(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.