’Whatsoever Convenience may be thought
to be in Falshood and Dissimulation, it is soon
over; but the Inconvenience of it is perpetual,
because it brings a Man under an everlasting Jealousie
and Suspicion, so that he is not believed when he
speaks Truth, nor trusted when perhaps he means
honestly. When a Man hath once forfeited the
Reputation of his Integrity, he is set fast, and nothing
will then serve his Turn, neither Truth nor Falshood.’
[Footnote 1: This sermon ‘on Sincerity,’
from John i. 47, is the last Tillotson preached.
He preached it in 1694, on the 29th of July, and died,
in that year, on the 24th of November, at the age of
64. John Tillotson was the son of a Yorkshire
clothier, and was made Archbishop of Canterbury in
1691, on the deprivation of William Sancroft for his
refusal to take the oaths to William and Mary.]
* * * *
*
No. 104. Friday, June 29, 1711.
Steele.
’...
Qualis equos Threissa fatigat
Harpalyce
...’
Virg.
It would be a noble Improvement, or rather a Recovery
of what we call good Breeding, if nothing were to
pass amongst us for agreeable which was the least
Transgression against that Rule of Life called Decorum,
or a Regard to Decency. This would command the
Respect of Mankind, because it carries in it Deference
to their good Opinion, as Humility lodged in a worthy
Mind is always attended with a certain Homage, which
no haughty Soul, with all the Arts imaginable, will
ever be able to purchase. Tully says, Virtue
and Decency are so nearly related, that it is difficult
to separate them from each other but in our Imagination.
As the Beauty of the Body always accompanies the Health
of it, so certainly is Decency concomitant to Virtue:
As Beauty of Body, with an agreeable Carriage, pleases
the Eye, and that Pleasure consists in that we observe
all the Parts with a certain Elegance are proportioned
to each other; so does Decency of Behaviour which
appears in our Lives obtain the Approbation of all
with whom we converse, from the Order, Consistency,
and Moderation of our Words and Actions. This
flows from the Reverence we bear towards every good
Man, and to the World in general; for to be negligent
of what any one thinks of you, does not only shew you
arrogant but abandoned. In all these Considerations
we are to distinguish how one Virtue differs from
another; As it is the Part of Justice never to do
Violence, it is of Modesty never to commit Offence.
In this last Particular lies the whole Force of what
is called Decency; to this purpose that excellent
Moralist above-mentioned talks of Decency; but this
Quality is more easily comprehended by an ordinary
Capacity, than expressed with all his Eloquence.
This Decency of Behaviour is generally transgressed
among all Orders of Men; nay, the very Women, tho’
