^^•'V^j^-s^^"■ ^.2i^t5^W^ PRINCETON, N. J. sec ,^11/ Section .... - W. .Tl "T Shelf. iViiinber ?;1 ^ H-**' 1 i m ^^^^tmC^^^^^^^ REFLECTIONS CRITICAL AND MORAL ON THE LETTERS OF THE LATE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. By THOMA S hunter, M.A. Vicar of Weaverham in Cheshire. Great men are not always wise : neither do THE aged understand JUDGMENT. Job XXXII. 9. 5; la noblejfe eji vertu, elle fe perd par tout ce qui ii'eft pas -verteux \ 'tfi elle n'eji pas -vertu c'eji peu de cboje, M. DE LA BruYERE, THE SECOND EDITION. LONDON: Printed for T. CADELL, Bookfeller in the Strand. MDCCLXXVII. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND FATHER IN GOD WILLIAM, Lord Bifliop of Chester, Dean of CHRIST CHURCH, AND PRECEPTOR TO THEIR ROYAL HIGHNESSES GEORGE PRINCE OF WALES, AND FREDERICK Bishop of OSNABRUG. MY LORD, ONE who cenfures fo popular and cele- brated a writer as the Lord Chesterfield, hath need of all honeft advanta- A 2 gesj iv DEDICATION. . ges, to avoid the prejudices, to befpeak the attention, and engage the favour and candour of the pubhc. The author of thefe fheets pre- tends to no advantages but fuch as a regard to truth, to virtue and the happinefs of mankind may give him. He, therefore, calls on your Lordlhip as his patron and protestor, to give him countenance, and to intro- duce him with credit into the world upon this occa- fion. DEDICATION, v lion. Your Lordftiip's name is great : and, the high offices, to which, without the arts of faction or the efforts of ambition, you have been called, — of a Chriftian Prelate and a Preceptor to Princes, may be thought to have fome weight in the balance a- gainft titled greatnefs and patrician fplendbr. But, abftra6ting from all titular diftin6tion and external vi DEDICATION. external grandeur, which conftitute no part of the great or moral man ; Ihould we contrail with the fplen- did portrait of perfection which Lord Chefterfield afFedls to give us in his own conduct, and in the leiTons which he prefcribes to his fon, a character of a different form and fea- ture, it would for ever difcredit the caufe of falfe politenefs, and the princi- ples DEDICATION, vii pies and prafitifes of its in- lidious advocate. The great and good man depends on truth and nature, not on artifice and fallacy, for his fuccefs. He is fingle in his views, his words and actions. He is what he feems ; he fpeaks what he thinks : he intends what he profefles : he is faithful to his word as to his oath. He fcorns alike fimulation and diiTimulati- on. viii DEDICATION. on, under whatever Ipe- cious fophiftry difiinguiih- ed or recommended. He is eminent for native ftrong fenfe, improved and adorn- ed, not only by a juft tafte for polite letters, and ele- gant compofition, but, by ufeful and extenfive fcience. He liftens more to the dic- tates of reafon, than to the arts of refinement, and dwells more on the general rule than on the exception. He is equally unaffected in DEDICATION, ix in his manners and ftyle. He is ferious, manly, firm and elevated ; fteady and inflexible in the profecu- tion of truth and juftice ; and, amidft the various and fluctuating notions of no- minal and latitudinarian Chriftians, an undiflem- bled alTertor of the faith once delivered to the Saints. When we obferve pru- dence renouncing craft, b wifdom X DEDICATION. wifciom not debafed by intrigue, fagacity and fuc- cefs not difgraced by arti- fice and hypocrify ; When eminence appears with- out magnificence, elevation without pride, fuperiority without vanity, and figni- ficance and importance of character without the pa- rade of outward eclat, and the badges of office and honour : When the man, the citizen, the Briton ap- pears diftinguilhed by fi- delity DEDICATION, xi delity to his friends, by compaflion to the mifera- ble, by relief to the op- preffed, by favour to the good, by prote6lion to the learned, by love to his country, and loyalty to his prince, upon principles of confcience and convic- tion : When an undiflem- bled zeal for GOD and his truth, as the founda- tions on which the pillars of the moral and civil world are fupported, form the b 2 ruling xii DEDICATION. ruling paffion of the heart, and give law to the general conduffc ; When we view fuch a charadler, we look down with contempt on thofe fuperficial graces, to the ftudy and attainment of which Lord Chefterfield would be thought to con- fine all the bufmefs of edu- cation, and all the perfec- tion of human nature. But, my Lord, I dare not proceed. Your Lord- (hip DEDICATION, xiii ftiip does not feek, as you do not want the applaufe of man. Befides, we have found, by experience, that a great and illuftrious cha- racter has, fome times, fuf- fered by the difplay, and been regarded, > if not re- fented as a hbel upon the bulk of mankind : like a body eminently luminous, which affords not pleafure, but offence and pain to a weak and diftempered eye. I will not, therefore, by b 3 at xiv DEDICATION. attempting a full and more perfeft portrait of your Lordftiip, hurt the pride, mortify the ignorance, and provoke the envy and ma- lignity of the vulgar-fpi- rited reader ; and ftiall content mvfelf with wifli- ing, that fuch characters as your Lordlhip's may never be wanting to con- front the vain wit, the falfe philofopher, the dif- fembling politician, the ig- noble DEDICATION, xv noble patrician, and the profligate man of pleafure. The beft title which thefe Refie6lions have to your Lordlhip's patronage is, that they are meant to co-operate with your Lord- lhip's example, which holds out to us fo diflPerent a ftyle and order" of perfection to that adopted and recom- mended by the noble Lord j as the exemplary lives of Chriftians, in general, and b 4 of xvi DEDICATION. of the Chriftian Clergy, in particular, will always be the beft recommenda- tion of their religion, and the moft effectual confu- tation of thofe who deny its influence and authority by their pradlice or opi- nions. / am., MY LORD, Tour Lordjhjp's mojl dutiful and devoted Servant y THOMAS HUNTER, PREFACE. WE are fometimes over- taken by dead calms, and, fometimes affault- ed by ruder tempefts in the voy- age of life, which damp the vi- gour and adlivity of the foul, and render us alike incapable of dif- charging the ordinary offices, and of fharing in the innocent plea- fures of our being. In either cafe, our care, next to that of devoting and, refigning ourfelves to the great xviii PREFACE. great pilot of nature, will be to amufcj as well as we can, and to fill up the v^acant hours with what may be agreeable to ourfelves, though not profitable to others. But, if we can render our amufe- ments of any advantage to the world, we have the comfort of reflefting, that we are not ufelefs members of fociety ; that we do not live in vain, and, that an in- capacity for greater atchievements may have its ufe in the plan of Providence, byfuggeftingaftrift- er attention to the humbler offices of life. We may not be qualified to condu(3; PREFACE. xix condud armies, to fight battles, to extend empire abroad, or to defend and fecure its liberties at home ; we may not prefume to inform princes, or to teach fena- tors wifdom. But if v/e have, ftill, any ability left to indrud: the ignorant, to dired the wan- derer, to reclaim the fi'a{?^itious, to fupport the weak, to confirm the virtuous, to remove prejudi- ces, to vindicate, or in any de- gree to promote the virtue and happinefs of mankind ;— we ac- knowledge, we adore the hand of Heaven in our fituation. Lord Chesterfield's Letters werq XX PREFACE. were firft taken up as an amufe- ment to deceive the pafTing mo- ments. They were, indeed, a- mufing, but foon appeared a- larming. The reader found his faith, his virtue, his underftand- ing infulted ; and the fentiments of the juft aiid good in all ages and nations of the world who were favoured with almofl: any degree of light, of truth and fci- ence oppofed and contradided, by our well-bred and courtly philofopher. The mere reader was thus led to commence au- thor ; and, very freely to ex- prefs his indignation and con- tempt of a writer, who, great and PREFACE. xxi and fhining as his abilities were, hath difgraced, by applying them, to poifon the morals, to banifli the fublimeft virtue, to extinguifh the mojfl falutary truths, and to exterminate the moft important interefts and the lincereft happinefs of mankind. If the author of thefe fheets has made his amufements, any way, contribute to the benefit of others, by expofing this fe- duftive and dangerous writer y he will be abundantly fatisfied with the confcioufnefs of havinor difcharged his duty ; regardlefs of the reproach he may incur, for xxii PREFACE. for prefuming to cenfure fo po- pular, fo polite, fo diftinguifhed a nobleman. The fubjed: of enquiry is truth and virtue. Here, there- fore, we affed: no complaifance or fervility ; our refle6bions are the didates of the heart. Lord Cheflerfield is regarded and addreffed not as a nobleman, but as a man, a moralift and a citizen ; and God alone is ap- pealed to, as the judge of all. ERRATA. Page 47, line 4, for humane read human. 59, 2, for hear read here» Sly antepenult, for /^ai read /t'^. 139, 9, for cunduB read conduB. 146, Note, antepenult, {or fans re&Afans. 192, line 7, for fl^^(Sj read c^^^j. a 10, 6, ior fortune read torture. 222, 13, for extlence read exifience. REFLECTIONS CRITICAL AND MORAL ON THE LETTERS OF THE LATE EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. SECT. L TO cenfure is a difagreeablc part to the candid writer, and reader : To cenfure, where great and confpicuous merit is allow- ed, wears the appearance of ftiU tnoi*^ B malignity : t SECTION!. malignity : But, to cenfure a Writer fo generally celebrated and admired as the Lord Chefteriield, muft prove flill more ofFenfive and perhaps more dan- gerous to the reputation of the critic, than of the author whom he affedls to condemn. But there is a ftrength and beauty in truth and virtue, a pov^er and au- thority in religion w^hich carry us be- yond ourfelves, and difpofe us to a contempt of danger and difficulty, in their fupport and defence : Thofe principles v^ere of little value, which are not worth defending at the ha- zard of our being. Dear ^s reputa- tion, and awful as the reproach of the World may be to an author, an honeft man will prefer the difcharge of his duty, arid the approbation of his con- fcience SECTION I. 3 fclerice and his GOD, to the united applaufe of the univerfe. Yet a regard to truth will preclude unjuft prejudice, as well as general reprobation ; and to deny a writer the praife to which he has a claim, on account of the cenfure to which he is liable, were no lefs impolitic than unjuft. Let us, therefore, do juftice to Lord Chefterfield as a Writer, be- fore we proceed to condemn him as an Author. To do juftice to Lord Chefterfield's compofition would require a pen like his own : Or let his Lordfliip's fa- vourites, Venus and the Graces, join in concert to fing his eulogium ! We fhould not do him fufficient B 2 juftice. 4 SECTION I. juftice, fhould we only fay that he is clear and eafy, natural and unaffected : for he is figurative, florid, ornament- ed and highly poliihed. He does not hurt the ear, encumber the fenfe, or perplex our thoughts with long and tedious fentences -, but is, every where, pure; Ihort, but expreiTive ; concife, but not abrupt ; full and fatisfaftory, but not voluminous ; and has gene- rally united laconic brevity with attic elegance. He is happy in expreffions always fuited to his fubjedl ; and no- thing is farther from affedation than his language. I prefume, he was ac- cuftomed to fpeak with the fame eafe and propriety that he writes. It feems natural to him : or, art had affumed fo juft a call, and io well imitated the tone of nature, that we cannot diftin- guilh the one from the other. Lord SECTION I. 5 Lord Chefterfield's ftyle is mufic, filling and delighting the ear with the moft melting notes, and the fweeteft and moft happy cadences : or, his hand may be faid to be that of one of the firft mafters in painting, who prefents you with the gayeft fcenery, the lovelieft landfcapes, and the moft fplendid colouring in nature. A brook, however pure and tranfparent, is too diminutive an objedl to give us a juft refemblance of the Lord Chef- terfield's ftyle and manner. We may compare his Lordfhip's compofition to a ftream (were not this, like wife, too trite an image) full, bat not redundant ; loud, but not noify ; fmooth and placid, yet not languid or fluggifh ; ftrong, but not harfh, dif- fonant or raging ; harmonious in its courfe, mufical in its falls ; and, in B 3 the 6 SECTION I. the whole, feafting the eye, the ear, the fancy, the fenfitive tafte, and all the animal faculties and paffions of the man. Its banks are crowned with all the beauties of fimple na- ture ^ or with ornaments formed after the models, or anfwering to our ideas, of perfect nature. We have only to lament, that the fource from whence it flows is tainted, and conveys a fub- tle poifon, fatal to the lives of thofe who indulge, at large, in the tempt- ing ftream. In his moral leffons, he gives us not only the trite apothegm, or thread-bare maxim ; but he illuftrates his obfervations by happy allufions, enlivens them by wit, enforces them by reafon, and recommends them by proper examples ; fo that you are not only S E C T I O N I. 7 ^y inftrudted, but pleafed, not, merely, informed, but charmed with his manner, his language and addrefs : with much limplicity he has much purity; and, is, at the fame time, both €afy and elegant. He feems to be always calm, re- colledted and in good humour ; happy in an uniform tranquillity, the effed: of natural temper and gaiety of heart ; and thefe cherifhed and improved by cultivation, by polite letters, and by that eafe and ferenity, that indolence, that independence which every friend of the Mufes ought, or would be thought, to be pofTefled of. His for- tune, his titles and honours might be affigned as contributing to this happy fpirit, did we not obferve men pof- felTed of all thefe, not diftinguifhed B4 by 8 SECTION I. by their humanity, their placability, or good temper. He is not fo laboured and afFedled- ly learned as Lord Bolingbroke ; but, then, he is more clear, more eafy and agreeable -, and infults not his readers with fuch a profufion of erudition, and fuch an exhibition of fuperior reafoning, upon every fubjedt that oc- curs, as tend to fpeak him fupreme didlator, in letters as in politics, in theology as in philofophy, and, next to the infinite Creator, the nrft genius in the univerfe. Lord Chefterfield is, in his writings, what, we prefume, he was, in his life ; — humane, chearful, complaifant and obliging ; entertain- ing without form, and inftrudive v/ithout pride or infolence ; defirous, at the fame time, to pleafe and to inform ; SECTION I. 9 inform 5 and aiming to advife as a friend, rather than to dictate as a mafter. He has a quick and clear concep- tion on the fubjecSs that lie within his fphere, — a fine imagination, an accurate and juft tafte for compofition and works of genius, with a peculiar beauty of expreffion ; the allufions he, oftentimes, makes ufe of, have not, only, a perfedl propriety, but afingular delicacy and poetical juftnefs, in their application. He has not, indeed, given us much that is new, on the fubje and we have only to lament, that we find them, upon a nearer infpection, fo miferably ihaded and difgraced by the fouleft ftains, and the moll impure mixtures SECT. SECT. Hi. IN the two laft fedlions, we gave; what we call, the bright fide of Lord Chefterfield's characfter : but we muft not reft. here, if we would fee his lordfhip's real portrait, and drawii at full length. Nor can the Peerage plead privilege at the bar of criticifm. Not only truth, but the whole truth is exacSed from us, when we would inform and inftrudt mankind. This is the more neceffary on the prefent occafion; as the charadler and example of Lord Cheflerfield, celebrated