and was destitute of necessaries in a foreign country. Naked and destitute! says Gelidus, reach down the last volume of meteorological observations, extract: an exact account of the wind, and note it caresully in the diary of the weather. . 4

The samily of Gelidus once broke into his study, to shew him that a town at a small distance was on fire, and in a sew moments a servant came to tell him, that the flame had caught sb many houses on both sides, that the inhabitants were consounded, and began to think of rather escaping with their lives, than saving their dwellings. What you tell me, says Gelidus, is very probable, for fire naturalsy acts in a circle.

Thus lives this great philosopher, insensible to every spectacle of distress, and unmoved by the loudest call of social nature, for want of considering that men are designed for the succour and comfort of 'each other; that though there are hours which may be laudably spent upon knowledge not immediately usesul, yet the first attention is due to practical virtue; and that he may be justly driven out from the commerce of mankind, who has so sar abstracted himself from the species, as to partake neither.of the joys nor griefs of others, but neglects the endearments of his wise, arid the caresses of his children, to count the drops of rain, note the changes of the wind, and calculate the eclipses of the moons os Jupiter.

I shall reserve to some suture paper the religious and important meaning of this epitome of wisdom, and only remark, that it may be applied to the gay and light, as well as to the grave and solemn parts 5 of

of lise; and that not only the philofopher may forseit his pretences to real learning, but the wit and the beauty may miscarry in their schemes, by the want of this universal requisite, the knowledge of themselves.

It is surely for no other reason, that we see such numbers resolutely struggling against nature, and contending for that which they never can attain, endeavouring to unite contradictions, and determined to excel in characters inconsistent with each other; that stock-jobbers assect dress, gaiety, and elegance, and mathematicians labour to be wits; that the' soldier teazes his acquaintance with questions in theology, and the academick hopes to divert the ladies by a recital of his gallantries. That absurdity of pride could proceed only from ignorance of themselves, by which Garth attempted criticism, and Congreve waved his title to dramatick reputation, and desired to be considered only as a gentleman.

Euphues, with great parts, and extensive knowledge, has a clouded aspect, and ungracious form; yet it has been his ambition, from his first entrance into lise, to distinguish himself by particularities in his dress, to outvie beaus in embroidery, to import new trimmings, and to be foremost in the sashion. . Euphues has turned on his exterior appearance, that attention, which would always have produced esteem had it been fixed upon his mind; and though his virtues and abilities have preserved him from the contempt which he has so diligently solicited, he has, at least, raised one impediment to his reputation; since all can judge of his dress, but sew of

his

iiis understanding; and many who discern that he is a fop, are unwilling to believe that he can be wise. There is one instance in which the ladies are par* tlcularly unwilling to observe the rule of Chilo. They are desirous to hide from themselves the advances of age, and endeavour too frequently to supply the sprightliness and bloom of youth by artificial beauty and forced vivacity. They hope to inflame the heart by glances which have lost their fire, or melt it by languor which is no longer delicate; they play over the airs which pleased at a time when they were expected only to please, and forget that airs in time ought to give place to virtues. They continue to trifle, because they could once trifle agreeably, till thofe who shared their early pleasures are withdrawn to more serious engagements; and are scarcely awakened from their dream of perpetual youth, but by the scorn of those whom they endeavour to rival.

Vol. V. M

Numb. 25. Tuesday, June 12, 1750.

Pojsunt qui a pojse vidcntur. Virgil.
For they can conquer who believe they can. Dry Den.

TH E R E are some vices and errors which, though often fatal to thofe in whom they are found, have yet, by the universal consent of mankind, been considered as entitled to some degree of respect, or have, at least, been exempted from contemptuous insamy, and condemned by the severest, moralists with pity rather than detestation.

A constant and invariable example of this general partiality will be found in the different regard which has always been shown to rashness and cowardice, two vices, of which, though they may be conceived equally distant from the middle points where true fortitude is placed, and may equally injure any publick or private interest, yet the one is never mentioned without some kind of veneration, and the other always considered as a topick of unlimited and licentious censure, on which all the virulence of reproach may be lawsully exerted.

The same distinction is made, by the common suffrage, between prosusion and avarice, and, perhaps, between many other oppofite vices; and, as I have found reason to pay great regard to the voice of the people, in cases where knowledge has been forced upon them by experience, without long deductions or deep researches, I am inclined to believe

that that this distribution of respect is not without some agreement with the nature of things; and that in the saults, which are thus invested with extraordinary privileges, there are generally some latent principles of merit, some possibilities of suture virtue, which may, by degrees, break from obstruction, and by time and opportunity be brought into act*

It may be laid down as an axiom, that it is more easy to take away superfluities than to supply desects; and therefore he that is culpable, because he has passed the middle point of virtue, is always accounted a sairer object of hope, than he who sails by salling short. The one has all that persection requires, and more, but the excess may be easily retrenched the other wants the qualities requisite to excellence, and who can tell how he shall obtain them? We are certain that the horse may be taught to keep pace with his sellows, whose sault is that he . leaves them behind. We know that a sew strokes of the axe will lop a cedar; but what arts of cultivation can elevate a shrub?

To walk with circumspection and steadiness in the right path, at an equal distance between the extremes of error, ought to be the constant endeavour of every reasonable being; nor can I think those teachers of moral wisdom much to be honoured as benesactors to mankind, who are always enlarging upon the difficulty of our duties, and providing rather excuses for vice, than incentives to virtue.

But, since to most it will happen often, and to all sometimes, that there will be a deviation towards one side or the other, we ought always to employ our vigilance, with most attention, on that enemy

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