ed; that falfe colours were laboriously laid; that fome fecret inequality was found between the words and sentiments, or fome diffimilitude of the ideas and the original objects; that incongruities were linked together, or that fome parts were of no ufe but to enlarge the appearance of the whole, without contributing to it's beauty, folidity, or usefulneis. Wherever fuch difcoveries were made, and they were made whenever thele faults were committed, Criticifm retufed the touch which conferred the fanétion of immortality; and, when the errors were frequent and grois, reverfed the fceptre, and let drops of Lethe diftil from the poppies and cyprefs, a fatal mildew, which immediately began to waite the work away, till it was at laft totally destroyed. There were fome compofitions brought to the test, in which, when the strongest light was thrown upon them, their beauties and faults appeared fo equally mingled, that Criticifm ftood with her fceptre poifed in her hand, in doubt whether to thed Lethe or ambrofia upon them. Thefe at laft increased to fo great a number, that he was weary of attending fuch doubtful claims; and, for fear of ufing improperly the fceptre of Juftice, referred the caufe to be confidered by Time. The proceedings of Time, though very dilatory, were, fome few caprices excepted, conformable to juftice: and many who thought themselves fecure by a fhort forbearance, have funk under his fcythe, as they were pofting down with their volumes in triumph to futurity. It was oblerv able that fome were destroyed by little and little, and others crushed for ever by a fingle blow. Criticism, having long kept her eye fixed fteadily upon Time, was at last io well fatisfied with his conduct, that she withdrew from the earth with her patronets Aitrea, and left Prejudice and Falte Tatte to ravage at large as the affociates of Fraud and Mitchief; contenting herfelt thenceforth to shed her influence from atar upon fome felect minds, fitted for it's reception by learning and by virtue. Before her departure the broke her fceptre; of which the fhivers that formed the ambrofial end were caught up by Flattery, and those that had been infected with the waters of Lethe were, with equal hafte, feized by Malevolence. The followers of Flattery, to whom the diftributed her part of the iceptre, neither had nor desired light, but touched indiicriminately whatever Power or Intereft happened to exhibit. The companiors of Malevolence were fupplied by the Furies with a torch, which had this qualitypeculiar to infernal luftre, that it's light fell only upon faults. No light, but rather darkness visible, Serv'd only to difcover fights of woe. With thefe fragments of authority, the flaves of Flattery and Malevolence marched out, at the command of their miftreffes, to confer immortality, or condemn to oblivion. But the fceptre had now loft it's power; and Time paffes his ientence at leisure, without any regard to their determinations. N° IV. SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1750. SIMUL ET JUCUNDA ET IDONEA DICERE VITA. AND JOIN BOTH PROFIT AND DELIGHT IN ONE. TH HE works of fiction, with which the prefent generation feems more particularly delighted, are fuch as exhibit life in it's true ftate, diverfified only by accidents that daily happen in the world, and influenced by paffions and qualities which are really to be found in converfing with mankind. This kind of writing may be termed not improperly the comedy of romance, and is to be conducted nearly by the rules of comick poetry. It's province is to bring about natural events by eafy means, and to keep up curiofity with HOR. CREECH out the help of wonder: it is therefore precluded from the machines and expedients of the heroick romance, and can neither employ giants to inatch away a lady from the nuptial rites, nor knights to bring her back from captivity; it can neither bewilder it's perfonages in defarts, nor lodge them in imaginary caftles. I remember a remark made by Scaliger upon Pontanus-that all his writings are filled with the fame images; and that if you take from him his lilies and his roles, his Satyrs and his Dryads, he will have nothing's left that can be called B poetry. poetry. In like manner, almost all the fictions of the laft age will vanith, if you deprive them of a hermit and a wood, a battle and a fhipwreck. Why this wild train of imagination found reception fo long, in polite and learned ages, it is not eafy to conceive; but we cannot wonder that while readers could be procured, the authors were willing to continue it; for when a man had by practice gained fome fluency of language, he had no further care than to retire to his clofet, let loofe his invention, and heat his mind with incredibilities: a book was thus produced without fear of criticifm; without the toil of study, without knowledge of nature, or acquaintance with life. The talk of our prefent writers is very different; it requires, together with that learning which is to be gained from books, that experience which can never be attained by folitary diligence, but mutt arife from general converfe and accurate obfervation of the living world. Their performances have, as Horace exprefies it Plus oneris quantum venie mius-little indulgence, and there ⚫fore more difficulty. They are engaged in portraits of which every one knows the original, and can detect any deviation from exactness of