the benefits of early inoculation; by fome I have been told in exprefs terms, that I am not yet without my charms; others have whispered at my entrance• This is the celebrated beauty.' One told me of a wash that would fmooth the fkin; and another offered me her chair that I might not front the light. Some foothed me with the obfervation that none can tell how foon my case may be her own; and fome thought it proper to receive me with mournful tenderness, formal condolance, and confolatory blandifhments. Thus was I every day haraffed with all the ftratagems of well-bred malignity; yet infolence was more tolerable than folitude, and I therefore perfifted to keep my time at the doors of my acquaintance, without gratifying them with any appearance of refentment or depreffion. 'I expected that their exultation would in time vapour away; that the joy of their fuperiority would end with it's novelty; and that I should be fuffered to glide along in my prefent form among the nameless multitude, whom nature never intended to excite envy or admiration, nor enabled to delight the eye or inflame the heart. This was naturally to be expected, and this I began to experience. But when I was no longer agitated by the perpetual ardour of refiftance and effort of perfeverance, I found more fenfibly the want of thofe entertainments which had formerly delighted me; the day rufe upon me without an engagement, and the evening clofed in it's natural gloom, without fummoning me to a concert or a bail. None had any care to find amufements for me, and I had no pow er of amufing myself. Idlenefs expofed me to melancholy, and life began to languish in motionless indifference. Mifery and fhame are nearly allied. It was not without many struggles that I prevailed on myself to confefs my uneafinefs to Euphemia, the only friend who had never pained me with comfort or with pity. I at laft laid my calamities before her, rather to ease my heart than receive affiftance: We must dis tinguifh,' faid fhe, 'my Victoria, those ' evils which are impofed by Providence, from those to which we ourfelves give the power of hurting us. Of your calamity, a small part is the infliction of Heaven, the rest is little " more than the corrofion of idle difcontent. You have loft that which may indeed fometimes contribute to ‹ happiness, but to which happiness is by no means infeparably annexed. You have loft what the greater number of the human race never have poffeffed; what those on whom it is beftowed for the most part poffefs in vain; and what you, while it was yours, knew not how to ufe: you have only loft early what the laws of nature forbid you to keep long, and have loft it while your mind is yet flexible, and while you have time to fubftitute more valuable and more durable excellencies. Confider yourself, my Victoria, as a being born to know, to reafon, and to act; rife at once from your dream of melancholy to wisdom and to piety; you will find that there are other charms than thofe of beauty, and other joys than the praife of fools." I am, Sir, &c. VICTORIA. N° CXXXIV. SATURDAY, JUNE 29, 1751. QUIS SCIT, AN ADJICIANT HODIERNE CRASTINA SUMME WHO KNOWS IF HEAVN, WITH EVER-BOUNTEOUS POW'R, FRANCIS. I Set yesterday morning employed in I grew every moment more irrefolute, deliberating on which, among the various fubjects that occurred to my imagination, I should beftow the paper of to-day. After a short effort of meditation by which nothing was determined, my ideas wandered from the first intention, and I rather wished to think, than thought, upon any fettled fubjects till at lalt I was awakened from this dream of ftudy by a fummons from the press: the the time was come for which I had been thus negligently purpofing to provide, and, however dubious or fluggish, I was now neceffitated to write. Though to a writer whofe defign is fo comprehenfive and mitcellaneous, that he may accommodate himfelf with a topick from every fcene of life, or view of nature, it is no great aggravation of his talk to be obliged to a sudden compofition; yet I could not forbear to reproach myself for having fo long neglected what was unavoidably to be done, and of which every moment's idleness increafed the difficulty. There was, however, fome pleature in reflecting that I, who had only trifled till diligence was neceffary, might ftill congratulate myself upon my fuperiority to multitudes, who have trifled till diligence is vain; who can by no degree of activity or refolution recover the opportunities which have flipped away; and who are condemned by their own carelessness to hopeless calamity and barren forrow. The folly of allowing ourselves to delay what we know cannot be finally efcaped, is one of the general weaknesses which, in fpite of the inftruction of moralifts, and the remonftrances of reason, prevail to a greater or lefs degree in every mind: even they who moit fteadily withstand it, find it, if not the most violent, the moft pertinacious of their paffions, always renewing it's attacks, and though