of inconteftable or unfufpected propoLitions are established, and at lait concatenated into arguments, or compacted into fyftems. At length wearinefs fucceeds to labour, and the mind lies at eafe in the contemplation of her own attainments, without any defire of new conquests or excurions. This is the age of recollection and narrative; the opinions are fettled, and the avenues of apprehenfion fhut against any new intelligence; the days that are to follow muft país in the inculcation of precepts already colketed, and affertion of tenets already received; nothing is henceforward fo odious as oppofition, fo infolent as doubt, or fo dangerous as novelty. In like manner the paffions ufurp the feparate command of the fucceffive periods of life. To the happiness of our first years nothing more feems neceffary than freedom from reftraint; every man may remember that if he was left to himfelf, and indulged in the difpofal of his own time, he was once content without the fuperaddition of any actual ple fure. The new world is itself a banquet; and till we have exhaufted the frethnets of life, we have always about us ficient gratifications: the funfhine quickens us to play, and the fhade invites us to fleep. But we foon become unfatisfied with negative felicity, and are folicited by our fenfes and appetites to more powerful delights, as the tafte of him who has atisfied his hunger must be excited by artificial ftimulations. The fimplicity of natural amufement is now paft, and art and contrivance muft improve our pleafures; but in time, art, like nature, is exhaufted, and the fenfes can longer fupply the cravings of the intellea. no The attention is then transferred from pleafure to intereft, in which pleasure is perhaps included, though diffufed to a wider extent, and protracted through new gradations. Nothing now dances before the eyes but wealth and power, nor rings in the ear but the voice of fame; wealth, to which, however vari oufly denominated, every man at fome time or other afpires; power, which all with to obtain within their circle of action; and fame, which no man, however high or mean, however wife or ignorant, was yet able to defpife. Now prudence and forefight exert their influence: no hour is devoted wholly to any present enjoyment, no act or purpose termi nates in itself, but every motion is referred to fome diftant end; the accomplishment of one defign begins another, and the ultimate with is always pushed off to it's former distance. At length fame is obferved to be uncertain, and power to be dangerous; the man whofe vigour and alacrity be gin to forfake him, by degrees contracts his defigns, remits his former multiplicity of purfuits, and extends no longer his regard to any other honour than the reputation of wealth, or any other influence than his power. Avarice is generally the laft paffion of thofe lives of which the first part has been fquandered in pleasure, and the fecond devoted to ambition. He that finks under the fatigue of getting wealth, lulls his age with the milder bufinefs of faving it. I have in this view of life confidered men as actuated only by natural defires, and yielding to their own inclinations, without regard to fuperior principles by which the force of external agents may be counteracted, and the temporary pre valence of paffions reftrained. Nature will indeed always operate, human defires will be always ranging; but these motions, though very powerful, are not refiftlefs; nature may be regulated, and defires governed; and to contend with the predominance of fucceffive paffions, to be endangered first by one affection, and then by another, is the condition upon which we are to pafs our time, the time of our preparation for that state which fhall put an end to experiment, to difappointment, and to change. N CLII. N° CLII. SATURDAY, AUGUST 31, 1751. TRISTIA MESTUM VULTUM VERBA DECENT, IRATUM PLENA MÍNARUM. HOR. DISASTROUS WORDS CAN BEST DISASTER SHOW; IN ANGRY PHRASE THE ANGRY PASSIONS GLOW. ELPHINSTON. "It was then vinde, to collider what can be found in the defpicable remains T was the wisdom,' fays Seneca, fervile hyperboles, and produce all that If is most useful as moft illuftrious.' this rule be applied to works of genius, fcarcely any fpecies of compofition deserves more to be cultivated than the Epiftolary ftyle, fince none is of more various or frequent ufe, through the whole fubordination of human life. It has yet happened that, among the numerous writers which our nation has produced, equal perhaps always in force and genius, and of late in elegance and accuracy, to thofe of any other country, very few have endeavoured to diftinguifh themselves by the publication of letters, except fuch as were written in the difcharge of publick trufts, and during the tranfaction of great affairs; which, though they afford precedents to the minifter, and memorials to the hiftorian, are of no ufe as examples of the familiar style, or models of private correspond ence. If it be enquired by foreigners, how this deficiency has happened in the literature of a country, where all indulge themselves with so little danger in fpeaking and writing, may we not without