thousand ills incurable, a thousand loffes irreparable, a thousand difficulties infurmountable, are known, or will be known, by all the fons of men. Native deformity cannot be rectified, a dead friend cannot return, and the hours of youth trifled away in folly, or loft in fickness, cannot be restored.

Under the oppreffion of fuch melancholy, it has been found useful to take a furvey of the world, to contemplate the various fcenes of diftrefs in which mankind are struggling round us, and acquaint ourselves with the terribiles vifu forma the various fhapes of mifery, which make havock of terrestrial happinefs, range all corners almost without reftraint, trample down our hopes at the hour of harvest, and when we have built our scheines to the top, ruin their foundations.

The firft effect of this meditation is, that it furnishes a new employment for the mind, and engages the paffions on remoter objects; as kings have fometimes freed themfelves from a fubject too haughty to be governed and too powerful to be crushed, by pofting him in a diftant province, till his popularity has fubfided, or his pride been repreffed. The attention is diffipated by variety, and acts more weakly upon any fingle part, as that torrent may be drawn off to different channels, which, pouring down in one collected body, cannot be refifted. This fpecies of comfort is, therefore, unavalling in fevere paroxyfms of corporal pain, when the mind is every inftant called back to mifery, and in the firft fhock of any fudden evil; but will certainly be of ufe against encroaching melancholy, and a fettled habit of gloomy thoughts.

It is further advantageous, as it fupplies us with opportunities of making tomparisons in our own favour. We know that very little of the pain, or pleafure, which does not begin and end in our fenfes, is otherwise than relative; we are rich or poor, great or little, in proportion to the number that excel us, or fall beneath us, in any of thefe refpects; and therefore, a man whofe uncafinefs arifes from reflexion on any misfortune that throws him below thofe with whom he was once equal, is comforted by finding that he is not yet lowest.

There is another kind of comparifon, lefs tending towards the vice of envy, very well illuftrated by an old poet,whole

fyftem will not afford many reasonable motives to content. It is,' fays he, pleafing to look from fhore upon the tumults of a storm, and to fée a fhip ftruggling with the billows; it is pleafing, not because the pain of another can give us delight, but because we have a ftronger impreffion of the happinefs of fafety. Thus, when we look abroad, and behold the multitudes that are groaning under evils heavier than thofe which we have experienced, we shrink back to our own itate, and, inftead of repining that fo much must be felt, learn to rejoice that we have not more to feel.

By this obfervation of the miferies of others, fortitude is ftrengthened, and the mind brought to a more extenfive knowledge of her own powers. As the heroes of action catch the flame from one another, fo they to whom Providence has allotted the harder task of fuffering with calmness and dignity, may animate themfelves by the remembrance of those evils which have been laid on others, perhaps naturally as weak as themselves, and bear up with vigour and refolution againit their own oppreffions, when they fee it poffible that more fevere afflictions may be borne.

There is still another reafon why, to many minds, the relation of other men's infelicity may give a lafting and continual relief. Soine, not well inftructed in the measures by which Providence diftributes happiness, are perhaps mifled by divines, who, as Bellarmine makes temporal profperity one of the characters of the true church, have reprefented wealth and eafe as the certain concomitants of virtue, and the unfailing refult of the Divine approbation. Such fufferers are dejected in their misfortunes, not fo much for what they feel, as for what they dread; not because they can not fupport the forrows, or endure the wants, of their prefent condition, but because they confider them as only the beginnings of more sharp and more lafting pains. To thefe mourners it is an act of the highest charity to reprefent the calamities which not only virtue has fuffered, but virtue has incurred; to inform them that one evidence of a future fate is the uncertainty of any prefent reward for goodness; and to reinind them, from the higheft authority, of the diftreffes and penury of men of whom the world was not worthy.

N° LIII.

THE

Φείδεο τῶν κλεπτών.

HERE is fcarcely among the evils of human life, any fo generally dreaded as Poverty. Every other fpecies of mifery, thofe, who are not much accustomed to disturb the prefent moment with reflection, can eafily forget, because it is not always forced upon their regard: but it is impoffible to pafs a day or an hour in the confluxes of men, without feeing how much indigence is expofed to contumely, neglect, and infult; and, in it's lowest state, to hunger and nakedness; to injuries against which every paffion is in arms, and to wants which nature cannot fuftain.

