(M.) And odious
Pride a Million more: Page 10. Line 14.
PRIDE is that Natural Faculty by which every Mortal
that has any Understanding over-values, and imagines
better Things of himself than any impartial Judge,
thoroughly acquainted with all his Qualities and
Circumstances, could allow him. We are possess’d of no
other Quality so beneficial to Society, and so
necessary to render it wealthy and flourishing as
this, yet it is that which is most generally detested.
What is very peculiar to this Faculty of ours, is,
that those who are the fullest of it, are the least
willing to connive at it in others; whereas the
Heinousness of other Vices is the most extenuated by
those who are guilty of ’em themselves. The Chaste Man
hates Fornication, and Drunkenness is most abhorr’d by
the Temperate; but none are so much offended at their
Neighbour’s Pride, as the proudest of all; and if any
one can pardon it, it is the most Humble: From which I
think we may justly infer, that it being odious
to all the World, is a certain Sign that all the World
is troubled with it. This all Men
of Sense are ready to confess, and no body denies but
that he has Pride in general. But, if you come to
Particulars, you’ll meet with few that will own any
Action you can name of theirs to have proceeded from
that Principle. There are likewise many who will allow
that among the sinful Nations of the Times, Pride and
Luxury are the great Promoters of Trade, but they
refuse to own the Necessity there is, that in a more
virtuous Age, (such a one as should be free from
Pride) Trade would in a great Measure decay.
The Almighty, they say, has endow’d
us with the Dominion over all Things which the Earth
and Sea produce or contain; there is nothing to be
found in either, but what was made for the Use of Man;
and his Skill and Industry above other Animals were
given him, that he might render both them and every
Thing else within the Reach of his Senses, more
serviceable to him. Upon this Consideration they think
it impious to imagine, that Humility, Temperance, and
other Virtues, should debar People from the Enjoyment
of those Comforts of Life, which are not denied to the
most wicked Nations; and so conclude, that without
Pride or Luxury, the same Things might be eat, wore,
and consumed; the same Number of Handicrafts and
Artificers employ’d, and a Nation be every way as
flourishing as where those Vices are the most
predominant.
As to wearing Apparel in particular, they’ll tell
you, that Pride, which sticks much nearer to us than
our Clothes, is only lodg’d in the Heart, and that
Rags often conceal a greater Portion of it than the
most pompous Attire; and that as it cannot be denied
but that there have always been virtuous Princes, who
with humble Hearts have wore their splendid Diadems,
and sway’d their envied Scepters, void of Ambition, for the Good
of others; so it is very probable, that Silver and
Gold Brocades, and the richest Embroideries may,
without a Thought of Pride, be wore by many whose
Quality and Fortune are suitable to them. May not (say
they) a good Man of extraordinary Revenues, make every
Year a greater Variety of Suits than it is possible he
should wear out, and yet have no other Ends than to
set the Poor at Work, to encourage Trade, and by
employing many, to promote the Welfare of his Country?
And considering Food and Raiment to be Necessaries,
and the two chief Articles to which all our worldly
Cares are extended, why may not all Mankind set aside
a considerable Part of their Income for
the one as well as the other, without the least
Tincture of Pride? Nay, is not every Member of the
Society in a manner obliged, according to his Ability,
to contribute toward the Maintenance of that Branch of
Trade on which the Whole has so great a Dependence?
Besides that, to appear decently is a Civility, and
often a Duty, which, without any Regard to our selves,
we owe to those we converse with.
These are the Objections generally made use of by
haughty Moralists, who cannot endure to hear the
Dignity of their Species arraign’d; but if we look
narrowly into them they may soon be answered.
If we had no Vices, I
cannot see why any Man should ever make more Suits
than he has occasion for, tho’ he was never so
desirous of promoting the Good of the Nation: For tho’
in the wearing of a well-wrought Silk, rather than a
slight Stuff, and the preferring curious fine Cloth to
coarse, he had no other View but the setting of more
People to work, and consequently the Publick Welfare,
yet he could consider Clothes no otherwise than Lovers
of their Country do Taxes now; they may pay ’em with
Alacrity, but no Body gives more than his due;
especially where all are justly rated according to
their Abilities, as it could no otherwise be expected
in a very Virtuous Age. Besides that in such Golden
Times no Body would dress above his Condition, no body
pinch his Family, cheat or over-reach his Neighbour to
purchase Finery, and consequently there would not be
half the Consumption, nor a third Part of the People
employ’d as now there are. But to make this more plain
and demonstrate, that for the Support of Trade there
can be nothing equivalent to Pride, I shall examine
the several Views Men have in outward Apparel, and set
forth what daily Experience may teach every body as to
Dress.
