monotony is always deteftable to a man whofe chief pleafure is to enlarge his knowledge, and vary his ideas. Others talk of freedom from noife, and abftraction from common bufinefs or amufements; and fome yet more vifionary, tell us that the faculties are enlarged by open profpects, and that the fancy is more at liberty when the eye ranges without confinement. Thefe conveniencies may perhaps all be found in a well-chofen garret; but furely they cannot be fuppofed fuffici ently important to have operated unvariably upon different climates, diftant ages, and feparate nations. Of an univerfal practice, there muft ftill be prefumed an univerfal caufe, which, however recondite and abftrufe, may be perhaps referved to make me illuftrious by it's discovery, and you by it's promulgation. It is univerfally known that the faculties of the mind are invigorated or weakened by the state of the body, and that the body is in a great measure regulated by the various compreflions of the ambient element. The effects of the air in the production or cure of corporeal maladies have been acknowledged from the time of Hippocrates; but no man has yet fufficiently condered how far it may influence the operations of the genius, though every day affords inftances of local understanding, of wits and reafoners, whole faculties are adapted to fome fingle spot, and who, when they are removed to any other place, fink at once into filence and ftupidity. I have difcovered, by a long feries of obfervations, that invention and elocution fuffered great impediments from denfe and impure vapours, and that the tenuity of a defecated air at a proper distance from the furface of the earth, accelerates the fancy, and fets at liberty thofe intellectual powers which were before fhackled by too strong attraction, and unable to expand themfelves under the preffure of a grofs atmosphere. I have found dulnefs to quicken into fentiment in a thin ether, as water, though not very hot, boils in a receiver partly exhaufted; and heads, in appearance empty, have teemed with notions upon rifing ground, as the flaccid fides of a football would have fwelled out into stiffness and extenfion. For this reafon I never think my felf qualified to judge decifively of any man's faculties, whom I have only known in one degree of elevation; but take fome opportunity of attending him from the cellar to the garret, and try upon him all the various degrees of ra refaction and condensation, tenfion and laxity. If he is neither vivacious aloft, nor ferious below, I then confider him as hopeless; but as it feldom happens, that I do not find the temper to which the texture of his brain is fitted, I accommodate him in time with a tube of mer cury, firft marking the point most favourable to his intellects, according to rules which I have long ftudied, and which I may, perhaps, reveal to mankind in a complete treatise on barometrical pneumatology. Another caufe of the gaiety and fprightlinefs of the dwellers in garrets is probably the increase of that verti. ginous motion, with which we are carried round by the diurnal revolution of the earth. The power of agitation upon the fpirits is well known'; every man has felt his heart lightened in a rapid vehicle, or on a galloping horie; and nothing is plainer, than that he who towers to the fifth ftory is whirled through more fpace by every circumrotation, than another that grovels upon the groundfloor. The nations between the tropicks are known to be fiery, inconftant, inventive, and fanciful; because, liv ing at the utmoft length of the earth's diameter, they are carried about with more fwiftnefs than thofe whom nature has placed nearer to the poles; and therefore, as it becomes a wife man to ftruggle with the inconveniencies of his coun try, whenever celerity and acuteneis are requifite, we muft actuate our languor by taking a few turns round the center in a garret. If you imagine that I afcribe to air and motion effects which they cannot produce, I defire you to confult your own memory, and confider whether you have never known a man acquire reputation in his garret, which, when fortune or a patron had placed him upon the first floor, he was unable to maintain; and who never recovered his former vigour of understanding till he was reftored to his original fituation. That a garret will make every man a wit, I am very far from fuppofing; I know there are fome who would continue blockheads even on the fummit of the Andes, or on the peak of Teneriffe. But let not not any man be confidered as unimproveable till this potent remedy has been tried; for perhaps he was formed to be great only in a garret, as the joiner of Aretæus was rational in no other place but his own fhop. I think a frequent removal to various diftances from the center, fo neceflary to a juft eftimate of intellectual abilities, and confequently of fo great use