_ SPECTATOR'S LIBRARY.

WORLDLY POLICY,

The Maxims of Francis Guicciardini. Translated by Emma Martin. With Parallel passages from the Works of Machiavelli, Lord Bacon, Pascal, Rochefoucault, Montesquieu, Mr. Burke, Prince Talleyrand, Guizot, and others-Longman and Co. TRAVELS,

Sixteen Years in the West Indies. By Lieutenant-Colonel Capadose. In two

volumes Newby.

FICTION,

Arrah Neil ; or Times of Old. By G. P. R. James, Esq., Author of " Richelieu,"

.• Darnley," &c. &c. In three volumes Smith and Eider.

MISCELLANEOUS LITERATURE,

College Life : Letters to an Under-Graduate. By the Rev. Thomas Whytehead, M.A., late Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge , and Chaplain to the Bishop of New Zealand Earns; Walters, Cambridge.

THE MAXIMS OF GIIICCIARDINI.

THE method of writing maxims, which came into vogue soon after the revival of learning, went out about the middle of the last century. Fashion probably had something to do with the change ; the circum- stances of society a good deal more. In the outset, maxims were gene- rally drawn up for some purpose apart from publication, (as in the case of Burleigh's addressed to his son) ; a statesman no more committing his dignity, or exposing himself to the charge of authorship and the mishaps of criticism, by this species of composition, than by a state paper ; whilst maxims were more easy to write than essays. Even in later days, the authors of such compositions were men of the world or men of affairs,—as Rochefoucault and Chesterfield ; though the latter drew up his list for the use of his son without any view to publication. In all such eases, the maxims were the result of actual experience, deduced from a long observation of events, and from often feeling the force of the rules inculcated. Sometimes the advice was partial, or adapted to a particular age or country; and sometimes it was substantially to be found in ancient writers, though, having been drawn from the same foun- tain of Nature, it retained her force and aptness. Many of the maxims, however, were the quintessence of worldly wisdom presented in the smallest compass ; having the weight and choice of selections without their incompleteness. Hence their reputation was considerable ; and as their form was easily imitated, they became in an imitative age a fertile theme for literary copyists. Clerks, so hard-bound that they could not "pen a stanza," could yet mimic the manner of Rochefoucault; and lit- tkrateurs, who had never failed in affairs because no one would ever trust them for apprehension of failure, could catch the sententious air of Bur- leigh or Bacon ; till the form of reflections and maxims became vulgarized.

A social alteration has operated with equal if not with greater force. The Revolutions of America and France completed a change which had been gradually growing up in the public mind from the time of the Re- formation, by which principles became of more consequence and persons of less. In the sixteenth and on the Continent during the seventeenth century, personages—princes, ministers, and the favourites who could govern them—were all in all, except upon rare occasions when the pressure of war or impending revolution compelled submission to the necessity of the case. The same practice prevailed during the last century, though to a much less extent in this country than abroad ; but received its deathblow by the French Revolution ; the principles of po- pular power, which flowed from that event, penetrating even to the most despotic courts, and establishing a rule of reason rather than of ca- pricious self-will. The necessity of "courting" great men and studying all the caprices of the powerful, which had prevailed more or less during three centuries and upwards, became of less consequence ; the very man- ners which distinguished the " Old Court " passed away, and with it some of the worldly wisdom that characterized the practical men of those ages and of the East in all times. The principles of things were more studied than manners or persons ; since the appeal finally lay to a body with whom the competitor might never come in contact. In men the matter and qualities necessary to maxims were perhaps wanting; the age was not exactly fitted for their dogmatic style; and a general change in the habits of life induced those who could write them to record their experience in other shapes. Still, the maxims of those ages, like the classics of any bygone time, are of great value, sometimes for the general principles of truth which they contain, more frequently as guides to worldly conduct, or as indicative of the person by whom they were written or of the men by whom he was surrounded.

Among these the celebrated Guicciardini is eminent. Born of a good Florentine family ; employed throughout his life in great affairs— as in embassies and governments ; and in contact with great men—as Ferdinand of Arragon, the Emperor Charles the Fifth, the family of the Medici, and the reigning Popes,—he had ample opportunities of writing from experience. The distracted state of Italy, the foreign invaders and native tyrants by whom it was subjected, unhappily taught the necessity of art and circumspection to any man who engaged in affairs, and gave him ample means of seeing the worst parts of human nature. The learn- ing of Guicciardini enabled him to compare his own observations with those of antiquity, and his literature to clothe them in an attractive form, since their necessary brevity of form prevented the historian's prolixity from being offensive, though it sometimes shows itself in a needless sentence. The author was also respectable, and for his age and country virtuous : in his pages we see the shifts to which a man of honour was then driven against his better judgment, even in the calmness of theoretical directions ; so universally true is the axiom of Homer, that the day which makes a man a slave takes half his worth away. With such opinions of The Maxims of Francis Guieciardini, it is needless to recommend the translation which Emma Martin has given to the public, beyond saying that she has well expressed by a certain quaint- ness of words the older age of the original. She has also appended to each maxim analogous remarks drawn from other writers,—as Ma- chiavelli, Bacon, Montesquieu, Burke : but as these opinions are mostly

derived from larger works, they are somewhat fragmentary, and not al- ways apt or illustrative. She has also prefixed a sufficient account of the family and career of the author ; in a style imitative of the writings whence she drew her information—perhaps intentionally so, to correspond with the old-fashioned mode of " getting up" the book. The most valuable parts of the work are those relating to public af- fairs ; whose form may change, but whose substance is ever the same. The following maxim is one that bears strongly on the Oregon question : for, as either side will fight

" to gain a little plot of ground That hath in it no profit but the name," so it seems difficult to foretell the termination of a war which begins on no great interests and can only be terminated on the principles of exhaus- tion Guicciardini mentions.

