your retirement so constantly to the secret chambers ' of the republic, to read such books as you only can decipher, and the resolution you appear to have formed ' never to quit your cell, except when imperiously called upon to do it, is as much an intemperance as was the 'ardent passion I once entertained for gaming and women; though they appear different in the eyes of 'the world.' There is no small truth in this: it behoves us to pause upon it, therefore; and to be indulgent to those whose conduct and pursuits may not altogether correspond with our own.

CXXVIII.

WHO DRAW THEIR OWN CHARACTERS.

POPE SIXTUS IV., one of the worst men that ever sat in the chair of St. Peter, praised himself immeasurablyin the anathema he pronounced against Lorenzo de Medici, whom he presumed to call the Son of Ini'quity,' and the Heir of Perdition*;' while he was himself all mildness, moderation, and gentleness. This was not self-delusion; but impudence, blended with the most astounding hypocrisy. Sixtus was of an order, who, in their declamations against the crimes and vices of others, brave the discovery of their own crimes and defects.

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They are themselves the great sublime they draw.'

His holiness reminds us of Aretino.

This man was

* Sixtus Papa IV. Iniquitatis filius, et perditionis. Alumnis

Laurentius de Medici, &c.

VOL. I.

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the companion of princes, and lived in no small hope of obtaining a cardinal's hat. Though one of the most infamous men of his age, he was perpetually praising himself, and even adopted the title of 'Il Divino ;' and, what is still more extraordinary, was permitted to keep it.

'Hector. What art thou-Greek? art thou for Hec-
tor's match?

Art thou of blood and honour?

Thersites. No, no;-I am a rascal; a scurvy railing
knave; a very filthy rogue.

Hector. I do believe thee; live.'--Troilus and Cressida.

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Aretino, in the same manner, is permitted to enjoy the title of Il Divino,' because no one thinks him of sufficient consequence to take it away.

Intense self-appreciation goes hand in hand with extended powers of reflection. Modesty is a part of

manners.

Petrarch's dialogues with St. Augustine are beautiful; and they let us into the depth of his character with the most explicit minuteness. His 'Confessions,' too, in many other parts of his works, especially his letters, are remarkable for the hold they take of the mind; and I cannot but agree with one of his biographers, that no one, perhaps, ever passed from the earth, leaving so many materials to posterity wherewith to judge of his

character.

Rousseau's

Confessions,' too, are very remarkable. They open a great depth into the anatomy of self. Rousseau had an extraordinary knowledge of his own character; but his knowledge of other men's seems to have

been very contracted. He judged all as he fancied their interest and feelings bore upon his own. He wrote his 'Confessions,' he says, that the world might have a 'whole-length portrait of a man.' And this reminds me of an assertion of Cardinal De Retz: In my opinion,' says he, a man shows himself greater by being capable of owning a fault, than by being incapable of committing it.'

Marshal Saxe's confessions are also very curious; and they lead us to remember that Lord Peterborough (the celebrated general) confessed, in his MS. Memoirs, that, before he had attained his twenty-first year, he had committed no less than three capital crimes! What those crimes were, I believe, is nowhere stated; and to his excellent wife, who burnt the pages, his memory is indebted for the concealment.

Confessions, however, are generally very deceptive; they being, for the most part, made merely for effect. Rousseau made himself out a much worse man than he was. No enemy would have dared to speak so ill of him as he has written of himself. I am, therefore, sometimes disposed to think, that confessors are most to be distrusted when they seem to be the most sincere.

One thing is certain: no one can know us in all respects, however they may in some, so well as we know ourselves. If we can write, no one can give so full an account of our secret sensations, sentiments, and affections; and no one can state so truly the simple or complicated sources of our thoughts and actions. For

* Mem., i., 369.

men to speak too explicitly of their virtues, however, is not to be endured. Were Montaigne's maxim observed,' says Mr. Hume*, ' that one should say frankly, I have sense, I have courage, beauty, or wit, as it is sure we 'think so: were this the case, I say, every one is 'sensible, that such a flood of impertinence would break in upon us, as would render society wholly intolerable.' It is, nevertheless, certain that he, who most studies himself, most understands others; and that silence in respect to both is often the better discretion.

CXXIX.

WHOSE QUALITIES ARE STRANGELY MIXED.

WE may instance St. Jerome. In the midst of his virtues and zealous labours for the Christian cause, this holy father was of a disposition so prone to censure, that many persons, whose lives were irreproachable, are loudly said† to have been objects of his unjust accusations.

Having mentioned St. Jerome, let us say a few words in regard to St. Augustin, Cyril, Tertullian, Cyprian, and Origen.

Augustin had a zealous regard to truth, a sincere piety, a subtile wit, an invincible patience, and a sublime genius; and yet his works display a levity, a precipitation, and a long string of contradictions, not in the least to have been expected from so wise a man, and

* Essays, ii. 297.

+ Vide Le Clerc, Questiones Hieronymianæ. Mosheim, vol. i. Cent. iv. part 2.

so celebrated a writer. Cyril was turbulent, litigious, and contentious; jealous, haughty, and imperious. Tertullian had a great genius; yet no great judgment. He was pious, yet superstitious; of a dazzling imagination, yet austere, laboured, and difficult; of great learning, yet credulous. Cyprian had one great merit, viz. that of being able to distinguish truth from falsehood. This, however, it must be confessed, he shared with a multitude of learned and otherwise excellent persons. As to Origen, he was distinguished by zeal and piety, patience, industry, and erudition: wanting little, if we except judgment.

It is a fine thing to be a saint! But if we would form an accurate idea of the virtues which recommended some, more particularly Cajetan, John of Leon, Paschal of Arragon, and John de Dieu, to the honours of canonization, we should turn to Justus Fontaninus *. We ought not assuredly to exclaim, ex uno disce omnes ;' but I fear we might almost be justified in exclaiming, ex uno disce majores!'

When we see men in many ways, the different aspects we see them from, are apt to confound the reality, though not, perhaps, the purity and rectitude of our judgments; and this reminds me of a Chinese poem, published in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society †, a few lines of which strictly apply to the subject in hand.

* Codex Constitutionum, quas summi Pontifices ediderunt in solemni Canonizatione sanctorum, p. 260, 261.

Vol. ii. p. 406. Davis.