D. WEBSTER, 
 68 & 70, Woodhouse Lane 
 LEEDS. 
 
 Books nought.
 
 THE 
 COUNSELS OF WILLIAM DE BRITAINE
 
 THE COUNSELS 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM DE BRITAINE 
 
 HERBERT H. STURMER 
 
 Author of ' Some Poitevin Protestants in London 
 
 LONDON 
 
 F. E. ROBINSON 
 
 20 GREAT RUSSELL STREET 
 
 1897
 
 Inscribtb to 
 SIR CLEMENT COURTENAY KNOLLYS, K.C.M.G., 
 
 WITH ADMIRATION AND REGARD 
 BY 
 
 H. H. S. 
 
 2063801
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 (i) This book. 
 
 T is hoped that this volume may not only 
 be of general interest to thoughtful people, 
 but may be considered specially suitable 
 as a gift-book for any young man 'coming 
 of age,' or leaving a public-school to enter the wider 
 world of men and affairs. 
 
 It is a revision, or perhaps it would be more 
 correct to say a re-writing, of the eleventh (1717) 
 edition of a book called ' Humane Prudence,' the first 
 edition of which appeared in 1680. Although the 
 lesser writers of the Stuart period have been of 
 interest to me for many years, it was not until 1895 
 that the title ' Humane Prudence ' caught my eye 
 from a catalogue-page which I was looking through. 
 Since then I have examined copies of various editions 
 of the work, and I consider the eleventh edition to 
 be in some ways the best one. But anyone who 
 has come across it will have seen that its puzzling 
 printer's errors, and its extraordinary m/lange of 
 styles, make it little less in need of revision for a 
 modern reader than any other edition of the work. 
 As to my aims, method, and success (or failure) in 
 the revising of ' Humane Prudence/ I can only feel
 
 viii PREFACE 
 
 confident that no reviewer will treat me severely if 
 he has had experience in sub-editorial work, and 
 remembers how anxiously he strove to reconcile the 
 altering of contributors' work with the preserving of 
 their ' good things ' intact. For the toil involved in 
 hundreds of little alterations, transpositions, and ex- 
 cisions, I shall be amply repaid if any thoughtful 
 reviewer (and it is wonderful to think how careful 
 and kind reviewers usually are) feels obliged to say 
 that some expression of ' De Britaine's ' is ' rather 
 more modern than Mr. Sturmer should have inserted 
 in " De Britaine's " text,' or praises some phrase of 
 mine as being one of ' De Britaine's ' good things. 
 Also, painful as it is to put a sacrificial knife to the 
 throat of Style, the presence of Justice must some- 
 times compel the act. And then, if one has anything 
 of the passion for the perfect word the desire for 
 the ultimate union of thought and expression which 
 influences a Flaubert or a Henry James, one suffers. 
 But dead authors are like dead creeds, in that they 
 should be handled as tenderly as possible. 
 
 I have added an occasional note to the text of this 
 volume, chiefly to call attention to puzzling or 
 curious points in the text of ' Humane Prudence,' 
 but sometimes in the hope of making the pages look 
 less monotonous than they otherwise might do. As 
 a rule, I have tried to correct or verify allusions in 
 the text rather than put notes to them. 
 
 The Latin quotations have been kindly revised for 
 me by a friend who, I hope, remembers more Latin 
 than I have forgotten. 
 
 (2) The eleventh edition of ' Humane Prudence. 9 
 
 There is a copy of the eleventh edition of ' Humane 
 Prudence ' in my possession. Its title-page reads 
 as follows (' Human ' for ' Humane ' being possibly 
 a printer's error, as the pages of my copy are headed
 
 PREFACE ix 
 
 with the older spelling throughout, and the spelling 
 is ' Humane ' upon the title-page of the twelfth 
 edition) : ' Human Prudence : or, The Art by which 
 a Man may Raise Himself and His Fortune to 
 Grandeur. Corrected and very much Enlarged. 
 The Eleventh Edition. [Latin quotation] . London, 
 Printed for Richard Sare, at Grays-Inn-Gate in 
 Holborn. MDCCXVII.' The sub-title may have been 
 a ' happy thought ' of a publisher's, but is hardly 
 fair to the writer, although there are a few passages 
 in the book which seem to have a lower tone than I 
 cared to reproduce in my version. This eleventh 
 edition begins with an 'Epistle Dedicatory' addressed 
 'To the Virtuous and most Ingenious Edw. Hunger- 
 ford, Esq.', which ends thus : ' I will not detain 
 you any longer at present, than to intreat you to 
 look into this Mirror ; as made up of other Men's 
 Crystals, and my own Errors ; wherein you may see 
 what you are, as well as what you ought to be. 
 
 Worthy Sir, 
 I am your faithful Friend and Servant, 
 
 W. de Britaine.' 
 
 This edition consists of title-page, four pages of 
 ' The Epistle Dedicatory,' a two-page table of con- 
 tents, and pp. 1-254 f text. The text is made up 
 of thirty-two numbered and titled ' Sections,' and of 
 a kind of appendix entitled ' Sententise Stellares : or, 
 Maxims of Prudence to be observed by Artisans of 
 State/ These ' Sententiae ' are numbered 1-122. 
 
 ' De Britaine,' having frankly stated that his book 
 is mainly a compilation, does not indicate by quota- 
 tion marks or otherwise the sources he has utilized, 
 but welds his extracts into a more or less continuous 
 text. The reader of this volume who knows his 
 ' Seneca ' will, however, recognise a fine passage upon 
 page 79 ; the influence of Epictetus runs throughout 
 
 b
 
 x PREFACE 
 
 the book (e.g., p. 121) ; Marcus Aurelius is some- 
 times quoted almost exactly (e.g., p. 49), and his 
 exquisite personality seems constantly to hover 
 near us as we read. Sir Roger L'Estrange's 
 ' Seneca's Morals ' is said to have first appeared in 
 1688, but the earliest edition of its second part 
 which I have seen is the one printed in 1693 and 
 paged continuously from the last page of the fifth 
 edition of the first part printed for Hindmarsh in 
 1694. I have compared this edition in places with 
 the fifth (1689) edition of ' Humane Prudence,' and 
 I find that some sentences are almost identical in 
 the two books. Thus, the sentence which this 
 volume has on page 148, ' It goes a great way,' etc., 
 will be found both at page 247 of Humane Prudence' 
 and at page 277 of L'Estrange's ' Seneca ' with no 
 essential difference. 
 
 (3) Editions of ' Humane Prudence.' 
 
 ' Humane Prudence ' was translated into French 
 under the title of ' Prudence Humaine, . . .' The 
 ' Quatorzieme Edition,' the only edition of which I 
 have seen a copy, says that it is ' traduit de 1' 
 Anglois sur la douzime Edition de Londres . . .Par 
 James de la Cour.' In his dedication-preface the 
 translator says : ' Cet ouvrage a et6 imprime douze 
 fois a Londres en Anglois, & a etc" si estime dans ce 
 Royaume & ailleurs, parmi les gens d'Esprit & de 
 bon gout, qu'ils se faisoient un plaisir de le lire 
 prsque (sic) continuellement, y trouvant tout ce qui 
 peut rendre un homme parfait dans quelqu' Etat 
 qu'il soit.' This French version ' Se vend a Francfort 
 sur le Mein, dans la Ziegelgasse chez PEditeur, de- 
 meurant chez Mr. Herford. MDCCXLIV.' 
 
 Not being able to hear of a copy of the first edition 
 of 'Humane Prudence ' as existing in London, and 
 having come across only one person (Mr. Salkeld,
 
 PREFACE xi 
 
 the well-known bookseller in Clapham Road) who 
 had ever seen a copy, I thought it best to go to the 
 Bodleian Library at Oxford to see the copy 
 mentioned in ' Halkett & Laing.' I had found the 
 first edition entered as a production of Easter Term, 
 1680, in a contemporary book-list. 
 
 The Bodleian copy is a thin I2mo. volume, with 
 the following title : ' Humane Prudence, or, the 
 Art by which a Man may Raise Himself and Fortune 
 to Grandeur. By A. B. London, Printed for 
 Robert Harford, at the Angel in Cornhil, near the 
 Royal Exchange. M.DC.LXXX.' 
 
 The preface is a well-written and sensible address 
 from ' The Bookseller to the Reader,' and begins 
 thus : ' I have had these few Sheets so long by me, 
 that the Author (who is a Gentleman of Modesty and 
 Worth) has ev'n almost forgot them, and left it to 
 me to recommend them to the publick ' ; and so on 
 for 8 pages. The preface speaks of ' the Credit 
 (viz. reputation) of the Author,' but yields no clue 
 to his identity. The text of the volume occupies 
 pp. 1-131. It is made up of 33 short (numbered 
 but untitled) sections, and of a kind of appendix 
 called ' Sententiae Stellares ' (see account given 
 above of the eleventh edition), of which the para- 
 graphs are numbered 1-71. 
 
 Of the second edition of ' Humane Prudence ' I 
 have never seen a copy, nor do I at present know of 
 any library in which one exists. I have found its 
 entry in a contemporary catalogue as a production 
 of Easter Term, 1682. The title is there given thus : 
 ' Humane Prudence : or, the Art by which a man 
 may raise himself and Fortune to Grandeur. By 
 A. B. The second Edition, with the addition of a 
 Table, in twelves. Price bound is. Printed for J. 
 Lawrence, at the Angel in Cornhil.' 
 
 The only copy of the third edition of ' Humane 
 
 62
 
 Xll 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Prudence' which I have come across is in the 
 Lambeth Palace Library. It is a thin I2mo. volume. 
 The title-page bears no statement as to authorship, 
 but gives the information that this is 'The Third 
 Edition : Corrected and very much enlarged in every 
 Section throughout the whole Book, by the Author.' 
 Then comes a Latin quotation, followed by the in- 
 formation that the book is published at ' London, 
 Printed by J. Rawlins, for R. Sare at Grays-Inn- 
 Gate in Holborn, 1686.' The volume consists of a 
 title-page, seven pages of ' The Epistle Dedicatory,' 
 a blank page, a text of pp. 1-140, and a two-page 
 table of contents. The text is made up of twenty- 
 two numbered and titled 'sections' and of (109) 
 ' Sententiae Stellares.' ' The Epistle Dedicatory ' is 
 addressed ' To His much Honoured Friend Sir 
 T. S. K l & Baronet ' ; the ' T ' is rather a bad letter, 
 or has given a bad impression. The tone of this 
 ' Epistle ' is distinctly that of a gentleman ad- 
 dressing a young man of family with whom he 
 is well acquainted ; it begins with, ' Nothing 
 gives a greater lustre and Ennoblement to the 
 bravest person, than to act according to the 
 Maximes of Prudence ' ; and ends with, ' here thou 
 mayst see what thou art, or what thou shouldst 
 be.' I am Sir, Your Friend and Servant W. de 
 Britaine. 
 
 As to the fourth edition of ' Humane Prudence ' I 
 have not come across any information, much less 
 have I news of any copy of it. 
 
 The fifth edition (1689) may perhaps be called the 
 parent of the later ones ; for they do not differ much 
 from it, whereas it is much fuller than the earlier 
 editions. There is a copy in the British Museum. 
 It is a thick little izmo. volume in large type ; it 
 consists of title-page, eight pages of ' The Epistle 
 Dedicatory,' a two-page table of contents, and
 
 PREFACE xiii 
 
 PP- I ~359 f text. The text is made up of titled 
 sections, numbered 1-32, and of (123) ' Sententise 
 Stellares.' There is no statement as to authorship 
 upon the title-page, which says that this is ' The 
 Fifth Edition : Very much enlarged, divers new 
 Sections added, and the whole Corrected, by the 
 Author.' In this and succeeding editions there is a 
 motto on the title-page ; and the book is produced 
 at ' London, Printed by J. Rawlins, for R. Sare at 
 Grays-Inn-Gate in Holbourn, 1689. Price is. 6d.' 
 This edition has an ' Epistle Dedicatory,' which is 
 addressed to Edward Hungerford in the same form 
 as in the eleventh edition (see account of eleventh 
 edition above), and ends with the signature of W. de 
 Britaine. In this edition the printer runs out of 
 large type in the middle of section twenty-nine, and 
 finishes the book in smaller-sized type. 
 
 (All the later editions, which I am about to describe 
 briefly, are dedicated to Edward Hungerford, have 
 their ' Epistles Dedicatory ' signed W. de Britaine, 
 have a Latin quotation on their title-pages, and are 
 made up of thirty-two ' sections ' and some ' Sen- 
 tentise Stellares.') 
 
 Of the sixth edition there is a copy in the British 
 Museum, a neat i2mo. volume. Its title-page 
 says that it is ' The Sixth Edition Corrected 
 and Enlarged by the Author.' It is produced at 
 ' London, Printed by J. Rawlins, for R. Sare, at 
 Grays- Inn- Gate in Holborn, 1693.' It chiefly differs 
 from the fifth edition in that it is printed in much 
 smaller type. It consists of title-page, eight pages 
 of ' The Epistle Dedicatory,' a two-page table of 
 contents, and a text of pp. 1-284, including (123) 
 ' Sententiae Stellares.' 
 
 Of the seventh edition I have no information what- 
 ever up to the present moment. 
 
 The only copy of the eighth edition of ' Humane
 
 XIV 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 Prudence ' which I have seen is in private hands. 
 It is a I2mo., and calls itself simply ' The Eighth 
 Edition Corrected.' It is produced at ' London, 
 Printed for Richard Sare, at Grays-Inn-Gate in 
 Holbourn, 1700.' It consists of title-page, five pages 
 of ' The Epistle Dedicatory,' one page of a table of 
 contents, and pp. 1-229 f text (including 123 ' Sen- 
 tentise Stellares '). 
 
 Of the ninth edition there is a copy at the British 
 Museum. It is a I2mo. volume. The title-page 
 simply speaks of it as ' The Ninth Edition Corrected 
 and Enlarged.' It is produced at ' London, Printed 
 for Richard Sare, at Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn, 
 MDCCII.' This edition is very much like the eighth 
 edition, but has ' The Epistle Dedicatory ' printed in 
 larger type. It consists of title-page, six pages of 
 the ' Epistle,' a two-page table of contents, and pp. 
 1-229 of text (including 122 ' Sententiae Stellares'). 
 
 Of the tenth edition of 'Humane Prudence' there 
 is a copy in the British Museum. It is a I2mo. 
 volume. The title-page says that it is ' The Tenth 
 Edition Corrected and very much Enlarged.' It is 
 produced at ' London, Printed for Richard Sare, at 
 Grays-Inn-Gate in Holborn, MDCCX.' It does not 
 differ much from the ninth edition. It consists of 
 title-page, six pages of the ' Epistle Dedicatory,' a 
 two-page table of contents, and pp. 1-266 of text 
 (including 122 ' Sententiae Stellares '). In the 
 middle of number 88 of the 'Sententiae' the printer 
 runs out of large type, and begins to use a smaller 
 size for the rest of the text. 
 
 The eleventh edition has been already described 
 above. 
 
 There is a copy of the twelfth edition of ' Humane 
 Prudence ' in the British Museum. It is catalogued 
 as an 8vo. Its title-page says that it is ' Corrected 
 and very much Enlarged. The Twelfth Edition.
 
 PREFACE xv 
 
 [Latin quotation.] London : Printed for J. and J. 
 Knapton, D. Midwinter, W. Innys, J. Osborn and 
 T. Longman, and R. Robinson. MDCCXXIX.' The 
 volume consists of title-page, four pages of ' The 
 Epistle Dedicatory,' a two-page table of contents, 
 and a text of pp. 1-254, including the (122) 'Senten- 
 tise Stellares.' It is a very slightly enlarged reprint 
 of the eleventh edition. 
 
 (4) Other writings of ' De Britaine.' 
 
 ' The Dutch Usurpation : or, A brief View of the 
 Behaviour of the States -General of the United 
 Provinces, towards the Kings of Great Britain : with 
 some of their Cruelties and Injustices exercised upon 
 the Subjects of the English Nation. As also, a 
 Discovery of what Arts they have used to Arrive at 
 their late Grandeur, &c. By William de Britaine. 
 [Quotation from Virgil.] London : Printed for 
 Jonathan Edwin, at the Three Roses in Ludgate- 
 street. MDCLXXII.' 
 
 I find that this pamphlet was licensed on June 24, 
 1672, as a publication of the Trinity term. It is a 
 pamphlet of 35 pages, with a title-page and dedica- 
 tion, which make four pages more. The dedication 
 is (in verse) : ' To His Royal Highness the Duke of 
 York.' This pamphlet has been reprinted in the 
 ' Harleian Miscellany.' I have no reason to doubt 
 that it is by the author of ' Humane Prudence '; the 
 style is evidently that of the writer of the book, and, 
 indeed, the book appears to quote one or two ideas 
 from the pamphlet. The dedication is in flattering, 
 but not in servile or even humble, terms, and the 
 pamphlet has the tone of being written by a scholar 
 and a gentleman. 
 
 ' The Interest of England in the present War 
 with Holland. By the Author of The Dutch 
 Usurpation. [Latin quotation.] London, Printed
 
 XVI 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 for Jonathan Edwin, at the three Roses in Ludgate- 
 street, 1672.' This is a pamphlet of twenty-six 
 numbered pages, with a title-page and dedication, 
 which make four pages more. The dedication is 
 ' To The King,' and begins : 
 
 ' DREAD SIR, 
 
 Since Heaven your Righteous Cause has own'd, 
 And with Success Your powerful Navy crown'd ;' 
 
 which fixes the date of the production of the pam- 
 phlet as later than May 30, 1672. There is internal 
 evidence that this pamphlet is by the author of 
 ' Humane Prudence ' ; indeed, its last paragraph 
 is almost reproduced in that book. Upon page 24 
 there is a personal reference which perhaps implies 
 that the writer is British rather than English. At 
 the end there is a list of other publications of 
 Edwin's, in which ' The Dutch Usurpation ' is given 
 as by William de Britain. 
 
 I found that the Bodleian Library had a copy of 
 a pamphlet by ' De Britaine,' of which I had never 
 found any mention, much less any copy, elsewhere. 
 It has the following title-page : ' A Sober Enquiry, 
 whether it be Lawful for Subjects without Royal 
 Authority to take up Arms in Defence of the Pro- 
 testant Religion, to prevent Popery. London : 
 Printed for A. Banks. 1684.' It is prefaced by 
 an Epistle Dedicatory ' To the most Noble Colonel, 
 Colonel Edward Mansel, one of the worthy Members 
 of the most Honourable and Loyal Society at the 
 White Horse Tavern . . .' which winds up with 
 the signature of ' . . . Your most Faithful, most 
 obedient Servant and Countryman, Ap William, 
 a" Bretaine.' 
 
 The text of the pamphlet occupies ten pages, 
 quotes the Fathers, and shows much knowledge of 
 history and law. Its drift may be gathered from
 
 PREFACE xvii 
 
 the conclusion of one argument in it : ' the sole 
 power of the Sword is in the King.' The pamphlet 
 winds up with a passage almost exactly identical 
 with three sentences of Section III. of ' Humane 
 Prudence,' followed by these words : * So I take my 
 leave and rest, Sir, Your Humble Servant, Ap 
 William d' Bretaine.' 
 
 In the Library at Lambeth Palace I have noticed 
 a pamphlet, anonymous and without printer's name, 
 which strikes me as possibly written by 'De Britaine.' 
 But there are two other writers, at least, one of whom 
 may have written it. It is entitled ' The Royal 
 Fishing Revived,' and is dated ' London, 1670.' 
 
 (5) Who were ' De Britaine ' and ' Edward 
 Hungerford ' ? 
 
 The British Museum Library Catalogue, Watt's 
 ' Bibliotheca Britannica,' Allibone, Lowndes, and 
 many libraries and persons, have treated 'William de 
 Britaine' as if it were a real name. Even Halkett 
 and Laing's book follows suit. And yet I have ran- 
 sacked in vain such printed and MS. sources of infor- 
 mation as I could think of in the search for any 
 person who ever bore the name of William de 
 Britaine. 
 
 There have been two earlier discussions of this 
 question of the authorship of ' Humane Prudence,' 
 one in 1792-93, and one in 1854-5 ; but the identi- 
 fication of ' De Britaine ' was hindered rather than 
 helped by them. I have examined the black-letter 
 French work of Corbichon's referred to in the dis- 
 cussions ; it is of great interest, but has nothing 
 whatever to do with ' Humane Prudence.' 
 
 And now we come to a second puzzle, the solution 
 of which affects the first. Who was ' Edward H unger- 
 ford ' ? The following sentences are addressed to him
 
 XV111 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 in the fifth edition of ' Humane Prudence,' and 
 similar ones are found in the later editions. 
 
 ' Some part of this Manual was formerly Dedicated 
 to a Person of great Honour and Merit, who is 
 since deceased ; you being the next Heir to all his 
 Virtues, there is none can make so good a Title to 
 Humane Prudence as your Self. . . . 
 
 ' As much as you excel others in the goods of 
 Fortune, so ought you to be excellent amongst the 
 good in Virtue. 
 
 ' The Nobleness of your Geniture is a Spur to 
 Virtue : and if Virtue could have been propagated, 
 you had been one of the most Virtuous Persons in 
 the World. . . .' 
 
 To what Edward Hungerford can such words be 
 addressed, by a man such as ' De Britaine ' evidently 
 was, except the Edward Hungerford (son of Sir 
 Edward Hungerford, K.B., of Farleigh Castle), who 
 died in 1681 ? Yet the fifth edition of ' Humane 
 Prudence ' is dated 1689. 
 
 But there was an Edward Hungerford of Trinity 
 College, Oxford, and the Middle Temple, who died 
 in 173! (aged 70), left property behind him (I have 
 seen an MS. summary of his will), and was a son 
 of Francis Hungerford, M.D. Dr. Hungerford was 
 an ex-Fellow of All Souls' College, Oxford. He 
 settled at Reading, and his son Edward was ' of 
 Burfield ' (? Burghfield) in later life. They seem to 
 have been men of fine character and of genuine 
 culture. Their descent (through the Cadenham 
 branch of the Hungerfords of Wiltshire) from the 
 first Lord Hungerford (who died in 1449) is quite 
 clear. But did this Edward Hungerford, in 1689, 
 ' excel others in the goods of Fortune ' sufficiently to 
 let us identify him as the ' Edward Hungerford, 
 Esq.,' of ' De Britaine's ' dedicatory ' Epistle ' ? 
 
 Mr. Edward Hungerford of Farleigh Castle is
 
 PREFACE 
 
 xix 
 
 (apparently conclusively) known to have died under 
 age in 1681 ; indeed, his will (nuncupative), of which 
 I have seen an MS. summary, seems to prove the 
 point. He had married about 1677 the Lady 
 ' Alathea ' Compton, daughter of James, third 
 Earl of Northampton, by Isabella his wife. [The 
 Countess was Isabella, 'youngest' daughter and 
 ' co- heir' of Richard (Sackville), third Earl of Dorset, 
 by Anne, (de jure) suo jure Baroness Clifford.] Lady 
 Alathea went out * to a play ' one fine day, but the 
 performance she really attended was her own 
 marriage in Sir Edward Hungerford's town-house ; 
 her family was thought to be ' more angry at the 
 proceeding than at the match, for he is a very con- 
 siderable fortune and a handsome man.' How little 
 did the 'handsome' lad and his rather juvenile bride 
 think that neither of them would live to reach the 
 age of twenty- one years, that no issue of their 
 marriage would survive, and that Sir Edward 
 Hungerford (after selling his historic castle, and 
 squandering his immense revenues) would live on in 
 poverty long after their names were almost for- 
 gotten ! If we could think that it was to Edward 
 Hungerford of Farleigh that ' Humane Prudence ' 
 was dedicated, surely its pages would seem to us to 
 be perfumed with all the scented sadness of Lady 
 Alathea's story a life-record so short, so pitifully 
 human. 
 
 (6) A possible solution. 
 
 Historical and bibliographical books and MSS. 
 having failed to help us to identify the personality 
 of ' William de Britaine,' let us turn to genealogy. 
 Genealogy is a bad master, but a useful servant. 
 
 We have seen that Edward Mansel is a ' country- 
 man ' of Ap William d' Bretaine, who is elsewhere 
 called ' William de Britaine.' Let us take the 
 Mansels (or Mansells) of Carmarthenshire and
 
 xx PREFACE 
 
 Glamorganshire, and we find Edward Mansels at 
 once. An Edward Mansel of Carmarthenshire was 
 created a Baronet February 22, 1696; he had a 
 great- uncle Edward, an officer in the army. There 
 is or was a ' Mansell's Chapel ' (in the church of 
 Kid-welly in Carmarthenshire) which the Rev. John 
 Mansell built or restored in 1767. 
 
 Let us consider ' De Britaine,' then, as possibly a 
 South-Welshman. If he was so, to what ' K* & 
 Baronet ' would he be likely to dedicate a book 
 (revised for press, perhaps, in 1685, and) published 
 in 1686 ? Probably to Sir Edward Stradling, of St. 
 Donat's Castle in the county of Glamorgan. Now, 
 Sir Edward's death is usually stated to have 
 occurred in September, 1685, but I have seen 1686 
 pencilled in a copy of a Stradling pedigree, a fact 
 perhaps worth consideration. 
 
 And who was this Sir Edward Stradling's wife ? 
 No other than Elizabeth, daughter of Anthony 
 Hungerford of Farleigh Castle. And who was Sir 
 Edward's mother ? Catherine (Pery or Perry) who 
 married secondly Bussy Mansell of Britton Ferry in 
 the county of Glamorgan. 
 
 If it were possible, therefore, to accept Sir Edward 
 Stradling as the ' K* & Baronet,' we might perhaps 
 accept his son, the last Sir Edward Stradling (who 
 married a sister of the first Lord Mansel) as ' De 
 Britaine's ' Edward Hungerford. A son of Sir 
 Edward Stradling's naturally would be ' next Heir 
 to all ' his father's ' Virtues.' And being a Hungef- 
 ford in blood, though not in name, he might have a 
 book dedicated to him as ' Edward Hungerford ' ; I 
 have some vague recollection of a similar case. But 
 this is perhaps too ingenious a conjecture. 
 
 And now we will pass to ' William de Britaine,' 
 otherwise ' Ap William d' Bretaine.' As the reader 
 of ' Humane Prudence ' and of this preface has seen,
 
 PREFACE 
 
 xxi 
 
 we are looking for (i) a South-Welshman, (2) a man 
 who has seen a great deal of life, (3) a classical 
 scholar, (4) a man interested in the history and 
 literature of the Continent of Europe, (5) a discreet 
 man, of quiet tastes, who finally retires from the 
 busy world to a country life, (6) a man fond of 
 aphorisms and epigrams, and (7) a man whose 
 father's Christian name was William. 
 
 And what author of the reigns of Charles II. and 
 James II. meets these requirements? For one, 
 John Davies of Kidwelly (Carmarthenshire), son of 
 William Davies. For an admirable account of John 
 Davies of Kidwelly one need go no further than the 
 ' Dictionary of National Biography.' The article is 
 from the pen of Mr. S. L. Lee ; it contains a biblio- 
 graphy (of Davies' writings, translations, etc.) of 
 very high value, which must have cost Mr. Lee great 
 trouble to compile. Davies was probably born in May, 
 1625, was educated at Jesus College, Oxford, and at 
 St. John's College, Cambridge, travelled in France, 
 settled and wrote in London, retired to his birth- 
 place (Kidwelly), and died there in 1693. He was 
 author, translator, or prefacer of more than forty 
 books. He commonly used the initials J. D. as 
 author or compiler, but in one case he used ' F. W.' 
 John Hall's ' Paradoxes ' (1653) has a prefatory letter 
 by Davies, and the works of Davies include ' Epic- 
 tetus Junior, or Maximes of Modern Morality. In 
 Two Centuries. 1670.' His ' Prudential Reflections, 
 Moral Considerations, and Stoical Maximes ' (a 
 translation) is dated 1674. In 1679 he issued 
 ' Political and Military Observations. A New Col- 
 lection. By J. D. of Kidwelly.' 
 
 I have looked through the ' Epictetus Junior,' the 
 ' Prudential Reflections,' the ' Political . . . Obser- 
 vations,' and other writings by John Davies. 
 ' Political . . . Observations ' seems to me to have
 
 XX11 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 the very tone of ' Humane Prudence,' and on pages 
 n, 64, 88, 100, in, and 122 of the tiny volume I 
 find remarks which reappear in ' Humane Prudence ' 
 in a form not much different. 
 
 But even if we conclude that John Davies was the 
 author of ' Humane Prudence,' it is quite likely that 
 the sixth edition is the last which represents his 
 manuscript. The next two or three editions may 
 have been revised by no less a person than Sir Roger 
 L' Estrange, a person whom every English journalist 
 should feel an interest in. Indeed, on first compar- 
 ing ' Humane Prudence ' with other seventeenth- 
 century writings, I was struck by the resemblance 
 of the style of its later editions to that of several of 
 the pamphlets of L'Estrange. 
 
 (I may note in passing that the statement on page 
 130 of this volume may or may not give help as to 
 this question of authorship, according as it is a fact 
 or an ideal statement, and according to the date at 
 which it was actually written.) 
 
 There seem to me to be traces in ' Humane 
 Prudence ' of its being written or revised by someone 
 who knew Lord Clifford or the Earl of Arlington, 
 and L'Estrange certainly knew Arlington. I do not 
 think that there is any sign that Martin Clifford had 
 anything to do with ' Humane Prudence.' I may 
 mention that Sare, its publisher, was treated as a 
 friend by such men as L'Estrange ; indeed, he wrote 
 letters (about L'Estrange's private affairs) for 
 L'Estrange which still exist. 
 
 But I think that, whether ' De Britaine ' was John 
 Davies or not, his ideas are worthy of preservation. 
 
 H. H. S. 
 
 June, 1897.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 i. Of Study I 
 
 ii. Of Religion - 7 
 
 in. Of Loyalty - 14 
 
 iv. Of Conversation - 17 
 
 v. Of Discourse - -25 
 
 vi. Of Silence and Secrecy - 31 
 
 vii. Of Reputation - - 39 
 
 vin. Of Vain-glory and Boasting - 43 
 
 ix. Of Censure and Detraction - - 48 
 
 x. Of Passion - -56 
 
 xi. Of Injuries and Revenge - -6$ 
 
 xn. Of Virtue - 71 
 
 xin. Of Friends and Friendship - 78 
 
 xiv. Of Frugality and Expenses - - 87 
 
 xv. Of Riches - 93 
 
 xvi. Of Ambition and High Position - 102 
 
 xvii. Of the Art of being Happy - -112 
 
 xvin. Of the Regimen of Health, and of Temperance and 
 
 Sobriety - - 121
 
 xxiv CONTENTS 
 
 SECTION PAGE 
 
 xix. Of Law Suits - 134 
 
 xx. Of Gambling - 137 
 
 xxi. Of Marriage - - 138 
 
 xxii. Of the Man of Honour - 144 
 
 xxin. Of the Man of Business - 149 
 
 xxiv. Of Counsel and Counsellors - 157 
 
 xxv. Of Prudence in Time of Danger - 166 
 
 xxvi. Of the Grotto^ or Retired Life - 169 
 
 xxvn. Of Complaisance - 178 
 
 xxvin. Of ' Faber Fortunae* - 181 
 
 xxix. Of Negotiating - 191 
 
 xxx. Of the Politic Man - 199 
 
 xxxi. Of the Favourite - 205 
 
 xxxn. The Sun of Honour in the West - -212 
 
 C
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Of Study. 
 
 , 1 
 
 An intelligent and an industrious min- 
 ority seldom fails of being followed by 
 a virtuous and a useful life : you are now 
 entering the theatre of the world, upon the stage of 
 which every mortal must act a part. What yours 
 may be, I know not ; but be it what it will, whether 
 that of a statesman or of a beggar, it must be your 
 care to pursue, with a good grace and a gallant 
 bearing, the path that providence assigns you. 
 
 Never puzzle your head with the fantastic quirks 
 of the schoolmen: as 'how many angels can dance 
 upon the point of a needle ' : or cudgel your brain 
 about the proportion between the cylinder and the 
 sphere, 2 though Archimedes highly valued himself 
 upon having discovered it. 
 
 Neither will it become you to quarrel pedantically 
 about the orthography of a word : as whether to write 
 Felix with a diphthong, or an ' e ' simple : but 
 rather do you attend to the sense and meaning of 
 
 1 Refers primarily to Edward Hungerford. H. S. 
 
 2 Archimedes, the greatest mathematician of antiquity, wrote 
 a treatise ' On the Sphere and Cylinder,' which has come down 
 to us. Proposition xxxvii. of the first book deals with the re- 
 lation between a sphere and its circumscribing cylinder. H. S. 
 
 I
 
 2 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 things. What is it to us how many knobs Hercules 
 had on his club, or whether Penelope was faithful or 
 false ? Let every man mind his own business, and do 
 his own duty. 
 
 A wise man will employ his thoughts upon things 
 substantial and useful. It is not meet for a man of 
 the world, or even for a man of letters, to pester his 
 brains with idle punctilios and disputed trifles ; that 
 superfine curious sort of learning amounts to little 
 more than intellectual foppery, and serves no prac- 
 tical purpose. What are we the better for reading 
 which furnishes us only with vague thoughts, leading 
 to no action; or with vain learning, fit only for 
 academic displays ; or with knowledge of dead men's 
 vices or follies, which may but do us harm ? 
 
 Common sense is the treasure of the mind, and 
 judgment is the key to its storehouse. It mixes well 
 with all other gifts ; even as diamonds enhance the 
 hue of rubies or emeralds. 
 
 It ought to be a great part of our object and 
 business in life at once to unlearn what we have 
 been taught amiss, and to acquire the knowledge 
 of better things. We must beware lest the errors or 
 the mistakes of our education become ingrained in 
 us ; for early impressions are strong and lasting. 
 Many of them grow up with us from the cradle, 
 and some of them even follow us to the grave. That 
 is the best knowledge, in short, that makes us useful 
 rather than learned. Wisdom consists, in a great 
 measure, in the governing of our appetites, and in 
 the tuning of our affections. For when these are in 
 harmony, both we and others profit by it. 
 
 Metaphysical speculations are but the spiderwork 
 of whimsical heads. They are subtile and refined ; 
 but at the best, they may lead to pleasure without 
 profit. Like a flower without a root, a fanciful 
 philosophy is but a fading joy.
 
 OF STUDT 3 
 
 It was asked of Antisthenes, 1 what he gained by 
 his learning? His answer was 'that it made him 
 good company for himself, so that he was not 
 beholden to others for society.' It is no small 
 happiness for a man to rest quietly in his own house 
 of life, and to entertain himself pleasantly with his 
 own thoughts. To do this, you must add observa- 
 tion and experience to ability : practical knowledge 
 is to theories, as travelling is to poring over a map. 
 
 The whole world is one great University ; travel, 
 observation of men and manners, and experience of 
 action, are among its best lecturers. 
 
 Books give us our first notions of many things, 
 and can contribute materials towards the structure 
 of a beautiful palace of thought. But it is know- 
 ledge of the world which teaches us the possibilities 
 of life, and shews us the order, importance, and 
 connection of things, and gives us the credit of being 
 judicious in our actions. 
 
 In any intellectual achievement to be first in time 
 is a great advantage ; for those that do similar things 
 afterward, will get but a fraction of the praise given 
 to him who led the way. 
 
 Hence it is that any part of philosophy penned 
 by Hermes Trismegistus ; 2 any script of geography 
 bearing the name of Anaximander ; 3 any musical 
 composition sung by Amphion to his harp ; 4 any 
 piece of mathematical learning said to be written by 
 Zoroaster ; 5 are popularly reputed to be invaluable 
 because of their date. 
 
 1 Founder of the Cynic school of philosophy. H. S. 
 
 2 Thoth, the scribe of the gods, to whom Greek authors 
 attributed the writing of all the strictly sacred books, which 
 they called ' Hermetic.' H. S. 
 
 3 The Greek philosopher who is said to have invented 
 geographical maps. H. S. 
 
 * Lyre. H. S. 
 
 6 The founder of the national religion of the Perso-Iranian 
 
 I 2
 
 4 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 An illiterate person is a microcosm hidden in 
 darkness, and is like a statue of Polyphemus with the 
 eye chipped out. 
 
 I envy none that know more than myself, but I 
 pity them that know less. 
 
 Nothing lends more dignity to a man of the world 
 than learning, and no learning makes a man more 
 judicious than that which comes from a study of 
 history. A knowledge of history gives an antedate 
 to time, brings experience without grey hairs, and 
 makes us wise at the cost and expense of others, who 
 thus lived and died as lessons for us. 
 
 Study well the volume of nature, which is ot 
 more worth than all the books in the universe ; and 
 it lies open to all too, though rear! by few and 
 understood by fewer. To deal freely with you, I am 
 not much concerned at the burning of Ptolemy's 
 library at Alexandria ; and I should not have been 
 much more so, if I had actually seen its ashes ; for a 
 multitude of books is but a diverting distraction of 
 the mind ; whereas the treasury of nature entertains 
 us with an inexhaustible variety of matter. Since 
 the discovery of the use and virtue of the loadstone, 
 there is nothing, methinks, that study and industry 
 may not find out. 
 
 In matters that may be understood and that are 
 fitted for our examination, application must be our 
 oracle, and reason our Apollo. Not to know things 
 out of our reach, is the imperfection not of our 
 talent but of our nature, for mortal eyes cannot see 
 beyond their horizon. 
 
 True knowledge values things by weight and 
 measure, and not by the distinction of words and 
 authorities. Truth is the tutelary saint of very few 
 
 people. This clause may be due to De Britaine's printer's 
 error.- H. S.
 
 OF STUDT 5 
 
 persons, whereas erroneous opinions are current with 
 all the rest of humanity. 
 
 Strive to excel ; mediocrity is below a high soul ; 
 eminence in an honourable career will distinguish 
 you from the crowd, and may even advance you 
 into the catalogue of famous men. To be eminent 
 among the obscure, is less than to be a humble part 
 of the company of persons of weight and honour. 
 
 There was a man who presented to Henry the 
 Great of France an anagram upon his name 
 (Borbonius) which was Bonus Orbi, Orbus Boni; 
 the King asked him what it meant. The man said, 
 'that when his Majesty was a Hugonot 1 he was 
 Bonus Orbi ; but when he turned Catholic he was 
 Orbus Boni.' ' A very fine anagram,' said the King ; 
 'and pray what profession are you of?' 'Please, 
 your Majesty' (said the fellow) 'I am a maker of 
 anagrams, but I am a very poor man.' ' I believe 
 it, said the King, for you have taken up a beggarly 
 trade.' 
 
 I would not have you like an odd-drapery hawker, 
 who has many ends and remnants in his stock, but 
 never one good length of stuff. A smatterer in many 
 subjects is too often good for nothing with regard to 
 any serious pursuit. 
 
 About a hundred and eighty years since, 2 the 
 Greek language and necromancy were one and the 
 same thing in the estimation of the common people : 
 and it was not only disgraceful, but even dangerous to 
 be a Greek scholar. Nevertheless, I have somewhat 
 wondered, that Pope Paul the second, 3 should declare 
 them to be heretics, who uttered the word ' academy,' 
 which signifies the seat of oracles and learning. 
 
 For myself, I shall ever have a singular regard for 
 
 1 Sic De B. H. S. 
 
 2 That is, in the fifteenth century. H. S. 
 
 3 Died 1471. H. S.
 
 6 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITA1NE 
 
 those who present any new invention or discovery to 
 the Republic of Learning. 
 
 I honour Carpus, or those others whoever they 
 were, who were the first discoverers of the medical 
 efficacy of quick-silver j 1 they have thereby relieved 
 more distressed persons, than if they had built many 
 infirmaries or hospitals. 
 
 I much admire the rare invention of the micro- 
 scope and telescope, and must pay my thanks to the 
 authors of them (of whose identity antiquity gives 
 us not the least hint). By the assistance of these 
 dioptrical glasses, you may observe the curious 
 mechanism and excellent contexture of the minutest 
 animals, and that in these pretty engines (by an in- 
 comparable contraction of Providence) are lodged 
 all the perfections of the largest creatures ; so that 
 were Aristotle now alive, he might write a new 
 history of animals ; for the first tome of zoography 
 is still wanting, the naturalists hitherto having only 
 described to us the larger and more voluminous sort 
 of them, such as bears, bulls, tigers, etc., while they 
 have regardlessly passed by the insectile automata, 
 with a bare mention of their names. 2 
 
 There is a new world of experiments left to the 
 discovery of posterity ; but it hath been the un- 
 happy fate (which is a great pity) of novel inventions 
 to be under-valued ; witness that excellent discovery 
 of Columbus, with the contempt he underwent, both 
 before and after it. 
 
 And let nothing discourage you ; worth is ever at 
 home, and carrieth its own welcome along with it ; 
 your own talents will ennoble you, and he that has 
 a great mind needs nothing to make him greater. 
 
 It is the ruin of many men, that because they 
 
 1 Viz., the drug mercury. H. S. 
 
 8 I have left this interesting paragraph of De Britaine's 
 almost unaltered. H. S.
 
 OF RELIGION 7 
 
 cannot be best, they will be nothing; and if they 
 cannot do as well as they would, they will not do as 
 well as they may. 
 
 Good-fortune is like the sellers in the markets ; if 
 you can wait a little, her prices will fall. 
 
 Let great actions encourage greater ; and let 
 honours be your rewards, not your objects, in life. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 
 Of Religion.' 1 
 
 [INK not yourself with fanatics, but join 
 with Christians who agree to live soberly 
 in a Communion that is not of yesterday. 
 Make not yourself either a party man, 
 or a propounder of doctrines because they are in 
 fashion. Value no teacher who has not probity and 
 lives not up to some good rule of piety and justice. 
 If sincerity does not make you prosperous it will 
 at least keep you from being a snare ; and no man 
 can be truly religious, that is not also conscientiously 
 just and honest. Now righteousness is the most 
 powerful cause in the world, for God is on its side. 
 Briefly, I wish the Christian world unity in the 
 fundamentals that are necessary, liberty in things 
 indifferent, and charity in all things. 
 
 I know that there have been many things obtruded 
 upon the world as oracles of Heaven, that signify no 
 more than cheats and impostures : but wise men 
 ought not any longer to be concerned with shadows, 
 since God hath said ' fiat Lux.' 
 
 I must confess, I have not faith enough myself to 
 
 1 I am somewhat responsible for the general tone of this 
 section. De Britaine's text contains in places a seventeenth- 
 century narrowness of outlook. H. S.
 
 8 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 swallow camels, nor can I persuade my reason to 
 become a dromedary to bear the whole luggage of 
 tradition, or the fables of miracle-mongers. 
 
 Faith may exceed reason, but should not spurn it. 
 My creed may be out of the reach of my senses, but 
 it should not offer them any affront. Thus, while 
 faith doth assure me that I receive Christ's grace 
 effectually at the Holy Table, sense doth assure me 
 that I see bread and taste it really. For though I 
 oftentimes see not those things that I believe, yet I 
 must still believe those things that I see. 
 
 I can pay no reverence to a gray-headed error : 
 and as antiquity cannot privilege a mistake, so 
 novelty cannot prejudice truth. 
 
 There is nothing in itself more excellent than 
 religion ; but to raise quarrels and disputes about it, 
 is to dishonour it. It is marvellous to me, that that 
 which was designed to make us happy in another 
 world, should by its divisions make us most miserable 
 in this ; and that what was ordained for the saving 
 of men's souls should be perverted into the taking 
 away of their lives. I do not like a creed, that, like 
 Draco's laws, is writ in blood. 
 
 I never was disaffected to any that were of a 
 different persuasion from me in point of religion, but 
 wished them liberty of conscience, so far as they 
 made a conscience of that liberty ; and I never 
 understood the logic of confirming a wavering faith 
 by sword and pistol. I never was so rigid a censor 
 as to condemn all those which were not within the 
 purlieu of a particular church ; for my charity hopes 
 for a reserve of God's mercy, even for the very 
 Pagans themselves. 
 
 I never affected any schism, that being against a 
 main article of my faith, viz. the Communion of 
 Saints, which makes the Church Militant and the 
 Church Triumphant one body.
 
 OF RELIGION g 
 
 I never idolized the theorems of the schools ; but 
 I must confess that 'unum Augustinum mille 
 Patribus, unam Sacrae Scripturae paginam mille 
 Augustinis praefero.' I value St. Augustine more 
 than a thousand of the fathers, and one simple page 
 of Holy Writ more than a thousand St. Augustines. 
 
 That religion to me seemeth best which is most 
 reasonable ; especially if we consider how much of 
 self-interest there is, and what strong impressions 
 from early education there are, in that which many 
 call religion. Not that we are to try the articles of 
 our creed by the touchstone of Aristotle. 
 
 Be content with a single-minded faith in God, the 
 comforts of a good life, and the hopes of a better 
 one upon true repentance, and take the Apostles' 
 creed as your vademecum of theology. 
 
 In things essential agree with the mass of 
 Christians ; in things indifferent, with the best 
 parson you wot of. Though you have some beliefs 
 and notions of your own, yet yield (as the Orbs do 
 for the order of the Universe) to the great wheel of 
 the Christian Church. 
 
 Let it be an article of your faith, to believe as the 
 first Christians believed ; and have it as the great 
 principle of your practice, to live as the Golden Rule 
 directs. A sound faith is the best divinity ; a good 
 conscience the best law, and temperance the best 
 physic. 
 
 Let not your faith, which ought to stand firm upon 
 The Sure Foundation, lean foolhardily upon some 
 well painted but rotten prop of earthly device. 
 
 If in Scripture some points are left unto us less 
 clear and positive than others, be not dismayed, 
 it is that Christians may have reason to exercise 
 humility in themselves, and charity towards others. 
 
 Never wrest 1 the Scripture to maintain what you 
 1 Cf. Psalm Ivi. 6. H. S.
 
 io THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 believe to be true, for fear lest such a habit should 
 bring you in time to wrest it to serve what you know 
 to be an error. 
 
 Be careful not to exasperate any sect or school of 
 thought ; rigour seldom makes ill Christians better, 
 but many times it makes them reserved hypocrites. 
 
 Zeal doth well in a private breast, but moderation 
 suits a public position better. Set bounds to your 
 zeal by discretion, to errors by truth, to passions by 
 reason, to divisions by charity. 
 
 Never contend passionately for ceremonies (which 
 are but the suburbs of religion) to the disquiet of the 
 church : it is better for the church to be without 
 some ornaments than to lack charity or peace. 
 
 ' Optimus animus est pulcherrimus Dei cultus.' 
 If you design to make yourself happy, look to your 
 thoughts before they come to desires, and entertain 
 no thoughts which you would blush to put into 
 words. 
 
 The best way to keep out wicked thoughts is 
 always to be occupied with good ones ; let your 
 thoughts be where your duty is, and let your heart 
 be where your thoughts are ; for, though your work 
 is upon Earth, it can be done as within sight of 
 Heaven. 
 
 Let your thoughts be such that you need not be 
 ashamed to remember that God knows them ; and 
 your words to God such as you need not be ashamed 
 if men could hear. 
 
 It was one of the utterances of Pythagoras, ' de 
 deo loqui sine lumine nefas esto': I must confess that 
 I cannot think of God without an ecstasy, or speak of 
 Him without a reverence. 1 
 
 If your endeavours cannot ward off a fault, let a 
 
 1 The reader may like to be reminded of passages, somewhat 
 similar to this, which he will find in Sir Thomas Browne's 
 ' Religio Medici,' section iii. H. S.
 
 OF RELIGION II 
 
 timely repentance follow it ; with the same height 
 of desire with which thou hast sinned, with the like 
 depth of sorrow thou shouldest repent. Thou that 
 hast sinned to-day, defer not thy repentance till to- 
 morrow. For He that hath promised pardon to thy 
 amendment, hath not promised thee life until thou 
 hast amended. 
 
 Make use of time if thou lovest Eternity ; know 
 that yesterday cannot be recalled, and that to- 
 morrow is not assured to thee ; to-day only is 
 thine, a jewel which if once lost is lost for ever, 
 lost to God, lost to men, lost to and by thee. 
 
 Let all your actions be ' a Deo, in Deo, ad Deum ': 
 never venture on any action unless you bring God to 
 it ; nor rest satisfied, unless you carry God from it. 
 
 Be assured, he hath no serious belief in God, or in 
 a life to come, who dares to be wicked. 
 
 Instead of a Cato, set before you a God, whose 
 eye is always upon you ; and therefore keep your eye 
 always turned reverently toward Him. 
 
 Fear to do anything against that God whom thou 
 lovest, and thou wilt not love to do anything against 
 that God whom thou fearest. 
 
 Let your prayers be as many as your wants, and 
 your thanksgivings as frequent as your blessings. 
 
 In the morning think what you have to do during 
 the day ; and ask God's blessing upon your projects. 
 At night, think of all that you have done, and for its 
 imperfections ask God's pardon. 
 
 Take an exact account of your life, be not afraid 
 to look upon the score of your sins, but be fearful to 
 increase it; for a man to despair because he has 
 been a sinner, is for him to add error and folly to 
 wickedness. 
 
 If the devil shall at any time tempt thee to evil, 
 betake thyself to wholesome toil after fervent prayer, 
 and then he will forbear to tempt thee any more,
 
 12 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 when he shall see that he thereby urges thee but 
 toward devotion and toward duty. 
 
 Have a care of the least temptation to sin which 
 may attack thee ; for the most heroic virtue is like 
 a great city, in that it is seldom skilfully besieged, 
 without being taken in the end. 
 
 Consider, that in Heaven above there is an ear 
 which overhears you, an eye which oversees you, and a 
 book wherein all your words and deeds are carefully 
 written ; therefore so behave yourself in every action 
 as if God were on the one hand, and death on the 
 other. 
 
 In all your actions aim at Christian perfection ; 
 that man will fall, sooner or later, who suffers him- 
 self to cherish one sinful thought. 
 
 And he that dares sometimes to do base acts be- 
 cause they are for his advantage, would become 
 utterly base, if he thought that his interests allowed 
 of it. ' Quod dubitas, ne feceris.' 
 
 Let thy property serve thy affairs, let thy affairs 
 serve thyself; let thyself serve thy soul, let thy soul 
 serve thy God. 
 
 Be not solicitous about fame, for that lies within 
 the reach of many if they raised a hand to it; but do 
 thou take care of conscience, which is a plain task, a 
 commission within the capacity of all, and yet one 
 in which most men fail. 
 
 Consider time past, as matter for recollection and 
 reflection ; time present as owed to duty ; and time 
 to come as left to Providence. Your time is a rich 
 part of the public treasure ; every hour of it which 
 you mis-spend is a sacrilegious theft, and a crime 
 committed against your fellow-citizens. 
 
