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of that Nation; or that he valued himself a whit the more for his Fidelity, and Contempt of Riches. Even a great Reward, if it be customary, can be no Reward for Virtue; and I know not, withal, whether we can ever call a Thing great, when it is common. Therefore, since these honorary Rewards are of no other Value and Esteem, than in their being enjoyed only by a few, the being liberal of them is the ready Way to make them none at all. Tho' there should be more Men found worthy of this Order now, than in former Times, nevertheless the Honour of it should not be debased, by being made too common. And that more do deserve it now, than then, may easily be the Cafe, for there is no Virtue that expands itself so easily as military Valour. There is another true Virtue, perfect and philosophical, of which I do not treat (and only use the Term as 'tis commonly taken) much greater than this, and fuller; which is a Fortitude and Courage of the Soul equally contemning all cross Accidents whatsoever, even, uniform, and constant; of which ours is but a very small Ray. Ufage, Institution, Example, and Custom are capable of doing any thing in the Establishment of that whereof I am treating, and with great Facility render it vulgar, as by the Experience of our civil War is to us very manifest. And whoever could, at this Instant, unite us into one Body, and fet all our People upon one joint Enterprise, our ancient Reputation in Arms would flourish again. 'Tis very certain, that in Time past the Order was not barely a Reward of Valour, but had a farther Profpect; it never was the Recompence of a valiant Soldier, but of fome famous General. The Science of Obedience was not reckoned worthy of such a Mark of Honour. Anciently there was a more universal Expertness in Arms required, which comprehended the most rare Talents, and the greatest Qualities of a military Man; (neque enim eædem militares et imperatoriæ artes funt, i. e. for the Arts of the common Soldier and of the General are not the same) who was, moreover, of a Condition to which such a Dignity was suitable. But, I say, though more Men hould be worthy of it now, than heretofore, yet it ought

not to be ever the more liberally distributed; and that it were better to fall short, in not giving it to all to whom it is due, than for ever to lose, as we have lately done, the Fruit of so useful an Invention. No Man of Spirit will vouchsafe to avail himself of what is in common to many; and fuch of the present Time, as have leaft deferved this Reward, pretend the more to disdain it, in order by that Means to rank themselves with those, to whom so much Wrong has been done by the unworthy Conferring and Debafing of that Mark of Honour which was particularly due to them...

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a new

Now to expect, by obliterating and abolishing this, to create a like Custom, and to bring it into bring Credit all on a sudden, is not an UndertaOrder of king proper for a Seafon fo licentious and Knighthood in fick at Heart, as the present is; ; and the Lo Gredit Confequence will be, that the last will, from its Origin, incur the fame Inconveniencies that have just ruined the other The Rutes for the Dispensing of this new Order had need be extremely strict and severe, in order to give it Authority, whereas, in these boisterous Times, fuch a short tight Curb will not do; besides that, before this can be brought into Repute, it is necessary that the Memory of the first, and of the Contempt into which it is fallen, should be totally loft...

This Place might naturally enough admit of fome DifValour, the courie upon the Confideration of Valour, and dbrief of the of the Difference of this Virtue from others; Vertues among but Plutarch has fallen upon this Subject fo the French. often, that it will be to no Purpose for me to repeat what he has faid of it. This is worth Confidering, that our Nation places Valour in the highest Class of the Virtues, as its Name shews, which is derived from Value 5 and that, according to our Way of speaking, when we mean a Man is worth a great deal of Money, or a Man of Substance, in the Stile of our Court and Gentry, 'tis only faying he is a valiant Man, after the Manner of the Romans; for the general Appellation of Virtue, with them, derives its Etymology from Vis, Force. The proper, fole, and. effential Form of the Nobleffe in France is the Profeffion Profession of Arms. 'Tis probable, that the first Virtue which discovered itself amongst Men, and which gave Advantage to some over others, was this, by which the strongest and most courageous have lorded it over the weaker, and acquired a particular Rank and Reputation, from whence it had that Honour and Dignity of Language, or else that these, being very warlike Nations, gave the 'Pre-eminence to that of the Virtues which was most familiar to them, and to which they had the best Title; just so 'tis owing to our Paffion, and the feverish Solicitude we have of the Chastity of Women, that a good Woman, a Woman of Worth, and a Woman of Honour and Virtue, signify no more, with us, than a chaste Woman; as if, to oblige them to this Duty, we were indifferent to all the rest, and gave them the Reins to all other Faults whatever, on Condition they would not be guilty of Incontinence.

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Of the Affection of Parents to their Children.

