the equilibrium in fome degree, take that bill-it can be of infinite fervice to you, and I may perhaps put it to a worfe ufe. Yon refuse it, do you? O! that's your prideyou are poor, and need afliftance; you complain the world refufes an ear to your wants you fupplicate heaven, and yet when a poor fellow like me wishes to ferve you, and, in doing fo, gratifies his own whim, you affront him by a refufal-D---me, I hate fuch a fpirit; be a man: foar above the notions of a falfe delicacy; not an eye fees ús, not an ear hears us now; and, if it be your pleafure, never fhall, at leaf this part of the fiory muft go no farther. There take it, and when that fum becomes the intereft of your annual income, I may perhaps afk it of you, or transfer it to fuch another object of compaffion. You weep: I like that your pride will yet get vent, and you'll be eafy.

Sir, you may be accustomed to fee acts of frequent generofity, and this may appear a common circumftance to you; but I have been fo long a ftranger to fuch, that it is not a wonder that I am furprized at this exertion of unmerited benevolence. Sir, I will not refile your affiftance, for I know that the acceptance will give you fatisfaction; but, Sir, if my affairs do not foon enable me to repay this, it will add feverely to the forrow which you with it to relieve.--

Give me your hand, I thank you for your condefcenfion, and it will add to the obligation, if from this hour you forget who it was you received the trifle from, and ufe it as your own; and now I will tell you of fome other matters. You feem to have fome plan in view. Pray am I right in conjecturing that you intend to take orders? Indeed, when I confider your difpofition, I am furprifed you ever thought of any other pro feffion than the church.--

To tell the truth, Mr. Saunter, I am fo weary of the world, fo averfe to the men of it, that I wish to retire for ever from them. Even the grave carries no terror with it to

me.--

Poo, poo, that's foolish, very foolish, but it is common for all that; many an honeft fellow has been vexed with thefe attacks of malevolence, 'til defpairing to find goodness any where, they have left the world for the reclufe privacy of a defert; but tho' many have thuscontinued "mute inglorious" actors on the flage of life, none ought to be fo. Society has claims to your prefence, and every little talent you poffefs; befides, when you thus droop under the cruelty of thefe enemies, it is giving them too great a triumph: if they fee you fuperior to their envy, then half their defigns are defeated.

But you are young; and it is the fign of an illiberal mind to judge of all mankind by

what you have feen. Three or four villains should not damn a whole world; for my part, it is one of the pleasures of my life to laugh at, and endeavour to counteract the malice of such.--

That's a proof of goodness of your heart, but you have the one thing need. ful to fupport your spirits---you have money.--

Ay, faith, there's the grand acquifition--money; that indeed does every thing. The time was when money was our pafiport to the table acquaintance of men, but now it appears to conduct us to their very hearts. Be always rich, and you'll always have friends. If you are not rich, feem fo, for with many want of money, and want of merit, are in clofe -connection. In your private expences you may be as faving as you pleafe, but when you appear in public diftribute with a feeming prodigality: Affume the virtue if you have it not." But, apropos, you seem to have been a writer---pray do you intend to turn a penny that way?

No, I believe I fcarcely fhall; at prefent I am incapable of the tafk; my reflections would still have a tincture of my depreffion of fpirits, and the wrongs of an inconfiderable individual would not, cannot intereft the public. -

Well, I am glad you have no thoughts of turning author---O, it's a dead butinefs; and fuch the fluctuation of tafte now, that no book can promife fuccefs beyond the year after its appearance. Our ingenious works are read at firft with avidity, and in the space of a twelvemonth will run through five or fix editions, then fall into oblivion, or exist only in the catalogues of a circulating library. The thirft for novelty makes our best works infipid after the firft enjoyment, and we fly to the next for fomething new. It is this which has made authors fo fond of extraordinary titles to many ordinary fubjects, and often the whole wit of a book lies in the title page. It is this too which has led men to fpeculate on fubjects never handled before, and fo much out of the reach of human ca pacity, that infidelity or impiety are the confequences of the refearch. We have many excellent writers ftill among us, who are great favourites with the public, but fuch is the curfe entailed on public approbation, that when it is once procured, it is a fanction for many unwarrantable libertics. Hence I have often feen, that the first publication of our author was his best, and after that he never could produce any thing which could have stood the test, were it not for the great good-nature of the public, and that the reviewers are unwilling to exercife wantonnefs of cruelty gainft an author, who once had claims on their approbation.-----