 Consider the shortness of your life, and the cer- 
 tainty of judgment to come; the great reward there 
 will be for the good, and the severe lesson for the 
 bad ; therefore make peace with Heaven by repen-
 
 OF RELIGION 13 
 
 tance at the end of every day, and so you shall have 
 but one day to repent of on your deathbed. 
 
 You may have all the wisdom of the world, and 
 all knowledge of tongues and languages ; but if you 
 are not ruled by the maxims of a good heart and a 
 righteous conscience, 'tis but ' sapienter ad Infernum 
 descendere.' 
 
 Religion lies not so much in the creed as in the 
 life ; it is of no avail to talk like Christians, if we 
 live like vicious infidels; this it was that made a 
 famous Pagan philosopher say ' that there was 
 nothing more glorious than a Christian in his dis- 
 course, nothing more miserable in his actions.' 
 
 He that serves God is free, safe, and calm ; all his 
 actions will bear such fruit as God wills ; and what 
 can a man desire more than to want little from with- 
 out, and to have all things necessary for eternal 
 happiness within himself? 
 
 Therefore, i. Be careful that you be always em- 
 ployed, ii. Look to the issue, iii. Reflect upon your- 
 self. ' Vita est in se reflectio ' : beams in reflection 
 are hottest, and the soul becomes wise by walking in 
 the ways of God. 
 
 In the morning I frequently converse with the 
 dead, at noon with the living, at night with myself ; 
 yet I do not trouble my head with over much read- 
 ing of books. For when I contemplate the great 
 volume of the universe, in every page of it I observe 
 such excellent theorems and maxims of wisdom, that 
 for the nonce I am aweary of the printed page. 
 
 And yet methinks I could ill spare one approved 
 author from my library.
 
 I 4 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Of Loyalty. 
 
 EXT to speaking of your duty to God, I 
 come to give you advice with regard to 
 your loyalty to your sovereign. 
 
 Never sell honour to purchase treason. 
 A secure and happy subjection is more to be es- 
 teemed than a dangerous and factious liberty. 
 
 A strong rule is the greatest security of freedom ; 
 for as the obedience of his subjects is the source of 
 a king's power, so the royal power is the safeguard 
 of national liberty. Therefore those who weaken a 
 sovereign's power, usually weaken a nation's security. 
 
 Never suffer the dignity of the royal person to be 
 lowered ; for the disastrous result of a subject's dis- 
 obedience, is, by first sullying the glory of the king's 
 person, to end in the overthrow of his power. 
 
 As rebellion is a weed of hasty growth, it will 
 probably decay as suddenly ; and that band which 
 is united by treachery, will easily be dissolved by 
 jealousies. Political crimes are full of fears, delays, 
 and frequent change of counsels ; and that which in 
 the projection seemed sure of its reward, when it 
 comes to be acted looks black with danger. 
 
 All disloyal persons would do well to consider, 
 that when those who employed them have accom- 
 plished their impious purpose, they will either dis- 
 dain their instruments as useless, or destroy them as 
 dangerous. 
 
 Charles the fifth, during the quarrel between the 
 Imperialists and the French, made use of the Duke 
 of Bourbon (who by his infidelity, had purchased 
 the hatred of men) against his Lord and Master, 
 Francis the first. After the arrival of the Duke at
 
 OF LOYALTY 15 
 
 the Emperor's Court, Caesar, having entertained 
 him with all friendly demonstrations, sent to one of 
 his nobles and asked him for his house to lodge 
 Bourbon in. The nobleman answered the messenger, 
 with Castilian courage, that he could not but grant 
 his master's request ; but ' let him know (saith he) 
 that Bourbon shall no sooner be gone out of the 
 house, but I will burn it, as being infected with his 
 treason and infamy and thereby made unfit for men 
 of honour to dwell in.' 
 
 He that entertains a dangerous design, puts his 
 head into a halter ; and, moreover, he puts that 
 halter into the hands of the person to whom he first 
 imparts the secret. 
 
 And events 1 have assured us, that the people, 
 after they have seen the evils which they have 
 brought about by their own folly, will return that 
 power which they gained by their rebellion (but 
 could not manage) to its proper place, before it be- 
 comes their ruin ; for they will see that unbounded 
 liberty must destroy itself. 
 
 And, let me tell you, the objects of the common 
 people, however skilfully painted by those who in 
 public do swear by such folk as though they were 
 very angels, are much different from the designs of 
 any wise statesman. So that we should remember 
 that mankind is highly concerned in the supporting 
 of sound government, wherein the safety of honest 
 citizens most consists, and that we ought to con- 
 found those arts by which the ruin of a good king is 
 contrived. 
 
 Submission to your sovereign is your duty, and the 
 open expression of confidence in his goodness will 
 show your prudence. 
 
 1 Viz., the Restoration. The reader may compare with this 
 pages 25-27 of De Britaine's pamphlet, ' The Dutch Usurpation, 
 etc., 1672.' H. S.
 
 16 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BR1TAINE 
 
 Whatsoever a sovereign doth, it is to be presumed 
 by his subjects that it was done with great reason ; 
 if he commands anything, everyone is bound to be- 
 lieve that he hath good reason to command the 
 same. His actions are manifest, but his thoughts 
 are secret ; it is our duty to submit to the former, 
 and not to speculate concerning the latter. For the 
 books of kings are written in strange characters, 
 which few can decipher ; and their actions are like 
 some great river, whereof we see the dark surface 
 move, but know not its sources nor what underlies 
 the depths of the water. 
 
 The commands of princes are not to be disputed 
 but obeyed : do not pry into the reasons of what is 
 commanded, but act because it is commanded and 
 in the manner directed. Let no pretence of a tender 
 conscience render you disobedient to a ruler's lawful 
 commands ; for righteous obedience to your king, is 
 part of your duty towards God. 
 
 Remember that conscience is not your master, but 
 your guide; and so far only can conscience justify 
 your actions, as it is itself justified by the laws of 
 God. 
 
 I have seen loyalty suffer punishment due to re- 
 bellion, and treason receive the rewards of fidelity ; 
 yet for all that I choose to be loyal, and to force my 
 passage to the help of my prince, though the way be 
 paved with thorns and serpents. 
 
 A loyal subject, like a good soldier, will stand his 
 ground, receive wounds, and glory in his scars. 
 Yea, and in death itself he will love the master 
 for whom he falls. He will have this divine pre- 
 cept always in his mind, * Fear God, honour the 
 King.' 
 
 And they that would be traitors to a king should 
 ever be forewarned that princes have a myriad eyes 
 that observe for them on their right side and on
 
 OF CONVERSATION 17 
 
 their left ; and that royal arms are long and can 
 strike offenders from afar. When they strike from 
 a short way off, woe to the culprit ! 
 
 SECTION IV. 
 
 Of Conversation. 1 
 
 H||s|||||HE love of society is instinctive; but the 
 character of our company is largely a 
 matter of our own choice, which there- 
 fore needs to be exercised according to 
 
 prudence. 
 
 Any assemblage of wise men is a kind of academy 
 of good-breeding and learning : it was not the school, 
 but the company of Epicurus that made Metro- 
 dorus, Harmactius and Polyaenus so famous. 
 
 To hear the discourse of wise men delights us, and 
 their company inspires us with noble and generous 
 contemplations. When I happen to come into the 
 society of two or three wise men, I think myself as 
 fortunate as if I were in the Lycium 2 of Aristotle, or 
 the Stoa of Zeno. 
 
 Let your conversation therefore be with those by 
 whose example you may profit most ; for the ship of 
 character never returns with so rich a cargo as when 
 it sets sail from such continents. Company, like 
 climates, alters temperament ; and ill company, by a 
 kind of contagion, doth insensibly affect us. Yield- 
 ing and tender natures are but too apt to receive 
 any impression ; Alexander learned his drunkenness 
 
 1 Used in the sense in which Philip Gilbert Hamerton used 
 the phrase ' Human Intercourse ' as the title of one of his two 
 most interesting books. H. S. 
 
 2 Less correctly ' Lyceum.' H. S. 
 
 2
 
 18 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE. 
 
 from Leonides, and Nero his cruelty from his 
 barber. 
 
 I dare not trust myself in the hands of bad com- 
 pany ; indeed I feel that I never go abroad so as to 
 come home again absolutely the same man that I 
 went out, something or other that I had in the order 
 of my mind is discomposed ; perchance even some 
 passion that I had subdued lifts its head again. But 
 I dare not for long abstain from human intercourse 
 lest my mind lose some of its strength. The mind 
 suffers from seclusion somewhat as the body does ; 
 after a man has kept his chamber for a long time, he 
 is grown tender, and the least breath of a ruder air 
 affects him. 
 
 Keep company with persons rather above than 
 beneath yourself; for gold, if placed in the same 
 pocket with silver, loseth somewhat both of its colour 
 and of its weight. But be careful that you do not 
 entangle your affairs with those of great men who 
 have grown desperate, for the fall of such may be 
 ruinous even to their most prudent followers. Wise 
 birds build not in tall trees unless the timber be 
 sound. 
 
 Men of large souls, and narrow fortunes, are not 
 suited to be your daily companions. Rare powers 
 seldom bless their owners with moderation, their 
 friends with happiness, or the place they live in with 
 peace. 
 
 Eat no cherries with great men, for they will cast 
 the stones in your eyes ; like fire, at a distance they 
 give warmth ; but if you go too near them, you may 
 be burned. 
 
 He is wise, or will soon become so, who keeps 
 wise company : but he that lieth with dogs (saith a 
 homely proverb) riseth with fleas. Retain your own 
 virtues, and by imitation naturalize other men's ; but 
 let no man become a pattern to you until you are
 
 OF CONVERSATION ig 
 
 sure that he is well made and of good stuff: study to 
 gain respect, not by little observances, but by con- 
 stant courtesy, kindly intentions, and honourable 
 dealing. 
 
 Hear no ill of a friend, and speak as little as 
 possible of an enemy : believe not all that you hear, 
 nor speak all that you believe. Say what is well, 
 and do what is better ; be what you appear to be, and 
 appear to be what you are. 
 
 Approve yourself to wise men by your character, 
 and please the crowd by your courtesy. 
 
 Permit not your disposition to grow tart, even 
 though you be on the lees of fortune ; for bitter 
 words, like hot drinks, are useful upon occasion, but 
 if often used are injurious. Be of a quiet and serene 
 deportment. 
 
 Give not your advice or opinion before it is wished 
 for, seeing that that is to upbraid the other's ignor- 
 ance, and to value your own ability over much : 
 neither accustom yourself to find fault with other 
 men's actions, for you are not bound to weed the 
 gardens of their activity. 
 
 Be not contradictory ; contradiction passes for an 
 affront, because it is the condemning of the judgment 
 or of the knowledge of another ; and by offering 
 much of it, you may sour the sweetest companion- 
 ship. 
 
 Distrust an inquisitive man as probably a fool, 
 and possibly a spy ; for some persons who are 
 forward in asking, use the same liberty in telling. 
 Questions from cunning men often smell of danger, 
 for their questions are (like beggars' gifts, ' Sua 
 munera misit in hamo,' which are only produced in 
 order to draw forth something in return) intended to 
 betray you into yielding up what you should not part 
 with. And you will meet with men whose ears are 
 like cupping-glasses ; for as these attract the most 
 
 2 2
 
 20 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 noxious humours in the body so the former ever 
 absorb the worst sayings of their companions. 
 
 In society do you rather incline to listen than to 
 speak : for you will then have this advantage, that 
 what is beneficial in the talk, you may make your 
 own, and may the more readily discard what is false 
 or worthless. 
 
 Avoid too much familiarity in conversation, for he 
 that familiarizes himself, soon loses the superiority 
 that his serious air first gave him. The more com- 
 mon things are, the less they are valued ; and 
 familiarity uncovers imperfections that reservedness 
 concealed. 
 
 Be not too familiar with superiors, for fear of giving 
 offence, nor with inferiors, for that is indecent. 
 Above all, preserve your dignity of manner with 
 persons of coarse fibre ; for their ignorance of 
 mental and moral differences is such, that, being 
 insensible of the honour done them by your notice, 
 they will take the attention which you graciously give 
 as but their due. There is no better defence against 
 those who would pick the lock of the heart, than to 
 turn the key of reserve on the inside. 
 
 Never commend a worthy person to his face, but 
 do it judiciously to others, to create in them a good 
 opinion of him. Do not dispraise a bad man behind 
 his back, but do it to himself, if you think that it will 
 work a reformation in him. 
 
 Glowing encomiums of any person, uttered in his 
 absence, are not over prudent, for they suggest a 
 kind of detraction of those with whom you are talk- 
 ing ; and such praisings will suggest a certain arro- 
 gance in you ; for he that commends another, often 
 appears to wish him to be well esteemed merely upon 
 the speaker's recommendation. 
 
 Nothing will gain you more reputation with the 
 mass of men, than an humble and serene deportment.
 
 OF CONVERSATION 21 
 
 A rude or morose behaviour in social intercourse, is 
 as absurd, as the name of a 'round quadrangle' would 
 be to a mathematician. 
 
 Urbanity and civility are a debt which you owe to 
 mankind ; civil language and good behaviour will be 
 like perpetual letters-commendatory unto you. Other 
 virtues have need of somewhat to maintain them ; 
 justice, for example, must have power; liberality 
 needs wealth ; and so forth. But courtesy sets up 
 in business with no other stock than a few pleasant 
 looks and good words, and an absence of evil inten- 
 tion. It is a good bargain to gain true friends at the 
 cost of sincere kindness and affability. 
 
 Pyrrhus, being warned by the Romans to beware 
 of poison, since one of his own subjects was believed 
 to have a design to dispatch him, did then begin to 
 fear that he should come to an end by the hands of 
 those who had already subdued him by their civil 
 words. 
 
 Hence it was that the magnanimous Don Alphonso, 1 
 King of Naples, by forgetting his greatness for a 
 moment and alighting from his horse to relieve a 
 countryman that was in some danger, conquered the 
 fortified walls of Gae'ta, which the battery of his 
 guns could not have done in many days ; he made 
 his first entry in their hearts, and presently afterward 
 entered in triumph into their city. 
 
 The crowd is as easily moved in its affections, as 
 it is furious in its persecutions : the first thing that 
 gets its love (after flattery) is courtesy and gene- 
 rosity. Agesilaus being asked how one might get 
 the love of men, answered, by speaking them fair, 
 and doing them favours. 
 
 Let your behaviour, like your garments, be neither 
 tight nor loose, but fit and becoming. 
 
 1 Otherwise Alfonso V. (the Wise), King of Aragon. The 
 date of the surrender was 1453. H. S.
 
 22 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 Catch not too soon at an offered slight, neither 
 give way too quickly to anger; the one shews a 
 weak pride, and the other an ungoverned nature. 
 
 In conversation, avoid idle jests and vain com- 
 pliments ; the one being ' crepitus ingenii,' the other 
 nothing but verbal idolatry ; distinction, like a rich 
 stone, is ever seen best when plain set. 
 
 Anacharsis being invited to a feast, could not be 
 prevailed upon to smile at the affected railleries of 
 common jesters ; but when an ape was brought in he 
 laughed freely, saying that ' An ape was ridiculous 
 by nature, but men ought not to become so by study.' 1 
 
 Be not of those who commence witty conversation 
 by blasphemy, and deem that they cannot be in- 
 genious but by being impious. 
 
 To bandy idle jests, is to sojourn in the suburbs 
 of vanity, and to delight in them, is to dwell in the 
 city of fools. By endeavouring to purchase the 
 reputation of being witty, you may soon lose the 
 advantage of being thought to be wise. 
 
 An advocate pleading in the senate, and using 
 many jests, Pleistarchus said to him, * Sir, you do 
 not consider that as those that wrestle are 2 wrestlers 
 at last, so you, by often exciting laughter, will 
 become ridiculous yourself.' 
 
 Jests must be used, like physic, in moderation, 
 for they lose their effect if they are too frequently 
 employed. If your jests, like mustard, be biting, as 
 you make others afraid of your wit, so you had need 
 be afraid of their memory. Wit is but a half-brother 
 to wisdom ; sometimes wit is nothing but wisdom 
 scared out of its wits. 3 
 
 1 This answer, if not that of Anacharsis, is clearer than the 
 one quoted by De B. Anacharsis was a Scythian traveller 
 and philosopher. H. S. 
 
 2 Often become professional wrestlers. H. S. 
 
 * Probably a reference to the laboured playing upon words, 
 which so often passed for wit in De Britaine's day. H. S.
 
 OF CONVERSATION 23 
 
 Never distort your face or your words to express 
 incivility or fantastic nonsense, nothing doth more 
 depreciate or degrade a man's dignity in conversa- 
 tion. This folly is handsomely derided in an old 
 blunt epigram, where the fantastic gentleman thus 
 speaks to his foot-boy : 
 
 'Diminutive, and my defective slave, 
 Reach my corps coverture immediately ; 
 'Tis my complacency that vest to have, 
 T J insconce my person from frigidity.' 
 
 The boy thought all was Welsh that his master 
 said ; until he called in English, ' Rogue, go fetch 
 my cloke to keep me warm.' 
 
 Use such words, as those to whom you speak will 
 understand ; otherwise you will be as ridiculous as 
 Andrew Downes (Greek professor 1 at Cambridge) 
 who courted his mistress out of the Thesaurus 2 of 
 H. Stephanus. I pity that person who never speaks 
 but in monosyllables, like Rabelais' grey friar. 
 
 You will meet with many persons, (as I myself 
 have done) who are grave in bearing, and exceed- 
 ingly formal ; but they are so far from solving of 
 riddles as Oedipus 3 did, that they are very riddles 
 themselves. You must have a care of these, for a 
 pedant and a formalist are two dangerous animals ; 
 but to the sages and heroes of the times, out of duty, 
 you must pay the debt of an honourable regard and 
 remembrance. 
 
 If you meet with a person subject to infirmities, 
 
 1 From 1585 to 1625. He was a Biblical translator, and a 
 writer on Demosthenes, etc. He wrote Greek letters to Isaac 
 Casaubon. H. S. 
 
 2 The Greek Thesaurus of Henri Estienne, called in De 
 Britaine's text ' Henry Stephens.' Downes' copy was very 
 likely of the 1572 folio edition. H. S. 
 
 3 It may be interesting to note that Dryden and Lee's 
 tragedy of ' Oedipus' was published in 1679. H. S.
 
 24 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 never deride them in him, but bless God that you 
 have no occasion to grieve for them in yourself. 
 
 You may see your own mortality in other men's 
 deaths, and your own frailty in their sins. 
 
 Nothing doth more cultivate and embellish a man 
 than the companionship of the wise ; man is born 
 barbarous, and is ransomed from the condition of 
 beasts only by being cultivated. 
 
 To mature yourself, frequent the society of the 
 most sage and excellent persons : but when you are 
 matured, strike in with those of the inferior size ; for 
 the former will eclipse the lustre of your abilities. 
 The most accomplished of men will always have the 
 first rank ; and if you get any part of the world's 
 praise, it will be their leavings. It will be impru- 
 dent for you to gain credit for others, at the expense 
 of your own reputation. 
 
 It is one good step towards true happiness to 
 delight in the society of wise and good men ; where 
 that cannot be had, it is almost advisable to keep no 
 company at all. 
 
 A cat, out of pretended kindness, came one day 
 to visit a sick hen, and asked her how she did ; the 
 hen answered, ' the better if you were farther off ' ; 
 do you, after the same manner, treat all idle and 
 vain persons. For such men, like a vitiated diges- 
 tion, corrupt whatsoever they receive. Thus that 
 which ought to yield nourishment is made to do 
 harm. 
 
 I do not desire to open my heart, like the gates 
 of a foolish city, to all that ask to enter ; guests that 
 would tarry there, must prove that I should do well 
 to admit them. 
 
 The Assyrians assert that Mercury is the ruling 
 planet of young men ; and the reason is, as I con- 
 ceive, because that planet bodes good or ill accord- 
 ing to the planet with which it is in conjunction.
 
 OF DISCOURSE 25 
 
 Be free from all manner of oddities and particular 
 humours, they being not acceptable to society : for 
 who would not mislike the temperament of a Demo- 
 phon, 1 who vowed that he perspired in the shadow, 
 and trembled for cold in the sun. 
 
 Be ' Orpheus in silvis, inter delphines Arion ' : I 
 would advise all those that are of a severe or morose 
 temperament, to sacrifice to the Graces without 
 ceasing until their malady is lessened. 
 
 SECTION V. 
 Of Discourse? 
 
 ISCOURSE is ' vehiculum cogitationum' ; 
 therefore it should run even with the 
 wheels of men's thoughts. It ought to be 
 discreet, and not a mere idle chiming of 
 inanities. 
 
 It may be said that silence is the wisdom of a 
 fool, and speech that of a wise man. The Rabbis 
 observe, with regard to various places in Scripture, 
 that the word which is translated 'speak' signifies 
 thinking as well as speaking ; to teach us, that we 
 ought to think before we speak, and not to speak 
 otherwise than as we think. 
 
 If the turret-clock of the tongue be not set by the 
 sun-dial of the heart, it will not go right. 
 
 Before you speak, dip your tongue in your mind, 
 and then you will mind what you speak. A wise 
 man hath his tongue held fast by his mind, but a 
 
 1 Or Demophoon, doubtless the King of Athens of that name, 
 B.c. 1182. H. S. 
 
 2 Viz., speech. As will be seen in this section, the word is 
 chiefly used by De Britaine for talk in which each person 
 delivers himself at some length. H. S.
 
 26 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 fool hath what he calleth his mind loose upon his 
 tongue. 
 
 Never speak in superlatives, for that way of 
 speaking always hurts either truth or prudence. 
 
 Let your discourse be such as your judgment may 
 maintain, and as your companions deserve ; by 
 neglecting the one rule you waste your discourse, by 
 not observing the other you lose your opportunity. 
 
 Discourse, like weather, is best liked in its proper 
 season. 
 
 A polite and lucid discourse charms the ears ; but 
 sublime metaphysical conceptions make those that 
 hear them do penance ; and the discourse of some 
 men resembles the stars, which give us little light, 
 because they are so high. I approve not of those 
 Boeotian enigmas, or Delphic oracles ; they are fit 
 only for an Apollo. 
 
 Hear more often than you speak, and be willing 
 to learn of others rather than to show yourself a 
 teacher. It is many men's fault, rather to exhibit 
 their old wares, than to purchase new stuff. I had 
 rather be a commonplace book, to take the wise 
 sayings and discourses of others, than I would have 
 every word of mine esteemed as an oracle. 
 
 A prudent man keeps his eyes open, and his 
 mouth mostly shut ; for he knows that it is his 
 business to inform himself, rather than to attempt 
 to instruct others. The wise man often retires 
 within the sanctuary of his silence ; and if some- 
 times he be communicative it is but to a few 
 persons, men whom he accounts to be wise. 
 
 Never argue against the truth, but be jealous to 
 be her champion, or at the least to wear her colours ; 
 he that argues against the truth takes pains only to 
 be overcome at the last ; even if he be a conqueror 
 for a time, he gains but fading trophies by his 
 victory.
 
 OF DISCOURSE 27 
 
 I have heard two men arguing so passionately 
 one against the other that each of them lost charity, 
 and at the last, both of them lost hold of truth : 
 there are few disputes carried on without some show 
 of passion, and yet there is scarce any dispute worth 
 the appearance of passion. 
 
 Let your discourse be smooth, and flowing like a 
 river ; not turbulent, nor impetuous, like a torrent. 
 
 If there be any need of your contending, let it be 
 done with respect, and in such a manner as to set 
 forth your opinion fairly ; do not magisterially, and 
 in a style of authority, strive to enforce it. Give 
 your opinions as the Romans did, ' ita videtur, it 
 appeareth so to me ' ; for men are not easily con- 
 vinced of anything by others discoursing imperi- 
 ously. 
 
 In discourse make not too great a flourish or scat- 
 tering of your knowledge, lest your treasury be 
 soon exhausted. Some good thing should be kept 
 in store, that you may bring it forth to-morrow; the 
 skilful host furnishes no more dishes at an Ordinary 
 than are necessary to satisfy his guests. 
 
 Never talk or discourse of anything that lies be- 
 yond the sphere of your intellect, or that is outside 
 of your knowledge, otherwise you may render your- 
 self ridiculous, and not even know it. 
 
 1 Navita de ventis, de tauris narret arator ; 
 Enumeret miles vulnera, pastor oves.' 
 
 There was a gentleman that had an aching in his 
 head, which did much afflict him ; he consulted a 
 doctor of physic, and the gentleman told the doctor 
 that he had a friend (who was but a quack), but 
 because he was much beholden to him, and unwilling 
 to disoblige him, desired that he might be sent for, 
 and consult together about his distemper ; to which 
 the doctor did willingly agree ; the quack being
 
 28 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TA1NE 
 
 sent for, came, and being informed what the doctor 
 had prescribed, after some impertinent discourse, 
 he told the doctor he was much mistaken in the 
 distemper ; the doctor asked him what he took the 
 distemper to be, the quack told him it was enteritis. 1 
 
 I had a neighbour, by profession a tailor, who was 
 much abused with ill language by another person ; 
 the tailor was resolved to sue him, and came to his 
 lawyer and declared to him how he had been abused; 
 the lawyer asked him ' what were the words that he 
 spake of you ?' ' Sir,' said the tailor, 'he called me 
 a serpent.' 'A good action will lie,' said the counsel. 
 ' I know that,' said the tailor, ' very well, but I would 
 have a Scandalum Magnatum, 2 for the words are 
 of a high nature ; and I have heard that the jury 
 usually give great damages in that action/ 
 
 These two persons had their brains under the 
 same control as that gentleman, who being asked 
 what the Bucentaur 3 was, answered that it was the 
 Duke of Venice. 
 
 Discourse is the scheme by which you may take 
 the ascendent of the understanding. 4 
 
 Forbear all sarcasms and satirical speeches, for 
 they may be remembered by others when they are 
 forgotten by him that spake them. The Earl of 
 
 1 I have revised this paragraph, and the next, as little as 
 possible. They may serve the purpose of shewing the reader, 
 who has not seen the text of De Britaine's book, something of 
 its style : but some of the anecdotes are in a much more 
 involved style than these are. H. S. 
 
 2 The writ for recovering damages, and the action, acquired 
 the name of the offence, which was that of libelling any peer or 
 great officer of the realm. H. S. 
 
 3 The state barge of the doges of Venice. H. S. 
 
 4 'Scheme' in this paragraph, which I leave unaltered, is the 
 ' Schema Cceli," the chart of the sky at a particular moment, so 
 dear to the astrologer. 'Ascendent,' as an astrological term, 
 is defined in an old dictionary as ' that degree of the Ecliptic 
 which rises at one's nativity.' H. S.
 
 OF DISCOURSE 29 
 
 Essex told Queen Elizabeth that she was as crooked 
 in disposition as she was in body ; she never forgot 
 those words, and the Earl lost his head for them in 
 the end. 
 
 As an Italian says, 'though the tongue has no 
 bone, yet many times it breaks the back.' ' Vincula 
 da linguae, vel tibi vincula dabit '; confine your tongue, 
 or else it will confine you. 
 
 Be not aimless or long-winded in talking ; that 
 may create a fool's paradise, but it makes a wise 
 man's purgatory ; it will suggest a certain weakness 
 of character in you, and may imply a belief on your 
 part that others are affected with the same vanity. 
 
 Great talkers discharge too many bolts to take 
 always true aim, ' qui pauca considerat, facile pro- 
 nuntiat.' To speak well and to speak much is not 
 a task for any but rare persons. Much speaking is 
 too often weary hearing. 
 
 Speak wisely, or say nothing ; then if others be 
 not profited by your silence, they will not be vexed 
 by your discourse. By your silence you have this 
 advantage, you observe other men's mistakes, and 
 avoid making errors of your own ; not that I would 
 have you over-reserved, that is a symptom of a base 
 nature, and a habit unwelcome in any good society. 
 
 But let your speech have some weight, and let it 
 not be like a ship that hath more sail than ballast. 
 Let reason be the pillar of your discourse, and ideas 
 the windows that give the best lights. 
 
 Your wit may make clear things doubtful, but it 
 shows your prudence better to use it to make doubt- 
 ful things clear. And remember that a light may 
 guide, where a blaze would only dazzle. 
 
 There is no man that you hear talk, from whom 
 you may not gain something, if you be wise ; and 
 there is no man that is silent, by whose silence you 
 may not lose something, if you are not careful.
 
 3 o THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BR1TAINE 
 
 In a company talking it is good to listen to others 
 at first, for silence in this case hath much the same 
 effect as authority ; it procures a kind of respect for 
 your words when they come. 
 
 Demades the orator, 1 in his day was a very talka- 
 tive person, and a great eater; Antipater used to 
 say of him, ' that he was like a sacrifice : that 
 nothing was left of him but the tongue and the 
 paunch.' 
 
 Be assured, he that delights in speaking much, 
 and listens to little, will give others more information 
 than he will get in return. I consider that I have 
 sense enough to hold my tongue, but not enough 
 knowledge to make a good talker. 
 
 ' Parca lingua, aperta frons, et clausum pectus,' 
 are the best ingredients of wisdom; and those words 
 suggested the saying of a great Italian, ' keep your 
 thoughts shut, and your countenance open.' 
 
 Be not dictatorial, nor too positive, in any asser- 
 tion, for the bold maintaining of any argument, doth 
 somewhat risk your own civil behaviour ; modesty 
 in your discourse will give a lustre to truth and 
 extenuate any error that you may make. 
 
 If you desire to know how short your understand- 
 ing comes in high things, consider how little you 
 know of yourself, what the soul is, or of what 
 members your body is inwardly compacted ; or what 
 is the use of every bone, vein, artery, or sinew, 
 which no man understands, as Galen himself con- 
 fesseth. 
 
 Protagoras hath delivered to us, ' that there is 
 nothing in nature, but doubt ; and that a man may 
 equally dispute of all things ; and of that also, 
 whether all things may be equally disputed of.' 
 
 I do pay much reverence to the humility of Plato, 
 Democritus, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, and all the 
 
 1 An Athenian statesman. H. S.
 
 OF DISCOURSE 31 
 
 Academic philosophers, who positively maintained, 
 ' that nothing in the world can be certainly known.' 
 
 And Socrates was by the oracle adjudged the 
 wisest man living, because he was wont to say ' I 
 know only this, that I know nothing'; yet Arcesilaus 
 was of opinion, that not so much as that could be 
 known, which Socrates said he knew, to wit, that 
 he knew nothing. 
 
 Therefore I never trouble myself with speculations 
 as to the height of the heavens, nor as to the magni- 
 tude of the earth, whether the sun (as Anaxamenes 
 thought) be as flat as a trencher, or whether it be 
 hunch-backed underneath like a cockboat (as Hera- 
 clitus held) : I never disturb my head with the 
 dimensions of the moon, to know whether she be 
 hung loose in the air, or whether she be inhabited 
 or not ; whether the stars be but earth luminated, 
 as Thales maintained, or whether perfect fire, as 
 Plato thought ; I leave nature to itself, and think it 
 sufficient to know who is its author, and to give 
 God thanks as I am able. 1 
 
 SECTION VI. 
 
 Of Silence and Secrecy. 
 
 having conceived some displeasure 
 against mortals upon earth, caused an 
 army to be raised against them ; and 
 when it was raised, there was a great 
 squabble as to who should command it ; some were 
 for Mercury, others for Mars ; but as they could not 
 agree, they acquainted Jupiter with the difficulty; 
 Jupiter told them that he would have none of them, 
 
 1 I have left this interesting passage almost unaltered. H. S,
 
 32 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 that silence should be his general. And indeed 
 secrecy and celerity are the two poles upon which 
 all great actions move ; and the noblest designs are 
 like a gunpowder mine, in that they are wholly 
 frustrate and of no effect, if there is an opening to 
 the common air. 
 
 Hence it was that Pythagoras enjoined upon his 
 scholars a quinquennial silence, that they might 
 learn to meditate, and unlearn to talk ; and this was 
 their first lesson in wisdom ; after they were grown 
 learned in silence, then they were allowed to speak. 
 
 He who offends by speech seems to offend de- 
 liberately, while he who offends by silence appears 
 to offend accidentally. In matters of consequence, 
 ' qui silet est firmus ' ; a silent man walks in the 
 dark, and is rather to be guessed at than known, 
 ' sapiens semper in se reconditur.' 
 
 The Venetians in their senate, which consists of 
 three hundred nobles, manage their affairs with such 
 admirable secrecy, that they appear in public as if 
 none of them knew what was being done, or as if 
 they had power to forget whatsoever they had 
 heard. So that ambassadors sent to Venice ought 
 to be men of the greatest sagacity, because they 
 have to treat as it were with dumb people, and have 
 to understand everything as if it were conveyed to 
 them by signs. 
 
 So that among the Venetians silence is no less 
 venerable than amongst the Persians, where it was 
 esteemed a deity. And indeed secrecy is the key of 
 prudence, and the sanctuary of wisdom. 
 
 I never do more penance than when I have com- 
 municated a secret to another ; ' before I told you 
 of this,' said Charles the fifth, speaking of a design 
 of his to his favourite Lunenburgh, ' I was an 
 Emperor, but now you are so.' 
 
 The answer of the Italian, who had published a
 
 OF SILENCE AND SECRECY 33 
 
 libel against Pope Sixtus, was witty. His Holiness 
 being extremely offended at the libel, had promised 
 a considerable sum to any person that should find 
 out the author ; some days being past without hear- 
 ing any news thereof, they found words to this effect 
 written at the bottom of the Pasquil : l ' Most Holy 
 Father, you shall never know it ; when I made it, I 
 was alone.' 
 
 ' Nulli crede unquam, quod tu clam feceris:' he 
 that makes others privy-councillors in such cases, 
 may pass for a prodigy of folly. 
 
 He that says all he knows, will generally add what 
 he knoweth not. 
 
 ' Fingere qui non visa potest commissa tacere 
 Qui nequit, hie niger est, hunc tu (Romane) caveto.' 
 
 A foolish and talkative person is certainly no well- 
 tuned cymbal : be thou like a spring-lock, readier 
 to shut than to open. And if a man be thought 
 reserved, it inviteth enquiry, as a thick hedge sug- 
 gesteth a rich garden. 
 
 Never communicate that which it may injure your 
 concerns to mention and will not benefit your friend 
 to know. 
 
 Pretend not to understand those affairs which 
 your sovereign wishes to keep secret ; there is nothing 
 that will so soon create a prejudice against you, and 
 it may perhaps end in your ruin. 
 
 The Duke of Anjou, having gathered from Charles 
 the Ninth of France that king's design of extirpating 
 the Hugonots 2 on St. Bartholomew's Day, communi- 
 cated it to one of his gentlemen. The king happen- 
 
 1 'Pasquillo' and 'Pasquinata' denote the libel itself; 'Pas- 
 quino J is the name of the defaced statue at Rome upon which 
 such libellous placards were stuck. H. S. 
 
 2 This spelling is interesting, perhaps even it shows which 
 derivation of the word the writer favoured. H. S.
 
 34 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 ing to discourse with that gentleman in private, the 
 latter let fall an allusion to the secret ; His Majesty 
 was much surprised at this, and presently caused 
 this gentleman to be killed as he was hunting, con- 
 ceiving no other way of preserving a secret of such 
 great importance, one which the Duke had so in- 
 considerately revealed. 
 
 He that trusts another with a secret, makes him- 
 self a slave, but if he is a great person he will not 
 tolerate the position long ; for men in such a case 
 are impatient to redeem their lost liberty. 
 
 Seleucus, 1 surnamed Callinicus, a valiant prince, 
 being discomfited in battle, was driven to break his 
 royal diadem, and to join company with three of his 
 men, that he might not be known. After he had 
 wandered awhile in the desert, he chanced upon a 
 small cottage, where he asked for a little bread and 
 some water, to the end that his rank might not be 
 discovered ; his host shewed him all the kindness 
 and courtesy which in him lay, well knowing that he 
 was the king, and then set him in the way that he 
 wished to go. Now the fellow would certainly have 
 been nobly rewarded for his acts, had not his talka- 
 tive tongue marred his market ; for when the king, 
 departing, said, ' Farewell, mine host,' the man 
 answered, ' God keep you, my liege.' Whereat the 
 king being much troubled, and fearing to be betrayed 
 by the indiscretion of his host, ordered one of his 
 men to cut off the fellow's head. 
 
 As it is not prudent to wish to learn a secret of 
 state, so in many cases it may ruin him that heard 
 it if he reveal it. 
 
 When King Lysimachus professed great kindness 
 unto Philippides the comedian, 2 and asked of him 
 
 1 The Second, King of Syria. H. S. 
 
 2 Athenian comic poet. H. S.
 
 OF SILENCE AND SECRECl 35 
 
 what he should give to him ; ' anything that pleases 
 your Majesty,' said Philippines, ' except a secret.' 
 
 I am not for making windows into men's hearts, 
 or prying into the cabinets of their privacies. It 
 was smartly replied by the Egyptian, when one asked 
 him what he had in his basket ; ' cum vides velatum, 
 quid inquiris in rem absconditam ?' 
 
 I would not have any man enter into my secrets 
 without my leave. It is but common civility to 
 stand aside when a man is reading letters, or engaged 
 in any private interview. Cardinal Richelieu had a 
 great esteem for a certain young man, and began to 
 entrust him with some of his affairs ; but having on 
 one occasion found the lad reading some papers 
 which he had left upon his table, he would never 
 afterwards employ him. 
 
 On one occasion Alexander was reading a letter 
 which he had received from his mother, containing 
 mention of secret matters, and accusations of Anti- 
 pater ; Hephsestion also (as he was wont) was read- 
 ing it with him. Alexander allowed him to read on, 
 but when he had read it, Alexander took his signet- 
 ring off his finger, and laid it upon Hephaestion's 
 mouth ; meaning thereby, that he to whom a secret 
 is entrusted, ought always to keep his mouth shut 
 upon it. 
 
 ' He makes himself a servile wretch 
 
 To others evermore, 
 That tells his secrets unto such 
 As knew them not before.' 
 
 Let your mind set a lock upon your lips, but be 
 sure that your will keeps the key. If at any time 
 you fall into the humour of chattering, keep the 
 philosopher's check upon your tongue, i.e. 'lingua, 
 quo vadis '? 
 
 Bembo, a primitive Christian, came to a friend ot 
 his to teach him a psalm. The friend began to recite 
 
 32
 
 36 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITA1NE 
 
 the sgth psalm : ' I said, I will take heed to my 
 ways, that I sin not with my tongue.' Upon hearing 
 this first clause, Bembo stopped his tutor, say- 
 ing, ' This is enough for me, if I learn it as I ought.' 
 And being after six months rebuked for not coming 
 again, he replied, that he had not yet perfectly 
 learned his first lesson. Nay, after nineteen years, 
 he professed (with a rare humility) that he had 
 scarce learned in all that time to fulfil that one pre- 
 cept. 
 
 Few men have had to repent of being too silent, 
 but many have bitterly bewailed their not having 
 been silent enough. A man may easily utter what 
 by silence he hath hitherto concealed, but it is im- 
 possible for him to recall what he hath once spoken. 
 
 Things that are lawful to be done, are not always 
 expedient to be spoken of, nor are those that are fit 
 to be told always good to be done ; we may be said 
 to pay tribute to as many persons as we reveal our 
 secrets to. 
 
 Into a mouth kept closed, flies do not enter, as 
 the Spanish proverb says. 
 
 I am unwilling at any time to be the recipient of 
 a secret ; but if my friend will make my breast the 
 repository of one, I do declare, ' ubi deposuerit, ibi 
 inveniet,' where he hath laid it, there he shall find 
 it. Therefore I pay a great veneration to the 
 memory of that excellent Lesena, who after her two 
 lovers, Harmodius and Aristogeiton, having failed 
 in the execution 1 of their enterprise, had been put to 
 death, was brought to the torture, to be made to 
 declare what other accomplices there were of the 
 conspiracy ; but she continued so constant, that she 
 never incriminated anyone. In remembrance of 
 which fact, the Athenians caused a lion of brass to 
 
 1 They killed Hipparchus, but not his brother Hippias the 
 'tyrant,' as they had intended to do. H. S.
 
 OF SILENCE AND SECRECY 37 
 
 be erected which had no tongue, and placed it at 
 the entrance of a castle, indicating her invincible 
 courage by the character of the animal that they 
 chose, and her perseverance in secrecy in that they 
 made it to have no tongue. 1 
 
 It was one of the maxims of Pythagoras, ' enter- 
 tain not a swallow under your roof; thereby ad- 
 vising a man not to admit into his society a mere 
 talkative person, one intemperate of speech, who 
 cannot contain what is committed to him. 
 
 There are some men who differ not at all from 
 broken pitchers, in that they can retain nothing ; all 
 that they hear they let run out of their mouth. 
 
 Freedom of speech I must confess to be a neces- 
 sary privilege for a true gentleman, but the diversity 
 of human affairs often renders it dangerous. To 
 hear much and speak little is an excellent rule, and 
 sometimes an heroic act. 
 
 Homer had good reason to esteem Menelaus, 
 Nestor, and Ulysses, (men who were slow to speak) 
 to be the wisest among all the Greeks, and to think 
 Thersites a fool for his babbling. 
 
 Silence is high wisdom in a fool, and speech is a 
 great test of a wise man. A man who cannot main- 
 tain some secrecy is an open letter for every one to 
 read. 
 
 It was the advice of Philip 2 Duke of Burgundy 
 to the Earl Charolais 3 his son, ' Think to-day, and 
 speak to-morrow.' 
 
 A wise man draws the curtain of prudence (which 
 is silence) before him, to make himself walk unseen: 
 
 1 I have altered this paragraph of De Britaine's as little as 
 possible. H. S. 
 
 2 Philippe le Bon : died 1467. H. S. 
 
 3 Charles le Te"me"raire, ' une des grandes figures du moyen 
 age,' bore the title of ' Comte de Charolais ' during his father's 
 
 ifetime. He was born in 1433, and killed in 1477 in his defeat 
 utside the walls of Nancy. H. S.
 
 38 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 yet many a silent man is like a shut book, which 
 if you open and read, you may find good matter 
 in it. 
 
 But I would not have you pay too superstitious a 
 reverence to Angerona the Goddess of silence, lest 
 you make yourself liable to that paradox which was 
 set before one who was silent : ' si prudens sis, 
 stultus es ; si stultus, sapiens.' And you are to 
 distinguish well between the silence of the boor, 
 which is stupidity ; the silence of the knave, which 
 has a criminal intent ; and the silence of the good 
 and of the wise. 
 
 A prudent reserve will be your best security, and 
 slowness of belief the best sinew of your wisdom. 
 Never open yourself to an acquaintance but with a 
 half-light and full advantage : never impart that to 
 a friend, which may tempt him to be your enemy. 
 Your servants (who sometimes prove the worst of 
 enemies) you may admit into your bed-chamber, but 
 never into your cabinet of private business. 1 
 
 A secret, like a crown, is not a possession that 
 can be entrusted to every man ; and to whomsoever 
 you do commit it, you do but enable him to undo 
 you. You must sometimes therefore purchase his 
 secrecy at his own price; and if you shut your purse 
 he may open his mouth. And remember that 
 persons who are reported to have revealed secrets of 
 state are not usually long-lived. Consider how 
 precarious and unhappy your life and fortunes will 
 be if they depend on such a slender thread as the 
 whim of another, therefore if you be tempted to 
 dabble in affairs of state, let me advise you always 
 to keep a wary eye upon yourself, and an observant 
 eye upon others. 
 
 1 The writer is here addressing a reader who has official or 
 political position. H. S.
 
 OF REPUTATION 39 
 
 SECTION VII. 
 
 Of Reputation. 
 
 EPUTATION is an excellent possession, it 
 begets popularity (which rules the world), 
 popularity begets riches, and riches beget 
 honours. Reputation is a perfume that a 
 man carries about him, and diffuses wherever he 
 goes ; and it is the lawful heir of a man's character. 
 Agesilaus, being asked how one might get the 
 greatest reputation amongst men, replied, ' by speak- 
 ing the best, and doing the bravest, things/ 
 
 Reputation is made up of the breath of many that 
 speak well of you ; if by a disobliging word you 
 silence the meanest, the gale which is to bear up 
 your credit will be the less strong. If by your 
 civility you please all, your reputation will be the 
 greater, and the chorus of praise will be the louder. 
 
 The shortest way to attain reputation is that of 
 merit ; if industry be founded on merit, it builds up 
 a lasting renown. The gaining of reputation is but 
 the publication of your merits to the advantage of 
 your future. 
 
 It will be more glory to you to perform that which 
 has not been attempted before, or has been attempted 
 without success, or has been achieved, but not so 
 well as you achieve it, than to succeed in some 
 matter of greater difficulty, wherein you are but an 
 imitator of those that went before you. An excellent 
 painter, observing that others had gained to them- 
 selves the name of great masters, resolved to paint 
 in a new style. Some persons asked of him why he 
 did not paint after the manner of such and such an 
 one ; he answered that it was more credit to him to 
 invent and practise a style of his own, than to be
 
 40 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 ranked among the followers of one of the founders 
 of the recognised schools of painting. 
 
 Having reared a reputation, you will need great 
 skill to preserve it fresh and flourishing, and to keep 
 it from becoming stale and out of date i 1 for an 
 ordinary novelty pleases people more than a costly 
 heirloom that is in a state of decay. You must 
 therefore always retain a manner that may create 
 curiosity, and excite expectation. Variation is 
 stimulating : the sun by setting makes us reflect on 
 his worth to us, and by rising encourages us to hopes 
 for the day that is coming. 
 
 To men in high place there can be no thought 
 more full of anxiety than how to keep up a great 
 reputation. ' Non minus malum ex magna quam 
 mala fama.' Great merit and wide reputation are 
 like a high wind and a large sail, which often sink 
 the vessel. Alcibiades, by the noble exploits which 
 he achieved on behalf of his country, had obtained 
 such a great reputation for ability, that when he 
 failed in the exact performance of anything he was 
 at once suspected, not of being unable, but of being 
 unwilling, to succeed in the matter. 
 
 Therefore it is sometimes wise to clip the wings of 
 reputation, and not to suffer them to spread much 
 beyond the compass of the nest. A great man may 
 even find it to his advantage to make some slight 
 slips intentionally as showing that he is not in- 
 fallible, and so inviting a certain indulgence from 
 others. 
 
 There are men in the world, who strive to advance 
 their own fame, by decrying the character and merit 
 of other people. In this case you may often conclude 
 rightly, that they have attempted, but failed, to 
 imitate the virtues or the doings of those whom they 
 
 1 De Britaine's phrase. H. S.
 
 OF REPUTATION 41 
 
 decry. But sometimes such men are but persons 
 embittered by misfortune or injustice; in which case 
 they are to be pitied, but not approved. Never 
 think of raising your reputation by detraction. 
 
 The being over-praised may do you more hurt 
 than good ; for when anything is cried up and much 
 talked of, people often imagine greater excellences 
 in it, than in truth there are ; for reality in such 
 cases can never come up to the standard fixed by 
 imagination ; so that the excellences falling short of 
 the idea, men are apt to slight that of which they 
 expected so much. 
 
 Reputation is gained slowly, and seldom gets over 
 a strain ; if it is once broken, it can never be well 
 set again. Nor is there any ointment, to tell the 
 truth, which heals a sorely wounded reputation. 
 
 Be studious therefore to preserve your reputation ; 
 for if that be once lost, you are like an obliterated 
 inscription, you become of no value. At best, your 
 name will hardly outlive your funeral. 1 Reputation 
 is like a glass, which being once cracked, will never 
 be perfect again ; a fine reputation flawed will bring 
 you into contempt ; an old name dishonoured is 
 worth less than a homely one which is only used by 
 worthy persons. It is easy to get an ill name, 
 because evil is so willingly believed by the vulgar ; 
 and bad impressions are very difficult to efface. 
 
 The navigation of public life is dangerous, chiefly 
 because it is full of rocks, for reputation to split 
 upon. You must be careful to keep up the reputa- 
 tion of your ability and virtue with the crowd if )'ou 
 wish to play a conspicuous part in the world, for in 
 that case it will be of more advantage to you to be 
 accounted wise and virtuous by the ignorant, than by 
 
 1 De Britaine uses this idea at page 9 of his pamphlet 'The 
 Interest of England in the Present War with Holland. London, 
 1672.' H. S.
 
 42 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 the learned ; for the ignorant are many, but the 
 learned are few. Rare characters please but a small 
 circle of persons. It was a principle of Julius 
 Caesar's not to be illustrious among the great, so 
 much as to be the favourite of the people. 
 
 Your good name cannot be preserved with too 
 great care, nor forfeited without serious injury to 
 yourself; there is no such infelicity as to survive 
 one's reputation, nor is there a greater folly than to 
 risk its loss. That brave archer deserves com- 
 mendation, who refused to show his skill to Alex- 
 ander, fearing to lose the reputation in an hour, 
 which he had spent all his lifetime in acquiring. It 
 is more difficult to repair a credit that is once 
 shaken, than to keep that in a flourishing greenness, 
 which was never blasted. Reputation is like a fire, 
 when you have kindled it, you may easily preserve 
 it ; but if once you extinguish it, you will not easily 
 kindle it again, or at least you may not be able to 
 make it burn so brightly as before. 
 
 Once upon a time fire, water, and fame went to 
 travel together, liking each other's company ; they 
 consulted, in case of losing one another, how they 
 might be sure to meet again ; fire said, where you 
 see smoke, there you shall find me ; water said, 
 where you see mists lie low, there you shall find 
 me ; but fame said, take heed how you lose me, for 
 if you do, you will run a risk of never meeting me 
 again. 
 
 ' Therefore, 
 
 Thy credit wary keep, 'tis quickly gone, 
 Being got by many actions, lost by one.'
 
 OF VAIN-GLORY AND BOASTING 43 
 
 SECTION VIII. 
 
 Of Vain-glory and Boasting. 
 
 NEVER see a vain-glorious man, but he 
 makes me think of the fly which sat upon 
 the axletree of the chariot wheel ; and 
 said, ' What a dust I raise !' There are 
 some persons so vain, that if they have never so 
 little hand in any business, they think it is they that 
 manage it ; they make a triumph of everything they 
 do ; and they are assured that all achievements that 
 concern them are the results of their own efforts. 
 
 Undue self-esteem is commonly punished by 
 universal contempt ; he that praises himself excites 
 the scorn of others. Homer was so blinded with 
 conceit, and so over-confident in his own abilities in 
 poetry, that he let fall a false quantity, and left it on 
 record in the very first verse of his Iliad. 1 
 
 A show of affected dignity offends more than a 
 parade of good looks. To behave disdainfully, will 
 make a man hated, and it is dangerous enough in 
 this world even to be envied. 
 
