.^MINIVERS'/A L S(TJ/L< s DJ- 3 *i %V^/Ng 5' r "^-'i 2?^r~^ 10^ ^m\w-^ Vftimm^ ifammw* % t ^EBN, % ^*n^ 1 1 ^LIBRARYtfA u? 1 l< " ^ i I ^OJITVD-JO^ ^OdlTVD-JO : ^OF-CAIIFO/?^ ^OF-CALIFO/?^ o 25 i I I ,^ "%. r^i 4-L- > =: != us Remarks on it. 21 ^ CXX XVIII. On the Moral, Political, and Religious Ef. feds of Printing, vjith Concluding Re- marks 2 20 - CXXXIX. Curfory Thoughts on Satire and Satirifts. 227 C X L. On Logic and Mctaphyfics. 23 I CXLI. On Latin Ferfe as an \ercife at Schools. 23; CXL1JU CONTENTS. No. Page CXLII. On the Infe njibility of the Men to the Charms cf a Female Mind, cultivated with Polite and Solid Literature. [In a Letter .] 239 _^ CXLTII. On Parental Indulgence. 243 (TjiCXLlV. On tie Poems attributed to Rowley. 247 CXLV. On the Moral Tendency of the Writings cf St'-rne, 251 CXLVI. On the Weight and Efficacy which Morality may derive from the Influence and Example of thofe who are called the Great. 255 C XL VII. On the Profligacy and confequent Mifery cf the Lower Clares, and on the Means of Prevention. 259 ( CXLVIII. On feme Pa/ages in Ariftotle'j Rhetoric, with Mijcellaneous Remarks on his Style, Genius, and Works. . 64 CXLIX. On the Beauty and Happinefs of an open Behaviour and an ingenuous Difpojjtion. 267 . CL. 4 Remedy for D if content. 271 CLI. On the Utility of Religious Ceremonies, and of admitting Mu/ic and external Magnifi- cence in places of Devotion. 274 CLII On the prejent State of Parliamentary Elo- quence. 27 7 CLIII. A Lije of Letters ufually a Life of compara- tive Innocence. 282 CLIV. On the Advantage which may be derived to the Tender and Pathetic Style, frum it/ing the Words and Phrajes of Scripture. 286 CLV. On the Figure Parrbefia, or on cxprejjing one^s Sentiment' 1 s freely. 289 CLVI. On Reading merely -with a Vievj to dmufe- ment. 292 CLVII. On a Method cf Study, written by Joachim us Fortius Ringelbergius. 295 CLVIII. On the Folly offacriftcing Comfort to Tafle. : 9 8 CLIX. On the Example of Henry V. and the Lad Effefis of an Opinion that a profligate Youth is likely to terminate in a wife Manhood. 303 CONTENTS. No. . CLX. A Good He art necej/ary to enjoy the Beauties of Nature. 308 CLXI. On the peculiar Bafenefs of Vice in Nobility. 311 CLXII. On Ajfeftation of Extreme Delicacy and Sen- fibility. 314 CLXIII. On True Patience, as diftinguijbed from In- fenfebility. 318 CLXIV. Curfory Remarks en the Eloquence of the Pulpit. [ In a Letter. ] 321 CLXV. On the fuperior Value of Solid Accomplijb- ments. A Dialogue between Cicero and IWChefterfield. 327 CLXVI. Conjetlures on the Difference between Orien- tal and Septentrional Poetry. 3 30 C} CLX VII. Curfory Remarks on the Poetry of the Pro- phets, o^Ifaiah in particular, and on the Beauties of Biblical Poetry in general. 333 CLXVIII. On Preaching and Sermon Writers. 338 Q CLXIX. On the Neglefl of Antient Authors. [In a Letter.] 345 ) CLXX. On the Retirement of a Country Town, [la a Letter.] 343 } CLX XI. Curfory Thoughts on Epiftolary Writers. 351 CLXX II. On the Necejfity of Excreife, Amufement, and an Attention to Health in a Life of Study. [In a Letter.] 357 CLXXIII. On the Merits of Cowley as a Poet. 362 CLXX1V. Curfory and General Hints on the Choice of Books. 366 CLXXV. Curfory Remarks on the Odjjfey, on Pope'/ Tranjlation, Mr. Spence'j Eflay, &c. 371 CLXX VI. Thoughts on the Oedipus Tyrannus of bo- phocles, and federal Circumftances re- Jpefling the Grecian Drama. 373 CLXXVI1. Curfory Remarks on fame of the Minor Eng- lifh Poets. 376 CLXXVIIJ. Curfery and unconnected Remarks on feme of the Minor Greek Poets. 380 3 CLXXIX. A Concluding E/ay. 388 ESSAYS, MORAL, &c. No. LXXXII. ON THE MEANS OF READING WITH THE MOST ADVANTAGE. T is certain, that there are many ftudents who im- pair their health in a continual courfe of" reading and literary labour, without any adequate returns of p-eafure or improvement. They read, indeed, becaufe they coniiuer it as a duty, or becaufe they arc endea- vouring to accomplifh themfelves for the praciice of a profeffion ; but they are ready to confefs, that the whole; tenour of their ttudies. is one continued toil, and thac MO "pleafure they derive from them is by no means a reco.-n- pence for exhaufted fpirits and habitual melancholy. With a view to relieve ftudents of this defcription, who are ufually '- irtu'ous and amiable, I will endeavour to fuggcil a few hints, which may poflibly contribute to render their reading more agreeable and advantageous. But I wilh to premife, that in what I now lay, ami in whatever I h we faid, in the ityle of direcYion ai.u uivke, I mean only to offer, not to obtrude ; to fubmit, and not to dictate. In order to receive the proper advantage from r-ad- ing, it muft be rendered a pleafmg employment. II i- man nature is fo conftituted, that no practice will be con- tinued long and regmarly, which is not attend fome degree of pleafuie. We enter upon a ituj. is irklbme and difguftful with reluclauce, we ausnj ,-> VOL. II. B 2 ESSAYS, No. 82. it fuperficially, and we relinquim it without reflecting upon it in a degree fufficient for the purpofe of improve- ment. Inltead of thinking of it uniformly and fteadily, we drive it from our minds as the caufe of uneafmefs. But the heart and affe,-'ions, the imagination and the memory, co operate with the underftanding, in deriving all poffible advantage from the ftudy which we love. The firft and moft important object is, therefore, to form a ftrong attachment to thofe parts of fcience, or to thofe books, which our judgment directs us to ftudy. There are various methods conuucive to this end ; but, perhaps, none are more effectual, than that of con- verfing with men of fenfe and genius on the books and the fubject which we purpofe to examine. There is a warmth and fpirit in ccnverfation, which renders fubjc-cts, which might orherwife appear cold and life- leis, interelling and animated. When the company is departed, and the converfation at an end, we are na- turally inclined to fee what has been faid in books on the fubjedts difcufled ; and the light let in by the pre- ceding converfation is an excellent introduction and guide to our fubfequent enquiries made in folitude. As foon as we have obtained, by reading, a compe- tent knowledge of a book or particular fubject, it will contribute greatly to animate us in proceeding (till fur- ther, if we talk of it either with our equals in attain- ments, or with the learned and experienced. In fuch converfation we venture to advance an opinion ; our felf- love renders us felicitous to maintain it, we fn-k the aid of a book as an auxiliary, we therefore read it with eager attention ; and I believe it will be difficult to avoid loving that which we attend to frequently and with eagernefs ; fo that, in this manner, an attachment to books and literary employments is gradually formed, and what began in labour or nectflity becomes the choice, and continues a moft agreeable pleafure. Indeed, if we can once fix our attention very clofely on a good book, nothing more will be necefTary to jT>;lce us love it: As in nature, when two fubftances apj roach each other very nearly, the attraction of co- hef.on faftens them together ; fo when the mind at- taci.es itfelf clofely to any fubject whatever, it becomes, as No. 8*. MORAL, &c. 5 as it were, united to it, and gravitates towards it with a fpontaneous velocity. There is, indeed, no ftudy fo dry, but by fixing our attention upon it, we may at laft find it capable of affording great delight. Metaphyfics and mathematics, even in their abltr-fed parts, are known to give the attentive ftudent a vi-ry exalted fatisfadlion. Thofe parts then of human learn- ing, which in their nature are more entertaining, can. not fail of being beloved in a high degree, when the mind is clofely and conftantly applied to them. In order to acquire the power and habit of fixing the attention, it will at firll be neceffary to fummon a very ; to in- teimix the moderns with the ancients ; alternately to lay down the book and to take up the pen ; and fome- times No. 82. M ORAL, &c. 5 times to lay them both down, and en'er vv'th alacrity into agreeable company and public div.'-rlions i he : . .liter a little cefTatinn, returns to books with all th voracious c.^^'neis of a literary lumber hut the iiv.i i nuiiions mult not be long, or frequent enough to iorm a habit of idlenefs or diffipatlon. Ht- who would r.-ad with pleafure (and I repeat, th,t all who read with real" profit muft read with plea- fur-), will atte'nd to the times of the day, and the feaions of the year. The morning has been-univerfally ap- Kuved as the beft time for itudy ; the afternoon may be mon. ridvantageoufly fpent in improving converfation. Thoie laities, which before dinner are capable of en- gaging in xj, e acuteit and fublimeft dilutions, are found, by ger ra i experience, to be comparatively dull and ftupid after l know not how h h> ,, ^ & celebrated writer, " ^ , my p hiI fophy, in which I was fo warmly enga : , , in the morningf a " like nonienfe as foon as 1 ha,^ Jincj " Very hot weather is particula^ un f avoura ble to reading. I he months of July, Auguit, j September, are by no means the leafons in which the ;_,,,. Q f ^ mind arrive at maturity. A rigid philofopher .,-.j _ hnps maintain, that the mental faculties are rot ^ ^g air.xted by the viciffitudes of cold and heat ; but wu. will lilten to philofophy, who is already convinced by aclual experience ? It is indeed remarkable, that thefe months are felefted for vacation in the houfes of legif- lata:e, in the courts of law, and in the feats of learn- ing. In cold and inclement weather, when we are driven to the fire-fide for comfort, we find that delight in our books, which, in the vernal and autumnal fea- fon, we feek in the funfhine. and in the Uveets of rural fcenery. We no longer roam abroad, we collect our Scattered ideas, and find, in the excrcife of rt;r facul- ties, th.it delight, which is the c,;,iVquence ami of exerting, in a proper method, the natuial ener^izs of the divine particle which breathes within us. But at all hours, and in all k-afons, if we can re- flrain the licentious rovings of the fancy, footh the pr.flions of the heart, and command our attention, fo as to concentre it on the fubjefl we examine, we fhall B 3 be 6 ESSAYS, No. &j. t>e fure to find it amply rewarded. Attend clofely, and clofe attention to any worthy fubje& will always produce folid fatisfaclion But particularly in reading, it may be depended upon as an approved truth, that the degree of profit, as well as pleafure derived from it, will ever fee proportioned to the degree of attention. No. LXXXIII. ON THE PROPRIETY OF ADORNING LIFE, AND SERVING SOCIETY^ KY LAUDABLE EXERTION. IN an age of opulence and luxury, w^n the native powers of the mind are weakened *Y vice > and , ha - bits of indolence are fuperindur^ by umverfal indul- gence, the moralift can fel^ f to fce examples of that unwearied perf< rance > * lhat generous exer- tion, which has f netimes^ appeared in the world, and has been r-'^d heroic virtue. Indeed, it muit be allowed tl-' t ' n ^ ie ear ty periods of fociely there is greater V- ca fi n * as we ^ as greater fcope, for this ex- ^i^^.pecies of public fpirit, than when ail its real wants ,'v- fupplied, and all its fecurities eftablifhed. Under thefe difadvantages there is, indeed, little op- portunity for that uncommon heroifm, which leads ati individual to defert his fphere, and to a6l in contra- diction to the maxims of perfonal intereft and fafety, with a view to reform the manners, or to promote the honour and advantage of the community. Patriotifm, as it was underftood and praftifed by a Brutus, a Cur- tius, a Scasvola, or a Socrates, appears in modern times fo eccentric a virtue, and fo abhorrent from the diftates of common fenfe, that he who fhould imitate it would draw upon himfelf the ridicule of mankind, and would incur the danger of being ftigmatized as a madman. Moral and political knight-errantry would now appear in fcarcely a lefs ludicrous light than the ex- travagancies of chivalry. But to do good in an effectual and extenflve manner \vithin the limits of profeffional influence, and by per- forming No. 83. MORA L, Sec. ^ forming the bufinefs of a ftation, whatever it may be, not only with regular fidelity, but with warm and ac- tive diligence, is in the power, as it is the duty, of every individual who poffeffes the ufe of his faculties. It is furely an unfatisfadlory idea, to live and die with- out purfuing any other purpofe than the low one of per- fonal gratification. A thoufand pleafures and advantages we have received from the difmtereiled efforts of thofe who have gone before us, and it is incumbent on every generation to do fomething not only for the benefit of contemporaries, but of thole alfo who are to follow. To be born, as Horace fays, merely to con fume the frui s of the earth ; to live, as Juvenal obferves of fome of his countrymen, with no other purpofe than to gratify the palate, though they may in reality be the fole ends of many, are yet too inglorious and difgraceful to be avowed by the bafeft and meaneft of mankind. There is however little doubt, but that many, whofe lives have glided away in an ufelefs tenor, would have been glad of opportunities, if they could have difcover- ed them, for laudable exertion. It is certainly true, that to qualify for political, military, literary, and patriotic efforts, peculiar preparations, accomplifbments, occa- fions, and fortuitous contingencies are neceflary. Civil wiidom without civil employment, valour without an, enemy, learning without opportunities for its difplay, the love of our country without power, muft terminate in abortive vvimes, in defigns unfupported by execution. They who form great fchemes, and perform great ex- ploits, muft of neceffity be few. But the exertions which benevolence points out, are extended to a great com- pafs, are infinitely varied in kind and degree, and con- fequcntiy adapted, in fome mode or other, to the ability of every individual. To the diitinguifhed honour of our times and of our country, it muit be afTerted, that there is no fpecies of diltrefs which is not relieved ; no laudable ir.ititution which is not encouraged with an emulative ardour of liberality. No fooner is a proper objedl of beneficence preiented to the public view, than fubfcriptions are railed by all ranks, who crowd with impatience to the contribution. Not o"nly the infirmities of age and fick- B 4 nei's 8 ESSAYS, - No. 83. iiefs nre footlicd. by the beft concerted eftablimments, and the lo{s/uil?.ined by the calamities of a conflagra- tion repaired ; but our enemies, when reduced to a ftate of captivity, are furnifhed with every comfort which their condition can admit, and all the malignity of pnrty hatred mehs into kindnefs under the operation of charity. From the accumulated efforts of a community of philanthropies, fuch as our nation may be called, a fum of ood is produced, far greater than any re- corded of ihe heroes of antiquity, from Bacchus down to Cccfar. ft has been faid, that the ages of extraordinary bounty are pafled. No colleges are founded in the pre- ient times, it is true; yet not becaufe there is no pub- lic fpirit remaining, but becaufe there is already a fuf- iicient number raifed by the pious hands of our fore- fathers, to anfwer all the purpoft-s of academical im- provement. When a want is fupplied, it is not par- fjmony, but prudence, which withholds additional mu- r.incence. The infirmaries difFufed over every part of the kingdom, are moil honourable teftimonies of that . is to cover a multitude of fins. And there is CM.- ii,.b-,.:ce of beneficence uncommon both in its d:-. gree ai,d circumfhmces, which, though done without a tiew to human praife, .muft not lofe even the fubordi-" nnte reward of human virtue. He who lately devoted,, during his life, a noble fortune to the relief of the blind, will be placed bigber'in the eileem of polterity, than the numerous train of pofthumous benefadors, who gave what they could no longer retain, and forne- times from motives reprefented by the cenforious as little laudable. While angels record the name of He- therington in the bock of life, let men infcribe it in the rolls of fame. The motive of praife, though by no mean 5 the befr, is a generous and a powerful motive of commendable conduct. He would do an injury to mankind who fhould flifie the love of fame. It has burnt with ftrong and lieady heat in the bofoms of the moft ingenuous. Jt has infpired enthiifiafm in the caufe of all rhat is good and great. Where patience muft have failed, and perfeveran.ee been wearied', it 4ias urged through troubles No. 83. MORAL, &c. 9 troubles deemed intolerable, and ftimulated through difficulties dreaded as infurmountable. Pain, penury, danger, and death, have been incurred with alacrity in the fervice of mankind, with the expectation of no other recompence than an honourable dillin&ion. And let not the frigidity of philofophical rigour damp this noble ardour, whi<;h raifes deljghtful fenfations in the heart that harbour- it, and gives rife to all that is fub- Hme in life and in the arts. When we are fo far re- fined and fubdued as to ad merely from the flow fug- geftions of the reafoning faculty, we lha!l indeed fel- dom be involved in error ; but we fhall as feldom atchieve any glorious enterprife, or fnatch a virtue be- yond the reach of prudence. The fpirit of adventure in literary undertakings, as well as in politics, commerce, and war, muft not be difcouraged. If it produces that which is worth little notice, ncgleft is eafy. There is a great probability, however, that it will often exhibit fomething condu- cive to pleafure and improvement. But when every new attempt is checked by fr verity, or neglected with- out e-aminction, learning Magnates, and the mind is deprefled, till its produilions fo far degenerate as to julHfy difregard. Tafle and literature are never long Itationary. When they ceaie to advance, they become retrograde. Every liberal attempt to give a liberal entertainment is entitled to a kind excufe, though its execution fliould not have a claim to praife. For the fake of encoura- ging fubfequent endeavour?, lenitv fhould be difplayed where there is no appearance of incorrigible ftupidity, cf a/Turning ignorance, and of empty felf-conceit. Se- verity chills the opening powers, as the froft nips the bud that would elfe have been a bloflbm. It is blame- able morofenefs to cenfure thofe who fincerely mean to pleafe, and fail only from caufes not in their own difpofal. The praife, however, of well-meaning has ufually been allowed with a facility of conceffon, which leads to fufpecl that it was thought of little value. It has alfo been received with apparent mortification. This v B 5 furely 10 ESSAYS, No. 84, furely is the refultof a perverted judgment ; for inten- tion is in the power of every man, though no man can command ability. No. LX.XXIV. ON PHILOSOPHICAL CRITI- CISM, AND ON THE LITTLE ASSISTANCE IT GIVES TO GENIUS. A RISTOTLE was the firft of thofe writers who J~\ endeavoured to render talte fubjeft to philofophy. His poetics are almoft the only parts of his works which continue to be efteemed with a degree of implicit ve- neration. Mutilated and imperfecl. as they have come down to us, they yet contain many fentences pregnant with matter, and which lead the mind into the moil curious theory. Yet it is certain, that they never yet formed a fingle poet, nor ailiftcd him in any other refpecl than in the mechanical contrivance of a plan ; a defedl in which is eafily forgiven, when it is fupplied by the native charms of real genius. Of this our Shakefpeare is a proof, who, with all his ignorance of critical refinement, wrote in fuch a manner, as not only to be preferred by thofe who idolife him through prejudice, but by the moft impartial readers, to ^Ef- chylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Though the old fcholaftic metaphyfics were fcarcely evermore exploded than in the prefent times, yet there is a tafle for metaphyiical criticifm particularly preva- lent among our thoughtful neighbours in North Bri- tain The author of the Elements of Criticifm has penetrated deeply to difcern the caule of thofe emo- tions, which literary compofitions are found to pro- duce. He has difplayed great tafte, great elegance, great reading, and a fubtilty of enquiry, which muft have refulted from unwearied labour, and from a An- gular (hare of natural fagacity. But I believe no reader ever found himfelf better able to compofe, after hav- ing peiufed his volumes, than before he f*vv them. Nor No. 84. MORAL, &c. it Nor is it faid, that their author, with all his theoreti- cal knowledge of poetry, is himfelf a poet or an orator. This is not advanced to detract from his' merit ; for it is true of Ariilotle, and of all thofe writers, who, with a genius for logic and metaphyfics, have entered on the provinces of tafte and criticifm. Dr. Campbell's Philofophy of Rhetoric is a book of uncommon merit ; it is read with great pleafure and improvement j yet it will be readily owned, that it tends little to form the orator. The author of the Origin and Progrefs of Language has difplayed, as Harris fays, " many ju- " dicious and curio as remarks on ftyle, competition, " language, particularly the Englifti ; obfervations of " the lad confequenwe to thofe who wrlh either to write " or judge with accuracy and elegance. " This is cer- tainly true; and yet man hav ritten, and many will write, with accuracy and elegance, without even hear- ing of this excellent uvaiife. Moft of the books which the world has agreed to ad- mire, were compofed previoufly to the appearance of fyftematicai and abftrufc: theories of critic' fm, or by authors who, it is well known, j. :;id them no attention-. Homer, who is (till the bed heathen author in the world, had neither archetype nor inftrudlor. Haad all that critical inge- nuity has advanced on pailoral poetry. The Orations of Demofthenes, however elaborate, were not formed on the models of profeffed rhetoricians. No B.-ffu had written when Virgil produced his magnificent work. No treaafes on the fublime and oeautifu! had appeared, when Milton poured his majeftic fong. Nature, glow- ing nature, fuggefted the exquifitely fine ideas as they flowed, and left laborious criticifm to weary herfelf in forming rules and 1\ fteins from the unitudied efforts of her happier temerity. B 6 Zt 12 ESSAYS, No. 84. It muft not, however, be immediately concluded, that thefe books, v\hich difplay great ingenuity, are ufelefs, and the refult of ill-employed time and tak-nts. They conftitute a mod elegant fpecies of philofophy. They lead to a knowledge of ;he human heart, and the operation of the pafiions. They require genius of a peculiar kind, the fubtile and penetrating, and they pleafe readers who are pofieiTed of a correfponding tafte. The point which 1 mean to evince is, that the lover of poetry, of oratory, of all the objects of claf- fical talte, who intencis to exercife himfelf in the com- pcfition of them, will find himfelf miitaken in his plan of ftudy, if he reads fuch writers as a preparatory dif- cipline. Original authors muft at firft engrofs his atten- tion ; and from thefe, if he is pofiefled of abilities, he will infenfibly catch a portion of fire, with which he will invigorate his own compofitions ; and in confequence of which he will be read with pleafure, though he ihould not have fludied one metaphyfical critic, from Ariilotle to his modern rival, Harris of Sali/bury. To learn in what this noble difHnclion of genius con- fjfb, has been the fubjeft of much enquiry. Little fuc- cefs has hitherto attended it ; for the mind, as it has been often faid, like the eye, though it calls up all rarojre to its view, cannot procure a fight of itfelf. With great probability, it has been fuppofed, that genius is an extraordinary power of attention; a ca- pacity in the mind of attaching itfelf clofely and itror.gly at a glance, to every object that folicits its regard ; of taking in the whole of it in all its diftant relations, dependencies, modifications, origin, and confequertces. But if we allow an extraordinary power of attention to be genius, which perhaps cannot be al- lowed, the queflion recurs, by what means this atten- tion is caufed and fecured ? Thus far the name is only charged, and the fubjeft ftill involved in its original difficulty." It is too obvioufly true to be controverted, that there is an efiential difference in the organization of different i, en ; not merely in the external form, but in the in- itnor ftru&ure of the inviiibJe fprings, which regulate all No. 84. MORAL, &c. i all the animal tendencies and motions. It is highly pro- bable, that a delicate fyftem of nerves, or a firmer con- texture of them, is better able to obferve the external world with unerring accuracy, than a more callous or a more relaxed aftemblage of thefe inftruments of fenfa- tion. Tins favourable predifpcfition of the organs, fol- lowed by peculiar opportunities for collecting ideas, and by inducements to impart them to the world, may per- haps conllitute what we call literary genius. There is indeed little doubt, but that fome kind of ge- nius, or, in other words, fome peculiar ability to receive a certain train of ideas neceflary to the pra.'.ice of feme art, or to the purfuit of fome profeflion, is pofleffed by every individual not in a ftate of idiotifm. Nature, a kind parent to all-herchildren, has ufually endowed them all with a power of exerting themfelves, in fome way or other, with fkill and advantage. The misfortune has been, that the indications of nature are not always fuffi- ciently manifcit to the conductors of education. Thede- ftination is often neceflariiy fixed, before the faculties are arrived at fuflicient ftrength to point out their propenfity. Univerfal genius is indeed (paringly, perhaps never, bellowed. For the prefervaiion of impartiality, where nature has allowed an excellence in any remarkable de- gree, fhe has often permitted a defed to counterbalance it. Yet in the literary annals of almoil every nation, we find many diftinguifhed by intellectual endowments above the ordinary condition of humanity. It is a noble privi- lege to excel men in the very perfection by which they furpafs the irrational animals, and is doubtlefs permitted by Providence, in a few individuals, for the happinefs of mankind. Let it be confidered, as an inftance of the advantage which mankind derives from fingular genius, what a train of light has been diffufed far and wide on thoufands and tens of thoufands, for the fpace of near twenty hundred years, from the illumined undemanding of the individual Cicero. Or, to take an example from, our own polifhed age and country, let a conjecture be formed of the number of thoie who have been led to every thing good and great by an Addilon. The world, hov.ever, has feldom been grateful to its benefactors. It has neglected, baniftied, poifoned, and crucified 14 ESSAYS, No. 85. crucified them. But there was an inward fatisfa&ion in confcious rectitude, a generous fpirit in heroic virtue, which bore them through every thing with comfort, and their merit increafed and triumphed in adverfity. They who have been pofiefled of fubordinate degrees of genius, have in later times been induced to affect a Angularity of fentiment and practice, in order to draw upon themfelves the eyes of mankind. In purfuic of this end, they have adopted vices and principles which their hearts and underftanding muft have condemned. Eccentricity has been the object of their wifhes. Ruin and difgrace h;ive been the ufual confequences, and the admiration of others has at laft been extinguimed in com- paffion. Poor man ! it has been often exclaimed, he was indeed clever, but he wanted conduct, and he unfortu- nately died in a gaol. If moral could be combined with mental excellence; if the native vigour of genius could fubmit to be guided and retrained by the decifions of well-conducted art; then might be fupplied, what none will venture to ex- pect, the two grand defiderata in morals and literature, a perfect man and a perfect work. But before perfection can be reafonably expected in any thing which belongs to man, this mortal muft put on immortality, and this corruptible, incorruption. No. LXXXV. ON THE IMPORTANCE OF A GOOD CHARACTER, CONSIDERED ONLY WITH RESPECT TO INTEREST. Ai they are therefore influenced in the choice of a conduct by different inducements, the moralift muft omit no motive, however fubordinate in its nature, while it appears likely to lead fome among mankind to a laud- able, or even a blamelefs behaviour. A regard to eafe, tointereft, and to fuccefs, in the ufual purfuits of wealth and ambition, may induce many topurfue an honeftand honourable No. 85. MORAL, &c. IJ honourable conduct, who would not have been influ- enced by purer motives : but who, after they have once perceived the intrinsic excellence and beauty of fuch a conduct, will probably perfevere in it for its own fake, and upon higher considerations. To thofe who are to make their own way either to wealth or honours, a good character is ufually no lefs necefTary than addrefs and abilities. Though humaft nature is degenerate, and corrupts itfelf flill more by it* own inventions; yet it ufually retains to the laft am efleem for excellence. But even if we are arrived at fuch an extreme degree of depravity as to have loft our native reverence for virtue ; yet a regard to our own in- tereft and fafety, which we feldoin lofe, will lead us to> apply for aid, in all important tranfactions, to men whofe integrity is unimpeached. When we chufe an afliftant, a partner, a fervant, our firft enquiry is con- cerning his character. When we have occalion for a connfellor or attorney, a phyfician or apothecary, what- ever we may be ourfelves, we always chufe to truft our property and perfons to men of the bell character. When we fix on the tradefmen who are to fupply us with neceflaries, we are not determined by the fign of the lamb, or the wolf, or the fox ; nor by a mop fitted up in the mod elegant tafte, but by the faireil reputa- tion. Look into a daily newfpaper, and you will fee, from the highell to the loweft rank, how important the characters of the employed appear to the employers. After the advertifement has enumerated the qualities re- quired in the perfon wanted, there conftantly follows,, that none need apply who cannot bring an undeniable character. Offer yourfelf as a candidate for a feat in parliament, be promoted to honour and emolument, or in any refpect attract the attention of mankind upon yourfelf, and if you are vulnerable in your character, you will be deeply wounded. This is a general tclli- mony in favour of honefty, which no writings and no practices can poffibly refute. Young men, therefore, whofe characters are yet un- fixed, and who, confequently, may render them juft iuch as they wifh, ought to pay great attention to the firft fleps which they take on entrance into life. They are j ufually 16 ESSAYS, No. 85. ufually carelefs and inattentive to this object. They purfue their own plans with ardour, and negleil the opi- nions which others entertain of ihem. By fome thought- lefs a 3 ion or expreiTmn, they fuffer a mark to be i;n- prefied upon them, which fcarcely any iubiequent merit can entirely erafe. Every man will find ibme perfons, who, though they are not profefied enemies, yet view him with an envious or a jealous eye; and who will gladly revive any tale to uhicn truth has given the flighted foundation. Indeed, all men are fo much inclined to flatter their own pride, by detracting from the reputation of others, tljat fuppoiing we were able to maintain an immaculate conduct, it would ftill be difficult to preferve an imma- culate character. But yet it is wifdom not to furnifh this detracting fpirit with real fab; eels for the exercife of its activity. While calumny is fupported only by ima- gination, or by malice, we may fometimes remove, by contradicting it ; but wherever folly or vice have fup- plied facts, we can feidom do more than aggravate the evil, by giving it an apparent attention. The malignity of fome among the various difpofitions of which man- kind are compofed, is often highly gratified at the view of injured fenfibility. In this turbulent and con fu fed fcene, where cur words anc: Actions are often mifunderftood, and oftener mifre- prefented, it is indeed difficult even for innocence and integrity to avoid reproach, -abafe, contempt and hatred. Thefe not only hurt our interelt and impede our advance- ment in life, but foiely afflict the feelings of a tender and delicate mind. It is then the part of wifdom firft to do eve'-y thing in our power to preferve an irreproachable character, and then to let our happinefs depend chiefly on the approbation of our own confciences, and on the advancement of our -'ntcreft in a world where liars mail not be believed, and where flanderers (hall receive coun- .tinance from none but him who, in Greek, is called, by way of eminence, Diabolus, or the Calumniator. No. LXXXVI, No. 86. MORAL, &c. 17 No. LXXXVI. ON THE OSTENTATIOUS AF- FECTATION OF THE CHARACTER OF A LEARNED LADY, WITHOUT SUFFICIENT LEARNING, AND WITHOUT JUDGMENT.. THE moft attractive beauty of the perfon refuhs from the graces of the mind. Delicacy, fweet- nefs, fenfe, and fenfibility, mining in the eyes, will com- penfatean irregularity of features, and will fooner excite love in a feeling heart, than the beft formed face" and the finrft complexional liu* without exprefiio- . Nature muft indeed have laid the foundation of thefe amiable qualities in the difpofition ; but they are by no methods fo effectually called forth and improved, as by the cultivation of a literary tafte. In a vulgar inter- courfe with the world, we cannot avoid feeing and feel- ing the difagreeable pafiions ; fuch as have an effed in diftorting the countenance, and in giving to the eyes an envious, a proud, a difdainful, or an artful afpecl ; than which r.othing'is more repugnant to the power of per- nal allurement. Eyes that unfortunately have acquir- ed any of thefe appearances, whatever beauties they may be furrounded with, poflefs a repellent influence, and operate like the bafilifk. But however wicked the world is, books are for the moft part ftill virtuous. Human nature appears in them in its moft pleafing colours. They infpire generous and tender fentiments. She who is judicioufly converfant with them, will find her coun- tenance improving as her mind is informed, and her look ennobled ;is her heait i.-> elevated. This mull be a power- ful motive ffr application among the ladies ; and they may reft affured, that perfonal and mental beauty, though, when feparate, their dominion is net abfolute, are truly irrefiftible and delpotic when combined. An application to books, however, is often found not nee any attractive effects ; nor is it to be wondered at, when it is conducted in an injudicious and cefuhory manner. 13 ESSAYS, No. 86. manner. The advice of friends is at nrft necefiary to point out the kind of books, and the times, the modes, and the degrees of ftudy. Superficial and ill-direded reading tends to infpire the moft odious of all vanity, and to occafion a behaviour truly ridiculous. Sempronia has itudied all the Magazines for thefe ten years pad, and has now and then obtained the honour of contributing a little piece to feme of her admired mifcel- lanies. This flattering diftindlion, as (he thinks it, has greatly elevated her in her own opinion. She deems it fufficient to emancipate her from the ufual decorums of external behaviour. She talks with an overbearing con- fidence, which, if fhe were not excufed becaufe the is a profefled wit, would be intolerable rudenefs. Her atten- tion to the mufes has excluded the graces from any mare of her notice. If you call upon her in the morning, you find her with flipfhod (hoes, no apron, matted hair, a dirty face, a cap awry, and fingers begrimed with ink. If you afk her in what me is exercifmg her genius, fhe informs you me is writing a Pindaric Ode on Spring, and is looking in Byrne's Art of Poetry for a rhyme to trees. It muft be fent immediately, fhe fays, or it will not be inferted this month. She hopes, therefore, that fhe may be excufed in declining company. Her vifitor has reafon to rejoice at the difmiffion ; for the fight of Ber, as Swift lefs delicately fays of Caelia, will operate as an emetic, and the fmell as a poifon. Corinna happened to fall upon fome of the works of our modern fceptics. She could not understand them perfectly ; but fhe difcovered enough to be affured that fcepticifm v^as fuppofed to be a mark of fuperior fenfe, of a freedom from thofe narrow prejudices which enthral the vulgar. She cannot therefore talk on common af- fairs ; but when fhe gets into company with enlightened people, fhe expatiates on the happinefs of pofibffing a philofophical turn, and pities the poor narrow fouls who go to church and perform all their duties, as they call them, with mechanical regularity, juft like their great grandmothers. Voltaire, Roufleau, Bolingbrokc, and Hume, are her oracles. She is dreaded by her own fex, and indeed voluntarily gives up their fbciety. But the men fhe thinks more entertaining, more converfable, and No. 86. MORAL, &c. 19 lefs (hackled with prejudices. She imagines herfelf par- ticularly attended to by them ; and indeed there are fome humourifts who liften to her converfaiion, in order to lay up llore for ridicule. All who are judges condemn and diflike her for entering into ftudies which have a natural tendency to darken the underftanding and to corrupt the heart, and which are peculiarly odious in thofe who were formed to increafe the comforts of life, and not to cut them off by diffufing the gloomy notions of the fceptic. It was the misfortune of Fulvia to live next door to a circulating library. In every moment of liftleflhefs the maid was difpatched for a handful of novels, no matter by whom they were written, or what they were in them- felves, provided they were fentimental. By an uninter- rupted courfe of fuch reading, (he had acquired a tafte for anecdotes, private hiltory, and all that relates to the ef- fecls of love, which, (he was led to think, formed the great bufmefs of human life. Her heart had been a thoufand times melted, and pierced, and fmitten, and wounded, and was at lalt fo mollified, that me felt the tendereil fentiments for every man with little diftinction. She could not pafs a few moments in a private interview with a male acquaintance, without being confcious of tender fentiments for him. She often doubted whether fhe ought, upon the whole, to rejoice or lament that me was endowed with fuch extreme fenfibility. But to be fure, fo it was, her poor heart was fo full of love, that every one who approached might have a mare unafked. Her voice was faint and tremulous; her refinements were elegant to a degree inconceivable. She was hardly fit for this low orb. She was always miferable, except when pouring out her fentiments in letters to fome be- loved Eudoxus. She was, in (hort, too tender, too fuf- ceptible, too pure, too elevated, to live in this world ; and fo every body faid, till, in evil hour, me ran away with a corporal quartered in the town, and has never been heard of fince. Lelbia, when very young, wrote a few rhymes, whicli, as her age was considered, were much applauded by her friends. Flufhed with praife, (he confidered herfelf as a fecond Sappho, and has ever fince been devoted to the mufes. Her reading was chiefly confined to the poet's corner 20 ESSAYS, No. 86. corner Jn nevvfpapers, and her prod unions hive rivalled her models. She compofes acnigmas, acrcfti s, rebufics, and fongs, for thofe little red pocfket-books \v. annually publiflied for th? ladies, and ilie h?s Ivid the honour of gaining the reward fir expounding The Pii/e Riddle. Within the circle of her acquaintance fhc is much admired. If a wedding happens among any of them, fhe pays for her bride-cake with an epithalamium ; and flie keeps in her drawers, like haberdafhers wares in a fhop, odes, elegies, and epigrams, adapted to every occafion. But, while me is foaring on the wings of poetical genius in her ftudy, her poor little boys and girls are left to the company of the fcullion in the kitchen. Her mind is extremely active, and it is but juRice to allow, that fhe neglects nothing but her duty. Of all fubjects, politics feem the lea ft adapted to the female character. Women are excluded, by the rude framers of our confti'tution, from all leg-illative influ- ence-; and, it is well known, that public affairs are fel- dorn treated with temper, either in writing or converfa- tion. But the female politician is by no means uncom-- mon. Cornelia derives all her learning, of which fhe thinks fhe pofiefTes an ample {hare, from the mifcella- neous volumes of a Woodfall. She has herfelf fome- times ventured to communicate a paragraph or two, and has been delighted, even- to rapture, with the thought, that a plan or conjecture of hers has been wafted through- out the empire by fo rapid a conveyance. On-common fubjects fhe. is mild and reasonable; but while the gentle- men are talking politics, fhe fubmits with great re- luftance to the frigid rules of decorum, which require that fhe fhould pay attention to the ladies. Her colour comes and goes for a long time, till at*laft fhe can bear it no longer, and burfts out with a blaze of eloquence, fcarcely rivalled in the moft famous fchools of oratory, thofe of Athens or of Billingfgate. A treaty of :n \r- riage was on foot fome time ago ; but after t liiiiinaries were all fettled, and a day for the ratification of the articles fixed, a rupture epfued on the adjuil- ment of the balance of power, and hoitilities have not yet ceaied, nor is a coalition of the parties lil take place. In No. "86. MORAL, Sec. 21 In thefe few instances, and in thofe many which ob- fervation i.i' -t;;e world will fupply, there feems to have been an original fii'd of parts, and a love of books, which, properly directed, would have led to great im- provements. Bat vague indultry and unguided emula- tion, fliinuhted to pc-rlrr in a wrong path by the partial | [" friends and relations, have precipitated even the amiably di:'p:>fed into unfuppc.ried vanity, -and caufed them to d ilii.guiiii themfelves without acquiring, fio- 11' U." I'o be r.ffcft-d in any way is, at all times, in all . and in all decrees, to be liiugreeable But af- fectation of learning and authorship, in a woman with very little merit, draws upon itielf the contempt and hatred of both fexes They who excel oil in either fex-, are found by experience to b? moil candid and mo- deft; to aflame ieaft, and to join in conversation with, others, withi ; the ienCe of their fuperimty. Indeed it often happens, thar there is an amiable humi- lity in true genius and learning, \vhuh compel the pof- fellbr of them to think diffidently of his own character, amid the united pruiies of all around. Let her then, who' pofTefles the bright jf.velt of genius and learning, take care to let them in a pL.in manner, and their luftre will difpLy a luit:onal briiiiancy. In theembellifhment of the perfon,a fufficient degree of care is ufua-ly t:ik;-n tnat nothing unbecoming lhall have a place in it. A :eard is commonly paid to age, rank, and every circumitance which can point out the line of propriety. But in adorning the mind, it is ufual to attend to little elfe but the dictates of inclination. Yet there i certainly a kinu of fexual difference in the mind' of the Ic-xcr,, which admits and requires a d.iferent fpecies of int llefl ;.l ftccjomplilhrnent- (Economy is laid, indeed, to be the peculiar province of women ; yet furely, as rational beings, their reafon may properly re- ceive tii e cultivation Nor fliould their attainments occaiion contempt or negled, unlels they are fullied by obtruding arrogance, by a mafculiae bold- neis, a critical ieverity, and an ill-timed and injudicious oitentation. No. LXXXVII. ESSAYS, No. 87. No. LXXXVII. ON THE FOLLY AND WIC- KEDNESS OF NEGLECTING A FAMILY AND CHILDREN, FOR THE PLEASURES OF DISSI- PATION. THOUGH it may be true, as it has been aflert- ed, that one age is not better than another, yet k is obvious to remark that the modes, if not the de- grees, of vice, have varied at different periods; and that, of modes equally criminal in themfelves, fome are particularly deftriidVive. Whatever have been the manners of preceding times, in our country, I be- lieve it will be readily allowed, that the middle ranks were never univerfally infecled with the love of a diffi- pating life, till the prefent age. Domeftic induftry and ceconomy, or the qualities diftingiiiftied by the homely titles of thriftinefs and good houfevvifery, were always, till the prefent century, deemed honourable. They are now, however, difcarded in difgrace ; and in their place have fucceeded a paffionate love of (how without fubftance, a never-ceafing attention to drefs, and an infatiable hunger and thirft after diverfions public and private. Whoever conhders the natural effecl: of exceflive in- dulgence, in relaxing and weakening the tone of the mind, will immediately perceive how pernicious it muft Be to human nature, in general, and to each particular fociety. Thrre can remain neither inclination, nor ability for exertion, when the firings which ihould give lafli ity are all loofe or broken ; and without exertion what is man ? Behold what he is in the womanifh court of an oriental tyrant. Sunk in floth, and proftrate in meannefs, poor human nature, in fuch a fituation, fcarcely equals, in fpirit or ingenuity, the monkey and baboon. But I mean not to enlarge on diffipation in general, but to confider its ffe&s in the limited circle of private families j No. 87. MORAL, &c. 23 families; from which, however, it gradually extends its influence over the whole commun'ty, throughout all its departments, like the undulations of a pebble thrown into a pool. Let us fuppofe a married couple in the middle ranks of life (and 1 feleft my inftances from the middle ranks becaufe they are the mod numerous and important). Let us fuppofe them juft fetting out, as it is called, in the world. The firft objecl is to form and extend con- nexions. The oftenfible motive is the advancement of the family intereft; the real and moft powerful motive, the love of various company, in a continual fuccefiion. Dinners and fuppers, dancing and card-playing, leave little time, and no inclination, for the fober bufmefs of the trade or profeflu n. A neglefled trade or profeflion cannot fucceed ; and the poor young peop e, after hav- ing fpent the little and hard-earned patrimony which, it may be, thHr affectionate parents beftowed on them, live the reft of their lives in fome poor lodging in penury or fervitude, or die of difappointment. But if, by uncommonly good fortune, they avoid bankruptcy or ruin, yet their love of diflipation never fails to poifon that happinefs which it pretends to fw^eten. It prevents them from performing the moft indifpenfable duties, and living the life of rational creatures. All heads of families are prefidents of little focieties, which they are bound to regulate by precept and example. But how fhaii they be qualified to do this, who are feldom at hem", and who, when they are there, are conltantly engaged in vanity. Their own cor- ruption defcends, with additional malignity of influence, to the loweft menial fervant, who has fought protection beneath their roof. But let us confider them in the relation of parents. Nothing can be more incor.filtent with the life of a lady, who delights in the fafhionable amufements, than the care of her new-born child. Her drefs would be difconcerted, and herfhape fpoiied, were (he to attempt to feed it herfelf with the food which nature has made convenient for it. She could not be abfent from home. She muft be liable to interruption at all hours. Her health alfo muft fail under fo conitant a fatigue, added to 24 ESSAYS, No. R 7 . to, the neceflary toils of the ball and card- table, Her phyfician, for me takes care to keep the dodor on her fide, declares, that from the delicate imbecility of her conftitution, it would be highly improper for her to fubmit to the exhaufting tafk of fuckling an infant. The little one, therefore, vvhofe heavenly fmiles would repay every maternal care, is fent to the cottage, or the garret, of ibme hireling nurfe. There, amidit poverty, hunger, and naftinefs, it drags a precarious exigence, with ,.o attention, but the cold charity of a mercenary woman, s\ho has often, at the fame time, a child of her own to engrofs her maternal endearments. The mother, in the mean time, is engaged in the gay circle of an aflembly, loiing that money at cards, or fpending it in drels and pleafures, which ought to pay her huf- band's creditors. Ah! little thinks flie how her poor infant, which ought to be foftered in her bofom, is be- wailing, in the expreffive language of tears, the neglect, and the harfh treatment it undergoes, in the dreary haunts of want and mifery. Many a severe menace, and many a hard blow, does the fweet babe receive from the pafiionate and ignorant nurfe, at which a mother's heart would bleed, if it were not loft to fenfibility. Poor nts, unhappy orphan?, deferted in your helplefs flate, by thole who have brought you into a wretched world ; imy lie who took the children up in his arms, put his hands on them, ::nd blclTed them, have pity on your woes on ihoie injuries which ye forely fufter, but cannot have deferved ! Life, however, is not eafily extinguished ; and not- withftanding all the pains and inconvenience^ which the child undergoes from want of food, from wantofclean- liiif'fs, from want of thole tender attentions which a mother only can pay, it does indeed furvive ; but what remains of its lot is even more miferable than that which has already pafled. As it has always been abfent from home, it is a ftr^nger there. Its paients feel but little natural afftdlion for it ; tor natural affection fixes itfelf in the heart moil deeply ac r\v period when the infant is hanging at the breaft, and fmiling, as it were,, with gratitude, in the face of IT r who iupplies it with de- licious nourifhment from her own vital current. It 2 takes Ho. 87. MORAL, &c. 25 takes dill firmer pofleffion of the heart when the child begins to prattle, and to play thofe little tricks, which none but a callous mind can behold without delight. But, alas ! the little boy or girl are ftiil confidered as obftacles to pleafure at home. They pay a fhort and formal vifit there, and are again difmifled to a nurfe, locked up with fervants in the garret, or transferred to their grandmother. The laft is a mod enviable lot, in comparifon with the former; in which they not only experience harfti words and hard blows, but learn vulgar ideas, vulgar language and habits of every kind, which muft one day be unlearned. As foon as they can walk firmly, and talk plainly, they are removed to one of thofe convenient fchools or academies, as they are called, where children, at a very early age, are received as into nurferies. In the fubfequent courfe of their education they are conflantly kept from home; or if they are indulged in a vifitof a few days, they fee little but what tends to miilead them. They receive no fatherly advice, and whatever learning they may acquire at their fchool?, they ufaally enter on the ftage to aft their part in the drama of life, without judgment, and without principles to regulate their con- duct. There is ufually added to their misfortune of be- ing neglefted and mifled, that of being deprived of all fhare of th?ir parents poffeffions ; who, in the gay cir- cles of pleafure, net only fpend their own property, but involve themfelves and their paternal eftates in debt, and in every fpecies of diftrefling and difgraceful embarrafl- ment. There is no part of the family and afFairi of the diflipated which has not a tendency to ruin. They are themfelves in a conftant Mate of mortification and dif- appoiniment. Their objeft in purfuing a perpetual round of amufements, is to obtain perpetual pleafure; an objed which human nature could never yet accom- pli Ih. They, of all others, are leall likely to obtain it, who make pleafure a bufinefs, and, in profecution of it, negleft their moft important and their dnily duties. Indeed, there is nothing more rnifapprehended than the nature of pleafure. Men are deluded by a name, ari"d, catching at a phantom, lofe reality. The trueit plea- VOL.II, ' C 26 E S vS A Y S, No. 87. fure refults from calm and moderate emotions. Noife, tumult, violence, diforder, take off the fine fpirit from that which is otherwife formed to pleafe, and leave little behind but dregs or difagreeabie ingredients. Balls, ademblies, feafts, public diverfions, cards, drefs, various company, fhould be purfued only as, what they are, temporary an ufements. Afk t'lofe who are whirled in the vortex of fafhion whether they are happy ? Not- withilanding they are engaged, without ceafing, in what the world calls pleafure, they are as ready to complain of languor and of mifery as any other part of mankind. Pride and vanity compel them to move with others of their rank or fortune ; but their countenances and words abundantly teftify that they have, at leaft, their mare of human uneafinefs. They feel, indeed, the fatif- faftion of being diftinguifhed from the poor, becaufe their fortunes enable them to pay for the diitinclion ; but that happinefs is but flenderly fupported, which is founded only on the gratification of a weak and wo- manifh vanity. With refpefl to that particular part of the evil re- fulting frorri cftflipation, the negleft and confequent mifery of families, it is certainly very extenfive and important. Single nien, and fingle women, however led aftray by the falfe lights of their own vain imagina- tion, fufter by themfelves, or at leait draw but a few in their train. But the whole rifing generation muft be endangered, when diffipation is become univerfal among- parents and the heads of families. Selfifli arguments may fucceed when others fail ; and I therefore wifh I could convince the generality of a certain truth ; that there is really more pleafure to bs found at the family fire-fide, and in the regular per- formance of domeiHc duties, than in the never-ceafing purfuit aftep falhionable am ufements. What is the de- light of feeing an Italian or French dancer Hand upon one leg, compared to that of beholding one's own fmil- ing babes in the raptures of a game at play ? What is the delight of glittering at a ball, a play, a mafque- rade, compared to that of a home, in which are found plenty, tranquillity, and love, uninterrupted by the extra- No. 88. MORAL, &c. 27 extravagance, the folly, the pride, and the reflleflhefs of that ignorant, empty, weak, and fickle, yet arbitrary tyrant, Famion ? Not that the moralift is fevere. He prohibits no moderate and reafonable enjoyments. He is too well acquainted with human nature, and with life, fo to moralize. He maintains only, that though diffipating pleafures may be allowed as a temporary relief, they are fatal to happinefs and virtue, when they are fuffered to engage the whole attention, or to become the chief em- ployment. NO. LXXXVIII. ON FORMING CON- NECTIONS. ONE can never fufficiently admire the liberal fpirit of the great philofopher and orator of Rome, v\ho, in his fine treatife on friendship, has exploded the idea, that the profpect of advantage is the foundation of this virtuous union, and afierted, that it owes its origin to a conviction of mutual excellence in morals and dif- pontion. This generous Opinion appears {till greater and more amiable when it is contrafted with the precepts and the practices of later ages, and particularly of the prefent. It is now one of the firft admonitions given to a young man, who is entering on the career of life, that he mult, at all events, make connections. And inftead of in form- ing him, that he is to be directed in his choice of them by the appearance of moral and mental excellence, ac- cording to the^ fublime ideas of the noble Roman, his fagacious monitors fugged to him, that he is to be folely guided by the proipect of his intereft and advapce- ment in the road of ambition. Let a poor man of ap- proved character, learning and genius, and a rich man of failiion, with no preteniions to either, be introduced to a fenfible and prudent young man of the world who has been thus inilrucled ; and, while the rich man is viewed with fubmiffion, complacence, and treated with C 2 a melt *8 ESSAYS, No. 88. almoft idolatrous attention, the poor man ftands by un- noticed, and probably defpifed. On the fl ght acquaint- ance of a firft introduction, the youth who is deeply verfed in worldly wifdom, will not fail to call at the rich man's houfe, and leave a card with mofl refpeclful compliments; he would not come into the neighbour- hood without paying that refpeS, on any account what- ever ; he is not half fo fcrupulous about going to church and paying his court to his Maker ; but at the very time while he is bowing at the threfhold of the rich man, the philofopher (hall pafs by, and, becaufe he pofTefTes only a competency without fupcrfluity, and without influence, he ftiall not be honoured with the common civility of a falutation. For it is a maxim with thefe men, that as it is an honour to know and be knwon to perfons of for- tune and title, fo it is a difgrace to acknowledge an ac- Suaintance with thofe who have nothing to recommend lem but honour, fpirit, learning, and virtue. The formation of connections is confidered as fo im- portant, that it becomes, in effedt, the principal object in education. The boy, whofe parents are profefTed people of the world, would not, on any account, fail to place him at a fchool to which the fons of the no- bility are often fent, though they are ready to confefs, that little learning and great profligacy are the ufual acquifitions in it. If the boy has grown intimate with the fon of a Duke, a Lord, or a Baronet, his parents are better pleafed with him, than if he had learned by heart all Horace, Virgil, and Homer. There is no fubmiflion fo mean, and no attentions fo fervile, but he is ready to pay them with alacrity, in accomplishing the important objec"l of forming connections. The mind i> rendered, by thefe means, low and abjeft ; and though the boy may afterwards rife to the honour of being a no- bleman's chaplain, or his travelling companion, yet he will retain, through life, the fentiments and fpirit of his Lordfliip ? s footman or valet-de-chambre. A man, unacquainted xvlth the world, might fuppofe, that the readielt road to preferment in feveral of the profeflions, is to acquire the knowledge and accompjiifli- ments which are neceflary to a fkilful practice of them. Buc this is really not the cafe. The fureft'and moft compendious No. 88. MORAL, &c. 29 compendious method pointed out by the wife men of this world, is to form connexions. Accordingly we ob- fcrve many perfons in the profeffions, who aim at diiHnc- tion and advancement, by no means confining themfelves to their libraries ; but ftudying the graces of drefs and addrefs, and the arts of fnnulat'on and difiimulation. We fee them frequenting all public places, giving and re- ceiving invitations to dinners and fuppers, and evidently fpending fo much time in dillipation, as to leave fcarcely an hour in a day for reading and ftudy. We will fuppofe a young man entering on the prc- feflion of a phyfician. The time before he is of age is, perhaps, devoted to hearing faihionable lectures, and to reading a few faperficial books ; fuch as tend to acquaint him with the common and obvious modes of practice. But he no fooner Iteps in^o the world than both books and lectures are laid aiidf. Several years, indeed, mult elapfe before he takes his doctor's degree. But this time is not fpent in icudy only, by him who knows how to play his cards, as it is called, and to fecure fuccefs in life. No; he has learned a wifVr leflbn, and is well allured, that the moil famiiiar ac- quaintance with Galen and Hippocrates, will not ad- vance him half fo \\ell HF connexions. Connexions are, therefore, the fir ft and the laft Irudy of the day. !f }-, e has been fortunate enough co procure an introduction --> a few titled perfons, and to prefcrtbe, with fucceis, ia the cafe of feme Duchefs Dowager's pricked finger, his fortune is made ; he cannot fall of being recommended to mere connections in the fame fafhionable line. He himfeif will become the fafhion, and people of famicn. will vvifh to be ill, or pretend to be-ill, that they may have the credit of calling Doctor fuch an one " our *' phyfuian." Connections will now be made, and money accumulated with fuch rapidity, that the doctor will become a greater man than his employers, and venture to dictate to Lcrds and Dukes in politics, as well as in a purge. In the fubordinate V ranches alfo of the healing art, and indeed in moft of the walks c-f life > iruch more de- pendence is placed on connections than on merit ; much. C 3 more 30 ESSAYS, No. 88. more attention paid to acquiring connexions than in acquiring merit; and to deferve connections is by no means thought the fecureft method of obtaining them. Deceit, external fhow, and pompous pretences, are deemed infallible noftrums for making connections ; bur, alas! can any lucrative advantage, refuhing from con- nections, repay a rational creature for facrificing truth and liberty ? Thefe connections are dignified by the name of friendlhips. Shade of Cicero, what indigna- tion muft thou feel at fuch prefumption ! In divinity too, I am forry to obferve, that many more have rifen to ecclefiaftical emolument and dignity by itudying, throughout their lives, to make connexions, than by fuperior piety or by theological attainments. It is lamentable to behold thofe vvhofe minds ought to poflefs peculiar elevation, bowing and cringing, with abjeft fervility, to the vileft peer of the realm, who happens to have influence at court, or to be the patron of a living. The lord fhall be a profeffed fcoffer at all religion, and an avowed enemy to chriftianity in parti ular, and yet {hall have a tribe of clergymen at his levee, who rsnnot help admiring his wit and un- derftanding. .Preferment, indeed, feems to be the only objedl among many of thofe, who are fet apart to teach the w J 'Jd that the riches of divine grace are the trueft fifties, and the diftinclion of fuperior virtue the moft enviable dignity. Horace has faid, that to have pleafed the great is not the loweft praife ; many of the modern inftruclors of mankind feem to confider it as the higbeft ; and, in proportion as they are fervile to their patron, they are infolent to their curate. It is a maxim with many, founded, as they pretend, on real obfervation, that mitres, flails, and pluralities, are not attainable by any fuch qualities as are acquired in the ftudy. You muft form connections. In order to form connections, you muft recommend yourlelf to va- rious company by the graces; you muft po/Tefs verfa- tility of mind ; you muft frequent afiemblies, gaming- tables, watering places : your confcience muft be as eafy as your manners; you muft take care not to fpend too much time in reading Greek, or any thing elfe but the No. 88. MORAL, &c. 31 the Court Calendar; and you can hardly fail of valu- able connexions and valuable preferment, as thoufands can teftify by aftual experience. But though numbers may give confidence, furely thofe whofe whole employment confifts in meanly hunting for preferment under the garb of fan&ity and religion, are moft contemptible characters. Indeed, their difpofi- tions are ufually as narrow, felfifh, and flavilh, as their purfuits are fordid, and unbecoming the dignity of a facred profeflion. Arife, Cicero, for my ideas return with pleafure to thee ; arife, behold a pompous preacher, in a large peruke and folemn canonicals, cringing to a debauched, unbelieving, and biiliop- making Lord, and pretending all the while that he is cultivating friend- fhip in all its purity ! But would you forbid a young man the formation of connections, by which fo many have availed themfelves, and rifen to real and deferved grandeur ? By no means ; I would only teach him to prelerve a juit reverence for himfelf, and to defpife all riches and all honours which muft be purchafed at the expence of truth, virtue, and a manly fpirit. I would, like others, advife every young man (and it is chiefly to the young that I pre- fume to fuggeft