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accept of them in good part. The vices of Authority are chiefly four: Delays, Corruption, Roughnefs, and Facility. For Delays, give easy Access; keep Times appointed; go through with that which is in hand; and interlace not bufinefs, but of neceffity. For Corruption, do not only bind thine own Hands, or thy Servants' Hands, from taking; but bind the Hands of Suitors alfo from offering. For Integrity.ufed doth the one; but Integrity profeffed, and with a manifeft deteftation of Bribery, doth the other. And avoid not only the Fault, but the Sufpicion. Whofoever is found variable, and changeth manifeftly, without manifest Cause, giveth Sufpicion of Corruption. Therefore, always, when thou changest thine Opinion, or Course, profess it plainly, and declare it, together with the Reasons that move thee to change; and do not think to steal it. A Servant, or a Favourite, if he be inward, and no other apparent Cause of Esteem, is commonly thought but a By-way, to close Corruption. For Roughness, it is a needless cause of Difcontent: Severity breedeth Fear; but Roughnefs breedeth Hate. Even Reproofs from Authority ought to be Grave, and not Taunting. As for Facility, it is worse than Bribery. For Bribes come but now and then; but if Importunity, or Idle Respects, lead a Man, he shall never be without. As Solomon faith; To respect Perfons is not good; For fuch a man will tranfgrefs for a piece of Bread. It is most true, that was anciently spoken; A Place fheweth the Man: and it fheweth fome to the better, and some to the worse: Omnium confenfu capax

Imperii, nifi imperaffet; faith Tacitus of Galba: but of Vefpafian he faith; Solus Imperantium Vefpafianus mutatus in melius. Though the one was meant of Sufficiency, the other of Manners and Affection. It is an affured Sign of a worthy and generous Spirit, whom Honour amends. For Honour is, or should be, the Place of Virtue: and as in Nature, Things move violently to their Place, and calmly in their Place: fo Virtue in Ambition is violent, in Authority fettled and calm. All Rifing to Great Place is by a winding Stair: and if there be Factions, it is good to fide a Man's felf, whilst he is in the Rising; and to balance Himself, when he is placed. Use the Memory of thy Predeceffor fairly, and tenderly; for if thou doft not, it is a Debt will fure be paid, when thou art gone. If thou have Colleagues, respect them, and rather call them, when they look not for it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too fenfible, or too remembering, of thy Place, in Conversation, and private Anfwers to Suitors; But let it rather be faid; When he fits in Place, he is another Man.

XII. Of Boldnefs.

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T is a trivial Grammar School Text, but yet worthy a wife Man's Confideration. Question was asked of De

mofthenes; What was the chief Part of an Orator? He anfwered, Action: What next? Action: What next again? Action. He faid it, that knew it beft; and had by nature, himself, no Advantage, in that he commended. A strange thing, that that Part of an Orator, which is but fuperficial, and rather the virtue of a Player, should be placed fo high, above those other Noble Parts, of Invention, Elocution, and the reft: nay almost alone, as if it were All in All. But the Reafon is plain. There is in Human Nature, generally, more of the Fool than of the Wife; and therefore those faculties, by which the Foolish part of Men's Minds is taken, are moft potent. Wonderful like is the Cafe of Boldness, in Civil Business; What firft? Boldness: What Second, and Third? Boldnefs. And yet Boldness is a Child of Ignorance, and Baseness, far inferior to other Parts. But nevertheless, it doth fascinate, and bind hand and foot, those that are either fhallow in Judgement, or weak in Courage; which are the greatest Part: Yea and prevaileth with Wife Men, at weak times. Therefore we fee it hath done wonders in Popular States; but with Senates and Princes lefs: And more ever upon the first entrance of Bold Perfons

into Action, than foon after; for Boldness is an ill keeper of promise. Surely, as there are Mountebanks for the Natural Body; fo are there Mountebanks for the Politic Body: Men that undertake great Cures; and perhaps have been lucky in two or three Experiments, but want the Grounds of Science; and therefore cannot hold out. Nay, you fhall fee a Bold Fellow many times do Mahomet's Miracle. Mahomet made the People believe, that he would call a Hill to him; and from the Top of it, offer up his Prayers, for the Observers of his Law. The People affembled; Mahomet called the Hill to come to him, again and again : And when the Hill ftood ftill, he was never a whit abafhed, but faid; If the Hill will not come to Mahomet, Mahomet will go to the Hill. So thefe Men, when they have promised great Matters, and failed most shamefully, (yet if they have the perfection of Boldness) they will but flight it over, and make a turn, and no more ado. Certainly, to Men of great Judgement, Bold Perfons are a Sport to behold; nay, and to the Vulgar alfo, Boldness hath somewhat of the ridiculous. For if Abfurdity be the Subject of Laughter, doubt you not, but great Boldness is feldom without fome Abfurdity. Especially it is a Sport to fee, when a Bold Fellow is out of Countenance; for that puts his Face into a moft fhrunken and wooden Pofture; as needs it must; for in Bashfulness, the Spirits do a little go and come; but with Bold Men, upon like occafion, they stand at a stay; like a Stale at Chefs, where it is no Mate, but yet the Game cannot

ftir. But this last were fitter for a Satire, than for a serious Obfervation. This is well to be weighed, that Boldness is ever blind: For it seeth not Dangers and Inconveniences. Therefore it is ill in Counsel, good in Execution. So that the right Use of Bold Persons is, that they never command in Chief, but be Seconds, and under the Direction of others. For in Counsel, it is good to see dangers; and in Execution not to fee them, except they be very great.

XIII. Of Goodness, and Goodnefs of Nature.

TAKE Goodness in this Sense, the affecting of the Weal of Men, which is that the Grecians call Philanthropia : And the word Humanity (as it is used) is a little too light to exprefs it. Goodness I call the Habit, and Goodness of Nature the Inclination. This of all Virtues, and Dignities of the Mind, is the greatest; being the Character of the Deity: and without it, Man is a Bufy, Mischievous, Wretched Thing; no better than a Kind of Vermin. Goodness answers to the Theological Virtue Charity, and admits no Excefs, but Error. The defire of Power in Excefs, caufed the Angels to fall; the defire of Knowledge in Excess, caused Man to fall: But in Charity there is no Excess; neither can Angel, or Man, come in danger by it.

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