 Never boast of your noble or gentle descent or of 
 the grandeur of your family ; for the oldest nobility 
 is younger than no nobility, since men were at first 
 of like station : many a yeoman is a gentleman in 
 the rough, which another age may see cut and 
 polished ; and the greatest nobleman is but a 
 gentleman printed in large capitals. 
 
 The Marquis of Spinola, 2 commander of all the 
 
 1 De Britaine is responsible for this severe remark. H. S. 
 
 2 Ambrogio, Marchese di Spinola, was born in 1571 (some 
 say in 1569) and died in 1630. The reader may like to be 
 reminded of the epigram uttered by Henri IV. of France 
 about him, that Spinola had deceived him by telling him the 
 truth. H. S.
 
 44 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 Spanish forces in the Netherlands, and the Prince 
 of Orange, 1 who commanded the army of the Dutch, 
 were two famous rivals ; the Prince, to depreciate 
 the Marquis, said, that Spinola was sprung from a 
 merchant family, and consequently was not compar- 
 able with himself, who came of princely extraction. 
 But the Marquis sent him word, ' that it was a more 
 glorious thing for a merchant to have command 
 over princes, than for a prince to be commanded by 
 merchants.' 
 
 I knew a man who by occupation was a butcher ; 
 he acquired a considerable estate, and purchased 
 a coat-of-arms. He left several sons, who often 
 boasted of their gentility ; they falling one day into 
 discourse with a gentleman of an ancient family, 
 and babbling to him about their coat-of-arms, the 
 gentleman asked them what the coat was, they told 
 him ' a flaming torch.' The gentleman replied, 
 that their ' flaming torch was but a cow's tail 
 reversed.' 
 
 If any man desires to cut a good figure in society, 
 let him do it rather by great personal worth than by 
 borrowed appearances of gentility. I will not with 
 the Egyptians vaunt of my nobility, nor with the 
 Arcadians contend for antiquity with the moon ; 
 integrity is my coronet and loyalty my livery. 
 Those persons who make a boast of their nobility 
 or ancient descent (because they can boast of 
 nothing else) are like the man of Abydenus, 
 
 ' Qui se credebat miros audire Tragoedos 
 In vacuo Icetus sessor, plausorque theatre,' 
 
 or they are like unto that ignorant rich man Cal- 
 visius Sabinus, who thought himself very learned, 
 because he maintained learned men about him. 
 
 1 Maurice de Nassau,' Prince of Orange, Stadtholder of the 
 Low Countries ; he was born in 1567, and died in 1625. H. S.
 
 OF VAIN-GLORY AND BOASTING 45 
 
 A ranting and boasting man, is too often like a 
 drum, which makes a great noise, but look in it and 
 there is nothing. But sometimes a few grains of 
 vain-glory may set forth a man's worth and merit, 
 and, like varnish to ceilings, make him shine, as it 
 did Sigismond of Lunenburgh. Without some 
 feathers of ostentation, the fight would have been 
 but slow ; and though Sigismond might have taken 
 good aim, yet he could never have hit the eagle 
 without them. 1 
 
 There are men who magnify themselves as if they 
 were the only oracles in the world, and as if the 
 whole orb of learning moved in their heads ; but I 
 must warn you, that as amongst wise men he is 
 often the wisest that thinks he knows least ; so 
 among fools, he is usually the greatest that thinks 
 he knows most. 
 
 It can be no glory to any man to be proud of his 
 knowledge, if he considers, that much of the know- 
 ledge of the arts we possess, we have been taught 
 by the very beasts and other creatures ; of the spider 
 we learn to spin and sew ; of the swallow to build ; 
 of the nightingale music ; of divers creatures physic ; 
 the goats of Candia being shot with an arrow, do 
 choose out from a million of simples the herb Dittany, 
 and therewith cure themselves ; the tortoise having 
 eaten of a viper, doth seek for wild marjoram to 
 purge herself; the dragon clears her eyes with 
 fennel ; the cranes with their bills inject sea-water 
 into their bodies when disease attacks them. 2 
 
 We cannot trace back the pedigree of knowledge 
 beyond Solomon, much less can we decipher it upon 
 Seth's Pillars; but with astonished ignorance, we 
 
 1 Does this refer to Sigismund I. (the Great), King of Poland, 
 and to the victory of Orsza? In that case the 'eagle' is 
 Russia. H. S. 
 
 a I have left this passage much as De Britaine wrote it. H. S.
 
 46 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 may read its epitaph in the confusion of the plains 
 of Shinar. 
 
 He that does not know that he is imperfect, is 
 but imperfect in knowledge. A little esteem of 
 one's self often hinders a great deal that would 
 come from others; boasting may gain applause from 
 fools, but it only puts a wise hearer to the expense 
 of a blush. I value the ' good ' of one wise man 
 more than the ' astounding ' of a multitude, or the 
 ' superb ' of the theatre ; prudent Antigonus con- 
 sidered that his whole renown hung upon the single 
 testimony of Zeno. 
 
 A poet being derided for having a tragedy played, 
 when none were present save Plato, answered ' this 
 one person is more than all the Athenians besides.' 
 
 Vain-glorious men are the scorn of wise men, the 
 admiration of fools, the idols of parasites, and the 
 slaves of their own vaunts. Vain men expose their 
 actions to the public, as painters do their pieces 
 drawn in water-colours, (which are representations 
 of what was only in their imagination), to be gazed 
 at, and admired by the multitude. 
 
 On a certain person's boasting to Aristotle of 
 the greatness of his country ; ' that,' said Aristotle, 
 ' is not the point, but whether you deserve to belong 
 to that great country.' 
 
 When a man once comes to be inflated with this 
 disease of adoring himself, farewell respect and 
 reverence to all others ! Aristotle seeing a youth 
 very conceited, and withal ignorant; 'young man, 
 saith he, I wish I were what you think yourself to 
 be, and I wish that my enemies were what you are.' 
 
 Wind can puff up empty bladders; self-esteem 
 can swell out the fool's skin. 
 
 Socrates perceiving Alcibiades to be exceedingly 
 proud, and given to boasting of his riches and lands, 
 shewed him a map of the world, and bade him find
 
 OF VAIN-GLORY AND BOASTING 47 
 
 out Attica thereon. This being done, Socrates next 
 begged that Alcibiades would point out his own 
 lands upon the map ; Alcibiades answered that they 
 were not marked there ; ' do you boast,' replied 
 Socrates, ' of that which is such an unimportant 
 speck of earth ?' 
 
 He that is his own appraiser, will usually be mis- 
 taken in the value. It was the glory of Jugurtha 1 
 ' plurimum faciendo, et nihil de seipso loquendo ' : 
 by this he rose above envy, and received the honour 
 and regard of posterity. It should be considered a 
 sufficient recompense for the doing of a brave action, 
 to have brave men approve of it. 
 
 Agricola, saith Tacitus, notwithstanding his many 
 services done to the empire, ' nunquam in suam 
 famam gestis exultavit,' did never boast of any 
 action of his fame, but, as an inferior planet, did 
 modestly acknowledge the light he had to be wholly 
 derived from a higher Sun. 
 
 Germanicus, having quieted the tumultuous broils 
 and insurrections of the Germans, caused a pile of 
 weapons to be raised with this stately title, ' Debel- 
 latis inter Rhenum Albimque nationibus, exercitum 
 Tiberii Csesaris ea monumenta, Marti, et Jovi, et 
 Augusto sacravisse ' ; to the effect that ' the nations 
 between the Rhine and Elbe being overcome,Tiberius 
 Caesar's army had consecrated those monuments to 
 Mars, Jupiter, and Augustus,' but he added nothing 
 concerning himself. 
 
 He is doubly excellent, who keeps all his excel- 
 lences and perfections to himself, without boasting 
 of any ; he is going to the summit of applause by a 
 way that is not much frequented. 
 
 Think not yourself a figure among ciphers, lest 
 
 1 Jugurtha, King of Numidia, a brave chief whose actual 
 ability was somewhat over-rated by his Roman adversaries. 
 H. S.
 
 48 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 you prove to be a cipher among figures. As a rule, 
 no man is content with his own condition in life, 
 though it be the best, nor dissatisfied with his intel- 
 ligence, though it be the worst. In the kingdom of 
 the blind, he that hath but one eye is the sovereign. 
 
 When I have done a kindness or good office to 
 any man, I never like to tell of it ; and to do so is to 
 risk turning a possible friend into a certain enemy. 
 Nothing will give a greater lustre to all your virtues 
 than modesty ; never magnify yourself or boast of 
 your great actions. As it is in falconry, so it is in 
 human life, those of the weakest wings are commonly 
 the highest fliers. But do you be satisfied to do good 
 work, and leave it to others to call attention to it. 
 
 It is the stamp of a great soul rather to do things 
 worthy to be admired, than to admire what itself 
 hath done. 
 
 There are some who hold it to be the greatest 
 honour to be thought the wonder of their times ; 
 which if they attain, it is but the condition of 
 monsters at a fair, that are generally much marvelled 
 at, but more abhorred. Do you shew forth no such 
 foolish wisdom and desire no such degrading dis- 
 tinction. 
 
 Modesty is a lustrous jewel, and one that will 
 never become too common. 
 
 r 
 
 SECTION IX. 
 
 Of Censure and Detraction. 
 
 are some folk that love to look on 
 
 the knotty side of the arras, and to take 
 little notice of the excellent figure that is 
 wrought upon the right side of the hang- 
 ings. If they see many perfections in a man, and
 
 OF CENSURE AND DETRACTION 49 
 
 spy but one failing in him, that one blot, they think, 
 eclipses the glory of all the others. ' Ubi multa nitent 
 non ego paucis offender maculis.' 
 
 I have so many failings in myself, that I desire 
 never to censure any man ; if I do so, I surely cen- 
 sure myself most. And I love not to rebuke that in 
 another which I find in my own breast ; I affect not 
 to play the epicure, and at the same time to inveigh 
 against luxury ; or to be perfidious myself, and yet 
 to expect an exact fidelity from my neighbour. 
 
 A wise man, who values himself upon the score of 
 character, and not of repute, thinks himself neither 
 better nor worse for the opinion of others. I have 
 often wondered how it should come to be that every 
 man loves himself the best, and yet regards other 
 men's opinions concerning himself more than he 
 does his own. 
 
 When some one told Pleistarchus that a notorious 
 railer spake well of him ; ' I'll lay my life,' said he, 
 ' somebody hath told him that I am dead, for he can 
 speak well of no man living.' He that thinks he is 
 abused, let him argue thus within himself; either he 
 hath deserved it, or he hath not ; if he hath, it is a 
 judgment ; if he hath not, it is an injustice. 
 
 When you discover any faults in others, make the 
 right use of them, which is to correct and amend the 
 like failures in yourself; therefore when you observe 
 any follies in others, forget not to put this question 
 to yourself, ' am I not given to the same ?' Moses, 
 an abbot and a godly man, was once summoned to 
 give sentence upon a person who had offended ; the 
 abbot came, but he brought a bag full of sand upon 
 his shoulders. Being asked what he meant by that, 
 'They are (said he) my sins and errors; I can 
 neither sufficiently know them, nor can I bear their 
 weight easily : how then shall I judge another ?' 
 
 We live much by the words and evidence of others ; 
 
 4
 
 50 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 truth seldom comes pure to us when it comes from 
 afar ; and since it takes some tincture of the passions 
 it meets with by the way, it often pleases or dis- 
 pleases us according to the colour that passion or 
 interest gave to it. 
 
 Men usually frame both opinions and censures 
 according to the mould of evil in themselves : usually 
 they are not the most guilty that are the most 
 blamed : those who speak against worldliness often 
 keep their own house furnished for her. And some 
 blame errors which they much wish that they them- 
 selves had the daring to commit. 
 
 A first report makes little impression upon me ; 
 for falsehood often marches in the front, while truth 
 follows in the rear. I always keep a door open for a 
 second or third informant ; to do otherwise may be 
 dangerous and may give advantage to the artifices of 
 malice, for ill-disposed persons are quick to colour 
 facts for those whom they judge to be credulous. 
 
 There is no man so innocent as never to be ill- 
 spoken of, no wretch so wicked as to lack an 
 advocate ; but too often public opinion, like a river, 
 bears up worthless things, and drowns those which 
 are weighty and valuable. 
 
 A man must have had real experience of life, 
 before he is able truly and judiciously to judge of 
 another's character, or of his actions. 
 
 It is a harder thing to avoid censure than to gain 
 applause ; the latter may be done by one great or 
 wise action in a lifetime ; but to avoid censure, a 
 man must pass his whole life, without saying or 
 doing one ill or foolish thing that is bruited abroad. 
 Consider how apt men are to be mistaken in their 
 judgment of others. For a long time Democritus 
 was taken for a madman, and much time elapsed 
 before Socrates had any great reputation in the 
 world ; and how long was it before Cato came to be
 
 OF CENSURE AND DETRACTION 51 
 
 understood ? Nay, he was affronted and condemned, 
 and people never knew the value of him till they had 
 lost him. 
 
 Let no man be confident of his own virtue, since 
 the best of us are but sinners ; and let no man rely 
 too much upon his own judgment, for sometimes 
 the wisest have been deceived. 
 
 Who is so happy as to please all, and to be envied 
 by none ? Who is so good that no man complains 
 of him ? The Athenians were displeased with their 
 Simonides because he talked too loudly : the Thebans 
 accused Panniculus of spitting too much : the Car- 
 thaginians spake ill of Hannibal because he went 
 open breasted, with his chest bare ; others laughed 
 at Julius Caesar, because his girdle was ill-tied. 
 
 Before you censure abroad, see that all is right at 
 home, otherwise you may prove such a ' censor 
 morum ' as was Munatius Plancus in the Roman 
 story, ' qui nihil objicere possit adolescentibus, quod 
 non agnosceret senex ': or you may be condemned as 
 the physician was by the tragedian, for pretending 
 to heal other men's distempers, while he was himself 
 uncured. 
 
 ' Cum tua pervideas oculis male lippus inunctis, 
 Cur in amicorum vitia tarn cernis acute ?' 
 
 I love not to arraign other men's faults, yet to 
 leave myself out of the indictment ; I am not curious 
 to know what my neighbour hath said, done, or 
 attempted ; but am only solicitous about what I do 
 myself, that it may be just and honest. 
 
 When anything displeases me, before I condemn 
 it in others, I enquire if I be not guilty of it myself ; 
 and by so doing, from whatever I hear or see, I draw 
 some advantage, and things are at a good pass when 
 one man is the better for another man's errors. One 
 man's fault may prove to be another man's lesson ; 
 
 42
 
 52 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 a certain musician was wont to send his scholars to 
 hear a bad player that they might avoid his mistakes. 
 
 Man is a tree, the fruit whereof becomes ripe late 
 in the season ; his quality is not seen in the spring of 
 his life ; we must wait to see the flower and fruit of 
 his career ; as an Italian saith, ' the evening crowns 
 the morning/ and the character of a man must be 
 judged in its maturity. 
 
 Be not censorious, for thou knowest not whom 
 thou judgest : it is often a noble error to speak well 
 of an evil man, but it is always a base mistake to 
 utter blame of a good man. A censurer (more than 
 any other man) is liable to incur censure ; for as he 
 takes upon him to judge of others, he is assumed to 
 be less faulty than his victims ; they are tempted to 
 a strict consideration of his life and actions, and are 
 naturally prone to pounce upon his least dereliction. 
 
 Never make it your business to discern the faults 
 of others ; rather expend your care upon preventing 
 and amending your own. And remember how 
 Socrates answered, when asked to criticise a certain 
 book, ' that he thought those things which he did 
 not understand likely to be as worthy of commenda- 
 tion as those things which lay within his know- 
 ledge.' 
 
 If I see a vice in a man, I may reprove the vice, 
 but I strive not to reproach its victim : I love not to 
 lash others, because I know that I myself often 
 deserve stripes. 
 
 When I am told that any man hath complained 
 of me, or abused me, I am not overmuch concerned. 
 I try to behave myself according to the rules of pru- 
 dence and of charity, and to remember that I know 
 of the incident only at second hand, and perchance 
 need not believe in it ; or if he did say it, then I like 
 to think that somebody hath misunderstood him, 
 and to be confident that he had no ill-meaning in
 
 OF CENSURE AND DETRACTION 53 
 
 it ; nay, it may be that he said it on purpose that I 
 should hear of it again, knowing that it would do 
 me good. 
 
 Patience is a remedy against all slanders, and that 
 old courtier was in the right who, being asked how he 
 kept himself so long in favour, answered " by submit- 
 ting to wrongs and bad language, and crying * your 
 humble servant' in return." He that bases his actions 
 upon rectitude, and does not judge himself by public 
 opinion, need not heed ignorant abuse. When I 
 am ill spoken of, I take it thus ; if I have not deserved 
 it, then I am none the worse for it, if I have deserved 
 it, then I will amend my ways. 
 
 If a diamond be of the first water, what matters it 
 who says that it is paste ? If my conscience tell me 
 that I am innocent, why should I care who tells the 
 world that I am guilty ? Malice may spit her venom 
 at me, but only sin can greatly hurt me : scandal is 
 only a bolt shot by the tongue, which returns with 
 greater force upon him that let it fly, like an arrow 
 that is shot into the air and falls point downward 
 upon the archer. 
 
 Never speak ill of any man ; if you do so of a 
 good man you commit sin ; if of a bad man, you 
 should rather give him your prayers. Never carry 
 a sword in your tongue wherewith to wound the 
 reputation of any man. The anger of a talkative 
 blustering man is not much to be regarded ; but 
 beware of provoking a calm and judicious man to 
 anger, for that is playing the fool while he arms as 
 your enemy. 
 
 A certain philosopher being asked how he behaved 
 himself when he was reviled, said, ' As an ambassa- 
 dor who leaves a palace without gaining an audience.' 
 The vanity that is vexed at a reasonable reproach, 
 does so because it hungers for unreasonable com- 
 mendation.
 
 54 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 The personal defects of others should never be the 
 subject of jest ; nor should the indulgence which 
 others shew to our deficiencies lead us to ignore 
 their existence. 
 
 Calumny, to a virtuous person, should matter no 
 more than a shower does to the sea. When the 
 two Petillii accused Scipio of many crimes before 
 the people ; ' On that very day (said he) I conquered 
 Hannibal and Carthage : I am now going with my 
 crown to sacrifice at the Capitol, and there let him 
 that pleaseth pass his vote upon me.' Having thus 
 said, he went his way, not regarding them or their 
 accusations. 
 
 There is nothing so irksome to me as to hear one 
 man back-bite another : Memnon, 1 hearing that a 
 mercenary had been abusing Alexander, struck the 
 man a blow with his lance, saying, ' that he had hired 
 him to fight against Alexander, not to rail at him.' 
 
 If anyone tells me that such and such a man 
 slandered me thus and thus, I never strive to clear 
 myself, but I answer him thus, ' he knows not of my 
 other faults ; if he did he would never have related 
 only those you tell me of.' 
 
 There is no protection against a back-biting 
 tongue, it is sharper than the razor of Actius ; I had 
 rather stand at the mercy of a basilisk or a serpent, 
 than the fury of an ungoverned tongue. But it is 
 royal to be ill spoken of for doing well ; if I can but 
 walk steadily along a high path, I shall not much 
 heed the howling of the winds or the snarls from 
 the thickets. 
 
 Let your discourse of others be fair ; speak ill of 
 nobody. To do it in his absence is the property of 
 a coward, that stabs a man behind his back ; to do 
 
 1 The brave Greek, the hero of the defence of Halicarnassus, 
 whose loyal devotion to Darius and the Persian cause was cut 
 short by his comparatively early death in B.C. 333. H. S.
 
 OF CENSURE AND DETRACTION 55 
 
 it to his face, is to add insult to injury. He that 
 praises may bestow a favour, but he that detracts 
 certainly commits a robbery, for he takes from 
 another what is justly his. Every man thinks he 
 deserves better than in truth he does ; therefore you 
 cannot please mankind more, than by speaking 
 kindly : man is the most whimsical and vain creature 
 in the world. 
 
 I have observed, that no men are so ready to sully 
 the honour and reputation of others, as those who 
 deserve the worst themselves ; yet I have so much 
 charity for them, as to believe that often they do it, 
 not so much from malice, as to gain a reputation 
 for virtue and judgment. Wherefore if any person 
 speaks ill of you, do not disquiet yourself; but 
 endeavour to live so virtuously that the world may 
 not credit that to be true which is reported of you ; 
 and you must remember, that often little minds 
 speak ill only because they have never been taught 
 to speak well. 
 
 Your own innocency will be like a breastplate of 
 steel to you, for a pure soul is an impregnable castle 
 against all the artillery of base tongues ; however it 
 will be your wisdom to carry the love of God in 
 your heart as an antidote against the poison of 
 virulent tongues. 
 
 I am not much concerned as to what the common 
 people think of me : nay, if they tell me that I am a 
 fool, I can give much the same answer as that great 
 Chancellor did, who when Cardinal Wolsey told 
 him that he was the veriest fool in the Council, 
 ' God be thanked,' said he, ' if my master hath only 
 one fool here.' I desire to honour my life, not by 
 other men's opinions, but by my own actions. ' Si 
 vis beatus esse, cogita hoc primum, contemnere et 
 contemni ; nondum es felix, si te turba non de- 
 riserit.'
 
 56 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 Make yourself agreeable to all ; if only because 
 there is no person so contemptible that it may not 
 prove to be in his power to become your best friend 
 or your worst enemy. No enemy is contemptible 
 enough to be despised, since the most despicable 
 seem to command greater strength, wisdom, and 
 interest than their own, to assist them in designs of 
 malice or mischief. The eagle is not safe in the 
 arms of Jupiter, the day she offends the little beetle. 
 Have a care of an ox before you, of an ass behind 
 you, and of the priest on either side of you. 1 If you 
 do courtesies to a hundred men, and disoblige but 
 one, that one will be perhaps more active in doing 
 you hurt, than all the others will be in serving you. 
 Therefore if you wish to gain respect, turn usurer, 
 and make all men enter into obligations to you. 
 The world is a shop of tools, of which the wise man 
 only is the master. 
 
 After the tools are laid down there cometh the 
 judgment of the work and the worker. 
 
 r 
 
 SECTION X. 
 
 Of Passion. 
 
 WISE man is a monarch, for he hath an 
 empire within himself; there reason com- 
 mands in chief, and justice occupies the 
 throne and wields the sceptre. All his 
 passions obey him like dutiful subjects ; though the 
 territories seem but small and narrow, yet the 
 command and the realm are great, and they reach 
 farther than his that wears the moon for his crest, 
 or the other's that wears the sun for his helmet. 2 
 
 1 I have left two curious sentences unrevised here. H. S. 
 
 2 The allusion seems to be to the Sultan of Turkey and to 
 the Shah of Persia. H. S.
 
 OF PASSION 57 
 
 ' Latius regnes avidum domando Spiritum, quam 
 Si Lybiam remotis Gadibus jungas, 
 Et uterque Pcenus serviat uni.' 
 
 Passion and reason wage a kind of civil war 
 within us, and as the one or the other hath dominion 
 we are either good or bad. 
 
 He that can subdue his passions, will obtain a 
 more glorious victory than if he set up his standards 
 on the farthest confines of Asia and Africa ; and his 
 triumph is more renowned, than if he had over- 
 thrown the Medes and Persians. Fabius would 
 never have conquered Hannibal, if he had not first 
 overcome himself. 
 
 They which have conquered nations, driven 
 armies before them, and subdued all their open 
 enemies, have sometimes been conquered by their 
 own passions without making any resistance. 
 Alexander, when he was master of the world, was 
 yet a slave to his passions and was led in triumph 
 by them. 
 
 If you can but tune your passions, and reduce 
 them to harmony by reason, you may render your- 
 self as pleasant to the wise, as the birds and beasts 
 were to Orpheus when they listened to his harp. 
 As you are a part of the universe, I would not have 
 you disturb, by any disorderly and irregular passions, 
 the harmony of it, and become a jarring string in so 
 well tuned an instrument. 
 
 You may heap up gold, gather together silver, 
 and raise pyramids of honours; but if you do not 
 compose the disorders of your own mind, stint your 
 desires, and so deliver yourself from unnecessary 
 fears and cares, you are but giving strong drink to a 
 man in a fever. 
 
 The way to hold your passions in check, is first 
 to curb your desires ; if they be ill, do not permit 
 them to run loose ; if they be good, then moderate
 
 5 8 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 them, and do not expect too much enjoyment as a 
 result of them. Always balance what you hope for 
 by what you fear ; for a wise man ought to live no 
 more in hope than in fear, nor should he put it into 
 the power of fortune to make or mar his content. 
 
 It is a fine exhibition of authority to rule one's 
 self, and to govern our passions is a veritable 
 triumph of wisdom. I will never gratify my enemies 
 so far, as to show myself furious with them ; for a 
 mind transported with passion, rejects the best 
 reasons and retains the worst opinions. It is like a 
 sieve which lets the flour pass, and keeps nothing 
 but the bran. A wise man makes all his passions 
 subservient to his reason and his will. 
 
 Of all passions there is none so extravagant and 
 cruel as that of anger ; other passions solicit and 
 mislead us, but this one too often runs away with us 
 by force, and hurries us as well to our own as to 
 another's ruin. It vents itself frequently upon the 
 wrong person, and discharges itself upon the 
 innocent instead of upon the guilty. Sometimes 
 it makes out the most trivial offences to be capital, 
 and perhaps even punishes an inconsiderate word 
 with public-disgrace, fetters, or even death : allows 
 a man neither time nor means for defence, but 
 judges a cause without hearing it, and admits of no 
 mediation : spares neither friend nor foe, but tears 
 all to pieces, and casts human nature into a per- 
 petual state of war. 
 
 Look upon a hasty man in a fit of rage, and you 
 may see all Africa and its prodigies in him ; he is 
 more savage than a tiger from thence; blow him 
 into a flame, and you may see volcanoes, hurricanes, 
 and earthquakes in him. When you are in a great 
 rage do but go and look in your mirror. Then ask 
 yourself what a portrait that would be which should 
 distort your features as anger has done.
 
 OF PASSION 59 
 
 The storms of passion toss the barque of life ; 
 but let reason be your pilot to bring you into a safe 
 port, and have a care that you do not darken the 
 storm by any unwary word or action. 
 
 It was said by Pythagoras, ' cut not fire with a 
 sword ' ; meaning that one should not exasperate 
 an angry person ; but should appear to give way to 
 him. Do not attempt to argue with any man when 
 he is in a passion, for men are not, like iron, to be 
 wrought upon when they are hot. Give place to 
 the tide of fury, and let it have its full course ; when 
 it is at the highest, it will turn again ; and then you 
 will have the current as strong with you, as before it 
 was against you. 
 
 I fear unruly passions more than the arrows of 
 an enemy, and the slavery of them more than the 
 fetters of a conqueror. One can give no surer indi- 
 cation of the possession of a great mind, than by 
 shewing that one is not carried away by anger by 
 any accident whatsoever : in such a case clouds and 
 tempests may gather below, but all above remains 
 quiet and serene. It is the mark of a fine character 
 to restrain itself, and to move as it were in a serene 
 atmosphere. Oppose the first impulse of ill-temper ; 
 if you cannot resist the first, you will far less resist 
 the second, and so matters will grow worse and 
 worse ; for the difficulty which in the beginning 
 might have been overcome grows greater by neglect. 
 Passiojns are the elementary forces of the mind ; so 
 soon as they begin to be turgid and inflamed, the 
 mind becomes sick, and needs the surgeon Restraint 
 and the physician Wisdom. 
 
 Knaves often aim at exciting the fury of fools, for 
 when a blockhead is angry, all his defences are 
 exposed. But do you smile, and pass by their lure. 
 You must keep your passions in your power, as 
 Ulysses did the winds in his bottle, and deal with
 
 60 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 them as we do 1 with madmen, namely, keep them 
 in chains for fear of mischief; for no wild beast is 
 more ungovernable than some human passions are. 
 
 Some persons are above our anger, others below 
 it ; to be furious with our inferiors is degrading, to 
 break out to our superiors is insolent. And though 
 anger may make dull men witty, it usually keeps 
 them poor. 
 
 As Diogenes was discussing the subject of anger, 
 an insolent young fellow, to try if he could put him 
 outside his philosophy, began to spit on his face. 
 ' Young man,' said Diogenes, ' this doth not yet 
 make me angry ; but I am in some doubt as to 
 whether it ought not to do so.' 
 
 Be circumspect in everything you say or do, as if 
 your enemies stood at your elbow and overlooked 
 every action : this will soon beget in you a great 
 desire and earnest endeavours to restrain your dis- 
 orderly passions ; strive to do so by filling your 
 mind with good thoughts and by making firm resolu- 
 tions to proceed in a virtuous course of life. 
 
 Our passions are a great deal older than our 
 reason ; they came into the world with us, but our 
 reason followed a long time after. There are no 
 more effectual remedies against anger, than time 
 and patience. A servant of Plato having committed 
 a great fault, ' Speusippus,' 2 said the philosopher, 
 ' do you beat that fellow, for I am angry ' ; thus he 
 forbore taking the law into his own hands, for the 
 very reason that would have made another man 
 do so. 
 
 When I see my friend in a great rage against any 
 person I pretend to be angry too, and I join with 
 him not only in his opinion of the injury but even 
 in his projects of revenge ; by this means I gain 
 
 1 At De Britaine's date. H. S. 
 
 2 Son of Plato's sister, and himself a philosopher. H. S.
 
 OF PASSION 61 
 
 time, and by advising some greater method of resent- 
 ment, I put off present dangers, and gradually abate 
 his fury. 
 
 The first step to the moderation of anger, is to 
 perceive that you are giving way to passion ; by 
 that means you enter the field with a full power over 
 yourself, and may consider how far you ought to 
 give place to resentment ; in this way you may be 
 angry, and yet put a stop to it as you please. 
 
 If your passions are duly understood you should 
 need no other cure than the seeing of them as they 
 are ; let the first fervour abate, and the mist which 
 darkens the mind will be lessened if not dispelled. 
 It is a sign of having a good stock of sense when 
 one is seen to prevent and correct this fault, since it 
 is a disease of the mind, wherein a wise man ought 
 to govern himself as in a distemper of the body. 
 
 Take away that which provokes anger and you 
 may avoid the fault. When a stranger brought 
 Cotiso some earthen vessels, beautifully shaped and 
 admirably adorned with sculptures, but thin and 
 brittle, he requited the stranger for them, and then 
 brake them all in pieces ; ' lest,' said he, ' my anger 
 should provoke me to punish excessively some third 
 person who breaks them.' 
 
 He that would exercise power in a way profitable 
 to himself and grievous to nobody else, let him prac- 
 tise it upon his passions. 
 
 Plato was about to strike his servant, but while 
 his hand was in the air, he checked himself, and held 
 it in that menacing posture ; a friend of his took 
 notice of it, and asked him what he meant. ' I arn 
 now,' said the philosopher, ' about to punish an 
 angry man ': that is, he had passed by the servant 
 to chastise himself, for he thought it was not fit that 
 a servant should be in the power of one that was not 
 master of his own passions.
 
 62 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 To be angry at unrighteous anger is almost the 
 only justifiable exercise of this passion ; for rage is 
 an affection so unquiet and turbulent, that if it once 
 seizes us, it unmans us. Evils are not removed but 
 made worse by this vice, and the anger itself usually 
 does more harm than the injury which occasions it ; 
 other passions rise in us by degrees, but this flashes 
 like gun-powder, blowing up all in a moment. Anger 
 may alight in the breast of a wise man, but it broods 
 in the bosom of fools. A holy man is never angry at 
 anything but sin, and he that is angry with the sin 
 of anger, will surely never sin in anger. 
 
 If you be naturally disposed to anger frequent the 
 company of the patient ; by this means, without 
 difficulty, you may attain to a fairly even temper, 
 for society is a fine school ; manners, habits of the 
 mind, and even beliefs, are insensibly communicated 
 to us when we mix freely with others. 
 
 Never sink so far below your proper dignity, as to 
 let any passion get the better of you. When passion 
 enters in at the fore-gate, wisdom goes out at the 
 postern. He who commands himself, alone can 
 hope to command the world ; and the more authority 
 you have over others, the more command you need 
 over yourself. 
 
 I can only wonder at the temperament of that 
 Persian, 1 who in his fury threatened the tempest and 
 whipped the sea. 
 
 It is not pleasant to see a passionate man scourge 
 himself with his own scorpions, and in the midst of 
 all that might bring him enjoyment give himself 
 anxieties and alarms. 
 
 It is the folly of many men to break out into a 
 great passion upon trivial occasion ; like that gentle- 
 man, (learned, but surely not wise,) who fell into a 
 
 1 Xerxes I., who ordered 300 lashes to be given to the Helles- 
 pont, after a storm had destroyed his bridge of boats. H. S.
 
 OF PASSION 63 
 
 violent disorder at seeing a man ploughing and was 
 much incensed against him, because the fellow did 
 not plough ' secundum artem/ in ' drawing his 
 furrows mathematically, and ' in linea recta,' as he 
 said. A friend of the poor gentleman standing by, 
 told him, that he had little reason to be displeased, 
 if he considered the small difference that there is 
 between ' errare ' and ' arare.' 
 
 I am not troubled, if I see a butterfly in the air, 
 because I cannot catch it. 
 
 Be thou somewhat like the Caspian Sea, which is 
 said never to ebb nor flow. 
 
 It is more prudent to pass by trivial offences than 
 to quarrel concerning them ; by the latter method 
 you do but put yourself on a level with the offender, 
 whereas by the former you might soar above him 
 toward a higher sphere. 
 
 SECTION XL 
 
 Of Injuries and Revenge. 
 
 |HEN I have an injury done me, I never set 
 the beacon afire, nor am I greatly troubled. 
 I consider who did it : if my kinsman, he 
 did it without intention ; if my friend, he 
 did it against his will ; if my enemy, it is no more 
 than I expected : I ever put as fair a construction as 
 possible upon anything that happens to me. 
 
 When someone sprinkled water upon Archelaus, 1 
 and his friends enlarged upon the offence ; ' you are 
 mistaken,' said he, ' he did not sprinkle it upon me, 
 but upon some other person whom he took me 
 to be.' 
 
 I have often found by experience, that I have fallen 
 1 A Greek philosopher, preceptor of Socrates. H.S.
 
 64 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 into no great inconveniences when I have taken 
 wrongs patiently. 
 
 And we shew ourselves greater than our adver- 
 saries, when we let the world see that they cannot 
 disturb us. When children and fools do the same 
 things to us that we fret at in others of more 
 advanced understanding, we pass them by without 
 a frown ; which shews, that it is not the acts done us 
 by our enemies, but our own resentment that harms 
 us most. 
 
 I strive to bear any injury that is done to me with 
 the same patience with which a physician endures 
 abuse from a delirious patient. I hope that I can 
 patiently sustain all the insults that can be offered 
 me ; my desire is to become a true Christian, and I 
 ought to bless the bitter tongue or the cruel hand 
 which forces me to learn from my Master the secret 
 of His patience. 
 
 If an injury be done me, and if I behave well, there 
 is no serious harm done ; it is of the nature of an 
 enemy to do mischief; and it is certainly the duty of 
 a Christian to requite evil with good. I strive to 
 make use of ill-treatment as exercise and trial of my 
 morality ; I endeavour to confront it with the inno- 
 cence of my life, and the security of a good conscience, 
 so that I am not much moved, but can still keep my- 
 self cheerful, and steady in my course. 
 
 A man that walks the streets of a populous city, 
 must expect to meet with a stumble in one place, a 
 stoppage in another, a splash from the gutter in a 
 third ; of just such a kind are those mischances of 
 life which are greater in degree, and with the same 
 resignation should they be undergone. 
 
 So long as there are bad men in the world, there 
 will be bad actions done ; and he that sets out to fret 
 himself concerning whatsoever he sees done amiss, 
 will never have one quiet hour while he lives. I
 
 OF INJURIES AND REVENGE 65 
 
 would have you, as it were, practise how to be a good 
 wrestler ; which will teach you to stand firm, what- 
 ever befalls you. 
 
 If you are injured, you do your adversary too 
 much honour by taking notice of it, and you shew 
 that you think too meanly of yourself if you take the 
 trouble to be revengeful ; let me advise you to ignore 
 an insult, when you have not the power to avenge 
 it, and generously to forgive it, when you have the 
 means of revenge. 
 
 'Tis a noble way of taking revenge to ignore in- 
 juries; for resentment doth but fan to a blaze that 
 malice which neglect would let die away. Lewis the 
 twelfth of France, being advised by some of his 
 council to punish such as had been enemies to him 
 when he was Duke of Orleans, answered like a prince, 
 ' that it did not suit with the glory of a king of 
 France, to revenge the injuries done to a Duke of 
 Orleans.' 1 
 
 By taking revenge we play the part of executioner, 
 whereas we might act with dignity the royal char- 
 acter of a granter of pardon ; the latter course shews 
 us to advantage as conferring a gracious favour, 
 the former does but betray our own infirmity of 
 character. 
 
 He that pardons proclaims in so doing, that he 
 fears not his enemies ; but revenge implies a fear of 
 what we desire to strike, and a wish to forestall 
 further injury. And he that is naturally revengeful, 
 keeps wounds open, which otherwise would close of 
 themselves. 
 
 When I am more powerful than he that hath 
 injured me, I never take advantage of him, for that 
 is as mean as for an armed man to force his enemy 
 
 1 Larousse gives the saying thus : ' II ne seroit decent et k 
 honneur a un roi de France de venger les querelles d'un due 
 d'Orteans.' H. S.
 
 66 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BR1TAINE 
 
 to fight when the latter hath no weapon ; and if I 
 have no power to resist his action, I never rail at 
 him, for anger without power, is but a trumpet that 
 makes a noise but cannot hurt. 
 
 Pardon is a glorious kind of revenge, I think my- 
 self sufficiently revenged of my enemy if I pardon 
 him. Cicero did more commend Caesar for pardon- 
 ing Metellus, than for the great victory which Caesar 
 obtained over his enemies. 
 
 I prefer the glory of pardoning before the pleasure 
 of a victorious revenge ; for often I have seen an 
 achieved revenge to be matter for a future repent- 
 ance ; and the pleasure of doing evil soon turns in 
 the mind of a worthy man into great displeasure 
 with himself for having done it. 
 
 It is the function of prudence to prevent injuries 
 touching us, and it is a mark of a great mind, when 
 injured, not to seek revenge; he that hath revenge 
 in his power, and does not use it, is on the way to 
 true greatness. Let low and vulgar spirits storm 
 and excite themselves, but do you subdue your 
 resentment ; to endure injuries with a brave mind, 
 is half the battle of life. I honour Epictetus more 
 for his ' bear and forbear,' than if he had built a 
 pyramid. 
 
 He that doth an injury to another, doth it to 
 himself, and suffereth more injury in the end 
 than he hath ever wished the other man to ex- 
 perience. 
 
 Do injury to no person, however humble his posi- 
 tion. Those who oppress a poor man deserve that 
 accident should give him the chance, in days to 
 come, of requiting them in full. Such a thing has 
 happened not seldom as the wheel of time went 
 round. 
 
 I shall commend unto you St. Bernard's legacy, 
 which if story speaketh truth, was engraven upon
 
 OF INJURIES AND REVENGE 67 
 
 his tomb. 1 ' Brethren, three things I leave unto you 
 to be observed, which as I was able I observed. 
 First, I never gave offence to any ; if at any time it 
 happened, I pacified it as well as I could. Secondly, 
 I always gave less credit to my own sentiments than 
 to those of others. Thirdly, Being injured, I never 
 revenged it. Behold, I leave unto you Charity, 
 Humility, and Patience.' 
 
 When you have an injury done you, consider what 
 it is that disturbs you ; it is not the injury itself, but 
 your belief that you are injured ; remove this belief, 
 and you will not think yourself wronged. For 
 scarcely anything can hurt you unless you join with 
 it to hurt yourself; the mind is mostly safe and 
 inaccessible, and out of the reach of injuries ; the 
 thing we complain of is usually without us, and 
 stands still and quiet ; it is from the traitor within 
 us, that most of our troubles and tumults do proceed ; 
 we hatch for ourselves more wrongs than are laid for 
 us, and the fear of being injured usually doth us more 
 harm than the worst trouble which we endure from 
 outside. 
 
 Catch not too soon at any offence which is offered 
 to you, nor give way too swiftly to anger ; the one 
 shows a weak judgment, the other a perverse nature. 
 Hath any man wronged you ? Then bravely avenge 
 yourself by slighting the injury, and the incident 
 improves ; forgive the offence, and the occurrence 
 is past ; he is below that which is best in himself 
 who is not above resenting every injury which he 
 sustains. 
 
 The best remedy of an injury consists in the for- 
 getting of it ; but many times we forget that remedy. 
 It is sad to think that those things are best re- 
 membered in this world, which ought soonest to be 
 
 1 I omit the Latin, and give the quaint English of the trans- 
 lation without alteration. H. S. 
 
 52
 
 68 THE COUNSELS OF 17. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 forgotten. A fool struck Cato ; when he was sorry 
 for it, Cato had forgot it ; for as Seneca says, 
 ' melius putavit non ignoscere quam agnoscere.' 
 
 Should any man assail you with injuries, meet 
 them with patience ; hasty words make the wounds 
 rankle, whereas soft language dresses them, forgive- 
 ness cures them, and oblivion takes away the scars. 
 
 King Antigonus, one night when there was but a 
 curtain between him and his soldiers, overheard one 
 of them railing against him ; putting the hang- 
 ing stuff gently aside, he said, ' Soldiers ! stand 
 a little farther off for fear lest the king should hear 
 you.' 
 
 When an ill-office is done me, I am not displeased, 
 because it shall not be in the power of my enemy to 
 make me angry, or put me into a passion ; I pardon 
 others, as though I did daily offend myself; and I 
 abstain from offending as carefully as though I 
 pardoned nobody. All the art that I use to vanquish 
 my enemies is to do them all the good I can. 
 
 If you be displeased with every peccadillo, you 
 will become habitually peevish : learn to become 
 patient by observing the bad results of impatience 
 in other men. 
 
 If you have any cause of unhappiness, by your 
 impatience you add another to it : and he who yields 
 freely to his impulses is a slave to many tyrants. I 
 prefer the freedom of my mind, and the serenity of 
 a soul unclouded by passion, before the empire of 
 the world. 
 
 When I am injured, I strive never to complain, 
 for I have observed that complaints do rather excite 
 the desire to offend us, than elicit any compassionate 
 feeling that can comfort us ; they suggest to those 
 that hear them, to do the same to us, that they have 
 done of whom we complain ; and so the knowledge 
 of the injury done by the first wrong-doer, may serve
 
 OF INJURIES AND REVENGE 69 
 
 a second for an excuse ; so that our complaining of 
 past injuries, may lead to our suffering further ones. 
 
 It will be a proof of your prudence to endure the 
 rudeness and follies of other men without any show 
 of passion ; if you cannot endure them in others, 
 you make them your own ; for first you lose your 
 self-control, and then you begin to offend others 
 yourself; and so passion tends to precipitate you 
 into that very ill which you would avoid. 
 
 If any man doth me an injury, I am not dis- 
 turbed, but endeavour to pity him more than myself, 
 for he is the first person who was hurt in the affray ; 
 and he received the greater damage, because he lost 
 the use of his reason before he aimed his blow at me. 
 
 The severest punishment of an injury, is the con- 
 sciousness of having done it ; and no man suffers 
 more than he that is turned over to the pains of a 
 deserved repentance ; it is better to gloss over 
 injuries than to revenge them, for the revenging of 
 an injury is but the opposing of sin with sin. 
 
 If you have at any time a purpose to take revenge, 
 fall upon your greatest enemy first ; that is, begin 
 upon your own extravagant rage and fury. 
 
 If an injury be done me, I am never distressed 
 concerning it, for he that does me an injury does it 
 either for his own pleasure or profit ; and why should 
 I be disturbed at seeing that he loves himself better 
 than he does me? If any man does me an injury 
 out of ill-nature, I consider that he is but like the 
 briar and the thorn, which prick and scratch because 
 they can do no otherwise. 
 
 Every day I meet with those bravoes of society, 
 false and perfidious persons ; but they can do me no 
 great harm, because it is not in their power to dis- 
 quiet me, nor to make me do anything dishonour- 
 able. Neither am I angry with or ill affected 
 toward them, because they are by nature near
 
 70 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BR1TAINE. 
 
 unto me ; for they are all my kinsmen by participa- 
 tion in the same reasoning power and the same 
 divine particle. If at any time I have an injury 
 done me by them, I convert it to my own advantage, 
 and so escape evil results ; for they reveal to me my 
 own weak point wherein I may be assaulted, so that 
 I can study to fortify that place. And if an ass doth 
 kick me (as often one doth) I never trouble myself 
 to bring an action against him for it, and so flatter 
 him into the belief that he is a personage. 
 
 With regard to injuries designed against me, I 
 am no more concerned, than Alexander was, who 
 received in one hand the drink which his physician 
 Philip brought him, and with the other shewed 
 Philip the letter in which he was warned that Dareius 
 had promised Philip great rewards if Philip would 
 poison him. With most men injuries are never 
 cancelled by new favours, especially when the new 
 favours are less in value than the wrongs done ; with 
 them, favours are written in the sand, but injuries 
 are engraven upon marble. 
 
 Study the buckler as well as the sword, and so 
 you will be as good at enduring as at acting. But 
 though I speak thus to you, I would not have you 
 without the ability to defend yourself; for ' he who 
 maketh himself a sheep, the wolf will devour him.' 
 
 It was a maxim worthy of Caesar's gallantry; 
 ' nee inferre, nee perpeti.' 
 
 The wounds which our great Exemplar did suffer 
 upon earth are as stars guiding us to where He is. 
 But we deserve and suffer, whereas He suffered but 
 deserved it not.
 
 OF VIRTUE 71 
 
 SECTION XII. 
 Of Virtue. 
 
 SHALL commend unto your consideration 
 that excellent precept of Pythagoras, ' nil 
 turpe committas, neque coram aliis, neque 
 tecum, maxime omnium verere teipsum ' ; 
 believe me, a good man will blush as much to com- 
 mit a sin in the wilderness as in a market place. 
 Those defeats which vice gives me, are surprises 
 rather than conquests ; they overcome me not, so 
 much as by my own unpreparedness for them I over- 
 come myself; the less the temptation to sin, the 
 greater is the guilt of it ; and to justify a fault is a 
 greater sin than to fall into it. And let me tell you 
 that sin is masculine, and begets a numerous pro- 
 geny ; and very often it is like venom, its infection 
 stays in the blood, when the viper is dead which 
 gave the wound. 
 
 It is the triumph of a brave soul, to be strongly 
 tempted, but deliberately virtuous ; virtue is the sun 
 of the microcosm, and a good conscience is its hemi- 
 sphere ; there is nothing which setteth up so noble a 
 throne or chair of state in the soul of man as virtue 
 doth. 
 
 Virtue stands in need of nothing but itself, it 
 renders man illustrious in this life, and glorious after 
 death ; it is not gray hairs alone that beget respect, 
 but the reputation of a long life virtuously passed. 
 It is a strange error of men, that they rarely take 
 thought how to live virtuously, but are usually very 
 careful as to how to live long. It is by the bounty 
 of nature that we live at all, but by the grace of 
 virtue that we live well ; so that virtue is a greater 
 felicity than life itself.
 
 72 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 An upright and virtuous man lives not to the 
 world, but to his own conscience ; he, like the 
 planets above, steers a course contrary to that of the 
 world. 
 
 It is no small pleasure for a virtuous person to say 
 to himself, ' could a man enter and see into my 
 heart, yet should he not find me guilty either of the 
 affliction or ruin of anybody, nor culpable of envy or 
 revenge, nor tainted with lust or greed, nor spotted 
 with the evil of falsifying my word.' Therefore take 
 care that the bright lustre of your virtues may 
 enlighten the whole sphere wherein you move. 
 
 You may receive honours from your prince, but 
 that is only to obtain a gallant livery; it is virtue 
 that is the only true nobility. I love virtue in any 
 man, and it will secure me against any wrong from 
 him. It will also assure me of his good wishes, if he 
 cannot lend me his assistance, in time of trouble. 
 
 God would not bestow heaven upon the Romans, 
 because they were pagans ; but He bestowed the 
 empire of the world upon them, because they were 
 virtuous. 
 
 Alexander was not so truly glorious for conquering 
 the Indians, as for refusing to ill-use the fair daughters 
 of Dareius ; for in the one case, he did but conquer 
 those who were less powerful than himself; but in 
 the other, he conquered himself, who had been a 
 conqueror of great generals. 
 
 A virtuous person looks upon the whole world as 
 his country, and upon God as witness and judge of 
 all his words and deeds ; he so governs his life and 
 thoughts, as if the whole world were to see the one 
 and to read the other. He stands not more in 
 awe of other men than he does of himself, nor does 
 he commit any more offences because no one can 
 see, than he does if all men are observing him. 
 Crimes, though they may be secret, can never be
 
 OF VIRTUE 73 
 
 safe ; nor does it avail an offender to be concealed 
 from others while he can never be concealed from 
 himself. 
 
 He never opens the door to the least vice, for fear 
 others which lie in ambush should come after : he is 
 much of the nature of the sun, which passeth through 
 many pollutions, yet remains pure as before : rather 
 than do an unjust act, he will be food for cannon : 
 let vice be robed in cloth of gold, yet he sees its 
 ugliness. 
 
 If I do nothing but what is honest, let all the 
 world know it ; but if I act otherwise, what doth it 
 signify to have nobody know it, so long as I know it 
 myself? Sin is its own torment, and the fear of 
 vengeance pursues even those that at present escape 
 the stroke of it : nature hath set up racks and 
 gibbets in the consciences of vicious persons. 
 
 He that is guilty of any infamous sin lives in per- 
 petual terror, and whilst he expects to be punished, 
 is all the time punishing himself. Whosoever 
 deserves punishment, lives in expectation of it; what 
 if he be not detected ? He remains full of apprehen- 
 sion that he may be so. 
 
 The wages of sin is death ; those are poor wages 
 that will not even enable a man to live ; as virtue is 
 its own reward, so sin is its own executioner. 
 
 The soul of a wicked man is like paper scribbled 
 all over with the writings of vice ; his mind resembles 
 the city Poneropolis, so called by King Philip after he 
 had peopled it with a crew of rogues and vagabonds. 
 He that looks diligently into the character of a 
 vicious man, will see the canker at his heart through 
 all the false and dazzling splendours of greatness and 
 fortune : a virtuous man can never be really miser- 
 able, nor a wicked man happy. 
 
