narrow outlet by which they might efcape; but very few could, by her intreaties or remonftrances, be induced to put the rudder into her hand, without tipulating that the fhould approach fo near unto the rocks of Pleasure, that they might folace themselves with a fhort enjoyment of that delicious region, after which they always determined to purfue their courfe without any other deviation.

Reason was too often prevailed upon fo far by these promifes, as to venture her charge within the eddy of the gulph of Intemperance, where, indeed, the circumvolution was weak, but yet interrupted the course of the veffel, and drew it, by infenfible rotations, towards the center. She then repented her temerity, and with all her force endeavoured to retreat; but the draught of the gulph was generally too ftrong to be overcome; and the paffenger, having danced in circles with a pleafing and giddy velocity, was at laft overwhelmed and loft. Those few whom Reafon was able to extricate, generally fuffered fo many fhocks upon the points which fhot out from the rocks of Pleasure, that they were unable to continue their courfe with the fame ftrength and facility as before, but floated along timorously and feebly, endangered by every breeze, and fhattered by every ruffle of the water, till they funk, by flow degrees, after long ftruggles, and innumerable expedients, always repining at their own folly, and warning others against the first approach of the gulph of Intemperance.

There were artists who profeffed to repair the breaches and ftop the leaks of the veffels which had been shattered on the rocks of Pleasure. Many appeared to have great confidence in their kill, and fome, indeed, were preferved by it from finking, who had received only a fingle blow; but I remarked that few veffels lafted long which had been much repaired, nor was it found that the artifts themselves continued afloat longer than those who had least of their affistance.

The only advantage which, in the voyage of life, the cautious had above the negligent, was, that they funk later, and more fuddenly; for they paffed forward till they had fometimes feen all thofe in whofe company they had issued from the ftreights of intancy perish in the way, and at laft were overfet by a cross breeze, without the toil of refiftance, or the anguish of expectation. But fuch as had often fallen against the rocks of Pleasure, commonly fubfided by fenfible degrees, contended long with the encroaching waters, and harassed themfelves by labours that fcarce Hope herself could flatter with fuccefs.

As I was looking upon the various fate of the multitude about me, I was fuddenly alarmed with an admonition from fome unknown power- Gaze not idiy upon others when thou thyfelf art finking. Whence is this thoughtlefs tranquillity, when thou and they are equally endangered?' I looked; and, fecing the gulph of Intemperance before me, started and awaked.

Jur,

ten animated by extrinsick and adventitious motives, feems on many occafions to operate without fubordination to any other principle; we are eager to fee and hear, without intention of referring our obfervations to a farther end; we climb a mountain for a profpect of the plain; ve run to the strand in a storm, that we may contemplate the agitation of the water; we range from city to city, though we profefs neither architecture. nor fortification; we cross feas only to view nature in nakedness, or magnificence in ruins; we are equally allured by novelty of every kind, by a defert or a palace, a cataract or a cavern, by every thing rude and every thing polifhed, every thing great and every thing little; tve do not ice a thicket but with fome temptation to enter it, nor remark an nest flying before us but with an inclination to pursue it.

This paffion is, perhaps, regularly heightened in proportion as the powers of the mind are elevated and enlarged. Lucan therefore introduces Cæfar fpeaking with dignity fuitable to the grandeur of his defigns, and the extent of his expacity, when he declaces to the highpricht of Egypt, that he has no defire equally powerful with that of finding the origin of the Nile, and that he would quit all the projects of the civil war for fight of thofe fountains which had been fo long concealed. And Homer, when he would furnith the Sirens with a, temptation, to which his hero, renowned for wildom, might yield without difgrace, makes then declare that none ever departed from them but with increafe of knowledge.

There is indeed fearce any kind of ideal acqui ement which may not be applied to fome ute, or which may not,' at least, gratify pride with occafional fuperiority; but whoever attends the motions of his own mind, will find that, upon the firit, appearance of an object, or the first start of a queition, his inclination to a nearer view, or more accurate difcuffion, precedes all thoughts of profit, or of com P petition; and that his defires take wing by inftantaneous impulfe, though their fight may be invigorated, or their efforts renewed, by fubfequent confiderations. The gratification of curiofity rather trees us frön uusabnets than confers pleajure; we are intor, pained by ignorance than delighted by inttruction. Curiofity is the thirit of the toul; it inflames and

torments us, and makes us tafte every. thing with joy, however otherwise infi pid, by which it may be quenched.