as he was for wit and virtue, might, other- wife, do mifchief, by propagating vice and vanity, folly and falfehood, among F 2 man- 68 S E C T I O N III. mankind. Befides, there is an eafe^ an elegance, and charm in his Lord- ihip's ftyle and manner, which may eafily inlinuate itfelf, and impofe upon the common reader; as his plaufibility impofed even upon the wife and good^ in his life-time. Court-logic is, per- haps, as fallacious as the fchool-logic^ and we are in much lefs danger of being milled in our condud: and man- ners, by the fubtility of a rufty docftor, than by the refinement of a polite and well-bred man of diftindion and fa- mily. What moft offends us in thefe let- ters is, the immorality with which they are replete. As a moralift, in- deed, he afFecfts to recommend virtue and good faith ; but he is quite out of his element on this fubjedl:, and feems to SECTION III. 69 to have known no more of the eflence, the power, the peaceful, and happy efFefts of virtue, than of what is do- ing in the moon, or any of the re- moter planets : and the whole perfec- tion he requires of his fon, is the very reverfe, not only of chriftian duty, but of true philofophy. He confiders moral virtue and ho- nour, as p^flable qualities, andoffome name and reputation in the world; and as fuch he recommends them to his fon; but of the effential purity, the immutable nature, and eternal obliga- tions of virtue, he had no conception; or if he had, he prefcribes pracflices, which he allows not ftridlyjuftiiiable; and avowedly indulges a violation of laws, both divine and human, in fa- vour of your paffions, where you may F 3 efcape 70 SECTION III. efcape the cenfure, by not contradidt- ing the faihion and opinion of the world. Virtue and religion have in them a fublime, a perfedion, and divinity, which hold no friendly commerce with the common manners of the world. The man of the world is too much, and too eagerly engaged in the bufmefs and pleafures of life, to lend a proper attention to abftracl and fpiritual fub- jecfts ; or to relifh the inveftigation of moral, intelledlual, and religious truth. Lord Chesterfield's fyftem of ethics is void of all fmcere love to GOD or man, and may be properly ftyled a fyftem of felf-love. His Lordftiip is a remarkable proof of the truth of an obfervation, which he has more than once SECTION III. 71 once repeated. That the underftanding is the dupe of the paffions. With an uncommon fliare of underftanding, en- larged and improved by reading and refledlion, with all his wit, his ftudies, and fuperior fagacity, he has facri- ficed the moft uncontroverted princi- ples and nobleft efforts of virtue, love of your country, fincerity to your friends, (which he fcarce allows to have any exiftence) a contempt of pleafure, and vain glory, to a gratifi- cation of the felfifh paffions, to what ambition afpires after, and to what the lower and animal appetites prompt. And the vices from which he would avert his pupil, are not reprefented in their native deformity, as violations of the laws of GOD, and of the fanc- tions of men ; as contrary to the opi- nions and pradice of the beft and F 4 wifeft;. 72 SECTION IIL wifeft, and as deftfudive of the prin- ciples of truth, and of the interefts of fociety ; but, they are to be avoided from the confideration of their indeli- cacy, and the inconvenience and damage they bring to health, to for- tune, and to your reputation in the world y (o far as your intereft may de- pend on that reputation, whether the world thinks right or wrong. Thus a common proftitute is forbidden, as what is dangerous and difgraceful ; and keeping is condemned as what both the Indies could not fupport : but an intrigue with a JVijore of ^a- lity, married or unmarried, is a gal- lantry not forbidden; but propofed and inculcated by the father to his fon, as what, befides other advantages, is not difcreditable in the opinion of the world. Some SECTION III. 73 Some men's notions of virtue, and of the perfection of human nature, have been fo fublime and refined, that their fchemes being found imprafti- cable, they have abandoned fociety and the world, to enjoy their ideal virtue in the fhade. But Lord Chef- terfield's notions of poor human na- ture are fuch, and his virtue of fo eafy and pliant a temper, that its very effence may feem to confift in its ver- fatility, and conformity to the man- ners of thofe with whom you converfe. Alcibiades's character, abandoned as it was, is, I think, propofed in this refpeft, as an example for his fon's imitation ; and a court, according to his Lordihip, the grand fcene of fimu- lation and diflimulation, is the proper foil for the growth, the difplay and expanfion of virtue. The 74 SECTION III. The noble Lord's courtefy and hu- manity, overflowing and benevolent as they feem, are all a profufion of verbeage, or the art of faying the beft things, and offering your befl fervices, meaning and intending nothing, but to deceive thofe who are fimple enough to believe you fmcere. For, to thofe who are in the fecret, and mutually pradllfe this mechanical trade of com- pliment, without any meaning, it is the moft ludicrous farce in nature. Fie on it, my Lord ! A fhame upon that policy, which makes no diftinc- tion between prudence and artifice ; between benevolence and flattery ; between complacency and compli- ment ^ between wifdom and craft j between the modeft referve of the man, and the profefl^ed diffimulation of the courtier; which excludes fincerity and friend^ SECTION III. 75 friendfliip, true philofophy, true vir- tue and true religion ! * Vanity, or an appetite for fame, which Lord Chefterfield has made the motive and foundation of morality, and acknowledges to have been the principal incentive to his good adlions, is itfelf a vice ; or a virtue, if a virtue, vs^hich muft difpofe the pracflifer of it to adopt every vice or folly in fafhion. A fteady perfeverance in the pradice of what is righteous, juft and good, * " Un homme qui fait la cour, eft maitre de Ton gefte, de fes yeux et de fon vifage, il eft profond, impenetrable ; il diffimule les mauvais offices, fourit a fes ennemis, contraint fon humeur, deguife fes paffions, dement fon casur, parle, agit contre fes fentimens : tout ce grand raffinement n'eft qu'un vice, que Ton appelle faufTete.'* M, DE L^ Bruyere, Tom. I. p. 224. in 76 SECTION III, in oppofitlon to the fafhion and cor- ruption of the world has, and we hope, will ever be confidered in the eftimati- on both of reafon, and revelation, as one of the moft fignal inftances, and higheft exertions of true virtue : but Lord Chefterfield, we prefume, was the firft philofopher, who coolly and fo- berly recommended the fafhion and corrupt opinions of the world, as the ftandard by which, and in conformi- ty to which, you are to form your moral condu(fl. We cannot eafily ac- count for a nobleman of fuch admira- ble parts, advancing fuch outragious paradoxes ; only this may be alledged in his favour, that he never publiihed, nor furely ever intended that they ihould be publifhed to the world : they are no more than his private fen- timents. SECTION III. 77 timents, contracted from his com« merce with the world, and commu- nicated in confidence to a particular friend, on whofe paffions they might ealily operate without oppolition from reafon or fcruple of confcience. You have in Lord Chefterfield a perfecl pidlure of a man of the world. He will make the moft of you, and of that world : he will ajfted your friend- iliip ; he will narrowly watch, and infidioully pry into your infirmities ^ he will fifli out your fecrets, he will flatter your foibles -, he will connive at, rather than reprove your faults : by a new invented diftindtion between mo- rals and manners he will recommend and reconcile every plaufible and cn- fnaring artifice in converfation and condudt. 78 SECTION III, condu his Lordfhip's phrafe, " of infinite importance," worthy the care and at- tention of a fribble, but feem below the SECTION VI. 137 the fingular notice of a moralift and a philofopher : but, to recommend in- tereft, felf-love, vanity and ambition, as the proper motives of adion, is, we conceive, an infult upon common fenfe, and upon all the moral fyftems that have yet been publilhed to the worlds except v^e might perhaps juf- tify it by the tenets of Epicurus : and if we flriould defpife the philofopher, we muft both defpife and abhor the patriot, who fliould defend or advance fuch principles as have their founda- tion in the corruption of our nature, and terminate in the deftrudion of public virtue, public liberty, and public happinefs. His roundly pro- nouncing^ Curtius and Leonidas to JDC two diftinguifhed madmen, is fuch *yoi. 1. p. 321. an 138 SECTION VI. an outragious contradiction to efta- bliflied notions, to our cleareft ideas of the pureft and fublimeft virtue, and fuch a blafphemy committed againft the fpirit of, patriotifm, as will never be forgiven him by any claffical or moral reader, by any lover of GOD, or of his country. ^^ Greater love, than *' this, hath no man, that a man lay *' down his life for his friends," is one of thofe maxims of eternal truth, not peculiar to, though moft fignally il- luflrated by, the procefs of the Chrif- tian difpenfation, and by the life and death of its divine Author, but which approves itfelf not only to the moft perfe(fl: reafon of individuals, but to the common fenfe and natural feelings of evey age and nation upon earth; who have confidered, and fometimes revered, as fomething more than mor- tal, SECTION VI. 139 tal, thofe heroes and patriots, who have devoted their lives to the falva- tion of their country. Courtiers, as well as patriots, with the flattering friends, and the fadious enemies of the flate, have generally been alTbamed of, and difavowed all feliiili princi- 'ples, and afligned the public good as the motive of their cunducft and coun- cils ; and nothing, we prefume, but the profped: of fecrefy in thefe confi- dential Letters from a father to a fon, could have induced the noble Lord to advance and avow fuch principles. But there is nothing we can won- der at, in the principles of Lord Cheilerfield, after we have ftcn the patrician and the father defcend from his dignity and duty, and commence procurer and pander to his fon ; — afting 140 SECTION VI. ading the part of a bawd, and giving him direct leflbns of lewdnefs : he marks down, he fprings the game for him ; he cheers him in the chace, by affuring him of fuccefs. From a nobleman fo diftinguifhed for delicacy of fentiment and manners, we could not have expedled that an illicit and promifcuous commerce of the fexes would have been recommended or connived at, or that paffion and bru- tal lufl: would have been allowed, as the motive and meafure of human conduft, in violation of the order and peace of fociety, and in contradidlion to the dilates of uncorrupted * nature and reafon. When *Deinde quum M. Claudius circumftantibus matronis iret ad prehendendam virginem, lamenta- bilifque eum mulierum comploratio excepiffet, Vir- giniqs, SECTION VL 141 When he propofes felf-love, va- nity, intereft and ambition, as the proper motives to human condudl, he affects to make fome apology, and to offer fome reafons in vindication of his paradoxes : but in the libertine ad- vice he has given to his fon, he ufes no ceremony, nor palliates his advice, as if confcious of its impropriety or immorality. We fhould naturally hence conjedlure, that the noble Lord had neither wife, fifter, or daughter, in whofe virtue he might think his own happinefs and honour, or the honour ginius, intentans in Appium manus, " Icilio," in- quit, ** Appi, non tibi filiam defpondi : & ai> *' NUPTIAS, NON AD STUPRUM EDUCAVI. PlA- *' GET PECUDUM FERARUMQUE RitU PRQMIS- ** CUE IN coNNUBiTus RUERE? PafTurine haec «* ifti fmt, nefcio, non fpero effe paiTuros illos, ** qui arma habent." Liv. Lib. III. p. 182. Edit. Hearne. and 142 S E C T I O N VI. and happinefs of his family any way concerned. In comedy and romance we have fometimes loofe fcenes exhibited, loofe fentiments expreffed, and lewd cha- racfters and examples held out to us, as copies or pictures of ordinary life, and the real manners of the times : — but leflbns of lewdnefs given profef- fedly and coolly by a father to his fon, — pleafure taught and recom- mended as a neceflary expedient in bufinefs, is fuch a novelty and refine- ment in the fyftem of good breeding, is fuch an outrage done to decency, and to the moral fenfe generally enter- tained by mankind, fo contrary to nature, and the ufual workings of parental affedlion, that we cannot ea- fily account for it, unlefs we might be S E C T I O N VL 143 be allowed.to fuppofe, that the father, by engaging the fon in the fame cri- minal commerce, intended to flatter or juflify their common condudl, and to detrad: from the infamy of both. But, perhaps, there is fome in- juftice in this iafl refledion. Lord Chefterfield appears not confcious of any infamy from his illicit commerce with the other fex, or that any diflho- nour attended the illegitimacy of his fon; whom he publifhed, not with- out fome pride, in moft of the courts of Europe. The truth may feem to be this. He writes, to ufe his own expreflion, as a man of pleafure to a man of pleafure : but being, as he acknowledges, paft the quick fenfe of it himfelf, he was perhaps willing to refrefli his imagination by dwelling on 144 S E C T I O N VI. on the gallantries of his fon, and by renewing the memory of his own amours. * Nothing is more common ; than The fentiments of the excellent Saurin will both explain and confirm our refledions on this occafion : On ne s* abandonne pas ainli a fes fens fans y avoir de la douceur : & ce qu' il y a de plus funefte, c'eft que cette douceur que I'on goute, demeure dans la fouvenir, fait des traces profondes dans le cerveau, frappe I'imagination. > Si I'aftion des fens n' etoit excitee que par la prefence des objets : ii 1* ame n' etoit agitee que par Taftion des fens, un feu! moyen fuffiroit pour fe garantir des paflions : ce fe- roit de fui'r I'objet qui les emeut. Mais les paflions font d'autres defordres encore. C'eft cette forte im- preflion qu* elles laiffent dans 1' imagination. Lors qu' on Teft abandonne a fes fens, on a goute de la douceur : cette douceur frappe I'imagination ; & I'imagination ainfi frappee des plaifirs que Ton a trouves, en rapelle le fouvenir, & foUicite I'homme paflionne de retourner vers ces objets qui lui ont ete fi doux. C'est pour cela que les vieillards ont encore quel- SECTION VI. 145 than this procefs in the depravity of human nature. We have feen, in o- ther inftances, befides this before us, the quelquefois des refles malhereux d'une paffion qui femble fuppofer certain conftitution, & que I'on croiroit eteinte, des que cette conftitution n'eft plus. Cette penfee, que tels & tels objets furent la caufe de leurs delices, ell encore chere a leur ame : ils en aiment le fouvenir ; ils les font entrer dans tous les difcours ; ils en font des portraits flates, & fe dedom- magent en racontant leurs plaifirs palTes, de ce qu* ils leur font interdits par la vieillefle. C^e^ pour cela encore qu'il eft fi difficile a un homme qui a donne tete baiffee dans le monde, d'y renoncer an lit de lamort. II eft vrai qu'un corps accable de maux, une nature prefque eteinte, des fens entier- ment amortis, femblent peu propres a laiffer dans un homme de I'amour pour les plaifirs fenfibles. Mais cette imagination frappee par les. impreffions des plaifirs pafTes, lui dit que le monde eft aimable, que toutes les fois qu'il s'y eft abandonne, il a goute un plaifir reel, que toutes les fois au contraire, qui'I a voulu entrepsndre des ades de religion, il a reffenti L de 146 S E C T I O N VL the lewd father triumphing in the kwdnefs of his fons, into whofe in- trigues we have known him, as eager- ly and joyoufly inquifitive as if he had been in fearch of their virtues and per- fections. But a letter of lewdnefs containing inftrudlions how to w — re with difcretion and credit, is one of thofe monfters which flrikes us with horror at firft fight ; and we can fcarce conceive more deteftation for the fon who murdered his mother, than for the father who thus murders his fon : and as none but an unnatural tyrant would have dared to perpetrate the former, fo none but a debauchee of de la peine. Cette vive impreffion donne a an pareil hommede I'eloignement & du de-gout pour la vertu r elle tourne fans ceffe fon ame vers ces objets que la mort va lui enlever, en forte que fans un miracle de la grace, il ne peut devenir fenfible a d'autres. Sermons de Saurin, Tom 2, p. 397. 