as he can his Lands, a brave Anceffor would be a mighty Privilege.

If 'tis a Happinefs to be nobly defcended, 'tis no Jefs to have fo much Merit, that our Birth is the leaft Thing confider'd in us.

He only is worthy of Efteem, that knows what is juft and honeft, and dares do it; that is Mafter of his own Paffions, and fcorns to be a Slave to another's: Such an one, in the lowest Poverty, is a far better Man, and merits more Respect, than thofe gay Things who owe all their Greatness and Reputation to their Rentals and Revenues.

'Tis very strange, that no Estimate is made of any Creatures, except our felves, but by its proper Qualities. He has a magnificent Houfe, fo man thoufand Pounds a Year, is the common Way of eftimat ing Men, though thefe Things are only about them, not in them, and make no Part of their Character.

A Man of Wit, who is born proud, lofes nothing of his Pride or Stiffness for being poor; on the contrary, if any thing will foften him, and render him more fweet and fociable, 'tis a little Profperity.

There is not in the World a furer Sign of a little Soul, than the striving to gain Refpect by such despicable Means as Drefs and rich Cloaths: None will depend on thefe Ornaments, but they who have no

other.

A fine Coat is but a Livery, when the Perfon who wears it discovers no higher Senfe than that of a Foot

man.

We may fee the fmall Value God has for Riches, by the People he gives them to.

Idle Gentlemen, and idle Beggars, are the

of the Commonwealth.

very Pelts

'Tis true that Greatness conftitutes Glory, and Virtae is the Cause of both : But Vice and Ignorance taint tue Blood; and an unworthy Behaviour degrades and difennobles a Man more thin Birth and Fortuné aggrandize and exalt him.

He

He that depends wholly upon the Worth of others, ought to confider that he hath but the Honour of an Image; and is worshipped, not for his own fake, but upon the Account of what he reprefents. It is a Sign a Man is very poor, when he has nothing of his own to appear in, but is forc'd to patch up Lis Figure with the Relicks of the Dead, and rifle Tomb-tones and Monuments for Reputation.

When Riches and Favour for fake a Man, we fee prefently he was a Fool, but nobody could find it out in his Profperity: For 'tis in vain to pretend to turn a rich Blockhead into Ridicule; the Laughers are fill on his Side.

There is no Character more defervedly esteemed, than that of a Country-Gentleman, who understands the Station in which Heaven and Nature have placed him. He is a Father to his Tenants, a Patron to his Neighbours, and is more fuperior to thofe of lower Fortune by his Benevolence than his Poffeffions. He justly divides his Time between Solitude and Company, fo as to use the one for the other; His Life is employ'd in the good Offices of an Advocate, a Referee, a Companion, a Mediator, and a Friend.

As one Man, by often affirming he has feen fome miraculous Sight, perfuades himself he really has: as another, by hiding his Age from others, comes to believe at laft he is as young as he would be thought: So the Man who, though meanly torn, has taken a Habit of talking of his Grandfather that own'd this or that great Seat, or of his Great-Grandfather that was Lord of this or that Manor, which they perhaps never heard of; this Man, I fay, has the Pleasure of fancying himself at length to be defcended from fome confiderable Family.

Great Men are like Wolves; we must not strike at them unless we are fecure of our Blow, for if we mifs, they will be fure to tear us to pieces.

Of

Of the LADIES.

HOSE that talk leaft talk the teft, for what`is

Traid in a few Words has the greatest Weight.

The Wife of an angry Man fhould fay little, but rather write down her Anfwers, that her Husband may cool while he is reading,

Ladies will cafily pardon a Man's Want of Senfe, but rarely h ́s Want of Manners.

Nature has been very kind to fome young Ladies, but they are not fenfible of the Happiness: They fpoil by Affectation thofe Gifts which they enjoy by the diftinguishing Character of Heaven.

