remembrance of thofe failings which we are more willing to indulge than to correct.

It is by no means neceffary to imagine, that he who is offended at advice, was ignorant of the fault, and refents the admonition as a falfe charge; for perhaps it is most natural to be enraged when there is the ftrongest conviction of our own guilt. While we can easily defend our character; we are no more disturbed at an accufation than we are alarmed by an enemy whom we are fure to conquer; and whofe attack, therefore, will bring us honour without danger. But when a man feels the reprehenfion of a friend feconded by his own heart, he is cafily heated into refentment and revenge, either becaufe he hoped that the fault of which he was confcious, had efcaped the notice of others; or that his friend had looked upon it with tenderness and extenuation, and excufed it for the fake of his other virtues; or had confidered him as too wife to need advice, or too delicate to be fhocked with reproach: or, because we cannot feel without pain thofe reflections roufed which we have been endeavouring to lay afleep; and when pain has produced anger, who would not willingly believe, that it ought to be difcharged on others, rather than on himfelf?

The refentment produced by fincerity, whatever be it's immediate caufe, is fo certain, and generally fo keen, that very few have magnanimity fufficient for the practice of a duty, which, above moft

others, expofes it's votaries to hardships and perfecution; yet friendship without it is of very little value, fince the great ufe of fo close an intimacy is that our virtues may be guarded and encouraged, and our vices repreffed in their first appearance by timely detection and falutary remonstrances.

It is decreed by Providence, that nothing truly valuable shall be obtained in our prefent ftate, but with difficulty and danger. He that hopes for that advantage which is to be gained from unretrained communication, muft sometimes hazard, by unpleafing truths, that friendfhip which he aspires to merit. The chief rule to be obferved in the exercise of this dangerous office, is to preferve it pure from all mixture of intereft or vanity; to forbear admonition or reproof, when our confciences tell us that they are incited, not by the hopes of reforming faults, but the defire of fhewing our difcernment, or gratifying our own pride by the mortification of another. It is not indeed certain that the most refined caution will find a proper time for bringing a man to the knowledge of his own failings, or the most zealous benevolence reconcile him to that judgment by which they are detected; but he who endeavours only the happinefs of him whom

he

reproves, will always have either the fatisfaction of obtaining or deferving kindness; if he fucceeds, he benefits his friend; and, if he fails, he has at leaft the confcioufnefs that he fuffers for only doing well.

MART.

tial nature of the foul of man.. We have no reason to believe that other creatures have higher faculties, or more extenfive capacities, than the prefervation of themfelves, or their fpecies, requires; they feem always to be fully employed, or to be completely at eafe without employment, to feel few intellectual miferies or pleatures, and to have no exuberance of understanding to lay out upon curiofity or caprice, but to have their minds exact ly adapted to their bodies, with few other ideas than fuch as corporal pain or plea fure imprefs upon them..

Of memory, which makes fo large a part of the excellence of the human foul, and which has fo much influence upon all it's other powers, but a finall portion has been allotted to the animal world. We do not find the grief with which the dams lament the lofs of their young, proportionate to the tendernets with which they care's, the affiduity with which they feed, or the vehemence with which they defend them. Their regard for their off tpring, when it is before their eyes, is mot, in appearance, lefs than that of a human parent; but when it is taken away, it is very foon forgotten, and after a fhort abience, if brought again, wholly difregarded.

That they have very little remembrance of any thing once out of the reach of their feules, and fearce any power of comparing the prefent with the paft, and regulating their conclufions from experience, may be gathered from this, that their intellects are produced in their full perfection. The fparrow that was hatched laft fpring makes her firft nett, the enfuing featon, of the faune materials, and with the fame art, as in any following year; and the hen conducts and fhelters her firtt brood of chickens with all the prudence that the ever attains.

