Whoever finds himself incited, by fome violent impulse of paffion, to purfue riches as the chief end . of being, muft furely be fo much alarmed by the fucceffive admonitions of thofe, whofe experience and fagacity have recommended them as the guides of mankind, as to ftop and confider whether he is about to engage in an undertaking that will reward his toil, and to examine, before he rushes to wealth, through right and wrong, what it will confer when he has acquired it; and this examination will feldom fail to repress his ardour, and retard his violence.

Wealth is nothing in itself, it is not useful but when it departs from us; its value is found only in that which it can purchase, which, if we fuppofe it put to its beft ufe by thofe that poffefs it, feems not much to deferve the defire or envy of a wife man. It is certain that, with regard to corporal enjoyment, money can neither open new avenues to pleasure, nor block up the paffages of anguish. Disease and infirmity ftill continue to torture and enfeeble, perhaps exafperated by luxury, or promoted by foftnefs. With refpect to the mind, it has rarely been obferved, that wealth contributes much to quicken the difcernment, enlarge the capacity, or elevate the imagination; but may, by hiring flattery, or laying diligence afleep, confirm error, and harden ftupidity.

Wealth cannot confer greatnefs, for nothing can make that great, which the decree of nature has ordained to be little. The bramble may be placed in a hot-bed, but can never become an oak. Even royalty itself is not able to give that dignity which

it happens not to find, but oppreffes feeble minds, though it may elevate the ftrong. The world has been governed in the name of kings, whofe exiftence has scarcely been perceived by any real effects beyond their own palaces.

When therefore the defire of wealth is taking hold of the heart, let us look round and fee how it operates upon those whofe industry or fortune has obtained it. When we find them oppreffed with their own abundance, luxurious without pleasure, idle without eafe, impatient and querulous in themfelves, and despised or hated by the rest of mankind, we fhall foon be convinced that if the real wants of our condition are fatisfied, there remains little to be fought with folicitude, or defired with eagerness.

NUMB. 59. TUESDAY, October 9, 1750.

Eft aliquid fatale malum per verba levare,
Hoc querulam Halcyonenque Prognen facit:
Hoc erat in folo quare Pæantias antro

Vox fatigaret Lemnia faxa fua.
Strangulat inclufus dolor atque exæftuat intus,
Cogitur et vires multiplicare fuas.

Complaining oft, gives refpite to our grief;
From hence the wretched Progne fought relief,
Hence the Paantian chief his fate deplores,
And vents his forrow to the Lemnian fhores :
In vain by fecrecy we wou'd affuage

Our cares; conceal'd they gather tenfold rage.

IT

OVID.

F. LEWIS.

T is common to diftinguifh men by the names of animals which they are fupposed to resemble. Thus a hero is frequently termed a lion, and a ftatefiman a fox, an extortioner gains the appellation of vulture, and a fop the title of monkey. There is also among the various anomalies of character, which a survey of the world exhibits, a fpecies of beings in human form, which may be properly marked out as the fcreech-owls of mankind.

Thefe fcreech-owls feem to be fettled in an opinion that the great bufinefs of life is to complain, and that they were born for no other purpose than to disturb the happiness of others, to leffen the little comforts, and fhorten the fhort pleasures of our condition, by painful remembrances of the paft, or melancholy prognofticks of the future; their only

care

care is to crush the rifing hope, to damp the kindling transport, and allay the golden hours of gaiety with the hateful drofs of grief and fufpicion.

To thofe, whofe weakness of fpirits, or timidity of temper, fubjects them to impreffions from others, and who are apt to fuffer by fascination, and catch the contagion of mifery, it is extremely unhappy to live within the compafs of a fcreech-owl's voice; for it will often fill their ears in the hour of dejection, terrify them with apprehenfions, which their own thoughts would never have produced, and fadden, by intruded forrows, the day which might have been paffed in amusements or in business; it will burthen the heart with unneceffary difcontents, and weaken for a time that love of life, which is neceffary to the vigorous profecution of any undertaking.

Though I have, like the rest of mankind, many failings and weaknesses, I have not yet, by either friends or enemies, been charged with fuperftition; I never count the company which I enter, and I look at the new moon indifferently over either fhoulder. I have, like most other philofophers, often heard the cuckoo without money in my pocket, and have been fometimes reproached as fool-hardy for not turning down my eyes when a raven flew over my head. I never go home abruptly because a fnake croffes my way, nor have any particular dread of a climacterical year: yet I confess that, with all my scorn of old women, and their tales, I confider it as an unhappy day when I happen to be greeted, in the morning, by Sufpirius the fcreech-owl.

I have now known Sufpirius fifty-eight years and four months, and have never yet paffed an hour

with him in which he has not made fome attack upon my quiet. When we were firft acquainted, his great topick was the mifery of youth without riches, and whenever we walked out together he folaced me with a long enumeration of pleasures, which, as they were beyond the reach of my fortune, were without the verge of my defires, and which I fhould never have confidered as the objects of a wifh, had not his unfeasonable reprefentations placed them in my fight.

Another of his topicks is the neglect of merit, with which he never fails to amuse every man whom he fees not eminently fortunate. If he meets with a young officer, he always informs him of gentlemen whose personal courage is unqueftioned, and whose military skill qualifies them to command armies, that have, notwithstanding all their merit, grown old with fubaltern commiffions. For a genius in the church, he is always provided with a curacy for life. The lawyer he informs of many men of great parts and deep ftudy, who have never had an opportunity to speak in the courts: And meeting Serenus the phyfician, Ah, doctor," fays he, "what "a-foot ftill, when fo many blockheads are rattling "in their chariots? I told you feven years ago that

you would never meet with encouragement, and I hope you will now take more notice, when I tell you, that your Greek, and your diligence, and your r honefty, will never enable you to live like yonder "apothecary, who prefcribes to his own shop, and "laughs at the physician."

Sufpirius has, in his time, intercepted fifteen authors in their way to the ftage; perfuaded nine and thirty merchants to retire from a profperous

trade