IBKAKTtJ/V 
 
 i? 
 
 
 UNIVERV/i 
 
 
 
 
 CC
 
 OF CAllFOJfcfc, 
 
 p&AHvaaitt^ 
 
 clOS-ANCElfj> 
 
 ^L 
 
 ANGElfj> 
 
 \\\E UNIVERto)
 
 S Y L V A; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 WO O D.
 
 S Y L V A; 
 
 OR, THE 
 
 WOOD 
 
 BEING A COLLECTION OF 
 
 ANECDOTES, DISSERTATIONS, CHARACTERS, 
 
 APOPHTHEGMS, ORIGINAL LETTERS, 
 
 BONS MOTS, AND OTHER LITTLE THINGS. 
 
 tfUL- * 
 
 Rcrura et Sententiarum quafi >. difta eft, a multiplici matcr'a et 
 varietate in iis contenta. Quemadmodum enim vulgo folemus inhr.itara 
 arboruni nafcentium indifcriminatim multitudinem fylvam dicere } ica 
 ttiam libros fuos, in quibus varix et diveriae matcrue opaicuia temt-rc 
 congefta funt, Sjlvas appellabant Antiqui. Bacon. 
 
 BY A SOCIETY OF THE LEARNED. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. PAYNE, AND SON, 
 AT THE MEWS-GATE. 
 
 M.DCC.LXXS VI.
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 SO L O M O N has faid, that of making 
 many books there is no end; but, as Gro- 
 tius aiks, " what would Solomon fay now, 
 " were he to vifit our libraries 1 ?" Se- 
 neca complained, that, " as the Romans 
 " had more than enough of all other 
 " things, fo they had alfo of books and 
 *' authorfhip* :" and what Seneca faid of 
 declining Rome, may ferve equally well 
 for declining Britain. Look into all the de- 
 partments of authorfhip, and you will find 
 them crowded ; into all our collections of 
 books, and you will find them overloaded, 
 And, where is. the matter of wonder ? it 
 having long been the fafhion to write 
 
 1 Quid nunc diceret, fe noftras viferet bibliothecas ? in 
 Ecclef. xii. 12. 
 
 Sicut omnium rcrum intemptrantia, ita literarum 
 e 9 laboramus. 
 
 a dowa
 
 vi ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 down all we think, and to print and pub- 
 lifh all we write. Nor for this is genius, 
 learning, tafle required : paper, pens, and 
 ink, with (as Fielding expreffes it) the 
 manual capacity of ufmg them, mofl abun- 
 dantly fuffice. " The art of writing," 
 fays Voltaire, " is become in many coun- 
 " tries an infamous trade ; where illite- 
 " rate bookfellers pay fo much a meet for 
 " lyes and impertinence to mercenary fcrib- 
 " biers, who have made of letters the 
 * f meaner! of profeffions V So that, as 
 it mould feem, the bookfellers in reality 
 are the capital authors of the times. 
 
 Solomon adds, that mucbftudy, or " read- 
 ing," is a wearinefs oftbefejh. And what- 
 ever hurt it may caufe to the body, it muft 
 certainly caufe no lefs to the mind ; by 
 overloading the memory, and ftifiing all 
 that reflection, which is necelTary to make 
 reading of any kind ufeful. We have in- 
 
 3 L'art d'ecrire eft devenu en plujieurs pays un vil 
 metier ', dans lequel des libraires qul ne favent pas lire 
 patent des menfonges & des futilites a tant la feuille^ a 
 des ecrivairis mercenaires qul ont fait de la literature la 
 plus /ache des profeffions. Siecle de Louis, in Cat. 
 SAURJN. 
 
 deed
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. vii 
 
 deed great and reverend authority in be- 
 half of this copia librerum : for Chryfo- 
 ftom hath fomewhere faid, that, " he, who 
 " writeth good books, fpreadeth nets for 
 " falvation j" and Cornelius a Lapide rec- 
 koneth them among the works which con- 
 duce to the glory of God, ad Dei mag- 
 nificentiam 4 . Neverthelefs, what was faid 
 upon the fubjed: by a great wit in his day, 
 will ever be found true : dum plus hauri- 
 unt quam digerunt, ut Jlomachis^Jic etlam in- 
 geniisy naufea feepius nocuit quam fames *. 
 
 And now, after fuch an exordium, many 
 will be curious andeager toafk, what gentle- 
 men, who thus complain of a redundancy of 
 books, can poflibly mean by adding to the 
 number ? Perhaps it might fuffice to fay, 
 per it ur<z par cere chartcz quid prodejl ? but 
 we add, that we would not have ours con- 
 fidered as a book : we would rather call it 
 (if we durft) the Beauties of books. There 
 are the Beauties of Sbakfpeare, where a fe- 
 
 * This writer muft, in his own eftimation, have 
 greatly contributed to the glory tf God: for there are 
 commentaries of his upon the Bible to the amount of 
 ten large folios. 
 
 5 Petrarch, in Dialog. 
 
 a 2 led ion
 
 viii ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 lection is made of his moft brilliant paf- 
 fages, by DotforDodd*. There are, if we 
 miftake not, the Beauties of Mufic and Po- 
 etry : and there are the Beauties of Fox, 
 North, and Burke, which contain (we fup- 
 pofe) the beauties of politics. We would 
 make ours, if we could, the Beauties of 
 Knowledge, Wit, and Wifdom ; felected from 
 all indifcriminately who can furniih them, 
 and brought more clofely and compendi- 
 oufly together. For the great object of 
 our work is to make men wifer, without 
 obliging them to turn over folios and 
 quartos 7 ; to furnifh matter for thinking, 
 
 inftead of reading. 
 
 And 
 
 * This was no new idea. The Beauties of Plat* 
 were publifhed, under the title of Gemmts Platonis, 
 at Paris, 1554, 2410. 
 
 7 La multipllcite des faits, &c. " the multiplicity 
 ** of faVs and writings," fays Voltaire, " is become 
 " fo great, that every thing muft foon be reduced 
 " to extracts and dictionaries." in Cat. HENAUT, 
 Inftead of this, we are got altogether into the other 
 extreme : far from contra&iflg and abridging, we en- 
 large and expatiate beyond all bounds ; as if quan- 
 tity, not quality, were the point to be attained. Let 
 the fubjed be Politics, Belles Lettres, Tafte, Morals, 
 
 Or
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. ix 
 
 And many have been perfuaded, that 
 knowledge, delivered in this our.fhort and 
 mifcellaneous way, will ftrike more forci- 
 bly; yea, will make clearer as well as 
 ilronger impreflions, than in a tedious, 
 formal, didadlic ftile and manner. " Con- 
 " cife fentences, like darts, fly abroad, and 
 " make impreffion ; while long difcourfes 
 " are flat things, and not regarded." So 
 fays Bacon, in one of his Effays - y and ano- 
 ther writer of deep and ftrong fenfe, who 
 is alfo laid afide for the tram of the day, 
 hath delivered himfelf on this wife. " As 
 " St. Auftin faith of Ihort and holy eja- 
 " culations, that they pierce heaven as 
 " foon, if not quicker, than more tedious 
 " prayers ; fo I have reaped greater bene- 
 " fit from concife and cafual meditations 
 " on federal topics, than from long and 
 " voluminous treatifes, relating merely to 
 " one and the fame thing 8 ." 
 
 or what you will have we not quarto piled upon 
 quarto, till the heap grows as huge as Pelion upon 
 Offa? 
 
 1 The works of Francis OJborn^ Efq. p. 454. 1701, 
 8vo. 
 
 a 3 Com-
 
 x ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 Complaints will doubtlefs be preferred 
 againft us for the numerous quotations we 
 have made, thofe efpecially from learned 
 or foreign languages : but it mufl be 
 noted, that quotations are efTential to our 
 plan, which is to inftrud: and amufe by 
 flory and anecdote, not by deduction or 
 chains of argument ; by example chiefly, 
 not by reafoning. We have, however, ge- 
 nerally given the fubftance, and often a 
 tranflation, of the paffages we quote. 
 Mean while, it need not be diffembled, that 
 this work is not fo much intended for the 
 mere illiterate Englifh reader, as for men 
 who have been liberally trained, and are 
 not unacquainted with languages ; men, 
 who may wifh to have fome pabulum men- 
 tis, or mental fodder, always at hand, but 
 whofe profeffions and fituations in life do 
 not permit leifure to turn over volumes. 
 
 As for thofe, whofe literary nourishment 
 is chiefly drawn from the daily prints 
 and periodical publications to whom, as 
 one writes, " reading is nothing better 
 *' than a dozing kind of idlenefs, and the 
 " book a mere opiate, that makes them 
 
 *' fleep
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. xi 
 
 " fleep with their eyes open %" for 
 fuch, (and various are the forts of them) 
 there are works better fuited to their capa- 
 cities and tafte. Thofe of a graver and 
 more fedate caft will find much felf-com- 
 placency and comfort in hiftories of Eng- 
 land, biographical dictionaries, bodies of 
 divinity, and the like. For thofe of uni- 
 verfal knowledge, (and fuch we meet with, 
 out of coffee-houfes as well as in them) 
 there are Magazines of various kinds, 
 which will fupply 'verbiage, or matter of 
 talk and harangue, de omni fcibili et non 
 fcibili. For the more gay and lively, novels 
 and romances ; and, laftly, for the critical 
 or rather hypercritical tribe, who are am- 
 bitious to figure with airs of higher im- 
 portance, there are journals and reviews, 
 which will furnifh the titles of all publi- 
 cations, with obfervations and ftriclures to 
 defcant upon them. Such afpirants will 
 hence be enabled to pronounce upon all 
 fubjects and all authors, without having 
 
 9 Ej/ays of Pope Blount : a writer of great good 
 fenfe and wit, laid afide for the trajh of the day^ and 
 now become obfolete and almoft forgotten. 
 
 a 4 read
 
 xii ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 read or examined any to j to appear learned, 
 without being fo; in fhort, to be admired 
 as critics and fcholars, by thofe who are 
 not critics and fcholars : for this, furely, 
 is as much as can in reafon be defired. 
 
 But we need not detain our reader here; 
 thefe and other fimilar points being oc-s. 
 cafionally touched in the courfe of our 
 work. 
 
 10 Lord Bacon fpeaks of certain perfons, who thought 
 it no mean thing, if, by compendious extracts from? 
 other men's wits, they could figure and parade with 
 fome fhew of learning : magnum eerie qulddam pro/tare 
 videntur^ ft delibantes allorum ingenia^ ex compendia fa- 
 fiant, out in cortiee do&rints aliquatenits heereant. DC 
 Augm. Sclent. 1. I. 
 
 CON-
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 J. QF apophthegms, anecdotes, maxims, 
 
 bons mots 3 &c. I 
 
 II. Of 'quotations j f rom other writers, ejpe- 
 
 cially the ancient Greek and Latin 8 
 
 III. Of 'the ancient ft ate of letters in Eng- 
 
 land P- 13 
 
 IV. A letter of Dean Swift to his curate 16 
 V. Of abufes in female drejs 19 
 
 VI. Of fine gentlemen : with the char after 
 
 and dejcription of an upftart 26 
 
 VII. Of making a figure : with two piffures 
 
 of human meannefs 32 
 
 \\ll.0ldagenotdefirable - 36 
 
 IX. Againfl the marriage of old men 38 
 
 X. A capital diftinttion of the rational from 
 
 and above the brute creation 40 
 
 XL Of
 
 xiv CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 XI. Of the dignity of the human na- 
 
 ture y abfolute 40 
 
 XII. Of the dignity of the human na- 
 ture, relative 42 
 
 XIII. Keep within your boundaries 43 
 
 XIV. Of government, and its various 
 
 forms 45 
 
 XV. Of the promulgation of laws 49 
 XVI. Of reprefentation in parliament - 52 
 
 XVII. Of a reprefentative in parlia- 
 ment 54 
 
 XVIII. Electioneering ib. 
 
 XIX. Uponjuftices of the peace 55 
 
 XX. Of the inefficacy of laws without 
 education, or regulated man- 
 Tiers 60 
 
 XXI. An apology for Dr. James's fe- 
 ver-powder 64 
 
 XXII. Againft the abridgment of labour 72 
 
 XXIII. To the founders, proprietors, and 
 
 managers of the Pantheon 76 
 XXIV. Upon
 
 XV 
 
 Page 
 XXIV. Upon " nolo epifcopari " 80 
 
 XXV. The cure of love 82 
 
 XXVI . Tou had better leave them to fight 
 
 it out 83 
 
 XXVII. Of vanity and lyes 85 
 
 XXVIII. A cure for lying 86 
 
 XXIX. A man of honour 87 
 
 XXX. Of jeft ing. and frolic, as well as 
 j eft ing upon ferious occafions 
 andferious matter \ and of Da- 
 vid Hume, Efq. Jo far as be 
 is concerned in this 88 
 
 XXXI. Of reformations 91 
 
 XXXII. Of libels 101 
 
 XXXIII. Of the liberty of the prefs 106 
 
 XXXIV. Of juries - 116 
 
 XXXV. OfEngHJh patriotifm y with the' 
 idea which foreigners have of 
 it 120 
 
 XXXVI. Of the condutt of Eaft India ad- 
 venturers 124 
 
 XXXVII. Of
 
 xvi CONTENTS, 
 
 Page 
 
 XXXVII. Of civilized and barbarous na- 
 tions _. 128 
 
 XXXVI II. Great effects from caufes appa- 
 rently f mall 13$ 
 
 XXXIX. Of king's friends 136 
 
 XL. Doftors differ 137 
 
 XLI. The love of life 138 
 
 XLII. Muck ado about nothing 139 
 
 XLIII. Human Nature differently eftima- 
 
 ted I 4l 
 
 XLIV. Of gallantry and devotion 14 y 
 
 XLV. Of ante-nuptial fornication } with 
 a bint or two for its preven- 
 tion . 143 
 
 XLVI. Above par 145 
 
 XLVII. Human perfection not in nature - 147 
 
 XLVin. Of profejjional char after ~ 148 
 
 XLIX. Of perfonal identity 150 
 
 L. Of conferring and receiving fa- 
 vours 153 
 
 LI. Law and equity 156 
 
 LII. Why
 
 CONTENTS. xvii 
 
 Page 
 LIT. Wby lawyers are averfe from de- 
 
 cifions according to equity 160 
 
 LIII. Manner swill prevail againft laws 167 
 LIV. Laws muft befitted to a people 178 
 
 LV. Not whatjeems perfefl, but what 
 
 is practicable 182 
 
 LVI. Of c offee-houfe politicians, as they 
 
 are called 186 
 
 LVII. Of reafon of flat 'e, or flate-necej- 
 
 fjty 188 
 
 LVIII. Of afts of injolvency 190 
 
 LIX. A decifion by the King of Pruffia 191 
 
 LX. Experience makes fools wife 192 
 
 LXI. 'The bravado oppojite to what he 
 
 wjuldfeem - 193 
 
 LXII. Of academies or private feminaries 195 
 
 \ 
 LXIII. A compendious way to befaved- 196 
 
 LXIV. A vindication of Paracelf us 197 
 
 LXV. A panegyric upon impudence 225 
 
 LXVI. Of courts 227 
 
 2- LXVII. Of
 
 xviii CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 LXVII. Of Madam de Maintenon - -230 
 
 LXVIII. Ambition no mark of magnanimity 239 
 
 LXIX. 'Two letters of Sarah Duchefs of 
 
 Marlborough 241 
 
 LXX. Of wit and witticifms 245 
 
 LXXI. Of logic , or the art of reajoning 246 
 
 LXXII. I'be love of money the ruin of flat es 251 
 
 LXXIII. Of advert if ements - 253 
 
 LXX IV. 'The vices of youth and old 'age -, and 
 the difference between the one 
 and the other 257 
 
 LXXV. Of the abufe of medals, and of 
 
 Lewis XI 259 
 
 LXX VI. 'Thou /halt not do evil, that good 
 
 may come of it 262 
 
 LXXVII. fhe Bible fiould not be ufed in 
 
 teaching to read . 268 
 
 LXXVIII. The eccentricities and caprices of 
 
 imagination 272 
 
 LXXIX. A trait of Queen Elizabeth 275 
 
 LXXX. One trait of Oliver Cromwell 276 
 
 LXXXI. Another
 
 CONTENTS. xix 
 
 Page 
 
 LXXXI. Another trait of Oliver Crom- 
 well - 279 
 
 LXXXII. Extracts from letters of Mr. 
 Locke to Dr. Mapletoft, 
 upon love and matrimony - 282 
 
 LXXXIII, A letter of Algernoon Sydney 
 
 to Dr. Mapletoft 286 
 
 LXXXIV. From Mr. Nelfon's letters to 
 
 Dr. Map let oft 289 
 
 LXXXV. Of great men ; and of Dr. Sa^ 
 
 muel Jobn/on 290 
 
 LXXXVI. Upon David Hume's moral 
 
 character 295 
 
 LXXXVII. Concerning the difpute between 
 Mr. Hume and Mr. Rouf- 
 
 S YLVA,
 
 S Y L V A, 
 
 OR THE 
 
 WOOD. 
 
 i. 
 
 OF APOPHTHEGMS, ANECDOTES, MAXIMS, BONS 
 MOTS, &C '. 
 
 FOOLS by profeffion, or (as they have 
 fometimes been called) jefters, were for- 
 merly of great account. Cardinal Wolfey, in 
 1529, prefented his to Henry VIII. as a token 
 of grateful and affedtionate regard ; as did Sir 
 Thomas More his, upon refigning the feals in 
 
 1 This and the following number may be confidered as 
 prefatory to the reft ; fmce they fet forth the utility of the 
 work, and alfo plead in fome meafure^ for the form and 
 jnanger of it.
 
 2 SYLVA, OR 
 
 1532, to the Lord Mayor of London and his 
 fuccefibrs in office *. 
 
 I have fometimes thought, that thefe objects 
 of mirth, however ftrangely and unnaturally 
 they became fo, might yet be made fubfervient 
 to good purpofes among the great; among 
 kings, minifters, and all who govern and bear 
 influence with men. In the firft place I would 
 propofe, that the term of fool be difcarded, and 
 that ofjejter only retained. Fool implies a per- 
 fon deficient in underftanding ; but natural 
 deficiences and imperfections muft never . be 
 made objects of mirth. Again, thefe fools in 
 reality have not been fuch natural fools, as 
 fome have imagined : on the contrary, if they 
 
 4 Herbert's Hift. of Henry. Angeli was a fool of this 
 fort in France. He had been a follower of the great Conde, 
 and was given by him to the king ; yet was far from want- 
 ing wit. He was once fome time in company, before he 
 began to play the fool : when, M. de Bautru (who was the 
 wit of the court) entering, " I am glad," fays he, " you 
 " are coipe ; I was afraid I fhould have been alone," Mt- 
 nagiana. By his addrefs in pleafmg fome, and in awing 
 others, he made them all tributaries ; and amafled fo much 
 money, that M. de Marigni faid, " Of all the fools who 
 *' had followed Moniieur the prince, Angeli was the only 
 ' one who had made his fortune." Ibid. Boileau's ftarved 
 poet complains, that Angeli in preferment outftripped all 
 competitors, of what merit foever : 
 
 Et rEfprit It plus &eau, I'auteur le plus poll, 
 
 N'j parviendrajamais au fort de I* Angeli, 
 
 SAT. t; 
 
 were
 
 THE WOOD. $ 
 
 were not the wifeft perfons at court, which yet 
 might fometimes admit a doubt, they have of- 
 ten been wifer, and known better what they 
 were doing, than many who have laughed at 
 them. The appellation of fools therefore is 
 improperly applied to fuch. 
 
 Let me now fet -forth, what ideas I would 
 include under the term jefter \ by whom, then, 
 I do not mean a peYfon, who is merely to raife 
 a laugh, by doing abfurd and ridiculous things : 
 none of our kings have been fo poorly at-' 
 tended, but who have abounded with fervants 
 qualified for this. By &jefter> I mean one, who 
 fhould mix utile dulci, the ufeful with the plea- 
 fant; who fhould inftruct, at the fame time 
 that he diverts j and, if the freedom may be 
 allowed me, who fhould make the king wife 
 as well as merry. 
 
 For this purpofe I would have him endowed 
 with ftrong original powers, cultivated with let- 
 ters, and thoroughly praftifed in tjie ways of 
 men. Nor fhould his letters confift in a fim- 
 ple knowledge of languages, or in critical and 
 philological matters i for thefe of themfelves, 
 though they excite admiration among the ig- 
 norant, yet leave the underftanding as poor as 
 they find it : but I would have them to confift of 
 hiftory, philofophy, and other branches of fci- 
 cnce and literature, which tend to make men 
 knowing in human nature and human life. 
 B 2 Thus
 
 4 SYLVA, OR 
 
 Thus accomplilhed, a jefter may not only be 
 diverting, according to the original inftitution 
 of his place, but ufeful alfo and inftructing in 
 a very fnperlative degree. 
 
 By profeffion, he is a manufacturer and dealer 
 in apophthegms, proverbs, aphorifms, maxims, 
 and bons mots of every kind : all which are not 
 only highly calculated for wit and amufement, 
 but (in .the opinion of the wifeft men) the 
 moft efficacious means of conveying knowledge. 
 Seneca fays, that " even rude and uncultivated 
 <c minds are ftruck, as it were, with thefe fhort 
 " but weighty fentences, which anticipate all 
 <c reafoning, by flashing truths upon them at 
 " once ;" and he relates, that Agrippa, the 
 minifter of Auguftus Casfar, ufed to own him- 
 felf much indebted to that of Salluft, concordid 
 -parvtf res crefcunt, difcordid maxim* dilalun- 
 tur J : a pithy fentence indeed, and which the 
 good people, of old JEngland would, at all 
 times, do well to ponder. Plutarch drew up 
 and digefted a collection of apophthegms for 
 Trajan, and Frafmus did the fame for a Ger- 
 man prince; in the dedication to whom, after 
 obferving how finely fitted thefe clofe and 
 pointed fentences are for inftruction, he adds, 
 that they are <c fingularly accommodated to 
 <c the fituation and exigencies of a prince, who 
 
 3 Epift. 94, -
 
 T H E . W O O Di . 5 
 
 *< has not time to read Plato, Ariftotle, and 
 Cf other voluminous writers upon government, 
 f< laws, manners, &c." 
 
 Now with fuch inflfuments as thefe, ma- 
 naged judicioufly and with addrefs, a jefter 
 may produce furprifing effects : nay, Bayle has 
 not fcrupled to fay, that fc a fentence, taken 
 " from Livy or Tacitus, is capable of faving 
 <c a nation, and perhaps has faved more than 
 <c one V It is very well known, that war, 
 peace, and ocher important national events, have ' 
 often originated in fecret from very minute and 
 (as would be thought); inadequate caufes ; 
 while 'the reafons, publicly given out, have 
 been merely ofl;enfible. But a jefter, fuch a 
 one as I mean, is or may be often within the 
 cabinet. He may therefore inftruft his mafter, 
 as I have faid ; but he may do more: he may 
 alfo in fQme;meafure regulate and direct his 
 pafiions, and greatly influence his political 
 conduct, while his apparent object fhall be 
 only to divert him. There was a jefter among 
 the houfehold of Charles I. who was brought 
 before the council, and with much folemnity 
 difearded from court, for pointing his raillery 
 at archbilhop Laud ; but many knowing ones 
 Jiave thought, that, if the king had difearded 
 
 * Projeft for a Diftionary. 
 
 B 3
 
 S S Y L V A, OR. 
 
 the archbifhop inftead of the jefter, his affairs 
 might have ended better than they did. 
 
 Dioclefian, a Roman emperor, made the dif- 
 ficulty of reigning well to confift chiefly in the 
 difficulty of arriving at the real knowledge of 
 affairs. fe Four or five courtiers," faid he, 
 " form themfelves into a cabal, and unite in 
 " their counfels to deceive the emperor. They 
 <e fay what will pleafe their matter ; who, be- 
 ce ing fhut up in his palace, is a ftranger to the 
 <e truth, and forced to know only what they 
 " think fit to tell him V* Now the jefter will 
 be fure to prevent or diflipate all this darknefs 
 and obfcurity : he will be a perpetual intelli- 
 gencer to his mafter : he will daily and hourly 
 laugh him into true ideas of perfons and 
 things, and lead him gradually to fee them as 
 they are 6 . Thus royalty will be guarded 
 againft many evils : it will not be mifled by 
 either flattery or abufe ; but taught to lay the 
 due ftrefs, and no more, upon whatever (hall 
 be faid for or againft itfelf. Thefe and innu- 
 
 5 Vopifcus in Aureliano. 
 
 6 This was what the famous Carvalbo fo much dreaded 
 from the lively and witty Count cTQbidos : II craignoit t fays 
 the hiftorian, que fes bom mots ne fiflent a la fin quelque imprefi 
 
 fan fur Fefprit du Monaryue, & ne parvinflent peut-etre 
 /a* owrir les yeux. Memoires de Carvalho, Marquis de Pom- 
 bal. Tom. II. p. 35. 
 
 3 merable
 
 THE WOOD. 7 
 
 mcrable other benefits will be obtained, and 
 all in the way of mirth and pleafantry. 
 
 Upon the whole then, agreeably to my idea 
 of a jefter, many might be glad to fee this per- 
 fonage re-eftablifhed at court, and a proper 
 ftipend affigned to his office 7 . If he produce 
 the effects I have fpecified, well and good: 
 and, let the worft happen that can, it will be 
 only adding one more to thofe many places 
 and penfions, which, being of no great ufe or 
 ornament to the kingdom, muft unavoidably 
 create difaffection and complaint j unlefs we 
 could fuppofe the Englifh of the fame humour 
 with the fubje&s of a duke of Savoy, who, 
 being afked " how they could bear their heavy 
 gt taxations?" replied, We are not fo much of- 
 fended with the duke for what he takes from us, 
 as thankful to him for what be leaves us *. 
 
 7 Yet a certain writer feems to think this in no wife ne- 
 ceflary : ' The laft jefter we had at court," fays he, " was 
 in the licentious reign of Charles II. Since that time our 
 ' manners have been (o gradually refining, that our court 
 " at prefent is full of patriots, who wifh for nothing but 
 " the honours and wealth of their country ; and our ladies 
 * are all fo chafte, fo fpotlefs, fo good, fo devout, that 
 " there is nothing for zjefter to make zjeft of." Yorick's 
 Sentimental Journey. 
 
 1 Lord Herbert's Life, p. no. 1770, 419. 
 
 B 4 II, OF
 
 S Y L V A, oit 
 
 II. 
 
 OF QUOTATIONS FROM OTHER WAITERS, ESPEr 
 CIALLY THE ANCIENT GREEK AND LATIN. 
 
 TN quotations, as in all other things, men 
 have run 'into extremes. Some writers have 
 quoted moft abundantly, in order (as fliould 
 feem) to make an orientation of learnings 
 with one of whom La Mothe le Vayer, though 
 himfelf a great quoter, appears to have been 
 much fatigued ; C God grant you," cries he, 
 <c to become lefs learqed" Dieu vous faffe la. 
 grace de devenir moms fcavant. Others have 
 fcarcely quoted at all, as Locke and Hoadley, 
 with fome of an inferior kind, who perhaps 
 have hence affecTied to pafs for original writers, 
 that needed no extraneous helps : and indeed, 
 in books of mere reafoning,- all quotation to 
 many may feem impertinent.. 
 
 La Bruyere has animadverted upon the for- 
 mer extreme : he complains of books being- 
 crowded fo with quotations, as to be hardly 
 any thing elfe i of citing Ovid and Tibullus at 
 the bar, Horace and Lucretius in the pulpit : 
 where, fays he, ff Latin and fometimes Greek 
 " are the languages chofen to entertain the 
 <c women and churchwardens with 9 ." And, 
 
 9 Charaft. De la Ghaire, 
 
 doubtlefs,
 
 THE WOOD. 9 
 
 doubtlefs, nothing can be more abfurd and ri- 
 diculous than this: by this an author's fenfe, 
 if peradventure he has any, is almoft opprefied 
 and (mothered under his learning; and, as 
 Ovid faid of a girl overloaded with drefs and 
 ornament, he is Ib garnifhed out with foreign 
 materials, as to be, in truth, the lead part of 
 himfelf. Mean while, as Bayle obferves upon 
 Bruyere, " it is to be feared, that the very op- 
 " pofite cuftom of not citing at all, into which 
 <f we are fallen, will make learning too much 
 " defpifed, as a piece of furniture entirely ufe- 
 ". lefs 10 :" and he has elfewhere mentioned, as 
 " one principal caufe of neglect in the ftudy 
 " of the Belles Lettres, that a great many wits, 
 " real or pretended, have, with an air of dif- 
 (( dain, run down the cuftom of citing Greek 
 (t authors, and making learned remarks, as fo 
 lc much pedantry, and fit only for a col- 
 lege'V 
 
 It is however certain, that many pleafing as 
 well as ufeful purpofes may be ferved by quo- 
 tations, judicioufly made and aptly applied. It 
 is pleafing to know, while contemplating any 
 fubjec~b, what other writers, men of name and 
 abilities, have thought and faid upon it : and 
 then the variety, which the frequent introduc- 
 tion of new perfonages (as I may call them) 
 
 10 Did. BOUCHIN. NoteB. " MSZIRIAC. Note C. 
 
 creates,
 
 io S Y L V A, OR 
 
 creates, will greatly contribute to enliven at- 
 tention, and thereby keep off wearinefs and 
 difguft. >,With the Greek and Latin authors 
 the claflical reader is always entertained: " Mr. 
 " Clarke's book of coins is much above my 
 " pitch," faid the learned Markland to his 
 friend ; <e but I read it with pleafure as his, 
 <c and becaufe of the quotations from the ancients, 
 " which are numerous ". 
 
 But quotation is ufeful, as well as pleafing, 
 to confirm and illuftrate the fentiments of a 
 writer j and efpecially in works, like this of 
 ours : where the great object is, not fo much to 
 teach men things of which they are ignorant> 
 by defcanting in detail and at large, as to re- 
 mind them of what they know; not fo much to 
 make men read, to borrow Montefquieu's ex- 
 preflion, as to make them think. For this, the 
 citing of authorities, and dealing in perfonal 
 anecdotes and apophthegms, feem perfectly 
 well calculated : for, however it be, men fre- 
 quently paufe and dwell upon names, who 
 would haftily and inadvertently fkim over 
 things. Nay, let the reafoning be ever fo clofe 
 and found, it (hall often pafs for little more 
 than declamation; while the name of fome ad- 
 mired author, efpecially if he be dead, fhall 
 arreft the imagination, and make all the im- 
 
 " Bowyer'* Mifcell. Trails, p, 524. 
 
 prefiion
 
 THE WOOD. H 
 
 preflion which is neceflary to produce con- 
 viction 11 . 
 
 Again, the practice of quoting from other 
 writers, and efpecially from the Greek and Ro- 
 man authors of antiquity, is ufeful, inafmuch 
 (as above hinted) it mud give fome counte- 
 nance and fanction even to letters themfelves : 
 letters! neglected, declining letters! and with 
 them declining all that is wife, and excellent, 
 and beautiful, and polifhed. How would an 
 aftonilhed macaroni ftare, to be aflured, that the 
 civilization of kingdoms is founded upon let- 
 ters ; and that, in proportion as thefe are cul- 
 tivated, fo is nearly the progrefs of mankind 
 from their moft rude and favage ftate, up to 
 that perfection of elegance and refinement, 
 which beameth forth from his all-finifhed and 
 refulgent perfon ! I fpeak according to the 
 gentleman's own idea of himfelf. 
 
 Laftly, were the practice of quoting once 
 received and eftablilhed, this great advantage 
 would farther accrue to letters, viz. that it 
 would reduce the bulk of fcribblers, with 
 which they are difgraced. Nothing is more 
 common in thefe days, than for men to begin 
 to write, and affect to be authors, not only be- 
 fore they underftand Greek and Latin, but bc- 
 
 3 L'autborite peut fcule invert les communs entendemens , 
 &ys Montaigne, tt poife plus en langage peregrin. Eflais, 
 III. 13. 
 
 fore
 
 ii S Y L V A, OR 
 
 fore they have any real or accurate knowledge 
 of Englifh. It is enough for them, if .they can 
 (pell with tolerable exactnefs : for this accom- 
 pliftiment, joined with, fuch materials as ma- 
 gazines, reviews, and other public prints fup- 
 ply, is ufually the ftock in trade, with which 
 authors now as well as critics fet up. In fhort, 
 Anting is become a mere manual operation ; 
 and books are made 'every day by men with- 
 out genius, without letters, who are but barely 
 fufficient to tranfcribe, at the molt to compile. 
 Upon which 'account it might well be'.wilhed, 
 that every one who prefumes: to write, efpeci- 
 ally upon matters of religion and government, 
 (for in romance and moral painting it is not 
 neceflary) fhould be obliged to fupport his 
 meaning, once at leaft with fome Greek, and 
 once with fome Latin, citation j and fhould 
 produce at the fame time a true and well au- 
 thenticated teftimonial, that thefe citations 
 were not furnifhed by another, but bond fids 
 his own acl and deed. A teft of this fort 
 would give a mighty check to fcribblihg I4 j 
 and fave reams of paper, which are every mo- 
 ment going to -perifh periturx par cere chart*. 
 
 14 <c 7^ W orld has got fuch an appetite for reading,'* 
 feys our learned printer, " that it fwallows every thing 
 " which is offered to it. Carelefs readers have made care- 
 ' lefs writers ; and, amidft a multiplicity of books, I every 
 " day fee barbarity creeping in." Bowyer's Mifc. Trafts, 
 
 p. a8i. 
 
 Upon
 
 THE W O O D. 13 
 
 Upon the whole, therefore, let us not con- 
 demn, and affeftedly avoid, the citation of au- 
 thors; falfely delicate, fa-lfely faftidious. Let us 
 recollect, that the greateft and moft refpectable 
 writers have done this : that Cicero, Plutarch^ 
 Seneca, Bacon, Montaigne, and Montefquieu, left 
 nothing unborrowed from others, which might 
 lerve to embellifh their own writings j and 
 that the things thus borrowed may, if fkilfully 
 applied, have not only all the energy of their 
 old fituat'.on, but all the graces of invention in 
 their new one. And why fhould they not ? 
 there being no lefs wit in juftly allying the 
 thought of another, than in being the firft au- 
 thor of that thought IS . , At leaft, fo fays Mr. 
 Bayle ; whom I have quoted the more freely 
 upon this topic, becaufe he was a very great 
 wit, as well as a very great fcholar. 
 
 III. 
 
 OF THE ANCIENT STATE OF LETTERS IM 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 'TpHERE was a time in this kingdom, when 
 
 letters were fo low, that whoever could 
 
 prove himfelf, in a court of juftice, able to 
 
 read a verfe in the New Teftament, was vefted 
 
 * 5 Dift, EPICURUS. Note E. 
 
 With
 
 t4 S Y L V A, on 
 
 with the higheft privileges j and a clergyman, 
 who knew any thing of grammar, was looked 
 upon as a prodigy 16 . In thofe enlightened 
 days, a reftor of a parifli, as we are told, go- 
 ing to law with his parifliioners about paving 
 the church, quoted this authority as from St. 
 Peter faveant illi, non paveam ego , which he 
 conftrued, they are to pave the church^ not I: 
 and this was allowed to be good law by a 
 judge, who was an ecclefiaftic too. Alfred 
 the Great complained, towards the end of the 
 ninth century, that * from the {lumber to the 
 cc Thames there was not a prieft, who under- 
 tc ftood the Liturgy in his mother- tongue, or 
 <c could tranflate the eafieft piece of Latin 17 :" 
 and a correfpondent of Abelard, about the 
 middle of the twelfth, complimenting him upon 
 a refort of pupils from all countries, fays, that 
 cc even Britain, diftant as Ihe was, fent her fa- 
 * e vages to be inftruclred by him" remota 
 Britannia Jua animalia erudienda deftinabat l8 . 
 
 If the clergy had then, as they are faid to 
 have had, all the learning among themfelves, 
 what a blefled ftate muft the laity have been 
 in ? And fo indeed it appears : for there is ex- 
 tant an old aft of parliament, which provides, 
 
 16 Ordinati ita literature. carebant t ut eeeterls ejjet ft 
 f fit grammaticam didicijfet. Matth. Paris, anno 1 06 1. 
 - 17 Affer. de geftis Alfredi. 
 IS Abelard. Op. p. 117. Paris, 1616.
 
 THE WOOD. 15 
 
 that a nobleman /hall be entitled to the benefit of 
 his clergy , even though he cannot read : and ano- 
 ther law, cited by Judge Rolls in his Abridg- 
 ment, fets forth, that " the command of the 
 " Iheriff to his officer, by word of mouth, and 
 " without writing, is good j for it may be, 
 <f that neither the Jheriffnor his officer can write 
 " or read 19 ." Who can fay, that fuch hal- 
 cyon times may not return ? When we con- 
 template the ignorance and diffipation of the 
 great, whom the little are fure to follow : when 
 we confider their not only neglect, but eyen 
 contempt, of letters j their gambling, and low 
 amufements j their luxury ; the avarice, mean- 
 nefs, and felfilhnefs, which prevail among 
 them when we confider all this, and more, 
 can we forbear to exclaim, that Jigns following 
 Jigns lead on the mighty year 10 ? 
 
 IV. A 
 
 19 Many charters are yet extant, where perfons of great 
 eminence, and even kings, have affixed the iign of the crofs, 
 becaufe not able to write or read -jignum crucis manu pro- 
 fria pro ignoratione liter arum : whence the term of figning^ 
 inftead of fulfcribing. Du Cange, in voce Crux. 
 
 *" I take the above caufes to be equal to the effeft, and 
 Ihould be forry to forebode it from that fpienetic and felffc 
 humour only, with which fome literati have been vehe- 
 mently affected. Refpice, oro, rem littrariam, fkid Bentky 
 to his patron, in the dedication of his Horace, 1711; of- 
 fliftam fane atrocitate licentidqtu temponan t atque agri adrno* 
 dum tx ingruentii iarbaria diluvio taput fejjwn tqftrtntem : 
 
 that
 
 t$ 5 Y L V A, OR. 
 
 IV. 
 
 A LETTER OF DEAN SWIFT TO HIS CURATE"* 
 
 "SIR, Dublin, April 2, 1723. 
 
 tc T WRIT to you a month or two ago, to 
 " " " let you know, that I had a perewig 
 " made for you, out of the hair I had from 
 "'you, to which I added more hair given me 
 c by a lady : the making, and fome other hair> 
 <c which the perewig-maker was forced to put 
 ec in, coft twelve fhillings. It is a dark pere- 
 " wig, and is not worth above thirty fhillings; 
 <c but will be good enough on ordinary occa- 
 " fions, and is well made. I defire you to let 
 " me know, how I could fend it to you. I fup- 
 " pofe my letter mifcarried. Pray write me 
 " an anfwer. My humble fervice to Mrs. 
 
 that is, the learning of Dr. Bentley was not likely to be 
 rewarded with an archbifhopric, for a bifhopric (I fuppofe) 
 would fcarcely have fufficed. With the like fpirit Jofeph Sca- 
 liger, admiring the early progrefs of Cafpar Barthius in 
 letters, faid, natum effe adkuc unum teternitati ingenium, quod 
 Ji ad maturitatem peTveniret, lit eras aliquandiu vi-vere poj/e. 
 But Barthius, after living 71 years, died fo long ago as 
 1658 ; yet letters are ftill alive. Blount, Cens. Author, itt 
 Bartbio. 
 
 ** Tis my chief 'wijh, my joy, my only plan, 
 fTo lofe no drop of this immortal man. 
 
 " Warburton ;.
 
 THE WOOD. 17 
 
 " Warburton : I hope your whole family is 
 cc well. I am 
 
 <c Your moft faithful humble fervant, 
 
 JONATH. SWIFT ,," 
 
 the Rev. Mr. Warburton^ 
 at Maherafelt. 
 
 Mr. Urban, from the fame defire to pfeferve 
 every drop of a man of genius , hath inferted in 
 the Gentleman's Magazine, for June 1785, the 
 following letter from Mr. Chambers to hii 
 amanuenfis, Mr. Macbean. 
 
 " Mr. Macbean, 
 
 " I want all the apparatus, that I ufed in 
 " correcting the new edition of my book, to 
 " be brought to Cambury houfe. I fancy you 
 tf can guefs pretty nearly what it is. The 
 " principal thing is the cafe with fhelves and 
 cc papers on them : on the top of this I left, 
 f I think, almoft every thing elfe I wanted ; 
 ce particularly a number of books, I believe 
 " ten or twelve, and an index wrapped in 
 " thick brown paper. The firft volume of the 
 <f Dictionary too, I was at work upon, fhould 
 " be fent : it is cut in two, the letter A 
 " by itfelf. I am forry to give you this 
 
 C trouble,
 
 iS S Y L V A, OR 
 
 " trouble, but know not how to get the things 
 " without you. I am 
 
 " Your affured friend and fervant, 
 
 E. CHAMBERS." 
 
 Thefe are the drops of men of genius, the 
 drops of immortal men. Should a tafte, how- 
 ever, prevail for collecting and preferving 
 thefe drops, as from the .reception they meet 
 with is much to be feared, every one muft fee, 
 that genius, and fenfe, and wit, and learning, 
 will not only by degrees be ftifled and op- 
 prefied, but finally overwhelmed and loft, un- 
 der an inundation of impertinence and rub- 
 biih". 
 
 * 2 " The prefent age,*' fays a very acute writer, " has 
 te manifefted an uncommon relifli for all fuch reading as ne- 
 " ver was read." Alluding to the mifcellanies or volumi- 
 nous collections of every thing, which daily come forth, he 
 compares them to the " tree of Nebuchadnezzar's dream, in 
 " which was meat for all ; and as this meat," fays he, " is 
 " of light digeftion ; or rather, as it is found to pafs off eafily 
 ' without admitting or requiring any digeftion at all, an 
 '* inexhauftible fund may be neceffary to feed, though it 
 " cannot fatisfy, an unfathomable curiofity." Letter to 
 Warton, upon his edition of Milton's Juvenile Poems, p. 
 40. 1785, 8vo 
 
 V. OF
 
 THE WOOD, 
 
 V. 
 
 T LATELY faw a print of a lady of qua- 
 lity, fitting to the operations of a frifeur, 
 with thefe words written under : <Tbe folly of 
 1771. But this folly was far from being the 
 production of 1771: it is indeed of ancient 
 (landing, an.d hath probably prevailed more or* 
 lefs in all ages of the world. We trace it dif- 
 tinctly to the Chriftian sera ; for St. Peter, 
 fpeaking of the adorning of women, would not 
 have it to be that {f outward adorning of plait- 
 " ing the hair, or wearing of gold and fine 
 Cf cloaths, but the hidden ornament of a meek 
 fc and quiet fpirif, which" (I prefume, from 
 the fcarcity of it) " is faid to be of great 
 " price" 
 
 Tertullian and Cyprian, early fathers of the 
 church, have left profefled difcourfes againft 
 the luxury of female drefs, and fpecify among 
 other things the fpurious ornaments of the 
 head. Synelius, a Chriitian bifhop of the fifth 
 
 aj Tliis was firft printed in 1780, with this motto s 
 Auferimur cultu : v gemmis auroque teguntur 
 Omnia. Pars minima eft ipfa puella fui. OVID. 
 
 C 2. century,
 
 20 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 century, defcribes a bride, as " walking about 
 " like Cybele with turrets on her head *V The 
 heathen writers alfo have noted this extrava- 
 gance y and Juvenal, particularly, mentions the 
 orders or ftories of this kind of architecture * s . 
 Thus you might follow thefe head-dreffes, with 
 fmall intermifiions, through the writers of 
 every age down to the prefent. They pre- 
 vailed in France in the i5th century, when, 
 fays one of their hiftorians, cc the ladies were 
 ce exceffive in their drefs, and wore, wonder- 
 cc fully high and broad horns; having on each 
 " fide two ears fo large, that it was impoflible 
 " for them to come through a door l6 ." This 
 was about 1428, when Conedte, a monk, 
 preached furioufly againft them : whofe preach- 
 ing, however, had nothing near the effect of a 
 fingle word of Lewis the XI Vth, in 1699, which 
 brought them down in an inftant ; and which 
 Ihews, as Bayle obferves, that, " if crowned 
 " heads knew their ftrength in this refpect, or 
 cc would ufe it, they might avail more than 
 te all the preachers upon earth Z V 
 
 The form and ftructure of head-drefies, now 
 in fafhion with us, are known to all j and, if 
 
 * Epift. III. 
 
 ** Tot premit ordinibus, tot adhuc compagibus altura 
 
 ^Edificat caput. Sat. VL 
 
 * 8 Argentre, Hift. de Bretagne, liv. X, 
 * 7 Dift. CONECTE, NoteE, 
 
 they
 
 THE WOOD. ti 
 
 they were not, I could not defcribe them. I 
 muft needs wonder, in the mean time, at that 
 ftrange propenfity in the fex, to difguife and 
 make themfelves fo different, from what their 
 Creator defigned them to be. God never made 
 bis works for man to mend, might any one fay; 
 but our ladies are far from thinking thus : on 
 the contrary, to judge from their perpetual 
 employ, they fhould feem perfuaded, that their 
 very exiftence has no other object, end, or 
 meaning, but to improve their natural felves 
 by artificial decorations * 8 . This they fome- 
 times do, as at prefent, by high heads and high 
 heels ; and in both incur the guilt, which Ter- 
 tullian imputed to the tragic actors of his age : 
 " The Devil," fays he, " mounts them on buf- 
 " kins, in order to make Jefus Chrift a liar, 
 " who has faid, that no one can add a cubit to 
 <f bis feature s" which he elfewhere applies to 
 the ftructure upon the head * 9 . 
 
 At other times, inftead of lengthening, they 
 take a fancy to dilate and broaden themfelves 
 by fpacious hoops and expanding draperies : 
 
 18 Like fome artifts mentioned by Hogarth, who have 
 " contrived ornaments to correft the poverty of nature, as 
 ' they exprefs themfelves." Analyjis of Beauty. 
 
 ** Tragsedos Diabolus cothurnis extulit, quia nemo poteft 
 adjicere cubitum unum ad ftaturam fuam. Mendacem fa- 
 cere vult Chriitum. De Spettac. c. 23, & de Qultn Virgin. 
 .7. 
 
 C 3 under
 
 11 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 under which rotunda form, Addifon fomewhere 
 compares them to the dome of an Egyptian 
 temple, andpleafantly fports upon what he calls 
 the idol of the place. I know indeed, that the 
 hoop-petticoat is fvippofed to have been intro- 
 duced as a matter of convenience, as well as 
 ornament: but I know too, that it perfectly 
 coincides with that prevailing pafllon in the 
 fex, of fwelling themfelves beyond their natural 
 fize. The proportions of the human form are in 
 like manner deftr6yed, by pinching in and con- 
 tracting the waift, as the Chinefe women do 
 their feet. Both practices are equally abfurd, 
 and unnatural ; but the former is more perni- 
 cious, as it lays a foundation for innumerable 
 ailments. 
 
 Painting the fkin is another art they ufe to 
 improve their perfons, in which alfo they have 
 the teflimony of a primitive doctor againft 
 them j who affirms it ^ contrary to the will of 
 * c God to ufe paint, or black the hair, becaufe 
 * f the Lord has faid, tbou carfft net make one 
 * f hair white cr black* ." I am not yet fuffici- 
 
 ently 
 
 3 Cyprian, de Habitu ft'rginum.- Powdering the hair a 
 though not ufually numbered with the artificialities of drefs, 
 ?s certainly as much fo as any of them : and this is perni- 
 cious not only to the individual, by ditching up the pores 
 and obftrufting perforation, as painting does, but to the 
 community alfo at large ; inafmuch as it converts immenfe 
 
 quantities
 
 THE WOOD. 23 
 
 ently deep in the myflery of the cork rump, to 
 be able to give any accurate defcnption of it ; 
 but every body knows, that it was in/ented 
 upon the fame principle, and calculated for 
 the fame purpofe, of mending God's works by 
 the arts of men 3I . 
 
 And, as if to difguife was to perfect the fex, 
 are not their interiora made to keep pace with 
 their outward manoeuvres ? I mean, are not 
 their tempers, fpirit, and inward feelings, all 
 as artificially modelled, and as ftudioufly con- 
 cealed, as their perfons in the manner defcribed 
 above ? When Mifs fets out for boarding- 
 fchool, flie ufually takes leave of Simplicity and 
 truth of appearance. She is no longer to look, 
 fit, fpeak, or do any one thing, as nature directs, 
 and as (he ufed to do it -, but to regulate all 
 her movements, and adjuft all her attitudes, 
 
 quantities of the bcft flour into dirt, while the bulk of the 
 people are feeding upon the worft. To what purpofe are all 
 our cautions againft withholding, monopolizing, and ex- 
 porting grain, while this moil finful wafte of it continues 
 and is encouraged ? 
 
 31 This Cyprian calls adulterating the works of God, and 
 then goes on : cutem meditaminibus ungunt, genas rubore raa- 
 fulant. Difplicet i/lis nimirum plaftica Dei. >uam autem in- 
 dignum nominf Chriftiano faciemjifiam gejiare, effigiem mentiri ! 
 It is curious to lee this good father, figuring them to his 
 imagination as rifmg from the dead, with all thefe artifici- 
 alities about them : an cum cerujffa, et furpuri/b, et illo ambi~ 
 tu capitis, refurgatis ? Ibid. 
 
 C 4 according
 
 $4 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 according to difcipline and rules of art. She 
 is not to confider what fhe really is, or what 
 fhe ought to be, but how fhe will appear ; and 
 thus, by the way, is gradually led to enjoy no-* 
 thing for its own fake, but only fo far as it ex- 
 cites admiration in others ?1 . She muft learn to 
 counterfeit and diffemble every affection of the 
 heart 33 . She muft know how to rejoice and 
 to grieve, without any emotion at all : and, on 
 the contrary, to feem as calm and as cool, as 
 the fnowy top of jEtna, without ; though per- 
 haps, like this fame vulcano, there may be 
 very warm, unruly, tempeftuous doings within. 
 Now, under all this cumberfome affectation 
 of drefs and manners, which leaves no will, 
 no fentiment, no principles, no character, - 
 may not one fay, with the poet, that the real 
 girl is the leaft 'fart ef herfelf? We have a 
 
 W anton defire of admiration" faid one very 
 knowing in her department, " ruins more women, than 
 -< any other weaknefs the fex is fubje<a to." Con. Phillips^ 
 Apology. 
 
 33 It was (I fuppofe) this fpirit of artifice and diffimu- 
 lation, which made the celebrated Mad. de Maintenon ef- 
 teem her own fex infinitely more dangerous than ours, 
 ? Be circumfpeft," fays fhe to a young female friend, "iq. 
 " your connections with women. YOU had better be feen 
 * f with fome men at an opera, than with fome women at a 
 f f fermon :" foyez drconfpeBe dam <vos liaifcns a*vec Us f em- 
 met ; // <yaut mieux etre <yue a V Opera a<vec tel homme, ^ 
 tftte femme du. fermon. Lcttres, 
 
 coarfe
 
 THE WOOD. 25 
 
 coarfe vulgar proverb, as indeed ours chiefly 
 are, that " Joan is as good as my lady in the 
 c dark ;" but trick out Joan as artificially as 
 my lady, and darknefs in the cafe will be no 
 ways rieceffary. Joan will, then, be as good as 
 my lady in the light: that is, Joan and my 
 lady being equally difguifed, their fpecific dif- 
 ferences will be as little perceived at mid-day, 
 as they would at midnight. 
 
 I have only to caution my reader, not to 
 fancy me fuch a favage, as would decry all 
 culture of body and mind. On the contrary, 
 J would have both the one and the other im- 
 proved and adorned, as much as may be , but 
 I would have this done naturally, and unaffect- 
 edly. In dead of artilifing nature, to Ipeak 
 like Montaigne, I would have us naturalife art. 
 While we co-operate with nature, we cannot 
 labour too much in the cultivation of our- 
 felves : but, when we force or rather contradict 
 her, by fubftituting a fantaftic piece of mum- 
 mery in her ftead, then, far from mending this 
 form divine, as we prefumptuoufly imagine, we 
 do indeed degrade and fink it below human J *. 
 
 f* The human form divine, Milton. 
 
 VI. or
 
 2(5 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 VI. 
 
 OF FINE GENTLEMEN t WITH THE CHARACTER 
 AND DESCRIPTION OF AN UPSTART. 
 
 E 
 
 k XTRAVAGANCE is now become fo ef- 
 fencial to a fine gentleman , that young heirs 
 are almoft trained to believe, they cannot be 
 fne gentlemen without it. For an heir apparent 
 ofjoool. a year, 20 or 25,000!. of principal 
 is not now deemed too much, to carry him 
 through the heats and excentricities of youth : 
 as if a fupernumerary fum was needful to 
 purge the paffions, or like zeft to work out the 
 ferments, which predominate in the confti- 
 tution at this feafon of life. Thus profufion is 
 become an effential of a man of honour 3S : a 
 young fellow cannot be of the ton without it j 
 and ceconomy, or any degree of prudence, is 
 utterly incompatible with that largenefs of 
 foul, which, while it fquanders thoufan-Js upon 
 the turf or at Arthur's, perhaps reluctantly af- 
 fords half a crown to diftrefs. 
 
 35 By honour is not here meant that quality, which dif- 
 fers nothing from honcfty, except in its being difplayed in 
 Z more gentleman-like form ; but only that empty phan- 
 tom, which often fupplies the want of honefty. 
 
 Full
 
 THE WOOD. yj 
 
 Full of thcfe fublime ideas, an infolent for- 
 merly lamented, in my hearing, that the cir- 
 cumftances of his houfe had deftined him to a 
 profeflion ; for that " himfelf was the gentleman 
 " of it. He had indeed brethren of profef- 
 f( fions, and liberal profeffions too, who were 
 * f able and accompiifhed, as well as honed and 
 " worthy men j but, then, they were not gen- 
 <c tlemen. They wanted that freedom of fpirit 
 " and humour, which elevates above accounts, 
 ff calculations, and other minute and grove- 
 " ling attentions : they wanted that eafy, care- 
 (< lefs, fauntering habit, which is fo very be- 
 " coming, becaufe it fits fo very naturally, upon 
 " gentlemen who have nothing to do. There 
 " was a method, a littlenefs of management, 
 " favouring of pedantry and the fchools, in all 
 " they did : and, though likely to get well 
 " enough through life by playing a fafe game, 
 f yet they would never win a prize, any more 
 " than other dull fcUow&Jnateb a grace, beyond, 
 " the drudgery and rules of art." What pity 
 it is, that there was only one gentleman in this 
 worthy family ! who, to cut fhort his hiftory, 
 as he lived an extravagant, fo he died a bank- 
 rupt j to the v^ry fmcere affliction of his un- 
 gentlemen brethren 3<s . 
 
 Thus 
 
 36 It is recorded of Democritus, that, by the laws of his 
 country, he was not entitled to burial with his forefathers ; 
 
 becaufe
 
 if S Y L V A, OR 
 
 Thus far of men liberally born, and liberally 
 educated : but there are others, who, though 
 neither the one nor the other, yet parade and 
 figure in the fhape of gentlemen ; and, in this 
 money-getting age, are by far the commoneft 
 character of the two. I heard one of thefe 
 pieces of mechamjm obferve, with much affecta- 
 tion, that bis misfortune was to have a tafle, 
 that this misfortune had been increafed, by 
 keeping too much good company, and feeing too 
 much of life upon the large Jcale -, and that what 
 ftill added to his expences, were the obliga- 
 tions he lay under to cultivate the little people 
 (fo this upftart called them) about his villa : 
 for it will eafily be imagined, that he was not 
 without the low ambition of being popular ?7 . 
 Now who, do you think, this extraordinary 
 perfon was ? I will tell you. 
 
 He was the fon of a cockney in low life, 
 who, by cow-keeping and the help of a milk- 
 
 becaufe he had fpent his patrimony, and thereby loft his 
 rank. What an admirable inftitution ! But a noble fpend- 
 thrift, with us, is fo far from being degraded, that on this 
 very account he is ufually deemed an objedl for a penfion : 
 to fupport the form of quality, after the fubftance is gone. 
 37 Does ever grub or caterpillar live to put forth wings, 
 and be a butterfly ? 'Tis ten to one but the fpirit of popu- 
 larity feizes him. Yet what is this fpirit of popularity, even 
 among fuperior compofitions ? 'Tis the love of doing fool- 
 ifh things, for the fake of being admired by foolifh people. 
 
 boards
 
 THE WOOD. 29 
 
 board, had fcrapcd together enough to leave 
 him independent of trade j but who, retaining 
 the fpirit and manners of his original mean- 
 nefs, which is often the cafe with thofe who 
 rife to fudden riches, gave him no education 
 above that of the vulgar. Coming however to 
 his inheritance, he determined to be a gentle- 
 man j and, firft, he applied to Pearce, a taylor 
 of prime and fafhionable gouf, who made him 
 at once a gentleman in drefs : which, by the 
 way, is no fmall advance j for this, with the as 
 triplex fronts, that " front of threefold brafs," 
 in which this pupil was fmgularly happy, will 
 procure admifllon to the firft perfonages of the 
 kingdom, and no queftions afked. Then he ap- 
 plied to tradefmen, manufacturers, artifts : 
 who, from their feveral departments, made him 
 a gentleman in houfes, furniture, and appara- 
 tus of every kind: and then he^got the whole 
 bcfpangled with pictures and virtu. I had al- 
 moft forgot to mention, what is a very capital 
 article in the conftruftion of thefe new gentle- 
 men 5 and that is, a library }8 . For this he ap- 
 
 38 Fielding, in his Voyage to Li/Ion, mentions one Boyce, 
 a blacldmith at Gofport, who, by fmuggling and other ho- 
 neft arts, became poflefled of 40,000!. This accomplifhed 
 perfon, after procuring abundance of fine things, conclu- 
 ded with having a library ; and, accordingly, fent an order 
 to a bookfeller in London, for 500!. worth of his baitd- 
 Jomefl books. 
 
 plied
 
 30 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 plied to Payne -, and Payne made him a gentle 
 man, with regard to books. Payne talked to 
 him of original ftandard authors, which he muft 
 not be without-, of rare and curious copies, 
 in the fineft prcfervation, and mofl elegant 
 bindings : and thus at length furnifhed him 
 with a collection, in all languages, of far from 
 inconfiderable value. They might, if properly 
 painted, as well have been of wood ; for their 
 pofTefTor had no more pretenfions to learning, 
 than he had to tafte, or than a mere obferver 
 of rites and ceremonies has to religion. In 
 fhort, he knew no language but his own ; and 
 that no better than the women who Avept his 
 rooms 39 . 
 