Against other evils the heart is often hardened by true or by falfe notions of dignity and reputation: thus we fee dangers of every kind faced with willingnefs, because bravery in a good or bad caufe is never without it's encomiafts and admirers. But in the profpect of poverty there is nothing but gloom and melancholy; the mind and body fuffer together; it's miferies bring no alleviations; it is a state in which every virtue is obfcured, and in which no conduct can avoid reproach: a state in which cheerfulness is infenfibility, and dejection fullennefs, of which the hardships are without honour, and the labours without reward.

Of thefe calamities there feems not to be wanting a general conviction; we hear on every fide the noife of trade, and fee the ftreets thronged with numberlefs multitudes, whofe faces are clouded with anxiety, and whofe fteps are hurried by precipitation, from no other motive than the hope of gain; and the whole world is put in motion by the defire of that wealth, which is chiefly to be valued as it fecures us from poverty; for it is more ufeful for defence than acquifition, and is not fo much able to procure good as to exclude evil.

Yet there are always fome whofe paffions or follies lead them to a conduct oppofite to the general maxims and practice of mankind; fome who feem to rufh upon poverty with the fame eagerness

with which others avoid it; who see their revenues hourly leffened, and the eftates which they inherit from their ancestors mouldering away, without refolution to change their courfe of life; who persevere against all remonftrances, and go forward with full carcer, though they fee before them the precipice of deftruction.

It is not my purpofe, in this paper, to expoftulate with fuch as ruin their fortunes by expensive schemes of buildings and gardens, which they carry on with the fame vanity that prompted them to begin; chufing, as it happens in s thoufand other cafes, the remote evil before the lighter, and deferring the shame of repentance till they incur the miferies of diftrefs. Thofe for whom I intend my prefent admonitions, are the thoughtlefs, the negligent, and the diffolute; who having, by the vicioufnefs of their own inclinations, or the feducements of allur ing companions, been engaged in habits of expence, and accustomed to move in a certain round of pleafures difproportioned to their condition, are without power to extricate themselves from the inchantments of cuftom, avoid thought becaufe they know it will be painful, and continue from day to day, and from month to month, to anticipate their revenues, and fink every hour deeper into the gulphs of ufury and extortion.

This folly has lefs claim to pity, becaufe it cannot be imputed to the vehemence of fudden paffion; nor can the mifchief which it produces be extenuated as the effect of any lingle act, which rage or defire might execute before there could be time for an appeal to reafon. Thefe iren are advancing towards mifery by foft approaches, and destroying themfelves, not by the violence of a blow, which, when once given, can never be recalled, but by a flow poifon, hourly repeated, and obftinately continued.

This conduct is fo abfurd when it is examined by the unprejudiced eye of rational judgment, that nothing but expe

rience could evince it's poffibility; yet, abfurd as it is, the fudden fall of fome families, and the fudden rife of others, prove it to be common; and every year fees many wretches reduced to contempt and want by their coftly facrifices to pleafure and vanity.

It is the fate of almost every paffion, when it has paffed the bounds which nature prefcribes, to counteract it's own purpofe. Too much rage hinders the warrior from circumfpection, too much eagerness of profit hurts the credit of the trader, too much ardour takes away from the lover that eafinefs of addrefs with which ladies are delighted. Thus extravagance, though dictated by vanity, and incited by voluptuoufnefs, feldom procures ultimately either applaufe or pleasure.

If praise be justly estimated by the character of those from whom it is received, little fatisfaction will be given to the fpendthrift by the encomiums which he purchases. For who are they that animate him in his purfuits, but young men, thoughtlefs and abandoned like himself; unacquainted with all on which the wisdom of nations has impreffed the ftamp of excellence, and devoid alike of knowledge and of virtue? By whom is his profufion praised, but by wretches who confider him as fubfervient to their purposes, Sirens that entice him to fhipwreck, and Cyclops that are gaping to devour him?

Every man whofe knowledge, or whofe virtue, can give value to his opinion, looks with fcorn, or pity, neither of which can afford much gratification to pride, on him whom the panders of luxury have drawn into the circle of their influence; and whom he fees parcelled out among the different minifters of folly, and about to be torn to pieces by taylors and jockies, vintners and attornies, who atonce rob and ridicule him,and whoare fecretlytriumphing over his weakness, when they prefent new incitements to his appetite, and heighten his defires by counterfeited applause.

