mm 1 ft »-•!$ w 1 1 Hk /. 3* f or f a V e rea d &Me» 108, 5. for as Tnuficians read as fome muficians. 109, 17. for deferver read obferver. 1 1 6, 20. for jolting read jutting. 128, 23. dele comma after baivrk. 131, 25. for quelle difgrace read quelle difgrace. 231, 19. for was very pretty read was a very pretty, 250, 1 . for is a man read is man. 1 3 . for principles read principle. MAXIMS, [» ] MAXIMS, A MAXIM is fometimes like the feed of a plant which the foil it is thrown into muft expand into leaves, and flowers, and fruit -, £o that great part of it muft fometimes be written as it were by the reader. No man was ever fo much deceived by another as by himfelf. The beft heads can but misjudge in caufes belonging to the jurifdidtion of the Heart. True delicacy* as true generality, is more wounded by an offence from itfelf, if B I [« 1 I may be allowed the expreffion, than to itfelf. As fome poifonous animals carry about them an antidote to their own venom, fo do moft people for the offence they give by flight, hatred, and contempt. Very nice fcruples are fometimes the effeft of a great mind, but oftner of a little one. Some men talk fenfibly and aft foolifhly, fome talk foolifhly and aft fenfibly; the firft laugh at thelaft, the laft cheat the firft. Says Agothles I am of confequence, pray confider me , I am agreeable, pray feek my company: the world is in this in- stance fo complying that it takes his word and gratifies him. Yes, fay you, the un- difcerning and the foolifh, all others fee that the man is only vain and impudent. It is true ; but while I hear thofe others cry out againft the impofition, I likewife fee them comply with the requeft. C h r ys an t e s is more fought after than any man I know : he is alike the favourite of the old, the young, the men of parts and [3] and the illiterate. No one ever calls him by his firname, or Mr. it is the fmalleft di- minutive of his chriftian name that he goes by, and were there any thing -in the lan- guage correfpondent to animula that would doubtlefs be his appellation. Adrian could not have invented any thing more fondling for his own foul than every one would beftow upon this Mignion. Hear then the rare qualities that have dignified this T) elides ham ant generis. Chryfantes is in his perfon unwieldly, clumfy, and vulgar, and his countenance is not only correfpon- dent to his figure in regard to his features, but is wholly unanimated and without ex- prei7k>n ; his behaviour muft confequently he equally deftitute of grace and delicacy. What are his morals ? execrable y all his fenfations towards human nature are con- fined to the little circle of his own perfon - y but what then, I fay, are his charms ? nay, if you don't find them out it is not my fault. Will you fit up ? Chryfantes is your Man : provided your Champaigne be good, or your purfe full and expofed to be emptied. Dice, cards, heads or tails, Chryfantes has no choice, he is all complaifance, only if B 2 you [4] you leave it to him he had rather play for indefinite fums, and it is very eafy for each man to tell his lump. He never miftakes, he will tell you, every time he wins, to a guinea what he had before him > no man reckons better, or fo faft as he -, he is the beft companion, the honefte/t fellow in the world , but what is his converfation ? is it the awful profound of realbning, or the gay fuperfkies of wit that thus attracts the lite- rati ? neither; you are tired with the para- dox ! — Chryfantes has the beft cook in the world, the beft wines ; and a great houfe whofe door hates the threjhold. Saying an ingenious or difcerning thing is no proof of a found underftanding, faying an abfurd thing, prejudice always excepted, is a proof of the contrary. — Folly is feldom fo grofs as to admit no gleam of light, and one right hit cannot prove a right aflem- blage of ideas ; though a right aflemblage of ideas makes grofs abfurdity even in a fingle inftance impoffible. Vanity is the poifon of agreeablenefs ; yet as poifon when artfully and properly ap- ply'd, has a falutary effect in medicine, fo has [ s] has vanity in the commerce and fociety of the world. W e are never fo ready to praife as when we are inclined to detract, and often has one man, nay one nation, been flattered by the commendations of a writer who really meant no more than to fix a ftronger cen- fure upon another, Pleafure is a game for which it will be in vain to try, it muft Jiart before you or you'll never find. If you find your friend covetous hope he is inconfiftent too— he has nothing elfe for it. Nothing fo difficult as tracing effects into caufes, nothing fo quick as the inven- tion of caufes for effects. Some men are like certain fluffs, beauti- ful on one fide, hideous on the other. An unpretending man is never deficient; or if he is, as La Bruiere fays of uglinefs in an agreeable man, " Cela ne fait pas ■" fin effetr Arcon is what the French call dun fort mauvais ton ; and he is much more fo from B 3 aiming [6] aiming at what they call un bon tow, he is well-born, not ill educated, or by any means of a contemptible understanding : Maisdun fort mauvais ton ! — He happens of late years to have been in a fituation which has kept him chiefly in the country (no help to that fame maircais ton) but he has there often feen what is called good company : Arcon has juft. converted his old chariot into a very genteel poft chaife, his little boy rides pofti- lion with his hair tied behind, and his Valet de chambre attends in his flaxen wig, fo that he is now quite as genteel as his neighbours j nay, he will tell you of feveral lords and ladies with whom he is very inti- mate ; fometimes indeed he ftumbles upon a name which is really the veryreverfe of a puff, but it's not his fault, he thinks it a confider- ablecne-: elfe, himfelf, I affure you, would have taken no great notice of the perfon. Talk to Arcon, or his Wife, (they are one flefh) about the fafhions; he will difpute the cut cf a fleeve, or the cock of a hat as ftrenuo.ufly as any one -, happy if he had juft feen for the firft time fome travelling mode, which being not above half worn out, was fpick and fpan in his quarters ! he has feen French [7] French cookery too ; you will never puzzle him with your Fricandeaus or your Bouilhs ; —he had once feen dimes that were Jo called at a friend's houfe : Arcon was invited to dine at a table that was really well-ferved in the French manner > he ordered his equipage and went) and after all proper compliments and ceremonies they fat down to dinner. Soupy hors doeuvres, entrees, rot, and entremets , Arcon looked a little queer : however, he faw his Boidie, afked for it and had it. The petits patees were at a dis- tance ; pray, my lord, fays he, be fo good as to help me to one of thofe little tarts \ your lordihip's broth was vaftly good! he eat but little of the rot, for unfortunately he hated bacon, and every thing was either barde or larde , he pleafed himfelf however, and felt fnug, in his obfervations upon a fowl at the upper end of the table fent up with — no fure — yes, he look'd again, and faw it peep from each fide — with grafs un- der it: for that he had never feen, nor would he forget it. As foon as the entremet was ferved he obferved with plea- fure over againft him a fine large Crime au piftache, and begged the gentleman who fat by it to fend him a little of the cuflard. B 4 What [ 3 ] What was it that made Arcon ridiculous? not his ignorance, but his pretenfions to knowledge. The art of making yourfelf confider- able in the great and gay world, is neither to be defined, nor learnt. Every character is in ibme refpects uni- form and in others inconfiftent, and it is only by the fludy of both, and a comparifon cf them with each other, that the know- ledge of man is acquired. The great fault of the human understand- ing, is not the not gping well, but the not flopping well. Me ron is a man of quality, and though young, has a confiderable office in the go- vernment: he is member of parliament, and has often diftinguimed himfelf in it. He has about three quarters of a good underftanding and about — three quarters of an amiable difpofition. He is noble and generous, but he is not free from pride and oftentation : he is determined in his party, and refolute in his purpofe; but then he is obftinate and overbearing -, as a companion he is frank and agreeable -, but he is fupercili- ous and contemptuous to his inferiors ± nay, as [9] as he is not very exact, he fometimes mis- takes thoie inferiors. He has certainly what may pafs for eloquence, a fine choice of words, and an agreeable flow, but then he wants tafte. His fubjects are fometimes ill- chofen, and his eloquence ill-tim'd - 3 Meron, has been known to indulge this flow of elocu- tion at focial entertainments, which, though it may poflibly come within the circle of tafte and propriety in Britain, would certainly be thought every where elfe extreamly ab-* furd. The habit of political bufinefs and political fpeaking has encouraged him to fpeech it at dinners, at fuppers ; nay, where there were women as well as men. Then he will fometimes tell you one thing is pre- mature, another is what he won't opinidtre y a third is fomething to which the parties will not accede. Then he is too apt— and that in- deed is hardly confident with the reft of his character, or within the circle of Britanic tafte — He is too apt to be prolix on a trivial uninterefting fubjeft. He is circumftantial . — I had alrnoft faid pathetic — about the regulation of the laft year's opera, or the lefs interefting concerns of a com- mon acquaintance 5 Meron has thefe ex- cellent [ io] celiencies, but he- : has alfo thefe imperfec* tions: he feems to have made a difcovery, I know not whether you will fubfcribe to it, but he feems to have found out, that the common opinion which places the beauty of converfation in comprejjing