 Did not I rightly call this ape of elegance 
 and magnificence apiece ofmechanijm? and are 
 not many fine gentlemen thus mechanically 
 formed ? 
 
 39 Lucian considered this tafte for book-buying, as fo fure 
 a fymptom of an illiterate fellow, that he joins the two 
 characters together. Thefe book-gentry fliould feem to 
 think, like the man who bought Orpheus 's harp, that it 
 would make admirable mufic of itfelf, without any flcill 
 or knowledge in a performer ; or him, who purchafed 
 Epiftetus's lamp at a vaft fum, in hopes of having with it 
 Epiftetus's wifdom ; or, laftly, like thofe wild Indians, who 
 believe, that they inherit not only the fpoils, but the abi- 
 lities of any great enemy, they have the luck to kill. Lu- 
 
 10 Wot
 
 THE WOOD, 31 
 
 Not for bimfelfbefees, or bears, or eats ; 
 
 Artifts muft chuje his piftures, mufic, meats. 
 To be fure : the artifts furnifh the tafte, as v/ell 
 as the object of it. Mean while, this deftina- 
 tion of men to fituations and objects, for which 
 they are unfit, is no fmall detriment as well as 
 nuifance to fociety. Many of thefejtne gentle- 
 men, who are at lead ufelefs burdens to the 
 earth they encumber, might have done good fer- 
 vice in the menial offices and arts of life. The 
 only fervice they do, under this forced and un- 
 natural character, is the transferring of pro- 
 perty, which by prodigality they fometimes 
 abufe, into the hands of men, who may rightly 
 ufe it ; and thus juftifying Providence, whofe 
 ways are conftantly to educe good from evil. 
 
 P. S. I am not fure, that my u$ftart is equal 
 to the purchafe of a borough : elfe I fhould 
 have mentioned a feat in parliament as one of 
 the qualifications, by which thefc gentry rife 
 to greatnefs. The Herald's Office, however, was 
 not neglected, a coat of arms having been his 
 firft acquifition ; and we are juft informed, 
 that, to render his name illuflrious after death, 
 he hath ordered his funeral to be in the flyle 
 and manner of the late Richard Ruflel's, Efq. 
 500!. for a monument, and 4!. yearly to have 
 it brulhed by the fexton. 
 
 VII. OF
 
 31 S Y L V A, ox 
 
 VII. 
 
 OF MAKING A FIGURE '. WITH TWO PICTURES 
 OF HUMAN MEANNESS. 
 
 T HAVE read of a fquib> which was repre- 
 fented burfting with this motto under it, 
 feream dum luceam <c let me perilh, if I do 
 cc but fhine." The fame motto will do for all, 
 who difllpate their fubftance by Jhining or fi- 
 guring with fhew and equipage. 
 
 All mankind would make a figure. To afpire 
 to flations above us, is a maxim umverfally 
 adopted; yet perhaps the trueft wifdom and 
 the fureft happinefs is, to cultivate well the 
 rank in which we are born. Why fhould any 
 man covet to raife and diftinguifh himfelf far- 
 ther, than his real well-being may make necef- 
 fary 4 ? A mark of diftinftion is, in general, 
 
 no 
 
 40 When an hufbandman claimed kinfhip with Robert 
 Grofthead, Bifhop of Lincoln, and thereupon requefled 
 from him an office, " Coufin," faid the bifhop, " if your 
 " cart be broken, I'll mend it ; if your plow be old, I'll 
 " give you a new one, and even feed to fow your land : 
 " but an hufbandman I found you, and an hufbandman 
 " I'll leave you." Fuller's Holy State, p. 25. The bifhop 
 thought it kinder (as mould feem) to ferve him in his way, 
 than to take him out of his way : and perhaps Stephen 
 
 Duck,
 
 THE WOOD. 33 
 
 
 no better than a mark for human malice to 
 
 Ihoot at. 
 
 There are various ways of making a figure, 
 according to Lord Melcombe. In a mean traf- 
 fick with the Duke of Newcaftle for court-pre- 
 ferment, the meaneft perhaps that ever was 
 trufted upon paper, he fays " The Duke muft 
 cc think, that 2OOO/. a year would not make 
 (f my fortune, with one foot in the grave ; 
 " that, as to rank, I have as much refpect for 
 <f the peerage as any man ; but that in my fi- 
 Cf tuation, without fuccefiion or collateral, a 
 tc peerage to me was not worth the expence of 
 " new painting my coach." He told the Duke, 
 nevcrthelefs, that, though he had one foot in the 
 grave, he was determined to make fome fort of 
 figure in life : (C I earneftly wifh it may be un- 
 " der your Grace's protection ; but, if that 
 " cannot be, I muft make fome figure. What 
 " it will be, I cannot determine yet : I muft 
 " look about me a little, and confult my 
 <f friends j but fome figure I am refolved to 
 
 Duck, the threftier, had been better provided for, if, in- 
 ftead of being firft penfioned and afterwards ordained, he 
 had been endowed with ten acres of land, and fuu xU to 
 threfti on. By turning the laborious threfher into an in- 
 active parfon, they brought lunacy firft, and then fuicide, 
 upon a man, who might otherwife have enjoyed himfelf 
 with two cows and a pig, and ended his days in ferenity 
 and cafe. 
 
 D ' "make.."
 
 34 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 <c make."*- .Ovid and Horace, though related to 
 a court, have both exprefled themfelves, as if 
 to live and die unknown were the firft of arts: 
 certainly to do fo wkuld be better, than to make 
 fuch a figure as this. Should it be afKed, on 
 what this contemptible perfon grounded his 
 pretenfions, he tells you, that he bad a good 
 deal of marketable ware, parliamentary intereft ; 
 and by boroughs could infure fix members of 
 parliament. Yet the Duke feems to have valued 
 him according to his real merits -, for the King 
 would not receive him to any mark of his fa- 
 vour. Pages 297. 299. 308. 3 1 5. -of the Diary 
 of George Bulb Dodington, Lord Melccmbe, by 
 Henry Penrnddocke Windkam. 1784, 8vo. 
 
 Though this Diary every where difplays that 
 mean, bale, and villainous fpi'rit, which, with- 
 out any regard to connections and obligations, 
 fubmits to court and flatter the powers that are ; 
 though it fhews its author to have been wholly 
 directed by motives of avarice, vanity, and 
 fclfifhnefs ; yet I entirely think with the editor, 
 that Lord Melcombe, far from fufpecting any 
 inference from it diihonourable to himfelf, 
 meant it as an apology for his political con- 
 duct. So different, as he adds, is the moral 
 It-nfe of courtiers from that of other men ! 
 Editor's Preface. 
 
 To put things of a fort together, let me fub- 
 12 join
 
 THE WOOD. 35 
 
 join another picture of human meannefs, taken 
 from the Memoirs of Madame de Pompadour, 
 
 When this lady became miftrefs of Lewis 
 XV. all France paid her their court \ and per- 
 fons, who had decried h'er birth, afterwards 
 claimed a relationship to her. The following 
 letter to her> from a gentleman of a very an- 
 cient family in Provence, will ihew to what 
 intenfe meannefs human nature is capable of 
 defcending. 
 
 <f My dear coufinj 
 
 <f I was ignorant of belonging to you, till 
 tf the king had nominated you Marchionefs of 
 tc Pompadour : then an able genealogift proved 
 " to me, that your great grandfather was my 
 <c grandfather's coufm in the fourth degree. 
 " You fee by this, dear coufm, that there is a 
 " real confanguinity between us. If it is your 
 <( pleafure, I will fend you the genealogical 
 " tree of our relationfhip, that you may pre- 
 " fent it to the king. My fon, however, your 
 " coufm, who ferved with diftinction for fome 
 " years, would be glad to have a regiment; 
 " and, as he cannot hope to obtain it by his 
 " rank, I pray you to alk it from the king as 
 " a favour." 
 
 HER ANSWER. 
 " SIR, 
 
 " I fhall embrace the firft opportunity of re- 
 
 " quelling the king to grant your fon the re- 
 
 D 2 <f gimenc
 
 36 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 " giment you defire ; but I have in my turn a 
 te favour to afkof you, which is, to permit me 
 " not to have the honour of being your rela- 
 " tion. Family reafons hinder me from be- 
 " lieving, that my anceftors have been allied 
 " with the ancient houfes of the kingdom." 
 She adds, in her narrative, that fhe Ihould 
 " put the half of France to the blufh, were 
 <c Ihe to mention all the letters fhe had re- 
 " ceived, full of the moft abject fubmiflions, 
 " from the firft families in the kingdom." An- 
 nual Regifter for 1766. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 OLD AGE NOT DESIRABLE. 
 
 Gerocomice> or art of prolonging life 
 to old perfons, is afcribed to Herodicus, 
 one of Hippocrates's matters j who is cenfured 
 for it by Plato 4 , and I think very juftly;. For, 
 why fliould people be made anxious to live, 
 when they can in reality no longer enjoy life ? 
 when they are foon to be a burden to them- 
 felves and all about them ? 
 
 In Republ. 1. 3. 
 
 Gaflendns
 
 THE W O O D. 37 
 
 Gafiendus is faid to have lamented, while; 
 the phyficians were Jbleeding him to death, 
 that he cc perifhed in a frefh and vigorous old 
 tr age 4I j" but I know not how to believe it of 
 him : Gafiendus was too wife for this. A man 
 of fixty-four, as fafiendus nearly was, however 
 unimpaired in'either body or mind, may juftly 
 be reckoned, according to Horace's idea, con- 
 viva fatur ; and to any offers made him might 
 then, as I fhould think, with fmcerity reply, 
 that he had indeed had enough of every thing. 
 
 Is it not aftonifhing, that fuch men as Ba- 
 con and Defcartes fhould engage in fo wild 
 and unphilofophical an attempt, as that of ex- 
 tending life beyond its " natural boundaries ? 
 Bacon, aware of objections, affects to apologize 
 for it i but his apology is fo abfurd, that one 
 might almoft fuppofe him not in earneft. 
 <c Though the life of mortals," fays he, " be 
 <c nothing elfe but a mafs and accumulation 
 <f of fins and forrows, and though they, who 
 <c afpire after an eternal life, fet but fmall va- 
 " lue upon a temporal j yer the continuation 
 ic of works of charity is not to be defpifed 
 
 41 Poflem hie viri Temper lugendi mortem dolorofam toti 
 Europas, immo mundo, recenfere, nimio ilk) remedio fan- 
 guineo ; et verba ab ejus ore deprompta referre, quibus 
 ante obitum faflfus eft, fe nimio obfequio periij/e, et ad inferos 
 cum --virldi adbuc et Jlantefenefta defcendifle. Petri Borelli Ob- 
 fervat. Phyf. Med. cent. 3. obferv. xi. 
 
 D 3 " even
 
 38 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 "even by us Chriftians.' Hijt. of Life and 
 Death. 
 
 IX. 
 
 AGAINST THE MARRIAGE OF OLD MEN. 
 
 A LCESTES, aged 72, was lately married to 
 a fecond wife. Were I advifed to take 
 another wife, under the mean and unmanly 
 profpect of being coddled now I am old 41 , my 
 reply would be in fome fuch terms as thefe : 
 * c My dear Sir, I am greatly obliged by your 
 <c attention to my happinefs, but (with your 
 <c leave) I will referve the little ftrength 
 " and fpirits I have remaining for the better 
 " fupport of my old age. Secondly, though 
 " I am not fo old as Alceftes, I am old enough 
 < c to have contracted many ways and humours, 
 <c which, being by habit become natural, can- 
 " not now be contradicted without making me 
 *' unhappy: but they would be contradicted 
 ?' by new connections, or any new fyftem of 
 " living. Thirdly, if a man has any decent 
 
 * a To be coddled, is not only to be nurfed and humoured 
 hke a child, but to be made a fool of in every fenfe of the 
 word : the common fate of men, who marry when they are 
 old. 
 
 " pride
 
 THE WOOD. 39 
 
 Cf pride remaining, he will difdain to be efti- 
 Cf mated merely as a convenience : but an old 
 " fellow cannot be accepted of in marriage 
 " from any other motive. Laftly, I have lived 
 c< long enough to have but one general object; 
 c< and that is, to bear the growing infirmities 
 <c of old age, and to wait my diflblution, with 
 lC a fpirit and temper as peaceful, as refigned, 
 <c as contented, and as ferene, as may be. I 
 < f am, therefore, determined to continue as I 
 <f am." 
 
 Mean while, and to return once more to the 
 fubject, if an old man will fo far forget himfelf 
 as to marry, he fhould (above all things) avoid 
 ^JWfWffej left, as Bayle exprefles it, "he 
 t expofe his forehead to a fhameful and very 
 <c uneafy difgrace." A young man is not ex- 
 empt from this misfortune ; how fhould an 
 old ? If thefe things happen where the wood is 
 green t what can be expefted where it is dry ? Be- 
 fides, if he efcape the thing, he may be haunted 
 with the idea : that is, he may JufpecJ himfelf 
 to be a cuckold, though he really be not j which 
 is perhaps a greater evil, than to be one with- 
 
 P. S. Alceftes, I hear, is juft ftruck with a 
 palfy ; brought on, as the phyficians whifper, 
 by the unnatural drudgery, to which hk fates 
 had configned him. 
 
 D 4 X. A
 
 40 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 X. 
 
 A CAPITAL DISTINCTION OF THE RATIONAL 
 FROM AND ABOVE THE BRUTE CREATION. 
 
 A SIMrLE-minded country wench, in WOE- 
 cefterfhire I think, was lately driving a 
 cow to be bulled; when, lo ! the bull was gone 
 aftray, or abfent at lead. Upon this, the poor 
 gi,rl took mightily on, and at length fell a cry- 
 ing ; when a perfon who was near aflced, why 
 fhe cried, fmce the bull was fure to be found 
 again : " Aye," fays the girl, tf but then it 
 " may all be gone over with the cow ; for 
 fc that they are not like us Cbriftians 4 *, 
 
 XI. 
 
 OF THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN NATURE, 
 
 abjolute. 
 
 T2EFORE Anaxagoras, who lived above 
 
 2000 years ago, the univerfe was fuppofed 
 
 to confift of matter and its modifications : but 
 
 Anaxagoras introduced mind or fpiritj and 
 
 Brought to us by a fafe hand. 
 
 matter 
 
 .2
 
 THE W O O D. 41 
 
 matter has fince been confidered as only the 
 capuf mortuum of the univerfe. This idea of 
 mind, or Na?, was greatly cultivated]afterwards, 
 and made at length fo entirely the eflence of 
 man, as if body was almoft a difgrace to him. 
 The Platonifts exalted and refined it to fuch a 
 degree, that Plotinus was actually afhamed of 
 being found in- the body aurxvvopwog on iv 
 <ruuxri i ** ; infomuch that he could not fpeak 
 with temper of his family, parents, or country: 
 and, when ftatuaries and painters would have 
 taken his image, he rejected the propofal with 
 contempt and indignation. The idea has been 
 uninterruptedly tranfmitted down ; and the 
 following paflage fhews, that otfr Sir Thomas 
 Brown was not a little infe<5bed with it. " I 
 <c could be content," fays this philofopher, 
 * f that we might procreate like trees without 
 " conjunction, or that there were any way to 
 <f perpetuate the world, without this trivial 
 <c and vulgar way of coition : it is the fooliih- 
 " eft act a wife man performs in all his life ; 
 <f nor is there any thing that will more deject 
 cr his cooled imagination, when he fhall con- 
 " fider, what an odd and unworthy piece of 
 te folly he hath committed 45 ." 
 
 Mean while, this fublime and fpiritual idea 
 
 ^Hf 
 
 ** Fabric. Bibl. Grasc. 1. iv. c. 25. 
 " 5 Religio Medici, Part II. fed. 8. 
 
 Of
 
 4a S Y L V A, OR 
 
 of the human nature hath been far from being 
 univerfally received. I might quote Mon- 
 taigne and other eminent writers againft it ; 
 and the Worcefterfhire wench, in the laft arti- 
 cle, did moft certainly not entertain it. 
 
 XII. 
 
 OF THE DIGNITY OF THE HUMAN NATURE, 
 
 relativt. 
 
 T> Y the dignity of human nature, men ufu- 
 ally mean the pre-eminence of the human 
 above other natures. But every nature has 
 its dignity, Jua cuique dignitas, whether human 
 or brutal, according to the diftinftion ; as 
 every man in fociety, from a king to a peafant : 
 that is, a propriety and even refpectability of 
 character are appropriated and belong to each, 
 in their feveral fituations and connections. So 
 that, were the lion to fay to the hedge-hog, or 
 the lobfter to the oyfter, <c I am above you, or 
 <f the dignity of my nature is greater than the 
 ff dignity of yours," would he not talk ab~ 
 furdly ? Yes, he would ; but not a jot more 
 abfurdly, than if man fhoulcl fay to the ele- 
 phant, <f I am above you 3" not * jot more 
 
 abfurdly,
 
 THE WOOD. 43 
 
 abfurdly, than if a duke fhould fay to one of 
 Jonas Hanway's chimney-fweepers, " I am 
 " above you." 
 
 Fantaflic wretched animals, might a weep- 
 ing angel interpofe, ceafe to be vain and info- 
 lent. You are, all of you, made by the fame 
 hand, of the fame fluff, and for the fame pu'r- 
 pofe of filling fome department in the univerfal 
 fyflem. You are, all of you, parts of one 
 whole, where there is neither above nor below ; 
 and though, to accommodate ourfclves to 
 worldly ideas, fome parts are faid to be made 
 for honor, others for dilhonor, yet you are all 
 of equal dignity, all of equal honor. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 * 
 
 KEEP WITHIN YOUR BOUNDARIES. 
 
 " T DOUBT, whether excefiive laughter 
 becomes men who are mortal," fays 
 Bruyere : je doute que Is rls excejfif con-vienne aux 
 bemmes qui font mortels* 6 . He might as well 
 have doubted, whether it became a monkey to 
 {kip about and play tricks, becaufe poor jackoo 
 was fome time or other to return to the earth, 
 from whence he came. That prodigious fage 
 
 Charaft. de 
 
 perfon,
 
 44 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 perfon, the late Lord Chefterfield, who, among 
 other ways and means of cultivating the 
 graces, advifed his fon and pupil to intrigue 
 with the dames of Paris, he could not bear 
 the idea of laughing. He thinks, ^stfmilvtg 
 may be permitted to a wife man j but fhould 
 be forry if it could be faid, that, <c fince he 
 cc came to the full ufe of his reafon, he had 
 " ever been heard to laugh 47 ." 
 
 "What pity it is, that, inftead of cultivating 
 their nature well, men fhould fa often attempt 
 vainly and fantaftically to foar above it, 
 fhould want to be angels before their time ! 
 Thus, we have feen Plotinus above 48 , afhamed 
 to find his foul amidft the faces of matter -, 
 and our Sir Thomas Browne, reprobating the 
 aft of generation as very debafing. Agreeably 
 to which latter idea, another fublime philofo- 
 pher hath declared f f the noblenefs of the foul 
 {C of man to be fuch, that fuch grofs enjoy- 
 <c ments are exceedingly below her : and, there- 
 " fiore, even nature hath taught her to Jneak y 
 tc when Ihe, being' heaven-born, demits her 
 " noble felf to fuch earthly drudgery 49 ." Yet 
 this faid Sir Thomas Browne did at length 
 condefcend to Jneak, and to demit his noble 
 felf to this faid earthly drudgery : for he took a 
 
 *7 Lett. 112. * 8 N XL 
 
 4 Dr. Henry More. See Norris's Theory and Regulation 
 f Lci'Ct p. ijjt 
 
 wife,
 
 THE WOOD. 45 
 
 wife, with whom he lived one-and-forty years, 
 and by whom he had no lefs than ten children. 
 Stupendous fall ! She was, however (as we 
 prefume to have been recorded by way of ex- 
 cufe), fhe was cc a lady of fuch admirable fym- 
 " metrical proportion to her worthy hufband, 
 " both in the graces of her body and mind, 
 " that they feemed to come together by a kind 
 <e of natural magnetifm 5 ." 
 
 XIV. 
 
 A LL, the difputes about government, and its 
 various forms, feem to have arifen from 
 thefe two particulars : firft, from men's view- 
 ing human nature, each through different me- 
 diums, or in different lights j and, fecondly, 
 
 50 Whitefoot. 
 
 51 This N is taken from The Irenarcb of Dr. Heath cote, 
 pag. 199, 1781, 3d edition: and, if we have tranfcribed 
 a little freely from this writer, it is becaufe we would make 
 more public fome general matters of importance, which he 
 hath treated in a fliort clofe way, agreeably to our plan, 
 but which muft eafily efcape notice uncjer the particular 
 title of his book. 
 
 from
 
 46 S IT L V A, OR 
 
 from their confidering it as ftationary in its 
 mode, or of manners always the fame. 
 
 Hobbes believed human nature to be very 
 bad : that there was no innate benevolence in 
 men, no focial principle to hold them toge- 
 ther ; but that all were naturally in a ftate of 
 war with one another. Hobbes therefore con- 
 tended for the moft abfolute form of govern- 
 ment, as deeming no chains too ftrong for the 
 reftraining of fuch a favage : Hobbes was, in 
 iliort, for having him doubte-ironed. Shaftef- 
 lury, on the other hatid, thought highly of hu- 
 man nature : he afcribed to it a moral Jsnfe, or 
 inftinctive feeling for what is reafonable and 
 benevolent j and fuppofed, that the human 
 kind, if not corrupted by education, would as 
 naturally be virtuous, as a fig is fweet : Sbaftef- 
 bury therefore would approve a republic, or 
 that form of government, which grants the 
 moft to private will. Locke, who thought hu- 
 man nature neither fo bad as Hobbes, nor fo 
 good as Skaftejbury, fuppofed itj Locke, who 
 v/as neither fo timid as Hobbes, nor yet 
 any thing near fo firm as Shaft ejbury for let 
 it be remembered, that, in difquifitions of this 
 fore, bodily temperament availeth much 5i 
 
 Locke, 
 
 derive their opinions, civil and religious, chiefly 
 from temperament : yet Hobbes, in queftions of religious 
 
 concern,
 
 THE W O O D. 47 
 
 Locke, I fay, was led to that mixed and mode- 
 rate form of government, under which he 
 wrote, and to which his principles of govern- 
 ing were meant to be adapted. And thus men 
 vary in their ideas of civil policy, each con- 
 ceiving his own to be the beft j the very ar- 
 chetypal pattern or ftandard, which every na- 
 tion and people fhould afpire after : and hence 
 the many Utopas, with which the world hath 
 been prefented 5J . 
 
 Were the queftion put to me, what form of 
 government I think the beft? my reply would 
 ^be, tbat> which is beft adapted to the nature, 
 temper, and manners of a people. Could the 
 fpirit of virtue be kept up, and the manners 
 remain fixed and uniform, as by education and 
 difcipline anciently at Sparta, a well inftituted 
 
 concern, was a moft uncommon and ftriking exception to 
 this general truth ; " the boldnefs of his opinions and fen- 
 " timents forming a remarkable contrail to the timidity 
 " o; iiis character." HUME. 
 
 53 Thefe ideal governments have been called, as we fay, 
 Utopias, or No-iubercs ; and they have been called fo very 
 truly, for they have never cxifted out of the imaginations, 
 which formed them. But they may alfo, with a peculiar 
 propriety, be ftyled, in my Lord Bacon's terms, Idola Spe- 
 cus, if we may extend the meaning of thofe terms a little ; 
 fince, if not actually idolized by their framers, they have al- 
 ways been contemplated with a more than NarciJ/ean fond~ 
 nefs. This fbndnefs is finely ftriftured by Lucian, when he 
 rcprefents Plato as quitting an Elyfmm, for the fake of 
 living in his own dear republic: i, T V KVTU a.*x"a^a.viw 
 x<r>. De Vera Hift. L. 2, 
 
 republic,
 
 48 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 republic, or whatever might be deemed the? 
 freeft form, would certainly be the moft eligi- 
 ble ; becaufe, under fuch a form, human per- 
 fection and human happinefs would be carried 
 to the higher! pitch they are capable of attain- 
 ing. But where, for want of education and 
 difcipline, the manners are fubject to change 
 where there is what has been called a progref- 
 fion of manners, there government muft alfo 
 change, and together with the manners aftume 
 a different form : and it is poffible, that, agree- 
 able to their manners in the different ftages or 
 periods of this frogreflion, the different forms of., 
 government, fpecified above } may be fuited to 
 the very fame people. Does not the hiftory of 
 ancient Rome give us reafon to fuppofe fome- 
 thing like this ? 
 
 Upon the whole, the beft government for fo- 
 ciety is like the left good for individuals. Con- 
 fidered as general abftract ideas, or archetypal 
 ftandards, they are both fantaftic and vifionary - y 
 and politicians and philofophers may fearch 
 for ever, without finding them : for, as all go- 
 vernment mud be the bed, which is beft ac- 
 commodated to the circumftances and manners 
 of its people ; fo that muft be thefummum bo~ 
 num to individuals, which is beft adapted to 
 their refpective temperaments and difpofitions. 
 And who does not fee, that, in both thefe cafes, 
 the variety of beft governments and of beft 
 
 goods
 
 THE WOOD. 49 
 
 'goods *nay be conceived to be almoft infi- 
 
 nte 
 
 XV. 
 
 TN 1729 was pafled an act, to prevent bri- 
 bery and corruption in electing members of 
 parliament; when the legiflators provided alfo, 
 that the faid act fhould be publicly known* 
 and promulgated, by ordering it to be read 
 openly at proper times and places. It were to 
 be wifhed, that the fame provifion might ac- 
 company all other laws and ordinances j the 
 promulgation of which is fo little regarded, or 
 rather fo totally neglected, that, ridiculous as 
 it may found, the people of England, in gene- 
 ral, know nothing of the laws, which they 
 themfelves are faid to make. 
 
 No nation has been more free to make laws, 
 
 54 The foveretgn good has been compared to the panacea* 
 or univerfal remedy, and aptly enough ; the one being as 
 fitted to procure all people health, as is the other to procure 
 nil people happinefe. The fo<vereign form of government 
 would be juft as well fitted to the various manners, as the 
 others to the various temperaments and conftitutions of 
 mankind. In fliort, they are all chimeras, and without 
 txiftence. 
 
 E than
 
 50 S Y L V A, on 
 
 than the Englifh : they have indeed been tod 
 free j and we may almoft fay with Tacitus, uf 
 antehac flagitiisy if a nunc legibus, laborafurbut 
 many nations have been more attentive to the 
 promulgation of their laws. The Athenians, 
 for this purpofej had their >o/*c&t a ; whofe pro- 
 vince it was to have their laws written upon a 
 tablet, and fixed up at the ftatues of the heroes, 
 called s7Tu>up0> that the people might have 
 them in contemplation, even before they were 
 propofed to the affembly.- The promulgation 
 of Roman law was by clear and legible cha- 
 racters, in forne frequented public place : cla- 
 ns Uteri*, unde de piano reffe legi pqffit, ante ta~> 
 bernam Jcilicet, vel ante eum locum y in quo nego- 
 tiatio exercetur -, -non in remoto loso, Jed in evi-> 
 denti s(> . And hence Caligula contrived to fix 
 tip laws, minutiffimis literis et anguftiffimo loco ; 
 as a ways and means of railing money upon the 
 
 ss Pickering '* edition oFT&e Statutes at Large, from Magna 
 Charta in 1225 to 1784 inelufive, confifts of above thirty 
 volumes in 8vo, befides the index volume : three-and- 
 twenty of which have been eifafted fince the Revolution in 
 688, and ten of thefe fince 1760, when George III. be- 
 gan to reign. Henry VII. fays Lord Bacon, ft may juftly be 
 
 celebrated for the beft law-giver to this nation, after Ed- 
 
 * ward I* : for his laws are deep, and not vulgar j not made 
 ' upon the fpurre of a. particular occafon for the prefent, bus 
 ' out of providence for the future, to make the eftate of 
 ' his people ftill more and more happy." Hijl. of Henrj 
 
 vft. 
 
 j6 Digeft. xiv. 3. n. f. 3. 
 6
 
 THE WOOD. 51 
 
 people, who, from not difcerning and being 
 apprized of, incurred forfeitures by offending 
 againft them 57 . 
 
 But neither in great characters nor (mall, nei- 
 ther in public places nor private, are the laws 
 of England promulgated to the people of 
 England. They are not even advertifed, as 
 common pamphlets are. They may indeed be 
 had from the (hops, and read, in fome time 
 after, among the Statutes at Large, by men of 
 the profeffion, and a few others j but the mul- 
 titude are left to know them as they can, or (to 
 fpeak more properly) not to know them at all. 
 In fliort, when I confider the egregious igno- 
 rance of the people of England touching their 
 laws, it calls to my mind that period in the 
 Roman government, when tf the Calendar was 
 " fo profound a myftery, 'that application was 
 ce ufually made to a few lawyers in the fecret, 
 " in order to know the days of pleading |i ." 
 
 sr Sueton. in Vit. 41. 
 
 51 Cicer. ad. Attic, vi. i. et pro Muraen. n. This 
 may feem ridiculous, but certainly is not more fp, than what 
 was aftually tranfa&ed among ourfelves the very laft year ; 
 when, in many of our public prints, we had the names of two 
 lawyers tacked to an interpretation of the aft for a horfe- 
 tax : as if a meaning, which fhould have been obvious to 
 every farmer in the kingdom, could not be drawn from it, 
 without the afliftance of thefe profeffional gentlemen ; who 
 yet, after all, were not in general thought fufficiently gifted 
 for the tafk afligned to them. 
 
 E a XVI. or
 
 $i S' Y L V A, & 
 
 XVI. 
 
 OF REPRESENTATION IN PARLIAMENT. 
 
 f"pHE term reprefentative feems lately to have 
 deviated from its original fignification and 
 import : for we hear of fome, who confider 
 themfelves as <f nothing more than the at- 
 <c tornies or delegates of their conftituents ; and, 
 * e regardlefs of their own, pride themfelves in 
 " acting according to the Jenje of thefe con- 
 " ftituents only." But this feems a very de- 
 grading idea of a reprefentative, and furely ex- 
 hibits him under a molt fervile point of view. 
 A reprefentative in parliament is a perfon, de- 
 puted by individuals to execute their portion 
 of the public bufmefs in the national council 
 or affembly, and vefted by them with full and 
 complete powers in order thereunto. In this 
 fituation, he is to ufe his beft judgment to- 
 wards knowing and afcertaining, and his beft 
 endeavours in promoting, what fhall be moft for 
 the national good ; and this, without any retro- 
 fpective view upon his conftituents, or any re- 
 gard to their Jenje of affairs : for it may be, 
 either that \.\\tjenfe of thefe conftituents cannot 
 be conveyed to him, or that they may have no 
 Jenje to convey. 
 
 And
 
 THE WOOD. $j 
 
 And that this independency of the reprefen* 
 tative is fuppofed by the conftitution, appears 
 plainly from hence, viz. that the powers with 
 which he is inverted, are not revocable at plea- 
 fure, or before the expiration of the term for 
 which they were given j even though they 
 fhould be employed, not only againft the/<r/r 
 of his conftituents, but even againft the na- 
 tional weal itfelf. How far fuch an ordain- 
 ment of things is eligible, I fay not: but I fay, 
 that, if a reprefentative be nothing more than 
 a perfon, who fits in the Houfe of Commons 
 to fpeak thefenfe of a certain number of people, 
 as he receives it by the poft out of the country, 
 he is no better than a tube, an organ-pipe, a 
 kind of wind-inftrument, which fends 
 found mechanically. 
 
 
 E 3 XVII. or
 
 $4 S Y L V A, on 
 
 XVIL 
 
 O7 A REPRESENTATIVE IN PARLIAMENT. 
 
 " *TpHE greateft flave in a kingdom is gene- 
 c - c rally the king of it," fays a certain 
 writer 59 . I ana tempted, upon well-grounded 
 conclufions, to except a reprefcntative in par- 
 liament, refiding among his conftituents, and 
 immediately depending upon them : who, whe- 
 ther you regard the attentions he pays, or 
 the compliances he fubmits to, may (I think) 
 moft juftly be deemed, if not indeed the great* 
 efl> yet certainly theftnalleft, of flaves. 
 
 XVIII. 
 
 ELECTIONEERING. 
 
 A PRIL 1784. The Duchefs of D. has mixed 
 
 with the mob of Weftminfter, and is can- 
 
 vaffing for Fox. Alas ! fhe little knows what 
 
 kind of theatre fhe has entered upon. Liften 
 
 59 Maxims, Characters, and Reflections. 1768, 8vo. N 
 397- 
 
 to
 
 THE WOOD. 55 
 
 to the Canaille, and learn what they fay of her -t 
 look into the print-fhops, and fee how Ihe is 
 painted. What billinfgate, what caricature ! 
 Yet the Canaille arc only tools : they are em- 
 ployed by people, who, by the curtefy of 
 England, are not of the Canaille. Retire, my 
 dear unthinking Duchefs ! Though thou wert 
 clean and pure as an angel, they will make 
 thee dirtier and filthier than even Gulliver 
 under the Yahoos. 
 
 XIX. 
 
 UPON JUSTICES OF THE PEACE 6 ", 
 
 SIR, March 14, 1785, 
 
 T N your Advertifer of the nth, you have a 
 Ihort paper upon the police, in which it is 
 afked, whether " Juflices are dill to make a 
 " trade Q^juftice ?" and where it is infinuated, 
 that one great obftacle to an amendment of 
 the police is this very trade. The police and the 
 Juflices do mod certainly, both of them, want 
 to be amended ; and this, not within the bills 
 of mortality only, but even to the remoteft 
 corners of the kingdom. 
 
 99 This is taken from the Pullit Afaertfir. 
 
 E 4 Lord
 
 OR. 
 
 Lord Coke hath faid of this magiftracy, that; 
 " the whole Chriftian world hath not the like, 
 " if it be duly executed." 4 Inft. 170. It 
 Ihould feem then, as if it had not been duly ex- 
 ecuted > for it is really aftoniihing, with what 
 fupreme contempt and even averfion this order 
 of magiftrates hath, from time to time, been 
 treated. Sir Thomas Qverbury fpeaks of a 
 tf country gentleman as a thing, out of whofe 
 fc corruption a juftice of peace is generated. '* 
 Characters. Lord Bacon, in his Apophthegms, 
 mentions a wife Juft-ajs, who, being compelled 
 to thruft a delinquent out of his office, faid, 
 *? thou fhalt go, nogus vogus ;" meaning (poor 
 gentleman !) nolens volens. Bifhop Francis 
 Godwin, preaching about the fame time upon 
 Dives and Lazarus, obferved that, cc though 
 <c the fcriptures had not exprefled plainly who 
 <c Dives was, yet by his cloaths and his face 
 " he might be bold to affirm, he was at the 
 <c leaft a Juftice of Peace," &c. 61 Thefe were 
 in the reigns of Elizabeth and James, when 
 thofe we call Trading- Juftices now, went by the 
 name of J9<3y#/-Juftices ; as if men, who could 
 do nothing without a prefent, yet who " for 
 cc half a dozen of chickens would difpenfe 
 " with a whole dozen of penal ftatutes." So a 
 Member exprefled himfelf in the Houfe of 
 
 ,* x Harrington's View of the Church, p. 167. 
 
 Commons^
 
 THE W O O D, 57 
 
 Commons, as Sir Symonds D'Ewes relates in 
 his Journals, Anno 1601. 
 
 The Author of lludibras> who lived under 
 Charles I. and II. mentions a Juftice of Peace 
 as <c one, who has a patent for his wit, and un- 
 " derftands by commifiion 6 V Laftly, the 
 late Henry Fielding hath reprefented his bro- 
 ther Juftices as a very low order of beings 
 furcly, when, fpeaking of one who was about 
 to " execute Jufticefhip, which, fays he, is a 
 f fyllable more than Juftice," he adds, ff but 
 * f luckily the clerk had a qualification, no 
 " clerk to a Juftice of Peace ought ever to be 
 tc without, namely, fome underftanding in the 
 " law of this realm 63 ." The magiftrate here 
 meant was the furious Squire Weftern; and 
 really, when fuch images occur, a little harm- 
 Jefs mirth muft be forgiven. I have never con- 
 
 Ci Butler's Remains, 1759, 8vo. 
 
 43 Fielding does not feem to have been apprifed of the 
 expedient fince found out, to remedy the defeft here alluded 
 to. It is now become a cuftom, in the country at leaft, for 
 two or more Juftices to meet at an alehoufe, and to ftation 
 an attorney amidft them ; who, while he officiates often- 
 fibly as a clerk, is in reality the firft magiftrate in the 
 room, by being as it were a light to lighten the reft. The 
 great jnconvpnience to which this contrivance ftands expo- 
 fed, is, that, mould any mifchance befal the attorney, ^/f 
 quid bumanitui ei acciJeret, here's an aflemblage of lumina- 
 ries cxtinguiihed at once. 
 
 tempi ated
 
 58 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 tcmplated one of thefe wild-looking **, bluf- 
 tering, overbearing ignorants, amidft his pea-^ 
 fants at a village-meeting, without feeling an 
 impulfe to accoft him, in the language of Te- 
 rence, eone es feroxj quia babes imperium in bel- 
 luas ? but, alas ! I might as well accoft him in 
 the Chinefe, 
 
 Mean while," notwithstanding the ridicule to 
 which the above honeft gentlemen feem to 
 have been obnoxious,-. who probably had little 
 knowledge of any kind but what related to their 
 horfes, their dogs, and the game, and who a<5t- 
 ed rather from the authority of fquirefhip, than 
 the authority of law, yet they were not in ge- 
 neral Ba/fcet-Jufticcs, but abltained from even 
 the idea of lucre : whereas now nothing is 
 more common than to fee perfons obtruded 
 upon the public as magiftrates, who are not 
 only as ftupid and as ignorant as men can be, 
 but whofe fituations and circumftances do not 
 fet them above the temptation of trading. And 
 they are obtruded at random ; as much at ran- 
 dom as alehoufes are licenfed ; that is, without 
 any regard to ufe in the thing, or character in 
 the perfon. 
 
 Spirit of Reformation! thou art careful about 
 
 ** rudiifane lonarum artium, et robore corforit Jlolide 
 ftrox. Tacitus. 
 
 many
 
 THE WOOD. 59 
 
 many things ; when wilt thou carry thyfelf 
 into the department of Jufticing, which is at 
 leaft one of the things needful ? 
 
 PHILODICUS. 
 
 Yes, Philodicus, ft quid humanitus ei accide*. 
 deret j that is, in plain Englifh, " if the at- 
 " torney friould come to be hanged." A mif- 
 chance, indeed, that he may at leaft deferve, 
 when we confider the impofitions and extor- 
 tions he will almoft be fure to practife : for it 
 is hardly conceivable, that any attorney of 
 character and credit fhould fubmit to engage 
 in fo humble a fervice. 
 
 Mean while, as Philodicus is fo fenfibly 
 touched with abujes, why would he not give. us 
 fome idea of a reform ? which, however, feems 
 to lie in the fmalleft compafs. Inftead of Juf- 
 tices made at random, and without regarding 
 either ufe in the thing or character in the f erf on > 
 let fit and proper perfons be chofen at fit and 
 proper diflances ; and, inftead of taking fees, 
 which are juft what is demanded 6 *, let a fet- 
 tled flipend be paid to the office of each ma- 
 giftrate by treasurers of counties, and levied 
 upon parifhes as other rates are. Were fome 
 
 ** A clerk of the peace is finable lol. if he negleft to 
 expofc conftantly in the Seffions-Room a table of the fees ; 
 and a juftice-clerk zol. if he exafts more than due. We 
 know it : but can it be expefted, that a poor, ignorant, af- 
 frighted peafantry (hould indi& and fue ? 
 
 fuch
 
 60 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 fuch regulation as this to take place, what is 
 now a dirty trade y would become a liberal Jer- 
 yice : the fpirit of litigioufnefs among the 
 people, which this trade has fo much contri- 
 buted to inflame and keep up, would be dif- 
 countenanced and checked; and, in fhort, the 
 police throughout the kingdom be corrected 
 and amended, 
 
 XX, 
 
 Of THE INEFFICACY OF LAWS WITHOUT EDIN 
 CATION, OR REGULATED MANNERS. 
 
 UID leges Jine moribus van< proficient / 
 fays Horace : and it is an exclamation that 
 has, or might have, been made in all ages and 
 nations of the world. We in England have an 
 ecclefiaftical, as well as civil, eftablifliment for 
 the fecurity of good manners j but neither 
 feparately, nor conjunctly, have they ever ef- 
 fectually performed their bufmefs. The truth 
 is, that this famed alliance between church and 
 Jlate hath not had the promotion of good man- 
 ners for its object, fo much as might be 
 wilhed ; the parties having rather attended to 
 the promotion of their refpe&ive rights and 
 
 privileges*
 
 THE WOOD. 61 
 
 privileges 66 . And hence, we are forry to fay, 
 the terms of this alliance have been on both 
 fides but ill obferved j for, when either hath 
 prevailed over the other, there hath always 
 been an end of the alliance. 
 
 But, fuppofe the ballance of power to have 
 been preferved between them, and that they 
 had unanimoufly made good manners their ob- 
 ject i yet neither would this have availed, with- 
 out a previous attention to thefe manners by 
 education and early difcipline : 
 
 Eradenda cupidinis 
 
 Pravijunt elementa j et tenerx nimis 
 Mentes afperioribus 
 
 Firmandtejtudiis* Hor. 
 
 Without education, all the folemn pompous 
 exterior of civil and ecclefiaftical eftablifh- 
 ments, all the laws and ordinances upon earth, 
 will not be able, for any long time, to keep 
 mankind in decency and order : experience has 
 ever fhewn, that manners, as they degenerate, 
 will fooner or later prevail againft them. 
 " The laws of education," fays Montefquieu, 
 (t are the firft we receive, and fliould have re- 
 tf fpect to the principles and fpirit of the go- 
 " vernment we live under : as they prepare 
 
 156 Lord Bolingbroke calls this an ancient and clofe alliance 
 between ftcular and tcdejiajtical tyranny. Oidcaftle's Re- 
 marks. 
 
 " US
 
 6i S Y L V A, OR 
 
 <c us to be citizens, each individual family 
 <e fhould be governed conformably with the 
 " plan which comprehends them all 6 V 
 
 It was on this article, that Plutarch fo juftly 
 preferred Lycurgus to Numa ; the latter hav- 
 ing paid no attention to youth, in his fyftem 
 of legiflation, but left them to be educated at 
 fandom, and juft as accident, or the caprice 
 of parents, might direct : iiri 
 
 \~/ 
 
 rag ruv vtuv 
 
 And what powerful effects education wrought 
 at Sparta, the long duration and hiftory of its 
 government fufficiently declare : Lacedamonii 
 foil toto orbe terrarumfeptingentos jam anncs am- 
 plius urn's moribusy et nunquam mutatis lcgibus y 
 vivunt 69 . The laws were not changed, becaufc 
 the manners were not changed j for the laws 
 muft depend upon, and be fubfervient to, 
 the manners and the manners were not 
 
 * T Comme let loix de f education nous preparent a etre 
 citoyens, chaque famille particuliere doit etre governee 
 fur le plan de la grande famille qui les comprend toutes. 
 De VEfprit, 5ffr. iv. I. 
 
 " In Fit. Numz. 
 
 " Cicero pro Flacco, 26. When one obferved, that 
 the Spartan government lafted thus, becaufe the kings 
 knew how to govern } " yea rather," fays Theopompus, 
 ** becaufe the citizens knew how to obey." Multum habet 
 moment i principis integritas, fed mulib plus civ turn refta injii+ 
 tut it. Erafmi Apophth. p. 55. Amft. 1671. 
 
 changed,
 
 THE W O O D. 63 
 
 changed, becaufe education and difcipline held 
 them fixed and uniform 7 . 
 
 But in other nations, fuch as ours for in- 
 flance, where morals in educating are little 
 cultivated, and mere accomplijhments chiefly re- 
 garded, manners will never obtain any fixed 
 and regular form ; but exhibit that variegated 
 and motley appearance, which muft needs re- 
 fult from individuals, differently trained, and 
 differently fafhioned. And thus the body fo- 
 cial, compofed of heterogeneous and difibnant 
 materials, as it were, which do not kindly mix* 
 and confpire to form a whole, will generate 
 ill humours, fermentation, and diforder with- 
 in i and thefe operating furely, though perhaps 
 flowly, will gradually corrupt, and finally dif- 
 folve it. 
 
 * Ewi) 
 
 nia p.\u.i xa TW vrr, arayxaiov itianjaoirrui t &C. As tberi 
 is one end in view in every city, it is evident, that education 
 utght to be one and the fame in each ; and that this Jbould It 
 the objecl of 'the public , not of individuals , as it no-iu is, <urbeit 
 tvery one takes care of bis own children feparately. And their 
 node of educating is particular alfo, each inJtruSing bis chil- 
 dren at he pleafes ; though, what all ought to be engaged in t 
 ought to be common to all. For this the Lacedamonians may be 
 praijed ; fence they give the greateft attention to education, ana. 
 muke it public. Ariftotel. Polit. VUF. I, 
 
 XXI. Atf
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 XXI. 
 
 AN APOLOGY FOR DR. JAMES'S FEVER-POW- 
 DER 71 . 
 
 cc (J) UO NAM fato fieri" by what imac- 
 ^ countable perverfenefs in our frame 
 does it happen, that we fet ourfelves fo zea- 
 loufly againft any thing new ? The Fever-Pow-^ 
 def grew into repute about the year 1750 ; and 
 it was no fooner in repute, than the phyficians 
 began to perfecute, as fome time after the che- 
 mifts began to counterfeit, it. Two fets of 
 men, therefore, might be confidered as inimi- 
 cal to it, the phyficians by their invectives, the 
 chemifts by their adulterations ; and the latter 
 would difgrace it more effectually than the 
 former, by being the occalion of numbers to 
 perifh, whom the genuine powder would have 
 cured. It was, itfeems, fo natural to expect the 
 perfecution of fuch a powder, that one of the 
 profeffion may almoft be thought to have ac- 
 tually foretold it. " Can any one," fays he, 
 c behold without fcorn fuch drones of phyfi- 
 ff cians, that, after the fpace of fo many hun* 
 ce dred years experience and practice of their 
 
 71 This N is taken from the Uni*verfal Biography, in 
 12 vols. 8vo. art, JAMES. 
 
 " predeceiTors,
 
 THE W O O IX 6 $' 
 
 V( predecefibrs, not one fingle medicine hath 
 ff yet been detected by them, that hath the 
 " lead force, directly and per fe } to oppofe, 
 * r refift, and expel a continual fever ? Should 
 * f any by a more feduloiis obfervation pretend, 
 <f or make the lead ftep towards, the difco- 
 " very of fuch remedies, their hatred and envy 
 (< would fwell againft him, as a legion of devils 
 " againft virtue : whole focieties would dare 
 " their malice at him, and torture him with 
 <c all the calumnies imaginable, without ftick- 
 " ing at any thing that Ihould deftroy him 
 " root and branch : for he, who profefies A 
 " reformation of the art of phyfic, muft re- 
 " folve to run the hazard of the martyrdom of 
 " his reputation, life, and eftate 7 *." Dr. Mor- 
 t6n, who has fayed millions of lives, as James 
 obferves, by pointing out the ufe of the bark, 
 complains of the oppofition which was made 
 to that medicine : " It is an undoubted truth,'* 
 fays he, " that there were many villainous 
 " flanderers everywhere, efpecially in London, 
 " who wickedly and artfully confpired to fup- 
 <c prefs the rifing reputation of this febrifuge ; 
 " left, by this Jhort method of curing fevers, 
 
 74 The Art of curing Difeafes by Expectation. By Gi- 
 deon Harvey, M. D. Lond. 1689, p. 196. 
 
 F they
 
 66 S Y L V A, 
 
 <c they fhould lofe opportunities of picking. 
 " the pockets of their patients 7 V 
 
 It fhould feem, as if an inventor was in a fi- 
 milar fituation with the citizen of old, who could 
 not propound a law, without an halter about 
 his neck* Nay, indeed, in a wo-rfe fituation, 
 as having a more certain fire-ordeal to go 
 through : for the law might pafs, and the pro- 
 pounder efcape haHgi.ng ; but the novelift > or 
 innovatory as they call him, is fur-e to be perfe- 
 cutecL The efficacy of James's Fowder is, we 
 prefume, as well eftablifhed by matter of fact, 
 as the efficacy of any medicine that ever was 
 hit on : but, alas ! what is matter of fact againft 
 prejudices and paflions ? and, efpecially, when 
 thefe prejudices and paflions are inflamed and 
 heightened by mterefted and felfifh motives. 
 There was once a violent diflention' between 
 Peripatetics and Galenifts about the origin of 
 the nerves ; the former deducing them from 
 the heart, the latter from the brain. A Ga- 
 lenical anatomift of Venice happened to be 
 performing at a lecture upon the fubjedr., 
 
 73 VeriflTmum quidem eft, non defuiiTe nefarios quof- 
 " dam detre&atores ubique, prjefertim Londini, qui dolO' 
 " malo confilium ceperunt de hujus febrifugi fama prsma- 
 ** tore fupprimenda ; ne, fcilicet, hac fuccinda raethodo 
 " febres obtruncandi, segrotantium crumenas emulgendi 
 ** occafio tollcretur." Pyretologia, Lend. 1692, p. 121.
 
 THE WOOD. 67 
 
 when a" noble Peripatetic, his antagonift, was 
 prefent ; and he proceeded with more than or- 
 dinary care, becaufe he had the conviction of 
 this Peripatetic particularly in view. He dif- 
 iecled with accuracy each minute part ; and, 
 laying open the root out of which the nerves 
 grew, publicly exhibited its fituation in the 
 brain. Upon which, turning to his antagoniftj 
 he afked, " if he was at length convinced, that 
 Cf the nerves fprung from the brain, and not 
 <c from the heart ?" who, after fome paufe, 
 " allowed indeed the fa<5t to be fo very plain 
 <f and obvious, that he could not but have 
 <f affented to it, if Ariftotle had not declared the 
 " contrary 74 ." 
 
 But what are the objections to this juftly 
 famous Powder ? Why, fome (it is faid) refufe 
 
 74 This Jtory is told in the Syftema Cofmicum of Gall- 
 laeus, who was himfelf an illuftrious example, to (hew how 
 feeble a thing even a matter of faft is, againft theory and 
 hypothecs fupported by an eftablifhment. When Coperni- 
 cus revived the ancient aftronomy, which made the fun, 
 not the earth, the centre of the planetary fyftem, it was 
 faid, by way of obje&ion, that Venus then mult undergo the 
 fame phafes with the moon. This Galila:us afterwards 
 difcovered by his telefcope to be the real matter of fad ; 
 but this real matter of fail, being adverfe to received opi- 
 nion, expofed him to the cognizance of Pope Urban VIII. 
 who profcribed him as an heretic, and threw him into pri- 
 fon ; whence he was not releafed, till he had formally ab- 
 jured what he had feen with his eyes. 
 
 Fa to
 
 68 S Y L V A> OR 
 
 to give it, becaufe they know not what it is : 
 and indeed, once in my hearing, an old country 
 apothecary (than whom exifteth not, in gene- 
 ral, a more felf-fufficient 75 creature) declared 
 himfclf, with much confcientious formality, to 
 this purpofe : he did not know, foriboth, of 
 what it was compounded. He had better have 
 faid, that he was afraid it might hurt the fale 
 of his drugs ?5 : and then, though he would 
 have faid nothing more than what every body 
 knew, he would at lean: have fpoken fenfe. 
 For, did the dotard know the constituent parts,, 
 or of what any thing was compounded ? Sup- 
 pofing integrity and philanthropy to be any 
 way concerned, his bufmefs was, not to difpute 
 captioufly about principm or primogenial par- 
 
 75 " In country-town's, where no phyficiari ufually re- 
 ' fides, apothecaries, efpecially thofe in years, look upon 
 " themfelves as perfeft Hippocratefes in knowledge and e/:- 
 " perience." Dr. Stevenfon on the Gout, p. 137. 
 
 76 (e An objection to ray Powder, and a very ferious one, 
 " is, that it ha<s a tendency to impair the trade of apothe- 
 ' caries. I am certain, that this is the true reafon of all 
 " the oppofition made to its ufe, and to me as the author 
 " of it. The phyficians, that have lifted under the apothe- 
 " caries banners, have meanly deferted the caufe of the 
 " public." James's Vindication of his Powder, p. 99. 
 But all have not lifted under the apothecaries : for fame avow 
 its efficacy, and prefcribe it openly ; while others, to whom 
 the fpirit of martyrdom is not vouchfafed in fuch abundance, 
 though they affeft to difcountenance, ufe it under a dif- 
 
 tides,
 
 THE WOOD. 69 
 
 tides, but to fearch anxioufly and curioufly in- 
 to facts or effects , and, if the Powder was 
 found to operate as reprefented, to give it at 
 all adventures, let it be compounded of what 
 it would. I could not fubmit to engage upon 
 this occafion ; elfe I might have referred this 
 apothecary, as I would fome of his betters, to 
 Hippocrates, the father of them all : who, far 
 from difdaining and fcornfully rejecting with- 
 out examination, advifes practitioners to exa- 
 mine every thing j and " to enquire of all, 
 <f phyficians or not, if in any cafe they know 
 <c of any thing ufeful 77 ." And, furely, with 
 goodreafon; fince, as a late phyfician obferved, 
 " even ignorant people, not knowing the the- 
 <c ories of the learned, nor therefore mifled by 
 <e them, have fometimes followed, what is not 
 " unfrequently a better guide, traditional ex- 
 <f perience 73 ." 
 
 Another objection to this Powder is, that it 
 js empirical. If by empirical they mean a me- 
 dicine that has been tried or experienced, as the 
 word according to its Grecian origin imports, 
 fo it ought to be ; elfe it may be good for no- 
 thing, or even hurtful, for any thing that is j 
 
 ' MJJ oxvt'cm cravat ihorivt i'rot<ir, ri Ti front n v/x,p/|9>. DC 
 
 Praeceptis. " Empiric! & vctul^ fepenumero in curandis 
 ' morbis felicius operentur, quam medici eruditi," Ba- 
 con de Augm. Scient. lib. 4. 
 ? 8 Mofgraye-on the Nerves, ch. 6. 
 
 F 3 knowru
 
 70 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 known. But they do not mean this : they mean, 
 that it is not agreeable to Pharmac. LondinenJ. \ 
 that it is below the dignity of liberal prac- 
 tice 79 ; and that, in fhort, it is not an orthodox 
 medicine. For there is an orthodoxy in phy- 
 fic, as well as in divinity; and a man may be 
 an heretic with the profefibrs of either, if he 
 fhall offend againft their refpe&ive eftablifh- 
 ments, by advancing any thing new, or incon- 
 fiftent with them. Let, however, what will 
 become of orthodoxy, truth iq all cafes ought 
 to prevail; and efpecially, as in the prefent, 
 where the fafety and lives of men are at flake : 
 for, as James himfelf writes, Cf if the dignity 
 " of phyfic, like that of Moloch, is to be fup- 
 <c ported by human facrifices, it is the duty 
 " of every civil fociety to treat both the art 
 " and its profeflbrs like the Knights-Templars, 
 " who, for their tranfcendent villainies, were 
 < c extirpated from the face of the earth 8o ." 
 
 Another circumftance, which hath been ur- 
 ged to difgrace the Powders (and the laft I 
 fhall mention) is, that it " hath nofpecific effi- 
 " cacy in the cure of fevers, and that other 
 
 " Dr. Donald Monro hath dedicated his " Prseleftione 
 ' Medicae," printed in 1776, 8vo, to the College of Phy- 
 fjcians, in thefe terms : " Collegio Regio Medicorum Lon 
 ' dinenfi, medicine liberalis cultori & patrono." 
 
 10 Vindication, &c. p. 38. 
 
 <c medicine!
 
 THI W O O D. 71 
 
 4C medicines will do as well "V We verily be- 
 lieve, and our faith is grounded upon matter 
 of fact, that it hath fpecifa qualities ; that it 
 will cure fevers more effectually, and (as all 
 own) more fpeedily, than any other medicine : 
 but, were this not fo, and were it only of equal 
 efficacy with others, there is furely fomething 
 very ungenerous and malign in the cavil. For 
 what does it amount to ? why, it amounts to 
 this, viz. that Dr. James is a bufy, forward, 
 prefumptuous fellow, for labouring to diftin- 
 guifli himfelf by being ufeftil in his profefilon; 
 and ought particularly to be difcouraged, ha- 
 ted, and perfecuted, for afpiring after afpfrifo, 
 which none of his fraternity had been able to 
 difcover. Thus I recollect an Athenian voter, 
 a notable wifeacre doubtlefs, who, when afked 
 why he thought Ariftides deferving of banifh- 
 ment, replied, " that for his part he knew no- 
 " thing of Ariftides, but that he had no notion 
 < f of his pretending to bzjuft above others :" 
 Js ignorare Ariftidem t Jed fibi non placere, quod 
 tarn cupide (la far of et, uf prefer cxtcros Juftus 
 appellaretur. Nepos. 
 
 To conclude : if James did not live to fee 
 his Powder received, and its ufe adopted, /- 
 
 " " Certe medicamentum melius non eft quam tarta- 
 " rum emeticum, aliaque medicamenta a. medicis quotidic 
 * adhibita ; nullam enim vim fpecijicam ad febres profli- 
 *' gandas poflidet." Monro's Pra:l. Med. p. 62. 
 
