poft at a fiege; but to emit it in old age, is to fleep at an attack. It has always appeared to me one of the moft ftriking paffages in the vifions of Quevedo, which ftigmatifes thofe as fools who complain that they failed of happiness by fudden death. How, fays he, can death be fudden to a being who always knew that he must die, and that the time of his death was uncertain ?` Since bufinefs and gaiety are always drawing our attention away from a fu ture ftate, fome admonition is frequent. ly neceffary to recall it to our minds and what can more properly renew the impreffion than the examples of mortality which every day fupplies? The great incentive to virtue is the reflection that we muft die; it will therefore be useful to accustom ourselves, whenever we fee a funeral, to confider how foon we may be added to the number of those whole probation is paft, and whofe happines or mifery fhall endure for ever. N° LXXIX. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1750. SUSP TAM SÆPE NOSTRUM DECIPI FABULLUM, QUID YOU WONDER I'VE 90 LITTLE WIT, USPICION, however neceffary it may be to our fafe paffage through ways bufet on all fides by fraud and malice, has been always confidered, when it exceeds the common meafures, as a token of depravity and corruption; and a Greek writer of fentences has laid down as a flanding maxim, that he who believes not another on his oath, knows bimfely to be perjured. We can form our opinions of that which we know not, only by placing it in comparison with fomething that we know: whoever, therefore, is over-run with fufpicion, and detects artifice and tratagem in every propofal, muft either have learned by experience or obfervation the wickednets of mankind, and been taught to avoid fraud by having often fuffered or feen treachery; or he mutt derive his judgment from the confcioufnefs of his own difpofition, and impute to others the fame inclinations which he feels predominant in himself. To learn caution by turning our eyes upon life, and obferving the arts by which negligence is furprifed, timidity overbome, and credulity amuted, requires either great latitude of converfe and long acquaintance with bufinefs, or uncommon activity of vigilance, and acuteness of penetration. When there fore a young man, not diftinguished by igour of intellect, comes into the world F. LEWIS. MART. full of fcruples and diffidence; makes a bargain with many provifional limitations; hesitates in his anfwer to a common question, left more fhould be intended than he can immediately discover; has a long reach in detecting the projects of his acquaintance; confiders every caress as an act of hypocrify, and feels neither gratitude nor affection from the tenderness of his friends, because he believes no one to have any real tenderness but for himself; whatever expectations this early fagacity may raife of his future eminence or riches, I can feldom forbear to confider him as a wretch incapable of generofity or benevolence, as a villain early completed beyond the need of common opportunities and gra dual temptations. Upon men of this clafs, inftruction and admonition are generally thrown away, because they confider artifice and deceit as proofs of understanding; they are mifled at the fame time by the two great feducers of the world, vanity and intereft; and not only look upon thofe who act with openness and confidence, zs condemned by their principles to obfcurity and want, but as contemptible for narrowness of comprehenfion, Portnefs of views, and flowness of contriv ance. The world has been long amused with the mention of policy in publick traní actions, actions, and of art in private affairs; they have been confidered as the effects of great qualities, and as unattainable by men of the common level: yet I have not found many performances, either of art or policy, that required fuch stupendous efforts of intellect, or might not have been effected by falfehood and impudence, without the afliftance of any other powers. To profefs what he does not mean, to promife what he cannot perform, to flatter ambition with propects of promotion, and mifery with hopes of relief; to footh pride with appearances of fubmiflion, and appeafe enmity by blandifhments and bribes; can furely imply nothing more or greater than a mind devoted wholly to it's own purposes, a face that cannot blush, and a heart that cannot feel. Thefe practices are so mean and bafe, that he who finds in himself no tendency to use them, cannot eafily believe that they are confidered by others with lefs deteítation; he therefore fuffers himfelf to flumber in falte fecurity, and becomes a prey to those who applaud their own fubtilty, because they know how to fteal upon his fleep, and exult in the fuccefs which they could never have obtained, had they not attempted a man better than themfelves, who was hindered from obviating their ftratagems, not by folly, but by innocence. Sufpicion is, indeed, a temper fo uneafy and reftlefs, that it is very justly appointed the concomitant of guilt. It is faid, that no torture