 Men love evil in themselves, yet no man loves it in 
 another ; and though a man may be a friend to sin,
 
 74 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 yet nobody loves the sinner. A thief strives to get 
 an honest servant, and a hypocrite frequents the 
 society of sincere persons. 
 
 Mankind is entered into a sort of confederacy 
 against virtue; it is dangerous to be honest, and 
 only profitable to be vicious. 
 
 We live in the rust of the iron age ; piety itself is 
 in exile, integrity seems to have departed, and the 
 branches of the most flourishing virtues are all 
 lopped ; it is as rare in this age to meet with a 
 virtuous man, as it was formerly to meet with a poet 
 in Plato's commonwealth. 
 
 It is virtue that makes the soul invincible, and 
 places us out of the reach of fortune, though not 
 out of the malice of it : when Zeno was told that 
 all his goods were drowned ; ' why then,' said he, 
 'fortune hath a mind to make me a philosopher'; 
 nothing can be above him that is above fortune, no 
 infelicity can make a wise man quit his ground. 
 
 If I were led in triumph, I could maintain the 
 same calm mind, and be as virtuous and great as 
 the conqueror ; place me amongst emperors, or 
 amongst beggars, the one shall not make me proud, 
 nor the other ashamed ; I can take as sound a sleep 
 in a hut as in a palace, and think myself as happy 
 in a galley, as in the Elysian fields. 
 
 Felicity is not to be found in the veins of the 
 earth where we dig for gold, nor in the bottom of 
 the sea where we fish for pearl, but in a pure and 
 virtuous mind. 
 
 Socrates being asked if he did not consider the 
 great King of Persia to be a fortunate man, ' I know 
 not,' said he, ' how he is furnished with virtue ' : 
 conceive that true happiness consists in virtue, not 
 in the frail donatives of fortune. 
 
 Virtue hath a splendid theatre wherein to shew 
 itself in all its varied fortunes ; a man that is con-
 
 OF VIRTUE 75 
 
 demned, if he be innocent and doth not vex himself 
 doth exercise the virtue of patience ; if he be guilty 
 and doth acknowledge himself to be so, he doth co- 
 operate with justice. 
 
 Noble-minded and virtuous men suffer many 
 inconveniences in this world ; but virtue, like the 
 sun, goes on her way rejoicing, let the air be never 
 so cloudy. 
 
 ' No cloud whats'ever can obscure her light ; 
 Virtue's a glow-worm, and will shine by night.' 
 
 A virtuous person in the thickest of his mis- 
 fortunes, is like a quickset hedge, the more he is 
 cut and mall-hacked, 1 the better he thrives and 
 flourishes. 
 
 A wicked man is afraid of his own memory, and 
 in the review of himself he finds only appetite, 
 avarice, or ambition. Vice hath a first and tentative 
 state, after which it becomes desperate and incur- 
 able. All the virtuous actions which I can hereafter 
 do, will no more expiate my former transgressions, 
 than the not-contracting new debts can be accounted 
 payment of the old. 
 
 Though Virtue gives a ragged livery 2 to her 
 servants, yet it is dignified by her golden badge, and 
 you should be proud to wear it. 
 
 Those that least practise virtue in their secret 
 doings, cunningly make it appear to be the mark 
 whereto all their open actions speed ; for they know 
 that there must be the signature of virtue on the 
 worst of actions, otherwise they would not be allowed 
 to pass and to receive entertainment. Virtuous 
 persons are by all wise men openly reverenced ; 
 and they are even silently respected by the bad, 
 
 1 Printed male-hack'd ' in De Britaine's text H. S. 
 
 2 Cf. note on page 77. H. S.
 
 76 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITA1NE 
 
 so much do the beams of virtue dazzle even unwill- 
 ing eyes. 
 
 The heart of a virtuous person is a paradise into 
 which the serpent never enters without meeting a 
 sudden repulse. In navigation we ought to be 
 guided by the pilot, in the course of life by the 
 virtuous. 
 
 ' Obstrue quinque fenestras, ut luceat domus '; as 
 the Arabian proverb says, a wise and virtuous man 
 shuts his windows that he may see the better. 
 
 The smallest defect or fault in an accomplished 
 person, obscures the whole orb of his virtues. He 
 cannot transgress, any more than the sun can suffer 
 eclipse, without every man taking note of it. 
 
 A virtuous man is ' bonorum maximus,' and 
 ' magnorum optimus.' You must labour and climb 
 the hill of difficulty, if you wish to arrive at virtue, 
 whose temple is upon the top of it; it is a great 
 encouragement to well doing, that when you are 
 once in the possession of virtue, you may make it 
 your own for ever. It is easy to continue good and 
 virtuous, but to become so is hard ; nature doth not 
 make a gift of virtue, but it must be painfully 
 acquired ; and it is therefore a kind of art to 
 become good. 
 
 ' Quid juvat innumeros scire atque evolvere casus ; 
 Si fugienda facis et facienda fugis ? 
 
 If your mind at any time seems to stagger, and 
 be in suspense as to what to do, fix it on some grave 
 and good man, imagine him to be present with you, 
 and then do all things as if he looked on ; then 
 because of the reverence you bear to him, you will 
 fear to offend or to do anything that is ill, because 
 he would find fault with it. If you were but within 
 sight of Scipio or Laelius, you would not dare to 
 transgress ; why do you not then summon some
 
 OF VIRTUE 77 
 
 such person, one in whose presence you dare not 
 offend, to your mind ? 
 
 Every night I call myself to an account, I ask 
 myself 'what infirmity have I mastered to-day?' 
 By this scrutiny I find my vices abate of themselves, 
 and I myself become better and more virtuous. 
 
 I shall ever reverence the memory of Chilo, for 
 his 'nequid nimis,' because in those two words he 
 hath taught us the ' summa totalis ' of all virtue. 
 
 I can be honest in the dark, and virtuous without 
 a witness ; I have such an inbred loyalty to virtue, 
 that I can serve her without a livery. 1 
 
 Aristippus, being asked wherein philosophers ex- 
 celled other men, answered, ' Because if all laws 
 were abolished, we should be just and lead the same 
 lives as we do now ' : indeed, if all men were set 
 upon being virtuous and just, there need be no laws. 
 
 Virtue will make you noble without the help of a 
 coronet, and will get you veneration without an 
 apotheosis. It will gain you esteem ; and esteem 
 to virtue is like a fine air to plants and flowers, 
 which makes them bloom and prosper. 
 
 Let integrity be the ballast of your soul, and 
 virtue the lading ; you may be deprived of honours 
 and riches against your will, but not of your virtues 
 unless you consent. 
 
 Demetrius Phalereus 2 had three hundred and 
 sixty statues erected in his honour by the Athenians, 
 for his having governed their commonwealth for 
 ten years with great virtue and prudence : but when 
 he saw those statues which were raised by gratitude, 
 
 1 This is the third allusion in this section to the attraction 
 which a great person's livery had for even rather ' superior 
 persons ' in Stuart times. H. S. 
 
 2 Orator, statesman, philosopher, and poet. He rose to high 
 honour at Athens by the sheer force of his ability and in- 
 dustry. H. S.
 
 78 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 not long afterwards destroyed by envy, he said, 
 ' they may pull down my statues, but they cannot 
 overthrow my virtues, in honour of which they were 
 erected/ 
 
 Exchange not virtue's immortal crown for a whole 
 mine of gold. 
 
 1 Gold is uncertain ; but what you possess 
 Is still your own, and never can be less.' 
 
 Boccalini 1 tells us of a great prince that had the 
 fortune to meet the Lady Philosophy naked, and 
 wished out of pure modesty and compassion, to 
 throw his royal mantle over her : but that illustrious 
 lady begged his majesty's pardon with all dutiful 
 respect, and gave him to understand that she had 
 no shame to hide, nor any deformity to cover. 
 
 r 
 
 SECTION XIII. 
 
 Of Friends and Friendship. 
 
 have one good friend is to own a priceless 
 talisman ; but do you strive to multiply 
 happiness by gaining at least two or 
 three such jewels. Out of your acquaint- 
 ances choose here and there associates, and bind 
 these to you with the tie of loyal friendship. But 
 let me advise you, never to make a coward your 
 
 1 Trajano Boccalini, an Italian satirist. He died in 1613. 
 The first edition of ' I Ragguagli di Parnasso : or Advertise- 
 ments from Parnassus ; in two Centuries ; with the Politick 
 Touch-Stone' appeared in London in 1656. Henry, Earl of 
 Monmouth, was the translator, and prefaced it with an ' Epistle ' 
 addressed ' To His Countreymen the Readers.' The anecdote 
 referred to by De Britaine is found at page 43 of the book. 
 The ' great prince ' is Francis I. of France. H. S.
 
 OF FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIP 79 
 
 friend, or a drunkard your privy-councillor ; for the 
 one will desert you upon the approach of the least 
 danger, and the other will divulge all your secrets ; 
 both characters are dangerous to human society. 
 
 ' Quod in corde sobrii, id in lingua ebrii.' 
 
 Never make a friend too hastily ; for though 
 sudden affection makes the deepest impression, yet 
 that love is usually the most permanent which dives 
 into the soul by soft degrees of mutual society, and 
 comes to be matured by time; friendships too 
 hastily contracted, like plants which shoot up too 
 fast, are not of the same continuance as those with 
 which nature takes more time. It requires time to 
 consider of a friendship before it be contracted ; but 
 the resolution of amity once taken entitles its object 
 to my very heart ; I look upon my thoughts to be 
 as safe in my friend's breast as in my own. A 
 friend is your very self, so treat him as such : do 
 but think him faithful, and you will make him so. 
 
 Do not make yourself over to too many intimates, 
 for marriage, which is but the strictest of friend- 
 ships, gives a man only one, and indeed the lesser 
 degrees of friendship admit not of many more : the 
 tide of love cannot rise very high when divided 
 amongst numerous channels, and it is great odds 
 that amongst a bevy of friends we shall be deceived 
 in some ; then we shall be put to the unpleasantness 
 of repentance, which is never more irksome and 
 unwelcome than it is in matters of friendship. 
 
 He that you mark out to gain as your friend, let 
 him be a virtuous person ; for an evil man can 
 neither love another for long, nor himself be for 
 long beloved ; and the alliances formed among 
 wicked men are rather to be called conspiracies 
 than friendships. 
 
 Any man can become your enemy, but not all men
 
 8o THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 are capable of friendship ; few men have much 
 loyalty of soul, but almost all men are capable of 
 doing their companions some harm sooner or later. 
 True friendship is a sacred thing, and deserves our 
 tenderest acknowledgments. Humanity exists by 
 love ; and men make life endurable to one another 
 by friendship, without which the universe would be 
 a more dreary desert than any that travellers have 
 told us of; nor is there any happiness upon earth 
 comparable with that produced by a virtuous union 
 of minds and desires. 
 
 Harmony of temper begets and preserves friend- 
 ship ; but disagreeing inclinations are like improper 
 notes in music, that serve only to spoil the concert, 1 
 and to offend the ear. 
 
 Where there is a difference in religion, there is 
 rarely a long agreement in affection ; but if I meet 
 with a just and kindly man, let his persuasion 2 as to 
 religion be what it will, I can put him in my bosom 
 without thinking of the snake in the fable. A friend 
 is a great antidote to solitude, an excellent assistant 
 in the affairs of life, and our best protection against 
 social wrongs ; he is a counsellor in difficulties, a 
 confessor in scruples, and a sanctuary in distress. 
 Amongst all human enjoyments, nothing is so rare, 
 so valuable, and yet so much a necessary as a true 
 friend. The Roman losses by water or fire Augustus 
 could quickly supply and repair, but for the loss of 
 his two friends he mourned throughout the rest of 
 his life. It has been said with some truth that all 
 things in the world are but baubles, except old 
 friends to converse with, and old books to read. 
 
 A true and faithful friend is a living treasure, in- 
 
 1 The text gives ' consort,' a word formerly used in England 
 both for 'concert' and 'a concerto.' H. S. 
 
 2 Belief, creed. The use of this word for ' sect ' still exists 
 in country places. H. S.
 
 OF FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIP 81 
 
 estimable while we have him, and never enough to 
 be lamented when he is gone from us; there is 
 nothing more ordinary than to talk of ' a friend,' but 
 nothing in life is more difficult than to find one ; 
 and oftentimes one is most lacking where there 
 seems to be the greatest number. The higher in 
 station that a man is, the more need he has of a true 
 friend, and the more difficulty he has both in finding 
 and recognising one. 
 
 He has made his first approach to comfort who 
 has gained an opportunity of communicating his 
 thoughts ; but he that lacketh a friend to open his 
 grief unto, eats his own heart. With the kindness 
 of my friend I sweeten the adversities of my life ; by 
 his thoughtfulness I lessen my own, and repose when 
 weary under the healing shadow of his friendship ; 
 when I see any good befall him, I rejoice, and thereby 
 my own happiness is increased. My friend is a 
 counterpart of myself: 
 
 ' Dum similis simili sociatur pax fit utrisque ; 
 Ni mihi sis ut Ego, non eris alter Ego.' 
 
 I love my friend more than I do myself, and yet 
 methinks I do not love him enough ; therefore I 
 cannot but approve the example of that philosopher, 
 who, when he was dying, ordered his friend to be 
 inventoried amongst his goods. When a certain 
 man came to Alexander and asked that he might 
 see his treasure, he told one of his servants to 
 take him, and show him (not his money but) his 
 friends; it seems, therefore, that he put a greater 
 value upon them, than upon all the wealth which 
 he had. 
 
 I am much pleased with the ' Commonwealth of 
 Friendship ' of Pythagoras, and I often wish that 
 considerations of worldly interest could be exter- 
 minated out of the family of love ; for they tend to 
 
 6
 
 82 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 rob us of the happy enjoyment of our friendships 
 and rarely sow anything but trouble and dissension 
 among us. Whatsoever I possess, my friends may 
 command; there is no relish, methinks, in the pos- 
 sessing of anything which is not shared with some 
 other person ; if the treasures of the Samnites, or 
 the territories of the universe, were offered to me to 
 keep for myself alone, I would refuse them. A dish 
 of cabbages or beans with my friend is a feast to me ; 
 when I eat alone, my table, however well covered, is 
 to me but a manger, and I feel myself to be in a 
 desert. It is a great satisfaction to me to see that 
 my friend is pleased, but it is a much greater pleasure 
 for me to make him so. When I consult the comfort 
 and happiness of my friend, I provide for my own ; 
 true friends are the whole world to one another, and 
 he that is a true friend to himself is also a friend to 
 mankind. 
 
 A true friend, like a good mirror, will reveal to you 
 your own defects fairly and unflinchingly. Phocion 1 
 said to Antipater, 'You are deceived, sir, if you 
 would have me for your friend, and yet expect that 
 I should play the flatterer.' I behave myself with a 
 great decorum and singular regard to my friend ; but 
 if I see him dash out into follies, I apply reproofs to 
 him, using them as pungent and acute medicines, 
 with no other intent than the recovery of the patient. 
 If my friend falls into any notorious vice, yet even 
 then I keep a regard for him ; for though the friend 
 be gone, yet still the man remains ; and though he 
 hath forfeited my friendship, yet still I owe him my 
 charity. 
 
 It is not so much honourable of us to do a friend 
 a kindness, as it would be unworthy of us to omit a 
 good office when he stands in need of it ; for a true 
 friend has absolute rights over our actions. 
 1 Athenian statesman and general. Died B.C. 317. H. S.
 
 OF FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIP 83 
 
 Wise friendship is made up of virtue as being 
 lovely ; of familiar conversation as being pleasant ; 
 and of mutual advantage as being necessary. Behave 
 well to thy friend that he may be more thy friend, 
 and act honourably towards thine enemy, that he 
 may become thy friend. My aim is to speak well of 
 my enemies, but still more to retain my friends. 
 Next to my friends, I love my enemies, for it is 
 usually from them that I first hear of my faults. It 
 is better to decide a difference of opinion which 
 exists between our enemies than one which troubles 
 our friends ; for in the latter case, one of the friends 
 will be likely to become an enemy, whereas in the 
 former case, one of the enemies will almost certainly 
 become a friend. 
 
 If you have a good friend, beware of desiring for 
 him great riches or honours ; for when he has got 
 them, he may gradually relinquish your friendship 
 or even become your enemy: this made the Emperor 
 who had a great friend (who was a Cardinal of the 
 court of Rome) advanced to be Pope, say ' that from 
 being a trusty friend when a Cardinal, that eccle- 
 siastic would become a deadly enemy when Pope ' ; 
 and it fell out according to the Emperor's expecta- 
 tion. If you do not desire to make a great man 
 your friend, it is sufficient to keep him from being 
 your enemy ; indeed, to fix yourself in the favour of 
 a great person, unless he be high-minded, is to be 
 like the mouse that built her nest in the cat's ear. 
 Never seek for a friend in a palace, or judge him 
 only by his behaviour at a feast. There are few 
 friends of the person, and many of the fortune ; but 
 a friendship of interest usually lasts no longer than 
 the interest continues, whereas true love is of the 
 nature of the diamond, it is pure, bright, and very 
 hard to break. 
 
 Go slowly to the feasts of friends ; but make 
 
 62
 
 84 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITJINE 
 
 haste to them in their misfortunes. It is trade, not 
 friendship, that has an eye to competition and 
 profits ; friends should not be like the scales of a 
 balance, the one rising by the other's sinking, but 
 rather like numbers in arithmetic, the lesser and 
 greater helping and improving each other. 
 
 Never purchase friends by gifts ; for if you leave 
 off giving to them, friends thus gained will leave off 
 liking you. Love is built upon the union of minds, 
 not purchased by the bribery of gifts ; and the more 
 you strive to bribe, the fewer true friends you will 
 have. But I can admit the exchange of good offices 
 between friends to be desirable, not so much for the 
 sake of the actual benefits given or received, as that 
 friends may have the pleasure of doing kindness to 
 each other. Philip of Macedon grieved much for 
 the death of Hipparchus of Euboea, his faithful 
 friend : when somebody said ' but his hour had 
 come,' Philip answered ' yes, but it came too soon 
 for me, preventing me, as it did, from returning him 
 much kindness which I owed him.' 1 But an enemy 
 is more easily appeased than a friend is assured, by 
 generosity. 
 
 Have a care in remaking any man your friend ; 
 unless the disruption of friendship came by your 
 own mistake, and you have done penance for it. If 
 the league of friendship be once broken, then the 
 cabinet of secrets is unlocked, and they may fly 
 about like birds let loose from a cage; when quarrels 
 occur between friends, secret enemies that lie upon 
 the watch blow the fire ; and when war is once 
 declared, old friends are apt to become the bitterest 
 of adversaries. 
 
 When you have made choice of your friend, lavish 
 all reasonable civilities upon him ; yet in prudence 
 
 1 Philip had made much of Hipparchus, so that the anecdote 
 shews Philip in an attractive light. H. S.
 
 OF FRIENDS AND FRIENDSHIP 85 
 
 I would advise you for a long time to behave to 
 him with some caution, remembering that a present 
 friend may become a future enemy. 
 
 Aristotle's saying, ' amici non amici,' makes me 
 think, that he is a happy man, that has a friend in 
 need, but that he is more happy, that has no need 
 of a friend. He is not thy friend that draws thee 
 into anything which tends to become prejudicial to 
 thy reputation or estate ; neither art thou thy own 
 friend, if thou dost hazard either of these for 
 another man, save when honour and friendship 
 make it imperative. 
 
 Be slow to choose a friend, and slower to change 
 him ; be courteous to all, but intimate with few ; 
 scorn no man for his humble position, unless it is 
 clearly the fruit of his own wickedness, nor humour 
 any man merely on account of his wealth or place. 
 ' Vulgus amicitias utilitate probat.' Prosperity does 
 not keep just scales, adversity is the only balance in 
 which to weigh friends. 
 
 True friends are like the spirit and the sinews, 
 the one moves with the other ; and the love between 
 them ought to resemble ' templum fidei,' which was 
 constantly clear, had nothing meretricious about it, 
 and was without any coverture. 
 
 Honest friendship multiplies joys and divides 
 griefs. 
 
 There are persons who resemble Grotto's 1 mouse. 
 When he was in prosperity it always came out and 
 fed when he did ; but his house being set on fire, it 
 fled immediately from him ; whereupon he, observing 
 the ungratefulness and uncertainty of trencher amity 2 
 framed this distich : 
 
 Julius Crottus, the Latinist, or ' Iroldo Crotta ' 
 (pseudonym of Count De' Dottori), whose ' L'Asino ' appeared 
 at Venice in 1652 ? H. S. 
 2 The 'cupboard love' of village conversation to-day. H. S.
 
 86 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITA1NE 
 
 ' Vixisti mecum, fortuna Matre, Npverca 
 Me fugis : At poteras sequa et iniqua pati.' 
 
 I never have forsaken a friend, until he hath for- 
 saken himself and virtue (which was the true Lover's 
 Knot that first united us) ; and if at any time I 
 renounced intimacy with him, yet in respect of my 
 former familiarity, I retained some thought for him, 
 and wished him well. I do profess myself desirous 
 to be a good citizen of the world, and I have such 
 an aversion to anything that is unkind, that I look 
 upon an injury done to another, as done to myself. 
 
 Many a time when I have heard that a friend was 
 dead, have I drowned my eyes in tears. And I 
 could have wept as passionately at his grave as the 
 Grecian matron did over her mother's urn ; but 
 then I considered, that to do so was more human of 
 me than wise ; for I might as reasonably have wept 
 that my friend was born no sooner, as that he 
 should live no longer. 
 
 ' Dear, beauteous death ! the Jewel of the Just, 
 
 Shining no where, but in the dark ; 
 What mysteries do lie beyond thy dust ; 
 Could man outlook that mark I' 1 
 
 But we are assured that ' the souls of the righteous 
 are in the hand of God, and there shall no torment 
 touch them.' 
 
 So that I would rather imitate the virtues of those 
 of my friends who are now with God than bewail 
 their deaths. And I know that thus I may go to 
 them, albeit they cannot return to me. 
 
 1 I have quoted Henry Vaughan here instead of letting a 
 quotation of two rather colourless lines stay in the text. The 
 first part of Vaughan's Silex Scintillans appeared in 1650, the 
 second in 1655. H. S.
 
 OF FRUGALITY AND EXPENSES 87 
 
 SECTION XIV. 
 
 Of Frugality and Expenses. 
 
 TUDY not only to preserve your estate, but 
 to increase it without loss of integrity : 
 money is the heir of fortune and the lord 
 paramount of the world. 
 Riches are the keys to greatness, and make the 
 access to high position more easy and open ; a man 
 without money is like a tree without a fence which 
 every ass may kick ; let your ability be never so 
 great, yet until you have gilt edges, you will be no 
 more noticed in the world than a cuckoo is in June. 
 
 ' Vita hominum Pelagus, regina Pecunia nauta est, 
 Navigat infelix qui cavet hujus ope.' 
 
 Hence it was, that there being a contest amongst 
 the most eminent poets for the laurel, and they not 
 agreeing in their award, the matter was referred to 
 Apollo, who upon serious advice gave it to an alder- 
 man of London, because to have the most wealth 
 was a sign of having the most wit. 1 
 
 'Jews, Turks and Christians several 2 Tenets hold ; 
 Yet all one God acknowledge, that is, Gold.' 
 
 It is related that a nobleman of Venice paid his 
 court to Cosmo de Medici, Duke of Florence, and 
 signified to him, ' that he understood that his high- 
 ness had the philosopher's stone, and that he desired 
 to see it.' ' It is true,' said the Duke, ' but my 
 elixir 3 is this, never to do that by another, which I 
 
 1 I beg to commend this anecdote of De Britaine's to historians 
 of the City of London in search of local colour. H. S. 
 
 * Viz. different. H. S. 
 
 3 I leave 'elixir' in the text here as illustrating De Britaine's 
 way of using words in a slightly strained sense (here elixir = 
 talisman or charm) to give variety to the look of his didactics. 
 H. S.
 
 88 THE COUNSELS OF IV. DE BRITJINE 
 
 can do myself; not to do that to-morrow, which I 
 can do to-day ; not to neglect even the smallest 
 things.' The Venetian thanked his highness, and 
 took his leave of him ; and, by the practice of the 
 Duke's rules, became in time the wisest and richest 
 man in Venice. If you purpose to become rich and 
 wise, take this elixir. 
 
 I know that a generous man takes little heed of 
 money, but when he hath it not, he is the very man 
 that feeleth the want of it most ; and any very 
 excellent person who is without sufficient means of 
 livelihood, is like a ship which is well rigged, but 
 cannot sail for want of wind. If your resources 
 are but small, go little into society ; but when you do 
 mix with the world, be sure that you let your money 
 flow freely. 
 
 If your means do not suit your objects in life, 
 pursue those objects in life which are suited to your 
 means. Have a care that you do not copy the 
 mistake of that mariner, who struck his own vessel 
 against a rock and sprang a leak in it while he was 
 labouring to buoy up a sunken ship of another's. 
 Let the wrecks of other men act as sea-marks to 
 yourself. Bartimaeus became blind, that others might 
 receive sight ; and the moon of Spain fell into an 
 eclipse, that it might give light to many. 
 
 Those men who have wasted their own estates, 
 will be ready to help you to consume yours; such 
 persons are like the fox in the fable, who persuaded 
 the other foxes to cut off their troublesome tails, 
 because he had lost his own. 
 
 There is a story of a smart reprimand uttered by 
 Queen Elizabeth which I must relate to you. Her 
 Majesty was invited by a nobleman (who had 
 squandered a great part of his estate) to visit his 
 house, which was very magnificent. Over the 
 portal of the great doors was written in capital
 
 OF FRUGALITY AND EXPENSES 89 
 
 letters, ' Oia Vanitas.' The Queen came into the 
 courtyard, and was about to enter the house, when 
 she asked the nobleman ' what that was which was 
 written above'; he told her; the Queen asked him 
 * what was the reason that he made his " omnia " so 
 short, and his " vanitas " so long?' 
 
 I have read that there was once a goddess fastened 
 to an oak in a grove. For a long time she had 
 many worshippers, but when the tree was ready to 
 fall, none would come within the shadow of her 
 statue. Love and respect are rarely found when 
 fortune is lost ; and adversity seldom meets with 
 any return of the friendly acts which it did when its 
 name was prosperity. That which we call kindness 
 or affection, is too often only self-interest ; and base 
 men profess to love the good and the wise only to 
 serve their own ends. 
 
 Charity, though she be a saint, is yet without an 
 altar in the world ; you will meet with many men, 
 which have much of the Heliotrope in them, in that 
 they open in the sunshine of prosperity, whereas 
 they shut and contract themselves as the night of 
 adversity approaches, and in the stormy seasons of 
 life. And believe me, none will be such severe 
 critics of you in adversity, as those that in prosperity 
 have been your associates. 
 
 Never squander money in the present, in hope of 
 accidental gain in the future. Even merchants, 
 accustomed to risking money, strive to reduce their 
 personal expenses when they adventure goods on 
 any large scale. How foolish will you appear, there- 
 fore, if you are extravagant because you expect 
 windfalls from the tree of fortune, and then the 
 wind should not rise. 
 
 Money in your purse will gain you credit, wisdom 
 in your head will honour you ; but both in your 
 necessity will serve you.
 
 9 o THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 ' Amasser en saison, 
 Despenser par raison, 
 Font-Ik une bonne maison.' 
 
 A seasonable gathering, and a reasonable spend- 
 ing, make good housekeeping. 
 
 The Venetians use an arch of Saint Mark's Church 
 for their treasury, and their reason is : 
 
 ' Quantum quisque sua nummorum servat in area 
 Tantum habet et fidei.' 
 
 Balance your expenses by the just weight of your 
 own estate, and not by the poise of another's spend- 
 ing. It is good advice of the philosopher, ' measure 
 the stone by your rule, and not your rule by the 
 stone. 1 Prodigality is of the nature of the viper, 1 and 
 eats out the bowels of that wealth which gave it 
 birth : frugality and industry are the two horses 
 that can pull our coach to the palace of fortune. 
 Certain young men who were reproved by Zeno for 
 their prodigality, excused themselves by saying ' that 
 they did but spend what they had plenty of'; ' would 
 you excuse a cook,' said he, ' if he oversalted your 
 meat, just because he had a great store of salt ?' 
 Prodigals may be compared to fig trees growing 
 upon a precipice, whose fruit is not tasted by men, 
 but is devoured by crows and vultures. Prodigality 
 is ever attended by injustice and folly, and dogged 
 by want and misery. 
 
 Keep a moderate style of living, and it will keep 
 you ; if you go beyond that which is necessary, you 
 must have first a cloak of velvet, then a cloak 
 clasped with gold, and then a cloak embroidered 
 with pearls, for the habit that once exceeds modera- 
 tion, is sure to end in some absurd extravagance. 
 A good layer-up makes a good layer-out, and a good 
 
 1 I leave this information unaltered. H. S.
 
 OF FRUGALITY AND EXPENSES 91 
 
 sparer makes a good spender. There is no alchemy 
 like saving. 
 
 Diogenes asked a thrifty man for a half-penny, 
 but a prodigal for a pound ; the former, he said, 
 might give often, but the latter would shortly have 
 nothing to give. 
 
 Getting is a chance, but keeping is a virtue. 
 
 He that is sparing in everything is a niggard ; he 
 that spares in nothing is a spendthrift ; I love to 
 spare in the things that are least necessary, that I 
 may be the more generous and liberal in what is 
 most required in my station. 
 
 He that is lavish in some kinds of expense, must 
 be parsimonious in some others ; for he that is 
 prodigal in all directions, will with much difficulty 
 be preserved from ruin, however good an estate hath 
 come to him. Form a habit of reasonable frugality, 
 for that will benefit your character as well as your 
 estate. A man ought warily to begin any expendi- 
 ture, which when once begun must continue ; but as 
 to single demands upon his purse, he may be more 
 magnificent. 
 
 By four things is a rent-roll preserved ; first, by 
 understanding its amount and capacity ; secondly, 
 by not spending any of it before it comes in ; thirdly, 
 by frequent reckonings with one's servants ; fourthly, 
 by keeping a quarterly audit. 
 
 If out of kindness you have lent money to any 
 person, let him not continue indebted to you over 
 long, for the interest of an old debt is usually paid in 
 ill language. 
 
 At the first entrance into your heritage keep up a 
 modest state ; you may rise with honour, but you 
 cannot decline without shame. Plato, seeing a 
 young man of good family, who had spent all his 
 estate, sitting at the door of an inn, supping upon 
 bread and water, said to him, ' if you had dined
 
 92 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TA1NE 
 
 temperately you need never have supped thus.' 
 Many young gentlemen seem to think it good policy 
 to wear their lands upon their backs, perhaps by 
 way of ensuring that no waste be done by their 
 tenants. 
 
 Make not the sail too big for the vessel, lest you 
 sink it. 
 
 I would advise those who have the world before 
 them to be careful betimes ; for it is too late to spare 
 wine when the bottom of the cask is reached and all 
 is drawn out to the very lees. I have known some 
 persons, who have had great estates left to them, to 
 break their fast in plenty, dine in poverty, and sup 
 in beggary. 
 
 That which by sparing is saved, may with industry 
 be added to ; and out of the gains from what is 
 added, some part may also be saved ; frugality alone 
 is but simple getting, but joined with industry it is 
 compound getting. The way to much is by a little : 
 for the greatest sum which can be imagined, has the 
 unit of a penny : it is worth your while to reckon 
 how much the man got for his horse who sold it for 
 a sum of double the price of each nail in the beast's 
 shoes reckoned from the first nail at a half-penny. 
 
 Add many lesser numbers in account. 
 Your total will to a great sum amount. 
 
 A small fortune takes a great while to acquire, but 
 from it a large one is soon gotten ; for when a man 
 hath raised his position to a considerable pitch, he 
 may grow rich apace by prudent action. 
 
 r
 
 OF RICHES 93 
 
 SECTION XV. 
 Of Riches. 
 
 WAS never born to be rich ; and that 
 mattereth but little, for the more a man 
 hath, the more he desireth. 
 
 Riches would be desirable above all 
 things, if they brought the advantage of content- 
 ment as surely as contentment gives us all the 
 advantage of riches. Even if you apply wealth to 
 uses which you believe to be necessary, yet he that 
 needs fewer things than you do is a richer man than 
 you are, and comes nearest to the fulness of God 
 Himself, who lacks nothing. 
 
 The gift of fortune is far from uncommon and is 
 sometimes held by the unworthiest of men ; but a 
 man's own solid worth is that which begets for him 
 true renown. Nobility and riches are reputed to 
 make men happy ; yet these attributes deserve not 
 to be too highly commended, being derived from 
 outside the man who has them. Virtue and in- 
 tegrity, being lovely in themselves, do give a singular 
 lustre to any man, however high his station may be. 
 
 Crassus accounted him a rich man, who had an 
 estate sufficient to maintain an army ; but he that 
 hath an estate large enough to keep up an army 
 with, had need have an army if he hope to keep 
 together so great an estate. Get possession of the 
 whole earth, and yet (as Archedemus told Philip of 
 Macedon) if you measure your own shadow, you will 
 not find it one jot longer than it was before. When 
 the prophet Zachary, chap. 6, saw the vision of the 
 four empires, he asked of the angel, ' qui sunt isti ? 
 What are these ?' The angel told him, * isti sunt 
 quatuor venti ; These are the four winds ' : to shew,
 
 94 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 that all the riches and glory of the world are but a 
 blast. 1 
 
 Christ himself gave us to understand what esteem 
 we ought to hold riches in, when He gave Judas the 
 bag. 
 
 Providence hath placed all things that are for our 
 necessities near at hand, but nature hath hidden 
 gold and silver in the bowels of the earth, and they 
 are mingled with dirt till avarice and ambition part 
 them. 
 
 To be contented is to be rich ; and contentment 
 is an estate that any man that wishes may make 
 himself master of. To have become rich is not so 
 much to have increased your estate, as to have 
 retrenched your desires. You are not rich or poor 
 so much according to what you possess, as accord- 
 ing to what you desire ; for he is not rich that hath 
 much, but he that hath enough ; nor is he poor that 
 hath little, but he that craveth for more. He to 
 whom a little seemeth not enough, will think a great 
 deal but little. The bravest minds might be content 
 with very little ; but they are apt to think that a 
 great deal is due to their quality, and so they make 
 others bestow a good estate upon them. 
 
 If you have more than you use, you have more 
 than you need, and your wealth is only a burden to 
 you ; if, then, you are solicitous to increase your 
 possessions, you shew that you have mistaken where 
 your profit lies. Nothing is really your own, but 
 what you yourself make some use of ; indeed all that 
 a fool does with the greater part of his riches is to 
 hold them as a kind of treasurer for their next owner. 
 
 Consider the life of man, how full of anxious 
 thought it is ; first he thinks of how to get a liveli- 
 hood, and then of how to keep it ; next comes the 
 
 1 Of wind. I have inserted this sentence almost unrevised 
 as it is worth comparing with Zechariah vi. 4, 5. H. S
 
 OF RICHES 95 
 
 adding to possessions, and after that the devising 
 how to preserve and defend them ; and yet in the 
 end, the man and his money alike are dispersed. 
 
 The man of property, what with his desire to 
 add to it, and his fear of losing any portion of 
 it, lies exposed to all the assaults of chance. 
 Whereas the poor man may feel rich even in his 
 poverty, if his desires are squared to his necessities ; 
 for in that case he fears nothing ardently, having so 
 little to lose. The fear of losing our riches is a 
 great vexation, but the loss of them is a greater; yet 
 even this loss we consider more troublesome than in 
 reality it is. And a covetous man will lament bitterly 
 for the loss of what he never had save in imagination. 
 
 It was avarice that made theft so capital a crime ; 
 it having with us a greater punishment allotted to it 
 than adultery; I know of no reason why adultery 
 should not be punished with death as well as theft, 1 
 except this, that whereas man considers his wife to 
 be only flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone, he 
 values his coin as the soul of his soul. 
 
 Moral courage, which is an almost universal 
 medicine for the distempers of the mind, contri- 
 butes no more to the cure of this frenzy of covetous- 
 ness (for a frenzy it becomes if once indulged) than 
 St. Bellen's key did to the cure of mad dogs, when 
 the priests burnt them on the forehead with it. In 
 the whole pharmacopoeia there is no formula where- 
 with to cure this disease. 
 
 The New World hath in a manner outdone the 
 old ; for it hath sown covetousness in our minds, 
 and hath quite extinguished love and kindness 
 amongst men; for all are wretchedly in love with 
 
 1 As Blackstone mentions, in 1764 there were 160 capital 
 offences in the statute book. At the beginning of this nine- 
 teenth century the legal penalty for purloining five-shillings- 
 worth of goods in a shop was death. H. S.
 
 96 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 gold. A covetous man seems to live on a liberal 
 scale when you look at his large possessions, but he 
 is in reality a niggardly wretch, as you will see when 
 you consider how small a portion of his resources he 
 uses or enjoys. 
 
 Riches well-gotten are neither to be despised nor 
 over- valued ; but he that grows rich at the cost of 
 his integrity is a heavy loser by his bargain. Nature 
 hath not confined happiness to positions of high 
 fortune ; I can laugh and spend my time merrily, 
 although I am neither Duke nor Baron. 
 
 To desire little makes poverty a kind of riches ; 
 he who has unsatisfied needs is not rich ; nor is he 
 who is contented with a little, poor. Riches are 
 best measured by their usefulness to their possessor ; 
 what is necessary to a man is really riches to him, 
 more truly than large possessions would be, which 
 bring cares and dangers. Prudence will gain any 
 man the things which are necessary, and then he is 
 endowed with all the riches he ought to desire. A 
 little money will suffice us to live comfortably upon, 
 and we can die happily without even a little. 
 
 It is usually better for a man to have enough 
 worldly goods, than to have large possessions. For 
 if he has much, he desires more, that is, he has not 
 enough to please him ; whereas he that hath all he 
 wants, is contented, and therefore hath advanced 
 himself further along the road of happiness than the 
 rich man hath. 
 
 Alexander, after all his conquests, complained that 
 he wanted more worlds to conquer; he desired 
 something more, even when he had obtained all ; 
 and that which was sufficient for humanity was not 
 sufficient for one ambitious man. It is better to 
 have learned the truth of the saying of Cleobulos, 1 
 that ' a middle state of things is the best,' than to 
 1 One of the seven sages of Greece. H. S,
 
 OF RICHES 97 
 
 wear an imperial crown, or to gain the rich mines of 
 the Indies. For so you may come to be rich 
 through poverty of desires. 
 
 I consider no man to be richer or greater than 
 myself, unless he is more virtuous and contented 
 than I am. I value the ass of Apuleius no more for 
 his gold, than I do the great horse of Alexander for 
 his trappings. What are riches and honours, but a 
 land of superficial gilding or varnish, meant to dazzle 
 the eyes of children and fools ? I desire to live in 
 this world, so that it hangs about me like a light 
 garment, and does not clip me like chain armour. 
 
 The point in which a rich man should think him- 
 self more fortunate than a poor man, is the largeness 
 of his opportunity of doing good to his neighbours. 
 Riches and greatness add nothing to a good man's 
 value, but they serve to illustrate his virtues. 
 
 Would a courser that is adorned with trappings 
 of gold and purple, and carries a victorious general 
 in triumph to the Capitol, take pride in the arches, 
 the shouts and acclamations of the people ? Would 
 it not rather complain of its accoutrements, which 
 are more burden than ornament ? For gold may be 
 glorious, but is certainly heavy. Alas, my rich 
 friend, there are few that run after you, but many 
 that run after your fortune ; few make obeisance to 
 you, the bows of the many are meant for your rank ; 
 the share allotted to you, as to the steed in the 
 triumph, is the toil and the burden. 
 
 Riches were invented for the easing and con- 
 veniencing of life, but man has perverted them into 
 a cause of the greatest troubles and vexations. The 
 greater the riches, the greater the cares ; and often- 
 times, the greater the losses. No man is richer 
 than a poor man who is content ; this I myself, who 
 have not much of the world's goods, do find to 
 be true. For while I preserve a quiet and serene 
 
 7
 
 98 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 mind, I possess the choice treasures of the uni- 
 verse. 
 
 All men are idolaters, some of fame, others of 
 riches ; I bless my stars that I never bowed the 
 knee in the temple of either. Money is useless to 
 me, except so far as it supplies my wants ; it was 
 made to serve me, therefore I never condescend so 
 far as to be subject to my servant. My soul is too 
 noble an apartment to be filled with trash ; it is a 
 monstrous folly to be in love with dross. 
 
 Themistocles, finding himself tempted to gloat 
 over some money, blushed at his error, and said, 
 turning to his servant, ' take thou that money, for 
 thou art not Themistocles.' Bias 1 made himself 
 rich, by abandoning his goods ; and his * omnia mea 
 mecum porto' hath raised for him a glorious pyramid 
 of honour to all posterity, and hath set him under a 
 canopy of immortality. Tacitus observes that Ves- 
 pasian would have equalled the greatest of the 
 Roman heroes, if his avarice had not lessened his 
 other virtues. Perseus, 2 out of love to his treasures, 
 lost them and his kingdom also ; he came to be led 
 in triumph, in company with his coffers, by a Roman 
 general, 3 who, in spite of his glorious achievements, 
 is remembered as having died almost a beggar. 
 
 That was a fine speech which Evander made to 
 ./Eneas : 
 
 ' Aude, hospes, contemnere opes, et te quoque dignum 
 Finge dec.' 
 
 The rich man lives happily, so long as he uses his 
 riches worthily and in moderation ; and the poor 
 man, who patiently endures his wants, is rich 
 
 I 1 One of the seven sages of Greece. H. S. 
 
 2 Last King of Macedon, an avaricious and treacherous, 
 character. H. S. 
 
 3 L. ^milius Paulus Macedonicus. H. S.
 
 OF RICHES 99 
 
 enough. When I see a poor man drink out of his 
 hollowed hand, I feel inclined, like Diogenes, to 
 throw away my cup ; and I often wish as Crates 
 did ' that the stones were bread, as the water is 
 drink,' so that we might have a certain provision 
 by nature. 
 
 What is beyond that which is purely necessary to 
 me is useless for my purposes ; if I have a groat in 
 my purse, I am a debtor to providence for its kind- 
 ness ; if my clothes are sufficient to defend me from 
 heat and cold, and my house weather-tight enough to 
 protect me from wind and rain, I have no right to 
 ask for more ; if I have other advantages, it is my 
 part to receive them thankfully, without esteeming 
 them essential. I covet neither the treasure of the 
 Samnites, nor the delicacies of Apicius ; neither 
 would I, if I could, like Dionysius the Sicilian, 
 reward those who could invent any new pleasure. 
 
 I am not ambitious, like Scipio, to be ' Magnus,' 
 nor, like Fabius, to be ' Maximus ' ; nor do I hanker 
 after great honours or possessions, but look upon 
 them as pretty things which Fortune throws to men, 
 just as we do toys and sweetmeats to little children. 
 Now and then I please myself by handling one 
 which some accident has flung even within my 
 reach, while others are struggling and contending 
 who shall get the most. 
 
 Abundance is a trouble, want is a misery, rank is 
 a burden, preferment is a danger, but a competency 
 is a cause of happiness. I have as much as I desire, 
 if I have as much as I need ; and I have in reality 
 as much as the most, if I have as much as I desire. 
 I sometimes pride myself on this contentment, not 
 by way of belittling my neighbour, but in order to 
 shew gratitude to my Maker. 
 
 He lives well that lives in peace ; and he is safely 
 great that is great in virtue. A wise man does not 
 
 72
 
 ioo THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 pride himself upon land or possessions, since man 
 is born lord of all the world ; he will not appear to 
 lessen his right to this sovereignty by glorying in 
 such a small part of the earth as falls to his share. 
 
 I am not much delighted with the festivities and 
 entertainments of the world ; I can treat them as 
 kings do great banquets, that is, I can look upon 
 them, taste them, and then go away. There was 
 no magic in that beautiful face of Dareius's lady, 
 which could have enchanted me ; neither could the 
 eyes of Cleopatra have triumphed over the powers 
 of my soul, as they did over Caesar and Antony. 
 For this I am beholden to my Stars ; Saturn was 
 ascendant at my nativity ; I am but slow and dull, 
 yet I can say at any time with a good heart that 
 verse which Cleanthes hath made famous, which 
 hath been rendered 
 
 ' Quocunque voles, Jupiter, me ducito, 
 Tuque necessitas.' 
 
 For a wilderness to me is as pleasant as the Land 
 of Promise ; my mind can find a hermitage every- 
 where ; and in the most numerous assemblies of 
 men, yea, in the greatest cities, I frequently find 
 myself in a desert. 
 
 When I hear the nightingale sing in a wood 
 (whither I often retire) I do envy her happiness, 
 because she is perched upon the pinnacle of her 
 highest felicity. Free from care and toil, she is 
 entertaining herself in her solitude with her own 
 music and warbling notes. Contentment is the 
 elixir 1 of my life, the true Philosopher's Stone which 
 infuses a golden tincture into all inferior metals, and 
 it cures all the diseases of my soul by reducing it to 
 a right temper. 
 
 Of all persons I esteem those to be most happy 
 
 1 Compare a similar use of this word on page 87.
 
 OF RICHES 101 
 
 who have their property in the shape of their own 
 hands, I mean labourers ; for though they never 
 gain much, they are sure never to need more than 
 a little. However, let me advise you to make use of 
 your property while you live, for when you die you 
 may have to leave it to your greatest enemies, 
 persons who wished for your death before it came. 
 And when you are dead, you are no more concerned 
 as to what you have left behind you, than you were 
 when you were alive as to the number of the sheep 
 in Tartary ; therefore bend your mind to getting a 
 sufficient revenue, and when you have got it, use it 
 liberally. 
 
 What folly it is for a man to feed his heir and 
 starve himself, leaving behind him a taint of avarice 
 on all his money. And perhaps the heir has been 
 the first to mock at the old fellow behind his back 
 for not getting any fruit of enjoyment or gratitude 
 from his money. 
 
 Many times, with Chaucer, 
 
 ' I scratch my head where it doth not itch, 
 To see men live poor to die rich.' 
 
 I have often observed some men to enjoy less 
 happiness in their riches, than others do in their 
 poverty. 
 
 ' Ambitiosus honos, et opes, et fceda voluptas, 
 Hjec tria, pro trino numine, mundus habet.' 
 
 I am of the opinion of Thales, that it is not 
 improper for a philosopher to be rich if he wishes ; 
 but a man must not learn philosophy in order to be 
 rich, but must get riches in order to have time to 
 learn philosophy ; for to the poor the wonderworld 
 of the universe is never opened, though he who hath 
 seen into it can afterwards afford to be poor, being 
 a favourite of nature. 
 
 Honours and Wealth are the two wheels upon
 
 102 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 which the whole world moves ; and so these are the 
 two sources of the discontent of most of us. 
 
 I desire not great wealth, but such an amount of 
 money as I can obtain justly, use soberly, distribute 
 cheerfully, and part with calmly. 
 
 SECTION XVI. 
 
 Of A mbition and High Position. 
 
 MBITION is never so high but that she 
 still hopes to mount ; and that station 
 which once seemed to be the top of the 
 hill of life, is now to her but a step above 
 which she has ascended; and what seemed so grand 
 to her when she did but aim at it, seems little to 
 her now that she has reached it. 
 
 He that is a tribune wishes to be a praetor, the 
 praetor wishes to become a consul ; neither reflects 
 upon what he was, but only looks forward eagerly 
 to what he hopes to be. Ambition explains Ixion's 
 wheel, Phaethon's chariot, and the wings of Icarus, 
 three things imagined by the poets ; owing to ambi- 
 tion, three parts of the world could not fill the three 
 corners of Caesar's and Pompey's hearts. 
 
 ' Haec Grasses, haec Pompeios evertit, et ilium, 
 Ad sua qui domitos deduxit flagra Quirites.' 
 
 The whole world had not elbow-room enough for 
 the ambition of Alexander. Ambition puffs a man 
 up with vanity and folly : he that is ambitious will 
 be tormented with envy to see any man get in front 
 of him ; for to the eyes of ambition he that is not 
 first seems to be last. Some men are so ambitious 
 that they had rather become base than fail to 
 become great.
 
 OF AMBITION AND HIGH POSITION 103 
 
 When Julius Caesar competed with Q. Catulus for 
 the pontificate, his mother dissuaded him from the 
 contest ; he told her : ' that ere night he would be 
 either the greatest man in Rome or be banished out 
 of it.' I do not desire to rise to the pinnacle of 
 glory, for that is but to undertake a voyage to the 
 moon, from which planet I can hope to gain nothing 
 better than the danger of its influences. He who 
 flies too near the sun of glory, will find that ambi- 
 tion will melt his wings. 
 
 An ambitious man will do anything to rise ; and 
 when he is up, he must do some pretty bad things 
 to enable him to keep his place. And since ambi- 
 tion rides without reins it often ends with a bad fall. 
 God gives wings to the ant, that she may destroy 
 herself the sooner. 1 And many men, like seeled 
 doves, 2 strive to rise higher and higher, they hardly 
 know whither; little considering, that while they 
 mount to the apex of greatness, every step they take 
 is on the pavement of risk, and that their fall, how 
 gentle soever it be, will be one from which they will 
 never rise again. Let it be your ambition to be 
 wise, and your wisdom to be good : reject the 
 allurements of faction and sedition, and you will be 
 safe like a ship in harbour. A wise man, like the 
 sphere of Empedocles, is ' teres atque rotundus.' 
 
 What is glory, which the ambitious man seeks 
 after ? It is but a short-lived ephemera ; it is like 
 a rose which in the evening makes its tomb of the 
 crimson beauty which in the morning was its cradle; 
 and where is that earthly dignity which the next 
 
 1 I leave this information unrevised. H. S. 
 
 2 To ' seel,' in falconry, was to close the eyelids partially or 
 entirely by passing a fine thread (or small feather) through 
 the lids. Nares quotes the use of the verb by Shakspere (in 
 ' Macbeth' and 'Othello') and mentions that the 'Arcadia' of 
 Sidney and other books refer to doves mounting higher and 
 higher until they fall from mere exhaustion. H. S.
 
 104 E COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 moment may not find laid in the dust ? The 
 fortunes of the greatest men run not up the helix 1 
 that still enlargeth, but on a circle ; when arriving 
 at their meridian, they decline into obscurity, and fall 
 under the horizon again. 
 
