A Character of King Charles the Second Part 8

The first Mistake belonging to Business is the going into it.

Men make it such a Point of Honour to be fit for Business, that they forget to examine whether Business is fit for a Man of Sense.

There is Reason to think the most celebrated Philosophers would have been Bunglers at Business; but the Reason is because they despised it.

It is not a Reproach but a Compliment to Learning, to say, that _Great Scholars_ are less fit for Business; since the truth is, Business is so much a lower thing than Learning, that a Man used to the last cannot easily bring his Stomach down to the first.

The Government of the World is a great thing; but it is a very coa.r.s.e one too, compared with the Fineness of Speculative Knowledge.

The Dependance of a great Man upon a greater, is a Subjection that lower Men cannot easily comprehend.

Ambition hath no Mean, it is either upon _all four_ or upon _Tiptoes_.

Nothing can be humbler than Ambition, when it is so disposed.

Popularity is a Crime from the Moment it is sought; it is only a Virtue where Men have it whether they will or no.

It is generally an Appeal to the People from the Sentence given by Men of Sense against them.

It is stepping very low to get very high.

Men by Habit make irregular Stretches of Power, without discerning the Consequence and Extent of them.

Eagerness is apt to overlook Consequences, it is loth to be stopt in its Career; for when Men are in great haste, they see only in a straight Line.

_Of_ CUNNING _and_ KNAVERY.

Cunning is so apt to grow into Knavery, that an honest Man will avoid the Temptation of it. But Men in this Age are half bribed by the Ambition of circ.u.mventing, without any other encouragements. So proud of the Character of being _able_ Men, that they do not care to have their Dexterity confined.

In this Age, when it is said of a Man, He knows _how to live_, it may be imply'd he is not very honest.

An honest Man must lose so many Occasions of Getting, that the World will hardly allow him the Character of an Able one.

There is however more _Wit_ requisite to be an honest Man, than there is to be a Knave.

The most necessary thing in the World, and yet the least usual, is to reflect that those we deal with, may know how to be as arrant Knaves as ourselves.

The Eagerness of a Knave maketh him often as catchable, as Ignorance maketh a Fool.

No Man is so much a Fool as not to have Wit enough sometimes to be a Knave; nor any so cunning a Knave, as not to have the Weakness sometimes to play the Fool.

The Mixture of Fool and Knave, maketh up the parti-coloured Creatures that make all the Bustle in the World.

There is not so pleasant a Quarry, as a Knave taken in a Net of his own making.

A Knave leaneth sometimes _so hard_ upon his Impudence, that it breaketh and lets him fall.

Knavery is in such _perpetual Motion_, that it hath not always Leisure to look to its own Steps; 'tis like sliding upon Scates, no Motion so smooth or swift, but none gives so terrible a _Fall_.

A Knave loveth _Self_ so heartily, that he is apt to overstrain it: by never thinking he can get enough, he gets so much less. His thought is like Wine that fretteth with too much fermenting.

The Knaves in every Government are a kind of Corporation; and though they fall out with one another, like all Beasts of Prey, yet upon occasion they unite to support the common Cause.

It cannot be said to be such a Corporation as the Bank of _England_, but they are a numerous and formidable Body, scarce to be resisted; but the Point is, they can never rely upon one another.

Knaves go chain'd to one another like Slaves in the Gallies, and cannot easily untie themselves from their Company. Their Promises and Honour indeed do not hinder them, but other intangling Circ.u.mstances keep 'em from breaking loose.

If Knaves had not foolish Memories, they would never trust one another so often as they do.

Present Interest, like present Love, maketh all other Friends.h.i.+p look cold to it, but it faileth in the holding.

When one Knave betrayeth another, the one is not to be blamed, nor the other to be pitied.

When they complain of one another as if they were honest Men, they ought to be laugh'd at as if they were Fools.

There are some Cunning-men who yet can scarce be called Rational Creatures; yet they are often more successful than Men of Sense, because those they have to deal with are upon a looser Guard; and their Simplicity maketh their Knavery unsuspected.

There is no such thing as a venial Sin against Morality, no such thing as a small Knavery: He that carries a small Crime easily, will carry it on when it grows to be an Ox. But the little Knaves are the greater of the two, because they have less the Excuse of Temptation.

Knavery is so humble, and Merit so proud, that the latter is thrown down because it cannot stoop.

_Of_ FOLLY _and_ FOOLS.

There are five Orders of Fools, as of Building: 1. The Blockhead, 2.

c.o.xcomb, 3. Vain Blockhead, 4. Grave c.o.xcomb, and 5. The Half-witted Fellow; this last is of the Composite Order.

The Follies of grave Men have the Precedence of all others, a ridiculous Dignity, that gives them a Right to be laughed at in the first place.

As the masculine Wit is the strongest, so the masculine Impertinence is the greatest.

The Consequence of a Half-Wit is a Half-Will, there is not Strength enough in the Thought to carry it to the End.

A Fool is naturally recommended to our Kindness by setting us off by the Comparison. Men are grateful to Fools for giving them the Pleasure of contemning them.

But Folly hath a long Tail that is not seen at first: for every single Folly hath a Root, out of which more are ready to sprout; and a Fool hath so unlimited a Power of mistaking, that a Man of Sense can never comprehend to what degree it may extend.

There are some Fools so low, that they are preferred when they are laught at. Their being named putteth them in the List of Men, which is more than belongeth to them.

One should no more laugh at a contemptible Fool, than at a dead Fly.

The Dissimulation of a Fool should come within the Statute of Stabbing. It giveth no Warning.

A Fool will be rude from the Moment he is allowed to be familiar; he can make no other use of Freedom than to be unmannerly.

Weak Men are apt to be _cruel_, because they stick at nothing that may repair the ill Effect of their Mistakes.

Folly is often more cruel in the Consequence, than Malice can be in the Intent.