Epistle VIII. To Pompeius Saturninus.
by
the Same. [Mr. Pelham.]
[_]
He sends him the Oration which he made to his Townsmen, when he gave them a Library:
Making some excuses for the Praises he give himself, and his Ancestors in it,
and leaving it to him, whether he ought to Publish it or not.
Your Letter wherein you desire me to send you something of my Writing,
came to me very Seasonably, as I was just preparing to do so. You have therefore only Spurred a free Horse,
and at once, prevented your self of all Excuse, from taking the Pains to Correct it,
and me, from the shame of asking you that Favour.
For now, it would not become me, to be afraid to make use of the Liberty offered me,
nor you, to be displeased at what you your self have desired. But you are not to expect any thing New,
from so lazy a Fellow. What I now beg of you, is again to Review the Oration which I made to my Townsmen,
when I gave them a Library. I remember indeed you have already made some Remarks,
but they were general ones, but now I desire that
you would not only consider it in the general, but be as particular as you can in your Corrections,
and fine off every roughness. For I shall still be at Liberty to publish it,
or suppress it: And your Corrections may, perhaps, determine my Choice,
which is yet doubtful, about it: For the frequency of them, will either show that it is
not fit, or will
make it fit for the
Publick. But the Reasons of my doubt,
do not arise so much, from the Stile, and manner, as from the Subject I treat of;
which seems a little vainglorious. For being obliged to discourse of the Munificence of my Ancestors,
and of my own, this alone appears an offence against Modesty, let the Stile be ever so low and humble.
This is a dangerous and slippery Path, even tho' Necessity be the Excuse for getting into it;
for if, while a Man is speaking in Praise of others, he is not heard with Pleasure,
how can he be heard with Patience, when discoursing of himself, or his Family?
And if we are apt to detract even from
a handsome Action, how much more shall we do so, when we see it attended with a vain glorious Publication?
Those good Deeds alone, escape Detraction, which are hid in Silence and Obscurity.
Upon which account, I have often considered, whether, in what I have Written,
I ought only to consult my self, or others also. Besides, I reflect, that most things,
which are necessary to accompany
the doing of a good Action, lose their Advantage, and Grace, the moment that Action is over.
And, not to go farther for an Instance of it, what could I do more properly,
at the time I was making my Townsmen such a Present, than to enlarge a little upon the Advantages of that sort of Liberality?
As first, That by such means they would be disposed to spend their Hours in virtuous Studies;
the Charms of which they might in time ben enabled to perceive more thoroughly.
And again, That I had taken such care in the disposal of my Bounty, as not to repent it afterwards.
And here it naturally came in my way to discourse of the Contempt of Riches:
And tho' all Men seem under a natural Constraint to keep them, on the contrary,
my well-weigh'd love of Liberality had freed me from those Chains of Avarice,
in which so many are bound: And that my Munificence deserved the greater
Commendation, because it was not the effect of a sudden Fancy, but of a deliberate Resolution.
You may consider likewise, That as I had not given them Shows or Gladiators,
but had engaged in a yearly Expence for the Improvement of the young Gentlemen there;
what I than said might be the more necessary: For indeed the Pleasures we receive by the Eyes and Ears,
are so far from wanting an Oration to recommend them, that they have more need of one to restrain us from them:
But on the contrary, not only Rewards,
but many Arguments are necessary to perswade any one to undergo the fatigue and labour of a good Education:
And if Physicians are forced to give all the good Words they can, to get their Patients to take an unpleasant,
tho' wholsom, Prescription; how much more fitting was it, for a Lover of the Publick,
to introduce a most beneficial, tho' not equally popular, Donation, by a Discourse in its favour?
Especially since I had endeavoured that what was given to the Parents might be an Advantage to their Posterity;
and that the Honours some few had obtained, might encourage others to do the like,
by studying to deserve them. But, as at that time I endeavoured more to do my Townsmen a Service,
than to raise my own Reputation, in explaining the Intention and Usefulness of my Present to them;
so now, in my Design of publishing this Piece, I fear 'twill be thought I have consulted,
not the Advantage of others, but my own Glory. Besides, I consider how much more noble it is,
to place the Reward of a good Action in the Consciousness, than in the Reputation of it. For Praise ought to come of it self,
not to be sought after: and if, by chance, it does not follow a good Action,
that Action is not to be the less esteem'd for not having acquired popular Applause.
But they, who set off their good Actions by their own Words, seem not so much to talk of them,
because they have done them, as to
have done them, that they might talk of them. And the same thing, that would have sounded well in the Mouth of another,
loses all its Grace in the Mouth of its Author. For when Men cannot condemn the Action itself,
they accuse the doer of it of Vanity. So that if you do any thing fit only to be concealed,
you are blamed for the very Action; If you do a Praise-worthy thing, you are blamed for the not concealing it.
And indeed as I made this Oration, not before the common People, but before the Magistrates,
not in the open Street, but in the Town-House; I am afraid that it will be absurd in me,
by publishing it at this time, to pursue that vulgar Praise and Acclamation which I industriously avoided when I spoke it:
And that I, who was then so apprehensive of appearing ambitious of the Favour of the People,
as to shut out of Doors even them for whose Good what I had done, was intended;
I should now court, with an apparent Ostentation, those who can reap no other Benefit from my Liberality, but the good
Example of it. I have given you the Reasons of my being so backward; and I beg your Advice,
which will be of sufficient Authority to determine me without farther deliberation.
Farewel.
