before, and hopelefs of relief from those who were ftrangers to my former condition. Night came on in the midft of my distraction, and I still continued to wander till the menaces of the watch obliged me to fhelter myfelf in a covered paffage.

Next day, I procured a lodging in the backward garret of a mean houfe, and employed my landlady to enquire for a fervice. My applications were generally rejected for want of a character. At length I was received at a draper's; but when it was known to my mistrefs that I had only one gown, and that of filk, the was of opinion that I looked like a thief, and without warning hurried me away. I then tried to fupport myself by my needle; and, by my landlady's recommendation, obtained a little work from a fhop, and for three weeks lived without repining, but when my punctuality had gained me fo much reputa tion, that I was trufted to make up a head of fome value, one of my fellowlodgers ftole the lace, and I was obliged to fly from a profecution.

Thus driven again into the streets, I lived upon the least that could fupport me, and at night accommodated myfelf under pent-houfes as well as I could. At length I became abfolutely pennylefs; and having ftrolled all day without fuftenance, was, at the clofe of evening, accofted by an elderly man, with an invitation to a tavern. I refufed him with hesitation; he seized me by the hand, and drew me into a neighbouring house, where when he saw my face pale with hunger, and my eyes fwelling with tears, he fpurned me from him, and bade me cant and whine in fome other place, he for his part would take care of his pockets.

I ftill continued to ftand in the way, having fcarcely ftrength to walk farther, when another foon addreffed me in the fame manner. When he faw the fame tokens of calamity, he confidered that I might be obtained at a cheap rate, and therefore quickly made overtures, which I had no longer firmness to reject. By this man I was maintained four months in penurious wickedness, and then abandoned to my former condition, from which I was delivered by another keeper.

In this abject ftate I have now passed four years, the drudge of extortion, and the fport of drunkenness; fometimes the property of one man, and fometimes the common prey of accidental lewdness; at one time tricked up for fale by the mistress of a brothel, at another begging in the streets to be relieved from hunger by wickedness; without any hope in the day but of finding fome whom folly or excefs may expofe to my allurements, and without any reflections at night, but fuch as guilt and terror imprefs upon me.

If those who pafs their days in plenty and fecurity could vifit for an hour the difmal receptacles to which the proftitute retires from her nocturnal excurfions, and fee the wretches that lie crowded together, mad with intemperance, ghaftly with famine, nauseous with filth, and noisome with disease; it would not be eafy for any degree of abhorrence to harden them against com→ paffion, or to reprefs the defire which they muft immediately feel to rescue fuch numbers of human beings from a state so dreadful.

It is faid that in France they annually evacuate their streets, and fhip their prostitutes and vagabonds to their colonies. If the women that infeft this city had the fame opportunity of escaping from their miferies, I believe very little force would be neceffary; for who among them can dread any change? Many of us indeed are wholly unqualified for any but the most fervile employments, and thofe perhaps would require the care of a magiftrate to hinder them from following the fame practices in another country; but others are only precluded by infamy from reformation, and would gladly be delivered on any terms from the neceffity of guilt and the tyranny of chance. No place but a populous city can afford opportunities for open proftitution, and where the eye of justice can attend to individuals, thofe who cannot be made good may be restrained from mischief. For my part, I should exult at the privilege of banishment, and think myfelf happy in any region that fhould restore me once again to honesty and peace.

I am, Sir, &c.

MART.

OTHING has been longer ob

tune caufes a change of manners; and that it is difficult to conjecture, from the conduct of him whom we fee in a Jow condition, how he would act if wealth, and power were put into his hands. But it is generally agreed, that few men are made better by affluence or exaltation; and that the powers of the mind, when they are unbound and expanded by the fun-fhine of felicity, more frequently luxuriate into follies than bloffom into goodness.

Many obfervations have concurred to eftablish this opinion, and it is not like ly foon to become obfolete, for want of new occafions to revive it. The greater part of mankind are corrupt in every condition, and differ in high and in low stations, only as they have more or fewer opportunities of gratifying their defires, or as they are more or lefs restrained by human cenfures. Many vitiate their principles in the acquisition of riches; and who can wonder that what is gained by fraud and extortion is enjoyed with tyranny and excels?

Yet I am willing to believe that the depravation of the mind by external advantages, though certainly not uncommon, yet approaches not fo nearly to univerfality, as fome have afferted in the bitterness of resentment, or heat of declamation.

Whoever rifes above those who once pleafed themselves with equality, will have many malevolent gazers at his eminence. To gain sooner than others that which all purfue with the fame ardour, and to which all imagine themfelves entitled, will for ever be a crime. When those who started with us in the race of life, leave us fő far behind,

F. LEWIS.

that we have little hope to overtaks

by remarks, on the arts of fupplantation by which they gained the advantage, or on the folly and arrogance with which they poffefs it. Of them whofe rife we could not hinder, we solace ourselves by prognofticating the fall.