To Madame d'ESTISSAC.

MADAM,

:

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F the Strangeness and Novelty of my Subject, which are wont to give a Value to Things, do not save me, 1 thall never come off with Honour from this foolish Attempt; but 'tis so whimsical, and has fo uncommon an Afpect, that this, perhaps, may make it país. 'Twas a melancholic Humour, and by Consequence a Humour very much an Enemy to my natural Constitution, engendered by the Chagrine of the Solitude into which I have caft myself for fome Years past, that first put into my Head this idle Whim of commencing an Author: And afterwards, finding myself totally unfurnished and deftitute of any other Subject, I delivered myself over to myself both for the Thesis and the Argument. 'Tis the only Book of its kind in the World, onda, Plan fo wild and extravagant; nor is there any Thing worthy of Remark

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mark upon this Occasion, but the Whimsicalness of it; for the best Workman in the World could not have given a Form to a Subject so vain and frivolous, fit to recommend it to Esteem. Now, Madam, being about to draw my own Picture to the Life, I should have forgot one' Feature of Importance, if I had not therein represented the Veneration which I always paid to your Merit: And this I purposely chose to mention in the Beginning of this Chapter, by reason that among your other excellent Qualities, that of the Affection which you have manifested to your Children has a Place in one of the highest Classes. Whoever hears at what Age M. d'Estissac, your Husband, left you a Widow; the great and honourable Matches that have been offered to you, as many as to any Lady in France of your Rank; the Constancy and Steadiness with which you have, for so many Years, and in Oppofition to so many Crosses and Difficulties, sustained the Weight and Conduct of their Affairs, whereby you have been teazed in almost every Part of France, and which still harrass you; and the happy Train you have put them into by your fingle Prudence or good Fortune; he will be ready to say with me, that we have not, in our Times, a more lively. Instance of maternal Affection than Yours. God be praised, Madam, that it has been employed to so good Purpose; for the great Hopes that M. d'Estissac, the Son, gives of himself, are a fufficient Warrant, that, when he comes of Age, you will reap from him the Obedience and Gratitude of a very good Son. But forafmuch as, by reason of his tender Years, he is not in a Capacity to take Notice of the many extraordinary kind Offices which he has received from you, I am willing that, if these Papers happen to fall into his Hands some Day when I have no Speech left to declare it, he should receive this true Testimony from me, which will be more fully proved to him by the good Effects which, with God's Permiffion, will convince him, that there is not a Gentleman in France who owes more to his Mother than he does, and that he cannot, for the future, give a furer Testimony of his Goodness and Virtue than by acknowledging you for so excellent a Mother.

If there be any Law truly natural, that is to say, any

How it happens that the Affection of

Parents to their Children is greater than that of Children to their

Parents.

Instinct that is universally and perpetually imprinted both on Man and Beast, (which is a disputed Point) I may give it as my Opinion, that, next to the Care which every Animal has of Self-preservation, and of avoiding every Thing that is hurtful, the Affection which the Breeder or Begetter bears to the Off-spring stands in the second Place: And, because Nature seems to have recommended it to us, in Regard to the Extension and Progression of the several Pieces of this its Machine, 'tis no Wonder that the Love of Children does not go back to their Parents in so great a Degree. To which we may add this other Aristotelian Notion, that he who does a Benefit to any one, loves him better than he is beloved by him, and he to whom a Benefit is due, loves better than he who owes it: So every Artificer is fonder of his Workınanship than, if that Piece of Work had Sense, it would be of him, forasmuch as 'tis dear to us to exist, and as Existence confifts in Motion and Action: For this Reason every one has, in fome fort, a Being in his Work. He who does a good Office, does a Thing that is brave and honest: He who receives it only practises the Utile. Now the Utile is not near fo amiable as the Honestum. The Honestum is stable and permanent, supplying him who has performed it with a constant Satisfaction. The Utile loses itself, and easily slides away; nor is the Memory of it either so fresh or fragrant. Those Things are dearest to us that have cost most, and Giving is more chargeable than Receiving.

To what End

Since it has pleased God to endue us with some Capacity of discussing Things, to the End that we may not be slavishly subject, like the brute Men are creaAnimals, to the common Laws of Nature, ted capable of but that we may apply ourselves to them with Reasoning. Judgment and Free-will; we ought, indeed, to yield a little to the mere Authority of Nature, but not to fuffer ourselves to be tyrannically hurried away by her; for Reafon ought to be the fole Conducter of our Inclinations. For my own Part, I have a strange Difgaft to those Propenfions

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