themselves on any other advantage, than that they have paffed their time like others of the fame rank; and have the fame right to talk of the happiness and beauty of the country, of happiness which they never felt, and beauty which they never regarded. To be able to procure its own entertainments, and to fubfift upon its own ftock, is not the prerogative of every mind. There are indeed underftandings fo fertile and comprehensive, that they can always feed reflection with new fupplies, and fuffer nothing from the preclufion of adventitious amufements; as fome cities have within their own walls. enclosed ground enough to feed their inhabitants in a fiege. But others live only from day to day, and must be constantly enabled, by foreign fupplies, to keep out the encroachments of languor and stupidity. Such could not indeed be blamed for hovering within reach of their ufual pleasure, more than any other animal for not quitting its native element, were not their faculties contracted by their own fault. But let not those who go into the country, merely because they dare not be left alone at home, boast their love of nature, or their qualifications for folitude; nor pretend that they receive inftantaneous infufions of wisdom from the Dryads, and are able, when they leave fmoke and noise behind, to act, or think, or reafon for themselves. NUMB. 136. SATURDAY, July 6, 1751. Ἐχθρὸς γὰρ μοι κεῖνος ὁμῶς ὤνδαο πύλησιν, Ος χ ̓ ἕτερον μὲν κεύθει ἐνὶ φρεσὶν, ἄλλο δὲ βάζει. Who dares think one thing, and another tell, HOMER. POPE. HE regard which they whofe abilities are employed in the works of imagination claim from the reft of mankind, arifes in a great measure from their influence on futurity. Rank may be conferred by princes, and wealth bequeathed by mifers or by robbers; but the honours of a lafting name, and the veneration of distant ages, only the fons of learning have the power of beftowing. While therefore it continues one of the characteristicks of rational nature to decline oblivion, authors never can be wholly overlooked in the search after happiness, nor become contemptible but by their own fault. The man who confiders himself as constituted the ultimate judge of difputable characters, and entrusted with the diftribution of the laft terreftrial rewards of merit, ought to fummon all his fortitude to the fupport of his integrity, and refolve to discharge an office of fuch dignity with the most vigilant caution and fcrupulous juftice. To deliver examples to pofterity, and to regulate the opinion of future times, is no flight or trivial undertaking; nor is it easy to commit more atrocious treafon against the great republick of humanity, than by falfifying its records and mifguiding its decrees. Το To scatter praise or blame without regard to juftice, is to destroy the diftinction of good and evil. Many have no other test of actions than general opi nion; and all are fo far influenced by a fenfe of reputation, that they are often restrained by fear of reproach, and excited by hope of honour, when other principles have loft their power; nor can any fpecies of prostitution promote general depravity more than that which deftroys the force of praise, by fhewing that it may be acquired without deferving it, and which, by setting free the active and am. bitious from the dread of infamy, lets loose the rapacity of power, and weakens the only authority by which greatness is controlled. Praife, like gold and diamonds, owes its value only to its scarcity. It becomes cheap as it becomes vulgar, and will no longer raife expectation, or animate enterprize. It is therefore not only neceffary, that wickedness, even when it is not fafe to cenfure it, be denied applaufe, but that goodness be commended only in proportion to its degree; and that the garlands, due to the great benefactors of mankind, be not fuffered to fade upon the brow of him who can boast only petty services and eafy virtues. Had thefe maxims been univerfally received, how much would have been added to the task of dedication, the work on which all the power of modern wit has been exhaufted. How few of thefe initial panegyricks had appeared if the author had been obliged first to find a man of virtue, then to diftinguifh the diftinct fpecies and degree of his defert, and at laft to pay him only the honours which he might juftly claim. It is much easier to learn the name name of the laft man whom chance has exalted to wealth and power, to obtain by the intervention of fome of his domesticks the privilege of addreffing him, or in confidence of the general acceptance of flattery, to venture on an addrefs without any previous folicitation; and after having heaped upon him all the virtues to which philofophy has affigned a name, inform him how much more might be truly faid, did not the fear of giving pain to his modesty repress the raptures of wonder and the zeal of veneration. Nothing has fo much degraded literature from its natural rank, as the practice of indecent and promis cuous dedication; for what credit can he expect who profeffes himself the hireling of vanity, however profligate, and without fhame or fcruple celebrates the worthlefs, dignifies the mean, and gives to the corrupt, licentious, and oppreffive, the ornaments which ought only to add grace to truth, and lovelinefs to innocence? Every other kind of adulteration, however fhameful, however mifchievous, is lefs deteftable than the crime of counterfeiting characters, and fixing the ftamp of literary fanction upon the drofs and refufe of the world. Yet I would not overwhelm the authors with the whole load of infamy, of which part, perhaps the greater part, ought to fall upon their patrons. If he that hires a bravo, partakes the guilt of murder, why should he who bribes a flatterer, hope to be exempted from the fhame of falsehood? The unhappy dedicator is feldom without fome motives which obftruct, though not deftroy, the liberty of choice; he is oppreffed by miseries which he hopes to relieve, or inflamed by ambition which he expects to gratify. But the patron has no incitements equally violent; he can receive only a fhort gratification, with which nothing but ftupidity could difpofe him to be pleased. The real fatisfaction which praife can afford is by repeating aloud the whifpers of confcience, and by fhewing us that we have not endeavoured to deferve well in vain. Every other encomium is, to an intelligent mind, fatire and reproach; the celebration of those virtues which we feel ourselves to want, can only impress a quicker sense of our own defects, and: shew that we have not yet fatisfied the expectations of the world, by forcing us to observe how much fiction must contribute to the completion of our character. Yet fometimes the patron may claim indulgence; for it does not always happen, that the encomiaft has been much encouraged to his attempt. Many a hapless author, when his book, and perhaps his dedication, was ready for the prefs, has waited long before any one would pay the price of prostitution, or consent to hear the praises destined to infure his name against the casualties of time; and many a complaint has been vented against the decline of learning, and neglect of genius, when either parfimonious prudence has declined expence, or honest indignation rejected falfehood. But if at laft, after long enquiry and innumerable disappointments, he find a lord willing to hear of his own eloquence and tafte, a ftatesman defirous of knowing how a friendly hiftorian will reprefent his conduct, or a lady delighted to leave to the world fome memorial of her wit and beauty, fuch weakness cannot be cenfured as an instance of enormous depravity. The wifeft man may by a di |