It is impoffible for human purity not to betray to an eye, thus fharpened by malignity, fome itains which lay concealed and unregarded while none thought it their intereft to discover them; nor can the moft circumfpect attention, or fteady rectitude, efcape blame from censors, who have no inclination to approve. Riches therefore perhaps do not fo often produce crimes as incite accusers.

The common charge against thofe who rife above their original condition, is that of pride. It is certain that fuccefs naturally confirms us in a favourable opinion of our own abilities. Scarce any man is willing to allot to accident, friendfhip, and a thousand caufes, which concur in every event without human contrivance or interpofition, the part which they may justly claim in his advancement. We rate ourselves by our fortune rather than our virtues, and exorbitant claims are quickly produced by imaginary merit. But captioufnefs and jealoufy are likewise easily offended, and to him who ftudioufly looks for an affront, every mode of behaviour with fupply it; freedom will be rudeness, and referve fullennefs; mirth will be negli gence, and serioutness formality: when he is received with ceremony, diftance and refpect are inculcated; if he is treated with familiarity, he concludes himfelf infulted by condefcenfions.

It must however be confeffed, that as all

all fudden changes are dangerous, a quick transition from poverty to abundance can seldom be made with fafety. He that has long lived within fight of pleasures which he could not reach, will need more than common moderation, not to lose his reafon in unbounded riot, when they are first put into his power. Every poffeffion is endeared by novel ty; every gratification is exaggerated by defire. It is difficult not to estimate what is lately gained above it's real value; it is impoffible not to annex greater happiness to that condition from which we are unwillingly excluded, than nature has qualified us to obtain. For this reason, the remote inheritor of an unexpected fortune may be generally dif tinguished from those who are enriched in the common course of lineal descent, by his greater hafte to enjoy his wealth, by the finery of his drefs, the pomp of his equipage, the splendor of his furniture, and the luxury of his table.

A thousand things which familiarity difcovers to be of little value, have power for a time to feize the imagination. A Virginian king, when the Europeans had fixed a lock on his door, was fo delighted to find his fubjects admitted or excluded with fuch facility, that it was from morning to evening his whole employment to turn the key. We, among whom locks and keys have been longer in ufe, are inclined to laugh at the American amufement; yet I doubt whether this paper will have a fingle reader that may not apply the story to himself, and recollect fome hours of his life in which he has been equally overpowered by the tranfitory charms of trifling novelty.

Some indulgence is due to him whom a happy gale of fortue has fuddenly transported into new regions, where unaccustomed luftre dazzles his eyes, and untafted delicacies folicit his appetite. Let him not be confidered as loft in hopelefs degeneracy, though he for a while forgets the regard due to others, to indulge the contemplation of himself, and in the extravagance of his firit raptures expects that his eye fhould regulate the motions of all that approach him, and his opinion be received as decifive and oraculous. His intoxication will give way to time; the madness of joy will fume imperceptibly away; the fenfe of

He that can do much good or harm, will not find many whom ambition or cowardice will fuffer to be fincere. While we live upon the level with the reft of mankind, we are reminded of our duty by the admonitions of friends, and reproaches of enemies; but men who ftand in the highest ranks of fociety, feldom hear of their faults; if by any accident an opprobrious clamour reaches their ears, flattery is always at hand to pour in her opiates, to quiet conviction and obtund remorse.

Favour is feldom gained but by con formity in vice. Virtue can ftand without affiftance, and confiders herself as very little obliged by countenance and approbation: but vice, fpiritless, and timorous, feeks the fhelter of crowds and fupport of confederacy. The fycophant, therefore, neglects the good qualities of his patron, and employs all his art on his weakneffes and follies, regales his reigning vanity, or ftimulates his prevalent defires.

Virtue is fufficiently difficult with any circumstances, but the difficulty is increafed when reproof and advice are frighted away. In cominon life, reafon and confcience have only the appetites and paffions to encounter; but in higher ftations they must oppofe artifice and adulation. He, therefore, that yields to fuch temptations, cannot give those who look upon his mifcarriage much reason for exultation, fince few can juftly presume that from the fame fare they should have been able to efcape.

Ng CLXXIII

HOR.

any action

con

trudes his remarks and difcoveries upon

the limbs; fo the mind likewise is crippled and contracted by perpetual application to the fame fet of ideas. It is eafy to guefs the trade of an artizan by his knees, his fingers, or his fhoulders; and there are few among men of the more liberal profeffions, whofe minds do not carry the brand of their calling, or whofe converfation does not quickly discover to what class of the community they belong.

Thefe peculiarities have been of great ufe in the general hostility which every part of mankind exercises against the reft, to furnish infults and sarcasms. Every art has it's dialect uncouth and ungrateful to all whom cuftom has not reconciled to it's found, and which therefore becomes ridiculous by a flight mifapplication, or unneceffary repeti tion.