either bigotry or arrogance inform them, that it must be imputed to our contempt of trifles, and our due fenfe of the dignity of the publick? We do not think it reafonable to fill the world with volumes from which nothing can be learnel, nor expect that the employments of the bufy, or the amufements of the gay, fhould give way to narratives of our private affairs, complaints of abfence, expreffions of fondneis, or declarations of fidelity. A flight perufal of the innumerable letters by which the wits of France have fignalized their names, will prove that other nations need not be difcouraged from the like attempts by the conscioufnefs of inability; for furely it is not very difficult to aggravate trifling misfortunes, to magnify familiar incidents, repeat adulatory profeffions, accumulate of Voiture and Scarron. Yet as much of life must be paffed in affairs confiderable only by their frequent occurrence, and much of the pleafure which our condition allows must be produced by giving elegance to trifles, it is neceffary to learn how to become little without becoming mean, to maintain the neceffary intercourse of civility, and fill up the vacuities of actions by agreeable appearances. It had therefore been of advantage, if fuch of our writers as have excelled in the art of decorating infignificance, had fupplied us with a few fallies of innocent gaiety, effufions of honeft tenderness, or exclamations of unimportant hurry. Precept has generally been pofterior to performance. The art of compofing works of genius has never been taught but by the example of thofe who performed it by natural vigour of imagination, and rectitude of judgment. As we have few letters, we have likewife few criticisms upon the epiftolary ftyle. The obfervations with which Walsh has introduced his pages of inanity, are fuch as give him equal claim to the rank affigned him by Dryden among the criticks. Letters,' fays he, are • intended as refemblances of converfation, and the chief excellencies of 'conversation are good-humour and good-breeding. This remark, equally valuable for it's novelty and propriety, he dilates and enforces with an ap pearance of camplete acquiefcence in his own discovery. No man was ever in doubt about the moral qualities of a letter. It has been always known that he who endeavours to please must appear pleased, and he who would not provoke rudeness must not practise it. But the question among thofe who establish rules for an epiftolary performance is how gaiety or civility may be properly expreffed; as among the criticks in history it is not contested X X whether whether truth ought to be preferved, but by what mode of diction it is beft a dorned. As letters are written on all subjects, in all states of mind, they cannot be properly reduced to fettled rules, or defcribed by any fingle characteristick; and we may fafely difentangle our minds from critical embarraffments, by determining that a letter has no peculiarity but it's form, and that nothing is to be refused admiffion, which would be proper in any other method of treating the fame fubject. The qualities of the epiftolary ftyle moft frequently required are eafe and fimplicity, and even flow of unlaboured diction, and an artless arrangement of obvious fentiments. But thefe directions are no fooner applied to ufe, than their scantiness and imperfection become evident. Letters are written to the great and to the mean, to the learned and the ignorant, at reft and in diftrefs, in fport and in paffion. Nothing can be more improper than eafe and laxity of expreffion, when the importance of the fubject impreffes folicitude, or the dignity of the perfon exacts reverence. That letters fhould be written with ftrict conformity to nature is true, because nothing but conformity to nature can make any compofition beautiful or juft. But it is natural to depart from familiarity or language upcn occafions not familiar. Whatever elevates the fentiments will confequently raife the expreffion; whatever fills us with hope or terror, will produce fome perturbation of images, and fome figurative diftortions of phrafe. Wherever we are studious to pleafe, we are afraid of trusting our first thoughts, and endeavour to recommend our opinion by ftudied ornaments, accuracy of method, and elegance of ftyle. If the perfonages of the comick fcene be allowed by Horace to raise their language in the tranfports of anger to the turgid vehemence of tragedy, the epiftolary writer may likewife without cenfure comply with the varieties of his matter. If great events are to be related, he may, with all the folemnity of an hiftorian, deduce them from their causes, connect them with their concomitants, and trace them to their confeIf a difputed pofition is to be established, or a remote principle to be investigated, he may detail his reafenings with all the nicety of fyllogif quences. If a menace is to be tick method. averted, or a benefit implored, he may, without any violation of the edicts of criticifin, call every power of rhetorick to his affiftance, and try every inlet at which love or pity enters the heart. Letters that have no other end than the entertaiment of the