The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public BenefitsMandeville, Bernard
Philosophy
The Fable of the Bees; Or, Private Vices, Public Benefits
Mandeville, Bernard
Charity-schools -- Early works to 1800; Ethics -- Early works to 1800; Virtue -- Early works to 1800
The choleric 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 phlegmatic 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 will judge of his prowess. The youthful fair, in a vast
concern of being overlooked, by the continual changing of her posture,
betrays a violent desire of being observed, 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 public 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, though 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 them void of pride,
when, perhaps, they are only fatigued 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.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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