pital of the world, has apparently kindled in himfelf defires which he never received from nature, and acts upon principles established only by the authority

of custom.

Of thofe adfcititious paffions, fome, as avarice and envy, are univerfally condemned; fome, as friendfhip and curiofity, generally praised; but there are others about which the fuffrages of the wife are divided, and of which it is doubted, whether they tend moft to promote the happiness, or increase the miseries of mankind.

Of this ambiguous and disputable kind is the love of fame, a defire of filling the minds of others with admiration, and of being celebrated by generations to come with praises which we shall not hear. This ardour has been confidered by fome, as nothing better than splendid madness, as a flame kindled by pride, and fanned by folly; for what, fay they, can be more remote from wifdom, than to direct all our actions by the hope of that which is not to exift till we ourselves are in the grave? To pant after that which can never be poffeffed, and of which the value thus wildly put upon it, arifes from this particular condition, that, during life, it is not to be obtained? To gain the favour, and hear the applauses of our contemporaries, is indeed equally defirable with any other prerogative of fuperiority, because fame may be of ufe to fmooth the paths of life, to terrify oppofition, and fortify tranquillity; but to what end fhall we be the darlings of mankind, when we can no longer receive any benefits from their favour? It is more reasonable to wifh for reputation, while

it

it may yet be enjoyed, as Anacreon calls upon his companions to give him for prefent ufe the wine and garlands which they purpose to bestow upon his tomb.

The advocates for the love of fame allege in its vindication, that it is a paffion natural and univerfal; a flame lighted by heaven, and always burning with greateft vigour in the most enlarged and elevated minds. That the defire of being praised by pofterity implies a refolution to deserve their praises, and that the folly charged upon it, is only a noble and difinterested generofity, which is not felt, and therefore not understood, by those who have been always accustomed to refer every thing to themfelves, and whofe felfishness has contracted their understandings. That the foul of man, formed for eternal life, naturally springs forward beyond the limits of corporeal existence, and rejoices to confider herself as co-operating with future ages, and as co-extended with endless duration. That the reproach urged with fo much petulance, the reproach of labouring for what cannot be enjoyed, is founded on an opinion which may with great probability be doubted; for fince we fuppofe the powers of the foul to be enlarged by its feparation, why fhould we conclude that its knowledge of fublunary tranfactions is contracted or extinguished?

Upon an attentive and impartial review of the argument, it will appear that the love of fame is to be regulated rather than extinguished; and that men should be taught not to be wholly careless about their memory, but to endeavour that they may be

remem

remembered chiefly for their virtues, fince no other reputation will be able to tranfmit any pleasure beyond the grave.

It is evident that fame, confidered merely as the immortality of a name, is not lefs likely to be the reward of bad actions than of good; he therefore has no certain principle for the regulation of his conduct, whose fingle aim is not to be forgotten. And hiftory will inform us, that this blind and undistinguishing appetite of renown has always been uncertain in its effects, and directed by accident or opportunity, indifferently to the benefit or devaftation of the world. When Themiftocles complained that the trophies of Miltiades hindered him from fleep, he was animated by them to perform the fame fervices in the fame caufe. But Cæfar, when he wept at the fight of Alexander's picture, having no honeft opportunities of action, let his ambition break out to the ruin of his country.

If, therefore, the love of fame is fo far indulged by the mind as to become independent and predominant, it is dangerous and irregular; but it may be usefully employed as an inferiour and fecondary motive, and will ferve fometimes to revive our activity, when we begin to languish and lofe fight of that more certain, more valuable, and more durable reward, which ought always to be our firft hope and our lafft. But it must be strongly impreffed upon our minds that virtue is not to be pursued as one of the means to fame, but fame to be accepted as the only recompence which mortals can beftow on virtue; to be accepted. with complacence, but not fought with eagerness. Simply to be remembered is no advantage; it is

a pri

a privilege which fatire as well as panegyrick can confer, and is not more enjoyed by Titus or Conftantine, than by Timocreon of Rhodes, of whom we only know from his epitaph, that he had eaten many a meal, drank many a flaggon, and uttered many a reproach.

Πολλὰ φαγὼν καὶ πολλὰ πινῶν, καὶ πολλὰ κακ' είπων

̓Ανθρώπες, κεῖμαι Τιμοκρέων ῬοδιΘ.

The true fatisfaction which is to be drawn from the consciousness that we fhall fhare the attention of future times, muft arife from the hope, that with our name, our virtues will be propagated; and that thofe whom we cannot benefit in our lives, may receive instruction from our examples, and incitement from

our renown.

NUMB. 50. SATURDAY, Sept. 8, 1750.

Credebant hoc grande nefas, et morte piandum,
Si juvenis vetulo non affurrexerat, atque
Barbato cuicunque puer, licet ipfe videret

Plura domi fraga, et majores glandis acervos.

Juv.

And had not men the hoary head rever'd,

I

And boys paid rev'rence when a man appear'd,
Both must have died, though richer skins they wore,
And faw more heaps of acorns in their store.

CREECH.

HAVE always thought it the bufinefs of those who turn their fpeculations upon the living world, to commend the virtues, as well as to expofe the faults of their contemporaries, and to confute a falfe as well as to fupport a juft accufation; not only because it is peculiarly the business of a monitor, to keep his own reputation untainted, left those who can once charge him with partiality, fhould indulge themselves afterwards in difbelieving him at pleafure; but because he may find real crimes fufficient to give full employment to caution or repentance, without diftracting the mind by needlefs fcruples and vain folicitudes.

There are certain fixed and ftated reproaches that one part of mankind has in all ages thrown upon another, which are regularly tranfmitted through continued fucceffions, and which he that has once fuffered them is certain to ufe with the fame undistinguishing vehemence, when he has changed his ftation, and gained the prefcriptive right of inflicting on others what he had formerly endured himself.

Το