It has been asked by men who love to perplex any thing that is plain to comnon understandings, how reafon differs from inftinet; and Prior has with no great propriety made Solomon himself declare, that to diftinguith them is the fool's ignorance, and the pedant's pride. To give an accurate aufwer to a queftion of which the terms are not completely understood, is impofiible; we do not know in what either reafon or inftinct confift, and therefore cannot tell with exactnet how they difler: but furely he that con emplates hip and a bird's neft will not be long without finding out, that the idea of the

a

one was impreffed at once, and continu ed through all the progreffive defcents of the fpecies, without variation or improvement; and that the other is the refult of experiments compared with experiments, has grown, by accumulated obfervation, from lefs to greater excellence, and exhibits the collective knowledge of different ages. and various profeffions.

Memory is the purveyor of, reafon, the power which places thofe images before the mind upon.v which the judgment is to be exercited, and which treasures, upthedeterminations that are once paffed, as the rules of future action, or grounds. of fubfequent conclufions.

It is, indeed, the faculty of remem brance, which may be faid to place us in the clafs of moral agents. If we were to act only in confequence of fome immediate impulfe, and receive no direction from internal motives of choice, we fhould be pushed forward by an invincible fa tality, without power or reafon for the most part to preter one thing to another; because we could make no comparifon but of objects which inight both happen, to be prefent.

We owe to memory not only the increafe of our knowledge, and our progrefs in rational enquiries, but many other intellectual pleafures. Indeed, almost all that we can be faid to enjoy is paft or future; the prefent is in perpetual motion, leaves us as foon as it arrives, ceafes to be prefent before it's prefence is well perceived, and is only known to have exifted by the effects which it leaves behind. The greateft part of our ideas arifes, therefore, from the view before or behind us; and we are happy or miferable, according as we are affected by the furvey of our life, or our profpect of future existence.

With regard to futurity, when events. are at fuch a distance from us, that we cannot take the whole concatenation into our view, we have generally power enough over our imagination to turn it upon pleaf ing fcenes, and can promife ourselves riches, honours, and delights, without intermingling thofe vexations and anxieties with which all human enjoyments are polluted. If fear breaks in on one fide, and alans us with dangers and difappointments, we can call in hope on the other, to folace us with rewards, and. efcapes, and victories; fo that we are feldom without means of palliating re mote evils, and can generally foothe our

ves to tranquillity, whenever any troublelome prefage happens to attack us.

It is, therefore, I believe, much more common for the folitary and thoughtful to amufe themfelves with schemes of the future, than reviews of the paft. For the future is pliant and ductile, and will be easily moulded by a strong fancy into any form. But the images which memory prefents are of á stubborn and untractable nature; the objects of remem brance have already exifted, and left their fignature behind them impreffed upon the mind, fo as to defy all attempts of rafure or of change:

As the fatisfactions, therefore, arifing from memory are lefs arbitrary; they are more folid; and are, indeed, the only joys which we can call our own. Whatever we have once repofited, as Dryden expreffes it, in the facred treasure of the past, is out of the reach of accident, or violence, nor can be loft either by our own weakness, or another's malice:

There is certainly no greater happiness than to be able to look back on a life fefully and virtuously employed, to trace our own progrefs in exiftence, by

fuch tokens as excite neither thane nor forrow. Life; in which nothing has been done or fuffered to diftinguish one day from another, is to him that has paffed At, as if it had never been, except that he is confcious how ill he has husbanded the great, depofit of his Creator. Life, made memorable by crimes; and diverfified through it's feveral periods by wickedness, is indeed easily reviewed, but reviewed only with horror and remorse.

The great confideration which ought to influence us in the ufe of the prefent moment, is to arise from the effect, which,

as well or ill applied, it must have upon the time to come; for though it's actual existence be inconceivably short, yet it's effects are unlimited; and there is not the finalleft point of time but may extend it's confequences, either to our hurt or our advantage, through all eternity, and give us reafon to remember it for ever, with anguish or exultation.