correspondents are more properly regulated by critical precepts, because the matter and style are equally arbitrary, and rules are more neceffary, as there is a larger In letters of this power of choice. kind, fome conceive art graceful, and others think negligence amiable; fome model them by the fonnet, and will allow them no means of delighting but the foft lapfe of calm mellifluence; others adjust them by the epigram, and expect pointed fentences and forcible periods. The one party confiders exemption from faults as the heighth of excellence, the other looks upon neglect of excellence as the most difgufting fault; one avoids cenfure, the other afpires to praise; one is always in danger of infipidity, the other continually on the brink of affec tation. When the fubject has no intrinfick dignity, it must neceffarily owe it's attractions to artificial embellishments, and may catch at all advantages which the art of writing can fupply. He that, like Pliny, fends his friend a portion for his daughter, will, without Pliny's eloquence of addrefs, find means of exciting gratitude, and fecuring acceptance; but he that has no present to make but a garland, a ribbon, or fome petty curiofity, must endeavour to recommend it by his manner of giving it. The purpofe for which letters are written when no intelligence is communicated, or business transacted, is to preferve in the minds of the abfent ei ther love or esteem; to excite love we muft impart pleasure, and to raise esteem we muft difcover abilities. Pleasure will generally be given, as abilities are difplayed by fcenes of imagery, points of conceit, unexpected fallies, and artful compliments. Trifles always require exuberance of ornament; the building which has no ftrength can be valued only for the grace of it's decorations. The pebble must be polished with care, which hopes to be valued as a diamond and words ought furely to be laboured, when they are intended to ftand for things. N? CLIII. N° CLIII. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1751. STR, TURBA REMI SEQUITUR FORTUNAM, UT SEMPER, ET ODIT Juv. THE FICKLE CROWD WITH FORTUNE COMES AND GOES; TO THE RAMBLER. an unwelcome meffage to deliver, may give some proof of tenderness and delicacy, by a ceremonial introduction and gradual discovery, because the mind upon which the weight of forrow is to fall, gains time for the collection of it's powers; but nothing is more abfurd than to delay the communication of plea. fure, to torment curiofity by impatience, and to delude hope by anticipation. I fhall therefore forbear the arts by which correspondents generally fecure admiffion, for I have too long remarked the power of vanity, to doubt that I fhall be read by you with a difpofition to approve, when I declare that my narrative has no other tendency than to illuftrate and corroborate your own obfervations. I was the fecond fon of a gentleman, whofe patrimony had been wafted by a long fucceffion of fquanderers, till he was unable to fupport any of his children, except his heir, in the hereditary dignity of idleneis. Being therefore obliged to employ that part of life in ftudy which my progenitors had devoted to the hawk and hound, I was in my eighteenth year difpatched to the univerfity, without any rural honours. I had never killed a fingle woodcock, nor partaken one triumph over a conquered fox. At the univerfity I continued to enlarge my acquifitions with little envy of the noify happiness which my elder brother had the fortune to enjoy, and hav-, ing obtained my degree, retired to confider at leifure to what profeffion I fhould confine that application which had hitherto been diffipated in general knowledge. To deliberate upon a choice which custom and honour forbid to be retracted, is certainly reafonable, yet to let loose the attention equally to the advantages and inconveniences of every employment is not without danger; new motives are every moment operating on every fide; and mechanicks have long ago difcovered, that contrariety of equal While I was thus trifling in uncertainty, an old adventurer, who had been once the intimate friend of my father, arrived from the Indies with a large fortune; which he had fo much haraffed himself in obtaining, that sickness and infirmity left him no other defire than to die in his native country. His wealth easily procured him an invitation to pafs his life with us; and being incapable of any amufement but converfation, he neceffarily became familiarized to me, whom he found ftudious and domeftick. Pleafed with an opportunity of imparting my knowledge, and eager of any intelligence that might increafe it, I delighted his curiofity with hiftorical narratives and explications of nature, and gratified his vanity by enquiries after the products of diftant countries, and the customs of their inhabitants. My brother faw how much I advanced in the favour of our guest, who be ing without heirs, was naturally expect. ed to enrich the family of his friend, but neither attempted to alienate me, nor to ingratiate himfelf. He was indeed little qualified to folicit the affection of a traveller, for the remiffness of his education had left him