be conceived equally diftant from the middle point, where true fortitude is placed, and may equally injure any publick or private intereft, yet the one is never mentioned without fome kind of veneration, and the other always confidered as a topick of unlimited and licentious cenfure, on which all the virulence of reproach may be lawfully exerted.

The fame diftinction is made, by the common fuffrage, between profufion and avarice; and, perhaps, between many other oppofite vices; and, as I have found reafon to pay great regard to the voice of the people, in cafes where knowledge has been forced upon them by experience, without long deductions or deep researches, I am inclined to believe that this diftribution of refpect is not without fome agreement with the nature of things; and that in the faults which are thus invested with extraordinary privileges, there are generally fome latent principles of merit, Tome poffibilities of future virtue; which may, by degrees, break from obftruction, and by time and opportunity be brought into act.

It may be laid down as an axiom, that it is more eafy to take away fuperfluities than to fupply defects; and therefore he that is culpable because he has paffed the middle point of virtue, is always accounted a fairer object of hope than he who fails by falling fhort. The one has all that perfection requires, and more, but the excefs may be easily retrenched; the other wants the qualities requifite to excellence; and who can tell how he fhall obtain them? We are certain that the horfe may be taught to keep pace with his fellows, whofe fault is that he leaves them behind. We know that a few ftrokes of the axe will lop a cedar; but what arts of cultivation can elevate a fhrub?

To walk with circumfpection and fteadiness in the right path, at an equal distance between the extremes of error, ought to be the conftant endeavour of every reasonable being; nor can I think thole teachers of moral wifdom much to be honoured as benefactors to mankind, who are always enlarging upon the difficulty of our duties, and providing rather excufes for vice, than incentives to

we ought always to employ our vigilance, with most attention, on that enemy from which there is the greatest danger; and to ftray, if we muft ftray, towards those parts from whence we may quickly and easily return.

Among other oppofite qualities of the mind, which may become dangerous, though in different degrees, I have often had occafion to confider the contrary effects of prefumption and defpondency; of heady confidence, which promises victory without conteft, and heartless pufillanimity, which shrinks back from the thought of great undertakings, confounds difficulty with impoffibility, and confiders all advancement towards any new attainment as irreversibly prohibited.

Prefumption will be eafily corrected. Every experiment will teach caution; and mifcarriages will hourly fhew, that attempts are not always rewarded with fuccefs. The most precipitate ardour will, in time, be taught the neceffity of me. thodical gradation and preparatory meafures; and the most daring confidence be convinced that neither merit, nor abilities, can command events.

It is the advantage of vehemence and activity, that they are always haftening to their own reformation; because they incite us to try whether our expectations are well grounded, and therefore detect the deceits which they are apt to occafion. But timidity is a disease of the mind more obftinate and fatal; for a man once perfuaded that any impediment is infuperable, has given it, with respect to himself, that strength and weight which it had not before. He can scarcely ftrive with vi gour and perfeverance, when he has no hope of gaining the victory; and fince he never will try his ftrength, can never discover the unreasonablenefs of his fears.

There is often to be found in men devoted to literature, a kind of intellectual cowardice, which whoever converfesmuch among them, may obferve frequently to deprefs the alacrity of enterprize; and, by confequence, to retard the improve. ment of fcience. They have annexed to every fpecies of knowledge fome chimerical character of terror and inhibition, which they transmit, without much reflection, from one to another; they first fright themfelves, and then propagate the panick to their scholars and acquaintance. One ftudy is inconsistent with a lively imagination, another with a folid judgment; one is improper in the early

parts

MR. RAMBLER,

Tis ufual for men, engaged in the

the conduct and fortune of each other; and, therefore, I fuppofe it will not be umpleafing to you, to read an account of the various changes which have happened in part of a life devoted to literaure. My narrative will not exhibit any great variety of events, or extraordinary revolutions; but may, perhaps, be not Jefs uteful, because I thail relate nothing which is not likely to happen to a thoufand others.

I was born heir to a very fmall fortune; and left by my father, whom I cannot remember, to the care of an uncle. He having no children, always treated me as his fon; and finding in me thofe qualities which old men easily dif cover in fprightly children, when they happen to love them, declared that a geBius like mine fhould never be loft for want of cultivation. He therefore placed me, for the ufual time, at a great fchool, and then fent me to the univerfity, with a larger allowance than my own patrimony would have afforded, that I might not keep mean company, but learn to become my dignity when I should be made lord-chancellor, which he often lamented, that the increase of his infirmities was very likely to preclude him from feeing.

This exuberance of money difplayed itfelf in gaiety of appearance, and wantonnels of expence, and introduced me to the acquaintance of those whom the fame fuperfluity of fortune betrayed to the fame licence and oftentation: young heirs, who pleased themfelves with a , remark very frequent in their mouths

that though they were fent by their fathers to the univerfity, they were not under the neceffity of living by their learning.

SZNICA.

ELPHINSTON.