is equal to the inhibition of fleep long continued; a pain to which the state of that man bears a very exact analogy who dares never give rett to his vigilance and circumfpection, but confiders himfelf as furrounded by fecret focs, and fears to intruft his children, or his friend, with the fecret that throbs in his breaft, and the anxieties that break into his face. To avoid, at this expence, thofe evils to which eafinefs and friendship might have exposed him, is furely to buy fafety at too dear a rate, and, in the language of the Roman fatirift, to fave life by loling all for which a wife man would live. When in the diet of the German empire, as Camerarius relates, the princes were once difplaying their felicity, and each boafting the advantages of his own dominions, one who poffeiled a country not remarkable for the grandeur of it's cities, or the fertility of it's foil, rofe to fpeak, and the rest liftened between pity and contempt, till he declared, in honour of his territories, that he could travel through them without a guard, and, if he was weary, fleep in fafety upon the lap of the first man whom he fhould meet; a commendation which would have been ill exchanged for the beaft of palaces, paftures, or streams. Sufpicion is not lefs an enemy to virtue than to happinefs: he that is already corrupt is naturally fufpicious, and he that becomes fufpicious will quickly be corrupt. It is too common for us to learn the frauds by which ourselves have fuffered; men who are once perfuaded that deceit will be employed against them, fometimes think the fame arts juftified by the neceffity of defence. Even they whofe virtue is too well esta blifhed to give way to example, or be fhaken by fophiftry, muft yet feel their love of mankind diminished with their efteem, and grow lefs zealous for the happiness of thofe by whom they imagine their own happiness endangered. Thus we find old age, upon which fufpicion has been strongly impreffed by long intercourfe with the world, inflexible and fevere, not easily foftened by fubmiffion, melted by complaint, or subdued by fupplication. Frequent experience of counterfeited miferies, and diffembled virtue, in time overcomes that difpofition to tenderness and fympathy, which is to powerful in our younger years; and they that happen to petition the old for compaffion or afliftance, are doomed to languish without regard, and fuffer for the crimes of men who have formerly been found undeferving or ungrateful. Hiftorians are certainly chargeable with the depravation of mankind, when they relate without centure thofe ftratagems of war by which the virtues of an enemy are engaged to his deftruction. A fhip comes before a port, weatherbeaten and thattered, and the crew implore the liberty of repairing their breaches, fupplying themfelves with neceffaries, or buying their dead. The humanity of the inhabitants inclines them to confent, the firangers enter the town with weapons concealed, fall fuddenly upon their benefactors, deftroy thofe that make refiftance, and becomig mafters of the place; they return home rich with plunder, and their facçefs is recorded to encourage imitation. 22 But But furely war has it's laws, and ought to be conducted with fome regard to the univerfal intereft of man. Those `may justly be purfued as enemies to the community of nature, who suffer hof tility to vacate the unalterable laws of right, and pursue their private advantage by means which, if once established, must destroy kindness, cut off from every man all hopes of afliftance from another, and fill the world with perpetual fufpicion and implacable malevolence. Whatever is thus gained ought to be restored; and thote who have conquered by fuch treachery may be justly denied the protection of their native country. Whoever commits a fraud is guilty not only of the particular injury to him whom he deceives, but of the diminution of that confidence which conftitutes not only the cafe but the exiftence of fociety. He that fuffers by impofture has too often his virtue more impaired than his fortune. But as it is neceffary not to invite robbery by fupinenefs, fo it is our duty not to fupprefs tenderness by fufpicion. It is better to fuffer wrong than to do it; and happier to be fometimes cheated than not to trust. N° LXXX. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1750. A BEHOLD YON MOUNTAIN'S HOARY HEIGHT, DRYDEN. S Providence has made the human pinefs they have made fufficient provi foul an active being, always im-ion for that infatiable demand of new patient for novelty, and ftruggling for gratifications, which feems particularly fomething yet unenjoyed with unwearied to characterize the nature of man. Our progreffion, the world feems to have fenfe of delight is in a great measure been eminently adapted to this difpofi- comparative, and arifes at once from the tion of the mind; it is formed to raise ex- fenfations which we feel, and those which pectations by conftant viciffitudes, and we remember: thus eafe after torment to obviate fatiety by perpetual change. is