It is evident that the earliest fearchers after knowledge must have propofed knowledge only as their reward; and that fcience, though perhaps the nurfling of intereft, was the daughter of curiofity: for who can believe that they who first watched the courfe of the ftars forefaw the ufe of their difcoveries to the facili tation of commerce, or the menfuration of time? They were delighted with the fplendor of the nocturnal fkies, they found that the lights changed their places; what they admired they were anxious to understand, and in time. traced their revolutions.

There are, indeed, beings in the form of men, who appear fatisfied with their intellectual poffeffions, and feem to live without defire of enlarging their conceptions; before whom the world paffes without notice, and who are equally unmoved by nature or by art,

This negligence is fometimes only the temporary effect of a predominant paffion: a lover finds no inclination to travel any path but that which leads to the habitation of his miftrefs; a trader can fpare little attention to common occurrences, when his fortune is endangered by a ftorm. It is frequently the contequence of a total immerion in fenfuality: corporeal pleafures may be indulged till the memory of every other kind of happinefis obliterated; the mind, long habituated to a lethargick and quiefcent ftate, is unwilling to wake to the toil of thinking; and, though the may fometimes be disturbed by the obtrufion of new ideas, fhrinks back again to iguorance and rest.

But, indeed, if we except them to whom the continual task of procuring the fupports of life denies all opportu nities of deviation from their own narrow track, the number of fuch as live without the ardour of enquiry is very fmall, though many content themfelves with cheap ammufements, and walle their. lives in refearches of no importance.

There is no fare more dangerous to. buly and excurfive minds than the cobwebs of petty inquifitiveness, which entangle them in trivial employments and minute studies, and detain them in a middle ftate between the tedioun fs of total inactivity and the fatigue of laborious efforts, enchant them at once.

with eafe and novelty, and vitiate them with the luxury of learning. The neceffity of doing fomething, and the fear of undertaking much, finks the hiftorian to a genealogist, the philofopher to a journalist of the weather, and the ma

thematician to a conftructer of dials.

It is happy when those who cannot content themselves to be idle, nor refolve to be induftrious, are at least employed without injury to others; but it feldom happens that we can contain ourfelves long in a neutral state, or forbear to fink into vice, when we are no longer foaring towards virtue.

Nugaculus was diftinguished in his earlier years by an uncommon livelinefs of imagination, quicknefs of fagacity, and extent of knowledge. When he entered into life, he applied himself with particular inquifitivenefs to examine the various motives of human actions, the complicated influence of mingled affections, the different modifications of intereft and ambition, and the various caufes of mifcarriage and fuccefs both in publick and private affairs.

Though his friends did not difcover to what purpofe all thefe obfervations were collected, or how Nugaculus would much improve his virtue or his fortune by an inceffant attention to changes of countenance, bursts of inconfideration, fallies of paffion, and all the other cafualties by which he used to trace a character, yet they could not deny the study of human nature to be worthy of a wife man; they therefore flattered his vanity, applauded his difcoveries, and liftened with fubmiffive modefty to his lectures on the uncertainty of inclination, the weaknefs of refolves, and the inftability. of temper, to his account of the various motives which agitate the mind, and his ridicule of the modern dream of a ruling paffion.

Such was the firft incitement of Nugaculus to a clofe infpection into the conduct of mankind. He had no intereft in view, and therefore no defign of fupplantation; he had no malevolence, and therefore detected faults without any intention to expofe them; but having once found the art of engaging his attention upon others, he had no incli nation to call it back to himself, but has paffed his time in keeping a watchful eye upon every rifing character, and

lived upon a finall eftate without any thought of encreafing it.

