Avarice.

88. Covetousness is the greatest of monsters, as well as the root of all evil. I have once seen the man that died to save charges. What! Give ten shillings to a doctor, and have an apothecary's bill besides, that may come to I know not what! No, not he: valuing life less than twenty shillings. But, indeed, such a man could not, well, set too low a price upon himself; who, though he lived up to the chin in bags, had rather die than find in his heart to open one of them, to help to save his life.

89. Such a man is felo de se, and deserves not Christian burial.

90. He is a common nuisance, a weyer cross the stream, that stops the current: an obstruction, to be removed by a purge of the law. The only gratification he gives his neighbours, is to let them see that he himself is as little the better for what he has, as they are. For he always looks like lent; a sort of lay-minim. In some sense he may be compared to Pharaoh's lean kine; for all that he has does him no good. He commonly wears his clothes till they leave him, or that nobody else can wear them. He affects to be thought poor, to escape robbery and taxes; and, by looking as if he wanted an alms, excuse himself from giving any. He ever goes late to markets, to cover buying the worst: but does it because that is cheapest. He lives of the offal. His life were an insupportable punishment to any temper but his own: and no greater torment to him on earth, than to live as other men do. But the misery of his pleasure is, that he is never satisfied with getting, and always in fear of losing what he cannot use.

91. How vilely he has lost himself, that becomes a slave to his servant, and exalts him to the dignity of his Maker! gold is the god, the wife, the friend, of the money-monger of the world. But in

Marriage,

92. Do thou be wise: prefer the person before money, virtue before beauty, the mind before the body: then thou hast a wife, a friend, a companion, a second-self; one that bears an equal share with thee, in all thy toils and troubles.

93. Choose one that measures her satisfaction, safety, and danger, by thine; and of whom thou art sure, as of thy secretest thoughts: a friend, as well as a wife; which, indeed, a wife implies for she is but half a wife that is not, or is not capable of being, such a friend.

94. Sexes make no difference; since in souls there is none: and they are the subjects of friendship.

95. He that minds a body, and not a soul, has not the better part of that relation; and will consequently want the noblest comfort of a married life,

96. The satisfaction of our senses is low, short, and transient: but the mind gives a more raised and extended pleasure, and is capable of an happiness founded upon reason; not bounded and limited by the circumstances that bodies are confined to.

97. Here it is we ought to search out our pleasure, where the field is large, and full of variety, and of an enduring nature: sickness, poverty, or disgrace, being not able to shake it, because it is not under the moving influences of worldly contingencies.

98. The satisfaction of those that do so, is in well-doing, and in the assurance they have of a future reward: that they are best loved of those they love most, and that they enjoy and value the liberty of their minds above that of their bodies; having the whole creation for their prospect; the most noble and wonderful works and providences of God, the histories of the ancients, and in them the actions and examples of the virtuous; and lastly, themselves, their affairs, and family, to exercise their minds and friendship upon.

99. Nothing can be more entire and without reserve; nothing more zealous, affectionate and sincere; nothing more contented and constant, than such a couple; nor no greater temporal felicity than to be one of them.

100. Between a man and his wife, nothing ought to rule but love. Authority is for children and servants; yet not without sweetness.

101. As love ought to bring them together, so it is the best way to keep them well together.

102. Wherefore use her not as a servant, whom thou wouldst, perhaps, have served seven years to have obtained. 103. An husband and wife that love and value one another, show their children and servants that they should do so too. Others, visibly lose their authority in their families, by their contempt of one another; and teach their children to be unnatural, by their own examples.

104. It is a general fault, not to be more careful to preserve nature in children; who, at least in the second descent, hardly have the feeling of their relation: which must be an unpleasant reflection to affectionate parents.

105. Frequent visits, presents, intimate correspondence, and intermarriages within allowed bounds, are means of keeping up the concern and affection that nature requires from relations.

Friendship.

106. Friendship is the next pleasure we may hope for: and where we find it not at home, or have no home to find it in, we may seek it abroad. It is an union of spirits, a marriage of hearts, and the bond thereof virtue.

107. There can be no friendship where there is no freedom. Friendship loves a free air, and will not be penned up in straight and narrow inclosures. It will speak freely, and act so too; and take nothing ill, where no ill is meant; nay, where it is, it will easily forgive, and forget too, upon small acknowledgments.

108. Friends are true twins in soul; they sympathize in every thing, and have the same love and aversion.

109. One is not happy without the other; nor can either of them be miserable alone. As if they could change bodies, they take their turns in pain as well as in pleasure; relieving one another in their most adverse conditions.

110. What one enjoys, the other cannot want. Like the primitive Christians, they have all things in common, and no property, but in one another.

