Who does not know, that
the twinkling stars are of a more excellent nature, than those which
shine upon us with unremitted lustre? Who does not know that the comet,
which appears for a short time, and vanishes again for revolving years,
is more gazed upon than either? But I am afraid the comet is too sublime
an idea for your lordship's comprehension. I would therefore recommend
to you, to make the cracker the model of your conduct. You should snap
and bounce at regular intervals; at one moment you should seem a blazing
star, and the next be lost in trackless darkness.
My lord, there is nothing, which at all times I have taken more pains to
subdue, than that overweening pride, and immeasurable conceit, which are
the principal features of your lordship's character. Nature, indeed, has
furnished you with one corrective to them, or they must infallibly have
damned you. It is timidity. Other people may laugh at this quality. For
my part I esteem it worthy the loudest praise and most assiduous
cultivation. When the balance hangs in doubt between the adventurousness
of vanity and the frigidity of fear, ever incline to the latter side. I
had rather your lordship should be a coward, than a coxcomb. If however
you could attain to that reasonable and chastised opinion of yourself,
which should steer a proper mean between these extremes, should make you
feel your strength, when menaced by the most terrible adversaries, and
your weakness, when soothed by the most fawning parasites, this, my
lord, would be the highest perfection to which you could possibly
attain.
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