He is, by continual application, become a general master of lccret hiftory, and can give an account of the intrigues, private marriages, competitions, and ftratagems, of half a century. He knows the mortgages upon every man's eftate, the terms upon which every fpendthrift raifes his money, the real and reputed fortune of every lady, the jointure tipulated by every contract, and the expectations of every family from maiden aunts and childle's acquaintances. He can relate the economy of every houfe, knows how much one man's cellar is robbed by his butler, and the land of another underlet by his fteward; he can tell where the manor-houfe is falling, though large fums are yearly paid for repairs; and where the tenants are felling woods without the confent of the owner.

To obtain all this intelligence he is inadvertently guilty of a thousand acts of treachery. He fees no man's fervant without draining him of his truft; he enters no family without flattering the children into difcoveries; he is a perpetual fpy upon the doors of his neighbours; and knows, by long experience, at whatever diftance, the looks of a creditor, a borrower, a lover, and a pimp.

Nugaculus is not ill-natured, and therefore his induftry has not hitherto been very mifchievous to others, or dangerous to himself; but fince he cannot enjoy this knowledge but by difcovering it, and, if he had no other motive to loquacity, is obliged to traffick like the chymifts, and purchase one fecret with another; he is every day more hated as he is more known; for he is confidered. by great numbers as one that has their fame and their happinefs in his power, and no man can much love him of whom he lives in fear.

Thus has an intention, innocent at firft, if not laudable, the intention of regulating his own behaviour by the experience of others, by an accidental declension of minutenefs, betrayed Nugaculus, not only to a foolish, but vicious wafte of a life which might have been honourably paffed in publick fervices, or domeftick virtues. He has loft his original intention, and given up his mind to employments that engrofs, but do not improve it.

NON POSSIT.

JUVENAL.

Tindividual to his own happiness or HE apparent infufficiency of every

fatety, compels us to feek from one another affiftance and fupport. The neceflity of joint efforts for the execution of any great or extenfive design, the variety of powers diffeminated in the fpecies, and the proportion between the defects and excellencies of different per fons, demand an interchange of help, and communication of intelligence, and by frequent reciprocations of beneficence unite mankind in fociety and friendship.

If it can be imagined that there ever was a time when the inhabitants of any country were in a state of equality, with out diftinction of rank, or peculiarity of poffeffions, it is reafonable to believe that every man was then loved in proportion as he could contribute by his ftrength, or his fkill, to the supply of natural wants; there was then little room for peevish diflike, or capricious favour: the affection admitted into the heart was rather eftcem than tenderness; and kindnefs was only purchased by benefits. But when, by force of policy, by wildom, or by fortune, property and fuperiority were introduced and established, fo that many were condemned to labour for the fupport of a few, then they whofe poffefions fwelled above their wants naturally laid out their fuperfluities upon pleafure; and thofe who could not gain friendship by neceffary offices, endeavoured to promote their intereft by luxurious gratifications, and to create need which they might be courted to fupply. The defires of mankind are much more numerous than their attainments, and the capacity of imagination much larger than actual enjoyment. Multitudes are therefore unfatisfied with their allotment; and he that hopes to improve his condition by the favour of another, and either finds no room for the exertion of great qualitics, or perceives himself ex. Celled by his rivals, will, by other expedients, endeavour to become agreeable

by degices, to number the art of pleafwhere he cannot be important, and learn, ing among the most useful studies, and moft valuable acquifitions.

This art, like others, is cultivated in proportion to it's usefulness, and will always flourish most where it is most rewarded; for this reafon we find it practifed with great affiduity under abfolute governments, where honours and riches are in the hands of one man, whom all endeavour to propitiate, and who foon become fo much accustomed to compliance and officioufnefs, as not easily to find, in the most delicate addrefs, that novelty which is neceffary to procure attention.

It is difcovered by a very few experiments, that no man is much pleased with a companion, who does not encrease, in fome refpect, his fondnefs of himself and, therefore, he that wishes rather to be led forward to profperity by the gentle hand of favour, than to force his way by labour and merit, must confider with more care how to display his patron's excellencies than his own; that whenever he approaches, he may fill the imagination with pleafing dreams, and chafe away difguft and wearinefs by a perpe tual fucceffion of delightful images.