 F 4 verfafy,
 
 72 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 verfally, he only experienced what all advan- 
 cers of new things experienced before him -, 
 unlefs we may except Harvey, the difcoverer 
 of the blood's circulation j who is faid by 
 J-Iobbes to have been <c the only one, that con- 
 ec quered envy in his life-time, and faw his 
 tf yew doctrine eftabliihed : Harveius Jolus, 
 te quodjciam, doffrinam novam,fuperatd invidid., 
 <e vivens ftabilivit. Praefat. ad Element. Phj- 
 " lofoph." 
 
 XXII. 
 
 AGAINST THE ABRIDGMENT OF LABOUR. 
 
 To the Society for promoting Arts and Sciences. 
 
 GENTLEMEN, March, 1773. 
 
 A SOCIETY for the advancement of arts 
 and fciences may certainly have many cu- 
 rious and fome ufeful objects, but I cannot 
 think that the abridgment of human labour 
 fhould be one of either fort. For, what is the 
 end of fociety at large ? It is not, that one man 
 fiiould batten in wealth and luxury, and that 
 nine hundred ninety and nine Ihould ftarve 
 under wretched nefs and poverty ; it is, that all 
 &ould enjoy the comforts adapted to each 
 
 man's
 
 THE W O D. 73 
 
 man's ftation and condition. But the bulk of 
 mankind muft live by labour j and, if by any 
 contrivances they arc deprived of this labour, 
 how are thefe comforts to be procured ? 
 
 I have fomewhere read of a famous printer, 
 who went from Holland to Conftantinople, 
 and carried with him prefies and types of- all 
 forts, in order to introduce the art of printing 
 there. The Vizir hearing of it, ordered the 
 printer to be hanged, and all his apparatus to 
 be deftroyed -, declaring it cruel, that one man, 
 to enrich himfelf, jhould take their bread from ele- 
 ven thoujand Jcribes, . who gained their living by 
 their fens. The execution of the printer fa-' 
 voured of Turkifh manners, and was indeed fa- 
 vage. I like the conduct of that Roman Em- 
 peror better, who, when a mechanic under- 
 took to carry fome large pillars into the Capi- 
 tol at a very fmall expence, made the artift a 
 handfome prefent for his device, but refufed to 
 accept it, faying, that he mufl Juffer the f cor 
 people to live**. 
 
 The principle, however, from which both 
 Vizir and Emperor acted, will always deferve 
 attention. When nations are got to their height 
 of civilization, as we fay; when wealth and 
 luxury prevail ; when arts and fciences flourifhj 
 hen they naturally abound with people. Then 
 
 11 SuetQp. in VefpaH 18. 
 
 every-
 
 74 S Y L V A, o* 
 
 every trade is crowded, every profeflion over- 
 charged j and, as Seneca complained with re- 
 gard to the Romans in his time, " they have 
 s< indeed too much of every thing :" omnium 
 rerum intem-peranttd laborant 8j . At fuch a pe- 
 riod, methinks, it would be rather doing fer- 
 vice to increafe, than to diminifh, human la- 
 bour. Our corn is ground by wind and water. 
 Suppofe that fome wonderful mechanic could 
 invent and fabricate fuch a fyftem of machi- 
 nery, that all our lands fhould be cultivated, 
 and all our manufactures carried on, by wind 
 and water tooj what would be the effect? 
 
 There has been a projector of this kind at 
 Leicefter, in the frame-work-knitting way; 
 and the knitters have rifen, and pulled his ma* 
 chine to pieces, I am greatly fliocked at tu- 
 multuous afiemblies and violence : they are 
 fure to generate a fpirit of infurrection and 
 riot ; and it will be in vain to fay to this fpirit, 
 Jo far Jh alt thou go, and no farther, Neverthe- 
 lefs, my heart is made to ache almoft daily by 
 the complaints of poor fufferers ; not only of 
 fome, who (fuch is the prefent unfortunate 
 ftate of our provifions) cannot procure the 
 common comforts of life, even with all their 
 honeft induftry; but of others alfo, who could 
 procure them, if they could but procure em- 
 
 83 Epift. 1 06. 
 
 ployment.
 
 THE WOOD. 75 
 
 ployment. Yet, fu.rely, the labourers and 
 manufacturers are not thofe, who ought to be 
 folely, or perhaps even the mofl, alarmed at 
 any contrivances to abridge labour; for if 
 thefe fhall come to have nothing to do, every 
 body knov/s at whole expence they are to live. 
 Mean while, it is not in the nature of things, 
 that all times fhould be the fame. If we do 
 fuflfer any little hardfhips under the prefent, let 
 us bear them with patience and contentednefs ; 
 in full afiurance, that God, in his good time, 
 will enable the inftruments and minifters of 
 his government to remove them. 
 
 I am, Sirs, yours, &c. 
 
 P. S. That the ftrength of any kingdom is 
 in proportion to its populoufnefs, is a favourite 
 axiom with many; and it may be admitted, 
 always -provided, that objects can be found for 
 the hands to be employed. But the abridg- 
 ment of labour will not ferve to this purpofe. 
 Nothing hath conduced more to the abridg- 
 ment of labour, than the late rage in fome 
 countries of inclofmg open fields, and thereby 
 converting much of arable land to pafturagc. 
 Yet this may be borne, nor will any great in- 
 convenience be felt, while trade or manufac- 
 tures can employ the hands which are not 
 wanted in agriculture. But fuppofe a death- 
 blow to be given to trade (and let us remem- 
 
 ber,
 
 76 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 ber, that all things, which have a beginning, 
 will fooner or later have alfo an ending) what 
 is to become of the innumerable manufactu- 
 rers ? Will the populoufnefs of a nation then 
 be the flrength of it ? Will it not rather be a 
 rnoft oppreflive burthen ? 
 
 XXIII. 
 
 TO THE FOUNDERS, PROPRIETORS, AND MA- 
 NAGERS OF THE PANTHEON 84 ". 
 
 GENTLEMEN, 
 
 EN you conceived the defign of your 
 magnificent ftrufture, you undoubtedly 
 had in view the reception and amufement of 
 thofe chiefly, who are diftinguifhed by their 
 birth and fortunes. The very title fets forth 
 your purpofe: for Pantheon is compofed of two 
 Greek words, which fignify a receptacle for all 
 the Gods; and originally exprefifed a temple in 
 ancient Rome, which the Deities then in fa- 
 ihion were fuppofed to honour with their p re- 
 fence. 
 
 84 This Number was printed in the St. James's Chronicle 
 of March 21, 1772 ; and was occafioned by a rumour, that 
 the proprietors of the Pantheon meant to confine it to the 
 quality, and to exclude the people, 
 
 From,
 
 THE WOOD. 77 
 
 From the heathenifm of the name, you have 
 been imagined by fome to have defigned it 
 only for thofe who have rejected the Chrif- 
 tian religion, in oppofition to thofe who ftill 
 retain it : but this conftruftion is altogether 
 invidious. Befides, the fcheme would have 
 been quite impracticable ; fince fome few 
 Chriftians, at lead, would have been fure to 
 creep in, under one difguife or other, in fpite 
 of all your care to keep them out. 
 
 Others have drawn a different conclufion 
 from your title, but in my humble opinion 
 equally remote with the former from your 
 true intent and meaning. Thefe, far from 
 fuppofing you to confine yourfelves to any 
 particular rank and character, have on the con- 
 trary fuppofed you ready to admit all charac- 
 ters, not excluding even the worftj fuch as 
 gamblers, cheats, whores, and debauchees of 
 the very firft and mod illuftrious magnitude. 
 And they affect to fuppofe this, becaufe the 
 ancient Pantheon was prefenced with characters 
 not unlike j for even whores, and (harpers, and 
 debauchees were found among its Deities. 
 
 But we have, happily for us, no fuch cha- 
 racters among thofe, to whom yours is dedi- 
 cated. Your Pantheon, gentlemen, is dedica- 
 ted to the very flower and quintefience of the 
 kingdom ; to thofe who muft be called, if any 
 can be called j the Gods and Goddeffes among the 
 
 fons
 
 78 SYLVAoR 
 
 fbns of men. And I wifti you had recolleded 
 this fpeech of Quartilla, the prieftefs of Pria- 
 pus, in Petronius: Utique noftra regio tampr<e- 
 Jent't bus plena eft numimbus, ut facilius pojfis deum 
 quam hominem inVenire-y that is, <f certainly our 
 " part of the town abounds fo with Deities, 
 <c that you may fooner find a God than a 
 " man." It would have graced your frontif- 
 piece very well : and there would have been a 
 ftriking propriety in it, on your afTembly- 
 nights efpecially. 
 
 But could any doubt remain about the de- 
 fignation of your Pantheon, the following cir- 
 cumftance {hews, that you intended it for this 
 fuperior order of beings. For it is fufficiently 
 known, that as foon as it was fmifhed, and ripe 
 for confecration, you very judicioufly, as well 
 as very fublimely, appropriated this ceremony 
 to their High MightinefTes, the Peerefles of the 
 Realm. You vefted in them folely the power 
 of the keys j the power of admitting and ex- 
 cluding whom they, in the plenitude of their 
 wifdom, fhould or fhould not deem worthy of 
 the honour. 
 
 And forry am I to fay, that this meafure of 
 yours, however wifely conceived and deeply 
 proje&ed, has taken for you a moft unfortu- 
 nate turn. By aiming rather officioufly to 
 pleafe the Lords, you have exceedingly difo- 
 bliged the Commons* Thefe deride you? 
 
 they
 
 THE WOOD. 79 
 
 they confider your overture to the Peerefles, as 
 a ftroke of the moft fervile adulation ; and they 
 deteft you, as a company of fawning fyco- 
 phants, who are willing and ready " to rulh 
 " headlong into flavery" (in Jervitium -ruerc, 
 as Tacitus exprefles it) without awaiting that 
 gradual progrefllon of manners now prevail- 
 ing, which at long run are fure to introduce it. 
 And what is worfe and more mortifying than 
 even this, while the Commons fpurn at your 
 contempt of their lower order, the Peerefles do 
 not feem to have a fufficient rejfentiment of the 
 homage you have paid them. 
 
 Should this unfortunate conftrufbion of your 
 good meaning defeat the ufe and intent of 
 your magnificent pile, as it is generallyj>elieved 
 it will \ fhould your Pantheon become in con- 
 fequence unfafhionable and unfrequented, you 
 will have nothing le't to do, but to convert 
 it into a church; and for this you have an il- 
 luftrious precedent. The ancient Pantheon at 
 Rome was converted into a church by Pope 
 Boniface IV. in the year 607, and confecrated 
 to the Virgin Mary, and All Saints, under the 
 name of Santta Maria Rotunda. Indeed no- 
 thing was more common, in the early ages of 
 Chriftianity, when the converfion of the hea- 
 then world was pretty well advanced, than to* 
 give Chriflian names to heathen temples, and 
 to appropriate them to Chriftian ufes ; juft as 
 
 they 
 6
 
 8o S V L V A, 
 
 they gave Chriftian names to heathen rites and 
 ceremonies, which they alfo adopted and em- 
 ployed in the Chriftian myfteries. 
 
 However, gentlemen, let what will happen, 
 you need not be in any mighty panic. The 
 worft I fuppofe you have to fear, is, that the 
 public may at length be brought to afcribe to 
 you more money than wit i and that indeed i3 
 very likely to happen. 
 
 I am, Gentlemen, 
 
 Your humble fervant, 
 
 the Man of the Hill. 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 UPON "NOLO EPISCOPARI." 
 
 IN the Dedication of Balguy's Sermons to 
 the King, his Majefty's goodnefs is acknow-* 
 ledged " both in naming him to an high fta- 
 * c tion in the church, and in allowing him to 
 decline it." The writer, from whom I leant 
 this, afks, whether there be " another inftance 
 f upon record of a Nolo Epifcopari, declared 
 ff in good earneft 85 ?" Yet why fhould it feem 
 
 85 St. James's Chronicle, 16 April, 1785. 
 
 wonderful^
 
 TH* W O O D. 81 
 
 wonderful, that a man of near feventy years or 
 age, who has always enjoyed independency and 
 his own humour, and has a fund for contem- 
 plation and happinefs within himfelf, fhould re- 
 fufe to facrifice eafe and leifure, and fubmit to 
 the refbraint of crowds and bufmefs ? But thus 
 it is, that men make one another, as they ufu- 
 ally make their God 86 , according to the ftand- 
 ard and image of themfelves t what they feel 
 pofiible or practicable within themfelves, may 
 be done ; while all above their feelings or con- 
 ceptions pafles for vifion, and not in rerum na- 
 turd 8? . 
 
 Is there a woman who could refufe " a title, 
 tf a ribbon, a pompous equipage, and a great 
 " eftate?" Impofiible, would the general reply 
 be ; becaufe the generality of women could 
 not refufe them. Yet, when Mrs. Vigor was 
 congratulated by her female friend, upon the 
 profpect of marrying a gentleman with thefe 
 accomplijhments, <c Can you," faid the Ipirited 
 dame, " can you have fo mean, fo contempt* 
 " ible a thought of me, to imagine, that 
 
 16 Almolt all mankind are, in one fenfe, Antbropomor- 
 pbitet : for, though they may not all fuppofe the Deity of 
 human form, or to have a. body like ours, yet each is apt to 
 afcribe to him his own ideas, temper, paffions, prejudices, 
 &c. 
 
 17 Qa<e fibi quifque facilia faSu putet, <equo animo accipit ; 
 fufra, vclutijifta pro falfef duett, Salluft. 
 
 G thefe
 
 82 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 tc thefe alone would be of any weight ? It muft 
 " be either a fordid foul, or a very trifling 
 <c mind, that can be charmed with what is fo 
 <e often the decoration of a fool or a knave 8 V* 
 
 XXV. 
 
 THE CURE OF LOVE. 
 
 QUANTUM eft in rebus inane t " Oh 
 what vanity in human things !" Damore 
 dies for Caslia, or (which is worfe) lives in 
 mifery. Rhafes, an Arabian phyfician, hath faid, 
 in his treatife upon the Prejervation of Health* 
 that ff concubinage is an excellent cure for 
 " perfons defperately in love :" but, however 
 efficacious a remedy this might be with Ma- 
 hometans, it cannot even be mentioned among 
 Chriftians. 
 
 Did Damon ever hear what the woman at 
 Lincoln faid, as Ihe was coming from the min- 
 fter, after having been married ? She thanked 
 God, moft devoutly, that " the troublefome 
 ce bufmefs of love was noiv at an end." Will 
 this be any eafement to Damon's paflion ? But,, 
 if this (hould not fuftice, let the following re- 
 
 18 See her Letters from 
 
 4 ClpC
 
 THE WOOD. 83 
 
 cipe be tranfcribed from Lord Bacon's Apoph- 
 thegms : I mean, if the very grave reader will 
 permit. " A wife, in bed with her hufband, 
 " pretended to be ill at cafe, and defired to 
 " lie on her hufband's fide. The good man, 
 " to pleafe her, patted over herj not, how- 
 Cf ever, without being fomewhat detained in 
 c< the tranfit. She had not lain long, before 
 tf fhe wilhed to lie in her old place again ; 
 * f and urging her hufband to repafs the road he 
 " came, / bad rather y faid he to her, go a mile 
 * c and an half about" Apophth. 45. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 YOU HAD BETTER LEAVE THEM TO FIGHT IT 
 OUT. 
 
 A CERTAIN old Roman, being come to 
 Greece as Proconful, affembled the philo- 
 fophers at Athens, and offered to affift in fet- 
 tling their difputes, and in bringing about at 
 laft an agreement in their opinions : upon which 
 " they all agreed" fays Tully, " in laughing 
 " at him for his pains 89 ." This was pleafant, 
 
 9 De Leg. I. o, 
 
 G 2 and
 
 84 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 and no harm enfued i but it is far from ending 
 thus in general. 
 
 To interfere with parties who quarrel, with 
 what good meaning foever, is always a nice 
 and delicate affair ; and, inftead of effecting the 
 fervice intended, is ufually rewarded with con- 
 tempt or ill treatment. Pray, neighbour, dent 
 beat your wife thus, faid the man in the play, 
 who humanely interpofed upon a brute of a 
 hufband: But, fays the wife, turning Ihort 
 upon him, fuppofe^ Sir, that I have a mind to be 
 beat : what bufinejs is that of yours ? Aye> Sir, 
 continued the hufband, what bufinejs is that of 
 yours ? And thus the ftorm i'ncreafed, till the 
 poor peace-maker was fairly driven off 90 . Hu- 
 man nature, contemplated upon a larger fcale, 
 fhews itfelf precifeiy thus. In the civil wars 
 of France between the Frondeurs and ,Maza- 
 rins, the famous Chriftina of Sweden " had a 
 " ftrong defire to interpofe. She offered her 
 " mediation,'* fays the hiftorian, " which no 
 " body wanted. She wrote to the Prince of 
 " Conde, to the Parliament, to the Duke of 
 *' Orleans, &V. The Cardinal did not thank 
 <f her ; the Queen was ftill lefs fatisfied ; and 
 cc the public opinion was, that by intermed- 
 " dling in an affair, which no way concern -d 
 " her, fhe had afted contrary to decorum, and 
 
 90 Moliere, Maladt Imaginaire. 
 
 <(
 
 THE WOOD. 85 
 
 " to her dignity. Hence the cool reception 
 " fhe met with at the court, when fhe pafled 
 f< through France after her abdication 9 ." 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 OF VANITY AND LYES. 
 
 'VT'ANITY and lyes are often joined together 
 by Solomon ; and what fo naturally ac- 
 companies vanity, zslyes? The vain man's aim 
 is, upon all occafions, to appear bigger than the 
 life, as the painters fay; and his immediate objecl:, 
 like that of Bayes in the Rehearfal, to elevate and 
 Jurprife. For this fole purpofe he will not only 
 tell the moft ftupendous lyes about himfelf, his 
 family, his fortune, &c. but he will alfo per- 
 form actions, from which even felf-prefervation 
 fhould naturally reftrain him : and I have feen 
 an afpirant after this fort of celebrity, gallop 
 on horfe-back down a flight of ftone flairs, 
 purely to make me wonder how he durft do 
 it. 
 
 91 Renault, Chron. Abreg. anno 1653. 
 
 G 3 XXVIII. A
 
 86 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 A CURE FOR LYING. 
 
 TV/TENDOSUS was a conftant and notorious 
 liar j fo notorious and fo conftant, that 
 (as ufually happens) he did not gain credit, 
 even when he fpake truth. Sometimes he lyed, 
 in order to defame, and therein gratify a fpi- 
 rit of malignity j at other times for intereft, 
 and to gain fome advantage - 3 at other times 
 he would tell incredibilia and portenfofa, 
 merely from a pafiion to elevate and furprife ; 
 and, in fhort, the habit was fo predominant 
 and ftrong, that he would lye without any 
 view or meaning conceivable. Once upon a 
 time, however, a quack undertook, by a fin- 
 gular noftrum> to cure this evil quality, all in- 
 veterate as it was j and with the faireft propo- 
 fal of no cure no 'pay. The recipe was admi- 
 niftered in the form of a pill, with a direction 
 to the patient to grind it well with his teeth, 
 left the virtues of it fhould efcape for want of 
 maftication. After champing and champing 
 fome time, he afked the quack, what the deuce 
 he had given him ? for that it feemed very 
 nafty ; and, taking it out of his mouth, whe- 
 ther from its afpect or its favour, pronounced- 
 it
 
 THE WOOD. 87 
 
 it to be a / d. Truth, by G , fays the 
 quack, and claimed his pay : but the cure wag. 
 only momentary, for the patient (as was faid) 
 immediately relapfed. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 A MAN OF HONOUR. 
 
 JVTONS. VOLTAIRE, obferving upon cer- 
 tain dramatis -perfon* in Congreve's Plays, 
 fays, that " their language is every where that 
 " of men of honour, but their actions are thofe 
 " of knaves : a proof, that he was perfectly 
 " well acquainted with human nature, and 
 " frequented what we call polite company 9 *." 
 So that the arranteft fcoundrel, the blackeft 
 and moft deteftable villain, by frequenting po- 
 lite company, and pretending to an higher 
 and more refined integrity, may be denomi- 
 nated a man of honour. What a perverfe and 
 ridiculous ufe of words, which convey an idea 
 juft the contrary to what they exprefs ! " We 
 " know very well," fays Bruyere, " that an 
 " honeft man is a man of honour j but it is 
 ' pleafant to conceive, that every man of ho- 
 
 s * Letters on the Englifli Nation, 
 
 64 " nour
 
 88 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 (t nour is not an honeft man 9J ." Pleafant in- 
 deed , but this is not the worft : fociety fuflfers 
 from this abufe of terms. " By feparating the 
 " man of honour from the man of virtue," fays 
 Hume, " the greateft profligates have got 
 <f fomething to value themfelves upon j and 
 <c have been able to keep themfelves in coun- 
 cc tenance, though guilty of the moft (hame- 
 <f ful and dangerous vices. They are debau- 
 <c chees, fpendthrifts, and never pay a farthing 
 " they owe : but they are men of honour, and 
 " therefore to be received as gentlemen in all 
 tc companies." It a noftri mores coegerunt. 
 
 _^_ 
 
 XXX. 
 
 OF JESTING AND FROLIC, AS WELL AS JESTING 
 UPON SERIOUS OCCASIONS AND SERIOUS MAT- 
 TER J AND OF DAVID HUME, ESO^ SO FAR AS 
 HE IS CONCERNED IN THIS. 
 
 T\(JLCE eft defipere, " 'tis delightful to play 
 
 the fool," fays Horace : Scipio was the 
 
 boy, and even Cato would unbend ; as if ii 
 
 93 On connolt affez, qu'un hommc de lien eft bonnet e bomme 
 mats il eft plaifant d' imaginer, que tcut bonnete bomme n'ej 
 pas homme tie bien> Charaft. des Jugemens* 
 
 were
 
 THE WOOD. 89 
 
 were not right <f to be wife at all hours," om- 
 nibus boris fapere. Very well : play the fool, 
 be the boy j but remember that you do thefe, 
 as Horace adds, in loco that is, " at proper 
 " times, and before proper perfons." For, if 
 the gay and frolicfome humour, however in- 
 nocent, be fuffered to expatiate at random and 
 at large before fools who cannot, or malcvo- 
 lents who will not, underiland it you may af- 
 terwards hear comments upon it, which will 
 ftrangely furprife you. Yes, your fooleries 
 may be magnified into crimes -, and you may 
 have fad as well as meaning imputed to you, 
 of which 'tis likely you never thought : for, as 
 in Shakfpeare, 
 
 You do not aR, who often jejl and laugh : 
 'Tis old but true, Jlilljwine eat all the draugb. 
 
 An habit of jefting leads into many fcrapes : 
 but the moft ferious furely that ever attended 
 it, is one recorded by Speed in the reign of 
 Edward the Fourth j when a citizen in Cheap- 
 fide was executed as a traitor, for faying, that 
 he would make his Jon heir to the Crown, though 
 he only meant his houfe, which had a crown 
 for its fign. 
 
 Jefting in illnefs, or at the point of death, is 
 reckoned not barely indecent, but almoft pro- 
 fane : as, when one, who was proceeding to 
 the gallows, advifed his conductors not to carry 
 
 him
 
 9 o S Y L V A, OR 
 
 him through fuch a ftreet, left a merchant, who 
 lived there, Iriould arreft him for a debt j or, 
 as when a dying Catholic, upon the prieft's ap- 
 proaching for extreme unction, and afking 
 where his feet were, which pain it feems had 
 made him pull up, replied with feeming gra- 
 vity, at the end of my legs. And numbers, I 
 doubt not, have had hard work to reconcile 
 Sir Thomas More's piety with his mirth upon 
 the fcaffold ; namely, in defiring the execu- 
 tioner to put his beard afide, fmce " // had 
 <f not committed any treafon." They have 
 thought, perhaps, that, as we come whining 
 into the world, fo it is decent to go whining 
 out of it 94 . 
 
 There is, however (and it ought to be noted) 
 an extreme oppofite to whining, which is no lefs 
 weak and unmanly ; and that is, an affeftation 
 of mirth and gaiety at this folemn period for 
 folemn, at leaft, it moft certainly is. Hume ne- 
 
 9 * Partridge feems to have approved of this : for, when 
 Jones, in a fit of defpair, refolved for the army, and to die 
 as foon as might be in the field of glory, Partridge fhrunk 
 with horror under the idea. " I 'know," faid he, * f we 
 ' muft all die ; but then there's a great difference be- 
 " tween dying in one's bed, a great many years hence, 
 *' like a good Chriftian, with all our friends crying ab6ut 
 ' usj and being (hot to-day or to-morrow like a mad dog ; 
 " or perhaps hacked in twenty pieces with a fword, and 
 " that too before we have repented of our fins." B. xii, 
 
 ver
 
 THE WOOD. 91 
 
 ver appears to me under a more unphilofophic 
 attitude, than when he fports about Charon at 
 the clofe of his life. Was this to fhew, that 
 he died a philofopher as he had lived j and 
 could ridicule the dreams about futurity, with 
 which others are haunted, at this trying crifis ? 
 iThere was certainly fome bravado, fame pa- 
 rade of magnanimity, in this ; as I fufpeft there 
 was, when, fpeaking of his laft illnefs, which 
 was a diarrhoea of more than a year's {landing, 
 he fays, that, " were he to name the period of 
 " his life, which he fhould moft chufe to pafs 
 " over again, he might be tempted to point 
 " to this later period 95 ." Is this conceivable ? 
 Scire tuum nihil eft, nifi tefcire idjciat alter ? 
 Is philofophy then nothing, unlefs exhibited 
 oftentatioufly to the public ? 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 OF REFORMATIONS 96 . 
 
 work of reformation, in church and 
 in ftate, hath long been agitated ; and, 
 doubtlefs, there are many things in both, that 
 
 J Life by himfelf. * 6 From The Irenarcb. 
 
 may
 
 9 a S Y L V A, OR 
 
 may well be thought to want it. Some, how- 
 ever, averfe from reforming, think it more ex- 
 pedient to temporize with prevailing manners 
 and cuftoms j and would rather acquiefce un- 
 der, than attempt a correction of, the nume- 
 rous irregularities and evils with which we 
 abound. This may be juft and good, as well 
 as wife and politic, in certain fituations : yet, 
 if we mean any thing when we talk of human 
 perfection and human happinefs, it muft furely 
 be right to correct: errors and abufes j nor can 
 reformation pofiibly be deemed unreafonable, 
 always provided) that the reformers, amidft 
 their zeal, will ponder well the materials, the 
 Jiufy they have to work upon 97 j left, being 
 hurried on by vifions, and ideas of a perfection 
 not to be attained, they produce greater evils 
 than thofe they would remove. 
 
 In the laft century, by pufhing the fpirit of 
 reforming too f-,r, greater evils were produced 
 than the reformers had it in their view to re- 
 move. Refinance was made to the encroach- 
 ments of regal power, and made fuccefsfully : 
 but did the fpirit of reforming reft here ? No; 
 it proceeded till the monarchy was deftroyed. 
 
 97 Mens humana, Jl agat in materiam, naturam rerunn con- 
 templando, pro modo materiee operatur, atque ab eadem determi- 
 natur. Bacon. And is nor this as neceffary in the world of 
 fpirit t as in the world of matter ? 
 
 And
 
 THE W O O D. 93 
 
 And what followed then ? Why, anarchy fuo 
 ceeded monarchy j a republic, fuch as it was, 
 fucceeded anarchy ; a protectorate fucceeded a 
 republic ; and, finally, the nation, having reel- 
 ed to and fro from one form of government 
 to another, and having found no reft under 
 any, recurred at length to a monarchy, more 
 arbitrary even with their own confent, and 
 more pernicious in its confequences, than that 
 which had been abolilhed. But to proceed. 
 
 The objects of reformation are, manners, opi- 
 nions, and eftablijhments. On the article of 
 manners, enough has been written : enough to 
 fhew, that manners cannot be reformed by laws> 
 but only by education, or an eftablifhed fyftem 
 of early difcipline 98 . With regard to opinions, I 
 am free to own, with Mr. Bayle, that " there 
 " are no truths fo minute, but what are wor- 
 " thy to be promoted j no errors fo trifling, 
 <{ but what had better be corrected than re- 
 <f tamed. But, when the circumftances of time 
 " and place will not fuffer novelties to be pro- 
 " pofed, though ever fo true, without occa- 
 " fioning a thoufand diforders," I muft alfo 
 concur with Mr. Bayle in fuppofing, that " it 
 " were much better to let things remain as 
 " they are, than undertake to reform them ; 
 " fince the remedy would be worfe than the 
 " difeafe "." To which I may add, that, after 
 
 91 SeeNLIII. * 9 Dift. ARMINIUS. Note E. 
 
 all
 
 94 S Y L V A, ok 
 
 all the reformation which can be made, every 
 man will have, becaufe every man muft have^ 
 his own opinion ftill. IjWuj/xpao-ja is defined 
 by a certain phyfician humorum illud peculiar e 
 temperament um > unde Jua eft cuique Janitas, Juus 
 cuique morbus : and might he not have added, 
 if his fubject had required it,fua cuique indoles$ 
 Jua cuique OPINIO ? To fuppofe that any 
 man fhould think as I do, is to fuppofe that 
 man organized as I am ; that he has received 
 the fame temperament^ the fame nutriment^ 
 the fame education, and (which includes all) 
 the fame modification, with me, in every in- 
 ftant of his duration : in one word, it is to fup- 
 pofe, that be is what / am. Why not expect 
 from him a conformity of features, as well as 
 a conformity of opinions, with mine ? the for- 
 mer, as fhould feem, being juft as much in his 
 power, as the latter. 
 
 With regard to eftablijhmenh, I fuppofe my- 
 felf to difient from thofe, whom the fpirit of 
 reforming agitates the moft, only in this j that, 
 whereas they would have the principle of re- 
 formation to operate at all times, and in all 
 fituations of things, I would limit and confine 
 it to certain times and certain conjunctures. 
 " There is a time for all things," fays a great 
 reformer : " it is not every conjuncture which 
 <f calls with equal force upon the activity of 
 " honeft men; but critical exigencies now and 
 4 then
 
 THE W O O D. gf 
 
 then arife( 98 )." As therefore, on the one hand, 
 I would not, with a Leviathan fpirit, afiert the 
 rectitude of maintaining at all events whatever 
 was eftabliflied ; fo, on the other, I would af- 
 fert the wifdom and expediency of tolerating, 
 not only imperfections, but even evils, in an 
 eftablifhment, until thofe evils can be removed 
 without producing greater. And I feem to af- 
 fert this upon the fureft foundation > becaufe 
 the principle of reformation, unlefs reftrained 
 by this qualifying claufe, will never fuffer the 
 world to remain in quiet. As furely as no efta- 
 blifhment can be perfect, fo furely will refor- 
 mers neverbewantingtodifturb it ("). I know 
 
 (* 8 ) Mr. Burke. See to what an extent Erafmus carried 
 the idea of wailing for conjunfiures, in the bufmefs of reform- 
 ing religion. Scio quidvis effe ferendum potius, quam ut pub- 
 licus orbis flatus turbetur in pejus : fcio pietatem effe nonnun- 
 quam celare veritatem ; neque earn quovis loco, neque qwvii 
 tempore, neque apud quofvis, neque quo-vis modo t neque totam 
 ubique promendam. Epift. 501. 
 
 (") The world can never remain in peace, becaufe fecla- 
 ries and fanatics will every where think it a duty to difturb 
 
 w 
 
 And prove their doftrine orthodox 
 By apoftolic blows and knocks ; 
 Call fire, and fword, and defolation, 
 A godly thorough reformation : 
 Which always muft be carried on, 
 And ftill be doing, never done ; 
 As if religion were intended 
 
 For nothing elfe but to be mended. 
 
 HUDIBR.AJ; 
 
 the
 
 9 6 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 the difficulty of afcertaining the crifis, when 
 reformation is to commence j this muft be 
 determined by the circumftances of time and 
 place yet I cannot forbear to think as I do : 
 and, if I am in error, it muft be my love of 
 peace and good order that has milled me. 
 < e Very many perfons," fays Mr. Bayle, {C will 
 " inflexibly adhere to this maxim, That it is a 
 " lefler evil to bear with abufes in church and 
 " ftate, than to cure them by remedies which 
 <f will overturn the conftitution in church and 
 " ftate IC0 ." I muft own myfelf to be one of 
 thefe perfons : and am ready to fay, with the 
 good Bifhop Hall, that fame quiet error may be 
 better thanjome unruly truth I01 ; or, as Erafmus 
 had faid before him, tnibi adeo eft invifa difcor- 
 dia, ut veritas etiam difyliceat Jeditiofa. 
 
 But it fhould feem, as if reformations in the 
 ftate were far more eafy and far more practi- 
 cable, than reformations in the church j and, 
 accordingly, a worthy perfon hath lately exhi- 
 bited a plan, very elaborately drawn, for par- 
 liamentary independency and oeconomical reforma- 
 tion I02 . I was affected with uncommon pleafure 
 at the report of this plan, which (I thought) 
 was linking directly at the root of the thing: 
 for true fatriotifm, as a great ftatefman obferved 
 
 100 Difl. CASTELLANUS. Note Q^ 
 
 101 Decad. VI. Epift. 7. 
 
 I0t Burke's Speech, &c. on Feb. 11, 1780. 
 
 moft
 
 THE -W O O D. 97 
 
 moftjuftly, can have no foundation, but fruga- 
 lity IOJ ; and vain will be all attempts to ren- 
 der Members of Parliament independent, till 
 they can be cured of their extravagancies, and 
 prevailed on to be oeconomifts. But, to my 
 very great grief as well as furprife, the plan of 
 reformation, here propofed, has no refpeft at 
 all to the oeconomy of parliament-men, but 
 only to the expences of certain departments, 
 connected with and dependant on the court; 
 as if great and important favings might thence 
 be made to the nation. Too great favings can- 
 not be made to the nation : the nation ftands in 
 need of all that can be faved : and what Mr. 
 Burke advances, under this general idea, hath 
 a real foundation in reafon and equity. I only 
 doubt, whether the honourable gentleman, in 
 purfuing this idea, doth -not contemplate upon 
 too fmall a fcale, when he would reduce the 
 expences of royalty to the accuracy and preci- 
 fion of private oeconomy. I doubt, alfo, whe- 
 ther the favings from this reduction would be 
 indeed of fuch capital and efiential importance, 
 as is imagined. And, laftly, I doubt mod of 
 all, whether, with our prefent manners, even 
 government itfelf could make the reformation 
 propofed j that is, whether fuch reformation be 
 really practicable. 
 
 But here, Mr. Burke hath been before us : 
 
 tcj Lord Bath, in Swift's Letters. 
 
 H "I know,'*
 
 9 8 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 <c I know," fays he, <c it is common for men 
 <c to fay, that fuch and fuch things are per- 
 <f feftly right, very defirable, but unfortu- 
 <c nately not practicable. Oh, no, Sir, no : 
 <c thofe things, which are not practicable, are 
 <c not defirable 104 . Indeed? But, is not par- 
 liamentary independency defirable ; and does it 
 thence follow, that it is attainable ? Parliamen- 
 tary independency muft be according to parlia- 
 mentary manners ; which, if we may truft the 
 reprefentation of thofe who knew them well, 
 are by no means favourable to it, at prefent. 
 The late Lord Cbejkrfield, fpeaking of Sir 
 Robert Walpole, delivers himfelf on this wife 
 cc Money was the chief engine of his admini- 
 ct flration, and he employed it with a fuccefs, 
 <f which in a manner difgraced humanity. He 
 <c was not, it is true, the, inventor of that 
 <e fhameful method of governing, which had 
 < c been gaining ground infenfibly ever fmce 
 <c Charles II. ; but, with uncommon {kill and 
 tf unbounded profufion, he brought it to that 
 <c perfection, which at this time difhonours and 
 c< - diftrefles this country, and which, if not 
 te checked (and God knows bow it can now be 
 <f checked) mud ruin it 105 ." The late Lord 
 Bath, apologizing to Swift for defifling <f to 
 " ftruggle againft corruption," declared tc the 
 " v/hole nation to be fo abandoned and cor- 
 
 ^+ Spetcb, &c. Cbara3trs, &c. 
 
 " rtiptj
 
 THE WOOD. 99 
 
 ** nipt, that the Crown can never fail of a ma- 
 tl jority in both Houfes of Parliament. I am 
 <f convinced," fays he, " that our conftitu- 
 <f tion is already gone ; and we are idly ftrug- 
 <c gling to maintain, what in truth has been 
 " long loft 106 ." 
 
 Now, are things really fo as thefe noble 
 Lords have reprefented them, or are they not ? 
 for we prefume not to decide. If they be fo, 
 why then, furely, this reformation in parlia- 
 ment, fo confefledly defirable y is not, however, 
 fo confefledly -practicable l 7 * And whence, af- 
 ter all, fhould independency arife; or, were it 
 once upon its legs, how fupport itfelf ? fc Can 
 <c a nation, venal, vicious, and corrupt, long 
 <f preferve its liberty ? Liberty, to be relifhed 
 <c and preferved, requires noble, brave, and 
 " virtuous fouls : otherwife, it degenerates in- 
 <c to licentioufnefs, and ends by becoming the 
 prey of a mafter who can purchafe it. A 
 tf people, without manners, is not made to be 
 free : true liberty muft be accompanied with 
 
 106 Swiff*. Letters. 
 
 107 No difcouragement is here meant to any attempt to- 
 wards reformation : duty as well as policy fliould put us 
 upon reforming whatever can be reformed. We may mo- 
 derate evils, if we cannot remove them : and this perhaps 
 is all, the worthy perfon aims at ; governing himfelf by the 
 old rule, " of afking too much, in order to obtain enough" 
 iniquum peter f, ut <equum feral. Quintil. IV. 5. 
 
 II 2 (f a love
 
 ioo S Y L V A, OR 
 
 " a love of equity, humanity, a deep fenYe of 
 " the natural rights of men. Feelings of this 
 '* kind can only be the fruits of a liberal and 
 t( virtuous education j far different from that 
 ct narrrow and fervile mode ,of educating, 
 <f which now prevails in every country. What 
 < f then can be wanting to complete the hap- 
 " pinefs of a people, who glory in the beft 
 <( and freeft constitution ? What remains to be 
 lf defired by a nation, into whofe ports the 
 " riches of the world find their way ? This re- 
 tc mains to be defired : a generous education, 
 <f integrity of manners, true notions of juftice j 
 * c in a word, difpofitions and appetites, oppo- 
 cc fite to that ardent and unquenchable thirft 
 <f after filthy lucre, the abundance whereof is 
 (< fit only to ftifle and extinguifh virtues the 
 <c moft noble, the moft ufeful to fociety. 
 
 * f People of Britain, whence thefe continual 
 <c alarms ? thefe factions which tear you, thefe 
 <e dark and fplenetic humours which devour 
 <c you ? The treafures you accumulate, far 
 " from confirming your happinefs, are to you 
 ct a never-ceafing fource of trouble. How is 
 tc it, that, in the very bofom of liberty and 
 ef abundance, we fee you deep in reverie, un- 
 <c quiet, and more difTatisficd with your lot, 
 <c than the meaneft and moft contemptible 
 " flaves ? Learn the true caufe of your anxieties 
 <( and your fears. The love of gold never 
 
 <e makes
 
 THE WOOD. 101 
 
 cf makes good citizens. Liberty cannot be 
 " firmly eftabliflied, but upon equity ; or 
 (< bravely defended, but by virtue. Leave to 
 <f defpots the foolifh and deftructive glory of 
 tc making conquefts, and be content with en- 
 <f joying the blefiings of nature in peace. Cul- 
 " tivate then, O Britons, reafon and wifdom : 
 ** employ yourfelves in perfecting your go- 
 " vernment and your laws. Fear luxury, fatal 
 <c to manners, fatal to liberty : dread fanati- 
 " cifm, political and religious. So fhall your 
 5 C fortunate IQe become the model of nations, 
 " and your liberty fhine propitious to all the 
 " people upon earth IO V > 
 
 XXXII. 
 
 OF LIBELS 109 . 
 
 pONCERNING Libels and Libellers, much 
 
 hath been faid, and much hath been done. 
 
 Indeed too much, as I am free to think j and I 
 
 have often wifhed, that the public perfonages 
 
 108 Une nation venale, vicieufe, corrompue, peut-elle 
 done long-terns conferver fa liberte ? &c. Syjleme Social. 
 Part II. ch. 6. 
 
 109 Lord Bacon calls Libels, " the females of fedition ;" 
 as if the fcolding, or tongue-part of the conflict, were per- 
 formed by them, ffi/f. of Henry VII. 
 
 H f
 
 102 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 of the realm would not be quite fo tender- 
 fibred and irritable, with regard to what is faid 
 or written about them. 
 
 The famous Reformer Calvin told Francis I. 
 that " there would be no fuch thing as inno- 
 tf cence, either in words or deeds, if a fimple 
 " accufation was fufficient to deftroy it :" nul- 
 lam neque in diffis, neque in faffis, innocentiam 
 fore, fi accufaffe Jufficiat ". Now, if this be 
 really fo, as I verily believe it is : if cenforious 
 criticifm, detraction, and calumny, muft more 
 efpecially accompany men, engaged in the tur- 
 bid fphere of active life; and if nothing can fe- 
 cure from thefe, but imbecility, infignificancy, 
 indolence, or obfcurity, of all which I am 
 moft firmly perfuaded, what is fatire and a- 
 bufe ? no criterion, furely, of innocence or 
 guilt : nothing, or it may be nothing, but the 
 fermentations and ebullitions of human pre- 
 judices and human paffions "'. Befides, the 
 profecution, or (which they will always call it) 
 
 110 In Dedicat. Inftitut. 
 
 111 What is (caudal? It is, as thus veryjuftly defined, 
 Sermojine ullo certo autlore difperfus, cut malignitas initium dc- 
 dit, incrementum credulitas ; quod nulli non t etiam innocentif- 
 jimoypojfit acddere : that is, " a vague and fcandalous report, 
 
 *' from no certain author, invented by malice, and nurtured 
 " by credulity ; and which" (contrary to the proverb of 
 nofmoke without fire) " may be propagated of the moft in- 
 " nocent man alive." Quintilian, V. 3. 
 
 the
 
 THE WOOD. 103 
 
 the perfecution, of Libellers can never produce 
 any other effect, but to give weight and con- 
 feqtience to both the Libel and the Libeller: 
 that of Tacitus being univerfally true, punitis 
 ingeniis glijcit auftoritas. Nay, there is no oc- 
 cafion for ingenuity, if that idea be included 
 here, to give a luftre to the profecution : fince 
 nothing is more frequent, than that writers of 
 neither fenfe, nor wit, nor learning, nor ho- 
 nefty, become, by being prolecuted, poffefTed 
 of them all. 
 
 Philofophers have from time to time held 
 out to poor fufferers in this way (I mean, to 
 thofe who have wept under the fmart of fatire) 
 certain medicamina mentis, certain fpecifics to 
 render the mind callous and infenfible to this 
 fort of correction ; and one of them, I think, 
 prefcribes the following recipe : " Whenever 
 " you labour under defamation, or whenever 
 " any thing falfe is reported to your difcredit, 
 " confider, that it is not you, but fome imagi- 
 " nary perfonage, to whom the imputed ia- 
 <f famy belongs." But this feems nothing near 
 fo efficacious, as the virulence and malignity 
 of the cafe may require. For if Robert, mif- 
 taking in the dark, fhould fall upon the fhoul- 
 ders of Richard with a cudgel, would the im- 
 prefiions be lefs forcible, or the fenfations 
 lefs lively, becaufe Richard might not be the 
 perfon, for whom the favour was intended ? 
 There is more good fenfe, if not fo much - 
 H 4 fubtlcty,
 
 104 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 fubtlety, in the faying of Auguftus j who, 
 when urged by his fon-in-law to purfue this 
 race of fcribblers, replied, f< Don't indulge 
 " a fpirit of refentment againft thefe our ad- 
 " verfaries ; it is quite fufficient, that we are 
 (< not in a fituation to be hurt by any one :" 
 Jatis eft, mi Tiberi, ft hoc habemus, ne quis no bis 
 male facer e pojfit Iia . 
 
 But, neither does this entirely pleafe me : 
 for, firft, this Emperor derived his boafled 
 fecurity from ufurpation and tyranny ; and, 
 then, he afterwards became himfelf a fevere 
 profecutor of 'libellous productions IIJ . The ex- 
 ample of Timoleon is more perfect in its kind. 
 This wife and virtuous man, being wrong- 
 fully accufed in an affembly of the people, in- 
 ftead of refenting or even taking it ill, thank- 
 ed the immortal Gods for granting what he had 
 fo often prayed for $ which was, that fc the Sy- 
 " racufans might have the liberty of fpeaking 
 < f what, and of whom, they would, with im- 
 " punity "V This example is, I fay, more 
 perfect j but then, alas ! it is too perfect for the 
 age we live in : it is above the ftrength of men, as 
 men are now oToi v\Jv figoroi luri. I chufe there- 
 fore, upon the whole, to recommend the beha- 
 
 111 Sueton. in Aug. 51. 
 
 113 Primus Auguftus cognitionem defamojis Libellis,fpecie k-> 
 +ls Majeftatii, tratfavit. Tacit. Ann. I. 
 *'* Nepoe in Titr.o!, 
 
 viour
 
 THE WOOD. 105 
 
 viour of the Emperor Conftantine j who, be- 
 ing importuned to punifli fome feditious per- 
 fons, for disfiguring his ftatues by throwing 
 ftones at them, did nothing more than calmly 
 ftroke his face, and tell his friends with a 
 finile, that he did not perceive himfelf to be 
 hurt 1IS . This cold contempt of what men fajr 
 or think, feems to have been the fpecific of our 
 celebrated Doctor Swift againft impreffions 
 from the malignity of fcandal, as fet forth in 
 a poem he has left us j which, being fhort and 
 edifying, may as well be here fubjoined. 
 
 ON CENSURE, in 1727. 
 
 YE wife, inftrucl: me to endure 
 
 An evil, which admits no cure : 
 
 Or how this evil can be borne, 
 
 Which breeds at once both hate and fcorn. 
 
 Bare innocence is ntrfupport, 
 
 When you are tried in fcandal's court. 
 
 Stand high in honour, wealth, and wit : 
 
 All others who inferior fit 
 
 Conceive themfelves in confcience bound 
 
 To join and drag you to the ground. 
 
 Your altitude offends the eyes 
 
 Of thofe, who want the power to rife. 
 
 The world, a willing ftander-by, 
 
 Inclines to aid a fpecious lye : 
 
 Chryfoilom. Homil. 20. 
 
 Alas !
 
 io6 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 " Alas ! they would not do you wrong, 
 " But all appearances are ftrong." 
 
 Yet, whence proceeds this weight we lay 
 On what detracting people fay ? 
 For let mankind difcharge their tongues 
 In venom, till they burft their lungs, 
 Their utmoft malice cannot make 
 Your head, or tooth, or finger ake : 
 Nor fpoil your fhape, diftort your face, 
 Or put one feature out of place : 
 Nor will you find your fortune fink, 
 By what they fpeak, or what they think : 
 Nor can ten hundred thoufand lyes 
 Make you lefs virtuous, learn'd, or wife. 
 
 The moft effectual way to baulk 
 Their malice, is to let them talk. 
 
 XXXIII. 
 
 OF THE LIBERTY OF THE PRESS. 
 
 cc ^pHE Liberty of the Prefs," faith a certain 
 writer " 6 , " is the palladium of all the 
 (C civil, political, and religious rights of an 
 { Englifhman," to which I have no objec- 
 tion : but he contends, that cc no particular 
 
 116 Junius, in Dedicat. Pref. and Lett. 61. 
 
 " abufes
 
 THE W O O D. 107 
 
 (t abufes ought, in reafon and equity, to pro- 
 " duce a general forfeiture, or to abolifh the 
 " ufe of it," to which I muft object very 
 loudly. I agree, that abuje ought not to abo- 
 lifh ufe ; but I infift, that this pofition cannot 
 be maintained fo abfolutely, as is here fup- 
 pofed. For, furely, whenever the evils, arifing 
 from the abufe, Ihall exceed the evils, which 
 would arife from aloltjhmg the ufe, then this 
 uje in reafon ought to be abolijhed ; provided 
 only, that the abufe be incorrigible. 
 
 With regard to the Liberty of the Prefs, I 
 fhall not defcant, whether abufes might or ought 
 not to abolifh its ufe : perfuaded am I fincerely, 
 that, if our prefent manners hold, they moft 
 affuredly -will. When the Prefs ridicules openly 
 and barefacedly the moft revered and funda- 
 mental doctrines of religion: when the Prefs, in 
 political matters, attacks perfons without any 
 regard to things, or perhaps attacks things for 
 the fake of abufing perfons : when the Prefs 
 not only wantonly aflaults the firft characters 
 in church and ftate, but even facrifices the 
 peace and quiet of private families to the fport 
 and entertainment of an ill-natured public : 
 and is it not notorious, that all this is done 
 daily 1 ' 7 ? then, I fay, this noble, reafonable, 
 
 and 
 
 117 <c Such writings the vulgar more greedily read, as 
 " being taken with petulance and fcurrility. They are the 
 
 " food
 
 io8 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 and manly Liberty is degenerated into a bafe, 
 unwarrantable, cruel licentioufnefs j and this 
 licentioufnefs determine as logically, and con- 
 tend as loudly, as you pleafe will, by an un- 
 avoidable confequence flowing from the nature 
 and conftitution of things, fooner or later bring 
 about its deftru&ion. Things are fo formed, 
 that extremes muft ever beget, and prepare the 
 way for, extremes. Abufes of every thing 
 muft deftroy the ufe of every thing : and if the 
 people grow licentious and ungovernable, it is 
 as natural, perhaps as neceffary, for their rulers 
 to increafe their reftraint, and abridge their 
 liberty , as for the breakers of horfes to tighten 
 the reins, in proportion as their deeds fhall 
 ihew an impatience to be managed ll8 . 
 
 It has been faid, that without freedom of 
 thought there can be no fuch thing as wifdom, 
 
 '* food of men's natures, the diet of the times. The writer 
 " muft lye ; and the gentle reader refts happy, to hear 
 " the worthieft works mifinterpreted, the cleareft actions 
 ' obfcured, the innocenteft life traduced.'* Ben Jonfon's 
 Difcoveries. 
 
 118 Montaigne looked upon " fcribbling, as the fign of 
 *' a licentious age ;'* and thought, that " there fhould be 
 " laws againft foolifh and impertinent fcribblers, as well 
 * as againft vagabonds and idle perfons." Effais, iii. 9. 
 The misfortune is, that it would be difficult to draw the 
 line betwixt foolifh and wife fcribblers ; and a licenfer, 
 with an imprimatur, would defeat the end of all fcribblers, 
 wife as well as foolifh, 
 
 nor
 
 THE WOOD. 109 
 
 nor any fuch thing as liberty without freedom 
 of fpeech : and, becaufe the latter is true in a 
 qualified fenfe, and under certain limitations, 
 the authority of Tacitus has been abfurdly and 
 even ftupidly obtruded, as a warrant to take off 
 all reftraint, and allow ourfelves an unbounded 
 licence, as well in fpeaking as in thinking. 
 " Rare and happy times," fays he, " when a 
 " man may think what he will, and fpeak what 
 " he thinks :" rara temporumfelicitas, ubi fen- 
 tire qua velis, et qu<e Jentias dicere, licet. Rare 
 and happy times indeed ! But pray, good 
 Sirs, what times were thofe, or who has read 
 of any times, when men were not at liberty to 
 think as they would ? A man may think as he 
 . pleafes in the worft times, as well as in the beft, 
 becaufe thought, as they fay, is at all times 
 free : but ' can a man at any time, or under 
 any government, even the beft, be allowed the 
 liberty of fpeaking what he pleafes, of commu- 
 nicating himfelf up to the ftandard of his 
 ideas ? May every man fpeak of every man, 
 what, for inftance, the fpleen of humour, or the 
 caprice of imagination, Ihall happen to fug- 
 ged ? But thefe gentry, in truth, know as lit- 
 tle of Tacitus, as they do of fociety, and what 
 it will bear. " If life remains," fays he, ct I 
 " have referved, for the employment of my 
 " old age, the reign of the deified Nerva, 
 
 " with
 
 no S Y L V A, OR 
 
 cc with that of the Emperor Trajan ; a work 
 ec more copious, as well as more fafe : fuch is 
 ec the rare felicity of thefe times, when you are 
 cc at full liberty to entertain what fentiments 
 " you pleafe, and to declare what fentiments 
 <c you entertain." I'o declare what Jentiments 
 you entertain : yes, but of whom, or what ? 
 not of every man you meet, or of every thing 
 that happens : Tacitus underftood human af- 
 fairs in a different manner : but of thofe par- 
 ticular reigns, oppofed to former tyrannical 
 reigns j when men, far from fpeaking out, 
 durft fcarcely truft themfelves even with their 
 own thoughts. 
 
 It is remarkable, that the freeft thinkers, as 
 as well as the freeft fpeakers, have never al- 
 lowed fuch a licence in theory, whatever them- 
 felves may have taken in practice. <f Let us 
 cc feek truth," fays one, " but feek it quietly 
 <c as well as freely. Let us not imagine, like 
 <f fome who are called free-thinkers, that 
 (f every man, who can think and judge for 
 <f himfelf, as he has a right to do, has there- 
 <e fore a right of /peaking, any more than of 
 ce acting, according to the full freedom of his 
 " thoughts. The freedom belongs to him as 
 " a rational creature : he lies under reflraint as 
 Cf a member of fociety. We may communi- 
 e< cate our thoughts only fo, as it may be done 
 
 < c without
 
 THE WOOD. in 
 
 " without offending the laws of our country, 
 and difturbing the public peace "V 
 
 And if this be true about things and opi- 
 nions, fhall it not be fo, a fortiori^ when ap- 
 plied to perfons and characters ? Muft a phi- 
 lofopher be circumfpect and guarded, when 
 treating of abftract proportions, or difcuffing 
 fpeculative points which few can comprehend ; 
 while any low, malicious, unprincipled wretch 
 lhall be permitted to fcatter firebrands indif- 
 criminately in foqiety, and vomit out fcurrility 
 and abufe, without juftice and without mea- 
 fure ? Will any man fay, that the laws of our 
 country are not offended^ and the peace offociety 
 difturbed, more in the latter cafe than in the 
 former ? I know it will be afked, where will 
 you draw the line of diftinction ? how afcer- 
 tain the point, where liberty ends, and licen- 
 tioufnefs begins ? and I (hall in this, as in 
 many other cafes, allow the extreme difficulty 
 of marking boundaries IZO , and reducing hu- 
 man affairs to precifion and exaclnefs > but I 
 believe neverthelefs, that, unlefs fome expe- 
 dient can be hit upon to correct the very atro- 
 cious abufe of the Prefs, the deftruction of its 
 ufe will be found unavoidable. 
 
 119 Lord Bolinglroke. ' 
 
 ** Rerum natura nullam dedit cognltlonem finium , ut vlla irt 
 rtjtatntrt pojfimtts, quatentu, &c. Cicero. 
 
 As
 
 in S Y L V A, OR 
 
 As to any formed defign againft the Liberty 
 of the Prefs, about which fome have dreamed, 
 I cannot fuffer myfelf to be at all apprehenfive 
 of it : it is of more ufe and importance to a 
 King of Great Britain, than (if pofiible) to any 
 of his fubjects j and this alone fuffices with me 
 to ftifle and keep down every rifing jealoufy* 
 In abfolute defpotic governments, where the 
 will of the Prince is the law of the country, 
 where all things are adminiftered by force arid 
 arms, and where the glory of the Grand Mo- 
 narque is the fole end and object of the mo- 
 narchy, it matters not much for him to know, 
 what the condition of his fubjects is, and what 
 they fay or think about him : but in a quali- 
 fied and limited monarchy, like ours, where the 
 King is no more than the Firft Magiftrate ap- 
 pointed by the people, where he is as bound to 
 obey the laws as the rrieaneft of his fubje&s, 
 and where the well-being of thefe fubjects is 
 the fole end of his appointment furely to 
 fuch a Prince it muft be of the laft confequence 
 to know, as minutely as he can, what is doing 
 in every corner of his kingdom j what the ftate 
 and condition of his fubje&s; whether they 
 enjoy plenty, proportioned to their induftry j 
 and whether, in fhort, the end of his kingly 
 government be in every refpeft anfwered ? All 
 this, I fay, and more, a King of Great Britain 
 
 - mult
 
 THE WOOD. uj 
 
 riluft know as he" can : but how muft he know 
 hf 
 
 A King, let his dijcernment offpirits be what 
 it will, let him pry ever fo acutely into the 
 heads and hearts of thofe about him, will ne* 
 ver be able to pierce through the manifold dif- 
 guifes, which courtiers always know how to 
 wrap themfelves in. By courtiers are not meant 
 thofe gaudy painted images, which move me- 
 chanically about a palace, and are really no- 
 thing more than fo much furniture ; but thofe* 
 who are entrufted with the great offices, to 
 whom the administration of affairs is commit- 
 ted, and who for the mod part manage and di- 
 rect the reins of government as they pleafe* 
 And as he cannot difcover, by any natural fa- 
 gacity in himfelf, the latent principles of things, 
 any more than the real characters of pcrfons ; 
 fo he muft not expect to receive any effeRual 
 information from others. For, I fuppofe, it 
 will be no fatire upon any particular court, 
 that now is, or ever was, to fay, that there ne- 
 ver was a Prince, who was told by any of his 
 fervants all thofe truths, which it concerned 
 him to know. At leaft this feems a propofition 
 fo very well grounded, that I do not think the 
 fevere plain-dealing of a Clarendon, or the ho- 
 neft bluntnefs of a Sully, fufficient to form an 
 exception to it. The Emperor Diocletian made 
 the difficulty of reigning well, to confift chieily 
 
 I in
 
 H4 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 in the difficulty of arriving at the real know- 
 ledge of affairs. " Four or five courtiers," 
 fays he, " form themfelves into a cabal, and 
 " unite in their counfels to deceive the Em- 
 * peror. They fay what will pleafe their maf- 
 " ter j who, being (hut up in his palace, is a 
 " flranger to the truth, and forced to know 
 " only what they think fit to tell him 12 V' 
 
 Now this great hindrance to good govern- 
 ment, as Diocletian thought it, is almoft, if 
 not altogether, removed by the juftly valued 
 Liberty of the Prefs. By means of this, the 
 loweft fubjed may find accefs to the Throne j 
 and, by means of this, the King has a key, if 
 I may fo call it, to all manner of intelligence : 
 nor is there any thing, the lead important to 
 government, of which he can remain long un- 
 informed, unlefs he defignedly {huts his eyes. 
 It is not meant that he fhould fuddenly adopt, 
 as real truth and matter of fact, every thing 
 which may be read in the public prints : 
 
 tai DiQcletianui dixit, nihil effe diffidlim quam Irene imperare, 
 Colligunt fe quatuor i>el quinque, atque ttnum con/ilium ad deci- 
 piendum Imperatorem capiunt. Dicunt, quid probandum Jit. 
 Jmperator, qui dfmi claufus eft, vera nan n'omit : cogitur tan- 
 turn bee fcire, quod illi loquuntur. VopHcus in Aureliano. 
 ' Princes," fays Ben Jonfon, " learn no art truly, but 
 c the art of horfemanfliijx. The reafon is, the brave beaft 
 *' is no flatterer : he will throw a Prince, as foon as Kb 
 * f groom." Di/coverics. 
 
 and
 
 THE WOOD. 115 
 
 and many perhaps may think, that amidft fo 
 much mifreprefentation and error, fo much 
 partiality and difguife, fo much indifcriminate 
 fcurrility and abufe, he can hardly depend 
 upon any thing at all, or take any meafures 
 from fuch a chaos of truth and falfehood. But 
 of this chaos, were it ten times more fo, it is 
 indifputably certain, that very much ufe, and 
 very many advantages, may be made. The 
 King may be directed to find, what he would 
 never have thought of looking for : more than 
 glimmerings will ever and anon appear, which 
 will enable him to pu(h his difcoveries far ; 
 and he will trace from hence many things to 
 their fource, which would otherwife have re- 
 mained for ever unknown. In fhort, from 
 thefe public intelligencers, ibme things will be 
 hinted, others fpoken out more freely, others 
 prefented in their full glare ; and thus, upon 
 the whole, all concerns of moment will lie open 
 before him. 
 