admonitions), to form conne&ions, or rather friendships ; but to be guided in his choice of them by perfonal merit and approved character. I do not fay, for it would be unnatural and unwife, that he fhould negledl intereft, or defpife advancement, when it can be procured confidently with the fpirit and integrity of an honeft and delicate mind. If preferment comes unlocked for, and unfought by fervile compliance, it is an honour as well as an advantage, and is doubly wel- come. But if I muft facrifice my reafon and my con- fcience, my honour and my freedom, in forming con- nections and purfuing preferment, I relinquifh the chace, and eagerly retire ta competency, contentment, and liberty. C 4 No. LXXXIX, 32 s s A y s, No. LXXXIX. AN ADDJIBS5. TO.A VO,UN9 SCHOLAR, SUPPOSED TO BE IN 'THE' COURS OF A LIBERAL 'EDUCATION* AT YOUR parents have watched over your helplefs infancy, and conducted you, with many a pang 1 , to an age at which your mind is capable of manly irn- P'ovcmcnt. Their folicitude ftill continues, and no trouble nor expence is fpared in giving you all the in- ftruftjons and accomplimments which may enable yo_a to acl your pare in life, as a man of poliihed fenfe and confirmed virtue. You have, then, already contracted a great debt of gratitude to them. You can pay it by no other method bnt by uiing the advantages which, thrir goodnefs has afforded you. If \our own endeavours are deficient, it is in vain thst you have tutors, book?, and all the external appanru- cf literary purfims. Yru muft love learning, if }cu in- tend to poiTefs it. Jn order to love it, you muft feel its delights ; in order to feel its delights, you muft apply to it, however irkfome at fir ft, cloieJy, conftantly, a^d for a confiderable time. If you have refolution, encash to do this, you cannot but love learning ; for the mind always loves that to which it has been long, fteaclily, and voluntarily attached. Habits are formed, which render what was at firft difagreeable, not only pleafant, but neceffary. Pleafant, indeed, are all the paths w"hich lead to polite and elegant literature. Yours, 'then, is furely a lot. particular}' happy. Your education is of fuch a fort, that its principal fcope is to prepare you to receive a refined pleafure during your life. Elegance, or delicacy of tafie, is one of the firft objects of a claflical difcipline ; and it is this fine quality which opens a new world to the fcholar's view. Elegance of tafle has a connection with many virtues, and all of them virtues of the moft amiable kiad. It tends to render you, at once, good and No. 9. M O R A L, Sec. 33 and agreeable. You muft therefore be an enemy to your own enjoyments, if you enter on the difcipline which leads to the attainment of a claflical and liberal education with reluftance. Value duly the opportuni- ties you enjoy, and which a*c denied to tboufands of your fellow-creatures. Without exemplary diligence jou will make but a contemptible proficiency. You may, indeed, pafs through* the forms of fchools and univerfities, but you will bring nothing away from them of real value. The proper fort and degree of diligence you cannot poffefs, but by the efforts of your own refolution. Your inftruftor may, indeed, confine you within the walls of a fchool a cer- tain number of hours. He may place books before you, and compel you to fix your eyes upon them ; but no authority can chain down your mind. Your thoughts will efcape from every external reftraint, and, amidft the moil ferious leclures, may be ranging in the wild pur- fuit of trifles or vice. Rules, reftraints, commands, and punilhments, may, indeed, affift in ftrengthening your refolution ; but, without your own voluntary choice, your diligence will not often conduce to your pleafure or advantage. Though this truth is obvious, yet it feems to be a fccret to thofe parents who expecl to find their fon's improvement encreafe in proportion to the number of tutors and external afnftances, which their opulence has enabled them to provide. Thefe afliftances, indeed, are fometirnes afforded, chiefly that the young heir to a title or eflate may indulge himfelf in idlenefs and no- minal pleafures. The lefTon is conltrued to him, and the exercife written for him by the private tutor, while the haplefs youth is engaged in fome ruinous pleafure, which, at the fame time, prevents him from learning- any thing deiirable, and lea-ds to the formation of de- flrudive habits, which can feldom be removed. But the principal obftacle to improvement at your fchoo!, efpecially if you are too plentifully fupplied with money, is a perverfe ambition of being diftinguifh- ed as a boy ot fpirit in mifchievous pranks, in r.t-g!ec~l- ing the tafks and leiTons, and for every vice and irregu- larity which the puerile age can admit. You will have fenfe enough, I hope, to diicovsr, beneath the roaik of C 5 gaiety 34- ESSAYS, No. 89. gaiety and good-nature, that malignant fpirit of de- traction, which endeavours to render the boy who ap- plies to books, and to all the duties and proper bufinefs of the fchool, ridiculous. You will fee, by the light of your reafon r that the ridicule is mifapplied. You will difcover, that the boys who have recourfe to ridicule, are, for the moft part, ftupid, unfeeling, ignorant, and vicious. Their noify folly, their bold confidence, their contempt of learning, and their defiance of authority are, for the mofi part, the genuine effects of hardened infenfibility. Let not their infults and ill-treatment difpirit you. If you yield to them with a tame and ab- ject fubmiffion, they will not fail to triumph over you with additional infolence. Difplay a fortitude in your purfuits, equal in degree to the obftinacy in which they perfift in theirs. Your fortitude will foon overcome theirs ; which is, indeed, feldom any thing more than the audacity of a bully. Indeed, you cannot go through a fchool with eafe to yourfelf, and with fuccefs, without a confiderable fhare of courage. I do not mean that ibrt of courage which leads to battles and contentions, but which enables you to have a will of your own, and to purfue what is right, amidft all the perfecutions of furrounding enviers, dunces, and detractors. Ridicule is the weapon made ufe of at fchool, as well as in the world, when the fortreffes of virtue are to be afTailed. You will effectually repel the attack by a dauntlefs fpirit and unyielding perfeverance. Though numbers are againft you, yet, with truth and rectitude on your fide,, you may be if/e agmen, though alone, yet equal to an, army. By laying in a ftore of ufefuf knowledge, adorning your mind with elegant literature, improving and efta- blifliing your conduct by virtuous principles, you cannot fail of being a comfort to thofe friends who have fup- ported you, of being happy within yourfelf, and of being well received by mankind. Honour and fuccefs in life will probably attend you. Under all circum- ftances you will have an internal fource of confolation and entertainment, of which no fublunary viciffitude- can deprive you. Time mews how much wifer is your choice than thai of your idle companions, who would gladly No. 90. MORAL, Sic. 35 gladly have drawn you into their aflbciation, or rather into their confpiracy, as it has been called, againft: good manners, and againft all that is honourable and ufeful. While you appear in fociety as a refpe&able and va- luable member of it, they have facritked, at the ftmne of vanity, pride, extravagance, and falfe pleafure, their health and their fenfe, their fortunes and their cha- rafters. No. XC. THE WANT OF PIETY ARISES FROM: THE WANT OF SENSIBILITY. IT appears to me, that the mind of man, when it is free from natural defeds and acquired corruption, feels no lefs a tendency to the indulgence of devotion, than to virtuous love, or to any other of the more refin- ed and elevated afte&ions. But debauchery and excefs contribute greatly to deftroy all the fufceptible delicacy with which nature ufually furnimes the heart; and, in the general extinction of our better qualities, it is no wonder that fo pure a fentiment as that of piety, mould be one of the firfl to expire. It is certain that the underflanding may be improved in a knowledge of the world, and in the arts of fucceed- ing in it, while the heart, or whatever conititutes the feat of the moral and fentimental feelings, is gradually receding from its proper and original perfection. Indeed, . experience feems to evince, that it is hardly poffible to arrive at the character of a complete man of the world, without lofing many of the moft valuable fentiments of uncorrupted nature. A complete man of the world is an artificial being ; he has discarded many of the native- and laudable tendencies of his mind, and adopted a new fyltem of objefts and propenfities of his own crea- tion. Thefe are commonly grofs, coarfe, fordid, felfifh, and fenfual. All, or either of thefe attributes, tend dircclly to blunt the fenfe of every thing liberal, eodarged, diiinteretted ; of every thing which partici- C. 6 pates 36 E :S S A Y S, No. 93. pates more of an intellectual than of a fenfual nature. When the heart is tied down to the earth by luft and avarice, it is not extraordinary that the eye fhould be feldorn lifted up to heaven. To the man who fpends his Sunday (becaufe he thinks the day fit for little elfe' in the counting-houfe, in travelling, in the ta- vern or in the brothel, thofe who go to church appear as fools, and the bufinefs they go upon as nonfenfe. He is callous to the feelings of devotion ; bat he is tremblingly alive to all that gratifies his fenfes or pro- motes his intereft. Jt has been remarked of thofe writers who have at- tacked chriilianity, and reprefented all religions merely as diverfifred modes of fuperftition, that they were in- deed, for the rooft part, men of a metaphysical and a elifputatious turn of mind, but ufually little diflinguilh- cd for benignity and generofity. There was, amidft all the preteniions to logical fagacitv, a cloudinefs of ideas, and a coldnefs of heart, which rendered thera very unfit judges on a qufiHon in which the heart is chiefly intereited ; in which the language of nature is more expreflive and convincing, than all the dreary fub- tleties of the difmal metaphy^cians. Even the reafon- jng faculty, on which we fo greatly value ourfelves, may be perverted by excefTive refinement ; and there is an ab- llrule, but vain and foolsfti philofoj-hy, which philofo- phizes us out of the nobleft parts of our noble nature. One of thofe parts of us is our iiyftirjftive fenfe of reli- gion, of which not one of ihofe brutes which the philofo- phers mod admire, and to whofe rank they wi/h to re- duce us, is found, in the flighted degree to participate. Such phiiofophers may be called, in a double fenfe, the enemies of mankind. '1 hsy not only endeavour to entice man from his duty, but to rob him of a moft exalted and natural pleafure. Such, furely, is the plecfuie of devotion. For when the foul rifes above this iiule crb, and pours its adoraticn at the throne of celeflia! Majffty, the hcly fervour which it feels is itfelf a rapturous delight. Neither is this a declamatory re- prcfentation, but a truth felt asd acknowledged by all th fons of iren ; except tlvofe who have been defective in, ienfibiiiiy, or who hoped to gratify the pride or the malignity No. 90. MORAL, &c. 37 malignity of their hearts, by fingular and pernicious fpeculatkm. Indeed, all difputations, controverfial and meta- phyfical writings, on the fubjecl of religion, are un- favourable to genuine piety. We do not find, that the moft renowned polemics in the church militant, were at all more attentive than others to the common offices of religion, or that they wer-.- actuated by any peculiar degree of devotion. The truth is, their religion cen- tred in their heads ; whereas its natural region is the^ heart. The heart ! confined, alas ! in colleges or libra- ries, unacquainted with all the tender charities of hu- band, father, brother, friend ; feme of them have almoll forgotten that they poflefs a heart. It has long ceafed to beat with the pulfations of love and fympathy, and has been engjrofled by pride on conquering an adverfary in the fyllogiftic combat, or by impotent anger on a defeat. With fuch habits, and fo defective a fyftem of feelings, can we expeft that a Doctor of the Sorbonne, or the difputing profeflbr of divinity, mould ever feei the Sure flame of piety that glowed in the bofoms of Mrs. owe, Mrs. Talbot, or Mr. Nelfon ? An inexperienced and unobfervant man might ex- pect to find extraordinary devotion and piety in the- chapcls and colleges of our Englifh univerfities. Many of our academics are fummoned to prayers, not left often than four times every day throughout the year. But do they jattend .voluntarily, or in obedience to a ilatute ? Js.'there any particular piety or decency in the performance of public worship ? Quite the reverfe ; for in no place of worfhip are the prayers read in a more careleis or perfunctory manaer ; in none are more in<- decencies praftifed' and connived at,, than'in the chapels of oar Englifh universities-. The reaion is, that thofe who attend in them Confilt, for the molt part, either of jolly fellousj wha : drown all thoughts in wine and its concomitants; or -of dry logicians - Guicciar- din and Vertot have exhibited in their writings fome of the genuine graces of the hifioric mule. But among biographers, Scarcely any can juftly claim a rank with the firft writers of the golden age. ^ As a diligent colleftor of faft$, as a warm friend to virtue, as an entraining narrator, I venerate the name of Plutarch. His writings bear evident marks of exten- five reading, and communicate much and multifarious knowledge. Theodore Gaza has faid, that if ail books were loll, and he might recover one, it mould be Plutarch. He is indeed an invaluable treafure of ancient learning ; for he feleSed paffiges from books now totally loil, and inferted them very liberally in his works. Add to this, that he is an admirable moralift. But his judgment feems not to have been alv. enough to manage the unwieldy mafs of learning he had aflembled. He indulged the weakeil fupcrRhion. He is ever relating ftories, which Horace calls ANILES, or the tales of old wcMv.en. Merely for an oftcntatious difplay of erudition, VOL. II. D he $e> ESSAYS. No. 94. he digreffes beyond all reafonable limits. His idea of drawing parallels was excellent; and he has fometimes drawn them admirably, though, as the critics fay, not without a partiality to his own countrymen. They have convicted him of this unphilofophical attachment in the comparifon between Tully and Demofthenes, Cato and Ariflides, Sylla and Lyfander, Marcellus and Pelopidas. They who are willing to allow him every other merit, give up his flyle as harm and inelegant. Though cer- tainly an ufeful, he cannot be etteemed a fine writer; and whatever merit he poflefles, his inftancedoes not re- fute the aflertion, that biographical has never yet equal- led civil hiftory. The long and diffufe accounts of Plutarch have been compared to coloflal ftatues ; the concife hi/lories of Cornelius Nepos, to medallions. Cornelius Nepos has a claim from the age he flourished in, from his language, and from his fidelity, to the rank of a claffic ; but by no means to the firft rank. It is fufpe&ed by many, that as Trogus was epitomized by Juftin, fo Nepos was ab- breviated by a writer, who flourilhcd under Theodofius an the decline of polite literature. The life of Atticus, if we may pronounce from internal evidence, continues unaltered, and reflects great honour on its writer, as a fne picture of a beautiful original. Diogenes Laertius chofe a fubjeft well adapted to dif- play ingenuity. The lives of the wifeft men whom the world ever produced, if well written, would have been a moil valuable acquifition to ancient learning. But, with a fine fubjeft, he is deemed by the critics a poor writer. It is to be wimed, that Tacitus had more frequently exercifed his talents in biography. His life of Agri- cola is, perhaps, the beft biographical work that was ever compofed. It is written in that beautiful energetic Ityle, which charaderifes this fpirited hiftorian ; and it is more pleating than his other works, becaufe it exhibits not a deformed portrait. Mallet's Life of Bacon is a good imitation of it. Suetonius probably drew his pidlures from the life, and they are loathfome to behold. They are, however, ufeful to the philofophej-, as they enable him to form a more No. 94. MORAL, &c. 51 more complete idea of human nature in all the grada- tions of degeneracy and perfedion. They are alfo to- lerably well written. Concife, nervous, fimple, they pleafe by their perfpicuity, and their freedom from am- bitious ornament. To the honour of their author it muft be faid, that Jie appears to have advanced nothing through flattery or refentment, nor to have fupprefled any thing through fear, but to have paid an undaunted regard to veracity. Erafmus obferves, that he wrote as freely as the emperors whom he defcribed had lived. It is matter of furprife and regret, that we have not more biographers. Thoufands and tens of thoufands, eminent in every accomplimment, whofe examples might have inftruded the world, are become as though they had never been. In our own country, it is true that there are many biographical compilations, but they are for the moft part incomplete. Wood's Athens, though a book that does honour to the moft celebrated univerfity, has no merit as an elegant compofition. But I muft not omit the tribute of praife to the writer of the life of Cicero ; who has given us a molt accurate account of one of the greateft men that ever lived, in a ftyle truly claffical and manly. The public is alfo indebted to the author of the Rambler for many mafterly pieces of bio- graphy. His portraits would be more univerfally and permanently pleafing, if he had not too often indulged hi? fplcen, and converted a harlhnefs of feature into ab- folute caricature. I never could admire either the writ- ings or the life of the chief objeft of his panegyric, the unfortunate Savage. Worth is often unknown, or known imperfectly, till after death ; till that period, when it is too late to learn particular circumilances with accuracy. Hence it has happened that many of our fecond-rate authors and aftors in every department of life, though richly -de- ferving a place in the annals of fame, are recorded only in thoie volumes, where to be born and die, as Pope fays, makes all the hiitory. To preferve their o\vn actions from oblivion and mif- reprefentation, fome writers have been their o\vn bio- graphers. The tafk requires great delicacy. The very 1) 2 attempt 52 ESSAYS, No. 94. attempt indeed implies a confiderable degree of felf- value; but it has been jullified by the examples of f j huanus and Hume. Theie has appeared in our times and country a bio- graphical work on an extenfive plan. The firft edition of the Biographia Britannica was well defigned, yet un- equally, and, upon the whole, indifferently executed. Many diiHnguifhed lives are totally omitted; many, which are infignificant, tedioufly dcfcribed. Though there is fometimes much labour and fagacity exerted, yet there are few mafterly remarks. Moil of the articles were furnimed by writers of no great repute ; and there was every reafon for the new edition now undertaken. If I might prefume to fuggeft an improvement, I would advife, that elegantly engraved heads mould be pre- fixed to every life, whenever they can be procured ; and that the materials mould not be collected from books only, but from the traditionary reports, and the manu- icript letters remaining in the families of defcendants. The names of the living perfons who communicate the hints mould be added, both to fecure and to confirm their authenticity. - In the fecond edition, which is now preparing, though the embeliifhment of plates is not adopted, yet many other mod important improvements are made ; parti- cularly, that of collecting materials from traditionary as well as printed documents, t am informed, that the learned and accurate editor is in polTeffion of a great number of anecdotes of this kind; and there is every reafon to believe, that, under his conduct, the work will refleft new honour on the Bruilh nation. No. XCV. No. 9$. M O R A L, &c. 53 No. XCV. ON HOSPITALITY, AND THE CIVILITIES OF COMMON LIFE. IN the days of Horace, our countrymen were reputed to be fivage in their behaviour to Grangers. Thought in ihe prefent age che charge would be unjuil, yet it mull be owned, that there is a referve in the manner of an un- adulterated Englifhman, which feems to confirm the opi- nion, that he inherits a portion of that unfocial fpirit which difgraced his anceftors. But whatever may be hi* natural propenfuy, it is certain, that, in the liberal in- tercourfe and comprehenfive education which prevail in the prefent times, there is fcarcely any country in the world where a more cordial hofpitality is difplayed, than in fome parts of England. The days of Elizabeth have been extolled as the days of genuine hofpitality. The doors were thrown open, and, at the found of the dinner-bell, all the neighbour- ing country crowded to the fmoking table. Thefe were happy times indeed, fays the railer againit modern refine- ment. Yet it has been juftly doubted, whether this in- difcriminaie hofpitality was laudable. There was fome- thing generous and magnificent in the idea, and it gave the nobles of the land the influence of kings over their neighbourhood. Yet if its motive and its moral effeftj are conddered, it will appear to be }u!tiy exploded. It proceeded from the love of power and from oilentation, and it produced gluttony, drur.kennefs, and all their con- fequent vices. Confidered in a charitable light, as affording food to the hungry, it will be found a lefs ufeful mode than the modern inftitutiom for the accomplishment of that pur- pofe. It did not feleft its obf~ts : it considered not the - of indigence or of defcrt. The confequence was, ih.it it Mcreafed indigence, andleflened defert; for expe- rience has proved, that unnecefTary ah;, . tunable the motive of them, do a real injury where they mean a D 3 benefit, 54 ESSAYS, No. 95. benefit. They promote idlenefs, by teaching poverty to rely on other aid than the efforts of an honeft induftry. The great number of houfes now eftablifhed for the re- ception of travellers in every part of the kingdom, and the expeditious modes of travelling, which render delay wnneceflary, have contributed to reftrain that general lofpitality which opened the door to all who came. Such "hofpitality is no longer wanted ; but there never was a time when judicious civility, of all kinds, was more li- berally (hewn to ftrangers than theprefent. And what- ever the old Romans or the modern Gauls may affert of Britim ferocity of manners, no Italian or Frenchman of character ever came to our feparated more, toto divifos orbe Britannot, without having felt delight at his hearty reception, and regret on his departure. It feems probable that hofpitality keeps pace with ci- vilization. As the minds of a people are enlarged by improvements in knowledge, and communication with their neighbours, the felfim and morofe afteftions gra- dually lofe ground. In feveral parts of Europe, where focial improvements have not yet reached, the traveller is either confidered as lawful prey, or totally difregarded. On the other hand, we find the natives of the Society Ifles, feparated as they are from all the reft of the world, and by no means far removed from the favage ftate, re- markably hofpitable. Though fear might in fome de- gree caufe their civility to Europeans, yet it 'yas not the fole motive of it ; for we find their good offices, after all apprehenfions were removed, evidently proceeding from the tendereft and moft generous affection. On the firft appearance of the Englifh on their coafts, they naturally confidered them as enemies, and boldly oppofed their invafion. Many of them exhibited adls of heroifm, in defence of their country, fcarcely exceeded in the annals of antiquity. But no fooner was the branch of peace held out, than they received their wonderful vifitors with open arms ; with a humanity that reflects difgrace on the maritime villages of Europe, where a fhipwrecked fellow-creature, and fellow-countryman, has been de- ftroyed for the fake of plundering his vefiel. In other iflands difcovered by our circumnavigators, we find, that no kindnefs could mitigate the ferocity of the rude child ef No. 95. MORAL, &c. - 5 of nature. The hofpitality of barbarians, like all virtues that proceed not from principle, but from humour and accidental caufes, is of Huh value. A clearer light than the light of nature is necefiary to give a fteady operatiom to theVeelings of humanity. The idea which chriftianity has fuggefled of the rela- tion in which all men ftand to each other, is wonderful!* adapted to promote univerfal hofpitality. When we COR- fider all men as brothers, we fhall naturally receive the ftranger within our gates with cordial kindnefs, as a re lation whom we have never yet feen before, and to whom we wifh to difplay fome fignal of our love. It is indeed true, that many who are juftly efteemed worthy perfo^s, do not reduce this generous idea to practice; and the reafon feems to be, that they fuffer the attachments ot" domeftic life, and the connections of confanguinity, to engrofs the whole of their affections. Add to this, that the actual exercife of beneficence requires foraethin^ which is lefs in our power than benevolence. However jufl the complaints of the mifery of life, yer great occafions for the difplay of beneficence and liberali- ty do not often occur. But there is an hourly necefiity for the little kind offices of mutual civility. At the fame time that they give pleafure to others, they add to our own happinefs and improvement. Habitual acts of kind- nefs have a powerful effect in foftening the heart. An intercourfe with polifhed and humane company, tends to improve the difpofnion, becaufe it requires a conformity of manners. And it is certain, that a fenfe of decorum, and of a proper external behaviour, will reftrain thofe whofe natural temper would otherwise break out in acri- monious and petulant converfation. Even the affecta- tion of philanthropy will in time contribute to realife it. The pleafure refulting from an act of kindnefs naturally excites a wifli to repeat it ; and indeed the general efleem which the character of benevolence procures, is fufficient to induce thofe to wifh for it, who act only from the mean motives of felf-intereit. As-wc are placed in a world where natural evil abounds, we ought to render it fupportable to each other, as far as human endeavours can avail. All that can add a fweet ingredient to the bitter cup muft be infufed. Amid the D 4 multitude 56 ESSAYS, No. 9?. multitude of thorns, every flower that will grow mail be cultivated with care. But neither pomp nor power are of themfeives able to alleviate the load of life The Jicart requires to be foothed by fympathv. A thoufaad little attentions from all arcund us are necefTiry to ren- der cur days agreeable. The appearance of- neglect it* any of thofe with whom \ve are conne&ed, chills our bofcm with chagrin, or kindles the fire cf refentinent. !Noihing therefore feejns fo likely to enfure happinefs, as our mutual endeavours to promote it. Our fmgle en- deavours, originating and terminating in ourieKci, a;e ufually unfuccefsful.. Providence has taken care to fe- cure that intercourfe which is necefTary to the exi!lei:ce of fociety, by rendering it the greateft fweetener of hu- man life. By reciprocal attentions, we are enabled to beccme beneficent without expence. A fmile, an aftable ad- drefs, a look of approbation, are often capable of giv- ing a greater pleafure than pecuniary benefits can be- llow. The mere participation of the fhidies and amufements f)f others, at the fame time that it gratifies ourfelves, is : often an aft of real humanity; becaufe others v\ou!d not enjoy them without companions. A friendly viiit in a folitary hour, is often a greater ac~l of jcir.c'nefs than a valuable prefent. It is really matter of furprife, that thofe who are dif- tinguidied by rank and opulence, mould ever be un- popular in their neighbourhood. They muft know the value of popularity, and furely nothing is more eafiljr obtained by a fuperior. Their notice confers honour ; and the afpiring heart of man is always delighted with dilUnclion. A gracious look from them diffufes happi- nefs on the lower ranks. But it ufually happens, than an overgrown rich man is not the favourite of a neigh- bouring country; and it is unfortunate, that pride or inadvertence often prevent men from ailing the godlike part of making others happy, even when they might do it without inconvenience to themfeives. No. XCVI. Na. 96. MORAL, &c. 57 No. XCVI. ON THE MERIT OF ILLUSTRIOUS BIRTH. ^" HKRE is fcarcely any truth of which the world has been more frequently reminded by the mo- ralifb, than the unreafonabienefs of that veneration which is paid to birth. They have been told, that vir- tue alone is true nobility ; but though they have ac- knowledged the aflertion to be founded in reafon, they have continued, uith uniform perseverance, in the /ame error. The luminous glory of an illullrioiis anceltor, feems to have difnifed a brilliancy over a long line of defccndants, too opaque of tnemielves to emit any ori- ginal irradiations. Gratitude, which firft raifes a benefaclor to a diftin- guiihed rank in chil honours, is willing to continue its kindnefs to his immediate offspring. T. he diitinciion is> rendered hereditary. This predilection for an anceftor foon leads to the accumulation of honours and pofiefiions in his fuccefibrs ; and the incenfe originally offered, be- caufe it was deferred, is at laft laviQied at the Ihrine of opulence, independently of merit. Subordination is, indeed, eflential to fociety. The order of nobles, as hereditary guardians of the la*s, is found an ufeful political eifablifhment ; and none feerrt fo well adapted to fupply it, as they who have been railed to eminence by their ancestors, and who poflefs a territorial patrimony in the land which they are to protect. All that is contended for is, that the recom- mendation of birth may not fet afide or depreciate real merit, the praife of learning, and the intrinlic value of -virtuous exertions. Jt is a remarkable circumfbnce in the hiftory of man- kind, that fome of the befl books have been written, and fome of the greateft achievements performed, by thofe whofe origin was truly^jplebeian. The politeit and gentecleil bouks, whether the' fentiments or the P 5 ftyle 58 ESSAYS, No. 96. ilyle be confidared, have been produced by flavcs, or the defcendants of Haves. Horace, Phredrus, and Te- rence, wrote in a ftyle which muft have been the ftand- ard of a court, to an intercourfe with which they were by no means entitled by their extraclion. The founders of the moft diflinguifhed families emerged from the middle and the lower clafles, by the fuperior vigour of their natural abilities, or by extraordinary efforts, aflifted by fortune. And unlefs the adventitious circumftances of wealth and civil honours can effeft a change in the eonftituent principles of the mind and body, there is certainly no real fuperiority to be derived in a boafted pedigree of Tudors and Plantagenets. And yet there have appeared flatterers who have in- direflly fuggefted, that the minds of the nobility feem to be caft in a finer mould, and to have an elegance inherent in their original conftitution. According to this hypothefis, we muft go on to fuppofe, that the mind of a commoner, exalted to the higher order of fenators, catches this elegance by the contagion of in- vifible effluvia. On his creation he undergoes a kind of new birth, and puts off the exuviae which encumbered and degraded him in the lower regions. Thus are all the occult perfections of noble blood to be infufed by the mandate of a monarch. But no, faid Maximilian to a man who afked to be ennobled by him, though I can give you riches and a title, I cannot make you noble. In truth, there is many a nobleman, according to the genuine idea of nobility, even at the loom, at the plough, and in the fhop ; and many more in the middle ranks of mixed fociety. This genuine idea contains in it generofity, courage, fpirit, and benevolence, the qua- lities cf a warm and open heart, totally unconnected with the accidental advantages of riches and honour ; and many an Englifh failor has pcfieiled more of the real hero than a lord of the admiralty. If indeed there is any fubftantial difference in the quality of their blood, the advantage is probably on the fide of the inferior claffes. Their indigence and their manual employments require temperance and exercife, the beli purifiers of the animal juices. But the indolence which No. 96. MORAL, &c. 59 which wealth excites, and the pleafures which fafhion- able life admits without reftraint, have a natural tend- ency to vitiate and enfeeble the body as well as the mind. And among the many privileges inherited by him who boafts nobility in his veins, he commonly receives the feeds of the moft painful and the impureft difeafes. He difplays, indeed, a coronet on his coat of arms, and he has a long pedigree to perufe with fecret fatisfadion ; but he has often a gout or a fcrophula, which make him wifh to exchange every drop derived from his Norman anceftors, for the pure tide that warms a peafant's bofoin. The fpirit of freedom, moral, mental, and political, which prevails in England, precludes that unreafonable attachment to birth, which, in the countries of defpo- tifm, tends to elevate the noble to a rank fuperior to humanity. In our neighbour's land, the region of ex- ternal elegance united with real meannefs, the implicit veneration paid to birth, adds to the weight of legal oppreflion. A Frenchman of the plebeian order attends to a Count or a Marquis with all the filent fubmiffion of idolatry ; on the contrary, there is no doubt but that an Englim Gondolier would box with the beft Lord in the land, if he were affronted by him, without the leaft regard for his ftar and ribbon. It would indeed be an additional pleafure to the natural delight of conqueft, to have bruifed a puny Lord. Even the more refined and polifhed do not idolife illuftrious birth. In truth, wealth appears to be the objeft of more univerfal vene- ration. Noble blood and noble titles, without an eftate to fupport them, meet with great compaffion indeed, but wiih little refpedl -, nor is the man who has raifed himfelf to eminence, and who behaves well in it, nc- gleded and defpifed becaufe he derives no luftre from his forefathers. In a commercial country, where gain is the general objecl, they who have been moil fuccefs- ful in its purfuit will be revered by many, whatever was their origin. In France, where honour is purfued from the monarch to the cleanfer of a jakcs, the diftinclion of birth, even with extreme poverty, is enviable. The brother of a Marquis would rather ilarvc on a beggarly D 6 penfion, 6o ESSAYS, No. 96. penfion, than pollute himfelf with a trade by which he might acquire the revenues of a German kingdom. In our land of good fenfe, this folly is lofmg ground ; and the younger brothers of noble haute-, often think it no difgrace to rival the heir in a princely fortune acquired by honourable merchrmdife. As the world becomes more enlightened, the exorbi- tant value which has been placed on things m t really valuable will decreafe. Of all the effefts of man's ca- pricious admiration, there are few lefs rational than the preference of illuitrious defcent to perfonal merit, of difeafed and degenerate nobility to health, to courage, to learning, and to virtue. Of all the objecls of pur- fuit which are not in our own power, the want of dif- tinguifhed birth may molt eafily be diipenfed with, by thole who pofiefs a folid judgment of that which makes and keeps us happy. There may be fome reafon to re- pine at the want of wealth and fame ; but he who has derived fiom his parent health, vigour, and all the powers of perception, need not lament that he is un- noticed at the herald's office. It has been obferved, that virtue appears more ami- able, when accompanied with beauty ; it may be added, that it is more ufeful when recommended to the notice of mankind by the diftinftion of an honourable anc'eftry. It is then greatly to be wifhed, that the nobly born would endeavour to deferve the refpeft which the world pr.ys them with alacrity, by employing their influence to be- nevolent purpofes ; to thoie purpolVs which can at all times be accomplished, even when the patriotic exertions- of the field and cabinet are precluded. No. XCVII. No. 97. MORAL, No. XCVII. RELIGIOUS AND MORAL PRIN- CIPLES NOT ONLY CONSISTENT WITH, BUT PROMOTIVE OF, TRUE POLITENESS AND THE ART OF PLEASING. A PHILOSOPHER who, in the aufterity of his j~\ virtue Ihould condemn the art of pleafing as un- worthy cultivation, would deferve little attention from mr.nkind, and might be difmifled to his folitary tub, like his brother Diogenes. It is, indeed, the dictate of humanity, that we mould endeavour to render ourfelves agreeable to thofe in whofe company we are deftined to travel in the journey of life. It is"6ur interefl, it is the fource of pe r petual fatisfaftion ; it is one of our moil important duties as men, and particularly required in the profeflbr of chriitianity. I have therefore lamented, that they who have taken the moil pains to recommend an attention to the art cf pleafing, have urged it only on the mean motives of felf-intereft. In order to attain the power of pleafing they have recornmended flattery and deceit ; and though they have required in their pupils the appearances of many good qualities, they have not iniifted on any fub- f.antial and confiftent virtue. It is my wifh to exalt this amiable talent of pleafing to the rank ot a virtue founded on principle, and on the belt difpofuions of human nature. I would feparate it from thofe varnifhed qualities, which, like whited fepulchres, are bu: a clifguife for internal deformity. A ftudent of the art of pleafing, as it is taught in the fchool of fafhion, is ail foftnefs and plaufibility, all benei'oience and gencrofity, all attention and alliduity, all gracefulnefs and gentility. Such is the external appearance ; but compare it with his private life, with thofe actions which pafs unfeen, and you will find them by no means corrcfpondent. You will ufuaily find a hard heart, meannels, felfilhnefs, avarice, and a .total 6z ESSAYS, No. 97. total want of thofe principles from which alone true benevolence, fincere friendfhip, and gentlenefs of di(* pofition can originate. You will, indeed., find even the appearances of friendfhip and benevolence proportioned to the fuppofed riches and rank of him whofe favour and patronage are cultivated. It is a favourite maxim with thofe who teach the art of pleafing, that if you delire to pleafe you can fcarcely fail to pleafe. But what motive, according to their doctrine, is to excite this defire ? A wifh to render all with whom you converfe fubfervient to your interefled purpofes of avarice or ambition. It is a mean and defpicable motive, when made the fole and confhnt principle of converfation and behaviour. If this life is the whole of our exiftence, if riches and civil honours are the chief good, if truth, honour, and generofity, are but names to adorn a declamation, then, indeed, they who praftife the art of pleafing, accord- ing to the vulgar idea of it, are, after all, the truly and the only wife. But let us not deem fo meanly of the world and its Creator; and if our favourable opinion of things be an error, it is not only pardonable but glo- rious j and a generous man will fay, like the noble an- tient, he had rather err with a Socrates and a Plato, than be right with a Machiavel. But, indeed, the virtues and the graces are much more nearly allied, than they who are ftrangers to th virtues are willing to acknowledge. There is fomething extremely beautiful in all the moral virtues, clearly iinderftood and properly reduced to practice. Religion is alfo declared to be full of pleafantnefs, in that vo- lume in which its nature is defcribed with the greateil authenticity. It muft indeed be allowed, that he who is actuated in his defire of pleating by morality and re- ligion, may very properly add all the embellifhments of external gracefulnefs ; and he may reft affined, that the fincerity of his principles, and the goodnefs of his character, will enfure a degree of fuccefs in his attempts to pleafe, which a falfe pretender, with all his dupli- city, can never obtain. If true politenefs confifts in yielding fomething of oiir own preienfions to the felf-lov? of others, in re- pjeffing No. 97. MORAL, &c. 63 prefling our pride and arrogance, and ia a gentlenefs cf fentiment and conduct ; furely nothing can be more con- ducive to it than a religion which every where recom- mends brotherly love, meeknefs, and humility. I know not how paradoxical my opinion might appear to the fa fhionable clubs at St. James's, or to the profefled men of the world, or to the proficient in what I call the in- Jincere art of pleafing ; but I cannot help thinking, that a true chrillian, one who thinks and afts, as far as the infirmity of his nature will permit, confidently with the principles of his religion, poffeffes qualities more ca- pable of pleafing, than any of thofe which are faid fo eminently to have diftinguifhed a Marlborough and a Bolingbroke. The pious and amiable Mr. Nelibn feems to me to have deferved the epithet of all-acccmpliil.ed, much better than he to whom it has been fo often ap- plied ; and, if we may judge by his writings, and the accounts given of his life, as, on the one hand, there never was a better chri(Uan, fo, on the other, there never appeared a politer gentleman. It is evident that he de- rived his art of pleafing, not from a fludy of the world, or pradiiing the tricks of little worldlings, but from the lovely qualities recommended in the gofpel, and fiom an imitation of the humble Jefus. They who ftudy the art of pleafing will probably have recourfe, as ufual, to the many volumes written on the fubjeft in the French lan- guage, or to the pcfthumoir letters of afrenchified tn- glifhman ; and perhaps they would fmile if an inllruftor were to refer them, for the beft rules that have ever been given, to the fermon on the Mount. It is however certain, that the art of pleafing-, which is founded on fincere principles, derived from religion and morality, is as far fuperior to that bafe art which confifts only in fimulation and diffimulation, as the fine bril- Jiancy of the real diamond excells the luftre of French pafte ; or, as the rofeate hue on the cheek of Hebe, the painted vifage of a haggard courtezan. The infincere art of pleafing refembles the inferior fpecies of timber in a building, which, in order to pleafe the eye, requires the affiftance of paint ; but the art which is founded en fincerity, is more like that which difplays far greater beauty 64 ESSAYS, No. 97. beauty in the variety and richnefs of its own native veins and colour. A fhort time, or a flight tou.h, deltroys the fuperficial beauty of one ; while the other acquires new graces from the hand of time. The rules and doctrines of morality and religion 'tend to correct all the malignant qualities of the heart; fuch as envy, malice, pride, and refentment. In doing this, they cut oft" the very fource of difagreeable behaviour. Morality and religion inculcate whatever is juit, mild, moderate, candid, and benevolent. In doing this, they effectually promote a fyftem of manners, which, without any finifter deilgn in the perfon who poflefles them, can- not fail of being agreeable. If to thefe fubltantial powers of pleafing are added the laft po'ifh of a grace- ful deportment, the habits acquired in good company, an acquaintance with men and manners, a tafte for pc- lite arts and polke books, no other requifites will be wanting to perfect the art. A man will be under no neceffity of hurting his confcience and his character in cultivating, I know not what, of a deceitful and af- fected behaviour. He may be at once pleafing and re- fpectable ; and grow in favour with men, without of- fending his God. It is one circumftance greatly in favour of that art of pleafing which I recommend, that, even if it mould not always fucceed in pleafing thofe with whom we converfe, it will be fure to pleafe our own hearts ; it will be fure to fatisfy our confcience with a fenfe of rectitude at the time we are acting under its direction, and to furnim us with a tranquil delight, unalloyed by the remembrance of treachery and meannefs, on a retrofpective view o" our lives and couverfauons. No. XCVIII. No. 9$. M O R A L> &c No. XCVIII. ON THE GUILT OF INCURRING DEBTS, WITHOUT EITHER A PROSPECT O& AN INTENTION OF PAYMENT. AMONG the various devices which young men have invented to involve themfelves in difficulties and in ruin, none is more frequent than that of in- curring debt without any real necefllty. No fooner is the afpiring youth emancipated from his fchool, or his guardian and fuperintendants, than he- becomes, in his own idea, a man, and not only fo, but a man of confequence, whom it behoves to drefs and make a figure. To accomplifli the purpofe of making a figure, fome expenfive vices are to be affeded or praftifed. Bat as the llipends of young men, juft entering into life, are ufually inconfiderable, it is neccflary to bor- row on the moft difadvantageous terms, or to purchafe the various requifites of a pleafurab'le life on credit. The debt fcon accumulates from fmall beginnings to> a great fum. The young adventurer continues, while his credit is good, in the fame wild career; but adieu to real pleafure, to improvement, to honeft induflry, and to a quiet mind. His peace is wounded. A perpetual load fet ms to weigh him down ; and though his feelings may, by length of time and habit, become too callous. to be affected by the mifery of his fituation, yet he is loft to all fincere enjoyment ; and if he does not fall a victim of defpair, furvives only to gain a precarious ex- iftence at the gaming table, to deceive the unvvar., and to elude the refeaiches of perfecuting creditors. Even, if he is enabled, by the death of his parents or rich relations, to pay the debts which his youthful folly has contracted; yet has he fufFared long and much, and loll the beginning of life, the feafon of rational delight and folid improvement, in diltrefs and fears; in fabri- cating excufes and pretences, and in Hying from the eager purfaits of duns and bailiffs. But C6 ESSAYS, No. 98. But this folly, however pregnant with mifery, is en- titled to pity, and may, in fome degree, admit of thofe ufual palliations, youthful ardour, and want of experi- ence. Thoufands, and tens of thoufands, have ruined their fortunes and their happinefs by haftily running into debt before they knew the value of money, or the con- fequences of their cmbarraftment. We pity their mif- fortune, but in the firit part of their progrefs we do not ufually accufe them of difhonefty. But the habic of incurring debt, though in the earlier periods of life it may originate in thoughtleflhefs, com- monly leads to a crime molt atrocious in itfelf, and injurious to fociety. He who prayed againft poverty, kit he fliould be poor and (teal, understood human na- ture. Difficulties and diftrefles have a natural tendency to le/Ten the reitraints of confcience. The fortrefs of honour, when ftormed by that fort of poverty which is occasioned by profligacy, and not defended with found principles (fuch as men of the world do not often pof- fefs), has for the molt part yielded at difcretion. He then who began with incurring debt merely becaufe he was ftrongly fKmulated by paffion or fancy, and was not able to pay for their gratification, proceeds, when the habit is confirmed, and the firlt fcruples difmifTed, to contract debt wherever unfufpedting confidence will af- ford him an opportunity. If he pofieiTes titles, diitinftion, or any kind of emi- nence, he will not find it difficult to gain credit. Young tradefmen, defirous of making connections, are ready to run any rifque ; and hope that, if it is long before they receive their money, they fhall not be with- out the great man's patronage or recommendation. But here alfo they are often deceived ; for the great man confiders all his creditors as his enemies, and ne- ver thinks of them but to contrive methods to avoid and deceive them. If he happens to receive any money, he takes care to expend it among ftrangers, who have no other demand upon him but for the commodity which he pays for at the time of purchafe. The world is wide; and when one fet of credulous tradefmen are wearied with expectation and difappointment, the great man migrates to another part of the town or country, aud No. 9. MORAL, Sec. 6j and condefcends to honour fome ambitious, but unfor- tunate, mortal with the honour of dealing with him. Thus the great man goes on during the greater part of his life, and when the creditors are importunate, and the horrors of a gaol impend, he collets his property and withdraws from the kingdom, or living in difguiie, enjoys his luxuries, and laughs at his deluded tradef- men. Indeed, as moft ill qualities go together, his pride is fo great, that he fcarcely vouchfafes to bellow upon them a moment's confideration. But while the builder, the draper, the taylor, the butcher, the baker, and the chandler, remain unpaid, the jockey and the horfedealer, the miltrefs and the bro- ther gamefter, receive ready money with oltentatious profufion. Sharpers and proftitutes, with all the quali- ties of thievery, riot in thofe riches which ought to be paid to honeft men, who, with their families, are reduced to a ftate of ftarving, by feeding, cloa thing, and accommodating fome hardened profligate, and ex- travagant debauchee. Who but muft feel indignation when he fees a man in high life, as it is called, eating a joint of meat of fome poor tradefman, whofe children are at the fame moment begging of their parent a mor- fel of bread ? Who fees, without lifting up his hands, my Lord, or fir John, fitting joyous at the head of a plentiful table, fuppHed, gratis, with every article, by the father of thofe children ? Indeed, the pride and vanity of fome perfons, who value themfelves on their birth, or their fafhionable mode of life, induce them to look upon themfelves as a fuperior order of beings, and to prefume that they have a right to be flill fupported by their tradefmen in profufion and elegance, even after they are reduced in their circumftances either by misfortune or mifcon- ducl. If an honefl man makes his demand, he is im- pertinent ; his infolence is not to be borne ; he is difmifled ; but not till he evidently mews that he *ill no longer fupply the commodities in which he deals. On his difmilfion, fome exception is taken to his ac- count ; a difpute cnfues, and that difpute furnifhes the fine gentleman or fine lady with a pretence for not paying the bill. In the mean time card parties^ vifuings 53 ESSAYS, No. 99. vifitings, and all fafhionable pleafures proceed as ufual for who would be fo vulgar as to attend to the imper- tinence of the fcum of the earth, or fuffer one fafhion- able pleafure to be fet afide by the clamorous impor- tunity of a mean mechanic j though his meannefs arifes from his having fpent his fubftance in (applying the perfon who dtefpifes him, with the initruments of lux- ury, or the necefTaries of life ? The profligacy, the vanity, the unceafing purfuit of pleafure, and thepaffion for external appearance, which, chara&erife the prefent age, are neceflarily productive of expence ; expences occafion diftrefs, and diftrefs, where principles are deficient, difhonefly. No wonder then, that in no age have fharpers, fwindlers, and in- folvent contractors of debt, fo much abounded. There is hardly any mode of public life, efpecially in the me- tropolis, in which you can be engaged, without having your property expofed to the depredations of villains, who have made cheating a profeiTion, and reduced the art of robbery to a fyftem. " Many of the perfons who live on the fubftance of others, by borrowing, purchafing, or employing with- out intending, and without being able to pay, make a fplendid figure, and pafs for gentlemen and men of ho- nour. But however they may felicitate themfeves on their fuccefs, and in the gratification of their pride and vanity, I mall nothefitate to pronounce them more cri- minal and deteftable than highwaymen and houiebreak- ers, becaufe, to the crime of a6lual theft, they add a moll ungenerous breach of confidence. No. CXIX. CURSORY REMARKS ON THE LIFE, STYLE, GENIUS, AND WRITINGS OF PETRARCH. ONE of t'efirft and brighteft luminaries which ap- peared in the literary horizon, after a long and difm?J night,' was the illufcrous Francefco Petrarch. He was born at Arezzo as he informs us himfelf, though Yoffius No. 99. MORAL, &c. 6> Voffius denies it. He became archdeacon of Parma, and canon of the cathedral church of Padua, and might have arrived at the higheft preferments which the popes can beftow, if he had not difdained fome difhoneft and humiliating compliances. To form an adequate idea of the merit of the writers who arrived at excellence in the dawn of literature, it is neceflary to confider, with attention, thofe peculiar cir- cumitances which rendered even a mediocrity of learning a difficult attainment. Books were fcarce, judicious in- ftru&ors Hill more uncommon, and the powerful infliga- tion of cotemporary models in a great meafure deficient. Petrarch's claim to entire originality is not however uni- verfally allowed. He certainly imitated Cino de Piftoja; and Bayle fays, he itole many of his fentiments from him. Dante, indeed, preceded Petrarch, but I do not find that he made Dante his model. With real difficulties and impediments, and with few circumftances to excite a fpirit of enterprize, fufficiently ardent and perfevering to fur- mount the very formidable obftacles, it is really wonder- ful that any individual could afcend, by his own efforts, the eminent heights of iuperior excellence. Such, however, was the native force of Petrarch's ge- nius, that in the middle of an unenlightened age he became celebrated throughout the civilized nations of Europe as an orator, philofopher, and poet. His poetical fame is, indeed, the moil diitinguimed. Formed with the fineft fenfibility of foul, he had the pecu- liar felicity of being born in a country whofe language is the language of love. The ardour, the cor.ftancy, and the romantic nature of his paffion, rendered him univerfally popular in an amorous and romantic age. In our own country he became the pattern of one ofour earlieft poets, Henry Howard earl of Surrey. And, amiclft all the dif- advantnges of a Northern and Gothic language* the Engiifn poet has celebrated his lovely Geraloine, in Itrains which are faid, by fome, to difplay more of the genuine tcndcrnefs of nature, than thofe in which the great Italian iung his Laura. " In the ion nets of Surrey," fays Mr. Warton, " \ve are furprifed to find nothing of the; inetafJiyfical caft which marks the Italian poets, hid fuppcled matters, efpecially 70 ESSAYS, No. 99. efpecially Petrarch. Surrey's fentiments are for the moll part natural and unaffected, arifing from his own feel- ings, and dictated by the prefent circumftances. His poetry is alike unembarrafled by learned allufions or ela- borate conceits. If our author copies Petrarch, it is Pe- trach's better manner, when he defcends from his Platonic abilraflions, his refinements ofpafiion, his exaggerated compliments, and his play upon oppofite fentiments, into a track of tendernefs, fimplicity and nature. Petrarch would have been a better poet had he been a worfe fcholar. Yet, upon the whole, I mould as foon think of preferring Surrey to Petrarch, as of peferring a Gothic country church to a Grecian temple. It is certainly true, that feveral of the poets who have devoted themfelves to the defcription of the tender paf- fion, have fhewn that they really did not always feel it in its greateft flrength and purity while they wrote. The love which nature infpires does not diftate antithesis, point, conceit," and witticifm. But Ovid, the poet of Love, abounds with thefe even in his moft impaffioned verfe. Cowley's miftrefs is by no means replete with the language of paflion. I know not that even the gentle Waller exprefles the fentiments which a tender and ardent lover feels and utters. Hammond has writ- ten like one who was but little fmitten with the tender paflion. Petrarch alfo, has often addreffed his verfes to the undemanding, when they mould have been directed to the feelings ; has endeavoured to pleafe the imagina- tion with an oppofition of images, when all his (kill mould have been exerted in caufing the nerves to vi- biate at the touch of fympathy. The mind of the reader is difappointed, when, inftead of the fimple ex- preffions of nature he finds the fubtilty of art ; nor does he allow ingenuity on the fubjedl of love to be a com- penfation for pathos. It has been faid his diclion is obfcure. The want of perfpicuity arifes chiefly from his having adopt- ed a great many terms in the provincial language, which, fince his time, has ceafed to be colloquial in Italy, though it has been preferved by the poets in imitation of their matter. The admiffion of antiquat- ed exprcffions is allowed by the belt judges to be an 5 exquifuc No. 99. MORA L, &c. 71 exquifite mode of adding a dignity to compo/ition. It has been prefcribed by the beft critics, and praftifed by the beft writers. And, with refpeft to the obfcurity it may occafion, the fault is in the reader. Poetry has a language of its own. For the fake of elevation it is con- ftrained to feek a didion remote from convcrfation or fa- miliar profe. He who reads and criticifes poetry, ought to be acquainted with its peculiar and idiomatic language. Homer, Virgil, Milton, wrote in a diction which will not be underftood by him who has been folely converfant in the profaic writings of their feveral languages. This, in- deed, may be juftly faid, that the dignity of the epopcea may require this method of contracting a venerable air, much more than the humbler ftrains of the plaintive in- amorato. If any part of Petrarch's obfcurity arifes from the confufion of his ideas, or his perplexed method of exprefling them, no veneration for his name muft pro- tect, him from cenfure. Indeed feveral very able critics have complained, that they could not underftand him without an interpreter. Enough of his meaning and of his beauties has been underftood by his own countrymen, to give him the title of the Father of the Tufcan poetry. The claflkal excellence of his language has contributed to give a name to the century in which he lived ; for the Italians call it the good age cf their language, and attribute the happy effect in a great meafure to Petrarch. Sweet, indeed, are the greater part of his fonnets, fweet their language, and fweet their fentiments. Though criti- cifm may point our quaintne/Tes and unnatural conceits, may cenfure one part as metaphyfica!, and another as affected, yet the fenfible reader will not judge by parts, but by the whole effect of an entire piece ; and if his feelings have been often finely touched, and his imagination delighted, he will give himfelf up to the magic of the poet, and joining in the general applauf*, leave the cold critic to whifper his detraction difre- garded. The love-verfes of many writers cannot be recom- mended without danger. But the fort of love which Petrarch felt, fuppofing the object a proper one, refines and ennobles humanity. It is a fpecics of paffion which 72 ESSAYS, No. 99. was never felt in the flighted degree by the modern de- bauchee. It partakes ibmething of the nature of real devotion, and while it elevates human nature in idea, it contributes fomething to its real exaltation. Chaiiity was the virtue of the age in which romantic love pre- vailed, and one virtue is allied to all. The age was vir- tuous, in comparifon with thofe times in which love is degraded to its loweft fpecies, and even the philofo- phers endeavour to reduce man to the humiliating con- dition of a mere animal. But Petrarch is not to be considered only as an Italian poet. He wrote Latin poetry with great reputation ; and, indeed, during his life, fecms to have acquired more honour from that, than from his vernacular pro- ngany of them ; and do not regard what any one fays of you, for this, after all, is \o concern of yours. How long will you defer to tnink y< iirftlf wortr.y of the nob!eil imp.