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HERE is a lady's houfe where I often pafs my time, though I have very little intimacy with her, because it is really being in a publick place, and making a visit to half the town. first time I went thither, I congratulated her on the prodigious number of her friends; and told her that the must certainly be poffeffed of most extraordinary perfections to attract such a variety of But people, and please them all alike. I foon found that, in all that crowd of vifitants, there was hardly one who came thither on her account; but that their reafon for coming was the fame as her's for receiving them, because they had nothing else to do.

The last time I was there, I met a gentleman, whofe character I was still a ftranger to, though I was very well acquainted with his face.

I want to know,' faid I to a lady who fat next me, what is the merit of that gentleman over-against us, which recommends him fo much to all the world? It feems to me that he does nothing, fays nothing, means nothing,, and is nothing; yet I always fee him in good company!'

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His character,' faid fhe, " may comprehended in very few words; he is a good-natured man.'

I am mighty glad to hear it,' returned I; for I want fuch a man very much: there is a friend of mine in great diftrefs, and it lies in his power to do him fervice.'

No,' faid he, he is of too indolent a temper to give himself the trouble of ferving any body.'

Then what fignifies his good-nature?' anfwered I; or, how do you know that he has any?'

FROM LONDON.

During this dialogue between us, the reft of the company had turned their difcourfe wholly upon fcandal; and few reputations were fpared by them, that were good enough to be thought worth attacking.

The good-natured man fat filently attentive, and with great humanity let them abufe his abfent friends as much as they thought fit.

When that was over, he began to entertain us with his forrow for the death of a noble perfon, who, he faid, had been his patron and benefactor: but, methought, he talked of it mightily at his eafe; and the lady who had given him his character, whispered me, that notwithstanding bis obligations and love to the deceased, he was now making court to his worst enemy, as obfequioufly as he ever had to him.

At that inftant there came in a certain colonel, who, as foon as he saw my gentleman, ran up to him; and, embracing him very tenderly My dear Jack,' faid he, with me to-night!'

thou shalt be drunk

You know I have been ill,' faid the other gently; and drinking does not agree with me.'

No matter for that,' replied the colonel; ' you must pofitively be drunk before you sleep, for I am disappointed of my company, and will not be reduced either to drink by myself, or to go to bed fober.'

The good-natured man could not refift fuch obliging folicitations: he kindly agreed to the propofal; and all the room expreffed their apprehenfions, that his good-nature would be the death of him fome time or other.

bear: at the foot of it were his emirs, and great officers, all proftrate on the ground in adorations, andexpecting their fate from his commands. Around him ftood a multitude of his guards, ready to execute any orders he should give, and ftriking terror into the hearts of all his fubjects. My foul was awed with the majefty of the fcene; and I faid to myfelf- Can a king of England compare himself to this? Can he whofe authority is confined within the narrow bounds of law, pretend to an · equality with a monarch whose power has no limits but his will?'

I had fcarce made this reflection, when, turning my eyes a fecond time towards the throne, instead of the fophi, I faw an eunuch feated there, who feemed to govern more defpotically than he. The eunuch was foon changed into a woman, who alfo took the tiara and the fword; to her fucceeded another, and then a third: but before fhe was well eftablished in her feat, the captain of

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the guards that stood around us marched up to the throne, and feized upon it. In that moment I looked, and beheld the fophi lying ftrangled on the Bloor with his vizir, and three of his fultanas. Struck with horror at the spectacle, I left the palace; and, going out into the city, faw it abandoned to the fury of the foldiers, who pillaged all it's riches, and cut the throats of the defenceless inhabitants. From thence I made my efcape into the country, which was a waite, uncultivated defart, where I found nothing but idleness and want.

O,' faid I, 'how much happier is England, and how much greater are it's kings! Their throne is established upon justice, and therefore cannot be overturned. They are guarded by the 'affections of their people, and have no military violence to fear. They are the most to be honoured of all princes, because their government is beft framed to make their fubjects rich, happy, and safe.'