often vanquished, never destroyed. It is indeed natural to have particular regard to the time prefent, and to be moft folicitous for that which is by it's nearneís enabled to make the strongest impreflions. When therefore any sharp pain is to be fuffered, or any formidable danger to be incurred, we can fcarcely exempt ourfelves wholly from the feducements of imagination; we readily believe that another day will bring fome fupport or advantage which we now want; and are easily perfuaded, that the moment of neceffity which we delire never to arrive, is at a great distance from us. Thus life is languished away in the gloom of anxiety, and confumed in collecting refolution which the next morning diffipates; in forming purposes which we fcarcely hope to keep, and reconciling ourselves to our own cowardice by excufes which, while we admit them, we know to be abfurd. Our firmness is by the continual contemplation of mifery hourly impaired; every fubmiffion to our fear enlarges it's dominion; we not only wafte that time in which the evil we dread might have been suffered and furmounted, but even where procraftination produces no abfolute increafe of our difficulties, make them lefs fuperable to ourselves by habitual terrors. When evils cannot be avoided, it is wife to contract the interval of ex-. pectation; to meet the mifchiefs which will overtake us if we fly; and fuffer only their real malignity without the conflicts of doubt, and anguish of anticipation. To act is far easier than to fuffer; yet we every day fee the progrefs of life retarded by the vis inertia, the mere repugnance to motion, and find multitudes repining at the want of that which nothing but idlenefs hinders them from enjoying. The cafe of Tantalus, in the region of poetick punishment, was fomewhat to be pitied, because the fruits that hung about him retired from his hand; but what tendernefs can be claimed by thofe who, though perhaps they fuffer the pains of Tantalus, will never lift their hands for their own relief? There is nothing more common among this torpid generation than murmurs and complaints; murmurs at uneafinefs which only vacancy and fufpicion expofe them to feal, and complaints of diftreffes which it is in their own power to remove. Lazine's is commonly affociated with timidity. Either fear originally prohi bits endeavours by infusing defpair of fuccefs; or the frequent failure of irrefolute ftruggles, and the conftant defire of avoiding labour, imprs by degrees falfe terrors on the mind. But fear, whether natural or acquired, when once it has full poffeffion of the fancy, never fails to employ it upon vifions of calamity, fuch as, if they are not diffipated by ueful employment, will foon overcatt it with horrors, and imbitter life not only with thofe miferies by which all earthly beings are really more or lefs tormented, but with thote which do not yet exift, and which can only be difcerned by the perfpicacity of cowardice. Among all who facrifice future advantage to prefent inclination, fcarcely any gain fo little as thofe that fuffer themfelves to freeze in idleness. Others are corrupted by fome enjoyment of more or lefs power to gratify the paffions; but to neglect our duties, merely to avoid the labour of performing them, a labour which is always punctually rewarded, is furely to fink under weak temptations. Idlene's never can fecure tranquillity; the call of reafon and of confcience will pierce the closest pavilion of the fluggard; and, though it may not have force to drive him from his down, will be loud enough to hinder him from fleep. Thofe moments which he cannot refolve to make useful by devoting them to the great bufinefs of his being, will ftill be ufurped by powers that will not leave them to his difpofal; remorse and vexation will feize upon them, and forbid him to enjoy what he is fo defirous to appropriate. bilities of improvement, will not easily be perfuaded that his project is ripe for execution; but will fuperadd one contrivance to another, endeavour to unite various purpofes in one operation, multiply complications, and refine niceties, till he is entangled in his own scheme, and bewildered in the perplexity of various intentions. He that refolves to unite all the beanties of fituation in a new purchafe, muft wafte his life in roving to no purpose from province to province. He that hopes in the fame houfe to obtain every convenience, may draw plans and ftudy Palladio, but will never lay a ftone. He will attempt a treatife ou fome important fubject, and amass materials, confult authors, and study all the dependent and collateral parts of learning, but never conclude himfelf qualified to write. He that has abilities to conceive perfection, will not easily be content without it; and fince perfection cannot be reached, will lofe the opportunity of doing well in the vain hope of unattainable excellence. There are other caufes of inactivity incident to more active faculties and more acute difcernment. He to whom many objects of purfuit arife at