Clothes were originally made for two Ends, to hide
our Nakedness, and to fence our Bodies against the
Weather, and other outward Injuries: To these our
boundless Pride has added a third, which is Ornament;
for what else but an excess of stupid Vanity, could
have prevail’d upon our Reason to fancy that
Ornamental, which must continually put us in mind of
our Wants and Misery, beyond all other Animals that
are ready clothed by Nature herself? It is indeed to
be admired how so sensible a Creature as Man, that
pretends to so many fine Qualities of his own, should
condescend to value himself upon what is robb’d from
so innocent and defenceless an Animal as a Sheep, or
what he is beholden for to the
most insignificant thing upon Earth, a dying Worm; yet
while he is Proud of such trifling Depredations, he
has the folly to laugh at the Hottentots on
the furthest Promontory of Africk, who adorn
themselves with the Guts of their dead Enemies, without
considering that they are the Ensigns of their Valour
those Barbarians are fine with, the true Spolia
opima, and that if their Pride be more Savage
than ours, it is certainly less ridiculous, because
they wear the Spoils of the more noble Animal.
But whatever Reflexions may be made on this head, the
World has long since decided the Matter; handsome
Apparel is a main Point, fine Feathers make fine
Birds, and People, where they are not known, are
generally honour’d according to their Clothes and
other Accoutrements they have about them; from the
richness of them we judge of their Wealth, and by
their ordering of them we guess at their Understanding
. It is this which encourages every Body, who is
conscious of his little Merit, if he is any ways able,
to wear Clothes above his Rank, especially in large
and populous Cities, where obscure Men may hourly meet
with fifty Strangers to one Acquaintance, and
consequently have the Pleasure of being esteem’d
by a vast Majority, not as what they are, but what
they appear to be: which is a greater Temptation than
most People want to be vain.
Whoever takes delight in viewing the various Scenes
of low Life, may on Easter, Whitsun, and other
great Holidays, meet with scores of People, especially
Women, of almost the lowest Rank, that wear good and
fashionable Clothes: If coming to talk with them, you
treat them more courteously and with greater Respect
than what they are conscious they deserve, they’ll
commonly be ashamed of owning what they are; and often
you may, if you are a little inquisitive, discover in
them a most anxious Care to conceal the Business they
follow, and the Places they live in. The Reason is
plain; while they receive those Civilities that are
not usually paid them, and which they think only due
to their Betters, they have the Satisfaction to
imagine, that they appear what they would be, which to
weak Minds is a Pleasure almost as substantial as they
could reap from the very Accomplishments of their
Wishes: This Golden Dream they are unwilling to be
disturbed in, and being sure that the meanness of
their Condition, if it is known, must sink ’em very
low in your Opinion, they hug themselves in their
disguise, and take all imaginable Precaution not to
forfeit by a useless discovery the Esteem which they
flatter themselves that their good Clothes have drawn
from you.
Tho’ every Body allows, that as to Apparel and manner
of living, we ought to behave our selves suitable to
our Conditions, and follow the Examples of the most
sensible, and prudent among our Equals in Rank and
Fortune: Yet how few, that are not either miserably
Covetous, or else Proud of Singularity, have this
Discretion to boast of? We all look above our selves,
and, as fast as we can, strive to imitate those, that
some way or other are superior to us.
