ftate, and wishes every fcene of life to change as foon as it is beheld. Such men found high and low ftations equally unable to fatisfy the wishes of a diftempered mind, and were unable to thelter themfelves in the clofeft retreat from difappointment, folicitude, and mifery. Yet though thefe admonitions have been thus neglected by those who either enjoyed riches, or were able to procure them, it is not rafhly to be determined that they are altogether without ufe; for fince far the greateft part of mankind must be confined to conditions comparatively mean, and placed in fituations from which they naturally look up with envy to the eminences before them, those writers cannot be thought ill employed that have administered remedies to difcontent almost univerfal, by fhowing, that what we cannot reach may very well be forborn, that the inequality of diftribution, at which we murmur, is for the most part lefs than it seems, and that the greatnefs, which we admire at a distance, has much fewer advantages, and much less fplendor, when we are fuffered to approach it.

It is the bufinefs of moralifts to detect the frauds of fortune, and to fhow that the impofes upon the careless eye, by a quick fucceffion of fhadows, which will fhrink to nothing in the gripe; that the difguifes life in extrinfick ornaments, which ferve only for fhow, and are laid afide in the hours of folitude and of pleafure; and that when greatnefs afpires either to felicity or wifdom, it thakes off those diftinétions which dazzle the gazer, and awe the fupplicant.

It may be remarked, that they whofe condition has not afforded them the light of moral or religious inftruction, and who collect all their ideas by their own eyes, and digeft them by their own understandings, feem to confider those who are placed in ranks of remote fuperiority, as almost another and higher fpecies of beings. As themselves have known little other mifery than the confequences of want, they are with difficulty perfuaded that where there is wealth there can be forrow, or that those who glitter in dig nity, and glide along in affluence, can be acquainted with pains and cares like thofe which lie heavy upon the rest of mankind.

This prejudice is, indeed, confined to the lowest meanness and the darkek ignorance; but it is fo confined only be

caufe others have been fhown it's folly and it's falsehood, because it has been oppofed in it's progrefs by history and philofophy, and hindered from spreading it's infection by powerful prefervatives.

The doctrine of the contempt of wealth, though it has not been able to extinguish avarice or ambition, or fupprefs that reluctance with which a man paffes his days in a state of inferiority, muft, at least, have made the lower conditions lefs grating and wearifome, and has confequently contributed to the general fecurity of life, by hindering that fraud and violence, rapine and circumvention, which must have been produced by an unbounded eagerness of wealth, arifmng from an unfhaken conviction, that to be rich is to be happy.

Whoever finds himself incited, by fome violent impulfe 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 rufhes to wealth, through right and wrong, what it will confer when he has acquired it; and this examination will feldom fail to reprefs his ardour, and retard his violence.

Wealth is nothing in itself; it is not ufeful but when it departs from us; it's value is found only in that which it can purchase, which, if we fuppofe it put to it's beft ufe by thofe that poffefs it, seems 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 pleafure nor block up the paffages of anguifh. Difeafe and infirmity ftill continue to torture and enfeeble, perhaps exafperated by luxury, or promoted by foftnefs. With respect 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 stupidity.

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

Even royalty itself 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 exittence 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

industry or fortune has obtained it. When we find them oppreffed with their own abundance, luxurious without pleafure, idle without eafe, impatient and querulous in themselves, and defpifed or hated by the reft of mankind, we fhall foon be convinced that if the real wants of our condition are fatished, there remaius little to be tought with folicitude, or defired with eagerness.

OVID.

T is common to distinguish men by

fuppofed to refemble. Thus a hero is frequently termed a Lion, and a statesman a Fox; an extortioner gains the appellation of Vulture, and a fop the title of Monkey. There is alfo among the various anomalies of character, which a furvey 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 barn for no other purpose than to difturb the happiness of others, to leffen the little comforts, and shorten the short plea fures of our condition, by painful remembrances of the past, or melancholy prognofticks of the future; their only care is to crufh the rifing hope, to damp the kindling transport, and allay the golden hours of gaiety with the hateful drofs of grief and fufpicion.