*, vemenrs, and in no inltance to tninf- grefs the diiunctjons of reafon ? You ore no longer a boy, but a grown man. If, therefore, you will be ne- gligent and flothful, and always add procrnftination to procraftination, purpofe to purpofe, and fix day after day in which you will attend to yourielf, you will in- fenfibly continue without proficiency; and living and dying, perfevere in being onf of the vulgar. This in- ftant then, think yourielf worthy of living as a man grown up, and a proficient. Ler whatever appears to be the beft, be to you an inviolable law. And if any inrtance of pain or pleafure, or glory or difgrace, be fet before you, remember that now is the comdat, now the olympiad comes on, nor can it be put erf; and that, by once being worftcd and giving way, proficiency is loft; or, by the contrary, preferved. Thus Socrates became perfecl, improving himfelf by every thing, at- tenuing to nothing but reafon And, though you are no.t yet a Socrates, you ought, however., to live as one defirous of becoming a Socrates ' Upon all occasions we ought to have this faying of No. 106.' MORA L, &Ci 99 of Socrates at hand, " O Crito, if it thus pleafes the gods, thus let it be ! Anytus and Melitus may kill me indeed, but hurt me they cannot." The conferences of Epiflecus, from which, indeed, the manual is in great meafure collected, quaint as they appear, abound with pithy remarks ; fuch as fuggeit much more to the mind of arefleSing reader, than meets the ear. The gold, however, as it happens in the richelfc mines, is furrounded with much drofs. The uncouth manner in which the conferences appear in a tranfla- tion, however excellent, has deterred many from per- ufing them, who would have found th'eir perfeveranca amply rewarded. I cannot, therefore, help wiping, for the fake of liberal ana lludious young men, thru all the valuable matter were extracted, and prdented to their view, with accuracy ; but, at the Tame tii:ie, with all the ornaments of an elegant and flowing diction. I fhould, indeed, think it an excellent mode of improving the minds and morals of thu:t; who :.re in :h ccurie of their education, if fome one paflage, like thofe cited above, were fele&ed as a text or fubjedt on which the preceptor might expatiate. For, next to the fcriptures themfelves, the writings of the ftoics cqntribute moft to raife and refcue human nature from the humiliation and wretchednefs into which it is prone to fall, by natural degeneracy, inherent weaknefs, and acquired corrup- tion. They operate on the mind like thofe medicines on the body which are called bracers, cr corroboratives, and furely that philofophy ought to be encouraged by every moralilt and ftatefman, which adds nerves to vir- tue, and gives liability to empire. NO. CVI. ON SWEETNESS AND DELICACY OF STYLE. AS there is in fbme flowers an exqtiifite fcenr, and in fome fruits a delicious flavour, to r e:-prefs \,.iLh no language has a name ; 10 there u ., cm . *' 2 and lo ESSAYS, No. 106. and a delicacy which eludes defcription, and can only be perceived by the fenfibility of tafte. But though it may be difficult to analyfe this agreeable quality, or to teach a writer how to infufe it into his works, yet it is by no means equally arduous to point out a few authors, in whom both the obfervations of others, and our own feelings, have difcovered it. This, indeed, is the only method of communicating it; and though it is not to be taught by didadic and formal precepts, it may be acquired by the contagious influence of a captivating example. Swcetnefs is chiefly to be found in Lyric poetry ; but is by no means confined to it. Though Voflius is of opinion, that fweetnefs is peculiar to Lyric, as gravity to the epic, Simplicity to the paftoral, foftnefs to the elegiac, jocularity to the comic, pathos to the tragic, bitternefs to the fatyric, and pungency to the epigram- matic ; yet I rather think, that they all admit, on fome occafions, fomething of this captivating quality. Homer, who will furnifh models of every ftyle, often mixes, among his ruder beauties, a delicate fweetnefs of di&ioo, which, befidesits own inherent power of pleafmg, embel- limes all the rougher parts by the power of contraft. Theocritus is 11 fweetnefs ; and if a reader, with a good ear, ihooM not underftand the bard of Syracufe, he might lull be delighted with the delicious honey of the doric dialed, Many of the little, but elegant, compofitions in the anthologize, owe all their excellence to the feleftion of words, which convey enchanting mufic to the ear. They feem, indeed, to trickle like liquid honey from the honeycomb, and this without any affe&ation in the writers ; for fuch are the peculiar beauties of the Greek language, that it is difficult to write on fubjefts connected with pleafure, love, and beauty, without ufing fuch expreflions as, befides their real meaning., excite an idea of fweetnefs, fimilar to the objects re- prefented. Sweetnefs is the peculiar excellence of the joyous bard of Teos. The bacchanalian fongs of modern times partake very little of thofe delicate charms which diftinguifh a ftyle truly anacreontic. It does not indeed appear, No. 106. MORAL, &c. toi appear, that the modern bacchanals have thought it poffible that their joys mould admit of delicacy. The fongs, therefore, which have been written to enliven and itimulate their mirth, have ufually been of acoarfer kind, and fuch as necefTarily excluded fweetnefs of com- pofition. They feem to have confidered a Bacchus as lie is rudely reprefented on a fign-poft, and not as he is defcribed by the poets and fculptors of antiquity, a moft graceful and elegant figure. Anacreon, after all, like the Greek epigrammatifls, muft be acknowledged to owe much of his fweetnefs to a language,- which can- not be otherwife than fweet on certain fubjefts,, without unnatural violence. The Latin language, though fufceptible of peculiar delicacy, is certainly lefs capable of fweetnefs than the dialed of Athens, Ionia, and Doris. But ftill there are many authors in it, who have derived much of the power of pleafing the human race, during near twenty centu- ries, from the fingular fweetnefs of their ftyle. Catullus, I believe, deferves to be mentioned among the firft of thofe who have emulated the Greeks in their diftinguifhed excellence. Few books would have been better calculated to give boys a true tafle for fweet com- pofition, if the decency of the poet's fehuments had beea equal to the delicacy of his ftyle. Horace was a very Proteus in the circumftance of a verfatile and variegated didlion. His odes abound with ftanzas, and his other works with heroic verfes, which evidently prove, that if he had chofen to vie with Virgil in ftrength and dignity, he would have approach- ed his rival. But he was a man of pleafure, and his favourite ftyle is that in which he celebrates love and' wine. In this there is a remarkable fweetnefs ; and I know not whether the curiofa f elicit at, or thnt charm of his writings, which refulted from ftudy and hnppinefs united, may not be faid to confift in fweetnefs and delicacy. Such is the delightful fweetnefs of the ninth- ode of the fourth book, and the fourth of the third, that all readers have been charmed with them ; and Julius Scaliger, a very warm critic, has aflerted, that he had rather be the author of them than of all Pindar's odes, or than be elevated to the rank of a monarch. E J It 102 ESSAYS, No. 106. It i?, I think, certain, that many of the odes of Horace, and many of the works of other pcets of equal fame, have delighted mankind from one generation to an- other, far- lefs by their fentiments than by thofe con- genial beauties, a fweetnefs of language, a delicate choice of words, and a well modulated collocation. The modeft bard of Mantua indifputably owes his influence over the human mind, to his talent in attemper- ing, in a inoft judicious union, foftnefs, fweetnefs, and the niceft delicacy, with the moft majeftic grandeur. Among the profe writers of Greece and Rome, every reader cf tafte will immediately obferve, that Herodo- tus and Xenophon, Cacfar and Cicero, claim the firft ?lace in the excellence of a fweet ftyle. The two linies and Paterculus have a confiderable fh ire of it. Thucydides, Salluft, and Tacitus are too fond of aulterity to admit any great portion of fweetnefs. Many of the modern Latin poets have diftinguimed thcmfelves by the fweetnefs of their verfe. Some of them have, however, carried it to excefs, and have writ- ten in the worft manner of Grotius, Johannes Secun- dus, and Bonifonius. Sweetnefs ought to be diflin- guiftied from Jufcioufnefs ; the one afFecls us with the ienfations durably agreeable; the other quickly cloys tnd palls the appetite. Tl>e eminent French writers, who certainly pofTefs tafte, have difplayed a remarkable fweetnefs of ftyle. The Italians can fcarcely compofe without difplaying it. Ke who has formed a tafte for this quality, will find it fully gratified in the writings of Fontaine, Metaftafio, and, indeed, in all the celebrated authors of France and Italy. Thofe nations, in modern times, have been more defective in ilrength and nerve, than in any of the fofter qualities, the purpofe of which is to pleafe. Though the French are difpofed to deny the Englifh the praiie of tafte, I cannot help thinking, that we have writers who can rival them in their prctenfions to every excellence which can adorn compofition. Our Addifon, like feme of the moft celebrated ancients, pofTefles that f\veetnefs, that delicacy, and that grace, ^hich is formed to pleafe the human mind, under all tho No. 106. MORAL, &c. 103 the revolutions of time, of fafbion, and of capricious tafte. It is not only the exceJent matter which pro- duces the efteft of gently compofing our paffions while we are reading Addiion ; but it is alfo that fweet ftyle, which c.innot be read. and t^ n .ed without com- mi'M ating to the inina fomething of its O'vn euuability, Sir William Ternpie was, indetd, the mojel of .vd- difo.i, ar.d he is remaikable for the fweeinefs of his flyle, especially i/ he is compared with the writers of his own tim-. All our eminent poets have judicioufly mingled Avcernefs with ihength, and er ice with digm'y. Waller h~.s uiually obtained th. praife cf i\v-etrci~s ; but he has been greatly exceeded by his fucce.Tors in this and e 1 ery 01.1:0 fj ccies of poetry. If that fort of emus which conflitutes a Homer, a Shnkefpeare, a Mi I ion, lus not been common among us; yet the iuboroinate fpecies, which is difplayed in elegant mediocrity, and in what we call pretty and pleafing opjfcula, has been no \vhcre more : '-.uiiuaiu. It ap:.c:ir a to me, that the later writers of profe have rath .r afiritea the mafculine and nervous, than the fweet and o, T -ci\>\ The late Mr. Harris is, indeed, an exception ; f ;r he coliefted the pureft honey from the flowers of Attica. The author of Fitzofborne's letters has exhibited both grace and fweetnefs ; and I wifh they were not fometimes injured by verbofity. Johnfon, Hawk-^fworth, Robertlon, are chiefly admired for fbength and force. Hume has now and then dif^Iayed fomething of Addifonian fweetnefs in a few of his moral cfl'ays. It is to be wilhed he had difpiayed alfo fomething of the Addifonian goodnefs of heart. The Warburtonnn fchool, as Hume called it, though it has produced ingenious and nervous writers, cannot boaft either of fueetnefs or gracefulnefb. It has delighted much in violent controverfy and arbitrary dictation, both of which ufually bid defiance to the Graces, and prefer bitternefs and acrimony to fweetnefs. Though it may not be eaiy to define the whole of~ that, whatever it is, which conttitiites,fweeinefsof ftyle, yet it is by no means difficult to difcover one or two circumftances which are highly conducive to it. It is- F 4 indeed, 104- . ESSAYS, No. 107. indeed, obvious to obferve, that the frequent ufe of liquid letters, and of labials combined with fyllables, confifting of vowels with few confonants, contributes greatly to fweeten the didlion. But fo nice a point is real excellen e, that the fmalleft excefs or affeflation of any particular beauty will totally deftroy all its agreeable effel. It muft refult from nature, cultivated, indeed, but not too clofely confined and directed, by art. Alliteration is conducive to fweetnefs, and is a figure frequently ufed by the beft writers, antient and modern. Ufed with caution it cannot fail to pleafe ; but the caufe of the pleafure fhould be latent. When this figure obtrudes itfelf too often, and in excefs, as it does in feveral modern writers, it lofes all its grace, and the- reader refents and loaths the paltry artifice of a writer who depends on fo poor a claim to applaufe. This, in- deed, and all oiher ornaments are to be ufed, as it has been obferved, like fait at a meal, which agreeably feafons every difh when mixed in moderation, but which would fpoil the whole, if it were rendered the predo- minant ingredient in the repaft. No. CVII. HINTS TO THOSE WHO ARE DE- SIGNED FOR THE PROFESSION OF PHYSIC. IT was always a part of my defign, in thefe papers, to fuggeft a few hints of advice to young perfons who are juft entering on any of the liberal profefiions ; not, indeed, with a prefumptuous intention to direcl them in a technical or fcientific praftice, but merely to give them feme general? ideas, which may render their views more liberal, and their minds more generous, or arm them with fome ufeful precautions. I remember too well the impertinence of the fophill who read a lecture to Hannibal on the art of war, to- think of in- ftrucling any perfons in the peculiar or mechanical art and fcience, which they have made the ftudy of their lives. But there are certain univerfal truths which men, attached to a particular purfuit, fometimes over- look. No. 107. M O R A L, Sec. 105 look. There is alfo a certain enlargement of mind, which is loft in the narrow habits and confined views of thole who take an active part in a lucrative profeffion. He who furveys life in an extenfive profpect, may fee a variety of magnificent objects which efcape the eye, which is conftantly fixed on a few fingle circumftances, and confined within a narrow circle. It is the bufinefs of the moralift to infpect every part of human life, to endeavour to correct its errors, and promote all the ex- cellence and happinefs of which it is capable. It has been jultly remarked, that they who enter on the profeflion of medicine in any of its branches, have commonly depended for fuccefs, rather on the culti- vation of the graces than the fciences. And it is certain, that many perfons whofe folid attainments were very moderate, have run away with the greateft fhare of wealth and popularity, with few other recommendations than a fine perfon, a fhewy drefs, a fmgular equipage, and an undaunted effrontery. But fmce internal fatisfaction, a confcioufnefs of having done all that was poflible to prepare for a pro- feilion, and of having pretended to no more than we are able to perform, is a furer fource of happinefs, than, the applaufe, and even the guineas of the ignorant mul- titude ; I advife every pupil, who values fubftantial hap- pinefs more than the phantom of it, to devote the firft period of his life to a very ferious pursuit of every part of knowledge which contributes to give him, not only a practical, but a theoretical {kill in his profeflion ; not only the contracted ideas of a mercenary practitioner, but the comprehensive fentiments of a lludent in phi- lofophy. The foundation fhould be kid in an education truly liberal. It is really lamentable to obferve the extreme ignorance of thofe among medical practitioners, who are applied to in the firft inftance, and who conftitute the moll numerous clafs. They are taken from a writing fchool, or perhaps a grammar fchool, at the age of fourteen, and bound apprentices. They have uiually acquired a good hand writing ; but their knowledge of the daffies is leldom worth mentioning; and, upon the whole, their education may be faid to be about equal F. 5 to io6 ESSAYS, No. 107. to that of a pauper in a parifh chanty fchool. Their bu- fmeis is to Hand behind the counter, and compound medicines by the prefcriptions of the doctor. Thefe are " ufually in Latin, written very badly, and full of affedled abbreviations. They are, indeed, often fo enigmatical, that nothing lefs than the fagacity of an CEdipus can re- folve their difficulties. The poor lad, if he has time, will toil at his dictionary, where, however, he often toils in vain ; but if he has not time, which is ufually the cafe, he takes the moil expeditious method of doing bufinefs. He is aftimned to confefs his ignorance, and therefore pets up any medicine which his c njedure fupgeits ; the phial is wrapt up, difpatched with all ex- pedition, and the patient poifoned. After having fpent feven years in a {hop pounding drugs and fpreading pi alters ; and after having acquired a little paltry portion of mechanical knowledge by conftant habit, he is difmiffed as complete ; and goes Into the country a bold profeffor of chirurgery and pharmacy. With a fmart drefs, an unblufliing coun- tenance, and a voluble tongue, he is fure of fuccefs, and bids defiance to all the learning in the world. In, his own opinion he is another Hippocrates or Heberden ; and, indeed, he i? an objedl of real wonder to the country people ; for he collects a few hard words from Ms dictionary, which he utters with great gravity among goflips and farmers, who confider him as a very learned man, as well as prodigioufly clever in his profefiion. Thofe who could bear witnefs againft his fkill, are all fecured and filenced in the church-yard. 1 pfiert, that a knowledge of Greek as well as Latin, is really necefiary to the apothecary, if he would perform his bufinefs with that accuracy which is certainly re- quired in fo important an employment. A boy, def- tined to this employment, fhould by no means leave his fchool till the age of fixteen or feventeen. The knowledge of the learned languages, acquired before that time, is merely elementary ; it is only of ufe as it leads to farther improvement in the languages. It cannot qualify for any profcilion, much lefs for the apothecaries, the names of whofe inftrunients, medi- cines. No. 107. MORAL, &c. 107 ernes, and operations, are, for the moft part^ either wholly Greek, or of Greek extra6tion. But, indeed, if he wifhes to raife his profeffion above the level of an empiric, or a farrier, he mould acquire a libi-T.i! education for its own fake, independently of its ule in n mercenary view ; for the fake of polifhing his rniud, and elevating his fentiments. With a liberal edu- cation and a a e,% Lenfive practice, he is in fact a phyfician, though called an apothecary ; and though he mould nei- ther have purchafed a diploma, nor have earned a regu- lar degree by {pending his time, money, and health in an Engii.h iM'.verlity, he is a gentleman ; and the pecu- liar utility of his employments, when judicioufly and humanely conducleJ, entitle him to the company and converfation of ail who ueierve that diftinction. Tatre never was an age in which they who intend to lupport the dignified character of graduated phy- ficb.is, had better opportunities for improvement in pfeyfiotogy. Lectures, as well as books, in anatomy, chcniiilry, and every pait of fcience and natural phi- lofophy, never more abounded. Let the ft "dent devote himieif to thefe with long and fericus application, and, depend more upon them, than on the caprice of faftiion,.' or any fingulanty in his chariot or livery. A popular jphyfician in a great capitr.l, and indeed any where, is a very important member of fociety, confidered merely in a political view. The lives, limbs, health, and fpims of a very great part of the fu-bjecls of a kingdom depend upon his fkill and noncfty. A man who under- takes this office, and recommends himfelf by addrefs and artifice, .vithout qualifying himfelf with every pre- paratory knowledge, and who abufes the confidence of thofe wno ily to him as to a guardian angel, in the deepen; diltrefs, has very little claim to the title of aahoneit man; and daferves to be ftigmatized and punifhed with the worlt of villains, and rhe viieil or' (harpers.. It has been obferved, and regretted, th.u fome in- dividual in this liberal profeilion have exhibited fuch an attention to interelt, as is incompatible with the common feelings uf humanity. Such perfons are their owa enemies ; for nc gratifications <: fordid avarice can equal the delicious fenfations of him, who delight., in F a exer.iiing 108 E .S S A Y S, No. ioS. exercifing his {kill, in diffufing joy through the haunts of mifery, and in relieving the fick, the maimed, the halt, and the blind. There is, indeed, fomething godlike in the medical profeffion, when it is humanely and difmtereftedly ex- ercifed. Every one, it is true, ought to pay that regard to intereft, which prudence, and a love of his own family demand ; but he who alfo delights in relieving, from the fatisfactions of fympathy and a fenfe of duty, may be faid to refemble the great model of every perfection, Jefus Chrift, who went about doing good, and healing all man- ner of ficknefs and difeafes among the people. NO. CVIII. THE COMPLAINTS AGAINST MODERN LITERATURE PROBABLY ILL- FOUNDED. TO complain of the prefent, and to praife the pair, has fo long been the favourite topic cf difap- pointment, or of ignorance, that every ftrifture on the degeneracy. of the times is looked upon as the effufion of ill-nature, or the refult of fuperficial obfervation : but the abfurdity of declamatory inveftive ought not to preclude the cool remarks of truth, reafon, and ex- perience." The practice' of vice, or virtue, has indeed varied at different periods, rather in the mode, than in the de- gree ; but the (rate of literature has fuffered more vi- olent revolutions ; it has fometimes fhone with the brighteft luftre ; and at others has been totally over- fhadowed with the darknefs of barbarifm. To review the ftate of learning from the earlieft periods, and to inveftigate the caufes of its fluctuation, is a talk that requires much labour, fagacity, and eru- dition. More fuperficial enquiries will, however, fuf- fice to examine the juftice of the charge of literary degeneracy in the prefent age, and, if it be well founded, to difcover the caufes of it. It has been obferved by an ingenious writer, that as every age has been marked by fome peculiarity, from which No. 108. MORAL, Sec. 109 which it has derived its charafteriftic appellation ; fo the prefent, were it to be diftinguifhed by a name from its molt prevalent humour, might be called, the age of authors. Of late years,, almoft every man has felt an ambition of appearing in print, from the voluminous lexicographer, down to the fcribbler in a pamphlet or a newfpaper. It is, indeed, natural to fuppofe, that - of a great number of competitors, fome would reach the prize ; and that the univerfal combination of intel- lects would efrecl fome ftupendous work, which mould exceed all the productions of our predeceflbrs, and demand the admiration of the lateft pofterity. It has, however, been obferved, that the learning of the prefent age is not deep, though diffufive ; and that its pro- ductions are not excellent, though numerous. The multiplicity of compofitions is an argument of their hafty production ; and haftinefs is, at leaft, a pre- fumptive proof of their want of merit. In this point, the literary and the natural world refemble each other. The productions of nature, whether vegetable or animal, as they are either of a flow or fpeedy growth, arc known to be durable or tranfuory, folid or unfub- ftantial. The oak and the elephant are long before they attain perfection, but are ftill longer before they decay : while the butterfly and the floweret perifh as they arife, almoft within a diurnal revolution of the fun. The works of Virgil coft him much time and labour ; but they have exifted near two thoufand years univerfally admired, while the compofitions of that poet, who boafted he could write two or three hundred verfes while lie flood on one leg, were loft in a fpace almoft as fliort as that in which they were produced. But the hafty formation of literary works in modern times, is not a greater obftacle to their excellence, than the mercenary motives of their authors. The office of inftrucling mankind in morality, and of informing them in fcience, was once referved for thofe alone who were particularly adapted to the tafk by the impulfes of genius, by peculiar opportunities, and by fingular ap- plication. In thefe times, however, the profeifion of an author is become a lucrative employment, and is praftifed rather by thofe who feel the inconvenience of hunger, "o ESSAYS, No. log. hunger, _than by thofe who are Simulated with the hope of immortality. But it is a known truth., that avarice contrafts the mind, and renders it mcapab.t- of elevated fentimcnts and generous enterpiizrs. It ceafes therefore to be matter of wonder, that works are defti- tute of fpirit, when they pruce? njt from the noble iii-i'' iir infpired by the love of fame, but from the frJgid incitements of the iove of m :icy. The depiaved taile of re.iuers is another caufe of the degeneracy of writers. They who writ.- /or the pubhc, muft gratify the tafte of the public. In vain are their compofitions formed on the ir>ouel of the befl \vri;rs, and regulated by the precepts of the moic judicious critics, if they conform not to the popular caprice, and the miftaken judgment of the vulgar. In an ; ;,c \vhen the tafte for reading is un'uerfal, many \vo . '-;s, contemptible both in defign and execution, will be re- ceived by fome r^ .ders, with diftinguifhed applaufe. The want of th" merits of juft reasoning at>d pure language is, with the greater part, the half-iearnev. and the ignorant no objection. In truth, urconn.Cted thoughts, and fuperficial declamation, are congenial to minds unaccuftomed to accurate thinking, and infenfible of the charms of finiflied excellence. Hence writers of acknowledged abilities and learning have been kn \vn, when they aimed at popularity, to relinquish real ex- cellence, and adopt a falfe tafte, in opposition to their own judgment. After all, it may not perhaps be abfurd, to attribute many of the complaints agaiiiit the prefent fhue of letters to ignorance, envy, and caprice. In every department cf literature, in th gay regions of fancy, and in the depths of philofophy ana fcience, many authors there are of this age and nation, who have acquired an illulirious reputation by deferving it: and if th >y want that originality of thought and folidity of le;:rni;ig which mark fome c.f the productions of our firft writers, yet have they a force, ekgance, and correftnefi of ftyle, un- known to their predeceflbrs. No. CIX, No. 109. M O R A L, &e. ii r No. CIX. ON THE CAUSES AND FOLLY Of DISSENTIONS IN A COUNTRY NEIGH- BOURHOOD. IT feems extraordinary, that with all our pretenfions to the focial affedions and to chriftianity, there are few country towns or villages, in which the families, which are reckoned genteel by the right of fortune and of felf-eftimation, live upon terms of cordial and fmcere friendfhip. One might, I believe, venture to go far- ther, and to affert, that there are few where a general enmity and diflike do not lurk, under the formality of ceremonious vifits, and civil falutation. The foundation of all the unealinefs is a foolifh pride, which, though it was not made for fo weak a creature as man. yet adheres fo clofely to him, that he can feldom divert himfelf of it, without fuch an effort as few minds are able to make. Philofophy is vainly applied ; for few are prouder than philofophers. Reli- gion only can effectually eradicate a vice fo deeply rooted ; that amiable religion, which teaches us to love our neighbours as ourfelves ; and which has informed us of a truth which experience abundantly confirms, that from pride only cometh contention. The moft trifling diftinclion or appearance of fupe- riority, is fure to excite all the heart-burnings of fecret envy and jealoufy. Inflead of rejoicing at any fortunate event which contributes to the happinefs of a neigh- bour, the greater part fecretly repine at it, and endea- vour to leffen the fatisfaclion it might afford, by dif- feminating fome mortifying furmife or infmuation. Indeed, the fortunate perfon fometimes deferves fome humiliation ; for as his neighbours are endeavouring to lower him to their own level, he, on the other hand, oflentatioufly difplays his fuperiority, and labours to de- prefs them below their due rank, that his own elevation may be more confpicuous. Ic would be entertaining to behold 112 ESSAYS, No. icg, behold the little contrivances which the petty gentry invent for the purpofe of eclipfing each other, if there were not always fomething of a malignity which dif- gufts and hurts the mind of an humane man. The rivalry is by no means of an amicable fort ; and though the parties are wonderfully civil when they meet, they often hate each other with the- greateft inveteracy. Nothing would, indeed, give them greater pleafure, than to hear of each other's lofles or ruin, though they would not fail to vifit on the occafion, and to fympathife in the politeft and moft approved fafhion. Scandal, indeed, who has long reigned with arbitrary fway in country towns, is ufually the caufe of all that latent hatred which poifons the happinefs of families whofe birth or fortune has placed them in the fame neighbourhood ; and who, enjoying plenty* might alfo enjoy peace, if they could prevail upon thcmfelves to turn a deaf ar to the tale-bearer. But fuch is the perverferefs or malignity of many, that though they have themfelves but juft fuffered from the falfe reports of flanderers, they liften, with delight, to the next whif- per, that flies like the arrow in the dark, and wounds a neighbour's reputation If any favourable report begins to prevail, it is with difficulty admitted; it is doubted, contradicted, or extenuated. But there is no lie fo improbably falfe, fo little like the truth, but it will be joyfully received and believed without examination, fo long as it tends to lower an objedl of envy in the efteem of a neighbourhood, to injure the intereft of a rival in vanity, or to wound the heart of him whom we hate, only becaufe we feel the weight of his real fuperiority. It is to be wiflied, that people would confider from how contemptible a fource moft of thofe calumnies ori- ginate, which induce neighbours to entertain a bad opinion of each other, and, in confequence, to live in aftate ofconftant, though fecret enmity. They ufually come from domeftic fervants, who, in revenge for a juft reprimand, or from the wickednefs of an ungrateful heart, delight in difieminating the moft cruel tales without the fmalleft foundation in reality. Or, fup- pofing fomething fimilar to the calumny did happen No. 1*9. MORAL, &c. nj in a neighbour's houfe, it is fo difguifed, altered, and exaggerated, by the time it has gone from the top of the town to the bottom, that what was, in truth, no more than a trifle fcarcely worth attention, becomes a charge of a moft atrocious and injurious kind, when it has been tofled from tongue to tongue. The vileft menial mail utter a lie, in the meaneft mop of the nv ft paltry town ; and, in the fpace of half an hour, it mall be republifhed with additions and embellimments, as a known fad, by the Lady of the Manor. The petty offices and diftindKons of churchwardens, furveyors, mayors, lords of the manor, commiffioners of turnpike-roads, and fimilar rural dignities, do in- deed often fill their pofleflbrs, and their ladies, with fo high a fenfe of their own importance, and at the fame time excite fo much envy in the little minds which' afpire at fuch little honours, that, in proportion as the great perfonage advances in the path of glory, he is often obliged to relinquim the comforts of good neigh- bourhood. It is not, indeed, to be wondered at, if thcfe who have had little or no education, and whofe views have been confined to horfes, dogs, and the affairs of a veftry and a court-leet, mould value themfelves too much on petty diftin&ion ; and fhould fuppofe the title of Efquire, Lord of the Manor, or Jultice of Peace, fuch honours as may juftify them in treating others with contumely. Neither is it wonder- ful, that they who have never wandered beyond the limits of their native parifh, mould furvey fuch dif- tin&ions with an envious eye. All men ought, indeed, to afpire at diftinftion, as it may lead them to afpire at ufefulnefs and virtue; but it is certainly defirable, for the fake of tranquillity, that envy and malice mould not be mixed with laudable emulation. But there are other caufes befides the love of fcandal and the gratification of vanity, which powerfully operate in interrupting the harmony of a good neighbourhood. Avarice is the occafion of many and indeterminable difagreements. In what part of the country can we fix our refidence, where fome of the clergy are not objedls of diflike, becaufe a regard to their wives and children, whofe bread depends upoa their lives, induces the a.-* 114 ESSAYS, No. 109. them to infift on thofe dues which the laws have al- lowed them. The clergyman in the mo!t defart parrs of the country, is usually a man of learning, an;! of a polite mind, who might diffufe a tafte for elegant and improving converfation ; but he is excluded from the fociety of his parifiiioncrs, becaufe he makes a jufl claim upon their property. The mod (hocking calum- nies are propagatec apainft him and his family j every thing is done which can mortify and diftrefs him, an! he is frequently involved for life by the farmers, and a pettifogger at their head, in vexatious and expcnlive litigation. He who preaches peace, ar.d who might foften, by the influence of polifhed manners, the re- mains of brutality among his favage and narrow- minded neighbours, is hunted by them tii' he is forced to take refuge in the lonely retreat of his parfonage. The various meetings which are neceffary to conduft parifh ::nd other public bufmefs in the country, are often productive of violent animofities An oppofition formed at a vellry, or a turnpike-meeting, is forretimes carried on with more acrimony than in the Houfe of Com i ons. Jt wou'd not be fo lamentable, if the con- fequences of the difpute terminated at the time and place in which it arofe; but it ufually happens, that if the gentlemen h.-ive disagreed in the veiiry, the ladies, at the next tea-drinking, put onfulien looks, and com- mence a fecret attack on each other's perfons, drefs, character, and conduft. Hoftilitie^, which owe their rife to a difference of opinion concerning the mending of a road, or the repairing of a fteeple, are carritv on under the cover of external civility, and continue from generation to generation. It would be a very valuable point gained, if we could prevail on the many thoufands, who, with all the external means of happir.efs, lead uncomfortable lives from the diffentions of their neighbourhood, to confider duly the importance of a friendly intercourfe with thofe in whofe vicinity they have been placed by Providence. They may be confidently affured, that na pleafure arifing from fcandal, from petty diftinclions, from trifling matters of intereft, or from influence over parilh or county meetings, can be compared to the fatisfoftioa No, no; MORA L, &c. 11,- fatisfa&ion of living in love, and in a conftant interchange of thofe good offices which alleviate adverfity, and give to profperity its fweeteft enjoyments. The qualities indifpenfably necefTary to the accomplifhment of this defirable purpofe, are benevolence and humility. No. CX. THE IMPRUDENCE OF AN EARLY ATTACHMENT TO ACTING PLAYS, IN A LETTER. AS I was fauntering, a few days ago, on o.ie of the public walks, I could not help particularly re- marking a young man, whofe drefs fhewed marks of a fhabby gentility, and whole countenance wore the afpeft of a fettled melancholy. The appearance of wretchednefs, in whatever filia- tion, is always fufficient to awaken my curiofity. I felt myfelf irrefiftibly impelled to enquire into the hiilory of a perfon who feemed to be completely miferable. After having walked a confiderable time, I perc.ived him to throw himfelf, in a difconfolate attitude-, on one of the feats of the walk. I did not neglect the opportunity ; but feating myfelf by his fide, pre- vailed on him, after fome introductory converfation, to give me his hiftory, which he did in the following words: " Yes, Sir," faid he, " though my prefent appear- ance may feem to invalidate my aflertion, I aflure you I was the fon of one of the mod opulent traders in the metropolis. I might at this time have been enjoying all the happinefs that affluence can beftow ; but now, alas! I have no where to lay my head, no refuge to which I can fly for comfort. I am aban- doned to the wide world without a friend ; and one confideration aggravates all my mifery I Inve de- fcrved my fufferings, and cannot juilly complain." Here he paufed to conceal a tear which was juft buriling from his eyes. After he had a little recovered himfelf, 1 16 ESSAYS, No. i ro. himfelf, his countenance gradually grew more ferene, and he proceed d with lefs emotion. " When I was at the age of eleven, my father *' placed me at a celebrated grammar-fchool " there I fpent the happieft days of my life. Nature, " as I was told, had given me parts ; I made a rapid " progrefs in clafiical learning; all was encourage- " ment, all was hope, and all was happinefs. But," in " the midlt of my improvement, my father refolved, *' in oppofition to the advice of my matter, to remove '* me from fchool, and to fettle me in his own counting- " houfe. My mafter urged, that though I might per- " haps fucceecl in a learned profefiion, yet the vivacity " of my difpofition would be an obftacle to my profpe- " rity in a mercantile employment. My father, fen- " fible of the lucrative advantages of an eftablifhed " trade, was deaf to thefe remonftrances ; and on a " fatal day I entered into engagements to plod at the " defk a ad the counter for feven years. " Rut nature- is not t:> be conftrained by indentures. ** Jnftead of cafting up fums, and meafuiing*ells, I em- ployed my time in the perufal cf Shakefpeare, in composing epilogues and farces, at d in difcuffing the merits of every new dramatic production. In- ftead of fpending my evenings in porting accounts, and examining my ledger, I was always attending the performances of a Foote or a Garrick. At length, byconftantly frequenting the playhoufes, and mixing with contemptible fciolifls, who called themfelves theatrical critics, I became fo enamoured of the ftage, as to look upon dramatic entertainments as conftituting the mrft important builnefs, as well as the molt agreeable enjoyment of human life. The fliop continually refounded with my rants, in imita- tion of fome favourite aftor ; and i went fo far as to treat with the purchafers of a yard of Irifh, with a theatrical tone, and a dramatic a?dlion. " I had fo great an opinion of my own talents, that, like the immortal Shakefpeare, I was ambitious of fhining both as an aftor and a writer. Accordingly I finimed a comedy wjth great care and pains, and prefented it to one of the managers, who returned "it. No. no. MORA L, &c. 117 " it upon my hands, with evident marks of contempt. " By no means dejefted, I was refolved to try my fuo *' cefs as an aftor. But having, with great difficulty, ' obtained pennifiion to fpeak before the managers, ' and a circle of their friends, who ieeraed to enjoy " ray diftrefs, I was again rejected. " Though I could not fucceed at the theatres, I was refolved to exert my abilities at fpouting and dif- " puting clubs. And here, indeed, I eafily made a " confpicuous figure; as I had the advantage of 9. " claffical education, and moil of my competitors had " no education at all. i he moft important topics of " religion, learning, and politics I difcufled with " more volubility than the gravril prelate, the pro- foundeft academic, or the craftielt ftatefman. But I triumphed, as it were, without an enemy, and the facility of the conqueft diminiflied the pleafure of it. I foon became weary of dry argumentation, and eagerly panted to wear the bufkin, and to mouth the fonorous periods of lome tragic bard. " It happened that I had formed a connection " with a young member of the club, whofe genius was " entirely iimilar to my own, and who had been en- tf gaged with a ilrolling company of players. He had " often folicited me to go with him on an a&ing tour " into the north of England, and I had as often re- " fufed, from a principle of pride. But at length, an " ardent defire of exhibiting on a flage, overcame every " regard to duty, and every compunction of confcience. " I in a fatal hour (I blufh to mention it), I embezzled -' a fum of money with which I was trufted in" the " courfe of bufmefs, packed up my clothes and ac- " companicd a fet of vagabonds, who, like myfelf, had *' abandoned every reputable occupation, and devoted *' themfelves to infamy and indigence, for the fake of " enjoying the plaudits of a few ruftics affembled in a " barn. " And now cornmences the asra of all my mifery. " The money I had fraudulently taken, was foon te fquandered away in a fociety of thoughtlefs mortals, " who regarded not to-morrow, if they could feail to- ' day. We were, indeed, received with applaule ; " but ii8 ESSAYS, No. no. but the audience was commonly b fcanty, that the expences of reprefentation often exceeded the re- ceipts. In every town we were looked upon with fufpicion, and treated as vagrants. We were fome- times reduced to fuch extremities, by the expences of travelling, and the loffes of afling to empty barns, that we have wanted even food to fupport nature. Above charity, we could not be relieved, and deftitute of credit, we could not be trufted. At length I faw my folly, and after various refolves, fent to a friend to enquire whether my father was difpofed to receive me, mould I return and confefs my fault. How, alas ! was I flruck, when I was told in anfwer, that my father died a few days ago of a broken heart ; and that his death was fo ludden, that he had not time to alter his will, in which, in the firft rage after his difcovery of my elopement, he had cut me off with a (hilling. *' It is impoffible to give you an adequate idea of my grief on this occafion, and I mail -only inform you, that it would have proved fatal, hid it not been foon removed by emotions of a different kind. During my indifpofition, one of the adlrefles of our company, whofe beauty is only exceeded by the goodnefs of her heart, watched me with all the anxiety of a parent, and foothed me under the hor- rors of defpair, with the fofteft blandifhments of tendernefs. I foon felt a flame kindling in my bread, which was anfwered with a fympathetic paffion. In (hort, I was no fooner reftored to health and vigour, than I married the lovely Emily : we have now been united near a year, and yefterday me was fafely delivered of twins. That (he is well, thank Heaven ; but, alas, the reflection, that I am deftitute of all the means that can give her eafe, or provide for her offspring, fharpens all the darts of ill fortune, and embitters every woe." Here he flopped, and I was obliged to leave him, after having given him an invitation to my houfe, where I hope to be able to alleviate his misfortunes, without hurtir.g his fenfibility. But I cannot help exprefling my wifh, that all who, deluded by a heated imagination, No, in. M O R A L, &c* nj imagination, feel themfelves inclined to quit the com- forts of a parent and a home, in purfuit of a profeffion which is prohibited by law, and which conftantly en- tails on its followers mifery and difgrace, may avoid his wretchednefs, by avoiding his conduct. NO. CXI. ON THE PLEASURES OF REFLEC- TION. THAT the enjoyments of the undemanding ex- ceed the pleafures of fenfe, is a truth confefied by all who are capable of exerting the faculties of thinking in rheir full vigour. But by thefe pleafures are generally underftood fublime contemplations on fubje&s of fcience and abilrufe difquifition ; contempla- tions which can only be the refult of uncommon powers, and extraordinary efforts. But there are intellectual pleafures of another kind ; to the enjoyment of which, neither great abilities nor learn- ing are required. Thefe are no other than the pleafures of reflection, which are open to the illiterate mechanic, as well as to the fage philosopher, and conftitute fome of the fweeteft fat;sfac~Hons of human life. There nre few who have not felt pJeafing fenfations arifing from a retrofpeclive view of the firil period of their lives. To recoiled the puerile amufements, the petty anxieties, and the eager purfuits of childhood, is a talk in which all delight. It is common to obferve, that on no fubjecl do men dwell with fuch pleafure, as the boyifh tricks and wanton pran s which they praclifed at fchool. The hoary head looks back ^ith a fmile of complacency, mixed with regret, on the feafon when health gk)wed on the cheek, when lively fpirits warmed the heart, and when toil ftrung the nerves with vigour. Cicero has remarked, that events the moft difagree- able, during their immediate influence, give an ex- quiiite fatisfaclion when their confequences have ceafed ; and jEneas folaces his companions, under the hardships they 120 ESSAYS, No. in. they endured, with the confideration, that the remem- brance of their fufferings would one day give them fatisfaction. That thefe fentim^nts are juft, is well known to thofe who have enjoyed the converfation of the foldier. Battles, fkirmimes, and fieges, at which, perhaps, he trembled during the action, furnifh him with topics of converfation, and fources of pleafure, for the remainder of his life. Reflection is the propereft employment, and the fweetefl fatisfaction, in a rational old age. Deftitute of Itrength and vigour, necefiary for bodily exertions, and furnifhed with obfervations by experience, the old man finds his greateft pleafure to confift in wandering in ima- gination over part fcenes of delight, in recounting the adventures of his youth, the viciffitudes of human life, and the public events to whidrhe'is proud of having been an eye-witnefs. Of fo exalted a nature are thefe enjoyments, that theologifts have not hefitated to aflert, that to recoiled a well-fpent- life, is to anticipate the blifs of a future exiftence. The profefibrs of philofophy, who will be acknow- ledged to have underftood the nature of true and fub- ftantial pleafure better than the bufy, the gay, and the diflipated, have ever fliewn a predilection for privacy and folitude. No other caufe have they affigned for their conduct in forfaking fociety, than that the noife and hurry of the world is incompatible with the exertion of calm reafon and difpaffionate reflection. The apophthegm of that antient, who faid, " he was never *' lefs alone than when by himfelf," is not to be confi- dered" merely as an epigrammatic turn. In vain was it to purfue philofophy in the Suburra ; me was only to be courted with fuccefs, in the fequeftered ^ made of rural retirement. Were the powers of reflection cultivated by habit, mankind would at all times be able to derive a pleafure from their own breafls, as rational as it is exalted. To the attainment of this happinefs, a ftrict adherence to the rules of virtue is neceflary ; for let it be remem- bered, that none can feel the pleafures of reflection, who do not enjoy the peace of innocence. 7 No. CXII. No. nz. M ORAL, &c. No. CXII. HINTS TO THOSE WHO ARE DESIGNED FOR THE PROFESSION OF THE LAW. THERE is no order in the community more con- temptible than that of thofe practitioners in the law, who, without one liberal principle of juftice or equity, poflefs a ikill in little elfe but quibbles, and ia thofe points by which villany is taught to proceed with impunity, cunning enabled to elude the fpirit by mifreprefenting the letter, and truth perplexed, ob- fcured, and loft, in the mazes of chicanery, It is indeed furprifmg, that many who call themfelves men of honour, and who profefs to have had a liberal education, fliould allow themfelves, in the practice of their profeffion, to afTert palpable falfehood in order to confound the clca-reft evidence ; and defend, with all the appearance of fincere conviftion, what they know to be indefcnfible. It is not an admifiible apology to afTert, that their profeffion requires fuch an abafement ; fora fimilar j unification might be offered by the fharper or the highwayman. There are, undoubtedly, certain laws of honour and truth eftablifhed in the heart of every honeil man, of which no regard for lucre, and no jcfuitical pretence of profeffional neceffity, can juftify the infringement. There fecms, indeed, to be a very unfortunate error in many among the ftudents of the law, whp value abilities and technical knowledge at a high rate, buc entertain no great eiteeni for goodnefs of heart, and integrity of conduct. While the world allows them abilities and knowledge, they depend with fecurity oft fuccefs, though they fhould be notorioufly mercenary ia public, and debauched in private life. Indeed, they have had living examples to prove, that however bad the morals of the man, if the impudence and eloquence of the lawyer are approved, he may have what briefs he pleafes, and even be advanced to the dignity of a VOL. II. G Lord *2 ESSAYS, No. 112. Lord Chancellor. An infamous character, blafted with imputations of the moft atrocious kind in the walks of private and domellic life, may be introduced, by his known effrontery, and his fuppofed abilities, to that dig- nified feat, where law is to be corrected by equity, and where the confcience of the judge is the chief controul. Whatever be the abilities of a man, yet if he be notorioufly irregular and intemperate in the violation of thofe laws which are prior to all human laws, he ought not to be promoted to any offices of truft and honour, particularly in the law. Jf the governing part of a nation were fincere in its profeffion of a belief ia the national religion, men who are remarkable for breaking the laws of that religion, would be at leaft iregledied, if not difgraced. The advancement of bad men to the higheft offices in the law, is a difgrace to the government, and an injury to the people, whom it greatly corrupts ; not only by the example, but by leading them to fuppofe, that the governors of the nation, whom they naturally fuppofe wifer than them- -felves, confider religion and morality merely as engines of ftate. Though, therefore, the ftudent may fee men of infamous characters advanced and encouraged, let him not be deluded. If he is wife, ke will Hill pay his greateft attention to the cultivation of a pure and honeft heart ; this will furnifh him with more fatisfadlion than was ever derived to a bad man from the infignia and emoluments of office, and the fees beftowed by popular favour. Whatever practice or preferment can be ac- quired confidently with this, accept with gratitude. Bt if the public, or the rulers of the nation, dill pre- fer the bold pretender, whofe appearance and abilities nrife from that audacity which accompanies a bad and unfeeling heart, .defpife all that they can Jbeftow, and remember that this life is fhort, and that there is another; that this world is the place of probation, and the next of reward. Remember that a pure heart, a clear confcience, an independent fpirit, and a foul that fpurns the lucre which is to be gained by unmanly lervility, are infinitely fuperior (confidered only as they \tr-d to promote happinefs) to the polleflion of the teals, No. iiz. MORAL, &c. 123 feals, with their ufual appendages, a peerage and a penfion. With refpedl to the modes of preparation for this profeffion, 1 fee, with regret, that an illiberal method prevails, which confifts in confining the future advocate, like a clerk in a merchant's counting-houfe, to the defk of fome praftifing lawyer, and teaching him the or- dinary bufinefs almoft mechanically. There he fits, and copies a great number of dry formalities, fuch as, if he attended to them, could not enlarge his mind ; fuch, in- deed, as, without a remarkable dulnefs of difpofidon, he cannot attend to. After labouring for feveral years in a manual employment, as fedentary, and fcarcely more liberal than that of the weaver or the watchmaker, he comes forth a formidable barrifter; formidable, in- deed, in fome refpedts, as he has probably acquired a good deaJ of that low and dirty practice, and that nar- row and confined mode of thinking, which a liberal mind would defpife too much to be able to acquire. He is, as it were, a fpider, and can fpin cobsvebs in the dark and foul recedes of the heart, to catch thofe diminutive objects, which a more generous animal would not deign to enfnare. The true method of arriving at an eligible fpecies of fminence in the ftudy of the law is, to enlarge the ca- pacity of the mind by a moft comprehenfive and claffical education ; and then to furnifh it with fome portion of every fpecies of human knowledge. A general and en- larged philofophy, moral, natural, and theological, ought to form the firm ban's of the future fuperftru&ure. On this mould be added hiftory, antient and modern ; general jurifprudence, and a particular acquaintance with the fpirit of laws in all the civilized nations of antiquity. Long and accurate obfervation of men and manners ought to be added; and the virtues of exem- plary benevolence and humanity mould complete the fabric- Such mould be the preparation; what it is, \vc have already feen. But fomctimes even the toil of the writing-defk, as well as every other ferious preparation, is omitted, and the ftudent called to the bar, puts a hrge wig over his powdered hair and pig tail, and G 2 ftarts 124 ESSAYS, No. 113. ftarts up a pleader ; ready to undertake any caufe either of property, or of life. Whoever has read the works of Cicero, will remember how great a (hare of learning he requires in his orator, who was, indeed, a pleader, or advocate; but not fuch a pleader, or fuch an advocate, as many of thofe who have difgraced the modern courts of judicature. The great ftatefmen of Rome fupported the character of lawyers with a peculiar dignity, unknown to modern inftitutions. Adorned with philofophy, as well as law, they defcended to the courts to defend their clients ; not with the hope of a paltry fee, but induced by the pure motives of friend/hip and humanity ; by a defire of doing good, and a regard for juftice. Men, it is true, muf! live by their profeflions ; and. therefore, the dif- interefte-dnefs of the antients, who had other refources, cannot be univerfally imitated. But, furely, in an age that pretends to peculiar illumination and philanthropy, and in a people who have long profefled a moft humane religion, it is wonderful to find men, who affume fo important a profeffion, ready to defend any fide for pay ; and debafing their characters by an affeftation of ex- treme libertinifm, of infidelity, and of every kind of profligacy, which tends to harden the heart, and to deaden the feelings of humanity, no lefs than to ftifle the fenti men-is of true honour. NO.CXIII. ON SOME INCONVENIENCES WHICH UNAVOIDABLY ATTEND LIVING WRITERS, THE compofition of a book has often been com- pared to the furni filing of a feaft, in which, whatever art may have been exerted, and variety pro- duced, it feldom happens that every palate is equally pleafed. Sometimes the difhes are not drefled and feafoned as they ought to be; ajid fomedmes the organs of fenfation in the gueits are languid and indifpofed. No No. 113. MORAL, &c. 125 No work, however excellent, ever yet appeared, which was not blamed, as well as praifed, by many ; but we hefitate not to pronounce that good, which retains, during a confiderable time, a majority of fuffrages in its favour. Longinus, very reafonably, makes the fa- vourable opinion of various nations, for many ages, an infallible criterion of an author's fingular excellence. And it is certain, that to call in queftion the merits of thofe books which have long furvived their authors, contributes more to difgrace the critic, than to diminilh the reputation of the author. But it is not fo with living writers. They labour under peculiar difadvantages ; not only from the dif- ficulty of arriving at diftinition after fo many illurtrious predecefibrs, but from the prejudices and the envy of their equals and contemporaries. Men have always felt an inclination to exalt departed genius, not only from a fincere admiration of it, but alfo with a fecret defue to degrade living merit, by introducing an invidious comparifon. No one afpires at the diftin&ions of for- tune, or civil honours, without exciting jealoufy and envy. It would be therefore unreafonable to fuppofe, that literary ambition fhould be exempted from the attendants of all ambition. It aims at peculiar diftinc- tion, and muft therefore excite peculiar oppofition. There never yet was a moral writer, however fincere, whofe life and external manners correfponded, in every refpecl, with the dignity of his writings ; and who did not, in fome degree, difappoint thofe who were led, by the admiration of his works, to approach his perfon, ;md to feek his company and converfation in the ordi- nary fcenes of familiar life. Too high an expectation is ufually formed of him ; and we do not confider, that in his book we furvey only the picture of his mind ; a pic- ture, which is ufually fullied and deformed by the crazy frame in which it is confined. When he fat down to write, his foul was probably in its proper (late ; all fpiritual, and all contemplative. No fooner ha? he laid afide his pen, and departed from his library, thsn he is neceflarily engaged in the common purfuits cf mankind ; and difplays, like them, many frailties, and many of thofe faults which he has very fmcerely con- G 3 demned 126 ESSAYS, No. iij. oemned in his moral di/Tertations. But when a fpec- tator, unacquainted with life, manners, and the incon- .ftancy of the human heart, beholds this difference between the writer's book and his behaviour, he too precipitately and feverely indulges his cenfure, and learns to defpife him, whom, at a diftance, he admired. Thus are enemies and calumniators multiplied, without any other failings en the part of the injured perfon, than the common imbecilities attendant on the molt improved ftate of human nature. Foibles and errors, which woujd fcarcely be noticed in ethers, are not only remarked in him., but remembered and related in com- pany as matter of entertainment. Even his fir.cerity is doubted, and the writer is lowered by the imper- fections of the man ; though the imperfections ::':c only the common characteristics of humanity. If lie has written againft avarice or ambition, and happens, by honeftinduftry or good fortune, to gain money or promo- tion, he is immediately reprefented as a hypocrite; not- wuhftanding he may have a family dependent upon him for fupport, or may have worn himfelf out in the fervice of the public, without feeking or gaining any other emolument than what may aiiord him an humble and quiet retreat in his old age. It is not eafy to write, without fometimes appearing to affume an air of fuperiority. Moral precepts would often be ineffectual, if they were not enforced in a ftyle, which, though by no means dogmatical, is yet, in a. due degree, authoritative. The neighbours, and the familiar acquaintance of the moralift, who are accuf- tcmed to eftimate importance by property, and to judge of the weight of a man's opinions by the weight of his purfe, are offended to find him, who has not a vote in a county-meeting, nor an acre of arable or pafture on the face of the earth, daiing to exprefs himfelf with as much freedom, as if he were animated with the con- fcioufnefs of keeping a pack of fox hounds, or had con- fiderable influence at the election of a knight of the {hire. Neverthelefs, if what he writes be true, truth being great, he who is armed with it will certainly pre- vail. Refiftance or contradiction will be ineffectual. Nothing, therefore, remains but ridicule and detraction to No. 113. MORAL, ft* 127 to fap the fortrefs, which is proof again ft afTault. The writer, therefore, is reprefented by the neighbouring gentlemen as an oddity, a melancholy reclufe, and per- haps a little cracked ; both he and his family are pitied by the humane ladies, for being perpetually confined to rmiily books, and total ftrangers to all true pleafure, Eetvveen the fippings of the tea, and the dealing of the cards, much crittcifm is difplayed, in which, it is not eafy to determine which is the more confpicnou?, ig- norance or ill-nature. It is not uncommon for ladies, who can hardly write their names, or indite a love-letter, without Entick's fpclling dictionary, to decide on the merit of a celebrated poem, or any other new publica- tion, with all the authority of an Ariftotle, or the foolifli virulence of a Zoilus. And who, indeed, can con- trovert a remark, however injudicious or malignant, when it proceeds from lips which add a grace and fweeN nefs to all they utter? And even the veteran virgin may be allowed toconfole hen'clf, i:i th? intervals of fcruidaj,. with the fe verity of literary criticifm. It mull indeed be owned, that many lies and fal.'e cen fares en charac- ters are publifl.eJ to the world at the tea and the card- table ; but there is this comfort, that whenever it is known whence they originate, they are fu fibred, by all candid and fenfible perfons, to drop, ftill-born, from, their prolific parents. Yet, fometime p s, they llruggle into life, and are able to murder many a reputation be- fore their own final extinction. Every thing excellent is to be paid for at a certain price of inconvenience or difficulty. The calumnies of envy, ignorance, and impertinence, muft be fuf- tained by him who endeavours, by worthy means, to- procure the eileem of the worthy. He muft weigh the jpraifes againft the cenfures, and enjoy the predominant applaufe, while he neglects the fevere remarks of im- pertinence or ill-temper, as trifles light as air. No truth has been more repeatedly uttered, than that no- thing in this fnblunary ftate is, in every refpeft, what we wifh it. We muft then learn to fubmit to neceflity, aad turn our attention from our evils, to our advan- tages. After all our complaints, Providence is ufualiy found kind and inapartial ; and, if we poflefs but G 4 humility iz8 ESSAYS, No. 114. humility and patience, we fhall difcover, under our moft difagreeable fit nation, fome copious fource of placid enjoyment. The ill ufage of the world will re- coil from the heart, which is Ihielded with faith and innocence, as the billows are reverberated from the rock. Whatever difficulties or injuries a writer may fuftain, he mny cor.fole himfelf, if he has always taken the part of truth and virtue, that he has employed the ta- lents which God gave him, in a manner at lead in- ofrenfive ; and that, it is probable, many, in the great mafs of mankind, may poflefs a kindred fpi- rit, and at feme favourable moment may receive pleafure and advantage from his lucubrations, even when he is united with the duft from which he was taken, and become equally infenfible to cenfure or applaufe. No, CXIV. ON THE OBLIGATIONS WHICH LEARNING OWES TO THE CHRISTIAN RE- LIGION. MANY among thofe who have made the greatefl pretenfions to learning have profefTed themfelves enemies to Revelation. It is not, indeed, difficult to account for their rejection of a religion which is all humility, and by no means calculated to pleafe fuch as confider the applaufe of men as the moft valuable object, and who pride themfelves on the infallibility of their own intellects. To the bold, the conceited, and the half-learned pretender to philofophy, who is weak enough to think his reafon commenfurate to every ob- ject which falls under its notice, that fyftem, which requires the exercife of faith more than of reafon, ap- pears, as the fcriptures themfelves obferve, foolifhnefs. Pride, and a very filly kind of pride, fuch, indeed, as arifes from narrow views of things, and an ignorance of human nature, is the foundation of infidelity. It No. 114. M O R A I, &c. 129 It is, however, no lefs ungrateful, than foolifli and wicked, in the Tons of learning, to devote their abilities to the extermination of the national religion. For it is really true, that all the antient learning which now remains, was preferved by fome peculiar circumftances attending the propagation of Chrillianity ; and, 1 believe, it will be thought very probable, that if the antient languages, and the books written in them, had been entirely loft, the civilized nations of Europe would have (till continued in a ftateof darknefs and barbarifm. Real fuperftition would then, indeed, have reigned triumphant ; and the philofopher, as he calls himfelf, who is now writing down Chriflianity, would have been trembling at witches and goblins, fpells and enchant- ments. He makes ufe of that very light, which has di- reeled his fteps in the paths of learning, to difcover the molt probable means of extinguishing the fource of all illumination. I was led into this train of reflections by the perufal of a charge of a late very learned archdeacon of London, in which he evinces, that our Saviour fpoke moll truly in more fenfes than one, when he faid of hiinfelf, *' I AM THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD." When any fpecies of literary indiiflry is confider- ed as a duty founded on religion, care will be ta- ken to preferve it. It might otherwife, from the indolence and infirmity of the human mind, have been lolt amidft revolutions, perfecutions, diflrefs, and the fury of conquelt. In every difficulty, the Chriflians fled for comfort to their fcriptures, and watched over them with peculiar vigilance. The Septuagint pre- ferved, in the worit times, a knowledge of Greek ; and the Latin tranflations, which were multiplied with avidity, refcued the Latin language from a total obli- vion. Jofephus was ftudied, and therefore preferved by the Chriftians more carefully than by the Jews ; and the neceffity of Greek for the underftanding of the New Teftament, caufcd that language not only to be faved from the ravages of time, but alfo to be ftudied with devout attention. The Fathers of the church wrote in Greek during three centuries j and at a time when the Latin language G 5 was 130 ESSAYS, No. 114. was gradually decaying, the Latin fathers contributed fomething to its reiteration ; and wrote, as well as their coeval writers among the Pagans, not indeed with Auguftan elegance, but ftill well enough to preferve a fkill in the conltrudlion and vocabulary of the lan- guage. A confiderable knowledge of hiftory, and fomething .of chronology and philofophy, was necefTary in ftudying and defending the fcriptures, even in the earlieft ages ; and many Chriftians appeared well flcilled in thefe parts of learning, at a time when they were generally neglected. Religion and confcience operated as a ftimulus, when all other motives were infufiicient to retard the mind in its fwift progrefs down the declivity. With a view, and folely with a view, to enable ec- clefiaih'cs to read and underftand the fcriptures, even in the moil difmal night of ignorance, there were fome places of inflruclion in cathedrals and monafteries, in, which the embers of literature, if we may venture to ufe thatexpreflion, were preferved from total extinction ; in which a fpark lay latent, which was one day to re- lume alight to lighten the univerfe. The little learning of thofe unfortunate ages, though it did not enable the perfons who pofTeffed it .to taite and underiland the beauties of the antient poets and philofophers, yet gave them fome idea of the value of books in general, and enabled them to tranfcribe, with tolerable accuracy, even what they did not accurately underftand. Thus were thofe ineftimable treafures of all elegance and pleafing knowledge, the old Greek and Latin authors, handed down to happier ages ; to thofe who were able to unlock them, and pour out their riches for the general utility. Nor are we indebted to Chriirians for the claffics only ; but alfo for the Roman law, and the codes of Juftinian and