8, pi quality SECTION VI. 147 cjuality would have profeffedly avowed and attempted the latter. If, as the noble Lord obferves, (reflecting on the Abbe Fenelon) no bawd could have written a more falacious letter to an innocent country girl, than the direc- tor did to his pupil ; it is certain, that no pimp or pander could have wrote more falacious letters than the noble Lord has done to debauch his own fon. We may add, upon this occa- lion, that Lord Cheflerfield had little room to accufe the Abbe of hypocrify or diflimulation, as fometimes in the fame letter, he encourages and dircdbs the lewd amours of his fon, * nay points out to him a particular lady as the objed: of criminal paffion, and with the folemnity of an Apoftle calls upon GOD to blefs him : elfewhere * Vol. 4. p. 230, L 2 he 143 SECTION VI. he befeeches him for GOD's fake to make himfelf mafter of thofe graces and accomplifhments, which are to gain him the men, and gain him the women. And it is fomething remark- able, that an Enghfli fox-hunter is treated as a bear, and held out as a monfter, which ihocks his lordfliip's delicacy, and one would fufpedl, threatened the diffolution of his frame: but when a French w — re of figure is the game, the chace, it feems, is honourable, and the exercife fuch as tends to the polifh and perfedlion of the man. I WOULD not charge the Noble Lord's portrait with deeper or darker colors than belong to it : I will not therefore accufe him of entertaining the principles of fpeculative infidelity, not- SECTION VL 149 notwithftanding his acknowledged pre- judices in favour of fome eminent in- fidel writers. He read much ; and it is not eafy to reconcile a tolerable knowledge of books with a favourable opinion of infidelity; and indeed, in point of argument, his Lordfhip has clearly decided in favour of the Belie- ver. Yet, in fad, Lord Chefterfield feems to have been as much a Maho- metan, or a Jew, as a Chriftian. If we may judge of men's principles by their pradice, it appears by thefe let- ters that Lord Chefterfield had no thought or concern at all about reli- gion. Habit and praftice oftner fu- perinduce principles, or lead to no principles at all, than thefe operate to influence the pradlice. Avarice, drunk- ennefs and other vices may frequent- ly be obferved, not founded, we be- L 3 lieve. 150 SECTION VI. lieve, in the fpeculative principles of infidelity, and yet inconfiftent with e- very principle of the Chriftian religion. The ftatefman and the courtier have very ftrong and peculiar temptations to this pracflical infidelity. Charmed as his Lordfhip was with the honours and eclat of a court, he could not eafi- ly reconcile his paflions and practice to the precepts of humility and pover- ty of fpirit, of felf- denial and felf- abafement. Anxious, as he was, to pleafe men, he could not be the fer- vant of GOD. Admiring, as he did, the harmony of periods, the elegance of didlion and the pomp of elocution, he could not well relifh the natural and genuine fimplicity of the gofpel ftyle. Pvclying, as he did, for the fuc- cefs of all his views and meafures on human prudence and policy, we fhould not t SECTION VI. 15c not wonder, if he excluded the agen- cy of Providence, in the condudl of human affairs. Devoted entirely, as he was, to the world, to its natural and civil advantages, we expelled, as we find, that he fhould not beftow a thought, or extend a wifh to the fu- ture, fpiritual and eternal ftate. A courtier fo fpruce, fo dreffy, fo fafliion- able, fo anxious for his perfon and per- fonal elegance, that he pretends to prefcribe to the minuteft circumftances in drefs and deportment, could have little conception of that moral great- nefs, which conftitutes the inner man of the heart; as the fincerity and truth in word and deed, prefcribed to the fcholars of the gofpel, was altogether inconfiftent with the verfatiHty and duplicity, the artifice and flattery, the Emulation and diflimulation, permit- L 4 ted 152 S E C T I O N VI. ted and recommended as moft necef- fary in forming the charadler and ad- drefs of his favourite pupil. Noble, as he was, and converfant among nobles, ftudious of the refinements of civil po- licy, and the maxims of ftate, admit- ted to the perlbns and councils of Princes, he may be fuppofed to have had little relifh for the foolifhnefs of preaching, or deference to the fenti- ments and authority of the Carpenter's Son, and the fifhermen of Galilee. His wit and delicacy muil: be fliocked by the fimplicity of their manners and maxims; and the meannefs of their birth and ftyle in life, would procure them little or no regard from the man of fafhion and family. Many other caufes may be affigned for Lord Chef- terfield's prad:ical infidelity, which do not at all affedl the truth and reafon- abl«- SECTION VI. 153 ablenefs of revelation. For inftance, dulnefs and devotion being in his Lordifhip's ideas, fynonimous terms ; who could expedl that the noble Lord fhould hazard his characfter as a wit, and renounce the applaufe of men, for the fake of a fupreme love of GOD, in which true devotion confifts, and, which is recommended as the firft and leading principle by the Founder of our Chriftian fchool ? The fpirit of the gofpel is fo diffe- rent from the fpirit of the world, that }t was impoffible Lord Chefterfield, with all his paffions and vanity about him, fhould enter into the kingdom of GOD, or, in other words, be a fmcere and fpiritual believer. Would he have given any fupport or authority to the caufe of chriftianity, he flaould have 154 S E C T I O N VI. have been the moral man ; the hum- ble enquirer after truth ; the cool and confiftent reafoner ; the unprejudiced philofopher : — characters which ne- ver have been, nor ever can be united in the enemies of chriftianity. We allow him the reputation of a wit, a genius, a ftatefman and a courtier; — but in compliance with the didates of eternal truth, we cannot allow him the honour — an honour greater than that of courtiers and kings — an honour that Cometh from GOD only — ^ the honour of being a chriftian. Let the unbeliever, if he pleafes, enlift him in his order, and derive all the credit he can to his caufe from fo illuftrious a difciple. Chriftianity muft gain reputation and ftrength by fuch adverfaries -, and the difpenfation and wifdom of GOD be only more con- firmed S E C T I O N VI. 155 firmed by the vices, the vanity and folly of the men, who oppofe them. Behold the great man devoid of the principles of the chriftian religion ! What, and who, is the wit, the ge- nius, the courtier and ftatefman ? — A man of univerfalcomplaifance, with- out one grain of benevolence, — afFed:- ing your confidence only in order to betray and deceive you ; profeffing all languages and all knowledge, not to dired the mind and benefit mankind with ufeful difcoveries, but merely to qualify him to play a better game, and to over-reach the man he has to deal with ; — a powerful fpeaker and mailer of all the graces of elocution, but applying his oratory not to pro- mote the peace, the intereft, the ho- nour and liberty of his country,- but fplely to difplay his own vanity, or to ferve 156 S E C T I O N VL ferve the ends of a party, — fraught with a grace, or rather a gracioufnefs and overflowing courtefy to all man- kind, not expreflive of any real bene- ficence or friendihip towards them, but to flatter their paflions, and to render them devoted to his views -, — a man of honour, yet not refl:rained by any moral obligations from violating the wife or daughter of the friend who entertains him; — a genius capable of ranging through heaven and earth, to contemplate the moral and fpiritual difpenfations of GOD, {looping his high born faculties, and confining them to a tafl:e for the works of art and man's device, or to the gratifica- tion of fenfes which he has in com- mon with the brutal order ; — the mighty man fubjed; to difeafe and dif- trefs in common with the loweft of the S E C T I O N VI. 157 the people ; — • but as in the higheft fortune, impious and ungrateful, fo in the loweft without fupport or com- fort. See here the man of tafle, the man of elegance, the man of letters, the fenator, the orator, the patrician, the minifter of jftate, the counfellor of kings, when deprived of the influence, and difcharged from the authority of religion, unfteady, fluttering, fervile, uniform only in feeking the gratifica- tions of his own paflions ; and to this end facrificing his time, his manhood, his honour, his truth and friendfhip, difavowing every virtue, or difcrediting and debafing, by accommodating, it to fordid and mercenary ends, — to make the finefl figure at court, or at a ball ; — - to be diftinguifhed as the finefl orator in the fenate, in order to be the foremoft in power and place ; and to improve 158 S E C T I O N VL improve and to apply his time and ta- lents, the beft qualities of body and mind which GOD has given him, to the intereft and advancement of his little felf. Lord Chefterfield's beft virtue is only a decent and polite vice; and it has no other ftandard or rule than the eye and opinion of the pub- lic. Its objects are pre-eminence in life : its inftruments are of the moft poliChed kind, as the moft efFedtual to promote the ends propofed. The views he entertains and con- ftantly holds out to his fon difcredit all the prudential advice and leffons of wifdom which may be colleded from thefe letters. Confined as they are by the noble Lord to the attain- ment of the pleafures, the profits, the honours of our prefent precarious and fhort SECTION VI. 159 {hort lived exiftence, they are nothing more than leffons of lewdnefs, of ava- rice and ambition, — the bell and moft effedlual means which occurred to our noble philofopher from his experience, his reading and refledlions, to make you rich as the treafures, great as the titles and honours, and happy as the pleafures of this w^orld can make you. Let then the infidel race challenge Lord Chefterfield as their own, and what, after all, is the new fubjeft of their triumph ? A nobleman with- out true honour; — a fenator more re- gardful of his own applaufe, than of the laws and liberty of his country; — a citizen ambitious to engrofs the moft lucrative offices of the ftate ; a man without feeling or friendfhip for his kind; a reafonable being propofing and i6o SECTION VI. and purfuing as his beft and moft im- portant good, an indulgence in plea- fure, and the gratification of his groff- eft paffions. Let the unbeliever fay, whether a religion, whofe fundamen- tal principles are faith in, and a fu- preme love of GOD, obedience to his lav^s and fubmiffion to his will : a re- ligion which enjoins fincerity and truth in all our words and adions, calls for our benevolence to all mankind, exad:s the difcharge of duty both to GOD and man upon the principles of con- fcience, at the expence and at the ha- zard of all we have. , A religion which eftimating the true value and little mo- ment of all earthly attainments, acqui- fitions and enjoyments, points out to our profpedl a future and immortal ftate, and requires as the condition of our title to that ftate a courfe of uni- form SECTION VI. i6i form difcipline, the practice of the fe- cial, the moral and fpiritual duties. Let the unbeliever fay, whether fuch a religion as this, does not give digni- ty to the loweft, and add luftre to the higheft charaders in life ; and v^he- ther Lord Chefteriield under the influ- ence of fuch a religion had not been a better man, a better citizen, a fince- rer friend, a firmer patriot, a more uncorrupt fenator, a more upright fla- tefman, and a more illuftrious noble- man ? Such as he is, and has (hev^n himfelf, in thefe letters, if the infi- del fed will ftill claim him as their own, we freely and frankly give him up, body and foul, to be made the mofl; of, by thefe doftors in the minute phi- lofophy. Let them hold out, as an example and an honour to their prin- ciples, the infinuating flatterer, thein- M fidious i62 S E C T I O N VL lidious friend, the faithlefs gueft, the infamous pander, the betrayer of in- nocence and beauty, the vain orator, the venal patriot, and the ambitious ftatefman. SECT, 4 ^ SECT. VIL THOUGH appearances make a- gainft the noble Lord, yet we are willing to believe, for the honour of chriftianity and of his Lordihip, that he was a practical rather than a fpeculative unbeliever, and that his commerce with this world had natu- rally and infenfibly erazed out of his thoughts all tafte, all concern for, and afpirations after a future and im- mortal ftate. The man of wit, of gal- lantry and pleafure, the courtier, the orator, the ftatefman, the nobleman were the characters in which he af- fected to Ihine, and in which he found he moved molt gracefully and to his M 2 advantage : i64 SECTION VIL advantage: but they were charafters^ all which had immediate refpecft ta this world, and which could receive no improvement from, if they did not abfolutely exclude, the fublime virtues, the abftraded and fpiritual graces of the chriftian life. His Lord- fhip by the large fhare which he pof- feffed of fame, of flattery and fortune, by the diftindion of rank and title, would be lefs fenfible of the corrup- tion, the meannefs and mifery of his nature, of the need he had of a Re- deemer and Sanftifier, of the authority of a fuperior, or of any greatnefs or highnefs more exalted than Caefar's. The great and the noble, fwimming in plenty, and accuftomed to com- mand, think it below them to feem to want, and difgraceful to obey or fubmit, though to the morality of GOD SECTION VII. 165 GODhimfelf. They muft, they will be fuperior to the common herd of mankind, though it is in guilt and folly ; and would be as much a- fhamed of feeming to want any in- ftrudion from priefts, from preach- ers, and holy enthufiafts, as they would be to be caught in an ad of lewdnefs, or petty larceny. The mere man of quality is a perfoa of the higheft importance in his own and in the eyes of all about him : he is beheld at a diftance with filent won- der 'y he is approached with fubmiffion and awful refped; — he is addrefled wdth fervility and abjedl flattery^ he decides and dictates magifterially ^ he is believed implicitly ; he is obeyed abfolutely. His tone is high, his manner affeded ; — his fmile difdain- M3 ful; i66 SECTION VII. ful ', — his gait is flow and (lately, and the whole man of a flyle and order that fpeak his fuperiority to the low bred vulgar. The man of quality is {ccn in his drefs and motion. His word is law ; who dare difpute it ? His diiflates oracular; who fhall doubt or deny them ? His fortune gives him all, and more than all he v/ants ; his ftation commands a homage more than he is intitled to : though he may not be believed; yet all fear, all afFet^l to fear or flatter him : he has no faults or failings, whom none dare cenfure or reprove. To a man thus intoxicated by his fituation, and ignorant of his real ftate by nature, the fpiritual truths ^nd humble graces of the gofpel ap- pear ftrange things ; and all religion is, with him, cant and enthufiafm. Who fhall teach him ? Who is lord over SECTION VII. 167 over him ? Knowing no fuperior on earth, he denies or forgets the GOD who is above ; and will dethrone the Judge of heaven and earth, rather than fubmit to his tribunal. What an in- dignity muft it be to a Peer of the Realm, to be