The general reproach with which ignorance revenges the fuperciliounefs of learning, is that of pedantry; a cenfure which every man incurs, who has at any time the misfortune to talk to those who cannot understand him, and by which the modest and timorous are fometimes frighted from the difplay of their acquifitions, and the exertion of their powers.

The name of a pedant is fo formidable to young men when they firft fally from their colleges, and is fo liberally fcattered by those who mean to boast their elegance of education, eafiness of manners, and knowledge of the world, that it feems to require particular confideration; fince, perhaps, if it were once understood, many a heart might be freed from painful apprehenfions, and many a tongue delivered from reftraint. Pedantry is the unfeasonable oftentation of learning. It may be difcovered either in the choice of a fubject, or in the manner of treating it. He is undoubt edly guilty of pedantry who, when he has made himself matter of some abftrufe and uncultivated part of knowledge, ob

of his proficiency, and from whom, as' he cannot fear contradiction, he cannot properly expect applause.

To this error the student is fometimes betrayed by the natural recurrence of the mind to it's common employment, by the pleasure which every man receives from the recollection of pleafing images, and the defire of dwelling upon topicks on which he knows himself able to speak with juftnefs. But because we are feldom fo far prejudiced in favour of each other, as to fearch out for palliations, this failure of politeness is imputed al ways to vanity; and the harmless collegiate, who perhaps intended entertainment and instruction, or at worst only fpoke without fufficient reflection upon the character of his hearers, is cenfured as arrogant or overbearing, and eager to extend his renown, in contempt of the convenience of fociety, and the laws of converfation.

All difcourfe of which others cannot partake, is not only an irksome ufurpa tion of the time devoted to pleasure and entertainment, but, what never fails to excite very keen refentment, an infolent affertion of fuperiority, and a triumph over lefs enlightened understandings The pedant is, therefore, not only heard with wearinefs, but malignity; and those who conceive themfelves infulted by his knowledge, never fail to tell with acrimony how injudiciously it was exerted.

To avoid this dangerous imputation, fcholars fometimes diveft themselves with too much hafte of their academical for mality, and in their endeavours to accommodate their notions and their style to common conceptions, talk rather of any thing than of that which they underftand, and fink into infipidity of fen timent and meanness of expreffion.

There prevails among men of letters an opinion, that all appearance of science is particularly hateful to women; and that therefore, whoever defires to be well received in female affemblies, must qua

lify himself by a total rejection of all that is ferious, rational, or important; muft confider argument or criticism as perpetually interdicted; and devote all his attention to trifles, and all his eloquence to compliment.

Students often form their notions of the prefent generation from the writings of the paft, and are not very early informed of thofe changes which the gradual diffufion of knowledge, or the fudden caprice of fashion, produces in the world. Whatever might be the ftate of female literature in the last century, there is now no longer any danger left the fcholar fhould want an adequate audience at the tea-table; and whoever thinks it neceffary to regulate his converfation by antiquated rules, will be rather defpifed for his futility than careffed for his politenefs.

To talk intentionally in a manner above the comprehenfion of those whom we addrefs, is unquestionable pedantry; but furely complaifance requires, that no man fhould, without proof, conclude his company incapable of following him to the highest elevation of his fancy, or the utmoft extent of his know. ledge. It is always fafer to err in favour of others, than of ourselves, and therefore we seldom hazard much by endeavouring to excel.

It ought at least to be the care of learning, when the quits her exaltation, to defcend with dignity. Nothing is more defpicable than the airinefs and jocularity of a man bred to fevere science, and folitary meditation. To trifle agreeably is a fecret which schools cannot impart; that gay negligence and vivacious levity, which charm down refiftance wherever they appear, are never attainable by him who, having fpent his first years among

the duft of libraries, enters late into the gay world with an unpliant attention and eftablished habits.

It is obferved in the panegyrick on Fabricius the mechanift, that, though forced by publick employments into mingled converfation, he never lost the modefty and seriousness of the convent, nor drew ridicule upon himself by an affected imitation of fashionable life. To the fame praise every man devoted to learning ought to afpire. If he attempts the fofter arts of pleasing, and endeavours to learn the graceful bow and the familiar embrace, the infinuat ing accent and the general smile, he will lofe the respect due to the character of learning, without arriving at the envied honour of doing any thing with elegance and facility.

Theophraftus was discovered not to be a native of Athens, by fo strict an adherence to the Attic dialect, as shewed that he had learned it not by custom, but by rule. A man not early formed to habitual elégance, betrays in like manner the effects of his education, by an unneceffary anxiety of behaviour. It is as poffible to become pedantick by fear of pedantry, as to be troublesome by ill-timed civility. There is no kind of impertinence more justly cenfurable, than his who is always labouring to level thoughts to intellects higher than his own; who apologizes for every word which his own narrowness of converse

inclines him to think unufual; keeps the, exuberance of his faculties under vifible' reftraint; is folicitous to anticipate enquiries by needlefs explanations; and endeavours to fhade his own abilities, left weak eyes fhould be dazzled with their luftre.

N° CLXXIV.