our thoughts is a vulgar error, and that, on the contrary, they mould be dilated and fpun out. Penetration feems a kind of in- fpiration > it gives me an idea of prophecy. Error is often nourifhed by good Senfe. Human knowledge is the parent of doubt. Pleasure is the bufinefs of the young, bufinefs the pleafure of the old. The {enfe to conduft fcnk is worth every other part of it; for great abilities are more frequently poiTeiTed, than properly apply 'd. Nothing fo eafy as to keep up an ef- tablifh'd character of {enft by converfation, nothing To difficult as to acquire one by it \ at leaft a converfation fuperior to that which keeps it up, may not give it. A lively and agreeable man of honour has not only the merit of thofe qualities in himfelf, [ I! ] himfelf, but that alfo of awakening them in others. I t is a melancholy confederation, that the difficulty of gaining reputation or riches, fhould be great in proportion to the want of them. A man mull be a fool indeed, if I think him one at the time he is applauding me. The oak which is generally confidered as the king of trees, is that alfo which ar- rives latefl at perfection ; and perhaps in fome fenfe the fame obfervation may be true with refpecT: to mankind. Polydore and Craterus paft their child- hood together, and received, in every ref- pect, the fame education, and yet they came into the world with oppofite characters. Polydore had what is called bright parts> which he neglected to ufe: Craterus had what is called good /olid fen/e which he ex- erted with conftant and unwearied diligence; Polydore had fo lively a relifh for pleafure, that his life was wailed in perpetual diffipa- tion. Craterus had fo much regard to the main chance^ that he was never feduced to idlenefs or irregularity, but improved fuch talents [ rt ] talents as he had to the utmofl advantage: They both obtained feats in parliament al- moil as foon as they were of age, and Cra- terus attended at the houfe with fo much punctuality, and fo affiduoufly applied to the fubjefl: of every queftion, that he became aim oft a man of bufmefs the firft year. But Polydore all this while neither knew, nor cared what was doing; he fometimes attended indeed in appearance, but his mind was abfent, except in fome fudden ftart of recol- lection, when he curfed the dull tedious de- bate that kept him from his pleafures. Thus Polydore with fuperior natural talents, al- ways appeared inferior to Craterus, except in matters of tafte, for in thefe his fuperiority appeared without an effort, it was the effe yet he may in this cafe approve the opinion, not only becaufe it is his own, but becaufe the perfect agreement of two dif- tant and unconnected minds has con- firmed it. We have our days for being in play for fenfe, as we have for being in play for tennis or billards. People feldom fpeak ill of them- felves, but when they have a good chance of being contradicted. Wit gives confidence lefs than con-* fidence gives wit. Ihave known men modeft enough to allow they had not a great deal of fenfe, but I don't recollect to have feen any one of them C give [ i8 ] give up an opinion of his own to that of a perfon whom he allowed had a great deal. Many men will reafon and aft Jenfibly on various occafions, and yet be even abjurd in /peculation and praftice, with refpeft to things extreamly plain, which happen to lie out of their way: as mufical clocks will play fuch a number of tunes; and difficult ones too, but not one beyond them. Fogramo is a kind of philofopher, a mathematician, a chymift, a man of letters in fhort, and a deep reafonerj he has had more than one literary difpute, and always with fuccefs; he utterly defpifes and difre- gards trifles; and of all trifles, he veryjuftly thinks that drefs is the greater!: : however, he naturally falls into what is fuitable and proper, and has a. certain dignity : his clothes therefore are always black, and his wigs white -, but once made, he fcarcely remembers that he poffefTes any fuch things* and he puts them on purely from its being neceffary that he mould. Fogramo wanted to move his perfon from one part of the ifland to another 5 on what account I never learnt, but on fome important one you may be [ '9 ] be fure : he was told of the late Invention of poft-chays, of their great expedition, conve- niency, and cheapnefs, provided one could get a fellow-traveller 5 and that to effect this one only need to advertife for a poft-chay companion. Fogramo approved of all this, and did it 5 Jack Flafh was in a certain eoffee-houfe near the garden, and read the Advertifement : he wanted to go to the fame place at the fame time, cafh was fhort, he was in a hurry, fo, d— — n him, he. was his Man : the travellers met according to appointment, and after fome admiration of each other, and fome fwearing from Jack about the horfes and the tackle, Fogramo freely and fans ceremonie, got into the chaife and placed himfelf commodioufly in about the middle of it. Jack claps one hand on the oftler's moulder, and the other on the top of the wheel, and brumes in after him ; having but little room, he buftles and be- ftirs himfelf a few, and Fogramo mecha- nically, as it w r ere, retired into his corner. Off they go, moil prodigioufly fail:, accord- ing to Fogramo, and according to Flafh, doctors differ, damnably flow. One began to fwear, the other to groan, too politely C 2 however [ *°] however to be troublefome, for however each jolt might affect Fogramo he refolved not to vent his difpleafure : but he began to reflect on the fcheme he had undertaken, and to doubt fomewhat . of the charms of a poft-cbay, (till with the utmoft politenefs and attention to his companion, is not that indeed regarding one's felf? Fogramo, however, who was a rational and consequen- tial per/on, had obferved that the young gentleman had carried all before him, and iliewn peculiar knowledge and underftand- ing about the chaife, horfes, harnefs, and all their apurtenances, and doubted not but he was a man of the world : captain , fays he, you feem to know the world very well : yes, fir, a little, I know men a little, but nothing to my knowledge of women : but there's nothing in that, for to be fure there I have had fome experience -, fome ex- perience ! why fure captain, you can't have been married more than once ? Jack went off fo loud and fo very nonfenfically, that Fogramo who was a rational and confequen- tial perfon, began to recover his original idea of Jack, and fat up very tight in his corner. Jack hummed a little and fell faft 3 ' afieep [ si l • afleep, a thing he had not done in the laft twenty-four hours ; his fleep was as pro found, as his waking had been turbulent ; as the deadeft calm follows the moft furious ftorm: Fogramo, though broad awake, was foon no more confcious of his chay lituation, than his companion ; fometimes he was in the iky amongft the planets and funs, fome- times in the earth amongft minerals and fofiils, fometimes in the fea with monfters and wrecks; at length however, Fogramo began to awake out of his dream by an ac- cident, and though Jack continued in his, yet he made many wry faces; the chaife bump'd continually againft the fide quarter, and Fogramo was furprized to find his jolts renewed upon him with greater force than ever ; the road was not ftony, and he could not conceive the meaning of it : he looked about him, out of the window, within the window ; but the folving twenty problems was nothing, compared to his difficulty of difcovering the cauje of thefe repeated jolts and knocks, it was out of his way ; at length they jolted his friend Jack broad awake, and looking out of the window, £C d n your body, fays C 3 « he, [22 Cl he, where did you learn your road- " work, boy ? d — n ye, where are your eyes cc you dog ? why ant they in your poll « by g — d ? ca'nt you fee, d — n ye, that Cc your near horfe don't draw an ounce? cc pull the chay over, do ye blood of a « b ch !" Would you believe it ? Jack, contrary to all expectation and defire, was literally obeyed. The poor boy, frighted at the captain's fwearing, whipped up the off inftead of the near horfe, and actually overturned the chay. Poor Fogramo's head, ornamented with a bloody nofe, ap- peared at the window of the chaife, and the boy helped him, all trembling, to climb out at it, whilft Jack was finking and curfing under him ; but he foon, red with choler, climbed after, and the moment he got on his legs, was going to fall on the poft-boy ; but luckily for him, fome back chaife-horfes came by at the critical minute, and he run from Flam immediately, got upon one of them, and rode for it with his fellow poft-boy, leaving the travellers to fettle the caufe of their misfortunes on the high road. Some men are blamed and fought after by every 7 body, fome commended and fhun'd by every [ n ] every body; may I not aflc, whether it is the blame or the praife that is mod eligible? The man of humour, the droll, he who enchants the whole liftening circle with the fpirit and fire of his wit, if another who ex- cells him in the fame way is introduced into the company, will not only appear lefs, but be fhrunk into nothing : Thus if you let the beams of the fun into your room they put your fire out. Some chance event to the man, will fome- times carry a conviction that was refufed to the demonftration of his arguments; nay, will produce a conviction which his argu- ments did not deferve, You think the time long paftfmce a be- nevolent genii could be found to form a ta- lifman that would not only give importance, wit, and agreeablenefs to the pofTefTor, but fo fafcinate other people, that they fhould fancy every advantage greater than it was, and give him credit for twenty more to which he had no right? Do not however conclude too haftily: Gnatho no longer ago than laft fpring became poffefs'd of this talif- C 4 man, ' [ Mr J man, nay I'm