ALCIPHRON, (continued 2)

Duely to weigh these Two Characters, it is plain, that Nicanor was an abstemious Man; that the Motives which spurred him on to Industry, were his Love of Money, and Desire after worldly Greatness. Considering the small Delight he always seem'd to take in strong Liquors, and his known Thirst after Gain, it is impossible to account rationally for his excessive Drinking one Morning, than by ascribing it to his darling Passion, the Love of Lucre, which made him venture to lose his Sobriety rather than the Advantage which he expected from the Bargain he was driving. Therefore it is plain from this Character, that the Love of Wine, whether it was, counted blameable or praise-worthy, had no Influence upon Nicanor's Actions, and consequently that, tho' it had been less than it was, it would never have diminish'd his Industry.

In Lepidus we see a fond Admirer of Company, and a discreet Lover of himself, who would enjoy as much of the World as is possible, without forfeiting the good Opinion of it: And a rich Man, of an even Temper, might perform all this in a Christian Country, from no better Principles than Pride and worldly Prudence, tho' he had very little or no Religion.

All This an hasty and inconsiderate Reader will call Folly, and tell me, that I am fighting with my own Shadow; and that, from the Character of Nicanor, no Mortal would imagine, that his Industry and Desire after Wealth could proceed from, and be owing to his Love of Wine: But I insist upon it, and you must allow it, Sir, that there would be no greater Absurdity in an Attempt of proving this, than there would be in ascribing the Sociableness and generous Behaviour of Lepidus to his being a Christian. All Men who are born of Christian Parents, and brought up among Christians, are always deem'd to be such themselves, whilst they acquiesce in, and not disown the Name: But unless People are palpably influenc'd by their Religion, in their Actions and Behaviour, there is no greater Advantage in being a Christian, than there is in being a Mahometan or a Heathen. If a Person was made free of a Company which presided over Artizans, in a toilsome laborious Trade, and he neither had serv'd his Time to it before, nor ever followed it afterwards, it could not be said of such a Person, whatever other Use he might make of his Freedom, that he actually was, or had been, of that laborious, toilsome Employment. A Man who was baptiz'd in his Infancy, may comply with all the outward Forms of his Religion; and, if he loves his Reputation, never be guilty of any notorious Wickedness. But if all this While, which is not impossible, his Heart is closely attach'd to this World; if he has a far greater Value for Sensual, than he has for Spiritual Pleasures, and persists in a Course of a voluptuous Life for many Years, without Repentance: A Man, I say, who does this, cannot be a more real Christian, tho' he conform'd to all the Rites and Ceremonies, and bore a great Sway in the Vestry, than a Linnen-Draper could be a real Blacksmith, tho' he was free of the Blacksmiths Company, and was a Livery-Man amongst them.

That weak silly People may form such wrong Judgments, as I have hinted at, from no worse Cause, than Want of Capacity, and mere Folly, I am willing to believe. But when I see Men of very good Sense, and considerable Knowledge, guilty of it, I can't help thinking, that they do it with Design, and because they find their Interest in it. This is certain, that when once it is taken for granted, that to be a Christian, it is sufficient to acquiesce in being call'd so, and attend the outward Worship of some Sect or other, it saves the Clergy a vast Deal of Trouble, from Friends as well as Foes. For to quiet and satisfy all scrupulous Consciences, is as great a Drudgery as it is to write in Defence of Miracles.

The Reason, Sir, why I have said so much on this Head, is, that among those who outwardly shew the greatest Zeal for Religion and the Gospel, I see hardly Any who teach us, either by Precept or Example, the Severity of Manners which Christianity requires. They seem to be much more sollicitous about the Name, than they are about the Thing it self; as if, when Men would but own themselves to be Christians, it was no great Matter for the Qualifications which must make them so. When of late I have cast my Eyes upon the Behaviour of some People, who shall be nameless, it has put me in Mind of the Free-Masons. These, you know, are divided in several Companies; each Company have a Lodge of their own; every Lodge has a Master; over all these Masters again, there is a Grand Master. Some of them meet once a Month; others not so often; they pretend to Mysteries, and eat and drink together; they make use of several Ceremonies, which are peculiar to themselves, with great Gravity; and with all this Bustle they make, I could never learn yet, that they had any Thing to do, but to be Free-Masons, speak well of the Honour of their Society, and either pity or despise all those who are not Members of it: Out of their Assemblies, they live and converse like other Men: And tho' I have been in Company with several of them, I profess, unless I am told it, I can never know, who is a Free-Mason, and who is not.