told, that he muft be- lieve and obey, live and die, and be judged in comaion with other men, with his very flaves and tenants, and the loweft of the people; — that he is fubjed to the fame law, and liable to the fame condemnation ; that he has not a more immortal foul, nor a bet- ter title to higher degrees of glory in a future ftate, than plebeians and me- chanics ; except from his exertion of fuperior virtues, moral excellencies, and higher perfedions ! My Lord's habit of thinking is M 4 made i68 SECTION VIL made up of quite a different fet of ideas. — The refined breeding of the bean monde, the graces of the outward man ; rank, dignity, place, penfion, title ; — the prefent ftate of politics ; the diftant profped: of things ; the af- pirations of the ambitious ; the efforts of the fadlious : — camps, intrigues, battles, balls ; changes and revolu- tions, foreign and domeftic, in church and ftate ; company and high connec- tions ; the bufinefs, the pleafure, or amufements of the day : — thefe fo much engage my Lord, that he finds no leifure, need, tafte or inchnation for the abftraded truths, and fublime fpeculations of moralifts and divines, - — low-bred cloyftered pedants, or at beft refpedtable Hottentots, and mere barbarians in the knowledge of polite- pefs, life and manners. He reads, if he SECTION VII. 169 he reads, in order to form his tafte, to adjufl: and harmonize his periods, to improve and animate his eloquence, or to acquaint himfelf with the interefts and policy of the different flates and princes in Europe : but the gofpel, be- ing no ways fuitable to thefe ends, and refpe(5ling chiefly the intereft of a future and unknown world, he thinks it an unneceflary and unprofitable wafle of time to fpend a thought about it. The world is that ocean in which this great Leviathan takes his paflime, and leaves the profped and provifion for futurity to thofe vulgar fouls, who have not a prefent and a more certain game to play. In this cafe, we con- ceive, he may not be determined by reafoning or fpeculative arguments, but by mere habit, by his fuuation and lyo SECTION VII. and connexions in life, to embrace the principles of infidelity. The wit and the great man will preferve his favourite charader in eve- ry ftation and circumftance of life ; and unable to attend, he will celebrate and rehearfe his own funeral with all the pompous folemnity of patrician greatnefs*. Fortune, ftation, nature, paffion, and the world have formed in him habits and opinions as abfurd and ridiculous, as if he profefTediy lived and died, without GOD and hope in the world. Lord Chesterfield, amidft the *LoRD Chesterfield, a ftiort time before hi§ death, appeared in public in the moll pompous and fplendid equipage. This occafioned feme furprize in the beholders, who were told by my Lord, or feme of his train, that he was rehsarfing his funeral, natural SECTION VII. 171 natural and moral ills under which he laboured afFeds the philofopher. It is a more pompous and founding name than that vulgar one, a Chriftian. But had his lordfhip been influenced more by things than words, by the folidity and weight of argument more than by the appearance and vanity of fcience, he had not been afhamed of Chriftia- nity, the trueft and fublimefl philofo- phy that ever enlightened the fons of men ; he had not lamented his being cut off from focial life, and his beinir reduced to filence and folitude, and the condition of a lonely ghoft : he had difcharged the duties and fupport- ed the calamities of life with more firmnefs and alacrity, and he had bra- ved the terrors of death with more de- cency, courage and comfort, than ap- peared Z72 SECTION VIL peared in the wit and humour afFefted on this folemn occafion. We cannot efteem highly his wif- dom who rifques his whole fortune upon the chance of a card. What then fhall we think of him who throws the die for eternity with a real or af- fe(!^ed indifference, what fhall be his portion for ever*. A fiddle and dance are *The importance of the fubjeft will juftify our inferting the following ferious and fenfible obferva- tions of M. de la Bruyere. Apres toutes les convidions que nous devons avoir de notre religion, je ne fai comment il fe trou- ve des gens d'une impiete aflez determinee pour faire parade de leur irreligion au moment de la mort. Seroit-il poflible qu'ils ne fufTent efraiez par tout ce qu'a d'afFreux & de terrible cette derniere heure ? Je ne puis croire malgre la feinte alTurance qu*au dehors ills elTaient de montrer, que leur ame foit dans une vraye tranquillite ; ce calme exterieur eft SECTION VII. 173 are altogether as fuitable to the cha- rader and circumftances of a dying man, ell faux, cette intrepidlte trompeufe. Quand I'efprit n'auroit a foutenir que les feules frayeurs de la mort, je ne parle pas des trifles reflexions fur le paffe, des fuites encore plus horribles de Pavenir, il me femble que ce fqedlacle doit deconcerter la plus inebranlable fermete. I'm lu dans le Socrate Chretien de Mr. de Balzac une Hifloire qui me deconcerte moi memo. II dit qu'un Prince etranger etant a Particle de la mort, le theologien protellant qui avoit coutume de precher devant lui, vint le vifiter accompagne de deux ou trois autres de la meme communion, & le conjura de faire une efpece de confeflion de foi. Le prince lui repondit en fouriant, " Monfieur mon ami, j'ai '* bien du deplailir de ne vous pouvoir donner le ** contentement que vous delirez de moi, vous voi- ** ez que je ne fuis pas en etat de faire de longs dif- " cours : je vous dirai feulement en peu de mots que ** je crois que deux & deux font quatre, & que quatre ** & quatre font huit, Monfieur tel (montrant un ** mathematicien qui etoit la prefent) vous pourra '* eclaircir des aUtres points de notre creance." Ny 174 SECTION VIL man, as vanity and wit. The many inftances of drollery and humour, which Lord Chefterfield exhibited, which he feemed to have ftudied in order to figure the more on his laft ftage, and which are handed about in pamphlets and public papers, can ap- pear no more than a difplay of ill-timed foppery, and proofs of vanity and af- N'y-a-t,il pas dans ces paroles quelque chofe de monftreux ? Eft-ce aveuglement, ou bravade d'- efprit fort ? Eft-ce infenfibilite ou oftentation ? une homme mourir dans ces fentiments, faire gloire en mourant de croire la verite des nombres, & de n'a- voir que cette creance ? Puis qu'il fait fi parfaite- ment que *' deux & deux font quatre, & que qua- «' tre&: quatre fonthuit," il aura tout le terns de calculer les annees d'une eternite malheureufe. EsT-T L terns de goguenarder a Pheure de la mort ? La plaifanterie peut-elle etre plus hors de propos ? Avons nous oublie que c'ell la le moment que dieu s'ell referve lui-meme pour fe railler des impies ? M. DE LA Bruyere, Tom. 2. p. 20. feftation. SECTION VII. 175 fedtation, and remind us of the French lackey mentioned by Rochefaucaulty who, juft before he was broke upon the wheel, entertained his fpeftators with a dance upon the fcaffold ere^fted for his execution. Many great characters, befides So- crates, philofophers, heroes, faints and martyrs have been diflinguifhed and recorded fox their refigned deportment at this awful moment ; and fome have difplayed peculiar chearfulnefs and ferenity ; and not improperly ; as thefe were expreflive of their peace and in- nocence in a caufe, which they thought the caufe of truth and God. But our noble Lord, afFefliing to rank among thefe heroes, unluckily begins his triumph, before the day of trial, or of battle appeared. His triumph was therefore premature and impertinent. The 176 SECTION Vll. The philofopher, the hero, and the martyr fufFered an unjuft, an unnatural or extraordinary death. Their argu- ments, therefore, and their elevation of foul under fuch fufferlngs, the more raife our attention, admiration and ap^ plaufe. But the Lord Chefierfield's natural death, amidfl: peace and plen- ty, honour and reputation required no extraordinary effort to fupport it. His figuring therefore, upon this occafion, and indifference expreffed for what fhall become of him for ever, is mere rant and extravagance, — a vain and wanton ferocity, unfupported by any rational and religious motives, and which the author would have to pafs for the dictates of calm philofophy. * Lord * The following Anecdote communicated to the Au- thor by a perfon of the firll eminence in the Church, and SECTION VII. 177 Lord Chesterfield had fagacity enough to fee and lament the errors of and diftinguiihed by his candor and humariity, may ferve to fhew that Lord Chefterfield did not always entertain the fame hardy fentiments and epicurean indifference in refpefl to death and its confequences which he has expreffed in thefe Letters. " Abo^j-t- eight years ago, he was feized with a iicknefs at his ftomach, and a violent flux, which continuing to refift medicine had fo far weakened him, that it was thought by his friends, and hehim- felf expected, that he ihould live but a few hours. I vifited him in his chamber, and with his ufual ap- pearance of pleafantry and good humour, he told me that he ihould be brought to return my vifit next week, and to receive the laft office of my friendfhip. I thought this a fair opportunity for fome ferious converfation with him, which I introduced by ex- prelTmg a fatisfadlion, that feeble as he was in body, he could look on his approaching difiblution with fo much eafe and complacency. He favv my drift, and gave way to it. I do not remember that he ex- prefsly profeffed himfelf to be a Chrillian, but in many refpe£ls he talked much like one ; he fpoke largely of his confidence in God's mercy and good- N nefs ; 17? SECTION VII. of the human mind, and he had fen- fibility enough to feel and acknow- ledge the calamities incident to hu- man nature ; but he had not greatnefs of mind enough to accept the humble and healing truths of the gofpel, pecu- liarly fulted to aflift mankind in fup- porting and improving thofe calami- ties, and in chafing away thofe errors. The gofpel, though the dictate and manifefl:ation of eternal truth, muft naturally revolt the noble Lord, when nefs; and I perfedly remember his conclulion was, I know it is my duty to fubmit my will in all things to the will of God. I do fo entirely, and my un- derllanding alfo, as far as I am able J' After doing this juftice to the noble Lord, and anfwering, as we conceive, the benevolent views of the communicator of this anecdote, we cannot but add, that refignation in diilrefs to the God of na- ture, or a faith that carries us no further than our jeafon approves, is not the faith or refignation of a Chriilian. it SECTION VII. tj() It would reduce him to the characlet of a miferable finner, or humble and eontrlte penitent. The graces of the fpirit would be laughed at, if recom- mended to the man who admired — * Angularly admired the graces of the dancing-mafter, or who made all tha graces center in a dancing- mailer. Neither Jefiis, nor his difeiples were polite, well-bred gentlemen, from whom you might learn the art of pleaiing men — the air of a court or the addrefs of a courtier. V Blessed ate the meek, — blefled ^* are the poor in fpirit, — blefled are the " pure in heart, — blefled are they who ** do hunger and thirfl: after righteouf- ** nefs/' are moralities of fo meagre, (o mean, and humble an afpeft, that they might become a cell, a cottage, or a cloyfl:er, but could never be in- N 2 tended i8o SECTION VIL tended for the ufe, or enter into the pradice of the man of the world, the man of wit, the man of gallantry and fafhion. Noble blood refents the af- front offered it in impofmg fuch trite, fuch thread-bare, fuch Illiberal fluff, — the dreams of platonic madmen — hot-brained enthufiafts and ghoflly im- poflors, upon the modern gentile world. Brotherly love and charity are vulgar antiquated terms, in the room of which the Noble Lord has fub- ftituted infinuation, addrefs, adulati- on, attention, afliduities, and all the external graces of a ftudied complai- fance. Lord Chefterfield was evident- ly a man of this world -, the wifdom of GOD therefore in revealing, and directing our views to another, muft be no better than foolifhnefs in the ef- timation of his Lordfhip. It SECTION VII, i8i It is well that Lord Cheflerfield has given us all his heart ; we thence learn, as we have before obferved, how poor and miferable, how blind and naked, is human nature, animated with wit and genius, polifhed by edu- cation, improved by reafon and reflec- tion, and refined by courtly manners, without the influence and advantage of religion. We fee wit e-yaporating in vanity 5 genius and eloquence ter- minating in ambition ; the paflions degenerating into lewdnefs ; vvifdom confined to human policy and intrigue ; good faith and good confcience fup- planted by profeffion and outward feeming ; benevolence banifhed by good manners -, friendlhip by complaifance ; fincere virtue and a fteady faith by felf- love and a prudential philofophy ; and all the devoirs of life, refpefting what we owe to GOD and man, contraded N 3 to i82 SECTION VII. to the narrow view of pleafing and gratifying Self. Let us fuppofe Lord Chefterfield had admitted Chriftianity to influence his faith and pradlice: had he been lefs honourable, or deemed fuch, by his fubjedion to the Almighty ? Had he been lefs happy under the protection, the order, and guidance of an all-wife and all gracious Providence, than as fubjeft to fortune, chance, or nature ? Had not fincerity, opennefs of man- ners, and cordial chriflian benevolence, contributed as eafily, and eflfeftually, to eflabliili his character in the world, and conciliate the love of mankind, as artificial addrefs, dilTembled friend- fhip, and French grimace ? Had his Lordfhip's name at this day been held lefs facred, or had he been lefs refpec- table in the eyes of his King and Country SECTION VII, 183 Country — had he been known to have lerved both from principles of loyahy and love, not from motives of intereft and ambition ? Had his Lordfliip's prudence been arraigned, if he had added to the wifdom of the ferpent, the innocence of the dove ; or if he had improved and applied thofe excel- lent rules he has given us for the im- provement of our time, regularity and diligence in bufinefs, to more exten- five views than thofe which are con- fined to the bounds of mortality ? Had the Noble Lord been lefs a moralift, had he, inftead of inflaming the paf- fions, and prompting to licentious pleafures, endeavoured to correal the malignity, and eradicate the depravity of human nature ? Had he been lefs a philofopher, had he taken in GOD as a neceffary agent in the procefs of N 4 nature, i84 SECTION VIL nature, and favoured us and himfelf with fome rational, if not pious, re- flediions, on his infinite providence and perfections ? Had his Lordfhip's genius, cr literature, been difcredited by their being employed in recom- mending to mankind ip general, and to his fon in particular, the love of virtue, of glory, and immortality ? Had the noble Lord departed from his dignity, in acknowledging himfelf fubjed; to the Lord of heaven and earth, an imitator of divine perfedion, and an afpirer after the eternal exiftence and happinefs of the celeftial order's ? Do v/e not fee a meannefs and degra- dation in the Noble Lord's fpirit and character, when we obferve him a mere man of this world, a mere ani- mal, and like his fellow-animals, pro- viding for no more than his prefent being SECTION VII. 185 being, without an eye lift up to heaven, or a thought for his future exiftence ? Poor human nature I we will Hw with his Lordftiip — poor, yet proud, proud of its nothingnefs, of its feathers, its ribbands, and rattles — of its errors, ignorance, and blind nefs — proud of the popular breath, of the fmiles of a court, and the promifes of a courtier ; of deceiving and being deceived — of living to vanity and lies — the dream of the day — the ill ado w of a momen- tary exiftence : — Whilft we are afraid or aftiamed