 The world is a comedy, the best actors are those 
 that play their parts most naturally ; but the wisest 
 do not always appear as kings or great lords, and 
 they are seldom the heroes in the play. Preferments 
 and honours are not given by merit, but by favour, 
 and fortuitously: Philippe de Comines tells us, that at 
 the battle of Montlhery which was fought between 
 Lewis the XL of France, and Charles Duke of 
 Burgundy, some officers lost commands, because 
 they fled, which were bestowed upon others that 
 fled ten leagues beyond them. As a proof of how 
 men rise by favour, take this instance : Luynes, 2 
 from being only a gentleman about 1600 A.D., was 
 made a duke, a peer, and Constable of France within 
 a few years of that date. 
 
 Euripides, when his father told him that he had 
 become a knight, replied, ' Good father, you have 
 that which every man may have for his money.' 
 
 How many players have I seen upon a stage who 
 seemed fit to be noblemen, and how many noblemen 
 have I met with who seemed fit only to be poor men 
 such as those players were. Yes, Fortune does such 
 things ; she makes some men guests of her chariot, 
 who if they had their deserts would be but lackeys 
 to her ladyship. The wisest heads are not always 
 the greatest favourites of fortune ; it is satisfaction 
 enough for them to deserve, as they may not enjoy, 
 the favours of fortune ; being enriched with higher 
 donatives than those of chance, they can view with 
 
 1 Spiral line. H. S. 
 
 2 Charles, marquis d'Albeit, premier due de Luynes, favourite 
 of Louis XIII. H. S.
 
 OF AMBITION AND HIGH POSITION 105 
 
 a careless eye the cockades and toys which please 
 lesser minds. 
 
 Many times it is with statesmen as with scales, 
 ' gravia descendunt, levia ascendunt'; but the latter 
 kind are like apes, in that the higher they mount, 
 the more they reveal their nakedness ; and at the 
 best they have but the royal stamp impressed upon 
 base metal ; for the king may grant them honours, 
 but cannot make them honourable. He who groweth 
 great suddenly doth often lose in virtue by the 
 change : and extraordinary favour shewn to men 
 of weak or bad character doth breed insolence in 
 them, and discontent in others, two dangerous 
 humours in a state. 
 
 When you are mounted to the zenith of glory, the 
 least wrong step may cast you down to the nadir of 
 misery and infelicity. Consider in what great honour 
 and reputation Parmenion lived with Alexander, 
 Aristomenes with King Ptolemy, Aratus of Sicyon 
 with Philip of Macedon. What an illustrious and 
 renowned official was Aetius, and in what favour, 
 and enjoyment of authority, he lived in the days of 
 the Emperor Valentinian ! Consider, I say, the 
 sorrows and infelicities which these gallant persons 
 gained by their noble actions and services ; they 
 were men that had seen the scenes of some of the 
 greatest actions in the world, yet every one of them 
 might have said, 
 
 ' Tantorum mihi praemium laborum 
 Est sapere et paenitere.' 
 
 ' And now for all my labour what's the prize, 
 But late repentance and to grow wise ?' 
 
 Men in great places must meet with some strokes 
 of misfortune, owing to the turbulence of the times 
 in which they live. As the highest mountains are
 
 io6 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 most subject to the storms of thunder and the 
 battery of hail ; so persons who occupy high stations 
 seem to be set up as butts for envy and malice to 
 shoot arrows at. Those who are culminant and in 
 the orb of glory must consider that the favour of 
 kings is perilous ; it is a difficult thing for a man to 
 walk steadily upon smooth ice, and if his feet begin 
 to slip, his own weight will bring him down. When 
 he is fallen, a whole volley of accusations is dis- 
 charged at him ; every action of his is examined and 
 dwelt upon according to the temper of his critics ; 
 and he will be fortunate if he does not hear of more 
 faults than he actually has. 
 
 Demosthenes, after having long held office in the 
 commonwealth, is reported to have confessed to 
 some friends who came to visit him, that if, at the 
 beginning of his career, two paths had been set 
 before him, the one leading to the tribunal of 
 authority, the other to his grave if he could have 
 foreknown the evils, the terrors, the calumnies, the 
 envies, the contentions, the dangers that men in 
 high place must as a rule meet with he would 
 rather have shewn alacrity in posting on to his 
 sepulchre than to his greatness. 
 
 ' Plenitude potestatis est plentitudo tempestatis.' 
 
 A man of high position has need of a generous 
 measure of patience wherewith to steel himself 
 against the calumnies and malice of others ; and it 
 will be prudent of him to have some ambitious 
 person about him who may serve as a screen to 
 keep off the indignities and affronts which may be 
 offered. He that has advanced himself to grandeur, 
 must necessarily suffer from envy (which is the 
 canker of a great success) ; for a person of rank 
 often appears to men to be like some giant tree in 
 a wood, which by casting a great shadow, hinders
 
 OF AMBITION AND HIGH POSITION 107 
 
 the young saplings from increasing. Great rank 
 sows envy among the grandees, and despair among 
 inferiors. High place being desired by many, it is 
 unavoidable that he who has attained to it, should 
 for his advancement be envied by many, and for his 
 authority be hated ; though he manage affairs well, 
 yet other men persuade themselves that they might 
 be better handled, and fearing that public affairs 
 may in time be manipulated to suit them even less 
 than they now do, they plot the ruin of the man 
 whom they censure. Those who hold a high position 
 in public affairs, are ever a mark for the arrows of 
 those aspiring persons who deem themselves lower 
 in employment than they are in merit. In fact, 
 great personages may succeed in keeping themselves 
 from faults, but not from envy and slander. 
 
 The malicious are never without some secret 
 trains and mines wherewith to rain envy and hatred 
 upon the favourites of fortune and upon the great. 
 He that occupies a great post, had need have as 
 many eyes as Argus wherewith to watch events, as 
 many hands as Typhoeus wherewith to manipulate 
 and arrange things, and as many arms as Briareus 
 wherewith to defend himself against calumny and 
 malice. Greatness stands upon a precipice, and if 
 prosperity pushes a man ever so little off his balance, 
 misfortune usually sends him down headlong, and 
 dashes him to pieces. It is much safer and quieter 
 to live upon level ground, and not to aspire to 
 sovereignty by laborious climbing up the craggy 
 rocks of ambition. 
 
 The ascents to honours and great places are often 
 by winding stairs, and it is rarely that there is not 
 some mixture of good and evil methods used by the 
 climber : if you act impartially in your position, 
 you displease the crowd ; if unjustly, you sin against 
 God ; and it is sad to see that more men of high
 
 io8 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 position are punished by their virtues, than for their 
 vices. 
 
 ' How desperate is our fate, 
 
 What hazard do we run ! 
 
 We must be wicked to be great, 
 
 And to be just, undone.' 
 
 Those that are carried away by the whirlwind of 
 ambition, when they are raised to great place, adopt 
 as their motto 'sursum corda,' and the first thing 
 they remember, next to their pride, is to forget all 
 their friends ; this made an Italian gentleman write 
 to a great friend of his upon his advancement to be 
 cardinal, ' that he was very glad of the preferment 
 for the cardinal's own sake, but was sorry that he 
 himself had lost so good a friend.' The ambitious 
 man, in order to mount to the place of honour, 
 cringes to all people; but usually, as soon as he has 
 mounted to it, he takes his revenge by huffing every- 
 body ; his position requires that he should be 
 accessible to all men, but his pride and ill-humour 
 make him acceptable to no man. 
 
 Ambitious men are of all men most miserable, for 
 they are wholly taken up with expectation of future 
 things ; and being uncertain of everything, are per- 
 petually afflicted with mental anxiety and alarms ; 
 and at last perceiving that they are denied most of 
 the gratifications, which their hopes held out to 
 them, they become grievously dejected. Cares and 
 infelicities are attendants-in-ordinary to greatness ; 
 high regions are never without storms, and high 
 rank is ever laden with troubles and cares as a 
 great ship is with bales and casks. If those that 
 are nearly mad with the desire of honours and great 
 offices, could but look into the hearts of those that 
 now enjoy them, how would it startle them to see 
 the hideous anxieties and responsibilities which wait 
 upon ambitious greatness.
 
 OF AMBITION AND HIGH POSITION 109 
 
 It is true, that great men have now and then 
 great pleasures, but they cannot escape heavy and 
 anxious thoughts, even in their enjoyments ; their 
 felicities are full of disquiet, and rarely what they 
 seem ; and they have need of one festivity where- 
 with to mitigate the burden of another. Each mis- 
 fortune of men of high rank, usually procures them 
 as much discredit as if they had been perfidious in 
 their practice, and their unhappiness at it is attri- 
 buted to guilt. The most illustrious position, how 
 glorious soever it is in show, hath at the bottom 
 of it only anxiety and care : princes, palaces, and 
 temples of honour, are but empty names. 
 
 He that is in a public position is bound to be a 
 good servant to the public interest ; otherwise there 
 may be said to him what the old woman said to 
 Hadrian the Emperor, ' renounce then thy place, as 
 thou dost thy duty.' Men in high office are strangers 
 to themselves, and while they are in the entangle- 
 ments of public business, have no time to attend to 
 matters concerning their own private welfare : for 
 ' in magna fortuna est minima libertas.' A life 
 without rest is wearisome, like a long road whereon 
 there is no inn. 
 
 The front of the Palace of Honour is splendid and 
 magnificent, but the back parts are not so. The 
 entrance into dignities is garlanded like a victory, 
 but the exit is often tragical, and he who goes in 
 by the gate of favour, not seldom comes out by the 
 door of disgrace. 
 
 It is strange to see men seek authority and lose 
 liberty, to see them seek power to control the actions 
 of others, and lose the time and the power to control 
 their own. The rising into a high place is laborious, 
 and by their toils they come only to greater toil, and 
 by gaining dignities often come to endure indignities. 
 What is grandeur but ' speciosa molestia ' ? They
 
 no THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 who look upon a diadem, and admire the lustre of 
 the jewels set in it, may see something that delights 
 their eyes ; but could they understand how many 
 cares are lodged and concentred within the pale 
 and circle of that crown, I may say, in the words 
 of a great king, that ' they would scarce take it up 
 for the wearing, though it lay in their way.' It was 
 no doubt a sad experience which wrung those words 
 from Caesar's mouth, 'when you would express a 
 mass of cares and crosses, cogita Caesarem, think 
 upon Caesar.' And though you see kings sending 
 out great navies, commanding legions, and com- 
 passed about with faithful guards, yet you must not 
 think that they all live peacefully, and partake of 
 real pleasures, for all those glories which you see are 
 but ridiculous pageantries and unreal dreams : fears 
 and cares are not things that are afraid of the noise 
 of arms, nor stand in awe of the brightness of gold, 
 or the splendour of purple, but things that boldly 
 intrude themselves into the hearts of princes and 
 potentates, and (like the vultures which the poets 
 talk of) gnaw and prey upon their hearts. 
 
 What are all titles of honour ? They are nothing 
 but a mere glorious sound : though equipages of 
 honour may seem splendid and illustrious, yet our 
 understanding tells us that they are only externals. 
 When we put off this robe of mortality, walk among 
 the stars, and from the theatre of Heaven look down 
 upon earth, how surprised shall we be to behold the 
 palaces of princes, the pageantry of the court, the 
 ants of ambition, and the butterflies of rank ! 
 
 I am a man of no title, yet I appear great, and 
 cut a good figure in my own microcosm, because I 
 am master of myself. 
 
 It is wisdom in him that hath been exalted in the 
 sphere of honour, and hath done things of some 
 grandeur, to secure the credit of them by with-
 
 OF AMBITION AND HIGH POSITION in 
 
 drawing from public life in time ; a continuous 
 prosperity always suggests some sudden downfall 
 to come. It is the policy of a cunning gamester to 
 leave off playing while he is a winner; since the 
 progress of prosperity is but a game, and nothing is 
 so certain in it as ill-luck sooner or later. It is 
 better to sit down with honour, than to stand at the 
 mercy of the changes of inconstant fortune. Charles 
 the fifth, that eldest son of glory, triumphed over 
 the world by his good luck, and at last by a glorious 
 retreat, triumphed over fortune, by moderating his 
 ambition. Fortune is like pirates that wait for 
 vessels till they are full- freighted, the counter-plot 
 must be to take refuge in some port betimes. 
 
 I much honour the fine sentiment of that Roman, 
 who said that he had obtained all dignities before 
 he coveted them, and had left them all before they 
 were coveted by others. I desire no honour nor 
 preferment, for that would declare that I prefer 
 more what others can bestow than what I possess 
 myself ; nothing can make me greater than the 
 being virtuous; I am high enough, if I stand up- 
 right ; I was not born under Sol that I should love 
 honours, but under Jupiter that I should love busi- 
 ness ; humility shuns honours, and is the way to 
 honour. 
 
 I am not ambitious to have a rich mausoleum 
 when I am dead, a stately sepulchre for my body, 
 or a beautiful urn for the repose of my ashes, or 
 that my name should be engraven in brass or 
 marble ; if providence shall bless me with a little 
 stone to cover my remains, I desire that this word 
 may be engraven upon it as my epitaph 
 
 ' Evasi ' 
 
 since I have escaped all honours. 
 There was a dainty smooth brook betwixt a wood
 
 ii2 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 and a meadow, that served both birds and beasts 
 for a common rendezvous, as well for convenience 
 of drinking as for pleasure. Among other acquaint- 
 anceships there was a mighty kindness struck up 
 betwixt an ermine and a heron, and much did they 
 pride themselves upon the plumes of the one and 
 the fur of the other. As they were one day dis- 
 coursing upon this subject, there happened to pass 
 by them a cavalier, bravely mounted, and accoutred 
 in a coat of velvet lined with ermine, and a velvet 
 cap turned up with a tuft of heron's feathers. 
 ' Pray notice that blade,' says the heron, ' how he 
 vapours in our livery.' ' Aye, aye,' says the ermine, 
 ' that coat of his has cost my family dear ;' ' so it 
 has,' says the other, ' and it makes my very heart 
 ache to think how many of our people's lives have 
 been sacrificed to that wretch's vanity and pride ; 
 but they that have no friends at court, no influence 
 with the eagle or the lion, must sit down with their 
 loss, and hope to find no remedy except patience.' 
 * But yet keep up a good heart for all that,' says the 
 other ; ' for there is One who is higher above them 
 than they are above us, One who will avenge our 
 cause when we least expect it.' 
 
 r 
 
 SECTION XVII. 
 
 Of the Art of being Happy. 
 
 O be happy is to be in a blessed condition, 
 and to be in one that every man may 
 come to if he pleases. If you wish to 
 be happy, correct your imagination by 
 
 reason, avoid theorizing, and live according to 
 
 nature.
 
 OF THE ART OF BEING HAPPY 113 
 
 Tranquillity of mind and repose of body are the 
 complete felicities of life. 
 
 Happiness consists, not in sovereignty or power 
 or great riches, but in a wise regulation of your 
 affections, and in the direction of all your actions 
 according to right reason. There are two principal 
 diseases of the mind, desire and fear ; self-restraint 
 is my buckler against desire, fortitude my cordial 
 against fear : the one guards the mind, when it is 
 attacked by vicious desires ; the other heightens its 
 puissance when it has been depressed by fear. It 
 is reason which rescues us from the hurly-burly of 
 desires and fears, which teaches us temperately to 
 sustain the blows of fortune, and shews us all the 
 paths which lead to tranquillity and happiness. 
 
 So marshal your habits, that you cut off all vain 
 desires, and contract yourself within the boundaries 
 of nature, which are the limits of your necessities ; 
 these are so few and small that hardly any unkind- 
 ness of fortune can rob you of them. Those who 
 covet things useless and superfluous, enjoy not even 
 tjiose that are necessary ; every place yields enough 
 for necessaries, and no kingdom is sufficient for 
 superfluities ; it is the mind that makes us happy in 
 a desert or unhappy in a palace. It is the infelicity 
 of many men to covet the greatest things, but not to 
 enjoy even the least ; desire of that which we neither 
 have nor need, takes from us the true use and fruition 
 of that which we have already. 
 
 I always set before me that Delphic oracle ' nil 
 nimium cupito.' Whatsoever I desire, I always 
 obtain ; because I desire nothing but what I can 
 acquire. Where our desires are unreasonable, we 
 must expect disappointments. To be moderate in 
 your desires is a mark of prudence ; but be not like 
 Sannio in the comedy, * spem pretio emere.' I am 
 never anxious for what I have not got, but rather 
 
 8
 
 ii4 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BR1T4INE 
 
 rejoice over what I have. He is richest who is con- 
 tented, for content is the wealth of nature. 
 
 I can be as content, and think myself as happy in 
 a galley as in a palace ; nothing is so pleasant to me 
 as a serene and secure state of mind, one not dis- 
 tracted by any alarums of passion. A contented mind 
 is worth more than all the spice and treasure of both 
 the Indies : and he that is master of himself in an 
 innocent and comfortable retreat, enjoys all the 
 wealth and curiosities of the universe. 
 
 An inward peace of mind does more than atone 
 for the want of outward felicity. I do not envy the 
 happiness of others, because I am contented with 
 my own lot. I covet nothing ; I had rather beg of 
 myself not to desire anything, than of fortune to 
 bestow it : if I might have the whole world for the 
 asking, I should not long for it. 
 
 What are riches ? Riches are but ciphers, it is 
 the mind that makes the integer ; what am I the 
 better for a great estate, if I am not contented with it ? 
 The desire to increase it would quickly take away all 
 the delights and comforts derived from the posses- 
 sion of it ; Alexander upon his imperial throne, with 
 a restless and an ambitious mind, was in a worse 
 position than Diogenes in his tub. 
 
 He that does not think his own estate, however 
 little and humble it is, to be sufficiently ample, 
 though he should become Lord of the whole world 
 would always be miserable ; for misery is the com- 
 panion of want ; and the same foolish idea which 
 first persuaded him that his own estate was not 
 great enough, will end by persuading him that the 
 delights of one earth are not sufficient for him. If 
 in the lottery of the world it is my fortune to draw a 
 prize, I am not proud of my good luck ; if I draw 
 nothing but blanks, I am not troubled at my ill- 
 fortune. If all the glories and treasures of the
 
 OF THE ART OF BEING HAPPY 115 
 
 universe were contracted into one small casket it 
 would not be worth the affection of a noble heart. 
 
 Let my clothes be ever so fine and rich (which is 
 the pride of many), they add nothing to my content- 
 ment ; but much to my humility, when I consider 
 that they were first invented to cover my shame and 
 my nakedness. I can wear a threadbare cloak, with 
 as much satisfaction as if it were new, and made of 
 the finest wool ; I never heard that an imperial 
 crown cured a head-ache, or a golden slipper assuaged 
 the gout. A fever is as troublesome to bear upon a 
 silken couch of state, as upon a flock-bed. I feel 
 no need of scarlet cloth, diamonds, pearls, gold 
 ornaments, or rich embroidery, as long as I have 
 stout and easy garments with which to protect 
 myself against the cold and the rain. 
 
 He that sets due bounds to his desires is happier 
 than all the mines in Peru can make him. I can be 
 as contented in Ragusa, 1 as in the Seraglio. I value 
 not a Sicilian table to eat at, or Dionysius's chamber 
 of state to sleep in ; let me have a dish of cabbages for 
 my dinner, and a truss of straw at night to sleep 
 upon, and I shall not envy the Grand Seignior. 2 
 
 As a wise man ought not to desire anything that 
 is superfluous, but should confine himself to pro- 
 viding necessaries ; so a good man must not suffer 
 the tranquillity of his mind to be disturbed by any 
 calamity or adversity whatsoever. Occurrences may 
 make a man unfortunate, but not miserable, against 
 his will. No man can be happy that does not stand 
 firm against all contingencies, and say to himself in 
 all extremities, ' I should have been glad, if it might 
 
 1 This may refer to the life of a galley-slave, or may merely 
 mean 'in exile,' as Ragusa was 'a sort of neutral ground' 
 between Christendom and Turkey, and a kind of ' city of refuge' 
 for persons fleeing from various States. H. S. 
 
 2 ' Grand Seignior ' was an English phrase for ' Sultan of 
 Turkey ' in De Britaine's day. H. S. 
 
 82
 
 n6 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 have been thus, or thus ; but since it is otherwise 
 determined, God hath doubtless arranged what is 
 better for me.' He that wishes to live happily, must 
 neither rely upon good fortune, nor submit to bad ; 
 he must be prepared against all the assaults of fate. 
 
 A wise man is happy in any state of life ; for he 
 subjects all things to himself, because he submits 
 himself to reason, and governs himself by wisdom, 
 not passion. He that does not make the best of his 
 lot, would not be content in any condition of life ; 
 for in such a case the fault lies not in the thing, but 
 in the mind. A judicious man has fortune under 
 his feet ; to trouble yourself as little as possible is a 
 useful science, and the source of all the comfort of 
 your life on earth. 
 
 I only enjoy that which is present ; I take no 
 thought for the future, for that may not come for 
 me ; hopes and fears but little perplex me ; I rest 
 satisfied with what I have, and by that means lack 
 nothing. I never torment myself afresh with the 
 memory of what is past, nor afflict myself with the 
 apprehension of evils to come ; for the one does not 
 now concern me, nor is the other yet a reality ; and 
 I may be able to provide remedies against the 
 mischiefs likely to happen, for troubles usually give 
 us warning of their approach by signs which we can 
 discern if we keep a fair watch. It is folly to give 
 way to fear when a remedy exists ; he that perturbs 
 himself sooner than he is obliged to do, will also 
 distress himself more than is necessary, for the same 
 weakness that makes him anticipate his misery makes 
 him also exaggerate it ; the wise fortify themselves 
 by reason, and fools drag themselves down by despair. 
 It is a ridiculous thing to be miserable beforehand 
 for fear of misery to come; for a man loses the 
 present which he might enjoy, while he is thinking 
 about the future. Nay, the fear of losing anything
 
 OF THE ART OF BEING HAPPY 117 
 
 is nearly as bad as the loss itself; miseries are end- 
 less if we stand in fear of all possibilities. When I 
 am overtaken with a reasonable fear of any misfor- 
 tune, I a little qualify my fears with hopes ; this 
 serves to palliate my distress, while I consider how 
 to prevent the mishap. Never antedate your own 
 misfortunes, it is time enough to bear misfortunes 
 when they come ; the ills which you fear that you 
 may suffer, you do suffer by the fear of them ; and 
 nothing that you fear, is so certain to happen, as it 
 is certain that many things which you fear will not 
 come to pass. Why should you torment yourself at 
 present, with what may happen twenty years hence ? 
 You are the victim of a kind of voluntary disease, 
 you suffer from torments which you yourself invent, 
 if you complain of an affliction that you do not yet 
 feel. It will be time enough to lament when the 
 mischief is come, and in the interim you will do 
 better to assure yourself that it may not come at all ; 
 how do you know but that something may delay or 
 divert it ? 
 
 The Moorish prince Abul, 1 brother and heir to the 
 king of Granada, being imprisoned in the castle of 
 Salobrena, used sometimes to play at Checks 2 to 
 beguile his misery. That game is a true representa- 
 tion of the game of fortune. One day he had no 
 sooner sat down to play, than in dashes a courier to 
 tell him that he must prepare himself to die ; inexor- 
 able death always rides fast. The Moor begged him 
 for a respite of two hours in which to play out his 
 game ; the commissary thought it too long, but yet 
 
 1 Afterwards Yusef III., king of Granada. His brother 
 Mohammed VI. had usurped the throne. Mohammed died in 
 1410, Yusef in 1425. H. S. 
 
 2 Robert of Gloucester calls chess ' chekere,' Chaucer uses 
 the word for the chess-board. ' Checquers ' is or was an Isle- 
 of-Wight local name for the game of ' draughts,' which is still 
 called 'checkers' in the United States. H. S.
 
 u8 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 granted him the boon asked. Abul played out his 
 game and won both his life and a kingdom, for 
 before the game was ended, another messenger 
 arrived with news of the king's death, and brought 
 for Abul the keys of the city of Granada, which had 
 been sent to him by its magnates. 
 
 No man has reason to complain of the miseries of 
 life, since we are all in the same condition ; he that 
 escapes an evil might have had to bear it. Never 
 complain of that which might fall to the lot of any 
 man, when it happens to you. I am prepared against 
 all misfortunes and infelicities, because I expect that 
 whatsoever may be, will be. 
 
 Must I be poor? In that condition I shall have 
 company. Must I be banished ? I'll think myself 
 a native of my new country ; and the way to Heaven 
 is alike in all places. Have I had any injuries done 
 me ? They are but so many robes of honour, which 
 I can cheerfully wear ; out of the greatest infelicities 
 I can make trophies, and raise a triumphal arch ; I 
 have this comfort in my misfortunes, that whereso- 
 ever I go, I have the same identity, am in the 
 hands of the same Providence, and carry my virtues 
 along with me. 
 
 If I have lost my purse, it was an adventitious 
 possession ; and the less money the less trouble, as 
 the less favour the less envy. Is your treasure 
 stolen ? It is not lost, but restored to mankind ; he 
 is a base debtor that counts repayment loss. What 
 is it that I labour, sweat, and beg for ? It is very 
 little that I need, and it will not be for long that I 
 shall need anything. Whatsoever happens to me, I 
 am never surprised at ; for I have ever in in}' 
 thoughts, that whatsoever may be, will be ; and that 
 which may come to pass at any time, may come to 
 pass this very day. All infelicities and sufferings are 
 easy for me to bear, because I make them familiar to
 
 OF THE ART OF BEING HAPPY 119 
 
 me in my contemplations ; what wonder is it to lose 
 anything at any time, when we must one day lose 
 all ? When I see any disaster fall upon another, I 
 conclude that though the calamity fell upon another 
 it may have been levelled at me ; when there are so 
 many thousands of dangers hovering about us all, 
 what wonder is it if one happens to hit me at last ? 
 
 Calamity and affliction can never shake or disturb 
 a brave soul. I can patiently undergo the Tym- 
 panism of the Greeks or the Petalism 1 of the Syra- 
 cusans ; 2 and can triumph more in the constancy 
 with which I bear my sufferings, than be concerned 
 about the pain which I endure ; for examples in this 
 matter I am beholden to those gallant heroes, 
 Metellus 3 who betook himself into exile resolutely, 
 Rutilius who suffered banishment cheerfully, Cato 4 
 who suffered death unflinchingly. The Bull of 
 Phalaris 5 and a bed of roses are all one to me ; 
 I must confess that while I was in the bull, by 
 reason of my body, I should drop a tear, and send 
 forth a groan ; but my soul would be anchored above 
 all grief and pain. 
 
 It is the characteristic of a great mind to triumph 
 
 1 If the reader has forgotten what 'tympanism' was he will 
 perhaps be ' happier not to know.' ' Petalism ' was the voting, 
 for the banishment of a person, upon olive-leaves. ' Petalisme ' 
 as an English substantive is (? first) found in Sir Thomas 
 North's ' PlutarcKs Lives; the first edition of which appeared 
 in 1579. De Britaine probably had a copy of some edition of 
 North's translation, the edition of 1657, possibly ; he often 
 refers to Plutarch's facts. H. S. 
 
 2 'Athenians' in De Britaine's text. H. S. 
 
 3 Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus. H. S. 
 
 4 M. Porcius Cato, who committed suicide in a most deter- 
 mined manner in the year B.C. 46. H. S. 
 
 5 Probably De Britaine's ideal ' wise man ' (who is supposed 
 to be speaking to Edward Hungerford and other young men in 
 such passages as this) would hardly have thought of beds of 
 roses while being burned alive in the tyrant's brazen bull. H. S.
 
 120 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAIN E 
 
 over all misfortunes and infelicities. He that gal- 
 lantly encounters the misfortunes and infelicities of 
 life, is as valiant as Hector, and may enter into 
 competition with Caesar on the score of his virtues 
 and bravery. 
 
 All the maladies of life, even if they be of long 
 continuance, have their mutations, and give us some 
 intervals of ease ; if they are short and violent, either 
 they dispatch us, or consume themselves ; so that 
 either their departure makes them tolerable, or our 
 departure puts us where we forget them. Misfortunes 
 and troubles should not break or even disturb a 
 courageous heart, any more than those rods hurt 
 the skins of the noble Persians, which whipped their 
 cloaks instead of their bodies; a noble soul must 
 resist all attacks steadfastly, as great rocks do the 
 waves of the vast and tempestuous ocean. Mis- 
 fortunes are a kind of discipline of humanity ; there 
 are tempests and hurricanes in the life of man, and 
 it is prudent to put into a safe harbour to let them 
 blow over. 
 
 If you fall into any great misfortune, disengage 
 yourself from it as well as you can ; creep through 
 the bushes where there are the fewest briars. They 
 who least shrink from the storms of fortune usually 
 prove to be both virtuous and victorious in the end. 
 When I find that any mishap has befallen me, there 
 are two remedies wherewith I may abate my dis- 
 content (if I have any) ; diversion of my thoughts 
 from the disaster is the one, and the application of 
 my mind to those things which I know to be sensible 
 and pleasant is the other. I always raise my mind 
 above the clouds of life ; its tempests then cannot 
 actually reach me ; I am not shaken with their blasts, 
 nor deafened with their thunder. 
 
 The discontent which we draw from any mis* 
 fortune, is not so much produced by the trouble
 
 OF THE ART OF BEING HAPPY 121 
 
 itself, as by our opinion of its magnitude, and so the 
 mishap becomes great or trivial according as we 
 estimate it. They have real misfortune, who believe 
 that they have it ; if our judgment were right and 
 sound, we should never be much moved at any 
 infelicity; for almost all misfortunes come from 
 without us, and touch us chiefly because of the 
 opinion of their importance which we choose to 
 form. 
 
 I have a ship at sea, laden with a rich cargo ; and 
 this ship is wrecked in a wild storm, and I know it 
 not ; in that case I am not a whit less cheerful and 
 merry, than if the vessel were not lost. Is it not 
 therefore evident that it is we who distress ourselves, 
 and not our disasters which hurt us ? For if the 
 nature of the event hurt me, then, at the same 
 minute wherein the ship foundered, my mind would 
 be struck with the sense of the loss of my goods ; 
 and a similar experience would be gone through at 
 the loss of any other valuable possession. 
 
 It is the part of a wise man to foresee misfortune 
 and if possible to forestall it the part of a brave 
 man to vanquish it if it comes. 
 
 SECTION XVIII. 
 
 Of the Regimen of Health, and of Temperance and 
 Sobriety. 
 
 LATO, when he returned to Athens from 
 his travels, was asked by the philosophers 
 there, if he had seen any notable thing in 
 Trinacria, which is now called Sicily. He 
 answered, 'vidi monstrum in natura, hominem bis 
 saturatum in die.' This he said, because he had 
 seen Dionysius the tyrant, who first invented the
 
 122 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 custom of eating a meal at noon and then partaking 
 of another meal ere night. In ancient times men 
 used to sup and not to dine ; all nations in the world 
 did eat at night, only the Hebrews partook of a 
 meal at noon. We heap suppers upon dinners and 
 dinners upon suppers without intermission ; it costs 
 us more to injure our digestions than would keep 
 us in excellent health. ' Vita nostra est instar 
 comoediae,' our life is like a comedy; the breakfast 
 is the prologue, the dinner is the interlude, the 
 supper is the epilogue. 
 
 We do not eat to satisfy hunger, but to gratify a 
 love of display ; we are dead while we are alive, and 
 our houses are so much our tombs, that a man 
 might write our epitaph upon our very doors ; we 
 are poisoned by the very pleasures of luxury, and 
 betrayed to a thousand diseases by the indulging of 
 our palates. Every man is his own Atropos, and by 
 his intemperance holds out a hand wherewith to cut 
 the thread of his life. Excess may be good physic 
 upon occasion, but it is bad as a rule of diet ; give 
 me the man that takes his food as a sick man does 
 medicines, merely for health's sake. The aphorism 
 of Tiberius is good, ' that every man is his own best 
 physician,' and his life set a * probatum est ' to it. 
 Observe Cato's rule, ' eat to live, do not live to eat.' 
 At our tables we pass the barriers of nature, and 
 sally out in search of superfluities ; insomuch that 
 nowadays only beggars content themselves with what 
 is sufficient to satisfy hunger. 
 
 Pulse and leguminous food formed a great part of 
 the dietary of our forefathers before the flood ; and 
 the Romans who were called Pultiphagi, fed chiefly 
 on pulse for six hundred years. Many other nations, 
 as the Japanese, Chinese, the African tribes of 
 sundry regions, and the Turks, live chiefly on rice 
 and fruits, yet they live very long and healthfully.
 
 OF HEALTH AND TEMPERANCE 123 
 
 It is a pleasant hunger that eats herbs, and a dainty 
 thirst that drinks water. When Dareius had a cup 
 of cold water given to him, he received it thankfully, 
 and professed that it was the best beverage that ever 
 he drank in his life ; but peradventure Dareius was 
 never actually thirsty before. 
 
 I value not Persian luxuries, the delicacies of 
 Apicius, the Calydonian wine, nor the fish of 
 Hyrcania; the coarsest meat and drink afford me 
 no less pleasure than the greatest delicacies ; barley- 
 bread and water make up a delectable repast if they 
 are set before us when we are hungry and thirst}*. 
 Artaxerxes, the brother of Cyrus, being defeated in 
 a battle, was constrained to sit down to a meal of 
 dried figs and barley-bread. When he had tasted 
 them he found them so good, that he seriously 
 lamented his misfortune in having been so long a 
 time a stranger to that great pleasure and delight 
 which simple food yields, when true hunger meets 
 with it in the open air. 
 
 Temperance enhances our enjoyment of meals 
 that are pleasant, and increases their pleasantness ; 
 and ordinary fare is made equal in flavour with the 
 greatest dainties. For my own part, when I eat 
 coarse bread, and drink water, or sometimes even 
 (when I have a mind to add to my ordinary dietary) 
 augment my commons 1 with a little cheese, I take 
 delight in what I feed upon, and bid defiance to 
 those overrated pleasures which accompany the 
 magnificence of feasts. If I have no more than 
 maize, lentils, boiled barley, and clean water, I think 
 my table so richly furnished, that I dare compare 
 my felicity even with that of Jove himself as it is 
 depicted by the poets. 
 
 I must confess, as to my diet, I am not very 
 fastidious ; if I lived in France I could eat their 
 1 Sic De Britaine. H. S.
 
 i2 4 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITJINE 
 
 dishes of frogs, toadstools, 1 and snails : when I am 
 amongst the Jews, I can eat locusts and grasshoppers 
 and think them to be pleasant viands : and to speak 
 freely to you, if I were amongst the cannibals I could 
 without any disgust eat man's flesh, for all things 
 are in everything, there is bread in flesh, and flesh 
 in bread. 
 
 Happy is the man who eats only on account of 
 hunger and drinks only because of his thirst, who 
 lives according to nature, and by reason, not by 
 example. He provides for use and necessity, and 
 not for ostentation and superfluities. If mankind 
 would only attend to the needs of nature, without 
 gaping after superfluities, a cook would be found as 
 needless a luxury, as a soldier is in time of peace ; 
 we may have necessaries upon very easy terms, 
 whereas we put ourselves to great exertion to obtain 
 the wherewithal for excess. 
 
 When Ada Queen of Caria sent Alexander sauces 
 and sweetmeats delicately prepared by the best cooks 
 and artists, 2 he said, ' I have better confections of 
 my own, viz., my night-travelling for my dinner, and 
 my going- without-dinner for my supper.' 
 
 The Thracians, when Agesilaus marched through 
 their country, presented him with corn, geese, 
 sweetmeats, cheese-cakes, and all sorts of delicacies 
 both of meat and drink ; he accepted the corn, but 
 commanded them to carry back the rest as they 
 were useless and unprofitable to him. When they 
 importunately pressed him to take all their offerings, 
 he ordered the gifts to be passed on to the Helots 
 (the slaves) ; and when some bystanders asked him 
 the reason of his action, he replied, ' that they who 
 were of the profession of arms ought not to meddle 
 with such delicacies,' and ' that whatsoever suits the 
 taste of slaves, cannot be agreeable to free men.' 
 1 Mushrooms. H. S. * Sic De Britaine H. S.
 
 OF HEAL TH AND TEMPERANCE 125 
 
 The more simple the diet is, the better is the 
 chyle ; for rich meats and strong drinks beget 
 diverse spirits, 1 which carry on a warfare amongst 
 themselves. By an abstemious diet, the strength of 
 the body is supported, the spirits become more 
 vigorous and active, the humours of the blood are 
 attenuated, crudities and obstructions are prevented, 
 many infirmities are checked and kept under, the 
 senses are preserved in their integrity, the stomach 
 is kept clean, the appetite and digestion continue 
 good. If you have as many diseases in your body 
 as a bill of mortality contains, this one recipe of 
 temperance will cure them all. 
 
 The Caridians, 2 by reason of their singular temper- 
 ance and sobriety, are free from an infinite number 
 of indispositions whereunto other nations are 
 subject ; nay, they are so vigorous in extreme age, 
 that when a hundred years old, they commonly 
 beget children, and have no gray hairs. The 
 present population of Egypt, who are observed (by 
 Alpinus 3 ) to be very fat men, owe much, he con- 
 siders, to the medicinal virtue of the waters of the 
 river Nile, and to their diet of rice, pease, lentils and 
 white cicers 4 : and we read in the first chapter of 
 the book of Daniel, how pulse and water made the 
 Four Children fairer in countenance, and fatter in 
 flesh, than those who fared sumptuously upon the 
 king's meat. The Persians, in their time the most 
 
 1 An explanation of the use of this word by medical writers 
 of De Britaine's day would require too long a note, but the 
 reader will easily perceive the general meaning of the sentence. 
 H. S. 
 
 2 ? Carians. H. S. 
 
 3 Prosper Alpinus (Prospero Alpini) was an Italian physician 
 who wrote a great deal about Egypt. He was born in 1553 and 
 died in 1617. H. S. 
 
 4 The seeds of one species of the genus Cicer are used in 
 India as food for horses. H. S.
 
 126 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 vigorous and the best disciplined people upon earth, 
 ate a little water-cress and wild mint with their 
 bread, and that was all the victuals that this brave 
 nation used when they made conquest of the world. 
 The Thracian women, in order that they might bear 
 strong and healthy children, partook of nothing but 
 milk and nettles. The Cynic in Athenaeus 1 makes 
 meal after meal of lentils, and prefers that diet 
 before the luxury of Seleucus. 
 
 But the economy and order of living, and the 
 scenes of human life, are nowadays much changed 
 from what they once were ; if we live temperately, 
 it is for reasons of ambition and by design, not for 
 the sake of carrying out the intentions of nature. It 
 is related of Pope Sixtus, 2 that before he arrived at 
 the seat of St. Peter he ate and drank nothing but 
 bread and water, saying, 
 
 ' Panis et aqua 
 est vita beata.' 
 
 But having once enthroned himself in the chair of 
 porphyry he refused to stoop to such coarse fare 
 when it was offered to him, giving his reason in a 
 transposition of his former saying, thus, 
 
 ' Aqua et panis 
 est vita canis.' 
 
 Nowadays, instead of water (which was the chief 
 beverage in the antediluvian world and one very 
 congenial to the taste of mankind) we drink brandy, 
 usquebaugh, and aqua vitse, which are pernicious 
 drinks if much used ; for they then destroy the 
 * calidum innatum,' prey upon the roscid juice, 
 change the natural tone of the stomach, the texture 
 of the body, and the crasis of the organs. Then 
 
 1 That is, ' mentioned in the ' Deipnosophistae ' of Athenaeus.' 
 H. S. 
 
 2 Sixtus V., probably. He died in 1590. He was a favourite 
 subject of seventeenth-century anecdotes. H. S.
 
 OF HEAL TH AND TEMPERANCE 127 
 
 atrophies, imbecilities of our nerves, and trepidation 
 of our members follow, brought about by disorderly 
 motions of the animal spirits which are excited and 
 agitated preternaturally by the influence of strong 
 liquors. 
 
 Wine is an excellent drink if used in moderation ; 
 it is a great refresher of decayed nature, it fortifies 
 the stomach, increases our natural bodily heat, 
 helps digestion, conveys the benefit of the food to 
 all our organs, cheers the heart, and wonderfully 
 refreshes the spirits. The ancients called it ' Lac 
 senum,' milk for old men ; but in modern experience 
 it is found, that if old men imbibe too much of it, 
 it makes them children indeed. Nothing can have 
 worse results for any man than a habit of constant 
 and immoderate use of wine. ' Sapientia in sicco 
 residit, non in paludibus et lacunis ' ; the abode of 
 wisdom is in a dry region, not among bogs and fens. 
 
 Heraclitus left it for a maxim, ' lux sicca animae 
 sapientissima ' ; a dry light makes the wisest mind ; 
 but it becomes ' madida et macerata,' once it is 
 steeped in the spirit of wine. Strength and beauty 
 are the jewels of the body, temperance and prudence 
 weave a garland for old age. ' Wine,' to quote an 
 Italian saying, ' has no helm ' ; when men have 
 drunk too much, discretion is no longer their pilot 
 nor is the light of reason their compass by which 
 they may direct their actions to a safe harbour. 
 
 The vine beareth three grapes, the first of pleasure, 
 the second of drunkenness, the third of repentance. 
 If it shall be your unhappiness at any time to be 
 intoxicated 1 with wine, observe the directions of the 
 school of Saturn. 
 
 ' Si nocturna tibi noceat potatio vini, 
 Hoc tu mane bibas iterum, et fuerit medicina,' 
 
 1 De Britaine's text has 'overtaken,' the old euphemism for 
 'drunken' which still lingers on in country speech. H. S.
 
 i 2 8 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 ' If over night thou tak'st a dose, 
 
 And findst thyself amiss ; 
 Thou must next morn another take, 
 No remedy like this.' 1 
 
 Sobriety is the charm which will secure you 
 against all distempers, and make life pleasant to 
 you ; for it is from the seeds of intemperance that 
 the harvest of diseases springs. By sobriety there 
 is a good and perfect concoction made ; the meat 
 you eat, when it's well elaborated and transmuted in 
 such manner as is proper for each digestion, then a 
 good habit of body is established ; the mass of blood 
 hath its pure tincture, all the liquors of the body 
 have their peculiar properties suitable to the inten- 
 tion of Nature ; but if the crasis of the parts be 
 perverted by intemperance, then the alimentary 
 juices do degenerate from their purity, the mass of 
 blood and the nervous liquor are depraved, and the 
 whole habit of the body disordered. 2 Abstinence 
 plucks up the cause of all diseases by the roots, in 
 the inward veins it takes away the Butomia, which 
 is caused by the ill disposition of the stomach, and 
 that melancholic humour, which is seated in the 
 tunicles thereof, and reduces the natural temper to 
 a just mediocrity. Temperance makes men end 
 their days as easily as a lamp goes out, for men who 
 have lived temperate lives die in extreme age from 
 mere exhaustion of the vital powers, and depart 
 hence without grief or pain. 
 
 If the world is a miracle of order, if our life 
 depends on the harmony of natural laws, it is no 
 wonder that order should preserve life and disorder 
 destroy it. 
 
 1 This advice hardly accords with the other ' counsels ' of this 
 section. H. S. 
 
 2 I have left this long sentence and the one following it as 
 they stand in De Britaine's text minus unnecessary capital 
 letters. H. S.
 
 OF HEALTH AND TEMPERANCE 129 
 
 We may easily prove by experience that a spare 
 and simple diet contributes to the prolongation of 
 life. He that would like to eat large quantities of 
 food, let him eat little, because by eating little he 
 prolongs his life, and so eats largely before he has 
 done eating. The Emperor Augustus died at the 
 age of seventy-six, in all which time he never took 
 aperients or was bled, neither did he use medicines ; 
 but once in every year he entered the bath, 1 once in 
 every month he took an emetic, once in every week 
 he forbore to eat at all for a day, and on every day 
 he walked for one hour. If you wish to have con- 
 stantly vigorous health, to enjoy a perpetual spring- 
 time of youth, practise temperance. Members of 
 the sect of the Essenes among the Jews, by reason 
 of their simple and abstemious diet, usually extended 
 their life to the period of a hundred years. The 
 Stoics and Cynics are said by Laertius 2 to have been 
 very long-lived. There was once a priest who was 
 made a dean, and by reason of his spare diet lived 
 to be one hundred and eighty- six years of age. 
 When he died this epitaph was written for him, 
 
 ' Hie jacet Edentulus, Canus atque Decanus, 
 Rursus dentescit, nigrescit et hie requiescit.' 
 
 I do think that man, if he lived according to nature, 
 and duly observed the regimen of health, might live 
 to an astounding age; for man is naturally immortal, 
 that is to say, he hath a ' posse non mori,' as 
 appeared before the Fall and will be evident after 
 the general resurrection. Yea, after the Fall he 
 could live nearly a thousand years ; 3 though by 
 
 1 Viz. 'took a course of medicinal bathing.' H. S. 
 
 2 Diogenes Laertius, 'author of a sort of history of philosophy* 
 (several editions of which were printed in the sixteenth century), 
 was a Greek philosopher. H. S. 
 
 3 'And all the days of Methuselah were nine hundred sixty 
 and nine years ' (Gen. v. 27). H. S. 
 
 9
 
 I 3 o THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 degrees the span of life was shortened, yet that 
 abbreviation of life was accidental, and consequently 
 may be repaired in whole or in part ; and upon 
 search we shall find that the accidental cause of 
 this abbreviation was the lack of a true regimen of 
 health, and not in accordance with the will of 
 Heaven. And if Adam after his fall had eaten of 
 the Tree of Life, he would have lived for ever ; and 
 this doth appear by the words ' lest he put forth his 
 hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and 
 live for ever.' 
 
 If the ' humidum radicale et calidum innatum ' 
 be kept in their right state and proper condition 
 (as they may be) I see not (for anything that is in 
 nature) why man should not be able to extend his 
 life to a marvellous age. I have lived in the reign 
 of five 1 kings, yet I can by no other calculation than 
 that of my sins be found to be old ; by reason of 
 the regularity of my life, I am blessed with a per- 
 petual Spring. My body has never met with an 
 Autumn, or known anything of the fall of the leaf; 
 but vigour and strength like the sun in its glory visit 
 all my limbs ; after partaking of a slight repast, I find 
 that I have sound and quiet sleep all night long, and 
 at peep of day I get up as fresh as the morning itself. 
 
 The cause of all our diseases and of the shorten- 
 ing of human life, is the excessive eating of flesh 
 and of other foods. How many warlike nations and 
 strong cities, that have borne without defeat attacks 
 or sieges, has not luxury overcome ? Consider the 
 Romans when they came to indulge in their ' Jecur 
 Anserinum,' their 'Porcus Trojanus,' ' Sumen,' 'Fice- 
 dulae,' and their generous wines called ' Caecubum ' 
 and ' Falerna.' 2 It was then that they became 
 
 1 Sic De Britaine's text. The edition of 1689 has ' four.' H. S. 
 
 2 Sic De Britaine. The finest amber-coloured Falernian wine 
 was named 'Falerna,' it seems. H. S.
 
 OF HEALTH AND TEMPERANCE 131 
 
 effeminate, and it was by these luxuries that they 
 were more overcome, than formerly by their greatest 
 enemies. There are many impressions and altera- 
 tions made upon our bodies by the food which 
 nourishes them, so that foods gradually change the 
 constitution into something especially akin to them- 
 selves. Those who eat of the flesh of a cat 1 which 
 has been provoked into a fury by being maltreated 
 become rabid, and like cats will lacerate one another 
 with their claws. Chickens fed on sour grapes are 
 tougher of flesh, and more difficult of digestion, 
 than are most water-fowls. Why are the inhabitants 
 of Tartary so barbarous in their manners, unless 
 because they eat and drink the flesh and blood of 
 horses ? Eating of creatures which have no blood, 
 wastes ours ; plants which are barren or fruitful (as 
 Porta 2 observes) render those that use them barren 
 or fruitful. If so, how careful ought we to be what 
 meats and food we eat. 
 
 But if you wish to eat flesh, I would advise you 
 not to dress it in front of the fire as cooks do, for 
 that sunders the best from the worst, 3 which latter 
 we choose ; but do as philosophers do, practise a 
 quite contrary method, take the best which is now 
 lost, and leave that which we now take which is 
 the worst. This is the way, I say, to strip off all 
 the grossness and foulness of flesh which is the seed 
 of all diseases. For the virtue of things taken from 
 them by separation, is more wholesome than when 
 it is left with their bodies. If nature could be 
 
 1 De Britaine's warning may possibly be intelligible to some 
 of the lesser potted-meat purveyors. H. S. 
 
 2 Giovanni Battista della Porta of Naples was a voluminous 
 writer. One of his books was translated into English, and 
 published in London in 1658 under the title of ' Natural 
 Magick.' H. S. 
 
 3 Does this mean 'wastes the gravy'? H. S. 
 
 92
 
 i 3 2 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 nourished some other way than by eating, all danger 
 of diseases would be prevented. 
 
 There was a person of high standing who once 
 told me ' that his grandfather, by reason of his great 
 age, had had his digestive faculties so enervated, 
 that whatsoever he ate turned into crudities and 
 obstructions ; he being a person of great knowledge, 
 tried many experiments to repair it, but without any 
 effect ; at the last, he applied a piece of raw flesh to 
 his stomach, and fastened it to it ; and then once in 
 every twelve hours applied a fresh piece ; in some 
 time he found nature abundantly satisfied therewith, 
 and had a rejuvenescency and renovation of all parts, 
 and lived many years after in good strength and 
 vigour, without eating or drinking anything.' How 
 far this statement may approve itself to the judgment 
 of wise men is worth enquiry : we certainly have 
 observed with regard to drinking, that all the time 
 we sit in water we never thirst, for Nature doth 
 suck and draw in aqueous particles through the 
 pores wherewith to satisfy thirst ; and why therefore 
 cannot Nature draw from flesh a ' succus nutricius ' 
 which will support and preserve life ? And there- 
 fore physicians prescribe nourishing injections to 
 their patients, and baths of milk in hectic fevers, 
 when the body is extremely low. Paracelsus tells 
 us, ' that to his knowledge, a man lived without 
 hunger for half a year at a time, by applying fresh 
 sods to his stomach.' Nature is able, in all parts of 
 the body, to draw through the pores such nourish- 
 ment as we need ; otherwise how comes it to pass 
 that many persons have lived a long time without 
 eating any food ? The air is full of balsamic dewy 
 atoms, and is ever sprinkled with a fine foreign fat- 
 ness, which may perhaps be sufficient food to nourish 
 the finer part of our bodies, whereon the health of 
 man and his life depends. It is impregnated with a
 
 OF HEALTH AND TEMPERANCE 133 
 
 saline spirit; in this salt are included the seminal 
 virtues of all things ; it is a pure extract drawn by 
 the beams of Sol from all bodies which he darts his 
 rays upon, and it is sublimated to such a height of 
 perfection, that it is homogeneal 1 with all things, 
 and, in effect, is the spirit of life, not only to plants, 
 but to animals also. Licetus 2 and Quercetan* 
 thought that they were nourished by the air. Olym- 
 piodorus the Platonist assures us, that he knew a 
 person who lived many years, and in his whole life 
 neither fed nor slept, but only stood in the sun when 
 he wished to refresh himself. If other creatures, 
 whose life hangs upon the same peg as ours, do fast 
 a long time, there is no reason why Nature should 
 not allow man to do so. 
 