Theodofius. Books, which were deftroyed by ignorant and angry kings and conquerors, found a fafe afylum in religious houfes ; and even Monkery, which has been juftly reprobated as one of the follies of human nature, became, under the direction of Providence, the inftrument of many of thofe blcflings which now contribute greatly to the hap- pinefs and dignity of an enlightened empire. No. 114. MORAL, &c. 13* The revival of learning, as it is termed, or its eman- cipation from churches and monafteries, and genera^ difFufion over the world, is greatly owing to the efforts of ecclefiaftics. There arofe, in that aufpicious morn- ing, a conflellation of polite and profound Chriftian, fcholars, whofe effulgence has fcarcely been out- fhone by any fucceeding luminaries in the literary" horizon. The beft fchol-ars of modern times, not only in theo- logy, but in every part of human learning, have been Chriftian divines. They were led by their purfuit of religious knowledge, into the collateral paths of philo- fophy, philology, and all elegant and ufeful li- terature. It is to the piety of Chriflians that we owe the vene- rable foundations of fchools and colleges ; thofe inftitu- tions, which, though they have often been perverted,, have ftill kept the light burning like the veftal fire, and handed the torch from one generation to another like the runners in the torch-race. It was the love of Chrift which taught thofe towers to rife on the banks of the Cam and the Ifis, and planted feminariesof learning in every confiderable town throughout the kingdom. " To the gofpel then," fays the learned divine who fuggefted this fubjeft, " and to thofe who embraced it, are due our. grateful acknowledgments for the- learning that is at prefcnt in the world. The infidels, educated in Chriftian countries, owe what learning they have to Chriftianity, and aft the part of thofe brutes, which, when they have fucked the dam, turn about and ftrike her." C fl No. C.XV. 132 ESSAYS, No. 115. No. CXV. CURSORY REMARKS ON THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF DR. JORTIN. THE mind feels a fecret complacency in con- templating characters eminent for virtue, learning, and religion ; and there are few who are not delighted, as well as inftrufted by the praifes beftowed on de- parted merit. Notwithstanding the depravity of human nature, virtue ftill appears amiable to the vicious, and knowledge to the ignorant. Experience, indeed, feems to confirm the opinion of Plato, thatgoodnefs, exclufive of its collateral advantages, is poffeffed of charms ir- refiitibly captivating. A review of the life of the late Dr. Jortin cannot but fuggeft the moft pleafmg reflections. As a poet, a divine, a philofopher, and a man, he ferved the caufe of religion, learning, and morality. There are, indeed, many writers whole reputation is more tiiffufed among the vulgar and illiterate, but few will be found whofe names ftand higher than Dr. Jortin's in the eileem of the judicious. His Latin poetry is claffically elegant. His difcourfes and difl'ertations fenfible, in- genious, and argumentative. His remarks on ecclefiaf- tical hiftory intereiting and impartial. His fermons replete with found fenfe and rational morality, expreffed in a ftyle fimple, pure, and perfpicuous. Simplicity of ftyle is a grace, which, though it may not captivate at firft fight, is fure in the end to give permanent fatisfaftion. It does not excite admiration, but it raifes efleem. It does not warm to rapture, bat it foothes to complacency. Unfkilful writers feldom aim at this excellence. They imagine, that what is na- tural and common cannot be beautiful. Every thing in their compofitions muft be ftrained, every thing af- fcfted : but Dr. Jortin had ftudied the antients, and perhaps formed himfelf on the model of Xenophon. He wrote on fubjefts of morality, and morality is founded No. 1 1 5. MORA L, &c. 133 on reafon, and reafon is always cool and difpnffionate. A florid declamation, embellifhed with rhetorical figures, and animated with pathetic defcription, may indeed amufe the fancy, and raife a tranfient emotion in the heart; but rational difcourfe alone can convince the un- derftanding, and reform theconducl. The firtt efforts of genius have commonly been in pcetry. Unreftiained by the frigidity of argument, and the confinement of rules, the young mind gladly indulges the flights of imagination. Cicero, as well as many other antient philofophers, orators, and historians, is known to have facriflced to the Mufes in his earlier productions. Dr. Jortin adds to the number of thofe who confirm the obfervation. In his Lu/ui Poztici, one of the firlt of his works, are united claffical language, tender fentiment, and harmonious verfe. Among the modern Latin poets, there are few who do not yield to Dr. Jortin. His Sapphics, on the ftory of Bacchus and Ariadne, are eafy, elegant, and poetical. The little ode, in which the calm life of the philofopher is compared to th; gentle llream gliding through a filent grove, is highly pleafing to the mind, and is perfectly elegant in the cempomicn. The Lyrics are indeed all excellent. The poem on the Immortality of the Soul is ingenious, poetical, and an exacl. imitation of the ftyle of Lucretius. In fhort, the whole colleclion is fuch 'as would fcarcely have difgraced a Roman in the age of an Auguftus. Time, if it cool not the fire of imagination, cer- tainly ftrengthens the powers of the judgment. As our author advanced in life, he cultivated his reafon rather than his fancy, and defined from his efforts in poetry, to exert his abilities in the difquifitions of criticifm. His obfervations on one of the fathers of Englifh poetry, need but to be more generally known, in order to be more generally approved. Clafilcal productions are rather amufing than inftruc- tive. His works of this kind are all juvenile, and na- turally flowed from a claflical education. Thefe, how- ever, were but preparatory to his higher defigns, and foon gave way to the more important enquiries which 6 were 134- ESSAYS, No. nj. were peculiar to his profeflion. His difcourfes on the Chriftian Religion, one of the firft fruits of his theolo- gical purfuit?, abound with that found fenfe and folid argument, which entitle their author to a rank very near the celebrated Grotius. His diflertations are equally remarkable for tafte, learning, originality, and ingenuity. His remarks on Ecclefiaftical hiilory are full of manly fenfe, ingenious ftriclures, and profound erudition. The work is highly beneficial to mankind, as it reprefents, in its proper light, that fuperftition which difgraced human nature, and gives a right fenfe of the advantages derived from religious reformation. He every where exprefles himfelf with peculiar vehemence againil the infatuation of bigotry and fanaticifm. Convinced that true hap- pinefs is founded on a right ufe of the reafoning powers, he makes it the fcope of all his religious works, to lead mankind from the errors of imagination, to the dictates of difpa(T:onate reafon. Polthumoos publications, it has been remarked, are nfually inferior in merit to thofe which are publifhed during an author's life. And, indeed, the opinion feems pkufihle ;. as it may be prefumed, that an au- thor's reafon for not pu'o'ifhing his works, is a con- fcioufnefs of their inferiority. The Sermons of Dr. Jortin are, however, an exception. Good fenfe and found morality appear in them, not, indeed, drefledout in the meretricious ornaments of a florid flyle, but in all the manly force, and funple graces, of natural elo- quence. The fame caprice, which raifes to reputation thofe trifling difcourfes which have nothing to recom- mend them but a prcttinefs of fancy, and a flowery language, will again confign them to oblivion : but the fermons of Dr. Jortin will always be read with pieafure and edification. The tranfition from an author's writings to his life, is frequently difadvantageoiis to his character. Dr. Jortin, however, when no longer confidered as an author, but as a man, is far from being lefiened in our opinion. A fimplicity of manners, an inoffenfive behaviour, an uni- ver&l benevolence, candour, modcily, and good fenfe,. were No. 116. MORAL, Sec. 135 were his characterises. Though his genius, and love of letters, led him to choofe the ftill vale of fequeftered life, yet was his merit confpicuous enough to attract the notice of a certain primate \vho did honour to epifco- pacy. Unknown by perfonal acquaintance, and unre- commended by the felicitation of friends, or the inter- pofition of power, he was prefented, by Archbifhop Herring, to a valuable benefice in London, as a reward for his exertions as a fchclar and a divine. Some time after he became chaplain to a late bifhop of London, who gave him the vicarage of Kensington, and appoint- ed him archdeacon of his diocefe. This was all the preferment he had, nor had he this till he was advanced in life. He did not, however, repine. Thus he fpeaks of himfelf : " Not to his erudition but to his con- " flant love and purfuit of it he owes a fituation and " a ftation better than he expedted, and as good as he " ought to deiire." No. CXVI. ON THE UNION OF EXTRAVA- GANCE IN TRIFLES AND VICE, WITH PARSIMONY IN ALL THE TRULY HO- NOURABLE, USEFUL, AND NECESSARY EX- FENCES. NO appearance in the moral world is more remark- able, than that combination which is often ob- ierved in the fame character, of avarice with profufion, of meannefs with liberality. Vanity, felfifhnefs, and a want of ferious principles, are llriking circumftances in the manners of the prefent age ; and as vanity leads to expenfive oftentation, fo felnthnefs, and want of principle, have a natural tendency to produce covet- oufnefs and rapacity. Very few reftraints are allowed to operate on the modes of acquiring or of laving money, except the fear of detection. There is fcarcely 5 any 136 ESSAYS, No. 116. any meannefs or bafenefs to which many perfon?, who make the greateft (hew in drefs, furniture, and equipage, are not ready to fubmit under the certainty of conceal- ment. The time has been, when a great family, refiding in a great houfe of a village, was confidered as a blefling to all the neighbouring country. The poor were em- ployed in adorning and improving the grounds all about it. The table in the parlour was always open for the reception of the gentlemen who refided within, ten miles of the houfe j and the kitchen afforded warmth and plenty to the poor and induftrious tenant or la- bourer. The rich man reiided in the houfe of his fathers, and fpent his money among thofe who earned it for him by the fw-/at of their brows. But, according to the modern fyftem of fafhionable manners, fuch a kind of life would be deemed intolerably dull, as well as antiquated and vulgar. The family, therefore, fpend as littie time as poflible at the noble feat of their an- ceftors, but haften to the fea-fide, or the watering-places, where they hire a littie hut, or cabin, and lavilh their money on Grangers, with few returns of gratitude, or of rational fatisfaftion. The farmer, who lives in their native village, returning weary from his plough, (hakes his head as he pa(Tes the cold kitchen, and turns with pity and contempt from the fmokelefs roof. The fervants are pinched, and even envy the comparative plenty and independence of the next cottagers. The whole country rings with reports of the meannefs and poor living at the great houfe. In the mean time, the lord and lady, the baronet or efquire, with their refpe&ive families, are figuring, as it is called, in all the profufion of emulous extravagance, at Bath, or Brighthelmftone. While they grudge the bread and cheefe which is confumed in their own houfe, or refufe to contribute to a brief, or any charitable inftitution among their poor neighbours at home, they fubfcribe, moil liberally, to an infamous mafter of the ceremonies, and to every famionable amufement; they give feaits to ftrangcrs whom they {hall never fee any more, and whofe principal recom- mendation is, that they appear, from their external fplendour, No. 116. MORAL, Sec. 137 fplcndour, not to want afliftance. Their vanity is gra- tified in feeing the great and the rich at their table ; and what fignifies it, they think, if the wretches at home, whom nobody knows, ftarve and rot on the dunghills whence they originated. They grudge the poor even fmall beer in their own houfes; but drench every rich gueft, who vifits them at their lodgings, with champagne and burgundy. How fhall we account for fuch incon- ftilency, but by fuppofing that thefe perfonages poffefs large eftates and little fouls, immenfe vanity and dimi- nutive underftandings ; and that the badnefs is only ex- ceeded by the meannefs of their hearts ? Jt is eafy to obferve perfons of this defcription, who will not hefitate to expend many hundreds in drefs alone, but who, when a book is praifed in their prefence, will fpare no trouble in finding fomebody of whom they may borrow it, alleging, in excufe, that books are fo dear, it is impoflible to buy every thing that comes out. The price of the book mall be three Shillings, and it mall contain amufement for three weeks, and yet they will not buy it becaufe it would be extravagant ; though they will not fcruple to expend three guineas, any night in the week, for three hours paftime in a party at the public places of diverfion. The milleners, the hair-dreflers, the perfumers bills, mall amount to many hundreds a year ; but five pounds ex- pended at the bookfeller's would be downright prodi- gality. Guineas flow, without rettraint, in fubfcriptions to balls, concerts, aflemblies ; to dancing-maflers, mufic- mafters, and to players : but when the parifh lecturer's bock is brought, or the Marine Society, or the Mag- dalen, or the Infirmary, or the contribution for the Releafe of Prifoners for Small Debts, or the fufFerers in Harbadoes, or the prifoners of war, are recommended as nt objefts to receive their fuperfluities, they immedi ately look grave, complain that taxes rife, and rents fall ; r.nd aflert, with an unfeeling heart, that thefe are not times to admit of any expencei which are not abfolutely neceflary. 'I he education of their children ought certainly to con- ftitute one of the firfl cares of the rich ; and no reafon- able ex-pence mould be withheld in the accompliihment of I3 ESSAYS, No. 1 16. of it. But there are many great families, in which this is one of the finallell articles of annual expenditure. Indeed, in all necefTaryand laudable expences, a de- gree of frugality is difplayed which approaches to extreme meannefs and pzrrfimony. The poor tradcfmen who fup- ply the ordinary articles of domeitic confumption, are not only denied their price, but, after every abatement, are obliged to wait an unreafonable time for their mo- ney. So far are fuch perfons from pofleffing an inclina- tion to be generous, that it grieves them to be juft. But though they who furnifh commodities, without which life cannot be fupporteu, are il!-ufed and defrauded, whoever can fupply any circumftances of drefs, equi- page, luxury, by which felfimnefs and vanity may be gratified, are profufely and immediately rewarded. Men of letters r or ingenuity in the profefiions, are kept at a diftance ; but the door is always open to players, and to figniors and figmoras. Chaolains and tutors are out of fafhion ; but their place is abundantly fupplied by fiddlers, pipers, caperers, and fcaramouches. A dancing or muiic-mailer, who can enable the young ladies to dif- play a fine finger or a fine foot, is immediately confider- ed as the belt friend of the family, made a companion, invited to the table, paid extravagantly, and compli- mented with thanks and prefents ; neither is it wonder- ful, if the young ladies fall in love with thefe fine gentlemen, and marry them ; fince they appear both ia their own and their parents eyes, to poflefs the fummit of all human excellence. As to the perfon who may be employed to form their minds, he is ufually engaged from the recommendation of cheapnefs, and is, for the moft part, made an object cf ridicule, becaafe he has not the air of Noverre and Gallini. An enormous fortune, coniidered in its true light, is a facred truft, and intended to promote, not only the hap- pinefs of its pofferTor, but of all with whom he is con- neded, and who dcferve his beneficence. The time has been, when the poor were thought to have a claim upon; that fuperfluity, which is now lavifhed on the mean mi- niilcrs to luxury, vice, and vain oltentation. We read in the tablets in our churches, and in the records of alt charitable foundations, that people of the higheit faihion No. 117. MORAL, &c. ijf were of opinion, that to be good was eflential to the cha- rafter of true gentility. But now, if we were to afk the reprefentative of a rich family, where he had 'be- llowed the fuperfluities of the laft year, he might anfwer, that he had depoiited fome (hare of it in the pocket of an Italian, who had the extraordinary merit of being able to ftand longer on one leg than the reft of the two legged and unfeathered race. He might anfwer, that he had loft it at the gaming table ; fpent it in the tavern and brothel ; fported it away at Newmarket ; lavifhed it on dogs, horfes, jockies ; and left the poor and the deferving to the care of Providence. That Providence, \vhofe bleffings he abufes and per- verts, feldom fails to punifh his ingratitude. For as all his external circumilances have more in them of fhew than of folidity, fo alfo have all his boafixjd enjoyment?, and all that happinefs, which he thinks to derive from riches, independently of their proper application. No. CXVII. ON A TASTE FOR THE CULTI- VATION OF FLOWERS, AND OF BEAUTIFUL SHRUBS AND TREES. BEAUTY of every kind is formed to captivate, and there is this peculiar advantage in contem- plating the beauties of vegetable nature, that we may permit our hearts to be enfnared by them, without ap- prehenfion of a dangerous or a difhonourable fervitude. A tafte for the beauties of vegetation is the matk of a pure and innocent mind, and, at the fame time, one of the beft prefervatives of purity rind innocence. It diverts the attention from the turbulent fcenes of folly, and fu- perinduces a placid tranquillity, highly favourable to the gentler virtues, and to the permanency of our moil refined enjoyments. I have often been furprifed to find thofe, who poflefl- ed a very acute fufceptibility of artificial or literary grace, and were powerfully aire&ed by the beauties of a poem, 1*0 ESSAY S, No. 117, a poem, a piece of fculpture, or a painting, not at all more feniible of the charms of atree, or a floweret, than a common and inelegant fpectator. '1 hey have dwelt with rapture on a fine description of the Vale of Tern pe, they have entered into all the delight which a Shake- fpeare or a Milton meant to communicate in their en- chanting pictures of flowery and fylvan fcenes, and yet can walk through a wood, or tread on a bank of violets and primrofes, without appearing to be affected with any peculiar pleafure. This is certainly the effect of a fuperficial judgment ; for there is no truth of which phi- lofophers have been longer convinced, than that the realities of nature infinitely exceed the moil perfect pro- ductions of imitating art. .The beauty of colour, though juftly efteemed fubordi- nate to that of fhape, is yet found to delight the eye more immediately, and more univerfally. When colour and lhape are united in perfection , he who can view them with infenfibility, nuiit refign all pretenfions to delicacy of perception. Such an union has been ufually effected by nature in the formation of a flower. There is fcarcely a fmgle object in all the vegetable world, in which fo many agreeable qualities are com- bined, as in the queen of flowers, the rofe. Nature certainly meant to regale the fenfes of her favourite with an object:, which prefents to him at once fremnefs, fragrancy, colour, and fhape. The very foul feems to be refrefhed on the bare recollection of the pleafure which the fenfes receive in contemplating, in a fine vernal morning, the charms of the pink, the violet, the honey-fuckle, the hyacinth, the narciflus, the jon- quil, the rocket, the tulip, and a thoufand others, in every variety of figure, fcent, and hue; for nature is no lefs remarkable for the accuracy and beauty of her works, than for variety and profufion. Defects are always difcovered in the works of art when they are examined with a microfcope ; but a clofe examination of a leaf cf a flower, is like taking off a veil from the face of beauty. The fineit needle ever polifhed, and pointed by the moil ingenious artift, appears, when it is viewed by the folar microfcope, quite obtufe ; while the iting of a bee, however magnified, ftill retains ll No. 117. MORA L, &c. 141 its original acutenefs of termination. The ferrated border in the petal of a flower, and the fringe on the wing of a fly, difplay an accuracy of delineation which no pencil ever yet could rival. The tafte of the florift has not, indeed, been much admired, or generally afpired at ; while that of the connoifleur in painting, is confidered as a mark of elegance of character, and an honourable diftinftion. Yet, furely, it is an incon- fiftency to be tranfported with the workmanfhip of a poor mortal, and to feel no raptures in furveying thofe highly finiihed pictures, in which it is eafy to trace the finger of the Deity. The poets have given us mod luxuriant defcriptions of gardens and of rural fcenery ; and though they are thought by fome to have exceeded reality, they have indeed fcarcely equalled it. Enter a modern fhrub- bery, formed of a feleclion of the moft agreeable flowering fhrubs, and confider, whether there is any thing in the garden of Alcinous, in the fields of Elyfium, in Milton's Paradife, to be compared with the intermixture of the lilac, the fyringa, the laburnum, the double-blofTomed cherry, peach, and almond ; with the rubinia, the jefTamine, the mofs-rofe, the mag- nolia, and a great number of others, lefs common, but not of greater, though perhaps of equal, beauty. As we walk under cluflers of flowers, white as fnow, tinged with gold, purple as the grape, blue as the expanfe of heaven, and blufhing like the cheek cf youth, we are led to imagine ourfelves in fairy land, or in another and a better world ; where every delicate fenfe is de- lighted, and all around breathes fragrance, and expands beauty; where the heart feems to participate in the joy of laughing nature. Groves and gardens have, in- deed, been always fuppofed to footh the mind into a placid temper, peculiarly favourable to the indulgence of contemplation. The excellent tafte which now prevails in gardening, ufually combines the fhrubbery and the grove. The tall trees of the foreft constitute the back-ground in the living landfcape, and the fhrubs, beneath and before them, form the underwood, in a delightful re- femblance to the natural coppice, and the unculti- vated I-J2 ESSAYS, No. 117. vnted foreft. The plane tree is one of the firft beauties among thofe which are now moil frequently planted in our gardens. Its large leaf, and permanent verdure, render it peculiarly fitted to afford a fhade. I always confider it as a claflical tree, for the antient writers often mention it ; and fome of the finelt philofophical dialogues of antiquity parted under the cool retreat of its broad and vivid foliage. Socrates fought no other theatre than the turf that grew under the plane tree, on the banks of the IlifTus. The weeping-willow, that droops over the babbling flream, conltitutes one of thofe fine beauties which partake of the melancholy and romantic. Such, indeed, are the charms of its luxuriant branches, that, when properly fuuated, it is of itfelf an enchanting picture. Beautiful as are all the features of the modern garden, I mould not hefi- tate to allot the firft place in an eftimate cf horticultu- ral graces to the weeping-willow. The weeping birch is at all times plealing, and a moft delightful object in winter. Obferve yonder tall ftem, rifing from the imedUces of a craggy rock, covered with a rind white and glofly like lllver, and drooping with ten thoufand fine twigs, fo attenuated as to appear almoft capillary. View it when fprinkled with hoar froft, or with fnow, and if you have a foul capable of being charmed with natural beauty, you will be fen.lbly affected at the fight with a fweet complacency. An old oak is not oftea found in our gardens, becaufe of its tardy vegetation ; but whenever it appears in them, it produces all the effect of graceful majefty, and one may contemplate it for hours with ftill new delight. The delicate acacia, the conical poplar of Lombardy, the flowery chefnut, the foft lime, the elegant mountain afh, the afpiring j ; .r, the gloffy laurel, thefe all form fo various and de- lightful pictures, that while I am permitted to expa- tiate over the lawn, and penetrate the mazes of the wood and garden, I (hall not repine that it is not my lot to faunter in the pifture galleries of a palace. The taite for plantation prevails greatly in this coun- try, ajid it ought to be encouraged, as it is a n.ever- failing fource of pleafure to the planter, and of im- provement to the community. But it is to be hoped. that No. 1 18. MORA I, &c. 143 that while we plant the tree for ornament, we fhall not forget to drop the acorn, and raife that heart of oak, which bears an analogy to the bravery of the people ; and has ever been to this land, et prafidium et dccus, both a bulwark and a beauty. NO. CXVIII. ON THE CHARACTER OF ADDISON AS A POET. THE luftre of a great name not only fets off real beauties to the greatefl advantage, but adds a grace to deformity, and converts a defect to an excel- lence. The enthufiaftical admirers of a favourite author, like ardent lovers, view thofe objects with rapture, which caufe in others indifference or difguft. Without confi- dering the inequalities of the fame genius, and the di- verfities of fubjects, they are Jed to conclude, from the excellence of one part of an author's works, that all are excellent ; and that whatever bears his fignature, is genuine wit, and juft tafte. I know not whether even Mr. Addifon, who Is fo de- fervedly efleemed the honour of our nation, was not in- debted for a fmall part of his reputation to the blind bigotry of prejudice. On any other fuppofition, I know not how he could have been admired as a very eminent poet. The difpafiionate temperature which conilituted a folid judgment, and qualified him for t u e cool difqui- fitions of criiicifm and morality, rendered him incapa- ble of that animated fpirit which is the foul of poetry. But the reader is unwilling to believe, that fo accurate a critic, and fo correct a writer, is himfelf faulty ; and, therefore, when he pafi'es from his profe to his poetry, and obferves a manifeft inferiority and deficiency of merit in the latter, he rather inclines to diflrult his own judgment than the abilities of the author. Reader after reader has toiled through the fame dull rhimes, perhaps Wind to their faults, or, if fenfibJe .of .their defects, yet inclined 144- ESSAYS, No. 118. inclined to join in their praife, in oppofition to convic- tion, from a dread of the imputation of a depraved tafte. Had not a veneration for his name prevented critics from fpeaking their real fentiments, though Addifon would, as a moral eflayift, moft juftly have been called the So- xrrates, Plato, or Xenophon of his age ; yet he would liever have been efteemed the firft of poets. It would be injuftice, while we infpeft thefe volumes, to pafs over in filence, the elegant poem which is pre- fixed to the works of Addifon, on the death of their author. The melancholy flow of the verfe is well adapt- ed to exprefs the tendernefs of the fentiments. The beauty of the imagery, and the energy of the expreffion, entitle this little piece to a very refpe&able rank among the elegiac compofitions of the Englim writers. It was for a long time little regarded ; but the arention lately paid to it, and the commendations bellowed on it, are proofs that literary merit, however unnoticed for a time, through accident, prejudice, or party, is fure ta receive the applaufe it deferves from impartial pofterity. At the end of the verfes of Addifon to Mr. Dryden, we lire told, that the author was but twenty-two years of age when he wrote them. Whether the age was af- fixed to extenuate the imperfections, or to enhance the merits of the poem, certain it is, that both thefe inten- tions are fruftrated by its extreme infignificance and fu- tility. The production is unworthy the age of twenty- two. Mr. Pope is known to have written his paftorals, which infinitely exceed the verfification of Addifon, at fixteen ; and Milton acquired an elegance in Latin verfe at an earlier period. The thoughts in this piece are not ftriking, the ftyle is contemptible, and the negligence in the rhime alone would, in the prefent refinement of tafte, confign the work to oblivion. That all his pieces are upon a level with this, can- not be aflerted. That fome of them abound with grand conceptions, and have many good lines, muft be con- fefled. But allowing Addifon all the merit in his poetry, which candour, or even partiality in his favour can allow, he never can be juftly efteemed one of the firft poets of the nation. I never heard that Socrates increafed No. 119. MORAL, &c. 145 increafeJ his fame by his poetical verfion of JECc.p's Fa- bles, and the beit profe-wricer iir the belt age of wrote the line, " for tun a! am, natam^ me confide, Ro~ ." The truth is, nature ufually beito-.vs her gifts with a prudent liberality even to her favourites. One might on this occafion apply to Addifon the of Martial, " FLc Cicercnis babes" This charafter of a bad poet you have in common with the great Cicero. To oppofe opinions univerfally received, is to incur the imputation of vanity, ignorance, and want of tafte. But as every individual has a right to private judgment, and may offer his fentiments to others, while he does it with modefty, profeffes a poffibility of miilake, and keeps his mind open to conviction, I have ventured to advance an opinion againft the poetical merit of Ad- difon ; regardlefs how it may alarm thofe who fubmit their jud ments to the direction of others, and who pay an implicit obedience to authority. NO. CXIX. THE. FOLLY OF BRINGING Ul CHILDREN TO A LEARNED PROFESSION, WITHOUT THE PROBABILITY OF PROVIDING THEM WITH A COMPETENCY. THAT admiration is the effecl: of ignorance, is . truth univerfally confefled ; and nothing ib forcibly excites the wonder of the illiterate Plebeian, as the chandler of profound erudition. Dazzled by the fplendor of literary honours, many I was not dejeled ; and I applied to a certain Redor for his Curacy, the duty of which, confiited in prayers twice a day, a fermon, on Sundays, and innumerable burials, chriflenings, and weddings. I thought myfelf happy, however, in being offered forty guineas a year, without fur- plus, or furplice fees; but how was I chagrined, on being told by the Reftor, on the very firft Sunday I went to officiate, that I need not trouble myfelf, as another gentleman had undertaken the whole duty at forty pounds ! " I waited now a confiderable time in expectation that fomething would fall ; but heard of nothing in which there was the lead probability of fuccefs, unfupported, as I was by friends, and unknown to fame. At laft, I was informed by an acquaintance, that a certain Clergyman in the city was about to refign his Le&urefhip, and that he would probably refign in my favour, if I were early enough in my application. I made all the hafte i poflibly could to reach this gentleman before his resignation ; and found very little difficulty in perfuading him to intercede in my favour. In mort, his endeavours, joined to my own, fecured the Lefturefhip, and I was unanimoufly cho- fea. The electors, however, exprefled a .Icfire, that Hz I would i 4 S ESSAY S, No. 119. " I would quit my place of refidence, which was at a *' diftance, and live in the pari(h. To this requeft I " confented ; and immediately fixed myfelf in a decent " family, where I lodged and boarded for fifty pounds " a year ; and as I was not fo ambitious as my father, " I congratulated myfelf on the happy event, and fat " down contented and fatisfied. But, alas! how was I confounded, when my collectors brought the an- nual contribution, to find it amount to no more than an exacl fum of twenty-one pounds two (hillings and three-pence three farthings ! I was under an imme- diate neceflity of difcharging my lodging, refigning my preferment, and quietly decamping with the lofs of no inconfid'erable fum. " Thus, Sir," faid he, " have I now for thefe " twenty years been to/Ted about in the world, without " any fixed refidence, and without any certain profpecl: " of my bread. I muft not however complain, as I * am well aflured there are many in-the metropolis in " fituations very fimilar to mine. Yet fometimes, I " own, I cannot help being foolifh enough to imagine, that I might, perhaps, have been happier, and I am *' fure I could have been richer, had I been brought up " to my paternal awl and laft. My poor father died " about two years ago, and I have reafon to think, his " difappcintmetu and forrow for my ill-fuccefs haftened " his diffolution. " I now fupport myfelf tolerably well in the capacity " of, what the world ludicroufly calls, a Hackney *' Parfon. And though I do not get quite fo much " as a journeyman fhoemaker, I make fhift to keep " foul and body together; and I thank God for that. " If, Sir, you could recommend me, here is my ad- " drefs, up four-pair of Hairs." He was proceeding, but he had too powerfully ex- cited my fympathy ; and after confoling him to the beft of my power, I took my leave of him, not without fevere reflexions on thofe parents, who, to indulge a childifh vanity, bring up their offspring to mifery and want. No, CXX. No. 120. MORAL, &c. No. CXX. ON 'DECENCY, AS THE ONLY MOTIVE OF OUR APPARENT VIRTUES, AND PARTICULARLY OF OUR RELIGIOUS BEHA- VIOUR. WHATEVER may be the vices of this age, it cannot be faid to be particularly diflinguiftied by hypocrify. Selfiihriefs reigns triumphant ; and men, for the moft part, purfue whatever they think conducive to their own pleafure or intereft, without regarding ap- pearances, or the o'pinions of others, except, indeed, Avhen their interell or their pleafure are immediately- concerned. Even they who fill offices of confidence and honour in the community, .ire, in this ag?, fond of diverting themfclves of that external dignity with which the \vifdom of our anceftors judged it right to furround them. Tiiey defcend with a peculiar kind of pride from their natural or political eminence, and will not even difplay the appearance of thofe virtues and abilities which are absolutely ne.ceflary in their offices and ftations. They oftentatioufly exhibit a carelefihefs and profligacy in their converfation and behaviour, which, if they really poflefs, ought to difplace them from their rank, and ftrip them of their blufhing honours. In thofe who fill public offices, or who are fixed in the more important profeilions, a regard to external divncy is itfelf a virtue;. But, in truth, if the prefcnt difordere-1 Hate of things would permit, none ought to fill thofe offices and profeJions, whole regard to decency dee.', not r.rife from a regard to virtue. There are, indeed, many who are erteemed good fort of perfons, but whofe goodnefs is unprincipled, and appears to arife folely from a regard to external decorum, or, what is called, the faving of appearances. And this motive, poor and contemptible as it is, in H 3 cow i$o ESSAYS, No. U9. comparifon with rational principles arising from con- viction, is very often the only avowed motive for the regular performance of all external duties ; but more particularly of thofe which, concern religion. The following imaginary tran faction will, perhaps, fuggeft an idea of that poor and political decency which it is thought a very extraordinary effort of virtue to main- tain. Let us then invent a fceoe of fiction by way of exemplification. "" We muft have a Faft Day foon," fays the Statef- jnan, " for the Americans have had one already." " It is unneceffary," replies the Privy Counfellor in the jockey drefs, aiming at a wretched pun, " it is all a *' farce." " Between friends," fubjoins the Statet- man, " 1 am not fonder of fjch formalities than you " are ; but yon know it is decent, and we muft con- " form, externally at }eaft, to the prejudices of the *' mob." " It is decent, my Lord," re-echoes the bench of Bifhops. " There is a Sermon preached to-day before ths *' Honfe of Lords," fays a member ; " True," fays another, " but I vote it a Bore; and befides, I a.m en- " gaged to fee a fine bitch pointer that I think of buy- ' ing." " Well," refumes the other, " but let us make " a party of two or three to church, becaufe it is '* decent." < We beg, my Lords," foftly whifpers an epifcopal voice, " you would not put yourfelves to the ' fmalleft inconyenience, for half a dozen of us have " determined, though we have a thoufand engagements, " to pollpone them an hour or two for the fake of de- " cency. Decency, my Lord, muft fuperfede every '* confideration." " Will you go to church, my Lord " Duke ?" fays one, lowly bowing to his patron. '* No ; I think it decent, but you will be there on " that account ; and as I am engaged to-day at bil- *' liards, I muft beg to be excufed : but I hope '-* there will be enough there to make a decent ap- " pearance." Among the gay fenators of the Britifh empire it has been obferved, that very few, of late, have difplayed in this inflance even that fubordinate virtue of which we fpeak, No. 120. MORA L, &t, 15-1 fpeak, a regard to external decency. Weftminfler Abbey, indeed, is not a place to be frequented for pleafure by thofe who chiefly (hine in the Hand at a horfe-race. One or two officers however do attend a fermon officially, and a few others for the fake of decency ; but the know- ing ones confider the whole bufmefs, to exprefs their own ideas in their own language, as a curfed lounge. This bufmefs, therefore, and many others of a moft folemn, facred, and venerable nature, beirrg confulered merely as incumbrances by the jolly part, which is tl greater part, they are utterly negle&cd, or attended by a few only, whofe intereit compels them to have a re- gard to decency. Our religion teaches us to feparate one day out cf feven for religious purpofes. But many of the wife men, who vi ere born to be our Englilh Solons and Lycurgi, confider the inftitution merely as a foolifh fuperftition j and therefore fpend the Sabbath, like the charming peo- ple abroad, at cards and in diffipation, and very much lament thofe grofs prejudices of the common people, which render it decent and prudent not to open the thea- tres, and enliven the horrid dullnefj> of the Seventh Day by public diverfions. Even mighty good fort- of people, as they are ufually called, hefitate not to confefsj that a regard to external decency is one of the rhief motives of their regular conduct in obierving the Sabbath, and other virtuous practices of or forefathers It would not be difficult to trace this motive of de- cency in many of the apparent virtues, which ciilplay themfelves with no little oftentation, in every depart- ment of human life. But it is really better to pay that deference to virtue which arifes from afiuming the appearances, than by impudent and avowed contempt of it, to injure others by the example. To have merely a regard to decency in common life, and in a wicked and unprincipled age, becomes, in feme degree, virtuous. We will not, therefore, expofe this unfound virtue to fevere cenfure, except when it appears in religion, where, whatever appearances are infmcere, conftitute hypocrify of a moft deteftable kind ; hypo- crify, founded on felf-intereft. It is the man of decent character (and with this view alone he is decent), who H 4 rifcs 152 , ESSAYS, rues to preferment, ami then laughs in his lawn ;;t the humble Chrillian in. tattered crape, \vho is too fiBcere to he political, too found in the inner man to wane or admit the varnith of the whifed fepuichrc. Pope has faid, that Seeker was decent, and that RundJe had a heart. Whether the cenfure or the praiib xvusjuft is not mine to determine. All J (hall remark on the pa/Tage is, th-t though decency may fmooth the way to courts, and infmuate itfelf into the highelt leats of preferment, it is a heart only which is capable of deriving, frcm the fuccefs, a pure and folid fatif- faift^cm. '('hough decency without fjncerity rer.y be approved by narrow politicians, and even gain the ap- n^ire of the multitude by deceiving them ; yet let not the hypocrite triumph, but remember, that there is one befoie whom all hearts are open, all defires known, and from whom no fecrets are hidden. No. CXXI. ON THE ANIMOSITIES OCCA- SIONED IN THE COUNTRY BY THE GAME LAWS. IN a late paper on the difagreernents of a country neighbourhood, I purpofely omitted one of the moft fruitful cnufes of them, intending to confider it in a paper by itfelf, confiftently with its exteniive and im- portant operation. I believe it will be allowed by all who have made remarks, that the individuals of this nation are more ferioufly and inveterately divided by difputes about the Game, than by controversies, which make much more noife in the world on the fubjefts of politics or religion. \Vhat remains among us of fa- vv.genefs and brutality is chiefly preferved by the mean and ielfifh gr'eedinefs of thole who poffefs a thoufand peculiar advantages, and who yet meanly contend for an exclufive right to deflroy the Game; that ufufruc- tuary property, which the Creator intended to be pofleffed by .the firil occupant, like the air, light, and 'water. Some No. 121. MORAL, &c, 153 Some feflraints however of that kind, which tend to prevent the poor labourer from wafting .his valuable time, might, perhaps, be neither unjull, nor, in any refpeft, attended with inconvenience. But the Game Law?, a~> they now fubfifl in England, are a difgrace to the noble fabric of our free confKtution. They are illiberal in their nature; they originated in flavery, and they lead to tyranny. It is remarked by Burn, and the great commentator en our legal fyftem, that, in one Itatute only for the prcfervation of Game, there are not lefs than fix blunders in Grammar, befides other miftakes ; fo that one is led to conclude, that this part of our boafted code was drawn up by a committee of boorifli country cfquircs and ftupid fox-hunters. Jndeed, the whole body of the Game Laws is replete with perplexity, abfurdity, and contradiction. What can be more ridiculous, than that the legiflature of a mighty empire mould require one hundred a year as a qualification to moot a poor partridge, and only forty millings to vote for a Senator? " There is another offence." lays Blackitone, " fo conftituted by a variety of acts of parliament, which are fo numerous, and fo confufed, and the crime itfelf of fo queftiou- able a nature, that I fliall not detain the reader with rmny obfervations thereupon. And yet it is an of- fence which the fportfmen of England feem to think of the higheft importance; and a matter, perhaps the only one, of general and nati mi concern: af- fociations having been formed all over the kingdom to prevent its deftruitive progrefs ; I mean the offence of dettroying fuch bealts and fowls as are ranked under the denomination of Game." Upon the whole, it may be truly faid, that an Englifhman, who has a regard for the honour of his country, and fenfe enough to fee the mean and arbitrary fpirit of the Game Laws, and the nonfenl'e of the Letter, muft hide his face in confufion, when he confiders how much time and attention has been fpent upon them by the Briiifh Legiflature. Rural diverfions certainly conllitute a very pleafing and proper amufemcnt for all ranks above the loweft* livery man who has a jtifl claim to the title of gen- ii 5 tleman, 1*4 ESSAYS, N. 121. tleman, or, indeed, who is capable of fpending his time in amufement, without injuring the public or his own family, ought to be fuffered to partake of them. Jf he gives up his hours, his labour, and his thoughts to the purfuit, he has earned a right to the obj.eft, fince the object is of a nature which cannot be appro- priated while alive and at liberty. A fellow-creature is agreeably amufedand benefited, and no man robbed, iince the bird that flies in the air no more belongs to the tenant of the manfion-houfe, than the fun-beam which equally fhines on the cottage and the palace. Poor is the opulence, and little the grandeur, which {hews a difpofition which would undoubtedly engrofs, if it were poffible, the light and the air. With refpecl. to the matter of a trefpafs, it is certain, that a Lord of the Manor is no lefs liable to be pro- fecuted for it on his own manor than any other perfon, whether qualified or unqualified. It fhews, therefore, the ignorance, as well as arbitrary difpofition of thefe petty princes, when they claim the privilege of prowling for prey, without controul, on their neighbour's land, and of excluding all others from their own. In fhort, it is extremely doubtful what privileges the lord of the manor poflefies ; and whether he has a better right to hunt and fhoot, without a particular grant from the king, than the meaneft fubjeft whom he bullies and browbeats. The contemptible laws which have been made on this bufmefs certainly want illuflration and amendment. Indeed they ought to be torn out of the ftatute book ; and the memory of them, like that of feudal ignorance and flavery, execrated. There is a practice particularly mean and oppreffive, which very much prevails in this felfilh age, among the engrofiers of that part of the creation which God and nature have conftituted free as the feas and the winds.. They do not confider the purfuit of Game in the liberal Jight of a gentleman-like diverfion, but view the hare and the partridge as provender for the table at once genteel and cheap. They therefore feldom give thenifelves the trouble to join in the chnce, or carry the gun over the furrows; but felecl fome idle peafant, who, by poaching, has acquired a flail in the arts of dellroying No. 121. MORA L, &c. 155 defiroying Game ; clothe him in green plufh, and fend him to provide pheafants, and bid defiance to his fuperior.?, whenever the matter has company to dine with him, and wifhes to fave an article in the butcher's account. This green-coated hero, who is ufually one of the greateft fcoundrels in the parim, Tallies forth under the prote&ion of the lord or lady of the manor; and if he meets a curate, or an apothecary, or a reputable tradefman, or even a neighbouring lord of the manor, boldly infults them, threatens to fliocc their dogs, or feize their fowiing-piece ; and juflifies all his infolence by alleging, that what he does or fays is all by his mailer's order. Appeal to that mafter, and, probably, the infults are aggravated ; or, if he pretends to uncommon affability, he will allow that the fellow is ap: to be a little foul-mouthed ; but, upon the whole, is a very faithful fervant. The low wretch himfe'f might, indeed, be punilhed both for his trefpafs and his ill-ufage; but though he infulted his profecutors in the field, he is ready, like all upftart and petty potentates, to bend on his knees for mercy, and ufually difarms the geni- rous by pleading a wife and fix children. I know not which -ought to predominate, compnifion for the poor deluded peafant, or contempt for his employer. It is furely enough that the rich man claims an exclufive right to the commoners of nature hirafeirj and he ought by no means to be fuffercd to commifCon the lowefl plebeian to do that which he prohibiis in gen- tlemen of the profelTions ; of fortunes as independent, if not fo great, as his own, and of minds often much, greater. It is in the power of thefe hirelings, who feldomv poflefs much principle, to involve all the country in snimofity. The landed gentry ufually poftefs a mare of pride fully proportionate to their eilate and manfion- houfe. The hireling of one treipafTei on the dominions of another. Reprisals are made. Each defends his representatives. One thinks himfrlf us good (for that is the phrafe) as the oth-er. N-o conceffions can poffibly be made. Hatred, of the bkten.lt and molt rancorous kind mutually takes poflHion of theie lords in minia- ture ; and many a hunting would end, if vaflals could H 6 be 156 ESSAYS, No. 121. be procured, like that of Chevy Chace, in a bloody battle. If compaflion did not intervene, one might be much entertained with Ib ludicrous an objecl, as that of creatures, who pretend to reafo_n, benevolence, chriit- ianity, and education, rendering their exigence, mutu- ally painful, by fierce quarrels, fecret but venomous -hatred, expenfive and vexatious litigations, occafioned by objedls of a nature truly trifling in themfelves, and which, allowing them every potfible praife, can be called no more than innocent diverfions. Are we not ftill children with all our beard and gravity about us, Sf we always play till we quarrel ? Our conduct, in this refpeft, is almoft too abfurd to admit of ferious e.xpoflu- lation. It may furnifh fcenes for mirth at a puppet- fhew, or a farce at Bartholomew Fair. However, I think it neceflary, before I conclude this fubjecl, to declare, for the fake of avoiding the ma- lignant rnifmterpretations of goffips and fcandal-dealers by profefllon, that there are no allufions in this paper cither perfonal or local ; and that I have not been pleading for a privilege in which I am intereited, not being inclined to hunt, nor able to (hoot. I will beg leave to add one paffage on the fubjeft from Blackuone, for the information of thofe among fportfmen, who are too tenacious of their exclufive rights, and who are able to read it. " Another violent alteration of the Engllfh confti- " tution, confifted in the depopulation of whole ccun- <( tries for the purpofes of the King's royal diverfion ; " and fubje&ing both them, and all the antient forefts " of the kingdom, to the unreafonable feverity of " Foreft Laws, imported from the continent; whereby the fiaughter of a bead was made almoit as penal as the death of a man. In the Saxon times, though no man was allowed to kill or chafe the King's deer, yet he might ftart any game, purfue and kill it, upon his own cftate. But the rigour of tliefe new conititutions veiled the fole property of all the Cj:nie in England in the King alone; and no r.,; j n was allowed to diftnrb any lowl of the air, or ; ny beaft of the field, of fuch kinds as were fpecially 2 " referved No. 122. MORAL, Sic. 157 referred for the royal amufement of the Sovereign, without exprefs licence from the King, by the grant of a chace or free warren : and thofe franchifes were granted as much with a view to preferve the breed of animals, as to indulge the fubjeft. From afimilar principle to which, though the Foreft Laws are now mitigated, and by degrees grown entirely obfolete ; yet from this root has fprung a baftard Hip, known by the name of the Game Law, now arrived to, and wantoning in, its higheft vigour: both founded upon the fame unreafonable notions of permanent property in wild creatures; and both productive of the fame tyranny to the commons: but with this difference ; that the Foreft Laws eftabliflied only one mighty liunter throughout the land, the Game Laws have ro.ijed a little Nimrod in every manor. And in one relpect the antient law was much lefs unreafonable than the modern ; for the King's gran tee of a chace or free warren might kill game in every part of his franchife ; but now, though a freeholder of lefs than one hundred a year is forbidden to kill a partridge on his own eitate, yet nobody elfe (not even the lord of the manor, unlefs he hath a grant cffree warren) cart do it without committing a trefpafs, and fubjeding lumfclf to an adion." No. CXXII. ON THE IMPORTANCE OF GO- VERNING THE TEMPER. OT WITHSTANDING the many complaints of the calamities of human life, it is certain, that more conltant uneafinefs arifes from ill temper than from ill fortune. In vain has Providence beftowed every ex- ternal blefling, if care has not been taken by ourfelves to fmooth the afperities of the temper. A bad temper embitters every fwcet, and converts a paradife into 3 place of torment. The government of the temper then, on which, the happinefs of the human race io greatly depends, can never" 158 ESSAYS, No. 122. never be too frequently, or too forcibly recommended. But as it-was found by fome of the antients one of the moft efficacious methods of deterring young perfons from any difagreeable or vicious conduct, to point out a living character in which it appeared in all its deformity, I mall exhibit a picture, in which I hope a bad temper will ap- pear, as it really is, a moil unamiable object. It is by no means uncommon to obferve thofe, who have been flattered for fuperficial qualities at a very early age, and engaged in fo conitant a feries of diffipating pleafure, as to leave no time for the culture of the mind, becoming, in the middle and advanced periods of life, melancholy inftances of the miferable effects refulting from an ongoverned temper. A certain lady, whom I (hall diftin;:uifh by the name ofHifpulla, was celebrated from her infancy for a fine complexion. She had, in- deed, no very amiable expreffion in her eyes, but the ver- milion of her cheeks did not fail to att r act admiration, and (he was convinced by herglafs, and by the affevera- tions of tl:e young men, that fhe was another and a fairer Helen. She had every opportunity of improving her mind ; but as we naturally bellow our firft care on the quality which we moft value, fhe could never give her attention either to books or to oral inftruction, and, at the age of fifteen or fixteen, could fcarcely write her name legibly, or read a fentence without hefuation^ Her perfonal charms were, however, powerful enough to captivate the heart of a thoughtlefs heir, very little older than herfelf. Her vanity, rather than her love, was gratified by the alliance; and when fhe found the affiduities of promifcuous fuitors at an end, fhe found herfelf gradually finking in the dead calm of infipidity. When love was no more, other paffions fprung up with all the luxuriancy of rank weeds, in a foil where no fa- lutary herb has been planted in the vernal feafon. Pride, that fruitful plant, which bears every kind of odious quality in abundance, took root in her heart, and floHrifhed, like the aettle or the hemlock, on the banks of the ftagnant pool. Her hufband was the firit to feel its baneful effects. Though the match was greatly to her advantage, (he perfuaded herfelf that fhe might have dooe better ; and 7 that No. 122. MORA L, &c. r$ that her good fortune was by no means adequate to the prize which her beauty and merit might have juftly claimed. With this convidion, and without any habits or abilities which might lead her to feek amulement in books, fhe found no diverfion fo congenial to her heart, as the tormenting a good-natured, young, and agreeable hufband, who, by marrying, had excluded her from the probability of a title. As a fmall compenfation for the injury received, (he a/Turned an abfolute dominion over him, his fortune, and his family. He durll not differ in opinion from her ; for on the flighteft oppofition, her eyes dart fire, her cheeks glow with indignation, and her tongue utters every bitter word which rage and malice can dictate. The comfort of every meal is poifoned by a quarrel ; and an angry vociferation is re-echoed from the parlour to the kitchen, from the cellar to the garret, by night and by day, except in the awful and ominous, paufe of a fallen filence. The poor hufo.ind, who, with every amiable difpofi- tion, pcflbiTed alfo the virtue of patience, bore the evil as long as human nature could bear it ; but as years ad- vanced, and her fury increafed, he fought a refuge at the tavern, and in the compofing juice of the grape. Excefs and vexation foon laid him in the only fecure afylum from the flings and arrows of an outrageous temper, the filent tomb. The children, after fuffering every fpecies of perfecu- tion which an angry, though foolifhly fond mother, could inflict, no fooner arrived at maturity, than they began to look for happinefs in an efcape from home, where neither peace nor eafe could find a place. The daughters mar- ried meanly, unworthily, and wretchedly, contented to take refuge from the rage of a furious mother in the arms of footmen and hair-dreflers. The fons ran away, and became vagrant and wretched debauchees ; till, in mere defpair, one of them enteiei as a foldier in the Eafi India icrvice, and the other put an end to his own exiflence. The mother, after fhedding a few natural tears, and wiping them foon, began to feel her pride and paflion amply gratified in an abfolute dominion over an eliate, a manfion-houfe, and a tribe of fervants, whofe depend- ant fuuation made them bear her fury with little refift- ance. 160 ESSAYS, No. 122. ance. But (he enjoyed her reign but a fhort time; for as her mind was incapable of refting on itfelf for fup- port, fhe fought relief from the bottle of cordial; and, heated one day with a large draught, and a violent paflion with one of the maids, (lie burft a blood vefTel, and ex- pired in a fcolding fit, her tongue ftill quivering after her heart had ceafed its pulfation. I believe the originals of fuch a pifture as this, are much lefs common in the prefent age, than they were in the laft century. Ladies were then fecluded from the world till marriage, and as they were very fuperficially educated in every thing but potting and preferving, it is no wonder if they became termagants or viragos. They had no right ideas of themfelves or the world around, and yielded,' without oppofition, to thofe violent emo- tions, which arife, perhaps, in every mind when it is totally uncultivated. Culture of the understanding is, indeed, one of the befl methods of fubduing the heart to foftnefs, and redeeming it from that favage ftate in which it too often comes from the hands of nature. The more our reafon is ftrength- ened, the better fhe is enabled to keep her feat on the throne, and to govern thofe paffions which were appoint- ed to be her fubjefts ; but which too often rebel, and fucceed in their unnatural revolt. But, befides theeffeft of mental culture, in calling forth and increafing the powers of the reafoning faculty, it feems to poflefs an influence in humanizing the feelings, and meliorating the native difpofition. Mafic, painting, and poetry, teach the mind to feleft the agreeable parts of thofe ob- jects which furround us, and by habituating it to a pure and permanent delight, gradually fuperinduce an habi- tual good humour. It is of infinite importance to hap- pinefs toaccuftom the mind, from infancy, to turn from deformed and painful fcenes, and to contemplate what- ever can be found of moral and natural beauty. The fpirits, under this benign management, contract a milk- inefs, and learn to flow all cheerily in their fmooth and yielding channels ; while, on the contrary, if the young mind is teafed, frette^, and neglected, the paflages of the fpirits become rugged, abrupt, exafpenited, ^nd the whole nervous fyilem leems to acquire an exceiiive irri- tability. No. 122. MORAL, &c. 161 tability. The ill treatment of children has not only made them wretched at the time, but wretched for life; tearing the fine contexture of their nerves, and roughen- ing;? by example, and by fome fecret and internal influ- ence, the very confutation of their tempers. So much cf the happinefs of private life, and the virtues of mothers and daughters, in particular, depends on the government of the temper, that the temper ought to be a principal object of regard in a well-conducied education. The fuffering of children to tyrannize, with- out controul, over fervants and inferiors, is, I am con- vinced, the ruin of many an amiable difpofition. The virtues of humanity, benevolence, humility, cannot be too early enforced ; at the fame time care mould be taken that an infant of two or three years old fliould never be beaten c mation of a party bigot. From a tafle for trafh, and a difrelifh of the wholefome food of the mind, and from the No. 124. MORAL, Sec. 169 the confequent negleft of folid learning, mere politi- cians are prevented from receiving valuable improve- ment ; and the community, together with literature, is at laft deeply injured. For when learning is little refpefted, it will naturally decline; and that the mental darknefs confequent on its decline, leads to the eftablimment of defpotifm, every one who has furveyed the pictures of mankind, as pourtrayed by the pencil of hiftory, will immediately acknowledge. What did Athens and Rome retain of their antient dignity when, their learning and their arts were no more ? That the light of learning mould ever again be extinguifhed, may appear a vifionary idea to an Englifliman ; but fo ic did to a Roman, in the days of Cicero. Notwithftand- ing the multiplication of books by the art of printing, both they, and all value for them, may vanifh, toge- ther with the power of underftanding them, if the fury of politics mould occafion a contempt for letters and for education, and mould convert the leaders of a people into Goths and Vandals. He who would add an elegance to politics, and diftinguim his converfation on the fubjed from the vociferation of porters in an alehoufe, mould infpeft the fmimed pieces of antiquity, and learn to view pub- lic adls and counfels in the light in which they ap- peared to thofe whom the world has long confidered as fome of the beft and politeft teachers of political wif- dom. If he poflefTes not tafte enough to relim the works of poetical imagination, let him confine himfelf to fuch authors as Thucydides and Xenophon, Polybiug and Plutarch, Livy and Salluit. Politics will affume new grace by communicating with hiftory and philo- fophy ; and political converfation, inftead of a vague, paflionate, and declamatory effufion of undigefted ideas, will become a moft liberal exercife of the faculties, and form a mental banquet, at which the beft and wifeft of mankind might indulge their finer appetites with, infatiable avidity. What can conllitute a more rational objeft of contemplation than the noble fabric of fociety, civilized by arts, letters, and religion ? What can bet- ter employ our fagacity, than to devife modes for its im- provement and prefervation ? VOL. II. I Not 173 ESSAYS, No. 125. Not only the underftanding, the tafte, the temper of a people, but the fpirit alfo, will be greatly improved by learning politics of the Greeks and Romans. No man of feeling ever yet read Livy without learning to deteft fiavery, and to glow with a love and emulation of public virtue. The Greek and Roman fpirit cannot be too much encouraged by thofe who have a juft idea of the dignity of a true Englifhman, and defire to maintain it. And. let it be remembered, that the Athenians, in their moil glorious periods, were as much attached to politics and news as Britons ever were; but that they preferved, amidft the warmeft conteft, a refined tafte and delicate paifion for the politeft learning, and the profoundeft philofophy. No. CXXV. ON BUFFOONERY IN CONVER- SATION. IT is fweet, fays the agreeable poet of Venufium, to lay afide our wifdom, and to indulge, on a pro- per occafion, a fpecies of temporary folly. He, indeed, muft be outrageoufly fevere, who would prohibit any pleafing mode of paffing our leifure hours, while it is confident with innocence, and the nature of a being eminently diftinguifhed by the fine faculties of reafon, fancy, memory, and reflection. Charming is the foc'.al hour when folidity of judgment is enlivened by brilliancy of wit, and the lively fallies of imagination by a fweet interchange of pen/ive gravity. Eafe, free- dom, and the unftudied efFuTIon of the fentiments which naturally arife in cultivated minds, form a very delightful recreation ; and difmifs the mind to its ferious empiovments with new.alacrity. Thofe among the antients, who were moll celebrated for their wifdom, were remarkable for a cheerful and equable gaiety, and often diverted themfelves, in their intervals of feverer meditation, with jefts and drollery. Who more cheer- ful than the gentle Socrates? Who more delighted with a joke than the dignified Cicero ? But, at the fame 7 time, No. 125. MORAL, &c. 171 time, they were equally capable of maintaining a legiti- mate converfation in all its gravity and elegance. The converfations of Socrates, preserved by his eloquent difuples, breathe a wifdom approaching to divine ; and Cicero's book, de Orafore, is one of the noblefl monuments of polimed urbanity, as are many of his philofophical pieces of fpeculative wifdom. But there prevails, at prefent, a tafle for low and noify mirth, which totally precludes all delicacy of fentiment, all exercife of reafon and invention, and al- moft degrades us to the level of thofe ludicrous animals, whom nature has rendered fo wonderfully expert in the art of mimickry. Many perfons, who imagine them- felves remarkably endowed with humour, and the power of delighting whatever company they deign to blefs with their prefence, are apt to give their tongues a licence to wander without the reins of judg- ment, to afteft uncommon expreffions, attitudes, gri- maces, and modes of addrefs and behaviour; and to imagine, that oddity is humour, eccentricity wit, downright nonfenfe prodigioufly droll, and rudenefs infinitely entertaining. If the company are as foolifh as the pretended wit; or, indeed, if they are very polite and good-natured, they feldom refufe the eafy tribute of a laugh, either real or affecled ; and the joker, ani- mated by his fancied encouragement, proceeds in his ex- travagant fallies, till his afTumed folly approaches very nearly to real idiotifm. In the mean time, as he draws the attention of the company on himfelf, and engrofles all the time and talk, he not only lowers himfelf, No. isj, no farther concern on fuch fubje&s, but to look out for a fimilar one, when his fhop or warehoufe, or counting-houfe, are fhut up, through the neceflity of complying with the laws and cuftoms of the country. It may be faid, that though a tafte, formed by the pure models of Greece and Rome, may reprobate the frothy ftyle, yet, fince it is found to entertain the vulgar of a great capital, fometimes ufefully, and always innocently, it ought not to be exploded. But perhaps we are not able to grant, that it does entertain them either ufefully or innocently. It certainly gives them wrong ideas of religion, and teach-as them to neglect and defpiie the difpaffionate fuggeftions of reafon. But it is one of the principal objections to this popular or frothy preaching, that it allures men from their own" parifh churches, and induces them to defert the pulpit of a modeft and regularly educated clergyman, for fome noify and bold, fome ignorant and hypo- critical, pretender. It leads them from the light of the fun to thofe meteors and vapours, whofe dancing and uncertain gleam often conducts them into quag- mires. There are few pariihes in the metropolis which do not contain fome thoufands of inhabitants ; but you- will often find, in their refpecYtve churches not more than one hund.red, and fometimes fcarccly half that number. \yhither are they gone ? Many, indeed, are caroufing in -the delectable retreats of the rural Hoxton ; hsjt many are alfo gone to the new built chapels, or the crowded churches, where fome filver-tongued orator is ? reaching himfelf, with all the pathos of a white anckerchief, the fplendor of a diamond ring, the fmart- r.efs of a well-drefled head, and the deceitful grimaces of an importer. Religion, however, muft lofe much of her venerable air, when, inflead of the decent clothing of a chafte and honourable matron, fhe is reprefented in the taudry and flimfy garment, the painted checks,, the glafs ear-rings, the falle brilliants of the falfe courtezan. I think I may confidently affirm, that the frothy ftyle would not be tolerated at the bar or in the fenate. It would be thought too trifling for the important fubjects of property and politics. It would be an- object No. 135. MORAL, &c. 25 objed of ridicule. And ftiall that oratory which is hooted from the forum, not only take refuse, but lift up her head in triumph in the pulpit? It is not furprifing, that men of fenfe pafs by wagging their heads when they find an orator haranguing in a church with all the afteded language and fentiments of a fafhionable auc- tioneer. The eloquence which has diftinguimed many of the moft favourite preachers, and writers of palpic harangues, is not that of St. Paul, of Demolthenes, of Cicero ; but of thofe great mailers of florid defcription, Meflieurs Langford and ChrilHe. I believe it will appear connftent with reafon, that a peculiar degree of gravity and folidity, far exceeding that of the fenate or bar, is required to produce the due effed of pulpit oratory. Practical divinity is the gravelt fpecies of moral philof-phy, deriving additional dignity and force from the authenticity of revelation. The appearance of truth and fimplicity is its moft becoming ornament. To apply to it the little arts of rhetoric, and the petty graces of affedation, would be like painting, in tawdry and variegated colours, thofe Corinthian columns of St. Paul's Cathedral, which derive all their beauties from their fimple and fymmetrical gran- deur. When we go to church we hope to hear faiutary truth, and to receive improvement of mind and morals. When we wifh to be only amufed, we fhall repair to the opera and the puppet-fhew. I will take the liberty to hint to young and fafhion- .able divines, who are in general fmittcn with the falfe graces of ityle and delivery, that their congregation would be much more edified, if, inftead of moral effays, in .what- they cz\\_fie language^ they would preach ferraons, properly fo called, in the plain ftyle of truth and fcrip- ture. Let them alfo take care, as they will anfwer it to Him in whofe name they aicend the pulpit, not to preach themfelves, but the Gofpel ; not to be fo felicit- ous in the difplay of a white hand, as of a pure heart j cf a diamond ring, as of a fhining example. No. CXXXIV. ^04. ESSAYS, No. 134. 