in education, that if I hoped that the publick could be perfuaded to fo expenfive an experiment, I would propofe, that there should be a cavern dug, and a tower erected, like thofe which Bacon defcribes in Solomon's houfe, for the expanfion and concentration of underftanding, according to the exigence of different employments, or conftitutions. Perhaps fome that fume away in meditations upon time and space in the tower, might compofe tables of intereft at a certain depth; and he that upon level ground ftagnates in filence, or creeps in narrative, might, at the height of half a mile, ferment into merriment, fparkle with repartee, and froth with declamation. Addifon obferves, that we may find the heat of Virgil's climate in fome lines of his Georgick: fo, when I read a compofition, I immediately determine the height of the author's habitation. As an elaborate performance is commonly faid to fmell of the lamp, my commendation of a noble thought, a fprightly fally, or a bold figure, is to pronounce it fresh from the garret; an expreffion which would break from me upon the perufal of moft of your papers, did I not believe, that you fometimes quit the garret, and afcend into the cock-loft. HYPERTATUS. N° CXVIII. SATURDAY, MAY 4, 1751. IN ENDLESS NIGHT THEY SLEEP, UNWEPT, UNKNOWN. ICERO has, with his ufual ele FRANCIS. 'habit is no more than a feanty island Crate and magnificence of language, inclofed by a small body of water, to attempted, in his relation of the dream of Scipio, to depreciate thofe honours for which he himself appears to have panted with restlefs folicitude, by fhewing within what narrow limits all that fame and celebrity which man can hope from men is circumfcribed. You fee, fays Africanus, pointing at the earth, from the celestial regions, that the globe affigned to the refidence and habitation of human beings is of fmall dimenfions: how then can you • obtain from the praife of men any glory worthy of a with? Of this little world the inhabited parts are neither numerous nor wide; even the fpots where men are to be found are broken by intervening deferts; and the nations are fo feparated as that nothing can be tranfmitted from one to another. With the people of the fouth by whom the oppofite part of the earth is poffeffed, you have no intercourfe; and by how small a tract do you com<municate with the countries of the north? The territory which you in mer, when the plan of his poem made the death of Patroclus neceffary, refolved, at least, that he fhould die with honour; and therefore brought down against him the patron god of Troy, and left to Hector only the mean task of giving the laft blow to an enemy whom a divine hand had difabled from refiftance. Thus Tully ennobles fame, which he profeffes to degrade, by oppofing it to celestial happinefs; he confines not it's extent but by the boundaries of nature, nor contracts it's duration but by reprefenting it fmall in the eftimation of fuperior beings. He ftill admits it the higheft and nobleft of terreftrial objects, and alledges little more against it, than that it is neither without end, nor without limits. there will be found very little defire of any other knowledge than what may contribute immediately to the relief of fome preffing uneafinefs, or the attain ment of fome near advantage. The Turks are faid to hear with wonder a propofal to walk out only that they may walk back; and enquire why any man fhould labour. for nothing: fo thofe whole condition has always reftrained them to the contemplation of their own neceffities, and who have been accustomed to look forward only to a fmall distance, will fcarcely understand, why nights and days fhould be spent in studies, which end in new ftudies, and which, according to Malherbe's observation, do not tend to leffen the price of bread; nor will the trader or manufacturer eafily be What might be the effect of thefe ob- perfuaded, that much pleasure can arise fervations conveyed in Ciceronian elo- from the mere knowledge of actions quence to Roman understandings, can- performed in remote regions, or in difnot be determined; but few of those who tant times; or that any thing can deferve hall in the prefent age read my humble their enquiry, of which axios oïav åxéquer, verfion, will find themfelves much de-rider, we can only hear the report, preffed in their hopes, or retarded in their defigns; for I am not inclined to believe, that they who among us pafs their lives in the cultivation of knowledge, or acquifition of power, have very anxiously enquired what opinions prevail on the further banks of the Ganges, or invigorated any effort by the defire of fpreading their renown among the clans of Caucafus. The hopes and fears of modern minds are content to range in a narrower compafs; a fingle nation, and a few years, have generally fufficient amplitude to fill our imaginations. A little