poffible, be fo contrived, that he may perceive our Advice is given him not fo much to please our felves as for his own advantage. The Reproaches therefore of a Friend fhould always be ftrictly juft, and not too frequent.

THE violent Defire of pleafing in the Perfon reproved, may otherwife change into a Defpair of doing it, while he finds himself cenfur'd for Faults. he is not conscious of. A Mind that is foftened and humanized by Friendship, cannot bear frequent Reproaches; either it muft quite fink under the Oppreffion, or abate confiderably of the Value and Efteem it had for him who bestows them.

THE proper Business of Friendship is to infpire Life and Courage; and a Soul thus fupported, outdoes it felf whereas if it be unexpectedly deprived of these Succours, it droops and languishes.

WE are in fome measure more inexcufable if we violate our Duties to a Friend, than to a Relation; fince the former arife from a voluntary Choice, the latter from a Neceffity to which we could not give our own Confent.

AS it has been faid on one fide, that a Man ought not to break with a faulty Friend, that he may not expofe the Weakness of his Choice; it will doubtlefs hold much ftronger with refpect to a worthy one, that he may never be upbraided for having loft fo valuable a Treasure which was once in his poffeffion.

X

N° 386.

Friday, May 23..

Cum Triftibus fevere, cum Remiffis jucunde, cum Senibus graviter, cum Juventute comiter vivers.

T

Tull.

HE piece of Latin on the Head of this Paper is part of a Character extremely vitious, but I have fet down no more than may fall in with the Rules of Juftice and Honour. Cicero fpoke it of Catiline, who, he faid, lived with the Sad feverely, with the Chearful agreeably, with the Old gravely, with the Young pleasantly; he added, with the Wicked boldly, with the Wanton lafcivioufly. The rwo laft Inftances of his Complaifance I forbear to confider, having it in my thoughts at prefent only to speak of obfequious Behaviour as it hits upon a Companion in Pleasure, not a Man of Defign and Intrigue. To vary with every Humour in this manner, cannot be agreeable, except it comes from a Man's own Temper and natural Complexion; to do it out of an Ambition to excel that way, is the most fruitless and unbecoming Profti tution imaginable. To put on an artful Part to obtain no other End but an unjust Praise from the Undifcerning, is of all Endeavours the most despicable. A Man must be fincerely pleased to become Pleasure, or not to interrupt that of others: For this reafon it is a moft calamitous Circumftance, that many People who want to be alone or fhould be fo, will come into Converfation. It is certain, that all Men who are the leaft given to reflection, are feized with an Inclination that way; when, perhaps, they had rather be inclined to Company: but indeed they had better go home, and be tired with themselves, than force themfelves upon others to recover their Good-Humour. In all this the Cafes of communicating to a Friend a fad Thought or Difficulty, in order to relieve a heavy Heart, ftands excepted ; but what is here meant, is, that a

Man

271 Man fhould always go with Inclination to the Turn of the Company he is going into, or not pretend to be of the Party. It is certainly a very happy Temper to be able to live with all kinds of Difpofitions, because it argues a Mind that lies open to receive what is pleafing to others, and not obftinately bent on any Particularity of its own.

THIS is it that makes me pleased with the Character of my good Acquaintance Acafto. You meet him at the Tables and Converfations of the Wife, the Impertinent, the Grave, the Frolick, and the Witty; and yet his own Character has nothing in it that can make him particularly agreeable to any one Sect of Men; but Acafto has natural good Senfe, good Nature and Difcretion, fo that every Man enjoys himself in his Company; and tho' Acafto contributes nothing to the Entertainment, he never was at a Place where he was not welcome a fecond time. Without these fubordinate good Qualities of Acafto, a Man of Wit and Learning would be painful to the Generality of Mankind, instead of being pleafing, Witty Men are apt to imagine they are agreeable as fuch, and by that micans grow the worft Companions imaginable; they deride the Abfent or rally the Prefent in a wrong manrier, not knowing that if you pinch or tickle a Man till he is unealy in bis Seat, or ungracefully diftinguished from the reft of the Company, you equally hurt him.