'NO. CXXXIV. ON THE GENIUS OF ERASMUS. BA T A V I A and Bceotia are by no means remark- able for the production of genius ; but Bosotia may boait ,her Pindar, and Batavia her Erafmus. I mean not to eonfider the theological opinions of Eraf- mus, but his learning and his genius; and of thefe- I may venture to affirm, that if Erafmus had lived in an Aiiguftan age, they would have advanced him to a rank among the beft of the daffies. But the theology and theologians of his times were at open war with the graces of tafte and elegance ; and, confidering the authority which they pofTefled, and the fcarcity of any other writings than thofe which proceeded from the cloifter, it may be pronounced almoft impoflible to have lived and written in that age, without contracing a tinge of the prevailing barbarifm. The ftyle of Erafmus is not therefore perfectly pure- and claflicnl ; but it is his own, and it has a native charm which renders it agreeable. I would not advife- a young man to view it as a model ; nor, indeed, to- be much converfant in the works of Erafmus, or any modern writer of Latin, till his tafte be formed, an4 his judgment regulated, by Terence, Virgil, Casfar, and Cicero. But he, whofe mind is mature, and whofe compre- henfive powers are capable of grafping all pre-eminent authors, whether antient or modern, will receive plea- fure and improvement in a great degree from the writings of Erafmus. They have ufually been ftudied only by divines, and for theological information. But I warmly recommend them to the lover of philology, or of claffi- cal learning, as furniiliing a difh for fuch a palate, both plentiful and highly feafoned. Erafmus was born to cultivate the Liters Human/ores, or the politer parts of learning; and I have often lamented, that he fhould Jbave been diverted from thofe flowery paths into the rough icjds of controverfial divinity, 6 The No, 134. M O R A L, &c. zo5 - The Colloquies, or Dialogues of Erafmus, are often ufed to initiate boys, at an early age, in the fludy of the Latin language. They are uncommonly lively, entertaining, and inftruftive ; and as there is not much danger of corrupting the ftyle of a very young bo)v there are, perhaps, few books better adapted to the- purpofe. Indeed we muft not do Erafmus the injuftice to afTert, that he is devoid of elegance in ftyle ; for though, wherever he exprefles theological ideas he is almoll under the neceflity of ufing words unknown to the writers of a better age, yer, on other occafions, he> really abounds with phrafes of the purelt and fweeteft* Latinity. Neither are his Dialogues to be confidered' as fit only for boys, fince they abound in wit, humour, gcod fenl'e, and in allufions which ftrongly mark the- fertility of the mind from which they originate. In a- comparative eftimate of genius, according to its kinds and degrees, I fhould not hefitate to place Erafmus in- the fame clafs- with Lucian; There i% indeed, a fea- ibning of fait in all his writings, in which the neceflity of being grave did not forbid him to be facetious. The Ciceroniantis is an admirable fpeehiion of judgment and' plea fan try. His Praife of Foily is a molt humorous fatire, and re- flects no lefs honour on the inventive powers, than on the good fenfe of its author; as it was written, if I miitake not, in the fpace of one week, for the amufe- ment of himfelf and Sir Thomas More, at whofe hoiife he was upon a vifit. It made its author many enemies ; but ; his genius rofe like the arm of- a giant againft a hoft of pigmies, and defeated them all after a fhort conflict. His forgivenefs of the vain and angry Dorpius, who firft' attacked him, evinces his magnanimity and goodnefs of; heart. Spite and envy may fecretly undermine, but can feldom make an open and fuccefsful attack on the fort- refs of true genius and fincere virtue. But the Epiftles of Erafmus will, perhnps, be found to furnifh the ftudent in philology with more amufe- ment than any other of his woii:s. They are, indeed, a valuable treafure of curious information. Their clear and lively language, their poignant wit, and good- natured humour, render it difficult io lay them Vide, wheo. 2o6 ESSAY S, No. 154. when once we are engaged in the ferious perufal of them. f [ hey are very numerous, but they are by no means alt which Erafmus wrote. He complains, indeed, of being obliged to write fo manv, that there was not a poffibi- lity "of taking copies of them all. A great (hare of knowledge of the world, and of human nature, as well as of letters and literary characters, may be collected from them by the attentive reader. But, indeed, to whatever part of his voluminous works we turn our attention, we can fcarcely avoid the fenti- ments of pleafure and furprize. He has written more than many ftudents were ever able to read. He has written fo excellently, that all the learned, except a few envious contemporaries, fron his own times to ours, have uniformly confidered him as a prodigy. And let it never be forgotten, that, under Providence, he owed his education and fubfequent improvements entirely to himfelf. He was ufed ill and neglected in his youth. He abounded neither in books nor in in- ftruclors ; but he poflefled a genius and a love of let- ters, before which all obftacles ufually give way, like the Alps to an Uannibal. It adds greatly to our wonder, in contemplating his large, and crowded tomes, when we recollect that he fpent his life in a moft unfettled (late, and in conitantly travelling from city to city, and from kingdom to king- dom. But his mind was employed in itudy wherever he went, and he compofed many parts of his works as he rode on his horfe. He was alfo attacked by many ene- mies ; and though he was placable, yet as he was alfo jraicible, much of that-time and attention, which would otherwife have been devoted to calm contemplation, was neceflarily loll in controverfy. He was certainly the greateft man of his time. Popes, kings, archbifhops, bifhops, and cardinals, hide their diminifhed heads in his prefence. One is, irrde d, al- moit tempted to laugh when one furveys a groupe of ftupid perfonages, with crowns and mitres, riches and titles, fitting on their thrones and in their cathedrals, yet bowing with an homage at once abject and involuntary,, to the perfonal merit of the poor Erafmus. He, indeed, \yas permitted, by Providence, to pafs through his pil- i grimage No. 135. MORAL, &c. 207 grimage in this world without ecclefiaftical riches or dignity ; he was defigned as an inftance to prove, that great merit is its own reward, and that temporal dif- tinclions are allowed, like trifles beneath the notice of heaven, to fall indifcriminately on the dcferving and the undeferving, the learned and the ignorant. Erafmus had no mitre ; but he had the internal fatisfacHons of genius ; he had glory, he had liberty. Though I am fenfible he wants no addition to his fame r and could not receive any from my applaufe, yet I have ventured to pay him thi humble tribute, as the oblation, of gratitude for the great and repeated pleafure which his works once afforded me in the retirement of a college. No. CXXXV. ON THE EDUCATION OF PRINCE. AN opinion has often prevailed, that the education of a prince ought to be totally different from that of other gentlemen, and that any remarkable fhare of learning would difgrace him. I fhall not hefitate to affirm, that they were the enemies of princes who ad- vanced fucli an opinion ; for nothing can contribute' more effectually to the general abolition of the mo- narchical form of government, than to render the cha- racter and perfon of the monarch contemptible. In an age and country enlightened like our tmn, if a king were the only gentleman unadorned with a liberal edu- cation, his kingly office would ferve only to augment the contempt, and roufe the indignation of his people. Though he mould fit on his throne, furrounded by his cringing courtiers, and his Handing army ; and thoug'h, he mould number among the provinces of his empire,, the regions of the call and the weft ; yet, in the eyes of every lenfible and independent fpeclator, his perfonal littlenefs would be rendered ftill lefs, by a companion with his hereditary and official magnificence. The faults of the perfon would be attributed to the form of his government i 2i>8" E- S $ A Y S, No. 13^. government; and men of the greateft moderation, if they were exempt from royal influence, would heave an involuntary figh for a republic or a revolution. Every friend therefore to a reigning family, every lover of political tranquillity, and of regular fubordi- nation, will vviih to augment the perfonal accompliih- ments of that youth who is deftined, at fome future period, to wield a fceptre. He will recoiled, that the mind of a prince comes from the hand of nature, in a ftate no lefs rude than the mind of a peafant ; and that, if it is not formed by early culture, it will foon become - much ruder, more refractory, and more vicious^ under the many unfavourable circumftances of an exalted fta- tion. It will be. readily allowed, that a peculiar polift, enlargement, and liberality, is required in him who is to look with a comprehenfive eye through all the ranks of fociety., and eitimate the true interefts of nations, and* of mankind at large. Both the heart and the under- itanding of fuch an one, Inould be expanded to the ut- moft degree of poffible dilation. But no method of culture is found fo much to ferti- lize the human mind, as that kind of difcipline which. is called the claflical. A prince, therefore, though he fhould certainly be educated in private, ought to be- trained according to the modes which the experience of ages has eftabliihed as the moft fuccefsful in a public feminary. No whimfical fyftems of pragmatical and conceited tutors ihould be admitted. The boy mould- be taught his grammar like other boys ; for though there is indeed a royal game of the goofe, I never have yet-, heard of a royal method of learning Latin and Greek ; and if there be fuch an one, the fuccefs of it itill re- mains among the arcana of ftate. An heir to a crown mould certainly learn the antient- as well as the modern languages ; and he will not be able to learn them effeftually, without learning them- radically. Away then with the indolence and indul- gence which grandeur foolifhly claims as a happy privilege ! Let the boy, if -you wilh him to maintain- the dignity of a man and a king, be early enured to mental labour. Let his memory be exerciled in learn- ing the rules of Lilly's grammar. Let him. be confine^- to No. 135. MORAL, &c. 209 to his books and papers all the morning, and part of the evening, from the age of five to nineteen. The maids of honour will cry out lhame ! the fycophantic herd of young noblemen, who crowd, with all the fervilhy of their own footmen, around a throne, will repine that they cannot have an opportunity of introducing them- felves to the familiarity cf the future King ; but re- gard neither the foolim exclamations of vanity, nor the mean murmurs of felf-intereit. Proceed with him re- gularly, from the fables of Phscdrus to the philofcphy cf Cicero, from the Cyropaedia of Xenophon to the hiitorieg and politics of Herodotus, Thucydides, Livy, Salluft, and Polybius. Let his ear be familiarized to the fine language and fentiments of Cicero and Demofthenes, and" his heart ennobled by the examples of the brighteit characters of Greece and Rome. Why mould his fuperintenciants b* fo cruel as not to cultivate in him a tafte for the beauties of poetry, or leave him unacquainted with Homer and Virgil? An elegant tafte, an humanized difpofition, an enlightened understanding, will adorn him more than the jewels in his crown, or the robes of his coronation. It will give him an internal fource of happinefs, and will teach him rather to feek his pleafures in a humane and generous conduct, than in the difplay of pomp, or the indulgence of luxury. A prince, with a mind uncultivated, muft neceflarily take his chief delight in mifchief, in vice, OF in unprincely occupations ; but he, whcfe undemanding is illuminated, and heart purified by a right discipline, will deferve a title which has been often unjuilly claimed that of Heaven's Vicegerent. When, by the clofe application of ten or twelve years, a firm and broad bafis is laid of antient learning, let the ftripling be introduced to the avenues of all the vans of human knowledge. Let the years which elapfe till he is of the age of three or four and twenty, be empio-. ed in acquiring proper ideas cf all the objects, whether na- tural or civil, which furrour-d him, under the tuition of a governor, who poflefles not only official and titular, but pcrKMvJ authority ; under one who is not frightened by the laughter of falhion, of diflipation, or of falfe philo^. fophy, zio ESSAYS, No. 13;. fophy, from filling his pupil's mind with moral virtues, and a fincere, not a political, veneration for chriflianity. All this is a general preparation for the particular purfuits which become a King ; and thefe are law and politics. I mean not the narrow fyftem of a mercenary practitioner and a cunning ftatefrnan, but the general principles of juftice and equity ; the wife maxims of go- vernment, as it is inftuuted for the diffuiion of happi- refs and virtue among the individuals of a nation, and not for the exten/ion of empire, or the accumulation of deftruftive opulence. What a fituation is a throne for the indulgence of the feelings of a chriftian, and of a companion ate friend to wretched human nature! I would not, indeed, refer a prince for maxims of equity and government to Puffendorf and Grotius, the dull and unfeeling deliberators of queftions on which a good heart and underftanding can intuitively decide ; but to his own heart and eyes, to his oivn enlightened reafon, to the page of fcripture, and to the volumes of authen- ticated hiftory. Princes have been almoft uniformly confined in their views to the narrow fyftems of worldly politicians, and of interefted courtiers. Falfe grandeur has fafcinated themfelves, and their fubjects. National profperity has been eftimated by fleets and armies, commerce and reve- nues. The morals, the health, the religion of the in- dividuals, are confiderations which do not claim the attention of a cabinet, but are difcarded as fubjecb of declamation in the church or in the fchools. '* What " is it to me," cries aloud the Wifdom of this world, *' while his lordfhip knows how to fuperintend the navy, " whether he believes in God or the Devil, and whether " he has kept fuch laws as I neither underftand nor " value, the laws of relative and chriRian duty r" A nation thus advances in the devious paths of a falfe wif- dom, till an incenfed Providence, wearied with repeated provocation, vifus it at laft with a curfe. Look from the Ganges to the Thames, and acknowledge the evi- dent vilitation of a chaflifing Providence. Imagination triumphs in the profpecl: of a golden age^ when Princes, and all who are concerned in the executive parts No. 136. MORAL, &c. 211 parts of government, fhall be early formed to virtue, to learning, to humanity, to religion. How happy, it has been faid, would it be, if Philofophers, who are juftly fo called, were Kings; or Kings, Philofophers! No. CXXXVI. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS ON THE ART OF PRINTING. THAT the defire of knowledge for its own fake,, is an adventitious paflion unknown to nature, and to be clafied among the refinements of civilization* is an opinion unfupported by experience, and deroga- tory from the native dignity of a rational creature. Fancy and fentiment, the powers of the intellect, and the feelings of the heart, are, perhaps, by nature equally ftrong and fufccptible in the rude Indian, and in the po- lifhed member of an eftablifhed community. Perhaps thefe fimilar powers would be equally fit for exertion, and thefe propenfnies equally importunate for gratification, if the favage were not conftantly engaged in providing for that neceflary fuftenance, which, without his own inter- pofition, is commonly fecured to the philofopher. The pupil of nature, under all his difadvantages, feels the impulfe of a fpecies of literary curiofity, and feek> its fatisfaftion. He pofTeffes the faculty of memory ; he muft, therefore, without the co-operation of his will,, remember many of the impreflions received by the fenfes: he has a power of reflection, which will teach him to reafon and draw inferences, without defigning it, from the objeds of his experience and obfervation. He feels within himfelf an imagination, capable of recalling paft ideas of pleafure and pain, and apt to be delighted by beauty, novelty, and grandeur. Every natural ex- ertion of natural faculties is attended with fatisfaflion. He feels it from the unpremeditated exertions of the mental powers ; he tacitly acknowledges it to be conge- nial to his mind, and of courfe endeavours to repeat, to *i2 ESSAYS, No. 136. to extend, and to prolong it : but the objecls which fall under the notice cf his own fenfes, and his perional ex- perience, are inPjfiiciep.t in number and importance to iatisfy his capacity. He is led to enquire what patted among his forefathers, and in his turn is requelled by his progeny to communicate his own remarks, fuper- added to the information of his anceitors. Such, probably, is the origin of Tradition ; a mode of communicating knowledge, once univerfal, and ilill, perhaps, fubfilting in the newly difcovered iilands of the Pacific Ocean, on the banks of the Senegal, and at the foot of the Andes. Beneath the (hade of his plan- tain, the patriarch Indian flill recites the divine origin of his tribe or family, the warlike actions of his an- Ceftor, and of his own perfonal prowefs. The attentive audience carry aw-iy the talc, and fupply the defecls of memory by the aid of imagination. The flory fpreads, time gives it a fan&ion, and at lalt it is found to conftitute the molt authentic hiftory, however obfcure and fabulous, cf the origin of a nation, after it has emerged from barbarifm, and is become the feat of arts and learning. In the earlieft and rudeft ftate of literature, if we may give that appellation to the efforts of the intel- lectual faculties where letters are unknown, is often produced the moft animated, and perhaps moft perfedl, though leaft nrtificial, poetry. Hiftoric truth is, indeed, little regarded, as it is addrefli-d to reafon rather than to fancy ; but poetic compofuion appears with marks of genius approaching to infpirarion. From his memory, or his invention, or from both, the favage is heard to pour forth the fong of war, and to warble the notes of' love, warm with the fentiments of a feeling heart, and compenfating the want of regularity and grace, by the ftrength and vivacity of natural expreftion. If we believe the reprefentations of foir.e writer?,, poems equal in length to the moil celebrated Epopeas of Greece and Rome, have been handed down, without the aid of letters, from the remoteft antiquity to the* prefent day ; and in our own country and times, tradi- tionary tales,, poetic and profaic, are known to abound No. 136. M O R A L, &c. '13 in that lowed clafs among us, who are yet unacquainted with the elements of learning. The rmant of the cot- tage, ftupid and incurious as he may appear to the polite obferver, has his fund of entertaining knowledge, and knows how to enliven the winter evening with tales of .fairies, giants, and inchantments, which he believed oa the word of his progenitors, and which his hearers re- ceive with equal pleafure and credulity, intending to tranfmit them to the rifing generation. The early appearance, and the univcrfality of tra- ditional learning, leems to eftabHm the opinion, that the love of knowledge is among the f:rfl: and importu- nate dcfires inherent to the human heart. We fee it "believing abfurdity, and admiring nonfenie ; we fee it bearing one of the ftrongeft characteriftics of natural inclinations, a proneneis to neglect reafon in purfuit of gratification. 'i his aident love of knowledge which gave rife to tradition, Icon invented improvements whLh frperfeded its general necefiit/. Tradition was foon found to be at- tended \\ith gre t ii. onveniencie?, and to be defective in its moft perfect Mate. A thoufand important circum- ftances muft neceffarily elude the moft retentive memory; >.nd, befide the" evils refulting from the weakr.efs of that faculty, and from the .general inclination to exaggerate and embellifh the llmplicity of truth, the want of writ- ten rtandards to appeal to, afforded conftant opportuni- ties for impofition. Uprightnsfs of intention, and ftrength of memory, were not always united in thofe who undertook the recital of events. Accuracy and juftnefs of reprefentation were rare; and the civil hiftory of every people, without a fingle exception, is, in its firft pe- riods, dark and incoherent; fuch, indeed, as might be expected from oral authority. The inventor of means to fupply the defects of me- mory, and to preclude the opportunity of deceit, it Is obvious to conclude, would be confidered as a great benefactor to mankind, and elevated by the exube- rant gratitude of a rude age, above the rank of humanity. To Theuth, the inventor of letters among the Egyptians, and to ihe fame perfonage, under the 214 ESSAYS, No. 136. the name of Hermes among the Greeks, divine ho- nours were paid; an apotheofis furely more juftifi- able on principles of reafon, than that of Bacchus, the cultivator of the vine, or of Hercules, the cleanfer of a ftable. To communicate their difcovery, the inventors of literary fymbols found it neceflary to mark them on fame fubftance fufceptible of impreffion or penetration. What that fubftance was, is a fubjecl: of curious, but unimportant enquiry. The original mode of infcrib- ing the newly difcovered characters, however conducted, was probably very imperfect; but, as it happens in all difcoveries of momentous confequence, the idea of it, once ftarted, was purfued with that general ardour and. attention, which never fails to produce a great improve- ment. The flone, the palm leaf, the biblos or bark of the linden tree, the leaden tablet, the papyrus manu- factured into the charta, the parchment, and the pugil- Jares, refpectively ferved, as progreflive advancement fuggefted, or as convenience required, to receive the -written lucubrations of the antient poet, philofopher, legiflator, and hiftori.in. That many of the nobleft efforts of antient genius, though committed to writing on fubftances fo frail as the papyrus, and fo fubject to erafure as the waxen tablet, ihould have reached the prefent age, is an event only to be accounted for by fuppofing, that their confpicuous beauties occafioned uncommon vigilance and iolicitude in their prefervation. At a very late period, a fubftance formed of mace- rated linen, was found fuperior in beauty, convenience, and duration, and better adapted to the purpofes of literature, than all the prior devices of mechanical in- genuity. It derived its name from the flag that grew on the banks of the Nile, which, though it in fome degree refembled, it greatly excelled. Porous, yet of iirm contexture, it admitted the infcription of charac- ters with a facility, equalled only by the Detention with which it preferved them. By the eafe with which it is procured and infcribed, it refcued the antient authors from the poffibiiity of oblivion, and may ftrictly be faid No. 137. MORAL, &c. 215 to have formed that monument more durable than brafs, which a celebrated poet prophefied to himfelf with a confidence, juftified at length by the accomplifliment of his prediction. No. CXXXVII. ON THE CIRCUMSTANCES WHICH LED TO THE DISCOVERY OF THE ART OF PRINTING, WITH MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS ON IT. THE bufincfs of tranfcribing the remains of Grecian and Roman literature, became an ufeful, an inno- cent, and apleafing employ to ma -..y of thofe who, in the dark ages, would elfe have pined in the liftlefs languor of monatlic retirement. Exempt from the avocations of civil life, incapable of literary exertion from the want of books and opportunities of improvement, they devoted the frequent intervals of religious duty, to the tranfcrip- tion of authors whom they often little underftood. The fervile office of a mere copyirt was not difdained by thofe who knew not to invent; and the writers in the fcripto- rium were infpired with an emulation to excel, in the beauty and variety of their illuminations, the fidelity of their copy, and the multitude of their performances. But when every letter of every copy was to be formed by the immediate operation of the hand, the moft per- ievering afllduity could effec"l but little. They appear not to have been written with the rapidity of a modern transcriber, but with a formal itiffnefs, or a ccrrecl ele- gance, equally inconfiftent with expedition. They were therefore rare, and confequently much valued, and when- ever fold, were fold at a great price. Few, indeed, but crowned and mitred heads, or incorporated communities, were able to procure a number fufficient to merit the ap- pellation of a Library ; and even the boafted libraries of princes and prelates, were fuch, as are now eafily ex- ceeded by every private collection. To be poor, with whatever ability or inclination, was, at one time, an in- furmoun table zi6 ESSAYS, No. 137, .fiirmourktable obftacle to literary improvement: and, per- haps, we indulge an unreafonable acrimony in our gene- aral cenfure of Monkifh floth and ignorance, net confider- ing that an involuntary fault ceafes to be biameablej that ignorance is necefiary where the means of inform- ation are fcarce ; and that floth is not to be avoided, where the requifites of proper employment are not at- tainable without great expence, or earned folicitation. It was, perhaps, lefs with a view to obviate thefe in- conveniencies, than from theinterefled motives of deriv- ing greater gain by exacting the ufual price for copies multiplied with more eafe and expedition, that a new , mode was at length practifed, derived from the inven- tion of the Art of Printing; a difcovery which, of all thofe recorded in civil hiftcry, is of the moil important and extenfive confequence. That the firft productions of the prefs were intended to pafs for manufcripts, we are led to conclude from the refemblance of the type to the written characters, from the omiflion of illuminations which were to be fuppJied by the pen to facilitate the deception, and from the in- ventor's concealment of his proceft, fo far as to incur fufpicion of witchcraft or magic, by which alone ihe firft obfervers could account for the extraordinary mul- tiplication of the tranfcripts or copies. But the deceit was foon detected. The perfect re- femblance in the fliape of the letters, in the place raid number of the words on every page, the ilngular ccr- redtnefs, and, above all, the numerous copies of the fame author, inevitably led to a difcovery of the truth. To conceal it, indeed, was no longer deilred, when experience had fuggefted the great lucrative advantages, and the practicability of multiplying books without end by the procefs nevyly invented. It foon appeared, though it was not obvious at firft, that the new mode would be more agreeable to the reader, as well as caller to the copyift, and that printed books would univerfaliy fuperfede the ufe of manufcripts, from a choice founded on judicious preference.. The art was foon profefled as a trade, and the bufinefs of copying, which had once afforded only amufement or gain to the curious and the idle, became the ccnftant employment and fupport of No. 157. MORAL, &c, 117 of a numerous tribe of artifans, and conftituted a very confiderable fource of mercantile advantage. Of an art, which, though it had yet acquired but fmall degrees of perfection, appeared of moll extenfive utility in religion, in politics, in literature, and even in commerce, no labour has been fpared to inveftigate the hiftory; but, unfortunately, the enquirers into the origin of arts, inftigated by the zeal of minute cu- riofity to pulh their refearches too far, often difcovef them fo rude, obvious, and inartificial at their com- mencement, as to refledl very little honour on thofe whom they oftentatioufly exhibit as the earlieft inven- tors. Such has been the refult of the inveftigation* of thofe who, difiatisfied with the commonly received opinions on the date of the invention of printing, pretend to have difcovered traces of it many years before the firit production of Fauftus, in 1457 ; and it is true, that the Speculum Salutis, and a few other books are extant, which are, on good reafons, judged to have been ftamped, not prin ted fecundum artem, long before the erection of a prefs at Mentz : but the mode in which they were executed, like the Chinefe, bears but little refemblance to the art of printing, properly fo called; it appears not, by any hiftorical memoir, to have fug- gelled the firlt hint of it, and is too imperfeft to deferve. notice as even the infant itate of this momentous invention. National pride, like the pride of individuals, is often founded on flight or dubious pretenfions. Thus have Germany and Holland contended, with all the warmth of party, for the imaginary honour of giving birth to the Inventor of Printing, who, after all, was probably led to the difcovery, not by the enlarged views of public utility, but by fortunate circumftances concur- ring with the defire of private and pecuniary advantage; but though the hiftory of Printing, like all other hifto- ries, is in fome degree obfcure and doubtful at its ear- lieft period, though Straiburg has boafted of Mentel, and Harlaem of Coxier, as the inventor; yet is there great reafon to conclude, that the few arguments advanced in their favour are fupported only by forgery and falfe- hood : and we may fafely aflert, with the majority of VOL. IX. 1, writer*, 2i8 ESS A Y S, No. 137. writers', and with the general voice of Europe, that the time of the invention was about the year 1440; the place Mentz, and the perfons Gutenberg, Fauftus, and Schaeffer, in conjunction. He who wiflies to trace the art in its gradual progrefs, from the wooden and immoveable letter to the move- able and metal type, and to the completion of the whole contrivance, will receive fatisfaftory information from the annals of the elaborate Mattaire In the mean time, the eflayift will avoid the repetition of fads already too well known and eftablimed to admit addi- tional illuftration, and will think himfelf more properly employed in making reflections on the literary, the moral, the political, and the religious effects which, have refulted from the invention. It is, indeed, generally true, that the hiftory of a mechanical art affords but infipid entertainment to a mind which is tinctured with the liberality of philofophy, and the elegance of claffical literature. It often exhibits manual excellence united with fuch meannefs of fenti- ment, and vulgarity of manners, as unavoidably mingles difguft with admiration : but to the truth of this gene- ral remark, the annals of typography are a fingular exception. Many are recorded to have laboured at the prefs, whofe literary attainments would have done ho- nour to the chair of a profeflbr. By their annotations, they ill uftrated the fenfe and fpirit of thofe authors, the letter of whofe writings they embellifhed by the moft beautiful and accurate impreflions. The names of the Aldi, of Robert and Henry Ste- phans, of Turnebus, and of many more who united mechanical ingenuity with profound erudition, will ever be remembered with refpedl and gratitude by the votary of antient learning. Happily for letters, at a time when the valuable works of antiquity were con- tained in manufcripts, fometimes illegibly written, and often mutilated or corrupted, a number of men arofe whofe knowledge and fagacity enabled them to ascertain and exhibit, by the newly difcovered art, the genuine reading. Such men were greater benefactors to man- kind, than many who have been more celebrated ; nor is it an ill-grounded glory which Italy derives from her No. 137. MORAL, &c. 219 her Manutii, Germany from her Froben, France from her Stephani, the Netherlands from their Plantin, and England from her Caxton. Every lover of accurate editions looks back with re- gret on thofe times when an Erafmus corrected what an Aldus printed; when, like the painter of antiquity, a printer expofed his production to the paflenger, and folicited cenfure ; and when the legiflature of a great nation provided by a ftatute, with a penalty, for the correctnefs of publications. To prefer, with implicit attachment, all the earlier productions of the art to the more recent, were to be actuated with the narrow fpirit of a typographical virtuofo ; yet the truth is, what indeed was to be ex- pected from the fuperior learning of thofe who were formerly concerned in the procefs, they furpafs the more fplendid editions of later times, in the one great excellence of correctnefs. It is true, indeed, that the fungous production of the modern writer, appears with a fplendour of paper, and brilliancy of type, unknown in the fifteenth century : and, if the work is written in the vernacular language, and on a familiar fubject, is perhaps fufficiently correct. It is true, likewife, that confidering the expedition of the artifan, the degree of correctnefs with which the common papers of intelli- gence appear, is really wonderful, and affords a rtriking inflance how much induftry can effect, when Simulated to exertion by the hope of that abundant gain, which our more than Athenian love of political information conitantly fupplies. Of fuch difpatch, a Plantin would, perhaps, have denied the poifibility. Rut books of learning, efpecially when written in the dead languages, are more flowly brought forth, and by no means with equal perfection. The miftaken ava- rice, and the grofs ignorance, of fome modern typo- graphers, often frultrate all the pail labour of correctors and commentators, who have toiled with aching eyes in the revifai of proof Iheets, and in the collation of ma- nufcripts. NO, cxxxvm. 220 ESSAYS, No. 138. NO. CXXXVIII. ON THE MORAL, POLITI- CAL, AND RELIGIOUS EFFECTS OF PRINT- ING, WITH CONCLUDING REMARKS. BY one of thofe laudable artifices which prevent pri- vate avarice from withholding public benefits, the art of printing was ftolen from Harlaem, and brought to Oxford by Frederic Corfellis. But while we are confi- dering the introduction of printing into England, not to commemorate the names of Bouchier, Tumour, and Caxton, who were molt inftrumental to it, would be an omiffion equally negligent and ungrateful. "Nor Ihould the tribute of praife be any longer withheld by negleft from earl Tiptoft and earl Rivers, who, at this period, were reftorers and patrons of learning in our own country, and who contributed to its advancement, in imitation of their contemporary, Pius the fecond in Italy, both by their munificence and example. The literary advantages derived from the invention are fo obvious, that to point them out with all the for- mality of difquifition is unneceflary. But the moralift, no lefs than the man of letters, finds himfelf interefted in the confequences refulting from the mechanical mode of multiplying the copies of books. To this caufe, he attributes that change in the manners and fentiments which has taken place within the interval of a century or two, and which cannot efcape even fuperficial obfervation. Philofophy, once preferved among a chofen few, with the felfiihnefs of an Alexander, who reprimanded Ariftotle for divulging the fecrets of fcience, has now diffufed its influence on the mean as well as the great, the gay and the fair as xvell as the fevere and iludious, the merchant and the manufa&urer as well as the contemplative profefibr. Pamphlets and manuals, on every fubjed of human en- quiry, are circulated by the affiduous trader at a fmall price, among the lowefl ranks of the community, the sreateft part of whom have been furnifhed with the ability of reading by an eJeemofynary education. A tinfture No. 138. MORAL, &<:. 221 tin&ure of letters, which was once rare, and formed a ihining character, has pervaded the mafs of the people, p.nd in a free country like our own, where it is not checked in its operation by political reftraints, has pro- duced remarkable effefts on the general fyftem of mora- lity. Much good has Fefulted from it : happy, if it had not been mixed with that chara&eriftic alloy of human happinefs, much evil. Learning, thus commu- nicated to the vulgar, has taught the favage ferocity of grofs ignorance to yield to gentlenefs and humanity , but it has alfo fuperinduced a general indolence, refine- ment, and falfe delicacy. Jt has been the means of exhibiting, to the beft advantage, the image of virtue in her natural beauty; but it has alfo held up to view the meretricious charms of vice in the falfe ornaments fuperadded by a corrupt imagination. It has been a Heady light to lighten men in the path of truth; but it has alfo been an ignis fatuus leading them into the mazes of error, and plunging them at laft into the depths of mifery. If it has often tempted us to boaft of living in an enlightened age, it has no lefs frequently induced us to regret the old times of ignorant, but innocent limplicity. If we fometimes look back with a mixture of fcorn and pity on the unlettered ages that preceded us ; we alfo fometimes confefs ourfelves ready to renounce the pride of fuperior knowledge for the folid happinefs of that national probity, which, though, it may not have receded, has not kept pace with our progrefs in fcientific improvement. Here, however, the old maxim will be fuggefted to every one, that a good argument againft the ufe of a thing, cannot be drawn from its abufe. It will at the fame time be remem- bered, that the prefent times are ever feen through the fallacious mediums of prejudice and pafiion ; and that the cenfures of the fatiriit may not arife from real degeneracy, but that common propenfity which has, in all ages, given rife toinveclives againft the prevailing manners. If it is true, that improvement in knowledge is a natural and laudable objeft of human defires, the more general that improvement, the happier and more perfeft is human nature, and the more eitimable that art from which it is principally derived. L 3 But 222 E S S A Y S, No. 138. But however equivocal the effects of the univerfal diflemination of literature on the morals of thofe who cannot judge and felect with the fame eafe with which they can procure books, there is no doubt of their being beneficial among others, whofe judgment is di- rected by liberal culture, and whofe fentiments are undepraved by fafhionable diflipation. Before the in- troduction of printing, the ftudent, who revoked at the idea of languifhing in the floth of Monkery, had fcarcely any fcope for his induftry and talents, but in the puerile perplexities of a fcholaftic philofophy, as little adapted to call forth the virtues of the heart, as to promote valuable knowledge: but fince that im- portant sera, in the annals of learning, every individual, even the pooreft of the Mufes' train, has been enabled to obtain, without difficulty, the works of thofe great matters in practical and fpeculative ethics, the Greek and Roman philofophers. He is taught by the fame inilructcrs who formed a Xenophon and a Scipio, and can hold converfe, in the retirements of his chamber, with the celebrated fages of antiquity, with nearly the fame advantages as if he actually fat with Socrates beneath the {hade of the plane-tree, walked with Plato in the Lyceum, or accompanied Cicero to his Tufculan villa. Whatever tends to difFufe new light on the under- ftandings of a whole people, or to effect a change in the general fyftem of manners, foon pruduces a iimilar revolution in their political character. Airy fabrics, which, when feen through the rnifts of ignorance, were fuppofed to be realities, vanifhed at the light of learning, as the inchantrnent is diflblved by the operation of the Talifman. The fun of fcience arofe, the profpect cleared around, and they who had muddered at the ideal phantoms of the night, ventured to walk forth and examine every object that folicited attention. The prejudices on the fubject of civil government, formed by ignorance and foftered by the policy of power, when once the art of printing had multiplied books, and roufed the fpirit of enquiry, foon gave way to the dictates of inftructed reafon. The natural rights of mankind became well underftood, the law of nations was No, 138. MORAL, &c. ?23 was attended to, implicit obedience was neither ex- a&ed on the one part with the fame rigour as before, nor paid on the other with equal fervility. What re- mained of the feudal inftitutions could not long fabfift, when more liberal ideas of the nearer equality of man- kind were imbibed from books, and when a great degree of dignity and power was attainable, not only by birth and riches, but by mere literary eminence. The diftinclion of VafTal and Lord foon ceafed to be the only one in the community, when mea were led by the eafe with which books were procured, to afpire after the fine arts, philofophy, and erudition. Such ftudies infufed a noble generofity of fpirit, which fcorn- ed to pay an abject homage to ignorant opulence. Ig- norant opulence, indeed, could not maintain, or even exact by force, that truly valuable refped which is naturally due, and cheerfully paid, to perfonal dignity. Men, by reading, were led to reflect, and by reflection difcovered, that they had been under an error when they looked up to their governors as to a fuperior Order of Beings ; but at the fame time they learned the hap- pinefs of living under a well-regulated conftitution, the duty of obedience in return for protection, and the' political neceffity of fubordination. Hiitory, and trea- tifes of politics, fuggefted juft notions of civil fociety, and a fenfe of expediency produced at length that vo- luntary acquiefcence which was once exacted by pre- tenfions to divine right, or by the immediate interpo- fition of authority. The luft of dominion which dif- graced the iron reign of the fullen and unlettered tyrant,, was fucceeded, in the enlightened father of his people, by a fpirit of benevolence and philofophical moderation. That power, which was once placed on the fandy foun- dation of popular prejudice and fear, when thofe fears and prejudices were diffipated by free difquifition, acquired an eftablifhment on the bafis of reafon. Nor let it be deemed idle fpeculation to attribute thefe falutary confequences to the invention of printing, fince to him who attentively confiders all its remote as well as proximate effects, it will appear fully adequate to their production. When all ranks of people on a fudden were enabled to exert with vigour the faculty of accurate L-4. and 4 ESSAYS, N(h 13$. and comprehensive thought, which had only Iain dor- mant for want of opportunity, the effect on the moral and political world muft be as firiking, as that which takes place in the phyfical, at the return of day after night, and fpring after winter. Thus has Fauitus and Mentz, by an art invented and exercifed with views of private emolument, ulti- mately contributed more to the empires, and caufed more important events in their hiftory, than all the efforts of the renowned conquerors and lawgivers of antiquity. That the fame art which has produced thefe falutary confequences, has alfo been the means of en- couraging licentioufnefs, of animating fedition, and kindling the flames of civil war, is to be attributed to that lamentable condition of human affairs which is ob- ferved to counterbalance every good, with a proportion of concomitant evil. To the Art of Printing, however, it is acknowledged, we owe the reformation. It has been jultly remarked, that if the books of Luther had been multiplied only by the flow procefsof the hand-writing, they muft have been few, and would have been eafily fuppreiTed by the combination of wealth and power: but, poured forth in abundance from the prefs, they fpread over the Jand with the rapidity of an inundation, which acquires additional force from the efforts ufed to obftrucl its progrefs. He who undertook to prevent the difperfion of the books once iffued from the prefs, attempted atafk no lefs arduous than the deftruclion of the Hydra. Re- Jiftance was vain, and religion was reformed: and we who are chiefly interefted in this happy revolution muft remember, amidft the praifes bellowed on Luther, that his endeavours had been ineffectual, unaffifted by the invention of Fauftus. How greatly the caufe of religion has been promoted by the art, muft appear when it is confidered, that it has placed thofe facred books in the hand of every individual, which, befides that they were once locked up in a dead language, could not be procured without great difficulty. The numerous comments on them of every kind, which tend to promote piety, and to form the Chriflian philofopher, would probably never have been No. ij8. M O R A L, &c. 22; been compofed, and certainly would not have extend- ed their beneficial influence, if typography had (till beeo unknown. By that art, the light, which is tr illuminate a dark world, hns been placed in a fituatiou more advantageous to the emiflion of its rays : buc if it has been the means of illuftrating the doclrines, and inforcing the praftice of religion, it has alib, par- ticularly in the prefent age, flruek at the root of piety and moral virtue, by propagating opinions favour- able to the fceptic and the voluptuary. It has enabled modern authors wantonly to gratify their avarice, their vanity, and their mifanthropy, in difleminating novel fyilems fubverfive of the dignity and happinefs of hu- man nature : but though the perverfion of the art is la- mentably remarkable in thofe volumes which ifTue, with ofFenfive profufion, from the vain, the wicked, and the hungry, yet this good refults from the evil, that as truth is great and will prevail, me mult derive frefli luitre, by difplaying the fuperiority of her itrength in the conflict with fophiftry. Thus the Art of Printing, in whatever light it is viewed, has deferved refpeft and attention. From the ingenuity of the contrivance, it has ever excited mecha- nical curiofity ; from its intimate connection with learn- ing, it has juftly claimed hiflorical notice ; and from its extenfive influence on morality, politics, and* re- ligion, it is now become a fubjeft of very important fpcculation. But however we may felicitate mankind on the in- vention, there are perhaps thofe who wifh, that, together with its compatriot art of manufacturing gun- powder, it had not yet been brought to -light. Of its effects on literature, they aflert, that- ft -has increafed the number of books, till they diltradl, rather than improve the mind ; and of its malignant influence on morals, they complain, that it has often introduced a falfs refinement, incompatible wuh the fimplicity of primitive piety and genuine virtue. With refpeft to its literary ill confeqnence, it may be faiu, tliat though it produces jo the world an infinite number of worth lefs publica- tions, yet true wit and fine compofitlon will Hill retiin their value, ami ii will be an cafy tafk for critical dif. L 5 cerniiie.it 226 ESSAY S, No. 138. cernment to feleft thefe from the (unrounding mafs of abfurdity: and though, with refpect to its moral effects, a regard to truth extorts the confeflion, that it has diffufed immorality and irreligion, divulged with cruel impertinence the iecrets of private life, and fpread the tale of fcandal through an empire ; yet thefe are evils which will either fhrink away unobferved in the triumphs of time and truth over falfehood, or, which may, at any time, be fuppreffed by legiflative inter- pofition. The Liberty of the Prefs is a fubjecl not to be touched upon, but with a trembling caution. Every ftudent muft abhor the thought of erecting the tribunal of a ftar- chamber in the republic of letters ; every lover of his country muft reject with difdain the propofal of iilencing the voice of truth by the menace of authority : but, at the fame time, every true friend to learning and mankind, who, free from the enthufiafm of party, underftands their real intereft, would rejoice to fee the day when the advantages of the Liberty of the Prefs mall be unalloyed with thofe evils of its licenti- oufnefs ; which, without fome expedient of controul, will prevail, as long as there are, on one hand, indi- gent and avaricious publifliers, and on the other, factious and unprincipled readers. But innovations in a particular intimately connected with civil liberty, will ever be guarded againft in a free country, with all the .vigilance of jealous circum- fpection. Men will often patiently fupport the prefent evil, the nature and extent of which is afcertained by experience, rather than incur the hazard of a future detriment, which may poffibly outweigh the beneficial ends propofed If then the unreftrained ufe of the Prefs is, as it has been commonly termed, the Pal- ladium of liberty, may it never be taken from us by fraud or force ; and perhaps the evils refulting from the abufe of this privilege are of that kind, which,, when permitted to take their courfe, ultimately remedy themfelves: for it is certain, that there may be a period, and perhaps our own times approach to it, when the petulant licentioufnefs of public prints and pam- phlets becomes too contemptible to gain attention, and therefore No, 139. MORA L, Sic. 227 therefore fails of producing a malignant effeft. Avarice will ceafe to publilh, when men are too wife to pur- chafe ; faftion and vanity will be iilent, when they no- longer find an audience : but penal and coercive mea- fures are known to give weight to the nonfenfe of fedi- tion and impiety, by alarming that attention which it could not other wife excite, and to occafion the evils in- tendea to be obviated ; as the means ufed to extinguiih, a flame fometimes increafe its violence. But referring the difcuflion of this complicated fub-- jecl to legiflative wifdom, we may venture to exprefs an honeft wiih without danger of preemption ; and furely all the good and enlightened part of mankind will fym- pathize in the derire, That the time may not be diftant, when the qualities of the heart (hall be cultivated with the fame general ardour as the powers of the underfland- ing ; when the affectation of finguiarity, and the love of money, fhall no longer multiply treatiies tending to teach the people a falfe philofophy, an erroneous belief, or a faclious conduct ; when the Art of Printing fhall no more be perverted to embellifh vice and juflify folly, but operating in the accomplishment of its proper purpo- fes, at once promote the intereft, which cannot indeed without natural violence be feparate, of found learning and unaffeited virtue. No. CXXXIX.. CURSORY THOUGHTS ON, SATIRE AND SATIRISTS.. THE good reception which that fpecies of poetry, called Satire, has commonly met with in the world, is perhaps owing to- fome difpofitions in the human nature not the moft amiable. It derives noc its power of pleafing, like other poetry, from its effefts on che imagination. It raifes no enchanting profpefts ; it is not necefTarily employed in fidion. A fpirit of indignation is its efiential principle, and by caufing a ijmilar fpirit in the reader, it gently gratines the irafci- bk paflions, L 6 Ik 223 ESSAYS, No. 139. It mufl be owned, that it has feldom anfwered its oftenfible end of reforming the age. Yet allowing it to be of little ufe in reformation, it is often compofed with fach evident marks of genius as render it interefting to men of tafte. And though fpleen may have given rife to its firft production, and the love of cenfure enfured its /uccefs, yet the beauties of the compofition will caufe it to be read, even by thofe who difapprove perfonal in- vedive, long after the refentment that occafioned it has fubfided. Horace, the politeft writer whom the world ever produced, adopted fatirical writing, and fncceeded in it, thogh there is every reafon to believe that hrs natural difpofition xvas not fevere. The truth is, he was a man of the world, as well as a man of reflection, and wrote his remarks on men and things in carelefs verfe ; not without cenfuring them indeed, but without indulg- ing the afperily of farcafm. He probed every wound with fo gentle a hand, that the patient fmiled under the operation. The gay friend of Maecenas had lived in courts, and knew too much of the world to think he could reform the gay and voluptuous part of it by abrupt leverity. Not fo the ftern Juvenal. With all the warmth of a zealot in the caufe of virtue, he pours his majeftic verfe, and, amid the moft fpirited inveftive and the fine It morality, emits many a luminous irradiation of poetry beautifully defcriptive. His predeceflbr Perfius had afforded him a noble model. He improved on it in nothing but perfpicuity. Perfius is all fire, fpirit, animation. The frequency of his interrogations roufes the attention of the reader, and it is not eafy to read and undcrftand him without catching the glow with which he evidently wrote. If his obfcurity arofe from fear, it does not indeed depreciate his merit as a writer; but it has caufed him to be lefs read and admired than he deferves. The laft lines of his fecond fatire are alone fufficient to entitle him to immortality. The Englifh feem to have copied the manner of Juvenal rather than of Horace. Our national fpirit is indeed cf the manly and rougher kind, and feels fome- thing No. 139. MORAL, &c. 229 thing congenial with itfelf in the vehemence of the in- dignant Juvenal. The Roman is remarkably harmonious. But Donne, his imitator, feems to have thought roughnefs of verfe, as well as of fentiment, a real grace. It is fcarcely pof- fible, that a writer who did not ftudioufly avoid a fmoorh verification, could have written fo many lines without Humbling on a good one. Pope has revived his fame by atcuning his harfh numbers ; a work whofe very excellence makes us regret that a genius fo fertile as was the bard's of Twickenham, mould have wafted its vi- gour in paraphrafes and tranflntions. This verfatile poet has imbibed the very fpirit of Ho- race. Nor can the mere Englifh reader obtain, by tile tranflations of Creech or of Francis, fo clear and ade- quate an idea of the true Horatian manner, as from the liberal imitations of Pope. Dryden fcems to have preferred the model of his favourite Juvenal. His nervous line was well adapted to fatirical compofition. He fays himfelf, " he couTd " write feverely, with more eafe than he could wrice " gently." His Abfalom and Achitophel, and his Mac Flecknoe, are mailer-pieces and models in the ferious and vehement kind of fatire. Boiieau feems to have blended with judgment the manner of Horace and Juvenal. Yet whatever degree of elegance he poflHTes, the natural monotony of French verfe tires an ear accnftomed to the various harmony of our Englifli poets. The French language never ap- pears fo mean as in the heroic couplet. He who reads the Henriade, and at the fame time thinks of Milton, Dryden, Garth, or Pope, .muft clofe the volume with all the loathing of difguft. He who reads Boileau, will find his improving imitator Pope rife in his opinion. Pope roufes the attention by all the changes of mufical modulation ; Boileau fooths it to dull repofe by the lullaby of fimilar paufes uniformly repeated. A poet of our own, little attended to at prefent, once enjoyed a very high degree of fame as a fatirical writer. Oldham has been called the Englifh Juvenal. His fatire on the Jefuits has indeed much of the fpirit of Juvenal. It difplays wit, force, pungency, and a very .230 ESSAYS, No. 139. very copious invention ; but it is no lefs diftingui/hed by a vulgarity which muft prevent Oldham from keeping his place among the claflics of our country. He has lafhed the Jefuits with deferved and unrelenting rigour; but though fevere punifhment is often necefTary, yet to fee it inflidtcd with the wanton cruelty of an aflaflin, is not agreeable There are fome works of poetry as well as of painting, which, though well performed as pieces of art, lofe the praife their excellence demands, by the Clocking nature of their reprefentations. A later fatirift, Dr. Young, is ftill read with plea- fure. But he has the fault of Seneca, of Ovid, of Cowley; a profufe and unfeafonable application of wit. His fatires have been jufily called a firing of epigrams. A lover of originality, he did not regard models. Had he endeavoured to imitate Juvenal or Perfius, he would have avoided this fault. Thofe great matters were too much engrofTed by the importance of their fubjefts to fall into the puerility of witticifm. There is alfo fomething in Young's verification which a good ear does not approve. But even Young, popular as he was, has been eclipfed by a poet who has (hone with the effulgence and the in liability of a meteor. Churchill pofTefled merit; a merit which was magnified when fecn through the me- dium of party, beyond that degree which it was able to fupport. When reafon at Jail viewed what paflion had exaggerated, fhe was diiguftecl with the difappointmeut, and turned away with negleft. Thus the celebrated Churchill, with whofe applaufe the town re-echoed, is finking to an oblivion which he hardly deferves ; for though he wrote many carelefs lines and many dull paflages, yet the greater part of his productions difplayed a genuine vein of fatirical genius. Within a few years Satire has re-affumed her original rude form of fcurrilous and petulant abufe. An im- proved verification has given a glofs to illiberal, calum- nious, and anonymous invecYives. An undaunted ef- frontery, recommended by elegant verfe, has fupplied the want of every claffical and noble ornament. That it has been well received, is no proof of its folid ex- cellence as compofition, fmce, to the greater part of readers, No. 140. M O R A L, &c. 231 readers, the abufe which it lavifhly pours on public and private characters, is a fufficient recommendation. It differs from claflical fatire in this, as well as other circumftances. Horace, Perfius, Juvenal, though fome- times difgraced by obfcenity, yet abound with fine moral fentiments. They not only put vice to fhame, but countenanced virtue, and pointed out the way to attain to it. But the fatirifts of our times feem to have little elfe in view, than to gratify private pique, or party-prejudice. It is indeed fcarcely to be expefted, that, in a degenerate age, many will be found to poflefs dignity of character and folidity of judgment, in a degree fufficient to