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CXIII.

WHO CONVERT VICES INTO VIRTUES AS LONG AS THEY ARE FRIENDLY, BUT WHO TURN WHEN THEY CEASE TO BE SO.

MEN convert our vices into virtues, as long as they are friendly with us, or rather, as long as they hope to profit by us; but the moment the wheel whirls a little way down, our virtues are turned into vices. When Sir Robert Walpole *, for instance, was confined in the Tower, after having been expelled the parliament, he was visited by the Duke of Marlborough, Lords Godolphin, Sunderland, Somers, and even by Mr. Pulteney; but when he afterwards did not pursue the course some of those persons desired, they turned round, and reproached him for the very crime of which they had before absolved him.

Zschokke has a passage in reference to some republicans of Switzerland, the truth of which is confined neither to Switzerland nor even to republicans themselves: Glorious names and lofty pretensions served only to conceal narrow views and mean actions.'

CXIV.

WHO DROWN ALL MERIT IN OTHERS FOR ONE FAULT.

MANY,-nay multitudes,―lose sight of all the qualities by which a fine mind may be distinguished, in the contemplation of one vice or even one error. They would hide the glory of the sun with a blade of henbane or hem* Coxe. Mem. Walpole, i., 67. 8vo.

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lock. Thus Kepler, the profound Kepler, was despised of many, for having thought that a circle is composed of an infinite number of triangles, having their vertex in the centre, and their infinitely small bases in the circumference. Suppose him to have been wrong, ought they to have forgot his discovery of the square of the distances? The fact is, they envied him; and I never remember this, but I call to mind Falconet's statue of Peter the Great, where that hero is represented ascending a rock on horseback, crushing envy in the form of a snake, in his endeavour to reach the summit. But, alas! Kepler lived in trouble, and died in the midst of a multitude of inconveniences.

When I say I am reminded of Peter the Great, I hope you will give me credit for being well aware of the difference, the almost immeasurable distance,that subsists between a hero and a philosopher.

CXV.

WHO CONDEMN FOR DOING AND NOT DOING.

WE are sometimes condemned for saying and not saying, thinking and not thinking, doing and not doing; all, as it were, in one breath! Thus Locke's term idea, which, as he justly contended, was a word more fit than notion, and not in the least more liable to be abused, was condemned by some for being new, and by others for being old. Lord Clarendon, in the same manner, was blamed for what he did, and for what he did not; and his enemies extended the benevolence even to the loading him with reproaches for errors, evil deeds, and evil thoughts, committed and entertained by themselves.

CXVI.

WHO ADOPT ONE RULE, AND APPLY IT TO ALL OCCASIONS.

FEW men have succeeded well in the higher departments of life (barring accidents and windfalls unexpected), who have not been wakeful, at taking advantage of critical opportunities; yet buying a dukedom by the sale of a vote is not succeeding, I think, so well as an honest and honourable man could wish. Many persons, however, respect only one rule of policy'Mount:' and this they apply to every occasion in life. 'Mount!-if possible, ten steps at a time.' In attempting this, however, they sometimes fall so ludicrously as almost to excite the laughter even of Despair.

CXVII.

WHO ARE APPRECIATED ACCORDING TO RANK.

BECCARIA insists, that it is necessary to be strictly informed, in order to ascertain the intention of any one, what was the actual impression of objects on our senses, and what the previous disposition of our minds * ; because both these vary not only in different persons, but in the actor himself, and that with a velocity commensurate to the succession of his ideas, passions, and circumstances. Can any reasonable man doubt this? And yet, if men have one characteristic in judgment

* 'Questa (l'intenzione) dipende dalla impressione attuale ' degli oggretti, et dalla precedente disposizione della mente: esse ' variano in tutti gli uomini e in ciascun uomo colla velocissima successione delle idee, delle passioni, e delle circostanze.'-Dei Delitti e delle Pene.

more than another, it is the haste and superficial grounds on which they judge. How often, too, are men's appreciations connected with the rank of those, appreciated! Thus, at Holyrood

'Long had the bard, with hopes elate,
Sung to the low, the gay, the great;
But nor his notes of soothing sound,
Nor zealous word of bard renowned,
Might those persuade, that worth could be
Inherent in such mean degree.

But when the smile of sovereign fair

Attested genuine nature there,

Throbbed high with rapture every breast,

And all his merit stood confess'd*?

CXVIII.

WHO RESEMBLE AND YET ARE SELDOM ASSOCIATED.

SABELLICUS resembled Tiberius in two particulars. He could see in the dark; and his condition, during the last years of his life, is described by Paul Jovius and Pierius Valerian, as that of Tiberius is by Suetonius and Tacitus. During the reign of Caligula, to save his life, Claudius affected the part of a fool; and in this resembled the elder Brutus. In one respect, Caligula resembled David; both having sawed their enemies in two. Claudius, in one respect, resembled Solomon. A woman denied her own son. Claudius commanded them to be married. Struck with horror at the command, she confessed the truth, took, and maintained him.

Galba, too, may, 'in one instance, be associated with

*Hogg's Queen's Wake, p. 140.

Solomon; for two persons having claimed a heifer, and many witnesses having appeared on both sides, Galba caused the heifer to be led with his head covered to the place where it watered. Here they took off the hood, and the emperor decreed it to belong to that person into whose field it went after it had done drinking. Perhaps the reader remembers the circumstance recorded in the Talmud, relative to the Queen of Sheba and the cluster of bees. A knowledge of natural history is sometimes very useful in courts of judicature.

Titus and Hadrian resembled each other, in desiring that every one should retire from their presence cheerful, contented, and happy. Leo X. often expressed the same desire.

The emperor Carinus, Charlemagne, and Henry VIII. may also be associated. Charlemagne divorced several wives; Henry VIII. treated his in a manner but too well remembered; Carinus had nine wives, and divorced them all.

Many resemble and yet are seldom associated. Ariosto and Wieland, for instance; Alexander and Kouli Khan.

Ariosto and Wieland were familiar and yet sublime; pathetic, yet grotesque. Alexander and Kouli Khan had daring conceptions, firmness of purpose, quickness of dispatch, and unshaken confidence in themselves.

These personages would be often associated in our mental laboratories, were not Wieland a German and Kouli Khan a barbarian. Greece and Italy are always present to our imaginations: Germany and Persia require more labour to think of.

VOL. I.

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