Even royalty itfelf is not able to give that dignity which it happens not to find, but opprefles feeble minds, though it may elevate the ftrong. The world has been governed in the name of kings, whofe exiftence has fcarcely 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

induftry or fortune has obtained it. When we find them oppreffed with their own abundance, luxurious without pleafure, idle without eafe, impatient and querulous in themfelves, and defpifed or hated by the reft of mankind, we fhail 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.

OVID.

'Tis common to distinguish men by This comes on to mals which they are fuppofed to refemble. Thus a hero is frequently termed a Lion, and a statesman a Fex; 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 fur

vey of the world exhibits, a fpecies of beings in human form, which may be properly marked out as the screech-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 purpofe than to difturb the happiness of others, to leffen the little comforts, and shorten the short pleafures of our condition, by painful remembrances of the part, or melancholy prognofticks of the future; their only 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 thote whofe weakness of fpirits, or timidity of temper, fubjects them to impreffions from others, and who are apt to fuffer by fafcination, and catch the contagion of mifery, it is extremely unhappy to live within the compafs of a

F. LEWIS.

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 passed in amufements or in business; it will burthen the heart with unnecessary 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 shoulder. I have, like moit other philofophers, often heard the cuckoo without money in my pocket, and have been fometimes reproached as foolhardy for not turning down my eyes when a raven flew over my head. I never go home abruptly because a snake crofles my way, nor have any particular dread of a climacterical year: yet I confefs that, with all my fcorn 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 fiftyeight years and four months, and have never yet paffed an hour with him in which he has not made fome attack upon ny quiet. When we were first 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 representations placed them in my fight.

Another of his topicks is the neglect of merit, with which he never fails to amufe every man whom he fees not eminently fortunate. If he meets with a young officer, he always informs him of gentlemen whofe perfonal courage is unquestioned, and whofe 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 phyficianAh, doctor," fays he, what, a-foot ftill, when fo many blockheads are rattling in their chariots? I told you, seven 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 honefty, will never enable you to live like yonder apothecary, who prefcribes to his own fhop, and laughs at the phyfician.'

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 for fear of bankruptcy, broke off an hundred and thirteen matches by prognoftications of unhappiness, and enabled the small-pox to kill nineteen ladies, by perpetual alarms of the lofs of beauty.

Whenever my evil ftars bring us together, he never fails to reprefent to me the folly of my purfuits, and informs me that we are much older than when we began our acquaintance, that the infirmities of decrepitude are coming faft upon me, that whatever I now get I fhall enjoy but a little time, that fame is to a

man tottering on the edge of the grave of very little importance, and that the time is at hand when I ought to look for no other pleasures than a good dinner and an easy-chair.

Thus he goes on in his unharmonious ftrain, difplaying prefent miferies, and foreboding more, wuTinogàs ade, Javarnpogo, every fyllable is loaded with misfortune, and death is always brought nearer to the view. Yet, what always raifes my refentment and indignation, I do not perceive that his mournful meditations have much effect upon himself. He talks, and has long talked of calamities, without difcovering, otherwife than by the tone of his voice, that he feels any of the evils which he bewails or threatens, but has the fame habit of uttering lamentations, as others of telling ftories, and falls into expreflions of condolence for paft, or apprehensions of future mifchiefs, as all men ftudious of their eafe have recourfe to thofe subjects upon which they can moft fluently or copiously difcourfe.

It is reported of the Sybarites, that they deftroyed all their cocks, that they might dream out their morning dreams without disturbance. Though I would not fo far promote effeminacy as to propofe the Sybarites for an example, yet fince there is no man fo corrupt or foolish, but fomething ufeful may be learned from him, I could with that, in imita-.. tion of a people not often to be copied, fome regulations might be made to exclude fcreech-owls from all company, as the enemies of mankind, and confine them to fome proper receptacle, where they may mingle fighs at leifure, and thicken the gloom of one another.

Thou prophet of evil,' fays Homer's Agamemnon, thou never foretelleft me good, but the joy of thy heart is to predict misfortunes. Whoever is of the fame temper might there find the means of indulging his thoughts, and improving his vein of denunciation, and the flock of fercech-owls might hoot together without injury to the rest of the world.

Yet, though I have fo little kindness for this dark generation, I am very far from intending to debar the foft and tender mind from the privilege of complaining, when the figh rifes from the defire not of giving pain, but of gaining ease. To hear complaints with patience, even when complaints are vain, is one of the

duties

duties of friendship; and though it muft be allowed that he fuffers most like a hero that hides his grief in filence

Spem vultu fimulat, premit altum corde dolorem. His outward fmiles conceal'd his inward smart. DRYDEN.

yet it cannot be denied, that he who complains acts like a man, like a focial

HOR.

