involuntarily pay to the meaneft relique of a man great and illuftrious, is intended as an incitement to labour, and an encouragement to expect the fame reward, if it be fought by the fame virtues. The virtuofo, therefore, cannot be faid to be wholly ufelefs; but perhaps le may be fometimes culpable for confining himself to bufinefs below his genius, and lofing, in petty fpeculations, thofe hours by which, if he had spent them in nobler ftudies, he might have given new light to the intellectual world. It is never without grief, that I find a man capable of ratiocination or invention enlifting himself in this fecondary clafs of learning; for when he has once difcovered a method of gratifying his defire of eminence by expence rather than by labour, and known the fweets of a life bleft at once with the ease of idleness and the reputation of knowledge, he will not eafily be brought to undergo again the toil of thinking, or leave his toys and trinkets for arguments and principles, arguments which require circumfpection and vigilance, and principles which cannot be obtained but by the drudgery of meditation. He will gladly fhut himfelf up for ever with his fhells and medals, like the companions of

Ulyffes, who having tafted the fruit of Lotos, would not, even by the hope of feeing their own country, be tempted again to the dangers of the sea.

'Αλλ ̓ αὐτε βύλαπο μετ' άνδρασι Λωτοφάγοισι, Δωτὸν ἐρεπόμενο μένεμεν, νος τε λαθέσθαι

-Whofo taftes

Infatiate riots in the sweet repafts;
Nor other home nor other care intends,
But quits his houfe, his country, and his
friends.
POPE.

Collections of this kind are of ufe to the learned, as heaps of stones and piles of timber are neceflary to the architect. But to dig the quarry, or to fearch the field, requires not much of any quality, beyond ftubborn perfeverance; and though genius muft often lie unactive without this humble affiftance, yet this can claim little praise, because every man can afford it.

To mean understandings, it is fufficient honour to be numbered amongst the lowest labourers of learning; but different abilities must find different tasks. To hew ftone, would have been unworthy of Palladio; and to have rambled in fearch of thells and flowers, had but ill fuited with the capacity of Newton.

TO THE RAMBLER.

MART.

committed me to the care of his fifter, who inftructed me with the authority, and, not to deny her what she may justly claim, with the affection of a parent. She had not very elevated fentiments or extenfive views, but her principles were good, and her intentions pure; and though fome may practife more virtues, fcarce any commit fewer faults.

Under this good lady I learned all the common rules of decent behaviour, and ftanding maxims of domestick prudence; and might have grown up by degrees to a country gentlewoman, without any thoughts of ranging beyond the neighbourhood, had not Flavia come down, laft fummer, to vifit her relations in the next village. I was taken, of course, to compliment the ftranger; and was, at the first fight, furprised at the unconcern with which the faw herself gazed at by company whom the had never known before; at the careleffness with which the received compliments, and the readinefs with which the returned them. I found fhe had fomething which I perceived myfelf to want, and could not but with to be like her, at once eafy and officious, attentive and unembarraffed. I went home, and for four days could think and talk of nothing but Mifs Flavia; though my aunt told me, that the was a forward flirt, and thought herself wife before her time.

In a little time fhe repaid my vifit, and railed in my heart a new confufion of love and admiration. I foon faw her again, and still found new charms in her air, converfation, and behaviour. You who have perhaps feen the world, may have obferved, that formality foon ceafes between young perfons. I know not how others are affected on fuch occafions, but I found myself irresistibly allured to friendship and intimacy, by the familiar complaifance and airy gaiety of Flavia; fo that in a few weeks I became her favourite, and all the time was paffed with me that the could gain from ceremony and visit.

As the came often to me, fhe neceffarily spent fome hours with my aunt, to whom he paid great respect, by low courtefies, fub.live compliance, and foft acquiefcence; but as I became gradually more accuftomed to her manners, I difcovered that her civility was general; that there was a certain degree of deference fhewn by her to circumitances and appearances; that many went away fat

tered by her humility, whom the defpifed in her heart; that the influence of far the greatest part of those with whom fhe converfed ceafed with their prefence; and that fometimes fhe did not remember the names of them whom, without any intentional infincerity or falfe commendation, her habitual civility had fent away with very high thoughts of their own importance.