The time of life in which memory feems particularly to claim predominance over the other faculties of the mind, is our declining age. It has been remarked by former writers, that old men are generally narrative, and fall cafily into recitals of paft tranfactions, and accounts of perfens known to them in their youth. When we approach the verge of the grave, it is more eminently true→→

We have no longer any poffibility of great viciffitudes in our favour; the changes which are to happen in theworld will come too late for our accommodation; and thote who have no hope before then, and to whom their prefent ftate is painful and irkfonie, muit of neceffity turn their thoughts back to try what retrofpect will afford. It ought, therefore, to be the care of thofe who wish to pass the last hours with comfort, to lay up fuch a treature of pleafing ideas, as fhall fupport the expences of that time, which is to depend wholly upon the fund already acquired.

Petite bine, juvenefque fenefque Finem animo certum, mijerifque viatica canisà Seek here, ye young, the anchor of your mind; Here, fuff ring ge, a blefs'd provifion find.

ELPHINSTON.

TO THE RAMBLER.

MR. RAMBLER,

Am no great admirer of grave writ ings, and therefore very frequently lay your papers afide before I have read them through; yet I cannot but confefs that, by flow degrees, you have raised my opinion of your understanding, and that, though I believe it will be long before I can be prevailed upon to regasd you with much kindnefs, you have, however, more of my esteem than thofe whom I fometimes make happy with opportunities to fiff my tea-pot, or pick up my fan. I fhall therefore chufe you for the confident of my dikreffes, and afk your counter with regard to the means of conquering or escaping them, though I never expect from you any of that foftnets and pliancy, which conftitutes the perfection of a companion for the ladies: as, in the place where I now am, I have recourse to the maftiff for protection, though I have no intention of making him a lap-dog.

My mamma is a very fine lady, who has more numerous and more frequent affemblies at her houfe than any other perfon in the fame quarter of the town. I was bred from my earliest infancy in a perpetual tumult of pleature, and remember to have heard of little elfe thin meflages, vifits, play-houtes, and balls; of the awkwardnefs of one woman, and the coquetry of another; the charming convenience of fome rifing fathion, the difficulty of playing a new game, the incidents of a masquerade, and the drefles of a court-night. I knew before I was ten years old all the, rules of paying and receiving viits, and to how much civility every one of my acquaintance was entitle 1; and was able to return, with the proper degree of referve or of vivacity, the stated and established answer to every compliment; fo that I was very fcon celebrated as a wit and a beauty, and had heard before I was thirteen all that is ever faid to a young lady.

My

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ELPHINSTON.

mother was generous to fo uncommon degree as to be pleased with my advancó into life, and allowed me, without envy or reproof, to enjoy the fame happiness with herfelf; though most women about her own age were very angry to fee young girls fo forward, and many fine gentlemen told her how cruel it was to throw new chains upon mankind, and to ty rannize over them at the fame time with her own charins and thole of her daugh

ter.

I have now lived two and twenty years, and have paffed of each year nine months in town, and three at Richmond; fo that my time has been spent uniformly in the fame company, and the fame amufements, except as fashion, has introduced new diverfions, or the revolu tions of the gay world have afforded new fucceflions of wits and beaus. How ever, my mother is so good an economitt of pleasure, that I have no spare hours upon my hands; for every morn ing brings fome new appointment, and every night is hurried away by the neceffity of making our appearance at diffe rent places, and of being with one lady at the opera, and with another at ce card-table.