A

LL joy or forrow for the happiness or calamities of others is produced by an act of the imagination, that realifes the event however fictitious, or approximates it however remote, by placing us, for a time, in the condition of him whofe fortune we contemplate; fo that we feel, while the deception laits, whatever motions would be excited by the fame good or evil happening to ourselves. Our paffions are therefore more strongly moved, in proportion as we can more readily adopt the pains or pleasure propofed to our ininds, by recogniting them as once our own, or confidering them as naturally incident to our state of life. It is not eafy for the moft artful writer to give us an intereft in happiness or mifery, which we think ourselves never likely to feel, and with which we have never yet been made acquainted. Hiftories of the downfal of kingdoms, and revolutions of empires, are read with great tranquillity; the imperial tragedy pleafes common auditors only by it's pomp of ornament and grandeur of ideas; and the man whofe faculties have been engroffed by bufinefs, and whofe heart never fluttered but at the rife or fall of Stocks, wonders how the attention can be feized, or the affection agitated, by a tale of love.

Thofe parallel circumstances and kindred images, to which we readily conform our minds, are, above all other writings, to be found in narratives of the lives of particular perfons; and therefore no fpecies of writing feems more

FRANCIS.

worthy of cultivation than Biography, fince none can be more delightful or more useful, non can more certainly enchain the heart by irrefiftible intereft, or more widely diffufe inftruction to every diverfity of condition.

The general and rapid narratives of hiftory, which involve a thoufand fortunes in the business of a day, and complicate innumerable incidents in one great tranfaction, afford few leffons applicable to private life, which derives it's comforts and it's wretchedness from the right or wrong management of things, which nothing but their frequency makes confiderable, Parve fi non fiunt quo

tidie,' fays Pliny, and which can have no place in thofe relations which never defcend below the confultation of fenates, the motions of armies, and the fchemes of confpirators.

I have often thought that there has rarely paffed a life of which a judicious and faithful narrative would not be ufeful. For not only every man has, in the mighty mafs of the world, great numbers in the fame condition with himself, to whom his mistakes and mifcarriages, escapes and expedients, would be of immediate and apparent ufe; but there is fuch an uniformity in the ftate of man, confidered apart from adventitious and feparable decorations and difguifes, that there is fcarce any poffibility of good or ill but is common to human kind. A great part of the time of those who are placed at the greatest distance by fortune, or by temper, muit unavoidably pafs in

the

the fame manner; and though, when the claims of nature are fatisfied, caprice, and vanity, and accident, begin to produce difcriminations and peculiarities, yet the eye is not very heedful or quick, which cannot difcover the fame caufes ftill terminating their influence in the fame effects, though fometimes accelerated, fometimes retarded, or perplexed by multiplied combinations. We are all prompted by the fame motives, all deceived by the fame fallacies, all animated by hope, obftructed by danger, entangled by defire, and feduced by plea

fure..

It is frequently objected to relations of particular lives, that they are not diftinguished by any striking or wonderful viciffitudes. The scholar who paffed his life among his books, the merchant who conducted only his own affairs, the pricft, whofe fphere of action was not extended beyond that of his duty, are confidered as no proper objects of publick regard, however they might have excelled in their several stations, whatever might have been their learning, integrity, and piety. But this notion arifes from false measures of excellence and dignity, and must be eradicated by confidering, that in the efteem of uncorrupted reafon, what is of most use is of most value.

It is, indeed, not improper to take honeft advantages of prejudice, and to gain attention by a celebrated name; but the bufinefs of the biographer is often to pafs fightly over thofe performances and incidents which produce vulgar greatnefs, to lead the thoughts into domeftick privacies, and difplay the minute details of daily life, where exterior appendages are caft afide, and men excel each other only by prudence and by virtue. The account of Thuanus is, with great propriety, faid by it's author to have been written, that it might lay open to pofterity the private and familiar character of that man, cujus ingenium et candorem ex ipfius fcriptis funt olim femper miraturi-whofe candour and genius will to the end of time be by his writings preferved in admiration.

There are many invifible circumAtances which, whether we read as enquirers after natural or moral knowledge, whether we intend to enlarge our fçience, or encrease our virtue, are more important than publick occurrences. Thus Salluft, the great master of nature,

has not forgot, in his account of Catiline, to remark that his walk was now quick, and again flow, as an indication. of a mind revolving fomething with violent commotion. Thus the ftory of Melanethon affords a ftriking lecture on the value of time, by informing us, that when he made an appointment, he ex-. pected not only the hour, but the minute to be fixed, that the day might not run out in the idleness of fufpenfe; and all the plans and enterprizes of De Wit are now of lefs importance to the world, than that part of his perfonal character which reprefents him as careful of his health, and negligent of his life.