ferious, he inherited ten thou- fand a year. Th e Ufe of converfation is the perceiving ) perhaps adopting, the ideas of others ; the End> the difplaying our own. Virtue pleafes more as nature than as virtue; but let me add, that virtue is the firft beauty of nature. Phorbas is poflefs'd of almoft every good quality; he is rational, impartial, and confequential, even to felf-condemnation. It is a rule with Phorbas to do always what is right; he is virtuous, he is fb from principle, and he is univerfally approv'd. Phormio is noble, is gentle, is generous; he poffefTes every amiable virtue, but he is fo far from being confcious of any, or reflecting upon them as virtues, that he practifes them only as the means of happinefs, and they are fo far from being the effecT: of labor or reftraint, that he would fuffer if he ever de- viated from them: his virtues therefore have a certain freedom, a certain elegance, an inexpreflible charm of nature about them, which to be admir'd needs only to be {ten. He joins to the greateft contempt of money, the [*5] the greateft contempt of profufion, which fo often goes hand in hand with rapacity ; nay what would be profufion in another, is gene- rofity and propriety in Phcrmio ; common rules are not the guides of uncommon na- tures : Phormio loves pleafure, he under- ftands it, he was formed for it, he enjoys it, and he infpires it : coldnefs and infenfibility, corrupt felfifhnefs and licentious depravity, he compels at once to perceive, to tafte, and to approve, the pure, the exalted, the refin'd delight of which before they had neither reliih nor conception. Vice on the one fide, and vice on the other fide, is afhamed of its own deformity. How amiable is Phormio ! in his perfon manly yet foft, and expreffive - y in his manners modeft, yet full of tafte and fire ; in his difpofition never weak, yet full of fenfibility: under- ftanding, enjoying, extracting the efTence, the quinteflence of pleafure from every object of pleafure, yet deriving ftill more from the facrifice of it all to another. Is his friend in .diftrefs ? he will with pleafure give up his purfe to relieve him. In danger ? he will with ftill more pleafiire expofe his perfon to defend him. How lovely ! how ftriking ! and [ 2 6 ] , and let me add, that Phormio is not enly judicious and fenfible, but judicious and fen- iible in the higheft degree ; the fame prin- ciple that led his tafte to the precifion of every pleafure, feems to have dire&ed his under- standing to that of every truth and every, elegance. Thus was Phormio happily form'd, as if nature had for once infus'd a fuperior fpirit to fhew man the amiablenefs and the felicity of that virtue which is her own gift. Phorbas look'd up to Phormio and faw that he was made to be virtuous, and could not be otherwife; he faw this, and however upright his heart, he could not but feel its inferiority compared with that of Phormio : he was juft, but he had never felt the tranfport of being more than juft; he difdain'd to do wrong, but he underftood not the endearments of delicacy, the minute re finements of generofity, of doing that which is fublimely right. It is true indeed that he ftudied, he anticipated the withes of his friend, and gratified them to his own incon- venience, but he did not enjoy the virtue ; his natural bent directed him not to it, he was not proportionably happy, nor did others proportionably approve. Phorbas was vir- tuous [2 7 ] tuous from reafon and reflection j Phormlo from nature, and elevation of foul; the vir- tue of of Phorbas was moft meritorious, the virtue of Phormio moft endearing. We confefs our faults in the plural, and he would beat you under his leg-, — Yes, Dorimon, you make me laugh, but I love to laugh with you Dorimon. My dear Dorimon! will you fit by me? tant mieuxl Tell me then, thou happy Dog! how many this laft week? ha, only one countefs; ay, you are difcreet; come, the kept miftrcfles, you [ 33 ] you may own them; faith I won't divulge: well, I'll keep the fecret; and really that's a vaft number for one week. Look, Efchylus, fee how eafy it fits upon him! look at his cloaths too, they are not too fine \ and they fit well upon him; nor is my friend afraid of rumpling them or himfelf. Yes, Dorimon is a coxcomb! and, believe me, Efchylus, there are faults which difpleafe even from being incompleat. You would know how a man talks to judge of his underftanding; and yet, poffibly, however great the paradox, the very contrary method might be lefs fallible; the knowing how he hears might fhew it you much better: there is a kind of mechanical flow belonging to a man's converfation, which, when put in motion, goes perhaps roundly, and ingenioufly, and yet feems 3> fometimes, lefs the operation of reafon than habit: he may at the fame time be deftitute of the faculty of dividing, weighing, diftinguiihing, and judging: hearing then, may, perhaps, be more the teft of fenfe than /peaking. How ftupid is young Theocles! he was with us an hour, and whilft Cleon, the D other [ 34] other young man his companion, entertained us with a great deal of fenfible converfation, he had not one word to fay for himfelf; he will furely make a bad figure in the world; he can have no parts: thus was I told by every one prefent, nor did I contradidt it; and yet, as to myfelf, how differently did I think ! Theocles, I obferv'd, did not once fail expreffing in his countenance, that he underflcod and tailed every thing that was faid, Cleon never : he attended to nothing but what he himfelf utter'd: that was a fuperficial flow, a fomething, a nothing, yet all that it could ever be; incapable of increafe or improvement. Theocles on the contrary, with ten times the qualifications for talking, thought he had too few to ex- pofe his fentiments amongft thofe which his. amiable prejudice eftcemed fo much fuperior to his own. Theocles was diffident for the fame reafon that lambs are playful ; the caufe was nature and propriety: I faw him fmile with a delicate approbation of fenti- ment, at an account of generoiity and love ; I faw him fmile with fcorn and indignation at a ftory of meannefs and dishonour ; I faw his eyes animated, and his features glow [35 ] glow at an account of fpirit and gallantry: and Cleon all this time alter'd not a mufclc of his face. As foori as he had an oppor- tunity he told his own ftory indeed properly and without confufion: Theocles told no ftory, he had not a word to offer. what a difference ! Every man loves virtue better than vice; but then he loves himfelf better than either, and in his own way. The beft judges ofpleafure, are the befl judges of virtue. Complaint againft fortune, is often a mafk'd apology for indolence. Some men put me in mind of half-bred horfes, which often grow worfe in propor- tion as you feed and exercife them for im- provement. The more perfect the nature, the more weak, the more wrong, the more abfurd, may be fomething in a character; to ex- plain the paradox, if a mind is delicate and fufceptible, falfe impreffions in education will have a bad effect in proportion to that fufceptibility, and, confequently, may pro- D 2 duce [36] ducc an evil, which a ftupid and infenfible nature might have avoided. — What a leflbn to thole who have the charge of education ! We often reject the dictates of reafon, even when they are in favour of felf-love. A rogue who fears to be taken up, will mechanically flip to a corner and get out of the way when he is not in the leafl danger; and many of the curious fchemes of cun- ning, proceed from much the fame prin- ciple, and have much the fame ufe. It is from a beauty, a perfection of na- ture, that we are affected and grieved at a particular event or fault in ourfelves or others ; without that beauty or perfection it might have pafs'd by as a wind, a nothing ; — painful preeminence ! Disagreeable qualities are often heighten'd by reftraint, as the power of a fpring is increas'd by drawing it back. He that fees ever fo accurately, ever fo finely into the motives of other people'* acting, may poflibly be entirely ignorant as to his own : it is by the mental as the cor- poral eye^the object may be placed too near the [ 37 ] the fight to be feen truly as well as too ftr off; nay too near to be feen at all. I pity a king that is not vain, I envy one that is. As love will often make a wife man act like a fool, fo will intereft often make a fool aft like a wife man. After having found a man rational and agreeable, in many different inftances, we are furprized to find him quite otherwife in fome one which we had not touched upon : you may, if you pleafe, have your harpfi- chord tuned in fuch a manner as to have feveral keys in perfedt tune, but then you muft have fome one horridly difcordant -, the inftrument is imperfedt, and the difcord muft be thrown Jomewhere. May not man be fuch a fort of inftrument ? We often fee characters in the world, which we mould call ridiculoufly extrava- gant in a book. Unjust accufations feldom affect us much, but from having fome juftice in them. D 3 Without [ 38 ] Without content we mall find it al- moft as difficult to pleafe others as our- felves. Of two players at tennis a good judge may prefer the play of the worft ; of two colts who run together, a difcerning jocky may. think the beaten one the moft eligible; and of two understandings a penetrating man may fee that the inferior one in pre- fenr, is likely to become the fuperiof in future. Remedies for the mind, as well as the body, are often difguftful in proportion as they are falutary. It feems as if fome men were allowed merit, as beggars are relieved with money, merely from having made people weary of refufing. Men and ftatues that are admired in an elevated fituation, have a very different effect upon us when we approach them, the firft apoear lefs than we imagined them, the laft bigger. Modesty in women, fay