Complete Works of Matthew Prior

by Matthew Prior

  Alfrank who had set his Mind upon his Roan one of the finest Horses in England, yet never could be brought to ride him after the E: of G: had said freely he could not be of the same Opinion: and Pyso did not care to show a beautiful Picture of which before he was very fond after the D: of B: had told him he thought it was not an Original, What was the matter? The Picture and the Horse were the same the day after as they were the Day before these dreadful Accidents arrived. Happy is for Us, have I often said, that every Man can find his own amusement, and that we do not all like the same thing; That the Man who Gardens or Builds follows his own Plans, and is satisfied with the Execution of them; That One hundred Men in Love each viewing his Mistress at the same time (suppose in a Theatre or other Public Place) wonders that the other Ninety Nine, should see so wrong as not to admit his particular Woman to be (what he would certainly call it) take her altogether the most agreable. But how short alas is this Happy ness if the Gravel Walk must be Altered from our Neighbors thinking of it too narrow or too broad, and the Wall raised or depressed from the Person who endeavoring to look over it being Taller or shorter was pleased to exercise a different Criticism upon it. Your observation comes too late, Sir, Roan is Sold, and the Picture is sent into Wales. Is this enough, Pough! the very Mistress celected from the rest of Woman kind shal be thought to Change as to her Beauty or her Merit, as a Male Friend to the Lover, a Female Friend to the Lady, and perhaps both Rivals to one or t’other shal describe her, from a hint of this kind she shal be thought first too round Shouldered, too fat, or not bred enough in the World, and in a little time after she is down right Crumpt backed, a Boss, and knows not how to Live: Ten thousand Instances of this kind show us that the Opinion of one Man is altered by the Sentiments of another in relation to the same Object: So plain is it that we do not see with our own Eyes, nor judge by our own Understanding.

  But let us suppose our Mind to be a little more Consonant to itself than I have described it. Our Opinion for all what Epictetus says must be directed by something without us, for Opinion it self is really nothing else but the effect of that Impression, which an External or Intellectual Object makes upon our Thoughts. I leave here the Diclination between imagination and Judgment as a Speculation upon which we may Dispute, & that is all. But true in fad: it is that we cannot but Chuse what we think best; Best not as the thing is in it self and singly considered, but with relation to the Circumstances with which we find it Accompanied: Our Mind like a Looking-Glass reflects only the Beauty or deformity of the Images Placed before it, and as these Images vary so varyes likewise our Opinion. This in plainer English is before we judge of things we are already determined to shun what we think hurtfull, and to embrace what we esteem Good, so that under the Denomination of Profit or pleasure we always pursue our Interest, or gratifye our Vanity, and this single thought thrown into different forms gives Us all that Rochfocault ever writ.

  Upon the natural Frailties of our Minds falls yet another Incumbrance very hard to be removed, I mean the prejudice of Education and Custom. Against this our Tutors and Parents find themselves obliged to oppose reading, Conversation, Travell and Experience, all which are commonly of too little force to efface the first Notions engraven upon our Minds, whilst yet they were Young and soft enough to receive those impressions, and which as they grew harder stil retain the same marks. The concern which every Man has first for his Family, and so on to his Parish, his Province, his Country is such as from a Prevention erects it self by Degrees into a Principle. Every Man is partial to the House from whence he descended, finds it filled with famous Warriors or great Scholars, or at least supplies that defect by the force of his own fancy. Every Man in Warwickshire has part of the Prowess of Guy Earl of Warwick, and every Woman in Coventry has part of the Chastity of the Queen, who rode Naked through that City, which of the Two Universities are most Antient or flourishing is the lasting Contest of People bred at either. Every English Man however he disagrees with his Countrymen at home let him Travell from Calais to Rome, and from Rome to Isaphaen, will venture his life any hour he hears the least reflection made upon his Nation. The Swiss are remarked to have a Distemper, which they call the Hemvie, a desire of going home, and where ever They are in Service they get leave to return to their Canton at least once in Some Years, and certainly desire to Dye there.

