compofed of his own numberless productions. I am, &c.

I

WRITE this while Cleora is angling by my fide, under the shade of a spreading elm that hangs over the banks of our river. A nightingale, more harmonious even than Strada's, is ferenading us from a hawthorn bufh which fmiles with all the gaiety of youth and beauty; while

gentle gales,

Fanning their odorif'rous wings, difpenfe Native perfumes, and whisper whence they stole Those balmy Spoils. MILT.

WHILST I am thus enjoying the innocent luxury of this vernal delight, I look back upon those scenes of turbulence wherein I was once engaged, with more than ordinary distaste, and despise myself for ever having entertained fo mean a thought as to be rich and great. One of our monarchs

ufed

used to say,

"that he looked upon those to "be the happiest men in the nation, whose "fortune had placed them in the country, "above a high constable, and below the "trouble of a juftice of peace." It is in a mediocrity of this happy kind that I here pass my life: with a fortune far above the neceffity of engaging in the drudgery of business; and with defires much too humble to have any relish for the splendid baits of ambition.

You must not, however, imagine that I affect the Stoic, or pretend to have eradicated all my paffions: the fum of my philofophy amounts to no more than to cherish none but such as I may eafily and innocently gratify, and to banish all the rest as so many bold intruders upon my repose. I endeavor to practise the maxim of a French poet, by confidering every thing that is not within my poffeffion as not worth having:

pour m'affûrer le feul bien

Que l'on doit eftimer au monde, Tout ce que je n'ai pas, je le compte pour rien.

Is it not poffible, Palemon, to reconcile you to these unafpiring fentiments, and to lower your flight to the humble level of

ge

nuine

nuine happiness? Let me at least prevail with you to spare a day or two from the certamina divitiarum, (as Horace I think calls them) from those splendid contests in which you are engaged, to take a view of the fort of life we lead in the country. If there is any thing wanting to complete the happinefs I here find, it is that you are so seldom a witness to it. I am, &c.

LETTER

TH

To EUPHRONIUS.

LXI.

July 3, 1744.

HE beauties of style feem to be generally confidered as below the attention both of an author and a reader. I know not therefore, whether I may venture to acknowledge, that among the numberless graces of your late performance, I particularly admired that ftrength and elegance with which you have enforced and adorned the nobleft fentiments.

THERE was a time however (and it was a period of the trueft refinements) when an

excellence of this kind was esteemed in the number of the politeft accomplishments; as it was the ambition of fome of the greatest names of antiquity, to distinguish themselves in the improvements of their native tongue. Julius Cæfar, who was not only the greatest hero, but the finest gentleman that ever, perhaps, appeared in the world, was defirous of adding this talent to his other most fhining endowments: and we are told he ftudied the language of his country with much application; as we are fure he poffeffed it in its highest elegance. What a lofs, Euphronius, is it to the literary world, that the treatise which he wrote upon this fubject, is perished with many other valuable works of that age? But tho' we are deprived of the benefit of his obfervations, we are happily not without an inftance of their effects; and his own memoirs will ever remain as the best and brightest exemplar, not only of true generalship, but of fine writing. He published them, indeed, only as materials for the use of thofe who fhould be difpofed to enlarge upon that remarkable period of the Roman ftory; yet the purity and gracefulness of his style were fuch, that no judi

cious

cious writer durst attempt to touch the subject after him.

HAVING produced so illustrious an inftance in favor of an art, for which I have ventured to admire you; it would be impertinent to add a fecond, were I to cite a lefs authority than that of the immortal Tully. This noble author, in his dialogue concerning the celebrated Roman orators, frequently mentions it as a very high encomium, that they poffeffed the elegance of their native language; and introduces Brutus as declaring, that he should prefer the honor of being esteemed the great master and improver of Roman eloquence, even to the glory of many triumphs.

BUT to add reason to precedent, and to view this art in its use as well as its dignity; will it not be allowed of fome importance, when it is confidered, that eloquence is one of the most confiderable auxiliaries of truth? Nothing indeed contributes more to fubdue the mind to the force of reason, than her being fupported by the powerful affiftance of masculine and vigorous oratory: as on the contrary, the most legitimate arguments may be disappointed of that fuccefs they de