" Those undertakings and affairs which are not to be expected to fall through any sudden shock, but through consuming and wasting away, draw out to a much greater length than is believed at first; because, when men are obstinately deter- mined to endure, they endure and sustain much more than would be believed. Wherefore, we see that a war, which is to be finished by famine, by inconve- niency, by lack of money, or the like, runs on farther than would be believed. As it also happens with one who is dying of a phthisic, that his life cloth always prolong itself beyond the opinion of the physicians. Thus a merchant, before he fails through being consumed by usury, doth always stand a longer time than was believed."

It would have been well for the late King of Prussia bad he read this maxim, unless he had read it with an overweening opinion of his own power.

" 1 commend him who stands neutral in the wars of his neighbours, if he be so powerful, or Lath his dominions of such condition, as that he bath nothing to fear from the conqueror; because he doth thus avoid peril, expenses, and exhaustion, and the disorders of the others may afford him some profitable opportunity. Ex- cept it be with these conditions, neutrality is foolishness: because, binding thyself to one of the parties, thou dost run no danger but the victory of the other, but standing between, thou art always bruised, conquer who will."

There are touches on the first principles of politics which sound oddly from an Italian courtier of that age. Here is one on the origin of power.

" All states have their origin in violence, to one who looks narrowly at it, ex- cepting republics; and these in their own country and no farther: neither do I see any legitimate power, not even that of the Emperor, which is in such great authority that it doth decide upon the rights of others; because there was no usurpation so great as that of the Romans, who usurped the empire; neither do I exempt from this rule the priesthood, whose violence is double, inasmuch as it is doubled in holding men under corporeal and under spiritual authority."

GUICCIARDECI AND 3IACHIAVELLI ON THE June-Imam:.

When opinions are contrary in council, if any one come forward with some middle course, it is almost always favoured, not because the middle course be not worse for the most part than extremes, but because the disputants agree more willingly to that than to their opposite; and also the others, either to avoid offence or through want of comprehension, quickly come into that which they think will save dispute.—Guicciardini. . . . . Where authority is equal and opinion divers things are scam ever well determined on.—ifachiovell History of Florence, book v. . . . . In affairs of state, the Romans always avoided the middle course, and betook themselves to extremes.—Discourses on Liry, book ii. chap. xxiii.

OVER-CAUTION.

Let him who would handle treaties and alliances beware that nothing doth hazard them more than seeking to make them over-fast; because greater time is needed, and more persons must be dealt with, and more matters are implicated; from which causes such practices always come to light; and we may also believe that fortune, in whose hand are these things, is displeased with those who seek to free themselves from her power and depend upon themselves alone. Therefore, it is safer to execute them with some danger than with over-security.

The following maxim is a striking tribute to the power of truth, con- sidering it was written at a time when falsehood was supposed to be the business of a diplomatist.

"Aprince who would deceive another through the means of his ambassador, must first deceive the ambassador himself, because he will act and speak MOTE effectually, thinking that such is really the mind of his prince, than he would do if he believed it to be but feigning. And the same maxim is good for every man who would persuade falsely through means of another."

In reading several of the directions, the sad state of men under a tyranny is forcibly impressed upon the mind, by the constant state of caution and fear in which such persons must live to avoid destruction.

"A tyrant will use exceeding diligence in studying to know thy mind, that is, if thou art content with thy estate: he will watch thy carriage and behaviour, seeking to learn from them which frequent thee, and proposing divers oeurses to thee, and requiring thine opinion and judgment. Wherefore, if thou wouldest not have him compass thee, thou must most cautiously beware of the methods he will use, and of using any phrase of suspicion; taking heed how thou dost speak, etiam with thine intimates; and conversing and replying to him so that he cannot cavil. This is easy to be done, if thou keep always before thee that he is trying all he can to circumvent and to discover thee." " To one of great quality in the state, and who is under the away of a san- guinary and insolent tyrant, few rules of any profit can be given, unless it be, to go into a voluntary exile. But if the tyrant, either through prudence or through the necessities of his own condition, doth govern himself discreetly, one of great rank should seek not to be held prompt and high-mettled, but of a quiet temper, neither desirous of a change, if he be not forced upon it. For in such case, the tyrant will caress thee, and study to give thee no cause for innovation; which he would not do if he saw thee restless. For then he thinks, that in any case thou wouldest never keep quiet; and he is compelled continually to study an occasion of destroying thee, to rid himself from suspicion."

We will close our extracts with an axiom of a private but general kind.

" The wish to have children cannot be blamed, because it is natural; yet do I say, that it is a kind of felicity not to have any; for even he who bath wise and virtuous sons, bath, without doubt, more grief than joy of them. I have seen the example of this in mine own father, who was held in his day, yea, as an example in Florence of a father whom Heaven had most richly gifted in his sons. Think, therefore, how it must be with him who bath evil sons."