 ***** 
 
 This discourse of temperance will be looked upon 
 as an extravagant fancy, and I myself have the 
 same opinion of it ; but yet it is admitted by many 
 learned physicians that men and women have lived 
 many years without eating any food ; I must confess 
 that it is wonderful to me that death did not follow 
 the taking away of the appetite. 
 
 1 Viz., 'homogeneous.' ' Homogeneal' is found in Cowper's 
 'Task.' De Britaine's text gives it as ' Homogenial.' H. S. 
 
 2 Doubtless Fortunio Liceti, a learned Italian physician ; a 
 man of most brilliant gifts, but fond of fantastic ideas. H. S. 
 
 3 Joseph Duchesne, seigneur de La Violette, called ' Querce- 
 tanus.' ' On peut meme dire que c'est Duchesne qui inaugura 
 en medecine 1'ere de la chimiatrie, 1'emploi des medicaments 
 de nature mine'rale.' Duchesne graduated at Bsile in 1573, was 
 physician to Henri IV. after he left Geneva in 1593, and died 
 at Paris in 1609. H. S.
 
 134 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 SECTION XIX. 
 
 Of Law Suits. 
 
 F you desire to lead a happy life, and to 
 have time for the improvement of your 
 property, let me advise you to avoid suits 
 of law; if you engage in any, you put 
 yourself into a House of Correction where you must 
 labour stoutly to pay your fees. If any case is 
 decided in your favour, you will find that there are 
 those who will tell you that a successful action is a 
 delightful sport in itself, so that you must give them 
 leave to divide the stakes. If it shall be your mis- 
 fortune to be a party to any action, be careful indeed 
 if your opponent is a rich fool ; for no one can give 
 more trouble in a law-court than a rich obstinate 
 fool in the hands of a cunning knave. Beware of 
 employing an able lawyer who has but little business 
 on his hands, for he may lead you a fine dance at 
 your own cost. Beware also of underrating any 
 opponent, for a small mouse may give disturbance 
 to a huge lion. 
 
 Once upon a time two lawyers very passionately 
 pleaded their clients' causes to the great satisfaction 
 of those innocent gentlemen ; after the verdict was 
 given, the two lawyers were seen to come out of 
 court and to behave in a most friendly manner to 
 each other ; the clients saw this going on and greatly 
 wondered at the lawyers' exchange of courtesies ; 
 one of them asked the lawyers ' how they could be 
 friends so soon.' ' Tush, man,' said one lawyer, 
 ' we were never foes, for we lawyers are like a pair 
 of shears ; if you open them and then close them, 
 they seem to cut one another, but in reality they only 
 cut that which cometh between them.'
 
 OF LAW SUITS 135 
 
 You remember the fable of the vulture which sat 
 upon a tree to watch the lion and the bear fight, 
 with the intention of preying upon whichever beast 
 got killed ; take care that you do not illustrate the 
 moral of that story. It was good advice of Christ, 
 ' if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away 
 thy coat, let him have thy cloke also ;' the reason is 
 evident, lest the lawyer should come between and 
 strip you naked, even of your shirt. 1 To go to law 
 is like taking tickets at a lottery, or playing at dice, 
 in that, if the game be obstinately pursued, the 
 stake-holder is commonly the winner in the long run. 
 
 I say not all this in order to reflect upon an 
 honourable profession to which I shall ever pay a 
 great tribute of respect. I know that there are 
 many excellent persons who are lawyers, and if it 
 be your fate to have to do with lawyers, may it be 
 your good fortune to meet with them. In the state 
 of Venice, some years since, all the advocates were 
 nobles, to the number of twenty-four, appointed by 
 the Grand Council. They each had an allowance 
 from the state, being forbidden to take presents or 
 money from their clients, in order that the high rank 
 of the profession might not be lowered, and that in 
 all cases it might be their interest to procure a 
 prompt decision. 
 
 But you will be sure, in every market place in the 
 country, to find some fairies, elves, or little spirits 
 with hawking bags or snapsacks 2 by their sides 
 wherein they have their familiars. Some of these 
 familiars wear green coats, others have yellow vests, 
 and they are sent forth to the disquiet of good men, 
 as ^Eolus let loose the winds (which he had gotten 
 
 1 I have left this strange sentence in the text, as showing one 
 of the puzzles contained in ' Humane Prudence,' for its tone is 
 not at all that of the writer of (say) section ii. H. S. 
 
 * A 'snapsack' is a knapsack. The word is obsolete. H. S.
 
 136 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 into his bottle) to the disturbance of the world. 
 These are like the sun in Aries, which moves, but 
 does not remove the humours : 
 
 ' Et pluet super eos Laqueos.' 
 
 * And it shall rain snares upon them ': which a rabbi 
 interpreted to refer to the multitude of advocates, 
 proctors, and solicitors who were snares to catch 
 the people. Certainly these elves are much of the 
 nature of an ant, very useful to themselves, but 
 exceedingly pernicious to the garden of a common- 
 wealth. If ever you should fly to these for succour, 
 as sheep do to bushes in a storm, you will be sure to 
 leave a good part of your coat behind you. These, 
 like a quartan ague, will never leave you, until they 
 have wrung you dry ; and if you have occasion to 
 make use of them, they will no more stir without a 
 fee, than a hawk will without a lure. I have often 
 wondered at the taste of a nobleman in France who 
 delighted much in troubling men with law-suits'; 
 Lewis the French king hearing of this, offered to 
 deliver him from his law-suits, by expediting the 
 decisions upon them ; the nobleman ' thanked his 
 Majesty,' but earnestly besought him 'to leave thirty 
 or forty suits undecided wherewith he might merrily 
 pass away the time.' 
 
 ' Humours are men's Religion, Power their Laws ; 
 Their Wit Confusion, and their Will their Cause.' 
 
 My advice to you is, that you seriously employ 
 yourself in the study of the laws of this nation (they 
 being most renowned for their justice and wisdom) 
 if not with a view of practising the law, yet with an 
 intention of gaining a sufficient knowledge of it, 
 wherewith to defend yourself and estate from the 
 Robbin^Good-Fellows of it. If you be not so dis- 
 
 1 I have not the heart to rob De Britaine of this pun. H. S.
 
 OF LAW SUITS 137 
 
 posed, you must save one-third part of your revenue 
 with which to protect the other two-thirds, or else 
 assuredly you will be undone. There was once 
 such a controversy betwixt the two hands, that the 
 left commenced an action against the right, for 
 taking precedence of it. The court was for the 
 plaintiff upon the point of equity, but the defendant 
 having been in possession of the privilege time out 
 of mind, insisted upon pleading prescription, which 
 accordingly could not be overruled. ' But now,' 
 says the bench, 'to shew the world the reverence 
 we have for mercy and justice, we shall recommend 
 posterity to see that this iniquity is redressed ' ; and 
 from that day to this it has been the practice 1 of 
 judges, advocates, attorneys and their clerks, and 
 also of physicians, Court and State Officers, and 
 others that have the fingering of money, to help 
 themselves on both sides, and to use both hands 
 alike. 
 
 SECTION XX. 
 Of Gambling. 
 
 EXT to suits at law (which are but jactus 
 aleae) avoid gambling ; there is no real 
 enjoyment in it, and it too often does but 
 date from a sordid coveting of that which 
 is another's or a prodigality of that which is your 
 own. It is madness beyond such as can be cured 
 by Hellebore, to risk on the cast of a die the 
 decision as to whether your estate shall be your own 
 or not. If you are not forewarned I can tell you 
 without the help of an augur what will be your fate 
 
 1 An edifying comment upon the phrase 'the good old times 
 of our forefathers.' H. S.
 
 138 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 if you become a gambler. Either the vice will end 
 by swallowing you up alive, as a quicksand does, or 
 if you are a winner, your gains will disappear more 
 quickly than they came, melting like pyramids of 
 snow. The same rashness which gains by gambling 
 nearly always loses by gambling. Believe me, 
 gambling poisons the life and soul of a man more 
 than the seven deadly sins 1 ; every man who knows 
 the world knows that an inveterate gambler is an 
 incurable madman. 
 
 Remember that one honestly-obtained crown in 
 your purse will bring you more happiness than ten 
 crowns ill-gotten or twenty ill-spent. Plato, seeing 
 a young man play at dice, reproved him ; when the 
 young man said that it was a slight offence, Plato 
 replied that a habit was no light matter. 
 
 SECTION XXI. 
 
 Of Marriage. 
 
 HERE is one step more necessary to make 
 your life comfortable, and to advance your 
 fortune, and that is, that you should dis- 
 pose of yourself wisely in marriage. Wed- 
 lock is certainly a business which requires grave 
 consideration. Ride not too hastily in search of 
 your mate, for if you do so, at the end of your 
 journey you may find that Sorrow is your inn and 
 that Repentance is your host. If you marry be sure 
 that you espouse a virtuous person. 
 
 A wife who is a great beauty, like a fair in a large 
 city, is apt to draw men offering strange bargains. 
 
 1 This is somewhat obscure, as ' covetousness ' is one of the 
 * Seven Deadly Sins.' H. S.
 
 OF MARRIAGE 139 
 
 Do you therefore make choice of your wife by the 
 ears, not the eyes. He that chooses a wife accord- 
 ing to the report of his sight, is like a traveller in a 
 strange country who tastes a fruit because he likes 
 its colour, and may presently find himself in torment. 
 Do you consider the qualities of her whom you 
 design to marry, and ask yourself whether she be 
 truly suitable for you. I would not advise you to 
 marry a woman for her beauty ; for the beauty of 
 youth is like the colour which Sol throws about him 
 when he is setting, it proves not lasting. 
 
 Marry not so much to get a great dowry, as to 
 lead a happy life ; yet a pleasant wife without a 
 portion is somewhat like a grand house without 
 proper furniture. In such a mansion you may please 
 yourself by viewing its spacious proportions, but 
 there is nothing within it to keep you warm. When 
 you wed, you will do well to choose a bride from 
 among your equals; those marriages are the happiest 
 the parties to which were first well matched before 
 they came to be married. If a man marries a woman 
 of much higher station than himself, he is not so 
 much the husband of his wife, as he is (without 
 knowing it perhaps) a slave to her portion. Be sure 
 you love the person of your wife better than her 
 estate; for he who marries where he cannot love 
 will be sure to love where he does not marry ; and 
 love without a legitimate end is apt to turn to 
 illegitimate love without end. Love is too often 
 the child of folly, and though it is the strongest of 
 the passions it is often found in the weakest minds. 
 Young men are amorous, middle-aged men are 
 affectionate, and old men are doting. 
 
 There is a great difference between a portion and 
 a fortune with your wife ; for if she be not an excel- 
 lent woman (let her portion be never so great) she 
 brings no fortune to you. A noble Roman being
 
 140 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 asked why he had put away his wife, she being both 
 beautiful and rich, thrust forth his foot and shewed 
 his sandal ; ' Is not this,' said he, ' a handsome and 
 finished shoe ? Yet no man except myself knows 
 where it pinches me.' It is not the lustre of gold, 
 the sparkling of diamonds and emeralds nor the 
 splendour of the purple tincture 1 that adorns or em- 
 bellishes a woman, but gravity, discretion, humility, 
 and modesty. A young Lacedaemonian woman being 
 asked by an acquaintance 'whether she had yet 
 kissed her betrothed ' answered ' no, but he had 
 kissed her.' 
 
 As there is little or no use to be made of a mirror, 
 though it be set in a frame of gold and enchased 
 with all the sparkling variety of the richest gems, 
 unless it renders back the true similitude of the 
 image it receives ; so there is nothing of profit to a 
 man in a great dowry, unless the disposition, temper, 
 and habits of the wife prove to be suitable to the 
 tastes and needs of the husband, and unless he sees 
 the virtues of his own mind exactly reflected in hers. 
 Choose such a wife as will sympathize with you in 
 your misfortunes, for marriage is just like a ship 
 going on a long voyage, he that enters into it must 
 expect to meet with storms and tempests. When 
 I read that ingenious epigram of Ausonius about the 
 echo, it does most graphically bring before me a 
 talkative prating woman : 
 
 ' Vane quid affectas faciem mihi pingere, pictor ? 
 Si mihi vis similem pingere, pinge sonum.' 
 
 Pheidias made his statue of Venus 2 at Elis with one 
 of its feet placed upon the back of a tortoise, to 
 signify the two great duties of a virtuous woman, 
 which are to^ keep at home, and to keep silence. 
 
 1 Viz. ' robes dyed with the imperial colour.' H. S. 
 
 2 The 'chryselephantine statue of Aphrodite Urania.'- 
 
 -H. S.
 
 OF MARRIAGE 141 
 
 The Egyptian women of ancient times wore no 
 shoes, in order that they might get used to the idea 
 of staying at home. 
 
 When Thales was asked by his mother why he 
 did not marry, he said ' it is too soon ' ; some time 
 afterwards on her begging him again to marry, he 
 said, ' it is too late.' When I think of the anxieties, 
 duties, and drudgery of married life, I sometimes 
 wish that I had been a monk under a vow of per- 
 petual chastity, or that nature had provided for the 
 propagation of mankind without the help of women. 
 The trouble that children give is great and frequent, 
 the comfort that they bring us is small and recurs 
 but seldom. Indeed, it is almost better to adopt 
 children than to beget them ; for he who wishes to 
 adopt a son is free to make his choice out of many 
 that are good and virtuous, and to select a lad who 
 is almost certain to please him ; whereas he who 
 begets one, takes his chance as to whether the boy 
 will prove a joy or a curse. When Plato saw a 
 youth behaving too familiarly with his father, ' Young 
 man,' said the philosopher, ' would you treat lightly 
 the man who is the cause of your overvaluing your- 
 self P' 1 Every man is more indebted to his parents 
 than to all the world besides ; to other persons he 
 may owe much, but to his parents he owes himself; 
 therefore if ingratitude to others be hateful, that 
 which is shewn to parents must certainly be the 
 most horrid and detestable. And let undutiful 
 children be assured, that if they be preserved from 
 the gallows, they are reserved to be tortured by 
 their own posterity. 
 
 If you have sufficient means of livelihood, are not 
 
 in debt, and design to marry, have a care you make 
 
 not too great a settlement upon your bride out of the 
 
 revenue of your lands, especially if you have children 
 
 1 Viz. ' having a self to overvalue.' H. S.
 
 142 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 by a former wife ; if you do such a thing it will 
 perchance prove more calamitous to your son 1 than 
 any burden of debt which he might incur. Provide 
 for your relict a suitable income, but not one so great 
 as to impoverish your children, for that is to cut to 
 pieces a quick 2 hedge wherewith to protect a dead 
 one. If you have children it is better to leave them 
 each a suitable legacy with a profession, than great 
 riches without it ; for in the one case you encourage 
 (and give opportunities to) industry, but in the other, 
 your money will but act as a lure and draw all the 
 birds of prey to devour your sons. He that brings 
 up his children well, though he leaves them little, 
 has given them much. 
 
 Have recourse to a good bishop to satisfy your 
 conscience, to an honest lawyer to settle your estate, 
 and marry into a good family to keep up your in- 
 fluence. When man and wife are unisons in affection 
 there is the best music ; there was such an harmony 
 in affection between Ulysses and Penelope, that 
 rather than forsake his dear Penelope, he refused 
 immortality at Calypso's hands. Rubius Celer 
 ordered that there should be engraven upon his 
 monument an inscription to the effect that he ' had 
 lived with Caia Ennia his wife for forty-three years 
 and eight months sine querela,' that is, without any 
 difference, complaint, or jar. The ancients placed 
 the statue of Venus by the side of that of Mercury, 
 to signify that the pleasures of matrimony largely 
 consist of the delights of friendly companionship. 
 They who sacrificed to Juno as the Goddess of 
 wedlock, never consecrated the gall with the other 
 
 1 Precisely the experience of a large number of English land- 
 owners in this year 1897. Unless an estate is situated near a 
 growing town, or has mineral or other special sources of increase 
 of value attached to it, rent-charges on it should never be 
 created. H. S. 
 
 8 Viz. ' living.' H. S.
 
 OF MARRIAGE 143 
 
 parts of the sacrifice, but having drawn it forth, 
 cast it behind the altar ; thereby implying, that all 
 passionate anger and bitterness of reproach should 
 be warned off from the thresholds of nuptial cohabi- 
 tation. 
 
 If you wish to be happy, never have more than 
 one mistress of your affections, one friend in your 
 bosom, and one faith in your heart. Methinks the 
 zeal of that priest did trespass upon his discre- 
 tion, who in a wedding sermon much commended 
 marriage, but compared the bride to a grave. ' For 
 as every grave,' said he, ' has a ' Hie jacet,' so 
 when you come to marry, ' hie jacet ' the wisdom 
 of Solomon, 'hie jacet' the valour of David, "hie 
 jacet " the strength of Samson ; here they are all 
 buried.' The poets have unhappily represented all 
 the Furies as existing in the form of women; and 
 expressly ordered that the Eumenides should be de- 
 picted as ' feminei generis.' The ill-temper of many 
 women, made Diogenes say, when he saw that a 
 woman had hanged herself upon a tree, 'that it 
 was the bestbearing tree that ever he saw in his 
 life.' 
 
 But I can have no liking for such morose cynics, 
 persons who attempt to sully the glory of the richest 
 jewels in the cabinet of nature. I could desire to 
 build a stately temple and burn incense therein to 
 the memory of that excellent Menander in return for 
 his honourable saying that ' a noble woman is a 
 treasury of virtue.' I must confess that I ever had 
 a lofty admiration of that excellent sex, as being the 
 cause of most of the happiness we find in life and 
 the source of the prettinesses of society j 1 and I ever 
 thought, that of all follies in man, there is none more 
 natural than that of gallantry ; but I learn from 
 my own experience, that the passion for dancing 
 1 De Britaine's phrase. H. S.
 
 144 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 attendance upon fair ladies soon deserts a man of 
 thoughtful humour, and is not found to have led him 
 beyond due bounds of propriety. 
 
 r 
 
 SECTION XXII. 
 
 Of the Man of Honour. 
 
 HEN you come upon the stage of action, as 
 it is your duty so it will be your glory to 
 deal justly with all persons. Open and 
 honest behaviour is to the honour of 
 human nature ; hate nothing but what is base, fear 
 nothing but what is ignoble, and love nothing but 
 what is just and honourable. If a man of breeding 
 stoops to any low and sordid action, he does but 
 imitate the kite, which usually flies high up in the 
 air, but yet condescends sometimes to come down to 
 the ground for a meal of carrion. 
 
 Do injury to none, and so keep your conscience 
 clean ; if you injure others, you deserve that they 
 should follow your example and strive to injure you. 
 Throughout life you will find that innocence will be 
 your best escort, and that your integrity will be a 
 coat of mail unto you. A good conscience leaves 
 the mind free to form great resolutions, and an 
 innocent soul is impregnable. It is less difficult, 
 and much more safe, to keep the way of honesty 
 and justice, than to turn away from it, yet commonly 
 our passions lead us into bye-paths. And be assured, 
 that he who in any one affair lets go his hold of 
 honesty, is but too apt to lose all sense of honour as 
 the temptations of life increase ; and certainly no 
 exposure covers a man with so much shame, as to 
 be found false and unjust. We know also that the
 
 OF THE MAN OF HONOUR 145 
 
 vengeance of God requites all unjust actions with 
 slow but sure payment and adds full interest. 
 
 Whatsoever I do, I endeavour to act as if that 
 were my last performance ; and therefore I play my 
 part with care and integrity. I keep in mind no 
 more of life than the moment which is now present ; 
 I forget all that is past, and for the future (with an 
 humble submission) I refer myself to Providence ; 
 what others shall say or think of me, or shall do 
 against me, I do not so much as trouble my thoughts 
 with. I fear nothing, I desire nothing, I marvel at 
 nothing; yet I do bestow upon myself some approval 
 when I have done a just and virtuous action. But 
 to enrich myself by any sordid means, that is a thing 
 which I dare not do ; for such a course of conduct 
 shews a distrust of providence such as makes me for 
 the nonce behave as an atheist might. I have in my 
 own nature such an abhorrence of anything that is 
 vicious, that if neither God knew when I did ill, nor 
 man would punish it, I would yet not commit sin. 1 
 I often wish that nature had placed a crystal case- 
 ment in my breast, that every one with whom I have 
 to do might see the sincerity and candour that is in 
 the cabinet of my heart. 
 
 Keep faith in small matters, not as cunning rogues 
 do, with a view to being the better able to deceive 
 men in greater ones, but in order that the habit of 
 fidelity may be already yours when you come to 
 perform actions of weight and moment ; a promise 
 is a just debt, which you must take care to pay, for 
 honour and honesty have lent themselves as its 
 securities. Think an hour before you speak, and a 
 day before you promise ; hasty promises are com- 
 monly followed by speedy repentance. It was the 
 nobility of character of the old Romans which made 
 them build a temple to Fidelity. Breaking your 
 
 1 ' I ' is of course De Britaine's ideal ' wise man.' H. S. 
 
 IO
 
 146 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BR1TAINE 
 
 faith may gain you riches, but will never get you a 
 good reputation here or happiness hereafter. He 
 that breaks his promise forfeits his faith (which was 
 the security) and so is become an infidel unto him to 
 whom he promised. A good answer was made by 
 Monsieur Gorgius, a French captain, who had burnt 
 many of the churches of the Spaniards in Florida, 
 when he was asked why he did so. He told his 
 questioner ' that they which had no faith, needed no 
 churches.' 1 To attempt to deceive one who is not 
 obliged to believe you is wrong; but to cheat one 
 whom your fair pretences have induced to believe 
 you is foul treachery, for this is to attack a man 
 whom you have persuaded to lay aside his arms. 
 
 Once upon a time there was a cat which fell into 
 a vat of beer, and was almost drowned; the cat cried 
 out for help, some rats heard her wails, and came 
 and viewed her mishap. The cat begged them for 
 pity's sake to help her out, and then upon such and 
 such a day she would give them a great reward. 
 The rats did as they were asked ; when the day ap- 
 pointed for the bestowing of the reward had come, 
 the rats made their application to the cat for the 
 bounty ; but the cat answered that she had made no 
 such promise. The rats proved the existence of the 
 promise by their joint evidence. ' Well,' said the 
 cat, ' I do not remember making any such promise, 
 but if I did make it it was when I was in drink'; 
 and thereupon she was so incensed against the rats 
 that instead of rewarding them she fell upon them 
 with tooth and claw, killed several of them, and 
 routed the rest. I can leave you to draw a moral 
 from this tale. 
 
 A man's word and the effect of it, ought to be as 
 
 * This answer is given in the French translation of De 
 Britaine's book as follows : ' Que c eux qui n'ont point de bonne 
 foi, n'ont pas besoin d'Eglise.' H. S.
 
 OF THE MAN OF HONOUR 147 
 
 inseparable as fire and heat; this the ancients shewed 
 us depicted, when they painted a tongue bound fast 
 to a heart. It is hardly known nowadays what keep- 
 ing one's word means ; if any still practise the art 
 they are apt to pass for old-fashioned folk indeed. 
 Too often great men make promises and men of 
 humble position keep them. 
 
 ' Pollicitis dives quilibet esse potest.' 
 ' Each man's a Croesus, promises hath store, 
 But in performance, who's not Irus, poor?' 
 
 Eucratides the son of Anaxandrides, 1 when some- 
 one asked him ' why the Ephori of Sparta sat every 
 day to determine causes about contracts,' replied, 
 ' in order that we may learn to keep our word even 
 to our enemies.' Look upon good-faith and honesty 
 as the most sacred possessions of mankind, not to 
 be forced aside by necessity, nor corrupted by a 
 bribe. It is the glory of a man of breeding to have 
 so high a mind, that if fidelity was lost in the world 
 it might be sought for and found in his breast. 
 Preserve so much of the noble temper of generous 
 youth as never to desert that which is just ; be loyal 
 to a righteous cause even unto death. Where are 
 there noble characters to-day such as were found 
 among our forefathers ? Where is that Roman 
 chivalry which obliged M. Atilius Regulus to return 2 
 to be a martyr for virtue, rather than stain the repu- 
 tation of Roman faith ? And yet good faith is the 
 only foundation of justice, and justice is the only 
 lasting bulwark of a state. 
 
 A good man should account nothing more precious 
 than his word, nothing more venerable than his good 
 
 1 King of Sparta. H. S. 
 
 2 To Carthage to be tortured to death. This ' stock instance 
 of heroic constancy ' is of doubtful historical value, ' the silence 
 of Polybius' about it being one of the objections to its truth. 
 H. S. 
 
 10 2
 
 148 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 faith, nothing more sacred than his promise. King 
 Francis the first said ' that if fidelity were banished 
 out of the world, it should be found in his word.' 
 The greatest and best of kings have ever been exact 
 in the performance of their promises. When there 
 was a reward offered by Augustus the Emperor, to 
 anyone who should bring in Croton (a notorious 
 robber and bandit) or his head, and Croton pre- 
 sented himself of his own will, Augustus com- 
 manded the sum to be given to Croton which he 
 had promised should be given to whatever person 
 might bring in Croton or his head. 
 
 Certainly nothing adds more splendour to the 
 renown of a prince, than that he should keep faith 
 and act according to the wise principle of justice ; 
 for all things work together to benefit a prince who 
 has gained a reputation for good faith and honest 
 dealing. It goes a great way towards making a 
 man faithful, to let him understand that you think 
 him so ; and he that does but as much as suspect 
 that I will deceive him, gives me a kind of right to 
 cozen him. 1 There is nothing easier than to deceive 
 a good man ; 2 he who never lies is apt to believe 
 whatever is told him, and he who never deceives 
 anyone is disposed to trust others too freely. To 
 be deceived is not always a sign of weakness, for 
 sometimes goodness is the cause of it ; have a care 
 not to be so good a man that others may take the 
 occasion of your goodness to be bad themselves, 
 but let the cunning of the serpent go along with the 
 harmlessness of the dove. 
 
 1 Surely not. H. S. 
 
 2 De Britaine is confusing real goodness with the rather lazy 
 good-nature of a certain type of unintelligent man, just as many 
 writers (in spite of Milton's warning) confuse ' purity ' with 
 ignorance. H. S. 
 
 r
 
 OF THE M4N OF BUSINESS 149 
 
 SECTION XXIII. 
 
 Of the Man of Business. 1 
 
 N business be active and industrious ; for 
 many men of large abilities, relying wholly 
 upon their wits, and neglecting the use of 
 ordinary means, suffer others (less able, 
 but more active and industrious) to excel them. 
 Diligence alone is a fair fortune, and industry by 
 itself is a good estate. Industry improves a man's 
 resources, just as idleness wastes them, almost 
 without his knowing it ; your fortune may be only 
 that of a younger son, but your industry will make 
 you an heir of entail to wealth. 
 
 ^Esop's fisher found that he could catch no fish 
 by playing upon the flute, and was therefore obliged 
 to get sustenance for himself by casting his nets and 
 baited hooks into the river. And you may observe 
 that in the heavens the moving planets are of much 
 greater importance than those that are fixed. I 
 cannot commend the wisdom of the Neapolitan 
 gentry, whose prejudice against occupations is so 
 great that they prefer robbery before industry. 
 Action is noble ; and not only are the celestial 
 bodies in continual motion, but He that is Most 
 High is ' Purissimus actus ' ; for besides the con- 
 templation of His own goodness, He is ever at work 
 in acts of providence for, and government of, His 
 creatures. There is nothing in the universe stands 2 
 still ; though the earth moves not spherically (as 
 
 1 De Britaine uses the word ' business ' in this section in the 
 sense that the word has in the phrase ' mind your own business,' 
 rather than in that of ' commerce.' He is in the main referring 
 to the affairs of a landowner and courtier, but makes his pre- 
 cepts as universally applicable as possible. H. S. 
 
 2 Sic De Britaine. H. S
 
 150 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 Copernicus fancied) yet there is a continual ' motus ' 
 in her too ; among her productions, the idle man is 
 only a ' mare mortuum.' 
 
 I would not have you like the lilies of the field 
 which ' toil not neither do they spin.' I am much 
 pleased with his device, who placed for his imprese 1 
 a pair of compasses with this motto, ' Constantia et 
 Lahore,' the one foot of the compasses being fixed, 
 the other raised as if in motion. Before you act, it 
 is prudent to think over the matter soberly, for after 
 commencing action you often cannot recede without 
 dishonour ; and before you decide, take the advice 
 of some prudent friend, for he who will be his own 
 counsellor is almost sure to have a fool for his 
 client. And that you may act with credit, I desire 
 for you four great qualifications for the rank of 
 ' wise man ' : (i) A clear innocence : (2) A compre- 
 hensive knowledge : (3) A well-weighed experience : 
 (4) The product of all three, viz., a steady resolu- 
 tion. 
 
 Resolutions are the moulds wherein actions are 
 cast ; if they be made with over much haste, or too 
 much heat, they seldom answer their purpose. 
 When you have fully resolved what course to take 
 in any action, you must not afterwards repent of 
 your decision, or give way to fears about any 
 particular difficulty, for such states of mind will 
 lessen the courage of your spirit; and although 
 some difficulties happen to arise, yet you must 
 believe that every other course would have been 
 obstructed by the same or greater impediments. 
 Yet often it is more prudent to follow the trade-wind 
 
 1 Camden is quoted as saying that 'an imprese is a device 
 in picture with his motto or word borne by noble or learned 
 personages.' This word is 'from the Italian impresaj whereas 
 ' impress,' used by Drayton in a somewhat similar sense, is 
 'from the Latin impresso! H. S.
 
 OF THE M4N OF BUSINESS 151 
 
 of present good-fortune, than to abide obstinately by 
 first resolutions. 
 
 A sanguine temperament, urged on by its enthu- 
 siasm, does well in the pursuit of visible success ; 
 the phlegmatic temperament and its patience do 
 better in a retreat from failures or mishaps. In the 
 conduct of affairs you may shew a brave spirit by 
 going into action ; but your wisdom will most 
 appear in securing a retreat with credit, for there 
 is so much uncertainty in all human affairs, that in 
 life that arena to me seemeth best which hath most 
 passages out of it. There is a useful story related 
 to this effect, that when the Turks were about to 
 make an expedition into Persia, the Pashas con- 
 sulted which way they should enter that land, 
 because of the narrow passes of the mountains of 
 Armenia. Whereupon an officer who heard the 
 discussion said 'there is much ado about how we 
 shall get in, but I hear nobody suggest precautions 
 as to how we shall get out.' 
 
 Let me advise you to make the public welfare, 
 rather than your own private advantage, the object 
 of all your undertakings ; for by providing for your 
 own particular interest, you may wrong the public ; 
 but by effecting good for the public, you must benefit 
 yourself. If success in business doth not at first 
 answer your expectation, let no fumes of melancholy 
 overcome you, but make trial of new expedients and 
 addresses ; for he that constantly makes head against 
 the assaults of fortune is almost sure to be victorious 
 eventually and to attain his ends. You must not 
 give up the game because the cards prove awkward. 
 Most affairs have at least two handles, if one prove 
 hot and not to be touched, you may take hold of the 
 other and find that it is more temperate. 
 
 Whenever you are doing business, apply your 
 thoughts and mind seriously to it. But do not too
 
 152 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 eagerly or passionately rush into a matter or promise 
 yourself success in it all at once, for calmness and 
 caution will leave your understanding clear ; and you 
 will then not be too much disturbed if you fail in 
 anything, an experience which must fall to your lot 
 sometimes. When an affair seems about to be 
 turned to your disadvantage, it will be your wisdom 
 to temporize and delay, and to gain what time you 
 can by deferring action, because time may bring 
 some accident or incident which may remove your 
 danger. But if the affair stands as suits your advan- 
 tage, then it is delay that is dangerous to you, and 
 you must act with secrecy and celerity, which are 
 the two wheels upon which all great actions move. 
 The noblest designs are like a gunpowder mine, in 
 that if they are known they can be easily frustrated. 
 And to spend as long a time in considering business 
 as would serve to dispatch it, is to imitate that 
 musician who spent so much time in tuning his 
 instrument, that he had none left wherein to make 
 music upon it. 
 
 If the matter you undertake be of an extraordinary 
 nature, then, even when you have done your best, 
 you cannot ensure success. Remember that the 
 Italian saying makes it part of the character of an 
 Englishman, that when he is to undertake anything, 
 he says, ' I'll warrant you,' but that when he fails in 
 his undertaking he says, ' who would have thought 
 it ?' Therefore be circumspect in all your actions, 
 for he who intends what he does is most likely to 
 do what he intends ; the ruin of fools is that they 
 never think and act in earnest. The half-doing of 
 anything is worse than the not doing of it at all ; 
 and a middle course, in cases of serious business, is 
 of all ways the worst. 
 
 As there is no plan so secure but that it has some 
 weak point in it ; so there is scarcely any business
 
 OF THE MAN OF BUSINESS 153 
 
 in so desperate a condition that it has not some 
 chance of being rescued. It was excellent advice of 
 Tiberius Caesar, ' non omittere caput rerum, neque 
 te in casum dare'; adopt safe methods for reason's 
 sake rather than daring ones in hope of luck. Yet 
 some things must be ventured, and many occurrences 
 which are out of reach of the prudence of man may 
 be disposed by fortune so as to bring good results. 
 Certain it is, that he who will trust nothing to 
 fortune, nor undertake any enterprise whose result 
 does not appear certain, may escape many dangers 
 by his wary conduct but will fail of as many suc- 
 cesses by his inactive fearfulness. All that a wise 
 man therefore can do is to attempt ventures with 
 prudence, to pursue them with hope, and to bear 
 with patience whatever accidents may intervene. 
 
 It will shew great prudence in you to take hold of 
 opportunities skilfully ; for opportunity admits of no 
 second thoughts ; and to those who have lost their 
 early hopes anything that is future is but too apt to 
 seem better than what is present. In the manage- 
 ment of affairs stand not upon niceties and punctilios 
 of dignity, but strive to gain your ends by reason- 
 able compliance ; heat and precipitation are fatal 
 errors in business ; a sober patience, and a wise 
 condescension, often effect that which rashness and 
 anger would make hopeless. If you have to negotiate 
 a matter with any persons, observe their mood, and 
 (as far as prudence and discretion will give leave) 
 comply with their humour. Suffer them to speak 
 their pleasure freely rather than interrupt them ; 
 encourage them to speak on, and they will be very 
 likely out of ignorance or inexperience to let fall 
 something which may be for your advantage. Be 
 pleasant in manner, and create in those with whom 
 you converse the impression that you will do all you 
 can to meet their wishes.
 
 154 E COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITJINE 
 
 Converse with all men as if they were Christians ; 
 but if you have to do with any stranger, 1 look upon 
 him as one that may prove to be an unjust man (this 
 advice is severe, but it may ensure your safety). If 
 he turns out to be an honest man, he then does but 
 disappoint you agreeably ; and believe me (for I 
 have found it to my cost) nothing will undo you 
 more than to rely too much upon the honourable 
 intentions of other men. And, if possible, order 
 your affairs so that he with whom you are to deal 
 performs first ; when that is done, if you be deceived, 
 you have only to thank yourself. If at any time you 
 shall be overmuch pressed to do anything hastily, be 
 careful ; fraud and deceit are always in a hurry ; 
 mistrust is the right eye of prudence, ' cavendo 
 tutus.' Remember the ' memento dimdere ' of Epi- 
 charmus. There is no better antidote against deceit 
 than caution. 
 
 When there is too great a facility in believing, 
 there is usually some willingness to be deceived : and 
 though credulity carries with it the appearance of 
 innocence, yet distrust ever retains the realities of 
 strength and safety. The imperfections of other men 
 are of the greatest advantage to a deceitful man ; 
 and men are rarely deceived by others unless they 
 have first deceived themselves by trusting them. 
 To keep people in a state of hope is prudent in 
 business, but to trust them freely is indiscreet ; yet I 
 would have you so to behave yourself to him with 
 whom you have to deal as not to seem to distrust 
 
 1 A ' native of any country lying outside the pale of Christen- 
 dom ' seems to be the sense here. ' A Man born out of the 
 Kingdom' is one definition of 'stranger' which I have found in 
 an old dictionary ; the word is commonly used in this sense 
 in old lists of householders, apprentices, etc. The French- 
 Protestant refugees were often called ' the strangers ' in places 
 such as Rye or Norwich. H. S.
 
 OF THE MAN OF BUSINESS 155 
 
 him, for that passes beyond incivility to a distinct 
 offence, and naturally makes him become your 
 enemy. In all great actions call many (if you think 
 fitting) to your assistance, but few to your confidence: 
 and if you put trust in any, be sure that you are able 
 to trust yourself most. If you must go out-of-doors, 
 though the weather be fair and serene it is wise to 
 carry your cloak with you ; but if it rains, you may 
 decide to leave it behind if you please. 
 
 Never suffer any obstruction to lie in the way 
 which may hinder the true running of your bowl. 
 When you have a project in your mind, which you 
 consider may turn out greatly to your advantage, let 
 not yourself be turned from it by the importunity of 
 others ; if you do, you will probably live to repent of 
 your fickleness. At such a time, you may let the 
 business of the world be your circumference but you 
 should consider yourself the centre of it. When 
 you meet with a person who is more complaisant or 
 officious toward you than usual, be careful ; for per- 
 chance he hath some design with regard to you, and 
 either hath deceived you or is about to attempt to 
 do so. A more courteous bearing than ordinary 
 towards a Spaniard gives him immediate suspicion 
 as to his personal safety ; the Italian thinks himself 
 upon the point of being bought and sold, when with- 
 out manifest cause he is better treated than he has 
 been before. 
 
 Never put it into the power of any person to deal 
 as he likes with you ; if you come to rely upon the 
 tender mercies of others, you are almost certain to 
 be undone in the end ; therefore always stand upon 
 your guard. When you engage in any great scheme 
 let it be with your equals, not with those who are 
 much superior in station to yourself; if you combine 
 with the latter class in any undertaking, they will 
 have the honour and profit, and you the toil, and
 
 156 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 you will be obliged to rest content with what they 
 will give you by way of recompense. Once upon a 
 time a lion invited a cow, a goat, and a sheep to 
 hunt with him; promising them, that whatever game 
 was taken, should be equally divided between them ; 
 they went out, ran down a hart, and tore it into 
 four pieces. This having been done, each of the 
 lion's companions stood eagerly expecting to receive 
 his share. The lion, seeing this, got into a rage : ' I 
 take the first part,' said he, with a terrible voice, 'as 
 your king, the second I claim as being the strongest 
 of us, the third is my due as a small reward of all 
 my pains and trouble, and as for him that shall pre- 
 sume to refuse me the fourth share, I here declare 
 him to be the object of my enmity.' His companions 
 hearing this, without daring to murmur went hungry 
 away. 
 
 It will shew wisdom in you to take fair advantage 
 of the failures of other men ; for the follies of one 
 man often make the fortune of another; and no man 
 prospers so suddenly as he who succeeds where 
 others have failed. You may make your fortune 
 when you please, if you learn which are your oppor- 
 tunities, and how to take hold of them. Often what 
 we call a man's ' good-luck ' is nothing but an atten- 
 tive observation of the revolution of affairs and the 
 opportunities offered by them. Keep an exact diary 
 of all your actions, and of the most memorable 
 events you hear of or meet with. And if, in the 
 conduct of your affairs, you have been deceived by 
 others, or have committed any error yourself, it will 
 be discreet in you to observe and make a note of the 
 occurrence, and of the defailance, 1 with the means 
 
 1 'Defailance' is also ' found in a sermon of Barrow's' spelt 
 in the same way, and meaning 'failure.' It is simply an 
 English form of the French word ' deiaillance.' De Britaine 
 seems to use it here in the sense of ' unfortunate result.' H. S.
 
 OF THE MAN OF BUSINESS 157 
 
 or expedients which you have had to employ in 
 attempting to repair it ; this will make you more 
 prudent and wary for the future. Let all the points 
 of your observation, and your remarks upon them, be 
 committed to writing every night before you sleep, 
 and so in a short time you will possess a dictionary 
 of prudence and experience of your own making. 
 For wise men nowadays begin to be unwilling to 
 merely inhabit the world, and wish really to under- 
 stand it. And let me tell you, no man is truly wise 
 until he hath been once or twice deceived ; and your 
 own errors will teach you more prudence than all 
 the grave precepts or wise examples of others. 
 
 Once upon a time there was a great contest 
 between folly and prudence as to which should have 
 precedence of the other ; the dispute waxed so keen 
 that they agreed to refer the matter to Jupiter. 
 Jupiter, after hearing what could be said on both 
 sides, at last gave his judgment, ' that folly should 
 go before, and prudence should come after her.' 
 
 SECTION XXIV. 
 
 Of Counsel and Counsellors. 
 
 OST men find it easier to give counsel than 
 to take it; even wise men are apt to think 
 that they do not need it, and fools will 
 never utilize it. There is no diminution 
 of dignity, no evidence of want of ability, in taking 
 counsel ; the grandeur of the greatest person is 
 rather advanced than diminished when he sits down 
 to hear what his counsellors have to say. The 
 counsels of a wise man are the voice of an oracle 
 which foresees things to come and guards the
 
 158 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 interests of posterity. It is wise for great persons 
 to discuss with others what they should do ; but it 
 is not necessary for them to declare to their 
 counsellors which plan they intend to adopt ; let 
 them hear the advice of any discreet man, but let 
 the decision come from themselves. 
 
 Those persons are not fit to advise others, that 
 have not first given good counsels to themselves 
 and made use of the counsel. The position of a 
 counsellor is one of great trust; therefore counsellors 
 are under great obligations to shew faithfulness and 
 integrity, and they ought rather to be careful about 
 thoroughly understanding their master's interests, 
 than curious about his humours and desires. 
 Augustus lamented for the death of Varus because, 
 as he said, it left him without a counsellor who 
 would tell him plain truths. ' What is there lacking 
 to a Sovereign ?' asked a flattering courtier: 'Truth,' 
 said the serious king. Heliogabalus begged the 
 advice of a counsellor, who thereupon gave him 
 advice which did not please him : ' How darest 
 thou be so plain ?' said Heliogabalus. * Because I 
 dare die,' said the counsellor, ' I can but die if 
 I give honest counsel, and I must die at some 
 time even though I flatter.' He that gives a prince 
 counsel which does but feed his caprices and desires, 
 puts on one side good sense, which cannot err, and 
 encourages self-will, which may. 
 
 A wise counsellor must take notice of trifles, 
 observe whither they point, and advise as to how 
 they should be controlled, for ' optima cujusque rei 
 Natura in portionibus ejus minimis observatur ' ; 
 and often great matters will be found to hang upon 
 fine threads. But never set your heart upon 
 advising a prince in a doubtful enterprise which 
 concerns his State ; for if your counsel be accepted, 
 and the affair prospers, the glory will be his ; but
 
 OF COUNSEL AND COUNSELLORS 159 
 
 if the project falls through, after being handled 
 according to your methods, the discredit will be 
 laid to your account. ' Consilia senum, hastae 
 juvenum' (old men for counsel and young men for 
 execution) passed in old times for a maxim of 
 wisdom : but I think men in the meridian of their 
 years are more fit for counsel or action than aged 
 men, for old men are apt to object too much, to 
 consult too long, to venture too little, and to draw 
 back too soon. The Republic of Venice allows no 
 ecclesiastics to have seats in the council, because 
 of their dependence on the Pope ; and when the 
 notables meet in council, the rule and proclamation 
 is, ' Priests withdraw/ 
 
 The true wisdom of a counsellor, is rather to be 
 well versed in his master's affairs than to consider 
 his superior's whims ; for then he will be likely to 
 advise his master, rather than to flatter him. Solon 
 was once sent for by Crresus, and counselled him 
 wisely, but was thereupon dismissed with disrespect; 
 ^Esop, who was much grieved to see Solon so un- 
 gratefully treated, said to him, ' we must either tell 
 kings nothing at all, or what is best for them.' 
 Everyone is more ready to delight a prince with 
 pleasant conceits than to aid him with profitable 
 advice; smooth and pleasing speeches, accompanied 
 with little services, always find favour at court ; 
 but to recommend to a prince such conduct as is 
 righteous and desirable is a matter of some diffi- 
 culty, and often proves to be a thankless office. 
 Those who advise a prince ought to speak as if 
 they merely put him in mind of things which he has 
 forgotten, not as if they are teaching him what he 
 does not know. It is most prudent in matters of 
 debate to speak last, and so to gain opportunities of 
 judging of the opinions of others before you utter 
 your own.
 
 160 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 If a prince has several kingdoms under him, it 
 is wise of him to admit representatives of each 
 kingdom to his council ; by that means the several 
 nations will rest the more contented, and each 
 nation will wish to rival and even excel the others 
 in smartness of wit 1 and in wisdom of suggestion. 
 When a prince contemplates any great undertaking, 
 it is safest for him first to propound the same to his 
 counsellors separately and in private, ordering them 
 to set down their opinions in writing, with their 
 reasons, and not to communicate the same to others. 
 For in private they will be more free and bold ; 
 whereas in the council-chamber some great person 
 or favourite, having once declared his views, may 
 carry the rest with him, ' nemine contradicente,' 
 and the best opinions may be either concealed, or 
 at least not so well debated. If the prince should 
 meet with any unforeseen difficulty in his enterprise 
 after he has acted upon the secret advice of his 
 counsellors, then let him order those who advised 
 him to discuss and defend their plans in public (as 
 their honour compels them to be willing to do) 
 freely, and without passion or respect to outside 
 opinion; by this means matters will be fully debated 
 and threshed out. 
 
 That is the best advice, and ought to be adopted, 
 which can be put in practice with facility and 
 security. Good advice is such as has its founda- 
 tion in knowledge, has been uttered after mature 
 deliberation, and exposes the person advised to the 
 risk of accident as little as possible ; all hasty 
 counsels are hazardous, and usually bear the fruit 
 of infelicity or even of despair. Nothing is more 
 dangerous to great undertakings than the acting 
 upon rash and precipitate advice. Hurry and 
 rashness wreck business, as storms and tempests 
 1 De Britaine's phrase. H. S.
 
 OF COUNSEL AND COUNSELLORS 161 
 
 do ships ; but caution with promptitude, like a fair 
 wind, will bring it into a haven of success. The 
 chariot of wisdom is drawn by remoras, 1 and its 
 council-table is made of a tortoise shell. King 
 Demetrius 2 being asked by one of his officers why 
 he would not give battle to Ptolemy, seeing that 
 the strength and number of his army made it much 
 the superior, answered that ' a thing once done, can 
 never be undone ; and before a man attempts a 
 difficult enterprise, a long time is needed in which 
 to consider and debate.' Sertorius was highly 
 commended by Plutarch, because he was slow in 
 council, serious in his enterprises, and quick in his 
 execution of them. Great designs must be hung up 
 and gazed at ; 'in nocte consilium,' the pillow is 
 a silent sibyl from whence you may receive oracles 
 of wisdom. To sleep upon a thing that is to be 
 done, is better than to be awaked by a thing too 
 hastily done. Agesilaus, that brave king of Sparta, 
 being much pressed to give an answer to the 
 Theban ambassadors, said, ' an nescitis quod ad 
 utilia deliberandum mora est tutissima?' Sudden 
 resolutions are always dangerous, but there is little 
 less peril in a too slow and hesitating decision. 
 
 ' Cunctatio servilis ; statim exsequi regium est. 1 
 
 It is discreet to presume those to be the best 
 counsels which come from men who advise against 
 their own interest. The Athenians having been 
 victors in the Peloponnesian war, and having 
 conquered almost all Greece, formed a plan of 
 conquering Sicily which was discussed in the 
 
 1 Sucking-fishes, ' fabled to delay ships by adhering to them.' 
 H. S. 
 
 2 Demetrius I., King of Macedonia, surnamed Poliorcetes, 
 was usually an impetuous person, full of ideas and eager to 
 translate them into action. H. S. 
 
 II
 
 162 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 Senate of the Athenians. Nicias, 1 who was one of 
 the chief men in Athens, spoke against the project, 
 and said that such advice from him ought to be 
 especially regarded, because if Athens was at peace 
 with her neighbours many of her citizens would 
 rank higher than he, whereas in time of war he 
 would stand highest in the state. 
 
 A sober and wise counsellor ought to look through 
 the present to the future, and consider well the 
 consequences of things and what evils may follow 
 this or that decision. (The State of Venice, when 
 its council discusses a project nowadays, allows 
 arguments to be brought forward based upon 
 forecasts of the possible consequences which may 
 ensue from the plan at a remote date.) He must 
 not be like the Phrygians, who assembled their 
 council, after disaster had fallen upon the state, to 
 consult how they might have prevented it. Advice 
 that is bold is usually dangerous, because it is blind 
 and therefore does not see obstacles and difficulties. 
 But boldness in the execution of a plan is an 
 excellent quality ; in council it is good to perceive 
 all dangers, in execution not to notice any but very 
 great ones. 
 
 With regard to affairs upon which advice is to be 
 given, the good and prudent course is to take things 
 as they are (since the past cannot be recalled), to 
 propose remedies for present evils, and safeguards 
 against future occurrences. A prudent counsellor 
 both consults his experience as to what course is 
 best, and queries the necessity of the case as to 
 
 1 A general whose caution often passed into sheer irresolution 
 (partly owing to his credulous superstition). In the Athenian 
 retreat from before Syracuse he was taken and put to death by 
 the Syracusans. His loyalty to his troops in that retreat, and 
 the religious sense of duty with which he bore up against illness 
 in order to do his best to cheer his men, may be read of in 
 Plutarch's Lives. H. S.
 
 OF COUNSEL AND COUNSELLORS 163 
 
 what conduct is fittest. Pericles was wont to say 
 that ' time is the wisest counsellor.' It may be the 
 good-luck of a private man now and then to meet 
 with a sincere and judicious person to advise him, 
 and it is prudent of him to accept the advice thank- 
 fully. But great men are not so fortunate, for they 
 are apt to surround themselves with those who 
 flatter and feed their vanity most, and not to come 
 across those who would serve their interest best. 
 