Qualities of a Friend.

111. A true friend unbosoms freely, advises justly, assists readily, adventures boldly, takes all patiently, defends courageously, and continues a friend unchangeably.

112. These being the qualities of a friend, we are to find them, before we choose one.

113. The covetous, the angry, the proud, the jealous, the talkative, cannot but make ill friends, as well as false.

114. In short, choose a friend as thou dost a wife, till death separate you.'

115. Yet be not a friend beyond the altar: but let virtue bound thy friendship: else it is not friendship, but an evil confederacy.

116. If my brother, or kinsman, will be my friend, I ought to prefer him before a stranger; or I show little duty or nature to my parents.

117. And as we ought to prefer our kindred in point of affection, so too in point of charity, if equally needing and deserving.

Caution and Conduct.

118. Be not easily acquainted: lest, finding reason to cool, thou makest an enemy, instead of a good neighbour. 119. Be reserved, but not sour; grave, but not formal; bold, but not rash; humble, but not servile; patient, not insensible; constant, not obstinate; cheerful, not light;

rather sweet, than familiar; familiar, than intimate; and intimate with very few, and upon very good grounds.

120. Return the civilities thou receivest; and be ever grateful for favours.

Reparation.

121. If thou hast done an injury to another, rather own it, than defend it. One way thou gainest forgiveness; the other, thou doublest the wrong and reckoning.

122. Some oppose honour to submission; but it can be no honour to maintain, what it is dishonourable to do.

123. To confess a fault that is none, out of fear, is indeed mean: but not to be afraid of standing in one, is brutish.

124. We should make more haste to right our neighbour, than we do to wrong him; and instead of being vindictive, we should leave him to judge of his own satisfaction.

125. True honour will pay treble damages, rather than justify one wrong by another.

126, In such controversies, it is but too common for some to say, 'Both are to blame,' to excuse their own unconcernedness; which is a base neutrality! Others will cry, They are both alike;' thereby involving the injured with the guilty, to mince the matter for the faulty, or cover their own injustice to the wronged party.

127. Fear and gain are great perverters of mankind; and where either prevails, the judgment is violated.

Rules of Conversation.

128. Avoid company, where it is not profitable or necessary and in those occasions, speak little, and last.

129. Silence is wisdom, where speaking is folly, and always safe.

130. Some are so foolish, as to interrupt and anticipate those that speak, instead of hearing and thinking before they answer which is uncivil as well as silly.

131. If thou thinkest twice, before thou speakest once, thou wilt speak twice the better for it.

132. Better say nothing, than not to the purpose. And to speak pertinently, consider both what is fit, and when it is fit, to speak.

133. In all debates, let truth be thy aim; not victory, or an unjust interest: and endeavour to gain, rather than to expose, thy antagonist.

134. Give no advantage in argument, nor lose any that is offered. This is a benefit which arises from temper.

135. Do not use thyself to dispute against thine own judgment, to show wit, lest it prepare thee to be indifferent about what is right: nor against another man, to vex him,

or for mere trial of skill; since to inform, or to be informed, ought to be the end of all conferences.

136. Men are too apt to be more concerned for their credit, than for the cause.

Eloquence.

137. There is a truth and beauty in rhetoric; but it oftener serves ill turns than good ones.

138. Elegancy is a good mien and address given to matter, be it by proper or by figurative speech: where the words are apt, and allusions very natural, certainly it has a moving grace but it is too artificial for simplicity, and oftentimes for truth. The danger is, lest it delude the weak; who, in such cases, may mistake the handmaid for the mistress, if not error for truth.

139. It is certain, truth is least indebted to it, because she has least need of it, and least uses it.

140. But it is a reproveable delicacy, in them that despise truth in plain clothes.

141. Such luxuriants have but false appetites; like those gluttons, that by sauces force them, where they have no stomach, and sacrifice to their palate, not their health: which cannot be, without great vanity; nor that, without some sin.

Temper.

142. Nothing does reason more right, than the coolness of those that offer it: for truth often suffers more by the heat of its defenders, than from the arguments of its opposers.

143. Zeal ever follows an appearance of truth; and the assured are too apt to be too warm: but it is their weak side in argument; zeal being better shown against sin, than persons, or their mistakes.

Truth.

144. Where thou art obliged to speak, be sure to speak the truth for equivocation is half-way to lying; as lying, the whole way to hell.

Justice.

145. Believe nothing against another, but upon good authority nor report what may hurt another, unless it be a greater hurt to others to conceal it.

Secrecy.

146. It is wise not to seek a secret; and honest, not to reveal one.

147. Only trust thyself, and another shall not betray thee. 148. Openness has the mischief, though not the malice, of treachery.