Indeed,

Indeed, Sir, confidering the nature of a public review, instead of wondering that fo many publications are damned, I am only furprised that fo many escape.--

Yes, very right, you fay true. When we confider that a reviewer looks on himself as the guardian of public tafte, his fituation appears perplexingly critical. He muft difcharge his duty, and, in doing fo, beflow marks of difgult on many a wretched production; yet he is forry to do it, for there is a principle of humanity within the breaft of the most ftern critic, that inclines him to reftrain the feverity of cenfure, and, as Pope fays, charitably let the dull be vain." Pray have you any confiderable friends in the church who can give you a helping hand?--

I am lately informed, that a diftant relation of my father's, hearing of my cafe, has obtained for me the affiftance and protection of the B→ of ——.

O Lord, your fortune's made, you are furely in the way of fuccefs as friends and merit can make you; why then be dull and moping; pluck up your fpirits and be às ourfelves in Denmark."

"I will in all my beft obey you," Mr., Saanter; but, feriously, there is a weight of uncafinefs on my mind, which I must await the hand of time to free me of. Injuries, like mine, give more diftrefs, I think, than the reflections of guilt.

That's a falfe opinion, you are mistaken; what the devil is the world's report and fcandal to you :--

Stedfaft and true to virtue's facred laws,
Unmoy'd by vulgar cenfure or applause,
Let the world talk, my friend; that world

we know

Which calls us guilty, cannot make us fo.-

That's my honeft friend Churchill: ay, peace be to his unfortunate manes, but he wanted prudence, which, if it is not virtue felf, is at leaft the fupport and guide of character and rectitude. Remember, Mr. D, that guilt, and only guilt, can or aght to give us uneafinefs. Misfortune ay be the lot of any man, but mifery only dwells in the guilty mind. Laugh at the world, but do not withdraw yourfelf from for by doing fo you will make it worle. elect, that if every good man was to retire folitary recefs, the remaining part of would become favages, a turpe pecus, ten thousand times worse than they are now, when the example of the good is daily fnatchng fome from ruin.

i

Indeed, Sir, you do me much honour. I too low in my own opinion to imagine that my example can influence any; befides, I may have drawn down upon myself the diflike of my friends, by oppofing a way

27

of life on which they had fet their hearts, though I never could; yet, if it is confidered that this is one of the cafes, where a young man's inclination ought to be confulted, independent of any one's prejudices, I hope it will be believed that nothing less than the moft urgent neceffity could have obliged me to oppose their will; but I now stand on my own bottom entirely. The friends I fhall henceforth procure must be mine from merit, not intereft. The number of those will be few, because they will be procured only by my own deferts, but they will be more furely to be depended on than thofe who intereft themselves in a man's affairs merely through motives of vanity or gain.

Faith, you are very right; ftick by that maxim, and there is no fear of your fuccefs. As to your being obliged to embrace a way of life contrary to your inclinations, you by no means ftand alone. Thousands here are now drudging on, and drawling out a miferable existence in employments to which they are not any ways fitted by one fingle qualification. It is a happy thing for you that your education and your improvement of it have been equally confpicuous. A man of any abilities cannot fail of a patron, if not in an individual, at feaft in the public, who are generously careful to encourage rising merit, and would be more fo had public tafte not been now on the decline, though I cannot trace the caufes. Parents here have been generally guilty of this error in the education of their children. Thofe defigned for mechanical employments, are put to them with out even the principles of tafte or letters, and thofe defigned for literary purfuits, are either from fcantinefs of fortune obftructed in their career, or forced by an avaricious father into an employment foreign to the powers and difpofition of their minds. Hence hoemakers write fermons; taylors, tragedies; merchants, memoirs.

1 am very forry, Mr. Saunter, to find thefe examples are fo frequent. Certainly it is worse than a mistake, it is cruelty to fhut the gates of happiness against fuch a confiderable part of the world; but really, the profecution of fcience is clogged with fo many incumbrances from expences, that we are not to wonder if parents are willing to avoid thefe, and are much biaffed in favour of the profeffion, by the exercife of which they themfelves have eftablished independence and reputation.