of acknowledging our wants, would be thought great and honourable, wife and knowing, hap- py and independent, rich, abounding in all things and wanting nothing -, and to conceal our poverty and naked- nefs, would renounce the bounty, and reject the bjeffings of heaven itfelf. We i86 SECTION VII. We really pity the Noble Lord, la- bouring under diilrefs, yet above feek- ing any help, or entertaining any hope from heaven j a feeble mortal, yet in- dependent of his Maker -, helplefs, yet renouncing or foregoing all helps from the Almighty ; — without com- fort in life, and, what is ftill worfe, without comfort or profpecft in death, and making our very infirmities, which fhould be the fubjeft of humiliation, motives to prayer, and recommend to us a Redeemer and Deliverer, a kind of apology for, and juftification of all the pride, the follies, the vices, the inconfiftencies, and extravagancies of human nature. We cannot help fmiling at his Lord- fhip's French hafli of complaifance and good manners, which he would prefent SECTION VII. 187 prefent us with in the room of the old fafhioned Englifh repaft, good faith and a good confcience : but we are really inclined to pity the Noble Lord, when amidft the diftrefles of nature, upon the appearance of his diflblution, we find him ignorant, or, in fupport of his pride, affecting to be ignorant, that there is a GOD above him, or that he has an immortal foul : we la- ment the weaknefs of human nature, when we obferve the Noble Lord, with honours and titles thus mean, with fortune thus poor, with wit thus ridiculous, with reafon and philofo- phy fo deficient in knowledge, and the art of ordinary computation. Poor human nature ! confcious of, yet afhamed to acknowledge its wants; and though a beggar, too proud to alk i88 SECTION VII. afk affiftance of the Supreme Lord of Heaven and Earth. Miferable condi- tion of mortality, when uninfluenced and unfupported by the principles and power of religion ! To be weary of a filly v/orld, fenfible of the wretched bargain of life ; , to feel i\\Q. fragment of his wretched car cafe, and the tim- bers of his crazy vejjel running down to decay, yet, carelefs of confequences and without hope and profpe(^ of re- pair or reparation, fpeaks a degenera- cy Vv'hich a heathen philofopher would have been afhamed of; — a pride which nature fhrinks from and abhors, and which decency and common fenfe, reafon, as well as revelation, condemn. Socrates and Seneca a6l the proper part, ftand forth like heroes, and difgrace that affected infenfibility and indiffe- rence, that: fubmiffion to nature and its SECTION VIL 189 its laws, to any thing, or nothing, after death, exprefled by the Noble Lord on this iblemn fubjed:. May we not fuppofe the truth t<5 have been this ? That the Noble Lord affedted to figure as a wit, an orator, and a Peer of Great Britain: and fup- pofing this world to be the v/hole of human exiftence, he poffeffed his fhare of fame and fortune, and with this he' was content ^ and as he did not natu- rally relifti, he could not eafily admit a future ftate, wherein moral and fpi- ritual diftindions only would have place, would advance to fuperior de- grees of honour and happinefs, and where a Peer of Great Britain might poffibly rank below peafants and flaves. We wifli that thefe letters had af- forded 1^0 SECTION VIL forded us an occafion of exhibiting the Noble Lord in a more amiable^ more exalted, and more fplendid, that is, in a more Chriflian light ; — a wit decent and chaftifed, an orator fpirit- ed in the difplay, and powerful in the recommendation of truth and virtue ; a patriot fteady and brave, in pro- moting the benefit, and aflerting the rights and liberties of his country ; the man open, fincere, and benevo- lent I kind, yet firm ; placid, yet re- folute ; adling, and acTced by convic- tions of confcience; — animated and elevated by the principles of divine truth, by faith in the prefent GOD, and the profped: of his future kirtg- dom and glory, and exalted and tranf- formed by divine love and heavenly hope to a greatnefs and dignity, a fplendour and love, beyond all that Kings, SECTION VII. 191 Kings, and courts of Kings, can ex- hibit and beftow. But happy it is for mankind, that the eternal truth of GOD is fixed, is uniform and unchangeable -, without this, we may obferve, to what vari- ous opinions, abfurdities, and immo- ral principles ; mifled by the infirmi- ty of nature, the influence of paflion, the vanity of wit, the oftentation of fcience, the conjectures of reafon, the authority of great names, we muft be expofed. GOD, and his truth, re- fpecft not the diftindions of perfons and charaders in life ; great and little, high and low, are equally fubjedt to the authority of the Almighty : his favour and acceptance are equally and equitably promifed to all thofe who love and obey him. The wit and the Peer 192 SECTION VII. Peer of Great Britain are regarded as mere moral agents in the eye of the Holy and All-perfed: GOD : and hu- naan dignities, and diftinclions, titles, and narnes of honour, muil be confi- dered by the high and Holy One, who inhabiteth eternity, as the affedls of pur finful pride, the charadteriftics of our vanity, of our meannefs, and littjenefs. The humble, the devout, the good heart, is what alone can re- commend us to the regards of our Maker. Wits are feathers, and nobles more contemptible than Haves, when they intrench upon the prerogatives, and affeft to be like or above the Moft High. The truly great and refpedable iti the eye of GOD, by the rule and law of reafon, is he who from a confci- oufnefs SECTION VII. 193 oufnefs of his weaknefs, his worthlefT- riefs and nothingnefs, humbles himfelf in the duft before the throne of the Almighty, accepts and obeys his truth however made known to him, refigns himfelf to his Providence, co- operates with him in promoting the happinefs of mankind, and from a convidlion of the vanity of a paffing life, extends his views^ and builds his hopes on a future and imm.ortal ilate. Void of fuch a rational and mo- ral conducfl as this, the richeft among mankind are but beggars, the wifeft, are but fools, and the nobleft mean and degenerate — the phantoms of a day, the mock-heroes of a ftage, trembling under their ftep, and haften- ing every moment to a ruin. The greateft, diftinguiihed by titles, by offices and hpnours, by opulence by O luxury, 194 SECTION VII. luxury, by fplendour and equipage, eminent for wit, for tafte, for literary accomplifhments, and every external advantage of life, but ignorant of, in- different to, or defpifers of facred truth, and of the relation they ftand in to GOD its author, in the eye of rcafon are without real dignity and honour; without fecurity, fteadinefs or a pro- per relifh of the beft fortune, v/ithout fupport or comfort in the worft ; flaves to fenfe and paffion ; blind to the beauties and glories of GOD in his works of Creation and Providence, uninformed by immortal truth, unani- mated by any immortal profpe6t, un- acquainted with peace of confcience^ ftrangers to the exalted delight of communion with GOD by devotion and prayer, and hurrying down the precipice of life with the gloomy ex- pedlation of perifhing for ever. What SECTION VII. 195 What dignity offentiment orcha- rafter can we expe(ffc or admire in fuch a condudl as this ? Without princi- ple or virtue the hero is a murderer^, the ftatefman a flock-jobber, and the firfl: peer of the reahn only the moft illuftrious plunderer. Without prin- ciple and virtue prudence is but cun- ning, and wifdom fhort-iighted arti- fice; w^it is licentious, and good man- ners are infidious ; complaifance is hy-*- pocrify, and profeffion of friendfliip treachery 3 fplendour is a painted cloud 1 pov^er a raging tempeft ^ riches a for- did mafs ; nobility a {hining but pef- tilential meteor; and all the diftin- guifhed eminence and valuable pof- feffions of man, no better than the flower, or flowery dream of yefterday,; Q a SEC T, SECT. VIIL UPON a free and impartial review of Lord Chefterfield's Letters, you fee what a poor and contemptible figure the noble Lord makes, as a Mo- ralift and a Patriot ; as a Father, a Se- nator or a Briton. To give his rea- ders a hearty deteftation of the princi- ples and pradtices recommended in his letters; and to confirm them in the antiquated principles of virtue and re- ligion, let us exhibit the out-lines and fome of the ftriking features of that genuine and manly virtue which was adopted, pradifed and recommended by the patriots and fages of ancient Greece and Rome — was taught in their fchools, was maintained in the forum. SECTION VIIL 197 forum, and afferted in the fenate ; was incorporated with their laws, infpired the love of liberty, and animated the feveral orders of the ftate to do and fuffer all things for the happineft and glory of their country. Virtue would one of thofe fages have faid, confifts not in verbal tri- fling, in formal definitions, in fchool diftindions, and in the fubtle refine- ments of metaphyfical or political fo- phifts * : but it is a divine ardor of the foul * In a quotation from Baron Montefquieu made by Lord Chefterfield for the ufe of his fon, it is faid, <* In monarchies the principal branch of education ** is not taught in colleges or academies. — The <* virtues we are taught here, are lefs what we owe, <« to others, than to ourfelves ; they are not fo much <« what . draws us towards fociety, as what dillin- ** guiihes us from our fellow-citizens. Here the ac- O 3 ** tions 198 SECTION VIII. foul better felt than defined or defcri- bed, warming the heart, engaging the paffions^ ** tions of men are judged not as virtuous, but as ** fhining ; not as juft but as great, not as reafon- ** able but as extraordinary. When honour here *' meets with any thing noble in our adlions, it i^ ** either a judge that approves them, or a fophifter " by whom they are excu fed. *'It allows of gallantry, when united with the <* idea of fenlible afFedlion, or with that of con- <* queft : — it allows of cunning and craft, when «« joined with the notion of greatnefs of foul, or im- ^' portance of affairs ; as for inftance, in politics, ^* with whofe finelTes it is far from being offended. " It does not forbid adulation, but when feparate ** 7rom the Idea of a large fortune, and conneded "'* only with the fenfe of our mean condition. *' Truth in converfation is here a necelTary point, f' But is it for the fake of truth ? By no means. '* Truth is requifite only, becaufe a perfon habitu- «* ated to veracity has an air of boldnefs and free- *' dom.-r— In proportion as this kind of franknefs is «< commended thatof ths common people is defpifedj '' which SECTION VIII. 199 paflions, captivating the affedions, informing and charming the whole man into a love of truth and honour, of GOD and goodnefs, and animating him with a fpirit and fortitude to do and '* which has nothing but truth and fimplicity for its " objeft.— The education of monarchies requires '* a certain politenefs of behaviour, — But polite- ** nefs, generally fpeaking, does not derive its ori- ** ginal from fopure afource. It rifes from a de- ** fire of diflinguifhing ourfelves. It is pride that " renders us polite : we are flattered with being ** taken notice of for a behaviour that fhews we are ** not of a mean condition. "A COURT air confiils in quitting a real for a " borrowed greatnefs. The latter pleafes the courtier <* more than the former. — At court we find a delica- ** cy of tafle in every thing, a delicacy arifing from " the conliant ufe of the fuperfluities of life, from *' the variety, and efpecially the fatiety of pleafures, <* from the multitude, and confufion of fancies, ** which, if they are but agreeable, are fure of be- ^^ in^ well received. —Here it is that honour inter- 4. «' feres 200 SECTION VIIL and fufFer all things, in the profecuti- on of his favourite objeds, which a- lone he affeds and afpires after, though at the expence of his eafe, his plea- fure, his intereft, his reputation, or even of life itfelf. Least of all has felfiflinefs any con- necflion with virtue, and is the mean- eft and moft infamous principle that was ever afligned or recommended as a motive to the condudl of rational beings : for what are avarice and am- bition, fraud and rapine, hypocrify and ** feres with every thing; — to this whimfical ho- *' nour it is owing that the virtues are only jufl *' what it pleafes ; it adds rules of its own invention *^ to every thing prefcribed to us ; it extends or li- '' mits our duties according to its own fancy, whe- '^ ther they proceed from religion, politics, or mo- «' rality." Ld. Chesterfield's Let. Vol. 3, p. 32, &Co SECTION VIIL 201 and flattery, corruption and bribery, gaming, luxury and lewdnefs, with all the fopperies, follies, vanities and vices in fafliion, but the efFedts of that felfifhnefs, which Lord Chefter- iield has recommended as the ruling principle of his fon's conduct. Virtue — would Socrates and his followers, would Cicero, Seneca, and Antonine, would Livy and Cato have faid; — virtue is an immortal princi- ple, which came down from heaven, and points to heaven : it is immutable as well as immortal : it is the confti- tution of GOD in nature, and recom- mended by every motive, that fhould influence a rational being. It is e- qually binding at all times, and in all places ; upon all orders and degrees of men ; upon mafters and flaves, up- on 202 SECTION VIIL on fubjefts and fovereigns. It ftamps dignity upon the loweft, and beftows the only true honour upon the high- eft charadlers in human nature. Its intrinfic excellence difdains all artifici- al appearances, or external ornaments. Without it princes are the mockery of majefty, nobles are plebeians ; and with it plebeians tread on the necks of nobles. Virtue belongs to no peculiar fta- tion or character in life. It is the du- ty, the ornament, the happinefs, the honour of every reafonable being. It is of the fame value, power and dig- nity in a prifon as in a palace, in a cottage as on a throne. It is only dif- tinguifhed by the oppofition it meets with, by the pains and penalties it undergoes, by the pleafure it relifts, by SECTION VIII. 203 by the paffions it conquers, and by the falfe glory it defpifes. It feeks no ample theatre for its difplay, nor the trumpet of fame to report its praifes to the world ; but is content with the plaudit of confcience and the appro- bation of heaven. Virtue is indepen- dent of fortune and honours, of place or titles : it is often richeft in poverty and great in its humility, it rifes by oppofitlon, and fhines moft illuftrious in the fhade. It is more vigorous than wit, ^ — more lovely than beauty, more auguft than power ; more bene- ficent, more pleafing than juftice; more arduous, more enterprifing and fublimer than ambition. It is power- ful without friends, fatisfied without fortune, and great in its contempt of, and fuperiority to the world. It af- fefts neither plenty nor want, but content 204 SECTION VIII. content with the difcharge of duty, leaves the perquilites of office to o- thers. It afFeds no ftate or pomp. It is mighty in its own ftrength ; mag- nificent in its own greatnefs -, without gold or purple, fhines by its own na- tive fplendour, and is a conqueror without the eclat of a triumph. Virtue is decent, modeft and re- tired, except when confcience calls it forth, and duty puflies it forward to a more arduous and public exertion. It labours, though filent, yet unwea- ried ; preferving though oppofed, and fpirited though depreffed or neg- lected. Watered, foftered, and re- freflied by the dews of heaven, it grows and flourifhes though unheed- ed ; and is abundant in precious fruits regard- SECTION VIII. 205 regardlefs of the ungrateful hand that gathers them. Virtue, genuine virtue feeks no favour, but that of heaven ; refpefts no eye, but that of GOD. It conii- ders the loweft ftation, as the appoint- ment of Providence, and a fphere am- ple enough for the difplay of