fome fhrewd philofophers, is not natural; it is artificial i and [ 39] and acquired, but what then, and to what end, is that natural tafte, that de- licate fenfation, that approbation of it in man ? The union of characters feems to have much the fame fort of law as the union of founds, the fame note makes good concord, but a quite different one much better. There are things which we are in doubt whether to call very good or very bad, tho' we are fure they are one or the other. As great wit is nearly allied to madnefs, * fo there is but a very narrow bound between the utmoft excurfions of wit, and the firft fallies of frenzy. When Milton talks of yifible darknefs ; of prodigies produced by nature ; of death that lives, of life that dies ; we know that he has reached the laft verge of propriety, and we are apt to doubt whether he has not pafled it. So when Pope fup- pofes Newton to be (hewn by angels, as a * " Great wits to madnefs fure are near ally'd, " And thin partitions do their bounds divide. Dryden. D 4 monkey [ 40 ] monkey is by men, our tafle is as much in doubt about his propriety, as our judgment is about that ot Milton. There is often in women fomething of a pieafurable fenfibility, which, though very a radii ve, in its infancy, yet as it increafes neceffarily degenerates into fomething which has quite a contrary effect; fuch women are like fome fruits bell before they are ripe. Politics is the food of fenfe expos'd to the hunger of folly. The Great fee the world at one end by flattery, the Little at the other end by neg- lect 5 the meannefs which both difcover is the fame, but how different alas ! are the mediums thro' which it is feen ? People oftner want* fomething to be taken away to make them agreeable, than fomething to be added. Comparison is the greatcft cheat, and yet often the greateft friend to mankind. Our companions pleafe us lefs from the charms we find in their converfation, than from thofe they find in ours. When [4i ] When real noblenefs accompanies that imaginary one of birth, the imaginary feems to mix with the real, and becomes real too. Ask the man of adverfity how other men adl towards him, afk thofe others how he adts towards them -, adverfity is the true touch-ftone of merit in both ; happy if it does not produce the difhonefty of mean- nefs in one, and that of infolence and pride in the other ! We do not always like people the bet- ter for paying us all the court which we ourfelves think our due. There is fometimes, let it be granted, a very fatisfadtory fenfation in preferring our own pleafure to that of another : it is furpafs'd by none in the world, except that of preferring the pleafure of another to our own. One is methinks tempted to believe of certain men that they imagine giving plea- fure to be like giving money, and that the very portion of it they afford to others muft neceffarily [42 ] neceflarily be taken away from them- felves. Even affectation is natural, if I may fo exprefs myfelf, to fome men, and there- fore pleating. A perfon aflerts a thing is good or bad true or falfe, faying be knows it to be Jo*, but how proper would it generally be for him firft to prove himfelf a competent judge ! We fometimes think we have difcovered a new truth that lay very deep, when per- haps we have only a lively fenfe of fome- thing, which others feel in a lefs degree^ Scholarship, or if you will, learning, is perpetually rung in my ears as the fumjnum bonum, the one thing neceffary to man 3 to fay of a perfon that he is a good fcholar, feems to imply every kind of fuperiority, to fay he is no fcholar juft the contrary. But I confefs, that after much reflection and much enquiry, I am yet at a lofs to comprehend this mighty advantage of fcholarfhip- fome advantage to be fure it has, but perhaps not to minds of the firft: clafs ; it fometimes pre- vents [43 1 rents the excurfions of a vigorous under- (landing by keeping it in a beaten track: It perpetuates error by impofing received opinions upon thofe who, if they had begun the enquiry, would have difcovered truth; it divides the attention, and fometimes fixes it to fubjects which are not fuited to that particular genius and turn of mind which nature would have exerted upon fome other, the object of her own choice, with infinite advantage: by loading the memory it re- strains imagination, and by multiplying pre- cepts it anticipates the judgment. Give me the man wbofe knowledge is deriv'd from the copious fource of his own reafon, whofe mind is fiil'd with ideas that fprung not from books but thought} whofe principles are con- fiftent becaufe deduced in a regular feries from each other, and not fcraps of different iyftems gleaned from the works of others, and huddled together without examining their incongruity : where is the fcholar whofe opinion is entirely his own? and where is the genius whom we wifh to have known he opinions of others? are we fure that Shakefpear would have been the wonder he was, had he been a deep Jcholar! Oh [44] Oh clever! and in a man of fafhion too! Gyges will quote you from Virgil and Horace, in Latin > till you ftare again ! Its true, that he is aukwardly drefs'd; that he lives ill, and above all, that -he generally takes the falfe fide of the queftion; but he will quote, ye gods ! how he will quote ! Melissa has not much common, but a great deal of uncommon, or if you will, out of the way fenfe. She underftands latin, has written much verfe, has read a good deal of hiftory, and a great deal of meta- phyfkks; fhe is a zealous enemy of fuper- ftition and prieftcraft, and holds Mofes and all fuch people extremely cheap: MelifTa will fport a fubje£t with you willingly ; and if you talk more upon it than fhe, I had almoft laid better, I am not a little miftaken : her words flow with fuch eafy volubility, that certainly if you have any tafte MelifTa will attract your attention, poflibly your admira- tion; but then you mull not turn the ftream, you muft not put her mind out of its courfe, for the road once loft fhe will w T ander farther and farther from it in endlcfs i per- „ r* [45] perplexity ; fhe goes on where fhe fees the track, but never yet afked herfelf whither it would lead her : fhe talks not from fentiment but from memory, and a kind of indincft, fo that though what fhe fays is rational, yet fhe has not herfelf deduced it from reafon. The regular dependance of one principle upon another is what {he leaft regards, and fhe is therefore fo incon- fiftent that often has Meliffa difputed power- fully, nay felf-perfuafively on Monday on one fide, and on Tuefday on the other. In her difcourfes too, fhe confiders herfelf much more than the perfon fhe ipeaks to, and therefore fhe often tells a fentimental ftory to a civil liftening country farmer, and fome* cant joke of one fociety to a member of another. As to others, indeed, Meliffa thinks little about them, and be you a celebrated author, a man of feufe, a blockhead, a coxcomb, or a pedant, fhe equally attends to you and to herfelf: Minuties fhe little re- gards, fhe is not one of thofe prying mortals who from a word, a motion, or look, will catch the ideas or defigns of another, and though very knowing in theory, yet as fhe the [46] knows theory only by rote, flie is often ex- treamly ignorant in the practice of the very theory fhe is fo well acquainted with. Me- lifla rather likes than defpifes drefs, and there too her difregard of Minuties tafte and con- nection manifefts itfelf : /lie has been known to change her fhoes in the morning without changing the buckles, and fo wear her fhoes a whole day with the two ftraps pointing to- wards each other, nor does fhe care how they fit to her feet, or how or of what they are made : her ribbands too are either left to the choice of her maid, or elfe perhaps odly chofen by herfelf; and when fhe has put on a rich gown which required one kind ofafTortment,fhehas been known totally to fpoil its effect by an- other. With MelifTa, in fhort,you muft dlftin- guifh between a love for drefs, and a tafte for drefs. But has not nature, when fhe gave fuch flying agility to the roe, refufed him the ftrength of the lion ? why then may not Corinna poffefs thofe feminine graces which are refufed to MelifTa? Corinna was one day fo much admired in the prefence of Melifla for the becoming elegance of her cloaths, ttrt MelifTa ordered the very fame for her- felf, and yet, ftrange confequence! no one admired [ 47 ] admired them at all upon her : fhe proved, that it is the perfon which adorns the drefs, not the drefs the perfon. Corinna pulls her hair about with her fingers for two minutes, and no head is (o well coiffed : MelifTa fits fometimes two hours to her Accomodeur, and few appear worfe. MelifTa, in fhort, fixes her chief attention on your great objeSls •> Corinna, on the graceful ones. With Me- lifTa and Corinna you have your choice as your tafte happens to be between a lady of- mafculine knowledge > or — feminine ignora?ice. Camilla is really what writers have fo often imagined, or rather fhe poffefTes a combination of delicacies, which they have feldom had minutenefs cf virtue and tafte enough to conceive ; to fay fhe is beautiful, fhe is accomplifh'd, Ihe is generous, fLe is tender, is talking in general, and it is the particular I would defcribe. In her perfon fhe is almoft tall and almoft thin; graceful, commanding, and infpiring a kind of tender refpect ; the tone of her voice is melodious, and fhe can neither look nor move with- out expreffing fomething to her advantage : pofTeiied [48 ] pofTeiTed of almoft every excellence {he is unconfeious of any, and thus heightens them all : fhe is modeft and diffident of her own opinion, yet always perfectly compre- hends the fubjeft on which fhe gives it, and fees the queflion in its true light : (he has neither pride, prejudice nor precipitan- cy to mifguide her ; (he is true, and