There is a good Use to be made of the most contemptible Things, and an ill one of those that are the most valuable. _Of_ MONEY. If Men considered how many Things there are that Riches cannot buy, they would not be so fond of them. The Things to be bought with Money, are such as least deserve the giving a Price for them. Wit and Money are so apt to be abused, that Men generally make a shift to be the worse for them. Money in a Fool's Hand exposeth him worse than a pyed Coat. Money hath too great a Preference given to it by States, as well as by particular Men. Men are more the Sinews of War than Money. The third part of an Army must be destroyed, before a good one can be made out of it. They who are of opinion that Money will do every thing, may very well be suspected to do every thing for Money. _False_ LEARNING. A little Learning _misleadeth_, and a great deal often _stupifieth_ the Understanding. Great Reading without applying it, is like Corn _heaped_ that is not _stirred_, it groweth musty. A learned Coxcomb dyeth his Mistakes in so much a deeper Colour: A wrong kind of Learning serveth only to embroider his Errors. A Man that hath read without judgment, is like a Gun charged with Goose-shot, let loose upon the Company. He is only well furnished with Materials to expose himself, and to mortify those he liveth with. The reading of the greatest Scholars, if put into a Limbeck, might be distilled into a small quantity of _Essence_. The Reading of most Men, is like a Wardrobe of old Cloaths that are seldom used. Weak Men are the worse for the good Sense they read in Books, because it furnisheth them only with more Matter to mistake. _Of_ COMPANY. Men that cannot entertain themselves want somebody, though they care for nobody. An impertinent Fellow is never in the right, but in his being weary of _himself_. By that time Men are fit for Company, they see the Objections to it. The Company of a Fool is dangerous as well as tedious. It is flattering some Men to endure them. Present Punishment attendeth the Fault. A _following_ Wit will be welcome in most Companies; A _leading_ one lieth too heavy for Envy to bear. Out-doing is so near reproaching, that it will generally be thought very ill Company. Any thing that shineth doth in some measure tarnish every thing that standeth next to it. Keeping much Company generally endeth in playing the Fool or the Knave with them. _Of_ FRIENDSHIP. Friendship cometh oftener by Chance than by Choice, which maketh it generally so uncertain. It is a Mistake to say a Friend can be bought. A Man may buy a good Turn, but he cannot buy the Heart that doth it. Friendship cannot live with Ceremony, nor without Civility. There must be a nice Diet observed to keep Friendship from falling sick; nay, there is more Skill necessary to keep a Friend, than there is to reclaim an Enemy. Those Friends who are above Interest are seldom above jealousy.