before the Lord. This you will find he condemns in another Chapter as a great Folly, Ecclus. xi. 25. That, in the Day of Profperity there is a Forgetfulness of Affliction, and in the Day of Affliction there is no Remembrance of Profperity, If we will be wife and happy we ought to ballance one of thefe with the other, that is, In the Day of good things to remember Evil, and in the evil Day to remember Good. But enough of that.

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It will add alfo much to our Tranquillity if we take care to Contend with no Man unneceffarily, no not with those of whom we are like to get the Victory. It is better, a great deal, to fleep in the Quiet of Peace, than to be awakned from our Repose by all the Trumpets of Conqueft, and the loudeft Shouts and Acclamations of Praife. Suppofe a Man will fay that which you know not to be true, let it pass, rather than difpute it with him, if he be a captious, proud, and quarrelfome Perfon.

IX.

Another is, Not to fcoff at any Body. For few can endure to hear themselves abufed; or pafs it by without an Endeavour of fevere Revenge. The Mention of this is fufficient, and the Reafon of it apparent.

X.

It is no lefs prudent as well as pious, to Speak ill of no Man, except when it is neceffary to do fome Good to others. This is one of the Pfalmift's Counfels for a contented Life. What Man is be that defires Life, and loveeth many Days, that he may fee Good? Keep thy Tongue from Evil, and thy Lips that they Speak no Guile, Pfal. xxxiv. 12, 13. This is fo true, that it is safest not fo much as to open our Ears to others, that fpeak Evil of their Neighbours. If we do not entertain their Speeches, they recoil and wound the Speaker; if we receive them, they wound and trouble us.

And indeed the Tongue is wont to procure us fo much Mifchief that,

XI.

Wife Men (let me add in the next place) have advised us, if we would live happily, to accuftom our felves to Speak Sparingly, at leaft, among Strangers: efpecially concerning great Perfons it is beft not to speak at all. This is a Rule which Arrianus gave in his time, when there was Danger from fuch Men. Words though innocently meant, yet may be ill interpreted. And it is better (as Cardan was wont to fay) to pretermit an hundred Things worthy perhaps to be heard, than

·L. de viti prop. Cap. 50.

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to fay one that fhould not have been fpoken. Again,

XII.

It is of great Service to accuftom our felves to be chearful, and to find all the Means we can to preferve our felves in that Temper. For we fhall the more easily pafs by a great many Occafions of Trouble without much Notice, and feel the rest less heavy and more fupportable. Sadness never did any Body Good, nor lightned any Man's Calamity; but is a new Mifery it felf. It is apt alfo to look on Things otherwife than they are for it fees them in the Twilight, and not in the clear Sun-fhine of our Spirits. Seneca I think, was in the right, when he faid, that of the Two one had better imitate Democritus, than Heraclitus. For he that laughs at Things, looks upon them but as flight and vain: And fo they will be the more equally enjoyed, or equally born. There is more of Humanity alfo in it to smile at Things, than to frown and lament. He that laughs deferves better of Mankind, becaufe he leaves fome good Hope; whereas the other bewails that which he despairs of amending. But the beft of all is to receive all Accidents quietly with a smooth and placid Temper: Neither with much Laughter, nor with Lamentations.

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XIII. If

XIII.

If we would live happily, we must likewife take Care that we Be no bufy Bodies. For fuch People are very unacceptable to others, and uneafy to themfelves. They have a great deal to do, when in Truth they do nothing but trouble themselves, and the Neighbourhood. This is Antoninus's Rule Lib. 3. de Do not trouble thy felf about other Seipfo.§.4. Men's Matters, unless it be for the common Benefit. For Example, faith he, do not be ftill fancying what fuch a Perfon is a doing, and why he doth this or that, and what he faith, and what he defigns and contrives, with fuch like Things. This is but to wander from One's felf, and to forfake the Cuftody of his own Soul. Therefore avoid thefe fuperfluous Thoughts, which belong not unto thee. For upon this depends, as Seneca hath obferved, that teterrimum vitium, moft foul and odious Vice of liftning after, and Inquifitiveness into the Secrets of others: Defiring to know much, even those Things which are neither fafely told, nor fafely heard. A'Man that would live in Peace, fhould be fo far from this bufy prying Humour, that he should not let his fecret Thoughts run this way: But rather accuftom himself, (as the aforefaid great Emperor and Philofopher fpeaks,) always fo to employ his Mind, that if any other Perfon be fo curious as

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to demand of him what he is thinking of, he may not be afraid to tell him. By this means, faith he, it will appear that all Things in thee are fimple, good natured, fociable, and void of Envy, Emulation, Sufpicion, Impurity, or any fuch like Thing, which fhould put thee to the Blush. Such a Man ought to be rankt among the best and the happieft; being isgeus ns, a Prieft and Minifter of God, who ufes with due Respect that divine Image, which is within him.

XIV.

And to make our Lives ftill the, lefs burthenfome, we must not be too fliff, and ri gid in the Form and Manner of our Life; nor too peremptorily refolved in Things, that are not abfolutely Good or Evil. We fhall but diforder our felves the more, by keeping too ftrictly to our own Orders in indifferent Things. We must be eafy and yielding, if we would be happy; and not ftick too pertinaciously, no not to our own Determinations and Appointments. We must comply with Occafions; provided Lightness do not move us to it: For that is as great an Enemy to Peace as the other. All Pertinacioufnefs, and obftinate Adherence to our own fet Forms of Life, is anxious and miferable: Because Accidents will always contend with us, and struggle againft us; and ftill be wrefting fomething from us. And Levity is as

grievous,