UPON Adam's falling into the fame Guilt, the whole Creation appears a fecond time in Convulfions. He fcrupled not to eat Against his better knowledge; not deceiv'd, AS all Nature fuffer'd by the Guilt of our firft Parents, thefe Symptoms of Trouble and Confternation are wonderfully imagined, not only as Prodigies, but as Marks of her fympathizing in the Fall of Man. ADAM's Converfe with Eve, after having eaten the forbidden Fruit, is an exact Copy of that between Jupiter and Juno in the fourteenth Iliad. Juno there approaches Jupiter with the Girdle which fhe had received from Venus; upon which he tells her, that the appeared more charming and defirable than fhe had ever done before, even when their Loves were at the higheft. The Poet afterwards defcribes them as repofing on a Summet of Mount Ida, which produced under them a Bed of Flowers, the Lotos, the Crocus, and the Hyacinth; and concludes his Description with their falling afleep. LET the Reader compare this with the following Paffage in Milton, which begins with Adam's Speech to Eve. For never did thy Beauty, fince the Day And Hyacinth, Earth's fresheft foftest Lap. There they their fill of Love, and Love's difport, AS no Poet feems ever to have ftudied Homer more,, or to have more refembled him in the Greatnefs of Genius than Milton, I think I fhould have given but a very imperfect Account of his Beauties, if I had not obferved the most remarkable Paffages which look like Parallels in these two great Authors. I might, in the course of thefe Criticisms, have taken notice of many particular. Lines and Expreffions which are tranflated from the Greek Poet; but as I thought this would have appeared too minute and over-curious, I have purpofely omitted. them. The greater Incidents, however, are not only fet off by being fhewn in the fame Light with feveral of the fame nature in Homer, but by that means may be also. guarded against the Cavils of the Tastelefs or Ignorant. No 352. Monday, April 14. Si ad honeftatem nati fumus, ea aut fola expetenda eft, aut certe omni pondere gravior eft habenda quam reliqua omnia. Tull. ILL HONEYCOMB was complaining to me Wyefterday, that the Converfation of the Town is fo altered of late Years, that a fine Gentleman is at a lofs for matter to ftart Difcourfe, as well as unable to fall in with the Talk he generally meets with.. WILL. takes notice, that there is now an Evil under the Sun which he fuppofes to be entirely new, becaufe not mentioned by any Satyrift or Moralift in any Age: Men, said he, grow Knaves fooner than they ever did fince the Creation of the World before. If you read the Tragedies of the: Info Age, you find the artful Men, and Perfons of Intrigue, are advanced very far in Years, and beyond the Bleafures. and and Sallies of Youth; but now WILL. obferves, that the Young have taken in the Vices of the Aged, and you shall have a Man of Five and Twenty crafty, falfe, and intriguing, not afhamed to over-reach, cozen, and beguile. My Friend adds, that till about the latter end of King Charles's Reign, there was not a Rafcal of any Eminence under Forty: In the Places of Refort for Converfation, you now hear nothing but what relates to the improving Mens Fortunes, without regard to the Methods toward it. This is so fashionable, that young Men form themselves upon a certain Neglect of every thing that is candid, fimple, and worthy of true Efteem; and affect being yet worse than they are, by acknowledging in their general turn of Mind and Difcourfe, that they have not any remaining Value for true Honour and Honefty; preferring the Capacity of being artful to gain their Ends, to the Merit of defpifing thofe Ends when they come in competi tion with their Honefty. All this is due to the very filly Pride that generally prevails, of being valued for the Ability of carrying their point; in a word, from the Opinion that fhallow and unexperienced People entertain of the fhort-liv'd Force of Cunning. But I fhall, before I enter upon the various Faces which Folly cover'd with Artifice puts on to impofe upon the Unthinking, produce a great Authority for afferting, that nothing but Truth and Ingenuity has any lafting good Effect, even upon a Man's Fortune and Interest. TRUTH and Reality have all the Advantages of Appearance, and many more. If the Shew of any thing be good for any thing, I am fure Sincerity is better: For why does any Man diffemble, or feem to be that which he is not, but because he thinks it good to have fuch a Quality as he pretends to? for to counterfeit and diffemble, is to put on the Appearance of fome real Excellency. Now the best way in the World for a Man to seem to be any thing, is really to be what he would feem to be. Befides that it is many