tempts of a new claimant, and faw my opponents and cenfurers tacitly confeffing their despair of fuccefs, by courting my friendship and yielding to my influence. They who once purfued me, were now fatisfied to escape from me; and they who had before thought me prefumptuous in hoping to overtake them, had now their utmost wish, if they were permitted at no great distance quietly to follow

me.

My wants were not madly multiplied as my acquifitions increased, and the time came at length, when I thought myself enabled to gratify all reafonable defires, and when, therefore, I refolved to enjoy that plenty and ferenity which I had been hitherto labouring to procure, to enjoy them while I was yet neither crushed by age into infirmity, nor fo habituated to a particular manner of life as to be unqualified for new ftudies or entertainments.

I now quitted my profeffion, and to fet myself at once free from all importunities to refume it, changed my refidence, and devoted the remaining part of my time to quiet and amufement. Amidst innumerable projects of pleasure which reftlefs idlenefs incited me to form, and of which moft, when they came to the moment of execution, were rejected for others of no longer continuance, fome accident revived in my imagination the pleasing ideas of my native place. It was now in my power to vifit thofe from whom I had been fo long abfent, in fuch a manner as was confiftent with my former resolution, and I wondered how it could happen that I had fo long delayed my own happiness.

Full of the admiration which I fhould excite, and the homage which I fhould receive, I dreffed my fervants in a more oftentatious livery, purchased a magnificent chariot, and refolved to dazzle the inhabitants of the little town with an unexpected blaze of greatness.

While the preparations that vanity required were made for my departure, which, as workmen will not eafily be hurried beyond their ordinary rate, I thought very tedious, I folaced my impatience with imaging the various cenfures that my appearance would produce, the hopes which fome would feel from my bounty, the terror which my power would strike on others; the awkward refpect with which I fhould be accosted by timorous officiousness; and the diftant reverence with which others, lefs familiar to fplendour and dignity, would be contented to gaze upon me. I deliberated a long time, whether I fhould immediately defcend to a level with my former acquaintances, or make my condefcenfion more grateful by a gentle transition from haughtiness and referve. length I determined to forget fome of my companions, till they discovered themselves by fome indubitable token, and to receive the congratulations of others upon my good fortune with indifference, to fhow that I always expected what I had now obtained. The acclamations of the populace I purposed to reward with fix hogfheads of ale, and a roafted ox, and then recommend to them to return to their work.

At

At laft all the trappings of grandeur were fitted, and I began the journey of triumph, which I could

have

have wished to have ended in the fame moment; but my horfes felt none of their mafter's ardour, and I was fhaken four days upon rugged roads. I then entered the town, and having graciously let fall the glaffes, that my perfon might be feen, paffed flowly through the street. The noife of the wheels brought the inhabitants to their doors, but I could not perceive that I was known by them. At laft I alighted, and my name, I fuppofe, was told by my fervants, for the barber ftept from the oppofite house, and seized me by the hand with honeft joy in his countenance, which, according to the rule that I had pre-. scribed to myself, I repreffed with a frigid gracioufnefs. The fellow, instead of finking into dejection, turned away with contempt, and left me to confider how the fecond falutation fhould be received. The next friend was better treated, for I foon found that I must purchase by civility that regard which I had expected to enforce by infolence.

There was yet no smoke of bonfires, no harmony of bells, no fhout of crowds, nor riot of joy; the bufiness of the day went forward as before; and after having ordered a fplendid fupper, which no man came to partake, and which my chagrin hindered me from tafting, I went to bed, where the vexation of disappointment overpowered the fatigue of my journey, and kept me from sleep.

I rose so much humbled by those mortifications, as to inquire after the present state of the town, and found that I had been absent too long to obtain the triumph which had flattered my expectation. Of the friends whofe compliments I expected, fome had long ago moved to diftant provinces, fome had loft

in the maladies of age all fenfe of another's profperity, and fome had forgotten our former intimacy amidst care and diftreffes. Of three whom I had refolved to punish for their former offences by a longer continuance of neglect, one was, by his own industry, raised above my scorn, and two were sheltered from it in the grave. All thofe whom I loved, feared, or hated, all whose envy or whose kindness I had hopes of contemplating with pleasure, were swept away, and their place was filled by a new generation with other views and other competitions; and among many proofs of the impotence of wealth, I found that it conferred upon me very few distinctions in my native place.

I am, SIR, &c.

SEROTINUS.

NUMB. 166. SATURDAY, October 19, 1751.

Pauper eris femper, fi pauper es, Æmiliane,
Dantur opes nullis nunc nifi divitibus.

Once poor, my friend, ftill poor you must remain,
The rich alone have all the means of gain.

N

MART.

EDW. CAVE.

O complaint has been more frequently repeated in all ages than that of the neglect of merit affociated with poverty, and the difficulty with which valuable or pleafing qualities force themfelves into view, when they are obfcured by indigence. It has been long obferved, that native beauty has little power to charm without the ornaments which fortune beftows, and that to want the favour of others is often fufficient to hinder us from obtaining it.

The

Every day discovers that mankind are not yet convinced of their error, or that their conviction is without power to influence their conduct; for poverty ftill continues to produce contempt, and still obftructs the claims of kindred and of virtue. eye of wealth is elevated towards higher stations, and feldom defcends to examine the actions of those who are placed below the level of its notice, and who in diftant regions and lower fituations are ftruggling with distress, or toiling for bread. Among the multitudes overwhelmed with infuperable calamity, it is common to find thofe whom a very little

affift.