NUMB. 38. SATURDAY, July 28, 1750. Auream quifquis mediocritatem The man within the golden mean, Where fordid want and sorrow dwell; Declines an envied room of state. A Hoz. FRANCIS, MONG many parallels which men of imagination have drawn between the natural and moral ftate of the world, it has been obferved that happiness, as well as virtue, confifts in mediocrity; that to avoid every extreme is neceffary, even to him who has no other care than to pass through the prefent ftate with eafe and fafety; and that the middle path is the road of fecurity, on either fide of which are not only the pitfals of vice, but the precipices of ruin. Thus the maxim of Cleobulus the Lindian, MérpoV agisov, Mediocrity is beft, has been long confidered as an univerfal principle, extended through the whole compass of life and nature. The experience of every age feems to have given it new confirmation, and to fhew that nothing, however fpecious or alluring, is purfued with propriety, or enjoyed with fafety, beyond certain limits. Even the gifts of nature, which may truly be confidered as the moft folid and durable of all terrestrial advantages, are found, when they exceed the middle point, to draw the poffeffor into many calamities, 8 lamities, eafily avoided by others that have been lefs bountifully enriched or adorned. We fee every day women perifhing with infamy, by having been too willing to fet their beauty to fhow, and others, though not with equal guilt or mifery, yet with very fharp remorfe, languifhing in decay, neglect, and obfcurity, for having rated their youthful charms at too high a price. And, indeed, if the opinion of Bacon be thought to deferve much regard, very few fighs would be vented for eminent and fuperlative elegance of form; "for beautiful women," fays he, are feldom of any great accomplishments, "because they, for the most part, study behaviour "rather than virtue." Health and vigour, and a happy constitution of the corporeal frame, are of abfolute neceffity to the enjoyment of the comforts, and to the performance of the duties of life, and requifite in yet a greater measure to the accomplishment of any thing illuftrious or distinguished; yet even thefe, if we can judge by their apparent confequences, are fometimes not very beneficial to thofe on whom they are most liberally bestowed. They that frequent the chambers of the fick, will generally find the fharpeft pains, and most stubborn maladies among them whom confidence of the force of nature formerly betrayed to negligence and irregularity; and that fuperfluity of ftrength, which was at once their boaft and their fnare, has often, in the latter part of life, no other effect than it continues them long in impotence and anguish. Thefe gifts of nature are, however, always bleffings in themselves, and to be acknowledged with gratitude to him that gives them; fince they are, in their regular and legitimate effects, productive of happiness, and prove pernicious only by voluntary corruption, or idle negligence. And as there is lit tle tle danger of pursuing them with too much ardour or anxiety, because no fkill or diligence can hope to procure them, the uncertainty of their influence upon our lives is mentioned, not to depreciate their real value, but to reprefs the difcontent and envy to which the want of them often gives occafion in those who do not enough fufpect their own frailty, nor confider how much less is the calamity of not poffeffing great powers, than of not ufing them aright. Of all thofe things that make us fuperior to others, there is none fo much within the reach of our endeavours as riches, nor any thing more eagerly or conftantly defired. Poverty is an evil always in our view, an evil complicated with fo many circumftances of uneafinefs and vexation, that every man is ftudious to avoid it. Some degree of riches is therefore required, that we may be exempt from the gripe of neceffity; when this purpofe is once attained, we naturally wish for more, that the evil which is regarded with fo much horror, may be yet at a greater distance from us; as he that has once felt or dreaded the paw of a favage, will not be at reft till they are parted by fome barrier, which may take away all poffibility of a fecond attack. To this point, if fear be not unreasonably indulged, Cleobulus would, perhaps, not refufe to extend his mediocrity. But it almost always happens, that the man who grows rich changes his notions of poverty, ftates his wants by fome new measure, and from flying the enemy that pursued him, bends his. endeavours to overtake thofe whom he fees before him. The power of gratifying his appetites encreases their demands; a thoufand wifhes croud in upon him importunate to be fatisfied, and vanity and ambition open profpects to defire, which still grow wider, as they are more contemplated. Thus ; Thus in time want is enlarged without bounds án eagerness for increase of poffeffions deluges the foul, and we fink into the gulphs of infatiability, only because we do not fufficiently confider, that all real need is very foon fupplied, and all real danger of its invafion eafily precluded; that the claims of vanity, being without limits, must be denied at laft; and that the pain of repreffing them is lefs pungent before they have been long accustomed to compliance. Whofoever shall look heedfully upon those who are eminent for their riches, will not think their condition fuch as that he fhould hazard his quiet, and much less his virtue, to obtain it. For all that great wealth generally gives above a moderate fortune, is more room for the freaks of caprice, and more privilege for ignorance and vice, a quicker fucceffion of flatteries, and a larger circle of voluptuoufnefs. There is one reafon feldom remarked, which makes riches lefs defirable. Too much wealth is very frequently the occafion of poverty. He whom the wantonnefs of abundance has once foftened, eafily finks into neglect of his affairs; and he that thinks he can afford to be negligent, is not far from being poor. He will foon be involved in perplexities, which his inexperience will render unfurmountable; he will fly for help to thofe whofe intereft it is that he should be more diftreffed, and will be at last torn to pieces by the vulturs that always hover over fortunes in decay. When the plains of India were burnt up by a long continuance of drought, Hamet and Rafchid, two neighbouring fhepherds, faint with thirst, ftood at the common boundary of their grounds, with their flocks and herds panting round them, and in extremity of distress prayed for water. On a fudden the air was becalmed, the birds ceafed to chirp, and the flocks flocks to bleat. They turned their eyes every way, and faw a being of mighty ftature advancing through the valley, whom they knew upon his nearer approach to be the Genius of diftribution. In one hand he held the fheaves of plenty, and in the other the fabre of deftruction. The fhepherds ftood trembling, and would have retired before him; but he called to them with a voice gentle as the breeze that plays in the evening among the fpices of Sabæa; Fly not from your benefactor, children of the duft! "I am come to offer you gifts, which only your own folly can make vain. You here pray for "water, and water I will beftow; let me know "with how much you will be fatisfied: fpeak not "rafhly; confider, that of whatever can be enjoyed "by the body, excefs is no lefs dangerous than fcarcity. When you remember the pain of thirst, "do not forget the danger of fuffocation. Now, "Hamet, tell me your request." 66 "O Being, kind and beneficent, fays Hamet, let "thine eye pardon my confufion. I entreat a little "brook, which in summer shall never be dry, and "in the winter never overflow." "It is granted," replies the Genius; and immediately he opened the ground with his fabre, and a fountain bubbling up under their feet scattered its rills over the meadows; the flowers renewed their fragrance, the trees fpread a greener foliage, and the flocks and herds quenched their thirst. Then turning to Rafchid, the Genius invited him Jikewife to offer his petition. "I requeft, fays "Rafchid, that thou wilt turn the Ganges through 66 my grounds, with all his waters, and all their in"habitants." Hamet was ftruck with the greatness of his neighbour's fentiments, and fecretly repined in his heart, that he had not made the fame petition before him; when the Genius fpoke, "Rafh man, "be not infatiable! remember, to thee that is no « thing |