Such is the praife that is purchased by prodigality. Even when it is yet not difcovered to be falfe, it is the praife only of those whom it is reproachful to please, and whofe fincerity is corrupted by their intereft; men who live by the riots which theyencourage, and who know that when ever their pupil grows wife, they fhall lofe their power. Yet with fush flat

teries, if they could laft, might the cravings of vanity, which is feldom very delicate, be fatisfied; but the time is always haftening forward when this triumph, poor as it is, fhall vanish, and when thofe who now furround them with obfequioufnefs and compliments, fawn among his equipage, and animate his riots, fhall turn upon him with infolence, and reproach him with the vices promoted by themselves.

And as little pretenfions has the inan who fquanders his estate by vain or vicious expences, to greater degrees of pleasure than are obtained by others. To make any happiness fincere, it is neceffary that we believe it to be lafting; fince whatever we fuppofe ourselves in danger of lofing, muft be enjoyed with folicitude and uneafinefs; and the more value we fet upon it, the more must the prefent poffeffion be imbittered. How can he then be envied for his felicity, who knows that it's continuance cannot be expected, and who is confcious that a very short time will give him up to the gripe of poverty, which will be harder to be borne, as he has given way to more exceffes, wantoned in greater abundance, and indulged his appetites with more pro fufenefs?

It appears evident that frugality is neceffary even to complete the pleasure of expence; for it may be generallyiei arked of those who fquander what they know their fortune not fufficient to allow, that in their molt jovial expence there always breaks out fome proof of difcontent and impatience; they either fcatter with a kind of wild defperation, and affected lavifhnefs, as criminals brave the gallows when they cannot cfcape it, or pay their money with a peevish anxiety, and endeavour at once to spend idly, and to fave meanly: having neither firmness to deny their paffions, nor courage to gratify them, they murmur at their own enjoyments, and poifon the bowl of plea fure by reflection on the coft.

Among these men there is often the vociferation of merriment, but very feldom the tranquillity of cheerfulness; they inflame their imaginations to a kind of momentary jollity, by the help of wine and riot, and confider it as the first bufinefs of the night to ftupify recollection, and lay that reafon afleep which disturbs their gaiety, and calls upon them to retreat from ruin.

But

But this poor broken fatisfaction is of fhort continuance, and must be expiated by a long feries of mifery and regret. In a fhort time the creditor grows impatient, the laft acre is fold,

the paffions and appetites ftill continue their tyranny, with inceffant calls for their ufual gratifications, and the remainder of life paffes away in vain re, pentance, or impotent defire.

HOR.

SIR,

TO THE RAMBLER,

Have lately been called, from a

mufement, to attend the laft hours of an old friend; an office which has filled me, if not with melancholy, at least with ferious reflections, and turned my thoughts towards the contemplation of thofe fubjects which, though of the utmost importance, and of indubitable certainty, are generally fecluded from ir regard, by the jollity of health, the hurry of employment, and even by the calmer diverfions of ftudy and fpeculation; or if they become accidental topicks of converfation and argument, yet rarely fink deep into the heart, but give occaon only to fome fubtilties of reafoning, cr elegancies of declamation, which are heard, applauded, and forgotten.

It is, indeed, not hard to conceive how a man accustomed to extend his views through a long concatenation of caufes and effects, to trace things from their origin to their period, and compare means with ends, may difcover the

FRANCIS.

weakness of human fchemes; detect the fallacies by which mortals are deluded; fhew the infufficiency of wealth, honours, and power, to real happiness; and please himfelf and his auditors with learned lectures on the vanity of life.

But though the fpeculatift may fee and fhew the folly of terreftrial hopes, fearsand defires, every hour will give proofs that he never felt it. Trace him through the day or year, and you will find him acting upon principles which he has in common with the illiterate and unenlightened, angry and pleased like the lowest of the vulgar, purfuing, with the fame ardour, the fame defigns; grafping, with all the eagerness of tranfport, thofe riches which he knows he cannot keep; and fwelling with the applaufe which he has gained by proving that applaufe is of no value.

The only conviction that rufhes upon the foul, and takes away from our appetites and paffions the power of refiftance, is to be found, where I have received it, at the bed of a dying friend. To enter this fchool of wifdom is not the peculiar privilege of geometricians;

the