 When Xerxes marched with a prodigious army 
 against Greece, he asked his counsellors what they 
 thought of his affairs. One told him that 'the 
 Greeks would never engage in a battle ' ; another 
 said that ' he would only find empty cities and 
 countries, for the Greeks would not so much as face 
 the report of his coming ' ; only Demaratus advised 
 him ' not to depend too much on his great numbers, 
 for he would find them rather a burden to him 
 than an advantage.' Demaratus added that 'three 
 hundred men in the passes of the mountains would 
 be sufficient to give a check to his great army ; and 
 that such an accident would undoubtedly turn his 
 vast numbers to his confusion.' And it fell out 
 afterwards as Demaratus had foretold. A miserable 
 prince, who amongst so many thousand subjects 
 had but one servant to tell him truth ! 
 
 That excellent king Alphonsus 1 was wont to say 
 ' that his dead counsellors ' (meaning his books) 
 ' were to him far better than the living, for the 
 former, without flattery, fear, or bashfulness pre- 
 sented to him truth without disguise.' However 
 it is not safe for any prince to make changes in his 
 secret Council, and he must especially beware of 
 
 1 Alfonso V. of Aragon, I. of Sicily and Sardinia, and latterly 
 I. of Naples ; a brave and generous-hearted man who loved 
 letters and was as much at home in a library as in a camp. 
 H. S. 
 
 II 2
 
 164 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 displacing men who have been made privy to any 
 of his recent decisions ; for counsellors dismissed 
 resemble keys that are lost or mislaid, no sense of 
 security remains to the owner unless he changes the 
 lock. The advisers of a prince ought to give such 
 counsel as may comport with the dignity and honour 
 of their master, and not such as merely suits the 
 mould of their own mind and fortune. Parmenion, 
 hearing what great offers Dareius made to Alexander, 
 which that prince rejected, said, ' surely if I were 
 Alexander, I would accept such offers.' Thereupon 
 Alexander said, ' so would I, if I were Parmenion.' 
 
 After any matter is propounded and well debated 
 in Council, it frequently happens that nothing can 
 be more pernicious than not to come to a speedy re- 
 solution about it. The Lavinians being requested 
 by the Latins to aid them against the Romans, put 
 off the decision to act too long, so that when they 
 did begin to march out of the town to give succour 
 to their allies, news came that the Latins were 
 defeated. Whereupon the praetor Milonius said : 
 'we shall pay dearly to the Romans for this little 
 journey we have taken. If at first we had resolved 
 to refuse to help the Latins, then we should not have 
 given offence to the Romans ; on the other hand, if 
 we had promptly helped the Latins, we might have 
 ensured their gaining a victory.' 
 
 As nothing is more becoming to a sober counsellor 
 than to advise his prince justly, so nothing tends 
 more to the glory of the greatest prince than to 
 listen to good counsel and to utilize it. The best 
 kind of wisdom is shewn by ability to give good 
 counsel, the next best by willingness to take it. 
 Hence it was that the Egyptians accepted Diodorus 1 
 as their king ; for he was so judicious in giving and 
 taking counsel, and in changing his plans with dex- 
 1 Szc De Britaine's text. H. S.
 
 OF COUNSEL AND COUNSELLORS 165 
 
 terity when opportunity made it desirable, that it is 
 said ' he could turn himself into any figure or 
 shape.' Hannibal the Carthaginian being in exile 
 advised King Antiochus, when an advantageous 
 occasion offered, to give battle to his enemies the 
 Romans. Antiochus, 1 after he had sacrificed, told 
 him that the entrails forbade it. Hannibal sharply 
 rebuked him thus, ' Sire, you are taking advice from 
 the flesh of a beast, instead of from the reason of a 
 wise man.' It is not so fatal to the commonwealth 
 to have an evil prince and a good council, as it is to 
 have a good prince misled by evil counsellors. 
 
 Nothing exhibits the wisdom of a prince so little as 
 to hearken (as some princes do) to counsels given by 
 one of his own way of thinking. Let a wise coun- 
 sellor advise nothing but what is practicable. Every 
 project that runs athwart prudence springs from a 
 kind of folly and quackery which in matters of 
 politics is the ruin of states ; though a plan of this 
 kind may seem plausible it is but a neat 2 delusion, 
 and will afterwards lose its vogue, when the vanity 
 of it shall be shewn forth by its results. When 
 someone propounded in the Senate of Sparta a 
 project for the freeing of Greece, ' well designed 
 indeed,' said Agis (the son of Archidamus 3 ), ' but 
 hard to be brought about ; friend, thy words require 
 an army and treasure.' 
 
 Such counsels as are over-subtile and nice are not 
 much to be regarded, because they are seldom 
 brought to a good issue. Hence it is that the Vene- 
 tians, although they are not so ingenious a people as 
 
 1 Antiochus the Great, King of Syria. The anecdote appears 
 to refer to the incident of Hannibal's advising the king to 
 invade Italy. H. S. 
 
 2 Sic De Britaine. ' Neat ' was sometimes used in his day 
 for 'clever,' 'adroit.' Another sense, that of 'pure' or 'un- 
 adulterated,' will also suit the context. H. S. 
 
 3 Archidamus II., King of Sparta. H. S.
 
 166 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 the Florentines, are yet for the most part more judi- 
 cious in their projects than the Florentines are ; and 
 the Lacedaemonians were in this respect more for- 
 tunate than the Athenians. For counsels too finely 
 spun are easily broken ; and a deeply-laid scheme 
 does not please the impatience of the vulgar, to 
 whom speedy undertakings seem always to be the 
 most heroic ; plans that are slow yet sure are inter- 
 preted by the crowd as being imperfect or half- 
 hearted projects of incapable or disaffected leaders. 
 
 SECTION XXV. 
 
 Of Prudence in Time of Danger. 
 
 E who endeavours to do his duty in a 
 wicked age, and strives to be truly virtuous 
 and just (which I wish you always to be), 
 will thereby hazard his fortune and his 
 safety. Believe me, nowadays more men are undone 
 by their virtues than by their vices ; and a good 
 man runs more risks than a bad one. A plebeian, 
 speaking at an assembly of the Senate of Athens, 
 suggested that Aristides should be banished. Being 
 asked what Aristides had done to displease him, he 
 replied, ' nothing, nor do I even know him, but it 
 grieves me to hear everybody call him a just man.' 
 
 That good bishop Theodoretus was scoffed at by 
 the Imperial Court as a buffoon for being good when 
 virtue was out of fashion, and adjudged imprudent 
 for being a solitary example of a man of principle. 
 In good old times it passed for an oracle of prudence, 
 ' that honesty was the best policy ' : but in modern 
 practice you will find the maxim run, ' that policy is 
 the best honesty.' To deal justly nowadays, is to
 
 OF PRUDENCE IN TIME OF DANGER 167 
 
 have one's conduct reputed to be a piece of knight- 
 errantry, and a good man is considered but as an 
 Apuleius inverted. 1 Virtue and integrity, when men 
 were mostly good and innocent, were great safe- 
 guards to their possessor, but they are merely traps 
 to ensnare those who profess them in a depraved 
 state of society. 
 
 If it shall be your infelicity to live in bad times 
 (though I wish for you the best) then I hope you 
 may be the better for them by an antiperistasis. 2 If 
 the times be perilous you must, like a discreet pilot, 
 trust your bark to the waves which it would endanger 
 you to steer against, and by giving way to them 
 avoid the risk of their assault ; then the tempest may 
 strain, but will not rend, your sails and cordage. In 
 order to pass a dangerous wood safely it is sometimes 
 expedient to put on such skins as those beasts wear 
 which haunt that wood. He that acts the part of a 
 beggar to save himself from a thief may by so doing 
 deliver himself from becoming a beggar. 
 
 Affect not peculiarities of conduct or manner, but 
 observe the disposition and spirit of the times : for 
 he that cannot change colour with the air he lives in 
 as the Chameleon does, must (like the Chameleon) 
 be content to live only on the air. Be not a member 
 of any faction ; a wise man always keeps himself 
 free from such fraternities. To all factions behave 
 with moderation, and so you may derive some benefit 
 from each. Pomponius Atticus was so judicious that 
 men of all factions loved him and vied with one 
 another in doing him kindnesses, and in the midst 
 of them all he dwelt in peace and prosperity. 
 Factions in a state never for long hold their ground ; 
 
 1 ? 'as an 'Asinus' who is not likely to be 'Aureus' in such 
 times.' H. S. 
 
 2 Viz., ' intensification (of your own good qualities) produced 
 by the antagonism of surrounding influences.' H. S.
 
 168 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 for if they be not suppressed by the power of the 
 state, they will be ruined by some dissension arising 
 within the party itself. But in popular commotions, 
 if you stand neutral, you will be sure to have the 
 same luck which the bat has, that is, to be pecked 
 at by the birds as a mouse, and to be bitten by the 
 mice as a bird. 
 
 I am of such boon 1 courage, that I would rather 
 be devoured by a lion, than done to death by flies. 
 Neither can I rank myself among those persons who 
 act whatever character seems to suit their advantage; 
 like the bird whereof Leo Africanus 2 makes mention, 
 which, when the king of the birds demanded tribute, 
 always ranked himself with the fish ; and when the 
 king of the fishes required his services always classed 
 himself as a bird. If any extraordinary infelicity 
 happens to fall upon you, the only way is, not to sit 
 still but to resolve upon action ; for so long as 
 nothing energetic is done by you, the misfortune, 
 which causes you such grief, bears your life down ; 
 but if you do something, you may deliver yourself, 
 and, at all events, you express a brave spirit by 
 shewing that you dare attempt to do so. But as 
 to that which is out of your power, let it be also out 
 of your thoughts ; you may, if you think fit, give 
 yourself much trouble about it, but yet you will be 
 obliged to leave God to govern the world as He 
 pleaseth. If you wish to live comfortably, leave to 
 God the care of mankind and to men their rights. 
 
 A lion that had been abroad upon an adventure, 
 and had brought away a savoury bargain along with 
 him, spied a sheep at a distance, quite out of breath, 
 
 1 Viz., 'good' or 'abundant.' Compare the phrase 'boon 
 companion.' H. S. 
 
 2 De Britaine's text has ' Leo Africus.' Pory's English trans- 
 lation of Giovanni Leone's book on Africa is dated 1600. It 
 has been reprinted recently by the Hakluyt Society. H. S.
 
 OF PRUDENCE IN TIME OF DANGER 169 
 
 and scouring away as hard as it could drive. The 
 lion cried out to it three or four times to stop a 
 moment, but the poor creature kept running on still 
 without so much as looking behind it ; this gave the 
 lion a suspicion that there might be a wolf in the 
 case. And so there was, it appeared, for prying 
 narrowly through the bushes the lion made out a 
 wolf pressing eagerly after the sheep and almost 
 upon its heels. The lion bounded along, got in the 
 way of the wolf, and asked him as carelessly as he 
 could ' whither in such haste ?' The wolf answered, 
 ' I am looking out for my supper.' ' If that be all,' 
 says the lion, ' you shall take a bit with me to-night.' 
 The wolf would gladly have been excused ; but be- 
 twixt good manners and good discretion, he thought 
 it better to fall in with the lion's wish, and so the 
 sheep was saved. 
 
 Be harmless as the sheep, magnanimous as the 
 lion, and prudent as the wolf. You will then illus- 
 trate the lessons of the tale which I have related. 
 
 r 
 
 SECTION XXVI. 
 
 Of the Grotto, or Retired Life. 
 
 [HEN I retire into my little grotto, 1 which 
 is situated in the midst of a fine wood and 
 near to a crystal stream, I find therein 
 happiness and content beyond any which 
 an imperial crown can confer. From my retreat I 
 
 1 De Britaine may mean 'a cave' made into one or two 
 rooms, a summer-house, or even a cottage (see the first sentence 
 of the third paragraph of this section). The word ' grotto,' 
 more correctly ' grotta,' was used with considerable poetic 
 license during the seventeenth century for any erection, or even 
 space, surrounded or shaded by trees. H. S.
 
 170 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITJINE 
 
 observe the Lady Flora clothe our Grandame Earth 
 with a new livery, one patterned with pleasant 
 flowers and chequered with delightful objects. 
 When the spring visits us, the dulcet songsters 
 seem to welcome me with their various music as I 
 pass along ; the earth sends forth her primroses and 
 pretty daisies to behold me ; the air supplies gentle 
 zephyrs wherewith to refresh me. There I find such 
 pleasure, and have such a power of enjoying it, that 
 I could bid adieu to the gardens of Alcinous, Adonis, 
 and Lucullus, and would not envy the Thessalians 
 their Tempe ; if I were Epicurus (the master of 
 pleasures) I should wish to be all nose to smell the 
 perfumes or else all eyes to gaze on the sights. 
 
 In that favoured spot there is no slavish attend- 
 ance, no canvassing for places, no making of parties, 
 no envy of any man's favour or fortune, no dis- 
 appointments as to my pretensions to advancement, 
 nothing but a calm enjoyment of the bounties of 
 Providence in company with a good conscience. 
 There I can enjoy myself in the greatest tranquillity 
 and repose, without fear, envy, or desire of anything. 
 
 If I dwell under the protection of heaven a poor 
 cottage for my retreat is of more worth to me than 
 the most magnificent palace. There I can enjoy the 
 riches of content in the midst of an honest poverty ; 
 in that humble dwelling undisturbed sleeps and 
 undissembled joys do dwell, and I can spend my 
 days therein without cares and my nights without 
 groans, for my innocence is my security and my 
 protection. In that peaceful place there are no beds 
 of state, no garments of pearl or embroidery, no 
 materials for luxury or excess ; the heavens are my 
 canopy, and the glories of them my spectacle ; the 
 motion of the orbs, the courses of the stars, and the 
 wonderful order of Providence are offered me for my 
 contemplation.
 
 OF THE RETIRED LIFE 171 
 
 My grotto is safe, though far from spacious; no 
 porter stands at the door, nor is there any business 
 to bring Fortune thither, for she hath nothing to do, 
 where she hath nothing to look for. In my retreat 
 I am delivered from the luxuries of the world, and 
 am kept free from the drudgery of business, two 
 accidents of human life which make us troublesome 
 to others and prevent our being at rest within our- 
 selves ; for the end of one appetite or design is the 
 beginning of another. I value the counsel of 
 Epicurus that we should ' live in a retired manner ' 
 beyond a diadem ; and must say with Crates 1 ' that 
 men know not how much a wayfarer's wallet, a 
 measure of pulse, and security of mind are worth.' 
 Retirement is the way to heaven which Nature hath 
 chalked out, and it is both secure and pleasant ; it 
 needs no train of servants, no pomp or equipage, to 
 make good our passage along it, no money or letters 
 of credit for the expenses of the voyage ; but the 
 virtue of an honest mind will keep us secure while 
 upon the way, as well as make us happy at our 
 journey's end. Similis, 2 captain of the guard to the 
 Emperor Hadrian, having passed a most toilsome 
 life, retired from the world and lived privately in the 
 country for seven years, and considered that he had 
 really lived only during those seven years; indeed he 
 caused these words to be engraven upon his monu- 
 ment, 
 
 ' Hie jacet Similis, cujus aetas multorum annorum 
 fuit, ipse septem dumtaxat annos vixit.' 
 
 You perhaps have more friends at court than I 
 have, a larger train of attendants, a fairer estate, and 
 
 1 Crates, a Stoic philosopher better known as a Greek 
 grammarian. H. S. 
 
 2 Similis had been a centurion under Trajan. Hadrian, under 
 whom he was praefecius praetorio,' erected a statue in his 
 honour. H. S.
 
 172 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 a more illustrious title ; but why should I regret to 
 be outdone by other men in some points, so long as 
 unhappiness is overcome by me in all? WhenZeno 
 heard Theophrastus commended above any of the 
 philosophers for having such a large number of 
 scholars, 'it is true,' said Zeno, 'that his choir is 
 larger than mine, but mine hath the sweeter voices.' 
 So others may have more lordships, ampler posses- 
 sions, and larger territories than I have, but mine is 
 the sweetest, because the most retired, life. 
 
 Nothing comes amiss to me, but all things come 
 to pass according to my very wish ; there is in my 
 lot no wrangling with fortune, no being out of 
 humour because of the accidents of life; whatsoever 
 befalls me is of God's pleasure, and it is my duty to 
 bear it calmly. In such a state I feel that nothing 
 is wanting, I am abundantly pleased with what I 
 have, and what I have not I do not consider, so that 
 everything around me is grand because it is sufficient. 
 O the blessings of privacy and freedom, which are 
 desired so much by great men, but are the privilege 
 only of humble ones ! It was the prayer of Augustus 
 ' that he might live to retire into private life and so 
 deliver himself from public-affairs.' 
 
 He that lives privately lives quietly ; and he fears 
 nobody of whom nobody is afraid. He that stands 
 low and upon firm ground need not fear falling. 
 What is all the glory and grandeur of the world, 
 what are the great territories in it, compared with 
 that happiness which I now possess and enjoy ? 
 The whole compass of the earth to me seems but a 
 speck, and yet men are anxious to divide it into 
 kingdoms and dominions. When King Philip of 
 Macedon received a fall in a place of wrestling, and 
 turned himself in rising, and saw the print of his 
 body in the dust, ' Good God,' said he, ' what a 
 small portion of earth hath nature assigned us, and
 
 OF THE RETIRED LIFE 173 
 
 yet we covet the whole world !' Some are so 
 covetous that the riches of Potosi will not content 
 them ; whereas in a retired life there is no use for 
 money, except perhaps to look on it and pity those 
 who love it. 
 
 In my retirement I am at no man's command, but 
 am a servant to reason : yet I enjoy that privilege 
 which Diogenes bragged of, when he said, ' Aristotle 
 dines when it seems good to King Philip, but 
 Diogenes when he himself pleases.' It is stark 
 madness for a man to think that he can be safe and 
 quiet when he is a great personage. Many liberties 
 may be taken in a private condition that are 
 dangerous in a public one. In my retreat I can 
 walk alone where I please, without a sword, without 
 fear, and without company. I can go and come, eat 
 and drink, sleep or wake, without being taken 
 notice of. 
 
 The higher we are raised, the more conspicuous 
 are our errors and infirmities ; in a high position, 
 there is not a day, not an hour, that we can call our 
 own. Indeed, how can we expect peace or repose in 
 a station of life wherein all that ever went before us 
 have encountered hazards and troubles if not death 
 itself? When you are exalted in the orb of glory, 
 remember that every man who gapes at you and 
 flatters you is also jealous of you in his heart. It 
 has been a common occurrence for men of the 
 greatest eminence to perish by the hands and harms 1 
 of those whom they least feared. What with our 
 open and secret enemies we are never secure, we 
 are betrayed by our servants, by our relations, and 
 even by our friends; but these are the infelicities and 
 treacheries of courts, not of cottages. Servitude is 
 the lot of those who dwell in palaces ; in courts he 
 that is master of many is yet the servant of more. 
 1 ' Physical proofs of malice' is the sense here. H. S.
 
 I 7 4 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 Innocence hath no residence at court, where ambi- 
 tion always wars against eminent virtue. 
 
 Let any man observe the tumults and the crowds 
 that attend palaces, and he will see what affronts he 
 must brook in the effort to be admitted to one, and 
 what much greater annoyances he must endure when 
 he has effected his entrance. The way to happiness 
 and tranquillity is smooth, but the road to greatness 
 is craggy, and passes not only along the edges of 
 precipices but also over ice and through thorny 
 bushes. Once we have chosen that way, though we 
 may desire to stay and rest sometimes, we shall find 
 that ambition will not allow us to do so. What are 
 crowns and sceptres but golden fetters and splendid 
 miseries ? If mankind did but truly understand this, 
 there would be more kingdoms than kings to govern 
 them. Let not your thoughts dwell upon the splen- 
 dour of a crown, but upon the tempest of cares 
 which rages around it : fix not your eyes upon the 
 purple, but upon the mind of the king, more sad and 
 dark than the purple itself. The diadem doth not 
 more truly encompass his head, than cares and 
 suspicions do his life : look not at the squadrons of 
 his guards, but observe the armies of molestations 
 which attend him. High rank is a great slavery, and 
 thrones are but uneasy seats. 
 
 ' Sedes prima est vita ima. 
 Stet quicunque volet potens 
 Aulae, culmine lubrico : 
 Me dulcis saturet quies. 
 Obscuro positus loco, 
 Leni perfruar otio.' 
 
 Those grandees upon whom the admiring multi- 
 tude gaze, as upon refulgent comets, thinking them 
 to be prodigies of glory and honour, are of all men 
 the most unhappy ; could you look into their breasts,
 
 OF THE RETIRED LIFE 175 
 
 you would see swarms of cares and anxieties in- 
 cessantly corroding their very hearts. 
 
 Consider how the brave men of the world, who for 
 their merit have been advanced to high positions of 
 glory, have for their virtues been ruined. Some 
 have been proscribed because their deserts were 
 above requital ; and others have been banished, not 
 because they had done any harm but for fear lest 
 they might take advantage of their greatness to do 
 some mischief to others. Rutilius and Camillus, to 
 whom Rome did owe not a little of her greatness 
 and renown, were rewarded with banishment : the 
 Athenians cashiered 1 not only their Miltiades and 
 Themistocles, who had often preserved their lives 
 and fortunes, but also their Phocion and Aristides, 
 which are not so much the names of men as they are 
 symbols of virtue and goodness. The Venetians cast 
 into prison that brave Pietro Loredano, a senator 
 of Venice, because he had not power to becalm a 
 tempest by land, I mean a great commotion and 
 tumult raised by the seamen, which threatened much 
 danger to the city ; and the Venetians acted thus 
 ' per ragione di Stato.' 
 
 A person who is virtuous and good does not there- 
 fore always triumph over difficulties ; all things in 
 this world suffer mutation, and he who is most 
 eminent is a mark for the evil arts of base men. 
 Always believe that it is best to live in the temperate 
 zone, ' nee splendide, nee misere.' If heaven shall 
 vouchsafe me such a blessing as that I may enjoy 
 my grotto with content, I can look upon all the great 
 kingdoms of the earth as so many little birds'-nests. 
 And in such a domain I can feel as successful as 
 
 1 Sic De Britaine's text. Miltiades died in prison, unable to 
 pay his fine : Themistocles was ostracised from Athens in 
 471 B.C.: Phocion was put to death : Aristides was ostracised. 
 H. S.
 
 176 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 Alexander did, when he fancied the whole world to 
 be one great city, and his camp the castle of it. 
 
 If I were advanced to the zenith of rank I should 
 at the best be but a porter, doomed to carry a vile 
 carcase up and down the world. As it is, my mind 
 (the nobler part of me) now and again ranges freely 
 through the vast expanse of the heavens, and so can 
 contemplate with awe the universe, the mysterious 
 concatenation of causes, and the stupendous efforts 
 of the Almighty. I can cheerfully bid adieu to the 
 world when I have such matters to consider. 
 
 You will find by experience (which is the best 
 looking-glass for wisdom) that a private life is not 
 only more pleasant but more fortunate than any 
 royal estate. I can easily believe that Diocletian 
 after his retreat from the cares of empire, took more 
 delight in exercising the trade of a gardener in 
 Salona, than he had known in being Emperor of 
 Rome ; for when Maximian wrote to ask him to 
 resume the Imperial dignity which he had with so 
 much felicity retained for twenty years, he returned 
 this answer ' that if Maximian would come to Salona, 
 and observe the rare productions of nature, and see 
 how the cabbages which he had planted with his 
 own hands throve and prospered, he would never 
 trouble his head with crowns nor his hands with 
 sceptres.' 
 
 And sometimes I think that Dionysius took as 
 great pleasure in commanding his scholars in Corinth, 
 as he had experienced in reigning over Syracuse. 1 
 A clear consideration of life made Scipio, after he 
 had raised Rome to be the metropolis of almost the 
 whole world, decide upon a voluntary exile, and retire 
 to a private house in the middle of a wood near 
 Liternum, where he passed the remainder of his 
 
 1 Some writers say that Dionysius the Younger supported 
 himself in his exile at Corinth by keeping a school. H. S.
 
 OF THE RETIRED LIFE 
 
 177 
 
 glorious life in a manner no less creditable to him 
 than his more public career had been. 
 
 The tallest trees are weakest in the tops, and envy 
 always aims at the highest. In the case of grandees 
 who have been bad men we find that their own 
 demerit precipitates their fate ; while with regard to 
 the good ones it is but too true that their virtues 
 have often been their ruin. When great men have 
 been fortunate abroad, they have often been undone 
 at home by treachery or jealousies, and when they 
 are unsuccessful in their projects the caprices of 
 fortune are reckoned as their oversights, and their 
 misfortunes are esteemed as crimes. However, 
 though a virtuous and honest man (such as I wish 
 you ever to be) may have the ill-luck to let his ship 
 strike upon a rock, yet he will save his cargo of 
 character, and so will have something left with which 
 to begin life over again. There is no safety, no 
 comfort, no contentment, in greatness ; the know- 
 ledge of this made a great man say ' requiem 
 quaesivi et non inveni, nisi in angulo cum libello (I 
 have sought for rest and quiet, but could not find it, 
 save in a little corner with a book).' 
 
 ' Vive tibi, et longe nomina magna fuge.' 
 
 O the sweetness and pleasure of those blessed 
 hours that I spend at a distance from the noise and 
 business of the world ! So calm and gentle is the 
 life that not so much as a cloud or breath of wind 
 disturbs the serenity of my mind. The world of 
 affairs is to me a prison, but solitude is a paradise. 
 If there seems to you something pleasant in the idea 
 of beholding from the shore the spectacle of mariners 
 striving with storms, or of watching, from some safe 
 height, armies engage in battle, then certainly you 
 should think nothing more delightful than from the 
 calm throne of wisdom to view the tumults and 
 
 12
 
 178 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 contentions of fools. Not that it is pleasant to know 
 that others are afflicted ; but there is some consola- 
 tion in seeing that we keep ourselves from being 
 involved in the same evils. 1 
 
 All the exterior lustre of the world, which charms 
 the eyes of men, is but a painted scene, or a dial 
 which we gaze upon when the sun of rank beams 
 upon it. It is but like an act in a comedy which 
 presently reaches its ' exeunt omnes.' Long life and 
 a peaceful death are not granted or obtained by any 
 royal charter unless virtue and integrity countersign 
 the patent : flattery and envy, two old and cunning 
 courtiers, lay secret trains wherewith to blow up the 
 greatest structure of fortune. So give me a retired 
 life, a peaceful conscience, honest thoughts, and 
 virtuous actions, and I can pity Caesar. 
 
 SECTION XXVII. 
 
 Of Complaisance. 
 
 T will shew great prudence in you to study 
 carefully the art of reasonable complais- 
 ance, certainly an art of excellent use in 
 the conduct of affairs. For there are so 
 many obstacles in the ways that lead to a good 
 
 1 I may be permitted to point out (in the interests of young 
 readers) the extreme danger of this teaching. To the passionate 
 lover of the intellectual life, this temptation to detachment of 
 the mind from the human interests of the senate and the 
 market-place has always seemed to come in divine guise. To 
 fastidious and high-souled youth it appeals with fatal force, 
 especially in a vulgar and sordid age. But we are put into the 
 world to act, not {pace a great saint and many philosophers) 
 to be ' spectators of existence,' and the condemnation of ' intel- 
 lectual detachment ' is that it induces paralysis of action as well 
 as results in a withered soul. H. S.
 
 OF COMPLAISANCE 179 
 
 estate or to high position, that a morose or peremp- 
 tory man rarely attains to either. Never so violently 
 oppose yourself to the current of affairs in the times 
 in which you live as to hazard your fame or fortune ; 
 but by fair complaisance ensure your safety. Plato 
 compares a wise man to a clever gamester, who 
 accommodates his play to the chances of the die. 
 So should a wise man accommodate his acts to the 
 events of life which often require new departures. 
 
 Mahomet once made the people believe that he 
 was about to call a mountain to him, and from the 
 top of it offer up his prayers for the observers of his 
 law. When the people were assembled, Mahomet 
 over and over again called the mountain to come to 
 him ; however, when the mountain did not move he 
 was not at all put out of countenance at his failure 
 but passed it off with a jest. ' If the mountain will 
 not come to Mahomet,' said he, ' Mahomet will go 
 to the mountain.' You must imitate M. Porcius 
 Cato, who was of such a temperament that he could 
 suit himself to all occasions and was never at a loss. 
 
 Knowledge itself ought to be dressed according to 
 the fashion of the day, and it is no small effort of 
 ability to imitate the ignorant ; we can but perceive 
 how public taste changes with the times. A prudent 
 man must accommodate himself to the present, even 
 though the past may seem better unto him. 
 
 When anything is asked of you which you are not 
 willing to grant, do not refuse point-blank, but offer 
 your refusal slowly and so let it be taken down as it 
 were by sips. Leave always a remnant of hope to 
 dissipate partially the bitterness of the disappoint- 
 ment ; let courtesy fill up the empty place of 
 consent, and good words supply the shortcomings 
 of good deeds ; leave men some hope, when you 
 cannot give them any satisfaction. A complaisant 
 disposition, assisted by a practical knowledge of 
 
 12 2
 
 iSo THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 men and things, gains and delights the hearts of 
 people ; it is a thing which a man must have, if he 
 is to make the best of his own talent. A pleasant 
 countenance hath certain charms which have a 
 great influence on the minds of men. 
 
 Marshal de Retz 1 deserved the highest praise for 
 his universal complaisance ; access to his person 
 was ever easy, his temperament was not morose, 
 his demeanour was serene, and when necessity and 
 private reasons obliged him not to grant a petition 
 the refusal was couched in terms that sweetened the 
 dose to the unsuccessful applicant. Truth has force, 
 reason has authority, and justice has power, but 
 they are without lustre if a graceful method and 
 manner of doing be wanting. It is a pleasant way 
 of doing things that largely helps to make the man 
 of fashion. 2 A wise pilot always sets his sails 
 according to the wind. 
 
 It will be prudent of you to ascribe your most 
 eminent performances to the interposition of Provi- 
 dence, for that will take off the edge of envy ; and 
 none are less maligned secretly, or more applauded 
 openly, than they who are thought to be rather 
 happy than able, rather fortunate than cunning. 
 When you come into company, or have to act with 
 other men, lay aside all sharp and morose humours 
 and be pleasant ; for that will make you acceptable, 
 and the better effect your ends. Xenocrates, who 
 was naturally of a severe and rigid disposition, used 
 to make himself very agreeable in society ; when the 
 disciples of Plato wondered much at this, Plato said, 
 ' Do you wonder that roses and lilies grow amongst 
 thorns ?' 
 
 1 Albert de Gondi, made Due de Retz by Henri III. He was 
 French ambassador to England. The date of his death is 
 variously given, but ' 1602' seems to be correct. H. S. 
 
 3 De Britaine's phrase. H. S.
 
 OF COMPLAISANCE 181 
 
 I must confess, that owing to the malignity of my 
 stars, I am very morose. I cannot suit myself to 
 the humour of other men ; I cannot, as Anaxagoras 
 did, maintain snow to be black, nor, as Favorinus 
 did, say that a quartan ague is a very good thing, 
 but must appear without any disguise, and declare 
 my judgment according to my own sentiments. I 
 have no Sol in me, nor am I ductile ; I cannot 
 mould myself Platonically to the world's Idea : I 
 had rather lose my head, than stoop to any low and 
 unbecoming action : in my solitudes I can bless 
 myself, when I contemplate the felicity that my 
 ashes will meet in the urn. 1 
 
 *'- 
 
 SECTION XXVIII. 
 
 Of e Faber Fortunae.' 
 
 VERY man is ' Faber Fortunae,' but there 
 are many 'fortunae ' spoiled in the making. 
 If you aim at advancement in the world, 
 be sure you have ' Jovem in area ' ; your 
 flight to preferment will be but slow without some 
 golden feathers. You must study to ingratiate 
 yourself into the favour of some great person, 2 upon 
 whom you must depend rather than upon your own 
 virtues ; if not, you will be like a hop without a pole 
 for everyone to tread upon ; and wise men know 
 that merit must take a great compass 3 to rise, if not 
 assisted by favour. 
 
 1 This sentence is printed precisely as it stands in De 
 Britaine's text, minus a few capital letters. H. S. 
 
 1 De Britaine is but stating the custom of the time. H. S. 
 
 5 Viz., ' must waste much time in taking a roundabout course.' 
 De Britaine is thinking of those kinds of birds which cannot 
 rise in the air from the ground without first taking a run or 
 flying low for some distance. H. S.
 
 182 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 To gain the favour of great persons you must be 
 skilful in the art of fencing ; for he that on the right 
 or left hits their humour, wins the bout, and partakes 
 of their bounty, but not he that merely shews much 
 skill. If you wish to be a favourite, it is prudent to 
 get Fame to sound the trumpet of your worth before 
 you offer yourself; for by that means you will make 
 yourself coveted, which will be a great advantage to 
 you. But if you merely offer and intrude yourself, 
 they 1 will think you are sufficiently rewarded by 
 being accepted. 
 
 In attempting to raise the fabric of your fortune 
 you will need no small wisdom to teach you how to 
 polish and set off to advantage the materials of 
 ordinary discourse. To discern temperaments, to 
 suit the humours and character of men, rightly to 
 observe the times and prudently to make oppor- 
 tunities, will raise you as it were by steps toward 
 the pinnacle you aspire to. Some men who are 
 bent on the pursuit of fortune are well versed in 
 human character, but know not the nature of 
 business ; others are only wise by rule, and by the 
 study of maxims, but ignorant as to the timing of 
 business and the making of opportunities. I have 
 known men who have raised themselves in the world 
 by flattery (an art much in fashion) and so have 
 done their business without running any risks, but 
 I look upon flatterers as pests of society, and as 
 disgraces of human nature. 
 
 He that will be master in the art of raising himself 
 must set before him as an example that excellent 
 Cato Major, who was said to be ' adeo versatilis 
 ingenii, ut, quocunque loco viveret, fortunam sibi 
 fabricare videretur.' To be debonair, and to behave 
 yourself with decorum, will contribute much to your 
 advancement ; for as the Roman orator tells you 
 1 Viz., ' high personages.' H. S.
 
 OF <FABER FORTUN4E' 183 
 
 * Proprium hoc esse prudentiae, conciliate sibi 
 animos hominum et ad usus suos adjungere.' The 
 veiling of your imperfections and defects is of no less 
 importance than the exhibition of your ability. The 
 mould of a man's fortune is in his own hands. 
 
 The man who wishes to be the architect of his 
 own fortune must dispose his mind to judge of things 
 as they conduce to his particular ends ; for we 
 observe that some men, in the conduct of affairs, 
 prefer things of show and appearance before things 
 of substance and effect. I do not advise you to pass 
 for, or even to be, a crafty man ; but the truth is 
 there is no living nowadays without using every 
 reasonable precaution ; and it is well to be reputed 
 prudent, though ill to be thought cunning. First 
 employments are a trial of worth, and an opportunity 
 of setting forth your credit and character to the 
 world ; and what you may succeed in doing after- 
 wards can hardly make amends for any errors you 
 may commit in your early undertakings. You must 
 be careful upon all occasions to set forth and exhibit 
 your talent to the best advantage ; for concealed 
 ability is like undiscovered treasure. 
 
 Make sail while the gale blows, and glide with the 
 current while the stream is most strong ; for if you 
 follow Fortune when you first meet her she will 
 usually treat you well. But he that cannot some- 
 times contrive to sail against the stream will hardly 
 attain the port which he purposed to reach ; for there 
 is always some difficulty in the voyage to the shores 
 of grandeur ; therefore let him not enter into the 
 wood that is afraid of rustling leaves. In embarking 
 upon a public career you must never leave a string 
 untouched that may make music for your interest 
 and advantage. You must be of a sagacious spirit, 
 for sagacity is an oracle in doubts and a golden 
 thread in a labyrinth. A habit of quickness of
 
 184 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 dispatch in business will prove to be a great help to 
 you in attempting to rise ; for superiors do not love 
 to employ those who are subtile and slow as much 
 as those who are speedy and diligent. 
 
 The failure of one man often creates the oppor- 
 tunity for another man's success, and no man 
 prospers so suddenly as one who is helped by the 
 errors of others. It is common to see one man 
 build his fortune out of the ruins of another ; when 
 the tree has once fallen everyone hastens to gather 
 sticks. A philosopher, who was asked what was 
 going on in the heavens, answered, ' magnae ollae 
 franguntur et ex frustis earum minores fiunt.' We 
 see in nature that the corruption of one thing pro- 
 duces the generation of another ; and many men 
 have generated their own fortunes by charging 
 others with corruption. But I cannot approve of 
 the methods of that Italian grandee who used to 
 advance himself in the world by tempting men into 
 dangerous practices, and then making a great show 
 of detecting them, so that other men's offences 
 became his first steps to his own greatness. 
 
 If you have merit, and aspire to rise, it may be 
 judicious to transplant yourself, for in your own 
 country there may be jealousy of your eminent 
 qualities, and your own countrymen will be more 
 likely to bear in mind the imperfections which you 
 had in the beginning of your career than the merits 
 by which you have since advanced yourself; he will 
 scarcely have great veneration for an image, who has 
 seen it as the stump of a tree. 
 
 ' Homini praeclaro vivendum ubi Princeps vivit.' 
 
 If you aspire to advancement, it is not enough for 
 you to stand at the gate of fortune in a graceful atti- 
 tude and wait till she opens it ; for ' ut hae tibi 
 pateant fores confidentia et industria pulsandum est
 
 OF ' FAEER FORTUNAE* 185 
 
 fortiter,' self-confidence and industry are two neces- 
 sary and most useful appliances for the climber to 
 grandeur. It is not enough for a man to have merit 
 and virtue, he must know how to bring them into 
 play ; he must both be good and good for something. 
 Sometimes a trivial action, if done well and at the 
 right time, promotes a man more than the most solid 
 ability or the greatest merit. The Grand Seignior 1 
 was one day reading a letter upon a terrace in his 
 gardens, and the wind blew it out of his hand ; the 
 pages-in-waiting were emulous to please so great a 
 prince, and ran round by the stairs to fetch it up ; 
 but one page who had practised leaping threw him- 
 self from the parapet and seized the paper as it fell. 
 With one bound, he regained the terrace with it 
 and presented it to the Grand Seignior, whilst the 
 rest were running along the terrace to reach the 
 staircase ; this, to speak truly, was a raising of him- 
 self to grandeur, for the prince being wonderfully 
 surprised at so prompt an action advanced the page 
 by degrees to the highest dignity, so that at last he 
 was made Grand Vizier. 
 
 A pleasant jest, or an apt repartee, sometimes 
 advances a man more than all his industry or virtue. 
 Doctor Montaigne, 2 who had been a favourite Chap- 
 lain to King James the first, was once in waiting 
 upon King Charles the first when his Majesty was 
 walking in St. James's Park; the King told the doctor, 
 ' that he was more troubled as to how to dispose of 
 the Archbishopric of York (which was then vacant) 
 than he had been about any appointment in his life. 
 
 1 Sultan of Turkey. H. S. 
 
 2 George Montaigne or Mountain (born 1569, died 1628). 
 De Britaine (in the eleventh as in the fifth edition) calls him 
 Mountague, apparently confusing him with Richard Montagu 
 or Mountague, who died Bishop of Norwich in 1641. De 
 Britaine's text also has 'Bishoprick of London' as the vacant 
 see of the anecdote. H. S.
 
 i86 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 * For there are so many that seek it with such high 
 recommendations,' said the king, ' that I know not to 
 whom to give it.' The doctor made reply to his 
 Majesty, 'that if he had faith he might easily dispose 
 of it.' ' Do you take me for an infidel ?' said the 
 King. ' No, please your Majesty,' said the doctor, 
 
 * but I assert that if your Majesty had faith enough, 
 you might remove this mountain (clapping his hand 
 upon his breast) into the see.' The King was so well 
 pleased with the pun, that he gave the Archbishopric 
 to the doctor. 
 
 Some politic men have raised themselves to 
 honour by freeness in opening themselves. Sigis- 
 mund of Lunenburgh, 1 King of Hungary, being at 
 the diet which was held for the purpose of choosing 
 an emperor of Germany after the death of Rupert of 
 the Palatinate, made a speech first (as was the 
 custom) declaring to the electors the qualifications 
 that an emperor should have. Sigismund set forth 
 that an emperor ought to be a wise prince, have 
 sufficient fortune wherewith to support the dignity, 
 and be a valiant man, one able to protect the interests 
 of the electors. After he had discoursed of these 
 matters at some length, he told them ' that he 
 thought these qualifications did not exist in any 
 person more than they did in himself, and conse- 
 quently that no man was more worthy of the empire 
 than himself;' the rest of the electors were so well 
 pleased with his boldness and frankness that they 
 unanimously gave him their votes, and so he was 
 advanced to the imperial dignity. 
 
 1 I regret that I had overlooked this not too veracious anec- 
 dote until my note on page 45 had passed through the press. 
 Sigismund, Emperor of Germany, was of the house of ' Luxem- 
 burgh' 1 (as De Britaine would probably spell Luxembourg), and 
 the word in the text is doubtless one of the not infrequent 
 printer's errors found in ' Humane Prudence.' The error is the 
 same in the fifth, eleventh, and twelfth editions. I have altered 
 one or two details in the text of the anecdote. H. S.
 
 OF ' FAEER FOR TUN4E ' 187 
 
 Honours and preferments are rarely the reward 
 of virtue, but often the gift of whim and favour : 
 is it not strange to observe a person raised to the 
 dignity of a Constable of France 1 for having taught 
 magpies to fly at swallows ? To what grandeur do 
 you think such a person as Domitian, who was so 
 clever at catching flies, would have advanced him- 
 self if he had lived in that prince's 2 time ? But let 
 honours be the rewards of your merit, and not be 
 your desired haven ; attain to preferments not by 
 winding stairs, but by the scale of your own virtues : 
 if you miss promotion, you must content yourself 
 with the thought that there is a reward for all things 
 except virtue in this world. Though virtue be a 
 patent for rank, and preferment ought to be an 
 encouragement for worth, yet it may be observed in 
 the course of affairs in this world that men of great 
 abilities are often designedly suppressed ; and exalted 
 personages sometimes deal with persons of high 
 accomplishment as the birds mentioned by Plutarch 
 did with the jay, which they ill-treated for fear, in 
 time, she might become an eagle. 
 
 And it hath been the unhappy fate of many 
 virtuous persons, to be like an axe, which, when it 
 has cut down the hard timber, is hanged up against 
 the wall unregarded, or to be like a top, which has 
 been often scourged and has spun 3 well, but comes 
 at last to be lodged up for a nobbier. 4 The great 
 
 1 Is this a reference to the Due de Luynes? Compare 
 page 104. H. S. 
 
 a Viz. Louis XIII. H. S. 
 
 8 De Britaine's text has ' run.' H. S. 
 
 4 De Britaine's text (eleventh edition) has 'lodged up for a 
 Hobbler'; but the fifth and twelfth editions both spell the noun 
 as ' Hobler.' If this does not mean ' put away for the use of a 
 younger child after the boys have grown tired of it,' I am at a 
 loss to explain it. It is curious that Lyly's 'Mother Bombie' 
 is quoted by Nares (edition of 1888) as containing these
 
 i88 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 Gonsalvo de Cordova, after he had conquered the 
 Kingdom of Naples for Ferdinand of Spain, lived 
 under an ostracism in his own country without 
 preferment or regard. At a certain Roman election, 
 Vatinius (a person of no moment) was advanced to 
 the dignity of a praetor; but Cato, the glory of his 
 age, was rejected. Rome's second founder 1 Camillus 
 tasted exile ; Scipio that great scourge of Carthage 
 was accused of ' majestas,' and Coriolanus died in 
 exile, chiefly because their worth and virtue lifted 
 them above the ordinary pitch of subjects. 'Tis a 
 great pity, methinks, thus to see the curtain drawn 
 between a virtuous person and preferment. So far 
 am I from agreeing with the philosopher Carneades, 
 ' that injustice is to be preferred before justice,' or 
 that it is better to be a knave than a virtuous and 
 honest man ; though I am often almost tempted to 
 the opinion that it is better to be fortunate than to 
 be wise or just, and ready to cry out with Brutus 
 
 ' O Virtus, colui te ut rem, at tu nomen es inane.' 
 
 Therefore, if you design to rise and become great, 
 I would not advise you to become too accomplished 
 or to strive to be very learned or profound. For I 
 have observed that knowledge often gives a check to 
 confidence, which is the scale and rundle 2 by which 
 
 puzzling words: 'rather than I'll lead this life, I'll throw my 
 riddle into the leads for a hobler.' Halliwell (edition of 1850) 
 gives 'hobler-hole' as alluded to as the name of the hinder-hole 
 at a boy's game in a book of the date 1655. Hobler, Hobbler, 
 or Hobeler was also a general name for a light horseman (one 
 who rode on a hobby that is, a pony), and a special name 
 (i) for tenants bound to put themselves, and hobbies main- 
 tained by them, at the service of their country, (2) for the 
 Beacon-Sentinels of the Isle of Wight. H. S. 
 
 1 A reference to the phrase ' the Second Romulus.' H. S. 
 
 8 'Scale' may be used in its sense of 'ladder/ and 'rundle' 
 in its sense of 'rung.' But I rather think that De Britaine
 
 OF ' FAEER FOR TUNAE ' 189 
 
 many climb up to the pinnacle; and I find by experi- 
 ence that common heads and narrow souls often 
 work wonders by industry accompanied with ambi- 
 tion and covetousness, and usually do the business 
 of the world. When Cardinal Peretti was made 
 pope Sixtus V., an old acquaintance of his came to 
 pay him a visit and to rejoice with him at his great 
 advancement; but when they were alone together 
 he told his Holiness, ' that he much wondered how 
 he came to be promoted to the dignity of Head of 
 the Church, when he had such moderate abilities.' 
 Sixtus answered him, ' that if he understood how 
 folly governed the world, he would not wonder that 
 he was made Pope.' It was but too truly observed 
 by an Italian writer, that there are not two more 
 fortunate qualifications for success in this world 
 than to have a touch of the fool, and not too much 
 of the honest man, in one's character ; virtue or 
 merit is nowadays held in esteem no longer than 
 there is use for it. 
 
 But be assured, there is nothing so dangerous and 
 terrible in any state, as a powerful and authorised 
 ignorance. 1 Men of weak abilities established in 
 high places are, like little statues set on great bases, 
 made to appear by their situation even less than 
 they are ; whereas wise men exalted, like good 
 planets moving in their several spheres, carry their 
 influences of virtue and wisdom round about the 
 kingdom. In this world a little good-fortune is 
 better than a great deal of virtue ; and the least 
 position of authority hath advantage over the 
 greatest ability. But let nothing disquiet you ; a 
 virtuous person will at some time or another be 
 
 refers to the acrobatic use of a ring or loop and a rope. I have 
 seen negroes go up cocoanut-palms with some such appliances. 
 H. S. ' 
 1 Possibly a cut at the Commonwealth. H. S.
 
 igo THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 thought good for something, and a wise man will 
 once in an age come in fashion ; fortune doth 
 sometimes reward with interest those who have the 
 patience to wait for her. I am much pleased with 
 the shrewdness which led Themistocles to under- 
 stand the Athenians so well, that he compared 
 himself to a plane 1 tree, the leaves and boughs 
 whereof men break off in fair weather, though they 
 run under it quickly enough for shelter in a storm. 
 Princes may bestow preferments, but they cannot 
 make men truly honourable. The cook of Helio- 
 gabalus was still but a base fellow, though his 
 master made him as great as were his own vices. 
 
 And it is sometimes a greater honour to fail of 
 the reward of merit than to receive it ; the true 
 glory and highest recompense of noble actions, is to 
 have done them ; and Virtue can find no guerdon 
 (except in herself) which is worthy of her. Cato 
 gloried more in knowing that people asked why he 
 was not promoted, than he would have done in 
 enjoying the greatest honours they had to bestow. 
 If you have gained for yourself a reputation for 
 virtue, be wise and make a fair retreat in time to 
 preserve it unimpaired and to ward off envy ; there 
 is nothing better than a life withdrawn from daily con- 
 versation, especially that of the multitude. 
 1 Fugiat Sapiens commercia vulgi.' 
 
 The greatest perfection loses some of its worth by 
 being in sight every day ; therefore let a wise man 
 betake himself to the sanctuary of an honourable 
 retirement, for a fair retreat is as glorious as a gal- 
 lant combat. Solon considered Tellus 2 the Athenian 
 
 1 De Britaine's text has 'Palm Tree,' an absurdity which 
 warned me to look through a translation of Plutarch's ' Themis- 
 tocles.' H. S. 
 
 2 When Crcesus asked Solon if he had ever beheld a happier 
 man than Crcesus, Solon instanced Tellus, a local hero. H. S.
 
 OF NEGOTIATING 191 
 
 a most happy man because he lived privately upon 
 his own lands. 
 
 r 
 
 SECTION XXIX. 
 
 Of Negotiating. 1 
 
 JITH regard to any undertakings, first 
 examine your own strength, then the 
 enterprise itself, and thirdly the person 
 with whom you have to do. Take a just 
 measure of your ability to perform it, and whether 
 you can take it in hand without injury to your other 
 occupations ; before you commence action, consider 
 first what the object of the enterprise is, and next, 
 what means and instruments you have with which to 
 effectuate it. It is indiscreet to attempt an eagle's 
 flight with the wings of a wren ; consider, ' Quid 
 valeant humeri, quid ferre recusent ?' Have a care 
 lest in attempting too high things you court mishap, 
 and be like Thales, of whom Laertius narrates a tale, 
 that while the philosopher was contemplating the 
 stars, he fell into a ditch. When an enterprise fails, 
 a door is opened for contempt. 
 
 It is not prudent to attempt over-hard or extra- 
 ordinary enterprises, rather you should choose to 
 exercise your ability upon those which are the most 
 practicable and passant; 2 this will preserve you from 
 
 1 Viz., 'transacting business.' De Britaine may have taken 
 the title of this section from Bacon's Essays. H. S. 
 
 2 Sir Thomas Browne uses ' passant ' for ' current ': ' a popular 
 error passant in our days.' (See Wilkin's 1835-6 edition of 
 Browne's Works, volume 2, page 238, which is part of the eighth 
 chapter of the first book of ' Pseudodoxia Epidemica.') But 
 De Britaine's meaning appears to be, rather, ' ready-to-your- 
 hand.' H. S.
 
 i 9 2 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 the touch of the foil, and increase your reputation. 
 And when you attempt any great enterprise, take a 
 companion with you, by that means you secure your- 
 self against whatever evil may happen, or at least 
 you are likely to have to bear only part of it ; the 
 skilful physician, who hath not succeeded in the cure 
 of his patient, never fails to call for the assistance of 
 another, who under the name of consultation helps 
 to bear the pall ; he that takes the whole conduct of 
 an affair upon himself alone, attracts to himself all 
 eyes. In your undertakings, if you desire to be suc- 
 cessful, you must let reason sit as president of all 
 your actions. Blunders are usually the results of 
 some folly : and fools are unfortunate because they 
 never think things out. Men believe that Luck is a 
 greater goddess than she really is, and then by their 
 own folly they increase her power. 
 
