William Temple

“ Those Families which live upon their Patrimonial Estates in all the great Cities, are a People differently bred and manner'd from the Traders, though like them in the modesty of Garb and Habit, and the Parsimony of living. Their Youth are generally bred up at Schools, and at the Universities of Leyden or Utretcht, in the common studies of Human Learning, but chiefly of the Civil Law, which is that of their Country, at least as far as it is so in France and Spain. ”

“ In the Country and Villages, not too near the great Towns, they seem plain and honest, and content with their own; so that if, in bounty, you give them a Shilling for what is worth but a Groat, they will take the current price, and give you the rest again; if you bid them take it, they know not what you mean, and sometimes ask, if you are a Fool. They know no other Good, but the supply of what Nature requires, and the common increase of Wealth. ”

“ Nor does any Man know, how much may have been contributed towards the great things in all kinds, both publick and private, that have been atchieved among them by this one Humour of never giving over what they imagine may be brought to pass, nor leaving one scent to follow another they meet with; Which is the property of the lighter and more ingenious Nations; And the Humour of a Government being usually the same with that of the persons that compose it, not only in this, but in all other points; so as, where Men that govern, are Wise, Good, Steddy and Just, the Government will appear so too ”

“ The Trader reckons upon growing Richer, and by his account Better, the longer he lives; which makes him careful of his Health, and his Life, and so apt to be orderly and temperate in his Diet; While the Soldier is Thoughtless, or prodigal of both; and having not his Meat ready at hours, or when he has a mind to it, Eats full and greedily, whenever he gets it; And perhaps difference of Diet may make greater difference in men's natural Courage, than is commonly Thought of. ”

“ This is a cause, why the Yeomanry and Commonalty of England are generally braver than in other Countries, because by the Plenty, and Constitutions, of the Kingdom, they are so much easier in their Rents and their Taxes, and fare so much better and fuller, than those, of their rank, in any other Nation. Their chief, and, indeed, constant food, being of Flesh; And among all Creatures, both the Birds and the Beasts, we shall still find those that feed upon Flesh, to be the fierce and the bold ”

“ For Nature cannot hold out with constant labour of Body, and as little with constant bent, or application, of Mind: Much motion of the same parts of the Brain either wearies and wasts them too fast for repair, or else (as it were) fires the wheels, and so ends, either in general decays of the Body, or distractions of the Mind (For these are usually occasion'd by perpetual motions of Thought about some one Object; whether it be about ones self in excesses of Pride, or about another in those of Love, or of Grief.) ”

“ This makes the beauty and strength of their Towns, the commodiousness of travelling in their Country by their Canals, Bridges, and Cawseys; the pleasantness of their Walks, and their Grafts in and near all their Cities; And in short, the Beauty, Convenience, and sometimes Magnificence, of their Publique Works, to which every Man pays as willingly, and takes as much pleasure and vanity in them, as those of other Countrys do in the same circumstances, among the Possessions of their Families, or private Inheritance. ”

“ Where a Man would chuse rather to Travel, than to Live; Shall find more things to observe than desire; And more Persons to esteem than to love. But the same Qualities and Dispositions do not value a private Man and a State, nor make a Conversation agreeable, and a Government Great., Nor is it unlikely, that some very great King might make but a very ordinary private Gentleman, and some very extraordinary Gentleman, might be capable of making but a very mean Prince. ”

“ Charity seems to be very National among them, though it be regulated by Orders of the Country, and not usually mov'd by the common Objects of Compassion. But it is seen in the admirable Provisions that are made out of it for all sorts of Persons that can want, or ought to be kept, in a Government. ”

“ This may be one reason, why the Gentry, in all places of the World, are braver than the Peasantry, whose Hearts are depressed, not only by Slavery, but by short and heartless Food, the effect of their Poverty. ”

“ Plagues are not so frequent, at least not in a degree to be taken notice of, for All suppress the talk of them as much as they can, and no distinction is made in the Registry of the dead, nor much in the Care and Attendance of the Sick: Whether from a belief of Predestination, or else, a Preference of Trade, which is the life of the Country, before that of particular Men. ”

“ Therefore none are so excusable as Men of much Care and Thought, or of great business, for giving up their times of leisure to any pleasures or diversions that offend no Laws, nor hurt others or themselves: And this seems the reason, that, in all Civil Constitutions, not only Honours, but Riches, are annexed to the Charges of those who govern, and upon whom the Publique Cares are meant to be devolved ”

“ They content themselves with the honour of being useful to the Publick, with the esteem of their Cities or their Country, and with the ease of their Fortunes; which seldom fails, by the frugality of their living, grown universal by being (I suppose) at first necessary, but since honourable, among them.
The mighty growth and excess of Riches is seen among the Merchants and Traders, whose application lyes wholly that way, and who are the better content to have so little share in the Government, desiring only security in what they possess ”

“ The same dulness of Air may dispose them to that strange assiduity and constant application of their Minds, with that perpetual Study and Labour upon any thing they design and take in hand. This gives them patience to persue the quest of Riches by so long Voyages and Adventures to the Indies, and by so long Parsimony as that of their whole Lives. ”

“ The Soldier thinks of a short life and a merry. The Trader thinks upon a long, and a painful. One intends to make his Fortunes suddenly by his Courage, by Victory, and Spoil: The t'other slower, but surer, by Craft, by Treaty, and by Industry. ”

“ Where these Families are rich, their Youths, after the course of their studies at home, travel for some years, as the Sons of our Gentry use to do; but their Journeys are chiefly into England and France, not much into Italy, seldomer into Spain, nor often into the more Northern Countrys, unless in company or train of their publick Ministers. The chief end of their Breeding, is, to make them fit for the service of their Country in the Magistracy of their Towns, their Provinces, and their State. ”

