Chap. XIX. felf can never repay. I cannot call any Man poor that has enough fill left, be it never fo little: It is good Ad. vice yet to thofe that have the World before them, to play the good Hufband betimes, for 'tis too late to spare at the Bottom, when all is drawn out to the Lees. He that takes away a Day from me, takes away what he can Rever reftore me. But our Time is either forced away from us, or fiolen from us, or loft: Of which, the last is the foulet Mifcarriage. It is in Life, as in a Journey: a Book, or a Companion, brings us to our Lodging before we thought we were half way. Upon the whole Matter we confume ourselves one upon another, without any Regard at all to our own Particular. I do not speak of fuch as live in notorious Scandal, but even those Men themselves, whom the World pronounces happy, are fmothered in their Felicities; Servants to their Profeffi ons and Clients, and drowned in their Lufts. We are apt to complain of the Haughtiness of Great Men, when yet there is hardly any of them all so proud, but that at fome time or other a Man may yet have Accefs to him, and perhaps a good Word, or Look into the Bargain. Why do we not rather complain of ourselves, for being of all others, even to ourselves, the most deaf, and inacceffible? COMPANY and Business are great Devourers of Time, and our Vices deftroy our Lives, as well as our Fortunes. The prefent is but a Moment, and perpetually in Flux; the time paft we call to mind when we please, and it will abide the Examination and Infpection. But the bufy Man has not Leifure to look back; or if he has, 'tis an unpleasant thing to reflect upon a Life to be repented of: Whereas the Confcience of a good Life puts a Man into a fecure and perpetual Poffeffion of a Felicity never to be difturbed, or taken away; But he that has led a wicked Life, is afraid of his own Memory, and on the Review of himself, he finds only Appetite, Avarice, or Ambition, inftead of Virtue. But ftill he that is not at leifure many times to live, muft, when his Fate comes, whether he will or no, be at leifure to die. Alas! what is Time to Eternity? The Age of a Man to the age of the World? And how much of this little do we spend in Fears, Anxi-.

* Company and Bufiness are great Devourers of Time.

*

eties, Tears, Childhood? Nay, we fleep away the one half. How great Part of it runs away in Luxury, and Excefs: The ranging of our Guefts, our Servants, and our Dishes? As if we were to eat, and drink, not for Satiety but Ambition. The Nights may well feem fhort, that are so dear bought, and bestowed upon Wine and Women: The Day is loft in Expectation of the Night, and the Night in the Apprehenfion of the Morning. There is a Terror in our very Plea fures; and this vexatious Thought in the very Height of them, that they will not lalte always: Which is a Canker in the Delights, even in the greateft, and the moft fortunate of Men.

CHAP. XX.

Happy is the Man that may chufe his own

Bufinefs.

H! The Bleffings of Privacy, and Leifure! The With of powerful and eminent, but the Privilege only of Inferiors; who are the only People that live to themselves: Nay, the very Thought and Hope of it, is a Confolation, even in the middle of all the Tumults and Hazards, that attend Greatnefs. It was Auguftus his Prayer that he might live to retire, and deliver himself from public Business: His Difcourfes were still pointing that way, and the highest Felicity which this mighty Prince had in Profpect, was the divefting himself of that illustrious State, which how glorious foever in fhew, had at the Bottom of it, only Anxiety and Care, But it is one Thing to retire for Pleasure, and another Thing for Virtue : Which must be active, even in that Retreat, and give Proof of what it has learned: For a good, and a wife Man, does in Privacy confult the Well-being of Pofterity. Zeno and Cryfippus did greater Things in their Stu. dies, than if they had led Armies, born Offices, or given Laws: Which in Truth they did, not to one City alone, but to all Mankind: Their Quiet contributed more to the common Benefit than the Sweat and Labour of other

e

People. That Retreat is not worth the while, which does not afford a Man greater and nobler Work than Bufinefs. There's no flavish Attendance upon great Officers; no Canvaffing for Places, no making of Parties; no Difappointments in my Pretenfions to this Charge, to that Regiment; or to fuch, or fuch a Title: no Envy of any Man's Favour, or Fortune: but a calm Enjoyment of the general Bounties of Providence, in Company with a good Confcience. A wife Man is never fo bufy, as in the folitary Contemplation of God, and the Works of Nature. He withdraws himself to attend the Service of future Ages. And thofe Counfels which he finds falutary to himself he commits to Writing, for the Good of after times, as we do the Receipts of fovereign Antidotes or Balfams. He that is well employed in his Study, tho he may feem to do nothing at all, does the greatest things yet of all others, in Affairs both human and divine. To fupply a Friend with a Sum of Money, or give my Voice for an Office, thefe are only private and particular Obli gations; but he that lays down Precepts for the govern ing of our Lives, and the moderating of our Paffions, 0bliges human Nature, not only in the prefent, but in all fucceeding Generations.