  I have heard King William confess the same longing as to his going to Holland, and I am sure when I was there I found the Effects of the same Distemper in my Desire to return to England. I remember a Story which the Same great Man was used to tell, since it comes not mal a proposy to what I am saying; A Polander who rode in the Dutch Guards desired Him, then Prince of Orange, to give him leave to go to Warsaw, the Crown being then Vacant, alledging that being a Gentleman he might be chosen King: The Prince gave him leave, and when the Man, some Months after, returned to his Post, His Highness asked him jestingly if he was Chosen? No, Sir, replyed the Man, in a very grave and composed manner, I am not chosen King this time, but I return with the Satisfaction of knowing that the Election was free. Upon this very imagination the greatness of the Roman Empire was founded, and the safety of every Common-wealth, or State in the World does in a great Measure depend. Whether these Idea’s were implanted in our Minds by Nature at our Birth, or arrive from the impressions made by the first Objects we behold, we will refer at present to the Metaphysicians. This is certain, that they hardly leave us till our Death. St. Paul does not scruple to give this Habitude the Name of Nature. As abroad I have Sometimes talked with Carthusians or Franciscans, Men seemingly forsaking the World and lost to it, One has looked intently upon my hatt, t’other felt my Coat and asked if it was English Cloth, a third more Politely enquired about Our Noble Familys of England. Now as to these People before they took their Habits; The first had been a Hatter, the second a Draper, and the Third a Man of Quality; And the instance inferred from this, is, that those Primitive Colours which our understanding first imbibed sticks upon it for ever, nor can be altered by any Tincture, which another sort of life, and a different way of thinking can cast over them. It may be here considered that our Mind is such a buissy thing that it will never stand Neuter, but is medling and interesting it self upon all Occasions. If we see a Stranger come into a Room we are immediately possessed in his favor, or prejudiced against him before he speaks one word, And here comliness of Person and gracefulness of Mien do very often put a Manifest cheat upon our Judgment, which a more thorow knowledge of the Person may happen to redress. We cannot see two People play but we take part with One, and wish the other should lose, this without any previous reason or consideration. But alas the Bowl takes a stronger Bias, as we more know the Person; If we love him his Defeats are diminished, if we hate him, his faults are Exagerated. We look upon the different Objects without finding that we have insensibly turned the Tube. And here those enormous judgments may be taken notice of, which the greatest Men in several Stations and professions have pronounced upon the Abilities and Performances of their Contemporaries. The difference is commonly begot by the Pride of the Persons concerned, and nourished by the ill Nature of the standers by. Our own internal Pride is a Jaunice of the mind, and makes us see things in a bad Colour, but the ill Nature of others intervening is a sort of Whirlwind that raises such a Dust as hinders Us from Seeing the thing even in its true Dimensions. Hence the extravagant censure and eternal War between Persons of the same Age and profession. From Cæsar and Pompey, to Charles the Fifth, and Harry the Eighth and so on to Louis the Fourteenth, and William the Third. From Protogenes and Apelles to Paolo Veroneze and Pontormo. From James the first and Schioppius to Bayle and Jurieu, for I think it not Civil to give any living Instances while I am telling People they are in the Wrong. Hence it happens that North or West shal insensibly engage the Spirits at the Wrestling ring or Bodmin or Truro shal break more Bones at a Whirling in Cornwal than the ablest Surgeon in London shal be able to set. William Earl of Pembroke in the Reign of Harry the Eighth lost his Estate and remained several Years
banished upon a Quarrel meerly on some Tryals of Skill between the County of Somerset and the Town of Bristol. Am not I rediculous to Cite History upon this Head, when no Man can go into a Coffee-House without being insulted upon the account of Whig or Tory. A Party Man indeed, and such most of Us are, or must be, is an Animal that no Commentator upon Human Nature can sufficiently explain. He has not his Opinion, how sorry a World so ever it may be, in his own keeping. Quo ad hoc he is Mad, must speak without believing what he understands, without enquiring he Acts as implicitely according to the word of Command given out by the heads of his Faction as a Carthusian or a Jesuit does to the Will of his Superior. The Lye of the Day is the Rule of his life, and as his Judgment depends upon that of other Men, he must justify every thing that his Party Acts with the greatest Injustice, till from the Degrees of Warm and Violent, he comes up to Furious and Wicked. Foenum habet in cornu, and every body is obliged to yield or run from him.