The poorest Labourer’s Wife in the Parish, who scorns
to wear a strong wholesom Frize, as she might, will
half starve her self and her Husband to purchase a
second-hand Gown and Petticoat, that cannot do her half the
Service; because, forsooth, it is more genteel. The
Weaver, the Shoemaker, the Tailor, the Barber, and
every mean working Fellow, that can set up with
little, has the Impudence with the first Money he
gets, to Dress himself like a Tradesman of Substance:
The ordinary Retailer in the clothing of his Wife,
takes Pattern from his Neighbour, that deals in the
same Commodity by Wholesale, and the Reason he gives
for it is, that Twelve Years ago the other had not a
bigger Shop than himself. The Druggist, Mercer,
Draper, and other creditable Shopkeepers can find no
difference between themselves and Merchants, and
therefore dress and live like them. The Merchant’s
Lady, who cannot bear the Assurance of those
Mechanicks, flies for refuge to the other End of the
Town, and scorns to follow any Fashion but what she
takes from thence. This
Haughtiness alarms the Court, the Women of Quality are
frighten’d to see Merchants Wives and Daughters
dress’d like themselves: this Impudence of the City,
they cry, is intolerable; Mantua-makers are sent for,
and the contrivance of Fashions becomes all their
Study, that they may have always new Modes ready to
take up, as soon as those saucy Cits shall begin to
imitate those in being. The same Emulation is
continued through the several degrees of Quality to an
incredible Expence, till at last the Prince’s great
Favourites and those of the first Rank of all, having
nothing else left to outstrip some of their Inferiors,
are forc’d to lay out vast Estates in pompous
Equipages, magnificent Furniture, sumptuous Gardens
and princely Palaces.
To this Emulation and continual striving to out-do
one another it is owing, that after so many various
Shiftings and Changings of Modes, in trumping up new
ones and renewing of old ones, there is still a plus
ultra left for the ingenious; it is this, or at
least the consequence of it, that sets the Poor to
Work, adds Spurs to Industry, and encourages the
skilful Artificer to search after further
Improvements.
It may be objected, that many People of good Fashion,
who have been us’d to be well Dress’d, out of Custom
wear rich Clothes with all the indifferency
imaginable, and that the benefit to Trade accruing
from them cannot be ascribed to Emulation or Pride. To
this I answer, that it is impossible, that those who
trouble their Heads so little with their Dress, could
ever have wore those rich Clothes, if both the Stuffs
and Fashions had not been first invented to gratify
the Vanity of others, who took greater delight in fine
Apparel, than they; Besides that every Body is not
without Pride that appears to be so; all the
symptoms of that Vice are not easily discover’d; they
are manifold, and vary according to the Age, Humour,
Circumstances, and often Constitution, of the People.
The cholerick City Captain seems impatient to come to
Action, and expressing his Warlike Genius by the
firmness of his Steps, makes his Pike, for want of
Enemies, tremble at the Valour of his Arm: His Martial
Finery, as he marches along, inspires him with an
unusual Elevation of Mind, by which endeavouring to
forget his Shop as well as himself, he looks up at the
Balconies with the fierceness of a Saracen
Conqueror: While the phlegmatick Alderman, now become
venerable both for his Age and his Authority, contents
himself with being thought a considerable Man; and
knowing no easier way to express his Vanity, looks big
in his Coach, where being known by his paultry Livery,
he receives, in sullen State, the Homage that is paid
him by the meaner sort of People.
The beardless Ensign counterfeits a Gravity above his
Years, and with ridiculous Assurance
strives to imitate the stern Countenance of his
Colonel, flattering himself all the while that by his
daring Mien you’ll judge of his Prowess. The youthful
Fair, in a vast concern of being overlook’d, by the
continual changing of her Posture betrays a violent
desire of being observ’d, and catching, as it were, at
every Body’s Eyes courts with obliging Looks the
admiration of her Beholders. The conceited Coxcomb, on
the contrary, displaying an Air of Sufficiency, is
wholly taken up with the Contemplation of his own
Perfections, and in Publick Places discovers such a
disregard to others, that the Ignorant must imagine,
he thinks himself to be alone.
These and such like are all manifest tho’ different
Tokens of Pride, that are obvious to all the World;
but Man’s Vanity is not always so soon found out. When
we perceive an Air of Humanity, and Men seem not to be
employed in admiring themselves, nor altogether
unmindful of others, we are apt to pronounce ’em void
of Pride, when perhaps they are only fatigu’d with
gratifying their Vanity, and become languid from a
satiety of Enjoyments. That outward show of Peace
within, and drowsy composure of careless Negligence,
with which a Great Man is often seen in his plain
Chariot to loll at ease, are not always so free from
Art, as they may seem to be. Nothing is more
ravishing to the Proud than to be thought happy.