He that would be quiet, let him re - Philofophy is pare to his + Philofophy, a Study that a quiet Study. has Credit with all forts of Men. The Eloquence of the Bar, or whatsoever elfe addreffes to the People, is never without Enemies : But Philofophy minds its own Bufinefs, and even the worst have an Esteem for't. There can never be fuch a Confpiracy againft Virtue; the World can never be fo wicked, but the very Name of a Philofopher fhall ftill continue venerable and facred. And yet Philofophy it self must be handled with Modefty and Caution. But what fhall we fay of Gato then, for his meddling in the Broil of a civil War, and interpofing himself in the Quar rel betwixt two enrag'd Princes? He that when Rome was fplit into two Factions, betwixt Pompey and Cefar, de clared himfelf against both. I fpeak this of Cato's lalt

Part, for in his former Time the Commonwealth was made unfit for a wife Man's Administration. All he could do then, was but bawling and beating of the Air: One

while he was lugged, and tumbled by the Rabble, fpit upon, and dragged out of the Forum, and then again hurried out of the Senate-houfe to Prifon. There are fome, things which we propound originally, and others that fall in as acceffory to another Propofition. If a wife Man retire, 'tis no Matter whether he does it because the Commonwealth was wanting to him, or because he was. wanting to it. But, to what Republic fhall a Man betake him elf? Not to Athens, where Socrates was condemned, and whence Ariftotle fled for fear he should have been condemned too; and where Virtue was oppreffed by Envy. Not to Carthage, where there was nothing but Tyranny, Injuftice, Cruelty, and Ingratitude. There is fcarce any Government to be found, that will, either endure a wife Man, or which a wife. Man will en dure So that Privacy is made neceffary, because the only thing which is better, is no where to be bad. A Man may commend Navigation, and yet caution us againit. thofe Seas that are troublesome and dangerous: So that he does as good command me not to weigh Anchor, that commends Sailing only upon thefe Terms. He that is a Slave to Bufinefs, is the most wretched of Slaves.

*

Liberty is to be purchased at any Rate.

BUT how fhall I get myself at Liberty? We can run any Hazard for Money; take any Pains for Honour; and why do we not venture fomething alfo for Leifure and Freedom; without which we must expect to live and die in a Tumult: For, To long as we live in public, Business breaks in upon us, as one Blow drives on another; and there's no avoiding it with either Modefty or Quiet. It is a kind of Whirl-, pool, that fucks a Man in, and he can never difengage himfelf. A Man of Business cannot in Truth be faid to live, and not one of a thoufand understands how to do it: for how to live, and how to die, is the Leffon of every Moment of our Lives: All other Arts have their Malters. A bufy Life is always a miferable Life, fo is it the greatest of all Miferies, to be perpetually employed upon other People's Bufinefs; for to fleep, to eat, to drink at their Hours; to walk their Pace, and to love and hate, as they do, is the vileft of Servitudes. Now, though Bufinefs mult be quitted, let it not be done.

Chap. XX. unfeasonably; the longer we defer it, the more we endanger our Liberty; and yet we must no more fly before the Time, than linger when the Time comes; or however, we must not love Bufinefs for Bufinefs Sake; nor indeed do we, but for the Profit that goes along with it: For we love the Reward of Mifery, though we hate the Mifery itself. Many People, I know, feek Business without chufing it, and they are e'en weary of their Lives without it, for want of Entertainment in their own Thoughts: The Hours are long, and hateful to themwhen they are alone, and they feem as fhort on the other fide in their Debauches. When they are no longer Candidates, they are Suffragants: When they give over other People's Bufinefs, they do their own; and pretend Bufinefs, but they make it, and value themselves upon being thought Men of Employment. Liberty is the thing which they are perpetually a wifhing, and never come to obtain: A thing neither to be bought, nor fold; but a Man must ask it of himself, and give it to himself. He that has given Proof of his Virtue in public, fhould do well to make trial of it in private alfo. It is not that Solitude, or a Country Life teaches Innocence or Frugality; but Vice falls of itfelf, without Witneffes and Spectators; for the thing it defigns is to be taken notice of Did ever any Man put on rich Cloaths not to be seen? Or fpread the Pomp of his Luxury, where no Body was to take notice of it? If it were not for Admirers, and Spectators, there would be no Temptations to Excefs; the very keeping of us from expofing them, cures us of defiring them, for Vanity and Intemperance are fed with Oftentation.

*Several People withdraw for feveral Ends

HE that has lived at Sea in a Storm let him* retire. and die in the Haven: But let his Retreat be without Oftentation, and wherein he may enjoy himfelf with a good Confcience, without the Want, the Fear, the Hatred, or the Defire of any thing: Not out of a malevolent Detestation of Mankind, but for Satisfaction and Repofe. He that fhuns both Bu finefs and Men, either out of Envy, or any other Difcontent, his Retreat is but to the Life of a Mole: Nor does he live to himself, as a wife Man does, but to his