Time and Accidents are sure to furnish a Blast to blow it down. No House wanteth new Tiling so often as a Family wants Repairing. The Desire of having Children is as much the Effect of Vanity as of Good-nature. We think our Children a Part of ourselves, though as they grow up they might very well undeceive us. Men love their Children, not because they are promising Plants, but because they are theirs. They cannot discredit the Plant, without disparaging the Soil out of which it came. Pride in this, as in many other things, is often mistaken for Love. As Children make a Man poor in one Sense, so in another they inforce Care, and that begetteth Riches. Love is presently out of Breath when it is to go up Hill, from the Children to the Parents. [Sidenote: _Fear._] 'Tis good to have Men in Awe, but dangerous to have them afraid of us. The Mean is so nice, that the hitting upon it is oftner the Effect of Chance than of Skill. A Degree of Fear sharpeneth, the Excess of it stupifieth. It is as scandalous not to fear at some times, as it can be to be afraid at others. [Sidenote: _Flattery._] Folly begets Want, and Want Flattery; so that Flattery, with all its Wit, is the Grandchild of Folly. Were it not for Bunglers in the manner of doing it, hardly any Man would ever find out he was laughed at. And yet, generally speaking, a Trowel is a more effectual Instrument than a Pencil for Flattery. Men generally do so love the Taste of Flattery, their Stomach can never be overcharged with it. There is a Right Reverend Flattery that hath the Precedence of all other Kinds of it. This Mitred Flattery is of all others the most exalted. It ever groweth in proportion, and keepeth pace with Power. There is a noble Stroke of it in the Articles sent to Princess _Mary_ from _Henry_ VIII. "Such is his Majesty's _Gracious and Divine Nature_--shewing _Mercy_ to such as _repentantly cry and call_ for the same." [Sidenote: _Forgetfulness._] Forgetting is oftner an Aggravation than an Excuse. The Memory will seldom be unmannerly but where it is unkind. [Sidenote: _Good-manners._] There needeth little Care to _polish_ the Understanding; if true Means were used to _strengthen_ it, it will polish itself. Good-manners is such a Part of Good-sense, that they cannot be divided; but that which a Fool calleth Good-breeding is the most unmannerly thing in the World. Right Good-manners require so much Sense, that there is hardly any such thing in the World. [Sidenote: _Good-nature._] Good-nature is rather acted than practised in the World. Good-nature to others is an inseparable Part of Justice. [Sidenote: _Good-will._] Good-will, like Grace, floweth where it listeth. Men mean so very well to themselves, that they forget to mean well to any body else. [Sidenote: _Heat._] Good-sense will allow of some intermitting Fevers, but then the Fit must be short. [Sidenote: _Honesty._]