be bowed and crooked to fome ends which he hath that giveth it. The other, that he shall have Counsel given hurtful and unsafe (though with good meaning) and mixt partly of Mischief and partly of Remedy: even as if you would call a Physician, that is thought good for the Cure of the Disease you complain of, but is unacquainted with your body; and therefore, may put you in way for a present Cure, but overthroweth your Health in fome other kind; and fo cure the Difease, and kill the Patient. But a Friend, that is wholly acquainted with a man's estate, will beware by furthering any present Business, how he dafheth upon other Inconvenience. And therefore rest not upon scattered Counsels: they will rather diftract and mislead than fettle and direct.

After these two noble Fruits of Friendship (Peace in the Affections, and Support of the Judgement,) followeth the laft Fruit, which is like the Pomegranate, full of many kernels; I mean Aid and bearing a Part in all Actions and Occafions. Here the best way to represent to life the manifold ufe of Friendship is to caft and fee how many things there are which a Man cannot do himself; and then it will appear that it was a sparing Speech of the Ancients, to fay, That a Friend is another himfelf:15 for that a Friend is far more than himself. Men have their time, and die many times in defire of fome things which they principally take to Heart; the bestowing of a Child, the finishing of a Work, or the like. If a Man have a true

15

5 Arift. Magn. Moral. ii. 11 and 15. Eth. Eud. vii. 12.

Friend, he may reft almoft fecure that the Care of those things will continue after him; so that a man hath, as it were, two Lives in his defires. A Man hath a Body, and that Body is confined to a Place; but where Friendship is, all Offices of Life are, as it were, granted to him and his deputy; for he may exercise them by his Friend. How many things are there which a Man cannot, with any face or comeliness, fay or do himself? A Man can scarce allege his own Merits with modefty, much less extol them: a Man cannot fometimes brook to fupplicate, or beg, and a number of the like; but all these things, are graceful in a Friend's Mouth, which are blushing in a Man's own. So again, a Man's person hath many proper Relations which he cannot put off. A Man cannot speak to his Son but as a Father; to his Wife but as a Husband; to his Enemy but upon Terms; whereas a Friend may speak as the cafe requires, and not as it forteth with the perfon. But to enumerate these things were endless: I have given the Rule, where a Man cannot fitly play his own Part; if he have not a Friend he may quit the stage.

XXVIII. Of Expense.

ICHES are for Spending; and Spending for Honour and good Actions. Therefore extraordinary Expenfe must be limited by the worth of the occafion; for voluntary Undoing may be as well for a Man's Country as for the Kingdom of Heaven. But ordinary Expense ought to be limited by a man's Estate, and governed with such regard, as it be within his compass; and not subject to Deceit and Abuse of Servants; and ordered to the best Shew, that the Bills may be lefs than the Eftimation abroad. Certainly, if a Man will keep but of Even Hand, his ordinary Expenfes ought to be but to the Half of his Receipts; and if he think to wax Rich, but to the third part. It is no Baseness for the Greatest to defcend and look into their own Eftate. Some forbear it, not upon Negligence alone, but doubting to bring themselves into Melancholy, in respect they fhall find it broken; but Wounds cannot be cured without fearching. He that cannot look into his own Estate at all, had need both choose well those whom he employeth, and change them often for New are more timorous, and less fubtile. He that can look into his Eftate but feldom, it behoveth him to turn all to certainties. A Man had need, if he be plentiful in fome kind of Expenfe, to be as faving again in fome other. As if he be plentiful in Diet, to be faving in Apparel:

if he be plentiful in the Hall, to be faving in the Stable and the like: for he that is plentiful in Expenfes of all kinds will hardly be preserved from decay. In clearing of a Man's Estate, he may as well hurt himself in being too fudden, as in letting it run on too long: for hafty Selling is commonly as difadvantageable as intereft. Befides, he that

clears at once will relapfe; for finding himself out of Straits, he will revert to his Cuftoms: but he that cleareth by Degrees induceth a Habit of Frugality, and gaineth as well upon his Mind as upon his Estate. Certainly, who hath a State to repair may not defpife fmall things: and, commonly, it is lefs difhonourable to abridge petty Charges than to ftoop to petty gettings. A Man ought warily to begin Charges, which once begun will continue; but in Matters that return not he may be more magnificent.

XXIX. Of the true Greatnefs of Kingdoms and Estates.

HE Speech of Themistocles1 the Athenian, which was haughty and arrogant, in taking fo much to himself, had been a grave and wife Obfervation and Cenfure, applied at large to others. Defired at a Feaft to touch a Lute, he faid, He could not

IV. Plut. Themift. 2. Cimon, 9. Cf. Adv. of L. 1. iii. 7.

fiddle, but yet he could make a fmall Town, a great City. These words (holpen a little with a Metaphor) may exprefs two different Abilities in those that deal in Business of Eftate. For if a true Survey be taken of Counsellors and Statesmen, there may be found (though rarely) thofe which can make a Small State great, and yet cannot fiddle; as, on the other fide, there will be found a great many that can fiddle very cunningly, but yet are fo far from being able to make a Small State great, as their Gift lieth the other way; to bring a great and flourishing Estate to Ruin and Decay. And, certainly, those degenerate Arts and Shifts, whereby many Counsellors and Governors gain both Favour with their Masters, and Eftimation with the Vulgar, deserve no better name than Fiddling ; being things rather pleasing for the time, and graceful to themselves only, than tending to the Weal and Advancement of the State which they serve. There are alfo (no doubt) Counsellors and Governors which may be held fufficient, Negotiis pares, able to manage Affairs, and to keep them from Precipices and manifeft Inconveniences; which nevertheless, are far from the Ability to raise and amplify an Estate in Power, Means, and Fortune. But be the workmen what they may be, let us speak of the Work; that is, The true Greatness of Kingdoms and Eftates, and the Means thereof. An Argument fit for great and mighty Princes to have in their hand; to the end that neither by over-measuring their Forces, they lofe

2 An expreffion of Tacitus. Ann. vi. 39. and xvi. 18.