pose accusations, which were never preferred, that honest men may be induced to believe, that there never were any foundations for those, which truth warrants.

Napoleon adopted this policy often. Madame de Stael says*, also, that he took care to have his projects exaggerated, in order that, when his real plans fully developed themselves, they might be softened of their magnitude by the apprehension previously excited. In spite of all this, what was he destined at last to find? As the reindeer, which is safe from the speed, fury, and hunger of the wolf, when going up-hill, falls a ready prey to him in going down; thus did Napoleon!

'He, wondering, saw the bright enchantment bend,
Delightful, o'er the radiant fields, and ran

To catch the falling glory; but, amazed,
Beheld th' amusing arch before him fly,
Then vanish quite away†.'

It is much more easy to conquer by the sword, than to preserve by stratagem, or even by wisdom, what the sword has acquired.

CLXXX.

WHOSE CASTLES ARE SUPPORTED BY VICES.

THE magnificence of most castles arises less out of their architecture, than the sublimity of the points on which they are situated, or the accompaniments with which time has adorned them. We may apply this with some felicity to ancient families; antiquity and *Ten Years' Exile, 30. †Thomson; Spring, 211.

nobility, like ivy, acting the office of casting friendly veils over multitudes of defects.

When we gaze on the great scene of human affairs, and meditate on the vast web of combination, with which all things, even the smallest, are invested, all the gorgeous plausibilities of rank and station vanish

away.

How much is this feeling increased, when we observe castles supported by unworthy actions, or by pensions, illegitimately acquired!

Policy is a principle, cold, passionless, and selfish. Who would desire to have his name associated with that of Sir Pertinax Macsycophant; or even with that of Doddington, Lord Melcombe ?

A knowledge of the world is, assuredly, to be prized, if not bought at too great an expense; but that too much may be paid for it requires neither a Socrates nor a Seneca, a Fenelon nor a Tillotson, to illustrate by authority; nor an Euclid, a Napier, or a La Place, to confirm by demonstration.

CLXXXI.

WHO ARE TRIED ALMOST BEYOND THEIR STRENGTH.

THE undeservedly-oppressed have few comforters but their own consciences. But? If a man had but two such comforters, he would be,-let his adversities be as heavy as Olympus,―two thousand miles beyond all pity.

To be tried in calamity is no great subject for regret, as long as we are not tried beyond our strength. When we cannot command circumstances, therefore, let cir

VOL. II.

cumstances command us; and let us, also, remember, that Miltiades had lost his trophy, had he missed an enemy in the fields of Marathon.'

،

Men, however, it cannot, unfortunately, be denied, -are sometimes tried so much, that a small event or provocation will go nigh totally to upset, not only their tempers and their philosophy, but even reason itself; as one drop in a cup, already full, will cause it to overflow; and as it is, as they say in Arabia, the last hair 'that breaks the camel's back.' Men, thus tried, should remember the speech of Peter the Great, when, in the battle of Narva, he had lost half his army and all his artillery:-' I expected to be beaten,' said he, in the language of Agis of Sparta; ' and I may be 'beaten again. But, in time, the Swedes will teach us 'to beat themselves.'

Contemplate Titian's picture of Prometheus, too; and exclaim in the language of Virgil:

'Durate et vosmet, rebus servate secundis.'

How many important lessons may we glean from Virgil!

CLXXXII.

MEN OF CREDIT;-MEN OF CHARACTER.

PLACE us in the midst of a hundred and fifty men and fifty women; forty women will pay to the last shilling, but not more than thirty men will pay to the last guinea. Of the rest, some would be so entirely heartless as creditors, that if a debtor were to divide his heart into shares, and divide it amongst them, they would not be content.

Credit depends

character upon

How many thousands are there, who not only esteem want of money a want of merit, but a crime! Yet credit and character are very different. upon the purse, or the presumed purse; the morals, or the presumed morals. Hence it is evident, that a bad man may often have much better credit than a much better man. Men will trust the former (not their assertions); yet will not trust the latter (except in their assertions). The latter, not because they will not pay, but because they fear they cannot. In a worldly sense, then, it is better to have credit than character; but in a moral one, character is ten thousand degrees beyond credit; since the one has merely money for its basis; whereas the other has conduct, a clear conscience, and, in some cases, the unsullied reputation mind.

of a pure

Character is, frequently, a very unequal criterion to judge by; for character depends on a thousand circumstances; and on nothing more than on the neighbourhood in which a person may live: some neighbourhoods being no other than dens, as it were, of scandal and malignity. Many good men, therefore, have bad characters; many bad men good ones.

CLXXXIII.

WHO HAVE POWER TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF UNFAVOURABLE CIRCUMSTANCES.

SOME persons have a wonderful talent in taking advantage of unfortunate circumstances. Cæsar possessed it to such a degree, that, whenever an accident occurred

he managed it so, that, in the end, it became an advantage. When Fortune turned, he turned too; following her whithersoever she led.

Superat quoniam Fortuna, sequamur;

Quoque vocat, vertamus iter.'-Æn., v., 22.

William the Norman had this faculty also. When he landed in England he stumbled and fell. This was a bad omen. How did he convert it? By an exclamation;- Thus, O Earth, do I embrace thee!'

With a large army and full coffers, what sovereign is there, who may not make good treaties, or infringe bad ones? Some, however, without these, do both; caring to have success only to justify their arrogance and presumption:

'With ready view the transient gain they seize;
Swift as the motion of the rapid breeze;

Pursue th' uncertain mark with swift address,
And catch the fleeting moment of success.'

The Florentines were, at one time, peculiarly remarkable for this species of management; insomuch, that Pope Boniface VIII. called them the fifth element of the world. At the grand jubilee, held at Rome in the pontificate of that prelate, twelve of the ambassadors of other states and sovereigns were natives of FloThey resembled Cæsar, who, as we have said before, in the language of the Duke de Rohan, could, in the moment of accident, instantly provide a remedy, and be, perhaps, the better for the accident.

rence.

The Venetians never much excelled as negotiators; but they took advantage of favourable opportunities