for the purpose in their gardens, as Timon[1] had. Such dispositions are the very errours of human nature; and yet they are the fittest timber to make great politiques of; like to knee timber,[2] that is good for ships, that are ordained to be tossed; but not for building houses, that shall stand firm. The parts and signs of goodness are many. If a man be gracious and courteous to strangers, it shews he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other lands, but a continent that joins to them. If he be compassionate towards the afflictions of others, it shews that his heart is like the noble tree that is wounded itself when it gives the balm. If he easily pardons and remits offences, it shews that his mind is planted above injuries; so that he cannot be shot. If he be thankful for small benefits, it shows that he weighs men's minds, and not their trash. But above all, if he have St. Paul's perfection, that he would wish to be an anathema[3] from Christ for the salvation of his brethren, it shews much of a divine nature, and a kind of conformity with Christ himself.
- ↑ Timon of Athens, the Misanthrope. Plutarch, in his Life of Marcus Antonius, tells the story that Timon one day mounted the rostrum in the market-place to announce that he had a fig-tree in his garden on which many citizens had hanged themselves, that he meant to cut the fig-tree down to build on the spot, and thought it well to make the fact known, so that, "if any of you be desperate, you may there go hang yourselves."
- ↑ Knee-timber. Timber having a natural angular bend, suitable for making 'knees' in shipbuilding or carpentry.
- ↑ Anathema, from the Greek, meaning, anything devoted, especially to evil, a curse. The Bible reference is to Romans ix. 3: "For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh." Compare Advancement of Learning, II. xx. 7.