refemblance. Other writings are fate, except from the malice of learning; but these are in danger from every cominon reader: as the flipper ill execute was cenfured by a thoemaker who happened to ftop in his way at the Venus of Apelles. But the fear of not being approved as juft copiers of human manners, is not the most important concern that an author of this fort ought to have before him. Thefe books are written chiefly to the young, the ignorant, and the idle, to whom they ferve as lectures of condust, and introductions into life. They are the entertainment of minds unfurnithed with ideas, and therefore eafily fufceptible of impreffions; not fixed by principles, and therefore cafily following the current of fancy; not informed by experience, and confequently open to every falle fuggeftion and partial ac count. That the highest degree of reverence fhould be paid to youth, and that nothing in lecent fhould be fuffered to approach their eyes or ears, are precepts Extorted by fenfe and virtue f.om an ancient writer by no means eminent for chastity of thought. The fame kind, though not the fame degree of caution, is required in every thing which is laid before them, to fecure them from unjuk prejudices, perverfe opinions, and incongruous combinations of images. In the romances formerly written, every tranfaction and fentiment was fo remote from all that paffes among men, that the reader was in very little danger of making any applications to himself; the virtues and crimes were equally be yond his fphere of activity; and he amufed himself with herces and with traitors, deliverers and perfecutors, as with beings of another fpecies, whose actions were regulated upon motives of their own, and who had neither faults nor excellences in common with himfelf. But when an adventurer is levelled with the rest of the world, and acts in fuch scenes of the univerfal drama as may be the lot of any other man, young fpectators fix their eyes upon him with clofer attention, and hope, by obferving his behaviour and fuccefs, to regulate their own practices when they fhall be engaged in the like part. For this reafon, thefe familiar histories may perhaps be made of greater use than the folemnities of profefed morality, and convey the knowledge of vice and virtue with more efficacy than axioms and d finitions. But if the power of example is fo great as to take poffeffion of the memory by a kind of violence, and produce effects almoft without the intervention of the will, care ought to be taken that, when the choice is unreftrained, the best examples only fhould be exhibited; and that which is likely to operate fo ftrongly, fhould not be mifchievous or uncertain in it's effects. The chief advantage which these fietions have over real life is, that their authors are at liberty, though not to invent, yet to select objects, and to cull from the mafs of mankind thofe individuals upon which the attention 'ought moit to be employed; as a diamond, though it cannot be made, may be lished by art, and placed in fuch a fituation as to difplay that luftre which before was buried among common ftones. po It is justly confidered as the greatest excellency of art, to imitate nature; but it is neceffary to diftinguish thofe parts of nature which are most proper for imitation: greater care is still required in re pre prefenting life, which is fo often difcoloured by paffion, or deformed by wickedness. If the world be promitcuoufly defcribed, I cannot fee of what ule it can be to read the account; or why it may not be as fafe to turn the eye immediately upon mankind as upon a mirror, which fhews all that prefents itfelf without difcrimination. It is therefore not a fufficient vindication of a character, that it is drawn as it appears, for many characters ought never to be drawn; nor of a narrative, that the train of events is agreeable to obfervation and experience, for that obfervation which is called knowledge of the world will be found much more frequendly to make men cunning than good. The purpofe of thefe writings is furely not only to fhew mankind, but to provide that they may be seen hereafter with lefs hazard, to teach the means of avoiding the fnares which are laid by Treathery for Innocence, without infufing any with for that fuperiority with which the betrayer flatters his vanity; to give the power of counteracting fraud, withcut the temptation to practise it; to initiate youth by mock encounters in the art of neceffary defence, and to increafe prudence without impairing virtue. Many writers, for the fake of following nature, fo mingle good and bad qualities in their principal perfonages, that they are both equally confpicuous; and as we accompany them through their adventures with delight, and are led by degrees to intereft ourfelves in their favour, we lofe the abhorrence of their faults, because they do not hinder cur pleafure, or perhaps regard them with fome kindnefs for being united with fo much merit. There have been men, indeed, fplendidly wicked, whofe endowments threw a brightness on their crimes, and whom fcarce any villainy made perfectly deteftable, because they never could be wholly divefted of their excellences: but fuch have been in all ages the great corrupters of the world; and their refemblance ought no more to be preferved, than the art of murdering without pain. Mac? Satan Some have advanced, without due attention to the confequences of this