pacity of happiness fhall be filled, and none fhall be wretched but by his own fault. In the mean time, it is by affliction chiefly that the heart of man is purified, and that the thoughts are fixed upon a better ftate. Profperity, allayed and imperfect as it is, has power to intoxicate the imagination, to fix the mind upon the prefent fcene, to produce confi. dence and elation, and to make him who enjoys affluence and honours forget the hand by which they were beftowed. It is feldom that we are otherwife, than by affliction, awakened to a fense of our own imbecillity, or taught to know how little all our acquifitions can conduce to fafety or to quiet; and how justly we may afcribe to the fuperintendence of a Higher Power, thofe bleffings which in the wantonness of fuccefs we confidered as the attainments of our policy or courage. Nothing confers fo much ability to refift the temptations that perpetually furround us, as an habitual confidera SIR, A tion of the fhortnefs of life, and the uncertainty of thofe pleasures that folicit our purfuit; and this confideration can be inculcated only by affliction. O Death! how bitter is the remembrance of thee to a man that lives at ease in his poffeffions. If our present state were one continued fucceflion of delights, or one uniform flow of calmness and tranquillity, we should never willingly think upon it's end; death would then furely furprize us as a thief in the night;" and our task of duty would remain unfinished, till the night came when no man can work.' While affliction thus prepares us for felicity, we may confole ourselves under it's preffures, by remembering, that they are no particular marks of Divine Difpleafure; fince all the diftreffes of perfecution have been fuffered by those,' of ⚫ whom the world was not worthy;' and the REDEEMER of MANKIND himself was a man of forrows, and acquainted with grief.' Τ N° CXXI. TUESDAY, JANUARY 1, 1754: ARMA VIRUMQUE CANO, TROJE QUI PRIMUS AB ORIS LITTORA. MULTUM ILLE ET TERRIS JACTATUS ET ALTO; MULTA QUOQUE ET BELLO PASSUS. ARMS AND THE MAN I SING, WHO FORC'D BY FATE, EXPELL'D AND EXIL'D, LEFT THE TROJAN SHORE. TO THE ADVENTURER. Few nights ago, after I came home from the tavern, I took up the firft volume of your papers, which at prefent is depofited near the elbow-chair in my chamber, and happened to read the fifth number, which contains the narrative of a Flea. After I fell asleep, I imagined the book ftill to lie open before me, and that at the bottom of the page I faw not a Flea but a Loufe, who addreffed me with fuch folemnity of accent, that it brought to my mind fome orations which I had formerly heard in St. Stephen's chapel. VIRG. DRYDEN. SIR, faid he, it has been remarked by those who have enriched themselves from the mines of knowledge by deep researches and laborious ftudy, that fublunary beings are all mortal, and that life is a state of perpetual peril and inquietude: fuch, indeed, hitherto, has been my experience; and yet I do not remember that I have brought calamity upon myfelf by any uncommon deviations either from virtue or prudence. I was hatched in the head of a boy about eight years old, who was placed under the care of a parifh nurse, and educated at the charity-school. In this place, as in a populous city, I foon ob. tained a fettlement; and as our state of adolefcence adolefcence is fhort, had in a few months a numerous family. This indeed was the happiest period of my life; I fuffered little apprehenfion from the comb or the razor, and forefaw no misfortune, except that our country fhould be overftocked, and we should be compelled to wander, like the barbarians of the north, in fearch of another. But it happened that the lord of our foil, in an evil hour, went with some of his companions to Highgate. Just at the top of the hill was a ftage and a mountebank, where feveral feats of wit and humour were performed by a gentleman with a gridiron upon his back, who affifted the doctor in his vocation. We were prefently in the midst of the crowd, and foon after-upon the stage; which the boy was perfuaded to afcend, that by a fudden ftroke of conjuration, a great quantity of gold might be conveyed under his hat. Under his hat, however, the dextrous but mifchievous operator, having imperceptibly conveyed a rotten egg, clapped his hand fmartly upon it, and fhewed the aurum potabile running down on each fide, to the unspeakable delight of the beholders, but to the great difappointment of the boy, and the total ruin of our community. It is impoffible to defcribe the confufion and distress which this accident inftantly produced among us: we were at once buried in a quag, intolerably noifome, and infuperably vifcid: thofe who had been overturned in it's paffage, found it impoffible to recover their fituation; and the few, who happening to lie near the borders of the fuffufion, had with the utmost efforts of their ftrength, rawled to thofe parts which it had not reached, laboured in vain to free themfelves from fhackles, which every moment became more strong, as the fubftance which formed them grew more hard, and