Among men of this clafs I easily ob tained the reputation of a great genius; and was perfuaded that, with fuch livelinefs of imagination and delicacy of fentiment, I should never be able to fubmit to the drudgery of the law. I therefore gave myfelf wholly to the more airy and elegant parts of learning; and was often fo much elated with my fuperiority to the youths with whom I converted, that I began to liften with great attention to thofe that recommended to me a wider and more confpicuous theatre; and was particularly touched with an obfervation made by one of my friendsthat it was not by lingering in the univerfity that Prior became ambassador, or Addifon fecretary of state,

This defire was hourly increased by the folicitations of my companions, who removing one by one to London, as the caprice of their relations allowed them, or the legal difmiflion from the hands of their guardians put it in their power, never failed to fend an account of the beauty and felicity of the new world, and to remonftrate how much was loft by every hour's continuance in a place of retirement and constraint.

I

My uncle in the mean time frequently haraffed me with monitory letters, which I fometimes neglected to open for a week after I received them, and generally read in a tavern, with fuch comments as might fhew how much I was fuperior to inftruction or advice. could not but wonder how a man confined to the country and unacquainted with the prefent fyftem of things, fould imagine himself qualified to inftru&t a riting genes, born to give laws to the age, refine it's tafte, and multiply it's plenfares.

The potman, however, ftill conti nued to bring me new remonftrances

for

for my uncle was very little depreffed by the ridicule and reproach which he never heard. But men of parts have quick refentments; it was impoffible to bear his ufurpations for ever; and I refolved, once for all, to make him an example to those who imagine themfelves wife because they are old, and to teach young men, who are too tame under reprefcatation, in what manner grey-bearded infolence ought to be treated. I therefore one evening took my pen in hand; and after having animated inyfelf with a catch, wrote a general anfwer to all his precepts, with fuch vivacity of turn, fuch elegance of irony, and fuch afperity of farcalm, that I convulfed a large company with univerfil laughter, difturbed the neighbourhood with vociferations of applaufe, and five days afterwards was anfwered, that I must be content to live on my own eftare.

I

This contraction of my income gave me no disturbance, for a genius like mine was out of the reach of want. had friends that would be proud to open their purfes at my call, and profpects of fuch advancement as would foon reconcile my uncle, whom, upon mature deliberation, I refolved to receive into favour, without infifting on any acknowledgement of his offence, when the fplendour of my condition fhould induce him to wifh for my countenance. I therefore went up to London, before I had thewn the alteration of my condition by any abatement of my way of living, and was received by amy academical acquaintance with triumph and congratulation. I was immediately introduced among the wits and men of fpirit; and in a fhort time had divested myself of all my fcholar's gravity, and obtained the reputation of a pretty fellow.

You will easily believe that I had no great knowledge of the world; yet I had been hindered, by the general difinclination every man feels to confefs poverty, from telling to any one the refo lution of my uncle, and for fome time fubfifted upon the ftock of money which I had brought with me, and contributed my fhare as before to all our entertain ments. But my pocket was foon emptied, and I was obliged to ask my friends for a fmall furn. This was a favour which we had often reciprocally received from one another; they fuppofed my

wants only accidental, and therefore wil lingly fupplied them. In a fhort time I found a neceffity of afking again, and was again treated with the fame civility; but the third time they began to wonder what that old rogue my uncle could mean by fending a gentleman to town without money; and when they gave me what I asked for, advised me to ftipulate for more regular remittances.

This fomewhat disturbed my dream of conftant affluence: but I was three days after compleatly awaked; for entering the tavern, where we met every evening, I found the waiters remitted their com plaifance, and, instead of contending to light me up ftairs, fuffered me to wais for fome minutes by the bar. When I came to my company, I found them unufually grave and formal; and one of them took a hint to turn the converfa. tion up on the mifconduct of young men and enlarged upon the folly of frequent ing the company of men of fortune, without being able to fupport the expence; an obfèrvation which the reft contributed either to enforce by repetition, or to illuftrate by examples. Only one of them tried to divert the difcourfe, and endeavoured to direct my attention to remote queftions, and common topicks.

A man guilty of poverty eafily believes himself fufpected. I went, however, next morning to breakfast with him who appeared ignorant of the drift of the converfation, and by a series of enquiries, drawing till nearer to the point, prevailed on him, not perhaps inuch against his will, to inform me, that Mr. Dash, whofe father was a wealthy attorney near my native place, had, the morning before, received an account of my uncle's refentment, and communicated his intelligence with the utmost irdaftry of grovelling infolence.

It was now no longer practicable to confort with my former friends, unless

I would be content to be ufed as an inferior guett, who was to pay for his wine by mirth and flattery; a character which, if I could not efcape it, I refolved to endure only among thofe who had never known me in the pride of plenty. I changed my lodgings, and frequented the coffee-houfes in a different region of the town, where I was very quickly dif tinguished by feveral young gentlemen of high birth and large eftates, and be gan again to amul my imagination with

hopes