Had fome difcourfe to-day with an English gentleman, who has an affectation of being thought a great philofopher: his pretenfions to it confift in nothing else but refining away all the happiness of his life. By a great force of reafoning, he is arrived at a total difrelifh of himself, and as compleat an indifference to others. I am quite wea

ry

of living, faid he to me. 'I have gone through every thing that bears the name of pleasure, and an absolutely disgusted with it all. I have no tafte for the common amusements of wine, women, or play, because I ⚫ have experienced the folly of purfuing ⚫ them; and as for business, it appears

FROM LONDON.

to me to be more ridiculous than any of the three. The buftie of the town disturbs my quiet, and in the country I am dying of the spleen. I believe I thail go with you into Perfia, only to change the fcene a little; and when I am tired of being there, take a dofe of opium, and remove to the other 'world.'

I hope, Mirza, that thou and I fhall never know what it is to be fo wife; but make the best of thofe comforts and delights which nature has kindly betowed upon us, and endeavour to diffufe then as wide as possible, by the practice of thofe virtues from which they flow.

gentleman of THERE is anoth, who is a philo fopher, but of a fpecies very different from him I defcribed to thee in my laft,

FROM LONDON.

of a estate,

which his friends are confiderable frater

as he: his children love him out of a principle of gratitude, by far more en

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his mind, that it is to that chiefly he owes his conftant ferenity. Were

there no reward,' faid he to me in our laft converfation, for virtue after this • life, a wife man would practise it for it's own beauty and reafonableness here; yet the wifeft man, in that cafe, 'might be unhappy from the perversity of accidents: but he who adds to the pleafures of virtue the hopes of religion, has no excufe for finking under any misfortune; and, without the extravagance of philofophical pride, may always find a refource in his mind, as much fuperior to all human ' events, as the infinite extent of eternity is beyond the fhort bounds of human duration.'

Such are the notions of this man concerning happiness; and it is probable they are not very wrong, for he himself is never out of humour, nor is it poffible to be fo in his company*.

Went last night with my friend to fee a lady whofe houfe is the favourite refort of the most agreeable people of both fexes. The lady herself received me with a good breeding, which I found was the refult of good fenfe: the treated me as a franger that caine to fee, not like a monfter that came to be feen; and feemed more defirous to appear in a good light herself to me, though a Perfian, than to fet me in a ridiculous one to her company. The converfation turned upon various fubjects, in all which the bore a confiderable, but not a petulant or over-bearing part; and with modefty fhewed herself a mistress of most of the living languages, and not unacquainted with ancient and modern history.

FROM LONDON.

them felves hurt by that pre-eminence which he alone feemed not to be conscious of.

His wit was all founded on good fenfe; it was wit which a Perfian could comprehend as eafily as an Englishman; whereas moft that I have met with from other men, who are ambitious of being admired for that accomplishment, is confined not only to the taste of their own countrymen, but to that of their own peculiar fet of friends. When this gentleman had entertained us for an hour or two, with the jutteft, as well as livelieft remarks, both on perfons and things, that I ever heard, he went away; and, to comfort us for lofing him, there came in the man of great good-nature, whom I defcribed to thee in one of my former letters.

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dangerous, and that the gentleman could not poffibly be fo witty but at the expence of his good-nature.

I could not help being quite angry at fo impertinent and ill-grounded a reflection, on a man for whom I had conceived a great efteem, and defired to know why he supposed him to be illnatured, only because he was not dull, Has he abufed,' faid I, any worthy man? has he defamed any woman of good character? If all the edge of his wit is turned on those who are justly. the objects of ridicule, his wit is as great a benefit to private life, as the iword of the magistrate is to the pub•lick.'

My gentleman, fearing to be drawn into a difpute which he could not carry on without expofing the fecret envy of his heart, changed the difcourfe; and for the rest of his ftay among us, which was not very long, kept a most strict filence, and gave no other indications of life, but that of laughing whenever any body laughed, and nods and gef tures of approbation to whoever spoke.

The moment he was gone, I told my friend that I did not much wonder to fee that gentleman in mixed company, where it was enough that he gave no offence; but that, in a felect fociety as this was, he should be received only from a general notion of his good-nature, which was fupported by no one action of his life, feemed to me entire ly unaccountable. For, even allowing his pretenfions to that title, I was furprized that fuch a character should be to fearce, as to make it fo very valuable.