enable them to ftand forth dif- interefted and efficient cenfors of prevailing folly and faihionable vice. No. CXL. ON LOGIC AND METAPHYSICS*. TO falfe and carelefs reafoning moft of the mif- fortunes of life are to be attributed. Logic then, as an art, is perhaps fo far ufeful in the condudl of life, as it fuperinduces a habit of accurate reafoning. But what fays experience? Is the man who has di- gefted Burgerfdicius found to be wiferin his aclionsthan others ? The beft difputant that ever conquered in the- fchools, when he has defcended to the walks of com- mon life, has been found no lefs prone to deviate into the paths of error, to be involved in the clouJs of paffion, and mifled by the falfe lights of imagina- tion, than the bufy multitude who nerer heard of the categories. They who po/Tefs common fenfe in a competent de- gree, will difcover, with no other aid, the fallacy of wrong reafoning. Tney who are deficient in it, will not find a fubititute in the ufe of a fyllogifm. The great- numbers who fupply civil and commercial offices, in which there is a conftant neceflity for the exertion of reafon, and who conduct the mofl important affairs without the aid of fcholaftic logic, are proofs that vigorous nature wants not this {lender affiftance. To imagine *32 ESSAYS, No. 140. imagine that a well-formed mind cannot reafon well without logic, is no lefs abfurd, than to fuppofe that the folid oak wants the fupport of the ivy that creeps around it. The beft fchool for the improvement of reafon, after a competent education, is the living world. We find even the illiterate, who have fpent their lives in conftant action, pofleffing a very extenfive knowledge of things, and a mod accurate method of judging of them ; a know- ledge and a method to which the cultivated but inexpe- rienced reafoner can fcldom attain. It is common to fee the learned academic, whofe labours arc at lalt rewarded by a rural benefice, unable, notwithltanding his acquired ftrength of reafon, to cope with the rude rutlic in a bar- gain for dues which the laws have allotted him. It feems, then, that the gradual decay of fcholaflic logic, and the contempt in which fyllogiftic fkill'is held, is not unreafonable. It contributes little to the benefit of fociety. It is rather injurious to it, by draw- ing off that attention which might be ufefully beilowed. What then (hall we fay ? Mufl an art, which our fore- fathers have itudied from age to age, and to which many of us have devoted our firlt years at the hntverfities, be 'exploded ? A veneration is due to long eftablifhed opinions. The powers of judging, which Itimulate the prefent age to innovation, were poffeffrd by the pad in equal perfection. They had fome reafon for their in di- lutions. The lame reafon may perhaps remain to pre- vent the total abolition of them ; for truth and reafon are unchangeable. Our anceilors eftabliftied logical ftu- dies in the univerfities, becaufe in their days there were few other books to be obtained, and no other learning was prized. Their defcendants muft continue to bellow on them a moderate attention, becaufe every part of knowledge contributes to accomplifh the profefled fcho- lar. But they need give no more than a moderate atten- tion, becaufe the improvement? of philofophy, and the great multiplication of books in every part of human learning, enable the ftudent to fpend his time and exer- cife his fagacity more ufefully and more agreeably. He who poile/Fes the genius and tade, together with the philofophical fpirit of the Attic Harris, will do right No, 140. MORAL, &c. 233 to cultivate them by ftudying the unread works of an- tient logicians. Our Englifh Ariftotle, whofe produc- tions are at once the quintefTence of elegance, and pro- digies of analytical ingenuity, has pointed out flowers in thofe paths of learning where thorns only were fecn before. The Stagyrite was literally idolized ; and had it been the fate of Harris to have lived a few centuries ago, he alfo would have been honoured with a fubordf- nate deification. If any thing can reftore a tatle for thefe languifhing fludies, it is the grace which his ftyle and his accuracy have given them. For metaphyfics what can be faid ? If every book that has been written on them, and thoufands have^been written, were annihilated, not a /ingle individual in the great community of all mankind would in any one re- fpecl have juft reafon to lament the lofs. Mathematical and arithmetical ftudies are fpeculative, it is true ; but they do not terminate in fpeculation. They afford a great pleafure, abftraftedly confidcred, by the full evi- dence with which they difplay their truths ; but they tend to obvious utility as well as to delight. The builder, the navigator, almoft every mechanic art, is affifted by geometry, and all men, without exception, are benefited by arithmetic. But metaphyfics tend only to benight the underftanding in a cloud of its own making, to lofe it in a labyrinth of its own contrivance. Metaphyfics were once encouraged and cultivated, be- caufe they ferved the purpofes of fuperftition. They involved theological fubjedls in a perplexity which the fimple could never unravel. They gave an air of myf- tery and depth, which caught the admiration of the vul- gar. They are now employed, in a fimilar manner, in the fervice of infidelity. They have induced the half learned and the conceited, thofe who think they under- ftand them, and thofe who wifh to be thought by others to underftand them, to adopt, without being apprehen- five of danger, opinions fatal to their own happinefs and to the exiftence of fociety. Even when cultivated by the honeft and truly inge- nious, they exhibit an inftance of blameable pride. They aim at a fcience to which man can never attain. It is truly laughable, to obferve a creature with hardly 6 knowledge 234 ESSAYS, No. 140, knowledge enough of the things around him to guide him with fafety, perplexing himfelf with ontological enquiries into the nature of angels, and the eflence of the devil. The ontologifts and pneumatologifls, the nominates and reates, the docicres ferapbici, and all the tribe of microfcopic philofophers, are, in the prefent age of difcernment, totally negleded. Even Malebranchc and Locke, the moft rational of the metaphyficiaus, are daily lofing ground. As a talk they are attended to in public feminaries, where fome obfolete plan of ftudy requires metaphyfical exercifes ; but the multitude of more agreeable works feldom leave time or inclination, to the itudent who is at liberty to chuie his books, for the controverfy concerning innate ideas. A few, how- ever, in the prefent times, have been fo unfortunate, as to wafte their labour in defending materialifm, in expatiating on liberty and neceffity, in diffufmg fcep- ticifm, and in proving that man is no more than an animal. This laft fentence and this dodlrine will pro- bably induce them to prove, in their own inftances, that he is an irritable animal genus irritabile. Such miferable effe&s of metaphyfical refearch have induced an amiable writer, whofe heart and abilities vie with each other for excellence, to vindicate the na- ture and immutability of truth, to expofe the futility of metaphyfics, to confound the devices of their pa- trons, and to eftablifli the natural rights of common fenfe. This formidable champion has given the laft fatal blow to languifliing fophiftry ; a blow which, that Ihe may never recover, every man muft wifh, who knows the baneful influence of a Hume's dark inventions, and who defires to counteract it. To put an end to fpeculative error, it might perhaps, in fome degree, be effectual to lay lefs ftrefs upon me- taphyfics in academical education. Thofe who prefide over our feminaries are no lefs liberal than enlightened, and will furely, on fome future day, if any part of the prefent fyftem of inftruclion is trifling or pernicious, re- nounce it with alacrity. But a proper deference to their re- fpeftable opinions renders it reasonable to fuppofe, that aa attention to this abllrufe, though otherwife ufelefs fcience. No. 141. MORAL, Sec. 235 fcience, may tend to give the young mind a habit of thinking with depth and precifion. As a fevere dif- cipline, it may be advantageous. Many a manoeuvre it taught the foldier in his courfe of preparation for war, which will feldom be ufeful in the field of battle. All thofe who have little opportunity of being ac- tively ferviceable to others, have an unquestionable right to feek amufement in nbftrufe fpeculation, or in any other paftime which is innocent. They may puzzle themfelves for diverfion even in metaphyfics. But if, in the courfe of their enquiries, they fhould fall upon a wonderful difcovery, which, when divulged, would diflurb the happy ignorance of mankind, let them for Once be felfim, enjoy it in private, and with-hold it from the community. No. CXLI. ON LATIN VERSE AS AN EXER- CISE AT SCHOOLS. NO part of claffical education has been more ge- nerally cenfured and more firmly adhered to, than that of exercifmg boys in the compofition of Latin poetry. The trite remark, that a poet is born, and rot formed by difcipline, has been urged againfl it. It has alfo been alleged, that the time bellowed on it would be more advantageoufly fpent in the ftudy of things, and in acquiring a right method of exprefiing our fentiments in humble profe. It is abfurd enough, fay the objeftors, to exaft a certain portion of Englifti verfe from the fcholar ; but to perplex him with Latiu verfe, at a time when he might be learning a thoufand ufeful things ; what is it but extreme imprudence, coun- tenanced indeed by general practice, but neverthelefs both culpable and truly ridiculous ? They allow, however, that the cuftom is general, and of long duration. Surely then that degree of refpeft is due to the general opinion of mankind, and to the wif- dom of our predecefibrj, which leads us to prefume, that there muft have been fome benefit perceived by ex- perience 236 ESSAYS, No. 141-. perience from an inilitution thus antient and univerfal. And it is natural to confider, whether a few arguments may not be found in favour of a mode illently and uni- formly purfued, amid the loud clamour every where raifed againft it. The defenders of pra&ices unjuftly cenfured, often do an injury to their caufe, by admitting none of the objec- tions to be reafonable. We will then allow, that to learn to make Latin verfe is to lofe tims, when- the fcholar is deftined to fpend his life in commercial or in mechanical employments. But, at the fame time,, we muft infift on its utility to the man of independent for- tune, to the divine, the lawyer, the phyfician, and per- haps to the accomplifhed military commander. To all thefe an acquaintance with the claflics will add an elegance, fuch as tends to complete their cha- racters as gentlemen, as well as fcholars. It is the finifhing polifh of education, and operates on the mind, like dancing on the perfon, by fuperadding a graceful habit. But there is no method fo well calculated to ittfufe an intimate knowledge of an author, as to imi- tate and endeavour to rival his excellences. To writs Virgilian verfe with true elegance, it is necefTary to commit to memory every phrafe ; to catch the very fpirit of Virgil ; to mark the varied paufes of his verfes,. the length of his periods, the peculiar grace of his ex- preflions ; and to give the whole composition a majeftic dignity. All thefe requifites to poetical compofition in Latin, can only be acquired by a frequent and attentive perufal of the noble Mantuan. The firft-fruits of genius produced by the fine/I writers that adorn our annals, were compofuions in. Latin verfe. Milton, at a boyiih age, wrote it with, great elegance. Cowley excelled in it early. Addifon was much celebrated for his juvenile eflays in it. Prior began with writing Latin epigrams. All the great men who have been educated at public fchools, where it is invariably an exercife, were, during feveral years obliged to compofe it as a daily tafk ; and though many of them were never diftipguifhed in poetry, yet they derived confiderable advantages from the attempt, as will probably appear from the following reflections : Difficulty No. 141. M O R A L,, &c. 237 Difficulty is naturally painful ; but to overcome it caufes a very fenfible pleafure, and facilitates future conqueib, by adding courage. To write Latin verfe, is certainly an arduous taflc to a young boy; but the authority of his mailer, and a fpirit of emulation, urge him to attempt with alacrity what his own indolence would have led him to neglect. Long practice gives facility. He finds he has overcome what he once thought infurmountable. When any new undertaking offers itfelf in future with a difficult and forbidding afpect, he is not affrighted ; for he recollects, that he hac already performed that which, appeared to him im- practicable. The exertion neceflary to accomplifh what is not eafy, has a natural tendency to give the mind frefh vigour. A fubject taken from a claffic, a moral fentiment, or an ingenious remark, is given to a boy as a fubject of meditation to employ his leifure during the intervals of fchool. He is taught, that there muft be an unity in his defign ; that he muft invent a thought, on which he is to difplay, if he can, good fenfe, and Auguftan wit, exprefted in the moft elegant verfificaiion. This tends to give a knowledge of things, at the fame time that it renders it necefl'ary to call to his affiitance all his claflical phrafeology. He muft revolve many ideas in his mind before this thought 'occurs. In this procefs he exercifes the powers of judgment, of difcrimination, of tafte. He recollects all his reading, he reviews all he has feen and heard, he fearches his books on fimilar topics, and at once improves what he has obtained, and makes new acquifitions. He who has been converfant in great fchobls will have feen copies of verfes written as the exercifes of an evening, in which were difplayed wit, humour, fine language, ingenious turns, harmonious verfe, and very fhrewd obfervations on men arvd things. Such were the Lufus Weilmonafterienfes ; fuch were many in the Mufaj Etonenfes, and fuch are thoufands that have never yet been offered to the public view. It is a known truth, that many of the boys who were engaged in thefc ttfeful fports of a fertile genius, afterwards be- 238 ESSAYS, No, 141, came diftinguifhed members of the literary or the politi. cal republic ; and they owed much of that good reception which they met with in the world, to the fame and merit of clafiical fcholarmip, acquired at their fchool. Every liberal fcholar defires to extend his views, and to be enabled to derive literary pleafure from all that is capable of affording it. If he has formed no tafte for modern Latin poetry, he will be a ftranger to many moft pleafing productions. But he cannot have a juft relifh for them, unlefs he has a knowledge of profody, and of their various metres ; and of thefe he can feldom have a perfect: knowledge, fuch a knowledge as will enable him to judge of their finer graces, without hav- ing compofed Latin poetry as an exercife. It is certain, that none of the modern Latinifls have equalled Virgil and Horace, and that the claffical ftudent can no where find entertainment fo unmixed as in their original writings. But the daintieft fare that an Apicius ever invented, ceafed to pleafe when con- ftantly repeated. Nor can he be faid to have an un- diftinguifhing tafte, or a coarfe appetite, who feeks variety in the writing of the Virgilian Vida, and in the fweet flrains of our own Vincent Bourne. There is often a happy union of the beauties that diftinguifh Ovid, Tibullus, and Martial, in the Carmina Quadra- gefimalia. Rapin, Vanier, Buchanan, and Browne, feem to have written Latin verfe with an eafe, which would almoft lead to a fuppofition that Latin was their vernacular language. In mifcellaneous publications of our own and other nations, the man of tafte will find a multitude of poematia, which he may read with plea- fure, and without danger of corrupting the purity of his ftyle. Merely as the means of enjoying a fweet and inno- cent pleafure in greater perfection, of filling up a leifure hour with an elegant amufement, the compo- fition of Latin verfe may be juftly recommended to the affluent and the generous youth, who enjoys, and knows how to value, a liberal education. Others, it muft be owned, will be much better employed in learning their pence-table. 4 No. CXLII. -No. 14:. MORA L, &c. No. CXLII. ON THE INSENSIBILITY OF THE MEN TO THE CHARMS OF A FEMALE MIND CULTIVATED WITH POLITE AND SOLID LITERATURE. IN A LETTER. S I R, I AM the only daughter of a clergyman, who, on the death of my mother, which happened when I was about three years old, concentered his affections in me, and thought he could not difplay his love more effectually than in giving me a good education. His houfe was fituated in a folitary village, and he had but little pa- rochial duty, fo that there was fcarcely any thing to di- vert his attention from this object. He had ever been devoted to letters, and confidered learning, next to virtue, as the nobleft diftinction of human nature. As foon as I could read, I was initiated in Lilly's Grammar, and, before I was eight years old, could re- peat every rule in it with the greateft accuracy. I was taught indeed all kinds of needle-work ; but two hours in every day were invariably fet apart for my improve- ment in Latin. I foon perfected myfelf in the element- ary parts, and had read Phasdrus and Cornelius Nepos with a ftrict attention to the grammatical conftruftion of every word and phrafe which they contained. From thefe I was advanced to Virgil and Horace. Under the direction of fo good a claffic as my father, I foon ac- quired a tafte for their beauties, and not only read them through with great delight, but committed their more beautiful paflages to memory. My father was fo well pleafcd with my proficiency, and with the taik of inftructing the object of his ten- dereft love, that he refolved to carry my improvements higher, and to open to my view the fpacious fields of Grecian literature. The Greek Grammar I mattered with great cafe, and I found a fweetnefs in the lan- guage which amply repaid me for the little difficulties I fomctimes r. * -ESSAYS, No. i r . forne times encountered. From the Greek Teftament I proceeded to the Cyropxdia of Xenophon, the Orations of Demofthenes, the Dialogues of Plato, and the Iliad and Odyfley of Homer. That I received great im- provement from this courie, cannot be denied ; bat the pleafure of it alone was to me a fufficient reward. I was enabled to drink at the fountain-head, while others were obliged to content themfelves with the diftant and polluted flream. I found that no tranflacions what- ever, however accurately they might exhibit the fenfe of originals, could exprefs the beauties of the language. I was pofieffed of a power of infpe&ing ihofe volumes, in admiration of mhich the world has long agreed, but from which my fex has been for the moll part unrea- fonably excluded. It was a noble privilege, and I va- lue myfelf upon it ; but I hope and believe I did not defpife thofe who had not partaken of it folely for want of opportunities. The French and Italian languages became eafy after my acquaintance with the Latin, and my father was of opinion that they are indifpenfably necefiary to the mo- dern fcholar. In French I read Rollin, Boileau, Fonte- selle, Voiture, Bonhours, Brnyere, Roufleau, Voltaire, and Marmontel ; in Italian, Petrarch, Taflb, ArioHo, Gnicciardin, and theCortegiano of Ca&glione. All thefe gave me a degree of pleafure, which I am fare none would be without, who are capable of obtaining it. After having laid a foundation in the language?, which I believe is feldom done with fuccefs but at an early age, my father allowed me to feaft without ccn- troul on die productions' of my own country. The learn- ing I had acquired enabled me to read them critically, and to underftand all their allufions. The beft writers abound fo much in quotations, that I cannot help thinking that they who are unacquainted with the an- tient languages, mnft often be mortified at their inabi- lity to unlock the concealed treafure. AH theclaffical poets, from Shakefpeare to Pope, were myftndy and delight. Hiflory, which my father always recommended as peculiarly fuited to adorn the female mind, was a favourite purfuit. I digefted Hume and Robertfon, and took a pleafure in every biographical anecdote No. 142. MORAL, *c. anecdote I could colled. After reading a life, or the hiftory of any particular event, I was always defired. by my father to give my featiments upon it in writing; an exercile which I found to be attended with great advantage. I never penetrated deeply into the fciences, yet I could not reft fatisfied without a foperfioal knowledge of agronomy, of the folar fyftem, of experimental philo* fephy, and of geography mathematical, phyftcal, and political. This little was neceflary for rational convex- lation, and I had neither time nor tafie for fcientific refinements. Poetry was my delight, and I fometimes wrote it, as the partiality of my poor rather led him to affert, in a pleaiing manner. I do not make it a merit of my owa, becanfe it was entirely owing to my father's direction, that with all my attention to books, I did not negkd the ornamental accomplifiments. My father excelled in me fie, and he taught me to play on the harpfichord. He en- gaged a good mafter to inftruft me in dancing, and lie always cannoned me againft that ncgleft of drefs and of accurate cleanlinefi, which, he (aid, had ibmetimes involved literary ladies in deferred difgrace. He like- wife inculcated the necefEty of avoiding a pedantic manner of converfation, and ftri&ly charged me never to be overbearing, or to (hew in the company of others the leaft appearance of confcious faperioncy. I believe I may venture to fay, that I complied with his direc- tions, and that I talked with perfecf. cafe among the fuperficial, and neither ejcprefled nor felt contempt, er- cept where vanity and affedanon were combined with ignorance. otwithftanding my improvements and mrearneft - endeavours to prevent them from becoming invidious, I find myfelf received in the world with lefs cordiality than I had region to exped. My own fcx ftand too much in awe of me to bear me any affection. When I cooie into their company, an univerfal faience would . were not interrupted by myfelf. Thoof h : fay that I am treated rudely, yet I can eaSly : ::es I receive are conftrained ; ive every reafon to believe, chat no final! pains II. M ' a:* ESSAYS, No. 142, are taken to traduce my character, and to ridicule my tafte in drefs, and all the circumitances of external behaviour. Ic is kindly hinted, rhat a little awkward- neis and impropriety may he excufed in a learned lady, and that drefs and decorum arc beneath the notice of a poetefs. I have no reafon to think that my pcrfon is particu- larly difagreeable ; yet, I know not how it is, I am avoided by gentlemen who are ambitious of the com- pany of other ladies. They have dropt, in the hearing of fome of my friends, that though they think me extremely clever, yet they cannot reconcile the ideas of female attractions and the knowledge of he Gieek. They do not mean to detract from my praife ; but they muft own, that I am not the woman after their hearts. They entertain a notion, that a lady of improved un- derltanding will not fubmit to the lefs dignified cares of managing a houfehold. She knows how to make verfes, fays the \vitling, but give me the woman who can make a pudding. mud confefs, I ever thought it the moft valuable re- commendation of a wife to be capable of becoming a converfable companion to her hufband ; nor did I ever conceive that the qualifications of a cook-maid, a laundrefs, or a houfe- keeper, were the moft defirable accomplifhmenfs in a partner for life. A woman of improved underftanding and real fenfe is more likely to fubmit to her condition, whatever it may be, than the uneducated or the half-learned ; and fuch an one will always be willing to fuperintend ccconomy when it becomes her duty ; and to take an aftive part in houfe- hold management, when the happinefs of him me loves, and of herfelf, depends upon her perfonal inter- ference. ' The education of children in the earlier periods, particularly of daughters, naturally belongs to the mo- ther. Her inclination to improve them, feconded by her ability to take the proper methods, mud be attended with the moft valuable effefts. The world is acquaint- ed with the happy conferences of a Cornelia's parental care. But it feems probable, that little nourishment of mind can be imbibed from a mother, whole ideas har J1 - No. 143. M ORAL, &c. 243 ever wandered beyond the limits either of a kitchen or a drefling-room. Neither is there ftifficient reafon to conclude, that me whofe intellectual acquifitions enable her to entertain her hufband, and to form the minds of" her children, muft be incapable or unwilling to fuper- intend the table, and give a perfonal attention to do- meftic osconomy. That learning belongs not to the female character, and that the female mind is not capable of a degree of improvement equal to that of the other fev, are nar- row and unphilofophical prejudices. The prefent times exhibit moft honourable inftances of female learning and genius. The fuperior advantages of boys education are, perhaps, the fole reafon of their fubfequent fuperiority. Learning is equally attainable, and, I think, equally va- luable, for the fatisfaclion arifing from it, to a woman as a man. For my own part, I would not lofe the little I pofTefs., to avoid all thofe difagreeable confequences of which I have juil now complained. No. CXLIII. ON PARENTAL INDULGENCE. '""T~ r H E love of progeny feems to operate as ftrongly J_ in the brute creation as in the- human fpccies, during the hdplefs ngc of immaturity. The guidance ol initial, indeed, a.j it is more decisively determinate, feems to bring up an offspring with lefs deviation from the purpnfes of nature, than the fuperior facility of reafon. The greater acuteneis of reafon leads to he- Htation, and involves in error, while it is dhlracled bv the variety of objecls it aflemblcs for its choice. The bird never injures its young by repletion. The young, indeed, of few animals, when left to the care of the parent, without the interference of man, is found to perifh. But it is well known how large a proportioa of children die under the age of two years, in our me- tropolis. The caufe is in general the negleft of nature for the aids of art, proceeding from a degree of fondnefs which llimulatcs the parent to take all the care upon M z herlHf. 244 ESSAYS, No. 143. herfelf, and to leave little to the invinble procefs of na- . tural energies. If the child furvive by the vigour of its conftitution to a puerile age, even then the fondnefs of the parent, moft amiable in its origin, but mofl injurious to the objeft it moft wifhes to benefit, is found to deftroy the very purpofes of living, by endeavouring to render life pleafurable to excefs, and without viciffitude. If his abfence can be fo far borne as to permit him to enter at a fchool, an earneft defire is exprefled that he may be indulged in all thofe luxuries of the table which pollute the pure ftream of the infant blood, and, by overloading the organs of intellect, preclude the pof- fibility of folid improvement. He, whofe attention Ihould be engrofled by his book, and who mould learn to look on every pleafure of the fenfes as a fubordinate pleafure, is taught, by the overweening attachment of a parent, to have little other care than to pamper the grofleft among the animal appetites. Regularity of diet, and modeft decency in all the circumftances of fcholaftic life, are often reprefented as the refult of a too penurious ceconomy ; and the young pupil no fooner returns, in the days of vacation, to his paternal roof, than he is crammed with delicacies, to compenfate the penance he has undergone at the place of his education. We can derive but little improvement from the teacher we contemn. Yet how can the boy avoid con- tempt for the mafter, whom he is taught to confider as totally regardlefs of any thing but his own fordid interefl, and capable of -depriving the child committed to his care of his proper fultenarice ? But they who are fenfible in other refpefts, are rendered, by their fond- nefs, weak enough to believe any calumny which a fro- ward child utters for the -fake of changing his place of education, or_of remaining at home. The properitr"t6' Indulgence is fo ftrong, that at the matureft a'ge,' and with the moft improved reafon, it is difficult to reftrain it within the limits of modera- tion. To encourage, inftead of checking this natural tendency, is, in effect, to nurfe thofe vices of the future youth, and to caufe thofe excefles of early man- hood, No. 143. MORAL, ice. 245 hood, which in the end haften the grey hairs of the inconftderate parent with forrow to the grave. Fev* 1 would be profligate in the extreme, if they were not untaught all the virtue they learn under their tutors, by the example and inadvertence of their own family. When immorality is obliquely recommended by a fa- ther's pradice, the infection is irrefiftible. A tutor's admonitions are foon fuppofed to proceed merely from official care, when they contradidl the conducl of him whom a child naturally loves above all others. The general cultom of allowing a considerable weekly ftipend, and of giving pecuniary prefents to the fchoolboy, often frustrates the intentions of educa- tion. It is not likely that he mould give his thought to literary improvement, who is obliged to ftudy how he mall fpend the bounty of his aunts and coufins ; and whofe pocket always enables him to find recreation without feeking it in books. Jt would ;>e hr.ppy if things could be fo contrived, that, for want of employ- ment, he mould be driven to thofe volumes where em- ployment of the fweeteft kind may be always found, attended with the moft valuable advantages. A pro- fufion of money at a childifh age is not uncommonly the caufe of fubfequent extravagance, and tends to introduce one of the moft pernicious and leaft curable vices, a propenfity to gaming. But reafoning can avail little againft the partiality of fome fond relation, who cannot fuffer prefent pleafure to be neglecled by her favourite, for the fake of an advantage which is diftant and uncertain. It is ufually fuppofed that maternal affeftion is ftronger than paternal. There is no doubt but that it often interpofes in adjulting the plan of education. Its kind folicitude is too amiable to be cenfured with afperity. Yet we muft aflert, that it is not poffible that a mother, though fenfible and accomplished, mould be fo well qualified to direft the care of a boy's education in all its parts, as a father of equal abilities. All the important departments in civil life are filled by men. The pulpit, the bar, the fenate-houfe, are appropriated to men. Men, from the facility with which they travel, and their fuperior hardinefs, fee M 3 more 24& ESSAYS, No. 145, more of the world than women, who, with the fame opportunities, might indeed make the fame obfcrva- tions; but who, in the preferit Uite cf things, cannoi judge of thofe qualifications, attainments, manners, and char?.fter~, which recommend to notice in all the profefiicns of life, and tend to in fare fuccefs. Hence It is that they are obferved to fet the higheil value on or- namental accomplilhments, of the grace of which their iine tafte is peculiarly fcnfi'o'e ; and to under- rate the more folid attainments, with the utility and, beauty of which their iituation often keeps them unacquainted. Many a fond and fenfible mother has controverted the necefiity of learning Latin, as a dead language, in which there can be no ufe, while the living languages of France and Italy are moreeafily attainable, and infinitely more fafhionable. Such a judgment is not to be wondered at ; nor does it proceed from natural weaknefs, but from an navoidable unacquaintance with the charms of the daffies, and the utility of Latin in the practice of every liberal art, in the converfation of the enlightened, and in the ftudy of the mod: admired modern books, which abound in Latin quotations, in allufions to the claffics, and in words which cannot be fully underflood with- out underftanding the language from which they are derived. Add to this, that the extreme tendernefs of maternal afFeftion will not permit that ft rift difcipline to be exercifed on a beloved fon, which, though it has nothingin.it of harm feverity, refembles not the foft and indulgent treatment of the mother or nurfe. Scarcely any thing of value is brought to perfection without feme care analogous to this fcholaftic difcipline. The tree will not produce its fruits in fuilicient abun- dance, or with a proper flavour, unlefs it is chnftifed in its luxuriances by the hand of art. It is requifue that the flubborn foil fhould be broken by cultivation. The moft ferviceabk animals are either ufelefs or hurtful, till reduced to obedience by coercion. Man, above all, po/Tefled as he is of ftronger powers and acuter per- ceptions, of ill qualities no lefs than good, in a fupe- rior degree, requires all the aids of art to correft his enormities, and teach him to aft a rational and con. fiftent No. 144. MORA L, &c. 247 fjllent part in the theatre of the world. Although the iii:ii;tion of ial'Jtary difcipline may give pain even to thofe who know it to be falutary, yet they mull not, for the i.ike of fparing their own feelings, aft in contradic- tion to their judgment, and do an irreparable injury to thoie whom they moll tenderly lore. Exceffive lenity and indulgence are ultimately exceifive rigour. With the excellent eftecls of Spartan dik'ipline, every one is acquainted. Of the lamentable coniequences ot modern relaxation, daily experience furnifhes examples. The puerile age is patient and traftable. Reformation mull begin there. Temperance, diligence, modeily, and humility, cannot be too early inculcated. Thei<- will lead through the temple of virtue to the temple of honour and happinefs. In this progrefs, ftrifl difciplinf will fometimes be neceiTary ; but let not the pretence of proper correction give an opportunity for the gratification of viadidive cruelty. Inhumanity, even in a Bufby, ad- xnhs not of palliation*. No. CXLIV. ON THE POEMS ATTRIBUTED TO ROWLEY. THERE are many truths which we firmly believe, though we are unable to refute every argument which the extreme fubtilty of refined learning may ad- vance to invalidate them. When I read the refearches of thofe learned antiquaries who have endeavoured to prove, that the poems attributed to Rowley were really- written by him, I obferve many ingenious remarks in confirmation of their opinion,, which it would be tedious, if not difficult, to controvert. But I no fooner turn to the poems, than the labour of the antiquaries appears only a waile of time and ingenuity, and I am involuntarily, forced to join in placing that laurel, which he feems fo well to have deierved, on the brow of Chatterton. The poems bear fo many marks of fuperior genius, thai they have, defervedly excited the general. attention of M. 4 polhe *4* ESSAY S, No. 144. polite fcholars, and are confidered as the moft re- markable productions in modern poetry. We have many inftances of poetical eminence at an early age ; but neither Cowley, Milton, nor Pope, ever produced any thing, while they were boys, which can juftly be com- pared to the poems of Chatterton. The learned antir quaries do not indeed difpute their excellence. They extol it in the higheft terms of applaufe. They raife their favourite Rowley to a rivalry with Homer ; but they make the very merit of the works an argument againft the real author. Is it poffible, fay they, that a boy could produce compositions fo beautiful and fo mafterly? That a common boy fhould produce them is hot poffible; but that they fhould be produced by a boy of an extraordinary genius, fuch a genius as is that of Homer and Shakefpeare ; fuch a genius as appears not above once in many centuries ; though a prodigy, is fuch an one as by no means exceeds the bounds of rational credibility. That Chatterton was fuch a genius, Ms manners and Vs-j iifv in U ii;c tit-glee e.iroe. iit had all the trei.u!cit3 ic-rfibiiiiy of genius, all its eccentricities, all Its pride, and all its fpirit. Even his death, unfortunate and wicked as it was, difplayed a magnitude of foul, which urged him to fpurn a world, where even his exalted genius could not vindicate him from contempt, indi- gence, and contumely. Againft the opinion of his fuperiority of genius, the mifcellanies which he publiftied in a periodical pamphlet are triumphantly produced. But what proof is there, that all which are attributed to him were really his own ? They are collected after his death ; collected, I foppofe, by conjefture, and published in a feparate volume, with all the typographical errata of the hafty pamphlets from which they are reprinted. But in many of the pieces which were confefTedly written by him there are marks of genius, not indeed equal to thofe of the counterfeit Rowley, but fuch as prove, that the boy who wrote them could write better. In compofing the ancient poems all his attention had been exerted. It was thefirft, and feems to have been the greateft, objed of his life, to raife himfelf, to future eminence by the inftru- No. 144- MORA L, &c. 249 inftrumentality of a fi&itious poet of a former age. Nights, if not days, were devoted to the work ; for we have it on record, that he ufed to fit awake in his cham- ber during the filence of midnight. But the little com- pofitions which he wrote for the magazines, were either written in a carelefs mood, when he relaxed his mind from his grand work, or in a moment of diftrefs, when an extemporary eflay or copy of verfes was neceflary to procure him a halfpenny roll and a draught of frnall beer. When he found that the editors were more defirous of quantity than quality, and amidft the numerous volun- teers in their fervice, feemed backward to engage with, one who wanted a ftipend, he forefaw that even the lit- tle which nature wan ted would not befupplied He faw, and refigned his indignant fpirit. Unfortunate boy! fhort and evil were thy days, but thy fame mail be immortal. Hadft thou been known to the munificent patrons of genius But waft thou not known to one ? If fame report thy treatment truly, it was not kind of thee, Horatio; it was not like thyfelf, r - for thou art gentle in thy nature. Waft thou not confi- dered as the oracle of tafte, the inveftigator of all that is* curious in arts and literature ?-^It was then, atlaft, thy only pride and pleafure to bring to light a catalogue of roya/and 0^/Vauthors. What hadft thou to do with rep- tiles ? with a poor, friendlefs, and obfcure charity-boy ? Befides, exclaims Horatio, it was a forgery a horrid, a vile forgery Importers are not to be encouraged But let us afk thee, Didft not thou put a falfe name to thy own romance, to thy own poor production, for fuch it is when compared with the fublime excellence of Chat- terton ? If, indeed, thy negleft of the poor toy arofe from miftake or inadvertency, and I think it might, the gene- rous Public freely forgives thee j but if from pride and infolence, the prefent and all future times will probably refent an omiffion, which haftened one of the~greateft ge niufes which England ever knew, at the age oVa boy, to that 'bourne from which no traveller returns. Unfortunate boy ! poorly waft thou accommodated during thy (hort fojourning among us ; rudely waft thou treated, forely did thy feeling foul fuffer from the fcorn of the unworthy ; and there are, at laft, thofe M 5 who 250 ESSAYS, No. 144, who wifh to rob thee of thy only meed, thy pofthumous glory. Severe too are the cenfurers of thy morals. la the gloomy moments of defpondency, I fear thou hail uttered impious and blafphcmous thoughts, which none can defend, and which neither thy youth, nor thy fiery fpirit, nor thy fituation, can extenuate. But let thy mere rigid cenfors reflect, that thou waft literally and ilriclly but a boy. Let many of thy bitiereft enemies reflect what were their own religious principles, and whether they had any, at the age of fourteen, fifteen, and fixteen. Surely it is a fevere and an unjuft furmife, that thou wouldft probably have ended thy life as a victim, of the laws, if thou hadft not finifhed it as thou didfl ; fince the very aft by which thou durfl put an end to thy painful exiitence, proves, that thou thoughteft it better to die, than to fupport life by theft or violence. The fpeculative errors of a boy who wrote from the fudden fuggeftions of paffion or defpondency, who 15 not convicted of any immoral or difhoneft aci in con- fequence of his fpeculations, ought to be excufed and configned to oblivion. Eut there feems to be a genera! ami inveterate diflike to the boy, exclufively of the poet ; a diflike which many will be ready to impute, and, indeed, not without the appearance of reafon, to that inference and envy of the little great, which cannot bear to acknowledge fo tranfcendent and com- manding a faperiority in the humble child of want and obfcuricy. Malice, if there was any, may furely now be at reft j; for " Cold he lies in the grave below." But where vere ye, O ye friends to genius, when flung with dif- appointment, diftrefied for food and raiment, with every frightful form of human mifery painted on his fine imagination, poor Chatterton funk in defpair? Alas! ye knew him not then, and now it is too late,, For now he is dead ;, Gone to his death-bed, All under the willow tree. So fang the fweet youth, in as tender an elegy as ever tit wed from a feeling heart. In return for the pleafure I have received from thy- poeim, I p?-y thee, poor boy, the trifling tribute of" fe my No. i4j-. NT" O R A' L, &c. 251 my praife. Thyfelf thou haft emblazoned ; thine own monument thou hail erefted. But they whom thou hafl delighted, feel a pleafure in vindicating thine honours from the rude attacks of detraction. Thy fentiments,. thy verfe, thy rhythm are all modern, are all thine. By the help of gloflaries and dictionaries, and the perufal of many old Englilh writers, thou haft been able to tranilate the language cf the prefent time into that cf former centuries. .Thou haft built an artificial ruin. The flones are mo-fly and old, the whole fabric appears rtally antique to the diitant and the c?.relefs fpedtator ;, even the connoifleur, who pores with fpedtacles on the fingle ftones, and infpecls the moffy concretions with an aniiquarian eye, boldly authenticates its antiquity; but they who examine without prejudice, and by the crite- rion of common fenfe, clearly difcover the cement and the workmanilnp of a modern mafon. But though I cannot entertain a doubt but that the poems were written by Chatterton, .yet I mean not to didate to others, nor will I engage in controverfy. I have exprefled my feelings as thole of a reader, who,, though he refpecls the iludy of antiquities, diilikes the blind prejudices of the mere antiquary. I leave the weapons of controverfy to be wielded bv thofe powerful champions in the caufe of Chatterton, a Tyrwhit and a Warton. I give a Jingle vote for Ghatterton ; but I car. make no intereil in his favour. N-O. CXLV. ON THE MORAL TENDENCY OF T.HE WRITINGS OF STERNE. IT is the privilege of genius, Hkre ths fnn, to gild every objeft on which it em.its its lurlre. Jf the in- fluence of its light and heat be directed on deformity itft'lf", fometliing of ?.n agreeable tinge is communi- cated ; and that which naturally excites horror and r.verfion, begins at laft to pleafc. Genius, like the fabu lous power of a Midas, ken>s to convert all its touches into gold, and with the wonderful property of" the en itone, to tranfmute t!ie bafeil to the purcft M 6 raeul. 252 ESSAYS, No. 145. metal. Hence it has happened, that doctrines which common fenfe and common prudence have repudiated, are no fooner recommended by writers of genius, than they are received without debate, and admired as the ultimate difcoveries of improved philofophy. Let the fame opinions be advanced by a dull writer, and even the vain and the vicious, whom they tend to encourage,, will refute and difavow thm from principles of pride and of fhame. That Sterne poffefled a fine particle of real genius, if our reafon were difpofed to deny it, our fenfations on perufing him will fully evince. It is, I think, an infallible proof of real genius, when a writer poflefles the power of lhaking the nerves, or of affecting the mind in the mod lively manner in a few words, and with the moft perfect Simplicity of language. Such a power confpicuoufly marks both a Shakefpeare and a Sterne ; though Sterne is far below Shakefpeare in the fcale of genius. I am ready to allow to Sterne another and a moft ex-i- alted merit beiides, and above the praife of genius. There never was a heathen philofopher of any age or nation, who has recommended, in fo affecting a manner, the benignant doctrines of a general philanthropy. He has corrected the acrimony of the heart, fmoothed the afperities of natural temper, and taught the milk of hu- man kindnefs to flow ail-cheerily (it is his own expreffion) in gentle and uninterrupted channels. To have effected fo amiable a purpofe is a great praife, a diftinguiflied honour. Ilament that the praife is leflened and the honour fullied by many faults and many follies, which render the writings of Sterne juftly and greatly reprehenfible. If we confider them as compofitions, and are guided in our judgment by the dictates of found criticifm, and by thofe ftandards of excellence, the rectitude of which has been decided by the teftimony of the politeit ages, it will be neceflary to pronounce on them a fevere fentence. The great critic of antiquity required, as the neceflary conftituents of a legitimate compofition, a beginning, a middle, and an end. I believe it will be difficult to find them in the chaotic eonfufion of Triftram Shandy. But, difregarding the tribunal of Ariftotle, to N9, US- MORA L, &c. 253. to which the modern pretenders to genius do not con- fider themfelves as amenable, it will {till be true, even by the decifions of reafon and common fenfe, that his writings abound with faults. Obfcurity has always been deemed one of the greateft. errors of winch a writer can be guilty; and there have been few readers, except thofe who thought that the- acknowledgment would derogate from their reputation for wifdom, who have not complained that Triftram, Shandy is in many places difguftfully obfcure. The admirers o Sterne extol his wit. But I believe- it will be found that his wit is of the loweft kind, and the eafieft of invention ; for is it not for the moft part allufive oWcenity? a fpecies of wit to be found in its fulleft perfection in the vulgareft and vileft haunts of vice i It is, indeed, eafy to attract the notice and the admiration of the youthful and the wanton, by exhibiting loofe images under a tranfparent veil. It is true indeed there is ufually a veil, and the decent are therefore tempted to read ; but the veil, like the affected modefty of a courtezan,, ferves only as an artifice co fa-r cilitate corruption. The praife of humour has been lavished on him wich-. peculiar bounty. If quaintnefs is humour, the praife is all his own, and let Cervantes and Fielding bow their heads to Sterne. They who admire Uncle Toby, Doctor Slop, and Corporal Trim, as natural characters, or as exhibiting true humour in their manners and con- verfations,. are little acquainted with nature, and have no juft tafte for genuine humour. It is evident enough, that the author meant to be humorous and witty, and many of his readers, in the abundance of their good-na-* ture, have taken the will for the deed. But till obfcurity, till obfcenity, till quaintnefs, till impudence, till oddity, and mere wantonnefs, wildnefs, and extravagance, are perfections in writing, Triitram Shandy cannot juft!y claim the rank to which it has been raifed by folly and fafliion, by caprice, libertinifm, and ignorance. I know that this cenfure will be con. fidered as blafphemy by the idolaters of Sterne; but 1 hope it will not four that milk of human kindnefs which they may have imbibed from his writings j and to 254- ESSAY S, No. i 4 j. to an excefiive degree of which many foft and effeminate perfons affectedly pretend. Let their philanthropy re- prefs awhile their refentment, and I will venture to predict, that time will infenfibly ftrip the writer of thofe honours which never belonged to him. But will you allow his ferraons no merit ? I allow fome ef them the merit of the pathetic ; but the laborious at- tempts to be witty and humorous have fpoiled the greater part of them. The appearance of fincerity is one of the belt beauties of a fermon. But Sterne feems as if he were laughing at his audience, as if he had afcended the pulpit in a frolic, and preached in mockery. Had he however written nothing but his fermons, he certainly would not have been cenfured as the dellroyer of the morals and the happinefs of private life. There are, indeed, exquiihe touches of the pathetic interfperfed throughout all his works. His pathetic ftories are greatly admired. The pathetic was the chief excellence of his writings ; his admirers will be dil- pleafed if one were to add, that it is the only one which admits of unalloyed applaufe. It is certainly this which chiefly adorns the Sentimental Journey ; a work which, whatever are its merits, has had a pernicious influence on the virtue, and conlequently on the happi- nefs, of public and private fociety. That ioftnefs, that affected and excefllve fympathy at firii fight, that fentimental affeclion, which is but luft.. in difgmff, and which is fo llrongly infpired by the Sentimental Journey, and byTriiiram Shandy, have been the ruin of thoufands of our countrymen and country- women, who fancied, that while they were breaking the laws of God and man, they were actuated by the fine $e?\\ngs-Qtfer.tirnenialnfj~e<:i!<>ri. How much are divorces multiplied fince Sterne appeared ! Sterne himfelf, with all his pretenfions,. is faid to have difplayed, in private life, a bad and a hard heart; and I. (hall not hefuate to pronounce him, though many admire him as the firitofphilofophers, the grand promoter of adultery, .and every fpecies of illicit commerce. . No. CXLVL- No. 146. MORAL, &c. No. CXLVI. ON THE WEIGHT AND EFFI- CACY WHICH MORALITY MAY DERIVE FROM THE INFLUENCE AND EXAMPLE OF THOSE WHO ARE CALLED THE GREAT. IT is true, indeed, that the world abounds with moral inftruclion, and that there is fcarcely any good thing fo eafily obtained as good advice; but it 13 no lefs true, that moral inftruftion and good advice are found to poflefs a very fmall degree of influence in the bufy walks of active life. In thechurch, we hear the fcriptures read and fermons preached ; in the library, we itudy and admire the morality of the philofophers ;. but how few, in the aclual purfuits of ambition, of intc- relt, of pleafure, and even in the common occupations and intercourfe of ordinary life, fuffer their conduct to be regulated by the precept of a Solomon, of a Socrates,, or of him who was greater than either ! No fentence is Writer, than thafc all example is more powerful than precept; but when the example is fet by the rich and the great, its influence on the herd of mankind becomes irrelillible. What can books effecl? what avail the gentle admonitions of the retired moralift, againfl the examples of lords, dukes, and Earl India Nabobs ? Can the ftill fmall voice of confci- ence be heard by thofe who live in the noiie and tumult of pleafurable purfuits ? or can the mild doctrines of the humble Jcfus be attended to, amid the agitations of the gaming-table, and the debaucheries of a brothel ?- A vicious nobleman, or profligate man of falhion,. contributes more to extirpate morality, and diminilh the little portion of happinefs which is allowed to mankind, than all the malignant writings of the fceptics, from r1andeville and Bolingbroke, down to the feeble and cowardly, yet Conceited writer, who infinuates his cor- nipt and infidel opinions under the fair femblunce of an elegant hiftory. I cannot help obferving, when I think *S 5 ESSAYS, !*>. 14$. think of this lafl and recent attempt, that it refembles that of the evil fpirit, who, when he beguiled the mother of mankind, and ruined all her progeny, ufed the foft words of an affefted eloquence. The ferpent was however curfed ; but the wily hiftorian is invited to a court, rewarded with places of honour and ad- vantage, and eagerly enrolled in the legiflative body of a mighty and a chriftian nation. It is certainly true,, that when a government beftow* peculiar honour on men who have written againft the religion of the country, and who have impioufly fought againft the King of kings, it muft lofe the refpeft and attachment of all good men. The religion of a country is unqueftionably worthy of more folicitude in its prefervation than the political conftitution, however excellent and admirable. Kings, with all their minions and prerogatives, lawgivers and laws, are trifles com- pared to that fyftem of religion, on which depends the temporal and eternal welfare of every individual throughout the empire. What avails it, that under a fuccefsful adminiftration the French are beaten, and the Americans fcourged for the fin of rebellion, if the fame adminiflration ruins our beft, our fweeteft hopes ; thofe which rely on the proteflion of a kind Providence, and thofe which cheer us in this vale of mifery, by the bright gleams of a fun which fhall rife to fet no more ? But fuppoiing the narrow-minded minifters of a government fo involved in gaming, fenfuality, and tem- poral concerns, as to view all religion as impofture, and all modes of faith as political contrivances ; yet furely they aft inconfiftently with the dictates of their own mean and low fpecies of wifdom, when they extir- pate, by their example, that religion which they allow- to be politically ufeful. What ideas can the multitude entertain of the truth or advantages of a religion, when they Tee thofe who openly deride, and profefs to dif- believe it, poflefling the greatell power of the ftate, appointing bi/hops, and archbimops, and Signing, while they fit at the table with a ftrumpet, prefenta- tions to the cure of half the fouls in the three kingdoms ? Who, unlefs he is corrupted by thefe inftances, but No. 146. MORAL, &c, 257 mud feel an honeft indignation, if a man were raifed to the chancellorfhip of England, in whofe difpofal are fo many ecclefiaftical preferments, were a bully in his profeffion, and in private life a whoremafter ? Who can wonder that the thoufand little imitators of him mould think it a mark of fpirit, wifdom, and abilities, to fol- low his fleps in the paths of vice, and, if pcflible, to exceed his enormities? What muft the common people think when profligate men are advanced to the head of a profeffion ? They cannot but believe, that thofe who are reputed to be fo much wifer than themfelves, and who are evidently greater, in a worldly fenfe of the epithet, muft have ehofen that fyftem of opinions, and that plan of condufr, which are moft likely to be juft and rational, ife and pleafant. " If my Lord, or his Grace," fays the mechanic, " of whofe wifdom liftening fenates (land in awe, is a debauchee and an infidel, I muft conclude, that my pariih preacher, an obfcure and homely man, is a hypocrite, religion a farce, mora- lity a- ufelefs reftraint on the liberty of nature. Wel- come, then, univerfal Jibertinifni ! and let us haften to the houfe of the harlot; let us drink the fweet cup of intoxication ; let us fcorn the creeping manners of vulgar induftry, and, like men of fpirit, feek our for- tune with a piftol on the highway." We will fuppofe the cafe of a great officer of ftate* but of an abandoned character, refiding at a great houfe in a populous ftreet of the metropolis. His confpicuous Aation draws the eyes of all the neighbours on every part of his private as well as his public conduct. His neighbours, we will proceed to fuppofe, are honed men, bred, in what he calls the prejudices, but which they really believed the virtues, of their forefathers. They are faithful hufbands, they are conftant churchmen. They are temperate and ceeonomical. They are induf- trious in their occupations, and jull in the payment of their debts. But the great man produces in them a to- tal metamorphofis. He lives in a Hate of famionablc fe- pr.ration from his wife,, whom he treated cruelly and wickedly. He keeps a miftrefs. His houfe is a conftant fcene of intemperate feilivity. His Sundays are, in a peculiar manner, devoted to jollity, gaming, and de- bauchery. 2,8 ESSAYS, No. 146. bauchery. He would as focn think of going to heaven as to church ; and as to paying debts, it is quite unfa- ihionabk', and lie has gentecicr methods of expending his money than on the low tnidefrnen who fuppiy him with nothing elfe but neceflaries. Who, that has any pretenfions to faihion, could bear to neglecl a horfc race and the gaming-table, merely to fatisfy the greafy inha- bitants of Clare-market r Such is fomeLimes the exam- ple of the great neighbour. Now I afk, whether the reftraints of a common edu- cation or of common principles, whether the maxims of books or the admonitions of preachers, can counterba- lance the weight of i'uch an example, rendered brilliant by riches and grandeur, and iHll farther recommended by the patronage of a king, and the authority of office 'i Vice and mifery are communicated from him, fJrii to his neighbourhood, and then to the public at large, like infeftious and fatal difeafes from the foul contagion of a putrid carcafe. But if a king, a court, a miniflry, a parliament, were to honour and reward thofe only, or chiefly, whofe charaders were unimpeached, and to brand with infamy, or at lead to neglect, the abandoned libertine and the audacious blafphemer, however celebrated for eloquence and abilities, then would the empire be fixed on a bafis of adamant; then would faction and rebellion be no more ; and the rulers of this world would deferve to be honoured with a title to which they have ufually but little claim, that of the Reprefeot- atives of the Beneficent and Almighty Lord of all Creation. No. CXLVII, No. 147. MORAL, &c, 259 No. CXLVII. ON THE PROFLIGACY AND CONSEQUENT MISERY OF THE LOWER CLASSES, AND ON THE MEAN'S OF PRE- VENTION. A Contemplative and benevolent man can fcarcely J~\ look down for a moment on the lower walks of life without feeling his compaflion powerfully excited. On whatever fide he turns, he beholds human nature fadly degraded, and finking into the moil deplorable wretch- cdnefs, in proportion as it recedes from irs natural and its attainable perfection . Ye philofophers, w ho exert your ingenuity to explode, as unneceflary, the little virtue and religion that remain among us, leave your clofets awhile, and furvcy mankind as they are found in the purlieus of a great metropolis, in the haunts of old Drury, of St. Giles's, of Duke's Place, ofHotkley in the Hole, of the brothel, of the prifon-houfe, and then fay whether your hearts do not finite you on the recollecr tion, that you have exercifed thofe talents which God, Almighty gave you for benignant purpofes, in breaking down the fences of morality! Let him who coolly con- troverts the difHnction between moral good and evil, and who, inftigated by vice and vanity, boldly fights againlt the religion of Jefus, and the comfortable doctrines of grace and redemption, repair to the cells of the convict, to the condemned hole, and fpend the midnight hour with the murderer who is doomed to fall a vidim on the morrow to the jutfice of his country. Ah ! little think, the conceited fophiits who fit calmly at their defks, and teach men to laugh at all that is ferious and facred, to what an abyfs of mifery the actual practice of their fpe- culative opinions will reduce the poor loll child of fallen, /\d,Tm ! Jf they thought on this and poflefled hearts ca- pable of feeling, they would fhudder at the tendency cf their writings, and henceforth employ their abilities in, reftoring human nature to happincfs and dignity. The 6o ESSAYS, No. 147. The evils arifing from the poverty of the lower Tanks are trifling, when compared with thofe occa- iioned by their depravity. There is, indeed, no real and fubitantial happinefs of which poverty, when accompanied with health and innocence, is not capable ; but wallowing in vice, involved in the perplexities of fraud, haunted by the fears of detection, and diftrefled and tormented with the difeafes of intemperance, it becomes fuch a ftate of wretched nefs and wickednefs as can only bs exceeded in the regions of infernal torture. And can the rulers of this world pofiefs a plenitude of power without attempting to exert it in its fulled force in the prevention, or at leaft the mitigation, of extreme mifery among the loweft, the moft numerous, and perhaps the moft ufeful members of the commu- nity ? I have no eP.e>m for that fpecies of politics which pretends to purfue a national good independently of the happinefs of individuals ; and I cannot help thinking, a fyftem of government which derives any part of its wealth from the wretchednefs of the greater part of its fubjecls, not only defective but diabolical. To encourage intoxication for the fake of encreafmg a revenue, though it may be natural in a confede.ncy of (harpers, is an idea fo mean, fo bafe, fo cruel, that the ftatefman who entertains it, however loaded with jcivil honours, and renowned for his wifdom, deferves to be ftigmatized with immortal infamy. That the vices and miferies of the lower claffes chiefly arife from the multiplication of houfes of public entertainment, is a truth which none have ever controverted. And perhaps no effectual and permanent remedy can be applied, without the interpofition of the legislature, in leitening the number of public houfes, and in exacting a ftridl fcrutiny into the characters of thofe to whom l'*- cences are allowed. But in the prefent conftitution o-f affairs, it is greatly to be feared, that the defire of raifing a large revenue will ufually fuperfede all moral confiderations. What, indeed, is the moraliit to the financier? The greatnefs of empire, like that of private life, is for the moft part eftimated by riches, exclufively of private virtue and of intellectual excellence. If then we vainly appeal No. 147. MORAL, &c. 261 to the legiflature, we muft feek, in other refources, for the alleviation of a difeafe which perhaps the legiflature alone can radically cure. Now it is certain, that much of the profligacy of the plebeian order arifes from extreme ignorance. All men purfue with ardour the pofleffion of fome good, real or imaginary. What is it which muft conftitute this good, and appear fuperior to all other objecls, in the mind of a wretch born in a cellar or a garret of Kent-ftreet, or Broad St. Giles's, almoft ftarved with cold and hunger during his infancy, beaten, reviled, abufed, negle&edwhileaboy, and conduced to manhood amidft the moft mocking examples of cruelty and fraud, of drunkennefs and debauchery ? Is it probable that, for the moft part, he mould have an idea of any other good but the pofleflion of money, and the indulgence of the groffeft fenfuality? Can he have any principles or habits of virtue to reftrain him from fecret fraud and open violence? His underftanding is no lefs rude and uncultivated than that of the favage, and becomes at laft incapable of admitting any inftrudlion but in tha low tricks of a thief, and the artifices of a proftitute. The world exifts not to him, but as it appears amidft the vileft, the moft degenerate, and the moft ignorant of the human race. He purfues nfummum bonum, or a chief good, which appears to him to confift in feizing the property of the incautious, and in ufmg his gains as the inftrument of indulgence in brutal excefs. Poor unfortunate brother ! for a brother we muft acknowledge thee, deformed as thou art with rags, and loathfome to the eye of delicacy. Haplefs boy ! if thou hadft Jknown purer pleafures and better objects, thou would ft probably have fought them with the fame eagernefs which has brought thee to the gibbet. The dignified ilatefman, the venerable bimop, the authoritative judge who tries and who condemns thee to die, might probably have done as thou haft, and fuffered as thou itiffereft, had he been born as thou waft born, the child of mifery, the out-caft of fociety ; friendlefs, homelefs, unbeloved, unregarded, unknown, and un- knowing of the means and motives of an honeft in- duftry. Thou falleft a victim to the laws indeed, and perhaps -62 E S . S A y S, No. 147, perhaps a jufl victim ; but I will pity thee, my heart fliall bleed for thee, and venture (till to predict, that the iweet mercy of Heaven will mitigate the feverity of hu- man juittcc. He who can enjoy the pleafures of affluence without conlidering the miiery of the lower claflc-s, and endea- vouring, according to his influence and abilities, to alleviate the burthen, probably poffefles a difpofuion which no riches can render happy. Charity is cha- racteriflic of this country, and is, indeed, the natural effect of Britifh generofuy. Our clergy are conitantly recommending it in the metropolis ; and the many palaces of the poor which lift up their roofs around if, are eminent and honourable testimonies, that their preaching is not in vain when they recommend munifi- cence. There are, however, few charitable eitablifh- ments that fo immediately tend to fnatch the loweit claflbs from wretchednefs and ruin as that of the Marine Society ; and if my praife could contribute to effect it, the fame of its infHtutors mould be immortal. But their own benevolent hearts, and that God, in whofe gracious purpofes they co-operate, are able to beftow on them a reward infinitely fuperior to all hu- rnnn glory. They who inform the understandings of the poor, in fuch a manner and degree as to amend their morals, contribute more to their happinefs than the moil: mu- nificent among their pecuniary benefactors. In a great and commercial nation honeft induftry will fci'Jom be destitute of employment and reward. And here I cannot help remarking the fingular utility and import- ance of the clergy. The church-doors are open to all ; and valuable initruction in every duty of human life is afforded gratuitoufly. Our Saviour, who knew and felt for the wretchednefs of the lower claffes, feems to have defigned the gofpel, in a peculiar manner, for the poor; and the poor of this country have the gofpel preached to them, if they are willing to liften to ir, in every part of the kingdom. But it is a melancholy truth, that the poor in general, but efpecially thofe of the metropolis, neglect to avail themfelves cf this fingular and unfpeakable advantage. Thofe among them No. 147. MORAL, &c. 263 them who give any attention to religion, are often Jed to a itate approaching to lunacy, by illiterate and fanatical pretenders to heavenly illumination, 1 venture to affirm then, that more weight and authority mould be given to the regular clergy, whe- ther drflenters or on the eftablifliment. I mean not to erec"l a fpiritual tyranny, for I abhor all tyranny; but I wifh thnt fome mode fhould be devifed for rendering the regular clergy more rcfpeclable than they new are in the eyes of the vulgar. And I (houid imagine the moil effectual method of accomplishing this purpofe is, to reward thofe who are eminently diitinguifhed for piety and for their parochial labours, with thofe preferments, and with thofe honours, which, in the eye of reafon and of God, are jullly their due. In the prefent Itate of things, the worthy curate, who fpends all his days in preaching, praying, and in vifiting the fick, fhall earn lefs, and be lefs refpecled than a fmith and a carpenter ; and at his oe;.th leave his wi- dow and his children to the cold prutivtion of charity. But a young rake, who happens to be coufui to a lord or a bifhop, or to be connected with thofe who have influence at an cleftion, fhall get himieH ' blackai ever or japanned, as he vulgarly phrafes it, at an ordination, and thenceforward be preferred to pluralities, and fliine, as a fenfible author obiervcs, in all public -places but his own pulpits. But, after all that the clergy can do, even when abufcs are removed, it is to be fe.;ml that the lower clan>s will be led by the examples of the higher. But oh ! ye who call yourfelves the great, condefcend once in your lives to vifit a goal, and to furvey the man- fions of woe and wickednefs in the out-fkirts of the town ! I apply not to your purfes ; you are liberal in fubfcribing to all kinds of charitable institutions. Ye do well. But give me leave to tell yen, that the fettingof a good example to the lower clafies, confidered merely as an acl of charity, will do more good, and prevent more mifery, than if ye cut down your lail oak, or give all yew in at the gaming table, to found an hofpital or eftablifh a difpenfary. No. CXLVIII. 