This may, indeed, fometimes be effected by turning the attention upon advantages which are really poffeffed, or upon profpects which reafon ipreads before hope; for whoever can deferve or require to be courted, has generally, either from nature or from fortune, gifts which he may review with fatisfaction, and of which, when he is artfully recal led to the contemplation, he will seldom be displeafed.

But thofe who have once degraded their understanding to an application only to the paffions, and who have learn ed to derive hope from any other fources than industry and virtue, seldom retain dignity and magnanimity fufficient to defend them against the constant recurrence of temptation to falfehood. He

that

that is too defirpus to be loved, will foon learn to flatter, and when he has exhaufted all the variations of honeft praise, and can delight no longer with the civility of truth, he will invent new topicks of panegyrick, and break out into raptures at virtues and beauties conferred by himself.

The drudgeries of dependance would, indeed, be aggravated by hopeleffness of fuccefs, if no indulgence was allowed to adulation. He that will abfolutely confine his patron to hear only the commendations which he deferves, will foon be forced to give way to others that regale him with more compafs of mufick. The greatest human virtúe bears no proportion to human vanity. We always think ourselves better than we are, and are generally defirous that others should think us ftill better than we think ourfelves. To praife us for actions or difpofitions which deferve praise, is not to confer a benefit, but to pay a tribute. We have always pretenfions to fame, which, in our own hearts, we know to be difputable, and which we are defirous to ftrengthen by a new fuffrage; we have always hopes which we fufpect to be fallacious, and of which we eagerly fnatch at every confirmation.

It may, indeed, be proper to make the first approaches under the conduct of truth, and to fecure credit to future encomiums by fuch praise as may be ratified by the confcience; but the mind once habituated to the luscioufnefs of eulogy, becomes, in a fhort time, nice and faftidious, and, like a vitiated palate, is inceffantly calling for higher gratifications.

It is fcarcely credible to what degree difcernment may be dazzled by the mift of pride, and wisdom infatuated by the intoxication of flattery; or how low the genius may defcend by fucceffive gradations of fervility, and how swiftly it may fall down the precipice of falfehood. No man can, indeed, obferve, without indignation, on what names, both of ancient and modern times, the utmost exuberance of praife has been lavifhed, and by what hands it has been bestowed. It has never yet been found, that the tyrant, the plunderer, the oppreffor, the moft hateful of the hateful, the most profligate of the profligate, have been denied any celebrations which they were

willing to purchase, or that wickedness and folly have not found correfpondent flatterers through all their fubordina tions, except when they have been associated with avarice or poverty, and have wanted either inclination or ability to hire a panegyrist.

As there is no character fo deformed as to fright away from it the prostitutes of praife, there is no degree of encomiaftick veneration which pride has refused. The emperors of Rome fuffered themfelves to be worshipped in their lives with altars and facrifices; and in an age more enlightened, the terms peculiar to the praife and worship of the Supreme Being have been applied to wretches whom it was the reproach of humanity to number among men; and whom nothing but riches or power hindered those that read or wrote their deification, from hunting into the toils of justice, as difturbers of the peace of nature.

There are, indeed, many among the poetical flatterers, who must be refigned to infamy without vindication, and whom we must confefs to have deferted the cause of virtue for pay: they have committed, against full conviction, the crime of obliterating the diftinétions between good and evil; and instead of oppofing the encroachments of Vice, have incited her progrefs, and celebrated her conquefts. But there is a lower clafs of fycophants, whofe understanding has not made them capable of equal guilt. Every man of high rank is furrounded with numbers, who have no other rule of thought or action than his maxims and his conduct; whom the honour of being numbered among his acquaintance reconciles to all his vices, and all his abfurdities; and who eafily perfuade themselves to esteem him, by whofe regard they confider themfelves as diftinguifhed and exalted.

It is dangerous for mean minds to venture themselves within the fphere of greatnefs. Stupidity is foon blinded by the fplendor of wealth, and cowardice is eafily fettered in the fhackles of dependance. To folicit patronage is, at least in the event, to fet virtue to fale. None can be pleased without praife, and few can be praised without falfehood; few can be affiduous without fervility, and none can be fervile without corruption.

N° CV.