Very true, but those who have a taste for any particular purfuit, ought never to obtrude that on another; and the love of learning appears to me to be fuch an amiable vir tue, and fo graceful in youth, that no pains ought to be fpared, no coft withdrawn, that may enable them to purfue their favourite ·D 24

ftudies;

studies; and expenfive as you may think education is in this country, wherever real genius appears, though but in a child, it is diftinguished by every encouragement which can alleviate the inconveniences you complain of. The murmurings of those who call themselves men of learning, are very often ill-founded. If a man who has a lively fancy, and can write fmooth eafy verfes, though without a fingle line or thought of original matter, is much mistaken if he thinks that fuch a talent ought to render him independent of more useful labours; and it is not so much from want of tafte (as they complain) but in juftice to real merit that the public contemn fuch attempts. But I muft bid you adieu---I wish you, Sir, much fuccefs, and you have it in your power to oblige me much, by concealing the caufe of our prefent inter view. Affume dignity of mind; look down on the world as from an height to which the mean part of it can never arrive. I fhall be glad to fee you foon. There is my addrefs.

Sir, the obligations you have laid me under, place me fo much your inferior, that J fear I fhall want that freedom of fpeech which would be neceffary to acknowledge your kindness as I ought. A beggar, like me, in fortune, is too often looked on by the world to be a beggar in gratitude. But I thank you, Sir---let niy future actions speak the reft. Eelieve me, till I have repaid this favour, my thoughts will fill be unpleafing. It will be my constant aim during the day, and when I etire to reft, I know it will often banifh fleep from me. Therefore, Sir, if I may be fo bold, I intreat once more that you will take it back. Do it, Sir.--

There it is now---What a world we live in! Certainly doomfday cannot be far off. Had you and I been of a mind to do a vicious action, how few incumbrances would have been in our way; and now that I wish to fhow my friendship for a worthy young man in adverfity, he farts fifty idle fcruples to thwart my purpofe. Mr. D I beg to hear no more of your reafoning. I fhall fufpect your fenfe if you fay more---fo pocket the bill, and God bless you with it. I am a particular intimate of Mr. Stanley's, who lives here---he will conduct you to my lodging, where I fhall be at all times proud to fee you, but not to fee you proud---Excufe the pun.

Account of China.

ITS length is computed about 1500 miles. Breadth 1300. The Jefuits reckon the number of inhabitants to be about fixty millions. It is bounded on the north by Chinese Tartary; on the east by the Pacific ocean; by the Chincfean fea to the fouth; and by Tonquin, Thibet, and Ruffia on the weft. his empire is divided into fifteen provinces

(exclufive of that of Lyautong, fituate without the great wall) each of which migh pass for a feparate kingdom, in every effential requifite. Though to much has bee written on the subject of China, yet we hav no very authentic account of the country the publications of the Jefuits are the best but even thefe, are liable to great fufpicion

The canals in China are mentioned by al travellers, with furprize, and the highe commendation. Some of them run 100 miles in length, and others are lined in the most ingenious manner with hewn stone Incredible numbers live conftantly upon the water. China is faid to have valuable gold mines; but the government of the country difcourages the working of them, for fear of hurting the induftry of the people.

Travellers agree in afferting, that the poor in China who cannot fupport their female children, are permitted to caft them into a river, but when this is done, they generally faften fomething to the child to make it float, and it is most commonly taken out by some humane perfon, in better circumstances.

China having fo little intercourfe with any neighbouring country, is fometimes attended with a very fatal effect: when their harveft fails, whole diftricts are laid defolate by famine.-The laws of this Empire are not fanguinary; murder and high treafon only, being punished with death.-The general tax is capitation: from the age of eighteen a man is obliged to pay a ftipulated quota of his property: fhould he arrive at the age of eighty, this ceases.

It is a very juft remark, that no nation is behind another in felf importance and great pretenfions: this is very confpicuous in the Chinese character. Their country is certainly one of the fineft in the world: not fatisfied with this, they would alfo be thought the wifeft, the moft puiffant, and the most formidable; but there they are mistaken. They have fagacity, and fome degree of induftry it is true; but valour, and all the hardy mai culine propensities of the foul, they are cer tainly ftrangers to.

Their trade is open by fea to all the European nations, with whom they deal entirely for ready money; taking very little European produce or manufacture in exchange. Their trade is, however, much on the decline, fince the discovery of the porcelane manufactures, and the great improvements the Europeans have made in the weaving branches. From a jeajoufy of the growing power of the Puffians, has arisen, it is probable, the fuppreffion of the internal traffic formerly carried on from Mofcow to Peking.

The revenue is faid by fome, to amount to twenty millions. a year; while others have computed it infinitely higher: it is collected partly in money, partly in produce.