264. ESSAYS, No. 148, No. CXLVIII. ON SOME PASSAGES IN ARIS- TOTLE'S RHETORIC, WITH MISCELLANEOUS REMARKS ON HIS STYLE, GENIUS, AND WORKS. ARISTOTLE eftablifhed an intelle&ual empire, more glorious and univerfal than the conquells of his pupil. But he is a remarkable inftance of the ca- price of human judgment and the revolutions of tafte. After having been idolized with a veneration almoft blafphemous, he is now moft undefervedly neglected. And yet his works, though unentertaining and obfcure to the reader who perufes them with the fame attention which he gives to a novel and a newfpaper, abound with matter which cannot fail to enrich the mind, and to delight a philofophical tafte by its beautiful truth and accuracy. In his three books on the rhetorical art, are many paflages, which defcribe human nature in the moft motive of them, it is certain that few crimes are more injurious to private happinefs, and opoofire :o the fpirit of our amiable religion, than flander and detraction. The man of reading is under no temptation to calum- niate his neighbour from the defeft of ideas, or a want of taiie for liberal and refined converfation. He intereih- hinifelfin his neighbour's happinefs; but does not pry into the afiairs, nor iit in judgment on the domeftic ar- rangements, of another's family. Molt of the topics of fcandal are too little and too low for him. He will not ftoop from his elevation low enough to. pick the dirty trifles from the ground. His thoughts -are engaged in elegant and fpeculative fubjecls, far removed from all which tend to excite envy, jealoufy, or malevolence. The want of employment is one of the frequent caufes of vice; but he who Icves a book will never want em- ployment. The purfuits of learning are boundlefs, and they prefent to the mind a delightful variety which can- not be exhaufted. No life is long enough to fee all the beautiful pictures which the arts and fcience?, or which hiltory, poetry, and eloquence are able to difplay. The man of letters pofTeffes the power of calling up a fuccef- iion of fcenes to his view infinitely numerous and diver- ged. He is therefore fecured from that unhappy ilate which urges many to vice and diff.pation, merely to fill a painful vacuity. Even though his purfuits ihou]d be trifling, and his difcoveries unimportant, yet they are harmlefs to others, and ufeful to himfelf, as preferva- tives of his innocence. Let him not be ridiculed or condemned, even though he mould fperid his time in, collecting and defcribing moths, rccfies, (hells, birds, weeds, or coins; for he who loves thefe things feldoai fet: his afredions on pelf, or any of thofe objects which corrupt and divide human ibciety. He who fuids his pleasures in a mufeum or a library, will not often be feen, in the tavern, in the brothel, or at the gaming-table. He is plealed if he pofiefles a non-defcript folul, and envies not the wretched enjoyments of the intemperate, nor t!i ill-gotten wealth of the opprefibr or extortioner. But his purfuits have ufunlly a title to much greater praife than that of being incffenfive. Suppofe him in any of the liberal profciuons. If a clergyman, for i-n- (lance, No. 153. MORA L, &c. 285 fiance, he devotes his time and abilities to the preparation of diffuafives from vice, from folly, from mifconduct, from infidelity, from all that contributes to aggravate the wretchednefs of wretched human nature. Here the pleafures naturally refuking from literary occupation are improved by the fublime fenfarions of active benevo- lence, the comfortable confcioufnefs of advancing the truelt happinefs of thofe among our poor fellow-creatures .who have not enjoyed the advantages of education. In the performance of the godlike office of a true parifh prieil, there is a neceflity of fetting an example, and of preferving decorum .of character ; a neceffity which con- duces much to the fecurity of innocence. It is ofteji a -great happinefs to be placed in a rank where, to the .re- Itraints of confcience and mobility, are added the fear of peculiar fhame, lofs, and difgrace, neceflarily confe- quent on ill behaviour. Human Nature wants every fupport to keep it from lapling into depravity. Eve intereft and a folicitude for reputation, when, in fome thoughtlefs interval, the pillars of virtue begin to tot- ter, may flop the fall. The pofTefiion of a valuable cha- racter which may be loft, and of a dignity which mull be fupported, are often very ufeful auxiliaries in defend- ing the citadel againfl the temporary a/Faults of paffion and temptation. Since, then, the purftiit of letters is attended with many circum fiances peculiarly favourable to innocence, and confequently to enjoyment of the purelt and moil permanent fpecies, they who have been fixed in fo de- firable a life as a life of learning, ought to be grateful to Providence for their fortunate lot, and endeavour to make the belt return in their power, by devoting their leifure, their abilities, and their acquirements, to the God, and the benefit of mankind. No. CUV. 2 86* ESSAYS, No. 154, No. CLIV. ON THE ADVANTAGE WHICH MAY BE DERIVED TO THE TENDER AND PATHETIC STLYEj FROM USING THE WORDS AND PHRASES OF SCRIPTURE. IT is obfervable that an audience often laughs or yawns in the moft interefting fcenes of a modern tragedy; a lamentable proof of the poet's imbecility. The poet ! he may, indeed, be a verfifier and a declaimer, but he is no poet, who tells a tragic tale without eliciting a tear. Let us not profane the facred name of poet by beftowing it on the feeble poetafter. It is not enough that the language of a tragedy is flowery, the fimilies and metaphors brilliant, the verfe melodious ; there muft be a charm added by the creative power of almighty genius, which no didactic rules can teach, which cannot be adequately defcribed, but which is powerfully felt by the vibrations of the heart- firings, and which caufes an irrefiilible overflowing of the Axvuv mir/ou, the facri fonfes lachrymarum. Florid diction and pompous declamation are, indeed, found to be the leaft adapted of all modes of addrefs to affeft the finer fenfibiltties'of nature. Plain words, without epithets, without metaphors, without fimilies, have oftener excited emotions of the tendereft fympathy, than the moft laboured compofition of Corneille. Ye who would learn how to touch the heart, go not to the fchools of France, but become the difciples of Sophocles, Shakefpeare, Sterne, and Chatterton. Thou captivating limplicity ! 'tis thine at once to effel what all the arti- fices of rhetoric, with all its tropes and figures, tedioufly and vainly labour to accomplifh. 'Tis thine to diflblve the hardeft heart, and to fcrce even ftubborn nerves to tremble. A few words of fimple pathos will penetrate the foul to the quick, when a hundred lines of declama- tion mail afTail it as feebly and ineffectually, as a gentle gale the mountain of Plinlimmon. A writer No. 154. MORAL, &c. 287 A writer of tafte and genius may avail himfclfgreatly in pathetic compofitions, by adopting the many words and phrafes, remarkable for their beautiful fimplicity, which are interfperfed in that pleafing, as well as ve- nerable book, the holy bible. I cannot, indeed, en- tirely agree with thofe zealous critics who pretend to difcover in the fcriptures all the graces of all the beft claflics. To pleafe the ear and imagination, were very inferior objecls in the benevolent mind of Him who caufed all holy fcripture to be written for our ufe. But, at the fame time, it is certain that they abound in. fuch beauties as never fail to pleafe the moil cultivated tafte. Befides their aftoniming fubliinity, they have many a paflage exquifitely tender and pathetic. Our admirable tranflation has preferved them in all their beauty, and an Englifli writer may feleft from it a didlion better fuited to raife the fympathy of grief, than from the moil celebrated models of human com- pofition. Sterne, who, though he is juftly condemned for his libertinifm, poflefled an uncommon talent for the pa- thetic, has availed himfelf greatly of the fcriptural lan- guage. In all his moll afteding paflages, he has imi- tated the turn, ftyle, manner, and fimplicity, of the fa- cred writers, and in many of them has tranfcribed whole fentences. He found no language of his own could equal the finely expreffive diftion of our common tranf- lation. There are a thoufand inflances of his imitating fcripture interfperfed in all the better parts of his works, and no reader of common obfervation can pafs by them unnoticed. I will quote only one or twoinftances taken from the molt admired pieces in the tender ftyle. Maria, though not tall, was neverthelefs of the firft order of fine forms. Affliction had touched her looks with fomething that was fcarce earthly, and fo much was there about her of all that the heart wilhes, or the eye looks for in woman, that could the traces be ever worn out of her brain, or thofe of Eliza out of mine, me mould not only eat of my bread, and drink of my cup, but Maria mould lie in my bofom, and be unto me as a daughter. " Adieu, 283 ESSAYS, No. 1^4. " Adieu, poor lucklefs maiden! imbibe the oil and *' wine which the companion of a Granger as he fo- " journcth on his way, now pours into thy wounds. <{ The Being who has twice bruifed thee can only bind "*' them up forever." Again, in his description of the captive, " As I darkened the little light he had, he " lifted up a hopelefs eye to\vards the door, then " caft it down, fhook his head, and went on with his " work of affliction. I heard his chains upon his legs, *' as he turned his body to lay his little ftick upon the " bundle. Ke gave a deep figh. I faw the iron enter into his foul." It is eafy, but it is not necefTary, to adduce many more inftances in which a writer, who eminently excelled in the power of moving the affeflions, felt himfelf unequal to the taflc of advancing the ftyle of pathos to its higheft perfection, and fought affiftance of the bible. It is eafy to fee that the writer of fo many tender and fimple paflages had imitated the delightful book of Ruth. "With what pleafure did a man of his feeling read, " In- "" treat me not to leave thee, or to return from follow- '" ing after thee; for whither thougoeft, I will go ; and ** where thou lodged, I will lodge; thy people mall be " my people, and thy God my God ; where thou dieft te will I die, and there wiil I be buried." Sterne ftole the very fpiritof this paftage, and indeed of all the fine ftrokes of tendernefs, and many an one there is in a book which is often laid afide as abfjJrd and obfolete. The choice which Sterne has made of texts and of cita- tions from the fcriptures in his fermons, are proofs that he (who was one of the beft judges) was particularly ftruck with the affedling tendernefs and lovely fimplicity of fcriptural language. The poet, therefore, who means to produce a tra- gedy, which mail be able to fland its ground even after the firft nine nights, without the aid of puffing, and with- out filling the pit and boxes with orders, mould fome- times go to the fame fountain, and drink the waters of poetical infpiration of which Sterne drank fo copiously. He will improve greatly by ftudying the language and hiftories-crf Jofenh, Saul, and Jonathan, of Ruth, of 6 Job, No. 155. MORAL, Sec. 289 Job, of the Pfalms, of Ifaiah, of Jeremiah, of many fingle paflages every where interfperfed, and of the parables in the New Teftament. Judgment and tafte are cer- tainly neceflary to feleft; but he may depend upon ir, that a word or two well fele&ed will gain him the trueft applaufe, that which is conveyed in fighs and tears. Let him fully perfuade himfelf, that the only method of operating powerfully on the feelings of nature, is to renounce art and affectation, and to adhere to truth and Simplicity. Something is neceflary to be done to produce an alter- ation. The theatric ftate is in its decline* It cannot much longer be fupported by fine drefles, painted fcenes, mufic, dancing, and pantomime. We have hearts as well as ears and eyes ; if they know not how to touch our paflions at Old Drury, let us haften to the Opera- houfe, and fee the man itand upon one leg. No. CLV. ON THE FIGURE PARRHESIA,- OR ON EXPRESSING ONfi's SENTIMENTS FREELY. TH E Y, whofe wifdom confifts in cunning and caution, who coniider preferment as the only or molt valuable objeft of human purluir, and who Itand in awe or" grandeur independently of prrfonal merit and character, will often fhake their heads as they read my eflays (if they read them at all, which is not likely), and blame the writer's imprudence, in venturing to exprefs lumfelf on many dangerous fubjecls without referve. ]t is madnefs, they exc.laim, to cut himfelf off from al! chance of eccleiiaftical preferment, to exclude him- felf from the funihine of patronage; and (to ufe the words of a celebrated orator) " to create a loup-, " dull, dreary, unvaried vifto of defpair, andexcl. But, ' O ye wife ones of the world" (an honed and in- dependent writer might fay), " fignificandy as yc hif- per among each other, and hug yourfelves on your own VOL. II. O pro- 290 ESSAYS, No. 155. profound fagacity, T value not yourfpuricus vvifdom ; and though I pretend not to defpife either honours or emoluments fairly and openly obtained, I think the means ye ufe in their purfuit bafe and mean, and that ye purchafe all you poflefs at a price too dear. Ye refign your reafon, your liberty, and", I fear, too often, your truth and honour Ye are real flaves, and the robes of office and dignity, in which ye pride your- felves, are but the liveries of a fplendid fervitude. From one inftance of your fpirit and wifdom let the public judge of all. Dare ye, if raifed by a longcourie of mean fervility to a feat in the Britiih fenate, 1 1 give a vote, or exprefsa fingle fentiment according to your own judgment, and without firft religioufly confult- ing the god of your idolatry? Cenfure me no more for an honeft freedom, Blufh rather at your own meannefs and cowardice. Pity me no more, as ex- cluding myfelf by temerity from the favours of the great. I am happier in the liberty of ranging, in thought, through all the mazes of human lift-, a ; id of uttering my undiiguifed fendments on whatever I fee and hear, than in gaining favour where favour is to be gained, merely by fubmitting to the meannefs of concealing truth, and fpeaking according to the dic- tates of felf-intereft alone. Blame me no more till you point out the paiTage in the gofpel, where bold- nefs of rebuke is prohibited, and where a profefled fervant of Jefus Chriil is taught to bow the knee to an unbelieving and debauched ruler of this world. " But you are actuated by envy, foftly fuggefts the fuccefsful chaplain, the quondam tutor, and travelling companion of a gracele's duke. You rail, fays he, at what you cannot reach. But, my lord, give me leave to aik, whether you are not actuated by avarice and worldly ambition ? vices in a chriitian paftor, no lefs culpable than envy. By what were you actuated when you gained the favour of the patron who raifed you to your honours, merely by drinking and caballing for him at a contelted election ? Your patron prufefles himfelf a deift, and you know he keeps many con- cubines. By what were you aduated when you were always feeking his company, and dining at his table? < Was No. 15;. M O R A L, &c. aqi " Was it a defire to convert him from -the error of his " ways ? Did you ever dare to hint your uifpleafure at " ihc'm : Did they difpleafe yen ? " And, with refpedt to envy as the motive of my fre e- " dom, your lordfhip will do right to coofider, tnat re '' who envies, eagerly wilhes to obtain the object. He who eagerly def:res to obtain, ufually purfuesthe mort probable means of fuccefs. But your lordihip mall judge by your own experience, whether what I have faid is, in the fmalleft degree, like the methods vhich are found moll fuccefsful. Does it tally with your own receipt for rifing at court ? " Indeed, my lord, you muftexcufe me. Icannot think as you do ; your objects and mine are totally different, and rnufl be differently purfued. Enjoy your mitre and your cuihion ; but let me alfo enjoy my liberty, or, if you chnfe to call it fo, my humour. I will boaft a Superiority in one refpedl ; I have no matter, faveone* " But you fay lam gratifying my vanity. Jf to feelc an honeit fame, be to feek the gratification of my vanity, I plead guilty to the charge. I dare avov a \vifh to poifefs the public eiloem, but I purfue no mean or finiiter method to procure it. I rely for their favour on my love of truth, and the fincerity of my z.^al i;i their fervice. Their good opinion is a delightful and fufHcient reward. Not that I ever affected to renounce or to defpife preferment, but it comes on/ought for, as well as unlocked for, if it comes at all. " To preferve the favour of the public, and the ap- probation of my own heart, I think it neceflary to continue, while I write, the open declaration of my fentiments fuch as they are, equally uninfluenced by mean hope?, and cowardly apprehenfions. Indivi- duals may apply what was never meant to be applied, to themfelves ; and, in the warmth of an exafperated mind, may fliew their refentment by neglect or cen- fure. Hitherto I have known nothing of that kind of which I can complain. " Let me then be permitted (fuch awriter might pro- ceed to fay in his defence) to employ myfelf in peac: and innocence, and to amufe readers of congenial fen- timents, by a free communication of feelings un it"- O 2 & -. ifeJ 9 * ESSAYS, No. 156. ' gulfed by art, and uttered boldly as they were excited ' warmly, by men and manners palling in review. Let ' the fympathetic tribe, who, in the exuberance of their ' companion, exprefs their anxiety left I mould hurt my ' intereft, referve their pity for objects of more merit. I ( am happy in the idea, that nothing which I have writ- ' ten can injure the interelt of any one but the writer. " Jn times of peculiar exigency (he might add), thefe ' maybe a moral as well as military heroifm. He de- ' ferves to be degraded from his rank, who is not ready ' to incur every hazard in the caufe which he has juftly 1 undertaken ; and not only to forego honours and ad- ' vantages in the defence of what he deems the truth, ' but, if circumftances mould require it, to die in its ' confirmation. A timid and lukewarm prudence in a ' good caufe is little better than defei tion." Such, I fay, is the apology which an independent writer might make to thole who (houkl fay to him, Sunt quibiis in fatira --videris nimis acer. If it contains in it any thing fevere, be it remembered, that the feverity is applied to manners, not to perfons ; that no individual is pointed at ; and that he who complains of it probably deferves it. No. CLVI. ON READING MERELY WITH A VIEW TO AMUSEMENT. THERE are many who fpend much of their time in reading, but who read as they play at cards, with no other intention but to pafs the time, without la- bouring under the intolerable burthen of a total inacti- vity. The more trifling the book, the better they fnp- pofe it fuited to their purpofe. Plays, pamphlets, me- moirs, novels, and whatever entertains them without re- quiring any great degree of attention, conftitute the whole of their library. Even thefe are read in a deful- tory manner, without the interference of taile, or the trouble of feleclion. Indeed this light food for the mind is fo much wanted, that the circulating libraries lay in a ftock of it every year; and an afibrtmentof funvner reading No. 156. MORA I, &c. 293 reading is in as great requeft at the bookfellers in the \vatering-placey, as a variety of new fpring patterns ac the filk-mercers in Pall-Mall. The fine lady and gen- tleman, who have nothing to do but to purfue their amufement, and in whole Je:icate minds the drelfing of the hair is a bufmefs of the lirii importance, commonly fpend two or three hours every day under the hands of the frifeur; but then the time is by no means wafted, for it is fpent in fummer-reading ; and as the volumes which contain ftimmer reading are not large folios, and neither printed on the fmalleft type, nor on the moft crowded page, one of themjuft ferves to fill up the hours devoted to the artiri. of the comb. The gentle ftudent rifes from his chair when the operation is completed, takes oft" his flannel gown, fends back the half bound book to the li- brary, and enters upon the momentous bufmefs of mak ng calls, without any odious gravity or ferioufnefs, wl might perhaps have remained with him, had his morn ftudies required deep thought, or communicated to i a feries of fober reflections. He can, indeed, inari day, devour half a dozen volumes of fu miner r.-a.ii and be no more incommoded than when he fwallows as many puffs and fyliabubs at the fafhionable confectioner'. It muft be allowed that this kind of reading, trifling as it is, may often conrtitutc an amufing and a very in- nocent paftime. But I will venture to fay, that ufeful and improving reading might be found, that fhould be equally, and indeed more entertaining. The fame time fpent on books of charader, which is lavifhed away on literary trafh, would remier many a mind, which is now vain and fupcrficial, really elegant, prudent, and well informed. The time fpent unJer the operation of the hair-drefler is very properly fpent in reading; but why fhould not the woiks of the Englifh claffics be ufed in preference to a vile translation from a fooiiih French no- vel ? To a taftc not vitiated, the works of Shakefpeare, Milton, Cryden, Pope, Adiiifon, and many of their fuccefsful followers, are much more pleafing than the inelegant and hafty productions of hireling writers, whofe indigence compels them to be lefs felicitous about quality than quantity ; who ftudy not fo much what is ccngruous to talle and truth, as what will catch the no- O 3 tice 294 ESSAYS, No. 156, lice of ihe general reader, and anfwer the venal purpofe of their employer by a rapid fale. Have we not many tn.e hiilories, elegant in their ftyle, abounding with uir.ster melt imprpvir.g to the heart and underftanding, and calculated to intereft and entertain, in a very high degree, by gratifying curiofity ? Uniefs we renounce our pretensions to reafon, we muil ccnfefs that fuch books jsre capable of furnifhing more pleafure, exclufively oF the improvement, than anonymous and unauihenticated anecdotes, memoirs,, novels, voyages, travels, lives, and adventures. There are thofewho have read more" volumes than the profoundeft fcholars in the nation, who are yet unac- quainted with the elements of fcience, with the moft in- terefting facts of true hiftory, with the maxims of philo- fophy, with the beauties of ityle, and with the extent ind force of the language. They have read inattentive- ly what indeed was fcarcely worth attention ; and they have immediately forgotten what was too futile to de- ferve remembrance. Had they poflefied judgment fuf- ficient to point out the proper books, and resolution to purfue the dictates of their judgment, they would have enriched their minds with ineftimable treasures, and ac- quired the reputation and fatisfaclion of folid fcholars. The fame exertion of their eyes, the fame confumption of their time, the fame fedentary confinement, would have earned a prize of fufiicient value to repay them amply for every effort of diligence. But now they have, perhaps, injured their eyes, ruined their health, neglect- ed their affairs, vitiated their tafie, and poffibly corrupt- ed their morals, cr weakened their faith, with no return, bjt tho amufement of the moment, or the retention of falfe fads, diftorted figures of life and manners, or trifling anecdotes, the lumber of the head and not the furniture. l^erfons advanced in life, or labouring under fick- refs and infirmity, have an unqueftionable right to amufe themfelves with whatever can innocently alle- viate their evils, and enable th?m to pafs away the Ingging hours in afvveetand tranfitory oblivion. Their reading, like their diet, may be light a i t without having done any *' thing like men ?" The whole of this chapter is writ- ten in a very uncommon ftyle of literary enthufiafm, and I think it can hardly fail of inflaming a youthful imagination. If fuch ideas were early infixed in the bo- fom of an ingenious and ingenuous boy, what improve- ment in virtue, and in all ufeful qualities, might not be expected ? " That we muft never defpair," is the title of his third chapter. " If in our afcent we fhould fall head- " long a thoufand times, we muft begin to climb again " every time more ardently, and fly to the fummit " with recruited vigour! Let no one be dejected if he " is No. 157. MORAL, &c. 297 " is not ccnfcious of any great advancement at firft. " The merchant thinks himfelf happy if, after a ten ' years voyage, after a thoufand dangers, he at laft " improves his fortune ; and mail we, like poor- fpirited " creatures, give up all hopes after the firft onfet. Quod- " cunqueimperavit animus obtinuit. Whatever the mind " has commanded itfelf to do, it has obtained itspurpofe. " Riches muft have no charms, compared to the " charms of literature. Poverty is favourable to the fuccefs of all literary purfuits. I mean not to throw contempt on money in general, b'ut on that exor- bitant wealth which allures the mind from ftudy. But your parents," fays he, " will rather chufe that you mould be guilty of peijury or murder, than not know how to value money. " The ftudent muft be defirous of praife. It is a " promifing prefage of fuccefs to be roufed by praife " when cne (hall have done well, and to be grieved and " incited to higher aims, on finding himfelf blamed or " outdone by another. He who aipires at the fummit " muft be paffionately fond of glory. " Thus have the firft qualities, indifpenfably requi- *' fite in a youth devoted to ftudy, been mentioned. He " muft aim at thr higheit points, he muft love labour, " he muft never def] air, he muit defpife riches, he muft " be greedy of praiie. It remains that we prefcribe the " methods. There are then three gradations in the " modes of ftudy; hearing, teaching, writing. It is a " good and eafy method to hear, it is a better and eafier " to teach, and the bcft and eafieft of all to write. " Ledures are dull ; becaufe it is tedious to confine the " liberty of thought to the voice of the reader. But " when we teach or write, the very exercife itfelf pre- " eludes the tasdium." Though the treatife of Ringelbergius is fhort, yet to make an ufeful ab^reviiiti^n of it, would require more room than the limits I ufually prefcribe to my papers will allow. I mean only to give a little fpecimen of the manner in which this very extra- ordinary writer has conipofed his once celebrated treatife. There are certainly many tilings | u j c w hich can fcarcely fail to ftimulate an honeft nntid, f: nee rely O 5 and 2 S S ESSAYS, No. 158, and fericufly devoted to letters. A fevere critic, or a lover of" ridicule, will find much, both in the matter and the ftyle to cenfure and deride. But ftill there is fomething fo honeft and fo warm in this writer, that a good-natured mirvd cannot help being entertained evert with his abfurdities, and inclined to overlook them amidft the greater abundance of valuable advice. I be- Jieve the copies are not very fcarce, and earneftly recom- mend, both to the young ftudent and the lover of lite- rary curiofities, to devote half an hour to the perufal of it, if it Ihouid fall into their hands. Ri gelbergius was a very ingenious man, not only in polite learning and in the Iciences, but in the arts of mechanical writing, painting, and engraving. In- deed thefe were his firti purfuits and employments, and he did not apply himfelf to learning Latin till his feven- teenth year; but fuch was the force of his genius, that he then made a rapid proficiency. He was certainly a man of genius, and though not quite correcl in his lan- guage, yet he wrote Latin with much more fpirit and vivacity than moft of the Dutch and German writers of his age. He acquired the Greek language, and could almoit repeat Homer from beginning to end. He was Vvell verfed in various fciences, and wrote ingeniously upon them ; but his tracts arc, I believe, more curious than ufeful. He would have been an excellent writer, and profound philofopher, had he lived in an age when the follies of judicial aftrology were exploded, and hy- pothefis reduced to the teft ot experiment. No. CLVIII. ON THE FOLLY OF SACRL- FlCING COMFORT TO TASTE. THERE are certain homely, but fweet com- forts and convenience?, the abfence of which JK> elegance can fupply. Since, however, they have nothing of external fplendour, they are often facrificed to ihe gratification of vanity. We live too much ia the No. 158. MORAL, Sec. 299 the eyes and minds of others, and too little to Our own hearts, too little to our own confciences, and too little to our own fatisfaclion. We are more anxious to ap- pear, than to be happy. According to the prefent modes of living, and ideas of propriety, an oftentatious appearance muft be at all events, and in all inftances, fupported. If we can pre- fcrve a glittering and glofly varnifli, we difregard the interior materials and fubftance. Many (hew a dif- pofition in every part of their conduct, fimilar to that of the Frenchman, who had rather go without a ftiirt* than without ruffles ; rather ftarve as a count, than enjoy affluence and independence as an honeft mer- chant. Men idolize the great, and the diltin&ions of fafhionable life, with an idolatry fo reverential and complete, that they feem to miftake it for their duty towards God. For, to ufe the words of the Catechifm, ' do they not appear to believe in them, to fear them, ' to love them with all their hearts, with all their ' minds, with all their fouls, and with all their 4 ftrength, to worfhip them, to give them thanks, to ' put their whole truft in them, to call upon them, ' to honour their names and their words, and to fcrye f them truly all the days of their lives?" As they worfhip f;;Ife gods, their bleilings are of the kind which correfponds with the nature of their deities. They are all fiiadowy and unfubftantial ; dreams, bubbles, and meteors, which dance before their eyes, and often lead them to perdition. It is really lamentable to- behold families of a com- petent fortune, and refpedlable rank, who (while th^y deny themfelves even the common pleafures of a plen- tiful table, while their kitchen is the cave of cold and famine, while their neighbours, relations, and friends pity and defpife, as they pafs, the comfortlefs and un- hofpitable door) fcruple net to be profufely expenfive in drefs, furniture, building, equipage, at public en- tertainments, in excurfions to Bath, Tunbridge, or Brighthelmflone. To feed the faihionable extrava- gance, they rob themfelves cf indulgences which they know to be more truly fatiifaclory ; for which of them reiurneth from the midnight afl'cinbly, or from the fum- U 6 mer 300 E S S t A Y S, No. 158. .::.' excurfion?, without complaining of dulnefs, fa- ; r 'ue, prm";, and infipidity ? They have fhewn them- .~y have icrn many fine perlons, and many fine > n.igs, but have they felt the delicious pleafures of do- meflic pe :ce, the tranquil delights of focial intercourfe at the: ;* lowns ;:nu villages, the folid fatisfaftions of a co:'CJteJ mind, the comforts arifing from a dif- embam.litv. ibite of finances, and the love and refpeft of a neighbourhood ? T o ruii in debt, and be involved in danger of arrefts and imprifonment, are, in this age, almolt the objedlsof fafhionable ambition. To have an execution in the houfe, is to be in the fame predicament with this ba- ronet and the other lord, or with his grace the duke. The poor imitator of fpltodu; miicry, little greatnefs, and litied infamy, riques fas liberty and lait (hilling to become a man of talte and falhion. He boafts that he is a happy man, for he is a man of pleafure ; he knows how to enjoy life ; he profeil'es the important fcience called the Sfavefr Vi blood, .and to acquire a valuable fpecies of moral experience. It i c rue, indeed, that Henry the fifth is a remai kable inftance of early profligacy and lubfequent reformation, He \:y a '^markable, becaufe he is a rare inltance. For one who hicceeds as he did, a thoufand become either incurable debauchees, drunkards, and rogues, ruin their character and fortunes, or die under the operation of fo rough an experiment. We hear not of thcfe who are obliged to go to the Raft Indies, to hide rhcmfelves on the Continent, to fkujk in the garrets of blind allies, to fpend their days in gaols, or are early carried to the church-yard, amidft the thanks and rejoicings of their friends for fo hap;:y a deliverance from mame and ruin. But if one wild youth becomes but a tolerably good man, we are ftruck with the metamorphofis, as we are with every thing uncommon. We exaggerate his go.' :neis, by comparing it with his previous depravity. We cite the example, as a confolatory topic, wherever we be- hold a young man, as the fcripture beautifully exprefles it, walking in the ways of his own heart, and in the fight of his own eyes. We talk as if we al moil congra- tulated a parent, when his fon has ipiric enough to vio- late, not only the rules of decency, but alfo the molt fa- cred laws of morality and religion. Such fatal ideas have broken the heart of many a vir- tuous and feeling father. They have brought his hairs, before they were grey, to the grave. I have been much pleafed with a paflage in the fermons of the late worthy Dr. Ogden, in which he recommends regularity and virtue to young men folely for the fake of their pa- rents. No. i^g. MORA L, Sec. 305 rents. " Stop, young man," fays he, " flop a little to " look towards thy poor parents. Think it not too " much to bellow a. moment's reflexion on thofe who " never forget thee. Recollect what they have done " for ihee. Remember all all indeed thou canft " not; alas! ill hnd b-en thy lot, had not their care " begun, before then couldft. remember or know any " thing. " Now fo proud, felf-willed, inexorable, then " couldft thou only aflc by wailing, and move them " with thy tears. And they were moved. Their " hearts were touched with thy diilrefs ; they relieved " and watched thy wants before thou kneweft thine " own neceflities, or their kindnefs. They cloaihed " thee ; thou kneweit not that thou waft naked : thou " afkedft not for bread ; but they fed thee. And " ever fmce for the particulars are too many to be " recounted, and too many furely to be all utterly for- " gotten, it has been the vrry principal endeavour, " employment, and fludy of their lives to do fervice " unto thee. If by all thefe endeavours they can ob- ' tain their child's comfort, they arrive at the full ac- " coniplifhment of their wiflies. They have no higher " ohjod of their ambition. Be thou but happy, and " they are fo. " And now tell me, is not fomething to be done, I " do not now fay for thyfelf, but for them ? If it be " too much to defire of thee to be good, and wife, and " virtuous, and happy for thy own fake; yet be happy " for theirs. Think that a fober, upright, and, let " me add, religious life, befides the bleffings it will " bring upon thy own head, will be a fountain of un- " feigned comfort to thy declining parents, and make " the heart of the aged fing for joy. " What lhall we fay ? which of thefe is happier ? the " fon that maketh a glad father ? or the father, blcfTed " with fuch a fon ? " Fortunate young man ! who haft an heart open fo " early to virtuous delights, and canft find thy own " happinefs in returning thy father's bleffing upon his " o\vn head ! " And 306 ESSAY S, No. 159. " And happy father! whofe years have been pro- *' longed, not, as it often happens, TO fee his comforts " fall from him one after another, and to become at once old and deintute ; but to tafte a nevvpleafure, not to be found among the pleafures of youth, referved for his age; to reap the harveftof all his c res and labours, in the duty, affection, and felicity of hi.; dear child. His very lock befpeaks the inward fatisfaclion of his heart. The infirmities of his age fit light on him. He feels not the troubles of life : he fmiles at the ap- proach of death; fees himfelf Mill living and honoured in the memory and the perfon of his fon, his other dearer felf ; and pafles down to the receptacle of all the living, in the fullnefs of content and joy. " How unlike to this is the condition of him, who " has the affliction to be the father of a wicked off- *' fpring ! poor, unhappy man ! No forrow is like " unto thy forrow. Difeafes and death are bleffings, " if compared with the anguifh of thy heart, when " thou feeft thy dear children run heedlefsly and head- " Jong in the ways of fin, forgetful of their parents " counfel, and their own happinefs. Unfortunate old " man ! How often does he wifh he had never been " born, or had been cut off before he was a father ? " No reflection is able to afford him confolation. He " grows old betimes ; and the afflictions of age are *' doubled on his head. In vain are instruments of " pleafure brought forth. His foul refufes comfort. " Every bleffing of life is loft upon him. No fuccefs " is able to give him joy. His triumphs are like that " of David: while his friends, captains, foldiers, were *' rending the air with fhouts of victory he, poor con- '* queror, went up, as it is written, to the chamber " over the gate and wept : and as he went, thus he faid ; *' O, my fon Abfalorn ! my; fon, my fon Abfalom ! " would to God 1 had died for thee ! O Abfalom, my " A-n, my fon !" I have introduced this pafTage, with a hope that gay and thoughtless young men may be properly afrectei by it ; and though they fhould have no regard for them- felves, that they ihould be led to have pity on their poor No. 159. MORA L, &c. 307 poor parents, and to chufe the right way, that they may not caufe affliction to him who often has dandled them in his arms, nor to her at whofe breaft they hung in the fweet and innocent period of their infancy. It is in- deed a melancholy confideration that children, who have been the delight of their parents during the ear- lier ages, no fooner arrive at maturity, than they often prove^ a fcourge and a curfe. They hurry thofe out of the world, who brought them into ic. They embitter the old age of thofe who devoted the health and ilrength of manhood to their welfare and fupport. Sad return ! to plant the pillow of reclining age with thornsl O have pity, have pity on your father- behold him with tottering ftep approaching you ! With fuppliant hands and tears in his eyes, he begs you to do what ? to be good and happy. O fpare him, wipe away his tears ; make him happy, be fo yourfelf, - fo when it fliall be your turn to be a father, may you never feel the pangs you have already inflifted ! There are parents, indeed, who feem to have little concern but for the pecuniary intereft or worldly ad- vancement of their children. While their children ex- cel in drefs, addrefs, fimulation, and diflimulation, they are allowed to be as debauched and immoral as they pleafe. While they poflefs a poor, mean, and contemptible kind of wifdom, commonly called the knowledge of the world, their parents are perfectly eafy ; though they ihould be notorioufly guilty of every bafe artifice, and plunged in the grofleft and moft unlawful fpecies of fenfuality. That poor man, Lord Chefterfield, was one of thofe parents who are ready to faciifice their children's honour, confcience, and falva- tion, for the fake of gaining a little of the little ho- nours and riches of a world, where not even the highelr. honours of the molt abundant riches are com- parable to the pofTefiton tf an honeft heart. That wretched Lord fecms to have entertained very little natural affection for his fpurious offspring. His pater- nal attention was all avarice and ambition. ,He would probably have been delighted if his fon had been at an early age a remarkable debauchee. He would have thought the fpirit which vice difplaycd, a fureprcg- noltic 308 ESSAY S, No. 160. noftic of future eminence. Providence defeated his pur- pefe, and permitted his letters to be exhibited as a Joathibme monument of wickednefs, vanity, and worldly wiidom. 'uch wifdom is indeed ufu^ily folly, even \vh a re its effccls and confequences ate confined to the prefect p riod of exiiience. Every father then, and every mother who deferve that tender and venerable appellation, will itrenuoufly endea- vour, whatever have been their own errors and vices, to preferve thofe whom they have introduced into a trouble- fome world from the foul contagion and pollution of vice. If they have any regard for their children, for their coun- try, for themfelves, they will ufe every probable means to refcue the riiing generation from early profligacy. Selfilh motives often prevail when all others axe inefficacious. I repeat then, that, for their own fakes, they mult guard their offspring from riot, intemperance, and prodigality. If they are mifguided by the example of Henry the Fifth, or any other reformed rake, fo as to encourage their children in evil, or even to be negligent of them, they will probably repent in the day of old age, and find po- verty, ftiame an4 anguifli, fuperadded to the weight of years, and the unavoidable eviis of a natural decay. No. CLX. A GOOD HEART NECESSARY TO ENJOY THE BEAUTIES OF NATURE^. BY a juft difpenfation of Providence, it happens that they who are unreafonably felfifh, feldom enjoy fo jnuch happinefs as the generous and contented. Al- moft all the wicked deviate from the line of reftitude, that they may engrofs an extraordinary portion of fbme real or imaginary advantage. Their hearts are agitated in the purfuit of it with the moft violent and painful emotions, and their eagernefs, apprehenllons, and folicitude, poifon the enjoyment after they have ob- tained the polieflion. The nature of their pleafures is at belt grofs, fenfual, violent, and traniitory. They are always No. 160. MORAL, &c. 309 always difiatisfied, always envious, always malignant. Their fouls are bent ciown to the earth ; and, deltitute of all elevated and heavenly ideas, c&leftium inanes They have not powers of perception for the iublime or refined, fatis factions ; and are no lefs infenfibie to the tranquil delights of innocence and fimplicity, than the deaf and blind to the beauty of colours, and the melody of mufic. To the wicked, and indeed to all who are warmly engaged in the vulgar purfuits of the world, the con- templation of rural fcenes, and of the manners and na- ture of animals, is perfectly infipid. The odour of flowers, the purling of dreams, the fong and plumage of birds, the fportive innocence of the lamb, the fide- lity of the dog, are incapable of attracting, for one mo- ment, the notke of him whofe conscience is uneafy, and paflions unfubdued. Invite him to a morning walk through a neighbouring wood, and he begs to be excufed ; for he loves his pillow, and can fee no charms in trees. Endeavour to allure him, on a vernal evening, when, after a fhower, every leaf breathes fragrance and frefhneis, to faunter with you in the garden ; and he pleads an engagement at \vhift, or at the bottle. Bid him liften to the thrufli, the blackbird, the nightingale, the woodlark, and he interrupts you by afking the price of docks, and enquiring whether the Welt-India fleet is arrived. As you walk over the meadows enamelled with cowflips and daifies, he takes no other notice, but enquire! who is the owner, how much the land lets for an acre, what hay ibid for at the lad market. He pre- fers the gloomielt day in November, on which pecuniary bufinefs is tran fueled, or a feait celebrated, or a public diverfion afforded, to all the delights of the merry month of May. He who is condantly engaged in gratifying his luft, or in gaming, becomes in a fhort time 10 very wife, as to confider the itndy of the works of God in the creation, and the external beauty both of vegetable and animated nature, as iittle fup^rior to a childilh entertain- ment. How grave his afpedt! No Solon ever looked fo fapient as he does, when he is on the point of maki - a bet, or infidioufly plotting an in:rigue. One im^nt conclude, from his air of importance, that man was born 3io ESSAYS, No. 160. born to (hake the dice, to ftiuflle the cards, to drink claret, and to deftroy, by debauchery, the innocence of individuals, and the peace of families. Ignorant and miftaken wretch ! He knows not that purity and li-.n- plicity of heart would furnifh him with delights, which, while, they render his life tranquil and pleafurable, would enable him to refign his foul at death into the hands of his Maker unpolluted. What ilains and filth it ufually contrails by an indifcriminate commerce with the world! how comparatively pure amidft the genuine pleafures of a rural and philosophical life ! As a prefervative of innocence, and as the means of a moft agreeable paftime, the love of birds, flowers, plants, trees, gardens, animals, when it appears in boys, as indeed it ufually does, fhould be encouraged, and iu a fubordinate degree cultivated. Farewel, inno- cence, when fuch things ceaie to be capable of afford- ing pleafure ! The heart gradually becomes hardened and corrupted, when its objects are changed to thofe of a worldly and a fenfual nature. Man may indeed be amufed in the days of health and vigor with the common purfuits of ordinary life ; but they have too much agitation in them for the feeble powers of old age. Amufements are then required which are gentle, yet healthy ; capable of engaging the thoughts, yet requiring no painful or continued exertion. Happy he who has acquired and preferved.to that age a tafte for fimple pleafures. A fine day, a beautiful garden, a flowery field, are to him enjoyments fimilar in fpecies and degree to the blifs of Elyfuim. A farm yard, with all its inhabitants, conftitutes a moft delight- ful fcene, and furnifhes him with a thoufand entertain- ing ideas. The man who can fee without pleafure a hen gather her chickens under her wing, or the train of ducklings following their parent into a pond, is like him who has no muflc in his foul, and who, according to bhake- fpeare, is fit for treafons, murders, every thing that can difgrace and degrade humanity. Vetalo iifdemfub trabi- bus,fragilemque mecumjol'-vat phafelum, I will forbid him, fays Horace on another occafion, to be under the fame roof with rce, or to embark in the fame vefTel. 2 Let No. 161. M O R A L, &c. 311 Let it: operate as an additional motive in flimulating us to preferve our innocence, that with our innocence we prefcrve our fenlibility to the charms of nature. It is indeed one of the rewards of innocence, that it is en- abled to tafte the purelt pleafure which this world can bellow, without the ufual confequences of pleafures, re- morfe and fatiety. The man of a bad heart can r-nd no delight but in bad defigns and bad actions nominal joys and real torments. His very amufements are of nec'-ffitv connected vviih the injury of others, and with a thotifand painful fenfations which no language can ex- prefs. But the mind of the honeil, fimple, and ingenuous, is always gay and enlivened, like fome of the fouthern climates, with a ferenity almoft perpetual. Let a man who would form an adequate idea on the different dates of the good and bad heart, with refpect to happinefs, compare the climate of Otaheite with that of Terra del Fuego, as defcribed by our Britifh circumnavigators. No. CLXI. ON THE PECULIAR BASENESS OF VICE IN NOBILITY. MANY, who have been raifed to titles and eftates by the virtue or good" fortune of their anceitors, :o confider themfelves as privileged to infringe all the common reltraints eftablifhed by a regard to de- cency, by moral philofophy, by natural and by revealed religion. They have noble blood in their veins, there- fore they prefume that the world was made for them to take their pallime in it. Who, they exclaim (with a volley of oaths and execrations) who (hall dare to fay to us, thus far (hall ye go, and no farther ? Rules, laws, and modes of y///, -rjlition were made for the cana>lle, for the mufhrpom race, who fprung from dunghills, and on whom the fun of royalty has never fhed its luftre. Scarcely any of the ancient philofophers could boall of this noble blood, and iVjall they prefume to dictate to a nobleman, that is, perhaps, to a baftard of King Charles's ftrumpct, 3*2 ESSAYS, No. 161. ftrumpet, or to the difeafed offspring of a leprous, fcro- phulous, forry race of puifne lordlings, whole names ate only recorded in the books of ruined tradefmen, and whofe-illultrious exploits are limited to the regions of a cock-pit, a horfe-race, a tavern, and a bawdy-houfe ? Shall a carpenter's fon dictate to a Fitzroy ? His lord- fhip pleads his privileges. Let him riot in debauchery, feduce innocence, break the peace of private families, laugh at all that is facred and ferious, for is he not a duke ? You are indeed a duke ; or, in other words, your great-grandfather, by good fortune or good deeds, ac- quired for you that noble old manfion-houfe, that park, thofe woods, thofe lands, thofe titles, all of which you bafely dimonour. Though in your appearance you have not much of ducal dignity, yet we fee your ducal coronet on your proftitute's vis-a-vis : we fee you glorying in your fhame, neglecting to pay your tradefmen, yet la- viming your gold on horfes and harlots ; ftooping to the ~ meanell company and diverfion , yet retaining all the petty infolence of family pride : we fee you meanly fneaking in a court ; we iee you rewarded, notwith- ftanding the infamy of your private life, with offices of trufl and honour; we therefore acknowledge that you have all the common attributes and outward figns of the title which you happen to inherit. You have alfo had the honour of a divorce, and enjoy the envied and bril- liant reputation of a profefled adulterer. With a cha- racter and qualities fo noble, every Briton muft ac- knowledge how juflly you are ialuted by the appellation of your Grace! how juitly you are made the compa- nion of a prince, and the privy counfellor of the king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of tie faith, and over all caufes, ecclefiaftical as well as civil, lupreme ! But, irony apart, who can be furprized, or who can lament, when fuch wretches as yourfelf a> the counfellors of kings, that the fubjefts rebel, and that the empire is difmembered ? Under a ruler like you, who would not glory in the illuftiious character tnd conduct of a Wafhington ? When we read the liil of dukes, marquifes, earls, vifcounts, barons, and baronets, exhibited in the Court Calendar, No. 16 r. MORA L, &c. 313 Calendar, we cannot help wondering at the great num- ber of thofe who are funk in obfcurity, or branded with infamy; and at the extreme paucity of characters to which may be applied with jultice the epithets of decent, virtuous, learned, and devout. Here we lee a long lift of titled fhadows, whofe names are feldom heard, and whofe perfons are feldom feen but at Newmarket and the chocolate-houfe. There we mark a tribe whom fame has celebrated for thofe feats of gallantry called, in an old-fafhioned book, adultery. Here we point out a wretch ftigmatized for unnatural crimes, there a blood- thirfty dueHift. Debauchees, drunkards, fpendthrifts, gamefters, tyrannical neighbours, and bad matters of families, occur to the mind of the reader fo frequently, that they almoft ceafe by familiarity to excite his ani- madverfion. All this may be true, it will be faid ; but will it not be true of any other equal number of men ? I venture to affirm that it will not. The power, rank, and opulence of the nobility, aJded to bad company and often to a bad education, lead them beyond the line of common depravity. There is this alfo which diftin- guifhes their errors from the ufual errors of human in- firmity ; they boaft of their enormities, and glory in their difgrace; exorbitant profligacy is confidered as a mark of manly fpirit ; and all who are decent and regular, are ridiculed by the majority as tame, pufillanimous, hypocritical, fuperftitious, methodiilical, prejudiced, or narrow-minded. But allowing, what experience refutes, that the -enor- mities of the nominal great are not worfe than thofe of others, yet it cannot be denied that their influence on the community is infinitely more detrimental. The greater part of mankind are weak and ill-educated ; but to a feeble and ill-informed underftanding, riches and titles appear to be the nobleft diiUndlions of human nature. Whatever is faid or done by the pofteflbrs of them, operates both as precept and example with irre- fiftible force. It is fufficient, in the opinion of many a filly man and woman of fafhion, to juftify any eccen- tricity of behaviour, that a lord or a lady, whom they proudly name among their acquaintance, has fet the ex- ample. Deformity jtfelf, nwk\vardnefs, rudencfs, be- VOL. II. P' come 3?4 ESSAYS, No. 162. come grace and politenefs, when exhibited by fome duchefs who affects fame by an impudent fingulariry. The court in Doctors-Commons exhibits frequent proofs, in the prefent times, that vices, direclly repugnant to the law of God, pregnant with injuries to fociety, and fatal to private virtue and private happinefs, are become fafhionable. It is a pride and pleafure among the blaft- d lordlings of the day, to ftand forth in a court of juf- tice, and avow themfelves the deftroyers of female virtue and nuptial felicity. They are travelled men ; and, like true patriots, emulating the manners of that nation which is endeavouring to deilroy our political exigence, they attempt to introduce the loofe principles of conjugal li- bertinifm into their own country. Thofe who have not travelled, imitate the noble youths who have ; and thus is the fweet cup of domeitic felicity almoit univerfally embittered among thofe who, in the regions of fafhion, pretend to fuperior fkill in the art of enjoying life. No. CLXII. ON AFFECTATION OF EXTREME DELICACY AND SENSIBILITY. EXTREME DELiCACY,foefteemed at prefent, feems to have been unknown in times of remote antiquity. It is certainly a great refinement on human nature ; and refinements are never attended to in the earlier ages, when the occupations of war, and the wants of unimproved life, leave little opportunity, and Jefs inclination, for fanci- ful enjoyments. Danger and diftrefs require flrength of mind, and neceffarily exclude an attention to thofe de- licacies, which, while they pleafe, infallibly enervate. That tendernefs which is amiable in a Hate of perfecl civilization, is defpifed as a v/eaknefs among unpolimed nations. Shocked at the fmalleft circumlrances which are difagreeable, it cannot /upport the idea of danger and alarm. So far from exercifing the feverities which are fometimes politically neceHary in a rude flate, it ftarts with hoiror from the %ht, and at the description of them. It No. 162. MORAL, &c. 315 It delights in the calm occupations of rural life, and would gladly refign the fpear and the fhield for the fhepherd's crook and the lover's garland. But in an unformed community, where conftant danger requires conftant de- fence, thole difpofitions which delight in eafe and retire- ment will be treated with general contempt ; and no tem- per of mind which is defpifed will be long epidemical. The antient Greeks and Romans were the mod civi- lized people on the earth. They, however, were unac- quainted with that extreme delicacy of fentiment which is become univerfally prevalent in modern times. Per- haps fome reafonable caufes may be affigned. The ftoic philofophy endeavoured to introduce a total apathy, and though it was not embraced in all its rigour by the vul- gar, yet it had a fufficient number of votaries to diffufe a general infenfibility of temper. It perhaps originally meant no more than to teach men to govern their affec- tions by the dictates of reafon, but as a natural want of feeling produced the fame effefts as a rational regulation of the paffions, infenfibility foon patted amongthe vulgar, for what it had no claim to, aphilofophical indifference. That refpedful attention to women, which in modern times is called gallantry, was not to be found among the antients. Women were unjuftly confidered as inferior beings, whofe only duty was to contribute to pleafure, and to fuperintend domeftic oeconcmy. It was not till the das s of chivalry that men (hewed that defire of pleaf- ing the fofter fex, which feems to allow them a fuperio- rity. This deference to women refines the manners and fof tens the temper; and it is no wonder that the an- tieuts, who admitted not women ro their focial converfa- tions, mould acquire a roughnefs of manners incompa- tible with Delicacy of Sentiment. Men who acted, thought, and (poke, like the antients, were unqueltionab'y furnifhed by nature with every feel- ing in great perfection. But their mode of education contributed rather to harden, than to mollify their hearts. Politics and war were the only general objects of puriuit. Ambition, it is well known, renders all other paflions fubfervient to itfelf; and the youth -who had been ac- cuftomed to a military difcipline, and had endured the -bard {hip? of a campaign, though he might yield to the P 2 allurements S i6 ESSAYS, No. 162. allurements of pleafure, would not have time to cultivate the refinements of delicacy. But the modern foldier, in the prefent mode of conducting war, is not compelled to undergo many perfonal hardmips either in the prepa- ration for his profeflion, or in the exercife of it. Com- merce, but little known to many antient nations, gives the moderns an opportunity of acquiring opulence with- out much difficulty or danger; and the infinite numbers who inherit this opulence, have recourfe, in order to pafs away life with eafe, to the various arts of exciting plea- fure. The profeffions of divinity and law, leave fuffi- cient time, opportunity, and inclination to moft of their profeflbrs to purfue every innocent amufement and gra- tification. The general plan of modern education, which, among the liberal, confifts of the itudy of poets and fentimental writers, contributes perhaps, mere than all other caufes, to humanize the heart and refine the fentiments: for, at the period when education is com- menced, the heart is moft fufceptible of impreffions. Whatever difpofition tends to foften, without weak- ening the mind, muil be cherifhed ; and it murt be al- lowed that an unaffected Delicacy of Sentiment, on this fide the extreme, adds greatly to the happinefs of man- kind, by diffufmg an univerfal benevolence. Jt teaches men to feel for others as for themfelves ; it difpofes them to rejoice with the happy, and, by partaking, to encreafe their pleafure. It frequently excludes the ma- lignant paffions, which are the fources of the greateft mifery in life. It e.vcites a pleating fenfation in cur own breait, which, if its duration be confidered, may be placed among the higheft gratifications of fenfe. The only ill confequence that can be apprehended from it is, sn effeminacy of reind, which may cifqualify us for vigorous purfuhs and manly exertions. In the moil faccefsful courfe of things, obftacles will impede, and difagreeable circumftances difguft. To bear thcfe without feeling them, is fometimes necef- iary in the right corJduct of life ; but he who is trem- blingly alive all over, and whcfe fenfibility approaches to lorenefs, avoids the conteft in which he knows he mt;;i be hurr. He feels injuries never committed, and K-i-r.ii ajTronis nevs> r intended. Difguited with men and No. 162. MORAL, &c. 317 and manners, he either fecks retirement to indulge his melancholy, or, weakened by continual chagrin, con- ducts himfelf with folly and imprudence. How then (hall we avoid the extreme of a difpofition, which, in the due medium, is productive of the moft fa- lutary confeqiiences ? In this excefs, as well as all others, reafon mult be called in to