I was going to fay, the true Art of being agreeable in Company, (but there can be no fuch thing as Art in it) is to appear well pleased with thofe you are engaged with, and rather to feem well entertained, than to bring Entertainment to others. A Man thus difsposed is not indeed what we ordinarily call a good Companion, but effentially is fuch, and in all the Parts of his Conversation has fomething friendly in his Behaviour, which conciliates Mens Minds more than the higheft Sallies of Wit or Starts of Humour can poffibly do. The Feeblenefs of Age in a Man of this Turn, has fomething which fhould be treated with refpect even in a Man no otherwise venerable. The Forwardness of Youth, when it proceeds from Alacrity and not Infolence, has alfo its Allowances. The Companion who is formed for fuch by Nature, gives to every Character of Life

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Life its due Regards, and is ready to account for their Imperfections, and receive their Accomplishments as if they were his own. It must appear that you receive Law from, and not give it to your Company, to make you agreeable.

I remember Tully, fpeaking, I think, of Anthony, fays, That in eo facetia erant, qua nulla arte tradi poffunt: He had a witty Mirth, which could be acquired by no Art. This Quality must be of the Kind of which I am now fpeaking; for all forts of Behaviour which depend upon Obfervation and Knowledge of Life, is to be acquired: but that which no one can defcribe, and is apparently the A&t of Nature, must be every where prevalent, because every thing it meets is a fit Occafion to exert it; for he who follows Nature, can never be improper or unfeasonable.

HOW unaccountable then muft their Behaviour be, who, without any manner of Confideration of what the Company they have just now entered are upon, give themselves the Air of a Meffenger, and make as diftinct Relations of the Occurrences they laft met with, as if they had been dispatched from those they talk to, to be punCually exact in a Report of thofe Circumstances? It is unpardonable to those who are met to enjoy one another, that a frefa Man fhall pop in, and give us only the last part of his own Life, and put a stop to ours during the History. If fuch a Man comes from Change, whether you will or not, you must hear how the Stocks go; and tho' you are ever fo intently employed on a graver Subject, a young Fellow of the other end of the Town will take his place, and tell you, Mrs. Such-a-one is charmingly hand fome, because he just now faw her. But I think I need not dwell on this Subject, fince I have acknowledged there can be no Rules made for excelling this way; and Precepts of this kind fare like Rules for writing Poetry, which, 'tis faid, may have prevented ill Poets, but never made good ones.

T

Saturday,

N° 387. Saturday, May 24.

I'

Quid purè tranquillet

Hor.

N my laft Saturday's Paper I fpoke of Chearfulness as it is a Moral Habit of the Mind, and accordingly mentioned fuch moral Motives as are apt to cherifh and -keep alive this happy Temper in the Soul of Man: I fhall now confider Chearfulnefs in its natural State, and reflect on those Motives to it, which are indifferent either as to Virtue or Vice.

CHEARFULNESS is, in the firft place, the best Promoter of Health. Repinings and fecret Murmurs of Heart, give imperceptible Strokes to thofe delicate Fibres of which the vital parts are compofed, and wear out the Machine infenfibly; not to mention thofe violent Ferments which they ftir up in the Blood, and those irregular difturbed Motions which they raise in the anima Spirits. I fcarce remember, in my own Obfervation, to have met with many old Men, or with fuch, who (to use our ·English Phrafe) wear well, that had not at least a certain Indolence in their Humour, if not a more than ordinary Gaiety and Chearfulness of Heart. The truth of it is, Health and Chearfulnefs mutually beget each other; with this difference, that we feldom meet with a great degree of Health which is not attended with a certain Chearfulnefs, but very often fee Chearfulness where there is no great degree of Health.

CHEARFULNESS bears the fame friendly regard to the Mind as to the Body: It banishes all anxious Care and Difcontent, fooths and compofes the Paffions, and keeps the Soul in a perpetual Calm. But having already touched on this laft Confideration, I fhall here take notice, that the World, in which we are placed, is filled with

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