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the decencies of his station, he is considered as either absurdly penurious, or else very poor.

And why, it may be asked, should any one be at all ashamed of this latter,supposing his poverty is not the result of any misconduct? The answer is, that though poverty is not accounted by any persons of sense disgraceful, the exposure of it is felt to be a thing indecent: and though, accordingly, a right-minded man does not seek to make a secret of it, he does not like to expose it, any more than he would to go without clothes.

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The Greeks and Romans had no distinct expressions for the disgraceful' and the 'indecent :'' turpe' and atoxpov served to express both. And some of the ancient philosophers, especially the Cynics (see Cic. de Off.) founded paradoxes on this ambiguity, and thus bewildered their hearers and themselves. For it is a great disadvantage not to have (as our language has) distinct expressions for things really different.

There are several things, by the way, besides those just attended to, which are of the character of, not disgraceful, but indecent that is, of the existence of which we are not ashamed, but which we should be ashamed to obtrude on any one's notice: e.g. self-love, which is the deliberate desire for one's own happiness; and regard for the good opinion of others. These are not-when not carried to excess-vices, and consequently are not disgraceful. Any vice a man wishes to be thought not to have; but no one pretends or wishes to be thought wholly destitute of all regard for his own welfare or for the good opinion of his fellow-creatures. But a man of sense and delicacy keeps these in the background, and, as it were, clothes them, because they become offensive when prominently displayed.

And so it is with poverty. A man of sense is not ashamed of it, or of deliberately confessing it; but he keeps the marks of it out of sight.

These observations a person was making to a friend, who strenuously controverted his views, and could not, or would not, perceive the distinction above pointed out. 'I, for my part,' said he, am poor, and I feel no shame at all at its being known. Why, this coat that I now have on, I have had turned, because I could not well afford a new one; and I care not who knows it.' He did not perceive that he had established the

very point he was controverting; for if there had been, in his view, nothing indecent in the display of poverty, he would have worn the coat without turning. He might have had it scoured if needful; but though clean, it would still have looked threadbare; and he did not like to make this display of poverty.

Ordinary expense ought to be limited by a man's estate.'

It is of course a great folly—and a very common one,—for a man to impoverish himself by a showy expenditure beyond his means. And it is a minor folly for him-without outrunning to make a display beyond his station, and to waste money on show such as was not expected of him, when he might, obviously, have found many better uses for it; but when to chuse the time as to each point, would of course be no easy

matter.

Perhaps it may be laid down in reference to what may be called ornamental expense-anything that is not so strictly required as a decency, that you would be censured and ridiculed for being without it, that you should have such articles only as you can afford, not only to buy, but to replace; supposing them of a perishable nature.

For, the honour,' as Bacon calls it, of any display of wealth, consists, surely, in not only having such and such articles, but having them without uneasiness;-without any very anxious care about them. If you have a very fine set of china-ware, and are in a continual apprehension of its being broken, you had better, in point of respectability as well as of comfort, have been content with plain Worcester. If a lady is in a perpetual fever lest some costly veil or gown should be soiled or torn, this indicates that she would have done better to wear a less costly dress. There is something in what is said by little Sandford in the Tale,' who preferred a horn cup to one of silver, because it never made him uneasy.'

Of course it is not meant that a man should not live in a house such as he could not afford with perfect ease to rebuild if it were burnt down; or that he ought to be thus prepared to meet with other such extraordinary calamities. But he should be prepared to meet each kind of accident that each kind of article respectively is commonly liable to: e. g. glass and porce

lain to be broken, trinkets to be dropped and lost, horses to be lamed, &c. If you cannot face the ordinary and average amount of accidents with respect to any such article, or if it is a matter of anxious care and uneasiness, you are better without it. For this anxious care and uneasiness proves that the expense is a great one to you. You may indeed conceal this anxious care, and show, externally, a feigned composure and indifference. But then you are undergoing all this uneasiness, —and also all this labour to hide this uneasiness,-for the sake of appearing richer than you are. But to one who has no wish of this kind, the proper measure is, with a view to respectability, as well as peace of mind, not what expenses he can afford, but what he can habitually afford without feeling them a grievous care.

Of course higher motives come in, when one considers the good that may be done, to our friends and to the poor, by curtailing showy expenditure.