 Wicked and felfifh minifters know this fq 
 well, that we have often heard of management, 
 in courts very corrupt, to flop up thefe chan- 
 nels of intelligence to the Prince. They know, 
 that by them a conftant commerce, correfpOn- 
 dence, and union, as it were, may be maintained 
 between the Prince and his people. They 
 know, that While thefe are fo maintained, 
 they vainly attempt to cabal, and to impofe 
 I 2 upon
 
 n6 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 upon their matter ; and if, notwithftanding, 
 they will not tell him all the truth they fhould, 
 yet they dare not abufe him with mifreprefen- 
 tation and lyes. Why ? becaufe difcovery is 
 inftantly at hand, and becaufe difgrace and 
 ruin will tread upon the heels of it. So that, 
 all things confidered, the advantage to the So- 
 vereign from the Liberty of the Prefs is one 
 great fecurity with me for the continuance and 
 prefervation of it ; nor, I perfuade myfelf, will 
 its abolition ever be attempted by any King, 
 who knows his true intereft, and purfues the 
 well-being and happinefs of his people, as the 
 fble end and object of his reigning. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 OF JURIES. 
 
 TURIES, or the trial per fares, is an efiential 
 J part of the Englifh conftitution, being ex- 
 prefsly fpecified in Magna Charta. Yet an au- 
 thor, very learned in the law, " conceives, 
 " that by this was meant chiefly the trial of 
 " the barons by their peers ; though it hath, 
 < c fortunately for the liberties of this country, 
 " been expounded to extend to the trial of all 
 " perfons by a Jury." He thinks that a French 
 
 law,
 
 THE WOOD. 117 
 
 law, by which " all nobles were to be tried 
 " par leurs pairs," made near the time of our 
 Magna Cbarta, and by perfons of the fame or- 
 der, namely, the nobles and barons in both 
 kingdoms, may rightly be confidered as expo- 
 fitory of the Englifh "*. ' But, however an- 
 cient and conftitutional their power, there are 
 not wanting perfons to ridicule and condemn 
 it. The Scythian Anacharfis, having feen the 
 orators haranguing the people at Athens, ex- 
 prefled his furprife, that " in Greece wife 
 " men pleaded caufes, but fools determined 
 ft them ltj :" and fome, with us, think it 
 equally abfurd, that fuch fort of perfons, as 
 ufually compofe our Juries, fhould be made 
 judges in matters of law : they would confine 
 their judgment, or power of deciding, to the 
 matter of faff. 
 
 It is certain, that this latter notion of Juries, 
 
 whether well or ill grounded, is by no means 
 
 new : for all our law-books infift upon it, as the 
 
 prime and eflential qualification of a Jurymatfe 
 
 that he be chofen out of the Vifne, that is, 
 
 vicinage or neighbourhood j de i)icineto t ubi 
 
 fattum fupponitur, fays Fortefcue " 4 j becaufe, 
 
 as they write, vicinus fafta vicini $r<ef unlit ur 
 
 fcirc " 5 ; but fay little or nothing of his qua- 
 
 111 Barrington, on Ancient Statutes, p. 29. ^d edit. 
 * J Plut. in Solon. ** De Laud. Leg. c. ao, 
 
 " Hawkins's P. C. II. 23. 
 
 J 3 iifications
 
 S Y L, V A, OR 
 
 lifications in law; and therefore include only 
 
 half the idea of a Juryman according to thofe, 
 
 who will have him a judge of law as well a* 
 
 faff. There is a pafTage in Bradon, which 
 
 feems to fhew, that, in Henry the Third's 
 
 time, it was the duty of the Judge to eon- 
 
 troul the verdict of the Jury : Jed, cum ad 
 
 fttdicew pertineat juftum pr of erre judicium, epor- 
 
 tebit eum diligenter examinare, Ji dicl& Jurato~ 
 
 rum inje <veritatem contineant, etji eorumjuftu,m 
 
 fit judicium-) velfatuum; ne,Ji contingat Judicsm 
 
 eorum diStaJcqui et earum judicium, ita faljum fa~ 
 
 ciat judicium et fatuum n<s . Lord Clarendon 
 
 declares himfelf explicitly of opinion, that the 
 
 Jury are not to judge of the law > and fpeaks 
 
 contemptuoufly pf Hobbes, for making them 
 
 judges pf law as well as jfaf? U7 . I fhould riot, 
 
 I confefs, have fufpected Hobbes of any biafs, 
 
 in favour of the people or their privileges; 
 
 tnd if he has any where exprefled himfelf in* 
 
 confidently with his general fyftem, fo it is: 
 
 t>ut he certainly fays, that < f thefe twelve men, 
 
 *' the Jury, are no court of equity or of juftice, 
 
 t* becaufe they determine not what is juft or 
 
 f unjuft, but only whether it be done or not 
 
 <c ^ done : and their judgment is nothing clfe, 
 
 " but a confirmation of that, which is properly 
 
 the judgment of the witneffes n8 ." Laftly, 
 
 4:8 Lib. IV. c. 19. ia? Survey of LeviathaH> p. 129. 
 
 ** s Works, p. 598. edit. 1750. t 
 
 the
 
 THE WOOD. 119 
 
 the excellent Montefquieu, if I underftand 
 him, had the fame notion of our Juries : " In 
 " England," fays he, " the Jurors decide, 
 <( whether or no the accufed be guilty of the 
 " faff brought before them "V 
 
 On the other hand, Littleton in his 'Tenures 
 exprefsly fays, that, " if a Jury will take upon 
 c * them the knowledge of the law upon the 
 " matter, they may IJO ;" to which Lord Coke 
 agrees, in his comment thereupon. And in- 
 deed it is not eafy to conceive, how thefe 
 twelve men can properly bring in a verdict 
 (that is, can pronounce a man guilty or not 
 guilty) without being judges of the law as well 
 as of the faff , becaufe a combination of both 
 thefe ideas is neceflary to afcertajn and fix the 
 idea of a crime. Sir Thomas Smith, in his De 
 Republica Anglorum^ has the following pafiage, 
 in his chapter upon Juries : Quamprimum jtirif- 
 jurandi religione obftringuntur Duodecemviri ad 
 fatti veritatem dicendam, tumjurifperiti fafti fpe- 
 ciem aperiunt : tibi res teftibus conjirmata, Jit- 
 dexfub verborum compendia propoftta a jureconful~ 
 tis in utramque partem argumenta Duodecemviris 
 alte a capite repetit ; tcjlium difta commemorat - t 
 rurfufque fadti fpeciem inculcat IJI . Thefpecies 
 
 11 5 E/t Angleterre, les Jures ditidtnt / P actuje tft coufablt 
 911 nsn dufnit, q.i: a tte porte dcvamt tux. L'Efprit, &c, 
 VI. 3. 
 
 386. *3Lib. 11. 18. 
 
 I 4
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 iy the nature, \hejpecific nature, of the 
 is, we fee, fully and accurately fet forth to 
 Jury : and with reafon ; for, without knowing 
 the nature as well a? certainty of the fact, how 
 ftiall they judge of its. legality or illegality, 
 its criminality or its innocence ? and, without 
 thefe, how bring a verdift, pr pronounce about 
 guilt ni ? 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 PF ENGLISH PATRIOTISM, WITH THE IDEA, 
 WHICH FOREIGNERS HAVE OF IT. 
 
 \X7HOEVER fhpuld take a view of political 
 manoeuvres in England, mud be ready to 
 fuppofe it one of the beft governed nations 
 upon earth. For why ? he would fee all ranks 
 and prpfcflions, all ages and fexes, anxious al- 
 
 n * There is a curious medal of the famous John Lilborne^ 
 who flood a trial under Cromwell , which, as far as its au- 
 thority goes, confirms the above notion of the rights of a 
 Jury. The medallion reprefents his effigies to the life, with 
 this remarkable inscription : John. Lilborne. fa<ved. by. the. 
 Jxnuer. of. the. Lord. and. the. integrity, of. bis. Jury, who, 
 are. judges, of. lavj. as, ivell, as.fafl. Off. 26. 1649. Eve- 
 lyn upon Medals, p. 171. See particularly, upon this fub- 
 jeft, a piece intitled, The Englijhman's Right t or a Dialogue 
 nlou Jurifj. By Sir Jphn Hawles. 
 
 ways,
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 v. r ays, and fometimes even feditious, for juft 
 and right administration in the affairs of ftate. 
 But this apparent benefit is a real misfortune, 
 as it tends to keep us ever reftlefs and un- 
 quiet : and I call the benefit apparent, becaufe, 
 upon a nearer infpedion, this zeal for the ftate 
 will ufually be found only a zeal for the zealot j 
 I mean, that all his pretences and clamours for 
 the Public have, at the bottom, no other ob- 
 ject but his own private emolument. Let 
 me, upon this occafion, call forth a certain 
 anecdote from antiquity, which, while it illuf- 
 frates and countenances what 1 fay, may by 
 proper meditation be rendered highly edifying : 
 it is, that of more thanfixty patriots, or liberty- 
 men, who confpired againft Julius C<?far, not 
 one, excepting Brutus, was believed to have 
 been influenced by the noblenefs and fplendor 
 
 of the deed, TV Aa/xTr^&Tfl-n xa TW xaAu Tjjf Tygoifctus, 
 
 but to have acted folely from imerefted and 
 felfifh motives IJJ . 
 
 The truth of the cafe is, and almoft every 
 one now feems reafonably well convinced of it, 
 that all this buftle and conteft among us is IJ4 , 
 
 133 Plutarch, in Bruto, 
 
 J* 4 This conteft hath now for many years fo wholly ta- 
 Jcen up our political leaders, that the police of die kingdom, 
 and all interior regulations, which far more concern our 
 well-being and happinefs than ivho Jhail govern, have been 
 almoft totally neglected. 
 
 ?? not
 
 raft S Y L V A, OR 
 
 " not low the government fhall be admini- 
 " frered, but who fhall adminifter it :" magis 
 quorum in marni fit, to ufe the language of Livy, 
 quam ut incolumis fit refpufrliea, quart. And 
 this is the idea, which foreigners in general en- 
 tertain of the Englifh. " Very long experi- 
 tf ence proves," fays one of them, " that the 
 * f patriotifm of thofe, who oppofe the go- 
 '-* vernment, hath no other obje<5t but to teaze 
 " the Sovereign, to thwart the meafures of his 
 " minifters, to traverfe their beft concerted 
 projeds -, and folely, that themfelves may 
 * have a ftiare in the miniflry 1J5 . An Englifh 
 ** patriot is commonly nothing more than an 
 ambitious man, who makes efforts to fuc- 
 * ceed the minifters he decries ; or a covetous, 
 < greedy-minded man, who wifhes to amafs 
 " treafure j or a factious, turbulent man, who 
 
 135 The original goes on, " that is to fay, in tbefpaih 
 " of the nation ;" as if to plunder was equally the obje^ 
 of all who govern.i This writer IhouUJ feem to have thought 
 with Themiftpcles ; who, wheji the. people of Athens mur- 
 mured at exaftions, and were importunate for a change of 
 magiftrates, pacified them with the following apologue. 
 * r A fox {ticking fail in a bog, whither he had defcended 
 " in queft of water, flies fwarmed upon him, and almoft 
 '* fucked out all his blood. To an hedgehog, who kindly 
 ' offered to difperfe them, No, replied the fox ; for, if 
 ** tbefe nuho are glutted be frighted away, an hungry fwarm. 
 v will fuccetdy who will devour the littlt blood remaining.''* 
 -Plutarch. 
 
 " feeks
 
 THE W O O. D. 
 
 < f feeks to reflore a (battered fortune. But 
 <c are patriots of this ftamp formed to take fin- 
 " cerely to heart the interefts of their country ? 
 " Accordingly, when they obtain the places 
 " they wanted, they follow precifely the tracks 
 " of their predeceffors, and become in their 
 <f turn the objects of envy and clamour tQ 
 " thofe they difpoflelTed, who are now again 
 <c the patriots and favorites of the Public : for 
 Cf a fickle reftlefs people always believe thofe 
 <e to be their true friends, who are the enemies. 
 " of the perfons in power ; and thus, not a 
 * jot the wifer by experience, are enfnared 
 " and taken by the fame popular arts, practif- 
 " ed upon them in an eternal fucceffion I3 V 
 
 XXXVI. or 
 
 136 Une tres longue experience prouve, que dans 1> 
 Grande Bretagne le Patriotifme de ceux, qui fe montrent 
 oppofes a la cour ou au parti du miniftere, n'a pour objet 
 que d'importuner le Souverain, de contrarier les aflions de 
 ccs miniftres, dc renverfer leurs projets les plus fenfes ; 
 uniquement, pour avoir part foi-meme au rainiftere, c'eft 
 i dire, aux depouilles de la nation, Le Patriete Anglws 
 a'eft communement qu'an ambitieux, tfff. Syftlme Social, 
 Part II. ch. 6. Is not the Tingle inftance of Pvlttney, fuffi. 
 eient to cure men of being hallooed, and led on furioufly, 
 by patriots, if experience could make wife? Walpde's mini- 
 ^Iry was oppofed and attaeksd many years, and Pulteney 
 was at the head of the opposition : yet no fooner was Wai- 
 fob diiven off, than Pulteney and Carteret entered into 
 private negotiations with the Newfaft!/ party, who were 
 men of ffaifoJe's meafures } and, coinpromifing matters, 
 
 Pultevtj
 
 124 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 OF THE CONDUCT OF EAST INDIA ADVEN- 
 TURERS. 
 
 is the reafon, that men fhould con- 
 cur to do in a body, what not one indivi- 
 dual of them would even think offingle? The 
 fame, which permits men to act in the Indies, 
 what in Europe they would fhudder at with 
 horror. An Englifhman, a Dutchman, a 
 Frenchman, a Spaniard, or a Portuguefe, fets 
 out to thefe regions, in order to make a for- 
 tune. When he hath crofTed the Line, or per- 
 haps before, he ceafes to be any of thefe, or in- 
 deed of any country : in fhort, he ceafes to be 
 human. As Abbe Raynal fays, <f he is a do- 
 
 Puheney became Lord Bath, and Carterst Lord Grenville. 
 They took very few of their compatriots with them into 
 the new-formed miniftry : and Lord ChefterfelJ, being one 
 that was left behind.expreffed his refentment thus, in a paper 
 galled " Old England, or the Conflitutional Journal, N i. 
 " Feb. 5, 1743." " This pap er,"fays he, (t is undertaken 
 " againft thofe, who have found the fecret of acquiring 
 " more infamy in ten months, than their predeceflbrs, 
 *' with all the pains they took, could acquire in twenty 
 " years. We have feen the noble fruits of a twenty years 
 " oppofition blafted by the connivance and treachery of a 
 " few, who, by all the ties of gratitude and honour, ought 
 " to have cheriftied and preferred them to the people.' ? 
 
 " meftic
 
 THE WOOD. 125 
 
 " meftic tiger, again let loofe in the woods, 
 " and who is again feized with the thirft of 
 " blood. Such have all the Europeans been, 
 " when arrived at the regions of the new 
 if world j where they have been actuated with 
 " one common rage, the pafllon for gold 137 :" 
 and, after being fatiated with blood and gold, 
 they come home in the fhape of firft-rate 
 gentry, and are received as humane, juft, equi- 
 table, good kind of perfons. 
 
 The following is an extract from the Ga- 
 zetteer > dated " Eail India Houfe, 13 May, 
 <{ 1784. The Court of Directors having rc- 
 " ceived intelligence, that, fome boats with fea- 
 *' poys having been wrecked near Cannonare, 
 " about two hundred of them were feized and 
 " detained by the Bibby, notwithftanding re- 
 <f peated applications made for their releafe : 
 " and, Cannonare government being on all 
 tc occafions inimical to the Company, General 
 <f Macleod, in order to take fatisfaction for 
 " thofe injuries, made a capture of the place ; 
 " in the attack and reduction of which and its 
 <f dependencies the Company's troops merited 
 *' the warmed praifes." Upon which, the day 
 after, appeared this juft and fpirited comment : 
 " The Court of Directors have now publiihed, 
 " and we have it from authority, that the fame 
 
 " Hift. of European Settlements in Eajt and Weft Indies. 
 Book ix. 
 
 " fyftem,
 
 146 S Y L V A, 
 
 xr fyftem, which has fo long difgraced us in' the 
 " Eaft, ftill continues to be followed. The 
 e( Bibby, an independent princefs, is to be 
 et plundered On a weak pretext, but really be- 
 tc caufe {he is wealthy j and, becaufe the ra- 
 te pacious invaders of her country may, by this 
 " fmgle flroke, accumulate the fortunes of 
 " Nabobs, and return to their native country 
 41 rich enough to invade its juftice. This has 
 " been for a long time the fyftem of the Eaft ; 
 " and, now that the Company has fecured 
 <f fuch an intereft in the Britiiri Houfe of 
 * c Commons, the fame (we are afraid) will be 
 " continued, till the Englifh race are extif- 
 <{ pated in the Eaft." 
 
 Refpecting this great and important object, 
 I fay nothing as a politician, or as a merchant ; 
 but as a man, and a friend to the rights of hu- 
 manity, I fay, that I wifti we had no connexions 
 With the Eaft Indies. Behold a different fpi- 
 rit in the Weft, from what thefe adventurers 
 have cultivated in the Eaft j and how humanely 
 it operates towards the loweft of our fellow- 
 creatures, even African flaves : of which the 
 following extract from the Epiftle, at the yearly 
 meeting of the Quakers, held in London 1784, 
 prefents a noble fpecimen. 
 
 " The Chriftian religion being defigned to 
 
 " regulate and refine the natural affections of 
 
 ** man, and to exalt benevolence into that 
 
 I charity,
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 " charity, which promotes peace on earth, and 
 good-will towards all ranks and claHTes of 
 " mankind the world over under the influ* 
 " ence thereof, our minds have been renewedly 
 " affected in fympathy with the poor enflaved 
 " Africans; whom avarice hath taught fome 
 " men Ij8 , laying claim to the character of 
 Chriftians, to confider as the refufe of the 
 " human face, and not entitled to the common, 
 c< privileges of mankind. The contempt in 
 " which they are held, and the remotenefs of 
 " their fufferings from the notice of difinte- 
 " refted obfervers, have occasioned few advo- 
 " cates to plead their caufe. The confidera- 
 " tion of their cafe being brought weightily, 
 * f before the laft yearly meeting, friends were 
 " engaged to recommend endeavours for put- 
 c< ting a ftop to a traffick, fo difgraceful to hu- 
 ec manity, and fo repugnant to the precepts of 
 " the gofpel. The report of the meafures 
 <c adopted in execution thereof, hath afforded 
 Cf comfort and fatisfaction to this meeting; and 
 ct it hath been our concern to recommend to 
 fc our friends, to whofe care this bufinefs is 
 cf committed, to perfevere in all prudent ex- 
 < c ertions for attaining the defirable end. And 
 " it is our earneft defire, that none under our 
 
 138 Btckftrd, for inftance, and other patriotic eefttendere 
 for liberty and the natural rights of men. 
 
 ff name
 
 S Y L V A, oft 
 
 <c name may weaken or counteract our endea'- 
 te vours, by contributing in any way to the" 
 " fupport of this iniquitous commerce IJ9 ." 
 
 This was a great and noble motion, and 
 would have done honour to the beft order of 
 religious, that ever appeared on earth ; and 
 were the fpirit and temper, from \vhich--thii 
 motion originated, to be fincerely and univer- 
 fally cultivated, how much more happy, be- 
 caufe how much more perfect, would man be- 
 come I 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 TV/I" U C H of the European cruelty, perhaps 
 the greater part, which, to the difgrace of 
 human nature, hath been practifed in the Eaft 
 and Weft Indies, originated doubtlefs from 
 the auri Jacra fames, the accurfed pafiion for 
 gold : but much, I am perfuaded, proceeded 
 alfo from men's having confidered the natives 
 of thofe diflant countries, as barbarians, fa- 
 
 139 K J$ e groes for /ale. A cargo of very fine flout men 
 and women, in good order, and fit for immediate fervice, 
 * c juft imported from the windward coaft of Africa, in the 
 " (hip Two Brother*" From a South Carolina Gazette, 
 July 1784. 
 
 vages,
 
 THE WOOD. 129 
 
 vages, and greatly below the ftandard of cur 
 humanity. This hath been a fatal error -, and 1 
 call it an error, becaufe, from all the informa- 
 tion I have been able to acquire, the inhabi- 
 tants of England, whether regard be had to 
 either knowledge or manners, may be deemed as 
 much barbarians and favages, as thofe of any 
 other country in the world I4 . And here I 
 fhall not inftance from the coafts, where" the 
 Chriflian people of good Old England confider 
 the diftrefTes of feamen and the plunder of a 
 wreck as a blejfing> and, fays Fielding ' 4I , 
 blafyhemoujly call it fuch j but will refer to the 
 inland and nearly central parts, where civiliza- 
 tion and knowledge may be fuppofed to prevail 
 the moft. 
 
 I have fpent fome years in a village of about 
 two hundred families, confiding of farmers, 
 manufacturers, and labouring men ; and which 
 hath a parfon, a free-fchool, and the ufual ways 
 and means of improving and adorning human 
 nature. Meeting one day a farmer, an intel- 
 ligent (kilful man in his way, and obferving 
 him as it were fuperftitioufly attentive to a very 
 
 140 Individuals in England may be, and certainly are, 
 more polite and knowing, than can be found in the countries 
 alluded to : but individual! do not ftamp the general cha- 
 rafter of a nation : this muft be determined bj the com- 
 monalty, or people at large. 
 
 141 Voyage to Lifbon. 
 
 K fmall
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 fmall fprig of eldar, I accofted him upon the 
 fubjecl:. " Perhaps, Sir," fays Ruff, " I can 
 " now tell you ibmething, that may hereafter 
 be of ufe to you. Sir, I rode above thirty 
 
 cc years to L market, yet never without 
 
 " bliftering my a , and lojing leather, as the 
 " faying is ; but, Sir, fince I have put this bit 
 <c of eldar in my breeches-pocket, to which I 
 < c was advifed by my neighbour P , and 
 " which with God's leave I will never go 
 * f without, far from being bliftered, I have 
 <f not been even chafed or heated." Upon 
 my fmiling, as if I did not conceive how this 
 could be f Sir," fays he, " perhaps you may 
 <e not believe another thing. John H's pig 
 " got lamed the other day : and how do you 
 " think he cured him ? By nothing in the 
 " world, but only boring a little hole in his 
 c< ear, and putting in a fmall peg about as big 
 fc as my eldar." I told him, that thefe things 
 were perfectly above my comprehenfion ; and 
 endeavoured to Ihew him, in language he un- 
 derftood, that there could be no connection be- 
 tween the caufes and effefts in either cafe. He 
 was much difconcerted with my fpirit of un- 
 belief; and feemed to think me a perfon, 
 whom nothing could convince. 
 
 A few years ago, in this fame village, the 
 women in labour ufed to drink the urine of theic 
 hufbands j who were all the while Rationed, as 
 
 I have
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 I have feen the cows in St. James's Park, and 
 (training themfelves togtve as much as they could. 
 The rationale of this cuftom (that is, the why 
 and the wherefore) I never could get rightly 
 explained : it is however become obfolete, if 
 not exploded ; the patronefs of it, who was a 
 fuperior perfon in the parifh, having fome time 
 fince departed this foolifti world. I will men- 
 tion but one inftance more ; only begging the 
 reader not to confider the above as fictitious, 
 but as matters of fact, that may be ascertained 
 even by legal evidence. 
 
 A young woman in the neighbourhood was 
 fubject to fits, and during the paroxyfms was fo 
 unruly, that there was a necefiity of holding 
 her down by force. To do this more effectu- 
 ally, a very well meaning young man once 
 fpread himfelf upon her, in the prefence of 
 many attendants : to whom he foon and fud- 
 denly exclaimed, as if compelled by infpira- 
 tion I+i , that " the Lord had fpoken to him, 
 <f and that it was the Lord's will he fhould 
 tf marry the patient." Now what emotions 
 the young man felt within, during this tender 
 and delicate fituation, I am unable to fay: but, 
 
 1+i There is no interior movement of either body or 
 miud, but, with weak and enthufiailic perfons, may pafs for 
 a divine inipulfe : this fhould put us upon our guard againil 
 delufion, or rather madnefs. 
 
 K a whether
 
 .13* S Y L V A, OR 
 
 whether from natural or fupernatural impulfe, 
 he fpeedily married the woman j and the whole 
 affair at this prefent writing is not two months 
 old. Having this only from rumour, I can- 
 not affirm that all the circumftances were ex- 
 actly as I have related : however, a divine in- 
 terpolation is believed upon the whole, and the 
 hand of the Lord to be plainly vifible. 
 
 Thefe few fpecimens may ferve to fliew the 
 fuperiority of knowledge in us enlightened civi- 
 lized people, to that of Hottentots and other 
 barbarians. How ftands the comparifon with 
 regard to manners ? Do the former equally 
 tranfcend the latter in manners alfo ? Let us 
 hear thofe, who feem to have had better op- 
 portunities of being informed than ourfelves. 
 For my part, fays a fenfible writer, and as 
 fhould feem traveller, cf I have met with peo- 
 " pie as polite, ingenious, and humane, whom 
 " we have been taught to look upon as cani- 
 cf bals, as ever I converfed with in Europe ; 
 tc and from my own experience am convinced, 
 ct that human nature is every where the fame, 
 <c allowances being made for unavoidable pre- 
 " judices, inftilled in their infancy by igno- 
 " ranee and fuperftition. And nothing has con- 
 " tributed more to render the world barbarous, 
 " than men's having been taught, from their 
 " cradles, that every nation alrnoft but their 
 " own are barbarians : they firft imagine the 
 
 " people
 
 THE WOOD. 133 
 
 " people of diftant nations to be monfters of 
 " cruelty and barbarity, and then prepare to 
 <f invade and extirpate them, exercifing greater 
 <f cruelties than ever fuch nations were charged 
 <f with. This was exactly the cafe of the 
 " Spaniards and the natives of America I4J :" 
 and would to heaven the cafe could fuit no 
 other people and country ! 
 
 An ancient writer, who lived when the Ro- 
 mans were the moft polite and knowing, clearly 
 gives the preference to thofe they called bar- 
 barians, in point of manners. He is fpeaking 
 of the Scythians; and, after defcribing their 
 way of life, obferves, that " juftice was culti- 
 <f vated and preferved among them, not by 
 " laws, but by the fpirit and temper of the 
 <c people ; that they held no crime more atro- 
 " cious than theft j that they had not the fame 
 " paflion for gold and filver with other na- 
 <f tions j and that a moderation, contented- 
 " nefs, and fobriety of manners, laid them un- 
 < f der no temptation of invading what was not 
 " their own. And I wifh," fays the hiftorian, 
 <f that the reft of the world poflefled the fame 
 " fpirit of moderation, the fame juftice in ab- 
 " ftaining from what belongs to others : arms 
 " would not then commit the ravages they doj 
 <f nor mankind perifh more by the fword than 
 
 143 Salmon's Geograph. Grammar, in Pref. 
 
 K 3 " from
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 < f from the natural lot of mortality. And it 
 " may feem altogether wonderful, that nature 
 " grants to favages, what the Greeks cannot 
 " attain with all their refinement and parade 
 ^of philofophy j and that civilized and po- 
 <c lifhed manners are exceeded by thofe of un- 
 " cultivated barbarifm. So much more ad- 
 " vantageous to the one' is an ignorance of 
 " what is wrong, than to the other a know- 
 " ledge of what is right H V 
 
 *4+ Juftitia gentis ingeniis culta, non legibus. Nullum 
 fcelus apud eos furto gravius : aurum et argentum non per- 
 inde, ac reliqui mortales, appetunt. La&e & melle vefcun- 
 tur, &c. Haec continentia illis morum quoque juftitiam edi- 
 dit, nihil alienum concupifcentibus : quippe ibidem diviti- 
 arum cupido eft, ubi et ufus. Atque utinam reliquis mor- 
 talibus fimilis moderatio et abftinentia alieni foret ! pro- 
 fefto non tantum bellorum per omnia fecula terns omnibus 
 continuaretur ; neque plus hominum ferrum et arma, quam 
 naturalis fatorum conditio, raperet. Prorfus, ut admirabile 
 videatur, hoc illis naturam dare, quod Graeci longa fapien- 
 tium doftrina praeceptifque philofophorum confequi neque- 
 unt ; cultofque mores incultae barbaria; collatione fuperari. 
 Tanto plus in illis proficit vitiorum ignoratio, quam in his 
 eognitio virtutis. Jujliti, II. 2. 
 
 XXXVIII. GREAT
 
 THE WOOD. 135 
 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 GREAT EFFECTS FROM CAUSES APPARENTLY 
 SMALL. 
 
 COMEBODY hath called Swift's Drafter's 
 Letters^ " the brazen monuments of his 
 " fame :" alluding, I fliould fuppofe, to the 
 effeft they produced, rather than to any thing 
 extraordinary in their compofition. They are 
 written, as Swift ufually wrote, with abilities 
 and addrefs ; but they were far from being the 
 cauje of the effeff that followed. The truth is, 
 and we have "Swift himfelf conferring it, that 
 " the fuccefs of the Drapier's Letters was not 
 * c owing to his abilities, but to a lucky junc- 
 Cf ture, when the fuel was ready for the firft 
 " hand, that would be at the pains of kindling 
 Cf it." Letters. The royal commentator upon 
 Machiavel's Prince, if indeed his Majefty of 
 Pruflia be the author of that comment, makes 
 the change of Queen Anne's Miniftry, and the 
 confequent peace with Lewis XIV. to be caufed 
 by a difpute between the Queen and the Du- 
 chefs of Marlborough about a pair of gloves. 
 Chap. 25. It might be fo; but it muft have 
 been, juft as the fcratch of a pin upon the cu- 
 ticle may be the caufe of a mortification, where 
 
 K 4 the
 
 136 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 the conftitutional habit is very bad. I would 
 not fay therefore, in this and the former in- 
 ftance, that the Drapier's Letters and gloves 
 were the caufes, but that they occafioned caufes, 
 already provided, to begin to operate in pro- 
 ducing their effects : which is what Ihould pro- 
 perly be meant, when great effects are faid to 
 proceed from caufes apparently Jmall. 
 ' 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 OF KING'S FRIENDS. 
 
 King of France," fays Machiavel, 
 fuffers nobody to call himfelf of the 
 ce King's party, becaufe that would imply 
 " there was a party againft him." Difcors. III. 
 27. With us, by affe&ing to be diftinguifhed 
 as King's friends, many minute things have 
 crawled up to fituations, both in church and 
 ftate, which (to ufe the Poet's language) may 
 reafonably make one wonder, how the Devil 
 they got there. The King of England has no 
 enemies. 
 
 XL. DOCTORS
 
 D 
 
 THE WOOD. 137 
 
 XL. 
 
 DOCTORS DIFFER. 
 
 R. POWELL, in the firft of his Sermons, 
 publifhed by Dr. Balguy, 1776, fpeaking 
 of " abfurd and flavifh principles of govern- 
 " ment, which now," he fays, "are fled into 
 " everlafting darknefs," notes, that they "left 
 c< their laft footfteps before the altars of God, 
 <e and in the fairefl temples of literature:" 
 meaning Pajfive Obedience and Non-refiftance at 
 Oxford. But Dr. Miles Newton, in his Faft- 
 Sermon before that Univerfity, 1777, Ihould 
 feem to confider this as a mifreprefentation and 
 calumny : and, alluding to the doftrines of 0r/- 
 ginal compacts y 'power derived from the people y and 
 the lawfulnejs of refiflance when fuch power is 
 abufed, " fuch wild, vifionary, enthufiaftic no- 
 " tions," fays he, "have always been counter- 
 " acled and oppofed by the examples and in- 
 " ftrucl:ions of this Univerfity : which may, 
 " without vanity, boaft, that it has been ftea- 
 " dier in its principles, and fuffbred more for 
 " its confiftency, in the fupport of regal go- 
 " vernment, than perhaps any other place of 
 " the like nature in the Chriftian world." 
 P. 22. See N* XIV. 
 
 XLI. THE
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 XLI. 
 
 THE LOVE OF LIFE. 
 
 AN old man, fays JEfop, coming home frorn 
 the woods fomewhat overloaded, threw 
 down his burthen, and io the anguilh of fatigue 
 called for death. Death appearing, to know 
 his commands ? only, fays he, to- help me up 
 with this wood. Let us not grow peevilh with 
 life upon every little vexation j that is to fay, 
 upon every change of the weather. In like 
 manner, Antifthenes the Stoic being very fick, 
 and impatiently crying out, Who will deliver 
 me ? " This," faid Diogenes, prefenting a . 
 knife, Cf very foon if thou wilt." ' 1 do not 
 mean, from my life, replied Antifthenes, but from 
 my difeaje. Montaigne fays, that there is no 
 condition fo wretched, which men will not 
 accept, "provided they. may live:" and he 
 quotes from Seneca the example of Mecaenas, 
 who is there reprefented to have held this Ian- 
 page : 
 
 Debilemfacito manu y 
 
 "Debilem pede, coxa j 
 
 'Tuber adftrue gibberum, 
 
 Lubricos quate dentes : 
 
 Vita dumjufcrcft, b em eft. Epift. 101. 
 
 Seneca
 
 THE WOOD. 139 
 
 Seneca calls this, and juftly, turpijfimum votum ; 
 nor, humbly as I think of human philofophy, 
 can I perfuade myfelf, that this is the wifli of 
 men univerfally. Meanwhile, it is certainly 
 the true tone of fpirit and temper, <f neither to 
 " wifli nor fear to die." 
 
 Summum nee metuas diem, nee opfes. 
 
 Martial, x. 47. 
 
 XLII. 
 
 MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 
 
 71/TUL'TUM agentes n'ibil agendo, hath ufually 
 been faid of thofe officious, bufy, flutter- 
 ing things, who are always in a hurry, yet do- 
 ing nothing : but it may juftly be faid of man 
 in general. Upon what poor uninterefting ob- 
 jects is he perpetually employed, and with 
 what importance and moil ferious concern ! 
 <f Is that the point," faid the philofopher, 
 looking contemptuoufly down upon the earth, 
 " is that the point, which fo many nations are 
 <c partitioning with fire and fword UJ ?" When 
 Alcibiades-was pluming himfelf upon his nu- 
 
 145 Iftiufne eft pun ft urn, $uoa inter tot gentts ferro et igne di- 
 viditur? Seneca. 
 
 9 merous
 
 140 S Y L, V A, OR 
 
 merous farms and poffefiions, Socrates drily 
 aiked to fee them upon a map of the earth, 
 which was hanging before them I46 : not unlike 
 a Grand Seignior, who, enquiring where Eng- 
 land was, which made Jo much difturbance H7 , 
 was defired to remove his thumb, which hid it 
 upon the map. In fhort, life, as inftituted and 
 conducted by mankind in general, is all vanity, 
 folly, and madnefs > our fpeculations nothing 
 but a Comedy cf Errors , our actions Much ado 
 about Nothing I48 . 
 
 ** 6 .Elian. IIL 28. 
 
 147 England, minute as fhe may feem, hath always been 
 jeftlefs, unquiet, difturbing ; like Dry<ien's Aehjtophel, 
 
 A fie ry foul, which, working oyt its e way, 
 
 Fretteth the pigmy body to decay, 
 
 And o'er -informs the tenement of clay. 
 us j t { s certain," fays Hume, " were a fuperior being 
 " thrnft into a human body, that the whole of life would 
 " to him appear fomean, contemptible, and puerile, that 
 " he never could be induced to take part in any thing." 
 The Sceptic. I cannot think it neceflary to call down angels, 
 for this contempt of earthly things : I think that men are 
 fully fufncient for it. A found underftanding, well and ho- 
 neilly cultivated, and rightly and duly eftimating what 
 paffes around him, may ealily withhold a man from taking 
 part in any thing. I db not call in the aid of Chriftianity, 
 which is known to be more than fufficient.
 
 THE WOOD. 141 
 
 XLI1I. 
 
 HUMAN NATURE DIFFERENTLY ESTIMATED. 
 
 " A LL," fays a certain writer, fc which can be 
 " ' done by a wife man (feeing that by na- 
 <c ture he is appointed to aft, for the fpace of 
 " 30* 50* or 70 years, fome ridiculous filly part 
 " in this fantaftic theatre of mifery, vice, and 
 Cf corruption) is either to lament with Heracli- 
 " tus the iniquities of the world, or (which is 
 <f the more cheerful, and therefore I do pre- 
 " fume the more eligible, courfe) to laugh 
 " with Democritus at all the fools and knaves 
 " upon earth I49 ." Montaigne preferred De- 
 mocritus's humour to Heraclitus's ; <c not," 
 fays he, " becaufe it is more pleafant to laugh 
 fc than to weep, but becaufe it is more fcorn- 
 <c ful, and more exprefiive of contempt, than 
 ce the other : for," adds he, " I think we can 
 ff never be enough defpifed." Effats, I. 50. 
 To Brutus, courting him into the confpiracy 
 againft Cxfar, Statilius anfwered, that he was 
 " perfectly fatisfied of the juftnefs of the caufe, 
 <f but did not think mankind fo confiderable, 
 " as to deferv^e a wife man's concern :" agree- 
 ably to that of Theodorus, who " would not 
 
 * Swift's Life by Deane Swift, p. 206. 
 
 " have
 
 14* S Y L V A, OR 
 
 ' have a wife man run any rifques for a com- 
 " pany of fools." Muretus feems to have en- 
 tertained a fublimer idea of human importance ; 
 when, having fallen fick upon the road, and 
 overhearing a confultation of phyficians, who, 
 fuppofing him an obfcure perfon, agreed at 
 length facere fericulunt in corf ore vili, as they 
 exprefled it, he cried aloud, " What ! will you 
 <e prefume to make experiments upon one, for 
 whom Chrift died?" Menagiana. See N XI. 
 XII. XIII. 
 
 XLIV. 
 
 OF GALLANTRY AND DEVOTION^ 
 
 ftrongeft argument againft devotion, in 
 the very high fenfe of that word, is, thaC 
 though it may elevate and fpiritualize the 
 foul, yet it doth not feem to be neceflarily con- 
 nected with any influence over the body. The 
 devotee feldom or never finds a difficulty, in 
 reconciling meditations and prayers to even the 
 grofleft immoralities : with him fenfuality and 
 devotion mix cordially together. Margaret, 
 Queen of Navarre, tells of a young Prince, 
 who, having an intrigue with an advocate's 
 wife in Paris, and his way to her lying through 
 
 a church,
 
 THE WOOD. 143 
 
 % 
 
 a church, never pafled that holy place, going 
 to or returning from this godly exercife, but 
 always kneeled down to pray, and was very de- 
 vout 1J0 . 
 
 N. B. I take this pious Queen to have been 
 the fame Margaret, who, upon a complaint 
 from fome court-lady of being overdone wkh 
 what is called family-duty, made an edicl:, that 
 " no man fhould know his wife carnally more 
 " than fix times in one night,'* 
 
 XLV. 
 
 OF ANTE-NUPTIAL FORNICATION, WITH A HINT 
 OR TWO FOR ITS PREVENTION. 
 
 s 
 
 /~\SBORN calls this commerce before mar- 
 riage, a fin againft prudence rather than 
 againft virtue. Doubtlefs, it is but too natural 
 to confider the fame aft, as no worfe than an 
 indulgence before, which is ufually confidered 
 as a duty after. This indulgence, however, is 
 againft law and order : the confequences of it 
 are often productive of mifery : and, therefore, 
 it cannot be too much guarded againft. But 
 it is not guarded againft enough j for only con- 
 
 150 Montaigne, liv. I. ch, 56. 
 
 template
 
 j 4 4 S Y L V A, 
 
 template the bufmefs of courtfljip, how it is con- 
 ducted, efpecially among the common people. 
 A male and female begin to fympathize with, 
 and feel a fondnefs for, each other : they court, 
 as it is called ; that is, they carefs each other j 
 and thefe carefTes pafs, not openly and in the 
 day-time, but in the darknefs of midnight and 
 moft hidden retirement. Amidftfuchcarefiing, it 
 is impoffible'to fay, cc So far {halt thou go, and 
 cc no farther, fo far is innocent, any farther 
 ff is finful." The boundaries of things are dif- 
 ficultly defined > and, in the prefent cafe, the 
 parties often get into the territories of fin, be- 
 fore they fufpect themfelves out of the pre- 
 cincts of innocence. Or, if they do fufpect 
 and recollect themfelves, after they have parTed 
 the line, all power of alarming hath ten to one 
 ceafed; and fo unhappy is their fituation and 
 condition, that each might juftly fay, were ut- 
 terance granted, prudens, Jciens y vivus, videnf- 
 que, pereo. Such fituations muft be carefully 
 avoided, unlefs mankind would lead them- 
 felves into temptation. 
 
 There is a particular inftance of our police, 
 which, on this very account, I fhould be pleafed 
 to fee corrected ^nd amended. May and June, 
 in 1779 I think, fourteen filiations, or father- 
 ings of illegitimate children, were made in my 
 prefence. I was ftruck-with the fingularity of 
 the thing; I mean, at the concurrence of fo 
 
 many
 
 THE WOOD. 145 
 
 many fimilar cafes in thefe two months j which 
 were more in number than what the reft of 
 the year produced. But, upon ruminating, I 
 feemed to trace the caufe to the Statute Sejfions, 
 or (as they are commonly called) the Statutes^ 
 held in October or November preceding ; whi- 
 ther all the young men and maidens of the vil- 
 lages refort, for other purpofes, frequently, be- 
 fides that of being hired. I have fometimes 
 thought, that if at Statutes, as well as Fairs, a 
 public bell were rang at a certain hour, as a 
 fignal for this fort of gentry to difperfe and take 
 themfelves off, many, very many, good effects 
 would follow. Perhaps the nation might not 
 be fo populous, but a vaft deal of rioting and 
 drunkennefs would be prevented. 
 
 XLVI. 
 
 ABOVE PAR 
 
 recommends a little excefs or jovia* 
 lity, now and then l$I ; and, I confefs, I be- 
 lieve it to be as falutary to the mind and af- 
 fections, 
 
 151 Quamvis terttperantia omrtibus fit utilis, medici tamen 
 ttntiqui auftores fuerunt, ut qui bene valeret, & fpontis fuae 
 *ffet, genio uennunquam indulgens, tarn cibum quam potum 
 
 L folito
 
 !4 6 S Y L V A, 
 
 fe&ions, as it can be to the body. Shaftfbury 
 fomewhere calls company or converfation an 
 amicable collifion j but, methinks, it fhould be 
 a little warmed and. elevated with wine. I 
 Would not rant with Horace, quid non ebrietas 
 defignaty andfo forth ? Drunkennefs is an odious 
 and beaftly thing, and as noxious to the mind as 
 to the body : but, to be cheered beyond the na- 
 tural tone of the fpirits, and raifed to a ftandard 
 fomewhat bigger than the life, may (I fhould 
 think) be attended with good effects upon both. 
 By thus invigorating the vital powers, and 
 quickening for a while the circulation of the 
 fluids, obftru&ions may be removed among the 
 interiora of the body, as the gathering/0rdb of 
 rivers are occafionally forced down by a ftrong- 
 er current than ordinary. The immaterial part 
 of us will alfo be benefited equally with the 
 material j aye, perhaps more fo. Frefh ftrength 
 and firmnefs will be given to the fpirits j all 
 thofe clouds x>r vapours, with which the human 
 noddle is, like Shakfpeare's towers 3 frequently 
 capped, will be difperfed ; the heart and affec- 
 tions will be warmed and exalted ; and the 
 whole man will be a better, as well as an hap- 
 pier, being. In fhort, by taking off his atten- 
 
 folito abundantiiis aflumeret : tutior autem eft in potione, 
 quam in e/ca, iruemperantia. Monit. 2" Prtscept. Med. fub, 
 fin. 
 
 tion
 
 THE WOOD. 147 
 
 tion from folly, vice, care, and rriifery, and thus 
 forgetting his fituation a little, he will infen- 
 fibly procure a new edition of himfelf I5Z . 
 All this, however, if you mean to preferve its 
 efficacy, only now and then. 
 
 XLVII. 
 
 HUMAN PERFECTION NOT IN NATURE* 
 
 JORD CHESTERFIELD tells his fon, in 
 one of his letters to him, that he tc lhall 
 tf diflect and analyfe him with a microfcope, 
 Xf fo as to difcover the leaft fpeck or blemifh." 
 Lord Chefterfield was not altogether in earned : 
 fo it is, however, that men ferioufly dijfeft and 
 analyje one another. They overlook the great 
 and good in a character or compofition, and 
 dwell upon foibles, imperfections, and infirmi- 
 ties IJ} . But this is bafe, injurious, cruel ma- 
 
 151 rr Liquors, taken in fuch quantity as elevates without 
 " intoxicating, are the inward cloathing of the body in oar 
 " foggy, damp atmofphere." Dr. Stevenfon c* the Gout, 
 p. 161. 
 
 I5J The unfortunate Chancellor Bacon complained, very 
 feelingly I ftiould think, of this iniquity in judging. //./'- 
 q ua admodum et mi/era tjt conditio hominum <virtute preecellen- 
 tium, quia erroribus eorum, quantumvis Iwijfimii, nullo mods 
 ignofcitur : qui tamen in bominibus mediocribus aut omnino late- 
 rtrt, aut veniamfacil) reperirenf. DC A. S. lib. 8. 
 
 L 2 lignity.
 
 i 4 & S Y L V A, os. 
 
 lignity. They fhould furvey and examine each 
 other, as they would furvey and examine a 
 noble pile of building : not pink and peep about 
 for afperities upon the furface, or little irre- 
 gularities among the minutia j but contemplate 
 the magnitude, ftrength, and form of the whole, 
 with the beauty and proportion arifmg from all 
 the parts. By their way of criticifing and cen- 
 furing, it fhould feem as if all men were to be, 
 what Paterculus makes the firfl Scipio to have 
 been; who, he fays, " did never, in his whole 
 " life, either fay, or do, or think any thing, 
 <c but what was highly excellent, and to be 
 f c commended," nibil in vita nifi laudandum aut 
 dixit, aut fecit 3 autjenfit 1 ^. Such a ftyle might 
 fuit the writer, who was to extol the virtues of 
 Tiberius and Sejanus; but mankind afluredly 
 are not fo formed : they are a mixture of qua- 
 lities; and happy is he, whofe good lhall be 
 found to overbalance his bad. 
 
 XLVIII. 
 
 OF PROFESSIONAL CHARACTER. 
 
 "D AMAZZINI, a phyfician of Padua, wrote 
 
 a book de morbis artificum-, to fhew the 
 
 peculiar diftempers of tradefmen, arifmg from 
 
 '* Lib. I. c. 12. 
 
 each
 
 THE WOOD. 149 
 
 each refpedtive trade. Might not a philofo- 
 phic obferver conftruct a work upon a fimilar 
 plan, to mark the fpecific habitudes and man- 
 ners of each refpective order and profeflion ? 
 
 In the courfe of this difquiiition, he would 
 be led to obferve, 5 for inftance, that infincerity 
 in a courtier muft be the ruling feature of his 
 character: and why? becaufe, without allowing 
 any thing to private humour, principle, or af- 
 fection, the men of this order accommodate 
 themfelves folely to times and perfons. He 
 might afcribe lying to an ambaflador ; becaufe, 
 being " fent to lie abroad for the good of his 
 <c country," as Sir Henry Wotton defined his 
 office, he preferves a habit of lying, even when 
 the officiality or duty of fo doing may not re- 
 quire it. A want of moral fenfe and fympa- 
 thifing humanity would be found in men of the 
 law j becaufe, paying no regard to the diftinc- 
 tions of right and wrong, but only intent upon 
 ferving their clients, they are led to treat with 
 indifference, and fome times even to fport with, 
 the mod injurious decifions againft the moft 
 pitiable objects. The love of gain in all who 
 traffic ; becaufe fuch have been habituated to 
 confider money as the chief good, and to value 
 every man according to what he is worth.* 
 And, laftly, an open fyftematical kind of kna 
 very in the honeft farmer; who, without any 
 regard to value in the commodity, proieiTes to 
 L 3 buy
 
 iro S Y L V A, OR 
 
 J i 
 
 buy as cheap, and fell as dear, as he can ; and 
 who, if you remonftrate againft his offering a 
 horfe or cow for twice its worth, afks you, 
 with a fneer, " whether he muft not do the 
 tc beft he can for his family I5$ ?" Would not, 
 I fay, all this be perceived, where profeflional 
 fpirit is not checked and counteracted by natu- 
 ral temperament ? And thus through life, and 
 every department of it : where the characters 
 of men would be found in a compound ratio of 
 temperament and profeflion ; and be natural or 
 artificial, according to the proportion in which 
 thefe are combined. 
 
 w ] 
 
 XLIX. 
 
 OF PERSONAL IDENTITY. 
 
 'E are born, it is faid, with the feeds or 
 principles of diflblution in our frame, 
 which continue to operate from our births to- 
 our deaths ; fo that in this fenfe we may be faid 
 to die daily. But, I think, we may be faid to 
 
 I5S Our good Chriftian farmer, however, may deign to 
 learn a better leflbn from an heathen. Ex omni vita Jimula- 
 tio dijfimulalioque tollenda eft : ita, nee tit emat melius, nee ut 
 <vendat, q uidquam femuldbit c.ut .diffimulabit i'ir bonus. Cicero 
 de Offic. III. 15. 
 
 dk
 
 THE WOOD. 151 
 
 c.ie daily in another fenfe ; and that is, in the 
 change we are always undergoing in our per- 
 fons, tempers, and manners, which makes, us, in 
 the different ftages of our lives, quite different 
 beings : which makes, if I may fo fay, onejelf 
 to be continually dying, while another jf If is as 
 continually growing out of it. 
 
 Let me illuftrate this reflection, by what 
 gave rife to it. A boy of three years old was 
 playing before me the other day, upon whom a 
 matron gazed with uncommon fondnefs, be- 
 caufe he bears a ftriking refemblance to what 
 her own fon, who is fifteen, was at that age ; 
 and who, it is certain, would not now excite in 
 her the fondnefs, that this ftrange child does. 
 She owned it was fo ; and I told her what I fup- 
 pofed to be the reafon : viz. that fhe viewed 
 the little boy as the image of a being, who 
 once exifled, but whom fhe now confidered as 
 no more ; and recollected only with that defide- 
 rium or longing fondnefs, with which we call 
 up the images of departed friends or relations. 
 And, added I, ff there is between the two 
 * c objects not the difference which at firft fight 
 " there may feem to be : for your fon at three 
 " years old, whom this little boy refembles, 
 " was as different from what he is now, as if 
 " he were a different being. Nay, though a 
 " being with his name and connections hath 
 " growji out of him, and ftill fubfifts, was he 
 L 4 not
 
 152 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 " not really a different being ? and is not his 
 " tben-felf dead, as his now -felf w\\\ be twenty 
 <c years hence ?" It feems to me, that this fen- 
 
 . timent and reafoning may be applied to every 
 moment of our lives : by the continual flux 
 our material part is in, we are every moment 
 laying afide one Jelf and afTuming another Jelf, 
 every moment dying and reviving. Death 
 therefore is not fo much laying afide our old 
 bodies (for this we have been doing all our 
 lives) as ceafing to affume new ones. 
 
 Let me add another illuftration of the above, 
 from an affair between two boys, in which 
 there is nothing fictitious but the names. When 
 William left London, and went into the North, 
 he wept at parting with his friend and compa- 
 nion Tommy. He enquired frequently and af- 
 fectionately after Tommy -, he longed to fee him 
 again ; and, after two years abfence, he did fee 
 him. But he did not meet him fo warmly as 
 was expected : on the contrary, he looked dif- 
 mayed, as if difappointed j and his behaviour 
 to him was fomewhat cold and diftant. Being 
 afked the reafon, he replied, that " this was 
 " not Tommy > at leaft the Tommy he left ; and 
 <c that he fhould love him as well as ever, if he 
 " looked more like Tommy " The truth is, 
 Tcmmfs ftature was increafed, and his fea- 
 
 - tures altered ; and William no longer ac- 
 knowledged the identity of his friend, but 
 
 thought
 
 THE WOOD, 153 
 
 thought him another perfon j at lead the fame 
 as another perfon, becaufe not prefenting the 
 idea he had been accuftomed to be fond of. 
 Juft fo, I fuppofe, I may love my mother, under 
 that image which Ihe bore in 1738, when (he 
 died ; but were my mother to be prefented to 
 me, all decrepit and withered with age, as fhe 
 would have been now in 1784, I could fcarcely 
 fancy her the lively pretty woman, who ufed to 
 carefs me, and whom under that form I ufed to 
 love. In fhort, (he would appear a new per- 
 fon, a new being j and, though I might from 
 reafon efteem her as my mother, yet I fhould 
 feel none of that love which inftinft produces. 
 
 Upon the whole, therefore, did not Locke 
 determine rightly, when he made perfonal iden- 
 tity to confift in confcioufnefs ? 
 
 L. 
 
 OF CONFERRING AND RECEIVING FAVOURS. 
 
 COCRATES, though importuned, refufed to 
 go to the court of Archelaus, King of Ma- 
 cedonia. Seneca, who has recorded the fact, 
 fays that his often fible reafon was, " not to 
 * f receive favours, which he could not return," 
 --nolle Je ad eitm venire, a quo acciperet beneficia y 
 
 cum
 
 i 5 4 S Y L V A, o R 
 
 cum redaere illi paria non pojet : his real one, 
 <f not to go into voluntary fervitude," noluit 
 ire ad voluntariamjervitutem I5<5 . The real one, 
 certainly : for Archelaus was a bad prince ; 
 and courts are not places of freedom and in- 
 dependence, even under good ones. Befides, 
 the former reafon would, I fhould think, have 
 been unworthy of Socrates. What ! is no man 
 to receive a benefit, but who is able to return 
 it ? If fo, then (as Ariftotle makes him reply 
 upon this occafion, but furely unphilofophi- 
 cally) f< it muft be as great an affront to con- 
 " fer a benefit upon a perfon who cannot re- 
 <c turn it, as to injure a perfon who cannot re- 
 " drefs himfelf 157 :" and then all acts of kind- 
 nefs, generofity, and charity, muft be banifhed 
 from among men ; fmce one party is no more 
 at liberty to confer, than the other to receive, a 
 favour. 
 
 How is it, I wonder, that we hear fo many 
 exclaiming loudly againft receiving favours ? 
 <f I think nothing fo dear as what is given 
 <e me," fays Montaigne; <f and that, becaufe 
 " my will lies at pawn under the title of in- 
 <e gratitude. I more willingly accept of offices 
 t( to be fold-, being of opinion, that for the 
 <( laft I give nothing but money, but for the 
 " firft I give myfelf I58 :" as if, according to 
 
 " 6 De Benefic. V. 6. " Rhetor. II. 23. 
 