I know, Sir, you love Allegory; and on that Score, I have been extremely delighted with what you say, Page 332, of your first Volume; where you justly ridicule and expose those Libertines, who pretend to be Patriots for Liberty and Property. I beg Leave, for the Benefit of other Readers, to transcribe the Passage. When I hear, says Crito, these two Words in the Mouth of a Minute Philosopher, I am put in Mind of the Teste di Ferro at Rome. His Holiness, it seems, not having Power to assign Pensions, on Spanish Benefices, to Any but Natives of Spain, always keeps at Rome Two Spaniards, call'd Teste di Ferro, who have the Name of all such Pensions, but not the Profit, which goes to Italians. As we may see every Day, both Things and Notions placed to the Account of Liberty and Property, which in Reality neither have, nor are meant to have any Share in them. What! is it impossible for a Man to be a Christian, but he must be a Slave; or a Clergyman, but he must have the Principles of an Inquisitor? This is very à propos, and admirably well applied. I thank you for it. I know Abundance of Divines, who seem to be very fond of the World, and are always grasping at Wealth and Power; and whenever I hear Any of these mention their Concern for Religion, and the Spiritual Welfare of Others, as they often do, I shall always think on Crito's Story, laugh heartily, and say no more. For if I should imitate him, in exclaiming every Time I saw both Things and Notions placed to the Account of Religion and the Spiritual Welfare of Others, which, in Reality, neither have, nor are meant to have any Share in them, I should never be able to follow any other Business, than to cry out, What! is it impossible, that the Christian Religion should be taken Care of, unless Ecclesiasticks ride in Coaches and Six; or the Spiritual Welfare of the Laity, without Temporal Dominion and an extravagant Power in the Clergy?

My Allegory, you see, Sir, is but a Copy of yours, and therefore cannot have the same Merit. How you will like it I can't tell; but I fancy, that most of my Readers besides, will be of Opinion, that if his Holiness makes no greater Advantage by his Teste di Ferro at Rome, than the Cause, which you espouse, is like to get by yours here, it will hardly be worth his while to keep them any longer.

Here, Sir, I shall take my Leave of you, in full Expectation, that, in what relates to me, I shall find great Alterations in your next Edition. To furnish you with as many Materials for this Purpose as I can conveniently, I shall fill what Room I have left with another Quotation from The Fable of the Bees, beginning Page 410. If my Paper would have held out, and I could have added a Page or two more, you would have seen how wickedly I have been misrepresented in what I say about the Fire of London.

It is certain, that the fewer Desires a Man has, and the less he Covets, the more easy he is to himself: The more active he is to supply his own Wants, and the less he requires to be waited upon, the more he will be beloved, and the less Trouble he is in a Family: The more he loves Peace and Concord, the more Charity he has for his Neighbour: And the more he shines in real Virtue, there is no doubt, but that in Proportion he is acceptable to God and Man. But let us be Just. What Benefit can these Things be of, or what Earthly Good can they do, to promote the Wealth, the Glory and Worldly Greatness of Nations? It is the Sensual Courtier, that sets no Limits to his Luxury; the Fickle Strumpet that invents New Fashions every Week; the Haughty Dutchess, that in Equipage, Entertainments, and all her Behaviour, would imitate a Princess; the Profuse Rake and lavish Heir, that scatter about their Money without Wit or Judgment, buy every Thing they see, and either destroy or give it away the next Day; the Covetous and perjur'd Villain, that squeez'd an immense Treasure from the Tears of Widows and Orphans, and left the Prodigals the Money to spend. It is these that are the Prey and proper Food of a full-grown Leviathan; or, in other Words, such is the calamitous Condition of Human Affairs, that we stand in Need of the Plagues and Monsters I named, to have all the Variety of Labour perform'd, which the Skill of Men is capable of inventing, in order to procure an Honest Livelihood to the vast Multitudes of Working Poor, that are required to make a large Society: And it is Folly to imagine, that great and wealthy Nations can subsist, and be at once Powerful and Polite, without.