pleasure for a time, and we are very agreeably recreated, when the body, chilled with the weather, is gradually recovering it's natural tepidity; but the joy ceafes when we have forgot the cold, we must fall below eafe again, if we defire to rife above it, and purchase new felicity by voluntary pain. It is therefore not unlikely that, however the fancy may be amufed with the defcription of regions in which no wind is heard but the gentle zephyr, and no scenes are dif played but vallies enamelled with unfading flowers, and woods waving their perennial verdure, we fhould foon grow weary of uniformity, find our thoughts languifh for want of other fubjects, call on Heaven for our wonted round of feafons, and think ourselves liberally recompenfed for the inconveniencies of fimmer and winter, by new perceptions of the calmnefs and mildness of the in termediate variations Wherever we turn our eyes, we find fomething to revive our curiofity, and engage our attention, In the dufk of the morning we watch the rifing of the fun, and fee the day diverfify the clouds, and open new profpects in it's gradual advance. After a few hours, we fee the fhades lengthen, and the light decline, till the fky is refigned to a multitude of fhining orbs different from each other in magnitude and splendour. The earth varies it's appeara rance as we move upon it; the woods offer their fhades, and the fields their harvefts; the hill flatters with an extensive view, and the valley invites with thelter, fragrance, and flowers, The poets have numbered among the felicities of the golden age, an excmp tion from the change of feafons, and a perpetuity of fpring; but I am not certain that in this state of imaginary hap Every feafon has it's particular power of ftriking the mind. The nakednefs and afperity of the wintry world always fills the beholder with penfive and profound aftonishment; as the variety of the fcene is leffened, it's grandeur is increased; and the mind is fwelled at once by the mingled ideas of the prefent and the paft, of the beauties which have vanished from the eyes, and the waste and defolation that are now before them. It is obferved by Milton, that he who neglects to vifit the country in fpring, and rejects the pleasures that are then in their firit bloom and fragrance, is guilty of fullennefs against nature. If we allot different duties to different feafons, he may be charged with equal disobedience to the voice of nature who looks on the bleak hills, and leaflefs woods, without ferioufnefs and awe. Spring is the feafon of gaiety, and winter of terror; in fpring the heart of tranquillity dances to the melody of the groves, and the eye of benevolence sparkles at the fight of happinefs and plenty: in the winter, compaffion melts at univerfal calamity, and the tear of foftness starts at the wailings of hunger, and the cries of the creation in diftrefs. Few minds have much inclination to indulge heavinefs and forrow; nor do I recommend them beyond the degree neceffary to maintain in it's full vigour that habitual fympathy and tendernefs which, in a world of fo much mifery, is neceffary to the ready difcharge of our moft important duties. The winter therefore is generally celebrated as the proper feafon for domeftick merriment and gaiety. We are feldom invited by the votaries of pleasure to look abroad for any other purpose, than that we may fhrink back with more fatisfaction to our coverts, and when we have heard the howl of the tempeft, and felt the gripe of the froft, congratulate each other with more gladnefs upon a close room, an eafy chair, a large fire, and a fmoaking dinner. Winter brings natural inducements to jollity and converfation. Differences, we know, are never fo effectually laid. afleep, as by fome common calamity an enemy unites all to whom he threat, ens danger. The rigour of winter brings generally to the fame fire-fide thole who, by the oppolition of incli nations, or difference of employment, moved in various directions through the other parts of the year; and when they have met, and find it their mutual intereft to remain together, they endear each other by mutual compliances, and often wifh for the continuance of the focial feason, with all it's bleakness and all it's severities. To the men of ftudy and imagination the winter is generally the chief time of labour. Gloom and filence produce composure of mind, and concentration of ideas; and the privation of external pleasure naturally caufes an effort to find entertainment within. This is the time in which those whom literature enables to find amufements for themselves, have more than common convictions of their own happinefs. When they are condemned by the elements to retirement, and debarred from most of the diverfions which are called in to affift the flight of time, they can find new fubjects of enquiry, and preserve themfelves from that wearinefs which hangs always flagging upon the vacant mind. It cannot indeed be expected of all to be poets and philofophers; it is neceffary that the greater part of mankind should