第41章 OF MEN WHO ARE NOT THEIR OWN MASTERS.(1)

From my own Apartment,June 2.

I have received a letter which accuses me of partiality in the administration of the censorship;and says,that I have been very free with the lower part of mankind,but extremely cautious in representations of matters which concern men of condition.This correspondent takes upon him also to say,the upholsterer was not undone by turning politician,but became bankrupt by trusting his goods to persons of quality;and demands of me,that I should do justice upon such as brought poverty and distress upon the world below them,while they themselves were sunk in pleasures and luxury,supported at the expense of those very persons whom they treated with a negligence,as if they did not know whether they dealt with them or not.This is a very heavy accusation,both of me and such as the man aggrieved accuses me of tolerating.For this reason,I resolved to take this matter into consideration;and,upon very little meditation,could call to my memory many instances which made this complaint far from being groundless.The root of this evil does not always proceed from injustice in the men of figure,but often from a false grandeur which they take upon them in being unacquainted with their own business;not considering how mean a part they act when their names and characters are subjected to the little arts of their servants and dependants.The overseers of the poor are a people who have no great reputation for the discharge of their trust,but are much less scandalous than the overseers of the rich.Ask a young fellow of a great estate,who was that odd fellow that spoke to him in a public place?he answers,"one that does my business."It is,with many,a natural consequence of being a man of fortune,that they are not to understand the disposal of it;and they long to come to their estates,only to put themselves under new guardianship.Nay,I have known a young fellow,who was regularly bred an attorney,and was a very expert one till he had an estate fallen to him.The moment that happened,he,who could before prove the next land he cast his eye upon his own;and was so sharp,that a man at first sight would give him a small sum for a general receipt,whether he owed him anything or not:such a one,I say,have I seen,upon coming to an estate,forget all his diffidence of mankind,and become the most manageable thing breathing.He immediately wanted a stirring man to take upon him his affairs;to receive and pay,and do everything which he himself was now too fine a gentleman to understand.It is pleasant to consider,that he who would have got an estate,had he not come to one,will certainly starve because one fell to him;but such contradictions are we to ourselves,and any change of life is insupportable to some natures.

It is a mistaken sense of superiority to believe a figure,or equipage,gives men precedence to their neighbours.Nothing can create respect from mankind,but laying obligations upon them;and it may very reasonably be concluded,that if it were put into a due balance,according to the true state of the account,many who believe themselves in possession of a large share of dignity in the world,must give place to their inferiors.The greatest of all distinctions in civil life is that of debtor and creditor;and there needs no great progress in logic to know which,in that case,is the advantageous side.He who can say to another,"Pray,master,"or "pray,my lord,give me my own,"can as justly tell him,"It is a fantastical distinction you take upon you,to pretend to pass upon the world for my master or lord,when,at the same time that I wear your livery,you owe me wages;or,while I wait at your door,you are ashamed to see me till you have paid my bill."The good old way among the gentry of England to maintain their pre-eminence over the lower rank,was by their bounty,munificence,and hospitality;and it is a very unhappy change,if at present,by themselves or their agents,the luxury of the gentry is supported by the credit of the trader.This is what my correspondent pretends to prove out of his own books,and those of his whole neighbourhood.