Following any one as his shadow, as parasites do silly young men of fortune, being constantly seen with them, until they have disburdened them of their substance, and then the shadow vanishes of course: or, as envy does men of talents.

Envy will merit as its shade pursue, And like that serves to prove the substance true.

An over crammed belly does not produce a quick, and ready wit, or fat paunches make lean pates. The Lacedemonians, who were remarkably frugal in their diet, had such an abhorrence and contempt for fat and corpulent persons, that they were about to banish from their city, Auclides, one of their countrymen, who, by a course of indolent and voluptuous living, had swelled himself to an enormous bulk, and were only deterred from it by his engaging to live for the future more sparingly. They would have no inhabitants but such as, in time of danger, might be assisting in repelling an enemy.

Bashfulness is of no use to a man in want. The adage teaches that persons liberally educated but in mean circumstances, should not refuse to undertake offices, though beneath them, which might be executed without offending against any moral or religious duty. This many do, not from their objection to the labour, but from being ashamed to appear to their friends, or to the world in a degraded situation; they can contemn pleasure, and bear pain or grief with firmness, but reproach and obloquy breaks and overwhelms them. It is the disgrace more than the confinement that makes a prison hateful. When Johnson found a pair of shoes placed at his door by one of his fellow students, actuated by false shame or by pride, he threw them, with great indignation, out of the window; though his own were so much worn as not to keep his feet from the stones. But bashfulness or false modesty is more than useless also, when it deters men from laying open their circumstances to their friends, who both might and would, by their advice or otherwise, relieve them, until, by delay, they are become so involved that nothing can prevent their fall: or when it leads them to conceal their bodily complaints, which not unfrequently happens, from the physician or surgeon, until they no longer admit of being cured.

By quietly bearing, and putting up with one affront, we often lay ourselves open to fresh insults. Though humanity and tenderness towards our neighbours and associates, and a disposition to overlook slight offences, is highly commendable, and is becoming the frailty of our nature; yet too great facility in this point, is not only improper, but may in the end be highly injurious, even to the parties whose offence we have overlooked. Æsop has given us in one of his fables a story, which may serve to illustrate this adage. «A boy out of idleness and wantonness, throwing stones at, and otherwise insulting him, he had recourse, at first», he says, «to intreaties to induce him to desist: these failing, he gave him a small piece of money, all, he told the boy, he could spare; at the same time he shewed him a more wealthy person, who was coming that way, and advised him to throw stones at him, from whom he might expect a much larger reward. The boy followed his advice, but the rich man, instead of in treating, or bribing him to desist, ordered his servants to take him before a magistrate, by whom he was severely punished». Socrates, indeed, seemed to be of a different opinion, when he said, «If an ass kicks me, shall I strike him again?» but this forbearance must not be carried too far, for, according to the Italian proverb, Che pecora si fa, il lupo la mangia, and the French, Qui se fait brebis, le loup le mange, that is, he that makes himself a sheep, shall be eaten by the wolf. If a strange dog, going along the street, claps his tail between his legs, and runs away, every cur will snap at him but, if he turns upon them, and gives a counter snarl, they will let him go on without further molestation.