I protest against Popery as much as ever Luther or Calvin did, or Queen Elizabeth herself; but I believe from my Heart, that the Reformation has, scarce been more instrumental in rendring the Kingdoms and States, that have embraced it, flourishing beyond other Nations, than the silly and capricious Invention of Hoop'd and Quilted Petticoats. But if this should be denied me by the Enemies of Priestly Power, at least I am sure, that, bar the brave Men, who have fought for and against that Lay-Man's Blessing, it has from its first Beginning to this Day, not employ'd so many Hands, honest industrious labouring Hands, as the abominable Improvement on Female Luxury, I named, has done in Few Years. Religion is one Thing, and Trade is another. He that gives most Trouble to Thousands of his Neighbours, and invents the most operose Manufactures is, right or wrong, the greatest Friend to the Society.

What a Bustle is there to be made in several Parts of the World, before a fine Scarlet, or Crimson Cloth can be produced? What a Multiplicity of Trades and Artificers must be employ'd? Not only such as are obvious, as Wool-combers, Spinners, the Weaver, the Cloth-worker, the Scowrer, the Dyer, the Setter, the Drawer, and the Packer; but others that are more remote, and might seem foreign to it; as the Mill-wright, the Pewterer, and the Chymist, which yet are all necessary, as well as a great Number of other Handicrafts, to have the Tools, Utensils, and other Implements belonging to the Trades already named: But all these Things are done at Home, and may be perform'd without extraordinary Fatigue or Danger; the most frightful Prospect is left behind, when we reflect on the Toil and Hazard that are to be undergone Abroad, the vast Seas we are to go over, the different Climates we are to endure, and the several Nations we must be obliged to for their Assistance. Spain alone, it is true, might furnish us with Wool to make the finest Cloth; but what Skill and Pains, what Experience and Ingenuity are required to dye it of those beautiful Colours! How widely are the Drugs and other Ingredients dispers'd through the Universe, that are to meet in one Kettle. Allom, indeed, we have of our own; Argol we might have from the Rhine, and Vitriol from Hungary; all this is in Europe; but then for Saltpetre in Quantity, we are forc'd to go as far as the East-Indies: Cochenille, unknown to the Ancients, is not much nearer to us, tho' in a quite different Part of the Earth; we buy it, 'tis true, from the Spaniards; but not being their Product, they are forc'd to fetch it for us from the remotest Corner of the New World in the West-Indies. Whilst so many Sailors are broiling in the Sun, and swelter'd with Heat in the East and West of us, another Set of them are freezing in the North, to fetch Potashes from Russia.

When we are thoroughly acquainted with all the Variety of Toil and Labour, the Hardships and Calamities, that must be undergone to compass the End I speak of, and we consider the vast Risques and Perils that are run in those Voyages, and that Few of them are ever made, but at the Expence, not only of the Health and Welfare, but even the Lives of Many: When we are acquainted with, I say and duely consider the Things I named, it is scarce possible to conceive a Tyrant so inhuman and void of Shame, that beholding Things in the same View, he should exact such terrible Services from his innocent Slaves; and at the same Time dare to own, that he did it for no other Reason, than the Satisfaction a Man receives from having a Garment made of Scarlet or Crimson Cloth. But to what Height of Luxury must a Nation be arriv'd, where not only the King's Officers, but likewise his Guards, even the Private Soldiers, should have such impudent Desires!