its prow- efs : and it annexes true honour and happinefs, only to the faithful dif- charge of duty and confcience. Vir- tue, if it cannot command, is con- tent to deferve fuccefs, and is fatisfied with the loweft place, as the place of honour, where it minifters to du- ty, and affords a fubject of patience and magnanimity, in doing and fuf- fering the will of GOD. Virtue would confider as the greateft 2o6 SECTION VIII. greateft infult, and the fouleft dimi- nution of its honour, the bribe of a- varice and ambition, — the temptati- on to luxury and lewdnefs, as the price of its condufl: and concurrence, in any meafure propofed, or duty ex- afted. It is delicately fenfible of any approach to vice, though gilded with the faireft appearance, and recom- mended by the moft fplendid exam- ples. Secrecy itfelf would not tempt it to betray a truft ; to an infradion of faith, or to violate its fanftity, though heaven and earth could be fup- pofed afleep, or to connive at the vio- lation. Virtue is fuperior to dejeftioa and fear : confcious of its own inten- tions and fmcerity, it is not anxious to pleafe, or fearful to offend. Satif- iied in a good confcience, and of ha- ving given no juft caufe of offence, it bears SECTION VIII, 207 bears no ill will, — it apprehends no injury, nor ftands in awe of the frown of a fuperior. It knows no fuperiori- ty, it refpedls no power, it reveres no greatnefs, it adores no divinity but what is founded in moral excellence, and fuperior goodnefs. It reverences the honeft Have abov.e the flagitious Peer or Prince. Virtue is hardy to en- terprize, and vigorous to perfevere; is neither damped by the negledt of the great, nor moved by the contempt and reproaches of the world. It heli- tates not at doubts and difficulties^ nor is timid and cautious of daring danger or incurring cenfures. It ad- vances wherever duty calls, and would rather run the hazard of a defeat, than be wanting in the profecution of a brave and honeft attempt. It betrays no fervile fear, nor is pradifed in a ftudied 2o8 SECTION VIIL ftudied and laboured complaifance. Virtue fears none but GOD, and ac- knowledges no authority but that of heaven. It receives no direftion but from the Divine Will, and knows no dependence but on the Divine Power. It is of too ftrong a habit, and of too mafculine a complexion to ftoop to the delicacies of fafhionable life, or to the prefcribed forms of polite addrefs, and artful infmuation. Superior to flattery as to falfhood, it is conftant to the truth : it looks, it fpeaks, it ads the dictates of the heart : unbyafled by fear or favour, unbroken by plea- fure or pain, by the effefts of profper- ous or adverfe fortune ; it contends for the truth with a fimplicity, fince- rity and ardour that do honour to the caufe ; and would rather lofe than gain an advantage by any indired: methods of SECTION VIII. 209 of profecuting and promoting It. Vir- tue is fuperior to injuries and affronts : confcious of its own native ftrength, it is unhurt by the one, and defpifes the other. It were not virtue that fliould depend for its exiftence and exercife on the good will or malice of others. It were no temple facred to, and inhabited by the divinity of trutji and virtue, that fliould fufFer violation from the falfliood, the injuftice and impiety of men. The out- works may be defaced or demoliflied, but true virtue^ the divinity of the place, is and muft be for ever inviolable, un- aflailable, unimpaired and impregna-^ ble againft every attempt that may be miade againft its firmnefs and compact conftruiflion. Virtue is a ftranger to repulfe and difgrace. Its very efforts are honourable, where they meet not P with 2IO SECTION VIII. with fuecefs ; it is even the more dif- tinguiihed by difappointment, and rifes more illuftrious from a fall. Beggared, banifhed, difgraced and tortured, it is flill virtue; and the more fo from the fortune, the difgrace, the banifhment and beggary it under- goes. Virtue is the reprefentative and fubftitute of GOD in the foul of man. It fupports, it confirms, it ftrength- cns, it fandifies, it exalts him above the frailties of nature, and the terrors of mortality. It gives him a powder invincible, a ftrength invulnerable, a peace inviolable, a faith immovea- tle, hopes immortal, and a fpirit in- finite and incompreflible. Virtue is the only ennobling qua- lity- SECTION VIII. 211 lity, the only nobility in nature. Ar- tificial nobility, the creation of mere policy or power, and conferred on the vicious, the venal and the bafe has no name or place in the temple of hon- our. It is the great foul alone, the heroic adlion, or the beneficent deed, that fpeaks the. great man, and tranf- fers his name with honour to future ages. The eminently virtuous, though profcribed by power, and damned by the voice of the fenate and people, challenge the firft honours of the flate, and are entitled to the mofl lafting memory in the records of fame ; while the vain and ambitious, the public pil- lager, the betrayer of his friends and country, every corrupt dependent on a court, though diftinguiihed by the moft fpendid titles and offices, which imperial favour can beflow, are ex- P 2 pofed 212 SECTION vm. pofed to the curfe of the prefent, and doomed to oblivion, or to the juft re- proaches of all future ages. Virtue adopts as her fons of honour the hum- bly good, and makes a contempt of fame the beft title to fame. Virtue admits no blood for patrician, which is tainted with ignorance or folly, pride or paffion, with v^ice or corrup- tion. Virtue confers the coronet, a crown and kingdom, on him alone who is mafter of himfelf, who con- quers his paffions, who beholds with an undazzled eye fuperfluous riches, fuperficial honours^ and empty titles, the blandishments of falfe pleafure, and the eclat of falfe glory. A Failure in virtue is a forfeiture of title : a charadler debafed and in- verted is more confpicuoully infamous ; and SECTION VIII. 213 and the nobleman defcending to the low arts, the vile praftices, and cor- rupt manners of bafe and vulgar fouls, in departing from his proper charadler, forfeits his dignity and title in life, and renders himfelf an obje6l of fupe- rior fcorn, and more deferved con- tempt. Great names and illuftrious titles, diftinguifhed by corruption, by degeneracy and licentioufnefs in prin- ciple and practice, exhibit a peculiar malignity ; as the fun and ftars con- verted into blood would ftrike us only as more fignal and horrible portents. When Princes commence tyrants, and Nobles degenerate into fervile fyco- phants, or modifh debauchees, virtue razes their names from the records of time, or damns them with immortal infamy. P 3 Virtue 214 SEC T I O N Vm. Virtue, If It Is fevere and awful as the GOD who infpires It, is like him juft, benevplent, and altogether lovely. Sincere in its views, and up- right in its intentions, it has nothing to fear or to conceal -, and, fecure in a good confcience, it difdains all feryili- ty or flattery, or any indired: means to attain its end, and carry its views into execution. It is generally happy in the effeds it produces, as it is honeft in the means it employs. Sincere vir- tue commands the efteem and confi- dence of all who deferve it; v/hile complaifance only attempts to enfnare the credulity of thofe upon whom it is pradifed. The plain nefs and fim- plicity of the language of virtue fpeaks its fincerity and veracity; while the courtier's fludled phrafe, profeflion of compliment, and voluminous expref- fion SECTION VIII. 215 fion of kindnefs, juftly render him fufpeded. The benevolence of virtue is feen by deeds, not by words. The delicacy of feeling is heightened by the perfedtion of virtue ; and the fen- fibility of nature is improved by its purity. The moft virtuous have al- ways been the moft compaffionate, the moft ready to inftrudl and to in- form, to give and to forgive : they content not themfelves with verbal condolence, and affeded fympathy, but fhew their good will by honeft advice, by friendly remonftrances, and by real benefits procured or confer- red on the unhappy. Virtue is not confined by felfifh or partial confidera- tions y it embraces the whole human race as the objedl of its attention and compaffion ; and feconds the preten- fions, and promotes the intereft, of P 4 all 2i6 SECTION VIIL all who have a claim to humanity, or wear a kindred forrrhi Virtue fpurns, with high difdain, the official bribe and mercenary pen- fion, and feeks not its own, but the good of others. — The dignity, the glory, the very effence of virtue con- fifts in its difintereftednefs ; — avarice, vanity and ambition, lewdnefs, lux- ury, paffions of the felfifh order, true virtue defpifes and abhors. The high- eft inftance of felf- denial fpeaks the fublimeft efforts of virtue, which, if it feeks its own good, feeks it as the effecfl or confequence, not as the mo- tive of duty ; — or, feeks it as a moral good, confifting in the delight of do- ing good, and the complacency of confcience in the approbation of hea- ven. True SECTION VIII. 217 True virtue co-operates with the order of Providence and the divine dif- penfations; promoting as it is able, the advantage of all ; and would deem as facrilege any advantage procured at the expence, and to the damage of o- thers. Virtue is the pureft emanation and image of the Divinity, that can inform the human foul : and the mo- ral qualities it difplays, truth, righte- oufnefs, goodnefs, mercy are the beft refemblance of the moral attributes of GOD. Virtue like its great author and inipirer, is fleady, immoveable and uniform, of a redlitude inviolable, of a benignity, or at leaft of a benevo- lence inexhauftible, and happy in pro- portion to its power of communica- ting happinefs to others. Virtue, in the moral, like the fun in the natural world, is not weary, nor wanders in its 2i8 SECTION VIII. its courfe, but fheds its benign influ- ence through the whole fyftem ; and though clouds and tempefts may for a time weaken its power, and obfcure its luftre, it perfeveres in its fteady courfe, with light and fplendor un- impaired. But virtue is fairer and more lovely than fun and ftars : thefe aft not, but are adled by a natural procefs and a ne- ceffary order. Virtue is the order of choice, the procefs of reafon and li- berty, and amidfl oppofing enemies and contending paffions acquits itfelf a conqueror : unfuccefsful as it may be in its efforts, and fometimes defeated in its views, depreffed by violence, blackned by calumny, buried in th^ fhade, or deformed by calamity, it is flill auguft : and, like beauty and in- nocence SECTION VIII. 219 nocence in tears, more lovely and af- fefting than the high born proflitutc adorned with all the glitter of wealth, the delicacy of drefs and the pomp of equipage. It is a divine vigour in the foul, triumphing over the darknefs, the mifery and ills of nature, and conr verting them into objects of acquief- cence, complacency and tranquillity. Virtue is the image of GOD ftamped upon human nature, refining its bafe- ncfs, exalting its meannefs, enlight- ening its darknefs, enlarging its little- nefs, enriching its poverty, healing its maladies, and converting its very wants, diftrefTes and miferies into a- bundance, into triumph, into happi- nefs and glory. Poor human nature indeed without this divine treafure! Amidft opulence how needy ; amidft titles and honours how ignoble and 220 SECTION VIII. mean, in a palace how miferable, how contemptible on a throne ! True virtue by its felf-abafement, felf-denial, and renunciation of felf, gains univerfal admirers. It refpedls the public as the befl good, and truth as the moft valuable poffeffion : in their fupport and defence, with Pho- cion and Socrates, it is carelefs of life and fortune, and nobly embraces po- verty and death. Virtue renounces all felfifh and fenfual enjoyments, and a- dopts the focial and moral, as the true- eft and only happinefs ; and raifed a- bove all low and vulgar prejudices and paffions, it coniiders the caufe of truth and the caufe of GOD as the fame, which it defends at the hazard of its being. — Yet though bold and daring to the death, virtue the child of heaven wears SECTION VIII. 221 wears an angel's fmile, and is diftin- guiflied by all the graces of its divine original : elevated and afpiring, yet winning and attraftive 5 benevolent, gracious, courteous and condefcend- in<. 5 its features formed to compla- cency, its voice attuned to harmony ; its eye beaming with benignity; and all its motions, though compofed and fteady, yet graceful, elegant and un- affumtng ; modeft without affedation, engaging without art, pleafing with- out defign or flattery, and command- ing friends and admirers by a fimpli- city that is above all art and difgmfe. Virtue, though retired, has nothing to difguife or be aOiamed of ;-is open, generous and unembarraffed upon eve- ry occafion ; though humble and un- affuming in its garb, afpeft and ad- drefs, it is manly and fpirited in its conduft 222 SECTION VIII. condud, and difplays a fortitude un- fubmitting and unappalled in the dif- charge of duty. Virtue is a fteady and inflexible principle, and depends not on the ac- cidents of time and place, or on the fafhion of the world : it furveys the progreffive rife and fall offtates, of nations- and empires, with the fhort- lived exiftence, and certain and uni- verfal mortality of the human race; and under this conviction afpires to a name, a charader and exflience, which will mock the flight of ages, and fur- vive the. defolations of nature. While the courtier flutters the ihining infedt of the day, virtue eredls for her fons a temple facred to immortality. The good man apprehends no death or dif- folution ! invited to heaven and called to SECTION VIII. 223 to glory and immortality, he foars a- bove this dim fpot which men call earth, and is loft in the boundlefs, the infinite, the incomprehenfible progref- fion of eternity that appears to his profpedl. Yet virtue, though coloured with all the graces of heaven, has no charms or beauty, were the faculties are indifpofed to receive or relifli it ; and we wonder not to hear chriftians called enthufiafts, or platonic mad- men, when they exhibit GOD and virtue in colours too bright, and in a form too exalted for the tafte of the fenfual epicurean philofopher. Vir- tue among fome of the ancients was painted an auguft figure * 5 her coun- tenance , *}iai4pamctt aura 3wo yuvaiuag TrpoUvctt (xByctha;, HS. 224 SECTION VIIL tenance open ^ amiable and elevated, with an air of confcious dignity, and her perfon adorned with native ele- gance ; her look with modefty, every gefture with decency, and her gar- ments altogether of the pureft white : but we would convert the celef- tial Seraph into an errant ftrumpet, in order to fuit our tafte and gra- tify our paffions. How lovely, how iittradlive is flie in her native charms, her divine beauty and happy efFedts ! The founder of cities, the enad:er of laws, — the fupport of fociety, the health of a flate, the conqueror in war, the ornament in peace ,- — the fource of national order and hppinefs, the fecurity of property, the cement of mxo(T[JLy\(Ji.zvY[v to (mzv cruixa Ka^apoTriTif rot ^e ofAfitxra aihi, TO h axvfici ac>)(ppoo-vvyi^ Eo-^nri ^e Munn. Xenopsow Mem. Socr* friend-^ SECTION VIII. ^25 friendfhip, — the bond of conjugal fi- delity, the parent of domeffic harmo- ny ; the peafant's inviolable tenure ; the hermit's whifpering angel, — the profcribed patriot's, the dying philo- fopher's and heroe's fupport and com- fort ! Virtue theblifs of private life ^ the beft defence, ornament and honour of public characters ; - — the beauty of youth, the flay of old age, — the fub- jedl's unalienable right, and to the Prince a fecurity ftronger than that of a crown ! Virtue the faireft flower that opens upon earth, the fweeteft in- cenfe, that afcends the ikies ! Such was virtue in the eftimation of ancient wifdom; and for what are we, according to modern manners, to exchange this ineflimable jewel ! — For a place, a title, or a wh — re ! Shall this virtue, the divine image and Q^ effulgence. 