far juftified by the knowledge of life, as to damp the hopes of warm and conftant friendthip between men whom their studies have made competitors, and whom every favourer and every cenfurer are hourly inciting against each other. The utmost expectation that experience can warrant, is, that they fhould forbear open hoftilities and fecret machinations, and when the whole fraternity is attacked, be able to unite against a common foe. Some, however, though few, may perhaps be found, in whom emulation has not been able to overpower generofity, who are diftinguished from lower beings by nobler motives than the love of fame, and can preferve the facred flame of friendship from the gufts of pride, and the rubbish of intereft. Friendship is feldom lafting but between equals, or where the fuperiority on one fide is reduced by fome equiva lent advantage on the other. Benefits which cannot be repaid, and obligations which cannot be difcharged, are not commonly found to increase affection; they excite gratitude indeed, and heighten veneration, but commonly take away that eafy freedom, and familiarity of intercourfe, without which, though there may be fidelity, and zeal, and admiration, there cannot be friendship. Thus imperfect are all earthly bleflings; the great effect of friendship is beneficence, yet by the first act of uncommon kindnefs it is endangered, like plants that bear their fruit and die. Yet this confideration ought not to reftrain bounty, or reprefs compaffion, for duty is to be preferred before convenience; and he that lofes part of the pleasures of friendship by his generofity, gains in it's place the gratulation of his confcience. No LXV. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 30, 1750. GARRIT ANILES EX RE FABELLAS. HOR. THE CHEERFUL SAGE, WHEN SOLEMN DICTATES FAIL, OBIDAH, the son of Abenfin, left BIDAH, the fon of Abenfina, left ing, and purfued his journey through the plains of Indoftan. He was fresh and vigorous with reft; he was animated with hope; he was incited by defire; he walked fwiftly forward over the vallies, and faw the hills gradually rifing before him. As he paffed along, his ears were delighted with the morning fong of the bird of paradife, he was fanned by the last flutters of the finking breeze, and fprinkled with dew by groves of fpices; he fometimes contemplated the towering height of the oak, monarch of the hills; and fometimes caught the gentle fragrance of the primrofe, eldest daughter of the fpring all his fenfes were gratified, and all care was banished from his heart. Thus he went on till the fun approached his meridian, and the increating heat preyed upon his ftrength; he then looked round about him for fome more commodious path. He faw, on his right hand, a grove that feemed to wave it's fhades as a fign of invitation; he entered it, and found the coolness and verdure irrefiftibly pleafant. He did not, how ever, forget whither he was travelling, but found a narrow way bordered with flowers, which appeared to have the fame direction with the main road, and was pleafed that, by this happy experiment, he had found means to unite pleasure with bufinefs, and to gain the rewards of diligence without fuffering it's fatigues. He therefore ftill continued to walk, for a time, without the leaft remiffion of his ardour, except that he was fometimes tempted to stop by the musick of the birds, whom the heat had aflembled in the fhade; and fometimes amufed himself with plucking the flowers that covered the banks on either fide, or the fruits that hung upon the branches. At laft the green path began to decline from it's firft tendency, and to wind among hills and thickets, cooled with fountains, and murmuring with water-falls. Here Obidah pauled for a time, and began to confider whether it were longer fafe to for fake the known and common track; but remembering that the heat was now in it's greatest violence, and that the plain was dufty and uneven, he refolved to pursue the new path, which he fuppoted only to make a few meanders, in compliance with the varieties of the ground, and to end at laft in the common road. Having thus calmed his folicitude, he renewed his pace, though he fufpected that he was not gaining ground. This uneafinefs of his mind inclined him to lay hold on every new object, and give way to every fenfation that might footh or divert him. He liftened to every echo, he mounted every hill for a fresh profpect, he turned afide to every cafcade, and pleafed himself with tracing the courfe of a gentle river that rolled among the trees, and watered a large region with innumerable circumvolutions. In thefe amufements the hours paffed away uncounted, his deviations had perplexed his memory, and he knew not towards what point to travel. He ftood penfive and confused, afraid to go forward left he should go wrong, yet conscious that the time of loitering was now paít. While he was thus tortured with uncertainty, the fky was overspread with clouds, the day vanished from before him, and a fudden tempeft gathered round his head. He was now routed by his danger to a quick and painful remembrance of his folly; he now faw how happiness is loft when cafe is confulted; he lamented the unnanly impatience that prompted him to teek shelter in the grove, and defpifed the petty curiofity that led him on from trifle to trifle. While he was thus reflecting, the air grew blacker, and a clap of thunder broke his meditation. He now refolved to do what remained yet in his power, to tread back the ground which