there- fore judges truly. If there are fubjedts too intricate, too complicated for the feminine fimplicity of her foul, her ignorance of them, ferves only to difplay a new beauty in her character which refults from her ac- knowledging, nay, perhaps from her pof- feffing that very ignorance. The great charaderiftic of Camilla's underftanding is tafte , but when fhe fays mod upon a fub- jedt (he ftill fhews that fhe has much more to fay, and by this unwillingnefs to triumph fhe perfuades the more. With the moft refined fentiment fhe poffefles the fofteft fenfibility, and it lives and fpeaks in every feature of her face. Is Camilla melan- choly ? d^es fhe fight? every body is af- fected. They enquire whether any misfor- tune has happened to Camilla; they find that fhe fighed for the misfortune of an- , other, [49] other, and they are affected ftill more. Young, lovely, and high born, Camilla graces every company, and heightens the brillancy of courts; wherever fhe appears all others feem by a natural impulfe to feel her fuperiority; and yet when fhe converfes fhe has the art of infpiring others with an eafe which they never knew before: fhe joins to the mofl fcrupulous politenefs the moft chearful gaiety, free both from reftraint and boldnefs , always gentle, yet never inferior; always unaffuming, yet never afhamed or aukwardj for fhame and aukwardnefs are the effects of pride, which is too often mifcalled modefty; nay to the moft criti- cal difcernment fhe adds fomething of a blufhing timidity which ferves but to give a meaning and piquancy even to her looks, and admirable effect of true fuperiority ! by this filent unaffuming merit, fhe over-awes the turbulent and the proud, and flops the torrent of that indecent, that over- bearing noife with which inferior natures in fuperior ftations overwhelm the flavifh and the mean. Yes, all admire and love and reverence' Camilla. E You I 50] You fee a character that you adm-ire, and you think it perfect ; do you therefore con- clude that every different character is im- perfect? what, will you allow a variety of beauty almoft equally ftriking in the art of a Corregio, a Guido, and a Raphael, and refufe it to the infinity of nature! how dif- ferent from lovely Camilla is the beloved Flora! in Camilla, nature has difplay'd the beauty of exact regularity, and the elegant foftnefs of female propriety. In Flora, {he charms With a certain artlefs poignancy, a graceful negligence, and an uncontrolled yet blamelefs freedom. Flora has fomething original and peculiar about her, a charm which is not eafily defined ; to know her and to love her is the fame thing, but you cannot know her by defcription. Her per- fon is rather touching than majeftic, her features more expreffive than regular, and her manner pleafes rather becaufe it is re- ftrained by no rule, than becaufe it is con- formable to any that cuftom has eftablifhed. Camilla puts you in mind of the mod per- fect mufic that can be compofed ; Flora, of the wild fweetnefs which is fometimes pro- duced by the irregular play of the breeze upon 3 the [ 5* ] the iEolian harp. Camilla reminds you of a iovely young queen: Flora, of her more iovely maid of honour. In Camilla you admire the decency of the Graces j in Flora, the attractive fweetnefs of the Loves. Artlefs fenfibility, wild native feminine gayety, and the moft touching tendernefs of foul, are the ftrange characteristics of Flora. Her coun- tenance glows with youthful beauty, which all art feems father to diminifh than increafe, rather to hide than adorn: arid while Ca- milla charms you with the choice of her drefs, Flora enchants you by the neglect of hers. Thus different are the beauties which nature has manifefted in Camilla arid Flora I yet while fhe has, in this contrariety (hewn the extent of her power to pleafe, fhe has alfo proved, that truth and virtue are always the fame. Generofity and tendernefs are the firft principles in the minds of both favourites, and were never poffeffed in an higher degree than they are porTeffed by Flora; fhe is juft as attentive to the intereft of others as {he is negligent of her own, and though me could fubmit to any mif* fortune that could befal herfelf, yet fhe hardly knows how to bear the misfortunes E 2 $f [ 52] another. Thus does Flora unite the ftrongeft fenfibility and the moft lively gayety, and both are exprefled with the moft bewitching mixture in her countenance. While Ca- milla infpires a reverence that keeps you at a refpe&ful yet admiring diftance, Flora ex- cites the moft ardent yet elegant defire: Ca- milla reminds you cf the dignity of Diana, Flora of the attractive fenfibility of Califto: Camilla almoft elevates you to the fenfibility of angels, Flora delights you with the love- lieft idea of woman. The bad fide of poverty is not the want of money for ourfelves, but for other peo- ple, for how trifling is the mortification of felf-denial, compared to that of being obliged to the ungenerous, or difappointing the worthy ? and how can either be avoided by the indigent and generous man ? We are forward in our offers of fervice that are of no confequence, in proportion as we are backward in thofe that are. As we generally overlook every weak thing a man of fuperior underftanding fays, fo we do every ftrong one that a man of inferior underftanding happens to fay. 3 What [ 53 ] What a Reflection? and if true, who of us is fafe ? the very difpofition of mind which is the caufe of any particular wrong thinking, is alfo an indifpofition, I will not fay an incapacity, to correct it. It is odds but he who is not duped at coming into the world has a touch of the knave in his character, as it is odds but he who is duped when he is in the world, has a touch of the fool. Would you fee Pylades and Oreftes, thofe fworn friends and companions of an- tiquity revived ? — I will fhew you a modern Pylades and Oreftes, and, if you are feri- ous, you will honour the fublimity of mo- dern friendfhip. One of thefe friends, I mean of the moderns, is a lord, the other writes himfelf gent. My lord Pylades is affluent, not inacceffible, and a joker: Gent. Oreftes is poor, complying, and moft willingly^— a butt. See then what rare harmony thefe two inftruments make to- gether. — -His lordfhip would be forry not to have his deareft friend at any one of the great dinners which he often gives to his ftllow- E 3 nobles [54] nobles and others; and the gentleman would be as forry not to affift at the ceremony, not to heighten the mirth, not to give himfelf for fewel to the fire of his patrons wit. One day lord Pylades cracked fome joke, and laughed moft heartily at it > gentleman Oreftes immediately laughed as much to the full : the perfon who fat next him not having heard what was faid, afked him what they laughed at. I don't know, faid Oreftes, I laughed becaufe my lord laughed. Idem velle at que idem nolle cademum is Oreftes's motto; arms, paternal arms, he happened not to have, fo he chofe his own, and this is his motto. Says Pylades> that Oreftes is an honeft poor devil; there is not much in him— but he is an honeft poor creature; I am really fond of him; now and then I'm a little hard upon him. I love joking, but I really mean him no harm, he knows he is welcome to every thing I have. Oreftes fays very much the fame thing; his lordfhip makes a little free with him, cuts his joke upon him, bids him open the door, fhut the door, hold his tongue, and takes twenty fuch little freedoms, but he efteems it an honour and a pleafure to oblige [55] oblige his friend; what! have fcruples with one's friend ! his generofity is above it, Oreftes, fays Pylades, you are not angry with me for thofe jokes I cut upon you yefterday, are you? not at all my lord. Ay, you know I mean no harm, but you're a good creature : what have you been fo kind as to get in thofe rents for n>e? yes, my lord. And paid away that money for me? yes, my lord. Well, Oreftes, thou art an honeft fellow, and a good friend to me, that's the truth of the matter. Of how little credit to you will be the proof, that you would have done a very clever thing but from an accident having intervened in your disfavour, compared to the de- monftration of your having done a clever thing from an accident which intervened in your favour. Surely no man can reflect without wonder upon the viciffitudes of human life arifing from caufes in the higheft degree accidental and trifling: if you trace the ne- ceffary concatenation of human events a very little way back, you may perhaps dis- cover that * a perfon's very going in, or out E 4 pf [ 5-6 ] of a door, has been the means of colouring with mifery or happinefs the remaining cur- rent of his life- It was poffibly fome cir- cumftance equally trifling, that thus totally varied the Difpofitions of Caftalio and De- metrius. Caftalio and Demetrius were two young noblemen whom birth, family con- nection, and above all, fympathy of fouls, had united in the moft endearing intimacy; they had run together hand in hand through part of that fometimes delicious period, youth: that period in which irregularities have appeared beauties, nay, have even ex- torted, from the very formalifts who con- demned them, the involuntary, and there- fore moft convincing fmile of approbation. See how every rapture of Caftalio's foul Was exchanged for difguft, regret and defpair! thus did he pour forth the for- rowful ErTufions of his heart. Ah! [ 57 ] ; Ah ! what avails the length'ning mead, By nature's kindeft bounty fpread, Along the vale of flow'rs! Ah ! what avails the darkning grove, Or Philomel's melodious love, That glads the midnight hours \ For me, alas ! the god of day, Ne'er glitters on the hawthorn fpray, Nor night her comfort brings ; 1 have no pleafure in the rofe, For me no vernal beauty blows, Nor Philomela fings. See how the fturdy peafants ftride Adown yon hillock's verdant fide, In