The well-bred Gentleman places his greatest Pride in
the Skill he has of covering it with Dexterity, and
some are so expert in concealing this Frailty, that
when they are the most guilty of it, the Vulgar think
them the most exempt from it. Thus the dissembling
Courtier, when he appears in State, assumes an Air of
Modesty and good Humour; and while he is ready to
burst with Vanity, seems to be wholly Ignorant of his
Greatness; well knowing, that those lovely Qualities
must heighten him in the Esteem of others, and be an
addition to that Grandeur, which the Coronets about
his Coach and Harnesses, with the rest of his
Equipage, cannot fail to proclaim without his
Assistance.
And as in these, Pride is overlook’d, because
industriously conceal’d, so in others again it is
denied that they have any, when they shew (or at least
seem to shew) it in the most Publick manner. The
wealthy Parson being, as well as the rest of his
Profession, debarr’d from the Gaiety of Laymen, makes
it his Business to look out for an admirable Black and
the finest Cloth that Money can purchase, and
distinguishes himself by the fulness of his noble and
spotless Garment; his Wigs are as fashionable as that
Form he is forced to comply with will admit of; but as
he is only stinted in their Shape, so he takes care
that for goodness of Hair, and Colour, few Noblemen
shall be able to match ’em; his Body is ever clean, as
well as his Clothes, his sleek Face is kept constantly
shav’d, and his handsome Nails are diligently pared;
his smooth white Hand and a Brilliant of the first
Water, mutually becoming, honour each other with
double Graces; what Linen he discovers is
transparently curious, and he scorns ever to be seen
abroad with a worse Beaver than what a rich Banker
would be proud of on his Wedding-Day; to all these
Niceties in Dress he adds a Majestick Gate, and
expresses a commanding Loftiness in his Carriage; yet
common Civility, notwithstanding the evidence of so
many concurring Symptoms, won’t allow us to suspect
any of his Actions to be the Result of Pride;
considering the Dignity of his Office, it is only
Decency in him what would be Vanity in others; and in
good Manners to his Calling we ought to believe, that
the worthy Gentleman, without any regard to his
reverend Person, puts himself to all this Trouble and
Expence merely out of a Respect which is due to the
Divine Order he belongs to, and a Religious Zeal to
preserve his Holy Function from the Contempt of
Scoffers. With all my Heart; nothing of all this shall
be call’d Pride, let me only be allow’d to say, that
to our Human Capacities it looks very like it.
But if at last I should grant, that there are Men who
enjoy all the Fineries of Equipage and Furniture as
well as Clothes, and yet have no Pride in them; it is
certain, that if all should be such, that Emulation I
spoke of before must cease, and consequently Trade,
which has so great a Dependence upon it, suffer in
every Branch. For to say, that if all Men were truly
Virtuous, they might, without any regard to
themselves, consume as much out of Zeal to serve their
Neighbours and promote the Publick Good, as they do
now out of Self-Love and Emulation, is a miserable
Shift and an unreasonable Supposition. As there have
been good People in all Ages, so, without doubt, we
are not destitute of them in this; but let us enquire
of the Periwig-makers and Tailors, in what Gentle-men
, even of the greatest Wealth and highest Quality,
they ever could discover such publick-spirited Views.
Ask the Lacemen, the Mercers, and the Linen-Drapers,
whether the richest, and if you will, the most
virtuous Ladies, if they buy with ready Money, or
intend to pay in any reasonable Time, will not drive
from Shop to Shop, to try the Market, make as many
Words, and stand as hard with them to save a Groat or
Six-pence in a Yard, as the most necessitous Jilts in
Town. If it be urg’d, that if there are not, it is
possible there might be such People; I answer that it
is as possible that Cats, instead of killing Rats and
Mice, should feed them, and go about the House to
suckle and nurse their young ones; or that a Kite
should call the Hens to their Meat, as the Cock does,
and sit brooding over their Chickens instead of
devouring ’em; but if they should all do so, they
would cease to be Cats and Kites; it is inconsistent
with their Natures, and the Species of Creatures which
now we mean, when we name Cats and Kites, would be
extinct as soon as that could come to pass.