Boswell, James (1740-1795)

The Hypochondriack, No. 7

April, 1778

"Were the grand idea of the theatre of conscience in its full extant, and with all its enjoyments to be constantly in our contemplation, we should not forfeit the higher approbation of ourselves, who are really judges for the paultry, inattentive, and transient plaudits of others."

That the merited applause of mankind is highly valuable, and a great immediate incitement to act well, I certainly agree: and therefore to return to the image of the mind as a theatre, I would not have it close as an amphitheatre; but open to the inspection of the world. But we much consider that valuable as the applause of man is, it cannot come in competition with the approbation of our own conscience. Men may see with erroneous eyes, or with eyes prejudiced by vice. To our conscience therefore we must intimately appeal. Seneca in one of his epigrams has a very striking thought, of the exact interpretation, of which from Latin to English I am not quite sure; but I believe I understand its meaning, Vive tibi nam moriere tibi. "Live to your own mind, for to your own mind you must die." For Seneca I have a double reverence; both for his own worth, and because he was the heathen sage whom my grandfather constantly studied, and I do not imagine that a philosopher so serious, meant in this passage to inculcate that a man should live to please himself, for that other people will be of no help to him when he comes to die. Were this the meaning of the precept, Seneca has the most perfect disciples in the Almack school, and the other various genteel clubs in London. In my apprehension he meant to impress his readers with a judicious and solemn reflection, that a man should live so as to be approved by himself; because for that he will most earnestly wish when he comes to die. In short that he should act as Lord Lyttelton beautifully describes Thomson to have written, so as that there was not "One line which dying he could wish to blot." I am however very willing that the passage should also be taken in a less solemn sense, in which case it will be found very practically useful. For, if a man were always to have present to his mind, how little the companions of festivity can do for him, or indeed would do for him when he is dead, we should have much less of that weak, and often vicious compliance, by which men of gaiety do what is ridiculous and criminal, not only against their own knowledge, but against their own inclination. Were the grand idea of the theatre of conscience in its full extant, and with all its enjoyments to be constantly in our contemplation, we should not forfeit the higher approbation of ourselves, who are really judges for the paultry, inattentive, and transient plaudits of others.
(I, pp. 154-5 in SUP edition)

Architecture::Theater

Reading

The Hypochondriack, No. 7 (April, 1778). From The London Magazine, or Gentleman's Monthly Intelligencer.

See also James Boswell, The Hypochondriack, ed. Margery Bailey, 2 vols. (Stanford UP, 1928)

07/09/2013