the fame time, will frequently hefitate between different defires, till a rival has precluded him, or change his courfe as new attractions prevail, and harafs himfelf without advancing. He who fees dif- The certainty that life cannot be long, ferent ways to the fame end, will, unless and the probability that it will be much he watches carefully over his own con- fhorter than nature allows, ought to duct, lay out too much of his attention awaken every man to the active profeupon the comparison of probabilities, cution of whatever he is defirous to perand the adjustment of expedients, and form. It is true, that no diligence can paufe in the choice of his road, till fome afcertain fuccefs; death may intercept accident intercepts his journey. He the (wiftelt career; but he who is cut off whofe penetration extends to remote con- in the execution of an honeft undertakfequences, and who, whenever he applies ing, has at leaft the honour of falling in his attention to any defign, difcovers his rank, and has fought the battle, new profpects of advantage, and poffi-though he miffed the victory." N° CXXXV. TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1751. COELUM, NON ANIMUM MUTANT. HOR. PLACE MAY BE CHANG'D; BUT WHO CAN CHANGE HIS MIND? T to take a view on Ianis fide, or obferve any of the vari ous claffes that form the great community of the world, without difcovering the influence of example; and admitting with new conviction the obfervation of Ariftotle, that Man is an imitative being. The greater, far the greater number, follow the track which others have beaten, without any curiosity after new discoveries, or ambition of trufting themselves to their own conduct. And, of thofe who break the ranks and difor der the uniformity of the march, molt return in a fhort time from their deviation, and prefer the equal and fteady fatisfaction of fecurity before the frolicks of caprice and the honours of adventure. In questions difficult or dangerous it is indeed natural to repose upon authority; and, when fear happens to predominate, upon the authority of thofe whom we do not in general think wifer than ourselves. Very few have abilities requifite for the difcovery of abstruse truth; and of thofe few fome want leifure, and some refolution. But it is not fo easy to find the reafon of the univerfal fubmiflion to precedent where every man might fafely judge for himfelf; where no irreparable lofs can be hazarded, nor any mischief of long continuance incurred. Vanity might be expected to operate where the more powerful paffions are not awakened; the mere pleasure of acknowledging no fuperior might produce flight fingularities, or the hope of gaining fome new degree of happiness awaken the mind to invention or experiment. If in any cafe the fhackles of prefcription could be wholly fhaken off, and the imagination left to act without controul, on what occasion should it be expected, but in the felection of lawful pleasure? Pleasure, of which the effence is choice; which compulfion diffociates from every thing to which nature has united it; and which owes not only it's vigour but it's being to the finiles of liberty. Yet we fee that the fentes, as well as the reafon, are regulated by credulity; and that most will feel, or fay that they feel, the gratifications which others have taught them to expect. At this time of univerfal migration, when almost every one, confiderable enough to attract regard, has retired, or is preparing with all the earneftness of diftrels to retire, into the country; when nothing is to be heard but the hopes of fpeedy departure, or the complaints of involuntary delay; I have often been tempted to enquire what happiness is to be gained, or what inconvenience to be avoided, by this stated receffion? Of the birds of paffage, fome follow the fummer, and fome the winter, because they live upon fuftenance which only fummer or winter can fupply; but of the annual flight of human rovers it is much harder to affign the reafon, because they do not appear either to find or feek any thing which is not equally afforded by the town and country. I believe that many of thefe fugitives may have heard of men whofe continual with was for the quiet of retirement, who watched every opportunity to iteal away from obfervation, to forfake the crowd, and delight themselves with the fociety of folitude. There is indeed fcarcely any writer who has not celebrated the happiness of rural privacy, and delighted himself and his reader with But almost all abfurdity of condu& arifes from the imitation of those whom we cannot refemble. Those who thus teftified their wearinefs of tumult and hurry, and hafted with fo much eagernefs to the leisure of retreat, were either men overwhelmed with the preffure of difficult employments, haraffed with importunities, and diftracted with multiplicity; or men wholly engroffed by fpeculative fciences, who having no other end of life but to learn and teach, found their searches interrupted by the common commerce of civility, and