  It may here be Noted that however our Vanities or desires are unconfined our Abilities have only a Certain Sphere of Activity, and every Man is a Wit or a hero some where. In most Families You have a Droll Servant, each Club has its President, that gives Rules to it, and each Parish has an Invincible Butcher or Tyler, a Witty Cobler, or a grave Assistant to the Clerk in raising the Psalme. The Genius of these, and of the greatest Men recorded in History is stimulated by the same Ambition, and the honor of both hath bounds as certain the not as extensive, there being no such thing as Universal Esteem, however Prittily Fame and her Flight thro the World would be Described and magnifyed by the Poets. In Prose she will be cramped and limited. To take her in her greatest Extent, the Man who may be Praised thrô Europe is not heard of in Asia or Africa, and again how very few are renowned beyond the Bounds of their own Country, so great a hinderance to Knowledge is the Diversity of Languages, and so prevalent is Custom to the Esteem we put upon things. Had Sir Francis Bacon or Sir Philip Sydney been taken by a Tripolin or Sally Pirate, the Footman of either of Them would have been sold for as much more than his Master as he was stronger. The same in all probability would happen to Sir Isaac Newton in relation to the Water Man in Southwark who makes Amanacks. Suppose the like Case to happen to the best Poet now Living, and to the Zany of a Mountebank upon Tower-Hill, the first would be left on Board the Gallies Stript and unregarded, condemned to Row there during life, whilst the other would have his Harlequins Coat restored to him, and be taken up to the Castle, to divert the Governor.

  Thus, I say, other People may not be just enough to Us, and we may be too Partial to our selves, and not to our selves only, but to those who most resemble us. Thus one Mans Vice if examined by another Man equally inclined to it is either Diminished or Christned by the name of some resembling Virtue: Sordidness of life by the Covetous man is called Frugality, and intemperance is called good Fellowship by the Bon Vivanty the loosest pleasures of the Amorous are but Gallantries, and the Caprice or revenge of the Wrathful, lyes covered under the Shield of his Honor Défendit Numerus, who ever heard of such a thing as Usury in Lombard Street, or Perjury at the Custom-House. Now what a jumble must this make in the difference of our Censures, To carry the Thought a little further, the Bounds of Virtue and Vice

  Quos ultra citraq nequit consistere rectum

  are in many cases pretty difficult to find; how nicely must one Distinguish between Patience and Pusillanimity, between Courage and foolhardiness, and so of the rest. Add to this that as to Opinion Success qualifies the Action: if Fabius Maximus had not gained his point by avoiding Battle, he had past for a Coward, and if Alexander had lost the Day at Arbella, he had been Consigned by History for a Madman.

  We need not go from our own Country, or our own Memory for instances of this kind; The Duke of Monmouth came to England with Liberty and Property and the Protestant Religion on his Standard: he was beaten and beheaded; his Honors were taken from his Family. The Prince of Orange does the same thing, he is Successful, is Crowned King of England, transmits an Imortal Memory to Posterity; Gives Us a New Epoche of Time, and a different Set Principles from the Revolution.

  Four Dialogues of the Dead.

  A Dialogue between Charles the Emperour and Clenard the Grammarian.

  Charles. Burgundy with Brabant and Flanders, Castile, Arragon, Germany possessed: Italy, France, Africa, Greece attempted.

  Clenard. Noun Substantive and Adjective, Pronoun, Verb, Participle declined: Adverb, Conjonction, Preposition, Interjection undeclined.

  Charles. Into this Model I had cast Europe. How Glorious was the Design?

  Clenard. How happy was the Division I made of all Greece into Five Dialects.

  Charles. Thou art pretty bold, Friend, not only to hearken to what I say, but to dare to Mimick it; stand further off I command Thee.