The formal Lady is all Show and Words; the Con duct of the wife Woman is better than her Words. One follows her Humour and Fancy, the other her Reafon and Affection. This is precife and aftere, the other is on all Occafions exactly what he ought to be. The first hides her Failings under a plaufible Outfide; the fecond covers a rich Treasure of Virtues under a free and careless Air. Formality puts a Contraint on Wit, neither does it hide Age or Wrinkles; it gives Cause to fufpect them often: Wifdom, on the contrary, palliates the Defects of the Body, and ennobles the Mind. It renders Youth more charming, and Beauty more dangerous.

A Woman is not to be proud of her fine Gown ; nor, when he hath less Wit than her Neighbours, tocomfort herfelf because the hath more Lace.

Some Ladies put fo much Weight upon Ornaments, that if one could fee into their Hearts, it would be found, that even the Thought of Death is made lefs heavy to them by the Contemplation of their being, laid out in State..

If Women were form'd by Nature, what they make themselves by Art; if they were to lose in a Minute all the Freshness of their Complexion, ard were to have their Faces as thick with Re and Paint as they

lay

Jay them on, they would look on themselves as the moft wretched Creatures in the World.

Tell a Woman of her Age, and perhaps you make her as deeply blufh, as if you accufed her of Incontinency.

Women are the first that are poffeffed of an Opinion of their own Beauty, and the last that quit it.

A Coquet is one that is never to be perfuaded cut of her Inclination; for Affectation attends her, even in Sickness and Pain She dies in a high Head and colour'd Ribbons. She takes a Compliment for a Demonftration, and fets it up in Evidence even against her Looking-Glafs.

A Woman that has but one Gallant thinks fhe is no Coquet; the that has more thinks herfell but a Coquet.

When a Lady brags of her Virtue, it looks as if it coft her much Pains to get the better of herself.

When he would appear unreafona ly humble, one may fee fhe is fo exceffively proud, that there is no enduring it. There is fuch an impertinent Smile, fuch a fatisfied Simper, when the faintly difowns fome fulfome Compliment which a Man happens to throw upon her against his Confcience, that her Thanks are more visible under that Difguife than if she should print

them.

He that contemns a Shrew, to the Degree of not wording it with her, does worse than beat her.

When a Woman no longer loves a Man, fhe forgets him fo much, as not to remember the Favours he has received from her.

The Women are not at fo little Trouble to exprefs what they never feel, as the Men are to exprefs the real Sentiments of their Hearts."

A beautiful Woman, that has the Qualities of a Man of Honour, is of all the Converfation in the World the most delicious. In her alone is to be found all the Meri: of both Sexes.

Won.en fhould be acquainted, that no Beuty has any Charm, but the inward one of the Mind; and

that

that Gracefulness in their Manners is much more engaging than that of their Perfons; that Meeknefs and Modelty are their true and lafting Ornaments: For she that has thefe is qualified as the ought to be, for the Management of a Family, for the Education of Children, for the Affection of her Husband, and submitting to a prudent Way of living. Thefe only are the Charms that render Wives amiable, and give them the best Title to our Refpect.

A prudent Woman is in the fame Clafs of Honour as a wife Man.

Nothing can atone for the Want of Modesty and Innocence, without which Beauty is ungraceful, and Quality contemptible.

'Tis not the Luftre of Gold, the Sparkling of Emeralds and Diamonds, nor the Splendor of the Purple Tincture, that adorns or embellishes a Woman, but Gravity, Difcretion, Humility, and Modefty.

'Tis not Chastity to be infenfible of Youth and Beauty, nor Sobriety not to love Wine. 'Tis not abufing the Creature that is a Virtue, not omitting the Ufe of them.

Of LOVE and CONJUGAL VIRTUE,

A

Fine Face is the finest of all Sights, and the fweetest Musick is the Sound of her Voice whom

we love.

As nice as we are in Love, we pardon more Faults in Love than in Friendship In Friendship we only fee thofe Faults which may be prejudicial to our Friends: In those we love we fee no Faults, but those by which we fuffer.

No Difguife can long conceal Love where it is, nor feign it where it is not.

Love lends his Name to many a Correfpondence, wherein he is no more concerned than the Doge in what is done in Venice.