It was not long before I perceived, that my aunt's opinion was not of much weight in Flavia's deliberations, and that the was looked upon by her as a woman of narrow fentiments, without knowledge of books, or observations on mankind. I had hitherto confidered my aunt as entitled by her wifdom and experience to the highest reverence; and could not forbear to wonder that any one fo much younger fhould venture to fufpect her of error, or ignorance: but my furprife was without uneafinets; and being now accustomed to think Flavia always in the right, I readily learned from her to truft my own reason, and to believe it poflible, that they who had lived longer might be mistaken.

Flavia had read much, and used fo often to converfe on fubjects of learning, that the put all the men in the county to flight, except the old parfon, who declared himself much delighted with her company, because the gave him opportunities to recollect the ftudies of his younger years; and by fome mention of ancient story, had made him rub the duft off his Homer, which had lain unregarded in his clofet. With Homer, and a thousand other names familiar to Flavia, I had no acquaintance; but began, by comparing her accomplishments with my own, to repine at my education, and with that I had not been fo leng confined to the company of thofe from whom nothing but housewifery was to be learned. I then fat myself to perufe fuch books as Flavia recommended, and heard her opinion of their beauties and defects. Ifaw new worlds hourly bursting upon my mind, and was enraptured at the profpect of diverfifying life with endless entertainment.

The old lady finding that a large fereen, which I had undertaken to adorn with turkey-work against winter, made very flow advances, and that I had added in two months but three leaves to a flowered apron then in the frame, took the alarm, and with all the zeal of honeft folly ex

claimed

claimed against my new acquaintance, who had filled me with idle notions, and turned my head with books. But fhe had now loft her authority, for I began to find innumerable mistakes in her opinions, and improprieties in her language; and therefore thought myself no longer bound to pay much regard to one who knew little beyond her needle and her dairy; and who profeffed to think that nothing more is required of a woman than to fee that the house is clean, and that the maids go to bed and rife at a certain hour.

She feemed, however, to look upon Flavia as feducing me, and to imagine that when her influence was withdrawn, I fhould return to my allegiance; the therefore contented herself with remote hints, and gentle admonitions, intermixed with fage hiftories of the mifcarriages of wit, and difappointments of pride. But fince the has found, that though Flavia is departed, I ftill perfiit in my new scheme, the has at length loft her patience, the fnatches my book out of my hand, tears my paper if he finds me writing, burns Flavia's letters before my face when the can feize them, and threatens to lock me up, and to complain to my father of my perverfenefs. If women,' fhe fays, would but know their duty and their intereft, they would be careful to acquaint themselves with family affairs, and many a penny might be faved; for while the miftress of the house is fcribbling and reading, fervants are junketing, and linen is wearing out.' She then takes me round the rooms, fhews me the worked hangings, and chairs of tent-ftitch, and afks whether all this was done with a pen and a book.

I cannot deny, that I fometimes laugh, and fometimes am fullen; but he has not delicacy enough to be much moved either with my mirth or my gloom, if fhe did not think the interest of the family endangered by this change of my manners. She had for fome years marked out young Mr. Surly, an heir in the neighbourhood, remarkable for his love of fighting-cocks, as an advantageous match; and was extremely pleafed with the civilities which he used to pay me, till under Flavia's tuition I learned to talk of fubic&ts which he could not understand. This, he lays, 'is the

confequence of female ftudy; girls · grow too wife to be advised, and too 'ftubborn to be commanded:' but the is refolved to fee who fhall govern, and will thwart my humour till the breaks my fpirit.

Thele menaces, Mr. Rambler, fometimes makes me quite angry; for I have been fixteen thefe ten weeks, and think myfelf exempted from the dominion of a governefs, who has no pretensions to more fenfe or knowledge than myself. I am refolved, fince I am as tall and as wife as other women, to be no longer treated like a girl. Mifs Flavia has often told me, that ladies of my age go to affemblies and routes, without their mothers and their aunts; I fhall therefore, from this time, leave asking advice, and refufe to give accounts. I with you would ftate the time at which young la dies may judge for themfelves, which I am fure you cannot but think ought to begin before fixteen; if you are inclined to delay it longer, I fhall have very little regard to your opinion.