But if we turn the Prospect, and look on all those Labours, as so many voluntary Actions, belonging to different Callings and Occupations, that Men are brought up to for a Livelihood, and in which Every one works for himself, how much soever he may seem to labour for Others: If we consider, that even the Sailors, who undergo the greatest Hardships, as soon as one Voyage is ended, even after a Ship-wreck, are looking out and solliciting for Employment in another: If we consider, I say, and look on these Things in another View, we shall find, that the Labour of the Poor is so far from being a Burthen, and an Imposition upon them, that to have Employment is a Blessing, which, in their Addresses to Heaven, they pray for; and to procure it for the Generality of them, is the greatest Care of every Legislature.

FINIS.

PUBLICATIONS OF THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

First Year (1946-47)

Numbers 1-6 out of print.

Second Year (1947-1948)

7. John Gay's The Present State of Wit (1711); and a section on Wit from The English Theophrastus (1702).

8. Rapin's De Carmine Pastorali, translated by Creech (1684).

9. T. Hanmer's (?) Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet (1736).

10. Corbyn Morris' Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, etc. (1744).

11. Thomas Purney's Discourse on the Pastoral (1717).

12. Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph Wood Krutch.

Third Year (1948-1949)

13. Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), The Theatre (1720).

14. Edward Moore's The Gamester (1753).

15. John Oldmixon's Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley (1712); and Arthur Mainwaring's The British Academy (1712).

16. Nevil Payne's Fatal Jealousy (1673).

17. Nicholas Rowe's Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespeare (1709).

18. "Of Genius," in The Occasional Paper, Vol. III, No. 10 (1719); and Aaron Hill's Preface to The Creation (1720).

Fourth Year (1949-1950)

19. Susanna Centlivre's The Busie Body (1709).

20. Lewis Theobold's Preface to The Works of Shakespeare (1734).

21. Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela (1754).

22. Samuel Johnson's The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749) and Two Rambler papers (1750).

23. John Dryden's His Majesties Declaration Defended (1681).

24. Pierre Nicole's An Essay on True and Apparent Beauty in Which from Settled Principles is Rendered the Grounds for Choosing and Rejecting Epigrams, translated by J. V. Cunningham.

Fifth Year (1950-51)

25. Thomas Baker's The Fine Lady's Airs (1709).

26. Charles Macklin's The Man of the World (1792).

27. Frances Reynolds' An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Taste, and of the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty, etc. (1785).

28. John Evelyn's An Apologie for the Royal Party (1659); and A Panegyric to Charles the Second (1661).

29. Daniel Defoe's A Vindication of the Press (1718).

30. Essays on Taste from John Gilbert Cooper's Letters Concerning Taste, 3rd edition (1757), & John Armstrong's Miscellanies (1770).

Sixth Year (1951-1952)

31. Thomas Gray's An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard (1751); and The Eton College Manuscript.

32. Prefaces to Fiction; Georges de Scudéry's Preface to Ibrahim (1674), etc.

33. Henry Gally's A Critical Essay on Characteristic-Writings (1725).

34. Thomas Tyers' A Biographical Sketch of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1785).

35. James Boswell, Andrew Erskine, and George Dempster. Critical Strictures on the New Tragedy of Elvira, Written by Mr. David Malloch (1763).

36. Joseph Harris's The City Bride (1696).

37. Thomas Morrison's A Pindarick Ode on Painting (1767).

38. John Phillips' A Satyr Against Hypocrites.

39. Thomas Warton's A History of English Poetry.

40. Edward Bysshe's The Art of English Poetry.

William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California

The Augustan Reprint Society

General Editors

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Wm. Andrews Clark Memorial Library University of California, Los Angeles

R. C. Boys Vinton A. Dearing

University of Michigan University of California, Los Angeles

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The Society exists to make available inexpensive reprints (usually facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works. The editorial policy of the Society remains unchanged. As in the past, the editors welcome suggestions concerning publications. All income of the Society is devoted to defraying cost of publication and mailing.

