166

POOR RICHARD'S MAXIMS.

spare the ready money, and hope now to be fine without it. But, ah! think what you do when you run in debt; you give to another power over your liberty. If you cannot pay at the time, you will be ashamed to see your creditor; you will be in fear when you speak to him; you will make poor pitiful sneaking excuses, and, by degrees, come to lose your veracity, and sink into base downright lying; for 'The second vice is lying, the first is running in debt,' as Poor Richard says; and again, to the same purpose, 'Lying rides upon debt's back;' whereas a free-born Englishman ought not to be ashamed nor afraid to see or speak to any man living.

"Poverty often deprives a man of all spirit and virtue. It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.' What would you think of that prince, or of that government, who should issue an edict forbidding you to dress like a gentleman or gentlewoman, on pain of imprisonment or servitude? Would you not say that you were free, have a right to dress as you please, and that such an edict would be a breach of your privileges, and such a government tyrannical ? and yet you are about to put yourself under that tyranny, when you run in debt for such dress! When you have got your bargain, you may, perhaps, think little of payment; but, as Poor Richard says, Creditors have better memories than debtors; creditors are a superstitious sect, great observers of days and times.' The day comes round before you are aware, and the demand is made before

POOR RICHARD'S MAXIMS.

167

you are prepared to satisfy it; or, if you bear your debt in mind, the term, which at first seemed so long, will, as it lessens, appear extremely short: Time will seem to have added wings to his heels as well as his shoulders. Those have a short Lent, who owe money to be paid at Easter.'

“At present, perhaps, you may think yourselves in thriving circumstances, and that you can bear a little extravagance without injury; but

'For age and want save while you may,

No morning sun lasts a whole day.'

"Gain may be temporary and uncertain; but ever, while you live, expense is constant and certain; and 'It is easier to build two chimneys than to keep one in fuel,' as Poor Richard says: so, 'Rather go to bed supperless than rise in debt.'

'Get what you can, and what you get hold,

'Tis the stone that will turn all your lead into gold.' And, when you have got the philosopher's stone, sure you will no longer complain of bad times, or the dif ficulty of paying taxes.

"This doctrine, my friends, is reason and wisdom; but, after all, do not depend too much upon your own industry, and frugality, and prudence, though excellent things; for they may all be blasted without the blessing of Heaven; and, therefore, ask that blessing humbly, and be not uncharitable to those that at present seem to want it, but comfort and help them. Remember, Job suffered, and was afterwards prosperous."

APOPHTHEGMS.

It ought always to be steadily inculcated, that virtue is the highest proof of understanding, and the only solid basis of greatness; and that vice is the natural consequence of narrow thoughts; that it begins in mistake, and ends in ignominy.

No habit is acquired with more difficulty than that of acknowledging our errors; and yet this habit is the best feature in an amiable character, and the strongest proof of a sound understanding.

He that judges, without informing himself to the utmost that he is capable of, cannot acquit himself of judging amiss.

Honour and justice, reason and equity, go a very great way in securing prosperity to those who use them; and, in case of failure, they secure the best retreat, and the most honorable consolations.

Solon being asked, why, among his laws, there was not one against personal affronts; answered, that he could not believe the world so fantastical as to regard them.

The richest endowments of the mind, are temperance, prudence, and fortitude; prudence, is an universal virtue which enters into the composition of all the rest, and where that is not present, fortitude loses its name and nature.

APOPHTHEGMS.

169

The greater the difficulty, the more glory there is in surmounting it; skilful pilots gain their reputation from storms and tempests.

That which men are deficient in reason, they usually make up in rage.

To be able to bear provocation is an argument of great wisdom; and to forgive it, is a proof of a great mind.

Mark Antony, after the battle of Actium, challenged Augustus, who took no further notice of the insult than by sending back this answer: "If Antony is weary of his life, there are other ways of despatch; I shall not trouble myself to be his executioner."

A passionate temper renders a man unfit for advice, deprives him of his reason, robs him of all that is great or noble in his nature, makes him unfit for conversation, destroys friendship, changes justice into cruelty, and turns all order into confusion.

It is not the height to which men are advanced that makes them giddy; it is the looking down with contempt upon those beneath.

To be angry about trifles, is mean and childish; to rage and be furious, is brutish; and to maintain perpetual wrath, is akin to the practice and temper of demons; while, on the contrary, to prevent or suppress rising resentment, is wise and glorious, manly and divine.

PENN'S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS.

WILLIAM PENN did not look upon the gift of land by Royal Charter as a warrant to dispossess the first proprietors. He accordingly appointed his commissioners to treat with them for the fair purchase of a part of their lands, and for their joint possession of the remainder; and the terms being nearly agreed upon, he proceeded, very soon after his arrival, to conclude the settlement, and confirm the treaty in sight both of the Indians and planters.

For this purpose a grand convocation of the tribes had been appointed near the spot where Philadelphia now stands; and it was agreed that he and the presiding Sachems should meet and exchange faith, under the spreading branches of a prodigious elm-tree that grew on the bank of the river. On the day appointed, accordingly, an innumerable multitude of the Indians assembled in that neighbourhood; and were seen, with their dark visages and brandished arms, moving, in vast swarms, in the depth of the woods, which then overshaded that now cultivated region.

On the other hand, William Penn, with a moderate attendance of friends, advanced to meet them. He came of course unarmed-in his usual plain dress— without banners, or mace, or guard, or carriages; and only distinguished from his companions by wearing a blue sash of silk net-work, and by having in his hand