it possesses, before it can destroy those it wishes worst to, it would set the whole world on fire, and leave the most excellent persons the most miserable. Of all the affections and passions which lodge themselves within the breast of man, envy is the most troublesome, the most. restless, hath the most of malignity, the most of poison in it. The object she hath an immortal hatred to is virtue; and the war she makes is always against the best and virtuous men, at least against those who have some. signal perfection. No other passion vents itself with that circumspection and deliberation, and is in all its rage and extent in awe of some controul. The most choleric and angry man may offend an honest and a worthy person, but he chuses it not; he had rather provoke a worse man, and at worst he recollects himself upon the sight of the magistrate. Lust, that is blind and frantic, gets into the worst company it can, and never assaults chastity. But envy, a more pernicious affection than either of the other, is inquisitive, observes whose merit most draws the eyes of men upon it, is most crowned by the general suffrage; and against that person he shoots all his venom, and without any noise enters into all unlawful combinations against him to destroy him: though the high condition Solomon was in kept him from feeling the effects of it, (for kings can only be envied by kings,) he

well discovered the uncontroulable power of it; "Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who can stand before envy?" (Prov. xxvii. 6.) Let wrath be as cruel as it will, a stronger wrath can disarm it, or application and address can pacify it; fair words have power over it, and let anger be never so outrageous, it can be resisted, and will extinguish itself: they both give fair warning, are discovered afar off, and we have time to fight or fly; but envy hath no fixed open residence, no man knows where it dwells, nor can discern when it marches; it is a squadroni volante, that declares no war, but breaks into our quarters when we do not suspect it to be near us, wounds our reputa tion, stifles the brightness of our merit, and works even upon our friends to suspend their good opinion, and to doubt whether they are not deceived, and whether we are as good as we appear to be.. If our credit be so well built, so firm, that it is not easy to be shaken by calumny and insinuation, it then over commends us, and extols us beyond reason to those upon whom we depend, till they grow jealous; and so blow us up when they cannot throw us down. There is no guard to be kept against envy, because no man knows where it dwells; and generous and innocent men are seldom jealous and suspicious till they feel the wound, or discern some notorious effect of it. It shelters

itself for the most part in dark and melancholy constitutions, yet sometimes gets into less suspected lodgings, but never owns to be within when it is asked for. All other passions do not only betray and discover, but likewise confess themselves; the choleric man confesses he is angry, and the proud man confesses he is ambitious; the covetous man never denies that he loves money, and the drunk. ard confesses that he loves wine: but no envious man ever confessed that he did envy; he commands his words much better than his looks, and those would betray him, if he had not bodily infirmities apparent enough, that those of the mind cannot easily be discovered, but in the mischief they do. Envy pretends always to be a rival to virtue, and to court honour only by merit, and never to be afflicted but on the behalf of justice, when persons less meritorious come to be preferred; and it is so far true, that it seldom assaults unfortunate virtue, and is as seldom troubled for any success, how unworthy soever, that doth not carry a man farther than the envious man himself can attain to; he envies and hates, and would destroy every man who hath better parts or better fortune than himself; and that he is not a witch, proceeds only from the devil's want of power, that he cannot give him illustrious conditions, for

he hath more pride and ambition than any other

sort of sinner.

OF PRIDE.

Montpellier, 1669.

"THE beginning of pride is when one departeth from God, and his heart is turned away from his Maker," says the son of Sirach, x. 12. It is no wonder that a proud man despiseth his neighbour, when he is departed from his God; and, since he is so, it is no less a wonder that he doth all he can to conceal himself: and he hath oftentimes very good luck in doing it; and as few men ever ac knowledge themselves to be proud, so they who are so are not easily discovered. It is a pride as gross and as ridiculous as folly itself, which appears and exposes itself to the eyes of all men; it is a guest that nobody seems willing to harbour, and yet it finds entrance and admission and entertainment in the breasts of all men as well as women; it is a weed that grows in all soils and climates, and is no less luxuriant in the country than in the court; is not confined to any rank of men or extent of fortune, but rages in the breasts of all degrees. Alexander was not prouder than Diogenes; and it may be, if we would endeavour to surprise it in its most gaudy dress and attire, and in the exer◄

cise of its full empire and tyranny, we should find it in schoolmasters and scholars, or in some country lady, or the knight her husband; all which ranks of people more despise their neighbours, than all the degrees of honour in which courts abound: and it rages as much in a sordid affected dress, as in all the silks and embroideries which the excess of the age and the folly of youth delight. to be adorned with. Since then it keeps all sorts, of company, and wriggles itself into the liking of the most contrary natures and dispositions, and yet carries so much poison and venom with it, that it alienates the affections from heaven, and raises rebellion against God himself, it is worth our utmost care to watch it in all its disguises and approaches, that we may discover it in its first entrance, and dislodge it before it procures a shelter or retiring place to lodge and conceal itself. Since God himself makes war against it; "Pride and arrogance, and the evil way and the froward mouth, do I hate," says the spirit of God; (Prov. viii. 13.) since when pride comes, then cometh shame, nay then cometh destruction, we cannot be too solicitous that this declared destroying foe doth not steal upon us unawares, for want of centinels, for want of knowing him before he crowds in. Let us therefore take as exact a survey as we can what pride in truth is; in the disquisition whereof,

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