All correspondence concerning subscriptions in the United States and Canada should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library, 2205 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles 18, California. Correspondence concerning editorial matters may be addressed to any of the general editors. The membership fee is $3.00 a year for subscribers in the United States and Canada and 15/- for subscribers in Great Britain and Europe. British and European subscribers should address B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England.

Publications for the seventh year [1952-1953]

(At least six items, most of them from the following list, will be reprinted.)

Selections from the Tatler, the Spectator, the Guardian. Introduction by Donald F. Bond.

Bernard Mandeville: A Letter to Dion (1732). Introduction by Jacob Viner.

M. C. Sarbiewski: The Odes of Casimire (1646), Introduction by Maren-Sofie Rœstvig.

An Essay on the New Species of Writing Founded by Mr. Fielding (1751). Introduction by James A. Work.

[Thomas Morrison]: A Pindarick Ode on Painting (1767). Introduction by Frederick W. Hilles.

[John Phillips]: Satyr Against Hypocrits (1655). Introduction by Leon Howard.

Prefaces to Fiction. Second series. Selected with an introduction by Charles Davies.

Thomas Warton: A History of English Poetry: An Unpublished Continuation. Introduction by Rodney M. Baine.

Publications for the first six years (with the exception of NOS. 1-6, which are out of print) are available at the rate of $3.00 a year. Prices for individual numbers may be obtained by writing to the Society.

THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY 2205 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles 18, California

Make check or money order payable to The Regents of the University of California.

Footnotes

¹ In its only foreign language translation, the Letter, somewhat abbreviated, is appended to the German translation of The Fable of the Bees by Otto Bobertag, Mandevilles Bienenfabel, Munich, 1914, pp. 349-398.

² Berkeley again criticized Mandeville in A Discourse Addressed to Magistrates, [1736], Works, A. C. Fraser ed., Oxford, 1871, III. 424.

³ A Vindication of the Reverend D—— B—y, London, 1734, applies to Alciphron the comment of Shaftesbury that reverend authors who resort to dialogue form may "perhaps, find means to laugh gentlemen into their religion, who have unfortunately been laughed out of it." See Alfred Owen Aldridge, "Shaftesbury and the Deist Manifesto," Transactions of the American Philosophical Society, New Series, XLI (1951), Part 2, p. 358.

⁴ Francis Hutcheson, a fellow-townsman of Berkeley, had previously made these points against Mandeville's treatment of luxury in letters to the Dublin Journal in 1726, (reprinted in Hutcheson, Reflections upon Laughter, and Remarks upon the Fable of the Bees, Glasgow, 1750, pp. 61-63, and in James Arbuckle, Hibernicus' Letters, London, 1729, Letter 46). In The Fable of the Bees, Mandeville concedes that gifts to charity would support employment as much as would equivalent expenditures on luxuries, but argues that in practice the gifts would not be made.

⁵ [Lord Hervey], Some Remarks on the Minute Philosopher, London, 1732, pp. 22-23, 42-50.

⁶ Alciphron, or the Minute Philosopher, T. E. Jessop, ed., in The Works of George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne. Edited by A. A. Luce and T. E. Jessop. London, etc., III. (1950), 9-10.

⁷ In his edition of The Fable of the Bees, Oxford, 1924, II. 415-416. All subsequent references to The Fable of the Bees will be to this edition.

⁸ Fable of the Bees, I. 48-49.

⁹ All page references placed in the main text of this introduction are to the Letter to Dion.

¹⁰ Fable of the Bees, II. 411. I, lxi, I, lvi.

¹¹ Ibid., I. li, I. lv, I. cxxi.

¹² Ibid. I. cxxiv, note.

¹³ For example, Kaye cites from Blewitt, a critic of Mandeville, this passage: "nothing can make a Man honest or virtuous but a Regard to some religious or moral Principles" and characterizes it as "precisely the rigorist position from which Mandeville was arguing when he asserted that our so-called virtues were really vices, because not based only on this regard to principle." (Ibid. II. 411. The italics in both cases are mine). The passage from Blewitt is not, of itself, manifestly rigoristic, while the position attributed to Mandeville is rigorism at its most extreme.

