affiftance would enable to fupport themselves with decency, and who yet cannot obtain from near relations what they see hourly lavished in oftentation, luxury, or frolick. There are natural reafons why poverty does not eafily conciliate affection. He that has been confined from his infancy to the converfation of the loweft claffes of mankind, muft neceffarily want thofe accomplishments which are the ufual means of attracting favour; and though truth, fortitude, and probity, give an indifputable right to reverence and kindness, they will not be diftinguifhed by common eyes, unless they are brightened by elegance of manners, but are caft afide like unpolished gems, of which none but the artist knows the intrinfick value, till their afperities are fmoothed and their incruftations rubbed away. The groffnefs of vulgar habits obftructs the efficacy of virtue, as impurity and harfhnefs of ftyle impair the force of reason, and rugged numbers turn off the mind from artifice of difpofition, and fertility of invention. Few have strength of reason to over-rule the perceptions of fenfe; and yet fewer have curiofity or benevolence to ftruggle long against the first impreffion: he therefore who fails to please in his falutation and addrefs, is at once rejected, and never obtains an opportunity of showing his latent excellencies, or effential qualities. It is indeed not easy to prescribe a fuccefsful manner of approach to the diftreffed or neceffitous, whose condition fubjects every kind of behaviour equally to miscarriage. He whofe confidence of merit incites him to meet without any apparent fenfe of inferiority, the the eyes of those who flattered themselves with their own dignity, is confidered as an infolent leveller, impatient of the juft prerogatives of rank and wealth, eager to ufurp the ftation to which he has no right, and to confound the fubordinations of fociety; and who would contribute to the exaltation of that spirit which even want and calamity are not able to restrain from rudeness and rebellion. But no better fuccefs will commonly be found to attend fervility and dejection, which often give pride the confidence to treat them with contempt. A requeft made with diffidence and timidity is eafily denied, because the petitioner himself seems to doubt its fitness. Kindness is generally reciprocal; we are defirous of pleafing others, because we receive pleasure from them; but by what means can the man please, whose attention is engroffed by his diftreffes, and who has no leisure to be officious; whofe will is reftrained by his neceffities, and who has no power to confer benefits; whose temper is perhaps vitiated by misery, and whofe understanding is impeded by ignorance? It is yet a more offenfive difcouragement, that the fame actions performed by different hands produce different effects, and inftead of rating the man by his performances, we rate too frequently the performance by the man. It sometimes happens in the combinations of life, that important fervices are performed by inferiors; but though their zeal and activity may be paid by pecuniary rewards, they seldom excite that flow of gratitude, or obtain that accumulation of recompence, with which all think it their duty to acknowledge the favour of thofe who de fcend 1 fcend to their affiftance from a higher elevation. To be obliged, is to be in some respect inferior to another; and few willingly indulge the memory of an action which raises one whom they have always been accustomed to think below them, but fatisfy themfelves with faint praife and penurious payment, and then drive it from their own minds, and endeavour to conceal it from the knowledge of others. It may be always objected to the fervices of those who can be fuppofed to want a reward, that they were produced not by kindness but intereft; they are therefore, when they are no longer wanted, eafily' difregarded as arts of infinuation, or ftratagems of selfishness. Benefits which are received as gifts from wealth, are exacted as debts from indigence; and he that in a high station is celebrated for fuperfluous goodness, would in a meaner condition have barely been confeffed to have done his duty. It is fcarcely poffible for the utmost benevolence to oblige, when exerted under the difadvantages of great inferiority; for by the habitual arrogance of wealth, fuch expectations are commonly formed as no zeal or industry can fatisfy; and what regard can he hope, who has done lefs than was demanded from him? There are indeed kindneffes conferred which were never purchased by precedent favours, and there is an affection not arifing from gratitude or grofs intereft, by which fimilar natures are attracted to each other, without profpect of any other advantage than the pleasure of exchanging fentiments, and the hope of confirming their efteem of themselves by the approbation of each other, But this fpontaneous fond nefs nefs feldom rises at the fight of poverty, which every one regards with habitual contempt, and of which the applause is no more courted by vanity, than the countenance is folicited by ambition. The most generous and difinterested friendship must be refolved at laft into the love of ourselves; he therefore whofe reputation or dignity inclines us to confider his esteem as a teftimonial of defert, will always find our hearts open to his endearments. We every day fee men of eminence followed with all the obfequiousness of dependance, and courted with all the blandifhments of flattery, by thofe who want nothing from them but profeffions of regard, and who think themfelves liberally rewarded by a bow, a fimile, or an embrace. But those prejudices which every mind feels more or lefs in favour of riches, ought, like other opinions which only custom and example have impreffed upon us, to be in time fubjected to reafon. We muft learn how to feparate the real character from extraneous adhefions and cafual circumstances, to confider closely him whom we are about to adopt or to reject; to regard his inclinations as well as his actions; to trace out those virtues which lie torpid in the heart for want of opportunity, and thofe vices that lurk unfeen by the absence of temptation; that when we find worth faintly shooting in the fhades of obscurity, we may let in light and funshine upon it, and ripen barren volition into efficacy and power. NUMB. 167. TUESDAY, October 22, 1751, Candida perpetuo refide concordia lecto, Their nuptial bed may smiling concord dress, Wrinkled with age, may mutual love and truth MART. To their dim eyes recall the bloom of youth. F. LEWIS. SIR, To the RAMBLER. T is not common to envy thofe with whom we cannot easily be placed in comparison. Every man fees without malevolence the progrefs of another in the tracks of life, which he has himself no defire to tread, and hears, without inclination to cavils or contradiction, the renown of those whofe distance will not fuffer them to draw the attention of mankind from his own merit. The failor never thinks it neceffary to conteft the lawyer's abilities; nor would the Rambler, however jealous of his reputation, be much disturbed by the fuccefs of rival wits at Agra or Ipaban. We do not therefore afcribe to you any fuperlative degree of virtue, when we believe that we may inform you of our change of condition without danger of malignant fascination; and that when you read of the marriage of your correfpondents Hy menæus |