The oftentatious and haughty difplay of themfelves has been the ufual refuge of diurnal writers, in vindication of whofe practice it may be faid, that what it wants in prudence is fupplied by fincerity, and who at leaft may plead, that if their boasts deceive any into the perufal of their performances, they defraud them of but little time. Quid enim? Concurritur-hora Memento cita mors venit, aut victoria læta. The battle join, and in a moment's flight, FRANCIS. The queftion concerning the merit of the day is foon decided, and we are not condemned to toil through half a folio, to be convinced that the writer has broke his promise. It is one among many reafons for which I purpose to endeavour the entertainment of my countrymen by a short effay on Tuesday and Saturday, that I hope not much to tire thofe whom I fhall not happen to please; and if I am not commended for the beauty of my works, to be at leaft pardoned for their brevity. But whether my expectations are moft fixed on pardon or praise, I think it not neceffary to difcover; for having accurately weighed the reafons for arrogance and fubmiffion, I find them fo nearly equiponderant, that my impatience to try the event of my first performance will not fuffer me to attend any longer the trepidations of the balance. There are, indeed, many conveniencies almoft peculiar to this method of publication, which may naturally flatter the author, whether he be confident or timorous. The man to whom the extent of his knowledge, or the fprightliness of his imagination, has, in his own opinion, already fecured the praises of the world, willingly takes that way of difplaying his abilities which will fooneft give him an opportunity of hearing the voice of fame; it heightens his alacrity to think in how many places he fhall hear what he is now writing, read with ecftafies to-morrow. He will often please himself with reflecting, that the author of a large treatife muft proceed with anxiety, left, before the completion of his work, the attention of the publick may have changed its object; but that he who is confined to no fingle topick, may follow the national tafte through all its variations, and catch the aura popularis, the gale of favour, from what point foever it fhall blow. Nor is the profpect less likely to ease the doubts of the cautious, and the terrours of the fearful, for to fuch the fhortness of every fingle paper is a powerful encouragement. He that questions his abilities to arrange the diffimilar parts of an extenfive plan, or fears to be loft in a complicated fyftem, may yet hope to adjust a few pages without perplexity; and if, when he turns over the repofitories of his memory, he finds his collection too fmall for a volume, he may yet have enough to furnish out an effay. He that would fear to lay out too much time upon an experiment of which he knows not the event, perfuades himself that 6 a few a few days will fhew him what he is to expect from his learning and his genius. If he thinks his own judgment not fufficiently enlightened, he may, by attending the remarks which every paper will produce, rectify his opinions. If he fhould with too little premeditation encumber himself by an unwieldy fubject, he can quit it without confeffing his ignorance, and pass to other topicks lefs dangerous, or more tractable. And if he finds, with all his industry, and all his artifices, that he cannot deferve regard, or cannot attain it, he may let the defign fall at once, and, without injury to others or himself, retire to amusements of greater pleasure, or to studies of better profpect. TH HAT the mind of man is never fatisfied with the objects immediately before it, but is always breaking away from the prefent moment, and lofing itself in fchemes of future felicity; and that we forget the proper ufe of the time now in our power, to provide for the enjoyment of that which, perhaps, may never be granted us, has been frequently remarked; and as this practice is a commodious fubject of raillery to the gay, and of declamation to the ferious, it has been ridiculed with all the pleafantry of wit, and exaggerated with all the amplifications of rhetorick. Every inftance, by which its abfurdity might appear moft flagrant, has been ftudioufly collected; it has been marked with every epithet of contempt, and all the tropes and figures have been called forth against it. Cenfure is willingly indulged, because it always implies fome fuperiority; men please themfelves with imagining that they have made a deeper fearch, or wider furvey, than others, and detected faults and follies, which efcape vulgar obfervation. And the pleasure of wantoning in common topicks is fo tempting to a writer, that he cannot easily refign it; a train of fentiments generally received enables him to fhine without labour, and to conquer without a conteft. It is fo eafy to laugh at the folly of him who lives only in idea, refufes immediate eafe for diftant pleasures, and, instead of enjoying the bleffings of life, lets life glide away in preparations to enjoy them; it affords fuch opportunities of triumphant exultation, to exemplify the uncertainty of the human ftate, to rouse mortals from their dream, and inform them of the filent celerity of time, that we may believe authors willing rather to tranfmit than examine fo advantageous a principle, and more inclined to purfue a track fo finooth and fo flowery, than attentively to confider whether it leads to truth. This X ୮ This quality of looking forward into futurity, feems the unavoidable condition of a being, whofe motions are gradual, and whofe life is progreffive as his powers are limited, he muft ufe means for the attainment of his ends, and intend firft what he performs laft; as by continual advances from his first stage of existence, he is perpetually varying the ho rizon of his profpects, he must always difcover new motives of action, new excitements of fear, and allurements of defire. The end therefore which at prefent calls forth our efforts, will be found, when it is once gained, to be only one of the means to fome remoter end. The natural flights of the human mind are not from pleafure to pleasure, but from hope to hope. He that directs his fteps to a certain point, must frequently turn his eyes to that place which he strives to reach; he that undergoes the fatigue of labour, muft folace his wearineis with the contemplation of its reward. In agriculture, one of the moft fimple and neceffary employments, no man turns up the ground but because he thinks of the harveft, that harvest which blights may intercept, which inundations may sweep away, or which death or calamity may hinder him from reaping. Yet as few maxims are widely received or long retained but for fome conformity with truth and nature, it must be confeffed, that this caution against keeping our view too intent upon remote advantages is not without its propriety or usefulness, though it may have been recited with too much levity, or enforced with too little diftinction: for, not to fpeak of that vehemence |