chearful ign'rance blefl ! Alike to them the rofe or thorn ; Alike arifes ev'ry morn, By gay contentment drefs'd. Content, fair daughter of the fkies, Or gives fpontaneous, or denies, Her choice divinely free •, She vifits oft the hamlet cot, When want and forrow are the lot Of avarice or me ! But [ 58 ] But fee — or is it fancy's dream ? Methought a bright celeftial gleam, Shot fudden through the groves j— - Behold, behold, in loofe array, Euphrofyne more bright than day, More mild than paphian doves ! Welcome, oh ! welcome pleasure's queen I And fee along the velvet green, The jocund train advance ; With fcatter'd flow'rs they fill the air, The wood-nymph's dew-befpangled hair Plays in the fportive dance. Ah baneful grant of angry heav'n, When to the feeling wretch is giv'n, A foul alive to joy ! Joys fly with ev'ry hour away, And leave th' unguarded heart a prey, To cares that peace deftroy. And fee, with vifionary hade, Too foon ! the gay delufion pad ? Reality remains : Defpair has feiz'd my captive foul, And horror drives without controul, And flackens ftill the reins. Ten [59 I Ten thoufand beauties round me throng : What beauties, fay ye Nine ! belong To the diftemper'd foul ? I fee the lawn of hideous dye, The tow'ring elm nods mifery, With groans the waters roll. Ye gilded roofs, palladian domes, Ye vivid tints of Perfia's looms, Ye were for mis'ry made ; 'Twas thus the man of forrow fpoke j His wayward ftep then penfive took, Along th' unhallow'd lhade. And hear the jovial philofophy, the fpirit, the rapture of young Demetrius : thus did his glad heart vent its joyful foliloquy. Yes, to the fages be it told, However great, or wife, or old,— Fair pleafure's my purfuit ; For her I breathe the joyful day, For her through nature's wilds I ftray, And cull the flow'rs and fruit. Sweep [ 6o] Sweep, fweep the lute's enchanting firing, And all thy fweets lov'd lux'ry bring! " T' enjoy is to obey ;" The heav'nly mandate ftill prevail, And let each unwife wretch bewail, The dire, neglected day; Ah ! gracelefs wretch ! to difobey? And devious quit the fiow'ry way, And flight the gods decree ! Still, ftill, ye gods, the bleflings fend ! If e'er my guilty hands offend, Indeed my heart is free. In pleafure's ray fee nature fhine, How dull, alas ! at wifdom's fhrine ! M 'Tis folly to be wife ♦, Collufive term, poor vain pretence, Enjoyment fure is real fenfe In philofophic eyes. I love the carol of the hound, Enraptur'd on the Jiving ground In dafhing ecftacy j I love the aukward courfer's ftride, The courfer that has been zvell-try'd, And with him eager fly. And * [6! ] And yes, I love, ye fneering wife,-—** Fair honour, " fpurning ftill at lies, As courting liberty ; Still hand in hand great nature goes, With joys to honour never foes, And all thofe joys are free. And welcome thrice to Britifh land, From Italy's voluptuous ftrand, Ye deftin'd men of art ; Breathe on the thrilling meaning found, Each grace mall ftill be faithful found, At your admirer's heart, Avert, ye gods ! that curfe of fools. The pride of theoretic rules j That dupery of fenfe : I ne'er refufe the proffer'd joy, With ev'ry good-— that can annoy— Moft eafily difpenfe. I catch each rapture as it flies, Each happy lofs a gain fupplies, And boon ftill follows boon : The fmile of beauty gilds my day, Regardlefs of her frowns I ftray ; * Thus through my hours I run ! But [62 ] -But let me not For idle rhime, ; Negle [69] eye ; nay he would have harneffed himfelf, but that he was tying a knot or two in his lafli ; you fee there is only a fmall matter of alteration in the bearing reins, and all is right. Come, Hippias, if we are to ride with him, order your horfe out — but let us fee Burrhus get out of the yard before us. — It's an aukward fort of a turning for four horfes. -Pooh, that's the beauty of it : What think you of turning out of the Angel-yard with one of the leaders falfe, and the other galled in the moulders? Burrhus wifhes that was the cafe now. — Come, Will, give your mafter his great coat, there, — pull down one of the under capes — and now, Burrhus, thou happy mor- tal ! thy reign begins. Burrhus with the profoundeftconfideration, takes the two neat black reins, artificially one under the other, and his heart in fecret throbs with delight, at the endearing touch : he gives them a Hidden and beautiful turn downwards, and then quietly mounts the various fteps of his " ambition's ladder," but he does not, like the vile ftatefman, "fcorn the bafe degrees by " which he did afcend, when he has gained fc the topmoft round," the coach box ; but F 3 he [ 7o ] but he ftill loves every wheel, every fpoke, every iron that connects and preferves his little world. Gey heau- gey heau — fee how he goes! what grace! what attitudes! his body's as fupple as a poflure-mafter's, or a man's that has been broken on the wheel ; his head goes noddle noddle, like a Chi- nefe figure ; and fee ! now his right hand moves like the arms of a windmill, fairly round and round. -Ay, now he changes upon you, now it's backward and forward, ftill from the moulder you fee. There, he has juft fired the four nags— you thought they were not Jbarp. They are all fcramb- ling you fee. Burrhus can make any thing fiarp — It's quite a fine fight, don't yott think fo ? There, now they're all up — fa'atly, fa'atly- fee how they champ on their bits! Pooh! but you don't enjoy this you have no tafle I'll be hang'd if you fee half Burrhus's excellencies'; what, vou dont fee that all his clothes are under him, nor — but it would be endlefs and ufelefs to mew you thefe beauties, — t you fay, Burrhus is mad — be it fo : but do you forget that " there is a pleafure in being a mad, which none but madmen know. Do [ 7* ] Do fome wife men know that even pre- judice and follies may refult from fenfibility ! and that the reafon why they are not preju- diced and foolifh may have been that they were infenfible. When I am told that Alexander feemed really to doubt whether he had not fome- thing divine in his compofition, I am far from being fo much furprized at it as I fee other people : I. can eafily conceive that hu- man nature might without grofs abfurdity be put out of its common courfe of reafon- ing by fuch a feries of ftrange events as happened to that extraordinary man. If they ftrike us as almoft fupernatural, what effect is it natural to fuppofe they would have upon him to whom they hap- pened! he was continually effecting what human powers were thought unable to effect ; his whole life was parled as it were on fairy land, where every thing was rather produced by enchantment than nature, he lived in an age when the exiftence of demi gods, a progeny of mortals mixing with im- mortals, was readily admitted; and he was furrounded by flatterers who were continually F 4 im- [ 72 ] improving every miraculous incident of his life to perfuade him that he was of this celes- tial race, and that not Philip but Jupiter was his father. If all this be confidered, perhaps it will be allowed that it was more probable, I had alrnoft faid more rational, for Alex- ander to think himfelf a divinity than a man. Fortune, luck: filly terms fay you, inr vented by fhort-fighted men who cannot fee the caufes of things, and who have no idea of connection and confequcnce. But the reality of what we impute to luck none can deny, and the caufe of it perhaps none can difcdyer. What is the caufe of runs at play ? what makes one man win almoft every ftake for an hour together, and an- other man at the fame publick table, and the fame game, depending wholly upon chance, lofe almoft every flake for an hour together ? what can continue this difference for a month, nay for a year ? the fact is too well known to be controverted, and what- ever is the caufe of this, may be the caufe of a like run in the more important occur- rences of life where the odds in point of chance [ 73 ] chance arc againft it. That there is fuch a run I think almoft equally evident, for who has not {e^n fome inftances where every prudential meafure has been fruftrated and over-rul'd as it were by an unfurmountable fatality, and a feries of the moft ill concert^ ed and-ill conducted proje&s crowned with fucc.efs? fuch, " a tide there is in the af- cc fairs of men f and when I am told that Caefar defpifed the ftorms that filled the mariners with terror, I do not wonder at his preemption when I confider his life, but fay with him to the mariners, ■" you carry Ccefar and his fortune." A thorough good Newmarket groom would have been a good minifter of ftate if he had been train'd for it. I have heard fome of the firft judges of whift fay, that it was not thofe who play'd beft by the true laws of the game that would win moft, but thofe who play'd beft to the falfe play of others, and I am fure it is true of the great game of the world. Exercise is fiill more requifite to the health of the mind than of the body. The C 74 ] The cla/ret-drinker hates the tafte of port, the port-drinker prefers it to claret, and every foreigner fays of one and the other Ceji un beuvrage epais et detefiable. What ! does habit, then extend its dominion over, and give laws to the very fenfes ! How comes it that fo many of the mod fenfible men in the world decide fo diffe- rently on the fame and often on the moll: important points ? Becaufe there are fo few third perfons. I t has happened that a woman who has made herfelf cheap, has been aftonifh'd to find herfelf little valued by another. Many men ftudy and pra&ife the ceconomy of their money, hardly any that of their pleafure, without which money is ufelefs. The mind will not only be diffatisfied at not enjoying what fhe fees and longs for, fhe wall often be fo at having mifs'd even what is pafs'd, and what if fhe had enjoyed would now be no more. No two things can be fo contradictory, fo much at varience as truth and falfhood, and yet none are