Sivut kuvina
PDF
ePub

most successful of bad men; and the punishment of Messalina proved the source of numberless crimes and a long train of public calamity. Henry IV. died by assassination as well as the brother of Timoleon; and upon the sword of Louis XIV., Charles XII., and Napoleon, victory sat for many a year;

And smooth success

Bestrew'd their feet.'-Ant. and Cleop., i., c. 3.

Even the fallen angels are represented as conscious of this disproportion between reward and desert; and, like many of the worst of men, their successors, argued the question in favour of their worst endeavours :

-Others, more mild,

Retreated in a silent valley, sing,

With notes angelical to many a harp,

Their own heroic deeds and hapless fall,

By doom of battle; and complain that Fate

Free virtue should inthral to force and chance.'

:

Moses himself was not permitted to enter Palestine. He only saw it from a visionary distance: and Solon, who is supposed (erroneously,) to have attributed success in general to superior wisdom, has left the following

sentiment :-
:-

rest.

'The wise man's projects oft are seen to fall,
While the devices of the fool succeed.'

Ripheus, the best of the Trojans, perished with the 'We thought it hard,' says Æneas;' but Diis alter visum *.' 'How could you lose an empire, which 'your father knew how to keep?' said Philip of Mace

*Eneid. ii, 423.

don, on receiving Dionysius of Syracuse at his court. Because my father was more fortunate than I am,' I inherited his power, but not

answered the tyrant.

his fortune.'

How sings Bacchylides?—

Virtue, placed on high, doth shine

With a glory all divine:

Riches oft alike are shower'd

On the hero and the coward.'

There is no accounting for a thousand things!

CLVIII.

THE HOUSE OF SAVOY.

THE kings of Sardinia have been eminent in this; viz. that they have preserved themselves in periods of great danger and difficulty; and been more expert in availing themselves of every wind, than any other sovereigns recorded in modern history; thereby forming a striking contrast to the Stuarts of England, and the Bourbons of France and Spain.

Satan. 'Get riches first; get wealth; and treasure keep;
Not difficult, if thou hearken unto me.
Riches are mine; fortune is in my hand;
They, whom I favour, thrive in wealth amain;
While virtue, valour, wisdom, sit in want.

Messiah. Yet wealth, without these three, is impotent;

To gain dominion, or to keep it, gain'd.'

Par. Regained.

Happy had it been for the Stuarts and the Bourbons, had they discovered, in proper time, that their people's interests and theirs were identical; and that their oppressors were equally their foes.

The house of Savoy has been notorious for selling

itself. Emanuel Philibert, Charles Emanuel I., and Victor Amadeus, sold themselves to the highest bidders; and thus increased their strength by little and little. They desired the Milanese states, wherewith to consolidate their possession of Savoy and Piedmont. 'We must obtain these,' Victor Amadeus was accustomed to say, province by province; as we eat the 'leaves of an artichoke.'

CLIX.

WHO NEGLECT TILL THEY GIVE OVER.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

To neglect, till we give over, is a very common practice in small affairs, and sometimes even in important ones. In ninety cases out of an hundred it is very prejudicial; fortunate in the remaining ten. Mallet,' said Johnson, never wrote a line of his projected Life ' of the Duke of Marlborough. He groped for mate'rials, and thought of it till he had exhausted his 'mind. Thus it sometimes happens, that men entangle 'themselves in their own schemes.' The fact was, Mallet went on neglecting, from time to time, till he felt all inclination to proceed entirely subside. Neglect frequently engenders repugnance. Merchants, for instance, sometimes neglect their accounts, till they hate them; and this is one of the numerous causes of bankruptcy.

CLX.

WHO KNOW HOW TO ESCAPE.

THE knowing when to yield is one of the best species of knowledge to men in power. Most revolutions have

6

[ocr errors]

been the consequence of ignorance in this respect. 'Resolution and steadiness,' said Lord Lyttleton, on the repeal of the Jew Bill, 1753, are excellent qualities; but it is the application of them upon which 'their value depends. A wise government, Mr. Speaker, 'will know where to yield, as well as where to resist; ' and there is no surer mark of littleness of mind in an 'administration, than obstinacy in trifles.'

Happy had it been for many ministers and chiefs, had they known and felt the value and wisdom of this plain, simple precept.

CLXI.

WHO ARE PLIABLE TO CIRCUMSTANCES.

Have a care! Don't seem

Surprised at any thing: give way in all:
Do as he bids, and say but little.'

Terence; Self-Tormentor; Colman.

AGREEABLE manners may be compared to the sweetscented woodroffe, which gives such a grateful flavour to wine. Natural politeness is, indeed, delightful; but artificial politeness is, for the most part, the result of affectation, frivolity of disposition, and duplicity of cha

racter.

If

The pliability of Lord Holdernesse extended farther. Lord Melcombe* pressed Lord Bute to take the secretary's office, and provide otherwise for Lord Holdernesse. 'that is the only difficulty,' said his Lordship, after a pause, it can be easily removed. For Lord Holder'nesse is ready, at my desire, to quarrel with his fel*Diary, p. 416.

' low ministers, go to the king, and throw up in seem'ing anger. Then I can come in without appearing to 'displace any one.'

Were all men stubborn alike, how could a minister carry on a government?

Gustavus of Sweden returned the collar of the Black Eagle to the King of Prussia, because the order had been conferred on Napoleon, then First Consul of France. His Majesty did not consider, that, in showing an honourable indignation against the murderer of D'Enghein, he lost a friend, valuable both to himself and his country. What was noble in Louis XVIII., who, at the same time, returned the order of the Golden Fleece, was folly in him. Times, seasons, persons, circumstances, and situations, must always be considered amply, and weighed in an even balance; especially when we are engaged with an enemy too strong for us.

CLXII.

WHO KNOW WHEN TO SUBMIT.

To know the tempers of men is useful in all stations; but in no trade more essentially than in that of politics. In respect to Lord Holland and Sir Robert Walpole; Chesterfield says of the latter, that he was the best parliament man, and the most able manager of parliament, that ever lived. 'An artful, rather than an eloquent speaker; he saw, as by intuition, the disposition of 'the house, and pressed or receded accordingly.'

Lord Holland was of a different cast, and yet commanded a corresponding result. Inelegant, disagreeable, and ungrateful, he was yet 'skilful in discerning

« EdellinenJatka »