APPLICATION.
“It is a maxim in the schools,
That flattery is the food of fools.”
They that love flattery will have cause to repent of their foible in the long run; and yet how few there are among the whole race of mankind, who are proof against its attacks. The gross way in which it is managed by some silly practitioners, is enough to alarm the dullest apprehension; but let the ambuscade be disposed with judgment, and it will scarcely fail of seizing the most guarded heart. How many are tickled to the last degree with the pleasure of flattery, even while they are applauded for their honest detestation of it. There is no way to baffle the force of this engine, but by every one’s examining impartially for himself, the true estimate of his own qualities. If he deal sincerely in the matter, nobody can tell so well as himself, what degree of esteem ought to attend any of his actions; and therefore he should be entirely easy as to the opinion others have of them. If they attribute more to him than is his due, they are either designing, or mistaken; if they allow him less, they are envious, or possibly still mistaken; and in either case are to be despised or disregarded: for he that flatters without designing to make advantage of it, is a fool; and whoever encourages that flattery which he has sense enough to see through, is a vain coxcomb.