fo mixed and united. The [ 75 ] The great reafon why falfe Virtues paf9 fo well ia the world is, that true ones are fo feldom near to compare them with. Some men have jufl fenfe enough to prove their want of it. Friendship never afcends to love, love often defcends to friend£hip. A fool is not always without wit; and it is when he fhews wit, that he is infup- portable : his wit is like an edged tool put into the hands of a child; without it he might be as harmlefs; and poffibly as enr tertaining. Few difficulties, as well as few women, hold out againft real attacks. Courage to think, is infinitely more rare than courage to act, and yet the danger in the firft cafe is generally imaginary \ in the laft real. The medium between too fcnipuloufly returning, and too eafily accepting obli-f gations, is the fineft and moft difficult me- dium I know in the world. Great attention, among intimates and relations, is generally lefs a mark of the force [ 76] force of their attachment, than of the mafk- ing the decline of it. It is unluky that the very reafon which irrkes Eugenio think his ftories entertaining, thould make me think them trouble fome; their being about himfelf. If it is true that from the fame principle that you are delighted with generofity, nature and truth, you are mocked by mean- nefs, pretention, and affectation, what will be your fate, if you are generous, natural, and true ? It is a known rule, that if you are to reckon for the expence of any under- taking, you mould by way of precaution throw more money into the account than you can find articles for. How excellently do men follow this rule in the portion of felf-regard they are to beflow upon them- felves in their dealings with others ! One great difadvantage to the caufc of truth is its being fo often in the hands of Liars. There are men who are fo knowing and ingenious, who fee fo far into things, and [77] and difcern effects fo remote from their caufes, that no difputant can ftand againfl them: yet while thefe men triumph in the power which arifes from their acquaint- ance with thefe diftant objedls of the under- ftanding, they have perhaps quite over- looked thofe that lie near them. There perhaps they are defencelefs, and may eaiily be conquered - y as a battery of cannon is often difpofed fo as to defend a fort from the moft powerful vefTels, while fmall boats may come fecurely under their direction, and in fpight of thefe mighty cannon take the place. We often fly to the defence of certain faults when they are attacked, which, though we really are guilty of them, we never had acknowledged even to ourfelves: as dogs eat fimples when they are nek, without being confeious that they act from a princi- ple of felf-prefervation. I hardly know fo true a mark of a little mind, as the fervile imitation of others; or alas! fo common a thing. Though I lament the prefent depravity of Britifh tafte, thatprefers the Chinefe to the [ 78 ] the Grecian and Roman architecture ; vet I have objections to many parts even of thefe, though very great examples are againft me ; I mean thofe reprefentations of monfters and incongruous figures; of hu- man faces (tuck to beads bodies ; of mouths for fpouts of water ; of one crea- ture's leg joined to another's thigh : all this, whatever may be the authority, is in my opinion, false-taste : I think every part of architecture fliould be judged by me rule, and that the iobde fhould be noble, iimple, and natural. Sense and good tafte often fuffer from the defects which folly and bad tafte enjoy. Possession without right, is in moft cafes of property, a much better title than right without pofTeiTion ; is it not fo alfo in moft cafes of confideration, refpefl, and admiration of the world ? It does not feem an eafy queflion to re- folve, whether men like beft to prime over others, or to have others prime over them. So 1 79 ] Some prejudices are to the mind, what the atmofphere is to the body; we cannot feel without the one, nor breathe without the other. Every man will allow that a ftander- by fees better than a player ; no man will prefer the opinion of another, about him- felf, to his own. Some men have a reafonable under- ftanding, and a ridiculous character. Fabric i us is of a very uncommon cafi, I hardly know fo ftrong an inftance of the contrariety between the underftanding and character as in him -, he is perhaps, the moft fenfible, the moft droll, and the moft foolim man you ever met with. Hark ! what a roar of laughter ! Oh ! it is a ring Fabricius has got round him , he is certainly entertaining his company with, the moft facetious, and the moft abfurd fto- ries you can conceive. Shall we get up upon the table to fee over the heads of thofe that furround him what he is doing ? « — fee how he geniculates ! how he mi- Inics the drawling affectation of the lady he is talking about ! what, fure he is not 1 8° ] fiot dancing ! yes, that decent bro\?n coaf, waiftcoat, breeches, ftockings, and fquari toed fhoes ; that decent figure, that long black bob, is dancing like an antic ! r.ni now again he is recounting. Were it pof- fible for you to get through the crowd and liften to him, you would find that Fabri- cius is mafler of the keennefl difcernment, the moft judicious difcrimination you can conceive ; he will extract, nay take care he don't from you, he will extract every grain of ridicule out of a chai-acter, as a loadftone the particles of fteel from thofe of fand that are mixed with them : he wiH hold them up to the light, and expofe thefe abfurdities, even though with them he expofes his own : nothing efcapes him, nay in thefe comic defcriptions he will often mix the moft ingenious obfervations, and the jufteft reafonings, and you are for a moment fufpended between the admira- tion of his Wit and his underftanding; but as foon as the torrent of his humour breaks in upon you, every ferious confider- ation is hurried away before it, and you think of nothing, you defire nothing but thofe extatic breaks of laughter which he extorts [ 8i ] extorts from you : afk not for any relation of what he fays, he alone can give it you ; he is a living farce, a puppet fhew, and we all fupply the fcenes, the incidents, and the fable of it. Thus he ufes the charac- ters of others -, what is his own ? humo- rous you fee, and, if the character of an- other, would be the beft fubject of hu- mour to him. Fabricius porTeffes four thoufand pounds per annum, but were you to judge of his rank in the world, either by his own appearance, or by that of the people he is connected with, you would perhaps fuppofe he had as many hundreds out of which he faved about half. He keeps no houfe, no equipage, no fer- vants, no company ; you would take him for a mechanick : no dignity in his appear- ance, no carriage, no addrefs ; yet he is perfectly free, and will converfe with you, I mean to you as long as you will hear him. What are the fubjefts of his difcourfe ? m~n, and women: — if you would fee the comic fide of the world he is your man : he carries conftantly in his mind a kind of human raree-fhow, which he will exhibit gratis, without lofs of time, to any perfon G who [ 82 ] who cares, or does not care, to fee it ; and this from morrow to morrow as long as op- portunity ferves. Then you may depend upon the exiftence of the originals he gives you fuch original copies of. They are all his own, or your intimates and friends ; if you have not difcovered their latent charac- terises he will fhew them. My friends and intimates ! will he ridicule i?iy friends and intimates to me ? is that confident with propriety and decorum ? nay, I only faid it was droll ; and the od- dity and impropriety of it certainly makes it droll in a higher degree. Not a little Mifs but flares with aftonimment at the choice of his fubjecls, and if he paints them they paint him, as well as they can. Fabri- cius is a man of tail:© too, and a man of letters ; the polite arts, and the unpclite profeffors of them are his by particular con- nection, but his excellence is in the out of the way arts; he chiefly delights in the ufelefs and negle&ed ftudies ; he will fet his mind on fomething that you and I and others, would chufe to forget, and make a voyage to Aleppo to get to the bottom of it. When he is ferious he will talk to you and 3 [ 83 ] and reafo'n on thefe fubjefts extreamly well, and you will at leaft allow, that if he is in an error it is fed not by wild fancy but by reafon and fenfe : Fabricius almoft tempts one fometimes to think that fenfe had loft her way, and was fallen into the hands of a fool. He has great talents in horfeman- fhip too, and nothing can be more comic than his exercifing thofe talents ; his ideas are fo much elevated above the brute creation that he does not know one horfe from another, and he is very apt. But what end of defcribing Fabricius ! what pity is it, oh Fabricius ! that no power of nature, or necromancy could at once transform thee into another, and leave thee thyfelf ! what an account wouldft thou give of thy- felf! It is the underflanding that talks, and the character that adts; nay, that per- fuades. Men lay down pofitions that are indis- putable, and not only their antagonifls de- viate from them, but they themfelves, when- ever it ferves their purpofe. G 2 The [ 8+] The thing which of all others in the world we have moft warning of is what we are moft deceived in, falfe re- ports. They who liften to themfelves, are not liftened to by others. Despair is the {hocking eafe to the mind, that mortification is to the flefh. A little reftraint will often put the man of fenfe and the fool upon the fame footing. It is in general much lefs neceflary for you to fix well, than to fix. It is by fome aclicns in life as by fome. little tricks of dexterity which are played in company among friends; they are {hewn us, and we plainly fee how fimple and eafy they are, yet