confideration will indeed teach us, that fame has other limits than mountains and oceans; and that he who places happiness in the frequent repetition of his name, may spend his life in propagating it, without any danger of weeping for new worlds, or neceffity of pating the Atlantick fea. The numbers to whom any real and perceptible good or evil can be derived by the greateft power, or moft active diligence, are inconfiderable; and where neither benefit nor mischief operate, the only motive to the mention or remembrance of others is curiofity; a paffion which, though in fome degree univerfally affociated to reason, is eafily conned, overborne, or diverted from any particular object. Among the lower claffes of mankind but which cannot influence our lives by any confequences. The truth is, that very few have leifure, from indifpenfible business, to employ their thoughts upon narrative or characters; and among those to whom fortune has given the liberty of living more by their own choice, many create to themselves engagements, by the indulgence of fome petty ambition, the admiffion of fome infatiable defire, or the toleration of fome predominant paffion. The man whofe whole with is to accumulate money, has no other care than to collect intereft, to estimate fecurities, and to engage for mortgages: the lover difdains to turn his ear to any other name than that of Corinna; and the courtier thinks the hour loft, which is not spent in promoting his interest, and facilitating his advancement, The adventures of valour, and the difcoveries of science, will find a cold recep-tion, when they are obtruded upon an attention thus bufy with it's favourite amusement, and impatient of interruption or difturbance. But not only fuch employments as feduce attention by appearances of dignity, or promifes of happiness, may re ftrain the mind from excurfion and enquiry; curiofity may be equally destroyed by leis formidable enemies; it may be diffipated in trifles, or congealed by indolence. The sportsman and the man of drefs have their heads filled with a fox or a horfe-race, a feather or a ball; and live in ignorance of every thing befide, with as much content as he that heaps up gold, or folicits preferment, digs the field, or beats the anvil; and fome yet lower in the ranks of intellect, dream out their days without pleasure or business, without joy or forrow, nor ever rouze from their lethargy to hear or think. Even of thofe who have dedicated themselves to knowledge, the far greater part have confined their curiofity to a few objects, and have very little inclination to promote any fame, but that which their own ftudies entitle them to partake. The naturalift has no defire to know the opinions or conjectures of the philologer; the botanist looks upon the aftronomer as a being unworthy of his regard; the lawyer fcarcely hears the name of a physician without contempt; and he that is growing great and happy by electrifying a bottle, wonders how the world can be engaged by trifling prattle about war or peace. If, therefore, he that imagines the world filled with his actions and praifes, hall fubduct from the number of his SIR, encomiafts, all thofe who are placed be- tures. That we may not languish in our endeavours after excellence, it is necef fary, that, as Africanus counfels his defcendant- we raise our eyes to higher profpects, and contemplate our future and eternal ftate, without giving up our hearts to the praise of crowds, or fixing our hopes on fuch rewards as human power can bestow.' N° CXIX. TUESDAY, MAY 7, 1751. ILIACOS INTRA MUROS PECCATUR, ET EXTRA. HOR. PAULTS LAY ON EITHER SIDE THE TROJAN TOWERS. TO THE RAMBLER. AS, notwithstanding all that wit, or malice, or pride, or prudence, will be able to fuggeft, men and women must at last pafs their lives together, I have never therefore thought those writers friends to human happiness, who endeavour to excite in either fex a general contempt or fufpicion of the other. To perfuade them who are entering the world, and looking abroad for a fuitable affociate, that all are equally vicious, or equally ridiculous; that they who truft are certainly betrayed, and they who efteem are always difappointed; is not to awaken judgment, but to inflame temerity. Without hope there can be no caution. Those who are convinced, that no reason for preference can be ELPHINSTON found, will never harafs their thoughts with doubt and deliberation; they will refolve, fince they are doomed to mifery, that no needlefs anxiety fhall disturb their quiet; they will plunge at hazard into the crowd, and fnatch the first hand that fhall be held toward thein. That the world is overrun with vice, cannot be denied; but vice, however pres dominant, has not yet gained an unlimit ed dominion. Simple and unmingled good is not in our power, but we may generally efcape a greater evil by fuffer ing a lefs; and