it is ill in counsel, good in execution. So that the right use of bold persons is, that they never command in chief, but be seconds, and under the direction of others. For in counsel it is good to see dangers, and in execution not 60 to see them, except they be very great.

XIII

Of Goodness, and Goodness of Nature

I TAKE Goodness in this sense, the affecting of the weal of men, which is that the Grecians call Philanthropia ; and the word humanity (as it is used) is a little too light to express it. Goodness I call the habit, and Goodness of Nature the inclination. This, of all virtues and digni- 5 ties of the mind, is the greatest, being the character of the Deity; and without it, man is a busy, mischievous, wretched thing, no better than a kind of vermin. Goodness answers to the theological virtue, Charity, and admits no excess, but error. The desire of power, in excess, 10 caused the angels to fall; the desire of knowledge, in excess, caused man to fall: but in charity there is no excess; neither can angel or man come in danger by it. The inclination to goodness is imprinted deeply in the nature of man; insomuch that, if it issue not towards 15 men, it will take unto other living creatures: as it is seen in the Turks, a cruel people, who, nevertheless, are kind to beasts, and give alms to dogs and birds; insomuch as Busbechius reporteth, a Christian boy in Constantinople had like to have been stoned for gagging, in a waggishness, a long-billed fowl.

20

Errors, indeed, in this virtue of goodness or charity, may be committed. The Italians have an ungracious proverb, Tanto buon che val niente: So good that he is 25 good for nothing. And one of the doctors of Italy, Nicholas Machiavel, had the confidence to put in writing, almost in plain terms, that the Christian faith had given up good men in prey to those who are tyrannical and unjust. Which he spake because, indeed, there was 30 never law, or sect, or opinion, did so much magnify goodness as the Christian religion doth. Therefore, to avoid the scandal, and the danger both, it is good to take knowledge of the errors of an habit so excellent. Seek the good of other men, but be not in bondage to their 25 faces or fancies: for that is but facility or softness; which taketh an honest mind prisoner. Neither give thou Esop's cock a gem, who would be better pleased and happier if he had had a barley-corn. The example of God teacheth the lesson truly: He sendeth his rain, 40 and maketh his sun to shine upon the just and the unjust; but he doth not rain wealth nor shine honour and virtues upon men equally. Common benefits are to be communicate with all; but peculiar benefits with choice. beware how, in making the portraiture, thou breakest the 45 pattern. For divinity maketh the love of ourselves the

And

pattern, the love of our neighbours but the portraiture. Sell all thou hast, and give it to the poor, and follow me; but sell not all thou hast, except thou come and follow me: that is, except thou have a vocation wherein thou 50 mayest do as much good with little means as with great; for otherwise, in feeding the streams, thou driest the fountain.

Neither is there only a habit of goodness directed by right reason; but there is in some men, even in nature, a 55 disposition towards it; as, on the other side, there is a natural inalignity; for there be that in their nature do

not affect the good of others. The lighter sort of malignity turneth but to a crossness, or frowardness, or aptness to oppose, or difficilness, or the like; but the deeper sort to envy, and mere mischief. Such men, in other men's 60 calamities, are, as it were, in season, and are ever on the loading part: not so good as the dogs that licked Lazarus' sores, but like flies that are still buzzing upon anything that is raw: Misanthropi, that make it their practice to bring men to the bough, and yet never have a tree for the 65 purpose in their gardens, as Timon had : Such dispositions are the very errors of human nature; and yet they are the fittest timber to make great politiques of : like to knee-timber, that is good for ships that are ordained to be tossed, but not for building houses that shall stand 70 firm.

The parts and signs of goodness are many. If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shows he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them. 75 If he be compassionate towards the affliction of others, it shows that his heart is like the noble tree that is wounded itself when it gives the balm. If he easily pardons and remits offences, it shows that his mind is planted above injuries, so that he cannot be shot. If he be 80 thankful for small benefits, it shows that he weighs men's minds, and not their trash. But, above all, if he have St. Paul's perfection, that he would wish to be an anathema from Christ, for the salvation of his brethren, it shows much of a divine nature, and a kind of conformity with 85 Christ Himself.

XIV

Of Nobility

WE will speak of Nobility first as a portion of an estate, then as a condition of particular persons. A monarchy where there is no nobility at all is ever a pure and absolute tyranny, as that of the Turks. For nobility at<tempers sovereignty, and draws the eyes of the people somewhat aside from the line royal. But for democracies, they need it not; and they are commonly more quiet, and less subject to sedition than where there are stirps of nobles. For men's eyes are upon the business, 10 and not upon the persons; or, if upon the persons, it is for the business' sake, as fittest, and not for flags and pedigree. We see the Switzers last well, notwithstanding their diversity of religion and of Cantons; for utility is their bond, and not respects. The United 15 Provinces of the Low Countries in their government excel. For where there is an equality, the consultations are more indifferent, and the payments and tributes more cheerful. A great and potent nobility addeth majesty to a monarch, but diminisheth power 20 and putteth life and spirit into the people, but presseth their fortune. It is well when nobles are not too great for sovereignty, nor for justice; and yet maintained in