(K.) That noble
Sin —— ——: Page 10. Line 12.
THE Prodigality, I call a noble Sin, is not that
which has Avarice for its Companion, and makes Men
unreasonably profuse to some of what they unjustly
extort from others, but that agreeable good-natur’d
Vice that makes the Chimney smoke, and
all the Tradesmen smile; I mean the unmix’d
Prodigality of heedless and voluptuous Men, that being
educated in Plenty, abhor the vile Thoughts of Lucre,
and lavish away only what others took pains to scrape
together; such as indulge their Inclinations at their
own Expence, that have the continual Satisfaction of
bartering Old Gold for new Pleasures, and from the
excessive largeness of a diffusive Soul, are made
guilty of despising too much what
most People over-value.
When I speak thus honourably of this Vice, and treat
it with so much Tenderness and good Manners as I do, I
have the same thing at Heart that made me give so many
Ill Names to the Reverse of it, viz. the
Interest of the Publick; for as the Avaricious does no
good to himself, and is injurious to all the World
besides, except his Heir, so the Prodigal is a
Blessing to the whole Society, and injures no body but
himself. It is true, that as most of the first are
Knaves, so the latter are all Fools; yet they are
delicious Morsels for the Publick to feast on, and may
with as much Justice as the French call the
Monks the Partridges of the Women, be styled the
Woodcocks of the Society. Was it not for Prodigality,
nothing could make us amends for the Rapine and
Extortion of Avarice in Power. When a Covetous
Statesman is gone, who spent his whole Life in
fat’ning himself with the Spoils of the Nation, and
had by pinching and plundering heap’d up an immense
Treasure, it ought to fill every good Member of the
Society with Joy, to behold the uncommon Profuseness
of his Son. This is refunding to the Publick what was
robb’d from it. Resuming of Grants is a barbarous way
of stripping, and it is ignoble to ruin a Man faster
than he does it himself, when he sets about it in such
good earnest. Does he not feed an infinite number of
Dogs of all Sorts and Sizes, tho’ he never hunts; keep more Horses
than any Nobleman in the Kingdom, tho’ he never rides
’em, and give as large an Allowance to an ill-favour’d
Whore as would keep a Dutchess, tho’ he never lies
with her? Is he not still more extravagant in those
things he makes use of? Therefore let him alone, or
praise him, call him Publick-spirited Lord, nobly
bountiful and magnificently generous, and in a few Years
he’ll suffer himself to be stript his own way. As long
as the Nation has its own back again, we ought not to
quarrel with the manner in which the Plunder is
repay’d.
Abundance of moderate Men I know that are Enemies to
Extremes will tell me, that Frugality might happily
supply the Place of the two Vices I speak of, that, if
Men had not so many profuse ways of spending Wealth,
they would not be tempted to so many evil Practices to
scrape it together, and consequently that the same
Number of Men by equally avoiding both Extremes, might
render themselves more happy, and be less vicious
without than they could with them. Whoever argues thus shews himself
a better Man than he is a Politician. Frugality is
like Honesty, a mean starving Virtue, that is only fit
for small Societies of good peaceable Men, who are
contented to be poor so they may be easy; but in a
large stirring Nation you may have soon enough of it.
’Tis an idle dreaming Virtue that employs no Hands,
and therefore very useless in a trading Country, where
there are vast Numbers that one way or other must be
all set to Work. Prodigality has a thousand Inventions
to keep People from sitting still, that Frugality
would never think of; and as this must consume a
prodigious Wealth, so Avarice again knows innumerable
Tricks to rake it together, which Frugality would
scorn to make use of.
Authors are always allow’d to compare small things to
great ones, especially if they ask leave first. Si
licet exemplis, &c. but to compare great
things to mean trivial ones is unsufferable, unless it
be in Burlesque; otherwise I would compare the Body
Politick (I confess the Simile is very low) to a Bowl of
Punch.2 Avarice should be the Souring and
Prodigality the Sweetning of it. The Water I would
call the Ignorance, Folly and Credulity of the
floating insipid Multitude; while Wisdom, Honour,
Fortitude and the rest of the sublime Qualities of
Men, which separated by Art from the Dregs of Nature
the fire of Glory has exalted and refin’d into a
Spiritual Essence, should be an Equivalent to Brandy.
I don’t doubt but a Westphalian, Laplander,
or any other dull Stranger that is unacquainted with
the wholesom Composition, if he was to taste the several
Ingredients apart, would think it impossible they
should make any tolerable Liquor. The Limons would be
too sour, the Sugar too luscious, the Brandy he’ll say
is too strong ever to be drank in any Quantity, and
the Water he’ll call a tasteless Liquor only fit for
Cows and Horses: Yet Experience teaches us, that the
Ingredients I named judiciously mixt, will make an
excellent Liquor, lik’d of and admir’d by Men of
exquisite Palates.
As to our two Vices in
particular, I could compare Avarice, that causes so
much Mischief, and is complained of by every body who
is not a Miser, to a griping Acid that sets our Teeth
on Edge, and is unpleasant to every Palate that is not
debauch’d: I could compare the gawdy Trimming and
splendid Equipage of a profuse Beau, to the glistning Brightness of
the finest Loaf Sugar; for as the one by correcting
the Sharpness prevents the Injuries
which a gnawing Sour might do to the Bowels, so the
other is a pleasing Balsam that heals and makes amends
for the smart, which the Multitude always suffers from
the Gripes of the Avaricious; while the Substances of
both melt away alike, and they consume themselves by
being beneficial to the several Compositions they
belong to. I could carry on the Simile as to
Proportions, and the exact Nicety to be observed in
them, which would make it appear how little any of the
Ingredients could be spared in either of the Mixtures;
but I will not tire my Reader by pursuing too far a
ludicrous Comparison, when I have other Matters to
entertain him with of greater Importance; and to sum
up what I have said in this and the foregoing Remark,
shall only add, that I look upon Avarice and
Prodigality in the Society as I do upon two contrary
Poisons in Physick, of which it is certain that the
noxious Qualities being by mutual Mischief corrected
in both, they may assist each other, and often make a
good Medicine between them.