 '53 Eflais, III. 9. 
 
 ancient
 
 THE WOOD. 155 
 
 ancient language, " to receive a favour was to 
 f< fell our liberty," beneficium accipere eft liber- 
 tatem vendere. It may be fo in fome cafes, and 
 with fome perfons ; and I fhall fo far compro- 
 mife the matter with Montaigne, that we ought 
 to be careful, and perhaps fomewhat nice, 
 from whom we receive favours. But to lay 
 down the propofition univerfally, and with re- 
 fpect to all manner of perfons ; to fpurn the 
 very idea of receiving a favour from, or being 
 obliged to, any one ; to think and reafon, as if 
 fervices conferred and received ought, like 
 other trading commodities, to be weighed as in 
 a fcale ; to keep an account as of creditor and 
 debtor j and to dread a balance againft us as 
 much, as if lofs of liberty and imprifonment 
 were the confequence all this is wretched : 
 'tis all faftidious hauteur y pride, infolence, de- 
 noting a fpirit and temper certainly unchri- 
 ftian, but unphilofophical alfo and impolitic in 
 the higheft degree. And why ? Becaufe it 
 would greatly weaken, if not deftroy, all that 
 mutual affection, all that intercourfe of kind- 
 nefs and good offices, fo by nature neceflary to 
 the helplefs, dependant ftate of man, and fo 
 contributing (if not eflential) to his happinefs 
 in fociety. 
 
 LI. LAW
 
 i 5 6 $ Y L V A, 
 
 LI. 
 
 LAW AND EQJJITY. 
 
 JUSTICE, " the miftrefs and queen of all 
 J the virtues I59 ," the bafis of all focial virtue 
 as well as happinefs, the very corner-ftone on 
 which fociety is built this very juftice, if ex- 
 crcifed too rigoroufly, would often be found, 
 amidft the combinations and entanglements of 
 human affairs, even to border upon injuftice; 
 infomuch that the civilians have eftablifhed it 
 into a maxim, that "extreme juftice is extreme 
 < f injuftice," -Jummum jus Jumma injuria. 
 
 It Ihould feem, therefore, that the magiftrate, 
 to whom the execution of juftice is committed, 
 muft not only dojuftfy, but (in the language of 
 the Prophet) alfo love mercy. I do not mean, 
 that he fhould ever act otherwife than the laws 
 direft, or at any time difpenfe with the right 
 execution of them j but only, that he be go- 
 verned therein, as- often as he can, by the/pint 
 rather than the letter of them. For in the law, 
 as well as in the gofpel, the letter frequently 
 
 * 5 ' Omnium domlna tt reglna virtutum, Cicero de Ojpc. 
 III. 6. According to an ancient Greek moralift, every 
 other virtue is comprehended in that of juftice : ' & 
 pry V. Theognis. 
 
 kilktb ;
 
 THE WOOD. 157 
 
 killeth ; as when any ftatute, from a new and 
 different fituation of things and perfons, gra- 
 dually brought on by courfe of time and 
 change of manners, enforceth proceedings dif- 
 ferent from, or, it may be, contrary to, the true 
 original intent and meaning of it. The office, 
 therefore, of a magiftrate, a- Juftice of Peace for 
 inftance, fhould be in part a kind of a petty 
 chancery ; a court of equity, as well as a court 
 of juftice : where a man, although purfued by 
 law, may yet be redrefled by reafon, fo often as 
 the cafe will admit of it j and that will be as 
 often as ihejpirit of any law or ftatute fhall be 
 found to clafh with its letter. 
 
 Mean while, it muft be carefully noted, that 
 the magiftrate has no power to decide accord- 
 ing to equity, when it is oppofed to written and 
 pofitive law, or ftands in contradiftinction to 
 it : no, not even the Judge, much lefs the Juf- 
 tice. It is a maxim, ubi lex non diftinguit, nee 
 ws diftinguere debemus ; and again, judicandum 
 ex legibus, non de legibus : and an ancient pro- 
 nounced it very dangerous for a Judge tofeem 
 more humane than the law j $>&W0* ^XM^UTTQ- 
 Ttgov T8 voua. The danger confifts in its open- 
 ing a latitude of interpretation, and thereby 
 giving room to fubtlety and chicanery, which, 
 by gradually weakening, would in time deftroy 
 the authority and tenor of law : for, <f though 
 <T all general laws are attended with inconve- 
 
 <e niencies,
 
 S Y L V A, on 
 
 " niencies, when applied to particular cafes j 
 <c yet thefe inconveniencies are juftly fuppofed 
 " to be fewer, than what would refult from 
 c< full difcretionary powers in every magif- 
 ce trate." Hume. So that the difpenfation of 
 equity feems referved, and with good reafon, 
 not to the Judge who is tied down by his rules, 
 but to the law-giver or fupreme legiflator t 
 according to that well-known maxim, ejus eft 
 interpretari cujus eft condere. Thus Conftantine 
 the emperor : Inter <equitatemjujque inter-pofitam 
 inter-pretationem nobis Jolis et oportet et licet in* 
 Jficere. Cod. 1. 14. i. See alfo Taylor's Ele- 
 ments of Civil Law, p. 90, &c. 
 
 It is not meant, therefore, as is faid above, 
 that the magiftrate (hould ever difpenfe with 
 law, or a,ct againft it j but only> that he fhould, 
 as far as he can, temper it with lenity and for- 
 bearance, when the letter is found to run coun- 1 
 ter to the Jfirit. For inftance j our ancient 
 Saxon laws nominally punifhed theft with 
 death, when the thing ftolen exceeded the va- 
 lue of twelve pence : yet the criminal was per- 
 mitted to redeem his life with money. But, by 
 9 Hen. I. in 1109, this power of redemption 
 was taken away : the law continues in force to 
 this very day ; and death is the puni foment of 
 a man who fleals above twelve-pennyworth of 
 goods, although the value of twelve pence now 
 
 is 
 5
 
 THE WOOD. 159 
 
 is near forty times lefs than when the law was 
 made. Here the fpirit is abfolutely outraged 
 by the letter : and therefore might not a Juftice, 
 when a delinquent of this fort is brought, en- 
 deavour to foften the rigour of this law ; or ra- 
 ther to evade it, by depreciating the value of 
 the thing ftolen, by fuffering the matter to be 
 compromifed between the parties, and, where 
 the character of the offender will admit of it, 
 inftead of purfuing the feverities ofjuftice, by 
 tempering the whole procedure with mercy . ? - 
 This, and fuch like modes of acting, may be 
 faid indeed to be draining points j but, unlefs 
 fuch points be drained occafionally, magiftrates 
 muft often act, not only againft thefpiril of the 
 laws, but againft the dictates of reafon, and the 
 feelings of their own hearts. Sir Henry Spel- 
 man took occafion, from this law, to complain, 
 that <e while every thing elfe was rifen in its 
 " value, and become dearer, the life of man 
 " had continually grown cheaper II5 Y' 
 
 Fortefcue has a remarkable paflage concern- 
 ing this law. " The civil law," fays he, 
 ff where a theft is manifeft, adjudged the cri- 
 <f minal to reftore fourfold -, for a theft not fo 
 " manifeft, twofold : but the laws of England, 
 <f in either cafe, punifh the party with death, 
 " provided the thing ftolen exceeds the value 
 
 ^ Glcffar. in vocc Laridnium, 
 
 Of
 
 160 S Y L V A, oft 
 
 " of twelve pence I6 V But, is not this com- 
 parifon between Civil and Englijh law aftonifh- 
 ingly made by a man, who was writing an apo- 
 logy for the latter againft the former ? What ? 
 is it nothing to fettle a proportion between 
 crimes and punifhments ? and fhall one man, 
 Who fteals an utenfil worth thirteen pence, 
 be deemed an equal offender againft fociety, 
 and fuffer the fame punifhment, with another, 
 who plunders a houfe, and murders all the fa- 
 mily ? See Beccaria, an Italian marquis, Upon 
 Crimes and Punishments. 
 
 LIT. 
 
 WHY LAWYERS ARE AVERSE FROM DECISIONS 
 ACCORDING TO EQUITY* 
 
 1 T has conftantly been imputed to the men of 
 this order, that they love to adhere to law t 
 in oppofition to equity j that they had rather 
 kill by the letter, than fave by the /pint , and 
 that they always murmur, and fometimes cla- 
 mour 16 % let reafon determine ever fo rightly, 
 if fhe determines otherwife than the law di- 
 re&s. The imputation is not new, or even 
 
 161 Be Laud. Leg. Anglia, c* 46, 
 ? 61 See the P. S. to this N. 
 
 modern.
 
 THE WOOD. 161 
 
 modern. The younger Pliny, I remember, in 
 a cafe where law and equity clafhed, determin- 
 ed (as all men would, where they could) ac- 
 cording to equity : but tells you, at the fame 
 time, how apprehenfive he was, left by fo do- 
 ing he fhould incur the difpleafure of the law- 
 yers. " Hoc, fi jus accipias, irritum," fays he ; 
 " fi defuncti voluntatem, ratum & firmum eft. 
 " Mihi autem defuncti voluntas, vereor quam in 
 " far tern jurifconfulti quodjum diffurus accifiant, 
 <f antiquior jure eft I6 V 
 
 A more recent inftance will illuftrate this ftill 
 farther. The trials of Sir William Friend, Sir 
 William Parkyns, and others, on the affaflina- 
 tion-plot, came on, after the provifion of coun- 
 lel learned in the law (not allowed before) had 
 received the royal aflfent, but before the com- 
 mencement of its operation. <( I entreat," 
 faid Parkyns, c< that I may have the allowance 
 fe of counfel : I have no fkill in indictments : 
 " I do not underftand thefe matters ; nor what 
 " advantages may be proper for me to take. 
 <c The new ftatute wants but one day. What 
 " is juft and reafonable to-morrow, furely 
 <f is juft and reafonable to-day j and your 
 <e Lordfhip may indulge me in this cafe." But, 
 fays the humane author l6 *, from whom I tran- 
 fcribe this, Holt, Chief Juftice, was too good a 
 Judge to fuffer the ftubborn principles of law 
 
 " Epift. V. 7. I6 * Principles of Penal Law, ch. x^-. 
 
 M to
 
 i*2 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 to yield to the milder/inferences of equity. 
 We cannot (he replied) alter the law, till law- 
 makers dire ft us : we muft conform to the law,, as 
 it is at prefenty not what it will be to-morrow : we 
 are upon our oaths Jo to do I6s . 
 
 This, fo far as I can learn, has ever been the 
 temper and fpirit of the lawyers. They are 
 difpleafed when things are done, not only a- 
 gainft forms, but even without them. They 
 hate, we fay, to have points judged and deter- 
 mined by equity : why ? not furely from any 
 natural averfion to equity (for how can this be 
 peculiar to any order of men ?) but from its 
 tending to fuperfede law. All orders hate, and 
 ever will hate, whatever tends to deftroy the 
 chara&eriftics of their profeflion. Divines hate 
 morality, when oppofed to religion j as phyfi- 
 cians hate regimen, when oppofed to medi- 
 cine * 66 . The reafon is, that morality and regi- 
 men, 
 
 165 Torfter's Crown Law, 230. 232. State Trials, 630, 
 631. 
 
 166 The prefent Bifhop of Gloucefter, in his Faft Sermon, 
 Feb. 1782, is offended at Dr. Adam Smith for faying, that 
 *' Mr. Hume approached as nearly to the idea of a ptrfettly 
 " wife and virtuous man, as perhaps frail humanity will per- 
 ' mit :" and well he may be offended ; for, if this can be 
 without aid from religion, what occafion for a church and bi- 
 fhops ? Hume's Life. Dr. William Stevenfon, a phyfician, 
 complains repeatedly, that he hath been vehemently oppofed, 
 or in his own language perfecuted, every where by apotheca- 
 ries : which who will be furprifed at, when he is told, that thia 
 
 faid
 
 THE WOOD. i6j 
 
 men, thus circumftanced, tend to fet afide reli- 
 gion and medicine ; becaufe they reprefent 
 them, indirectly at lead, as fuperfluous and un- 4 
 necefiary. And what can be more mortifying 
 to a profeflbr, than any thing which tends to 
 fhew, that his profefiion is an ufelefs, and there-* 
 fore probably a pernicious, burthen to fociety ? 
 Human nature, upon this head, is uniform 
 throughout. Pythagoras, we know, exhorted 
 every man to reverence himfelf, as the beft pre- 
 fervative againft doing any thing below, or un* 
 worthy of, himfelf: UKT^VVIO a-uvrw, fays he, in 
 the verfes called golden. Now a man's fecond 
 felf is his profeflion j yea, in truth, it is often 
 his firft felf : I mean, his natural character is 
 not only difcoloured, diftorted, and difguifed, 
 but it is fometimes totally abforbed and fwal* 
 lowed up, by his profeflional character. All or- 
 ders of men have reverenced themfelves as or- 
 ders, and perhaps none more than the men of* 
 the law. Sir Edward Coke, in his Inftitutes, 
 frequently takes occafion to fet out the learn- 
 ing and importance of the lawyers: he calls 
 
 faid Doftor would have reduced the whole Materia MedicA 
 to thefe " eight officinals, viz. Cantbaridet, Tartar Emetic, 
 "' Mercurius Dulcis, Aloes, Sena, Jalap, Salts', and Opium. 
 " Thefe, fays he, compofe all the virtue, all the efficacy, of 
 ' the apothecary's {hop : give me thefe, and the contents 
 *' of all the fliops in England (befide) may be poured into 
 *' the itrcets for me.'* Cafes i* Medicine, p. 56. 58. 1781, 
 8vo. 
 
 M i them
 
 1 64 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 them " the fages of the parliament ; the very 
 <e life and foul of the King's council." Alfo, 
 in a fpeech made upon a call of ferjeants, he 
 compares the coif to Minerva's helmet, who was 
 the Goddefs of Counjel ; and likewife fays, that 
 <f the four corners of their cap import fcience, 
 <f experience, obfervation, recordation l67 . 
 
 Sir John Fortefcue had exprefled himfelf be- 
 fore in the like magnificent terms, and difplayed 
 with a kind of oftentation the great advantages 
 of ftudying the law, as well as the awful dignity 
 and pomp of its profeflbrs j and he " thinks 
 < it a 'great and peculiar token of the Divine 
 " goodnefs, magna et quaji approbata benedittio 
 " Dei) that from amongft the Judges and their 
 " offspring have fprung more peers of the 
 cc realm, than from any other order of men 
 ' whatever : which," fays he, " can never be 
 " afcribed to mere chance or fortune, that be- 
 " ing nothing j but ought; to be attributed to 
 " the bleffing of God, who by his prophet had 
 " declared, that the generation of the upright 
 " Jhall be ble/ed" From which pofition, 
 thefe two corollaries manifeftly arife : firft, that 
 exaltation to a peerage is a blefling from Hea- 
 ven j and, fecondly, that this blefling may be 
 obtained by juftice and uprightnefs in the pro- 
 feffion of the law. And if this honeft Chancel- 
 
 I6 7 Barrington on Anc. Stat. p. 406. 3d edit 
 * 8 f)e Itwdibus, &c, cap. 51, 
 
 fort
 
 THE W O O D, 165 
 
 lor's reafoning be good, we are led to think 
 highly of our prefent chiefs in the law; fince it 
 is plain, that the practice of it is in our times, 
 as it was heretofore, frequently the road to 
 peerages and preferment. 
 
 P. S. No true man of the profeflion was ever 
 heard to fpeak with temper upon the noted cafe 
 of Coke, a gentleman of Suffolk, and Woodburn, 
 a labourer, who were indicted, in 1722, upon 
 the famous Coventry Act of 22 and 23 of Car. 
 II. ; Coke for hiring and abetting Woodburn, 
 and Woodburn for the actual fact of flitting the 
 nofe of Mr. Crifpe, Coke's brother-in-law. The 
 murder of Crifpe was the thing intended ; and 
 he was left for dead, being terribly hacked and 
 disfigured with an hedge-bill : but he reco- 
 vered. Now though, by this ftatute, to disfi- 
 gure, with an intent to disfigure, be felony, 
 yet the bare intent to murder is not fo : and 
 Coke, who was a lawyer, had the (kill and ad- 
 drefs (I fay nothing of the modefty) to reft 
 his defence upon this point, that <f the af- 
 <c fault was not committed with an intent to 
 " disfigure, but with an intent to murder 3 and 
 " therefore not within the ftatute." 
 
 The court however held, that, if a man at- 
 tacks another with fuch an inftrument as an 
 hedge-bill, which cannot but endanger the dif- 
 figuring of him, and in fuch attack happens not 
 to kill, but only to disfigure him, he may be 
 indicted on this ftatute : and it /hall be left to 
 
 M 3 th*
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 the Jury, whether it were not a defign to muf-* 
 der by disfiguring, and confequently a mali- 
 cious intent to disfigure as well as k to murder. 
 Accordingly, the Jury found them guilty of 
 fuch previous intent to disfigure, in order to ef- 
 fecl: their principal intent to murder ; and they 
 were both condemned and executed l69 . 
 
 Now, though thefe delinquents were crimi- 
 nal enough, God knows, yet, according to this 
 flatute,. they were not condemnable \ and the 
 fame conftructive violence, in the interpreta- 
 tion of laws, might often hang an honeft man 
 as well as a knave. I am, therefore, here with 
 the men of the profeflion, though for reafons 
 probably different from theirs, and wifn that they 
 had been acquitted j for I think entirely with 
 Fortefcue, that " twenty evil doers had better 
 < c efcape death, than one juft man be unjuftly 
 " condemned :" mallem revera, fays the hu- 
 mane Chancellor, viginti facinorofos mortem -pie- 
 tat e evadere > quam juftum unum injufie cpndem- 
 nari I7 . 
 
 V? State Trials, VI. 2 12. 17 DeLaudilus, Sec. c. 27. 
 
 L.III. MAN- 
 II
 
 THE WOOD, 167 
 
 LIII. 
 
 MANNERS WILL PREVAIL AGAINST LAWS. 
 
 T T hath often been affirmed, and with airs of 
 of high concern, that there is no nation upon 
 the globe better provided with laws than the 
 Englifh j nor any, whofe laws are more loofely 
 and negligently executed. The cenfure a im- 
 plied in the latter of thefe propofitions, is ufu- 
 ally levelled at the magiftrate j and it is level- 
 led, as I have always obferved, with fome de- 
 gree of peevilhnefs and warmth : better, it is 
 faid, to have no laws at all, than to have laws of 
 no effeft I;i . But the magiftrate is cenfured 
 without any juft caufe, indeed for neglecting, 
 what it is not at all in his power to perform : 
 and the cenfure, if traced to its origin, will be 
 found to arife from a very common, but very 
 miftaken fuppofition, that laws are Jufficient to 
 controul and govern manners j whereas it is cer- 
 tain, that the very reverfe is true, and that man- 
 ners will always controul and govern laws. 
 
 The prevalence of manners over the laws in 
 ancient Rome was long complained of, before 
 the deftruction of the commonwealth, Plautus 
 
 171 fruftra interdi&a quae vetuerant ccrnentes, nullas 
 potius quam irritas effe leges maluerunt. PHn. Nat. Hijl. 
 *xxvi. 3, 
 
 M 4 flourifhe.d
 
 i68 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 flourifhed about a century and half before the 
 civil war broke out between Csfar and Pom- 
 pey j yet the manners in Plautus's time were 
 become fo notoriously degenerate, and withal 
 fo prevailing agairift the laws, that he makes 
 even a flave to hold the following language I7 * : 
 
 Nunc mores nlhil faclunt quod licet, nifi quodlubet. 
 Ambitio jam morefantta 'ft : liber a eft legibus. 
 ******** 
 
 Mores leges ferduxerunt jam in foteftatemjuam* 
 ******** 
 
 Neque quicquam lege Janftum 'ft : leges morifer- 
 
 viunt. 
 
 But, not to loiter upon ancient theatres, let 
 us defcend at once to modern ; to that particu- 
 larly, on which we act, and with which alone we 
 are concerned. And here, without rambling 
 over an immenfe field, let us confine our obfer- 
 vations to three or four acts of parliament, 
 which folely refpect manners : for thefe will 
 fuffice to (hew, that laws will be of little, or 
 rather no efficacy at all, when manners bear 
 ftrongly and powerfully againft them. 
 
 By a law, enacted in 2 Geo. II. common 
 fwearing is forbidden, as being juftly deemed 
 the mark of a very profligate or a very foolifh 
 fpirit : and the delinquent is fined, according to 
 the rank he holds in fociety. But is the prac- 
 
 74 Trinummus, Aft. IV. 
 
 tice
 
 THI WOOD. 
 
 tice of it fupprefTed, or even curbed ? Nay, can 
 any thing prevail more univerfally ? and is it pof- 
 fible to ftir out, without having our ears every 
 moment annoyed with it ? Very tr e : but the rea- 
 fon is, that the.Juftice of Peace, who has the care 
 of this, as of almoft all other ftatutes, will not 
 put it in execution. Say you fo ? Well then, 
 let us fuppofe this magiftrate, with half a fcore 
 of fetters or informers, marching forth upon a 
 vifitation in his diftrict, with a determined pur- 
 pofe to execute this law againft all, gentle as 
 well zsjimple, who fhall be found to offend a- 
 gainft it : I am obliged to march him out, be- 
 caufe, unlefs per accidens> no information of this 
 kind will ever be brought home to him I afk 
 now, what reception he would meet with, and 
 what amendment he would work ? He would 
 be deemed an officious, troublefome, imperti- 
 nent perfon : he would be abufed, infulted, 
 hated : and, as to reformation and amendment, 
 far from any thing tending thereto, he would 
 infallibly promote the crime he was endeavour- 
 ing to correct. He has indeed law to fupport 
 him, and gofpel too, if that could do any good : 
 but leges moribus ferviunt, the laws give way to 
 manners : licentioufnefs is eftabliftied, and pro- 
 fligacy triumphant. So, by an ordinance in 
 1650, when the righteous ruled the land, it was 
 made felony in both fexes, without benefit of 
 , to commit adultery or fornication : but 
 3 laws,
 
 170 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 laws, made againft manners which will always 
 prevail, of courfe repeal themfelvesj and for 
 this particular ordinance, as one pleafantly ob- 
 ferves, <c it could not have continued long un- 
 <e repealed, even if Charles II. had not fuc- 
 <c ceeded to the throne 17J ." 
 
 The acts of parliament, relating to alehoufes 
 and tipling, are very explicit, precife, and 
 ftrong : and they are too well known, to need 
 to be enlarged on. But, is it poffible to put 
 thefe acts in execution ? Shall every man be 
 fined, who is known to be drunk ; and every 
 ale-feller deprived of his licence, who may hap- 
 pen to fuffer irregularities in his houfe ? Not 
 only the manners, but the very police, of the 
 country would oppofe this. It is believed, with 
 good reafon, that the Juftice of Peace cannot, 
 in any fingle branch of his office, ferve his 
 neighbourhood more effectually, than by pay- 
 ing a rigid attention to houfes of this fort; 
 they being indifputably, as they have ever been 
 deemed 174> , the grand fources of corruption and 
 debauchery among the people : and this atten- 
 
 ITJ Barrington on Anc. Stat. p. 125. 
 
 174 " In the ftatutes of this reign, there are ever coupled 
 " the punijhment of vagabonds t the forbidding of dice and 
 ' cards lo/ervants and mean people, and the putting down and 
 " f u PP re ffi n S f 'alehoufes ; as firings of one root together, and 
 " as if the one were unprofitable without the other." Ba- 
 con's Hift. of Henry VII. 
 
 tion
 
 THE WOOD. 171 
 
 tion is frequently inculcated upon him by the 
 Judge from the bench. Yet, fhould this magif- 
 trate proceed, as the ftatute directs, againfl any 
 of thefe houfes, though ever fo notorioufly and 
 fcandaloufly difiblute, the very loweft officers 
 of the Excife would inftantly erect themfelves 
 in oppofition to him. They would abet the ale- 
 feller, with the ufual infolence of their office; 
 would be ready to gauge the unlicenfed cafk ; 
 and plume themfelves perhaps as better friends 
 to Government, for fupporting its revenue, 
 than the magiftrate, whofe procedures have a 
 tendency to diminifh it 1?y . 
 
 It is pleafant enough to confidcr, that, while 
 Government is making laws for the preventing 
 of drunkennefs, thefe little officious minifters of 
 it are promoting drunkennefs, for the righteous 
 purpofe of ferving Government I;fi . But I have 
 
 feert 
 
 171 Mandeville was abufed for writing a book to fhew, 
 that Private Juices 'were Public Benefits : that is, that a cor- 
 ruption of manners, though pernicious to individuals, might 
 yet be ferviceable to the State. But, are they not made fo 
 in this cafe, in the cafe of lotteries, which promote a fpirit 
 of gaming, and in many other cales ? where we may almpfl 
 fay with Seneca, that " iniquities are praftifed according to 
 " acls of parliament," ex Jenatus confultis fcelera txercen- 
 tur. 
 
 *' 6 Doubtlefs, a more ftr iking contradiction cannot be ; 
 and a French writer has exprefled himfelf very properly, as 
 well as very pleafantly, upon the fubjeft. Une /octet e, qui pu- 
 nit les exces, $n' ellefait naitre, &c. that is, " a fociety, 
 
 " whicji
 
 i 7 a S Y L V A, on 
 
 feen the thing happen, having indeed experi- 
 enced it in my own practice ; and it brought to 
 my mind an affair of a fimilar kind, related by 
 Dr. Giles Fletcher, who went in a public cha- 
 racier to Ruffia towards the end of Queen Eli- 
 zabeth's reign. This obferver, fpeaking of the 
 many wicked and barbarous arts, which were 
 ufed by the Czars, to drain and opprefs their 
 people, fays, that " in every great town the em- 
 " peror hath a drinking houfe, which he lets 
 " out for rent. Here labourers and artificers 
 " many times fpend all from their wives and 
 ef children. Some drink away every thing they 
 e wear about them, even to their very fhirts 
 " inclufive, and then walk naked : all which is 
 f done for the honour of the Emperor. Nor, 
 " while they are thus drinking themfelves 
 <f naked, and ftarving their families, muft 
 <f any- one call them away, becaufe he would 
 " hurt the Emperor's revenue I77 ." 
 
 Duelling is another good inftance, to fhew 
 the prevalence of manners over laws. " The 
 " law," fays Mr. Hawkins, <f fo far abhors du- 
 " elling, that not only the principal, who ac- 
 ct tually kills the other, but alfo his feconds, 
 
 " which puniihes the excefles it occafions, may be compared 
 " to thofe, who have the loufy diftemper : they are forced to 
 " kill the vermin with which they are tormented, though 
 ' the ill habit of their conftitutions every moment produces 
 ' it." Syjleme de la Nature, ch. 12. 
 
 i r> ^Oftbe Ritffe Commonwealth, ch. 12. Lond. 1591. 
 
 are
 
 T H-I WOOD. 173 
 
 ** are guilty of murder, whether they fought 
 f or not 178 :" and the punifhment of courfe is 
 death. But, in fpke of this fanction, ftrong 
 and powerful as it is, is not the age of Quixot- 
 ifm coming on again ? Does not the humour 
 rodomontade prevail among the great ; and is 
 it not creeping down, even to apprentices and 
 attorneys clerks ? I called it Quixotifm : and 
 furely I had reafon. Obferve the manners of 
 our prefent duellifts ; weigh the principles they 
 go upon ; attend to the ceremonial of their en- 
 gagements ; and tell me then, if any adventures 
 of the famous Knight of La Mancha are built 
 upon a more foolifh foundation, and accompa- 
 nied with more folemn yet more ridiculous 
 rites, than theirs. 
 
 Perhaps a ftronger inftance cannot be 
 brought, than this before us, to fhew the pre- 
 valence of fafhion, not over laws only, but 
 over fenfe, and reafon, and equity, and huma- 
 nity. The duellift is never an amiable, and 
 oftentimes a bad, compofition : but he has ho- 
 nour for his fanction and fupport j honour, all- 
 powerful honour: and this vain, unmeaning, 
 empty word, this/* imaginary notion, as Sy- 
 phax truly calls it, is, through the prevalence 
 of falhion, fufficient to prefer ve him upon terms 
 
 " i Hawk. P. S. 82. 
 
 with
 
 174 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 with fociety, and to fecure his reception aS 
 ufual amongft gentlemen I79 . 
 
 Let me fubjoin a paflage from a good writer ; 
 which, while it animadverts upon this particular 
 inilance of Britifh manners, will ferve to con- 
 firm our general pofition. " No law will, or 
 " ever can, be executed by inferior magiflrates, 
 " while the breach of it is openly encouraged 
 <e by the examples offuperior. Does any man 
 f think, that the belt laws againft duelling 
 Cf would have any effect, if there was at the 
 <c fame time a duelling office kept open at St. 
 <c James's ? The example of thofe, who fhould 
 <{ execute laws, or fee them executed, is 
 <e ftronger than the authority of thofe, who 
 <e make them. The example of Vefpafian did 
 <e more towards the reftraint of luxury, than 
 ce all the fumptuary laws of Rome could do 
 " till his time ; for," fays Tacitus, <f a com- 
 t( plaifance towards the prince, and a fpirit of 
 < c rivaljbip in imitating his manners, were of far 
 more force , than any dreaded pun foment from 
 " the laws 18 ." 
 
 179 Addifon fpeaks of a club of duellifts, but obferves, that, 
 " confifting only of men of honour, it did not continue long ; 
 " moft of the members of it being put to the fword, or 
 '/ hanged, a little after its inftitution." Speft. N 9. 
 
 180 Obfequiiim in principem, et eemulandi amor, validior 
 quant pcena ex legibus et metus. Annal, III. 55. Cato's 
 Letters. 
 
 I will
 
 THE WOOD. 175 
 
 I will cite but one inftance more j and that 
 lhall be the act, to prevent bribery and cor- 
 ruption in electing Members of Parliament, 
 paITed in 1729. It fhould feem> that no fta- 
 tute was ever better guarded, and enforced 
 with ftronger fanctions, than this. The elector 
 fwears, if demanded, that he has not received 
 any thing directly or indirectly, in one fhape 
 or other, in order to give his vote: this oath 
 to be adminiftered by the officer, who prefides 
 at the poll, on forfeiture of 50!. upon refufal. 
 No perfon lhall be admitted to poll, till he 
 hath taken this oath, if demanded as aforefaid : 
 and if the Iheriff, or other returning officer, 
 lhall admit any perfon to be polled before he 
 is fworn, if demanded, he forfeits lool. ; as 
 does alfo the perfon, who lhall vote or poll, 
 without firft taking this oath, if demanded. 
 After this, the ftatute enacts, that every return- 
 ing officer lhall take an oath, that he hath 
 acted with impartiality, difmtereftednefs, and 
 fidelity, in the returns he hath made. And 
 then follows the great and tremendous claufe, 
 which lays a penalty of 500!. on all perfons, 
 who lhall take money or reward for their votes, 
 as well as on the candidates, who by themfelves 
 or any other perfons lhall give it ; and which 
 for ever difables both from voting in any fu- 
 ture election, and from holding, exercifmg, 
 or enjoying any office ', francbife, &c. as if fuch 
 
 perfons
 
 I 7 6 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 perfons were naturally dead. This, one would 
 think, was going as far as human wifdom 
 could forefee j and muft have been fecurity 
 enough, if any thing could be, againft bribery 
 and corruption in all fuch cafes : yet, what 
 has been the effect ? Every body knows : every 
 body knows, that bribery and corruption have 
 been practiced ever fince, and are now avowed 
 without referve or difguife. 
 
 The Minifter, againft whom this act was 
 levelled, was fuppofed to pack his parliaments, 
 and to carry all his meafures by the fingle ex- 
 pedient of corruption. At firft indeed he op- 
 pofed it j but, foon dropping oppofition, he 
 affected to co-operate with thofe, who were for 
 it. Aware of the no-effects it would have, the 
 minifterial writers of thofe days ridiculed it 
 under the name of the golden dream l8t : and 
 doubtlefs the Minifter laughed at it himfelf -, 
 for he abounded with pleafantry, and was of an 
 humour to laugh. He was not learned j and 
 poffibly never heard, how-Anacharfis laughed 
 at Solon, for thinking to reftrain avarice and 
 ambition by laws I8z : but he knew human na- 
 ture and the world, and perceived, no doubt, 
 as clearly as Anacharfis, how little acts of par- 
 liament would avail in ftemming the torrent of 
 popular manners. 
 
 111 Craft/man, N^IJ. l8 * Plut. in Solon. 
 
 Overzealous
 
 THE W O. O D. 177 
 
 Overzealous reformers, when they fee crimes 
 committed often and with impunity, are apt to 
 grow angry : they blame the magiftrate for 
 negligence : they call aloud for feverer laws 
 and more active magiflrates. But fevere laws, 
 inftead of reforming, would harden a people : 
 they would make them defperate, and perhaps 
 they might make them rebellious. " It is a 
 * f perpetual remark of the Chinefe authors," 
 fays Montefquieu, " that, the more the feve- 
 <f rity of punifhments was increafed in their 
 <e empire, the nearer they were to a revolu- 
 tc tion. 'The reajon is, fays he, that puni/h- 
 (t ments were augmented, in proportion as tbe 
 " public morals were corrupted I8J ." 
 
 In ihort, to punilh is to begin at the wrong 
 end. If we would effectually reform a people, 
 we muft lay a foundation in difcipline and 
 manners. " Good manners," fays Tacitus, 
 " did more with the Germans, than good laws 
 " in other countries l84 :" and, among the Spar- 
 tans, the rigid education of their youth, and 
 the facred regard that was paid to the 'regula- 
 tion of manners, in a great meafure fuperfeded 
 the ufe of laws. " It is an old complaint," 
 fays Lord Bacon, " that governments have 
 
 183 L'Efprit, VI. 9. Fidebis eafiepi committ'i, qu*/<tpiut 
 *indicantur, faid Seneca formerly. 
 
 4 Plus ibi boni marts t/aiettt, quam alibi bonx leges. De 
 Mor. German. 
 
 N been
 
 I7 S Y L V A, o* 
 
 " been too attentive to laws, while they have 
 <f neglected the bufmefs of education I8s :" the 
 wifeft ftatefmen and the ableft obfervers of hu- 
 man nature have always joined them together, 
 as the only folid bafis, on which the well- 
 being and happinefs of a nation or people can 
 be creeled " 6 . 
 
 LIV. 
 
 lAWS MUST BE frlTTED TO A PEOPLE. 
 
 T\7"HEN it was infmuated to Solon, that he 
 had not given the Athenians fo good 
 laws as he might have done, that wife and re- 
 fpectable perfon anfwered, " I have given them 
 " the beft they were able to bear I8 V Belle 
 
 parole ! 
 
 185 Vetus querela eft, inde ufque ab optimis et prudentif- 
 fimis feculis dedu&a, refpublicas circa leges quidem nimi- 
 um fatagere, circa educationem indiligentes effc. De Aug. 
 Scient. lib. I. 
 
 isc ff There are two things," fays Polybius, c< which 
 " are effential parts in every government ; and thefe are 
 " the laws and the manners, &c." Lib. VI. extraft 3. 
 
 187 Plut. in Solon. It is remarkable, that Mofes praclifed 
 this conformity with the Jewilh people, by accommodating 
 certain rites and ceremonies to their ancient prejudices ; 
 ritus aliquos, fays Spencer, longo ufu receptet reformando, eofqut
 
 THE W O O D. 179 
 
 Jxirole / " a fine obfervation," fays Montefquieu, 
 <c and which ought to be perfectly underftood 
 <s by every legiflator Ii}8 ." Certainly : how elfe 
 will he be able to adapt his means to his end ? 
 Laws, to produce their effects, muft, like all 
 other things, be fitted to their objects. Would 
 you tame a wild animal from the deferts of 
 Africa, you would doubtlefs adapt your manege^ 
 as nearly as you could, to the nature of the 
 beaft you had to deal with. The human is 
 reckoned by fome the wildeft of all beads : 
 but, wild or tame, why not treat him accord- 
 ing to his nature, and according to the fitua- 
 tion he may happen to be found in ? 
 
 A legiflator therefore, who knows what he 
 is about, who takes aim, as they fay, and does 
 not mean to bolt at random, will not retire 
 into his clofet, and there feign abftract and 
 ideal fyftems of laws and government , but he 
 will look abroad, examine and contemplate 
 well the materials he has to work upon, and 
 direct and regulate all his operations by what 
 he fees. He will not confider only what is 
 true, but what is practicable alfo ; and, if he 
 cannot make men fo perfect as he would, he 
 
 md Dei ipfius cultum transformando : ritus enim baud paucos 
 antiquitus afoatos in ttovam quafi formam finxit Deas, ut pltbis 
 animos, quos ratio nofi potuit, u/us aut divina <rtyxaTa(7K cul* 
 tuifuoconciliaret. De Legibus Hebraeor. L. I. c. 5. 
 188 L'Efprit, //w. xix. cb. 21. 
 N 2
 
 i So S Y L V A, OR 
 
 will make them as perfect as he can. When 
 the Dictator Csefar was projecting a reforma- 
 tion of abufes and manners among the Ro- 
 mans, his counfellor advifed him, to accom- 
 modate his meafures to their prefent prevailing 
 habits and cuftoms, and not to think of " re- 
 " calling them to thofe ancient original fland- 
 " ards and rigid rules of difcipline, which in 
 " the then degenerate and corrupt ftate of 
 <f their manners, inftead of being obferved, 
 " would only be made a jeft of 189 :" and who 
 can fay, that he did not advife him well ? So, 
 when a motion for reforming was made to Ti- 
 berius, the politic tyrant replied, that " it 
 " might poffibly be better to overlook pre- 
 tc vailing and inveterate corruptions, than ex- 
 " pofe their impotence to the world, by fhew- 
 
 **' non ad wet era injfituta revocare, quae jampridem 
 
 corruptis moribus ludibriofunt, Salluft. Oral. I. ad Caef. de 
 Rep. ord. But Casfar does not feem to have profited by this 
 advice ; for, foon after his return from the African war, he 
 enafted laws to regulate their drefs, equipage, furniture, &c, 
 but chiefly their tables, and ftyle of eating. Legem pr<ecipue 
 fumptuariam exercuit : difpojttis circa macellum cuftddibus, qui 
 tbfonia contra vefitum retinerent, deportarentquc ad fe ; fubmijfis 
 nonnunquam licloribus atqne militibus, qui,Ji qua cuftcdes fefellif- 
 fent, jam appojita e triclinia auferrent. Suet, in Vit. 43. 
 More, furely, could not be done to enforce the execution of 
 any law ; yet it appears to have been neglefted, and of no 
 effedl at all. Ctsjari certum eft Romee manere ; ne, fe abfente, 
 leges fua: negligerentur, Jicut eJJ'et negleSa SUMPTUARIA. 
 Cic ad Att. xiii. 7. 
 
 ing
 
 THE WOOD. 181 
 
 cc ing how unequal they were to the reforma- 
 < c tion of them I9 ." The Emperor Galba con- 
 firmed the wifdom of this ; for, exerting a fpi- 
 rit of reforming, beyond what the manners of 
 Rome would bear, he not only failed, but loft 
 his life, in the attempt: nocuit antiquus rigor et 
 nimia feveri(as y cut jam fares non Jumus, fays 
 Tacitus. Hift. I. 18. 
 
 Mean while one cannot, without focne fur- 
 prife, behold certain patriotic leaders among 
 the Romans, fuch as Cicero and Brutus, making 
 a ftand for liberty, and vainly ftruggling to 
 reftore it to a people, whofe virtue was entirely 
 gone, and whofe manners were totally relaxed 
 and diflblute. Liberty, fays Sidney, cannot be 
 preferred, if the manners of the people be cor- 
 rupt 1 * 1 . But the Roman manners were in a 
 high degree corrupt; which made Jugurtha 
 fay, even half a century before, that tf Rome 
 <c itfelf would be fold, if a buyer could be 
 " found :" urbem venalem,fi emptorem invenerif. 
 Salluft. 
 
 190 Nefcio an fuafurus fuerim omittere pott us pnenjalida et 
 adulta <vitia, quam hoc adfequi, ut palamjieret, quibus flaghiit 
 imparts effemus. Tac. Ann. iii. 53. 
 
 191 On Government, ch. 1 1 , 
 
 N
 
 182 S Y L V A, on 
 
 LV. 
 
 NOT WHAT SEEMS PERFECT, BUT WHAT IS 
 PRACTICABLE. 
 
 wild enthufiaftic fpirit, which would 
 elevate human nature above her genuine 
 ftandard, would in like manner pufh civil fo- 
 ciety beyond any degree of practicable perfec- 
 tion. The fame Plotinus, whom we have al- 
 ready ftrictured for the former ' 9 *, was equally 
 ftimulated with a zeal for the latter. It is re- 
 lated by Porphyry, who hath written his life, 
 that he afked the Emperor Gallienus to build 
 and endow a city for philofophers, that fhould 
 be governed according to Plato's ideas, and be 
 called Platonopolis ' 9J ; and Porphyry adds, 
 that Plotinus would have obtained what he 
 afked, if fome malignants at court had not in- 
 terpofed. They probably thought, that the 
 Treafury-money might be more ufefully em- 
 ployed : the Emperor, however, might have 
 found fome advantage from it, as he would 
 certainly have got rid of all the Utopians, the 
 Vtfionariet in politics, the' ftatefmen of general 
 abftract ideas ; which, when they are fuffered 
 to be bufy, are a very troublefome order of 
 
 w N XI. ' Fabric. Bibl. Grsec. IV. 12. 
 
 3 beings :
 
 THE WOOD. 183 
 
 beings : thefe would all, with one accord, have 
 haftened to Platonopolis. 
 
 A certain writer has obferved, that thefe 
 well - meaning fpeculative politicians (for 
 "well-meaning they are often allowed to be) 
 " are of all others the moft untractable in go- 
 " vernment, and mifchievous in bufmefs : who 
 " endeavour to deftroy all governments, be- 
 " caufe they are not perfect ; and oppofe all 
 " adminiftrations, becaufe they cannot govern 
 " men by fuch means, as they are not defigned 
 <f or formed to be governed by I9 V Cato, 
 formerly, was an offender in this way : he was 
 a fc well-meaning fpeculative politician ;" and 
 is recorded to have done mifchief in the Senate 
 at Rome, merely from not diftinguifhing be- 
 tween vrhztfeems perfeft and what is practicable. 
 <c With the very beft intentions and the clear- 
 " eft integrity," fays Tully, he fometimes 
 ce hurts the commonwealth." And how ? " By 
 " giving his opinion upon all occafions, as if 
 * c he were in the pure and incorrupt republic of 
 " Plato, and not amidft the low and degenerate 
 " tribe of Romulus ' 9J :" contrary to which, 
 as the fame Tully obferves, " a ftatefman muft 
 " confider, not only what is beft in itfelf, but 
 " what is neceflary alfo to times and fitua- 
 
 lfl + Upon the Origin of Evil. Letter V. 
 455 Tanquam in Platonis woXmw*, non tanquam in facce 
 Romuli. Ad Alt, II. i. 
 
 N 4 s< tions."
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 " tions 19 V tfempori cedere, that is, to fubmit 
 to the time, is a fubmiffion, which the ftatef- 
 men of all ages have ever found it expedient 
 to make. Tully lays it down as a capital and 
 fundamental maxim in politics j and, fpeaking 
 to Atticus of fomething he had done as the at 
 cptimi civ'iSy he adds, fed it a optimi, ut tempora, 
 quibus parere omnes TroXmKcl prascipiunt. Nor 
 could ' even Casfar himfelf, though conqueror 
 and diftator, be exempt from this fubmifiion 
 to the circumftances of affairs : nos \\V\Jervimus 9 
 fays Tully, ipfe temporibus ; nee ille, quid tem- 
 pora poftulatura funt, fcire poteft 197 . 
 
 It is common to blame individuals, when af- 
 fairs go wrong, and it is fometimes right j but 
 it is not always fo : for the ftatefman, any more 
 than other men, cannot aft invariably and al- 
 ways as he would : he is often forced along by 
 a neceflary train of things, and obliged to aft, 
 not as he would, but as he can. He may 
 watch conjunctures : he may avail himfelf at 
 
 156 Norn folum ei quid eflet optimum videndum eft, fed 
 etiam quid neceffarium. De Leg. III. n. And to this wife 
 maxim even Cato him/elf, in a more reafonable mood, and 
 when common fenfe prevailed over ftoicifm, could occafion- 
 ally conform : for, when the Senate found it expedient to 
 fupport Bibulus aga^ft Csfar, in fuing for the confullhip, 
 they " made a common purfe, to enable him to bribe as 
 " high as his competitors ;" ne Catone quidem abnuente, as 
 Suetonius fays in Vita Cxf. . 9. 
 
 l 7 Ad Att. xii. ^.AdFam. iv. 9. ft ix. 17. 
 
 moments
 
 THE WOOD. 18$ 
 
 moments by policy and expedient: he may 
 rightly adapt certain means to certain ends, 
 and fometimes fucceed j but he will frequently 
 mifcarry : for there are in all governments fo 
 many circumftances and contingencies, inde- 
 pendent of human forefight and will, that of- 
 tentimes the moft which the wifeft manager 
 can do, is to make the wifeft ufe of incidents as 
 they rife : qu<e cafus offert, infaplentiam vertere. 
 Tacitus '9 8 . 
 
 i98 it We may lament the imperfections of our human 
 " ftate, which is fuch, that, in cafes of the utmoft importance 
 " to the order and good government of fociety, we are re- 
 " duced to have no part to take, which our reafon can ap- 
 " prove abfolutely. Perfect fchemes are not adapted to our 
 " imperfeft ftate. Stoical morals and Platonic politics are 
 " nothing better than amufements for thofe, who have had 
 *' little experience in the affairs of the world, and who have 
 " much leifure. In truth, all that human prudence can do, 
 " is to furnifh expedients, and to compound as it were with 
 " general vice and folly ; employing reafon to aft even 
 ' againft her own principles, and teaching us (if I may fay 
 " fo) infanire cum rationed Bolingbroks's Idea of a Patriot 
 King. 
 
 LVL
 
 jS6 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 LVI. 
 
 OF COFFEE-HOUSE POLITICIANS, AS THEY ARE 
 CALLED. 
 
 is no order of men, who are more 
 an object of curious contemplation, than 
 thofe xap&o-yvwVaj, or know^rs of hearts (for fuch 
 I think they muft be deemed, if any uninfpired 
 mortals can be fo deemed) who are perfectly 
 acquainted with the tempers and principles of 
 Minifters, whofe perfons they never faw ; and 
 can at once, as if by intuition, trace all tranf- 
 actions in politics to the caufes from which 
 they fpring. The famous Cardinal de Retz y 
 who was the life and foul of the faction he go- 
 verned, and muft have been privy, if any one 
 could be fo, to all the moft fecret fprings and 
 movements of it, yet declares, that " there arc 
 " inexplicable points in affairs* which are ac- 
 " tually fo at the moment in which they hap- 
 " pen j that they are impenetrable even by 
 <f thofe, who are the neareft to them : whence 
 cc he cannot but wonder at the infolence of 
 f certain obfcure perfons, who imagine them- 
 c< felves to have penetrated into the very hearts 
 " of thofe, who are concerned the moft in 
 
 thefe affairs w." 
 
 It 
 
 99 J> admire I* infolence de ces gens de neant, qui s'imaginent 
 mvoir penetre dam teus les rfflis des coeurs dt (tux, yui out en 
 
 In
 
 THE WOOD. 187 
 
 It is obfervable, that he makes this remark 
 no lefs than four times, while he relates the 
 tranfactions of the Fronde in 1651 : and, though 
 his animadverfions are levelled at certain low 
 impertinent hiftorians, which infefted his times 
 as they do ours, yet are they not equally ap- 
 plicable to thofe innumerable flatefmen fcat- 
 tered through the land, who affect to know 
 
 ij 
 
 the penetralia of a court, and to trace every 
 idea with as much exactnefs and certainty, 
 as if they had perched upon the pineal gland 
 of the Minifter, at the moment it iffued 
 forth ? 
 
 Among this order of ftatefmen are your Doc- 
 tores Umbratici ; for there are fuch doctors in 
 politics, as well as in divinity, law, and phyfic 
 men, who, fitting in the Jhade as it were, Jee 
 wifions and dream dreams : that is, form the 
 mod perfect fyilems of governing, if Minifters 
 were but wife enough to attend to them duly. 
 All which may poflibly be amufing, and would 
 be alfo innocent, if kept at home for private 
 ufe j but the misfortune is, that thefcfeers of 
 viftons and dreamers of dreams are ever eager 
 and zealous to have them introduced into pub- 
 
 la plus de part dans Its affaires* II y a des points dans les af- 
 fairts intxplicablei dans leurs in/tans. Ne doit-on pas admirer 
 Finfolence des Hiflorltns Vulgaires, qui croiroient fe faire tort, JS 
 iit laffbient un feul evenement Jans leurs ouvrages, dtmt Us tie de~ 
 clarajjcnt pat Its reports ? Memoires. 
 
 lie
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 lie affairs, and Jure to grow angry and difaf- 
 fected, when they are not, in their eftimation, 
 properly attended to : little confidering, alas ! 
 that what they fee and dream, is not reducible 
 to practice, or to be made of any ufe in the af- 
 fairs of men nihil ex its, qu<e in uju babemus* 
 nut audiuntj aut indent. Petron. 
 
 LVII. 
 
 OF REASON OF STATE, OR STATE-NECESSITY. 
 
 HAT isReafon of State, or State Nece/ity ? 
 Why, in truth, neither more nor lefs, ex- 
 plain them as you will, than an aflumed right 
 to difpenfe with the laws, whenever they ob- 
 ftruct the meafures of a Prince or his Minifters. 
 Milton has called necejfity the tyrant's -plea. 
 Another writer calls it tf the great patronefs of 
 tc illegal actions, which politicians have ufed, 
 " as certain philofophers did Occult Quality, 
 " though to a different purpofe; this being the 
 " philofopher's refuge for ignorance, that the 
 " politician's fanctuary for fin." Pius Quin- 
 tus, fays Lord Bacon, could not bear the name 
 of Ragioni di Stato> being wont to fay, that 
 thefe were the mere devices of wicked men, 
 wherewith to opprefs religion and virtue : no- 
 men iff urn averfatus eft Pius V.Jolitus dicer e, ejfe 
 mtra malorum hominum commenta, qu<e oppone- 
 
 rentur
 
 THE W O O D> 189 
 
 rentur religioni et virtutibus moralibus 100 . 
 They had once a term in France, which, if it 
 had been properly nurtured up and cherilhed, 
 would have anfwered all the purpofes of this 
 reafon of State, by countenancing Kings and 
 Minifters in whatever manoeuvres they might 
 pleafe to fet on foot ; and that was, the public 
 good. Thus, the princes of France leagued 
 againft Lewis XI. for THE PUBLIC GOOD : on 
 I' appella la ligue DU BIEN PUBLIC, fays Meze- 
 ray, anno 1^64., par ce que les princes luy donnoient 
 ce beau pretext e : and, in 1475, Edward IV. of 
 England was preparing a defcent upon France 
 under the fame pretext of public good. Our 
 State lawyers, however, reprobate thefe ideas, 
 and certainly with good reafon : " I know," 
 fays one of them, " of no diftindtion between 
 " State necejfities and others : our books do 
 " not make any fuch diftinftion : and we find, 
 " in 3 Car. I. Mr. Serjeant AJhley was com- 
 " mitted to the Tower, for faying, in one of 
 <f his arguments at the bar, that there was at 
 Cf State power, or law of the State, as well as of 
 <c the Country. And the Judges, with refpect 
 ' to (hip-money, were committed for faying, 
 " that there was a State necejjity for it "*." 
 
 400 De Augm. Scient. 1. i. 
 101 Comines, anno 1464 and 1475. 
 
 a z Judgment in the cafe of Entick and Carrington, C. B. 
 Michaelmas Term, 1765, delivered by Lord Chief Juftice 
 
 LV1II. OF
 
 S Y L V A, on 
 LVIII. 
 
 OF ACTS OF INSOLVENCY. 
 
 fc/TETHINKS, they fhould be called atts 
 of Jolvency ; fince they enable men to 
 pay debts, and (which is extraordinary) with- 
 out money or effects. But to be ferious. 
 Acts of infolvency are occafional acts, by which 
 perfons are difcharged from fuits and impri- 
 fonment, upon furrendering their all to their 
 creditors aoj . It hath often been agitated, to 
 whom the benefit of thefe acts fhould extend j 
 whether to all indifferently, or only to fome, 
 who- could with propriety be deemed proper 
 objects of it ? But, though to draw the line, 
 and define boundaries, be generally difficult in 
 human affairs, yet here it feems eafy. Let a 
 court or committee of equity be ordained, to 
 fit at ftated times upon prifoners for debt : and 
 let all, whom misfortunes have brought into 
 durance, be releafed j bup let defaulters or 
 rogues be detained, or otherwif? difpofed of ac- 
 cording to fome wife police. To think of re- 
 leafing all, the guilty as well as innocent, would 
 be as unjuft and partial, as it would be weak 
 and impolitic ; and were any one to propofe 
 
 * 3 Blackftone's Commentaries, ii. 31. 
 
 this,
 
 THE W O O % -D. 191 
 
 this, c< perhaps to be popular?' I fhould deem 
 him knavifh as well as foolifh. As deliberate 
 fchemes, as ever were concerted for a burglary, 
 have been concerted to gain truft and credit, 
 in order to defraud and rob : and getting into 
 debt, with fuch concerters, is nothing elfe but 
 a certain mode of robbing. 
 
 LIX. 
 
 A DECISION BY THE KING OF PRUSSIA. 
 
 H E Amfterdam Gazette, of 13 Feb. 1784, 
 records the following decifion by the King 
 of Prufiia. A foldier of Silefia, being convict- 
 ed of dealing certain offerings to the Virgin 
 Mary, was doomed to death as a facrilegious 
 robber. But he denied the commiflion of any 
 theft ; faying, that the Virgin, from pity to his 
 poverty, had prefented him with the offerings. 
 The affair was brought before the King, who 
 aflced the Popifh divines, whether, according to 
 their religion, the miracle was impoflible ? who 
 replied, that the cafe was extraordinary, but 
 not impofiible. Then faid the King, the " cul- 
 ff prit cannot be put to death, becaufe he de- 
 <f nies the theft, and becaufe the divines of 
 
 his
 
 1 92 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 " his religion allow the prefent not to be im- 
 < c pofiible ; but we ftrictly forbid him, under 
 " pain of death, not to receive any frejent hence- 
 (( forward from the Virgin Mary y or any Saint 
 * f whatever." This, I take it, was anfwering 
 fools according to their folly, and is an inftance 
 of wifdom as well as wit. 
 
 LX. 
 
 EXPERIENCE MAKES FOOLS WISE. 
 
 O T it indeed j no, nor even men, who 
 are not fools. For inftance, experience 
 may convince every man, even the wifeft, that 
 his "judgment conftantly deceives him : is he 
 " not therefore a fool," fays Montaigne, " if 
 " he does not diitruft it ?" Very true, Seigneur: 
 but, pray, how many beings have you known, 
 who, from this reflection, have become lefs 
 pofitive in their manners, lefs dogmatical in 
 their opinions, lefs fudden in their decifions ? 
 Experience may fhew every man, that public 
 rumour always lies : that the facts related, how- 
 ever confidently warranted for truths, are often 
 without any foundation at all, notwithftanding 
 the proverb no Jmoke without fire - 3 but always, 
 
 by
 
 THE WOOD. 193 
 
 by adding or diminifhing, difguifed and altered 
 from their real felves 4 4 . Yet, who is there, 
 that hefitates to admit and fwallow at once any 
 thing faid of any man, and efpecially (thanks 
 to the milkinefs of human nature) if to his dif- 
 grace or detriment 2C5 ? 
 
 Another ftriking inftance, where even the 
 wifeft men are not taught by experience, may 
 be feen in pages 122 and 123 above, No. 
 XXXV. 
 
 LXI. 
 
 
 
 THE BRAVADO OPPOSITE TO WHAT HE 
 WOULD SEEM. 
 
 COME years ago, at St. George's Hof- 
 pital, Weftminfter, two boys underwent 
 each the amputation of an arm. The one ex- 
 prefTed juft and natural apprehenfions of the 
 operation, yet bore it in a firm and reafonable 
 
 ** Fama ne tune quidem, cum illiquid veri affert, fine men- 
 dacii *vitio eft ; detrabens, adjiciens, demutans de weritate. 
 Tertullian. Apol. c. 7. 
 
 205 When any thing bad is faid, human malignity fwal- 
 lows it greedily, and the gulp is delicious ; not fo, when 
 any thing good : this is fwallowed, as a medicine is fwal- 
 lowed, and often flays as difficultly upon the ftomach. 
 
 O manner.
 
 194 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 manner. The other defpifed the timidity of 
 his fellow-patient, made extremely light of the 
 operation, and even fet it glorioufly at defiance ; 
 yet complained during the procefs in the fnoft 
 womanifh ac6 and daftardly ftile, and was, in 
 fhort, totally fubdued by it. Upon my feem- 
 ing greatly furprifed, the furgeon faid, that // 
 was always Jo. I believe it is fo in other things, 
 as well as courage. Whenever vanity oftenta- 
 tioufly parades either upon wealth, or know- 
 ledge, or learning, &c. &c. there fufpicion 
 fhould naturally -arife : and why ? becaufe re- 
 alities are feldom folicitous about appearances, 
 yea, often not enough attentive to them ; while 
 wind and emptinefs inflate and pujf. 
 
 206 This term by right fhould be withdrawn ; for I 
 actually faw a woman, in the fame hofpital, undergo the 
 amputation of a breaft, without complaining at all, fo far 
 as I could perceive. How is it,, that the women feem fo 
 much better formed for fufering than the men? is it, that 
 they are more trained to expeci it as a thing in courfe ? 
 
 LXII.
 
 THE WOOD. 195 
 
 LXII. 
 
 OF ACADEMIES OR PRIVATE SEMINARIES. 
 
 H Y do people, in the education of their 
 children, avoid public fchools, and affe<5t 
 academies 107 ? or fome ofthofe choice nurferies 
 for youth, where the gentleman, not for profit, 
 but for amufement, and the pleafure of mak- 
 ing pupils more finifhed, confines himfelf to 
 fix or eight, at the rate of lool. inftead 
 of 20 1. a year ! Why ? for the fame rea- 
 fon, that many leave the eftablilhed church, 
 and run to a Methodift meeting-houfe ; in 
 fure and certain hope of being better inftrucl:- 
 ed by a fhoemaker or a weaver^ than by a man 
 trained at a fchool and univerfity : for the 
 fame reafon, that men leave regular phyfi- 
 cians for the fake of quacks or waterologers zos . 
 