without any rule of action but his prefent humour. He often forfook the old gentleman in the midst of an adventure, because the horn founded in the court-yard, and would have loft an opportunity, not only of knowing the hiftory, but fharing the wealth of the Mogul, for the trial of a new pointer, or the fight of a horse-race. It was therefore not long before our new friend declared his intention of bequeathing to me the profits of his com merce, as the only man in the family by whom he could expect them to be rationally enjoyed. This distinction drew upon me the envy not only of my brother but my father. As no man is willing to believe that Xx 2 he he fuffers by his own fault, they imputed the preference which I had obtained to adulatory performances, or malignant calumnies. To no purpose did I call upon my patron to atteft my innocence, for who will believe what he wishes to be falfe? In the heat of disappointment they forced their inmate by repeated infults to depart from the house, and I was foon, by the fame treatment, obliged to follow him. He chofe his refidence in the confines of London, where reft, tranquillity, and medicine, reftored him to part of the health which he had loft. I pleafed my felf with perceiving that I was not likely to obtain an immediate poffeffion of wealth which no labour of mine had contributed to acquire; and that he, who had thus diftinguished me, might hope to end his life without a total fruitration of thofe bleffings which, whatever be their real value, he had fought with fo much diligence, and purchased with fo many viciffitudes of danger and fatigue. He indeed left me no reafon to repine at his recovery, for he was willing to accuftom me early to the use of money, and fet apart for my expences fuch a revenue as I had scarcely dared to image. I can yet congratulate myself that fortune has feen her golden cup once tasted without inebriation. Neither my modefty nor prudence were overwhelmed by affluence; my elevation was without infolence, and my expence without profufion. Employing the influence which money always confers to the improvement of my understanding, I mingled in parties of gaiety, and in conferences of learning, appeared in every place where inftruction was to be found, and imagined that by ranging through all the diverfities of life, I had acquainted myfelf fully with human nature, and learned all that was to be known of the ways of men. It happened, however, that I foon difcovered how much was wanted to the completion of my knowledge, and found that, according to Seneca's remark, I had hitherto feen the world but on one fide. My patron's confidence in his increafe of ftrength tempted him to careleffness and irregularity; he caught a fever by riding in the rain, of which he died delirious on the third day. I buried him without any of the heir's affected grief or fecret exultation; then preparing to take a legal poffeffion of his fortune, opened his clofet, where I found a will, made at his first arrival, by which my father was appointed the chief inheritor, and nothing was left me but a legacy fufficient to fupport me in the profecution of my ftudies. I had not yet found fuch charms in profperity as to continue it by any acts of forgery or injuftice, and made hafte to inform my father of the riches which had been given him, not by the preference of kindness, but by the delays of indolence, and cowardice of age. The hungry family flew like vultures on their prey, and foon made my disappointment publick by the tumult of their claims, and the fplendor of their forrow. It was now my part to confider how I fhould repair the difappointment. I could not but triumph in my long lift of friends, which comprized almost every name that power or knowledge intitled to eminence, and in the prospect of the innumerable roads to honour and preferment, which I had laid open to myself by the wife ufe of temporary riches. I believed nothing neceffary but that I fhould continue that acquaintance to which I had been fo readily admitted, and which had hitherto been cultivated on both fides with equal ardour. Full of thefe expectations, I one morning ordered a chair, with an intention to make my ufual circle of morning vifits. Where I first stopped I faw two footmen lolling at the door, who told me, without any change of pofture, or collection of countenance, that their mafter was at home; and fuffered me to open the inner door without affiftance. I found my friend standing, and as I was tattling with my former freedom, was formally intreated to fit down; but did not stay to be favoured with any farther condefcenfions. My next experiment was made at the levee of a statefman, who received me with an embrace of tenderness, that he might with more decency publish my change of fortune to the fycophants about him. After he had enjoyed the triumph of condolence, he turned to a wealthy ftockjobber, and left me expofed to the fcorn of those who had lately courted my notice, and folicited my interest. I was then fet down at the door of another, who upon my entrance advised me with great folemnity to think of fome fettled provifion for life. I left him, and hurried |