when we try, we find ourfelves unable to put them in practice. There fometimes wants only a ftroke of fortune to difcover numberlefs latent good or bad qualities w T hich would other- wife have been eternally concealed; as words written with a certain liquor appear only when applied to the fire. Sense [ 85 ] Sense fhould prompt us to talk, but we fhould not prompt fenfe ; or, to be more explicit, you fhould never be clever but when you cannot help it. If you are to judge of a watch which you find does not go well, you will certainly examine whether the movement is hinder'd by any accidental obftruftion before you condemn it as a bad piece of work; and fhould not the fame rule be obferved where it feems to be often neglected ? I mean in our judgments of men. Lovers generally find the moft noble and amiable qualities in their miftreffes, and will tell you that thofe qualities are the occafion of their paffion, but in reality the paffion is generally the occafion of thofe qualities. One great fatisfadion muft be wanting to thofe who have been blefled with uninterrupted happinefs, the confcioufnefs of that happinefs aflfing from a reflexion upon it. Things do not always flrike in pro- portion as they are obvious -, on the contrary, G i fome [ 86] fome do not ftrike at all becaufe they are obvious in the higheft degree • has truth then ics effect upon the mind, lefs as truth than as novelty ? The improper behaviour to fome men, is the being civil to them, and what they will return accordingly, I have heard it vulgarly faid, that if a thing was good we fhould receive it tho' it came from the devil -, this puts me in mind of the various motives for content- ment among men. When we are very young, we admire and envy the perfon of one man, the riches of another, the parts of another, the houfe, the gardens, the horfes, of another, the bodily accomplishments, the what not, the beauties and advantages which refult from art, or nature, or fortune, wherever we find them -, and we fail not to fuppofe that the poffeffor of them enjoys the hap- pinefs that we imagine they would give to us : how plcafing is fuch a man in his per- fon or accomplifhments, and what advan- tages mull he have over fuch another, who is [ 8 7 ] is fo much his inferior in every thing ! but v/e then little confider what it is that the enjoyment of thefe advantages muft arife from ; we do not reflect how much of it depends upon others, upon their fenti- ments, opinion, and behaviour; nor how much depends upon the mind and difpofi- tion of the pofi^fTor, himfelf. When we are grown older, and various difappoint- ments of what we have thought our mod reafonable expectations have made us wifer, we admire, or we may do fo at leafr, the curious difpenfation of the benefits of this world, which fo often makes up a real deficiency by an imaginary advantage. A man is neither pleafing in his perfon or character, he fancies himfelf fo in both, and the illufions of his vanity produce real happinefs, for they do not fuller him to fee that the opinion of the world is different from his own. Another, who has neither tafte n6r difcernment, admires a woman with falfe beauty and an affected under- ftanding, he admires her offspring who are equally deficient, and he admires himfelf in both, with fuch a confident fondnefs, that it would be imporlibie for truth herfejf to G 4 fhevv [ 88 1 fhew him his mistake. If the world fwarms with imperfections, it fwarms alfo with minds that can enjoy them - y and to fuch minds fuperior difccrnment will be no more miffed or defired than fight by a man born blind : but as it muft be granted that thofe v/ho fee, have a natural capacity for happi- nefs which the blind have not ; fo it is true that when natural advantages are pofTefTed with a fuitable temper and difpofition, and in fuch circumftances as give them a proper effect upon others, they not only produce a proportionate fenfation of happinefs to the poiieffor, but alfo eciipfe thofe that derive their happlr.efs from mere imaginary per- fection, who will themfelves, by a necef- fary impriie, feel their own inferiority. But alas ! when do thefe various requisites for happinefs meet ? the philofopher may draw fpecious conclufions, and indulge the mod delicious hopes with refpecl to futu- rity, but little muft he expect to find their concurrence here ; never muft he conclude that in this world fuperiority is happi- nefs. You [ 89 ] You are a maried man, I think, Mr. a, a, a, what d'ye callum ? O yes, Sir, this is my fourth wife. Good God, have you had four wives ! why you are but a young man. True, Sir, but I love the ftate; I was married, Sir, before I was twenty, and one wife has died one way, and another another, and in fhort, if this wife was to die, poor woman! I mould certainly take another: O yes, I love the (late extreamly; no happinefs in my opinion but in the married ftate. It is theSta^then, Mr. what dye call it, the State itself that pleafes you? you don't love your wife ? not love my wife ! God forbid! not love my wife! blefs me, can any body charge me with following ether women ? not love my own wife ! but I thought you faid you would imme- diately marry again if me was to die? well, Sir — and is there any fin in that ? you would not, I fuppofe, have me live with her after fhe was dead! No certainly, but yet methinks the forgetting one's wife fo foon and taking another is but an odd confequence of hav- ing loved her extremely. Why is it not enough then, Sir, to love a woman as long as fhe lives ? — I lov'd all my wives, for my part, [ 90 ] part, poor women, as long as they lived, and fo I fhould twenty more if I was to have them; I think it one's duty, for my part, to love one's wife, and though I did not love e'er a one of them before I married them, I loved them all as foon as they became my wives: I know my duty, Sir — I love a fober regular life, for my part, and a wife is a wife I think; and a very good thing it is : i know for my part, I will never be without one ; and, pleafe God, I hope I fhall always make a good hufband. Well, thefe are charming principles ! now I confefs myfelf fo un- worthy, that if any thing could have de- ftroyed the affection I have for my wife it would have been her becoming fo. I loved her extremely before I married her, and my delicacy was rather wounded at even that imaginary conftraint which mar- riage might be fuppofed to put upon her mind by making it a duty to love me: liberty, free, fpontaneous and mutual tender- nefs are very endearing, and afford an elevated and delicate fenfation which is almoft incompatible even with an ideal conftraint. I beg pardon, Sir, I believe i [9* ] I did not hear you very well, I did not rightly underftand you; but in truth I got a fad ear-ach and cold at our laft affizes, and I have never been rightly fenfible fince: I am grown quite dull of hearing-, I crave pardon, Sir. — Why no, Mr. a, a, a, I don't know, — I did not fpeak very plainly, — I don't know why I muttered fo, not I, — - I talked to myielf, I think, — good night, good Sir .-pray my compliments to your fpoufe. Riches beget riches, poverty poverty; melancholy reflection! * ci A bird in the hand is worth two cc in the buffi," is a proverb that may have a very good moral. But I believe that if we could inculcate a quite contrary doctrine it would be of much more general utility: it is methinks what is not in hand that feems to require our principal attention. The facrince of the prefent to the future, if a fault, feems too rare to require a particular caution, and to be like fome unnatural crimes, in no danger of becoming epi- demical, When [92 ] When I reflect upon the greatnefs of Casfar's foul which could prompt him to contract a debt fuperior to his whole for- tune many times told, from a view of ad- vantage, which, however great in the eye of his ambition, was yet diftant and preca- rious : when I reflect upon his amazing ne- glect of a prefent advantage in favour of a much greater that was diftant, by giving his vote and intereft for Pompey againft him- felf, I am overwhelmed with aftonifhment and veneration. When I reflect on the numbers I know, who in nurnberlefs in- ftances think and adt from motives arifing from the prefent moment, from mere cuf- tom, prejudice, or pride, not only in evi- dent oppofition to reafon and conviction, but even to intereft ; when I reflect upon thefe inftances of abfurdity and narrownefs of foul, I am not lefs aftonifhed, but my aftonifhment is mingled with indignation and contempt, and I not only join with hiftorians in acknowledging fuch a foul as Caefar's moft uncommon, but add alfo, that the fouis of thefe others are very com- mon. i Men [ 93 ] Men much more frequently think and aft from motives arifing fromprefent circum- ftances than from future ; though the for- mer are not fufficient to juftify their con- duct and ihe latter are. Politeness is faid to be the fcience of civility, yet perfons are perhaps more fre- quently unpolite from too much civility than from too little. Latitude of thought and vice as con- tradlednefs and virtue, are, it muft be con- fefled, placed extreamly near to each other, yet eternally feparated. Two men are equally free from the rage of ambition ; are they therefore equal in merit? perhaps not, one may be above ambition, the other bejpw it. There is methinks a certain refleclive caft and impartiality in Fontenelle's writ- ings which are found in few others: there is an obfervation in his plurality of worlds which lies out of the road of a common mind, and I think however whimfical, it is particularly pleafing. " Such are the " motions of the earth and the moon, fays Fon- [94] Fontinelle, tc that only one fide of the cc moon can ever be turned towards the " earth: to that fide the earth is a mooil cc forty times bigger than the moon is to the " earth, but the other fide has no moon