Part 21 (1/2)

introduction states that the 1665 edition only had 316 maxims. In fact, the two maxims only appeared in the fourth of the first five editions (1674).}

SECOND SUPPLEMENT.

REFLECTIONS, EXTRACTED FROM MS. LETTERS IN THE ROYAL LIBRARY.*

*A La Bibliotheque Du Roi, it is difficult at present (June 1871) to a.s.sign a name to the magnificent collection of books in Paris, the property of the nation.

LXVI.--Interest is the soul of self-love, in as much as when the body deprived of its soul is without sight, feeling or knowledge, without thought or movement, so self-love, riven so to speak from its interest, neither sees, nor hears, nor smells, nor moves; thus it is that the same man who will run over land and sea for his own interest becomes suddenly paralyzed when engaged for that of others; from this arises that sudden dulness and, as it were, death, with which we afflict those to whom we speak of our own matters; from this also their sudden resurrection when in our narrative we relate something concerning them; from this we find in our conversations and business that a man becomes dull or bright just as his own interest is near to him or distant from him. (Letter To Madame De Sable, Ms., Fol. 211.)

LXVII.--Why we cry out so much against maxims which lay bare the heart of man, is because we fear that our own heart shall be laid bare. (Maxim 103, MS., fol. 310.*)

*The reader will recognise in these extracts portions of the Maxims previously given, sometimes the author has carefully polished them; at other times the words are identical. Our numbers will indicate where they are to be found in the foregoing collection.

LXVIII.--Hope and fear are inseparable. (To Madame De Sable, Ms., Fol.

222, MAX. 168.)

LXIX.--It is a common thing to hazard life to escape dishonour; but, when this is done, the actor takes very little pain to make the enterprise succeed in which he is engaged, and certain it is that they who hazard their lives to take a city or to conquer a province are better officers, have more merit, and wider and more useful, views than they who merely expose themselves to vindicate their honour; it is very common to find people of the latter cla.s.s, very rare to find those of the former. (Letter To M. Esprit, Ms., Fol. 173, MAX. 219.)

LXX.--The taste changes, but the will remains the same. (To Madame De Sable, Fol. 223, Max. 252.)

LXXI.--The power which women whom we love have over us is greater than that which we have over ourselves. (To The Same, Ms., Fol. 211, Max.

259)

LXXII.--That which makes us believe so easily that others have defects is that we all so easily believe what we wish. (To The Same, Ms., Fol.

223, Max. 397.)

LXXIII.--I am perfectly aware that good sense and fine wit are tedious to every age, but tastes are not always the same, and what is good at one time will not seem so at another. This makes me think that few persons know how to be old. (To The Same, Fol. 202, Max. 423.)

LXXIV.--G.o.d has permitted, to punish man for his original sin, that he should be so fond of his self-love, that he should be tormented by it in all the actions of his life. (Ms., Fol. 310, Max. 494.)

LXXV.--And so far it seems to me the philosophy of a lacquey can go; I believe that all gaity in that state of life is very doubtful indeed.

(To Madame De Sable, Fol. 161, Max. 504.)

[In the maxim cited the author relates how a footman about to be broken on the wheel danced on the scaffold. He seems to think that in his day the life of such servants was so miserable that their merriment was very doubtful.]

THIRD SUPPLEMENT

[The fifty following Maxims are taken from the Sixth Edition of the Pensees De La Rochefoucauld, published by Claude Barbin, in 1693, more than twelve years after the death of the author (17th May, 1680). The reader will find some repet.i.tions, but also some very valuable maxims.]

LXXVI.--Many persons wish to be devout; but no one wishes to be humble.

LXXVII.--The labour of the body frees us from the pains of the mind, and thus makes the poor happy.

LXXVIII.--True penitential sorrows (mortifications) are those which are not known, vanity renders the others easy enough.