he had paffed, and try to find fome iffue where the wood might open into the plain. He proftrated himfelf on the ground, and commended his life to the Lord of nature. He rofe with confidence and tranquillity, and preffed on with his fabre in his hand, for the beafts of the defart were in motion, and on every hand were heard the mingled howls of rage and fear, and ravage and expiration; all the horrors of darknefs and folitude furrounded him; the winds roared in the woods, and the torrents tumbled from the hills - χείμαρροι ποταμοὶ κατ' ὅ ρεσφι ῥέοντες Work'd into fudden rage by wint'ry show'rs, Thus forlorn and diftreffed, he wandered through the wild, without knowing whither he was going, or whether he was every moment drawing nearer to fafety or to deftruction. At length not fear but labour began to overcome him; his breath grew fhort, and his knees trembled; and he was on the point of lying down in refignation to his fate, when he beheld through the brambles the glimmer of a taper. He advanced towards the light, and finding that it proceeded from the cottage of a hermit, he called humbly at the door, and obtained admiffion. The old man fet before him fuch provifions as he had collected for himself, on which Obidah fed with eagerness and gratitude. When the repait was over- Tell 'me,' faid the hermit, by what chance • thou hast been brought hither; I have 'been now twenty years an inhabitant of the wilderness, in which I never faw a man before.' Obidah then related the occurrences of his journey, without any concealment or pailiation. Son,' faid the hermit, let the errors and follies, the dangers and efcape, of this day, fink deep into thy heart. Remember, my on, that hu man life is the journey of a day. We rife in the morning of youth, full of vigour and full of expectation; we fet forward with fpirit and hope, with gaiety and with diligence, and travel on a while in the ftraight road of piety towards the manfions of reft. In a fhert time we remit our fervour, and endeavour to find fome mitigation of cur duty, and fome more eafy means of obtaining the fame end. We then relax our vigour, and refolve no long" er to be terrified with crimes at a diftance, but rely upon our own conftancy, and venture to approach what we refolve never to touch. We thus ⚫ enter the bowers of eafe, and repofe inthe fhades of fecurity. Here the heart foftens, and vigilance fubfides; we are then willing to enquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not, at leaft, turn our eyes upon the gardens of pleasure. We approach them with fcruple and hesitation; we enter them, but enter timorous and treinbling, and always hope to pass through thei without ་ 'without lofing the road of virtue, which we for a while keep in our fight, and to which we propofe to return. But ' temptation fucceeds temptation, and one compliance prepares us for another; we in time lofe the happines of innocence, and folace our difquiet with fenfual gratifications. By degrees we let fall the remembrance of our original intention, and quit the only adequate 'object of rational defire. We entangle ourselves in bufinefs, immerge ourfelves in luxury, and rove through the labyrinths of inconftancy, till the darknels of old age begins to invade us, and difeafe and anxiety obftruct our way. We then look back upon our lives with horror, with forrow, with repentance; and with, but too often • vainly wish, that we had not forfaken the ways of virtue. Happy are they, my fon, who shall learn from thy example not to despair, but shall remember, that though the day is past, and their ftrength is wafted, there yet remains one effort to be made; that reformation is never hopelefs, nor fincere endeavours ever unaflifted; that the wanderer may at length return af ter all his errors; and that he who implores ftrength and courage from above, fhall find danger and difficulty 'give way before him. Go now, my ion, to thy repofe; commit thyfelf to the care of Omnipotence; and when the morning calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and thy life.' N° LXVI. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1750. PAUCI DIGNOSCERE POSSUNT VERA BONA, ATQUE ILLIS MULTUM DIVERSA, REMOTA Juv. HOW FEW KNOW THEIR OWN GOOD; OR KNOWING IT, PURSUE? HE folly of human wifhes and THE puriuits has always been a ftanding fubject of mirth and declamation, and has been ridiculed and lamented from age to age; till perhaps the fruitless repetition of complaints and cenfures may be justly numbered among the fubjects of cenfure and complaint. Some of thefe inftructors of mankind have not contented themfelves with checking the overflows of paffion, and lopping the exuberance of defire, but have attempted to destroy the root as well as the branches; and not only to confine the raind within bounds, but to fmooth it for ever by a dead calm. They have employed their reaíon and eloquence to perfuade us, that nothing is worth the with of a wide man; have reprefented all earthly good and evil as indifferent; and counted, among vulgar errors, the dread of pain, and the love of life. I is almost always the unhappinefs of a victorious desputent, to destroy his own authority by claiming too many confequences, or diffufing his propofition to an indefenfil le extent. When we have inated our zeal in a caufe, and elated DRYDEN. our confidence with fuccefs, we are na. turally inclined to purfue the fame train of reafoning, to eftablifh fome collateral truth, to remove fome adjacent difficulty, and to take in the whole