notion, that certain virtues have their correfponding faults; and, therefore, that to exhibit either apart is to deviate from probability. Thus men are obferved by Swift to be grateful in the fame degree as they are refentful.' This principle, with others of the fame kind, fuppoles man to act from a brute impulte and purfue a certain degree of inclination, without any choice of the object; for, otherwife, though it should be allowed that gratitude and refentment arife from the fame constitution of the paffions, it follows not that they will be equally indulged when reafon is confulted; yet unle's that conlequence be admitted, this fagacious maxim becomes an empty found, without any relation to practice or to life. Nor is it evident, that even the first motions to thefe effects are always in the fame proportion. For Pride, which produces quickness of refentment, will obftruct gratitude, by unwillingness to admit that inferiority which obligation implies; and it is very unlikely that he who cannot think he receives a favour, will acknowledge or repay it. It is of the utmost importance to mankind, that pofitions of this tendency fhould be laid open and confuted; for while men confider good and evil as fpringing from the fame root, they will fpare the one for the fake of the other; and, in judging, if not of others, at least of themfelves, will be apt to estimate their virtues by their vices. To this fatal error all thofe will contribute who confound the colours of right and wrong; and, instead of helping to fettle their boundaries, mix them with so much art, that no common mind is able to difunite them. In narratives, where hiftorical veracity has no place, I cannot difcover why there fhould not be exhibited the moit perfect idea of virtue; of virtue not angelical, nor above probability, for what we cannot credit we fhall never imitate, but the higheft and pureft that humanity can reach, which, exercifed in fuch trials as the various revolutions of things ihall bring upon it, may, by conquering fome calamities, and enduring others, teach us what we may hope, and what we can perform. Vice, for vice is neceffary to be fhewn, fhould always difguft; nor fhould the graces of gaiety, or the dignity of courage, be fo united with it as to reconcile it to the mind. Where ever it appears, it should raife hatred by the malignity of it's practices, and contempt by the meannefs of it's ftratagems; for while it is fupported by either parts er fpirit, it will be seldom heartily abhorred. The Roman tyrant was conrent to be hated, if he was but feared; And there are thou ands of the readers of romances willing to be thought wicked, if they may be allowed to be wits. It is therefore to be fteadily inculeated, that virtue is the highest proof of understanding, and the only tolid bafis of greatneis: and that vice is the natural confequence of narrow thoughts; that it begins in mistake, and ends in ignominy. No V. TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 1750. IT NUNC OMNIS AGER, NUNC OMNIS PARTURIT ARBOS; NOW EVERY FIELD, NOW EVERY TREE, IS GREEN; VERY man is fufficiently difcon VIRG. ELPHINSTON. high price, it would fall it's value in the E'ented with fonte circunftances of Spring. his prefent ftate, to inffer his imagina tion to range more or lefs in queft af future happiness, and to fix upon fome point of time, in which, by the removal of the inconvenience which now perplexes him, or acquifition of the advantage which he at prefent wants, he thall find the condition of his life very much improved. When this time, which is too often expected with great impatience, at laft arrives, it generally comes without the bleffing for which it was defired; but we folace ourselves with fome new profpect, and prefs forward again with equal eagernefs. It is lucky for a man in whom this temper prevails, when he turns his hopes upon things wholly out of his own power; fince he forbears then to precipitate his affairs, for the fake of the great event that is to compleat his felicity, and waits for the blissful hour with leis neglect of the measures neceffary to be taken in the mean time. I have long known a perfon of this temper, who indulged his dream of happinefs with lefs hurt to himself than such chimerical wishes commonly produce, and adjusted his fcheme with fuch addrefs, that his hopes were in full bloom three parts of the year, and in the other part never wholly blafted. Many, perhaps, would be defirous of learning by what means he procured to himself fuch a cheap and lafting fatisfaction. It was gained by a conftant practice of referring the removal of all his unetinets to the coming of the next foring: if his heath was impaired, the fpring would reftore it; if what he wanted was at a The fpring, indeed, did often come without any of these effects, but he was always certain that the next would be more propitious; nor was ever convinced that the prefent fpring would fail him before the middle of fummer: for he always talked of the fpring as coming till it was past; and, when it was once paft, every one agreed with him that it was coming. By long converfe with this man, I am, perhaps, brought to feel immoderate pleafare in the contemplation of this delightful season : but I have the fatisfaction of finding many, whom it can be no fhame to resemble, infected with the fame enthufiafin; for there is, I believe, fearce any poet of eminence