Page:The Annual Register 1758.djvu/478

 4^4 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1758.

they bantered him, becaofe he was frequently importuniiig his friends. Erafmus in his anfwer tells him, that in the opinion of Seneca, fa- vours were dearly purchafcd, which were extorted by begging. So- crates, talking once with fome friends, faid, I would have bought me a coat lo-ddy, if I had had money. They, fays Seneca, who gave him what he wanted, after he had made his fpeech, (hewed their liberality too late. Anocher feeing a friend, who was poor and lick, and too modett to make his wants known, put fome money un- der his pillow, whilll he was afleep. When I ufed to read this in the days of my youth, fays Erafmus, I was extremely Ihuck with the mo- delly of the one, and the genero- fity of the other. But, fince you talk of begging without fhame, who, I befeech you, can be more fubmiffive and more fhamelefs than myfelf, who live in England upon the foot of a public beggar : I have received fo much from the arch- bilhop, that it would be fcandalous to take any more of him, though he were to offer it. I afked N. with fufiieient effrontery. And he refufed me with ftill greater impu- dence. Even our good friend Li- nacer thinks me too bold, who knowing my poor (late of health, and that I was going from London with hardly fix angels in my pocket, and that the winter was coming on, yet exhorted me moft prcflingly to fpare the archbifhop and Lord Montjoy, and advlfed me to re- trench, and learn to bear poverty, with patience, A moll friendly counfel! For this reafon above all, I hate my h;!rd fortune, becaufe fhe will not fufter me to be modefl. Whilft I had health and ftrength.

I ufed to diffemble my poverty^ now I cannot, unlefs J would rifque my life. But I am not fuch a beggar neither, as to a(k all things from all perfons. To Ibme I fay nothing, becaufe I would not be refufed ; and I have no pretence to folicit you, v^ho do not fuper- abound in wealth. But, fince you feem to approve of impudence, I will end my letter in the mod impudent manner! can. I have not afl'urance enough to a(k you for any thing ; and yet I am not fo proud, as to reject a prefent, if a friend, like you (hould offer it to one ia my circumilances. Ep. 150.

One, who could talk at this rate, mull be reduced to hard necefhty. Unlefs he were a bad manager, it is fcarcely to be conceived, how a lingle man, and a learned man, could have found it fo difficult to maintain himfelf at thai time in England, partly by his pupils, and partly by the prefents which were made to him. However that be, there feems to be fome reafon to fufped that Erafmus underdood not the important art of paying his court to the great; and that there was fomething in his man- ner, which diigulled fome of thofe to whom he made his applications ; fo that he was more agreeable to them in his writings, than in his perfon : and this might fpoil his fortunes. Perhaps alio he talked too freely, as he confefles in the charader which he hath given of himfelf, in the Compendium of his life.

Yet Erafmus, though open and facetious, was good tempered*: and good temper is a natural po- litenefs, which to reafonable per- fons is more acceptable, than that which is artificial : as, on the con- trary.