 Foresight is the right eye of prudence. He that 
 forecasts what may happen will never be surprised ; 
 it is too late to begin to arm when the enemy is in 
 our quarters. Prudence must be the midwife for all 
 actions if they are to be well delivered ; without it 
 they are but at best still-born. Prudence should be 
 a domestic oracle to you ; it is the Ariadne's clue 1 
 which will guide you through the Mseanders 2 of the 
 most perplexing and intricate affairs. Credulity is 
 the guide of fools, but reason and prudence conduct 
 wise men : be like Homer's wise man who had his 
 eyes ' a fronte et tergo ' (before and behind) ; 
 remember Periander's 'always beware!' Thought 
 is all in all : prudence will forestall all blunders and 
 infelicities in your actions, and will ring the alarum 
 
 1 Ariadne gave Theseus 'the clue of thread by means of 
 which he found his way out of the Labyrinth.' H. S. 
 
 1 Sic De Britaine. The Maeander was a stream proverbial 
 for its windings. I find ' Meanders ' quoted as used as a plural 
 by Shakspere, Evelyn, and Arbuthnot. H. S.
 
 OF NEGOTIATING 193 
 
 bell 1 upon the approach of any to make you fly to 
 the remedy. 
 
 If you have any enterprise in hand, grasp it with 
 a boon 1 courage, for from diffidence immediately 
 springs fear, and fear banishes self-reliance. Philip 
 of Spain having designed to make a certain man an 
 ambassador, the man came to converse with the 
 king, and proceeded to make some requests about 
 his embassy with a modest and indifferent air; 
 whereupon Philip remarked, ' how can I expect that 
 this man will promote and effect my business, when 
 he is so fearful and faint in his solicitations about his 
 own ?' You should perceive that confidence and 
 boldness are excellent engines wherewith to effect 
 your intentions ; for by an effluxion of spirits 2 from 
 your fancy, you do, as it were, pull and bind him 
 with whom you have to do to condescend to your 
 desires. 
 
 Be not over-precipitate in your designs ; great 
 designs require great consideration, and they must 
 be allowed to have time to mature, otherwise they 
 will prove abortive. It is said that the Emperor 
 Vespasian stamped some of his coinage with a 
 dolphin and an anchor and the motto ' Soon enough 
 if well enough.' (The dolphin can outstrip the ship, 
 so that she arrives soon enough ; an anchor holds a 
 ship safely, so that the ship is well enough.) 
 
 In an affair of difficulty you must not think to sow 
 and reap at once, but must prepare the business, and 
 then ripen it by degrees. When you intend to do 
 anything important, never blow a trumpet so that 
 the attention of others is called to your project. He 
 who reveals his plans is obnoxious to 3 censure, and 
 if he does not succeed in them, he becomes ridicu- 
 
 1 Sic De Britaine. H. S. 2 Viz., 'influences.' H. S. 
 
 3 This use of the phrase is now almost confined to medical 
 writers. H. S 
 
 13
 
 i 9 4 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT41NE 
 
 lous ; secrecy in business is a great means of obtain- 
 ing the object of it. Silence about business holds 
 the minds of men in suspense, and raises expecta- 
 tion, which leads to everything you say and do being 
 set down as part of a mystery which hides great 
 ability. 
 
 ' Cum facturus es aliquid, cogita quo in statu eris cum egeris, 
 seu expediat seu non." 
 
 Never attempt anything which is not hopeful and 
 just, for it will be equally troublesome to you either 
 not to succeed or to be ashamed of the success. 
 And in all your affairs strive to choose instruments 
 that are good of their kind and are adapted to the 
 business in hand ; for be assured that if they prove 
 not to be so, the whole machine 1 of your enterprise, 
 however well contrived, will fall to pieces. There 
 be persons that can pack the cards, 2 and yet cannot 
 play well ; some men are good in action but are bad 
 counsellors ; others are good counsellors but are 
 bad actors ; you must make choice of such persons 
 as are good in their own affairs as instruments to aid 
 your own good counsel of yourself. A fool knows 
 more in his own house than a wise man in an- 
 other's. 
 
 I like not the choice of such instruments as are so 
 over-cunning that they can sound the depth and 
 bottom of whatever design they are put to assist, for 
 they are seldom honest and true to their trust ; or of 
 those who are willing to contrive anything whereby 
 to prejudice the person who employed them, once 
 they are out of his service. There is a Roman tale 
 of a man who for a longtime held high office, not for 
 
 1 Sic De Britaine. H. S. 
 
 2 'Arrange the cards in such a way as to secure an undue 
 advantage.'' Bacon's Essay 'Of Cunning' (Whately's 1857 
 edition of Bacon's Essays, page 204) says : ' There be that can 
 pack the cards, and yet cannot play well.' H. S.
 
 OF NEGOTIATING 195 
 
 any excellent ability that was in him ' sed quia par 
 negotiis neque supra erat ' (but because his suffi- 
 ciency did no more than equal the charge which was 
 imposed upon him). 
 
 In the management of affairs it is not safe always 
 to use the same tools or the same conduct, for that 
 being in time observed by those with whom you have 
 to do, you will then assuredly be disappointed in 
 some enterprise ; it is easy to shoot a bird that flies 
 outright, but not one that is irregular in its move- 
 ments. A cunning gamester seldom plays the card 
 which his adversary expects, much less the one 
 which he desires. Yet it is not good to employ 
 intrigue often, or to deal too much in artifices, for 
 once you are suspected of it you will soon be dis- 
 covered ; jealousy is always upon the watch, and 
 you need much skill to guard against it. A wise 
 man walks not always along the same road, nor 
 keeps always the same pace ; so a man who is judi- 
 cious in business acts according to the occurrences 
 of affairs, and varies his methods according to the 
 alterations of time and place. 
 
 Your instruments being well chosen, the next 
 step is to observe that excellent apothegm of Pit- 
 tacus, 1 ' Recognise the opportunity,' for be assured 
 that the right timing of business is a most important 
 point as to its transaction ; affairs depend on many 
 circumstances, and what succeeds at one time 
 would fail at another. Time is the measure of busi- 
 ness, as money is of wars ; if the tides and currents 
 of opportunity be not used when they run high the 
 ship rarely reaches port. Opportunities are quick- 
 flying game, and are rarely hit by a second discharge. 
 There is nothing which contributes more to the 
 making of undertakings prosperous than the seizure 
 of times and opportunities for business ; if you let 
 1 One of the ' Seven Wise Men of Greece.' H. S. 
 
 13 2
 
 196 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 them slip, all your plans must be rendered unsuc- 
 cessful ; but if they be promptly grasped and used 
 with diligence you will seldom miss your objects. 
 
 The State of Venice once sent two ambassadors 
 to a Pope about some grand business that concerned 
 him and the republic ; but they were informed, on 
 inquiry, that the Pope was very ill and kept his bed. 
 Thereupon the ambassadors pressed for an audience, 
 and after great importunity it was granted to them. 
 One of the ambassadors wisely made a very long 
 harangue to the Pope about the affair, and at great 
 length assured his Holiness that he had been mis- 
 informed as to the action of the State of Venice ; 
 the sick Pope suffered greatly, by reason of the 
 tediousness of the oration. The other ambassador, 
 seeing this, followed the lead of the first, and told 
 his Holiness, ' that he was afraid that his Holiness 
 did not fully grasp the matter, because he was so ill, 
 that if he pleased, his colleague would repeat his 
 speech over again.' The Pope answered 'that if 
 the ambassadors would say what they wanted, he 
 would grant their request, rather than hear a long 
 oration over again.' And thus, by the shrewdness 
 of her ambassadors in seizing an opportunity, Venice 
 gained that from the Pope which at another time 
 she could never have obtained of him. 
 
 A wise man must not only turn with opportunity 
 but also run with it. If you hope to bring your ship 
 into a safe harbour, you must weigh anchor and set 
 sail when the tide serves and the wind blows from 
 the right quarter. When you make an important 
 proposition of business to any person, you must first 
 know his character, next feel his pulse, and then 
 attack him in alliance with his own desires, and you 
 will rarely fail to succeed. You must learn to be a 
 good Book-man, 1 one who understands men as well 
 1 Sic De Britaine. H. S.
 
 OF NEGOTIATING 197 
 
 as he does books ; get Apollo's spectacles, 1 Tiresias's 
 bright lamp of understanding, or the true candle of 
 Epictetus, and you will discern most men at the 
 first glance, and will learn to observe all their 
 methods and the twistings of the human mind. 
 There is a great difference between knowing things 
 and knowing persons ; it is a quaint piece of philo- 
 sophy to discern the minds and humours of men ; 
 and the knowledge of persons teaches men who take 
 pleasure in the game of business to play their cards 
 better, and to handle affairs with more dexterity. 
 
 The truest exposition of human nature is by the 
 characters and aims of men ; the weakest sort of 
 men are best interpreted by their characters, the 
 wisest by their objects. By trifles the qualities of 
 men are as well shewn as by great actions ; because 
 in matters of importance they commonly adopt 
 such behaviour as suits their interest and endeavour 
 to restrain themselves, but in lesser things they 
 follow the current of their own natures. 2 ' Sermo est 
 index animi '; speech is the interpreter of the mind ; 
 words, though they are often full of flattery or dis- 
 simulation, are not to be disregarded as signs of 
 character, especially when they are spoken with 
 passion or haste ; and a few words casually dropped 
 are often more worthy of our attention than those 
 of set solemn speeches which rather shew men's 
 arts than their natures. 
 
 In broaching matters of business behave yourself 
 with prudence (which is the key to unlock secrets, 
 
 1 Apollo received the gift of divination from Pan. H. S. 
 
 2 Schopenhauer, chief among practical philosophers, has 
 insisted upon this idea with terrible force. But it does not 
 apply to all kinds of character. Very generous and unselfish 
 men are sometimes mean in trifles, and saintly people are 
 often unscrupulous and irritable in domestic details, whereas 
 murderers have borne on the whole an excellent character for 
 kindness to animals. H. S.
 
 198 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITA1NE 
 
 and unriddle mysteries) otherwise you will have no 
 good return for the information which you afford. 
 He that has a pleasant manner in discoursing of 
 business, but is not prudent in what he says, is like 
 a house that has beautiful gates and staircases, but 
 in which there is not one good room. When an old 
 acquaintance of Tiberius began to speak to him with 
 the phrase 'you remember Tiberius,' 'no,' said 
 Caesar (cutting him short), ' I do not remember what 
 I was.' When you address any person, fix your eyes 
 upon his face and figure, and try to look into the re- 
 cesses of his mind, and you may get direction in 
 your business ; for as the tongue speaks to the ear 
 so the gesture does to the eye. Atticus, before the 
 first interview occurred between Caesar and Cicero, 
 gave Cicero serious advice with regard to the com- 
 posing of his countenance and ordering of his 
 gestures. 
 
 You must learn to shape yourself, and cultivate a 
 good judgment in matters of business. ' Illud est 
 sapere si ubicunque opus sit, animum possis flectere/ 
 The power to recognise temperaments, to discern 
 the humour and to suit the character of him with 
 whom you have to do, is a possession absolutely 
 necessary, but requires a capacity of wisdom where- 
 with to acquire it. Keep formality above board but 
 prudence and wisdom under decks ; for nothing will 
 give a greater remora 1 to your plans, than to be 
 esteemed sagacious by those with whom you are 
 doing business ; your repute for wisdom will serve 
 but as a warning to them never to come (as it were) 
 unarmed when they have any business with you, and 
 it will also make them jealous of you. It is no small 
 piece of ability sometimes to act the part of the 
 ignorant ; and there are occasions when the best 
 knowledge is to pretend not to know. 
 
 1 Viz., ' check': see my note on page 161. H. S.
 
 OF NEGOTIATING 199 
 
 Some persons by a little compliance can be per- 
 suaded to do almost anything ; there is nothing to 
 be got from them by reason, for having none them- 
 selves they will hear none from others. It is a 
 delicate part of practical knowledge to observe well 
 and guess at the meaning of the little hints that are 
 given you by the way and to know how to improve 
 them ;-this is the finest probe of the recesses of the 
 heart : but as they are sometimes cunningly given 
 out so they must always be received cautiously. 
 Let your applications about business be made with 
 a good grace (that is a politic magic wherewith to 
 charm the hearts and affections of them with whom 
 you have to do) but be not over-ceremonious ; it is 
 good to carry yourself with sufficient decorum, so as 
 to gain respect, but I would not have you pass for a 
 master of ceremonies. 
 
 If you can handle men aright as to their inclina- 
 tions and humours, and know at what times, in what 
 manner, and by what means they may be stirred 
 up, you may rest assured that even before you 
 thoroughly know their minds you will be master of 
 what your heart desires. 
 
 r 
 
 SECTION XXX. 
 
 Of the Politic Man. 1 
 
 ZSS|||3||HE world every day puts on new dresses, 
 and is so disguised in various shapes of 
 policy that he must be a wise man that 
 is able to unriddle the transactions of it. 
 The variation of the latitude of the maxims received 
 
 1 De Britaine's heading is ' Of the Politick/ He appears to 
 have started writing this section with some intention of teaching
 
 200 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 is so great, that a scheme of new politics had need 
 be erected to understand the sphere of action. 1 
 
 There goes more to the making up of one wise 
 man nowadays, than in ancient times it took to 
 complete seven : formerly there were but seven wise 
 men in all Greece, at present you will hardly find so 
 many fools in a nation. A wise man must therefore 
 learn to cast the order of government into new 
 moulds, as fortune and affairs require; if a man be 
 furnished with great virtues, yet if he lacks sagacity 
 he will never make any figure in the world. A 
 politic, like Samson, needs to carry his strength in 
 his head, not in his arms. Self-confidence, ambition, 
 and covetousness are the steps by which he ascends 
 to grandeur. 
 
 At all marts of business he has his agents, though 
 they do not seem openly to trade ; he finds others to 
 do his business, and makes it worth their while to 
 work diligently. He has even learned the art of 
 great princes, how to get humble people to serve his 
 interests without their even knowing it. In all his 
 prince's affairs he makes himself necessary and 
 useful. He is a conscientious person, for he always 
 mixes the ' promptings of conscience ' with ' reasons 
 of state.' He is very free in conferring small favours 
 and courtesies ; he acts thus to beget confidence, 
 that he may deceive in great matters. He makes 
 use of others, as the fox did of the cat's foot to pull 
 the apple out of the fire for his own eating. Prin- 
 ciple is the rudder by which he wishes to appear to 
 
 a young man of birth and breeding how to become a successful 
 politician by being a politic man, and then to have been 
 carried away by his fastidious and aristocratic temperament 
 into penning a bitter attack upon the corrupt politicians of the 
 day.-H. S. 
 
 1 De Britaine employs the language of astrology here, as in 
 other parts of this book. See page 28. H. S.
 
 OF THE POLITIC MAN 201 
 
 steer his actions, but in fact he turns it, as the wind 
 blows, to suit his own advantage. When he has 
 got any persons into his net he does not imme- 
 diately trouble to haul it up; for when they are 
 well within the net, they are then at his mercy. 
 
 He thinks it not prudent to stand so near a 
 prince as possibly to be involved in his ruin ; nor so 
 far off, but that when his ruin comes he can raise 
 himself upon some part of it. Therefore like the 
 crab, he keeps the door of the oyster 1 ; he makes 
 what profit he can when opportunity serves, and he 
 is not fastidious in taking advantage. He firmly 
 believes that self-interest is that which leads mankind 
 by a string; he imitates the hawk which usually flies 
 high yet will sometimes descend to a heap of dirt 
 to catch its prey ; he hoists his sail on that sea 
 where the winds blow fairest for his advantage. He 
 has the hands of Briareus wherewith to oppose the 
 designs of others, as well as the eyes of Argus 
 wherewith to penetrate their desires. He is an 
 Achitophel 2 for plotting, as quick-sighted as a lynx, 
 as active as fire, as insinuating as an awl ; and like 
 the old woman Ptolemais, never happy but when 
 engaged in some intrigue. He is continually trying 
 new plans, and yet is always thinking that some- 
 thing which he has not prepared for may happen 
 by chance ; he remembers how the ape managed to 
 cure himself of a pleurisy by the accident of wrapping 
 himself in his master's cloak. 
 
 If at any time he disburses money to anybody, 
 he uses it merely as anglers do fish, to bait the hooks 
 
 1 Sic De Britaine. H. S. 
 
 2 It may be interesting to note that the first part of Dryden's 
 'Absalom and Achitophel' appeared in 1681. A pamphlet 
 called ' Absalom's Conspiracy ; or, The Tragedy of Treason,' 
 was printed in the year 1680, and is reprinted in ' The Harleian 
 Miscellany ' (see the edition of Oldys and Park (1808-13), vol. vii., 
 page 530). H. S.
 
 202 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 and serve to catch more. His conscience, like 
 Fortunatus's purse, is full of gold and self-ends 1 ; in 
 order that his reputation may swell and look big in 
 the rolls of fame he is bold and daring, and always 
 in some plot. He thinks that successful wickedness 
 is virtue, and that a sin crowned with success 
 deserves a triumph. As for 'just ' and ' unjust,' he 
 looks upon such words as the needlework of idle 
 brains. His favourite motto is, ' he that is in the 
 highway that leads to honours, is never out of an 
 honourable course ' ; and he really believes that any 
 success must be creditable. 
 
 He condemns the anatomists for maintaining that 
 there is a ligament that ties the tongue and the 
 heart together ; and has no kindness for the people 
 of Quambaia and other parts of Peru, because they 
 have their heads in their breasts, and so their 
 tongues are too near their hearts. 2 The tongue and 
 the heart are organs which he endeavours ever to 
 keep asunder. He does not respect the jackal, 
 because it provides food for the lion ; but has a 
 great regard for the prudent cat, because she mouses 
 only for herself. Interest is the chart by which he 
 steers, and himself the harbour to which all his 
 designs carry cargo. He is, like Theramenes, a 
 shoe fitted for every man's foot 3 ; like the spaniel, 
 when he cannot make use of his teeth he wags his 
 tail. 
 
 He uses no more virtue than serves his turn ; and 
 
 1 Viz., ' plans for the benefit of himself alone.' I find this 
 plural quoted as used by Jeremy Taylor and Congreve. H. S. 
 
 a Hakluyt's 'Voyages' and Raleigh's 'Description of Guiana' 
 are quoted as giving accounts of such people. H. S. 
 
 8 Theramenes was an Athenian naval commander, politician, 
 etc. He was one of those people who give way to a natural 
 tendency to treachery, without having even the excuse of 
 cowardice. He acquired the nickname of K69opvos a shoe 
 which would fit either foot. H. S.
 
 OF THE POLITIC MAN 203 
 
 he only desires the reputation of honesty to procure 
 him the confidence of other men, which will enable 
 him to deceive them, and so will help him to succeed 
 in his designs the better. He never troubles his 
 head about those trifling points, conscience and 
 honour ; for in great undertakings he thinks there 
 is nothing more unfortunate or unprosperous than 
 a coy and squeamish conscience. When he has 
 any great design in projection, in order the better 
 to effect it, he puts on a religious dress, and a 
 countenance with a godly wry look like a Persian 
 alphabet : this, he says, is the best magnetism to 
 make a strong verticity 1 to the point of any design. 
 He can swallow down oaths with as much celerity 
 as Lazarillo de Tormes 2 could a sausage. He puts 
 on the white robe of innocency the better to conceal 
 the blackness of his attempts ; his words he puts 
 into a spiritual quirpo 3 ; and Proteus-like he assumes 
 that shape which is most in fashion and most likely 
 to be profitable to his own ends. He makes use of 
 religion as a stirrup by which to get into the saddle, 
 and so comes to sit upon the back of dignity. 
 Hypocrisy is the ground and basis of his polity ; 
 and to find out opportunities of deception, he thinks, 
 is the knack of men of ability. He is dexterous at 
 telling the news, and has a mint always about him 
 wherein to coin such news as it may suit his objects 
 
 1 Viz., ' rotation.' H. S. 
 
 2 ' La vida de Lazarillo de Tormes,' written by Diego Hurtado 
 de Mendoza, was translated into English and published in 1586. 
 Another English edition appeared a few years before the first 
 edition of ' Humane Prudence.' H. S. 
 
 3 Unless this is a misprint for 'quip' or 'quirk,' I am at a 
 loss to explain it. The curious ropes with knots, used by the 
 ancient Peruvians to record events and accounts with, are 
 called 'quipos ' in Spanish, but this can hardly be the reference. 
 The translator of ' Humane Prudence ' into French has omitted 
 portions of this section, and so does not help us in this matter. 
 H. S.
 
 204 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BR1TAINE 
 
 to have repeated. He always carries a dose of 
 ' Pillulae Aureae ' about him, for they work safely 
 and remove all obstructions ; he thinks there is 
 nothing so hard, but that the wonderful metal (gold) 
 will penetrate it. He considers that it is the general 
 which can take the strongest city, though he rides 
 on the back of an ass ; and he assures us that 
 
 ' Destruction surer comes, and rattles louder, 
 Out of a mine of gold, than out of powder.' 
 
 I have given you a sketch of the politic man, that 
 you may know his principles and abhor the practice 
 of them. 
 
 ' Politici est virtus maxima, ncsse doles.' 
 
 You will perceive that men of little honour or 
 integrity are the fittest timber to make great poli- 
 ticians 1 of. 
 
 The trees were so well satisfied with what they 
 saw of the monarchical state, (that of the birds 
 under the eagle, and that of the beasts under the 
 lion) that they propounded a resolution as to 
 erecting a kingly government among themselves. 
 The question was put, and all were unanimously 
 in favour of the project ; there were not, however, 
 above five or six competitors for the post. 
 
 The oak relied upon * its long life, the comfort of 
 its shade and protection, and the obligation to it 
 which the whole race of mankind lay under for 
 feeding their first parents in Paradise.' The laurel 
 valued itself upon ' being thunder-proof, and upon 
 having had the honour of crowning the Roman 
 emperors, and those that entered the Capitol in 
 triumph.' The Pomegranate claimed a natural right 
 to a crown for ' having brought the image of a crown 
 into the world along with it.' The Olive's pretension 
 
 1 Sic De Britaine. H. S.
 
 OF THE POLITIC MAN 
 
 205 
 
 was that it ' was a symbol of peace, and sacred to 
 the goddess Minerva.' The Vine stood upon 'the 
 merit of making the life of man long and happy.' 
 
 They were thus very much divided among them- 
 selves as to the choice of a ruler, until at last they 
 happened to cast their eyes and their thoughts upon 
 the orange, observed its perpetual verdure, inhaled 
 the incomparable fragrance both of its fruit and 
 flowers, and remembered that that fruit and those 
 flowers were never out of season. Thereupon they 
 chose the orange tree for their king ' nemine con- 
 tradicente ' and without his needing to say a word 
 in his own behalf. 
 
 SECTION XXXI. 
 
 Of the Favourite. 
 
 F it be your 1 desire to rise so high as to 
 become a favourite to a great personage, 
 you may have some prospect of doing so 
 in Utopia ; for I have heard that men are 
 advanced there for their merit and worth. 
 
 You must understand that there are many doors 
 which open toward preferment, but the prince keeps 
 the keys of them all. Therefore be careful to learn 
 the alphabet of his temper, and observe his inclina- 
 tions closely, as the astronomers do the planet 
 dominant and the mariners the north star. For 
 great persons reckon them the wisest men that can 
 best suit themselves to their humour; and usually 
 they pledge their affections no farther than they 
 foresee a return of service. Therefore as princes 
 
 1 De Britaine is specially thinking of the Edward Hungerford 
 class of young man. H. S.
 
 206 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 need arts wherewith to govern kingdoms, so favour- 
 ites must have arts by which they can govern their 
 princes. 
 
 Desire not to monopolize your prince's ear ; for 
 if you do so, his misadventures will be imputed to 
 your advice while whatsoever is well done will be 
 ascribed to his wisdom. You will be injudicious if 
 you offer him extraordinary services ; that merit to 
 which reward can easily reach ever comes off best in 
 these days. To study the humours of a prince may 
 advance you in the present ; but to attempt to 
 understand and promote the interest of his kingdom 
 is a far more safe enterprise. He that serves a 
 prince's private interest may be great for a time ; 
 but he is likely to remain great who is careful of the 
 national welfare. Be ready to give a public account, 
 if required, of all your transactions ; for he who 
 fears a test is like gold which has too much alloy. 
 
 Let your deportment be humble, and be of easy 
 access ; a favourite is like coin, in that virtue may 
 give him the stamp but it is humility must give the 
 weight. A high fortune, like great buildings, must 
 have low foundations. Pride ill becomes any person ; 
 even if it injures no one save its owner, yet it gives 
 offence to others ; and few persons like to see even 
 a complaisant person set upon high if they once 
 knew him as their equal. You must be ' minimus 
 in summo' like the orient stars, which appear the 
 less the higher they are ; honour is ' bonum sine 
 clavi et sera.' To be proud of knowledge is to be 
 blinded with light; to be proud of goodness is to 
 poison yourself with an antidote; to be proud of 
 authority is to make your rise your downfall. Where 
 pride and presumption go before, shame and loss 
 follow after. 
 
 A countryman in Spain once came and appealed 
 to an enshrined image, the first making whereof he
 
 OF THE FAVOURITE 207 
 
 could well remember, but did not obtain from it the 
 favour which he prayed for ; ' you need not (quoth 
 he) be so proud, for we have known you from a 
 plum-tree.' Have a care that you do not find the 
 moral of this story in your own experience. To be 
 humble to superiors is your duty ; to be courteous to 
 equals is but good-breeding ; to be civil to inferiors 
 shews good sense ; to be just to all will ensure your 
 safety. Fortune may begin a man's greatness but it 
 is virtue that must continue it. Never do that in 
 prosperity whereof you may repent in adversity. 
 
 Ever think goodness to be the best part of great- 
 ness; when rank and virtue are in conjunction, it is 
 a noble aspect, and Jupiter is lord of that ascent. 1 
 But greatness without goodness is like the Colossus 
 of Rhodes, not so much to be admired for its work- 
 manship as for its huge bulk ; therefore make good- 
 ness what a gold-setting is to a diamond, a support 
 to greatness. Greatness may build the tomb but 
 only goodness can write a worthy epitaph upon it. 
 Give things the right colour, not varnishing them 
 over with a false gloss. Flatterers are dangerous 
 flies in a state, but they thrive and prosper better 
 than the most worthy and brave men do. Yet, if 
 your heart is set upon becoming a favourite at court, 
 I know that you will need to have so much of the 
 Persian religion in you as to worship the rising sun. 
 
 You must also learn to translate into English 
 ' neminem tristem dimittere '; and when you cannot 
 give men satisfaction as to what they desire you 
 must console them with fair hopes. Denials must 
 be softened by civil usage ; for though you cannot 
 cure men's sores your prudence may shew you how 
 to abate their sense of them. If you have any 
 venturous project in view it is often prudent, before 
 
 1 De Britaine again makes use of the language of astrology. 
 H. S.
 
 208 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRIT4INE 
 
 you come to action, to let out certain things on 
 purpose to see how they will take ; by that means 
 you will discover the inclinations of the people ; if 
 the couriers do not meet with a good reception, keep 
 your army in camp. If you desire that the designs 
 to which you wish to give birth may not prove abor- 
 tive, do not assign a certain day for their appearance 
 in action, but leave them to the natural forcing of 
 fit times and opportunities ; be like those curious 
 artists in China who temper the mould to-day of 
 which a vessel may be made a hundred years hence. 
 
 If you have enemies (and you may expect to have 
 many, if you become great by your master's favour) 
 the best way to secure your position is privately to 
 give out libels and rumours tending to your own 
 disgrace ; your enemies will catch fire at the first 
 touch of them, as powder does at a spark, and then 
 you will see how you stand. To deal plainly with 
 you, the greatness of one man is nothing but the ruin 
 of others ; and when you have discovered their weak- 
 ness it will be your strength. 
 
 But if any pasquils 1 or libels shall be vented against 
 you by others (and the most excellent persons are 
 often infested with them) it is more prudent to let 
 them bury themselves in their own ashes than to give 
 them new flames by confuting them; for libels 
 neglected will quickly find a grave. But let me tell 
 you, as rumours and libels are not always to be 
 thought important, so they are not always to be 
 ignored ; it being no less dangerous to take no pre- 
 cautions against their consequences than it is vain to 
 fear them. And we have learned by experience that 
 libels and pasquils (the only weapons of some un- 
 happy persons) have been forerunners of the ruin 
 and destruction of some of the most illustrious 
 men. 
 
 1 See note on page 33. H. S.
 
 OF THE FAVOURITE 209 
 
 You must be careful to keep an Ephemerides, 1 so 
 as to know how the great orbs of the court move. 
 If any new star should arise out of the east, and men 
 should begin to worship it, you must learn how to 
 eclipse or suppress it. Indeed it will be prudent of 
 you to attempt to cut away all steps by which others 
 may ascend to high office or grandeur ; for if you 
 leave any stairs standing, others will attempt to 
 climb up. And I must warn you, that it is more 
 safe at court to have many enemies of equal power 
 with yourself, than one false and ambitious friend 
 who hath absolute command of the royal favour. 
 But in case any formidable rival shall arise, you must 
 remove him out of the way with sagacity, under pre- 
 tence of procuring him some honourable employment 
 
 or otherwise ; when that is done well, you know 
 
 how Augustus dealt with Mark Antony, when he got 
 him from Rome into Egypt ! It hath been the prac- 
 tice of some, like the fox, to thrust out the badgers that 
 digged in the earth from their comfortable places ; but 
 the wisdom of this must be left to your discretion. 2 
 
 In all business ever pretend to have the public 
 good in view ; that will make you popular, and so 
 you may with the more safety and security push on 
 with schemes that concern your private interests ; 
 and let me advise you to be so faithful a servant to 
 your master, that whatsoever you do yourself you 
 suffer not others to deceive him. Make the royal 
 interest one with your own ; incorporate your acts 
 with the authority of the sovereign ; then you can- 
 not be offended without his being aggrieved. Strive 
 
 1 An almanac having ' astronomical tables calculated to show 
 the diurnal motions of the planets, with their places and aspects, 
 etc., throughout the year.' H. S. 
 
 2 This paragraph is of course ironical, and reminds one of 
 Swift's method of branding types of character which he de- 
 tested. H. S. 
 
 14
 
 2io THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 to partake as much as possible of his bounty ; the 
 more preferment you obtain from him the greater 
 will be your security, for he will look upon you as 
 his creature, raised solely by him, and so he will 
 endeavour to preserve you from molestations. If at 
 any time you propose anything to him which you 
 are afraid will hardly be accepted or granted, offer it 
 bit by bit so that one piece may be digested before 
 the other be presented. 
 
 In all your negotiations, you must have an in- 
 visible way of handling matters as angels have of 
 communication ; the ring of Gyges will be of great 
 use to you, for he observes best who is himself least 
 observed. And if you wish to preserve your own 
 safety speak truth ; for you will hardly ever be 
 believed, and so your enemies will usually nose along 
 a false scent ; but should your plans be at any time 
 forced into the light, you will be seen to have uttered 
 no falsehood about them. 1 
 
 In council, it will as a rule be prudent of you to 
 oppose all suggestions of rash methods in doing 
 business of importance ; if the thing designed suc- 
 ceed well, your caution will not be remembered against 
 you, if it turn out ill (as it may, since great under- 
 takings are subject to many risks) you may benefit 
 yourself by being able to say that you uttered a warn- 
 ing against it. But in great emergencies, it will be 
 wise of you not to content yourself with carefully 
 discussing what courses are lawful, but to suggest 
 quick action which is fairly safe. 
 
 Admit none to be of your cabal 2 but such as have 
 
 1 I have followed the fifth edition of Humane Prudence' as 
 closely as possible in this sentence. The eleventh and twelfth 
 editions have misunderstood De Britaine's meaning. H. S. 
 
 2 ' Cabal ' is used here for ' party ' or ' faction.' It will be 
 remembered that this word, applied in the reign of Charles II. 
 'to the small committee or junto of the Privy Council' which 
 was the 'precursor of the modern cabinet' (N. E. D.), has been
 
 OF THE FAVOURITE 211 
 
 their fortunes solely depending upon you. In dan- 
 gerous attempts put others in front to act first ; but 
 ever keep yourself behind the curtain. In hazardous 
 schemes you must be always provided with some 
 cunning stratagems wherewith to baffle your enemies 
 or at least to secure yourself and your party. If you 
 cannot attain your ends by wisdom, use ' argentea 
 tela,' they never fail, for ' virtutem et sapientiam 
 vincunt testudines ' : and as men have a touchstone 
 wherewith to try gold, so gold is the touchstone 
 wherewith to try men. 
 
 I have hinted 1 these points unto you, without 
 wishing to advise you to do anything that is against 
 the law of honour or the dignity of your religion. 
 Prudence is an armoury wherein are defensive as 
 well as offensive weapons ; the former you may make 
 use of upon all occasions, but the latter should only 
 be handled in cases of necessity. We know that the 
 Apocrypha is allowed to be digested into one volume 
 with the sacred word and to be read together with it, 
 but where it thwarts that which is canonical it is to 
 be laid aside. 
 
 Shrewdness and religion, as they do well together, 
 so they do ill asunder ; the one being too cunning to 
 be good, the other too pure to be false ; therefore a 
 little of the wisdom of the serpent, mixed with some 
 few scruples of the innocence of the dove, will be an 
 excellent ingredient in all your actions. 
 
 specially applied since 1673 by many writers to the five Ministers 
 of Charles II. who signed the Treaty of Alliance with France 
 (for war against Holland) in 1670-71 . The reader has seen in the 
 Preface to this book that this treaty was of particular interest 
 to De Britaine. The reader will notice the irony of this para- 
 graph. H. S. 
 
 1 Viz., ' briefly mentioned,' a use of the verb which was quite 
 correct in De Britaine's day, although it seems to have escaped 
 the notice of several good editors of English dictionaries in this 
 century. H. S. 
 
 142
 
 212 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TAINE 
 
 SECTION XXXII. 
 
 The Sun of Honour in the West. 
 
 UT I have blotted too much paper ; I must 
 turn from the writing-desk and lay down 
 my pen. And yet, before I leave you, I 
 must give you some last counsels which I 
 hope may stay with you to the last. 
 
 If you are mounted on the pyramid of Honours 
 you muct remember that it hath but one point, and 
 that the least slip may hazard your fall from that. 
 If you should chance to lose yourself in the empire 
 of greatness, return to your own solitudes 1 and 
 privacy, and there you may find yourself again. Let 
 no circumstances surprise you and then you cannot 
 be afflicted in any ; a noble spirit must not waver 
 with its fortunes. There is no condition so low but 
 that there may be hope for it ; nor any so high that 
 it is out of the reach of fears. In your worst estate 
 retain some hope, in your best admit some fear, but 
 in all be circumspect ; man is a watch, which must 
 be looked to, and wound up every day. 
 
 It should be as natural to highly-gifted persons to 
 oppose a brave front to misfortunes as it is to the 
 weakest children to bewail them. Though you lose 
 all, yet you may still possess your soul in patience ; 
 that is your last reserve. It is a stronghold where- 
 unto he who is beaten out of the field may always 
 retire, and if he does not choose to surrender it he 
 cannot be forced out of it. It is the mark of a brave 
 soul always to hope ; there is more glory to be got 
 in struggling against adversities than in avoiding 
 action for fear of them. For virtue that is unhappy, 
 for distressed souls that are innocent, there are found 
 to be wells of comfort in the rocks. 
 
 1 Viz., ' lonely retreats ' such as the one described at page 170. 
 H. S.
 
 THE SUN IN THE WEST 213 
 
 Remember the words of that miracle of valour, the 
 Dauphin of France who was afterwards Charles the 
 Seventh, when they told him of that sentence which 
 was extorted from the Parliament of Paris by the 
 two kings, his father the King of France and his 
 enemy the King of England, 1 whereby he was 
 declared incapable of succeeding to the Crown of 
 Lilies. 2 He answered undauntedly that ' he ap- 
 pealed ' ; his friends wondered at this speech and 
 asked him ' whither ' ; he replied, ' to the greatness 
 of my heart and the point of my sword ; and his 
 words were followed with proportionate effects. 
 Brave soul, whom the loss of a crown could not 
 dispirit ! 
 
 ' Impavidum feriunt ruinae.' 
 
 Reverses of fortune are grievous obstacles to meet 
 with on the road to preferment, but great infelicities 
 often usher us into the antechamber of success if by 
 patience and industry we strive to triumph over our 
 calamities. Misfortunes are distressing at first, but 
 when there is no remedy for them save patience 
 necessity gives us courage to bear them and in time 
 they become less irksome. I cannot but admire the 
 temperament of Eumenes, 3 whose courage was never 
 lessened by adversity nor his circumspection by 
 prosperity. One month in the school of affliction 
 will teach you more wisdom than the grave precepts 
 of Aristotle will in seven years ; for you can never 
 judge rightly of human affairs until you have your- 
 self felt the blows and deceits of fortune. 
 
 I am not (I bless my stars) disturbed at anything, 
 
 1 Henry V. H. S. 
 
 2 The reference is to the Treaty of Troyes. H. S. 
 
 3 Eumenes, the secretary of Alexander the Great, who became 
 an able general and statesman. He was a rare combination of 
 the man of caution and the man of energy. H. S.
 
 214 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ERITAINE 
 
 neither does passion disquiet me ; I hate nothing 
 unless perhaps it be hatred itself. I am no more 
 troubled at the want of anything I have not than I 
 am because I am not the Sophy of Persia or the 
 Grand Seignior. 1 He is a happy man that can have 
 what he desires, and that I profess myself to be 
 because I desire nothing but that which I can have. 
 I am much delighted with the pleasant humour of 
 Thrasyllus, 2 and can in my own imagination make 
 myself as rich as the Indies. 
 
 I am a little world and I enjoy all things within 
 my own sphere : honour and riches, which others 
 aspire unto, I possess and enjoy in myself. Health 
 is the temperate zone of my life, and my mind is the 
 third region in me ; there I have an intellectual 
 globe, wherein all things subsist, and move accord- 
 ing to my own ideas. The stars, though they are 
 glorious and splendid bodies, I yet look upon as but 
 spangles, which at best do only embroider the 
 canopy of the place wherein I am to dwell. Often I 
 raise my spirits to so generous a pitch that I think 
 Heaven itself not too high for me : I can grasp in 
 one thought all that globe for which ambitious men 
 fight. 
 
 I account nothing more noble than my soul, except 
 the Almighty God, whose offspring it is ; I never 
 stain it with that earth or metal which others are 
 ambitious to get ; for if my mind longs for more 
 goods than I possess, that shews me how unsatis- 
 factory all extrinsic objects are. 
 
 If some man robs you of part of your goods, con- 
 sider that God, by that man, has taken back what 
 he hath only lent you. A thing that you might have 
 foreseen has come to pass; and why are you amazed? 
 
 1 Viz., ' the Shah of Persia or the Sultan of Turkey.' H. S. 
 3 De Britaine's text has 'Thrasalus.' Is this a reference to 
 Thrasyllus, the astrologer of Tiberius ? H. S
 
 THE SUN IN THE WEST 215 
 
 What has just happened to you, you have often seen 
 and known happen to others ; all things in the 
 universe by their very nature are subject to altera- 
 tion and change. Then how ridiculous it is, when 
 anything unpleasant happens, to be disturbed or to 
 wonder as if some strange event had come to pass ! 
 I must admit that I am a part of the universe, and 
 therefore how can I allow myself to be displeased 
 with anything that falls to my own lot ? Nothing 
 which is good for the whole can be in reality hurtful 
 to that which is a part of it. 
 
 However ' innocens sit animus in irata fortuna ' ; 
 and virtuous persons, like the sun, appear most 
 glorious at their setting, for the patient enduring 
 of necessary evils is next in honour to a voluntary 
 martyrdom. Adversity bravely overcome wins a 
 man high esteem, and when it is cheerfully under- 
 gone has served to shew that its victim has a fine 
 character ; we can see that sufferings are but tests 
 of gallant spirits. When that brave Aristides was 
 sentenced to banishment he. said no more than this, 
 ' I wish my fellow-countrymen no worse thing, than 
 that they may never have any more need of Aris- 
 tides.' 
 
 A brave man must not yield to difficulties and 
 disasters, but must make good his ground, and stand 
 firm against any accident that can befall him ; for it 
 is but the shock of the first wave that tells, and he 
 will find the succeeding billows less overwhelming 
 than imagination represented them ; indeed, let him 
 complain as he might, his impatience would be found 
 to be the greatest mischief he endured. If I had to 
 make choice either of continual prosperity or con- 
 tinued adversity, I hope that I should choose the 
 latter; for in adversity no good man need lack 
 comfort, whereas in prosperity most men are 
 wanting in discretion. As things below merit not
 
 216 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 my affection when I possess them, so the loss of 
 them does not deserve my affliction or regret. I can 
 call nothing my own except my sins. 
 
 Calamities that are prosperously overcome, are 
 like those winds, which if they do not throw down 
 trees, benefit them by carrying away dead branches 
 and loosening the earth around their roots. That 
 which is future or past is not hurting you, but only 
 that which is present ; and cannot your patience 
 hold out for one instant at a time ? If you re- 
 member that you are a man, one living in a house 
 of life which has come down to you from men who 
 have suffered aforetime, your misfortunes will not 
 seem new to you ; if you reflect on the infelicities 
 which happen to others who are living to-day your 
 own will seem but light to you. 
 
 If you are disquieted at anything, consider within 
 yourself, f is the thing of such worth, that for it I 
 should so disturb myself as to lose my peace and 
 tranquillity of mind ?' Have you lost your dignities ? 
 You have not lost them, but surrendered them ; 
 they are the favours of fortune, rarely the symbols 
 of merit. They have no brand of goodness but 
 that which he who possesses them stamps upon 
 them ; if he be not good, they are not dignities but 
 indignities. It cannot be said that a good man has 
 lost his dignities, so much as that those persons, 
 who called certain things ' dignities ' and then con- 
 ferred them upon him, have lost him. 
 
 Consider things really as they are and you can 
 never be much troubled about any of them ; if you 
 have a glass esteem it as what it is, a glass which 
 may be broken, and then you will never be angry 
 when it is broken. As there is no gain upon earth 
 without some loss, so there is no loss without some 
 gain ; if you have lost your wealth, you have lost 
 some trouble with it ; if you are degraded from some
 
 THE SUN IN THE WEST 217 
 
 post of dignity, you are free from many assaults of 
 the envious. Set the compensation by the side of 
 the loss and you will find them balance one another 
 very nearly. 
 
 The world is a sea, whereon some men are 
 wrecked ; but all are tossed with winds of opposition 
 and subjected to the agitation of the waves of chance ; 
 prove your prudence by striving to reach such a safe 
 port as may secure you against being wrecked by 
 the one and preserve you from being engulfed in the 
 other. I honour the gallantry of Camillus, whose 
 spirit was neither exalted unduly by the dictatorship 
 nor depressed greatly by exile at Ardea. 
 
 I have often observed, that the most virtuous 
 persons are not the greatest favourites of fortune. 
 Even when fortune is prodigal of her favours to 
 them she frequently intends to avert her face in time 
 to come ; felicity that is grown old draws visibly 
 near an end. On the other hand, we often see 
 extreme misfortune succeeded by some slight 
 measure of success. 
 
 ' Etiam mala fortuna suas habet levitates.' 
 
 And if you fall from your prince's favour yet you 
 may still be a ' Rex Stoicus,' a king in your own 
 microcosm ; and he who knows how to rule that 
 well may indeed despise a crown ; thrones are but 
 uneasy seats and crowns nothing but splendid 
 miseries. The change in your fortunes may diminish 
 your hopes but it will increase your quiet ; you must 
 understand that favourites in the hands of great 
 persons are but as counters raised and depressed in 
 valuation at pleasure ; like sun-dials, they are not 
 looked upon when the sun of majesty is not shining 
 on them. There is no constancy either in the favour 
 of fortune or in the affection of great persons, so
 
 2i8 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE ER1TA1NE 
 
 that no wise man will trust the one, or depend for 
 safety upon the other. 
 
 To be without an estate and not to be in need of 
 anything ; to need and not to desire ; to bear the 
 changes of life without any change in yourself; 
 these are conditions of existence which you must 
 learn to make your own. You are a ball of clay ; 
 what is a ball the better for being thrown up or the 
 worse for being cast down, or what does it matter 
 to it if it chance to fall upon the ground ? Whatso- 
 ever the thwartings of fortune are, let no discontent 
 surprise and capture you ; if the difficulty be within 
 your power to adjust, manage it to your own con- 
 tentment ; but if you can do nothing it merely shews 
 weakness in you to be disquieted. 
 
 Make the best of everything ; if the ill that afflicts 
 you admits of no alleviation you can at least refuse 
 to let the consideration of it absorb your thoughts ; 
 in any case you must learn to submit to divine 
 Providence. I always strike sail to divine Provi- 
 dence ; such misfortunes as happen to me, and not 
 by me, I try to be content with or at least not to 
 complain of: for there is most room and need for 
 the wisdom of God where there is least place and 
 use for mine. He is truly wise who can alike 
 endure evil and enjoy good. An humble soul must 
 be like a white sheet prepared to receive that which 
 the hand of Heaven shall imprint upon it. And 
 never antedate your own misfortunes, for often by 
 doing so men make themselves more miserable than 
 they need be ; and in such cases the apprehension of 
 infelicity brings them more distress than the infelicity 
 itself. 
 
 Amongst the various accidents of life I lift up my 
 eyes to heaven when the earth affords me no relief; 
 I have recourse to a higher and greater Nature when 
 I find out the frailty of my own. Afflictions and
 
 THE SUN IN THE WEST 219 
 
 calamities are not altogether unwelcome to me, for 
 I never experience the divine assistance and com- 
 fort more than when I am in some great extremity ; 
 and because I am under the protection of the 
 Almighty I take but little care of myself. 1 I never 
 beg of God other than general blessings, because 
 He, in His divine wisdom, knows better what is 
 good for me in particular matters than I do myself. 
 
 Discontent is a weakness which ill befits a noble 
 soul ; but often a fine character is so intent upon its 
 own unhappiness that it forgets remedies. I would 
 not have your thoughts disordered within, when 
 there are so many things out of order in the world 
 without. Hope will be your best antidote against 
 all misfortune, and the thought of God's omnipotence 
 will be an excellent means of fixing your soul above 
 the reach of sorrow. If you are not so happy as you 
 desire to be, it is yet well for you that you are not so 
 miserable as you deserve to be ; if your affairs pro- 
 gress not as well as you would that they should, it is 
 well that they are not so ill as they might be. If you 
 seriously consider, we have all received more good 
 than we have done and done more evil than we have 
 received. 
 
 Consider not life as a means of enjoying the fading 
 pleasures of this world, but rather as an opportunity 
 of preparation for a better ; look forward to what 
 you may be, a purified soul, rather than backward to 
 what you have been, an 'unprofitable servant.' You 
 need not fear death, that last change, since you have 
 seen life so full of change ; if you have lived well you 
 have surely lived long enough ; as soon as Death 
 enters upon the stage, the tragedy is over. Believe 
 me, he that anchors his hopes upon anything this 
 side of Heaven will lose them when the storms of 
 life rise high. Nothing can render the thoughts of 
 1 Sic De Britaine. H. S.
 
 220 THE COUNSELS OF W. DE BRITAINE 
 
 this life tolerable to a wise man except the humble 
 expectation of another. I would not desire to live a 
 moment if I thought I was not to live again. 
 
 As I look back upon my life it seems to have been 
 full of misery, and I feel that I have as it were but a 
 few days to live : happy miseries that end in joy, 
 happy joy that has no end, happy end that is lost in 
 eternity ! 
 
 To serve God and to keep His commandments is 
 the only true wisdom ; and indeed, to have acted 
 thus will (at the last, when the account of the world 
 shall be cast up) be found to have led to the best pre- 
 ferment and the highest happiness. Remember that 
 beyond the shore of mortal life lies the great ocean 
 of life eternal. 
 
 With these last words I bid you 
 
 FAREWELL. 
 
 r 
 
 BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILUFORD.
 
 PRICE THREE SHILLINGS AND SIXPENCE. 
 
 THE COUNSELS OF 
 T)E 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 F. E. ROBINSON, 
 
 20, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, 
 LONDON.
 
 20, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, 
 LONDON, W.C. 
 
 July, 1897. 
 
 MR. F. E. ROBINSON begs to announce that he is 
 arranging to begin publishing shortly two series of 
 Popular Histories of the Colleges of Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge. Each volume will deal with one College only, and 
 will be written by one of its members who is specially 
 qualified for the task. Among the contents will be : (i) A 
 history of the College from its foundation ; (2) an account 
 and history of its buildings ; (3) notices of the connection 
 of the College with any important social or religious events ; 
 
 (4) some particulars of the contents of the College library ; 
 
 (5) an account of the College plate, windows, and other 
 accessories ; (6) a chapter upon the most celebrated 
 members of the College, and a list of other notable but 
 less well-known members. 
 
 Each volume will be produced in crown octavo, in small 
 pica (a good, clear type), and will contain about 200 pages. 
 The illustrations will consist of eight plates on art paper, 
 giving views of the College, and reproductions of interesting 
 seals, pieces of plate, windows, etc. 
 
 The volumes mentioned on the opposite page have 
 already been promised. 
 
 Price Five Shillings per volume.
 
 Colleges. 
 Balliol 
 Merton 
 Exeter 
 Oriel 
 New 
 Lincoln 
 All Souls' ... 
 Magdalen . . . 
 Trinity 
 St. John's ... 
 Jesus 
 Wadham 
 Pembroke ... 
 Worcester ... 
 Keble 
 
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 W. K. STRIDE, M.A. 
 
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 Rev. H. RASHDAU,, M.A. 
 Rev. ANDREW CXARK, M.A. 
 
 C. G. ROBERTSON, M.A. 
 Rev. H. A. WILSON, M.A. 
 Rev. H. E. D. BI,AKISTON, M.A. 
 Rev. W. H. HUTTON, B.D. 
 
 E. G. HARDY, M.A. 
 J. WEWA M.A. 
 
 Rev. D. MACI,EANE, M.A. 
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 Jesus 
 
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 Magdalene... 
 
 Emmanuel... 
 
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 Downing ... 
 
 Selwyn 
 
 Rev. T. A. WALKER, LL.D. 
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 J. VENN, Sc.D., F.R.S. 
 H. T. TREVOR-JONES, M.A. 
 Rev. H. P. STOKES, LJv.D. 
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 Right Rev. the IX>RD BISHOP 
 
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