  Clenard. Aye, there it is, that Imperative Mood, that Stile of Kings, founded on the reasonable Maxim of tel est Notre plaisir.

  Charles. Why, how should I speak but like my Self? I am Charles the Emperor.

  Clenard. Then dont be offended if I answer like my self. I am Clenard the School-master.

  Charles. A discovery of great importance truly. What can the Man mean by it?

  Clenard. That each of us should give a fair and just Account of himself as a Man, and then —

  Charles. And what then?

  Clenard. Why then if You would divest Your self of that Princely way of thinking, and argue a little cooler, you would not find so much difference between us Two as you imagine.

  Charles. Difference? Why I was by Birth Monarch of Nations, by Acquisition and Power Emperor of the West, and by Stratagem and refinement one of the most Cunning Politicians and most renowned Warrior of my time.

  Clenard. And I was the best Grammarian of mine, very virtuous as to my Morals, well versed in the belles Lettres, and of an agreable Wit in Conversation.

  Charles. Why Thou dost not intend I should submit to so Comical a Comparison.

  Clenard. Comical! Egad I am very Serious while I tell you I think my self as Great, as Wise, and certainly as happy a Man, as your self.

  Charles. Why Learning has made Thee Mad, Clenard. Thou hast crouded thy head with Notions, and forgot plain Fails j refresh thy Memoir a little. Hast thou not seen me at Franckfort, and Aix la Chapelle, with the Imperial Diadem on my head, Presiding in the Three Colleges of Electors, Princes, and Imperial Towns, Served in all the State, and vested in all the Types and Ornaments that Human Greatness is capable of receiving. The King of Bohemia my Cup-bearer, The three first Potentates of Germany waiting on me as Menial Officers; the greatest Ecclesiasticks acknowledging themselves my Chancellours; and all the Nobility of the Empire either my Soldiers or my Servants.

  Clenard. O raree Show, pretty show! and have you not heard of me at Lovain, and Nurembourg presiding over the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Schools? Had I not my Formes and Classes as you your Squadrons & Regiments? Had not I equally my Captains, and Subaltern Officers, and did not I distribute rewards and Punishments as I thought good, as well as You? What were your Ancestors Fasces but a bundle of Rods, What your Scepter but my Ferula? Could not I exert as Imperial Power as absolutely as any Emperor alive, if I had Pleased [ — ? — ] but Greek is lost upon You.

  Charles. Rediculous! while I commanded at the head of an Hundred Thousand Men by Land and Sea, Embarqued half of them one Campaign to Africa; Marched them next thro Italy: You ruled only two or three hundred Boys, sauntering leasurely after them from the School to the Cathederal, from thence to the Hall, and so returning —

  Clenard. Hold, good Charles, lett Us fairly State our matters, for, I love Method, extremely. The first part of the Question, is, which of Us Two had most Power. Now, of the Hundred Thousand Men, with whom you went Dub a Dub, and Tantararara thrô the World, Nineteen parts in twenty were only Machines, meer Instruments of War, made use of to fill Trenches, or stop Breaches, played off by whole Battallions, food for Powder, as Sir John Falstaff calls it in the English Play. The sensible and Animated part of your Army were only usef
ul to you, as they had been instructed by me, or some other of my Profession. Could they have Marched thro different Countries without having the Languages? Could they have taken Towns, or attacked Fortifications, without some previous knowledge in Geometry? Nay, could they have Mustered their own Soldiers or Calculated their Pay without Arethmetic? In effect I formed your Officers tho you Employed them. Without my Instructions, and the ‘ractice of that Discipline which they learned at School, You had better have commanded Herds of Tartars or Nations of wild Indians. And who Governed your Towns all this while, and administred your Laws for You, but those People whom I had Educated? When ever it was otherwise, You see all your Constitutions, Institutes, and Diplomata trampled upon. A John of Leyden in our very time, a Cromwell, nay a Massienello a little since, have made the greatest Kings of you all tremble. Now see what you Owe to us Scholars, who tame the World and make it Subordinate to your Power. For my self in particular, how many good Commanders and discreet Governors have I bred up for You?