 507 By Academies are not here meant thofe public femi- 
 naries among the DifTenters, where education is conducted 
 in its beft manner ; but fchools in private houfes, which 
 aflame the name of Academies. 
 
 * z ( < jyftfs Molitor, juft arrived from Strafbourg, em- 
 " braces this opportunity to acquaint the public, that 
 " through long practice with her father, Dr. Molitor of 
 < Strafbourg, fhe undertakes to cure all thofe diforders, 
 tf that are deemed incurable by the Faculty. She flatters 
 * herfelf, by feeing the water of the patient, to tell if cur- 
 able or not." Mom. CJiron. 21 April, 1784. This, I 
 take it, is the way to have bufinefs. 
 
 O 2 There
 
 i 9 6 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 There may have been, but it has not been my 
 fortune to fee, even a fingle youth accomplifh- 
 ed in letters, and who could fairly be called a 
 fcholar, come forth from any of thefe private 
 feminaries. And indeed, how fhould their 
 mafters teach, what not one in ten hath ever 
 learned ? 
 
 LXIII. 
 
 A COMPENDIOUS WAV TO BE SAVED. 
 
 COME, who defpair of being faved by Works > 
 turn Methodifts to obtain falvation by Faith. 
 They refemble the Butler in Addifon's Drummer. 
 Having loft a filver fpoon, he confults a con- 
 jurer j who promifes him the fpoon again, but 
 upon condition, that he fhould fc drink nothing 
 Cf but fmall-beer for a fortnight :" but the 
 Butler, defpairing to " recover it this way, 
 (C e'en bought a new one." Thus, it is much 
 eafier to be faved by faith among the Metho- 
 difts, or abfolutions among the Papifts, than 
 by a courfe of moral practice z ' 9 : all finners 
 
 a 9 Churchmen do not inculcate moral pra&ice, as of 
 itfelf fufficient to fave, but only as a fine qua non ; that 
 is, a man cannot be faved without it, his bell endeavours 
 towards moral perfection being neceffary to qualify him for 
 the benefits of ChriiTs death. 
 
 like
 
 THE WOOD. 197 
 
 like it better, for the fame reafon that an epi- 
 cure or voluptuary had rather be cured by me- 
 dicine or Bath waters, than fubmit to abftinence 
 and regimen. 
 
 LXIV. 
 
 A VINDICATION OF PARACELSUS. 
 
 /"\ N E of the papers, in the Medical Vranfac- 
 tions juft publifhed 1I> , contains the. fol- 
 lowing paragraph: " If modern times had not 
 <c furniflied fimilar inftances, it would have been 
 e< matter of aftonifhment to us to have heard, 
 < f that Erafmus, the friend, the correfpondent, 
 <f and the patient of our excellent Linacer, 
 (C whofe great (kill in the fcience of phyfic he 
 <e extols in feveral of his epiftles, ever confult- 
 <( ed, in his own cafe, fo wild, fo illiterate an 
 <c enthufiaft, as Paracelfus appears to have been. 
 tf But it is to be lamented, that in matters, 
 " which relate to phyfic, even the moftfenfible 
 " part of mankind has -ever Jhewn a degree of 
 <c weaknefs and credulity, eafily impofed upon 
 " by the felf-importance of thofe, who know 
 < c how to recommend themfelves to the world 
 <f by bold promifes j and that diffidence, doubf t 
 
 ai The publication here alluded to was in 1768, an Svo ; 
 whence it appears, that this article was drawn up many 
 years ago. 
 
 O 3 " and
 
 198 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 <f and hefttation y which help to conftitute the 
 <{ true character of a philofopher, have ruined 
 tf both the fame and fortune of many an excel- 
 " lent phyfician." Thele" words are impor- 
 tant, and will furnifli/as a preacher would fay, 
 abundant matter for edification. 
 
 Now, though ' it is not meant* to vindicate 
 Paracelfus fully and abfolutely throughout, yet 
 'hath not this writer's zeal \gainft him fome- 
 v/hat tranfported, and carried him farther, than 
 the matter of fact will in ftrictnefs admit of? 
 That Paracelfus was wild to a confiderable de- 
 gree, will not be denied ; but, whether he was 
 either fo wild, or fo illiterate, as he is here re- 
 prefented, it is at leaft pardonable to doubt, 
 becaufe men, neither wild nor illiterate^ have 
 thought and fpoken highly of him. The writer 
 quotes Erafmus, as having confulted him in bis 
 cwn cafe : his complaint and lamentation are 
 grounded upon this very fact:. If then Erafmus, 
 though the friend and patient of Linacer, whofe 
 fkill too in phyfic he hath greatly extolled, 
 did (as by thus confulting him he certainly did) 
 fuppofe, that Paracelfus might do what Linacer 
 had not done could Erafmus think otherwife 
 than highly of him ? 
 
 True it is, that Erafmus hath not fpoken fa- 
 vourably of phyficians in general; a letter of 
 his to Warham, archbilhop of Canterbury, be- 
 ginning in thefe terms : Incidit Erajmo tuo 
 fericulofa et omnium gravijfima cum calcuk con- 
 
 flittatio.
 
 THE WOOD. 199 
 
 fliftaiio. Decent urn in manus Medicorum et Phar- - 
 macopolarum, hoc eft, carnificum et barfyiarum^ 
 &c ZM . But thefe and fnnilar flrokes regard 
 only the morals of the profefllon, and in no wife 
 affect his teftimony for Paracelfus, whofe abili- 
 ties, as a profeffor, are the point in queftion. 
 Others alfo have fpoken in the higheft terms 
 of this phyfician. Placuit AltiJJimo Paracelfum 
 miftjfey fays Van Helmont, qui medicaminum 
 alt lores preparations mundo prop oner et 1!i : and 
 Gerard Voflius fpeaksofhim, as having actually 
 raifed chemiftry from the dead lli . But, as we 
 mean to comment a little upon the qualifica- 
 tions and manners of this phyfician, let us, for 
 the fake of contemplating his hiftory and cha- 
 racter the better, draw the chief lines and fea- 
 tures of them out, and prcfent them here under 
 one point of view. 
 
 PARACELSUS was born, 1493, near Zurich in 
 Switzerland * u . His father being a phyfician, 
 he learned from him the elements of his art 5 
 
 111 Opera. Tom. III. p. 164." L. Bat. 1706. 
 aia De Ortu Medicine, p. 406. Amft. 1652. 
 
 113 Chemiam, diu fepultam, quafi ab orco revoc^vit: 
 fcriptor, ut de eo nobiliflimus Tycho, pluribus oppugnatus 
 qnam intelle&us. De Pbilofopb. 
 
 ai + Boerhaave, ElementaChemias, p. 19. L. Bat. 1732. 
 Hiftoire de la Medecine, par Dan. Le Clerc, p. 792. Amft. 
 i/ 2 3- 
 
 O 4 but,
 
 200 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 but, captivated with alchymy, as he grew up, 
 he was placed under the moft eminent matters 
 in that way. He then travelled, and vifited al- 
 moft all the countries and univerfities in Eu- 
 rope; confuiting indifferently, wherever he 
 was, phyficians, barbers, old women, conjurers, 
 chemifts, &c. and eagerly adopting from any 
 whatever he thought ufeful. About his 2Oth 
 year, he examined the mines in Germany ; 
 then proceeded as far as to Ruflia : on the bor- 
 ders of which being taken by the Tartars, he 
 was carried to the Cham, and afterwards fent 
 with that prince's fon to Constantinople ; where, 
 as himfelf relates, he was let into the fecret of 
 the philofo^her's ftone. Returning to Europe, 
 he fettled at Bafil ; and here grew famous, ef- 
 pecially after his fuccefsful treatment of Frobe- 
 nius, the celebrated printer als . By this, he be- 
 came acquainted with Erafmus ; and was, in 
 Ihort, ijfo highly efteemed, that the magiftracy 
 of Bafil made him profeflbr of phyfic in 1527, 
 and fettled upon him an handfome falary. Here 
 
 215 Non poflum polliceri prasmium art! tuae ftudioque par : 
 certe gratum animum polliceor. Frobeniam ab inferis 
 re<vocajli, hoc eft, dimidium mei : fi me quoque reftitueris, 
 an fingulis utrumque reftitues, Utinam fit ea'fortuna, quae 
 te Bafileas remoretur. Erafm. ad Paracelf. Epijl. He did 
 'not however flay long at Bafil, but went to Alface, July 
 1528 : and, rambling afterwards through feveral countries, 
 came at length to Saltzbourg, whgre he died Sept. 1541. 
 le C/erc, p. 80 1. 
 
 he
 
 THE WOOD. 201 
 
 he read lectures two hours every day, fometimes 
 in Latin, but oftener in German ; and here, in 
 a public and folemn manner from the chair, he 
 burned the writings of Galen and Avicenna, 
 though he affected to value highly Hippocrates 
 and the ancient phyficians. 
 
 " He had," fays Rapin, < ( a profound ge- 
 " nius, but a dark and obfcure expreffion : all 
 <f his words were enigmas, and all hisdifcourfes 
 myfteries II V Rullandus, a German Phyfi- 
 cian, formed a dictionary of his new-invented 
 terms, which however did not furfice to make 
 them intelligible. He was thought to have 
 ufed a familiar or demon, and to have carried 
 it about in the hilt of his fword. It is certain, 
 that he affected to pafs for a magician j and 
 did not fcruple to teach, that, if God refufed 
 to lend his afliftance, it was lawful and right to 
 confult the devil z ' 7 . He was prepared alfo to be 
 an ecclefiaftical reformer, and had his fingulari- 
 ties in divinity, as well as in phyfic. He main- 
 
 416 Toutes fes paroles ejloimt des enigma, et fes di/cours des 
 myfteres. Reflex, fur la Philofoph. 
 
 * 17 G. Voffius, though an admirer of Paracelfus, mult yet 
 have looked upon this with horror ; fince he thought it bet- 
 ter to die, than to be cured by charms or magical operations. 
 Similis eft quartanae fanatio, fays he, per ABRACADABRA 
 chartce infcriptum, et collo appenium. Plane autem aflentio 
 B. Chryfoftomo, qui docet, utut hujufmodi amuleta prcefta- 
 rent quod promittunt, fatius nihilominus fore, ut morbo 
 obeamus, quam fie recuperemus fanitatem. De Pkilofoph. 
 
 tained,
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 tained, among other ilrange things, that " our 
 cc firft parents before the fall had not the parts 
 " neceffary to generation ; but that they protu- 
 cc berated afterwards, like a fcrophulous tumor 
 " from the throat Z1 V His manners were 
 fomewhat favage : he was arrogant and affum- 
 ing, a mighty boafter, a great promifer. By vir- 
 tue of his Elixir Proprietatis, he undertook to 
 protract the life of man to any period; but, 
 while he was deliberating how far to protract his 
 own, he died, after a few days illnefs, in his 48th 
 year. His works are in Latin ; but his Latinity, 
 like his manners, is rather barbarous. They 
 have been printed more than once " 9 : the bed 
 edition, as I fuppofe, is that of Geneva, 1658, 
 in 3 vols. folio. 
 
 Now, from this general furvey of Paracelfus, 
 what is the idea to be formed of his cha- 
 racter ? why, undoubtedly, wildnefs appears 
 'to have been a prevailing caft in it. But, 
 was wild'riefs peculiar to Paracelfus ? Was 
 
 * l8 Negabat primos parentes ante lapfum habuiffe partes 
 generation! hominis neceflarias : pojleaacceffijft, ut ftrumam 
 gutturt, Voffius, Hid. 
 
 * 19 Guy Patin is quite angry, that printers and prefles 
 Ihould be found for fuch work ; and declares, that they had 
 better print the Koran. Avez <vous ou'i dire, fays he, que h 
 Paracelfe s'impritnc a Geneve ? Qnelle honte, qu'un Jl mechant 
 li--vre troicve 'dcs prcffes et des oifuriers ! J'aimerois mieux qu'on 
 eut imprime I 1 Alcoran. Lettre 5 8. On the other hand, Van 
 Helmont calls him Monarcbatn arcanorum, decus Germanise, 
 <fcc, De Ort Med. p. 603. So it is, that doftors differ. 
 
 5 not
 
 THE WOOD. 203 
 
 not Van Helmont, were not an hundred others, 
 wild as well as he ? Take but the bulk of wri- 
 ters upon other fubjecls j upon philofophy, upon 
 divinity, upon metaphyfics, particularly : bring 
 them to the teil of reafon : examine them well. 
 You will find, that they abound with wild and 
 fantaftic notions, with vain and groundlefe con- 
 ceits i that fome write purely from imagination 
 and temperament, that others are mifled by 
 prejudice and paflion, and that all are conftant- 
 ly lofing fight of nature and common fenfe. 
 From Paracelfus this cenfurer " tranfcribes 
 <f paflages, on account of the juft obfervations 
 " they contain ;" and owns, that, <c in the 
 " midft of the mofl incomprehenfible. jargon, 
 <f he fometimes talks intelligibly" :" which 
 really is as much, as can be faid of almoft any 
 writer, upon fubjects fo abftrufe and profound. 
 Even from Galen, whofe name has been founded 
 fo high in the regions of phyfic, and whofe 
 works are reckoned to contain fo many excellent 
 things i I fay, from Galen will I undertake to 
 produce as folid, full, and elaborate nonfenfe, as 
 this writer for his life can from Paracelfus. 
 Galen was doubtlefs an illuftrious phyfician in 
 his day, and alfo a very acute and learned man. 
 Ifaac Cafaubon hath called him Crtiicorum, non 
 minus quam Medicorum, principew isi j but, if he 
 
 410 Medical Tranfaft. p. 330. 
 * al In Athemeum, Lefiari. 
 
 is
 
 204 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 is now read by here and there a man, it may 
 poflibly be as much for his language and critical 
 fkill, as for any medical treafures fuppofed to be 
 lodged in him. 
 
 So much then for Paracelfus's wildnejs : as for 
 his illiteracy 3 if I may fo call it, this may not be 
 fo eafily afcertained. I can indeed readily con- 
 ceive, that he was no critic in Greek and Latin ; 
 but muft not haftily pronounce illiterate a man, 
 who has left us two or three folios in a learned 
 language. True it is, that his Latinity favours 
 of barbarifm > but it; is equally true, that profef- 
 fional men, who could have written in this lan- 
 guage with purity and elegance, have yet affect- 
 ed an obfcure and even barbarous ftile, merely 
 to give their works a more myfterious and fci- 
 entific air : and Paracelfus, poflibly, may have 
 done fo too a ". 
 
 *** M. de la Monnoie is perfuaded, that Francis Aretiti 
 induftrioufly affefted barbarous expreffions in his works 
 upon law ; left, being deemed a polite writer, he fhould not 
 be thought a profound lawyer. The fame barbarous hu- 
 mour prevailed at the fame time among phyficians and di- 
 vines : thofe among them, who firft attempted to introduce 
 politenefs, were reckoned neither phyficians, nor divines, 
 but grammarians only. They were fcarce cured of this pre- 
 judice in the days of Lud. Vives, whofe words upon the 
 fubje<El are really curious : Q~ie Lyranus et Hugo Jcribunt, 
 Theologla eft ; qute Erafmus, Grammatica. Idem de Hieronymo, 
 Ambrojio, Auguftino, Hilario difiuri, nlfe nomlna oljlarent ; 
 tamctjt hie etiam nefcio quid muj/ant. Quod Ji Joannes Picas 
 apologiam fuam corrupt^ illo non fcrtpfejjet fermone, haudquaquam 
 haberetur Tbeologuj, fed Grammaticui. De Caufis Corrupt, 
 Jiloauent. 1. i. 
 
 Mean
 
 THE WOOD. 205 
 
 Mean while, whether he was, or was not, 
 illiterate, fo far as relates to languages, is of 
 no import in the queftion between us ; becaufe 
 it does not at all affect his abilities as a phyfi- 
 cian, or the judgment of Erafmus in confulting 
 him. A critical knowledge, or (as fome will 
 have it) any knowledge at all, in the Greek 
 and Latin tongues, though " an ornamental 
 " acquifition, and fuch as no phyfician, who 
 " has had a regular education, is found with- 
 , " out, is not yet abfolutely neceffary to the 
 " fuccefsful practice of medicine " } :" and I 
 have a piece now before me, written in 1724, 
 and entitled "Pbarmacopol<ejuftificati, or, Apo- 
 " thecaries vindicated from the imputation of 
 " ignorance ; wherein is fhewn, that an acade- 
 " mical education is no way neceflary to qua- 
 " lify a man for the practice of phyfic." The 
 truth is, that, whatever forms and diftances 
 may be outwardly kept up, for the fake of do- 
 ing things decently and in order 1 * 4 , the apo- 
 thecary 
 
 " 3 On the Duties and Offices of a. Pkyfician, p. 5. 1770. 
 8vo. 
 
 144 Nimia familiaritas cum Pharmacopoeo parit contemp- 
 tum, fays Fr. Hoffman, in Medic. Politic. Pars ii. c. i. reg. 
 8. Yet fome, even phyficians, have contended, that the 
 partitions, which have kept phyfician, furgeon, and apo- 
 thecary afunder, fliould be removed ; and that the three pro- 
 feflions, as it were three departments, fliould be thrown to- 
 gether. Hear one, who attended the plague at London in 
 
 1665,
 
 2o6 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 i 
 thecary will ever fuppofe in fecret, that he 
 
 underftands the adminiftration of medicines in the 
 cure of difeafes, as 'well as the phyftcian -, and in 
 1704, when the conteft ran high between the 
 Difpenfary-phyficians (as they were then called) 
 and the apothecaries, reafons were openly given 
 to prove it " ? . And- it muft be confeffed, that 
 phyficians themfelves have countenanced this 
 ideaj fince, from Galen downwards, they have 
 almoft unanimoufly agreed, that the know- 
 ledge of phyfic cannot be acquired from books. 
 When Sir Richard Blackmore afked Sydenham, 
 what books he frrould read to qualify him for 
 
 1665, and who fpeaks the fentiments of many of his bre- 
 thren : " My judgment is," fays he, " that it is no fuch 
 " prepofterous thing, as fome account it, for a phyfician, 
 " who intends to acquire excellency in his fcience, to begin 
 " with Pharmacopcea and Chyrurgia. I have acled many 
 * e years formerly, but efpecially now of late when there was 
 <( moft need, the part of a phyfitian, chyrurgion, and apo- 
 " thecary, as becomes every honeft able man, lawfully 
 " called to this noble faculty. Take it for an infallible 
 " verity, that it is impoffible, without miraculous infpira- 
 ' tion, for a phyfitian to difcharge his duty in this honour- 
 " able profeflion, unlefs he bring to unity that, which of 
 " late hath been made a trinity" AOIMOTOMIA : The 
 eft Anatomized, By George Thompfon, M. D. 1666, izmo. 
 Pref. to Reader. 
 
 125 The title of the piece alluded to runs thus : " Rea- 
 <c fons, why the .Apothecary may be fuppofed to underftand 
 " the administration," ^ffr. as above; and the motto from 
 Ovid is, Et her bar urn eft Jubjefta potent ia wbis, 
 
 pradice ?
 
 THE WOOD. 207 
 
 practice ? " Read Don Quixote," fays Syden- 
 ham : " 'tis a very good book ; I read it ftill." 
 This Blackmore relates himfelf, in the preface 
 to his Treatife on the Small Pox ; and mentions 
 there alfo another " celebrated phyfician," 
 meaning Ratcliff, as declaring on his death- 
 bed, thrat he " would leave behind him the 
 " whole myftery ofphyfic upon half a fheet of 
 " paper." 
 
 But furely thefe famous practitioners could 
 not ftrictly mean, what they have been ufually 
 underftood to mean, Galen fays exprefsly, 
 that phyfic cannot be learned from books : 
 but, as he adds, neither can any other art be 
 learned from books " 6 . So Cicero had faid, 
 that fc neither -phyficians ^ nor generals, nor ora- 
 " tors, although they may have drawn the pre- 
 " ceprs of their art from books, can ever attain 
 * f to any thing great without ufe and practice" 7 ." 
 But, did any man in his wits ever deny this ? 
 Take, not arts and fciences but, human nature 
 in general : by ftudying it in books only, you 
 will know it no more, than you would know a 
 man's perfon, from having fccn only his picture. 
 \ It is rare, that a picture would enable you to 
 :know the original, if it occurred : I think that 
 
 * Ex 
 
 DC Aliment, faciend. cap. i. 
 
 ? DeOffic. I. 18. 
 
 books,
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 books, without obfervation and experience* 
 would ftill lefs enable you to know mankind 
 and the world. But, becaufe attention and 
 practice are neceffary, does it follow that books 
 are altogether ufelefs ? 
 
 (C A thoufand writers perhaps for a thoufand 
 ff years," fays Freind, " have been improving 
 " the art and profeflion of phyfic : and he, that 
 <c induftrioufly ftudies thofe authors, will, in 
 <c the (hort period of life, find out as much, 
 " as if he had lived a thoufand years him- 
 <c felf, or employed thofe thoufand years in 
 " the ftudy of phyfic "V But this afcribes 
 too much to books, and too little to obfervation 
 and experience : fuffice it to fay, that books 
 muft unavoidably fugged variety of ufeful hints 
 and edifying matter, direct practitioners often 
 what to look for, and thus ferve in fome mea- 
 fure as guides in their refearches. Yet when 
 I allow thus much to books, I do not mean by 
 books thofe hypothetical productions, fpun from 
 the brains of doffores umbratici, without any re- 
 gard to the phenomena ; for thefe, inflead of 
 pointing out what is, may lead men to look 
 for, aye, and (as paradoxical as it may found) 
 often to find, what is not " 9 but I mean thofe 
 
 narrationes 
 
 " s Hift. of Phyfic. II. 63. 
 
 " 9 Men, who have theories to fupport, as they will often 
 fnd what is not, fo they will as often overlook what is. Pre- 
 judiced
 
 THE WOOD* 209 
 
 narratloms medicinales, Lord Bacon mentions: 
 thofe hiftorical narrations of medical cafes, on 
 which alone, fo far as books are concerned, a 
 folid foundation for practice can be raifed ; and 
 to the intermijjion of which Hippocratic diligence 
 he afcribes the very flow progrefs that phyfic 
 has made 1}0 . 
 
 Will it be faid, that books and methods of 
 practice, even formed upon obfervations thus 
 accurately made, will neverthelefs fix a biafs 
 upon the underftanding, give it infenfibly a con- 
 fined and fyftematic habit, and previoufly indif- 
 pofe it for enlarged and impartial contempla- 
 tion ? But this, were it really an objection, 
 would bear againft all other, as well as medical, 
 inftitution : for, while any fort of education 
 fhall be thought expedient, men muft be cul- 
 tivated and fafhioned according to fome fyftem, 
 fome digefted and eftablifhed form, of doctrine. 
 If there be any original power of intellect, this 
 doctrine will afterwards be brought to the 
 teft of reafon and nature j and men will then 
 
 judiced and predetermined, they will fee no fafts, but what 
 they come prepared to fee : as, on the other hand, they will 
 greedily catch at any thing, however obfcure and doubtful, 
 which may feem to favour a private fyftem. This is the 
 true fpirit of hypothetical procedures, and the grand fourct 
 f error among men. 
 
 ** DC Augm. Sclent, iv. 2. 
 
 JP embrace
 
 eio S Y L V A, o R 
 
 embrace or reject upon conviction, what they 
 ^had aforetime learned by rote. If there be no 
 fuch power of intellect, if the practitioner be 
 not of a fort to examine things himfelf, but 
 deems it fafer as well as eafier to rely upon 
 others, and to practife what his tutors and the 
 fchools have taught him why, all which can 
 be faid is, that they, who cannot lead, muft be 
 content to follow. And this, indeed, muft be 
 the cafe with mankind in general j who, as 
 Thucydides obferved long ago of historical 
 knowledge, ^and it will equally apply to all 
 other knowledge, find the fearcb after truth 
 fq very grievous and dijlrejjing^ that they eafily 
 acquiefce in what is ready prepared to their 
 hands ". 
 
 And, now, enough of wild and illiterate ; ef- 
 pecially, as many may be conceived mod im- 
 patient to afk, whether I am in earned, and 
 ferioufly mean to vindicate fo ftrange a character, 
 as that of Paracelfus ? Why, no, not ablolutely, 
 as I have faid j but, furely, from any thing 
 this writer has advanced againft him. For 
 what is it, after all, that he has advanced ? He 
 has pronounced him wild and illiterate : he has 
 condemned him for arTuming that bold> felf- 
 ty and confident air, which was necefTary 
 
 Lib. i. 
 
 to
 
 T H E W O O D. 211 
 
 to recommend him to the world:, and he has ob^ 
 liquely cenfured in him the want of that dif- 
 Jidence, doubt, and hefitation, which, though ei- 
 fential to a pbilojopher, would have ruined him 
 as~a pbyfician. But are not thefe ftrictures of a 
 moft peculiar complexion, and can they be con- 
 fidered without fome degree of wonder? If a 
 bold ,Jelf -important, and confident air be necefiary 
 to recommend a man to the world, why is Pa- 
 racelfus to be blamed for affuming it ? What ! 
 is Paracelfus to be blamed for accommodating 
 himfelf to mankind, by affuming fuch qualities, 
 as their infirmities require ? On the other 
 hand, if diffidence, doubt, and befitatiov, be ac- 
 companied with attitudes and modes of beha- 
 viour, which would reprobate him with man* 
 kind ; if they would not only put him out of 
 all condition to ferve others, but be alfo a fure 
 and certain means of ruin to himfelf j would 
 it not be madnefs in him to appear diffident, 
 doubtful, and bejitating ? 
 
 As angry as this writer feems at a bold dog- 
 matical behaviour in phyficians, there is no 
 order of men, in my humble opinion, to whom 
 it is more allowable, and even neceflary ; none, 
 whom it more concerns nibil tarn vereri, as 
 Tully fays, quam ne dubitare aliqua de re vide- 
 rentur : and there (lands upon record an honed 
 apothecary, whofe wifdom in this refpect I 
 P 2 greatly
 
 S Y L V A, 0* 
 
 greatly reverence. He knew the mifchievous 
 confequences of feeming at a lofs, or of being 
 deficient, in any thing. When his boy there- 
 fore fent away unferved a cuftomer, who 
 enquired for pi antane- water, with an excufe 
 that they had none, <c Sirrah," faid he, though 
 <e you could find no aqua -plant aginis in the 
 " fhop, you might have found aqua pumpa- 
 " ginis enough in the yard : and that would 
 " have done juft as well." Without this firm 
 and perfevering afiurance, what would many a 
 celebrated practitioner have been ? What raifed 
 Ratcliff to the heights he attained, and enabled 
 him to tyrannize, in the manner he did, over 
 his brethren as well as his patients ? Was it his 
 tranfcendent fuperlative (kill in phyfic ? Con- 
 fult the files : read his prefcfiptions. You will 
 foon perceive, that it was no fuch thing. No : 
 it was an affuming, encroaching, confident 
 fpirit i it was a dogmatical, overbearing, info- 
 lent manner 2Ji . And what elfe is it, that caufes 
 fo many to fucceed and fiourifh, in thefe blefied 
 days of ours, for /unt ho die ^ qui forjan dim 
 nominabuntur but the felf-fame qualities j ac- 
 companied, as his were, with a knowledge of 
 mankind, and with temper and addrefs to make 
 the molt of it ? And as thefe qualities are allow- 
 able to recommend the phyfician, fo they are 
 
 * 3 * See A Panegyric ut>sn Impudence, below. 
 
 alfo
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 alfo necefiary to revive and confirm the patient : 
 juft as the contrary qualities, the doubt, the 
 diffidence^ the befitation, which would ruin the 
 phyfician, would ruin alfo the patient, by de- 
 ftroying his hopes, and plunging him into 
 defpair. 
 
 Mean while, let it not be imagined, that I 
 would explode all diffidence, doubt, and hejitation: 
 very far from it. I not only allow, that they 
 kelp to conjlitute the character of a true philofopber ; 
 but I am of opinion with Defcartes, that they 
 are the foundation of all true philofophy. I 
 object, not fo much to them, as to the fitua- 
 tion in which this writer places them; and only 
 contend, that they muft never be the oftenjiblc 
 qualities (for that is the matter between us) in 
 a phyfician, who means to do bufmefs. The 
 truth is, he hath inadvertently confounded the 
 characters of philofopher and phyfician, the 
 man and the profeflbr, efoteric and exoteric : 
 ideas, which muft ever be kept diftinct, if we 
 would aft with any juftnefs amongft men and 
 manners. 
 
 I formerly knew a pleafant philofopher (he 
 muft, if alive, be fuperannuated now) who cauf- 
 cd to be infcribed over the door of his mufeum, 
 " Let none but men enter here." He did not 
 mean men, in oppofition to women ; for I fup- 
 pofe, that the members of the Blue Stocking Club, 
 P 3 fomc
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 fome of them at leaft, might have found ad- 
 mittance here but he meant men, as diftin- 
 guifhed from profeffional men; from divines, 
 lawyers, phyfkians, &c. Thus, it was ufual 
 with him, when any familiar was approaching, 
 to admonifh him aloud, with a gaiete de cceur y 
 (< to lay afide his cloke before he entered * 3 V 
 that is, to diveft himfelf of every thing pro- 
 feffional, of all exoteric trappings whatever 134- : 
 nor do I remember to have feen him more dif- 
 concerted, than upon the entrance of counfellor 
 Tanturian. This folemn mortal, far removed 
 from eafe and nature, fagely ftalked in with all 
 his pontificalia, juft as he arrived from Weft- 
 minfter Hall. Nor did his behaviour mend 
 the matter in the leaft : for, inftead of entering 
 heartily into the fpirit of fuch a meeting, and 
 converfing with that open, candid, chearful air, 
 which muft ever be the life and foul of it, he 
 was ftiff, referved, and even faturnine. He 
 looked with a caft of jeajoufy anddiftruft upon 
 
 533 And it was as ufual with him, at their departure, to 
 imitate the Spartans in their affemblies : where the eldeft 
 among them, pointing at the door, was wont to cry aloud, 
 Let nothing that has been /aid fa/'s thoj'e doots : hu. rvruv l{ui 
 w^e? I|^T Xoyo?. Plutarch. Inftitut. Lacon. 
 
 a34 Burleigh, Lord Treafurer, ufed to put off his cares, 
 when he put off his cloaths ; and, when he laid down his 
 gown, would fay, Lie there, Lord Treafurer. Camden's Reign 
 ef Queen Eliz. 
 
 all
 
 all about him ; and was as guarded in his move- > 
 ments, as if he feared to be kidnapped. He 
 brought to my imagination the ridiculous pic- 
 ture of Hobbes, whom Eachard makes fo very 
 circumfpeft and wary, that he refufed to fit 
 down to a conference with Timothy, till fure 
 that Timothy would not get behind him, and bite 
 him by the legs*". 
 
 But to proceed. In fuch a fociety as the 
 above, the diffidence, doubt, and befitation, are 
 exactly in their place. Men are here affembled, 
 as men : they endeavour to put off every pecu- 
 liarity, whether arifing from temperament or 
 profefiron : they are, for the time being, with- 
 out complexion and private humour, without 
 prejudice and paflion, without even opinions 
 and habits of thinking ; that, by being thus 
 enabled to contemplate pure nature through 
 the medium of pure reafon, they may the more 
 furely arrive at real knowledge. Here, if any 
 where, muft Jbe found that feaft of reafon, of 
 which the Poet fpeaks; and on which a very 
 great philofopher, as well as mod excellent- 
 man, delivered himfelf thus in raptures to a 
 friend : O felicia tempora, quandb nobis fie riders 
 biftrioniam licuit, quam Jeu veramjeu afeftatam 
 tot us exercet mundus! quandb inter pbilojophandum 
 
 * Dr. Eachar<Ts Works, 1705, 8vo. 
 
 P 4 tarn
 
 2i6 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 tamftfi licuit dicer e, SOLI SUMUS i}6 ; licet 
 nobis verum difquirere fine invidia 1J7 . Here, I 
 fay, the qualities are in their place : here, it not 
 only becomes, but it is necefiary for, men to be 
 diffident, to doubt, to hefitate : while all affecta- 
 tion of appearing wifer than others, all vain de- 
 fire of fliining in difputation, all ftriving after 
 tictory inftead of truth, in a word, v\\Je If -impor- 
 tance, confidence, boldnefs, and whatever partak- 
 cth of this kind of fpirit, fhould be totally ex- 
 cluded from fuch a fociety, as utterly fubvert- 
 ing its intent and meaning, and folely cbnfign- 
 cd to exoteric purpofes. 
 
 >But, it may be faid, are qualities like"thefe 
 to be configned to any purpofes whatever ? to 
 be encouraged, or even borne with, in any fitua- 
 tion ? and can you poflibly mean to recommend 
 them ? I will declare explicitly what I do 
 
 * 3 Thefe are aflemblies, where men confort with, becaufe 
 they love one another, and where honeft focial affeclion is 
 not adulterated with motives of avarice or ambition. 
 
 497 Gaffendi Prsfat. in Exerc. Parad. contra 
 Balzac feems to have had a itrong relifh for this faid eafe 
 and freedom in converfing. He had a party one evening at 
 hi houfe; when each endeavoured to difplay what he knew, 
 and to exprefs himfelf with a guarded accuracy and prcci- 
 fion. After all were withdrawn but Menage, " Come/' 
 fays Balzac, taking him by the hand, " let us now we are 
 ' alone fpeak freely, and without the fear of commitir.g 
 " folecifms :" a preftnt que nous fommes /eats, parlons libre- 
 meat, t? font craintt dt fa/re tits filicijmts. Menagiana, 
 torn. i. 
 
 mean,
 
 THE WOOD. 217 
 
 mean, and what I do not mean. I do not mean, 
 then, to recommend any thing odious and bad : 
 but I mean to deal with mankind, as they only 
 can be, and ought to be, dealt with, if I am to 
 deal with them at all. Is medicine, or the prac- 
 tice of phyfic, neceflary to men, or is it not ? 
 If not, let the prefent generation of practitioners 
 retire upon penfions, and be there a flop hence- 
 forward to this branch of education. If it be 
 ne^efifary, then let phyficians ufe fuch means, as 
 ihajl recommend them to thofe who may want 
 them. But confidence, f elf -importance, boldnefs, 
 ar the means to recommend them ; while 
 diffidence, doubt, and befitation, are fure to ob- 
 ftrufl their progrefs. So you fay, and fo I 
 believe : for a man, who walks grave, erect, 
 and folemn, has a confirmed yet fpirited air, 
 and pronounces with a tone of decifion and au- 
 thority, will certainly be thought to know more, 
 and be fooner employed, than a far abler 
 man lj8 , who, with a peaking pitiful afpect, ap- 
 pears 
 
 *j A French writer, fpeaking of perfons of a certain caft, 
 fays, s'ils reftent dans Pinatlion, & fe bornent prudamtnt an 
 aroit de juger dccijlvement t Us ufurpent dans Vopinion unt 
 tjfece de fuperioriti fur Its taltns menus. On Its emit capablet 
 de faire tout ce qu'ils n'ont pas fait & uniquement parct qu'ils 
 n'ont rien fait : that is, " if they remain inactive, and 
 f ' wifely confine themfelves to the privilege of judging de- 
 " cifively," and with dictatorial authority upon every thing 
 that occurs, " they gain in the eftimation of men a kind of 
 fuperiority even over real abilities aad genius. They will 
 
 be
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 pears to flin'nk and droop, and does nothing ap* 
 parently but with fear and trembling. 
 
 This perverfe judgment our author imputes 
 to the weaknefs and credulity, which, he fays, 
 even the moft Jetifible have ever Jhewn in medical 
 matters : and this he moft piteoufly laments. 
 But nothing can be more piteous than this his 
 piteous lamentation. Why does he lament, that 
 men and things are fo and fo formed and con- 
 ftituted ? or, that he is to ufe means neceflary 
 to ends, if thefe ends are neceflary to be ac- 
 complifhed ? All things animate, as well as ina- 
 nimate, muft be treated according to their feve- 
 ral natures : a lion requires one mode of treat- 
 ment, a horfe another, and fo on. Yes, but man 
 is a very fuperiour being, and ought to be 
 governed by reafon : but, fuppofe man will not; 
 why muft he, like a poor dejected poltroon, be 
 carried blubbering along the ftreets, and pour- 
 ing forth lamentations, becaufe man will not be 
 what he is not formed to be ? Let me refrefh 
 
 *< be thought capable of doing everything which they have 
 " not done, andyo/f/y becaufe they haw not done it" Du Clofs, 
 Confid.fur les Mceurs, ch. xii. Yes, " if they remain inac- 
 " tive :" but, whendnce they become writers or aftors, the 
 illufion vanifhes ; their admirers are difmayed ar'd hang down 
 their heads ; and you may juftly apply to them, what Tacitus 
 fays of Galba, <vix, that " by the confent of all, he would 
 " have been thought capable of reigning, if he had not 
 " reigned" major fri<vato <vifus, awn privatus fuit ; & cm- 
 nlum conftnfu capax imperil, nijl imperajfct. Hift. J. 
 
 him, 

 
 THE WOOD. 219 
 
 him, upon this forrowful occafion, with a little 
 fcrap of Greek; which I know will fpeak com- 
 fort to him, if only as calling up the idea of 
 old Eton Ta T0aura Atjpov nynycifJ'-svof, rsro 
 0jpacTj, OTTW?, TO Tapov Tu fl 
 
 ra TToAAa, xai ?rpt /*nJ > ti' iav&iaxus * J9 1 
 
 which, for the benefit of the Englifh rea- 
 der, I thus tranflate, as literally as I can>: 
 " Don't jumble difcordant qualities blindly to- 
 <e gether, but keep each diftincl, and in its 
 " proper department : your diffidence, doubt, 
 * f and bejitation, for the philofopher; your 
 < c boldnejs, f elf- importance, and confidence, for 
 " the phyfician." 
 
 I perfuade myfelf, that I have now vindicated 
 Paracelfus, fo far as he can want a vindication 
 from the ftriftures of this writer: let us add a 
 word or two upon other traits of his character, 
 and upon other of his qualities, which by fome 
 perhaps may be thought to want apology, more 
 than thofe already noted. His attachment to 
 alcbymy, his pretence to the pbilofopher V ft one, 
 and his elixir froprietatis, may be ranked 
 (I prefume) among thofe weaknefles, which 
 have been common to him and other great men. 
 1 fuppofe alfo, that he will not be cenfured for 
 confulting indifcriminately all forts of people, 
 as well as phyficians, becaufe this is no more 
 than what the father of phyfic himielf has 
 
 prefcribed :
 
 220 S Y L V A, 0* 
 
 prefcribed ** : and, if he may feem to have acted 
 a little fanatically in burning with form the 
 works of Galen, his good fenfe and candor muft 
 be acknowledged in the value he fet upon 
 Hippocrates. Come we then to what may 
 feem the moft plaufible charge againft him , I 
 mean, his " pretending to magic, affecting to 
 ft carry a demon about with him, and coining 
 ce new and barbarous terms, to which nobody 
 <{ could affix any ideas 5" for thefe, it will be 
 faid, are not barely foolifh and abfurd, but 
 favour ftrongly of knavery and impofture. 
 
 Gentlemen may allow themfelves liberties, 
 and ufe what language they pleafe; but of this 
 I am very fure, that if all are knaves and im- 
 poftors, who affect to pafs for what they are 
 not, the greater part of mankind muft fubmit 
 to be deemed fuch. One man affects more 
 knowledge, another more property, than he 
 has : why ? becaufe ignorance and poverty are 
 attended with contempt, and would hinder 
 from emerging. Dealers and all who traffic 
 reprefent their commodities bigger than the life s 
 and fecretly applaud themfelves, when they have 
 difpofed of them as fuch. Phyficians aflume 
 oftenfible qualities, to procure themfelves pa- 
 tients; and when they have procured them, 
 fcruple not to deceive them for the good of 
 their bodies, as divines often do for the good 
 
 * Hippocrat. dt Prtctff, 
 
 of
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 of their fouls. Now all thefe are, ftriftly 
 fpeaking, arts of impofture ; yet neceffary, as 
 fhould feem, in the commerce of life, becaufe 
 juftified by the univerfal confent and practice o 
 mankind. 
 
 I will not deny that Paracelfus might carry 
 this grimace fomewhat too far j but, if he ran a 
 little into one extreme, the prefent medical 
 gentry have certainly run into the other, by lay- 
 ing afide elaborate wigs, gold-headed canes, and 
 other pompous paraphernalia. It has been faid, 
 that this grand revolution in phyfic was actual- 
 ly brought about by a female, nam fuit ante 
 Helenam, &c -, but, let who would bring it 
 about, it was highly impolitic. There is no 
 effectual way of arrefting the attention of men 
 in general, and of acquiring reputation enough 
 even to ferve them, without affecting things 
 uncommon and extraordinary. Common fenfc 
 and common things make no imprefiion. Def- 
 cartes was wild in philofophy, as Paracelfus 
 was in phyfic, and doubtlefs admired on this 
 very account; for I take Voltaire to be in- 
 difputably right, when he fays, that <f Gaf- 
 " fendus would have been thought the greater 
 " man, if he had not been the more reafonable, 
 " of the two 1 * 1 ." The ridiculous Bayes in 
 the Rebearfal, as grofs a fool as he was, had 
 
 ** Gaffendi tut mains de reputation qut De/cartti, pare* 
 lju'il ft vit flat raifonnablt 
 
 wit
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 wit enough to difcern, that common fenfe is a 
 poor low creeping thing, which would never 
 produce any effe6t; and, as his object was to 
 elevate andfurprife y fo he fought things ftrange, 
 and altogether remote from it. He defpifes 
 Beaumont and Jonfon, for copying fervilely 
 after nature ; and foars himfelf above it, ff for 
 " fome perfons of quality and friends of his, 
 <c who underftand vthzt flame and power in wri- 
 " ting is." 
 
 The flighteft and moft curfory glance over 
 human life will evince, that the principle here 
 adopted is the fureft groundwork of admira- 
 tioa among men; that the moft diftinguifhed 
 perfonages, in the feveral departments of it, 
 have been real Bayefes ; and that the fyftem of 
 Bayejifm, if I may fo call it, muft be carefully 
 purfued and cultivated by every man, who 
 means tojhine, and make a figure in the world. 
 Dejunt cetera i * z . 
 
 * 4 * Though this Vindication of Paracelfus be apparently 
 ironical, and more for the fake of pleafantry than ferious ar- 
 gument, yet it contains fome edifying reflections, and thi 
 above all, viz. that mankind are to be dealt with as they are, 
 and not according to vain andfantajlic ideas of a perfeftion y of 
 which they are not capable. See N os XIV. and LV. 
 
 LXV.
 
 THI WOOD. 
 
 LXV. 
 
 QRATORS and men of wit have fre- 
 quently amufed themfeives with maintain- 
 ing paradoxes. Thus, Erafmus has written a 
 panegyric -upon folly: Montaigne has faid fine 
 things upon ignorance, which he fomewhere 
 calls <f the fofteft pillow a man can lay his 
 < f head upon :" and Cardan, in his Encomium 
 Neronisy has, I fuppofe, defended every vice 
 and every folly. It is aftonifhing to me, that 
 no one has yet done juftice to impudence j which 
 has fo many advantages, and for which fo much 
 may be faid. Did it never ftrike you, what fim- 
 ple, naked, uncompounded impudence will do ? 
 what ftrange and aftonifhing effects it will pro* 
 duce ? Aye, and without birth, without proper- 
 ty, without principle, without even artifice and 
 addrefs, without indeed any fingle quality, but 
 the as front is triplex, " the front of threefold 
 " brafs." Object not folly, vice, or villainy 
 however black : thefe are puny things : from 
 a vifage truly bronzed and feared, from fea- 
 tures mufcularly fixed and hardened, iflues forth 
 a broad overpowering glare, by which all thefe 
 
 arc
 
 S Y L V A, o* 
 
 are as totally hid, as the fpots of the fun by 
 the luftre of his beams. Were this not fo, how 
 is it, that impudence fhall make imprefliens to 
 advantage j fhall procure admiflion to the 
 higheft perfonages, and no queftions a/k-ed ; fhall 
 fuffice (in fhort) to make a man's fortune, 
 where no modeft merit could even render itfelf 
 vifible* 4 *? I afk no more to infure fuccefs, 
 than that there be but enough of it * 43 : with- 
 out fuccefs a man is ruined and undone, there 
 being no mean. Should one ravage half the 
 globe, and deftroy a million of his fellow- 
 creatures, yet, if at length he arrive at empire, 
 as Caefar did, he fhall be admired while living 
 as an hero, and adored perhaps as a god when 
 dead : though, were the very fame perfon, like 
 
 *** ' Impudence," fays Ofiorn, " is no virtue, yet able to 
 * beggar them all ; being for the moft part in good plight, 
 ' when the reft ftarve, and capable of carrying her followers 
 " up to the higheft preferments : as ufeful in a court, a* 
 ' armour in a camp. Scotchmen have ever made good 
 " the truth of this, who will go farther with a milling, than 
 " an Englilhman can ordinarily pafs for a crown." ddvict 
 to a Sen. But this to my thinking is rather a mark of fupe- 
 riour wifdora, than of fuperiour impudence : I fufpeft an 
 error of the prefs, and that inftead of Scotchmen it fhould 
 have been Irifljmen. Not that I approve of national ftridlures : 
 there is no occafion to apply either to Scotland or Inland for 
 impudence of the very firft metal. 
 
 * 43 S>ui feme I virtcundia fnti tranfierit t oforttt tffi gnwvittr 
 impudenttm- Cicero. . . 
 
 Cataline, 
 

 
 THE WOOD. 225 
 
 Catiline, to fail in the attempt, he would be 
 hanged as a little fcoundrel robber, and his 
 name devoted to infamy or oblivion 144 . 
 
 Pray, what do you think the elder Pliny 
 fuggefts, when he affirms it to be " the preroga- 
 " tive of the Art of Healing, that any man, 
 c< who profefles himfelf aphyfician, is inftantly 
 " received as fuch 1+J I" Me certainly fuggefts, 
 
 *** This comparifon of a hero witlh a robber hath been 
 ftften made. " Father Mafcaron told us from the pulpit to- 
 " day," fays Madam de Maintenon, " that the hero <was a 
 " robber, who did at the head of an anr.y, IK hat a highwayman 
 " did alone. Our mailer,*' fhe adds, " was not pleafed 
 " with the comparifon :" notre maitre ' a pas ete content de 
 la ccmparaifon. Lettres, 9 Fev. 1675. Boileau's language 
 is equally forcible, in Sat. xi. v. 75. 
 
 Un injufte guerrier, terreur de I' itnivrs t 
 N'eji qitun plus grand voleur , que du Tejie t &c. 
 " I am a pirate," faid one of that order to Alexander, 
 " bccaufe I have only a fingle veflel : had I a great fleet, 
 '* I mould be a conqueror. "Seneca calls conquerors magnot 
 et furiofos latrones ; and juftly : quid enim t as St. Auguftin 
 
 fays, funt regna, remotajujlitia, nife magna latrocinia ? 
 
 
 * 45 In hdc artium fold fvrnit, ut cuicunque me dicutn ft pro- 
 
 fejffo ftatim credatur. Nat. Hift. xxix. I cannot, however, 
 confine this to phyfic : it is tiue, more or lefs, of all the 
 profcffions : 
 
 For he that has bat impudence 
 To all things has a fair pretence, 
 
 and, certainly, it is moft true of divinity. Let any peafant 
 Or village mechanic ftart forth as a preacher, without any 
 preparation or qualification of any kind, will he not inlUntly 
 be followed, and Uikned to as a divine? 
 
 that
 
 226 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 that fuch fort of profeflbrs in his days, like the 
 itinerant and advertifmg doctors of ours, had 
 a more than ordinary portion of that bold, 
 felf- important, and confident look and manner, 
 which, with a very little heightening, may juftly 
 be called impudence. And what but this could 
 enable a little paltry phyfician, of no name or 
 character, to gain fo mighty an afcendency over 
 fuch a fpirit, as that of Lewis XI. of France ? 
 Read the account in Philip de Commines j and 
 then blame me, if you can, for thinking fo 
 highly of this accomplifhment. True it is, 
 that Lewis -was afraid of death even to horror, 
 and fo as not to bear the found of the word , and 
 I grant, that on this fame fear the empire of 
 phyfic, as well as the empire of divinity, is 
 chiefly founded : but I infift, that neither the 
 one nor the other will ever be raifed effectually, 
 without the aid and co-operation of this great 
 and fovereign quality. 
 
 Pope Gregory VII. who governed the church 
 from 1073 to 1085, is celebrated for having 
 carried ecclefiaftical dominion to the height : 
 for he was the firft who maintained and efta- 
 blifhed, that popes, by excommunication, may 
 depofe kings from their ftates, and loofe fubjects 
 /rom -their allegiance. And how did he effect 
 this ? Not by genius or eloquence; not by a 
 knowledge of canon law, and the constitutions 
 of the holy fee; no, nor by the arts of policy 
 
 and
 
 THE WOOD* 227 
 
 &nd grimaces of his religion (with all which 
 he was amply endowed) but by a moft infolent, 
 daring, ufurping fpirit. He feized the papal 
 chair by force, as it were; threw the church into 
 confufion to gratify his ambition j made kings 
 his flaves, and bilhops his creatures ; and efta- 
 blifhed in his own perfon a tyranny over things 
 both fpiritual and temporal. But my admi-* 
 ration of impudence tranfports me too far : I 
 will fay no more upon it. 
 
 LXVI. 
 
 OF COURTS. 
 
 /COURTS have always been efteemed 
 places of iniquity and corruption. Ac- 
 cording to fome, the- moment a man fteps 
 into the precincts of a court, he fhould feern 
 forcibly carried away with his brother-courtiers, 
 to commit all manner of fin and wickednefs ; 
 as if by a vortex, rolling round the center of 
 royalty, which involves them all in one common 
 guilt. Indeed, an ancient poet has made a 
 courtier fay, that the palaces of kings and virtue 
 are incompatible * 46 : and our unfortunate Ra- 
 
 ** 6 exeat aula 
 
 S>ui volet eJTe plus : virtus tt/umma fefe/fas 
 
 Nsn cfenrit. Lucan. 
 
 leigh
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 leigh feems to have entertained an idea of this 
 fort, as if iniquity was not accidental merely* 
 but abfolutely eflential, to the profefiion of a 
 courtier : I have lived, fays he, in his fpeech 
 from the fcaffold, " I have lived a finful life, 
 < c in all fmful callings, having been a foldier, 
 { a captain, a fea-captain, and a courtier^ 1 y 
 which are all places of wickednefs and 
 vice." 
 
 If I could believe this opinion to be well- 
 grounded, it would greatly lower my notions of 
 the divine inftiuition of government ; of mo- 
 narchical government, more particularly. While 
 I have been meditating hi the drawing-room 
 upon a birth-day, a reverential awe, almoft 
 bordering upon devotion, has gradually over- 
 fpread and arrefted all my powers : and this 
 cannot feem ftrange, while I confider myfelf as 
 it were on holy ground, and in the prefence of 
 him, who repreferrts the King of Kings. But, 
 according to Raleigh^ inftead of the palace of 
 a righteous monarch, I am ta fancy myfelf 
 rather in a kind of Pandsmo-nium ; or uport 
 that particular fpot, where fome of the moft 
 wicked fpirits in the land are frequently aflem- 
 bled to work unrighteoufnefs : and where a 
 
 ** " Father la Ghaife is an honelt man," fays Mad.de 
 Maintencn ; " but the air of the court taints the pureft 
 Tirtue." Lcttr. 78. 
 
 man
 
 THE WOOD. 229 
 
 man can no more preferve his innocence and 
 integrity, than he could his perfon from in- 
 fection in a peft-houfe. It was certainly this 
 idea, which made the famous Richard Baxter, 
 in the Account of his own Life, fo feelingly re- 
 prefent it as " one of the greateft bleffings, 
 <f that in his youth he very narrowly efcape,cl 
 (S getting a place at court." 
 
 And, as courts are confefledly not places of 
 virtue, fo it feems equally certain, that they 
 are not places to feek bapfinejs in. There is no 
 occafion for any near approach, to know the 
 caballing among the great officers of (late, and 
 their unwearied attempts to undermine an$ 
 fupplant one another : the miferable effeft^pf 
 thefe are felt fuftkiently at the remoteft dif- 
 tances. And for thofe mechanical toy-lhop 
 things, the little gentry of the palace, who are 
 only fo much furniture, nor more concerned in 
 the adminiftration of affairs than the chairs and 
 tables even thefe are not without their fuf- 
 picions, jealoufies, whifperings, backbitings, 
 and all the little arts of envy and malevolence - 3 
 from the fame principle and with the fame view, 
 but only upon a fmallcr fcale, and for objects 
 lefs important But, for a more particular and 
 nearer view of the happinefs of court-life, fee 
 fome finking traits in the following Number. 
 
 LXV1I.
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 UCVII. 
 
 OF MADAM DE MAINTENON, 
 
 A MOST extraordinary perfon, who, from 
 a low condition and many misfortunes, 
 became the wife of Lewis XIV. She was of an 
 ancient family l48 , her name Frances Daubigne j 
 and Mezeray fpeaks of M. Daubigne, her 
 grandfather, who was a leader among the Pro- 
 teftants in France, as a man of ff great courage 
 " and boldnefs, of a ready wit, and of a fine 
 . tc tafte in polite learning, as well as of good 
 "Experience in matters of war." She is faid 
 to have been born in a prifon at Niort, where 
 her father was then confined, 1635 ; and carried 
 to America, when four years old. 
 
 Returning to France, upon the death of her 
 father in 1647, an< ^ her livelyhood being pre- 
 carious, fhe became the wife of the famous 
 Scarron in 1651. She was then fixteen, and 
 Scarron forty: Scarron too was very deformed, 
 infirm, impotent, and (after all) in no advan- 
 tageous circumftances to her j for he fubfifted 
 only by a penfion from the court. She lived 
 with him many years : and Voltaire has not fcru- 
 pled to fay, that " this part of her life was un- 
 
 Siede Je Louis 
 
 doubtedly
 
 THE W O O D, 231, 
 
 cf doubtedly the happieft." She had indeed 
 fenfe and wit ; but fhe had another quality too 
 which might help to' fupport her, and that 
 was devotion. Obferve the language fhe held 
 to a female friend in trouble, when (he was not 
 more than nineteen : " Addrefsyourfelf tofome 
 " good man, who may conduct you in the ways 
 " of the Lord. All is vanity, all is vexation 
 <c of fpirit. Throw yourfelf into the arms of 
 " God. There is none but God alone on whom 
 " to depend, and who never faileth them that 
 " love him 449 ." 
 
 Mean while, though Scarron was not formed 
 to infpire any tranfcendent happinefs, yet, in 
 anfwer to thofe who wanted her to engage in 
 a fecond match, fhe runs a comparifon be- 
 tween the new gentleman and Scarron, and gives 
 the preference to Scarron altogether : fhe gives, 
 indeed, a very excellent character of him. But 
 the truth feems to be, that fhe had no great 
 notion of the married ftate : " I have too- 
 " much experienced, fays fhe, that there can 
 < f be nothing very delightful in marriage ; but 
 " I know that f. here is in liberty :" JeTai trop 
 efirouve, que le marriage nefpauroit etre delicieux j 
 
 * 49 Adreffez-'vouf a quelque bomme de lien, qui vous conduife 
 dans Its 'votes du Seigneur. ^Tout eft vanite, tout eft affliction 
 d'efprit. Jettez-vous dans les bras de Dieu. 11 n'y a que lui 
 dont on ne fe laffe point, & qui ne fe lajffe jamah de ceux qui 
 t. Lettres de M. de Maintenon, 1758, 9 torn, i zmo. 
 
 0.4
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 &? je trouve que la Uberte I'eft. Thus Ihe writes, 
 March 1666, in a letter ta Ninon de L'Enclos, 
 who was fure to agree with her. 
 
 Scarron dying in 1660, fhe became as indi- 
 gent as fhe was before fhe had him. Her 
 friends did all they could to have his penfion 
 continued to her, and petitions were frequently 
 given in, beginning always with " The widow 
 " Scarron moft humbly prays your Majefty, 
 tf &c. -;" but thefe petitions fignified nothing, 
 ajid the King grew fo weary of them, that he 
 has been heard to fay, <f Muft I be always 
 " peftered with the widow Scarron ?" At 
 length, however, a larger penfion was fettled on 
 her, and the King at the fame time faid to her, 
 tc Madam, I have made you wait a long time j 
 fl but you have fo many friends, that I was re- 
 folved to have this merit with you on my 
 " own account." 
 
 In 1671, fhe was entrufted with the care of 
 the Duke of Maine, a fon of the King's by Ma- 
 dam de Montefpan ; and thus was introduced 
 to court. She had occafion to write fometimes 
 to the King : her letters charmed him, and this 
 was the origin of her fortune : her own perfonal 
 merit effected all the reft. The King bought 
 her the lands of Maintenon in 1674, with a. 
 magnificent caftle; and, feeing her extremely 
 pleafed with her eftate, called her publicly Ma- 
 dam de Maintenon. This change of name 
 perhaps of great and important ufe to her j 
 
 for
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 for fhe could hardly have been raifed to the 
 rank Ihe afterwards obtained, with the name of 
 the widow Scarron. 
 