threatened in a fhort time totally to deprive them of all power of motion. I was myself among this number, and cannot even now recollect my fituation without fhuddering at my danger. In the mean time, the candidate for enchanted gold, who in the fearch of pleasure had found only dirt and hunger, weariness and difappointment, reflecting that his ftolen holiday was at an end, returned forlorn and difconfolate to his nurfe. The nofe of this good woman was foon offended by an unfavoury fmell, and it was not long before the difcovered whence it proceeded. A few questions, and a good thump on the back, brought the whole fecret to light; and the delinquent, that he might be at once purified and punished, was carried to the next pump, where his head was held under the spout till he had received the difcipline of a pickpocket. He was indeed very near being drowned; but his fufferings were nothing in comparifon of ours. We were overwhelmed with a fecond inundation; the cataracts, which burft upon us with a noife tenfold more dreadful than thunder," swept us by hundreds before them, and the few that remained would not have had ftrength to keep their hold against the impetuofity of the torrent, if it had continued a few minutes longer. I was still among thofe that efcaped; and after we had a little recovered from our fright, we found that if we had loft our friends, we were releafed from the viscous durance which our own ftrength could never have broken. We were alfo delivered from the dread of an emigration and a famine; and taking comfort in these reflections, we were enabled to reconcile ourselves, without murmuring, to the fate of those who had perished. But the series of misfortunes which I have been doomed to fuffer, without refpite, was now begun. The next day was Holy Thursday; and the ftupendous being, who, without labour, carried the ruins of our ftate in proceffion to the bounds of his parish, thought fit to break his wand into a cudgel as foon as he came home. This he was impatient to ufe; and in an engagement with an adverfary, who had armed himself with the like weapon, he received a ftroke upon his head, by which my favourite wife and three children, the whole remains of my family, were crushed to atoms in a moment. I was myfelf fo near as to be thrown down by the concuffion of the blow; and the boy immediately fcratching his head to alleviate the fiart, was within a hair of destroying me with his nail. I was fo terrified at this accident, that I crept down to the nape of his neck, where I continued all the rest of the day; and at night, when he retired to eat his cruft of bread in the chimney-corner, I concluded that I fhould at least be fafe till the morning, and therefore began my repaft, which the dangers and misfor tunes of the day had prevented. Whe ther, ther, having long fafted, my bite was more keen than ufual, or whether I had made my attack in a more fenfible part, I cannot tell; but the boy fuddenly thruft up his fingers with fo much speed and dexterity, that he laid hold of me, and aimed with all his force to throw me into the fire: in this favage attempt he would certainly have fucceeded, if I had not stuck between his finger and his nail, and fell fhort upon fome linen that was hanging to dry. ment found myself in the toupee of a battered beau, whofe attention was engroffed by the widow of a rich citizen, with whofe plumb he hoped to pay hs debts and procure a new mistress. In this place the hair was fo thin that it fcarce afforded me fhelter, except a fingle row of curls on each side, where the powder and greafe were infuperable obftacles to my progrefs: here, however, I continued near a week, but it was in every refpect a dreadful fituation. I lived in perpetual folicitude and danger, fecluded from my fpecies, and expofed to the curfed claws of the valet, who perfecuted me every morning and every night. In the morning, it was with the utmost difficulty that I escaped from being kneaded up in a lump of pomatum, or squeezed to death between the burning forceps of a crifping-iron; and at night, after I had with the utmost vigilance and dexterity evaded the comb, I was still liable to be thrust through the body with a pin. I frequently meditated my efcape, and formed many projects to effect it, which I afterwards abandoned either as dangerous or impracticable. I observed that the valet had a much better head of hair than his mafter, and that he fometimes wore the fame bag; into the bag, therefore, one evening I defcended with great circumfpection, and was removed with it: nor was it long before my utmost expectations were anfwered, for the valet tied on my dormitory to his own hair the very next morning, and I gained a new fettlement. The woman, who took in washing, was employed by a laundrefs of fome diftinction; and it happened that I had failen on the fhift-fleeve of a celebrated toaft, who frequently made her appear ance at court. I concealed myself with great caution in the plaits, and the next night had the honour to accompany her into the drawing-room, where he was furrounded by rival