tomed to resistance, was difconcerted, and foon found means of convincing me that his purpose was not to encourage a rival, but to fofter a parasite.

I was then taken into the familiarity of Argutio, a nobleman eminent for judgment and criticifm. He had contributed to my reputation by the praises which he had often bestowed upon my writings, in which he owned that there were proofs of a genius that might rife to high degrees of excellence, when time, or information, had reduced its exuberance. He therefore required me to confult him before the publication of any new performance, and commonly propofed innumerable alterations, without fufficient attention to the general defign, or regard to my form of style, and mode of imagination. But these corrections he never failed to prefs as indifpenfably neceffary, and thought the leaft delay of compliance an act of rebellion. The pride of an author made this treatment infufferable, and I thought any tyranny easier to be borne than that which took from me the use of my understanding.

My next patron was Eutyches the statesman, who was wholly engaged in publick affairs, and seemed to have no ambition but to be powerful and rich. I found his favour more permanent than that of the others, for there was a certain price at which it might be bought; he allowed nothing to humour, or to affection, but was always ready to pay liberally for the service that he required. His demands were, indeed, very often fuch as virtue could not easily confent to gratify; but virtue is not to be confulted when men are to raise their fortunes by the favour of the great. His measures were cenfured; I wrote in

his defence, and was recompenfed with a place, of which the profits were never received by me without the pangs of remembering that they were the reward of wickedness, a reward which nothing but that neceffity which the consumption of my little estate in thefe wild pursuits had brought upon me, hindered me from throwing back in the face of my corruptor.

At this time my uncle died without a will, and I became heir to a fmall fortune. I had refolution to throw off the fplendor which reproached me to myself, and retire to an humbler ftate, in which I am now endeavouring to recover the dignity of virtue, and hope to make fome reparation for my crime and follies, by informing others, who may be led after the fame pageants, that they are about to engage in a courfe of life, in which they are to purchase, by a thousand miferies, the privilege of repentance.

I am, &c.

EUBULUS.

I

NUMB. 28. SATURDAY, June 23, 1750.

Illi mors gravis incubat,
Qui, notus nimis omnibus,

Ignotus moritur fibi.

To him, alas, to him, I fear,

The face of death will terrible appear,
Who in his life, flatt'ring his fenfelefs pride,
By being known to all the world befide,
Does not himself, when he is dying, know,
Nor what he is, nor whither he's to go.

SENECA.

COWLEY.

HAVE fhewn, in a late effay, to what errors men are hourly betrayed by a mistaken opinion of their own powers, and a negligent infpection of their own character. But as I then confined my obfervations to common occurrences, and familiar fcenes, I think it proper to inquire, how far a nearer acquaintance with ourselves is neceffary to our prefervation from crimes as well as follies, and how much the attentive ftudy of our own minds may contribute to fecure to us the approbation of that being, to whom we are accountable for our thoughts and our actions, and whofe favour must finally conftitute our total happiness.

If it be reasonable to eftimate the difficulty of any enterprise by frequent mifcarriages, it may juftly be concluded that it is not eafy for a man to know himfelf; for wheresoever we turn our view, we shall find almost all with whom we converfe fo nearly as to

judge of their fentiments, indulging more favourable conceptions of their own virtue than they have been able to impress upon others, and congratulating themselves upon degrees of excellence, which their fondeft admirers cannot allow them to have attained.

Those representations of imaginary virtue are generally confidered as arts of hypocrify, and as fnares laid for confidence and praise. But I believe the suspicion often unjuft; those who thus propagate their own reputation, only extend the fraud by which they have been themselves deceived; for this failing is incident to numbers, who seem to live without defigns, competitions, or purfuits; it appears on occafions which promife no acceffion of honour or of profit, and to perfons from whom very little is to be hoped or feared. It is, indeed, not easy to tell how far we may be blinded by the love of ourselves, when we reflect how much a fecondary paffion can cloud our judgment, and how few faults a man, in the first raptures of love, can discover in the perfon or conduct of his mistress.

To lay open all the fources from which error flows in upon him who contemplates his own character, would require more exact knowledge of the human heart, than, perhaps, the most acute and laborious obfervers have acquired. And fince falsehood may be diverfified without end, it is not unlikely that every man admits an impofture in fome refpect peculiar to himself, as his views have been accidentally directed, or his ideas particularly combined.

Some fallacies, however, there are, more frequently infidious, which it may, perhaps, not be useless to de

tect,

tect, because though they are grofs, they may be fatal, and because nothing but attention is neceffary to defeat them.

One fophifm by which men perfuade themselves that they have thofe virtues which they really want, is formed by the fubftitution of fingle acts for habits. A mifer who once relieved a friend from the danger of a prison, fuffers his imagination to dwell for ever upon his own heroick generofity; he yields his heart up to indignation at thofe who are blind to merit, or infenfible to mifery, and who can please themselves with the enjoyment of that wealth, which they never permit others to partake. From any cenfures of the world, or reproaches of his conscience, he has an appeal to action and to knowledge: and though his whole life is a course of rapacity and avarice, he concludes himself to be tender and liberal, because he has once performed an act of liberality and tenderness.

As a glafs which magnifies objects by the approach of one end to the eye, leffens them by the application of the other, fo vices are extenuated by the inverfion of that fallacy, by which virtues are augmented. Those faults which we cannot conceal from our own notice, are confidered, however frequent, not as habitual corruptions, or fettled practices, but as cafual failures, and fingle lapfes. A man who has, from year to year, fet his country to fale, either for the gratification of his ambition or refentment, confeffes that the heat of party now and then betrays the feverest virtue to measures that cannot be feriously defended. He that spends his days and nights in riot and debauchery, owns that his paffions

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often