 Meanwhile her elevation was to her only a re- 
 treat. Shut up in a room, which was on the 
 Tame floor with the King's, fhe confined herfelf 
 to the fociety of two or three ladies ; and even 
 thefe (he faw but feldom. The King came 
 every day to her apartment, and there did bufi- 
 nefs with his miniftersj while fhe employed 
 herfelf in needle work, never fhewing the leaft 
 inclination to meddle, often feeming wholly in- 
 attentive, and always avoiding whatever had the 
 ieaft appearance of cabal or intrigue. This was 
 her ftile and manner of living $ but from this 
 ilile and manner of living, as is eafy to be fup* 
 pofed, fhe gradually grew unhappy. Befides, 
 her fituation with M. de Montefpan muft have 
 been extremely difficult. This miftrefs would 
 naturally be jealous of !*er j and, accordingly, 
 was constantly " hurting her with the King, 
 < while the little Duke of Maine as conftantly 
 < c reconciled her to him :" la mere me brouiile 
 trutc le Roi y fonfils me recondite aveclui. Lettres. 
 Once, when thefe two ladies were quarrelling, 
 the King came fuddenly in, and after fome 
 time made them embrace one another; faying 
 with a fmile, that it was Cf eafier for him to 
 " give peace to Europe, than to two women :" 
 quil lui etoit plus aifc de donner lapaix a /' Europe, 
 yticdc la dwner a deux femnes. Ib. 
 
 About
 
 ' S Y L V A, o R 
 
 About the end of 1685, Lewis XIV. married 
 M. de Maintenon ; by the advice, as was faid, 
 of Father la Chaife. He was then in his 48th,. 
 fhe in her 5oth year. How this ftrange event 
 was brought about, has been matter of won- 
 der to all : devotion was certainly one great, 
 if not the fole, instrument. For Lewis, 
 notwithftanding a moft pompous magnificent 
 exterior, had a very minute fpirit within ; 
 and efpecially in matters of religious concern. 
 He was wont to tremble before his confeflpr, 
 and carried about him reliques, as fhoherfelf 
 relates. But obferve the following extracts 
 from her letters, which, : furely, are edifying 
 in an high degree ; arid for the fake of which 
 I have prefixed this Ihort account of her. 
 
 " The King has fpent two . hours in my 
 " clofet : I difcourfed with him about his falva- 
 tion, and he gave me an attentive hearing. 
 " He has good fenti.nents, and frequently 
 <e turns his thoughts towards God. It would 
 tc be great pity, if God did not enlighten a foul 
 that is made for him. The King abounds 
 <e with good fentiments ; I endeavour to bring 
 " him back to God : he fometimes reads the 
 f < Bible, and thinks it 'the fineft of all books. 
 e He confefTes his weaknefies, and acknow- 
 " ledges his faults, to me. We muft wait for 
 " the workings of grace." All this, and abun- 
 dantly more of the kind, was in 1679. 
 
 Voltaire, fpeaking of the Edid: of Nantes, 
 Y/fyich 'vas revoked in 1685, fays, that M. de 
 
 Maintenon
 
 THE W O O D. 235 
 
 Maintenon <f did not urge this meafure, but 
 (t that fhe did not oppofe it j" qu'elle ne la 
 preffa point, mais qu'elle ne s'oppoja -point ZJO : 
 but, I think, the following pafiages from her 
 Letters will not fuffer us to believe her alto- 
 gether pafilve. <f The King thinks ferioufly 
 f< about the converfion of heretics, and in a 
 <f little time it will be profecuted warmly." 
 .This Letter is dated 28 Oct. 1679, fix years 
 before the event. <f The King thinks ferioufly 
 " of his falvation, and that of his fubjec~ts : if 
 i< God preferves him, there will be but one 
 " religion in the kingdom. I fancy no Hugo- 
 -" nots will be left in Poitou, except our rela- 
 f< tions : methinks, nothing is wanting to my 
 * c felicity, but the converfion of my family. 
 <f The King intends to fet about a total con- 
 " verfion of the heretics : he has frequent 
 " conferences on this fubjedl with Le Tellier 
 ^ and Chateauneuf, where I am not one too 
 (( many. The King is ready to do every thing, 
 " which may belt promote the caufe of reli- 
 tc gion : this undertaking will render him glo- 
 " rious in the fight of God and man, as it will 
 " bring all his fubjects into the pale of the 
 " church, and prove the deftru&ion of he- 
 refy." 
 
 Nothing, fhe fays, is wanting to my felicity^ 
 but the converfion of my family. Yes, but there 
 a great deal wanting ; for fhe had fcarcely 
 
 *5 giecle de Louis, tfc, 
 
 been
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 been the wife of Lewis three years, when 
 began to write in the following ftrain to her 
 friends. " I experience more than ever, that 
 " nothing can make amends for the lofs of 
 " freedom. Philofophy fets us above grandeur, 
 *' but nothing- fets above heavinefs of heart. 
 
 O 
 
 fe I envy your folitude and tranquillity j and 
 e< am no longer furprifed, that Queen Chriftina 
 " defcended from a throne, to live with more 
 t freedom. Hope not for perfect felicity : 
 " there is none upon earth ; and, if there was, 
 t it would not be at court I5T . Except thofe 
 c< who fill the higheft ftations, I know none fo 
 * unhappy as thofe who envy them. Why 
 " cannot I," fays fhe to Madam de la Maifon- 
 fort, <e why cannot I give you my experience ? 
 < c why cannot I make you fenfible of that unea- 
 *< finefs which wears out the great, and of the 
 " difficulties they labour under to employ their 
 < f time ? Do not you fee that I am dying with, 
 
 * 5 * Philip de Combines feems to have thought otherwife ; 
 Je ray cogneu, ^5" ay ej}efonfer r viteur ) a lajlsur defon age, (5* en 
 Jts grandes profperitez ; maisje le ne <uey onquesfanspeine & fanf 
 Jouci. Pen cfefperance doivent avoir les pauvres & menues gt'ns 
 attfait de ce monde ; puis que Ji grand Roy , &c.: that is to fay, 
 " If happinefs could not be found in the court of fo great 
 " a monarch as Lewis XI., how muft the villager hope for it 
 *' in a cot ?" Very feafibly, Monfieur Commutes : his enjoy- 
 ments will be more fmcere and pure, and he will have no 
 unnatural fantafticmiferies to interrupt and difturb them. 
 Memoires, liv. vi. ch. 13. 
 
 <f melancholy,
 
 THE WOOD. 237 
 
 * melancholy, in a height of fortune, which 
 " once aiy imagination could fcarcely have 
 " conceived ? I have been young and beauti- 
 '* ful, have had a reliih for pleafures, and have 
 " been the univerfal object of love. In a more 
 <c advanced age I have fpent my time in intcl- 
 " le<5tual amufements. I have at laft rifcn to 
 <c favour ; but I proteft to you, my dear girl, 
 " that every one of thefc conditions leaves in 
 " the mind a difmal vacuity." If any thing, 
 fays Voltaire, could fhew the vanity of am- 
 bition, it would be this Letter. She could 
 have no uneafmefs, but only the uniformity of 
 her life at court ; and this made her fay once to 
 the count Daubigne, her brother, / can bold it 
 no longer ; Iwijh I were dead. 
 
 The court grew now every day lefs gay and 
 more ferious, after the King began to live re- 
 tired with M. de Maintenon. Her relations 
 complained, that fhe was not fufficiently atten- 
 tive to their intereft ; and fhe fays, <c they 
 " will not be fenfible of what fhe has done for 
 " them, till they meet together in the valley of 
 <c Jehofaphat. Some imagine I govern the 
 cc ftate : they perceive not, I am perfuaded, that 
 * f God has heaped fo many blefllngs upon me, 
 " only that I might attend to the King's falva- 
 Cf tion." The convent of St. Cyr was built at 
 the end of the park at Verfailles, in 1686 ; in the 
 regulation of which eftablifhment fhe employed 
 many of her hours. At the death of the 
 
 King,
 
 23* S Y L V A, oil 
 
 King, In 1715, fhe retired wholly to it; fpenf 
 the remainder of her days in devotion j and died 
 therein 1719, aged 84 i5 *. 
 
 Though courts are certainly not places of 
 happinefs, yet this lady (as fhould feem) would 
 not have been completely happy in any fitua- 
 tion whatever. There was fomething difcon- 
 tented, querulous, and pettifh about her : when 
 the girls at St. Cyr had deviated a little from 
 her orders, I have always repent ed> fays fhe, of 
 my endeavours to direff women \ men are infinitely 
 more traffable and docile. She was, however, a 
 woman of many virtues, and of piety more than 
 enough : Ihe was indeed righteous overmuch. 
 
 * 5 * June n, 1717? the Czar Peter made her a vifit, as 
 fhe writes to Madam de Caylus ; and fhe received him on 
 her bed. " At feven in the evening he arrived, and fat 
 ' down by my bed-fide. He afked, if I was fick ? I faid I was. 
 " He aiked my ailment ? I anfwered, great age and no 
 " ftrong conftitution. His vifit was very fhort : he caufed 
 ' the curtain to be opened at the bed's-feet, in order to 
 ' have a peep at me ; and you'll allow, that it muft have 
 " given him a mighty fatisfa&ion." Lettres. 
 
 LXVIII.
 
 THE WOOD. 239 
 
 LXVIII. 
 
 AMBITION NO MARK. OF MAGNANIMITY. 
 
 T HAVE often wondered, how ambition came 
 to be thought the mark of a great foul. Mon- 
 taigne and Montefquieu join it to a little one; 
 and they have certainly this in their favour, 
 that it is as common to the loweft and mean- 
 eft, as to the moft exalted compofitions *". 
 Yet Dryden calls ambition <f the glorious fault 
 " of angels and of gods :" and even Clarendon 
 has not fcrupled to fay, that, if ambition " be a 
 * f vice, it loves to grow in a rich foil." If by 
 growing in a rich foil, he means growing out of a 
 great foul, we may be the more furprifed, be- 
 caufe he afcribes the exorbitant ambition of 
 Cardinal Wolfey to the poverty and lownejs of 
 bis birth, and makes it moft natural to men of the 
 meaneft extraction*. It is, I believe, a matter 
 of fact, that men of mean birth, who are bred in 
 low fentiments, and accuftomed to ftare at pa- 
 rade and fhew (falfely, veryfalfely, called mag- 
 nificence) with a kind of adoration, are always 
 the moft inordinate in their purfuits after them, 
 and of all others the hardeft to be fatisfied : 
 
 a$I Gloriam, honorem t bonus ig navus tP^u( fibi exoptant. Sal. 
 *54 Trafts, in folio. 
 
 1 2 while
 
 S Y L V A, oa 
 
 while others of ingenuous and liberal parentage 1 * 
 being familiarized to them from the firft open- 
 ing of their eyes, are more often content with the 
 fphere they are born in, and with a fupply for 
 thofe habits to which they are trained* 
 
 Buttoproceed. Pray, did Lord Melcombe's 
 ambition to make a figure originate from great- 
 nefs of foul ? George Bubb was the fon of 
 an apothecary in Dorfetfhire, and nephew of 
 George Dodington Efq. who left him an eftate 
 and his name. This ambitious man was not 
 without abilities; but the meannefs of his fpirit 
 furpaflfes all conception. Tranfcripts from his 
 Diary would be endlefs : we will only give one 
 farther * i; trait of it. After many fertilities, 
 cringing attentions, and various little tricks, 
 which low-born perfons ufuallypraclife to crawl 
 up to preferment, this fon of an apothecary was 
 received into the family of Frederic Prince of* 
 Wales ; who " promifcd him, when he fhould 
 <c come to the crown, a peerage and the feah 
 " of the Southern Province, together with the 
 " management of the Houfe of Lords." Diary) 
 p. 4. This was in March 1749. Some time 
 after he was informed, that the Prince's family 
 had an averfion to him , and, in a fit of pious 
 defpondency, exclaims, " God forgive them ; 
 " I have not deferved it of them." Ib. p. 81. 
 At length, in 1750-51, when deach deprived the 
 
 55 See above, N 8 VII. 
 6 world
 
 THE WOOD. 241 
 
 world of the Prince, and all were precipitated 
 into the blacknefs of defpair., . this devout perfon 
 again ejaculates, tf Father of mercy ! thy hand 
 <( that wounds alone can fave." Ib. p. 100. 
 Reader, behold the gr'eatncfs of foul from 
 which ambition fprings * 56 ! 
 
 LXIX. 
 
 TWO LETTERS OF SARAH DUCHESS OF MARL- 
 BOROUGH. 
 
 / "T A HIS old Sarah, as Ihe was then called, 
 * publifhed, in 1742, an Account of her Con- 
 dutt under Queen Anne : which account, by the 
 w:iy, gives an excellent infight into the manceu- 
 vres of a court. She was aflifted herein by Mr. 
 Hooke the hiftorian ; to whom, though oppref- 
 fed with the infirmities of age, and almoft bed* 
 rid, fhe would continue fpeaking for fix hours 
 together. She delivered to him, without any 
 notes, her account in the moil lively as well as 
 the mod connected manner : and, though the 
 correction of the language was left to Hooke, 
 
 * 56 The fame may be eftimated of the Lcvec/Fame, which 
 Milton lomewhere calls " the laft infirmity of noble minds ;" 
 and which Hunt has pronounced to be " juflly fo called." 
 Hijl. of England, ch. viii. 
 
 R yet
 
 242 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 yet the whole is plainly animated with he.r 
 fpirit i and, as fome philofophers have faid of 
 foul with regard to body, fhe was tot a in to to, et 
 tot a in qualibet farte. She was of a ftrong un- 
 derftanding and uncommon fagacity, which I 
 premife to juftify my wonder at the ftrange ne- 
 gleft of education among the females j for her 
 woman would have written as well, and perhaps 
 better. Here follow, merely as curiosities, two 
 letters from her own Tiand-wnting, directed 
 " for Doctor Clarke att his hous near S' James* 
 " Church," without alteration of either gram- 
 mar or orthography j that is, verbatim et lite- 
 ratim, as Mrs. Bellamy expreffes it. 
 
 Saterday 
 
 I give you many thanks for the favour of your 
 Jeter to me,* and am glad I ded not hear of the 
 poor Bilhop of Bangors illnefs tell the danger is 
 over, I have never feen L d sun : fence I came out 
 of Town, but I expect him here to day at din- 
 ner, I wiih I may have any thing to fay from 
 him that is worth troubling either of you with, 
 but you will be gon before my letercan come to 
 you, and therefore I will write to the Bifhop, 
 the furgeons aflure me that they fee no danger 
 in the Duke of Marlborough's fhoulder how- 
 ever they will not yet confent that hee fhall 
 goe to Woodftock, I fufpect that caution may 
 proceed from their knowing that one of them 
 
 rrmft
 
 THE WO O D. 243 
 
 rnuft bee always with us when we are at fuch a 
 diilance from London, and therefore they will 
 defer our going as long as they can to attend 
 their other bufinefs, I do and have told them 
 that I will buy them at their own rates, and I 
 have known but very few miniilers or faverit$ 
 that were not to bee bought, which muft b* 
 done in this cafe, for when they fhall come and 
 tell me that his fhoulder may be drefied by 
 any body, I can't fleep fifty mile from Lon- 
 don, if one of the beft furgeons does not lye in 
 the hous, by this account J am apt to think at 
 your return upon the 22d of Auguft you will 
 find us here, but where ever I fhall happen to 
 bee you are fure of being always wellcome to 
 your mod faithfull 
 
 humble fervant and friend 
 my humble fervifs S. Marlborough. 
 
 to Mrs Clarke 
 
 having this opertunity of writing to you by the 
 Surgeon which will come to you before you 
 leave London; T have a mind to tell you that 
 my Lord Sunderland was here as I expefted, I 
 had a great deal of difcourfe with him upon the 
 B. of Bangor and your affaires, tis impoffible 
 for me to write all the particulars, but hee pro- 
 fefies all the value and efsteem imaginable for 
 you both, he affures me that the B. of Bangor 
 is to be B. of Bath and Wells when it falls, 
 R i but
 
 244 S Y L V A, on 
 
 but he only fix's him there becaufe it is the 
 moft probable to bee vacant firft, but if any 
 other fhould fall before that, except fome of 
 the very great ones hee will bee for the B. 
 of Bangors having it, what he continues to 
 think of for you is a very good thing which 
 Doctor Younger has at S r Paul's, which is con- 
 fiftent with what you have, and when I fpoake 
 of what you wifhed for your brother hee ex- 
 prefied as much pleafure in doing that for him, 
 as you could have in it yourfelf, and faid hee 
 knew him and ownd that he was a very good 
 man and had a grete deal of merrit, hee added 
 that he defign to get a thoufand pound in the 
 winter of the King for the B. of Bangor to help 
 him tell fomthing happend that was better than 
 what he has, hee appeared to me to bee very de- 
 firous of ferving you both in any thing that 
 fhould happen to bee in his power, and I do 
 really believe that hee thinks himfelf that men- 
 of your abillitys, would be of fo much ufe to 
 him, that he fencerely wifh's that you would 
 help him to cafe fom things which makes it 
 more difficult to compafs what I defire then 
 perhaps you will beleive, tho I hope you 
 will never doubt of my being with all the 
 truth imaginable your moft faithful friend 
 and humble fervant 
 
 S : Marlborough. 
 Sunday the 26 of July 
 
 windfor lodge 
 
 I hope
 
 THE WOOD. 245 
 
 I hope you will give the B. of Bangor an ac- 
 count of the fubftance of this leter. 
 
 LXX. 
 
 OF WIT AND WITTICISMS. 
 
 SOMEBODY fpeaking of Lord Chefter- 
 field as a wit, " Aye," fays Sam. Johnfon, 
 <c he is a wit among lords, and a lord among 
 " wits." < Tuurr,ne y obfecro? I fhould have replied 
 to Johnfon : vet us crcdidi. And fo it is j for 
 Proclus faid long ago of Critias, that he was 
 " a novice among philofophers, and a philo- 
 " fopher among novices : Ihurr,; p\v h fiAo<rc- 
 
 Johnfon's application of this, if Johnfon did 
 apply it, was not amifs. Lord Chefterfield was 
 a witling, rather than a man of genuine wit : 
 his wit, as it has, been called, was chiefly 
 premeditated, and mechanical as I may fay. 
 Bifliop Newton relates, in the Account of his 
 own Life, that Lord Chefterfield ufed to lay 
 baits and traps for the introduction of witty 
 (lories and witticifms, which he brought ready 
 
 *" Proclus, in Timaeum Platonis, apud vocem KPITIAT. 
 R 3 prepared
 
 a 4 6 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 prepared to let off in company ; and fo I have 
 often heard. But how naufeous, how mean, 
 how difgufting, the idea ! Such management 
 (hews a littlenefs of foul, as well as a littlenefs 
 of underflanding ; and a man of fpirit would 
 difdain it. Wit fhould be a fudden inftanta- 
 neous production, by a ftroke of imagination 
 upon the object or occafion, as fire from the 
 collifton of flint and fteel : but witticifms ready 
 made Oh, heavens ! Bayes's good things beat 
 'em hollow. 
 
 LXXI. 
 
 OF LOGIC, OR THE ART OF REASONING. 
 
 T O G I Cj or (as it may truly be called) the 
 art of difputing fophiftically, makes a con- 
 fiderable part of our academical education : 
 yet Gaflendus, who was a very great reafoner, 
 has attempted to prove, that it is, in truth, 
 neither neceflary nor ufeful. He thinks, that 
 reafon, or innate force and energy of under- 
 ftanding, is fufficient of itfelf Z5S ; that its 
 
 a ' 8 Dialeftica naturalis eft ipfamet ratio, vel ingenita ilia 
 intelleftus vis et energia, qua ratiocinamur, et difcurrimus : 
 et tantam videmus efle naturae folertiam, ut quifque facii, 
 per fe, et fine obfervatione, prsftet quicquid neceffarium eft, 
 Ad<uerfus Arijlotel. lib. ii. exercit. I. ^uod nulla Jit necejfitas 
 utilitaf^ue Dialeftic<e> 
 
 own
 
 T H z W O O D. 247 
 
 own natural movements, without any difci- 
 plinc from art, are equal to the inveftigation 
 and fettling of truth ; that it no more wants 
 the afllftance of Logic to conduct to this, than 
 the eye wants a lanthorn to enable it to fee the 
 fun : and, however he might admit as curious, 
 he would doubtlefs have rejected as ufelefs, 
 all fuch productions, as Quillet's Callipffdia, 
 Thevenot on the Art ofStoiMiJjg, or Borelfi de 
 Motu Animalium j upon the firmcft perfuafion, 
 that the innate force and energy of nature, 
 when inftincl: honeftly does her bed, is fure to 
 attain thofe feveral objects, without any didac- 
 tic rules or precepts. 
 
 If Logic therefore be not neceflary, it is pro- 
 bably of no great ufe : and indeed it has been 
 deemed not only an impertinent but a perni- 
 cious fcience. " Logic," fays Lord Bacon, " is 
 <f ufually taught too early in life. That minds, 
 " raw and unfurnifhed with matter, fhould be- 
 " gin their cultivation from fuch a fcience, is 
 " juft like learning to weigh or meafure the 
 " wind. Hence, what in young men fhould 
 tf be manly reafoning, often degenerates into 
 " ridiculous affectations and childifh fophif- 
 <c tr y *J9/ Certainly, where materials are 
 wanting, the difpute muft turn altogether 
 upon words; and the whole will be con- 
 
 De Augm. Sciejjt. 1. 2. 
 
 R 4 dufted
 
 24* S Y L V A, -OR 
 
 dueled with the Height and legerdemain of fo- 
 phiftry. We have a pleafant inflance upon 
 record of this fchool-errantry, this trick of 
 feeming to prove fomething, when in reality 
 you prove nothing. A countryman, for the 
 entertainment of his fon, when returned from 
 the Univerfity, ordered fix eggs to be boiled - 3 
 two for him, two for his mother, and two for 
 himfelf : but the fon, itching to give a fpeci- 
 men of his newly acquired fcience, boiled only 
 three. To the father, afking the reafon of this, 
 tc Why" fays the fon, " there are fix" " How 
 ff fo ?" fays the father, tc I can make but three." 
 ic No /" replies the young fophifter, " is not 
 < ( here one ? (counting them out) is not there 
 (C two ? and is not there three? and do not one, two> 
 " andtbree y make fix ?" " Well then," fays the 
 father, tf I'll take two, your mother fhall have 
 fc one, and you fhall have the other three." 
 
 Many appearances may tempt one to fuf- 
 peft, that the tmderftanding, difciplined with 
 Logic, is not fo competent for the inveftiga- 
 tion of truth, as if left to its natural operations. 
 " A man of wit," fays Bayle, '< who applies 
 " himfelf long and clofely to Logic, feldom 
 " fails of becoming a caviller* 60 ; and by his 
 
 fophiftical 
 
 1C<> ThcfejfrUogij/Hti are terrible company to men in gene-, 
 raj, and tit only for one another. With them you cannot be
 
 T H E W O O D. 249 
 
 Cf fophiftical fubtleties perplexes and embroils 
 " the very thefes he hath defended. He chufes 
 " to deftroy his own work, rather than forbear 
 cc difputing j and he ftarts fuch objections 
 <f againft his own opinions, that his whole art 
 <{ cannot folvc them. Such is the fate of thofe, 
 cc who apply themfelves too much to the fub- 
 " tleties of dialectics z61 ." This is the opinion 
 of Bayle, who probably knew from feeling and 
 experience the truth of what he faid j for he 
 was a very great Logician, as well as a very 
 great Sceptic. 
 
 Our memorable Chillingworth is another In- 
 llance to prove, that Logic, inftead of aflift- 
 ing, may pofilbly obftruct and hurt the under- 
 ftanding. Chillingworth, fays Lord Clarendon, 
 who knew him well, " was a man of great 
 " fubtlety of underftanding, and had fpent all 
 cc his younger time in difputation j of which 
 " he arrived to fo great a mattery, as not to 
 " be inferior to any man in thofe fkirmifhes : 
 
 faid to have converfation, but altercation rather : for there 
 is fomething fo captious and litigious in their fpirit, that 
 they draw every the moft trifling thing that can be ftarted 
 into a difpute. Before fuch, you muft not expedl to talk at 
 eafe ; that eafe and indolence, which make a man carclcfs 
 about both ideas and language : no, you mull be wary and 
 correft ; you muft be always upon the defenuve ; you muft 
 keep a perpetual guard, as you would over your purfe, were 
 a pickpocket in the room. 
 
 6 ' Did. CHRYSIPPUS. 
 
 but
 
 S- Y L V A, OR 
 
 " but he had, with his notable perfection in 
 * f this exercife, contracted fuch an irrefolution 
 <( and habit of doubting, that by degrees he 
 <c grew confident in nothing, and a fceptic at 
 < f lead in the greateft myfterics of faith. All 
 " his doubts grew out of himfelf, when he 
 "-aflifted his fcruples with the ftrength of his 
 " own reafon, and was then too hard for him- 
 
 To conclude. What was the meaning of 
 that ftricture upon Seneca, Verborum minutiis 
 rerum frangitpondera, which, according to Lord 
 Bacon, may thus be applied to the fchoolmen, 
 Quteftio'num minutiis fcientiarum franguntjolidita- 
 tem ? Why, that by their litigiofa JubtilitaSy as 
 he calls it, by their logical refinements and dif- 
 tinctions, they had chopped truth fo down into 
 mincemeat, as to leave it not only without 
 proportion or form, but almoft without fub- 
 ftance. 
 
 61 lafe by himfelf, i. 56. 8vo. 
 
 LXXII.
 
 THE WOOD. 251 
 
 LXXII. 
 
 THE LOVE OF MONEY THE RUIN OF STATES, 
 
 O T H I N G is great," fays Longinus, 
 ff a contempt of which is great 16 ' ;" as 
 riches, honours, and fo forth. Yet, how rare- 
 ly do we meet with fo much greatnefs (and a 
 little, methinks, fhould fuffice) as will enable 
 a man to defpife riches ! Every reptile can mo- 
 ralize upon them in as heroic terms as Seneca 
 himfelf, but will at the fame time fubmit to 
 the meaneft tricks for the meaneft profits. 
 
 Salluft, in his Second Oration to Qefar about 
 regulating the Roman Commonwealth, advifes 
 him, above all things, " either to abolilh, or 
 (c (as far as he can) to diminifh, the love of 
 tc money :" for that, otherwife, not only no re- 
 formation of manners could be made, but even 
 government itfelf could not be fupported 1<5 *. 
 
 To 
 
 * 6J n T^a f , feft. 7. 
 
 * 64 Mulio maxumttm bcnum pattitf, civittu, tibi, likeris, 
 poftrenib humtinee genti, pepereri s, fe fludium pec unif aut fuftult- 
 ris, out, quod -res ferrtt, minueris : alittr xeque private rts, 
 neque publica, neque dami t ncque milit'ue, regi potejl. Salluft is 
 an author very a propos to our prefent times and manners ; 
 both his Hiftories, with his two Orations to Cajfar, inculcat- 
 
 ing
 
 5 Y L V A, OR 
 
 To abolifh the love of money, were it poffible, 
 would doubtlefs be excellent : but then, it 
 might be faid, we muft forego the admiration 
 of the far greater part of mankind, who value 
 people only for the figure they make. I grant 
 it readily, and that this may, perhaps, at firft 
 occafion fome fmall ftruggle in the bread 165 } 
 but a fingle reflection, methinks, might ferve 
 to quiet the tumult. For, if you muft needs 
 have this popular efteem, which furely a wife 
 man might well do without, you muft be con- 
 tent to fhare it with your dentift, your hair- 
 
 dreffer, Madame Mara 1 -*' 6 , and Mrs. E , 
 
 who fells paint and pafte to mend God's 
 works with. 
 
 Meanwhile, this ftudlum fecuni*, this love 
 of money, the gaining of which feerns to be 
 thought the great object of living, is (as it has 
 moft truly been called) the root of all evil. 
 Look into the feveral departments of law, po- 
 litics, trade j into the other departments of life: 
 nay, examine this greedinefs of fpirit, even in 
 private families, and efpecially when accompa- 
 nied (as it often is) with vanity and a paffion 
 for figuring-, examine all this carefully and 
 
 ing in almoft every page, that this appetentia alieni and/ra- 
 fufeofuij as he exprefles it, was the corruption of Roman man- 
 ners, and would be the ruin of the Roman ftate. v 
 
 * ej Ubi bonus deteriorem di<vitiif magis elarum magifque ac- 
 eeptum videt, primb aftuat, muhaque in peflore vol'vit.- Ibid. 
 
 * M An infolent, faucy, finding wench, 
 
 11 
 well,
 
 THE WOOD. 253 
 
 well, and you will eafily perceive it to be the true 
 and genuine fource of nine tenths of the folly, 
 meannefs, vice, and mifery, which prevail 
 among mankind that it is not only the cor- 
 ruption of all manners, but muft fooner or later 
 be the ruin of all Hates. 
 
 LXXIII. 
 
 O F ' A OVERT ISEMENTS. 
 
 T H A VE often thought, that the manners of 
 * our better fort of people (as by curtefy they 
 are called) might be well traced from the pub* 
 lie advertifements ; and could wifh, that fome 
 little virtu-man, juft equal to the work, would 
 exert himfelf to make a collection of thofe 
 which are the moft characteriftical. Fielding 
 has prefcrved, in his T. J. xiii. 5, an advcrdfe- 
 ment of Broughton's for Lectures upon Box- 
 ing, dated i Feb. 1747; doubtlefs, with a view 
 of letting pofterity fee, 6000 years hence, what 
 civilized, humane, and polifhed perfons the 
 Chriftians of thefe primitive ages were. Other 
 advertifements might equally ferve this curious 
 purpofe. The fame Fielding mentions a " Mrs. 
 " Hufiey, a celebrated mantua-maker in the 
 fc Strand, famous for fetting off the fhapes of 
 <c women," and fo forth j but does not fay that 
 fhe advertifed, " Foreign Perfumery, by Abry 
 8 <e perfumer
 
 254 S Y L V A, o R 
 
 cc perfumer to the Countefs 'of Artois," who 
 offers at the fame time (dog-cheap) a vaft 
 number of things, wherewith to mend the hu- 
 man form' divine, and among others, the Creme 
 de Beaute : my comfort, however, is, that in 
 the very fame Paper, 19 May 1785, was adver- 
 tifed Dr. Watts's Improvement of the Mind.-' 
 " Harrifon begs to inform the ladies, that he 
 " has invented a fummer-cufhion, entirely dif- 
 tc ferent from any thing yet thought of. Some 
 <c very fine-efifence of rofe, orange, and jefia- 
 tc min pomades, only a few days from Paris. 
 <c His fummer-rouge at is. 6d. per pot. 30 
 " May 1785." This hair-drefier, who was 
 lately a journeyman only, has now (as I am 
 told) befides a fplendid town-houfe, a villa 
 and a carriage* 
 
 The ftile of thefe advertifements alfo is often 
 as fingular as the matter of them. Monf. 
 Vcftris, in a Morning Chronicle, May 1784, 
 addrefies himfelf, upon the fubjecl of his 
 movements, to a judicious and generous pub- 
 lic. x Generous perhaps may be borne with, 
 becaufe the epithet is given to every fool who 
 fquanders his money ; but it is a downright 
 abufe and proftkution of the term judicious, 
 when it refpects fuch objects, as make the 
 .amufement (I had almoft faid the.bufmefs) of 
 our better fort. 1"he Dancing Dogs! I'/ye Learned 
 Pig ! The Learned Fox ! General Jackoo ! &c.
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 fcrV. &c. i68 I one day aiked a delicate thing 
 of the ton, whether he would not fee this famous 
 monkey carried to the mafquerade ? <f Lab !" 
 fays he mincingly, and affecting horror, " the 
 " brute comes too near us :" as if this human 
 ninny could poffibly be degraded by the refem- 
 blance. " Near us !" replied I ; " why, he 
 cc is fuperior to at ieaft half of his admirers.'* 
 But to proceed. 
 
 " April 1785, Mr. Lepicq, after fo many 
 <c proofs of the public's partiality to him, finds 
 " his feelings truly overpowered by their pa- 
 ? f tronage," &c. I wifh, with all my heart, 
 that the public would be more compaffionate 
 and tender to the feelings of Mr. Lepicq. 
 Even Mr. Lunardi has not efcaped this arFefla- 
 tion in the ftile of his advertifements. fc Mr. 
 " Lunardi is peculiarly happy in experiencing, 
 <f that the attachment of the public to htm is 
 " in unifon with bis feelings j" and, March 
 1785, we are told, that " certain ladies mean 
 C to try the nature of their fenfations y by afcend- 
 ' ing a few yards in Mr. Lunardi's balloon." 
 
 161 Thus Trinculo in-Shakefpeare, taking Caliban for a 
 fiili, exclaims : " Were I /* England now, and had but this 
 *' fifh painted, not an holiday fool there, but would give a 
 " piece of filver. There would this monfler make a man ; 
 " any ftrange beaft there makes a man," &c. : and, which is 
 very remarkable, the clafs of people, who 'moft waile their 
 money upon rarities of this kind, are ufuaily the loudeft in 
 their clamours againft taxations. 
 
 6 By
 
 256 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 By the way a this curiofity among the ladies to 
 try the nature of their fenfations need not be en- 
 couraged by Mr. Lunardi ; it being likely to 
 lead them into perils enough, without Hiking 
 their necks in his balloon. 
 
 The following advertifement is of a more 
 ferious caft, and from which (I am forry to 
 fay) too ftrong a trait of our manners may be 
 drawn. C Morn. Poft, April 1785. Ladies 
 rt or gentlemen porfefied of eftates or incomes 
 <c for life, defirous of raifing money by grant 
 fc of annuities either for their own or the lives 
 " of others clergymen on their livings ofE- 
 <c cers on their pay or perfons of any defcrip- 
 " tion may be accommodated on the molt 
 ff liberal terms, by applying to ." I very 
 fmcerely wifh, that the author of this advertife- 
 ment may come to be hanged j and fhall con- 
 clude with another, which will open a more 
 pleafing profpe6t to many of my readers, to 
 all (I prefume) within the bills of morta- 
 lity. " Wood's Coffee- houfe, Covent Garden, 
 " TURTLE. Three fine turtles dreffed 
 " this day in the higheft perfection. Families 
 " may be fupplied with any quantity, to any 
 " part of town or country. Will continue 
 " drefllng every day during the feafon. N. B. 
 " Some very fine lively turtle to be diipofed 
 of." 
 
 LXXIV.
 
 THE WOOD. 257 
 
 LXXIV. 
 
 THE VICES OF YOUTH AND OLD AGE, AND THE 
 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ONE AND THE 
 OTHER. 
 
 A/T E N are Stoics in their early years, Epicu- 
 reans in their later ; focial in youth, felf- 
 ifh in old age. In early life they believe all 
 men honeft, till they know them to be knaves ; 
 in late life they believe all men knaves, till 
 they know them to be honeft. Young men 
 not only take virtue for a folid good, but affect 
 it often with enthufiaftic ardor; old men ufu- 
 ally treat it as an empty name, or (to ufe the 
 words of Lord Rochefter) " if they do talk of 
 " it as a fine thing, yet this is only becaufe 
 " they think it a decent way of fpeaking, and 
 " necefiary for their credit and affairs tG V 
 Thus, fome how or other, men pafs, in the 
 courfe of living, from one of thefe extremes to 
 the other ; and, from having thought too well 
 of human nature at firft, think at lad, perhaps, 
 too ill of it. 
 
 It has ufually been obferved, and I believe 
 juftly, that youth is the feafon of virtue: but, 
 lays a certain preacher, " it might have been 
 " obferved with equal truth, that youth- is tbc 
 " J e *J n f viffi fmce every age of human life 
 " has vices as well as virtues, which are almofr 
 
 369 Burnet's Life and Death of Rochefter, p. 23. 
 
 S " peculiar
 
 .5 Y L V A, OR 
 
 " peculiar to itfelf * 7 ." True : but the vices, 
 peculiar to youth, may, with fome indulgence 
 at leaflj be deemed fins againft prudence, ra- 
 ther than againft virtue : they are fins of the 
 body, rather than fins of the foul, if the diftinc- 
 tion may be allowed j that is, they do not fo 
 much proceed from iniquity or depravity of 
 hearty as from heat in the blood and ftrength 
 of pafllon. 
 
 Jones was of a gay and vigorous conftitution, 
 and occafionally indulged with women and 
 wine, beyond what ftrid chaftity and temper^ 
 ance permit ; but Jones had franknefs, honefty 
 of heart, warm affections, focial and fympathe- 
 tic feelings. Blifil 3 on the other hand, kept up 
 in all its rigour the form of morals, and affirm- 
 ed upon occaMon the garb of fainthoodj but 
 Blifil was without fenfibility, referved, felfifh, 
 cunning, a villain. Such feems'to have been 
 the difference between the armies of the Par- 
 liament and Charles I.; the foldiers of Charles 
 being rather profligate in morals, while thofe 
 cf the Parliament were in faith and obfervances 
 very faints. Tes 3 fays a Cavalier to a Roundhead 
 who was boafting of this, thoujayeft true : for 
 in our army we have drinking and wenching, the 
 fins of men j but in yours you have thoje of devil s> 
 Jpiritual pride and rebellion a?I . 
 
 7 Balguy's Sermons, 1785. 
 
 *'* Sa Philip Warwick's Memoirs of Charles I. p. 253. 
 
 Q LXXV.
 
 THE WOOD. 259 
 
 LXXV. 
 
 OP THE ABUSE OF MEDALS, AND OF LEWIS XIV. 
 
 MEDALS fhould record glorious deeds, 
 and be fubfidiary vouchers to good hif- 
 tory ; but they have been ftamped for actions 
 as inhuman and opprefiive, as ambition and 
 cruelty could devife. Of thefe the reign of 
 Lewis XIV., called Lewis The Great by thofe, 
 who (as Evelyn fays) blaffbeme for bread, will 
 furnifh fufHcient inftances, without going far- 
 ther. Evelyn very properly ufes the term blaf- 
 pbeme * 7i -, for, while fome of their infcrip- 
 tions are arrogant and vain-glorious, others 
 are profane and even impious. To produce 
 an inftance or two out of a thoufand. One 
 medal reprefents Lewis {landing between the 
 cities of Genoa and Luxemburg, holding the 
 world on the point of his fword viflori 
 perpetuo, ob expugnatas urbes ducentas j not ob 
 fervafos cives, for preferving citizens and 
 promoting human happinefs, but for laying 
 whole cities and countries in delegation and 
 alhes. Another, upon the revocation of the 
 Edift of Nantes in 1685 vicies centcna millia 
 revocata,&c. that is, forhav- 
 
 7 Evelyn's Difeourft of MM, p. 82. 
 
 S 2 ing
 
 26o S Y L V A, 
 
 ing converted two millions of proteflants by 
 dragonading and deftruction. Others are as 
 remarkable for their modefty, as thefe for their 
 piety : quod lib et licet, " what I lift is law" 
 ft at fro ratione voluntas, " the caufe is in my 
 " will, I will" nufquam meta mihi, " I have 
 " no boundary." 
 
 Thefe are the effects of arbitrary power : 
 thefe things are >feen only under abfolute mo- 
 narchs (as Voltaire faid upon another occa- 
 fion * 73 ) and might, one would think, ferve as a 
 leffon to mankind ; but they will not. Other 
 medals are profane and impious : they radiate 
 the king with the beams of the fun (they do 
 no more, fays Evelyn, in their pi<5bures of God 
 the Father * 74 ), as if alone fufficient to govern 
 the univerfe : 
 
 Non alia cerni majsftas Je velif ore, 
 Non aliud mundus pofcaf habere caput : 
 comparing him to that luminary in no few- 
 er than feventy-five devices and infcriptions. 
 All this, and a thoufand times as much, for 
 Louis le Grand, for le Roi Ires Cbriftienne. And 
 who was this Lewis the Great, this moft Cbrif- 
 
 * 73 Peliflbn was confined four years and a half in the Baftile, 
 purely for having been faithful to his friend and mafter Fou- 
 quet ; and then fpent the remainder of his life in writing 
 eloges upon the King. C'eft une cbofe qu'on ne wait $ue dans 
 let monarchies. 
 
 74 velyn, p. 79. 
 
 tian
 
 THE WOOD. 261 
 
 tian King ? A mod vain, oftentatious, parading 
 bully, whofe glory confided of devaftations 
 abroad, and oppreffions at home $ which glory 
 however, infamous as it was, he could never 
 have attained, but for the pitiful part our 
 Charles II. acted. And for greatnefs, that of 
 Lewis was to real greatnefs, what the ftmulacra 
 of Epicurus were to real bodies: it refembled 
 the facrifice, with which Prometheus formerly 
 attempted to impofe upon Jupiter, viz. " not 
 <f a real ox, but only an ox's hide, fluffed with 
 " ftraw, and leaves, and twigs ar ' :" it was, in 
 fhort, all appearance, devoid of fubflance * rS . 
 
 No language however was too magnificent 
 for this enormous idol or image of greatnefs. 
 The Jefuit Meneflrier, in a pompous folio, 
 1691, thus befpeaks him in his dedication: 
 <e To Lewis the Great, the invincible, the 
 wife, the conqueror, the wonder of his age, 
 " terror of his enemies, lover of his people, 
 " arbiter of peace and war, adminiftrator of the 
 " univerfe, and worthy to be its wafter> are of- 
 " fered with profound fubmiflion the medals of 
 " an accomplifhed hero ; prelenting him the 
 <c hiflory of a reign worthy of immortality, and 
 
 * TS Adduxit Prometheus, loco bovis reri, pcllcm bovis 
 ftramine, & foliis, et viminibus fufFarcinatam. Bacon. 
 
 *" For traits of this hero's interior littlcnefs and mean* 
 ncfs, fee N LXVII. Of Madam tie Maintsnen t 
 
 83 the
 
 262 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 tf the veneration of all ages." So that, as ap- 
 pears, this excefs of flattery, this profanenefs 
 and impiety, was not confined to wits and 
 poets, or fuch as blafpheme for bread, but had 
 infected all orders, even the moft facred. 
 
 Of this flavifh adulation to princes, nume- 
 rous -inftances may be feen in Cafaubon's 
 Animadverf. in Athenaeum, lib. vi. cap. 14, 15, 
 
 LXXVI. 
 
 THOU SHALT NOT DO EVIL, THAT GOOD 
 COME OF IT. 
 
 A LL cKriftians will readily fubfcribe to this ; 
 but the whole hiftory of chriftianity Ihews, 
 that few will allow any thing to be evil, which, 
 according to their conceptions, leads to good. 
 That all fraud is evil, muft (one would think) 
 be tmiverfally allowed ; but the man of reli- 
 gion diffents, and diftinguifhes. * c Fraud," fays 
 he, " is not always a pernicious thing, but is 
 f( good or bad according to the intention of 
 cf him who ufes it. A fraud in feafon, and 
 " pra&ifed with judgment, is attended with. 
 
 (< great
 
 THE WOOD. 263 
 
 **" great good : it ought not indeed to be 
 < c deemed fo much a fraud, as a certain wife 
 <( and politic way of managing 177 ." This he 
 urges : and he urges it in the language of 
 Chryfoftom, who contends for the utility of 
 fraud in military, civil, and even domeftic 
 concerns ; and, particularly, makes it as necef- 
 fary in phyficians to deceive for the good of 
 bodies, as he would infer it to be in divines for 
 the good of fouls. 
 
 Jerom, another writer in the times of primi- 
 tive chriftianity, in like manner adopted this 
 principle of deceiving; and plainly believed 
 no deviation from rectitude to be unlawful, 
 which flowed from piety and zeal for chrif- 
 tianity : non condemnamus errorem, fays he, qui 
 de odio Jud<eorum ef fidei fietate dejcendit. And, 
 fpeaking in another place of controverfial writ- 
 ings againft the Pagans, he holds it allowable 
 to urge all arguments falfe as well as true; to 
 uie tricks in difputation j in fhort, to em- 
 ploy any artifice whatever, which may beft 
 ferve to refute and conquer an adverfary : and 
 he juftifies this practice by the examples of 
 
 * 77 * 
 
 ru* xet 
 De Sacerdot. lib. i. fub fin. 
 
 S 4 Origen
 
 264 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 Origen and Eufcbius againft Celfus and Por- 
 phyry Z78 . 
 
 The real truth is, and it is in vain to difiem- 
 ble it, that chrift-ians in all ages have never 
 fcrtipled at any means, to bring about what 
 they deemed a good and pious end * 79 : elfe 
 whence thofe, not only frauds and tricks, but 
 perfecutions, inquifitions, and the various ter- 
 rible modes of converfion, which have been 
 practiied in the church, from its earlieft efla- 
 blifliment down to the prefent hour? whence 
 the infatuation to be perfuaded, that men 
 might actually do God fervice, while they made 
 havock and deftruction of his creatures ? 
 
 But there are no lengths to which men may 
 not be carried, when influenced by zeal and 
 bigotry, without any controul from reafon and 
 common fenfe. The very devout and over- 
 righteous have ever been above ordinances, as the 
 cant of fanaticifm exprefies it. The Antino- 
 mians of all ages have infifted, that " the obli- 
 " gations of morality and natural law are fuf- 
 * c pended ; that the elect, guided by an inter- 
 tc nal principle, more perfect and divine, are 
 
 ' Opera, torn. ir. p. 113. 236. edit, SemJiff. 
 
 *~9 From the allowance and praftice of pistes frauds h 
 comes to pafs, by an eafy tranfition, that many vaftly good 
 people, who would notyWtfr for the world, or commit any 
 fin of eclat, yt w;ill not fcruple occafionally to lye th 
 meanedof all fins. 
 
 " fuperior
 
 THE WOOD. 265 
 
 f< lupenor to the beggarly elements of juftice 
 " and humanity ;" and that, in Ihort, every 
 thing is lawful to the faints. To what purpofe 
 lhall it be faid to fuch, ye fliall not do evit t that 
 good may come of it ? 
 
 Mean while it is certain, that this principle 
 of doing (or, which is the fame thing, of fuf- 
 fering) eviJ t that good may come of it, has by 
 no means been confined to the pale of the 
 church : it has indeed been countenanced by 
 the univerfal practice of mankind, as well in 
 civil as religious concerns. Ancient and modern 
 writers have been quoted to juftify the expedient 
 of deceiving the people * 8 : and a man, who 
 Ihould detect and expofe any received and efta- 
 bliihed fyftem in either government or religion, 
 however falfe or futile its foundation * 81 , would 
 
 be 
 
 410 Hac Pontiftx Spvola noffe populos non vult expedire 
 igitur exiJHmat falli in religione ci-vi tales, quod dicer e tt'tam 
 in libris rerun divinarum ipfe Varro non ditbitat. Aug. de 
 Civ. 5v. 27, 
 
 111 A very indijftrtnt religion, well believed, ivill go a. 
 great 'way, fays Jeremy Collier, .the famous non-juror ; an 
 honeft heathen is none of the ivorft men. View of the Im- 
 morality and Profanenefs of the Englifli Stage, p. 28. Je- 
 remy Collier muft have liked the following paifage from 
 Curtius nulla res efficacies multitudinem regit, quant fuper- 
 fiitio ; alioqui impotent, feeva, mutabilis : vbi <vana religione 
 (apt a eft, melius <vatibu.s quam ducibus fuis paret. But the lat- 
 ter part of it, fo much to the relilh of Jeremy, may probably 
 
 have
 
 66 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 be perfecuted by his compatriots as a bad 
 member of fociety. And why ? becaufe thefe 
 fyftems are deemed ufeful and even necefiary to 
 keep the people in order * 8 *. 
 
 And if from bodies and eftablifhments we 
 defcend to individuals or fingle inftances, we 
 Ihall find the worft and bafeft means employed 
 to bring about (what have been deemed) jufl 
 and lawful ends. When the Earl of Suffolk 
 fied into Flanders, to promote an infurrection 
 againft Henry the Vllth, Henry doubtlefs 
 thought himfelf warranted to countermine and 
 iubdue him. For this purpofe, he caufed Sir 
 Robert Curfon, captain of the caftle at Ham- 
 mes, to fly from his charge, and to feign him- 
 felf the Earl's fervant. Curfon did fo ; and, 
 having infmuated himfelf into the fecrets of 
 the Earl, and become his confident, communi- 
 cated every thing to Henry. Mean while Hen- 
 ry, to confirm the credit of Curfon, caufed to 
 
 have made the whole unpalatable to the ftatefman : who, it is 
 obfervable, hath never been forward to employ the prieft in 
 any of his manoeuvres, when he could poffibly do without 
 him. Q^Curt. iv. 39. 
 
 * sz But do not men, who thus contend for the utility of 
 mil religions to the fupport of government, appear to put 
 all religions upon a level, confounding the true with the 
 falfe ? and, if government can as well be fupported by 
 fraud and impofture, as by a genuine and pure religion, 
 muft not the God of truth and the God of order feem two 
 tfiftinft beings ? 
 
 be
 
 THE WOOD. 267 
 
 be publilhed at Paul's Crofs the Pope's Bull of 
 excommunication and curfe agairjft the Earl 
 of Suffolk and Sir Robert Curfon : ct wherein 
 <f it muft be confeffed," fays Lord Bacon very 
 gently, <c that heaven 'was made too much to bow 
 < e to earth, and religion to policy * 8j ." 
 
 In the time of Cromwell, a thoufand tricks 
 were played to find out and convict the difaf- 
 fected y and an accurfed order of villains, who 
 were called Duckoys and Trttpans, were em- 
 ployed to worm out their fecrets under hypo- 
 critical pretences, and then betray them. Thus 
 overreached,. Colonel Andrews loft his head * 
 nor, fays my author, " was the Prefident Brad- 
 ff Jhaw afhamed openly to declare in court, 
 c< that by counterfeit letters he had correfpond- 
 " ed with him in the name of the King a8 V 
 Even in the cafe of petty traitors, thefe arts 
 have not been judged too mean to be prac- 
 tifed j and, unlefs my memory deceives me, 
 John the Painter's conviction could not be 
 made full and complete, till fome pretended 
 
 *' 3 Hift. of Henry VII. Zopyrus afted precifely the 
 fame part for Darius againft the Aflyrians, whom he be- 
 trayed ; only, to gain their confidence more effectually, he 
 caufed his nofe, ears, and lips to be cut off, and then feigned 
 to have been treated thus cruelly by Darius. Juftin. Hifl. 
 i. 10. 
 
 '** Bates's Elcatlw Mottum, fcfr. Part II. 
 
 friends
 
 268 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 friends had cajoled and drawn him to convict 
 himfelf. 
 
 All fuch arts, however, are not only mean, 
 but'bafe and wicked. A man, who would pre- 
 ferve his integrity untainted, fhould not put 
 himfelf into the attitude of a villain, no, not 
 for a moment. The inward feelings foon ac- 
 commodate themfelves to the outward fituation 
 and garb j the artificial character foon becomes 
 natural : and therefore I Ihould diflikc, as a 
 player, to act a bad man ; but I would not, as 
 an advocate, defend, a bad caufe. 
 
 LXXVII. 
 
 THE BIBLE SHOULD NOT BE USED IN TEACH- 
 ING TO READ. 
 
 TJTENRY KNYGHTON, a canon of Lei- 
 
 cefter, complained heavily of Wickliff, his 
 neighbour and contemporary * 85 , " for having 
 " tranflated out of Latin into Englifh the gpf- 
 " pel, which Chrift had entrufted with the 
 " clergy and doctors of the church, that they 
 " might minifter it to the laity and weaker 
 
 015 Wickliff was reftor of Luttenvorth in Lciceflcrfliirej, 
 in 1384. 
 
 fort,
 
 THE WOOD. 269 
 
 " fort, according to the exigency of times and 
 c < their feveral occafions : fo that by this means 
 " the gofpel jewel, or evangelical pearl, was 
 " made vulgar, was thrown about, and trod- 
 " den under foot of fwine * 86 ." The Moham- 
 medans have been very careful to preferve their 
 Koran from the prophanation here complained 
 of: it is, fays Mr. Sale, the tranflator, " in 
 " the greateft reverence among them. They 
 " dare not fo much as touch it, without be- 
 " ing firft wafhed or legally purified : which, 
 " left they fhould do inadvertently, they write 
 " thefe words on the cover, Let none touch if 
 " but who are clean. They read it with a fu- 
 " perftitious reverence, never holding it be- 
 low their girdles : they adorn it with gold 
 " and precious ftoaes, &c. * 87 " Henry Knygh- 
 ton would have approved and commended all 
 this, as juft, decent, and in crder : but what 
 would Henry Knyghton have faid, if he had 
 feen the Bible thumbed and dirtied in our 
 fchools., thrown by the boys at one another's 
 heads, and configned perhaps at length to the 
 moft humiliating offices ? 
 
 a " Lewis's Hifl. ofTranflationt of tbe BiMe,p. 2O. I72Q. 
 Bvo. 
 
 i87 Sale's Preliminary Difcourfe to the Koran, 410. The 
 Jews had the fame veneration for their law ; not daring to 
 touch it with unwaihen hands, nor then neither without a 
 cover. Vidt Mtttium 4* Mohammedi/mo ante Mobammtd. 
 
 1C
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 It fhould feem from Lord Bacon, that this fa- 
 miliarity with the Bible might lead by degrees 
 to an actual privation of all religion, yea, even a 
 fenfe of God's exiftence : for, reckoning up the 
 forts of atheifls, he lays little ftrefs upon the 
 contemplative, fophiftical, philofophical athe- 
 ifts, as they are called. Among thefe, fays he, 
 <c atheifm is rather in the lip, than in the 
 < heart : thefe will ever be talking of their 
 < opinion, as if they were wavering about it, 
 < and would gladly be ftrengthened by the 
 " confent of others. Thefe feem to be more 
 " than they are : but the great atheifts indeed 
 " are hypocrites, who are ever handling holy 
 < things, without the leaft fenfe or feeling of 
 C theiy being fo : fo that thefe muft needs be 
 " cauterized in the end * 8 *." Now, according 
 to thefe ideas, may not the conftant official han- 
 dling of holy things make men atheifts, by 
 making them gradually lofe a fenfe of their 
 holinefs ? Look at fextons, parifh-clerks, fing- 
 ing boys, choir-men (I need go no higher) 
 and fee what fenfe or feeling they have of the 
 holinefs of the things about them. Boys are 
 taught to read in the Bible, becaufe the Bible 
 is a good book* 89 : the fchool-houfe is often a 
 
 part 
 
 a88 Eflays, xvi. 
 
 *" The benefit or utility, arifing from thefe unions, is 
 altogether imaginary. *' Wanting an Englifh book for my 
 
 *' fcholars
 
 THE WOOD. 271 
 
 part of the church, bccaufe the church is an 
 holy place - 9 \ Surely our pious anceftors did 
 not know, that familiarity breeds contempt ; 
 for more effectual means could not be con- 
 trived to extinguifh or prevent all fenfe of ho- 
 linefs. 
 
 There is yet another reafon, why boys fliould 
 not be taught to read by the ufe of the Bible, 
 if there be any fuch thing as affociation of 
 ideas. The Bible, diftincl: from its religious 
 importance, is certainly a very curious as well 
 as ufeful book : but the Bible is ufually the 
 laft book men take up, either for inftruction or 
 amufement. Why ? becaufe they have for- 
 merly been teazed, and buffeted, and flogged 
 about it s and becaufe they hate the fcenery, 
 
 " fcholars to translate," fays a learned fchool-mafter, 
 " which might improve them in fenfe and Latin at once 
 * (two things which mould never be divided in teaching) 
 " I thought nothing more proper for that purpofe, than Ba- 
 ' con's E/ays" As if a fchool-boy would attend to or (if 
 he would) could comprehend, the ftrong deep fenfe of Bacon : 
 juil as well might it be faid, that boys fhould be taught in 
 the Bible and at the church, becaufe religion and learning 
 mould never be divided. Pref. to Bacon's EJfays, tranflated 
 by Willy mot, 1720. 2 vols. 8vo. 
 
 360 By this means the church-yard, which is alfo confe- 
 crated, and muft certainly have fome degree of holinefs, 
 as well as the church, becomes as it were a licenfed play, 
 ground for the fchool-boys, and at the fame time a bear- 
 garden for the parifh. 
 
 which
 
 272 S Y L V A, o k 
 
 which it naturally revives. 'Tis pity but a. 
 little knowledge of human nature had been 
 cultivated by thefe good people, together with 
 their piety and learning. 
 
 LXXVIII. 
 
 TH! ECCENTRICITIES AND CAPRICEI OF IMA- 
 GINATION. 
 
 A CERTAIN writer, apologizing for the ir- 
 regularities of great genii, delivers him- 
 felf thus. " The gifts of imagination bring 
 " the heaviest talk upon the vigilance of rea- 
 " fon j and to bear thofe faculties with uner- 
 " ring re&itude or invariable propriety, re- 
 <c quires a degree of firmnefs and of cool at- 
 <c tention, which doth not always attend the 
 4C higher gifts of the mind. Yet, difficult as 
 ' nature herfelf feems to have reduced the talk 
 " of regularity to genius, it is the fupreme 
 ' confolation of dullnefs to feize upon thofe 
 e excefies, which are the overflowings of fa- 
 *' culties they never enjoyed* 91 ." Are not 
 the gifts of imagination here miftaken for the 
 ftrength of paffions ? Doubtlefs, where flrong 
 
 Langhorne's Life of W m Collins. 
 
 paflions
 
 THE WOOD. 273 
 
 paflions accompany great parts, as perhaps 
 they often do, there imagination may increafc 
 their force and activity : but, where pafiions 
 are calm and gentle, imagination cf itfelf 
 Ihould feem to have no conflict but fpecula- 
 tively with reafon. There indeed it wages an 
 eternal war ; and, if not controuled and ftrictly 
 regulated, will carry the patient into endlefs 
 extravagancies. I ufe with propriety the term 
 patient : becaufe men, under the influence of 
 imagination, are moft truly diftempered. The 
 degree of this diftemper will be in proportion 
 to the prevalence of imagination over reafon, 
 and, according to this proportion, amount to 
 more or lefs of the whimfical; but, when rea- 
 fon (hall become as it were extinct, and imagi- 
 nation govern alone, then the diftemper will be 
 madnefs under the wildeft and moft fantaftic 
 modes. Thus one of thefe invalids, perhaps, 
 lhall be all forrow for having been moft unjuftly 
 deprived of the crown j though his vocation., 
 poor man ! be that of a fchoolmafter. Another 
 is all joy, like Horace's madman ; and it may 
 feem even cruelty to cure him. A third all 
 fear ; and dares not make water, left he fhould 
 caufe a deluge*'*. 
 