To those 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 compas of

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 fadder, by intruded forrows, the day which might have been paffed in amufements or in bufinefs; it will bur then 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 enemics, 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 cuckow 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 snake croffes my way, nor have any particular dread of a climacterical year: yet I confels 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 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 pleafures, 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.

The

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. 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, 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 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 fmall-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 eafy-chair.

Thus he goes on in his unharmonious ftrain, difplaying prefent miferies, and foreboding more, varnega àdes Savarùpe, es, every fyllable is loaded with miffortune, and death is always brought nearer to the view. Yet, what always raises 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 discovering, 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 expreffions of condolence for paft, or apprehenfions of future mischiefs, as all men ftudious of their eafe have recourfe to those subjects upon which they can moft fluently or copiously discourse.

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 wifh that, in imitation 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 fcreech-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 cafe. To hear complaints with patience, even when complaints are vain, is one of the S

duties

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

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

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

Α

being, who looks for help from his fel. low-creatures. Pity is to many of the unhappy a fource of comfort in hopeless diftrefics, as it contributes to recommend them to themfelves, by proving that they have not loft the regard of others; and Heaven feems to indicate the duty even of barren compaffion, by inclining us to weep for evils which we cannot remedy.

LL joy or forrow for the happiness or calamities of others is produced by an act of the imagination, that realizes 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 lafts, whatever motions would be excited by the fame good or evil happening to ourselves. Our paffions are therefore more ftrongly moved, in proportion as we can more readily adopt the pains or pleafure propofed to our minds, by recognizing them as once our own, or confidering them as naturally incident to our ftate of life. It is not eafy for the most 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. Hiftorics 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 orrament 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 flocks, 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 the narratives of the lives of particular perfons; and therefore no fpecies of writing feems more

worthy of cultivation than Biography, fince none can be more delightful or more useful, nor can more certainly enchain the heart by irrefiftible intereft, or more widely diffuse instruction to every diverfity of condition.

The general and rapid narratives of hiftory, which involve a thousand fortunes in the bufinefs 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 wretchednefs from the right or wrong management of things, which nothing but their frequency makes confiderable, Parva fi non funt quo

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

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 mals of the world, great numbers in the fame condition with himself, to whom his miftakes and mifcarriages, efcapes 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. great part of the time of thofe who are placed at the greatest distance by fortune, or by temper, mult unavoidably pafs in

A

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 fill 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 pleafure.

It is frequently objected to relations of particular lives, that they are not diftinguished by any ftriking or wonderful viciffitudes. The fcholar who paffed his life among his books, the merchant who conducted only his own affairs, the prieft, whofe fphere of action was not extended beyond that of his duty, are confidered as no proper objects of pub lick regard, however they might have excelled in their feveral ftations, whatever might have been their learning, integrity, and piety. But this notion arifes from falle measures of excellence and dignity, and must be eradicated by conffering, that in the efteem of uncorrupted reafon, what is of moft ufe is of moft value.

It is, indeed, not improper to take honelt 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 ipfus 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 circumftances which, whether we read as enquirers after natural or moral knowledge, whether we intend to enlarge our fcience, or encrease our virtue, are more important than publick occurrences. Thus Saluft, the great miafter 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 Melanthon affords a ftriking lecture on the value of time, by informing us, that when he made an appointment, he expected not only the hour, but the minute to be fixed, that the day might not run out in the idlenefs 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 bealth, and negligent of his life.

But biography has often been allotted to writers who feem very little acquainted with the nature of their task, or very negligent about the performance. They rarely afford any other account than might be collected from publick papers, but imagine themselves 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 studied narrative, begun with his pedigree, and ended with his funeral.

If now and then they condefcend to inform the world of particular facts, they are not always fo happy as to felect the most important. I know not well what advantage pofterity can receive from the only circumftance by which Tickell has diftinguished Addifon from the rest of mankind-the irregularity of his pulfe z 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 ner boaft of ancient defcent; the other, that the French beggars made ufe, very improperly and barbarously, of the phrafe noble Gentleman, becaufe either word included the fenfe of both.

There are, indeed, fome natural reafons why thefe narratives are often written by fuch as were not likely to give much inftruction or delight, and why most 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 expect little intelligence; for the incidents

S &

which