therefore those who undertake to initiate the young and ignorant in the knowledge of life, fhould be careful to inculcate the poffibility of virtue and happiness, and to encourage endeavours by profpects of fuccefs. You, perhaps, do not fufpest, that thefe are the fentiments of one who has been fubject for many years to all the hardships of antiquated virginity; has been long accustomed to the coldness of neglect, and the petulance of infult; has been mortified in full affemblies by enquiries after forgotten fashions, games tong difufed, and wits and beauties of ancient renown; has been invited, with malicious importunity, to the fecond wedding of many acquaintances; has been ridiculed by two generations of coquettes in whifpers intended to be heard; and been long confidered, by the airy and gay, as too venerable for familiarity, and too wife for pleasure. It is indeed natural for injury to provoke anger, and by continual repetition to produce an habitual afperity; yet I have hitherto ftruggled with fo much vigilance against my pride, and my refentment, that I have preferved my temper uncorrupted. I have not yet made it any part of my employment to collect fentences against marriage; nor am inclined to leffen the number of the few friends whom time has left me, by obftructing that happinefs which I cannot partake, and venting my vexation in cenfures of the forwardnets and indifcretion of girls, or the inconftancy, tasteleffinefs, and perfidy of men. It is, indeed, not very difficult to bear that condition to which we are not condemned by neceffity, but induced by obfervation and choice; and therefore I, perhaps, have never yet felt all the malignity with which a reproach, edged with the appellation of old maid, fwells fome of thofe hearts in which it is in fixed. I was not condemned in my youth to folitude, either by indigence or deformity, nor paffed the earlier part of life without the flattery of courtship, and the joys of triumph. I have danced the round of gaiety amidst the murmurs of envy, and gratulations of applaufe; been attended from pleasure to pleasure by the great, the fprightly, and the vain; and feen my regard folicited by the obfequioufnels of gallantry, the gaiety of wit, and the timidity of love. If, therefore, I am yet a ftranger to nuptial happinefs, I fuffer only the confequences of my own refolves, and can look back upon the fucceffion of lovers, whofe addreffes I have rejected, without grief and without malice. When my name firft began to be in fcribed upon glaffes, I was honoured with the amorous profeffions of the gay Venuftulus, a gentleman who, being the only fon of a wealthy family, had been educated in all the wantonnefs of expence, and foftnefs of effeminacy. He was beautiful in his perfon, and easy in his addrefs, and therefore foon gain. ed upon my eye at an age when the fight is very little over-ruled by the understanding. He had not any power in himself of gladdening or amufing; but fupplied his want of converfation by treats and diverfions; and his chief art of courtship was to fill the mind of his miftrefs with parties, rambles, musick, and fhews. We were often engaged in fhort excurfions to gardens and feats, and I was for a while pleafed with the care which Venuftulus difcovered in fecuring me from any appearance of dan ger, or poffibility of mifchance. He ne ver failed to recommend caution to his coachunan, or to promife the waterman a reward if he landed us fafe; and always contrived to return by day-light for fear of robbers. This extraordina ry folicitude was reprefented for a time as the effect of his tendernefs for me but fear is too ftrong for continued hy. pocrify. I foon difcovered, that Venu tulus had the cowardice as well as elegance of a female. His imagination was perpetually clouded with terrors, and ho could fcarcely refrain from fcreams and outcries at any accidental furprife. He durft not enter a room if a rat was heard behind the wainicot, nor crois a field where the cattle were frifking in the funfhine; the leaft breeze that waved upor the river was a ftorm, and every clamour in the street was a cry of fire. I have feen him lofe his colour when my fquir rel had broke his chain; and was forced to throw water in his face on the sudden entrance of a black cat. Compaffion once obliged me to drive away with my fan a beetle that kept him in distress, and chide off a dog that yelped at his heels, to which he would gladly have given up me to facilitate his own efcape. Women naturally expect defence and protection from a lover or a husband, and therefore you will not think me culpable in refufing a wretch who would have burdened life with unneceffary fears, and flown to me for that fuccour which it was his duty to have given. My next lover was Fungofa, the fon of a flock-jobber, whofe vifits my friends, by the importunity of perfuafion, pre |