their reafonings disjointed by frequent interruptions. Such men might reasonably fly to that cafe and convenience which their condition allowed them to find only in the country. The statesman who devoted the greater part of his time to the publick, was defirous of keeping the remainder in his own power. The general, ruffled with dangers, wearied with labours, and stunned with acclamations, gladly fnatched an interval of filence and relaxation. The naturalist was unhappy where the works of Providence were not always before him. The reafoner could adjust his fyftems only where his mind was free from the intrusion of outward objects. Such examples of folitude very few of those who are now haftening from the town have any pretenfions to plead in their own juftification, fince they cannot either pretend weariness of labour, or defire of knowledge. They purpose nothing more than to quit one scene of idlenefs for another, and after having trifled in publick, to fleep in fecrecy. The utmost that they can hope to gain is the change of ridiculoufnefs to obfcurity, and the privilege of having fewer witneffes to a life of folly. He who is not fufficiently important to be disturbed in his purfuits, but fpends all his hours according to his own inclination, and has more hours than his mental faculties enable him to fill either with enjoyment or defires, can have nothing to demand of fhades and vallies. As bravery is faid to be a panoply, infignificancy is always a fhelter. There There are, however, pleasures and advantages in a rural fituation, which are not confined to philofophers and heroes. The freshness of the air, the verdure of the woods, the paint of the meadows, and the unexhaufted variety which finnmer fcatters upon the earth, may eafily give delight to an unlearned fpectator. It is not neceflary that he who looks with pleafure on the colours of a flower fhould tudy the principles of vegetation, or that the Ptolemaick and Copernican fystem should be compared before the light of the fun can gladden, or it's warmth invigorate. Novelty is itself a fource of gratification; and Milton juftly obferves, that to him who has been long pent up in cities, no rural object can be prefented which will not delight or refresh fome of his fenfes. Yet even thefe eaty pleafures are miffed by the greater part of thofe who wafte their fummer in the country. Should any man puriue his acquaintances to their retreats, he would find few of them liftening to Philomel, loitering in woods, or plucking daifics, catching the healthy gale of the morning, or watching the gentle corufcations of declining day. Some will be difcovered at a window by the road fide, rejoicing when a new cloud of durft gathers towards them, as at the approach of a momentary fupply of converfation, and a fhort relief from the tedioufnels of unideal vacancy. Others are placed in the adjacent villages, where they look only upon houfes as in the rest of the year, with no change of objects but what a remove to any new freet in London might have given them. The tame fet of acquaintances till fettle together, and the form of life is not other wife diverfified than by doing the faine T things in a different place. They pay and receive vifits in the ufual form, they frequent the walks in the morning, they deal cards at night, they attend to the fame tattle, and dance with the fame partners; nor can they at their return to their former habitation congratulate themfelves on any other advantage, than that they have paffed their time like others of the fame rank; and have the fame right to talk of the happinets and beauty of the country, of happinets which they never felt, and beauty which they never regarded. To be able to procure it's own entertainments, and to fubfift upon it's own ftock, is not the prerogative of every mind. There are indeed underftandings fo fertile and comprehenfive, that they can always feed reflection with new fupplies, and fuffer nothing from the preciufion of adventitious amufements; as fome cities have within their own walls enclofed ground enough to feed their inhabitants in a fiege. But others live. only from day to day, and must be conftantly enabled, by foreign supplies, to keep out the encroachments of languor and ftupidity. Such could not indeed be blamed for hovering within reach of their ufual pleafure, more than any other animal for not quitting it's native element, were not their faculties contracted by their own fault. But let not thole who go into the country, merely becaufe they dare not be left alone at home, boat their love of nature, or their qualifications for folitude; nor pretend that they receive instantaneous infufions of wildom from the Dryads, and are able, when they leave fmoke and. noife behind, to act or think, or reafon for themiclycs. N° CXXXVI. SATURDAY, JULY, 6, 1751. WHO DARES THINK ONE THING, AND ANOTHER TELL, HE regard which they whofe abilities are employed in the works of imagination claim from the reft of mankind, arifes in a great meafure from |