But biography has often been allotted to writers who feem very little acquainted with the nature of their talk, or very negligent about the performance. They rarely afford any other account than might be collected from publick papers, but imagine themfelves writing a life when they exhibit a chronological feries of actions or preferments; and fo little regard the manners or behaviour of their heroes, that more knowledge may be gained of a man's real character, by a fhort converfation with one of his fervants, than from a formal and ftudied narrative, begun with his pedigree, and ended with his funeral.

If now and then they condescend to inform the world of particular facts, they are not always fo happy as to select the most important. I know not well what advantage pofterity can receive from the only circumitance by which Tickell has diftinguished Addifon from the rest of mankind-the irregularity of his pulse: nor can I think myself overpaid for the time spent in reading the life of Malherb, by being enabled to relate, after the learned biographer, that Malherb had two predominant opinions; one, that the loofenefs of a fingle woman might deftroy all her boaft of ancient defcent; the other, that the French beggars made use, very improperly and barbaroufly, of the phrafe noble Gentleman, becaufe either word included the fenfe of both.

There are, indeed, fome natural reafons why these narratives are often written by fuch as were not likely to give much inftruction or delight, and why moft accounts of particular perfons are barren and ufelefs. If a life be delayed till intereft and envy are at an end, we may hope for impartiality, but muft ex-. pet little intelligence; for the incidents

-S 2

which

which give excellence to biography are of a volatile and evanefcent kind, fuch as foon efcape the memory, and are rarely tranfmitted by tradition. We know how few can pourtray a living acquaintance, except by his moft prominent and obfervable particularities, and the groffer features of his mind; and it may be eafily imagined how much of this little knowledge may be loft in imparting it, and how foon a fucceffion of copies will lofe all refemblance of the original.

If the biographer writes from perfonal knowledge, and makes hafte to gratify the publick curiofity, there is danger left his intereft, his fear, his gratitude, or his tenderness, overpower his

I

SIR,

fidelity, and tempt him to conceal, if not to invent. There are many who think it an act of picty to hide the faults or failings of their friends, even when they can no longer fuffer by their detection; we therefore fee whole ranks of characters adorned with uniform panegyrick, and not to be known from one another, but by extrinfick and cafua! circumstances. Let me remember,' fays Hale, when I find myfeif inclined to pity a criminal, that there is likewife a pity due to the country.' If we owe regard to the memory of the dead, there is yet more refpect to be paid to knowledge, to virtue, and to truth.

HOR.

TO THE RAMBLER.

T is extremely vexatious to a man of eager and thirfty curiofity to be placed at a great diftance from the fountain of intelligence, and not only never to receive the current of report till it has fatiated the greateft part of the nation; but at last to find it mudded in it's courfe, and corrupted with taints or mixtures from every channel through which it flowed.

the chief pleafures of my life is to hear what paffes in the world, to know what are the fchemes of the politick, the aims of the bufy, and the hopes of the ambitious; what changes of publick meafures are approaching; who is likely to be crushed in the collifion of parties; who is climbing to the top of power, and who is tottering on the precipice of difgrace. But, as it is very common for us to defire moft what we are the leaft qualified to obtain, I have fuffered this appetite of news to cutgrow all the gratifications which my prefent fituation can afford it; for being placed in a remote country, I am condemned always to confound the future with the paft, to form prognoftications of events no longer doubtful, and to confider the expediency of fchemes al

FRANCIS.

ready executed or defeated. I am perplexed with a perpetual deception in my profpects, like a man pointing his telefcope at a remote ftar, which before the light reaches his eye has forfaken the place from which it was emitted.

The mortification of being thus always behind the active world in my reflections and difcoveries, is exceedingly aggravated by the petulance of thofe whofe health, or bufinefs, or pleafure, brings them hither from London. For, without confidering the infuperable difadvantages of my condition, and the unavoidable ignorance which abience must produce, they often treat me with the utmoft fupercilioufnefs of contempt, for not knowing what no human fagacity can discover; and fometimes feem to confider me as a wretch fcarcely worthy of human converfe, when I happen to talk of the fortune of a bankrupt, or propofe the healths of the dead, when I warn them of mifchiefs already incurred, or with for meafures that have been lately taken. They feem to attribute to the fuperiority of their intellects what they only owe to the accident of their condition, and think themselves indifputably intitled to airs of infolence and authority, when they find another ignorant of facts; which, becaufe they echoed in the streets of Lon

don,