who has not left fome teftimony of his fondness for the flowers, the zephyrs, and the warblers of the fpring. Nor has the mott luxuriant imagination been able to defcribe the ferenity and happiness of the golden age otherwife than by giving a perpetual fpring, as the highest reward of uncorrupted innocence. There is, indeed, fomething inexpreffibly pleafing in the annual renovation of the world, and the new difplay of the treafures of nature. The cold and darknefs of winter, with the naked deformity of every obiect on which we turn our eyes, make us rejoice at the fucceeding feafon, as well for what we have escaped, as for what we may enjoy; and every budding flower, which a warm fituation brings early to our view, is conidered by us as a meffenger to notify the approach of more joyous days. The Spring affords to a mind, fo free from the disturbance of cares or paffions as as to be vacant to calm amusements, almost every thing that our prefent itate makes us capable of enjoying. The variegated verdure of the fields and woods, the fucceffion of grateful odours, the voice of pleafure pouring out it's notes on every fide, with the gladness apparently conceived by every animal, from the growth of his food, and the clemency of the weather, throw over the whole earth an air of gaiety, fignificantly expreffed by the fimile of nature. Yet there are men to whom thefe fcenes are able to give no delight, and who hurry away from all the varieties of rural beauty, to lofe their hours and divert their thoughts by cards or affemblies, a tavern dinner, or the prattle of the day. It may be laid down as a pofition which will feldom deceive, that when a man cannot bear his own company there is fomething wrong. He must fly from himself, either because he feels a tediouf (ness in life from the ty mind, which, having no tendency to one motion more than another but as it is impelled by fome external power, muft always have recourfe to foreign objects; or he must be afraid of the intrufion of fome unpleafing ideas, and perhaps is truggling to escape from the remembrance of a lofs, the fear of a calamity, or fome other thought of greater horior. Thofe whom forrow incapacitates to enjoy the pleafures of contemplation, may properly apply to fuch diverfions, provided they are innocent, as lay ftrong hold on the attention; and those whom fear of any future affliction chains down to nifery muft endeavour to obviate the danger, My confiderations fhall, on this occafion, be turned on fuch as are burdenfome to themselves merely because they want fubjects for reflection, and to whom the volume of nature is thrown open without affording them pleasure or inftruction, because they never learned to read the characters. A French author has advanced this feeming paradox-that very few men know how to take a walk; and, indeed, it is true, that few know how to take a walk with a profpect of any other pleasure than the fame company would have afforded them at home. There are animals that borrow their colour from the neighbouring body, and confequently vary their hue as they hap pen to change their place. In like manher it ought to be the endeavour of every man to derive his reflections from the objects about him; for it is to no purpofe that he alters his pofition, if his attention continues fixed to the fame point. The mind fhould be kept open to the ccefs of every new idea, and fo far difengaged from the predominance of particular thoughts as easily to accommodate itself to occafional entertainment. A man that has formed this habit of turning every new object to his entertainment, finds in the production of nature an inexhaustible stock of materials upon which he can employ himself without any temptations to envy or malevolence; faults, perhaps, feldom totally avoided by thofe whofe judgment is much exercifed upon the works of art. He has always a certain profpect of difcovering new reafons for adoring the fovereign Author of the univerfe, and probable hopes of making fome difcovery of benefit to others, or of profit to himfelf. There is no doubt but many vegetables and animals have qualities that might be of great ufe, to the knowledge of which there is not required much force of penetration, or fatigue of study, but only frequent experiments and clofe attention. What is faid by chymifts of their darling mercury, is perhaps true of every body through the whole creation, that if a thoufand lives fhould be spent upon it, all it's properties would not be found out. Mankind must neceffarily be diverfified by various tastes, fince life affords and requires fuch multiplicity of employments; and a nation of naturalifts is neither to be hoped nor defired : but it is furely not improper to point out a fresh amufement to thofe who languish in health, and repine in plenty, for want of fome fource of diverfion that may be less easily exhausted, and to inform the multitudes of both fexes, who are burdened with every new day, that there are many fhews which they have not feen. He that enlarges his curiofity after the works of nature, demonftrably multiplies the inlets to happinefs; and therefore the younger part of my readers, to whon I dedicate this vernal fpeculation, muft excufe me for calling upon them, to make use at once of the spring of the year, and the fpring of life; to acquire, while their minds may be yet impreffed with new images, a love of innocent plea fures, |