My aunt often tells me of the advantages of experience, and of the deference due to feniority; and both fhe, and all the antiquated part of the world, talk of the unreferved obedience which they paid to the commands of their parents, and the undoubting confidence with which they listened to their precepts; of the terrors which they felt at a frown, and the humility with which they fupplicated forgiveness whenever they had offended. I cannot but fancy that this boast is too general to be true, and that the young and the old were always at variance. I have, however, told my aunt, that I will mend whatever she will prove to be wrong; but he replies, that he has reafons of her own, and that the is forry to live in an age when girls have the impudence to ask for proofs.

I beg once again, Mr. Rambler, to know whether I am not as wife as my aunt; and whether, when the prefumes to check me as a baby, I may not pluck up a fpirit, and return her infolence. I fhall not proceed to extremities without your advice, which is therefore impa tiently expected by

MYRTILLA.

P. S. Remember I am past fixteen.

N° LXXXV.

OVID.

phylick have laid out their dili gence upon the confideration of thofe diftempers to which men are expofed by particular states of life; and very learned treatifes have been produced upon the maladies of the camp, the fea, and the mines. There are, indeed, few employments which a man accustomed to anatomical enquiries, and medical refinements, would not find reafons for declining as dangerous to health, did not his learning or experience inform him, that almost every occupation, however inconvenient or formidable, is happier and fafer than a life of floth.

The neceffity of action is not only demonftrable from the fabrick of the body, but evident from obfervation of the univerfal practice of mankind; who for the prefervation of health in those whofe rank or wealth exempts them from the neceffity of lucrative labour, have invented iports and diverfions, though not of equal ufe to the world with manual trades, yet of equal fatigue to thofe that practife them, and differing only from the drudgery of the husbandman or manufacturer, as they are acts of choice, and therefore performed without the painful fenfe of compulfion, The huntsman rifes early, purfues his game through all the dangers and obftructions of the chace, fwims rivers, and scales precipices, till he returns home no less haraffed than the foldier, and has perhaps sometimes incurred as great hazard of wounds or death; yet he has motive to incite his ardour; he is neither fubject to the commands of a general, nor dreads any penalties for neglect and difobedience; he has neither profit nor honour to expect from his perils and his conquefts, but toils without the hope of mural or civick garlands, and must content himfelf with the praise of his tenants and companions.

But fuch is the conftitution of man, that labour may be ftyled it's own reward; nor will any external incitements

much happiness is gained, and how much mifery eicaped, by frequent and violent agitation of the body.

Eafe is the utmolt that can be hoped from a fedentary and unactive habit; eafe, a neutral state between pain and pleasure. The dance of fpirits, the bound of vigour, readinefs of enterprize, and defiance of fatigue, are reserved for him that braces his nerves, and hardens his fibres, that keeps his limbs pliant with motion, and by frequent exposure fortifies his frame against the common accidents of cold and heat.

With eafe, however, if it could be fecured, many would be content; but nothing terreftrial can be kept at a stand. Eafe, if it is not rifing into pleasure, will be falling towards pain; and whatever hope the dreams of fpeculation may fug. get of obferving the proportion between nutriment and labour, and keeping the body in a healthy ftate by fupplies exactly equal to it's waite, we know that, in effect, the vital powers, unexcited by motion, grow gradually languid; that as their vigour fails, obftructions are generated; and that from obftructions proceed most of thofe pains which wear us away flowly with periodical tortures, and which, though they fometimes fuffer life to be long, condemn it to be ufelefs, chain us down to the couch of mifery, and mock us with the hopes of death.