It is wonderful how some people fail to perceive what an absurd and ridiculous figure a man makes who is continually bemoaning the narrowness of his means, and setting forth the hardship of his case in not having a better income, while he is sitting in a room full of inlaid tables, splendid inkstands and boxes, and other costly gewgaws, which it is no discredit at all to be without, and which are thought desirable chiefly as a display of wealth.

'It is no baseness for the greatest to descend and look into their own estate.

It is worth remarking, as a curious circumstance, and the reverse of what many would expect, that the expenses called for by a real or imagined necessity, of those who have large incomes, are greater in proportion than those of persons with slenderer means; and that consequently a larger proportion of what are called the rich, are in embarrassed circumstances, than of the poorer. This is often overlooked, because the absolute number of those with large incomes is so much less, that, of course, the absolute number of persons under pecuniary difficulties in the poorer classes must form a very great majority. But if you look to the proportions, it is quite the reverse. Take the numbers of persons of each amount of income, divided into classes, from £100 per annum up to £100,000 per annum, and

you will find the per centage of those who are under pecuniary difficulties continually augmenting as you go upwards. And when you come to sovereign States, whose revenue is reckoned by millions, you will hardly find one that is not deeply involved in debt! So that it would appear that the larger the income, the harder it is to live within it.

When men of great revenues, whether civil or ecclesiastical, live in the splendour and sensuality of Sardanapalus, they are apt to plead that this is expected of them; which may be, perhaps, sometimes true, in the sense that such conduct is anticipated as probable; not true, as implying that it is required or approved. I have elsewhere' remarked upon this ambiguity in the word 'expect:' but it is worth noticing as sometimes leading, in conjunction with other causes, to a practical bad effect upon this point of expenses as well as upon many others. It is sometimes used in the sense of anticipate,' 'calculate on,' &c. (¿λπí¿w), in short, 'consider as probable, sometimes for 'require or demand as reasonable,'-' consider as right' (ağı). Thus, I may fairly 'expect' (ağı) that one who has received kindness from me, should protect me in distress; yet I may have reason to expect (λiew) that he will not. England expects every man to do his duty;' but it would be chimerical to expect, that is, anticipate, a universal performance of duty. What may reasonably be expected (in one sense of the word), must be precisely the practice of the majority; since it is the majority of instances that constitutes probability: what may reasonably be expected (in the other sense), is something much beyond the practice of the generality; as long, at least, as it shall be true, that narrow is the way that leadeth to life, and few there be that find it.'

'He that is plentiful in expenses of all kinds will hardly be preserved from decay.'

Obviously true as this is, yet it is apparently completely overlooked by the imprudent spendthrift, who, finding that he is able to afford this, or that, or the other, expense, forgets that all of them together will ruin him. This is what, in logical language, is called the Fallacy of Composition.'

1 Elements of Logic, Appendix.

ESSAY XXIX.

THE

OF THE TRUE GREATNESS

OF KINGDOMS AND ESTATES.'

HE speech of Themistocles, the Athenian, which was haughty and arrogant, in taking so much to himself, had been a grave and wise observation and censure, applied at large to others. Desired at a feast to touch a lute, he said, 'he could not fiddle, but yet he could make a small town a great city.'" These words (holpen a little with a metaphor) may express two differing abilities in those that deal in business of estate; for, if a true survey be taken of counsellors and statesmen, there may be found (though rarely) those which can make a small state great, and yet cannot fiddle,―as, on the other side, there will be found a great many that can fiddle very cunningly,' but yet are so far from being able to make a small State great, as their gift lieth the other way-to bring a great and flourishing estate to ruin and decay. And, certainly, those degenerate arts and shifts, whereby many counsellors and governors gain both favour with their masters and estimation with the vulgar, deserve no better name than fiddling, being things rather pleasing for the time, and graceful to themselves only, than tending to the weal and advancement of the State which they serve. There are also (no doubt) counsellors and governors which may be held sufficient, negotiis pares [able to manage affairs], and to keep them from precipices and manifest inconveniences, which, nevertheless, are far from the ability to raise and amplify an estate in power, means, and fortune. But be the workmen what they may be, let us speak of the work-that is, the true greatness of kingdoms and estates, and the means thereof. An argument fit for great and mighty princes to

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