226 SECTION VIIL eifulgence, the imprefs of the divinity upon the human form, the only re- femblance of man to his maker ; fhall this virtue be at the mercy of paffion and prejudice, of vice and folly ^ of Lords or Commons, of Priefts or Prin- ces, to model it according to their own intereft, ambition or avarice ? Virtue is a robe of heavenly woof and texture, which will not admit any fhape or form which human inven- tion, folly or fafhion Ihall give it. Let the Prince command his fubjeAs ! Let the patrician lord it over his flaves ! But let not either of them prefume to didlate to the Lord of heaven and earth j Shall the immutable law of GOD, -—the law of nature and reafon be relaxed, altered or abrogated at the will of a frail, a blind and corrupt mortal ? Or has a peer of Great Bri- tain any more authority to cancel the confti- SECTION VIII. 227 conftitution of the moral, than of the natural world ? The fame right which the Lord Chefterfield has to recom- mend whoredom and adultery, any o- ther man has to recommend and prac- tife calumny, pillage public or pri- vate, perjury, murder, or any other fpecies of corruption and villainy, to which human nature may be inclined. May we prefume to fuppofe that there is any political malevolence in the great, in thus attempting to tra- duce virtue, and to deftroy its exig- ence out of the world? — That this principle which raifes the loweft, en- riches the pooreft, and ennobles the meaneft, which renders every man great and independent, or dependent on heaven alone, being extinguiflied, titles and fortune, offices and honours might rear their heads aloft, and, as 0^2 the 228 SECTION VIIL the only valuable diftinftions, chal- lenge the univerfal homage of man- kind ? Such degeneracy, fuch impi- ous artifice, can furely never lodge in any polite breaft ; and we fhould ra- ther fuppofe in the cafe before us, that the noble Lord's principles v^ere the effeft of his education, not fufE- ciently inured to virtue, — or of his good fortune, not checked by any fignal diftrefs or calamity, — or of his temper and conftitution difpofed to pleafure, vanity and wit, — or of the applaufe which the laft gained him, and that general good reputation he held among mankind 5 — all which might tend to hide his infirmities from himfelf, and from the infpeftion of others, to whom he laid himfelf not fo open, as he has done in this confidential correfpondence with his fon. What- SECTION VIII. 229 Whatever was the ground of his principles, it is to be lamented for his own fake, for the fake of his friends and of his country, that they were e- ver publiflied to the world : they are indeed in no degree dangerous from any plaufible reafons, or fpeculative arguments by which he attempts to fupport them : but the very name and ^example of fo accomplifhed a Noble- man, may have a very unhappy efFe(fl upon the morals of Britons :— and we have only to wi(h as a counter-ba- lance or counter-ferment to the poi- fon which thefe letters convey, that a patrician or patricians of the firft name, * Unum exemplum aut luxuris aut avarltias mul- tum mail facit : convidor delicatus paullatim ener- vat & emoUit : malignus comes quamvis candido & fimplici, rubiginem fuam affricait. Senec. Ep.'7- 0^3 diftin- 230 SECTION VIIL diftinguifhed as much by their virtues as by their titles, revered for their re- verence to the Almighty, and exalted above others for their fuperior love to GOD and man, v^ould ftand forth in the caufe of truth and virtue, and by their writings, as well as their exam- ple, refcue morality from the viola- tion it has fuffered, and ftill fuffers from the wanton and licentious pen of Lord Chefterfield. ♦.t.. A PATRICIAN thus engaged, would do himfelf the higheft honour, and add to his other titles that of faviour of his country. A patrician fupport- ing its laws, promoting or reftoring its virtue, combating its word ene- mies, and exterminating principles, which have upon tryal proved, and muft for ever prove moil fatal to the fecurity SECTION VIIL 231 fecurity, the ftability, the liberty, the happinefs and grandeur of ftates and empires ; — a patrician thus engaged, would be more than noble; we fhould hail him as divine — a legate commif* fioned by heaven, to vindicate the laws of heaven, to deliver mankind from meannefs, corruption and mifery, from falfe pleafure, falfe delicacy, falfe ho- nour, and falfe greatnefs, to invite the wanderer into the path that leads to the trueil relifli of his being, and to the fovereign happinefs and glory of his nature. Nobles are not wanting, qualified by their learning to explain, and by their eloquence to defend and enforce the laws and liberties of their coun- try i — and we fee in the inftance be- fore us, a nobleman diftinguifhing Qjj. him- 232 SECTION VIIL himfelf by his abilities, and powerful and perfuafive in the art of feduction and vice. And fhall no genius, no pa- trician, no orator appear in defence of the firft and the beft caufe, the caufe of injured truth and declining virtue ? «— - a caufe more important to the in- tereft of the Britifh empire, than all her taxes, all her colonies and all her treafures ; — a caufe with the decline of which muft decline the induftry, the temperance, the courage, the ho- nour and reputation, the internal or- der and profperity, and the external enlargement and grandeur of the ftate; «— a caufe which GOD and nature have publifhed, and ftill publifli to the world, and which therefore ren- ders our contempt of it the more im- pious, and our neglefl: of it the more jnexcu fable ! SECT, SECT. IX, IN exhibiting the pradlice of Pagan Virtue, we have perhaps fomewhat exceeded the original, and borrowed fome colouring from a diviner fource; as the latter platonifts, we are well aware, have adorned and improved philofophy with fublimer truths and more exalted moral documents, than Were known to the ancient profeflbrs. It is in the fchool of Jefus alone, that we have the light of truth, and the perfecftion of virtue, without the art, or the ftudied eloquence of compofiti- on, to recommend the one or the o- ther. Chriftian perfedlion is the high- eft human nature is at prefent capable of. It confers on man the trueft gran- deur. 234 S E C T I O N IX. deur, the moft fabftantial wifdom, and the fincereft happinefs. It may not, indeed, form the man into the fpruce, the gay, the gaudy, the drefly, the dancing, the delicate, the fmooth, the fubtle and fervile fycophant ; but it will give a fimplicity and fincerity to his words and adlions, a dignity to his fentiments, a complacency and can- dour to his manners, that humility and condefcenfion, that fweetnefs and benevolence of fpirit, which the man of mode affedts, but affefts in vain to imitate. The fincereft chriftian, pa- radoxical as it may feem, would per- haps be the beft courtier in the world : honeft, without views of intereft ; faithful and affiduous without ambiti- on ; fmcere without rudenefs or in- fult; compliant without art, and be- nevolent without delign ; faithful to his S E C T I O N IX. 235 his Prince, as to his GOD, and from the fame principle of duty and con- fcience^ — the patron of virtue 5 a pro- moter of arts ; a friend to his country, and to human kind; — not aifecSing the femblance, but pradlifing the fub- flance of virtue ; — at home and abroad, refpedted and treated v^ith honour, as always ading w^ith honour, and good faith to others ; prudent upon princi- ple,, without craft ; engaging without artifice ; and condefcending without fervility ; dauntlefs from no confcious guilt, and daring to the death, in the profecution of truth and duty. Morality hath its ground-work in nature, and hath therefore been pro- perly flyled eternal and immutable. Revelation is a fuperftru6ture on the ground-work of nature, and confpi- cuous 236 SECTION IX. cuous for its fuperior ftrength, ufc, and beauty. The believer adts with more fpirit and firmnefs, with more fimplicity and fincerity, than the na- tural man ; as informed by a clearer light, and influenced by more power- ful motives and flronger convid:ions. If revelation hath enlarged the fphere of duty, it adminifters proportionable ftrength and aid in the performance. It fpeaks its divinity alike, by the vir- tues it exafts, and by the power it lend^ to their efficacy. Its graces are of a fublimer order, than any natural, artificial, or even moral qualities of the mere man. They are effeds of the more immediate operation of GOD ; they communicate with, they take firmer hold upon the foul, and difFufe themfelves with more power and uniformity on the manners, and external S E C T I O N IX. 237 external behaviour of the man. The believer thinks, and adls, with an eye to that prefence which nothing can deceive;-— to a judgment which no art, or fecrefy, or fubterfuge, can evade or elude ; and to an allotment of punifhments, or rewards, which nothing can exceed or equal. A con- fcioufnefs of his own unworthinefs, makes the believer modeft and humble. The fenfe of a particular Provi- dence, of the ever prefent GOD, with the profpe(fl of a future and im- mortal flate ; — a conviftion that infi- nite recSitude, that fupreme love, or- ders and diredis the v/hole univerfe of being ; and that this infinite and all- gracious GOD, is your GOD, and your portion for ever, give the believer an acquiefcence, a ferenity, and com- placency 238 S E C T I O N IX. placency of fpirit, a benevolence in manner and expreffion, which no fafhionable compliments, or artificial good breeding, can ever arrive at. A iincere believer will be believed ; and is Aire to gain the efteem, the truft, the confidence and love of all with whom he is connefted. A believer as fuch cannot deceive you ; or, fhould he be himfelf deceived, his miftake muft have the happieft efFeft upon himfelf, and upon thofe he converfes with ; as it obliges him to whatever things are honeft, are lovely, are of good report; — to forbearance, to for- givenefs, to candour, to charity, and every aft of beneficence toward the whole human race. The believer is what he feems ; means what he fays, and performs what he promifes, or more. Afting, as he does, with a ftrift SECTION IX. 239 ftrid; regard to truth and fincerlty, he is not at hberty to pradife any artifi- cial policy, and diflimulation, in his commerce with mankind. Eafy and happy in himfelf, from the principles of his faith, and the reflections of a good confcience, he wears the fmile of peace upon his brow, and diffufes from the fulnefs of his heart, eafe and happinefs to all around him. His fublime views, his fpiritual, his hea- venly, his immortal hopes and expec- tations, raife him above the world, and exempt him from all the felfifh, the fordid, and vexatious paffions, which difquiet and difgrace life ; give him a fuperior air, manner, and dignity^ tempered with a humanity and com- placency, which is not to be acquired at any court in Europe ;— and our fine gentleman, accomplifhed and fee - out 240 S E C T I O N IX. out with all the graces of France and Italy, when oppofed to one who has been educated in the fchool of Chrift, makes no better a figure than a monkey does when compared to a man. It is the morality of the Gofpel alOne^ which can raife man to that perfedUon which Lord Chefterfield would recom- mend to his fon : and a charader formed upon the moral principles of the Gofpel (one of the ftrongeft proofs of its divinity) as much excels the mere man of fafhion, as the fubftance exceeds the fhadow, as truth furpaffes falfehood, or a real and fignal benefit conferred, does an infidious promife^ or profefiion of beneficence. Had Lord Chefterfield read the Gofpel with the fame attention, with which he read Mr. de Voltaire^ the Cardinal S E C T I O N IX. 24t Cardinal de RetZy and Tacitus, he had not perhaps found the fame brilliancy of language and pride of wit, which he admired in his favourite authors; but he had found heavenly graces di(flated in all the limplicity of truth, operating by a divine energy, power- ful to correfl: every obliquity, to era- dicate every corruption, and to con- firm and advance every kindlier and beneficent propenfity in his nature : and his Lordfhip might have been, at the fame time, the befl chriftian, the moft uptight flatefman, and the fineft gentleman in the nation. Wc have only to lament, that a nobleman of fuch eminent abilities, fliould have been led by vanity, by nature, and the fafliion of the world, to adopt and re- commend principles fubverfive of pub- lic and private virtue, and of the R ftrength. 242 SECTION IX. ftrength, the fecurity, the glory and happinefs of his country. If revelation would have this hap- py efFecft upon the morals and con- du6t of mankind, would it be lefs propitious to their interefts and for- tunes as men and citizens ? Let Britons fay, if the happinefs and glory of their conftitution at home has been eilablifhed, or their empire abroad extended, by policy without probity, by the artifice of fliarpers, by the wantonnefs of wit, by the nar- row views of felfifh and mercenary fpirits ;— by men devoid of principles, morals, and religion ; — by fribbles, by dancers, and debauchees ; — by well-bred courtiers, and flattering fy- cophantsj S E C T I O N IX. 243 cophants 5-*-by expert dealers in fmall talk, and the chit-chat of the day ? Let Britons fay, if the Graces alone have formed their councils, fought their battles, gained their viftories, or advanced their con^uefts ? Whe- ther the ftrapping of the fhoe, or the curling of the hair, have had any weight in the balance of Europe ^ or in any, age or country, fupplied the place of true wifdom, or martial vir- tue, in contributing to the growth and ftability of empire ? Wa r may ravage our country ; plague, or famine, or peftilence, may thin our ftreets, and unpeople our vil- lages, and in the end prove falutary, by purifying the moral world qf its corruption, and forming us to a firmer R 2 and 244 S E C T I O N IX, and founder habit of virtue and piety. But more fatal than war, than famine and peftilence, are principles of im- morality and impiety, admired and adopted by the national tafte, and ad- mitted into the national pradice. — They prepare a people for excifion ra- ther than caftigation ; they unqualify them for the difcharge of duty in peace or war; they dilTolve all the bonds of fociety, and propagate a fpi- rit of meannefs and felfifhnefs, of lux- ury and lewdnefs, of diffimulation and treachery, of injuflice and oppreffion, and give free range to every fenfual in- dulgence that may be fafliionable in the fight of men, and not incur the cenfure of the laws. Lord Chesterfield flandscharge- ?