comprehenGon of our fyftem. As a prince, in the ardour of acquifition, is willing to secure his first conqueft by the addition of another, add fortrefs to fortrefs, and city to city, till despair and opportunity turn. his enemies upon him, and he lofes in a moment the glory of a reign. The philofophers having found an eafy victory over thofe defires which we produce in ourselves, and which termihate in fome imaginary ftate of happinet's unknown and unattainable, proceeded to make farther inroads upon the heart, and attacked at laft our fenfes and our inftincts. They continued to war upon nature with arms, by which only folly could be conquered; they therefore loft the trophies of their former combats, and were confidered no longer with reverence or regard. Yet it cannot be with justice denied, that these men have been very useful monitors, and have left many proofs of ftrong frong reafon, deep penetration, and accurate attention to the affairs of life, which it is now our butineis to feparate from the foam of a boiling imagination, and to apply judiciously to our own ufe. They have fhewn that most of the conditions of life, which raife the envy of the timorous, and route the ambition of the daring, are empty shows of felicity, which, when they become familiar, lofe their power of delighting; and that the most profperous and exalted have very few advantages over a meaner and more obfcure fortune, when their dangers and folicitudes are balanced against their equipage, their banquets, and their palaces. It is natural for every man uninstructed to murmur at his condition, becaufe in the general infelicity of life he feels his own miferics, without knowing that they are common to all the rest of the fpecies; and therefore, though he will not be lefs fenfible of pain by being told that others are equally tormented, he will at least be freed from the temptation of fecking, by perpetual changes, that ease which is no where to be found; and, though his difeafe ftill continues, he efcapes the hazard of exasperating it by remedies. The gratifications which affluence of wealth, extent of power, and eminence of reputation, confer, must be always by their own nature confined to a very fmail number; and the life of the greater part of mankind must be loft in empty wifhes and painful comparifons, were not the balm of philofophy shed upon us, and our difcontent at the appearances of an unequal distribution foothed and appealed. It feemed, perhaps, below the dignity of the great mafters of moral learning, to defcend to familiar life, and caution mankind against that petty ambition which is known among us by the name of Vanity; which yet had been an undertaking not unworthy of the longest beard, and most folemn austerity. For though the paflions of little minds, acting in low ftations, do not fill the world with bloodfhed and devaftations, or mark by great events the periods of time, yet they torture the breast on which they feize, infeft thole that are placed within the reach of their influence, deftroy private quiet and private virtue, and undermine in fenfibly the happiness of the world. The defire of excellence is laudable, but is very frequently ill directed. We fall, by chance, into fome clafs of man kind; and, without confulting nature or wildom, refolve to gain their regard by thofe qualities which they happen to eftecm. I once knew a man remarkably dim-fighted, who, by converting much with country gentlemen, found himself irresistibly determined to fylvan honours. His great ambition was to fhoot flying, and he therefore fpent whole days in the woods purfuing game; which, before he was near enough to fee them, his approach frighted away. When it happens that the desire tends to objects which produce no competition, it may be overlooked with fome indulgence; becaufe, however fruitless or abfurd, it cannot have ill effects upon the morals. But most of our enjoyments owe their value to the peculiarity of poffeffion, and when they are rated at too high a value, give occafion to itratagems of malignity, and incite oppofition, hatred, and defamation. The contest of two rural beauties for preference and diftinction is often fufficiently keen and rancorous to fill their breasts with all those paffions which are generally thought the curfe only of fenates, of armies, and of courts; and the rival dancers of an obfcure affembly have their partisans and abettors, often not lefs exafperated against each other than thofe who are promoting the interefts of rival monarchs. It is common to confider those whom we find infected with an unreasonable regard for trifling accomplishments, as chargeable with all the confequences of their folly, and as the authors of their own unhappinefs; but, perhaps, those whom we thus fcorn or deteft, have more claim to tenderness than has been yet allowed them. Before we permit our feverity to break loose upon any fault or error, we ought furely to confider how much we have countenanced or promoted it. We fee multitudes bufy in the purfuit of riches, at the expence of wifdom and of virtue; but we see the reft of mankind approving their conduct, and inciting their eagerness, by paying that regard and deference to wealth, which wildom and virtue can only deferve. We fee women univerfally jealous of the reputation of their beauty, and frequently look with contempt on the care with which they study their complexions, endeavour to preferve or to fupply the bloom of youth, regulate every ornament, twist their hair into curls, and fhade |