moderate. Senfibility muft not be permitted to link us into fuch a ftate of indo- lence, as effectually repreffes thofe manly fentiments, which may very well con flit with the moft delicate. The greateft mildnefs is commonly united with the greateit fortitude, in the true hero. Tendernefs joined with refolution, forms indeed a finifhed character, to which reafon, co-operating with nature, may eafily attain. The affectation of great fenfibiliy is extremely com- mon. Jt is however as odious as the reality is amiable. It renders a man deteftable, and a woman ridiculous. Inftead of relieving the afflictrd, which is the neceflary effect of genuine fympathy, a character of this fort flies from milery, to (hew that it is too delicate to fupport the fight of diitrefs. The appearance of a toad, or thi jolting of a carriage, will caufe a paroxyfm of fear. It pretends to a fuperior (hare of refinement and philan- thropy But it is remarkable, that this delicacy and tendernefs often difappear in folitude, and the pretender to uncommon fenfibility is frequently found, in theab- fence of witnefles, to be uncommonly unfeeling. To have received a tender heart from the hand of na- ture, is to have received the means of the higheft enjoy- ment. To have regulated its emotions by the dictates of reafon, is to have acted up to the dignity of man, and to have obtained that happinefs of which the heart was conflicted fufceptible. May a temper, thus laudable in itlelf, ne\er be rendered contemptible by affectation, or injurious to its poffefTor and to others, through the want of a proper guidance. P 3 No. CLXIII. E S .S A Y S, No. 165. No. CLXIII. ON TRUE PATIENCE, AS DIS- TINGUISHED FROM INSENSIBILITY. HOWEVER common, and however intenfe the evils of human life may be, certain it is, that evils equally great, do not affect all men with an equal de- gree of an guifh ; and the different manner of fullaining evils, arifes from one of thefe two caufes, a natural in- fenfibility, or an adventitious fortitude, acquired by the exertion of PATIENCE. Apathus, when a fchool-boy, was not remarkable for quicknefs of appreheniion, or brilliancy of wit; but though his progrefs was flow, it was fure, and the additional opportunities of ftudy, which he enjoyed by being free from thofe avocations which vivacity and warmth of conftitution occafion, made him a tolerably good fcholar. The fullennefs of his deportment, however, alienated the affections cf his teachers; and, upon the flighted mif- cemeanotirs, he often underwent the punifhment of the rod, which he always bore without a tear, and without complaint. He had not long been at fchool, before his father and mother died of a contagious fever. Preparatory to the difclofure of fo mournful an event to an orphan fon, "many precautions were taken, many phrafes of condo- lence ftudied. At length, the matter took him afide, and after feveral obfervations on the inflability of human affairs, the fuddennefs of death, the neceffity of lubmif- iion to Providence, and the inerHcacy of forrow, told him, that his parents were no more. To this, young Apathus replied, by obferving, without any vifible alteration in his countenance, that he fufpedted fomething of that kind had happened, as he had not received his letters at the ufual time; but that he had not faid any thing on the fubject, as he thought his being poffeffed of a fine fortune by the event, was a matter that concerned na- bcdy but himfelf, " For (fays he) as the death was fud- *' den, chere probably was no will* and my father being " pretty No. 163- MORAL, &c. 319 " pretty warm, as they call it, and I being an only fon, " I think I fliall be very well off." Here he was inter- rupted by his mailer, who was now defirous of feme de- gree of that grief which he had before been felicitous to prevent " And are you not affected (faid he) with the lofs of the dearcft friends you had in. the world; 1 ' Why, Sir, (replied the inlenfible) you have j.uli now- been teaching me to fubmit to Providence, and telling me, we mult all die, and the like ; and do I not prac- ' tife your precepts ?" The maftcr was too much aflo- nilhed to be able to anfwer, and haftily loft the young, man ; who probably concluded the day with a feaft of gingerbread, or a game at marbles. Soon after he left fchool, he took it into his head to enter into the llate of matrimony. But here let the gentle reader be informed, that he was not induced to fubmit his neck to the yoke by any of thofe fine feelings which, conilitute Icve. The object of his choice had ten thou- fand pounds ; ESSAYS, No. 165. From that period at which the mind begins to think, Stoicus was remarkable for a quality, which, in children, is called (hamefncednefs. He could never enter a room full of company without mexving his diftrefs, by a violent iurTufion of biumes. At fchool, he avoided the commif- i>on of fault?, rather through fear of fhame than of pu- nishment. In iliort, an exquifite fenfibility, at the fame time that it gave him the moft exalted delight, frequently expo'td him to thekec-neil affliction. Thus, from being acquainted wiih grief, though a ftranger to misfortune, he acquired a habit of bearing evils "before any heavy ones befd him. Stoicus was clefigned for a literary life, which, to the generality of mankind, appears almoft exempt from the common attacks of ill-fortune : but if there were no other inihnces of the peculiar miferies of the ftudent, Stoicus alone might evince the groundlefihefs of fuch an opinion. From a fanguine temper, he was prone to anti- cipate fuccefs ; and from an enterprizing difpofition, was lirde inclined to fit down contented without a confider- able fhare of reputation. Influenced by his love of fame, he ventured to appeal to the public tafte, and actually fem into the world a performance of great merit : but as the work wanted fome popular attractions, it was foon. negledted and funk into oblivion. An evil of this kind, perhaps, the merchant or the ma- nofadlurer may treat with contempt. They, however, Who, with the fame feelings, have been in the fame pre- dicament, will know the anguifh which fecretly torment- ed the diiconfolate Stcicus. This difappointment was the firft affliction of his life, and on this he long medi- tated without intermiiuon. He has not again ventured to publifh, and therefore has had no caufe of uneafinefs from the ingratitude of the many-headed monfter : but the evils of his private life have been numerous and af- fliftive beyond conception. The death of an amiable wife, a conftant ftate of ficknefs, expectations continually difappointed, have concurred to overwhelm him - but all their efforts have been fruitlefs. The reflections of philofophy and religion fortify him againft every attack, and I never vifit him without obferving a placid fmile of refignation No. 164. MORAL, &c. 321 refignation diffufed on his countenance. He is /enfibl* of the real weight of every evil, and at the fame time fulhins it with alacrity. He draws refources from him- felf in every emergency, and with the niceft feelings is become perfedly callous. This is genuine Patience, and though the former may by fome, be thought a happinefs, thelatteronlycan.be efteemed a virtue. Senfibility, with all its inconveniencies, is to be che- riflied by thofe who underftand and wifh to maintain the dignity of their nature. To feel for others, difpofesus to exercife the amiable virtue of charity, which our religion jndifpenfably requires. It conititutes that enlarged be- nevolence which philofophy inculcates, and which is in- deed comprehended in Chriftian chanty. It is the pri- vilege and the ornament of man ; and the pain which it canfes is abundantly recompenfed by that fweet fenfation which ever accompanies the exercife of beneficence. To feel our own mifery with full force is not to be deprecated. Affliction foftens and improves the heart. Tears, to fpeak in the ftyle of figure, fertilize the foil in which the virtues grow. And it is the remark of one who underftood human nature, that the faculties of the mind, as well as the feelings of the heart, are meliorated by adverfity. But, in order to promote thefe ends, our fufFerings mult not be permitted to overwhelm us. We muft op- pofe them with the arms of rcafon and religion ; and to exprefs the idea in the language of the philofopher, as well as the poet, of Nature ; every one, while he is com- pelled to feel his misfortunes like a man, fhould refolve alfo to bear them like a man. No. CLXIV. CURSORY REMARKS ON THE ELOQUENCE OF THE PULPIT. IN A LETTER. ELOQUENCE i*s numbered among thofe arts which, inflead of making a progr Hive improvement in the courfe of revolving ages, have greatly receded from their original excellence. P 5 The 322 ESSAYS, No. 164, The funeral orations and panegyrics of a few French- men, are the Only pieces among the moderns which make pretenfions to rhetorical competition. Thefe, however, appear very elaborate and unnatural ; whether from the barrennefs of the fubjedts, or from the weak nefs of the orators, is foreign to our purpofe to determine. From whatever caufe it proceeds, it appears, that antient elo- quence is not reftored by thofe efforts which are allowed to have been moft fuccefsful. In England, fo generally is a tafte for folid argument andfubtlereafoning diffufed, that mere flights of imagi- nation, when unfupported by truth and argument, are little attended to. Thus it has been faid, we have no truly claffical hiftory of our own country. Elaborate col- lections of facts, proceedings of parliament, and accurate tlefcripdons of our navies and armaments, fill up, with a jejune detail, fome of our moft celebrated hiftories. A great deal of fagacity has, indeed, been exerted in the ad- juilment of contefted asras, unwearied labour in illuftrat- ing obfcure paflages in our annals, and much patience in the examination of our records. But where, after all, is the painting of a Livy, and the concife elegance of a Sallutl ? It is not therefore furprifing, that a people who admit r.ot unneceffary embelliftiments in matters of tafte, and who can fall in love with naked truth even when (he is at liberty to drefs herielf in the garb of fancy, fhould re- ject mere ornamental flourimes in the important tranf- aftions of political debate, and the ferious proceedings of a court of judicature. Thus the eloquence of the antients is not, perhaps, to be found either in the fenate or the forum of Britain. There is, indeed, a very great degree of merit in many of the harangues fpoken in thofe places, but they come not up to the idea of Grecian or Roman eloquence. The defetft however is probably not fo much owing to a want of ability, as to a voluntary compliance with the tafte and genius of the nation. In the pulpit, indeed, we may find fome veftiges of antient gratory : but waving at prefent the enquiry, whether we referable the antients in this point, 1 fhall p'roceed to transcribe a few obfervations on pulpit elo- quence No. 164. M ORAL, &c. 525 quence in general, which I collected not long ago by, accident. One evening laft autumn, as I was walking in the fields near the city, to enjoy a Jittle frefh air, I obferved a man, fomewhat advanced in years, and of a compofed afpecT- faimtering in the fame path with myfelf, -feemingly in profound meditation. For a confiderable time neither of us chofe to commence a converfation ; till at length, when a tacit familiarity between us had removed the re- ferve of ftrangenefs, the old man opened with an ufual introductory topic, the ferenity of the evening. For my own part, I never refufe to join in one of themoft reafou- able, as well as moft agreeable pleafures of human life. By degrees, thefeverity of my companion's countenance brightened up as the converfation grew warm, and he told me he had juit been hearing an excellent fermon at an evening leclure, and, as was his ufual way, had taken this little turn in the fields to meditate on ferious fub- jeds withou.t interruption. I muft: own I was rather itartled at hearing this, apprehending I had fallen into the company of fome methodiftical en.thufiaft, who would endeavour to make a profelyte ; but upon farther converfation, I found myielf agreeably miftaken. The old man made fome refleclions, which, as they rcruck me at the time, I entered among my minutes aj> icon as I returned home. " You muft know, Sir," faid he, " that I am an old-- " faihioned man. i go to church on VT^ednc-fdays an;l rivers run the wrong way, and played a ' hundred i'uch pranks merely by the found of the *' nddle-ltring- Juit in the fame manner a Fine Man, " and a Pretty Preacher, can force the tear from the " eye, and the (hilling from the inmoll receffcs of the ' pocket, by dint of found, which, in this cafe, is never " the echo of fenfe. " To come to my third head. Thirdly then, the *' GOOD TEXT MAN lays down good plain rules of mo- ' rality, and confirms every precept by a quotation from " holy writ. The grace of elocution he never aims at. " Rhetorical flourishes, new remarks, or beautiful Jan- " g ua S e > are no: to ^ e required of him. In fhort, the " intelligent part of the congregation will fcldom find *' their underitandinga enlightvneJ, or their fancy amu- I fed 326 ESSAY S,, No. 164. " fed By him ; but the plain fober-minded Chriftian, " provided he can diilinguifh what the preacher fays., " may carry away fomething for his edification. " To conclude with .my fourth and laft head. The *' HUMDRUM feems to confider preaching and praying " as a kind of woi k, which if he performs fo as to < get his wages, he is fatisf;ed. He reads the liturgy " as he would read a news-paper. In his preaching, " he endeavours neither to pieafe, tofirike, nor to cora- ." vince, but thinks the duty fufficiently well done, if " it is but done according to the rubrick, and at the ' eftablifhed feafons. To give him his due, he com- " monly preaches the beft divinity in the language ; for " as he is too lazy to compofe, he has nothing to do but '* to make choice of the molt celebrated compofitions '* of others, lie, however, murders every fentence he " reads. For the molt part, he chufes dodlrinal rather " than practical difcourfes ; but the misfortune is, that " while he is making the inyileries as clear as the fun " at noon-day, his audience is commonly afleep as fall " as a church. In a word, you may form fome idea of ' M this kind of preacher, by taking a view of Hogarth's " print of the fleepy congregation, wh-re there is a " Humdrum holding forth,, fo as effectually to infufe '' peace and quietneis into the rainds of his hearers." Here the old man's avocations obliged him to conclude the converfation, with expreffing a wiih, " That men " of virtue and learning, as the clergy generally are, " would not fuffer the efteft of their excellent prayers t{ and difcourfes, which, if well celivered, might-re. " form the world, to be in a great meafure loil through, ' indifference or affeclation," No, CLXV. No, 165. MORAL, &c. 32.7 NO. CLXV. ON THE SUPERIOR VALUE OF SOLID ACCOMPLISHMENTS. A DIALOGUE BETWEEN CICERO AND LORD- CHESTERFIELD. EJfe quam widen. SALL. Cicero. T\ /TlSTAKE me not. I know how to value i.VJL tne fsveet courtefies of life. Affability,, attention, decorum of behaviour, if they have not been ranked by philofophers among the virtues, are certainly- related to them, and have a powerful influence in pro- moting fccial happinefs. 1 have recommended them, as well as yourfelf. But I contend, and no fophiitry fiiall prevail upon me to give up this point, that, to be truly amiable, they muft proceed from goodnefs of hciirt. > AiTumed by the artful to ferve the purpofes of private intereit, they degenerate to contemptible grimace, and deteliible hypocrify. Cbeft. Excufe me, my dear Cicero; I cannot enter farther into the controycrfy at prefent. I have a hun- dred engagements at leail ; and fee yonder my little elegant French Comptefle. I promifed her and myfelf the pleafureof a promenade. Pleafant walking enougb in thefe elyfian groves. So much good company too, that if it were not that the canaille are apt to be troiible- fome, I fhould not much regret the dirtance from the Thuilleries. But adieu, mon chcrami, for I fee Ma- dame * * * is joining the party. Adieu, adieu! Cic. Contemptible wretch ! Chejl. Ah! what do I hear? Recolleft that I am x man of honour, unufed to the pity or the infults of an upltart, a no fecurity by facilitating evafion. The Sacred Prophecies have that obfcurity which dif- tinguiflies this fpecies of writing. The final caufe of it, hcuever, was to excrcife the faith and fagacity of man- kind. 334- ESSAYS, No. 167. kfnci. The beauty which it adds to the poetry cannot be fu*ppofed to arife from defign or fkill in poetry as an art, but is the nrceiTary refult of natural propriety. And none but the unbeliever will fuppofe that, like the oracles at Delphos, they admitted a doubtful, in order to ad- roit a double conftruclion. The prophecy of Ifaiah abounds in the beauties of Oriental poetry. The tranflation is a literal one, and, though it may be found inaccurate by a Lowth or a Kennicot, will, I believe, hardly admit of improve- ment in force, frmplicity, and animation. It does ho- nour to the feelings of the tranflators, who, though they have performed their ta with fo much fpirit, had no- thing elfe in view but fidelity. To refinement and tafte they trade no preten r ions ; and that their work is .fo well executed, muft have been owing to the excel- lence of their natural fentiment. We have feveral lite- ral tranflations of the antient poets into Englifh profe, which are in requeft among fchool-boys. In thefe we fnd no remains of that beauty which has been cele- brated in every age from its firft production. Few of thefe are rendered fo faithfully, word for word, from their originals, as the Scriptures, which, notwithitand- ing this difadvantage, are the fublimeit and mollinte- reiling books in the Englifh language. That they are thus excellent, it may indeed be faid, is not to be v/ondered at. They proceeded from that real infpiration to which the celebrated writers of anti- ouity only pretended. And if the enthufiafm, which the imaginary affiltance of a fabulous deity excited, could diffufe that captivating fpirit over the works of a mortal poet which has charmed every fucceeding age, it will be an obvious inference, that the genuine afflatus of the great Author of the univerfe mud produce a work of eminent and unqueftionable beauty. Such reafor.ing is plaofible ; but, in the prefent cafe, it may not be improper to obferve, that the divine infpiration operated intentionally no farther than in dictating truth of reprefentation, and in laying open fcenes of futurity ; and that the beauties difcoverable in the medium of com- po'fition, by which thofe primary ends are accompliflied, are but collateral and fubordinate effects. Considered No. 167. MORAL, Sec. 33; as fuch, every man of fentimcnt feels them of a fupe- rior kind, and if he judges by the criterion of his ua- difTembled feelings, muit acknowledge, that though they are fometimes refemblod in Homer, they are fel- dom equalled, and never excelled. Take a view of the poetical beauties merely as the productions of Ifaiah, a. very antient poet of Juda;a, and his writings will furely claim the attention of a man of letters, as much as thofs of the native of Smyrna or of A fern. They who pretend to an exemption from prejudice, evince the futility of their pretenfions, when they attri- bute the general admiration of the Scriptures, as com- pofitions, to opinions formed in their favour in the early period of infancy. The truth is, the prejudices which, they have unreafonably adopted r.gainit the doctrines de- rived from thofe antient books, extend tliemfelves to the ftyle and ientiment : but, furely, excluilve of the religious tendency, and of the arguments for the authenticity of the books, they claim a grent degree of veneration from their antiquity, and jullly excite t the attention of criti- cifm, as curious fpecimens of Oriental cornpofition. It might, indeed, have been expected, from the ge- neral taile which at prefent prevails for the remains of antient Englifh poetry, that thofe works, which juftly boall a higher antiquity than any of the productions of North or South Britain, would have been particularly regarded. But, while the ballad of a mirrltrel, beau- tiful, perhaps, and well worth preferving, has been re- covered from its duft, and committed to memory, the family Bible has been fuffercd to lie unopened, or has been perufed by many only with a view to painful im- provement, without an idea of the poflibiiitv of deriving from it the elegant plea Aires of literary entertainment. Yet even the vulgar often feel the full efFccI of beau- ties which they know not how to point out ; and are affecled with a very Itrong (VrBfe of pkaAire, while they are reading the Scriptures fole'y from motives of duty, and a defue of edification. Ji; truth, among thofe whofe natural taite is not corrupted by falfe refinement, which perhaps is the moft numerous, though not the moll dif- linguifhed part of the community, the Bible is read as 5 affording 33* ESSAYS, affording all the delight of pleafing poetry and hiftory ; and it may, therefore, juftly be faid to be the moit popular book in the Englifh language. But all readers, whether vulgar or refined, who fully feel and acknowledge the admirable touches of nature and fimplicity, which are obfervable in many parts of thofe writings, will, perhaps, receive additional fatif- faclion, when they difcover that their tafte is often con- formable to claffical ideas of literary excellence. There is, in the prefent age, a very numerous tribe of readers, who have formed their tafte and fentiments from the writings of the philofophers of Geneva, and from the fceptical fophiftry of our own countrymen. They are known to make pretenfions to a very uncom- mon degree of refinement in their judgmsnt of compo- fition, and to condemn every work, whatever marks it may bear of a ftrong, though uncultivated genius, which wants the laft polifh of delicacy and corredlnefs, and has nothing fimilar to thofe modern productions, with which alone they have been converfant. With all their boafled comprehenfion of mind, they feem to want ideas, which may operate as principles in forming a jtift opinion of thofe works, which were compofed be- fore the invention of fyftematic rules, and before na- tive fentiment was fuperfeded by the feeble, though elegant, feelings, of which we boaft in a very advanced flate of civilization. Under thefe unfavourable prepof- feffions, the Bible appears to them as an afiemblage of grofihefs and vulgarifms, which, therefore, without de- termining upon the authenticity of it, they avoid read- ing, apprehending that they can derive no pleafurc from it, and that they may poffibly corrupt their ftyle, and catch inelegance. With thefe it would be a valuable point gained, for their own fakes as well as for fociety, if they could be prevailed on fo far to lay afide their prejudices as to open the book, and judge of it from what they feel and re- mark on a fair examination. If they could once be in- duced to read it with avidity, from an expectation of literary amufement, they could fcarcelyfail of receiving, at the fame time, a more important benefit. In No. 167. MORAL, &c. 3<7 In an age like the prefent, when all orders are, in fome degree, attached to letters, he certainly renders great fervice to religion, and confequentlv to fociety, who unites tafte with theology, and exciu-s the attention or" the carelefs and fceptical to thofe books, of which a fenfe of duty enjoins the perufal, by fetting their beau- ties in a new or a ftronger light. And that this opinion of the peculiar beauties of Ifaiah is not fingular, if it is neceflary to appeal to any other proof than the common feelings of mankind, is evident from the judgment of a popular writer of our own, who, as he was indifputably a poet himfelf, will be allowed, by the mod rigid critics, to be a competent judge of poetry. Mr. Pope's Mefliah is one of the beft known and moft efleemed of his fliorter works ; but that it derived its chief merit from Ifaiah there can be no doubt, and the amiable poet felt a pleafure to acknow- ledge. Though fufpefted to have been lefs a friend to religion than to virtue, he neglecled not the op- portunity which this paftoral afforded, to form a coin- parifon between Ifaiah and Virgil, in a few parallel pafTages, fairly exhibited in a tranflation equally literal, and to exhibit the Oriental poet to great advantage. There are many parodies, imitations, and paraphrafes of this animated prophet's poetry, all which, at the fame time that they evince how difficult his excellencies are to be equalled, are proofs that he has been gene- rally admired as a poet. But, after all, the reader muft judge of the facred writings for himfelf. If he attends to what he feels, and lays afide prepofTeflion, his judgment will be fa- vourable and juft. To remove a fingle prejudice, which can prevent the univerfal acceptance of books of univerfal concern, is to contribute greatly to the gene- ral happinefs. An attempt to render the prophetic writers objefts of particular attention, in an age when our moft ingenious theologiils are employed in illuftrat- ing their meaning at a lecture wifely eftablifhed for that purpnfe, muft, at leaft, have the merit of being well- timed. And furely every one who wifhes to promote the de- firable coalition of tailc with pietv, muft accept, with VOL. II. Q_ gr*. 33 ESSAY S, No. 16*. gratitude, the labours of the venerable Lowth, whofe ledtures on the facred poetry of the Hebrews, and ob- fervatio.ns on Ifaiah, have difplayed, in biblical litera- ture, the unexpected charms of claflic elegance. NO. CLXVIII. ON PREACHING AND SER- MON WRITERS. FEW inftitutions can contribute more to preferve civilization, and promote moral and intellectual improvement among all ranks of people, than the efta- blifhment of public lectures, in every part of the king- dom, periodically repeated after a fhort interval. Such is the light in which are to be confidered the difcourfes appointed by the wifdom of the church, to be every where read on the recurrence of the feventh day. By thefe the meaneft and the moft illiterate are enabled to hear moral and philofophical treatifes on every thing that concerns their feveral duties, without expence, and without felicitation. And \vhatever is urged by men who are ill-affecled to all religious initiations, there is no doubt but that great political, as well as moral, benefit is derived to fociety from a practice thus univerfal. But it is a mif- fortune long ago lamented, that men are incapable of eftimating the real value of advantages, till experience has fhevvn what it is to want them. It is certainly true, that fmce the acquifition of books has been facilitated by their numbers, oral in- itru&ion is rendered lefs neceflary. But though books are eafily procured, yet, even in this age of informa- tion, there are thoufands in the lower claffes who can- not read. Befides, it is a well-known truth, that the fame precepts inculcated by a living inftruftor, adorned by a proper oratory, enforced by a ferious and autho- ritative manner, produce a powerful efteft, not to be experienced in folitary retirement. There is likewife a fympathy communicated in a numerous audience, which attaches the mind more ftrongly to the fubjedt. 4 The No. 168. MORAL, &c. 339 The obvious utility of difcourfes from the pulpit is proved by the decifions of experience. For, notwith- ftanding the complaints againft the levity and profane- nefs of the age, churches are ftill frequented with ap- parent pleafure. And to be placed in a fituation where a go'od preacher prefides, is by many efteemed a very eflential requifite to an agreeable retreat. For excellent preachers this nation has been long diftinguifhed ; excellent, not fo much in the talents or* an orator, as in the compofition of difcourfes. With an uncultivated voice, in an uncouth manner, accom- panied with awkward attitudes, they have delivered ha- rangues fcarcely excelled in the fchools of Athens. As the French have exhibited their characleriftic levity even in their boafted fermons, fo the EngUfh have dif- played their natural folidity. The fermons of the laft century are indeed too long for the attention of modern indolence, but they abound with beauty that would reward it. Jeremy Taylor pof- fefled an invention profufely fertile ; a warm, rich, lively imagination; a profound knowledge of authors, facred and profane, poetical, hiftorical, philofophical. He has embellifhed his fermons with citations from them, and has interwoven their gold into the rich tifTue of his own compofition. Nearly at the fame time with Taylor arofe Ifaac Barrow, a mighty genius, whofe ardour was capa- ble of accomplifhing all it undertook. The tide of his eloquence flows with fmooth yet irrefiftible rapidity. He treats his fubject almoft with mathematical precifion, and never leaves it till he has exhaufted it. It- has been faid, that a late moft popular orator of the Houfe of Lords aflerted, that he owed much of" the fire of his elo- quence to the ftudy of Barrow. His editor, Tillotfon, is more popular. His merit is unqueftionably great, and his fame has been extended to very exalted heights by the praifes of Addifon. He writes with fufficient judgment and perfpicuity ; but there are thofe who venture to fuggert, that he has been too much celebrated as a model of fine compofition. They allow him every praife as a mofl: excellent divine ; but when they confider him as a writer, they think his Q^z periods 340 ESSAY S, No. 16?. periods might have been fhorter, and his rhythm more harmonious. Sharp has been juftly celebrated for the perfpicuity of his ftyle, and the ardent flow of unaffected piety. Of a very different character from thefe, South has obtained a great and deferred reputation. Wit was his talent, yet he often reaches fublimity. He is, however, one of thofe authors who is to be admired and not imi- tated. To excite a laugh from the pulpit, is to infpire the hearer with a levity of temper ill-adapted to the in- dulgence of devotional feelings. The tafle of the age in which South flourifhed gave countenance to pulpit jocula- rity. But though it is true that the lovers of comedy have found their talte gratified in the perufal of South's fer- rnons, yet the man of ferious judgment alfo will difcover many folid arguments, many judicious obfervadons, and many fine expreflions, and a great deal of true eloquence, intermixed with a fei ies of profaic epigrams. The fagacious Clarke pretended not to wit. He affected not the ambitious ornaments of rhetoric. He rarely reaches the fublime, or aims at the pathetic ; but in a clear, manly, flowing ftyle, he delivers the moil important doctrines, confirmed on every occafion by well-applied paflage* from fcripture. If he was not a finning orator, according to the ideas of rhetoricians, he was a very agreeable as well as ufeful preacher. He was not perfectly orthodox in his opinions; a circum- jftance which has lowered his character among many. Certain it is, that he would have clone more good in the world, had he confined his labours to practical divinity. Speculative and polemical divinity commonly diffufes fcepticifm, without contributing any thing to moral re- formation. The Term ens that have been preached at Boyle's Ledtu r es are among the belt argued in the language. They have been the laboured productions of the mod ingenious men. But the whole collection never did fo much good as a fingle practical difcourfe of Tillotfon. .Atterbury was a polite writer. His fermons probably owed fome of their fame, among his cotemporaries, who have lavifhly applauded him, to his mode of delivery iu the pulpit ; for the Tatler fays, it was fuch as would have No. 168. MORA L, &c. 341 have been approved by a Longinus and Demofthenes. He feems to have introduced the very judicious method of addreJling the underftanding in the beginning of the fermon, and the paffion^ at the clofe. Rogers, fays his panegyrift Dr. Burton, pofiefled an eloquence, nervous, iimple, perfuafive, and beautiful. An unftudied elegance marks his Itvle. He feems to have attained to that nice judgment, which adapted the fame difcourfe to a ruflic, a city, an academical congre- gation. In a profefled eulogium it is indeed allowable to exaggerate; yet what Burton has advanced is confirmed by perufing the fermons of Rogers. They are | erfpicu- ous, folid, and written with remarkable cafe. Seed has obtained a great and deferved popularity. With a rich and fportive fancy he combined a folid judgment. Unlike the generality of thofe writers who affecl to be flowery, he abounds in found argument, and in juft remarks on human life. A fevere critic would condemn him for a profufion of embellimment ; but I know not how it is, he had the fkill to give re- peated pleaiure without fatiety. Such are the more popular of our Englifh fermon- writers, the models of thofe many divines, who, with very great merit, poflefs not the reputation of remarkable ori- ginality. To enumerate them all were an endlefs talk ; for of no books in the Englifh language has there been fo unceafing a fucceflion, as of fermons ; and to fpeak of living writers with freedom, is too often like thrufting a hand into the neft of the home:. Of late there have appeared publications of fermons addrefled to pedons of particular ages or defcriptions. Though fome of them exhibited a highly florid elo- quence, and were received with great applaufe, yet they were too much ornamented, and, like many kinds of food, poflefied a fweetnefs which delights for a moment, but foon terminates in loathing. They amufed the imagination, and fometimes touched the heart ; but they left to the underftanding little employment. Sermons, which came forth with lefs eclat, will ftand a better chance of defcending to poilerity. Such are thofe of Sherlock, Seeker, and Jortin. The happinefs of mankind is concerned in the prefervation of their Q_3 works, 342 ESSAYS, No. 168, .works, while thofe of the frothy declaimer are daily dropping unregretted into the gulph of oblivion. It is to be lamented, that the glaring and meretricious embellifhments of the fuperficiai writer are more com- monly imitated by young preachers, than the chatter beauties of the found divine. Fine language, as it is called, with a few hacknied fentiments and addreffes to the paffions, often conftitute the whole merit of dif- courfes preached before the mofl numerous congrega- tions in the metropolis. The paftors of the largeft flocks ufually affect popu- larity. Extemporary preaching is one of the jnoft ef- fectual means of obtaining it. It always pleafes the vulgar ; probably becaufe it conveys the idea of imme- diate infpiration. It is true alfo, that by pleafmg the vulgar, it is enabled to affect them. But yet there are many reafons to prevent its reception among the judi- cious. It may raife the paflions, it may communicate a momentary fit of devotion; but from its hafty produc- tion it can feldom be correct or folid. It is, indeed, fel- dom attempted but by the fuperficial. The greuteit di- vines have not been prefumptuous enough to lay before their audience the effufions of the moment, but have ufually beftowed much time and care in the competition of a fingle fermon. We are indeed informed that Clarke fometimes preached without written notes ; but the number of his printed fermons is a proof that this was not his general practice. They who poflefi the abi- lities of a Clarke may, however, fafely venture to pro- duce an unpremeditated harangue. But they alfo would do right to recollect, that the orations even of Demo- fthenes himfelf fmelt of the lamp. Againft thofe who prepare their difcourfes, a general complaint has been made, that fermons are become in thefe days merely moral efl'ays. There was a time when apaflagefrom fcripcure, well introduced, was efteemed a flower of fpeech far furpafling every ornament of rhetoric. It is now avoided as an ugly patch, that chequers with deformity the glofly contexture. A profefled chriftian preacher, addreffing a profeffed chriftian audience, mould remember, that, however beautiful his difcourfe, if it is no more than a moral dif- No. 169, M O R A'L, &c. 343 difcourfe, he may preach it, and they may hear it, and yet both continue unconverted heathens. Every congregation of real chriftians wiflies to find all morality deduced from fcripture, and confirmed by it. Moral precepts, thus adorned, come from the pul- pit as from an oracle. Scriptural language is not inele- gant ; but if it were, a preacher mould let motives of duty exclude oftentation. In truth, he never appears to greater advantage, than when he feems to forget his own excellence, and to lofe fight of himfelf in the earneft- nefs of his endeavours to promote the welfare of his au- dience. No. CLXIX. ON THE NEGLECT OF ANTIENT AUTHORS. IN A LETTER. 7' HOUGH it be true, as you remark, that, in the prefent times, learning is univerfally admired, and the character of a man of talte and letters is aftefted not only in colleges, but in polite circles ; not only by the pnilofopher, but by the be^u and the coxcomb; yet is it to be lamented, that there feems to remain no ge- neral relifh for folid erudition, very little veneration for the fnimitable productions of Greece and Rome, and but a flight attention to the more abitrufe fciences, and- abitra&edciifquifnions. We read for pleafure, foramufe- ment, for mere paftime, which dry argument and con- nected reafoning cannot always furnifh Light, airy, fuperficial compofitions, without fatiguing the intellect, flatter the imagination ; and for the fake of this empty fatisfaction, to this trivial kind of reading is our time devoted, without regard to improvement of morals, or enlargement of underflanding. From neglecting the writers of antiquity, we become ignorant of their beauties, vainly fuppofe that excel- lence is confined to modern authors, and that the ancients can be admired only by prejudice and bigotry. Even they who are really fenfible of the excellence of CU the 344 K S S A Y S, No. 169. the claHics, sre willing, became they have negledled the ftudy of them, to depreciate their merits, and to exte- nuate the infamy of their ignorance, by pretending that the knowledge of them is not defirable. Some there ate, who, though they profefs an admiration of the ancients, read them nofin the original?, becaufe they think i: poflible, without the trouble of loading their memories with dead languages, to talteall their beauties through the medium of tranflations. To thofe who affirm, that an admiration of the an- tients is founded on prejudice, it is fufficient to reply, that the unanimous applaufe of whole nations, for many ages, cannot, with the appearance of reafon, be attri- buted to implicit attachment, or ignorant wonder. At for thofe who condemn the Greek and Latin au- thors, becaufe they will not take the pains to underftand them, they are to be cenfured for their indolence, and defpifed for their artifice: and they who read a Horace, or a Virgil in an Englifh tranfiation, however well per- formed, muft be told, that they will form no better idea of the inexprefiible graces of thefe poets, than they would receive of the mafter-pieces of a Raphael or a Guido, from the daubing of a mere copyift. In the transfufion. from one language to another, as it has been frequently remarked, the fpirit evaporates, and feldom any thing remains but a caput mortuum. The matter may be preferved, the ideas juftly exhi- bited, the hiftorica) part accurately reprefented ; but the manner, the ftyle, the beauties of didion, which confti- tute more than half the excellence of the claffics, can fel- dom be transferred to a modern language. They who read Tranflations only, are like thofe who view the figures of a beautiful piece of tapeilry on the wrong fide. 7 muft then eirneftly recommend it to you, if you wiih to tafte the genuine fweets of the ciaffic Itreams, to drink at the fountain, No, CLXX. No. 170. MORAL, &c. 345 No. CLXX. ON THE RETIREMENT OF A COUNTRY TOWN. IN A LETTER. Rom which more folid writers have feldom pofTeiled. Much has been faid on the epiftolary ftyle ; as if any one ftyle could be appropriated to the great variety of fubjecls which are treated of in letters. Eafe, it is true, mould diftinguifh familiar letters, written on the common affairs of life; becaufe the mind is ufually at eafe while they are compofed. But, even in thefe, there incidentally arifes a topic, which requires elevat- ed expreflion, and an inverted conftruftion. Not to raife the ftyle on thefe occafions, is to write unnatural- ly; for nature teaches us to exprefs animated emotions of every kind in animated language. The impaffioned lover writes unnaturally, if he writes with the eafe of Sevigne. The dependant writes unna- turally to a fuperior, in the ftyle of familiarity. The fuppliant writes unnaturally, if he rejects the figures dictated by diftrefs. Converfation admits of every ftyle but the poetic, and what are letters bat written conver- fation ? The great rule is, to follow nature, and to avoid an affected manner. NO. CLXXII. ON THE NECESSITY OF EXER- CISE, AMUSEMENTS, AND AN ATTENTION TO HEALTH IN A LIFE OF STUDY. IN A LETTER. I HAPPENED accidentally to meet a feiiow-collegian, with whom, before we were feparated by the ca- price of fortune, I was intimately acquainted. Surely No. 172. MORA L, &c. 357 it is he, faid I; but, alas, how changed! pale, ema- ciated, with hollow and lack-luftre eye, is this my old fchool-fellow, whofe ruddy checks and cheerful coun- tenance difplayed health and happinefs ? What can have reduced my poor friend to fo wretched acondition? In- temperance, or fome dreadful difeafe, muft have ftolen. away his youth, and hurried him to a premature old age. While I was tftus reflecting, hepafledme without tak- ing notice. He feemed indeed to be fo entirely wrapped up in contemplation, as to pay no regard to external ob- jedls. My curiolity and friendmip were too much inte- reited, to fufler him to leave me without giving fome account of himfelf. 1 foon overtook him, and he no fooner recognifed me, and perceived my furprife at his appearance, than he proceeded to aflign the caufes of it. " You know, my friend, faid he, my firftand ftrong- " eft paflion was for literary fame. Flattered by my " friends, and encouraged at my fchool, I perfuaded ' " myfelf I was advancing in the career of glory, and, " with all the ardour of enthufiafm, devoted every moment of my life to the purfuit of learning. Puerile diverfions had no charms for me. A book was my folc delight, my conftant companion, and was never laid afide, but while my mind was employed in com- pofition. During my refidence at the univeifity, I fpent the time which my companions alloted to rural amufements,in examining thofe repofitories of ancient learning, the public libraries. I law indeed the fu- tility of fcholaftic logic, but a define to qualify myfelf for the public exercifes, led me to the attentive per- ufal of VVallis and Sanderfon. The fame motive engaged me in the dreary fubtilties of metaphyfics. Such (tudies engrofled the greater part of my firit three years, with little advantage and no pleaiure. The fatigue would have been intolerable, had it not fome- times been alleviated by the charms of poetry. My favourite Virgil and Horace, and every polite writer of modern times, afforded, in their turn, an agree- able recreation. My exercifes were honourably dif- tinguifhed, and praife to an ingenuous mind is the bcit reward of learned labours. 2 " With ;8 ESSAYS, No. 172. " With my character for application and fobriety (not to boaft of ray attainments), I found no difficul- ty in obtaining orders. The head of my houfe pro- cured me a curacy in a fmall country town. Thither I went, not without my collection of books, the ufe of which I would not have foregone for a mitre. I had no other wiih than to improve myfelf in learn- ing, and to perform the duty of an ecclefiaftic with decency and devotion. I was happy in the profpect of fpending my time uninterrupted by the intrufion of my academical friends, whom youth and high fpirits would often lead to a noify behaviour little confiftent with meditation. My want of experience concealed from me the difficulty of purfuing the line of conduct which inclination pointed out. I found it was nece/Tary, to my good reception among my pa- rifhioners, to give up the greateft part of the day to a participation in their amufements. In vain was it that I laboured to excel in the pulpit. There was not a man in the place who had an idea of the dig- nity or utility of literary excellence, and who would not moft cordially have hated even a Clarke or a Til- lotfon, if he had never been in at the death of a hare, nor drunk his bottle at the club. The parfon, in their idea of his character, was a jolly fellow in black, who ivas to lead a carelefs life all the week, and preach againft it on Sundays. I could not bring myfelf to take delight in a fox-chace, and, though good-nature prevented me from fhewing my diflike, I could never meet any of the hunters with fatisfac- tion. The little pleafure I took in the only fociety that was to be obtained, ftill farther confirmed me in my reclufe mode of life. When my refolution ap- peared unchangeable, I was fuffered to live as I pleafed, with the character of an odd, but inoffen- five man. IP. this unmolefted retreat I found time to 30 through a complete courfe of ecclefiaiHcal hif- " tory. I acquired a fufficient knowledge of the ori- ental languages to enable me to read the Polyglott. " I wrote a great number of fermons and theological 4f treatifes, and made many corrections, in the vulgar " tranflation No. 172. M O R A L, &c. 359 " tranflation of the Bible. So wholly engrofied was I * by my darling purfuits, that I feldom left my cham- ' ber. In vain did the vernal fun invite. The mufic " of a pack of hounds, .which frequently patted my " window, had no charms in my ears. The rural " fports of every kind were tedious and infipid. To " my books I returned from every trifling avocation " with redoubled pleafure, and endeavoured to repay " the lofs of an hour in the day, by devoting a great portion of the night to ftudy. ' It is really true, that my chief motive for appli- " cation was a,love of learning. Yet I will be fo in- " genuous as to own, I fomedmes formed a vvifh that my " fmall fhare of merit, if I had any, might attracl the " notice of my fuperiors. There is a time of life when " fame alone appears to be an inadequate reward of great " labour. It flatters that natural love of diftindlion *' which we all poflefs, but it furnifhes no convenience " in the time of want and infirmity. There was in the " neighbourhood a little living of one hundred a year, " with a houfe and garden, in a ftyle of decent elegance which becomes a fcholar. The patron was the efquire of the next pari/h, who had always treated me with fmgular reipft. I was foolifh enough to fuppofe his regard for my character would induce him to beflow his benefice on rne ; but I found when it became va- cant, he had flaked and loft the next prefentation at a game at whift with a clerical fox-hunter. " 1 was at laft taken notice of by my diocefan. He had heard of my indefatigable diligence, and recom- mended me to an eminent publifher, as a proper per- fon to make an index to a very voluminous work. I eagerly undertook the tafic, with a view to pleafe fo great a man, an;l finifhcd it in lefs than a year and a half. The books were printed on a fmall letter, and this work did my eyes an injury which they will never recover; but it mull be owned, on the other hand, that the bookfeller gave me in return a bank note of ten pounds. An index author feldom ac- quires reputation. He is indeed feldom known; but if he happens to be difcovered, the accuracy of his work is, in the opinion of many, a kind of difgrace " to 3&J ESSAYS, No. 172. Irefs of deliberate compoiition, or the meannefs of a little mind; both of them molt re- pugnant to the truly Pindaric ode, in which ;Hi is rap- turous and noble. Wit of any kind would be impro- R 2 perl/ 364 ESSAYS, No. 173. properly difplayed in fuch composition ; but to increafe the abfurdity, the wit of Cowley is often falfe. If the end of poetry is to pleafe, harmony of verfe is effential to poetry, for, without it, poetry cannot pleafe. It is not pofiible, that any whofe ear has been attuned to the melody of good compofition, fliould read a fingle ode of Cowley without being fhocked with dif- cord. There is often nothing left but the jingle at the end to diftinguifti poems renowned for their fublimity, from affedled profe. Such poetry may juftly incur the ridiculous title of Profe run mad. Yet is there fometimes interwoven a purple patch, as Horace calls it ; a fine expreffion, a truly poetical thought, an hanronious couplet ; but it occurs not often enough to repay the reader for the toilfome taflc of wading through a tedious aflemblage of difproportioned and difcordant ftanzas. Of fuch confift his Pindarics ; which, though they procured him the greateft fhare of his reputation, deferved it leaft. Many of his other poems, ifwecon- fider the rude ftate of verification, and the bad tafte of the times, have great merit; and had he made Tibullus his model, inftead of Pindar, his claim to the firft rank of elegiac poets had not been called in queftion. The tendernefs of love, and the foft language of complaint, were adapted to his genius. But he chofe to tread in the footfteps of Alcsus, as he fays himfelf, who, according to the Halicarnalfian, combined the p.tyx\<.!pvts *a r,$v 9 or adopted the grand, as well as the fvveet. That he had a taile for Latin poetry, and wrote in it with elegance, the well-known Epitaph on himfelf, up- on his retirement, and an admirable imitation of Horace, are full proofs. But, furely, his rhetorical biographer makes ufe of the figure hyperbole, when he affirms that Cowley has excelled the Romans themfelves. He was inferior to many a writer of lefs fame in the Mufa; An- glicana?. But itill he had great merit ; and I muft con- fefs I have read fome of his Latin verfes with more plea- iure, than any of his Englifh can afford. But, after all the honours that have been accumulat- ed on his name as a poet, his great merit confifted in profaic compofition. In this department he is an ele- gant, apleafing, a judicious writer. His love of retire- No. 173. MORA L, &c. 365 ment and contemplation qualified him for a moralift ; and it is much to be lamented, that he did not devote a greater part of his time to a kind of writing which appeared natural to him, and in which he excelled. The language of his heart mines forth in the little he has left us, and we cannot but love it, Much more of that language would have defcended to poitemy, if his friends, from a miilaken opinion of propriety, had not fupprefled his private letters. Dr. Sprattand Mr. Clifford were avowedly pofle fled of many; and the very reafon afligned by the biographer, for their fuppreffion, mould have operated in their publication. The letters that pafs between particular friends, fays he, if they are written as they ought to be, that is, I fuppofe, in an artlefs manner, can fcarcely ever be fit to fee the light. How great an injury would polite learning have fuftained.if the friends of Cicero had thought like Spratt and Clifford ! They would better have confulted the reputation of the poet, had they pronounced the Pindarics unfit to fee the light. Editors, in general, would aft more honour- ably, in exhibiting only the beft of their author's pro- ductions, than in praifmg, as well as publifhing, all that has fallen from his pen. But, in truth, to have left out any part of his poems, would, in that age, have been an unpardonable omiffion ; for who mould dare to mutilate a Pindar ? Time, the great arbiter of reputation, has already be- gun to ftrip the poet of his borrowed honours. A critic, whofe genius and judgment keep pace with each other, and who illuminates every fubjeft on which he treats, has allotted Cowley his juft fpecies of praife, and has given the world, in a judicious feledion of his works, all that they poflefied of real value. Of thefe the profe forms a principal part. It is writ- ten in a ilyle fufficiently flowing to prove that Cowley was not deftitute of a mufical ear ; a circumftance which countenances the opinion of thofe who maintain that he affected a rugged ftyle. Was it a compliance with the tafte of the age, that induced him to affed deformity ? Unfortunate compliance with a deplorable tafte. He, as well as they whom he imitated, Donne and Johnfon, R 3 wer 366 ESSAYS, No. 174. were unqueftionably pofTefTed of great learning and in- genuity; but they all neglected the graces of competi- tion, and will, therefore, foon be numbered among thofe once celebrated writers, whole utility now coniiits in filling a vacancy on the upper fhelf of feme dully and deferred" library. No. CL.XXIV. CURSORY AND GENERAL HINTS ON THE CHOICE OF BOOKS. THE fcarcity of Books, a few centuries ago, was the principal obtlacle to the advancement of learning. The multitude of them is become, in the prefent age, Scarcely lefs injurious to its interefts, by diitrading the ftudent in his choice, and by diffufing an incorrect and undiftingnifhing tafte. To read all bocks on all fubjedts, would require an uninterrupted attention during the longeft life even of an Antediluvian. To read only the moil celebrated, written in a few languages, is an employment fufficient to fill up every hour of laborious application. For the fake then of faving time, and of directing the judg- ment of the inexperienced, it becomes an uleful attempt to fuggeft fome general hints, which may tend to facili- tate /election. One rule of the greateft confequence is, to read only, or chiefly, the original treatifes in all the various depart- ments of fcience, and of literature. Nearly the fame fpace of time, though not the fame degree of attention, is necefiary to perufe the faint copies of imitative in- duftry, as would appropriate to the ihident the folid productions of native genius. This rule is more par- ticularly to be obferved on the firft entrance on ftudy. The foundation muft be laid deep, and formed of folid materials. The fuperftrudture will often admit flight and fuperficial appendages. When we have ftudied the fine reliques of thofe who have lived before us, we may derive much pleafure from attending to the additional labours of contemporary genius. But to begin with thefe No. 174. MORAL, Sec. 367 thefe is to found, like the fool recorded in the Gofpel, an edifice in the fand. It were no lefs prefumptuous than fuperfluous to ad- drefs directions in the choice of authors, to the (earned. But we may venture, without arrogance, to point out a few to the notice of the young and ingenuous pupil, with a defign to abbreviate or facilitate his labour. He who is entering on the Itudy of divinity, will na- turally devote his firft attention to the fcriptures. The original language of the Old Teilament is often un- known even to the learned and ingenious ; and not- withltanding what fome critics have, as it were, offi- cially obferved on the fubjecl, the neglect of it, though culpable, is feldom attended with much difadvantage. Put the knowledge of Greek is indifpenfably neceflary, if theology is purfued as a profefiion. The prophetical parts will claim the greateft (hare of attention in the perufal of the Old Teftament. Dr. Kurd's Introduction to the Study of the Prophecies will te a fufficient guide for fubfequent application to them. To illuftrate the New T'eftament, it will be proper to have recourfe to Percy's Key to it, to Trapp's Notes, to Locke on the Epiftles, and to Mede on the Apocalypfe, With thefe affiltances the ftucicnt, who is not deficient in natural ability, will make a competent profidc rev, ' though he (hould totally neglect tliofe myriads of trea- tifes, which have rendered the bo^a/x,,u.a''r, in which he has omitted, through each book, the letter which marked the num- ber of it. Such a kind of compofuion is trifling, .and beneath a man of genius; but it muft be allowed to be a work of great difficulty, and confequently a proof of great applicatio <. Nor ought it to injure the character of Tryphiodorus as a poet, but to be viewed as the wan- ton production of an ingenious, but ill-employed gram- marian. If Homer wrote the battle of the Frogs and Mice, and Virgil dcfcanted on his Gnat, without lo- fmg the dignity of their characters ; inferior writers may indulge the inoffenfive fallies of whim, without the im- putation of folly or puerility. In the peruial of fome of thefe, and other cf the Minor Poets, whofe works are extant, the lover of the Grecian Mufe finds a pleating variety, after reading the more iublime and beautiful produdlionscf Homer. No. CLXXIX. A CONCLUDING ESSAY. Til E writers of periodical papers have ufually fub- joined, at the clofe of their lucubrations, an ac- count of the origin and progrefs of their work, explained the fignatures of correfpondents, and afligned each paper to its proper claimant. 1 am now arrived at the End of S 2 the 383 ESSAYS, No. 179. the Second Volume, the boundary prefcribed to my ex- curfions :' but 1 have, 1 believe, no information of this kind remaining to be communicated. I have already ac- counted for the origin of this work, and intimated, that the compofition of it has ferved, at various times and an different filiations, to amufe a few intervals of lite- rary leifure ; and, with refpedl to afiiftants and corre- fpondents, the nature cf the undertaking could not poffi- bly admit them. If, therefore, any praife fhould be thought due, it muft come undivided, and contribute to Jeflen whatever feverity of cenfure may be incurred, the whole weight of which muft fall without participation. 1 mean not, however, to delude myfelf with an idea of influencing a reader by apologies: the fubmiffions and excufes of authors are of little importance ; the Public claims an uncontrovertible right to decide for itfelf on every compofition which /elicits regard : its final decificns are ufually no lefs juft than immutable. Inftead then of dwelling on fuch topics, I will take leave of. the candid reader, if any reader mould have had pstience to accompany me fo far, by a fummary recapitu- lation, and perhaps addition of a few admonitions which jnay be falutary. I pretend not to collect all the fcat- tered remarks, which have preceded, into one point of view, but merely to repeat and add fuch as may poflibly occur in filling up the paper which now lies before me. I hope the egotifm will be pardoned on this and feveral other occafions, as it is by no means eafy at all times to fpeak in the third perfon of one's felf, without evident affectation. I have endeavoured, thoughout the whole feries of thefe papers, to warn thofe who are entering into life (and to them my admonitions are chiefly addreffed) againft the fafhionable examples of the rich and great vulgar, which often militate againft all that is decent, regular, virtuous and learned. Unlefs we are taught in cur youth to be on our guard againft their deftruclive influence, we fhall certainly incur imminent danger of corrupting our principles and practice, by a blind and bigoted imitation. Experience daily evinces, that without this precaution, all the advantages of a virtu- ous and learned education, all the documents of pater- nal No. 179. MORAL, Sec. 389 nal care, all prudential, moral, and religious reftraints, may be totally fruftrated. The rich and great may be considered as beacons on a promontory ; and if they hang out deceitful lights, they who will allow no other fignal to direft them (and the number of thefe is infi- nite), will probably be mifguided in the voyage of their lives, till they are dafhed on rocks, or funk in whirlpools. I think I can confidently declare, that I was not in- fluenced by fplenetic or envious motives, when I attack- ed the Pride, Folly, and Wickednefs of the nom nal great, whojuftify every enormity, under the name of fafhion- able indulgence ; but that I have been actuated folely by a fincere conviclion, that fuch an attack is the moil ef- fedlual means of promoting the interells of Virtue. Even an enemy will allow that it is not the moft approved me- thod of advancing private intereft. If I have at any time indulged an afperity of cenfure, it has arifen from an honeft detection of vice, meannefs, felfilhnefs, and infolence, in thofe whofe example is fe- ducing, and confequently moft injurious. The rank and opulence of worthlefs perfons has had no other effect on me than to excite additional indignation. If any fsel themfelves hurt by my animadverfions, their very pain is a proof that they fuffer defervedly. Nothing in this book can make a worthy man my foe ; and ivith refpcft to the unworthy, I fear not their power, and I defpife their malevolence. In adopting modes of addrefs and external behavioar,the ftudy of which appears to engrofs the attention of many, I have advifed the young man to begin his work at the foundation ; to corrcft his heart and temper, that the graces of his appearance may proceed from that copious and infallible fource of whatever is plea/Ing, a difpoiuion truly virtuous and unaffeftedly amiable. I have exhort- ed him to avoid fervility, adulation, preferment-hunting, and meannefs of every kind ; to endeavour indeed to pleafe thofe with whom he converfes, but to let the en- deavour arife from benevolent motives, from an humane and ChrilHan dciire of difftifing cafe and happinefs among the children of one Almighty Father, and the partakers of the fame miserable nature. I have advifed him to be firm, yet gentle, manly, yet polite : to cul- S 3 39 ESSAYS, No. 179. tivate every ornamental accomplifhment which leads not to effeminacy, and to ftudy to be as agreeable as poflible, while he can be at the fame time fin cere ; to defpiie, and molt ftudioufly avoid, that common but bafe cha- rafter, which, with motives peculiarly felfifh and con- traded, pretends to uncommon good- nature, friendfhip, benevolence, and generofity ; whofe afliduities are pro- portioned to the rank or fortune of the perfons whofe favour is courted, without the leaft regard to virtue or attainments ; whofe politenefs is that of a valet or French dancing-mafter, and whofe objects, after all its profef- fions andpretenfions to liberality, are no lefs mean and dirty than thofe of a Jew-ufurer. I have advifed him to value the approbation of his own heart, and the com- forts of a clear confcience, above the fmiles, the applaufe, and the rewards of a vain, a wicked, a deceitful, and a tranfitory world. In literature, I have recommended the union of tafte with fcience, and of fcience with tafte ; a feleftion of the bell authors on all the fubjedls- which claim his par- ticular attention ; a love of originals, and a due diftruft of translations; a conftant effort to obtain depth and folidity ; a perfevering, regular, indefatigable induftry, efpecially in the earlier periods of a ftudious courfe, not only becaufe no ciftinguifhed excellence can be ob- tained without it, but alfo becaufe a clofe attention to ftudy, and an ardent love of letters in the juvenile age, is a great prefervative of innocence, and conduces much to thediverfion or extinction of paffior.s, and tendencies, which cannot be habitually indulged without fin, fhame, and mifery. The general tenor of the moral admonitions of this book, has been to urge the young man to labour incef- fantly in overcoming the natural propenfity of human nature to evil : to aim at perfection, though he knows he cannot reach it ; to aim at it, becaufe he will thus approach much nearer to it than if he gives ep the pur- fuit in the timidity of indolence : to hav : e courage enough to withftand ridicule, the weapon of the wicked in their fubtle attacks upon virtue : to beware of the refinements of fophiftry, and to be humble enough to learn his duty both to God and man, from the plain doctrines No. 179. MORAL, &c. 391 doftrines of his catechifm : to beware alfo of the feducing influence of famionable vice ; of thofe unfortunate per- fons who, from a want of education, or from foolifh. pride, live without Goal in the on the Methods of acquiring ufeful and polite Learning, 2 vols. 6s. 2. Bath Society Papers on Agriculture, Planting, &c. 2 vols. 8vo. izs. 3. 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