it, 'tis thrown away to no Purpose, if it be without Respect of Persons: Amongst irregular Countenances, let us not forget that severe one of the Emperor Conftantius, who always, in Public, held his Head upright and straight, without bending or turning it on either Side, not fo much as to look upon those who saluted him on one Side, planting his Body in a stiff immoveable Posture, without fuffering it to yield to the Motion of his Coach; not daring so much as to spit, blow his Nose, or wipe his

• Tacit. in Vita Agricolæ, c. 1.

C. I.

Face

Plutarch in the Life of Cafar,

Ammian. Marcell. lib. xxi. c. 14.

Face before People. I know not whether the Gestures that were observed in me, were of this first Quality, and whether I had really any fecret Propenfion to this Vice, as it might well be; and I cannot be responsible for the Swing of the Body.

A

Prefumption divided into

But, as to the Motions of the Soul, I must here confess what I am sensible of there. This Vanity consists of two Parts, the setting too great a Value upon ourselves, and too little a Value upon others.

two Parts.

As to the one, methinks these Confiderations ought, in the first Place, to be of some Weight. I Montaigne feel myself importuned by an Error of the apt to underSoul, that displeases me, both as it is unjust, value his Perand the more, as it is troublesome: I at- Son and Poffeffions. tempt to correct it, but I cannot root it out; which is, that I lessen the just Value of Things that I possess, and over-value others, because they are foreign, abfent, and none of mine: This Humour spreads very far: As the Prerogative of the Authority makes Hufbands to look upon their own Wives with a vicious Difdain, and many Fathers their Children, so do I: And, betwixt two equal Merits, I should always be swayed against my own : Not so much that the Jealousy of my Preferment, and the bettering of my Affairs does trouble my Judgment, and hinders me from fatisfying myself, as because Dominion, of itself, begets a Contempt of what is our own, and over which we have an absolute Command. Foreign Governments, Manners, and Languages infinuate themselves into my Esteem; and I am very fensible, that Latin allures me, by the Favour of its Dignity, to value it above its Due, as happens to Children, and the common Sort of People. The Economy, House, and Horse of my Neighbour, though no better than my own, I prize above my own, because they are not mine : Besides that, I am very ignorant in my own Affairs; I admire at the Assurance that every one has of himself: Whereas there is not, almost, any Thing that I am fure I know, or that I dare be responsible to myself that I can VOL. II.

Ee

do:

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do: I have not my Means of doing any Thing stated and ready, and am only instructed after the Effect, being as doubtful of my own Force, as I am of another's; whence it comes to pass, that, if I happen to do any Thing commendable, I attribute it more to my Fortune than Industry; forasmuch as I design every Thing by Chance, and in Fear. I have this also in general, that, of all the Opinions Antiquity has held of Men in gross, I most willingly embrace, and most adhere to those that most contemn, vilify, and annihilate us. Methinks Philofophy has never fo fair a Game to play, as when it falls upon our Vanity and Presumption; when it discovers Man's Irrefolution, Weakness, and Ignorance. I look upon the too good Opinion, that Man has of himself, to be the Nurfing Mother of the falsest Opinions, both public and private. Those People who ride aftride upon the Epicycle of Mercury, who fee fo far into the Heavens, are worse to me than Pickpockets: For, in my Study, the Subject of which is Man, finding so great a Variety of Judgments, fo profound a Labyrinth of Difficulties one upon another; so great a Diversity and Uncertainty, even in the School of Wisdom itself, you may judge, seeing those People could not be certain of the Knowledge of themselves, and their own Condition, which is continually before their Eyes, and within them; seeing they do not know, how that moves, which they themselves move, nor how to give us a Description of the Springs they themselves govern and make Ufe of; how can I believe them about the Ebbing and Flowing of the Nile? The Curio' fity of knowing Things has been given to Man for a Scourge,' says the Holy Scripture. But, to return to what concerns myself, I think it very hard, that any other should have a meaner Opinion of himself; nay, that any other should have a meaner Opinion of me, than I have of myself. I look upon myself as one of the common Sort, saving in what I am obliged for to myself; guilty of the meanest and most popular Defects, but not disowned or excused; and do not value myself upon any other Account, than because I know my own Value.

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