The

1785.

The Chinese land army is certainly very great. It has been computed at fome millions of men: but of this we have no certainty. The Imperial guards alone, amount to thirty thousand men. The national fpirit of the Chinese may be discovered in their military performances, fome of which are tranflated into the French language, and recommend caution and circumfpection to their generals, above every other confideration. Their marine forces is of little account, being only coafting veffels. The Chinese had no traffic with other nations, except thofe in their neighbourhood, till the Portuguese difcovered their country by the way of the Cape of Good Hope. Their junks, as they are called, are many of them a thousand tons burthen; heavy failers with fquare heads and terms; fome of them have two mafts, others three, but never any top mafts; and their fails are made of matting, which they let down upon the deck, when they furl them. The hold of the fhip is divided into many fmall partitions, which are made fo tight that if a leak happens in one of them, it goes no farther, and the goods ftowed in the other partitions receive no damage.

Travellers feem to agree in their accounts of the general corruption of their magiftrates. Every province has its viceroy, and feveral orders of Mandarines, who are defigned to ferve as checks upon one another; but they all find it their intereft to wink at each other's crimes; and thus the people are oppreffed to a degree beyond what they could be by any fingle governor, however bad,

The lower ranks of peeople in China are reduced to the greateft mifery in time of dearth, which fometimes happen through exceffive drought, or the devaftation of the grafs-hoppers; which in fome parts of the empire at times, appear in fuch numbers, as not only to devour ever herb, leaf, or fruit; but even the fmall wood of the branches, and fibres of the roots of trees, In thefe extremities, the poorer orders, notwithstand ing all their art and induftry, are glad to fupport themselves on the very refufe of every kind of provifions; nay, even rats, mice, aud other vermin. They have no coin throughout the whole empire, except a cop. per one of very little value. Their mer chandize is bought with gold and filver, cut for the purpofe from ingots or plates. The former is of lefs value in China, than in moft ether nations; and therefore filver is advantageously exchanged by the Europeans for that precious metal.

& Defcription of Fort St. George, Madras; on the Coaft of Coromandel. ADRAS, or Fort St. George, has its laft mentioned name from the fort in Hat city, and is fituated in 13° N. latitude,

29

and in 86° E. longitude. Thus it is near four thoufand eight hundred miles to the Eaftward of London, fo that the fun vifits them about fix hours before he rifes in England, and fets before we fit down to dinner; and there is fo little difference, in the length of the days, that the English always reckon it to be fix o'clock at fun-rifing, and fix at fun-fet.

This place, which lies feventy miles to the north of Pondicherry, is fituated on one of the most incommodious fpots imaginable; for the fea beats perpetually with prodigious violence on the land on which it ftands; there is no fresh water within a mile of it; in the rainy feafon it is subject to inundations from a river of falt-water that runs behind it; and the fun, from April to September, is exceedingly hot, the fea breezes alone rendering it habitable.

The fort is a regular fquare, extending about one hundred yards on each fide; and has four baftions, built with what is there called iron fione, from its being of the colour of unwrought iron, and very rough. The fort is defended by no ditch, and the walls are arched and hollowed within. It has two gates, one of which opens to the east, and the other to the weft. In the middle of the fort is the governor's house, which is a very handfome lofty building of fquare ftone.

To the northward of the fort are three ftraight handfome ftreets, and there are the farne number to the fouth. The buildings are of brick, and the houses are one ftory above the ground floor; they have flat roofs, covered with a plafter made of fea-fhells, which no rain can penetrate; and, being fe cured with battlements, the English take the fresh air upon them morning and evening.

Oppofite to the weft gate of the fort is a barrack, or rather a long room, in which all the Company's foldiers are obliged to lodge when off guard; and adjoining to it on the north, is a commodious hofpital, where care is taken of them when they are fick. At the other end of the barrack is the mint, where the company coin bullion brought from Europe, and elfewhere, into rupees; and this brings them a confiderable revenue. They alfo coin gold into pagodas of different dergininations and value. But this lucrative bulineis was transferred to Calcutta, when that place became the principal fettlement.

A river runs close to the buildings on the weft part of the town; but on that fide there is no wall, and only a large battery which commands the plain beyond the river. The fide, and is fo very fhallow, that no large fea comes up clofe to the town on the caft veffels can ride within two miles of it; and yet the furf runs fo high that there is no landing but in the country flat-bottomed beats. Both the north and fouth ends of the

town