be employed in the minute business of common life; minute, indeed, not if we confider it's influence upon our happinefs, but if we refpect the abilities requifite to conduct it. Thefe muft neceffarily be more dependent on accident for the means of fpending agreeably thofe hours which their occupations leave unengaged, or nature obliges them to allow to relaxation. Yet even on these I would willingly imprefs fuch a fenfe of the value of time, as may incline them to find out for their carelefs hours amufements of more ufe and dignity than the common games which not only weary the mind without improving it, but strengthen the paffions of envy and avarice, and often lead to fraud and to profufion, to corruption and to ruin. It is unworthy of a reasonable being to fpend any of the little time allotted us, without fome tendency, either direct or oblique, to the end of our existence. And though every moment cannot be laid out on the formal and regular improvement of our knowledge, or in the ftated practice of a moral or religious duty, yet none fhould be fo fpent as to exclude wifdom or virtue, or pass with out out poffibility of qualifying us more or lefs for the better employment of thole which are to come. It is fcarcely poffible to pafs an hour in honeft converfation, without being able, when we rife from it, to please ourfelves with having given or received fome advantages; but a man may fhuffle cards, or rattle dice, from noon to midnight, without tracing any new idea in his nind, or being able to recollect the day by any other token than his gain or loss, and a confuted remembrance of agitated paffions, and clamorous altercations. However, as experience is of more weight than precept, any of my readers, who are contriving how to ipend the dreary months before them, may confider which of their past amusements fills them now with the greateft fatisfaction, and refolve to repeat thofe gratifications of which the pleasure is most durable. No LXXXI. TUESDAY, DECEMBER 25, 1750. DISCITE JUSTITIAM MONITI HEAR, AND BE JUST. MONG questions which have been VIRG. that his followers should rather excel in A difcuffed without any approach to goodness than in knowledge. His pre decifion, may be numbered the precedency or fuperior excellence of one virtue to another, which has long furnished a fubject of difpute to men whofe leifure fent them out into the intellectual world in fearch of employment, and who have, perhaps, been fometimes withheld from the practice of their favourite duty, by zeal for it's advancement, and diligence in it's celebration. The intricacy of this difpute may be alledged as a proof of that tendernets for mankind which Providence has, I think, univerfally difplayed, by making attainments caly in proportion as they are neceffary. That all the duties of morality ought to be practifed, is without difficulty discoverable, becaute ignorance or uncertainty would immediately involve the world in confufion and diftrefs; but which duty ought to be mott efteemed, we may continue to debate, without inconvenience, fo all be diligently performed as there is opportu. mity or need; for upon practice, not upon opinion, depends the happinefs of mankind, and controverfies, merely fpe. culative, are of fmall importance in themfelves, however they may have fometimes heated a difputant, or pro voked a faction. Of the divine author of our religion it is impoffible to perufe the evangelical hiftories, without obferving how little he favoured the vanity of inquititive. nefs; how much more rarely he con lefcended to fatisty curiofity, than to relove diltrefs; and how much he deired cepts tend immediately to the rectification of the moral principles, and the direction of daily conduct, without oftentation, without art, at once irrefragable and plain, fuch as well-meaning fimplicity may readily conceive, and of which we cannot mistake the meaning, but when we are afraid to find it. The measure of juftice prescribed to us, in our tranfactions with others, is remarkably clear and comprehenfive: Whatfoever ye would that men shoula do unto you, even fo do unto them. A law by which every claim of right may be immediately adjufted, as far as the private confcience requires to be informed; a law of which every man may find the expofition in his own breast, and which may always be obferved without any other qualifications than honesty of intention and purity of will. Over this law, indeed, fome fons of fophiftry have been fubtle enough to throw mifts, which have darkened their own eyes. To perplex this univerfal principle, they have enquired whether a man, confcious to himself of unreasonable wifhes, be bound to gratify them in another. But furely there needed no long deliberation to conclude, that the defires, which are to be confidered by us as the meature of right, must be such as we approve, and that we ought to pay no regard to thofe expectations in others which we condemn in ourselves, and which, however they may intrude upon our imagination, we know it our duty to relift and fuppre's. Qnc |