 The operations and caprices of imagination 
 
 are various and endlefs ; and, as they cannot bfc 
 
 reduced to regularity or fyftem, fo it is highly 
 
 improbable that any certain method of cure 
 
 3 \Riverij Praxis Mttica, p. 188. 
 
 T fhould
 
 274 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 fhould ever be found out for them. It hath 
 generally been thought, that matter of fad 
 might mod fuccefsfully be oppofed to the de- 
 lufions of imagination, as being proof to the 
 fenfes, and carrying conviction unavoidably to 
 the underftanding: but I fufpeft, that the un- 
 derftanding, or reafoning faculty, hath little to 
 do in all thefe cafes : at leaft fo it fhould feem 
 from the two following, which are very re- 
 markable, and well attefted. 
 
 Fienus, in his curious little book de "jiribus 
 imaglnationis, records from Donatus the cafe 
 of a man, who fancied his body increafed to fuch 
 a fize, that he durft not attempt to pafs through 
 the door of his chamber. The phyfician, be- 
 lieving that nothing could more effectually 
 cure this error of imagination, than to ihew 
 -that the thing could actually be done, caufed 
 the patient to be thruft forcibly through it : 
 who, ftruck with horror, and falling fuddenly 
 into agonies, complained of being crufhed to 
 pieces, and expired foon after S9J . Reafon, cer- 
 tainly, was not concerned here. 
 
 The other cafe, as related by Van Swieten 
 in his Commentaries upon Boerhaave 194 , is that 
 of a learned man, who had fludied, till he fan- 
 cied his legs to be of glafs ; in confequence of 
 which, he durft not attempt to ftir, but was 
 constantly under anxiety about them. His 
 maid, bringing one day fome wood to the fire, 
 
 *w p. ijj. L. Bat. 1635. ** Jfhtrifm. 1115. 
 
 threw
 
 THE WOOD. 175 
 
 threw it carelefsly down; and was fevcrely re- 
 primanded by her mailer, who was terrified not 
 a little for hi* legs of glafs. The furly wench, 
 out of .all patience with his megrims, as fhe 
 called them, gave him a blow with a log upon 
 the parts affected : which fo enraged him, that 
 he inftantly rofe up, and from that moment re- 
 covered the ufe of his legs. Was reafon con- 
 cerned any more here ? or, was it riot rather 
 one blind impulfe acting againft another ? 
 
 LXXIX. 
 
 A TRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH, 
 
 following copy of an original letter 
 from this Queen to Heaton, Bifhop of Ely, 
 is taken from the Regifter of Ely : 
 
 " Proud Prelate, 
 
 " I underftand you are backward in com- 
 " ptying with your agreement : but I would 
 " have you to know, that I, who made you 
 C{ what you are, can unmake you ; and, if you 
 <c do not forthwith fulfil your engagement, 
 by . - I will immediately unfrock you. 
 " Your's, as you demean yourfelf, 
 
 T .t Heaton 4
 
 276 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 Heaton, it feems, had promifed the Queen 
 to exchange fome part of the land belonging 
 to the lee for an equivalent, and did fo; but it 
 was in confequence of the above letter. 
 
 ONE TRAIT OF OLIVER CROMWELL. 
 
 his Highnefs the Lord Protestor of the 
 commonwealth .of England, Scotland, and 
 Ireland. 
 
 The humble petition of Marjery, the wife of 
 William Beacham, mariner, ftieweth, That your 
 petitioner's hufband hath been active and faith- 
 full in the wars of this commonwealth, both by 
 fea and land ; and hath undergone many hazards 
 by imprifonment and fights, to the endan- 
 gering of his life; and at lad loft the ule of 
 his right arm, and is utterly difabled from fi\- 
 ture fervice, as doth appear by the certificate 
 annexed j and yet hath no more than forty 
 (hillings penfion from Chatham by the year ; 
 that your petitioner, having one only ibnne, 
 -who is traceable to learn, and not having 
 wherewith to bring him up, by reafon of their 
 Drcfent low eftate, occasioned by the publique 
 
 fervice
 
 THE WOOD. 277 
 
 fervice aforefaid, humbly prayeth, that your 
 highnefs would vouchfafe to prefent her faid 
 fonne Randolph Beacham, to be fcholler in Sut- 
 ton's-hofpital, called the Charter-Houfe. 
 
 " OLIVER, P. We referre this petition and 
 certificate to' the commifiioners of Sut- 
 cc ton's-hofpital. 
 ft July 28th, 1655." 
 
 A Letter Jent by Oliver to his Jeer etary on the abovt 
 petition. 
 
 f( You receive from me, this 28th inftant, a 
 * c petition of Marjery Beacham, defiring the 
 " admjflion of her fon into the Charter-Houfe. 
 <c I know the man; who was employed one 
 <c day in a very important fecret fervice, which 
 " he cjid effectually, to our great benefit and 
 < e the commonwealth's. The petition is a 
 " brief relation of a fact, without any flattery. 
 " I have wrote under it a common reference 
 tc to the commifiioners, but I mean a great 
 ft deal more; that itjhall be done, without 
 " their debate, or confideration of the matter; 
 t{ and fo do you privately hint to . 
 
 <f I have not the particular fhining bauble or 
 ce feather in my cap^ for crouds to gaze at or 
 *f kneel toj but I have power and resolution 
 <f for foes to tremble at. To be fliort, I know 
 <f how to deny petitions ; and whatever I think 
 " proper, for outward form, to referre to any 
 T 3 " officer
 
 278 S Y L V A, 
 
 " officer or office, I expect that fuch my com- 
 <c pliancc with cuftom fhall be alfo looked 
 <f upon as an indication of my will and plea- 
 <e fure to have the thing done. See therefore, 
 <( that the boy is admitted. 
 " July 28, 1655. " Thy true friend, 
 
 OLIVER, P." 
 
 Thus it is always, when tyranny gains the 
 rucendant : the forms are preferved, the fub- 
 ftance is gone. And thus it was in ancient 
 Rome : confuls, praetors, tribunes, and other 
 officers, were elected duly and in form, long 
 after the empire had loft its liberty, and all 
 were fubjected to the will of one. It is curious 
 to obferve, with what apparently confcientious 
 refpect Tiberius, for inftance, abftained from 
 interfering with thefe perfonages, either at 
 their elections, or with their deliberations in 
 the fenatej while the dhTembling tyrant was 
 the capricious and arbitrary director of the 
 puppets, and the fole fpring of every move- 
 ment. Perhaps other -nations might be found, 
 who have fancied themfelves free, becaufe in 
 pofieffion of ancient and known forms, though 
 the fubflance or vital fpirit of liberty was really 
 departed, and fome fecret influence has go- 
 verned the whole : and perhaps the progrejfion 
 of manners^ as it has been called, and the ne- 
 ceflfary courfe of human things, will always 
 Jiave it fo. 
 
 LXXXI,
 
 THI WOOD. 279 
 
 LXXXI, 
 
 ANOTHER TRAIT Or OLIVER CROMWItt. 
 
 HERE never was an impoftor, who want- 
 * ed to lead and govern, but enjoined, in 
 the firft place, that men (hould quit reafbn, 
 and ftifle common-fenfe. This has always 
 been the corner-ftone, when religion has been 
 cither the means to be employed, or the end to 
 be brought about. There is extant a curious 
 letter from Oliver Cromwell to Colonel Ham- 
 mond, which illuftrates this pofition in an 
 high degree. Hammond was governor of jhe 
 Ifle of Wight, during the confinement of 
 CKarles I. in Carifbrook Caftlej and had con- 
 ceived fome fcruples concerning his royal 
 charge, which made him defirous to quit the 
 army and retire. Cromwell, in a letter of 
 Nov. 25, 1648, about two months before the 
 beheading of Charles, endeavours to remove 
 thefe fcruples j but how ? not by topics drawn 
 from reafon or policy, but by canting and 
 whining about faith and grace. 
 
 ' Dear Robin, our fejhly reafonings enfnare 
 
 " us: thefe make us fay, heavy, Jad, fleafant t 
 
 f eajy. Was there not a little of this, when 
 
 ' R9bert Hammond, through difiatisfaction, 
 
 T 4 " defired
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 " defired retirement from the army, and 
 cc thought of quiet in the Ifle of Wight ? 
 te Dear Robin, thou and I were never worthy 
 " to be door-keepers in this fervice. If thou 
 Cf wilt feek, feek to know the mind of God in 
 <f all that chain of providence, whereby God 
 ** brought thee thither, and that perfon to 
 " thee; how before and fmce God has ordered 
 " him, and affairs concerning him : and then 
 " tell me, whether there be not fome glorious 
 ff and high meaning in all this, above what 
 fc thou haft yet attained j and, laying afide thy 
 ff flejhly reajon-t feek of the Lord to teach 
 < e thee what that is." In the following pafTage 
 he reafons, and fhews that he could talk fenfe 
 if he would: {C Authorities and Powers are 
 c< the ordinance of God j this or that fpecies 
 ec of human inftitution and limited, fome 
 " with larger, others with ftricter bonds, each 
 " according; to its conftitution. I do not 
 
 O 
 
 <e therefore think, authorities may do any 
 <f thing, and yet obedience be due ; but all 
 * c agree there are cafes, in which it is lawful to 
 " refift." Reafoning, however, would not do 
 with Hammond ; and therefore Cromwell de- 
 fifts from it, as totally to be diftrufted. " But 
 " truly thefe kind of reafonings may be but 
 " flejhly-t either with or againft ; and let us be- 
 " ware, left fle/bfy reafonings, &c. Dear Ro- 
 " bin, tempting of God ordinarily is either by 
 
 ft acting
 
 THE W O O D. 
 
 tc acting prefumptuonfly in carnal confidence, 
 or in unbelief through diffidence : both 
 " thefe ways Ifrael tempted God in the wil- 
 " dernefs, and he was grieved with them. 
 " The encountering difficulties therefore makes 
 <f us not to tempt God, but acting before and 
 " without faith. If the Lord hath in any 
 e meafure perfuaded his people, as generally 
 ce he hath, of the lawfulnefs, nay of the duty, 
 " this perfuafion prevailing upon the heart is 
 " faith, and acting thereupon is acting in 
 " faith j and the more the difficulties are, the 
 f more faith. Dear Robin, beware of men, 
 ' look up to the Lord. Let him be free to 
 <c fpeak, and command in thy heart. Take 
 " heed of the things, I fear, thou haft reafoned 
 thyfelf into j and thou fhalt be able through 
 * f him, without confulting flefli and blood, to 
 (S do valiantly for him and for his people." 
 
 Thus ftrengthened, Hammond perfevered 
 pioufly in his duty, and the king was brought 
 valiantly to the block about two months after ; 
 and thus knavery hath practifed upon folly and 
 madnefs, in all ages of the world, and among 
 all ranks of men. 
 
 LXXXII,
 
 S Y L V A, 
 
 LXXXIL 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF MR. LOCKE TO 
 DR. MAPLETOFT, UPOK LOVE AND MATRI- 
 MONY. 
 
 R. John Mapletoft, born about 1631, was 
 profeflbr of phyfic in Grelham College^ 
 when thefe letters were written; and continued 
 fo till 1679. Then he married, and in 1682 
 became a divine; It appears from the follow- 
 ing extracts, that Locke had a ftrong defirc to 
 fucceed Mapletoft at Grefham : for though, as 
 Le Clerc fays * 9S , he never would pra&ife re- 
 gularly, and for the fak of profit, yet he was 
 very knowing in the fcience, and highly efteem- 
 cd by all the profeffors of it. The collection, 
 from whence thefe extracts are made, furnifh a 
 ftriking proof of the high opinion that was 
 entertained of his fkill in medicine : for in one 
 of the letters, dated Paris, 4 Dec. 1677, he tells 
 you, that he " was fent for to the lady ambaffa- 
 <c drice, after having met with fo little fuccefs- 
 c< from the French phyficians, that fhe was re- 
 <c folved to try them no^more." Locke how- 
 ever did not fycceed to Grefham. 
 
 * Biblioth. Cboif. vt 349. 
 
 '
 
 THI WOOD. 283 
 
 Paris, 22 June 
 " If either abfence (which fometimes 
 increafes our defires) or love (which we fee 
 every day produces ftrange effefts in the world) 
 have foftened you, or difpofed you to a liking 
 of any of our fine new things, 'tis but faying fo, 
 and I am ready to furnilh you, and fhould be 
 forry not to be employed. I mention love, 
 for you know I have a particular intereft of my 
 own in it. When you look that way, no body 
 will be readier (as you may guefs) to throw an 
 old fhoe after you -, much for your own fake, 
 and a little for a friend of yours. But were I 
 to advife, perhaps I mould fay to you, that 
 your lodgings at Grefham College were a very 
 quiet and comfortable habitation." 
 
 Paris, 9 Aug. 1677. 
 
 " Though your letter hath fatisfied 
 me that you are very well, yet it hath put new 
 doubts into me j and, methinks, I fee you 
 going to lofe yourfelf. I will fay no worfe of 
 it, not knowing how far the matter is gone; 
 elfe I would a(k you, whether fhe were young, 
 old, or middle-aged j each of which is fure to 
 meet you with the horns of a dilemma. I fee 
 you are, whatever you think, hot upon the 
 {cent : if you have nothing elfe to defend you, 
 
 but
 
 84 S Y L V A, os. 
 
 but thofe maxims you build on, I fear the 
 chafe will lead you where you yourfelf will be 
 caught. For be as grave and Heady as you 
 pleafe, refolve as much as you will, never to 
 go out of your way or pace for any an bey- 
 trony-novy whatever, you are not a jot the fafer 
 for all this fturdinefs. For, believe it, Sir, this 
 fort of game, having a defign to be caught, 
 will hunt juft at the purfuer's rate, and will go 
 no fafter before, than will juft ferve to make 
 you follow : and let me allure you, upon as 
 good authority as honeft Tom Bagnall's, that 
 yivus videnjque pereo is the lamentable ditty of 
 many an honeft gentleman. But if you or the 
 fates have determined, (for the poor fates arc 
 &ill to be accufed in the cafe) if your mettle 
 be up, and, bold as Sir Francis Drake, you will 
 fhoot the defperate gulph ; yet confider, that 
 though the riches of Peru lie that way, how- 
 well you can endure the warm navigation of 
 the Mare de Zur, which all travellers allure us 
 is nick- named Pacificum. 
 
 " But hold, I go too far : all this perhaps, 
 notwithftanding your ancient good principles, 
 will be herefy to you by the time it comes to 
 England; and therefore I conjure you by our 
 friendfhip to burn this as foon as you have 
 read it, that it never may rife up in judgment 
 againft me. I fee one is never fure of one's
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 fclf ; and the time may come when I may re- 
 fign myfelf to the empire of the foft fex, and 
 abominate myfelf. for thefe miferable errors. 
 However as the matter now (lands, I have dif- 
 charged my confcience, and pray do not let me 
 fuffer for it : for I know you lovirs are a fort 
 of people, that are bound to faqrifice all to 
 your miftrefies. But, to be ferious with you, 
 if your heart does hang that way, I wifh you 
 good luck: may Hymen be as kind to you, as 
 ever he was to any body ; and then I am fure 
 you will be much happier than any forlorn 
 batchelor can be. If it be like to be, I beg 
 you to continue the care of my intereft in the 
 cafe ; and remember it is for one, who knows 
 how to value the quiet and retirement you are 
 going to quit. You have no' more to do for 
 me, than what lovers ufe to do upon their own 
 account, viz. keep the matter as fecret and pri- 
 vate as you can ; and then, when it is ripe and 
 refolved, give me but notice, and I (hall quick- 
 ly be with you: for 'tis by your directions I 
 (hall better govern my motions, than by the 
 , flight of thrufhes and fieldfares. Some re- 
 mains of my cough will probably keep me 
 longer here than the time you mention ; but, 
 not knowing whether the air of France will 
 ever quite remove my old companion or no, 
 
 I fliaU
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 I fhall neglecl: that uncertainty, upon the 
 confederation of fo comfortable an impor- 
 tance* 5 *." 
 
 LXXXIII. 
 
 A LITTER OF ALGERNOON SYDNEY TO DR. MA- 
 PLTOFT. 
 
 following letter is dated from Geneva, 
 July the 6th $ but the year is not mentioned. 
 It muft, however, have been written in 1662; 
 for, 'early in 1663, Dr. Mapletoft returned to 
 England, after having lived near a year at 
 Rome in the houfe of Algernoon Sydney. The 
 letter, though upon a very light occafion, yet 
 breathes the fame fevere and acrimonious fpirit, 
 for which that republican was always remark- 
 able : he was then in a ftate of voluntary exile, 
 becaufe he would not perfonally accept at the 
 Reftoration of the oblivion and indemnity, 
 granted generally to the whole nation. 
 
 * Comfortable importance. It is remarkable, that An- 
 drew Marvel made himfelJf very merry with thi expreffion, 
 which had been ufed by Parker, in the Rtirear/kl Fran/- 
 frcfal, 1672, I$ mo . 
 
 SIR,
 
 THI WOOD. 
 
 SIR, 
 
 w Coming to Venice five or fix days after 
 your departure from Padua, I received a letter 
 of your's, giving me notice of your taking the 
 way of France in the company of Sir John 
 Vaughan ; concluding that I did not intend to 
 remove from Rome, nor make the journey in- 
 to Germany of which I had fpoken, becaufe 
 the feafon was not fit for it. I am fo much 
 your fervant, that I was glad to hear you had 
 joined yourfelf unto better company, than that 
 which I had offered unto you ; but, by your 
 favour, if you had remembred how little I do 
 ufe to difguife my intentions, and how far I 
 was from having any intereft, that in this par- 
 ticular ftiould fway me beyond my inclinations 
 and cuftoms, you would never have judged 
 that I would ftay at Rome, when I did publifli 
 my refolution of removing. The truth is, 
 my head is not fo hot, as thofe of the youths, 
 who ordinarily run from place to place, with- 
 out knowing why or confidering when ; but I 
 did obferve the feafon, and when I found it fit 
 for travelling with convenience, I did execute 
 the defign which I had formerly refolved, and 
 have advanced as far as this place with more 
 convenience, than ever I did make any other 
 in my life. When I came hither, I was in- 
 formed by feveral perfons that thofe foolifh 
 boys, who were with you at the Ville de Vien- 
 12 n*,
 
 288 S Y L V A, oft. 
 
 na, when they were here, pretended to be verjf 
 well acquainted with me, as I think to gain the 
 more credit to the report which they fpread, 
 that I was turned Roman Catholick. I am not 
 naturally very follicitous of fuch matters ; but, 
 hearing that you intend to feek the fame com- 
 pany, I think it worth the pains of writing a 
 few lines, to defire you to tell them from me, 
 that it would become them in good manners 
 not to talk at that rate of men, that they ought 
 to ufe with a little more refpect , and that the 
 framing of foolifh and malicious untruths is 
 moft unworthy of any, who do fo much as pre- 
 tend to the name of honeft men. After I have 
 pafled fome few days in this place, I intend to 
 purfue my formerly refolved journey ; but that 
 is fo little important to you, that I will not 
 trouble you with an account of it. When I 
 come to fix, it is probable you will by fome 
 way or other know where I am; and then, if 
 you have any thing to command me, you may 
 eafily know how to addrefs your letters unto 
 your very humble and affectionate fervant, 
 
 AL. SYDNEY." 
 
 7 LXXXIII.
 
 THE W O O IX 289 
 
 LXXXIV. 
 
 FROM MR. NELSON'S LETTERS TO DR. MAPLE- 
 TOFT. 
 
 London, z Jan. 1679. 
 
 UR friend and fchoolfellow, Mr. 
 Dryden, has been feverely beaten for 
 being the fuppofed author of a late very abu- 
 five lampoon. There has been a good fum of 
 money offered to find who fet them on work: 
 'tis faid they received their orders from the 
 Duchefs of Portfmouth, who is concerned in 
 the lampoon." 
 
 London, 12 Dec. 1679. 
 
 cc Tis the petitioning of Parliament, that 
 has enraged him; (Charles II.) and he fwears 
 by God, they may knock out his brains, but" 
 fliall never cut off his head." This relates to 
 a difpute the King had with the Commons, 
 about the impeachment of Lord Danby. 
 
 Craneford, 17 July, 1708. 
 
 He mentions, in this letter, a defign of 
 " immediately fetting up fifty-two parochial 
 libraries, which, fays he, at i6/. a library, will 
 amount to 832/5'' and there parted the fame 
 year, an act for the better prefervation of paro- 
 
 U chial
 
 290 S Y L V A, CR 
 
 chial libraries. Parochial libraries imply a 
 greater defign, as fhould feem, than can ever 
 be executed : but might not a County library, 
 under wife regulations, and with a catalogue 
 for proper perfons who fhould chufe to purchafe 
 it, be an object worthy of attention ? 
 
 LXXXV. 
 
 6F GREAT MEN} AND OF DR.SAMUEL JOHNSON. 
 
 man ? fays Votaire, we muft by no 
 means be lavi/h of this title * 97 . We can in- 
 deed hardly ever apply it at all, if by great be 
 meant univerfally fo j that is, omnibus numeris 
 abjolutus. Lord Bacon was a great man, a very 
 great man ; yet only partially fo. He had a 
 great and comprehenfive undefftanding, per- 
 haps the greareft that hath yet (hone forth 
 among the fons of men : but it does not ap- 
 pear, that ne would have been great in either 
 field or cabinet j and for greatnefs of foul, as 
 it is Called, the poet, who ftiles him the wifefi 
 and the faigtfteft, brands him at the fame time 
 for the meaneft of mankind. 
 
 197 Grand bcmtne ? il ne favt pat frodiguer ce titre. Siecle 
 de Louis, in Cat. DOUIAT* 
 
 Churchill,
 
 THE WOOD; 
 
 Churchill, Duke of Marl borough, was a very 
 great man : even Bolingbroke, who certainly 
 was not prejudiced in his favour, allows him to 
 have been " the greater! general as well as the 
 " greateft minifter, that our country or per- 
 <f haps any other has produced * 9 V Yet 
 Churchill, Duke of Marlborough, was illiterate 
 to an extreme ; of an underftanding totally un- 
 cultivated j and in which, if you could have crepe 
 under the glare of his exterior, you would pro- 
 bably have difcerned weaknerTes, equal to thofe 
 of the weaken: men. Julius Cxfar was a very 
 great general, and a very great ftatefman ; but 
 he was more. Julius Casfar was a man of let- 
 ters, and a fine writer; had a 'moft comprc- 
 henfive as well as cultivated underftanding 
 and, withal^ a moft uncommon greatnefs of 
 foul. Julius Casfar is, in my humble opinion, 
 the greateft man lipon record; Lewis XIV, 
 like many other tyrants furrounded by pimps 
 and flatterersj had the title of Great conferred 
 upon him : but Lewis's greatnefs was to real 
 greatnefs, what the bombaft is to the fublime, 
 or \\\z fimulacra of Epicurus to real bodies. 
 
 The late Dr. Samuel Johnfon was a man of 
 great parts, and was indifputably a great man, 
 if great parts fimply can mtrke one ** : but Dr. 
 
 Samuel 
 
 298 Upon Hiftory. Letter viii. 
 
 299 He was probably learned ; but I do not reckon learn- 
 ing a&ong the attributes of great men. Learning ntey be 
 
 U 2 'attained 

 
 292 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 Samuel Johnfon was the meaneft of bigots, a 
 dupe and Have to the moft contemptible pre- 
 judices 3 ; and, upon fubjects the moft im- 
 portant, is known to have held opinions, which 
 are abfolutely a difgrace to human under- 
 ftanding. 
 
 The Prefident Montefquieu has faid, that 
 c the rank or place, which pofterity beftows, 
 <{ is fubjed like all others to the whim and 
 " caprice of fortune 301 :" and our Wollafton 
 was fo difgufted with the foolifh and iniquitous 
 judgments of men, that he betook himfelf 
 early in life to retirement, propter iniqua ho- 
 minum judicla, as he left to be infcribed upon 
 his tomb-ftone. If any thing could cure a 
 man's anxiety, and render him indifferent, about 
 what is faid or thought of him, now or here- 
 attained by little men, who will apply : but learning with- 
 out parts, or a capacity to ufe it, is merely dead unweildy 
 matter, caput mortuum, devoid of life or {pint. Like wealth 
 or titles, it often ferves only to make a blockhead confpi- 
 cuous. 
 
 300 One would think, from a paflage in the Rambler, that 
 he himfelf did a little fufpeft this : "the pride of wit and 
 *' knowledge," fays he, '* is often mortified by finding, 
 " that they can confer no fecurity againft the common er- 
 " rors, which miflead the weakeft and meaneft of man- 
 < kind." N 6. 
 
 301 Let placet qne la pojlerite dcnne font fujettes, comme It! 
 nutres, aux caprices de la fortune. Grand, des Rom. c. I. 
 
 after,
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 after, it would be thefe blind, abfnrd, iniqui- 
 tous judgments of men j who break riotoufly 
 forth into praife or cenfure, without regard to 
 truth or juftice, but juft as pafiion and preju- 
 dice impell. 
 
 Dr. Johnfon ff feems, together with the 
 " ableft head, pofTeffed of the very beft heart 
 c< at prefent exifting ;" fays one writer. <c Ne- 
 ' ver on earth did one mortal body encom- 
 " pafs fuch true greatnefs and fuch true good- 
 tf nefs," fays another 301 ; who obferves alfo, 
 that his Lives of the Poets (t would alone have 
 " been fufficient to immortalize his name." 
 How able his head, or (as a third exprefies it) 
 what ftupendous ftrengtb of underftanding he 
 might have, cannot be precifely defined ; but it 
 is certain, that this ftupendous under/landing was 
 notjlrong enough to force its way through the 
 meaneft prejudices, with which it was once en- 
 tangled. And for the very beft hearty andfucb 
 true goodnejs as one mortal body did never before 
 tncompafs, this is the language of journalifts 
 and periodical writers : let us hear the tefti- 
 mony of thofe, who have always known him 
 perfonally, and intimately. 
 
 Bilhop Newton, fpeaking of the above Lives 
 tf the Poets, fays, that " malevolence predomi- 
 f( nates in every part ; and that, though fomc 
 
 *" Gent's Magazine, for Dec, 1784. 
 
 U 3 rf pafifagei
 
 9 4 S Y L V A, on 
 
 cf paffages are judicious and well written, yet 
 " they make not fufficient compenfation for fo 
 <( much fpleen and ill humour 303 ." An impar- 
 tial account (fo it is called) of Dr. Johnfon in 
 the European Magazine* 04 , faid to be written 
 by the ingenious Mifs Seward, fe'ts forth, that 
 he was indeed a man of very great parts, and of 
 many good qualities, which it is far from our 
 intent to deny or detract from ; but that his 
 char after was a very mixed, and (fhe might have 
 added) a very imperfect, one. His writings 
 are reprefented as excellent and fine, where 
 not " difgraced, as in his criticifms, with the 
 ic faults of his difpofhion. He had ftrong af- 
 <c fections," it is faid, ^ where literary envy 
 cf did not interfere j but that envy was of fuch 
 f deadly potency, as to load his converfation, 
 ? c as it has loaded his biographic works, with 
 the rancour of party-violence, with national 
 * c averfion, bitter farcafm, and unchriftian-like 
 f< invective. He turned from the compofi- 
 * e tions of rifing genius with a vifible horror, 
 t( which proved too plainly, that envy was the 
 ft bofom-ferpent of this literary defpot. His 
 pride was infinite j yet, amidfl all the over- 
 bearing arrogance it produced, his heart 
 < melted at the fight, or at the reprefentation, 
 *< of difeafe and poverty j and, in the hour? of 
 
 3* Lift by hiwfcjf. ' 4 For May, 1785. 
 
 <f affluence^
 
 THE WOOD. 295 
 
 " affluence, his purfe was ever open to relieve 
 " them. He was a furious Jacobite, while 
 M one hope for the Stuart line remained -, and 
 <f his politics, always leaning towards defpo- 
 " tifm, were inimical to liberty, and the na- 
 " tural rights of mankind. He was punctual 
 " in his devotions j but his religious faith had 
 " much more of bigot-fiercenefs, than of that 
 " gentlenefs which thegofpel inculcates," &V. 
 If this reprefentation be in any degree juft, 
 and I have never heard of its being either dif- 
 owned or contradicted, what are we to think 
 of panegyrifts, who afcribe to him Jucb true 
 greatnejs and Jucb true goodnejs, as were never* 
 Before eiuom^ajfed by one mortal body 3CJ ? 
 
 LXXXVI. 
 
 UPOH DAVID HUME'S MORAL CHARACTER. 
 
 TT\ R. Adam Smith, in his Appendix to the 
 Life of Mr. Hume, after reprefenting him 
 (and juftly) as a man " of the moil extenflvc 
 " learning, the greateft depth of thought, and 
 f* a capacity in every refpecl: the moft com-! 
 
 ? s Sec tke next N, particularly the clofe of it. 
 
 U 4 " prehenfive,'*
 
 296 S Y L V A, 
 
 t{ prehenfive," fuppofes him to have approach- 
 ed as nearly to the idea of a perfeftly wife and vir- 
 tuous man, as perhaps the nature of human frailty 
 will permit. 
 
 A French writer hath obferved of his coun- 
 trymen, that they never fpeak with moderation 
 upon any thing nous aimons a tout prodiguer* 
 but, whether they praife or cenlure, are always 
 extravagant and outrees. The fame may be 
 faid of the Englifli, who are equally lavifh of 
 titles and pompous epithets 3 6 j and give them 
 (I will not fay with the above writer, to all ex- 
 cepting thoje who deferve them 3 7 , but certainly) 
 to many who do not deferve them. 
 
 Mr. Hume was undoubtedly a very virtuous 
 and very excellent man : he was honeft, hu- 
 mane, benevolent, good-natured : he was free 
 from what are called the vices of eclat ; at 
 leaft I have never heard, that he allowed him- 
 felf any profane liberties with either women or 
 wine, Neverthelefs, was he fo fupremely ex- 
 cellent, as Dr. Smith defcribes him? was there 
 
 3- 6 Our laft N hath furnifhed an illuftrious inftance of 
 this. 
 
 307 Speaking of certain foreign Journalifts, Journalises 
 etrarigers, (I doubt, he means the Englifli) he fays, that dans 
 leurs memoires pericdiques, qu* on peut appeller comme M. de Vol- 
 taire appelk /' hiftoire, d'immenfes archives de menfonge 5" d' un 
 pen de <verite, prefque tout eft loue, excepte ce qui merite de 
 I'itre. Melanges de Literature, f?V, torn. i. p. 392. 143. 
 
 not
 
 THE WOOD. 297 
 
 not fomething little, contracted, (I had almoft 
 faid) worldly, in his make ? did not his foul 
 want much of that dignity and greatnefs, which 
 is neceffary to make virtue of the/r/? andpurejl 
 metal ? 
 
 We have already prefented Mr. Hume under 
 - a very unphilofophic attitude, fporting about 
 Charon at the clofe of his life jo8 . But there 
 are other traits of his conduct, no lefs unphilo- 
 fophic and degrading 3 9 . It has been faid, 
 but we know not how truly, that he was pauh 
 attentior ad rem, a little too clofely attached to 
 the pelf: but he was obliged by his circum- 
 flances to pra&ife a fevere osconomy in his 
 younger days, as he relates in his Life ; and the 
 apology he makes for Monk, Duke of Albe- 
 marie, may be thought to ferve well enough 
 
 aos NO xxx. The Bravado is always a character to be 
 fufpeded : for, as we have above obferved, realities areftUom 
 felicitous about appearances. N LXI. 
 
 3o > We have heard, that he had a paflion to be admired by 
 tie French ; and what does the ingenious author of the Letters 
 on Infidelity mean, when he alludes to fomebody " running 
 " round a counter with his drawn fword after a Reviewer, 
 " and quitting a room on the entrance of his antagonift ?'* 
 p. 28. We know thefe are but weaknefles ; but they cer- 
 tainly detract fomewhat from the luftre of that perfeQ ivif- 
 thm and virtue, that fupremely philofophical government of the 
 paffions, for which Mr. Hume's apologifts have fo loudly ce- 
 lebrated him. Apology for the Life and Writings of David 
 Humf,Efq. p. 12. 
 
 for
 
 9* S Y L V A, OR 
 
 for himfelf. " Burner," fays he, " charges this 
 <f nobleman with avarice : but, as he appears 
 " not to have been in the leaft tainted with 
 " rapacity, his frugal conduct may more can- 
 " didly be imputed to the habits, acquired in 
 <f early life, while he was poffefled of a very 
 " narrow fortune J1 V* 
 
 We would gladly acquiefce under this apo- 
 logy; but we cannot account for his attendance 
 upon the embaffies to Paris, firft in 1763, and 
 then in 1767, from any other motive than that 
 of intereft or profit. At the earlieft of thefe 
 dates, Mr. Hume was " turned of fifty; apaflion 
 <c for literature had been the ruling paffion of 
 ft his life, and the great fource of his enjoy- 
 11 ments ;" he had a quick and lively fenfe of 
 independency, and values himfelf as it were 
 upon <c having never preferred a requeft to one 
 " great man, or even making advances of 
 " friendfhip to any of them j" he was " become 
 " pot only independent, but opulent ; and had 
 " retired to his native country, determined 
 ,' never more to fet his foot out of it, but to 
 * be buried henceforward in a philofophical 
 " retreat." All this being fo, and fo he repre- 
 fents it, how could he pofllbly be feduced from 
 the fnades of contemplation and retirement, 
 
 into fcenes fo new and remote from his former 
 
 . 
 
 310 Hift. of Great Britain, anno 1670. 
 
 habits
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 habits and tenor of life how fubmit to walk 
 in a great man's train, to mix with the petit 
 maitres of Paris, and probably to talk bad 
 French in a Scotch brogue how, unlefs im- 
 pelled by fome little pafiion from within ? and 
 what can this little pafiion have been ? 
 
 Monf. d'Alembert, the author of the Me- 
 langes, &c. quoted above, could by no means 
 think well of Hume's attendance upon thefe 
 embafiles ; as plainly appears from his ftrictures 
 upon Lucian. " Lucian hath left us a ftrong 
 " and highly coloured piece upon fuch literati, 
 fc as devote themfelves to the fervice of the 
 " great. It grieves me," fays he, " that this 
 *' fame Lucian, after having ju-ftly obferved 
 cf that friendfhip with the great is no better 
 <f than flavery, did at Jength accept a place 
 " in the fervice of the emperor. He had be- 
 <c gun by being a philofopherj the reputation 
 " of his works made him fought after ; to pur- 
 " fue more effectually what he had begun, he 
 " fhould have made his retirement fure; but 
 * f he became infenfibly a man of the world, 
 " and ended by being a courtier. 'This laft is 
 " tbe lovoeft part a man of letters can afi '"." 
 
 Mean while, and notwithftanding appear- 
 ances, we Ihall not decide upon Mr. Hume's 
 tofmoi 
 
 J 11 Ce dfrnier role eft leplus bos que puij/e jouer ux bomms de 
 tit t res t ib. torn. i. p. 372. 
 
 motives.
 
 300 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 motives. We are far from meaning to depre- 
 ciate Mr. Hume, or to impute to him any 
 thing falfely : yea, the time was, when we de- 
 fended him from falfe imputations 3 ". Our aim 
 in this, as well as the foregoing N, is only to 
 difcountenance thofe extravagant eloges, fo 
 frequently and fo blindly given to an imagined 
 perfe&ion, which human nature, when culti- 
 vated in the beft and happieft manner, never 
 was, nor ever will be, able to attain. 
 
 LXXXVII. 
 
 CONCERNING THE DISPUTE BETWEEN MR. HUME 
 AND MR. ROUSSEAU JIJ . 
 
 ^T^HE fimple Enthufiaft is a quiet and harm- 
 * lefs creature. He fees vifions, and he 
 dreams dreams j but he keeps thefe vifions and 
 dreams to himfelf, and enjoys the comfort of 
 them in filent meditation. The Fanatic is ever 
 reftlefs and turbulent ; and, though a dreamer 
 as well as the Enthufiaft, is not however con- 
 tent, like him, with what pafles within himfelf, 
 
 3I * See the following N. 
 
 313 This N is part of a Letter to the Hon. Mr, Horace Wai- 
 fo*e, published at the end of 1766, izmo. 
 
 3 but
 
 THE WOOD. 301 
 
 but is impatient to rage and riot abroad : ^ovo> 
 sv0a<nwj/, a'AXa (3ax^ui/. Society muft intereft it- 
 felf in favour of his reveries; nor is it too 
 much for their fake, even to difturb the public 
 peace. 
 
 Enthufiafm and Fanaticifm are, both of them, 
 a mixture of Folly and Madnefs; and for the 
 latter, if difhonefty and rancour be not of its 
 eflence, they are at leaft confiftent with it, and 
 almoft always found to tincture it very ftrongly. 
 
 The term Fanatic has ufually been applied 
 to the Religionift, when difordered, and not in 
 his right mind : may it not, under the fame cir- 
 cumftances, fuit as well the Philofopher ? The 
 Religionift, I know, is fuppofed to do all for 
 the glory of God ; the Philofopher, to act only 
 for the glory of himfelf. But the difference is 
 trifling; apparent furely, not real. Self at the 
 bottom is the principle of action ; and however 
 the one may clamour for Religion, and the 
 other for Virtue 3H ,yet the glory of bimjelf is the 
 great object of both. But I will not contend : 
 let the Religionift, if you pleafe, walk firft. 
 It would grieve one, that two members of So- 
 
 3I * " Mr. Rouffeau is fo paflionate in admirer of 
 " that his eyes always fparkle at the bare mention of that 
 ' word." So at leall he relates of himfelf. Account of the 
 Di/j>ute bet--wia Mr. Hume and Mr. Rouffeau, by Mr. Hume* 
 P- 6 3- 
 
 ciety,
 
 S Y L V A, 
 
 eiety, fo ufeful and fo amiable, fhould quarrel 
 about precedency. 
 
 Thefe reflexions owe their birth to the mif- 
 imderftanding, which hath arifen between Mr, 
 Hume and Mr. Rouffeau j and they are addrefied 
 to you; Sir, becaufe you are fuppofed to have 
 occafioned it by the flippancy of your wit. I 
 do not believe, that you were even the inno- 
 tent occafion of this fracas. Dark fufpicions 
 and tormenting jealoufies had plainly occupied 
 the imagination of Mr. Rouffeau, before your 
 Letter was written j and a quarrel rnuft have 
 happened, if it had never been written. 
 
 The firft intimation of thefe fufpicions from 
 Mr. Rouffeau himfelf appears in his letter to 
 Mr. Hume of March 22, 17665 wherein we 
 read, as follows. " The affair of the carriage 
 <c is not yet adjufted, becaufe I know I wasim- 
 <f pofed on : it is a trifling fault however, 
 which may be only the effect of an obliging 
 <f vamty y unlefs it fhould happen to be repeat- 
 <c ed. If you were concerned in it, I would 
 <c advife you to give up, once for all, thefe 
 -" little impofmons, which cannot proceed from 
 " any good motive, when converted into fnares 
 <c for fimplicity 3I5 . Simplicity indeed ? If 
 Mr. RouJ/eau's be fimplicity, it is of a new 
 and very peculiar kind. Well: but what 
 were thefe fnares for fimplicity ? Why truly, 
 
 315 Difpute, p. 14. 
 
 Mr.
 
 THE WOOD. 303 
 
 Mr. RouJJeau being mean enough to affect po- 
 verty, and yet too proud to be relieved, expe- 
 dients were fought to ferve, without difgufting 
 him ; and, among the reft, this of advertifing a 
 chaife at an under-price, contrived by Mr. Da- 
 venport, and aflented to by Mr* Hume. 
 
 But was not Mr. Hume, hqwever well-mean- 
 ing, too officious ? Was there not fomething 
 indelicate in thefe fort of fervices ? and was it 
 not natural for Mr. Rcujfeau^ to fufpect thefe 
 obliging acts, as refulting from vanity ? they, 
 who afk fuch queftions, do not confider, how 
 extremely diftrefled Mr. RouJJeau appeared to 
 Mr. Hume. In his letter to Mr. Clairaut, of 
 March the jd, 1765, he implores that gentle- 
 man to correct a work, which he is ' obliged, 
 tf he fays, to republifh for fubfiftence, four 
 ct avcir du pain ; declares himfelf overwhelmed 
 " with a torrent of misfortunes j and afiures 
 < c him, that this would be doing a very great 
 * f charity to the moil unhappy of men JI V 
 
 Is not this to call out, in effect, for the con* 
 tributions of charitable and well-difpofed per- 
 fons, to preferve a poor wretch from perifhing 
 through want? It is true, this was not the real 
 jftate of Mr. Rou/eau ; for we find him fpeaking 
 .afterwards of his fufficiency in a ftrain of tri- 
 umph : ." I did not come over, fays he, to beg 
 
 ia Difpute, p., 7. 
 
 <f my
 
 304 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 <c my bread in England ; I brought the means 
 " of fubfiftence with me JI V But Mr. Hume 
 at that time knew nothing of this j and had 
 therefore juft reafon to fay, that " this aflfecta- 
 " tion of extreme poverty and diftrefs was a 
 * mere pretence, a petty kind of impofture, 
 " which Mr. RouJJeau fuccefsfully employed to 
 < excite the companion of the public," and by 
 that means if he could to engrofs its attention. 
 Soon after, Sir, your letter came forth ; in 
 which you exhibited this fantaflic mortal more 
 clearly to view, by giving the outlines of his 
 character with much good fenfe and wit. That 
 you fhould do this with fenfe and wit, I do not 
 wonder ; but I wonder extremely, that any man 
 of fenfe and wit fhould difapprove of your do- 
 ing this. Mr. D'dlembert fays, that " we 
 <f ought not to ridicule the unfortunate, efpe- 
 < f cially when they have done us no harm 31 V 
 But, was Mr. Roujfe.au really unfortunate ? Has 
 he not exaggerated matters ? With regard to 
 his poverty moft certainly he has > and, per- 
 haps, with regard to his perfecutions. You 
 feem to have known this ; for, if I underftand 
 you, it is chiefly againft this, that your ridicule 
 is directed. You believed, that thefe exaggera- 
 tions were the tricks of a Charlatan, who want- 
 ed the public to talk of nothing but him; and 
 
 317 Difpute, p. 41. a" Difpute, p. 94. 
 
 you
 
 THE WOOD. 305 
 
 you juftly thought, that the gentleft punifh- 
 ment he deferved was to be laughed at a little. 
 It may be that Mr. Rouffeau had never injured 
 or offended you, perfonally or privately : but 
 an author affumes a kind of public charac- 
 ter ; and every man has a right to correct his 
 notions and his manners too, fo far as thefe 
 manners regard the public, if either the one or 
 the other fhall ftand in need of correction. 
 Mr. ~D*Alembert is a very refpectable perfon, 
 but furely has not decided here with his ufual 
 accuracy. 
 
 But to what purpofe dwell on your innocent 
 letter ? The grounds of difcontent were laid in 
 Mr. Roujfeau, and the impulfe to quarrel with 
 Mr. Hume had doubtlefs begun to operate, be- 
 fore your letter came to his hands. He feems to 
 have imagined, that, as foon as he arrived at 
 Dover, the Englifh Ihould have been affected, 
 as they were at the Rejioration, or upon the 
 landing of the Prince of Orange. " Before I 
 <f arrived in England," fays he, " there was 
 <c not a nation in Europe, in which I had a 
 < f greater reputation The public papers were 
 c< full of encomiums on me my arrival was 
 tf publilhed with triumph England prided 
 <c itfelf in affording me refuge 3I V 
 
 <c You fee, Sir, that the arrival of Mr. John 
 
 319 Difpute, p. 43. 
 
 X Jama
 
 306 S Y L V A, on 
 
 'James Rottffe-au was, in his own eftimation, -a na- 
 tional concern ; fo that it was natural for him 
 to expeft, and he plainly did expect., that the 
 eyes, the ears, the thoughts of every individual, 
 fhould be taken at once from their feveral oc- 
 cupations and purfuits, and fixed entirely upon 
 him alone. The manner of his reception did 
 by no means anfwer to thefe fine ideas, con- 
 ceived beforehand , fo far from it, that all of 
 a fudden, as he himfelf relates, " without the 
 <f leaft afllgnable caufe, the tone was changed ; 
 " and that fo fpeedily and totally, that of all 
 " the caprices of the public never was known 
 <c any thing more furprifmg JS0 ." However, 
 while he was in London or near it, fome vifited 
 him out of curiofity, as others did out of vanity 5 
 and thus, though greatly difappointed, he was 
 not as yet in any high degree miferable. 
 
 But, alas ! things grew daily from bad to 
 worfe; till at length, he fays, " not one of thofe, 
 f ' who had fo much prailed me in my abfence, 
 <c appeared, now I was prefent, to think even 
 ' of my exrftence J1 V He flies into the coun- 
 try j {till presuming, and moft certainly defir- 
 ing, that the attention of the Town might fly 
 thither after him : 
 
 Et ftigit adJaliceS) etje tupit ante videri. 
 
 * Dispute, p. 43. 3 " Difpute, p. 45. 
 
 It
 
 THE WOOD. 307 
 
 It is true, were a judgment to be formed from 
 Mr. Roujeau's declarations, we fhould of courfe 
 conclude, that to be buried in folitude was the 
 very thing he wifhed : for he fpeaks of " rural 
 " walks, as the only pleafures of his life 31 V 
 " You live and converfe with the world," fays 
 he to Mr. Hume-, " I with myfelfin folitude. 
 " I live retired from the world, I am ignorant 
 tc of what paffes in it. I am told nothing, and 
 '" I know only what I feel 3a V The picture, 
 *you fee, Sir, of a poor abject animal, who 
 fcarcely perceives by reflection, but only knows 
 what he feels by fenfation. 
 
 Now nothing can be more unfit to reprefent 
 the original truly and as it is, than this fort of 
 colouring. So far is Mr. Rouffeau from defir- 
 ing not to know what is doing in the world, that 
 his own letters fhew him to have been conflant- 
 ly fearching the public papers and magazines 
 for intelligence of himfelf ; or, to fpeak more 
 properly, for puffs to feed his vanity. So far is 
 Mr. Ronffeau from wiftiing to live unknown and 
 unregarded, that a greater caufe of mifery to 
 him, I am perfuaded, does not exift. 
 
 " Arriving at this folitary, convenient, and 
 " agreeable habitation," fays he, " I became 
 *< tranquil, independent : and this feemed to 
 * be the wifhed-for moment, when all my mif- 
 
 " Pifpute, p. 60. 3<J Difpute, p, 19. 34- 
 
 X 2 " fortunes
 
 308 S Y L V A, o R 
 
 f fortunes fhould have an end. On the con- 
 ec trary, it was now they began ; misfortunes 
 <c more cruel than any I had yet experi- 
 <f enced ?1 V I verily believe, becaufe I fo 
 eafily conceive, it. He was never perhaps in 
 a fituation before, where he was fo little liable 
 to be molefted ; where he was fo unnoticed, fo 
 altogether left to his own will and humour. 
 For the good people of England, after the firft 
 Itare was over, had (as their way is) entirely 
 done with him. / Far from continuing to ad- 
 mire, they had ceafed to mention him j and, if 
 they had not totally forgot, they cared no more 
 about him, than if he had been in Swifferland. 
 His mifery increafed : your letter appeared 3 **: 
 it became extreme. He fell into a paroxyfm : 
 he raged : and, in fhort, as fometimes happen- 
 eth among wild beafts, he fell upon his keef- 
 
 324 Difpute, p. 40. 
 
 315 " In this letter," fays Mr. Rouffeau, " I knew the 
 pen of Mr. D'Alembert as certainly, as if I had feen him 
 " write it. In a moment a ray of light difcovered to me 
 " the fecret caufe of that touching and fudden change, 
 ' which I had obferved in the public refpe&ing me ; and 
 " I faw that the plot, which was put in execution at Lon- 
 c don, had been laid at Paris." Difpute, p. 58, 59. 
 Alas ! this ray of light, darting upon the brain, has occa- 
 - fioned many .an unhappy mortal, before Mr. Rouffeau, to 
 fee , and hear, and feel too, what never exifted out of his 
 own difordered craniwm. 
 
 er.
 
 THE WOOD. 309 
 
 er* 16 . To fpeak without a figure, he quar- 
 relled with his greateft friend and benefactor 
 Mr. Hume, by all accounts a very quiet per- 
 fon j and who in the prefent cafe feems only 
 faulty, in having condefcended to humour a 
 man, whom it is not poflible to oblige : and 
 nothing doubtlefs but the exceeding humanity 
 of Mr. Hume, and his prejudices for Mr. Rouf- 
 JeaUy could hinder one of his penetration from 
 difcerning fomewhat earlier, than he feems to 
 have done, thztRouJjeau was a fava'ge, whom no 
 offices of kindnefs could civilize and tame. 
 
 The difpute between thefe gentlemen is now 
 before the public ; which feems reafonably well 
 convinced, that Mr. Hume is the firft man, 
 who was ever obliged to defend himfelf in 
 form againft fuch a train of ridiculous and 
 groundlefs imputations. Mr. Roujfeau really 
 brings them in fuch a manner, as if he meant 
 to betray his own caufe, and to acquit Mr. 
 Hume, while he affects to accufe him. In his 
 letter of June 23, he fays, <c I thank you for 
 " the good offices in matters of intereft, which 
 cc you have ufed as a mafk 3 * 7 " for what ? truly 
 to do him ill ones. He abounds with fuch paf- 
 
 316 Je tiens J. J. R. Mr. RouJJeau affirms, that he " heard 
 *' Mr. Hume pronounce, with an extreme vehemence, the 
 " above words, I keep John James Rou/eau, feveral times 
 " in his deep." Difpute, pag. 76. 
 p. 30. 
 
 X 3
 
 3 io S Y L V A, OR 
 
 fages as thefe. In his letter of July 10, after 
 having urged all he could invent againft Mr. 
 Hume, he fays, that <e every circumftance of the 
 " affair is equally incomprehensible. A con- 
 ce duel: fuch as yours is not in nature : it is a 
 <f contradiction ; and yet it is demonftrable to 
 * e me 3i V Thus the credo quia impojjibile^ 
 which even the religionift is now grown 
 afhamed of, is at length adopted by the philo- 
 fopher. 
 
 No man however but Mr. Rouffeau will be 
 able to perceive the leaft contradiction. The 
 marks of friendfhip from Mr. Hume to him 
 were, as the French editor obferves, the leaft 
 equivocal, les moms equivoques J * 9 : they did not 
 confift of verbiage and profeflions, but of true 
 and real fervices. A Chriftian's faith is gene- 
 rally allowed to be beft determined by his 
 works : and what better teft can be contrived 
 for the fincerity of a friend ? Indeed the Me- 
 thodifts in religion are wont to reafon other- 
 wife ; efteeming all, who contend for works, as 
 loofe and fceptical in the faith : and Mr. Rouf- 
 feau, who is certainly a Methodift in philo- 
 fophy, feems to have reafoned thus of Mr. 
 Hume ; elfe he would never have oppofed a fe- 
 ries of fuppofitions, or rather fufpicions, of his 
 own againft Mr. Hume 3 to a ferie^s of facts in 
 that gentleman's favour. 
 
 111 Difpute, p. 8*. 3 * 5 Advertifement to Jiifpute, Ac. 
 
 But
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 But Mr. Rouffeau, as I have been given to 
 underftand, muft not be confined altogether to 
 philofophy. An advocate of his declared, in 
 my hearing, that he was indeed a very good 
 Chriftian ; at leaft a better than Mr. Hume, 
 who, it was feared, is only a philofopher. Con- 
 cerning thefe important points I can neither 
 affirm, nor deny any thing. Mr. Rouffeau is 
 evidently an heap of inconfiftencies and con- 
 tradictions, fo that he may, or he may not, be 
 a Chriftian ; for, where there is nothing fyfte- 
 riiatical or regular in the conduct of the un- 
 derftanding, there is no criterion or teft, by 
 which a judgment about principles can be 
 formed with any certainty. In the mean time 
 I meddle with no man's faith. That affair lies 
 wholly between God and himfelf, and can be 
 no concern of mine. Yet, were we to judge of 
 Chriftianity, as exemplified in the condud of this 
 believer, I fhould make no fcruple to fay, with 
 AverroeSy Sit anima mca cum pbilofopbis: for I 
 had rather be fuch a philofopher as Mr. Hume, 
 than fuch a Chriftian as Mr. Roujfeau. 
 
 The French editor feems afraid, Sir, left this 
 quarrel between philofophers fhould bring a 
 Jcandal upon phi lofophy. Not much, I fhould 
 think, if any at all : fects and profefiions of 
 every kind, religious as well as civil, have 
 long been too.wife to be refponfible for indivi- 
 duals. $ut whatever difgrace it may, bring 
 
 upon
 
 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 upon the philofophers, he fuppofes, that the 
 dunces will reap from it no fmall comfort : 
 which, if the numbers of each be rightly efti- 
 mated, is fuppofing it to produce more phyfi- 
 cal good than evil by far. Let us not envy 
 them this confolation : it feems indeed necef- 
 ary,that they fhould fometimes have it : for who 
 can fay, what might otherwife happen ? Genii 
 of a fuperior order might gain too great an 
 afcendency: they might in time pafs for more 
 than Genii : they might be reputed Gods, as 
 Paul and Barnabas were at Lyftra y if they did 
 not difcover by things of this kind, that they 
 are men of like pajfions with the meaneft of their 
 fpecies. 
 
 Other reflections more folid may be made, 
 and leflbns more ufeful drawn, from the dif- 
 pute between thefe celebrated perfonages. We 
 may learn from the character of Mr. Rouffeau, 
 and from his very ftrange treatment of Mr. 
 Hume, to what extravagancies the human mind 
 is capable of being carried, when the humour 
 atrabilaire has once thoroughly infefted it. A 
 perfon thus diftempered, or rather thus poj/ejjed, 
 (for is he not a Demoniac ?) is able to con- 
 ceive any thing. The power of imagination 
 in fuch a one is creative beyond meafure. Ex- 
 iftence or non-exiftence are precifely to him 
 the fame : for he makes no difference at all be- 
 tween facls, on which alone depends the cer- 
 tainty
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 'tainty of all human information ; I fay, be- 
 tween the plaineft and moft notorious facts, 
 and fuppofitions the moft wild, the moft im- 
 probable, the moft vifionary. He overlooks 
 or contemns the former, as non-entities : he 
 builds demonftrations upon the latter. In fhort, 
 he cannot fee what actually is, while he fees in- 
 tuitively what is not; and things do or do not 
 exift with him, as they happen to fuit with his 
 prejudices and paflions. 
 
 We learn from the fame object, that fuperior 
 abilities, and even Ihining force of genius, are 
 confiftent with great mifery in him who pof- 
 .feffes them, if his temperament be thoroughly 
 bad. Rigid philofophy, I know, will not al- 
 low this temperament to be within the reach 
 of even alteratives ; but Chriftianity teaches, 
 that it may be greatly corrected and amended, 
 if not cured. And it is furprifing that Mr. 
 RouJ/eau, who is fo good a Chriftian, fhould not 
 have laboured this point more abundantly j as 
 his whole happinefs feems to have depended 
 upon it. 
 
 From the ftrange and unexpected fituation 
 of Mr. Hume it appears, that an active benevo- 
 lence may fometimesexpofe a man to inconveni- 
 cncies and troubles ; as it almoft always does to 
 ingratitude. I have often wondered, why men, 
 as they grow old, Ihould grow lefs benevo- 
 lent (for I take the fact to be inconteftable) ; 
 5 but
 
 314 S Y L V A, OR 
 
 but this and fimilar inftances have helped me 
 to account for it; And forry am I to fay it* 
 but, alas ! human nature, thy pride cannot 
 bear to be too much obliged 330 . It is danger- 
 ous, I have been told, with regard to the 
 Great ; and if there be not an equal danger in 
 obliging the fmaller gentry, it is not from want 
 of will, but want of power, to hurt their bene- 
 factors. 
 
 It appears again, that the utmoft prudence 
 and kindnefs are no fecurity againft the bafeft 
 and moil injurious ufage, when a man's ill ftars 
 (hall have connected him with folly or kna- 
 very; or> which is commonly the cafe, with 
 thefe two fubftances united in one perfon. 
 People of this make fee every thing in a wrong 
 light. They mifinterpret from folly, they mif- 
 reprefent from malice, every well-meant word 
 and deed. They treat their trueft friends as 
 their mod inveterate enemies j and load the 
 bed men with imputations, which can belong 
 to none but the worft. No wonder then, that 
 the Stoicaly not to fay the Chriftian, principle 
 of doing good fhould wax weak and cold with 
 tncreafmg years : no wonder that fo many 
 fhould, like Epicurus, contract their fphere of 
 action, and fuffer their happinefs to depend on 
 
 ?> Quidam, quo plus delent, magis oderint. Leve <es a'ic- 
 debitor em facit, grave inimicum. Senec. Epifl. 19. 
 
 7 none
 
 THE WOOD. 
 
 none but themfelves. Doubtlefs the great bu- 
 finefs of a wife man's life is to keep himfelf, as 
 much as may be, from being teazed by fools, 
 and over-reached by knaves : and neither can 
 be done to any purpofe, but by avoiding both 
 the one and the other. Cf Live freely and un- 
 ts known," fays a philofopher. " Solitude will 
 <f procure you the true and only pleafure of 
 <c being always fatisfied with yourfelf. Fools 
 <c and knaves, feen at a diftance, will only 
 " move your compaffion ; but will force you, 
 " when near, to either hate or defpife them "'." 
 
 JJ1 fivete, lilrtmeiit S3 ignore. Lafolitueie <v6us frocurera 
 it vrai iff unique plaifer d'etre toujours content de foi. Lesfots 
 y In mecbans n' exciteront yue iiotn compaffion v&s dt loin ; 
 maif vut tit frtt ilfaudrtut Itt hair ou la meprifer.
 

 
 
 
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