When the time came of fettling our fcheme of felicity for the, fummer, t was determined that I should pay a vist to a rich aunt in a remote county: As you know the chief convertation of all tea-tables, in the fpring, arifes from a communication of the manner in which time is to be paffed till winter, it was a great relief to the barrenneis of our topicks, to relate the pleatures that were in tore for me, to defcribe iny arcle's feat, with the park and gardens, the charming walks, and beautiful waterfalls, and every one told me how much the envied me, and what fatisfaction the had onc enjoyed in a situation of the fame kiuda

As we are all credulous incur own favour, and willing to imagine fome latent fatisfaction in any thing which we have not experienced, I will confefs to

you,

you, without-reftraint, that I had fuftered my head to be filled with expectations of fome nameless pleafure in a rural life, and that I hoped for the happy hour that should fet me free from moife, and flutter, and ceremony, dif mifs me to the peaceful fhade, and lut me in content and tranquillity. To folace myself under the mifery of delay, I fometimes heard a ftudious lady of my acquaintance read paftorals. I was delighted with fcarce any talk but of leaving the town, and never went to bed without dreaming of groves, and meadows, and frifking lambs.

At length I had all my clothes in a trunk, and faw the coach at the door I fprung in with ecftacy, quarrelled with my maid for being too long in taking have of the other fervants, and rejoiced as the ground grew lefs which lay between me and the completion of my withes. A few days brought me to a large old houfe, encompaffed on three fides with woody hills, and looking from the front on a gentle river, the fight of which renewed all my expectations of pleafure, and gave me fome regret for having lived fo long without the enjoyment which thefe delightful fcenes were now to afford me. My aunt came out to receive me, but in a drefs fo far removed from the prefent fashion, that I could fcarcely look upon her without laughter, which would have been no kind requital for the trouble he had taken to make herself fine against my arrival. The night and the next morning were driven along with, enquiries ahout our family; my aunt then explained our pedigree, and told me ftories of my great-grandfather's bravery in the civil wars, nor was it lefs than three days before I could perfuade her to leave me to myself.

At last economy prevailed; he went in the ufual mauner about her own affairs, and I was at liberty to range in the wilderness, and fit by the cafcade. The novelty of the objects about me pleafed me for a while, but after a few days they were new no longer, and I foon began to perceive that the country was not my element; that thades and flowers, and lawns and waters, had very foon exhutted all their power of pleafing, and that I had not in myself any fund of fatisfaction with which I could fupply the Jefs of my customary amusements.

unhappily told my aunt, in the firft

Six

warmth of our embraces, that I had leave to ftay with her ten weeks. only are yet gone; and how shall I live through the remaining four? I go out and return; I pluck a flower, and throw it away; I catch an infect, and when I. have examined it's colours, fet it at liberty; I fling a pebble into the water, and fee one circle fpread after another. When it chances to rain, I walk in the great hall, and watch the minute-hand upon the dial, or play with a litter of kittens, which the cat happens to have brought in a lucky time.

My aunt is afraid I fhall grow melancholy; and therefore encourages the neighbouring gentry to visit us. Thev came at first with great eagerness to fee the fine lady from London: but when we met, we had ng common topick on which we could converfe; they had no curiofity after plays, operas, or mutick: and I find as little fatisfaction from their accounts of the quarrels or alliances of families, whote names, when once I can efcape, I thall never hear. The women have now feen me; know how my gown is made, and are fatisfied; the men are generally afraid of me, and fay little, becaufe they think themselves not at liberty to talk rudely.

Thus am I condemned to folitude 3 the day moves flowly forward, and I

the dawn with uneafinefs, because I confider that night is at a great diftance. I have tried to fleep by a brook, but find it's murmurs ineffectual; fo that I am forced to be awake at least twelve hours, without vifits, without cards, without laughter, and without flattery. I walk because I am difgufted with fitting ftill, and fit down because I am weary with walking. I have no motive to action, nor any object of love, or hate, or fear, or inclination. I cannot drefs with fpirit, for I have neither rival nor admirer. I cannot dance without a partner; nor be kind, or cruel, without a lover.

Such is the life of Euphelia, and fuch it is likely to continue for a month to come. I have not yet declared against existence, nor called upon the deftinies to cut my thread; but I have fincerely refolved not to condemn myself to fuch another fummer, nor too haftily to flatter my felf with happiness. Yet I have heard, Mr. Rambler, of those who never thought themselves to much at eafe

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