I can easily conceive,' continued I, that the notorious reverfe of that virtue would be a good reason to turn a man out of company; but I cannot • think that the poff ffion of that virtue, destitute of all others, is a reason foletting him into it.'

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as this, who, without a grain of fenfe or merit, make their way by recipro 'cally complimenting one another. Their numbers make them formida. ble, efpecially fupported, as they are, by the fair-fex. They fneak into good company, like dogs, after fome man of fenfe, whom they feem to belong to; where they neither bark not bite, but cringe and fawn; so that neither good manners nor humanity will allow one to kick them out, till at last they acquire a fort of right by fufferance. They preferve their cha'racter by having no will of their own, which in reality is owing to their having no distinguishing judgment: they are all poffeffed of fome degree of cunning; and their paffions are too low and dull to break in upon it, or hurry them into the indifcretions of men of parts. Befides, they know that they are in a conftant ftate of probation, where the leaft tranfgref fion damns them: they carry no compenfation about them; for active faults will not be borne, where there areat beft but negative virtues. The fmall number of people of fenfe are 'forced to fubmit in this, as in many other filly cuftoms, to a tyrannical 'majority, and lavish undefervedly the valuable character of good-nature, to avoid be ng as unjustly branded with that of ill-nature themselves.'

Might not another reason be given for it?' answered I. Are not vanity and felf-love the great causes of not only the toleration, but the privileges thefe people enjoy? and does not fecurity from centure, certainty of ap plants, or the difcovery of an eminent fa eriority, prevail with thofe of the bet parts to really like, what they only pretend to fuffer, the converfa. tion of those of the worst?'-' Very poffibly replied my friend: at leaft the vanity of the wifeft is certainly the comfort of the weakeft, and feems to be given as an allay to fuperior unIdertandings, like cares to fuperior ftations, to preferve a certain degree of equality that Providence intended among mankind.'

LETTER

Had yefterday the pleasure of a fpec. tacle, than which nothing is more ftriking to a foreigner, because he can have a right idea of it no where else: I faw the three eftates of the kingdom affembled in parliament. The king was on his throne in all his majesty; around him fat the peers in their different robes; at the bar flood the speaker of the commons, attended by the house. Accuftomed as I am to the fublime court of our great emperor, I beheld this fcene with much more reverence, but it was reverence mixed with love. Now, and never till now, did I fee a true image of civil government, the fupport and perfection of human fociety. A tyrant's court is no more worthy to be compared with this affembly, than a lion's den with a temple. Here fuch laws as, after mature and free deliberation, have btained the concurrence of the nobles and commons, receive the royal affent;

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FROM LONDON,

nor can any bind the people, which have not the authority of that triple fanelion. A gentleman who came with me made me obferve, that when the commons fent up the fubfidies granted to the king, he thanked them for them, as an acknowledgment that he had no power to raife them without their confent. Anciently, added he, fupplies of money and redress of grievances went together; but fuch is the prefent hap'piness of our condition, that we have ⚫ more money than ever to beftow, and no grievances at all to be redreffed."

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I have heard,' faid 1, ' that when thefe gifts are moft liberal, they have a natural tendency, like plentiful exhalations drawn from the earth, to fall again upon the place from whence they came.'

He was going to anfwer me, when the house rofe, and put an end to my enquiries.

HIS morning I received a vifit from the gentleman under whofe conduct I had been at the house of lords. After fome general difcourfe upon that fubject, he asked me what I thought of their nobility.

I am too great a stranger,' anfwered I, to have formed a right opinion of what they are; but, if you pleafe, I ⚫ will tell you freely what I think they fhould be.

An English nobleman should be a • ftrenuous afferter of the privileges of the people, becaufe he is perpetually entrusted with the care of them; and at the fame time defirous to preferve • the just rights of the crown, because it is the fource from which his honour ⚫ is derived.

He fhould have an eftate that might • fet him above dependance; and employ the fuperfluities, if fuch there were,