Exercife cannot fecure us from that diffolution to which we are decreed; but while the foul and body continue united, it can make the affociation pleafing, and give probable hopes that they fhall be disjoined by an caly feparation. Itwas a

principle among the ancients, that acute difeafes are from Heaven, and chronical from ourfelves: the dart of death indeed falls from Heaven, but we poifon it by our own mifconduct; to die is the fate of man, but to die with lingering anguish is generally his folly.

It is neceffary to that perfection of

which our prefent ftate is capable, that the mind and body fhould both be kept in action; that neither the faculties of the one nor of the other be fuffered to grow lax or torpid for want of ufe; that neither health be purchased by voluntary fubmiffion to ignorance, nor knowledge cultivated at the expence of that health which must enable it either to give pleafure to it's poffeffor, or affiftance to others. It is too frequently the pride of ftudents to defpife thofe amulements and recreations which give to the reft of mankind ftrength of limbs and cheerfulness of heart. Solitude and contemplation are indeed seldom confiftent with fuch fkill in common exercises or fports as is neceflary to make them practifed with delight; and no man is willing to do that of which the neceffity is not preffing and immediate, when he knows that his aukwardnefs must make him ridiculous.

Ludere qui nefcit, campeftribus abftinct armis, Indoctufque Fila, Difcive, Trachive quiefcit, Nefpiffa rifum tallani impunè Corone."

HOR.

He that's unfkilful will not tofs a ball,
Nor run, nor wrestle, for he fears the fall;
He justly fears to meet deferv'd difgrace,
And that the ring will hifs the baffled afs.

CREECH.

Thus the man of learning is often refigned, almoft by his own confent, to languor and pain; and while in the profe cution of his ftudies he fuffers the wearineis of labour, is fubject by his courfe of life to the maladies of idleness.

It was, perhaps, from the obfervation of this mifchievous omiffion in thote who are employed about intellectual obiects, that Locke has, in his Syftem of Education, urged the neceffity of a trade to men of all ranks and profeffions, that when the mind is weary with it's proper task, it may be relaxed by a flighter attention to fome mechanical operation; and that while the vital funcions are refufcitated and awakened by vigorous motion, the understanding may be reftrained from that vagrance and diffipation by which it relieves itself after a long intenteness of thought, unless fome, allurement be prefented that may engage application without anxiety.

There is fo little reafon for expecting frequent conformity to Locke's precept, that it is not neceflary to enquire whether

the practice of mechanical arts might not give occafion to petty emulation, and degenerate ambition; and whether, if our divines and phyficians were taught the lathe and the chizzel, they would not think more of their tools than their books; as Nero neglected the care of, his empire for his chariot and his fiddle. It is certainly dangerous to be too much pleafed with little things; but what is there which may not be perverted? Let us remember how much worse employment might have been found for thofe hours which a manual occupation appears to engrofs; let us compute the profit with the lofs; and when we reflect how often a genius is allured from his ftudies, confider likewife, that perhaps by the fame attractions he is fometimes withheld from debauchery, or recalled from malice, from ambition, from envy, and from luft.

I have always admired the wisdom of thofe by whom our female education was intituted; for having contrived, that every woman, of whatever condition, fhould be taught fome arts of manufacture, by which the vacuities of reclufe and domeftick leifure may be filled up. Thefe arts are more neceffary, as the weakness of their fex and the general fyftem of life debar ladies from many employments which, by diverfifying the circumstances of men, preferve them from being cankered by the ruft of their own thoughts. I know not how much of the virtue and happiness of the workd may be the confequence of this judicious regulation. Perhaps, the most powerful fancy might be unable to figure the confufion and laughter that would be produced by fo many piercing eyes and vivid understandings, turned loofe at once upon mankind, with no other bufinefs than to fparkle and intrigue, to perplex and to destroy.

For my part, whenever chance brings within my obfervation a knot of miles bufy at their needles, I confider myself as in the fchool of virtue; and though I have no extraordinary skill in plain-work or embroidery, look upon their operations with as much fatisfaction as their governels, because I regard them as providing a fecurity against the most dangerous enfnarers of the foul, by enabling themfelves to exclude idlenets from their folitary moments, and with idleness her attendant train of paffions, fancies, and chimeras, fears, forrows,

and