times as troublesome to make good the Pretence of a good Quality, as to have it; and if a Man have it not, it is ten to one but he is difcover'd to want it, and then all his Pains and Labour to seem to have it is loft. There is fomething unnatural in Paint ⚫ing, ing, which a skilful Eye will eafily difcern from native Beauty and Complexion. IT is hard to perfonate and act a Part long; for where Truth is not at the bottom, Nature will always be endeavouring to return, and will peep out and betray. her felfone time or other. Therefore if any Man think it convenient to feem good, let him be fo indeed, and then his Goodness will appear to every body's Satisfafaction; fo that upon all accounts Sincerity is true Wifdom. Particularly as to the Affairs of this World, Integrity hath many Advantages over all the fine and artificial ways of Diffimulation and Deceit; it is much the plainer and eafier, much the fafer and more fecure way of dealing in the World; it has lefs of Trouble and Difficulty, of Entanglement and Perplexity, of Danger and Hazard in it; it is the fhorteft and nearest way to our End, carrying us thither in a steight line, and will hold out and laft longeft. The Arts of Deceit and Cunning do continually grow weaker and lefs effectual and serviceable to them that ufe them; whereas Integrity gains Strength by ufe, and the more and longer any Man practifeth it, the greater Service it does him, by confirming his Repu⚫tation and encouraging thofe with whom he hath to do, to repofe the greateft Truft and Confidence in him, which is an unspeakable Advantage in the Bufinefs and Affairs of Life. TRUTH is always confiftent with it felf, and needs nothing to help it out; it is always near at hand, and fits upon our Lips, and is ready to drop out before we are aware; whereas a Lye is troublesome, and fets a Man's Invention upon the rack, and one Trick needs a great many more to make it good. It is like building upon a falfe Foundation, which continually ftands in need of Props to fhoar it up, and proves at laft more chargeable, than to have raised a fubftantial Building at firft upon a true and folid Foundation; for Sincerity is firm and fubftantial, and there is nothing hollow and unfound in it, and becaufe it is plain and open, fears no Discovery: of which the Crafty Man is always in danger, and when he thinks he walks in the dark, all his Pretences are fo tranfparent, that he that runs may read them; he is the laft Man that finds himself to be found out, and whilft he R he takes it for granted that he makes Fools of others, he renders himself ridiculous. ADD to all this, that Sincerity is the most compendious • Wisdom, and an excellent Inftrument for the speedy difpatch of Bufinefs; it creates Confidence in thofe we have to deal with, faves the Labour of many Enquiries, and brings things to an iffue in few words: It is like travelling in a plain beaten Road, which commonly brings a Man fooner to his Journey's End than By-ways, in which • Men often lofe themfelves. In a word, whatsoever Convenience may be thought to be in Falfhood and Diffimulation, it is foon over; but the Inconvenience of it is ⚫ perpetual, because it brings a Man under an everlasting Jealoufie and Sufpicion, fo that he is not believed when he fpeaks truth, nor trufted when perhaps he means honeftly. When a Man hath once forfeited the Reputation of his Integrity, he is fet faft, and nothing will then ferve his turn, neither Truth nor Falfhood. AND I have often thought, that God hath in his great Wisdom hid from Men of faife and difhoneft Minds the wonderful Advantages of Truth and Integrity to the Profperity even of our worldly Affairs; thefe Men are fo blinded by their Covetoufnefs and Ambition, that they cannot look beyond a prefent Advantage, nor forbear to feize upon it, tho' by ways never fo indirect; they cannot fee fo far as to the remote Confequences of a steddy Integrity, and the vaft Benefit and Advantages which it will bring a Man at laft. Were but this fort of Men wife and clear-fighted enough to difcern this, they would be honeft out of very Knavery, not out of any Love to Honefty and Virtue, but with a crafty Defign to promote and advance more effectually their own Interefts; and therefore the Justice of the Divine Providence hath hid this trueft Point of Wisdom from their Eyes, that bad Men might not be upon equal Terms with the Juft and Upright, and ferve their own wicked Designs by honest and lawful Means. INDEED, if a Man were only to deal in the World for a day, and fhould never have occafion to converse more with Mankind, never more need their good Opi nion or good Word, it were then no great Matter (fpeak ing as to the Concernments of this World) if a Mau •Spent |