^V, in the eye of every competent judge SECTION IX. 245 judge of propriety, with this fpirit and thefe principles ; and as fuch de- ferves our deteftation, as one of the worft enemies to his country that Bri- tain ever produced, a Mandeville not excepted : and were I at liberty to wifh ill to my country, I could not wifli it worfe, than that its interefts and affairs, at home and abroad, might be condu£led by counfellors and heroes, by fenators and ftatefmen, formed on the plan and principles of Lord Chefterfield. But, this notwithftanding, thefc Letters have met with an uncom- mon degree of attention and applaufe from the world, have been, and are ilill read with much avidity and de-' light. Yet let me divert for a mo- ment the candid reader*s eye from the R 3 page 246 SECTION IX. page of Lord Chefterfield, while I afk him thefe few queftions. Do you find your heart bettered by the peiTifal ? Are your morals im- proved ? Are your paflions reftrain- ed or conquered ? Are the vices of nature corredled ? Are the forrows and troubles of life affuaged or foften- ed ; or the terrors of death fmoothed and fmiling with peace and comfort ? Does the noble Lord give you fo much as a philofophical grandeur of fenti- ment, by opening to your profpect the immenfity of the prefent fyftem, or the indefinite progrefiion of the fu- ture ? — Does his Lordfliip's know- ledge of human nature fliew you wherein its meannefs, ^d wherein its greatnefs confifts ^ — how to cor- reft and raife the one, or to cultivate, improve SECTION IX. 247 improve and enlarge the other ? Has the noble Lord explained or enforced the focial, the moral, or religious duties; inflamed your love to your neighbour, your country or your GOD ? Does nature adorned by his pencil wear a fairer hue ? Or does vir- tue in his LordfliiVs drav^ing alTume a more lovely forni ? Inspired by his Lordfhip's pub- lic fpirit, are you willing to bleed, to fuffer or die for liberty, for virtue, and your country ? Or do your hearts burn within you, Vv^hile the Britifh Peer, fired by the genius of ancient Greece and Rome, pours in upon you the fpirit of patriotifm in a torrent of eloquence and enthufiafm ? Do you find yourfelves difpofed by his Lordfhip's precepts to pay more R 4 reverence 248 SECTION IX. reverence and regard to fimplicity, fincerity and truth ? Or are your breafts more open to the impulfe of friendfhip, to cordial benevolence, and an undlffembled love of mankind? Amidft the various fpeculations raifed from his knowledge of human nature, do you find any calculated to remove your ignorance, to fupport your in- firmities, to heal your ficknefs, to di- redl the wavering mind, and to ftill the throbbings of an aching heart ? Do you feel your hearts more charm- ed, enflamed and elevated by the love of facred wifdom difplayed in the works of the noble writer ? Do you obferve his Lordfliip pointing out to you, amidft the vanities of this life, any real and moral good, any fubftan- tial, fublime and fovereign happinefs ? Or does our philofophic fage, from the SECTION IX. 249 the experienced inanity of this filly world} direcl your views to new and opening fcenes, — to a variety of un- tried being, with a future manifefta- tion of Godhead to difplay his per- fedlions, and vindicate his prefent Providence ? Say, Britons, is a life of diffimula- tion, of hypocrify, of ceremony, of compliment, of flattery and fervility ; a life formed to the fafhion of this world, devoted to paffion, to pleafure, to felfifhnefs and fenfuality; — a life afpiring after nothing higher than the carefles of a miftrefs^ or the friendfhip and favours of a court ; — fay, is this the life worthy of a being born with diftinguifhed moral and intellectual powers, capable of pervading the works of GOD, of conceiving im- mortal 25a S E C T I O N IX. mortal hopes, and imitating the di- vine moral perfections ? Amidst our improvements and growing difcoveries in the natural, the moral and the intelleftual lyflems ; — amidft the fupernatural light of heaven, which hath difperfed the darknefs tliat obfcured the nations, are v/e to revert to the principles of Epi- curus ; are we to adopt chance or for- tune for our GOD, and pleafure and paffion for our guides ? Does the glo- ry of man confift in imitating the beads that perifh; ia adopting their appetites, and wilhing and expefting to die their death ? Is this the whole ambition of nobility ? — To fhine the blazing meteors of a moment, and to conlign their names, their effence and future profpedls to corruption and for- getfulnefs ? SECTION IX. 2Si getfulnefs ? Are infamy in life, and the duft of death the only preroga- tives, which man, as a reafonable being, was born to inherit ? And what has the noble Lord propofed higher or greater for the objedl of your attainment or afpiration ? What is the figure, and what the fortune he points out to his fon, but the reward of fervility and flattery, of venality and corruption? And if he afFecls to defy death, it is not from any rational hopes, conceived or exprefled, which might enable him to fupport or con- quer it ; but, like a vain bully, he af- fefts the hero, in fighting an enemy whom he cannot efcape; and like a malefactor dragged to the place of e^s- ecution, he dies hard, becaufe paft all hopes of a reprieve. Say, 252 S E C T I O N IX. Say, Britons ! Sons of reafon, fay, if amldft the awful revolutions, and births of time, and the majeftic pro- cefs of nature and providence; if, in the prefence, and under the admini- ftration of an infinite and all-holy GOD, amidft the difappointments, the vanity, and mifery of life, and under the certainty of diflblution and of death ; fay, if thus fituated, you can think yourfelves born merely for the fong and dance — to indulge to pafEon and pleafure, to know nothing, to do and fufFer nothing, to hope and poffefs nothing, but the fhort-lived good of the prefent moment ? Say, is friendfhip and benevolence, is vir- tue, liberty, and your country, a mere name, or a nothing? Say, if your moral feelings, the natural ope- rations of the foul, peace of confcience, and SECTION IX. 253 and the terrors of confcious guilt ; if the fentiments of fages, of philofo- phers and legiflators, — the dedudtions of reafon, and the inftitutes of religion, are all nothing but a name ? Say, if life and death, if time and eternity, if the apparatus of heaven and earth, if GOD, the judge of all, contain or imply nothing refpeding you, but the momentary gratifications of your fenfes and paffions, your vanity and vice ? Away with this folly and madnefs — - with thefe fond and childifh concep- tions and degenerate appetites ! And let us, if not for GOD's fake, yet for our own, awake to the wants of na-* ture, to the calls of providence, and to the voice of reafon and religion : let us aft, at leaft, the manly and phi- lofophic part ; and for the infipid, the gaudy, the fuperficial, theflimfy, and delicate 254 S E C T I O N IX. delicate creatures, which the Lord Chefterfield would make us, let us exert the condudt, and difplay the character of thofe who are called to be the fons of GOD and of glory. What is it then that charms you in the page of Lord Chefterfield ? Acknowledge and blufli, whilft you acknowledge it. It is his vanity ftooping to, and correfponding with yonr vanity; his nobility condefcend- ing to be your caterer and pimp of pleafure; his eafy and pliant virtue affuming any ftamp, which the fafhion of the world is pleafed to imprefs upon it; flattering yt)ur paffions, counte- nancing your follies, and indulgent to every corrupt propenfity of your na- ture. You are charmed with his Lordfhip*s private anecdotes, feafoned with S E C T I O N IX. 255 with wit, with ribaldry, and fcandal, tending to fliade^ fomeof the brightefl: names and charadlers that ever adorn- ed, and to detract from the guilt and horror of fome of the worft that ever difgraced human nature. You are charmed with a patriotifm unembar- raffed with integrity, confcience, and * Some circumflances he mentions in the Duke of Marlborough's youth, were certainly not in- tended to derive new honour upon the charader of that ill uftrious general and diftinguiihed ftatefmau. All that he has to fay of Brutus is, that he was a thief in Macedonia ; he fays not much better of Mr. Addifon, whom we find him affededly fliy la mentioning, or recommending, amongft the Englifh Claflicks ; and all that he has to tell us of this jnoft ingenious, moll elegant, moft entertaining, and in- llruAive writer is, that, he flole his book of travels, or moft of the remarks and claifical references in that book, from Alberti, an old Italian author; and this the noble Lord gives us upon mere report or hearlay. Vol. Ill, p. 3^51, . . . , love 256 S E C T I O N IX. love of country; and with a perfedion devoid of morality and inward fanc- tity. Britons, that are parents, afkyour own hearts, fuppofing that Lord Chef- terfield's fcheme of education was both poffible and pradlicable, and that yoa could reconcile the ardor of youth with the fagacity and cool diflimulation of old age : — that you could unite in the fame perfon, the two different charac- ters of an Adonis and an Ulyffes, of 1 Paris and a Neftor, the wifdom and political fcience of a Wallingham, or a Burleigh, and the ambition and lewdnefs of a Somerfct, and a Buck- ingham : — Britons, who are parents, aflc your own hearts, whether you would wifti your children to be edu- cated on the Lord Chcfterfield's plan ? Whether SECTION IX. 257 Whether you would delight to fee them accomplifhed after his Lord- fhip's idea of perfedtion ? Making a figure and fortune in life at the ex- pence of their innocence, their inte- grity, their iincerity, their liberty and independence ? Would it pleafe you to fee them exchange the virtues for the graces ? A good confcience for a plaufible appearance ? Engliih ho- nefty for French grimace ? And found morals for external and fuperficial ac- complifhments ? Could you fincerely congratulate yourfelves, as having gained the grand point, when you be- held your fons, as mere courtiers, faithlefs politicians, prudent and po- lite debauchees, playing a fliort- lived part on the ftage of this filly world, then quitting it with an hardy indiffe^ S rence 258 SECTION IX. rence what ihould become of them for ever ? Ye parents and fons of Britain, fpurn the infidious tempter from your embrace : he offers an infult to your underftanding, and the common fenfe of mankind. He builds your happi- nefs on the ruins of your virtue : he recommends a courfe of condud: and manners, which difdains all connec- tion with fimplicity and truth — with the fincere love of GOD and man : he confines all your intereft to this Jilly world, and employs your chief care in the cultivation of a frail and perifhing body. The faculties of an afpiring and intellecftual foul, with its proper objects, GOD and his works, his providence, perfecflions, and laws, he extinguiihes or abforbs, in direct- ing the whole man to the gratification of S E C T I O N IX. 259 of the lufts of the flefli, the luft of the eye, and the pride of life. Men, and the Noble Lord among the reft, are only more refpedable animals, born to breathe, to live, to propagate, and rot; with wit only to difplay more vanity ; and with reafon to pradlife more fraud and falfehood than their brother- brutes ; but, in other refped:s, the fame commoners of nature j living the fame life, and dying the fame death. It is true, his Lordfhip does not affirm this in diredl and exprefs terms, nor argue logically and fyftematically on the principles of religion and mo- rality : but the moral ledures to his fon muft be conlidered as fo many practical conclufions, derived from the principles of infidelity, taken for grant- S 2 ed J 246 SECTION rx. ed : and though the Noble Lord hath allowed, that the believer hath the advantage over the infidel in point of argument, yet he advifes, he mora- lizes, he concludes, as if divine truth and religious faith had no foundation or exiftence in reafon, or the nature of things : and the moft licentious of the infidel tribe have fcarce gone fur- ther, or fhew^n more malice to man- kind, than the Lord Chefterfield in his attempts to difcredit moral virtue, and to cancel all moral obligation. The genius of Britain is naturally ftrong and mafculine, great and enter- prifing, ferious and thoughtful, dif- pofed to philofophy, to virtue, to opennefs, to integrity, to wifdom, to liberty and religion. None but an enemy to his country, or one igno- rant S E C T I O N IX. 261 rant of its real interefts, would wifh to unbrace, and polifli away this hardy and manly fpirit, and to forego thefe native propenfities and valuable privi- leges of our reafonable nature, for fla- very, for fycophancy, and infidelity, for diffimulation and artifice, for vice, for falfehood and folly, for a cempli- ment, a cringe, and a dance. Upon the whole, what do thefe let- ters prefent us with, but the pldlure of a parent without true natural affec- tion j of a man devoted to animal paflions; of a wit without decency; of a moralift without virtue ; of a fe- nator without reverence to the laws ; of a patrician without love to his country; of a ftatefman without inte- grity and public alFeftion; of apradi- cal infidel and epicurean; plaufible S3 rather 262 S E C T I O N IX. rather than refpeftable ^ fpecious ra- ther than virtuous 5 gracious than be- neficent ; complaifant not benevolent 5 eafy not happy; gay and joyous, not ferene or philofophical ; vain and o- ftentatious, not great or elevated ; a licentious wit, a v^anton buffoon, not the dignified and fober ftatefinanj ftudied in the frailties and imperfec- tions, but unacquainted with the en- larged capacities and fublimer endow- ments of human nature ^ — a flave to fenfe and paffion, but dead to the truth and comforts of the intellectual and fpiritual world; alive to every vanity of life, but ignorant or infenfible of the prefent GOD, and all immortal hope ; eagerly grafping at feathers, at ribbons, at firings, at pebbles and fha- dows, but carelefs of the moft impor- tant. SECTION IX. 263 tant, of moral, of divine, of effential and eternal realities. If, after all, it be faid in defence of Lord Chefterfield, that he wrote not for the public, and that as if a- ihamed of his principles or precepts he prefumed or enjoined, that they /hould be preferved in inviolable fecre- cy, and that if he dealt in poifon, it is only for his own and his fon's ufe 1 this we acknowledge had been a fuffi- cient excufe and the ftrongeft argu- ment for the non-publication of this colledion ; but now that they are fent into the world, and have all the influ- ence and authority which the name, the charafter and example of Lord Chefterfield can give them, no apolo- gy need be made for any attempt to counterv/ork their mifchievous efFeds S 4 and 264 SECTION IX. and operations, and to awaken the world out of that delufive and immo- ral lethargy into which they are thrown by thefe fafcinating Letters. If it fliould ftill be objefted that we have ufed the noble Lord with too little ceremony, and have not paid him the refped: due to his title and quality, we reply that truth, virtue and religion, the interefts, the liberties and happi- nefs of mankind are great and momen- tous realities ; in afferting which had we ufed a cautious referve, fervility, or flattery, we had avowed our fear of man, we had betrayed the caufe we profefs to defend, and had given en- couragement to vice, by compliment- ing the vicious. A fycophant to the impious and immoral, whatever name or title they may bear, is a traitor to his SECTION IX. 265 his King, his Country, and his GOD. The virtues are what alone command our refpedt, our homage and venerati- on. Lord Chefterfield, fuch as he appears in thefe Letters, has no claim to this veneration and refpedl. Never, perhaps, did there lefs real merit or fincere virtue appear, in any writer, than in his Lordfliip's genu- ine fentiments and advice to his fon. The fages, the legiflators, the philo- fophers, the patriots of the ancient pagan world were faints and heroes' when compared with our Britifh mo- ralift and patrician : whofe principles can be confidered in no other light, than as infamous to his name, baneful to his country, and degrading alike to his charadier as a man, a citizen, and a Briton. Would 266 S E C T I O N IX. Would any man be great indeed : let him facrifice his mean and fordid paffions, his vanity, and even his wit, to the ambition of being and doing the moll extenfive good to mankind. Let him be exalted above others more by his virtues, than by his ftation. Let him do honour to his fortune, his ge- nius, and abilities, by the generous appHcation of them to the relief of the needy, and the inftrudion of the ig- norant. Let his excellency appear by the folidity rather than by the luflre of his accompliihments. If the great have not faculties of body or mind fuperior to thofe of other men, let them be content to rank with other men. Let them eftimate themfelves, as GOD and angels eftimate them ; of an order, degree, and eminence which bear a juft proportion to their moral qualities, their BJ1671.H94 Reflections critical and moral on the Princeton Theological Semmary-Speer Library 1 1012 00162 1806