late archbishop's pofthumous works. I do not know that I ever read any thing that pleafed me more, and as it is the praife of Longinus, that he speaks of the fublime in a ftile fuitable to it, fo one may fay of this author upon fincerity, that he abbors any pomp of rhetorick on this occafion, and treats it with a more than ordinary fimplicity, at once to be a preacher and an example. With what command of himfelf does he lay before us, in the lan guage and temper of his profeffion, a fault, which by the least liberty and warmth of expreffion would be the most lively wit and fatire? But his heart was better difpofed, and the good man chaftifed the great wit in fuch a manner, that he was able to fpeak as follows.

Amongst too many other inftances of the great corruption and degeneracy of the age where. in we live, the great and general want of fincerity in converfation is none of the leaft. The world is grown fo full of diffimulation and compliment, * that mens words are hardly any fignification of their thoughts; and if any man meafure his words by his heart, and fpeak as he thinks, and do not exprefs more kindnefs to every man, than men ufually have for any man, he can hardly efcape the cenfure of want of breeding. The old English plainnefs and fincerity, that generous integrity of * nature, and honefty of difpofition, which always argues true greatnefs of mind, and is ufually ac ⚫companied with undaunted courage and refoluti on, is in a great measure loft amongft us: There hath been a long endeavour to transform us into ⚫ foreign manners and fashions, and to bring us to a fervile imitation of none of the beft of our neigh *bours in fome of the worft of their qualities. The dialect of converfation is now-a-days fo fwelled with vanity and compliment, and fo furfeited (as • I may fay) of expreflions of kindness and respect; that if a man that lived an age or two ago fhould

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return into the world again, he would really want a dictionary to help him to understand his own language, and to know the true intrinfick value ⚫ of the phrafe in fashion, and would hardly at first ⚫ believe at what a low rate the highest strains and expreffions of kindness imaginable do commonly pafs in current payment; and when he should come to understand it, it would be a great while before he could bring himself with a good countenance and a good confcience to converse with men upon equal terms, and in their own way.

And in truth it is hard to fay, whether it fhould more provoke our contempt or our pity, to hear what folemn expreffions of respect and kindness ⚫ will pass between men, almost upon no occafion ; how great honour and efteem they will declare for one whom perhaps they never faw before, and how entirely they are all on the fudden devoted to his fervice and intereft, for no reason; how infinitely and eternally obliged to him, for no benefit; and how extremely they will be concerned for him, yea and afflicted too, for no caufe. I know it is faid, in juftification of this hollow kind of converfation, that there is no harm, no real deceit in compliment, but the matter is well enough, fo long as we understand one another; et verba valent ut nummi, words are like money; and when the current value of them is generally understood, no man is cheated by them. This is fomething if fuch words were any thing; but being brought into the account, they are mere cy phers. However, it is ftill a juft matter of complaint, that fincerity and plainnefs are out of fafh ion, and that our language is running into a lie; that men have almoft quite perverted the ufe of fpeech, and made words to fignify nothing; that the greatest part of the converfation of mankind, is little elfe but driving a trade of diffimulation; infomuch that it would make a man heartily fick

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and weary of the world, to fee the little fincerity that is in use and practice among men.

When the vice is placed in this contemptible light, he argues unanfwerably againft it, in words. and thoughts fo natural, that any man who reads them would imagine he himself could have been the author of them. Alt them.d If the fhow of any thing be good for any thing, I am fure fincerity is better; for why does any man diffemble, or feem to be that which he is not, but because he thinks it good to have fuch a quality as he pretends to? For to counterfeit and dif femble, is to put on the appearance of fome realexcellency. Now the best way in the world to feem to be any thing, is really to be what he would feem to be. Befides, that it is many y times as troublefome to make good the pretence of a good quality, as to have it; and if a man have it C not, it is ten to one but he is difcovered to want it; and then all his pains and labour to feem to have it, is loft.

In another part of the fame difcourse he goes on to fhow, that all artifice muft naturally tend to the disappointment of him that practifes it.

Whatfoever convenience may be thought to be in falfhood and diffimulation, it is foon over; but "the inconvenience of it is perpetual, because it brings a man under an everlafting jealoufy and fufpicion, fo that he is not believed when he speaks truth, nor trufted when perhaps he means honeftly. When à man hath once forfeited the reputation of his integrity, he is fet faft, and nothing will then ferve his turn, neither truth nor falfhood.

R

IT would be a noble improvement, or rather arecovery of what we call good breeding, if nothing were to pass amongst us for agreeable which was the leaft tranfgreffion against that rule of life called decorum, or a regard to decency. This would command the refpect of mankind, because it carries in it deference to their good opinion, as humi lity lodged in a worthy mind is always attended with a certain homage, which no haughty foul, with all the arts imaginable, will ever be able to purchase. Tully fays, virtue and decency are fo nearly related, that it is difficult to feperate them from each other but in our imagination. As the beauty of the body always accompanies the health of it, fo certainly is decency concomitant to virtue: As beauty of body, with an agreeable carriage, pleafes the eye, and that pleafare confifts in that we obferve all the parts with a certain elegance are proportioned to each other; fo does decency of behaviour which appears in our lives obtain the approbation of all with whom we converfe, from the order, confiftency, and moderation of our words and actions. This flows from the reverence we bear towards every good man, and to the world in general; for to be negligent of what any one thinks of you, does not only fhew you arrogant but abandoned. In all thefe confiderations we are to diftinguifh how one virtue differs from another: As it is the part of juftice never to do violence, it is of modefty never to commit offence. In this last particular lies the

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whole fource of what is called decency; to this purpofe that excellent moralift above-mentinoned talks of decency; but this quality is more eafily comprehended by an ordinary capacity, than expreffed with all his eloquence. This decency of behaviour is generally tranfgreffed among all orders of men; nay, the very women, though themselves created it as it were for ornament, are often very much mistaken in this ornamental part of life. It would methinks be a fhort rule for behaviour, if every young lady in her drefs, words, and actions, were only to recommend herfelf as a fifter, daughter, or wife, and make herself the more esteemed in one of thofe characters. The care of themselves, with regard to the families in which women are born, is the best motive for their being courted to come into the alliance of other houfes. Nothing can promote this end more than a ftrict prefervation of decency. I fhould be glad if a certain equeftrian order of ladies, fome of whom one meets in an evening at every outlet of the town, would take this fubject into their ferious confideration: In order thereunto the following letter may not be wholly unworthy their perufal.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

GOING lately to take the air in one of the most beautiful evenings this feafon has produced;. as I was admiring the ferenity of the fky, the lively colours of the fields, and the variety of the landfkape every way around me, my eyes were fuddenly called off from thefe inanimate objects: by a little party of horsemen I faw paffing the road. The greater part of them efcaped my particular obfervation, by reafon that my whole at⚫tention was fixed on a very fair youth who rode in the midst of them, and feemed to have been dreffed by fome defcription in a romance. His features, complexion, and habit had a remarkable effeminacy, and a certain languishing vanity ap⚫pearedi

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