beauties, from whom The attracted every eye, and flood with the utmost compofure of mind and countenance in the centre of admiration and deure. In this fituation I became inpatient of confinement, and after feveral efforts made my way out by her tucker, hoping to have paffed on under her handkerchief to her head; but in this hope I was difappointed, for handkerchief the had none. I was not, however, willing to go back, and as my ftation was the principal object of the whole circle, I was foon difcovered by those who stood near. They gazed at me with cager attention, and fometimes turned towards each other with very intelligent looks; but of this the lady took no notice, as it was the common effect of that profu- But the bag was not the only part of fion of beauty which she had been used the mafter's drefs which was occafionalto pour upon every eye: the emotion, ly appropriated by the fervant, who be however, at length increased till the ob- ing foon after my exploit detected in ferved it, and glancing her eye down-wearing a laced frock before it had been ward with a fecret exultation, the difcovered the caufe. Pride inftantly covered thofe cheeks with blushes which modefty had forfaken; and as I was now become fenfible of my danger, I was hafting to retreat. At this inftant a young nobleman, who perceived that the lady was become fenfible of her difgrace, and who, perhaps, thought that it might be deemed an indecorum to approach the place where I stood with his hand in a public affembly, ftooped down, and holding up his hat to his face, directed fo violent a blaft towards me from his mouth, that I vanifhed before it like an atom in a whirlwind; and the next mo left off, was turned away at a minute's warning; and, despairing to obtain a character, returned to the occupation in which he had been bred, and became journeyman to a barber in the city, who ✨ upon fecing a fpecimen of his skill to drefs hair a-la-mode de la cour, was willing to receive him without a scrupulous examination of his morals. This change in the fituation of my patron was a great advantage to me; for I began to have more company and lefs difturbance. But among other perfons whom he attended every morning to fhave, was an elderly gentleman of great repute for natural knowledge, a fellow of of many foreign focieties, and a profound adept in experimental philofophy. This gentleman, having conceived a defign to repeat Leuenhoek's experiments upon the increase of our fpecies, enquired of the proprietor of my dwelling if he could help him to a fubject. The man was at first startled at the question; but it was no fooner comprehended than he pulled out an ivory comb, and produced myfelf and two affociates, one of whom died foon after of the hurt he received. The fage received us with thanks, and very carefully conveyed us into his ftocking, where, though it was not a fituation perfectly agreeable to our nature, we produced a numerous progeny. Here, however, I fuffered new calamity, and was expofed to new danger. The philofopher, whom a fedentary and reclufe life had rendered extremely fufceptible of cold, would often fit with his fins fo near the fire, that we were almoft fcorched to death before we could get round to the calf for fhelter. He was alfo fubject to frequent abstractions of mind; and at thefe times many of us have been miferably deftroyed by his broth or his tea, which he would hold fo much on one fide that it would run over the veffel, and overflow us with a fcalding deluge from his knee to his ancle: nor was this all; for when he felt the fmart he would rub the part with his hand, without reflecting upon his nurfery, till he had crushed great part of thofe who had efcaped. Still, however, it was my fortune to furvive for new ad ventures, The philofopher, among other vifitants fe curiofity he was pleased to gratify, was fometimes favoured with the company of ladies: for the entertainment of a lady it was my misfortune to be one morning taken from my family when I leaft fufpected it, and fecured in the apparatus of a solar microfcope. After I had contributed to their aftonishment and diverfion near an hour, I was left with the utmost inhumanity and ingratitude to perish of hunger, immured between the two pieces of ifinglafs through which I had been exhibited. In this condition I remained three days and three nights; and fhould certainly have perished in the fourth, if a boy about feven years old, who was carelessly left alone in the room, had not poked his finger through the hole in which I was confined, and once more fet me at liberty, . I was, however, extremely weak; and the window being open, I was blown into the street, and feil on the uncovered periwig of a doctor of phyfic, who had juft alighted to vifit a patient. This was the first time I had ever entered a periwig, a fituation which I fcarce lets deprecate than the microfcope: I found it a defolate wilderness, without inhabitants and without bounds. I continued to traverse it with incredible labour, but I knew not in what direction, and defpaired of being ever restored either to