“ In other Points, where they deal with Men that understand like themselves, and are under the reach of justice and Laws, they are the plainest and best dealers in the World; Which seems not to grow so much from a Principle of Conscience, or Morality, as from a Custom or Habit introduced by the necessity of Trade among them, which depends as much upon Common-Honesty, as War does upon Discipline, and without which, all would break up, Merchants would turn Pedlars, and Soldiers Thieves. ”

“ I think, there can be pretended but two Exceptions to this Rule, which are the Cock and the Horse; whereas the Courage of the One, is noted no where but in England, and there, only in certain Races: And for the Other, all the Courage we commend in them, is, the want of Fear; and they are observed to grow much fiercer, whenever by custom, or necessity, they have been used to flesh.
From all this may be inferr'd, That not only the long disuse of Arms among the Native Hollanders, (especially at Land,) and making use of other Nations, chiefly in their Milice ”

“ But the Arts of Trade, as well as Peace, and their great Parsimony in Diet, and eating so very little Flesh, (which the common People seldom do, above once a week,) may have helpt to debase much the ancient valour of the Nation, at least, in the occasions of Service at Land. Their Seamen are much better; but not so good as those of Zealand, who are generally brave ”

“ Yet on the other side, it may improve Men's Parts and Abilities of cold Complexions, and in dull Air; and may be necessary to thaw and move the frozen or unactive Spirits of the Brain; To rowse sleepy Thought, and refine grosser Imaginations, and perhaps to animate the Spirits of the Heart, as well as enliven those of the Brain: Therefore the old Germans seem'd to have some reason in their Custom, not to execute any great Resolutions which had not been twice debated, and agreed at two several Assemblies, one in an Afternoon, and t'other in a Morning ”

“ A Person that deserv'd another Fate, and a better return from his Country, after Eighteen years spent in their Ministry, without any care of his Entertainments or Ease, and little of his Fortune. A Man of unwearied Industry, inflexible Constancy, sound, clear, and deep Understanding, with untainted Integrity ”

“ The Merchants and Trades-men, both the greater and Mechanick, living in Towns that are of great resort, both by Strangers and Passengers of their own, are more Mercurial, (Wit being sharpned by Commerce and Conversation of Cities,) though they are not very inventive, which is the gift of warmer Heads; yet are they great in imitation, and so far, many times, as goes beyond the Originals: Of mighty Industry, and constant Application to the Ends they propose and persue. ”

“ Their common Riches lye in every Man's having more than he spends; or, to say it more properly, In every man's spending less than he has coming in, be that what it will: Nor does it enter into Men's heads among them, That the common port or course of Expence should equal the Revenue; and when this happens, they think at least they have liv'd that year to no purpose; And the train of it discredits a Man among them, as much as any vitious or prodigal Extravagance does in other Countrys. ”

“ For Courage may proceed, in some measure, from the temper of Air, may be form'd by Discipline, and acquir'd by Use, or infus'd by Opinion; But that which is more natural, and so more National in some Countries than in others, seems to arise from the heat or strength of Spirits .about the Heart, which may a great deal depend upon the measure and the substance of the Food, Men are used to. ”

“ Or, that the dulness of their Air render them less susceptible of more refined Passions; Or, that they are diverted from it by the general intention every Man has upon his business, whatever it is; (nothing being so mortal an Enemy of Love, that suffers no Rival, as any bent of thought another way.) ”

“ This enables every Man to bear their extream Taxes, and makes them less sensible than they would be in other places: For he that lives upon Two parts in Five of what he has coming in, if he pays Two more to the State, he does but part with what he should have laid up, and had no present use for; Whereas, he that spends yearly what he receives, if he pays but the Fiftieth part to the Publick, it goes from him like that which was necessary to buy Bread or Clothes for himself or his Family. ”

“ Not only, that they may not be distracted from these, by the Cares of their own Domestique or private Interests; but, that by the help of Esteem, and of Riches, they may have those Pleasures and Diversions in their reach, which idle Men neither need nor deserve, but which are necessary for the refreshment, or repair, of Spirits, exhausted with Cares, and with Toil, and which serve to sweeten and preserve those Lives that would otherwise wear out too fast, or grow too uneasie in the Service of the Publique. ”

“ T'other thinks the price of a little Blood is more than of a great deal of Sweat; and means to live upon other Men's Labours, and possess in an hour, what they have been years in acquiring: This makes one love to live under stanch Orders and Laws ”

“ At least, these end wholly in a Man's self, and the satisfaction of his personal Humour; whereas the other make not only the Riches of a Family, but contribute much towards the publick Beauty and Honour of a Country.
The order in casting up their Expences is so great and general, that no Man offers at any Undertaking, which he is not prepared for, and Master of his Design, before he begins ”

“ And of these kind of Men are the Civil Officers of this Government generally composed, being descended of Families, who have many times been constantly in the Magistracy of their Native Towns for many Years, and some for several Ages. ”

“ Wine to hot Brains being like Oyl to Fire, and making the Spirits, by too much lightness, evaporate into smoak, and perfect aiery imaginations; Or, by too much heat, rage into Frenzy, or at least into Humours and Thoughts, that have a great mixture of it ”

“ The other wary and frugal, and loath to part with in a day, what he has been labouring for a Year, and has no hopes to recover, but by the same paces of Diligence and Time. One aims only to preserve what he has, as the fruit of his Father's pains ”

“ The same Causes may have had the same Effects among their Married Women, who have the whole care and absolute management of all their Domestick; And live with very general good Fame; A certain sort of Chastity being hereditary and habitual among them, as Probity among the Men. ”