As further evidence of the prevalence of rigorism, Kaye cites from Thomas Fuller the following passage: "corrupt nature (which without thy restraining grace will have a Vent.)" Ibid. I. cxxi, note. But in Calvinist theology "restraining grace," which was not a "purifying" grace, operated to make some men who were not purged of sin lead a serviceable social life. (See John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Bk. II, Ch. III, () 3, pp. I. 315-316 of the "Seventh American Edition," Philadelphia, n.d.) As I understand it, the role of "restraining grace" in Calvinist doctrine is similar to that of "honnêteté" in Jansenist doctrine, referred to infra. The rascals whom Mandeville finds useful to society are not to be identified either with those endowed with the "restraining grace" of the Calvinists or with the "honnêtes hommes" of the Jansenists.

For other instances of disregard by Kaye of the variations in substance and degree of the rigorism of genuine rigorists, see ibid. II. 403-406, II. 415-416.

¹⁴ See especially F. B. Kaye, "The Influence of Bernard Mandeville," Studies in Philology, XIX (1922), 90-102.

¹⁵ Cf. Denziger-Bannwart, Enchiridion Symbolorum. (See index of any edition under "Baius," "Fénelon," "Iansen," "Iansenistae," "Quesnell.")

¹⁶ The most pertinent writings of Nicole for present purposes were his essays, "De la charité & de l'amour-propre," "De la grandeur," and "Sur l'évangile du Jeudi-Saint," which in the edition of his works published by Guillaume Desprez, Paris, 1755-1768, under the title Essais de morale, are to be found in volumes III, VI, and XI.

¹⁷ For a similar distinction by Bayle between honnêtes hommes who are not of the elect and the outright rascals, see Pierre Bayle, Dictionaire historique et critiqué. 5th ed., Amsterdam, 1740, "Éclaircissement sur les obscénités," IV. () iv, p. 649.

¹⁸ Fable of the Bees, I. 19.

¹⁹ In the French versions of 1740 and 1750, the title, The Fable of the Bees: or, Private Vices, Publick Benefits, is translated as La fable des abeilles ou les fripons devenus honnestes gens.

For the "honnête homme" in 17th and 18th century usage as intermediate between a knave and a saint, see M. Magendie, La politesse mondaine et les théories de l'honnêteté en France, Paris, n.d., (ca. 1925), and William Empson, The Structure of Complex Words, London, 1951, ch. 9, "Honest Man."

²⁰ Kaye in a note to this parable, Fable of the Bees, I. 238, cites as relevant, I Cor. x. 31; "Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Even more relevant, I believe, is Deut. xxix. 19, where, in the King James version, the sinner boasts: "I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst."

²¹ "Pensées diverses sur la foi, et sur les vices opposés," Oeuvres de Bourdaloue, Paris, 1840, III. 362-363.

²² John Plamenatz, The British Utilitarians, Oxford and New York, 1949, pp. 48-49.

²³ Helvétius, De l'esprit, Discours II. Ch. XXIV. In the French version of The Fable of the Bees, the phrasing is almost identical: See La fable des abeilles, Paris, 1750, e.g. II. 261: "ménagés avec dextérité par d'habiles politiques." When the Sorbonne, in 1759, condemned De l'esprit, it cited The Fable of the Bees as among the works which could have inspired it. (F. Grégoire. Bernard De Mandeville, Nancy, 1947, p. 206).

Kaye, in his "The Influence of Bernard Mandeville," (loc. cit., p. 102), says that De l'esprit "Is in many ways simply a French paraphrase of The Fable." In his edition of The Fable of the Bees, however, he says, "I think we may conclude no more than that Helvétius had probably read The Fable." (Fable of the Bees, I. CXLV, Note). Kaye systematically fails to notice the significance of Mandeville's emphasis on the rôle of the "skilful Politician."

²⁴ Mr. Dennis.

²⁵ Dr. Fiddes's Treatise of Morality, Pref. Page XIX.