food or reft. My fpirits were at length exhausted, my gripe relaxed, and I fell almoft in a state of infenfibility from the verge of the labyrinth in which I had been bewildered, into the head of a patient in the hofpital, over whom, after my fall, I could just perceive the doctor leaning to look at his tongue. By the warmth and nourishment which this place afforded me I foon revived. I rejoiced at my deliverance, and thought I had nothing to fear but the death of the patient in whofe head I had taken fhelter. I was, however, foon convinced of my mistake; for among other patients in the fame ward was a child about fix years old, who having been put in for a rupture, had fallen into the jaundice: for this difeafe the nurfe, in the abfence of the phyfician, prefcribed a certain number of my fpecies to be adminiftered alive in a fpoonful of milk. A collection was immediately made, and I was numbered among the unhappy victims which ignorance and inhumanity had thus devoted to deftruction: I was immerged in the potion, and faw myfelf approach the horrid jaws that I expected would the next moment clofe over me; not but that, in this dreadful moment, I had fome languid hope of paffing the gulph unhurt, and finding a fettlement at the bottom. My fate, however, was otherwife determined: for the child, in a fit of frowardnefs and anger, dashed the fpoon out of the hand of the nurse; and after incredible fatigue, I recovered the ftation to which I had defcended from the doctor's wig. I was once more congratulating myfelf on an escape almoft miraculous, when I was alarmed by the appearance of a barber, with all the dreadful apparatus of his trade. I foon found that the person whofe head I had chofen for an afylum was become delirious, and that that the hair was by the phyfician's order to be removed for a blifter. Here my courage totally failed, and all my hopes forfook me. It happened, however, that though I was entangled in the fuds, yet I was depofited unhurt upon the operator's fhaving cloth; from whence, as he was fhaving you this night, I gained your shoulder, and have this moment crawled out from the plaits of your stock, which you have just taken off and laid upon this table. Whether this event be fortunate or unfortunate, time only can difcover: but I still hope to find fome dwelling, where no comb fhall ever enter, and no nails fhall ever fcratch; which neither pincers nor razor fhall approach; where I fhall pass the remainder of life in perfect fecurity and repofe, amidit the fimiles of fociety and the profufion of plenty. At this hope fo extravagant and ridiculous, uttered with fuch folemnity of diction and manner, I burst into a fit of immoderate laughter that awaked me: but my mirth was inftantly repreffed by reflecting, that The Life of Man is not lefs expofed to Evil; and that all his expectations of fecurity and happiness in Temporal Poffeffions are equally chimerical and abfurd. I am, Sir, your humble fervant, No CXXII. SATURDAY, JANUARY 5, 1754. TELEPHUS ET PELEUS, CUM PAUPER ET EXUL UTERQUE, TRAGEDIANS TOO LAY BY THEIR STATE TO GRIEVE: MA ADNESS being occafioned by a clofe and continued attention of the mind to a fingle object, Shakespeare judiciously reprefents the refignation of his crown to daughters fo cruel and unnatural, as the particular idea which has brought on the distraction of Lear, and which perpetually recurs to his imagination, and mixes itfelf with all his ramblings. Full of this idea, therefore, he breaks out abruptly in the fourth act- No, they cannot touch me for coining: I am the king himself. He believes himself to be railing recruits, and cenfures the inability and unfkilfulness of fome of his foldiers: There's your prefs money. That fellow handles his bow like a crow-keeper: draw me a clothier's yard. Look, look, a ⚫ moufe! Peace, peace: this piece of ⚫toafted cheese will do it.' The art of our poet is tranfcendent in thus making a paffage that even borders on burlefque, ftrongly expreffive of the madnefs he is painting. Lear fuddenly thinks himself in the field; There's my gauntlet-I'll prove it on a giant:" and that he has fhot his arrow fuccefsfully! O well HOR. ROSCOMMON. flown barb! i' th' clout, i' th' clout: hewgh! give the word. He then recollects the falfhood and cruelty of his daughters, and breaks out in fome pathetic reflections on his old age, and on the tempeft to which he was fo lately expofed: Ha! Gonerill!-Ha! Regan!They flattered me like a dog, and told me I had white hairs on my beard, ere the black ones were there. They fay, Ay, and No, to every thing that I faid-Ay and No too, was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I found em; there I fmelt 'em out. Go to, 'they're not men of their words; they told me I was every thing: 'tis a lie, I am not ague-proof. The impotence of royalty to exempt it's poffeffor, more than the meaneft fubject, from fuffering natural evils, is here finely hinted at. His friend and adherent Glofter, having been lately deprived of fight, enquires if the voice he hears is not the voice of the king, Lear inftantly catches the |