we feel to be vain, we must neceffarily defcend to the confideration of what we are. We have powers very feanty in their utmost extent, but which in different men are differently proportioned. Suitably to thefe powers we have duties prefcribed, which we mut neither de-, cline for the fake of delighting ourselves with eafier amufements, nor overlook in idle contemplation of greater excellence or more extentive comprehendion. In order to the right conduct of our lives, we must remember, that we are not born to please ourselves. He that ftudies fimply his own fatisfaction, will always find the proper bufinefs of his ftation too hard or too eafy for him. But if we hear continually in mind our relation to The FATHER of Being, by whom we are placed in the world, and who has allotted us the part which we are to bear in the general fyftem of life, we shall be eafily perfuaded to refign our own inclinations to Unerring Wifdom, and do the work decreed for us with cheerfulnets and diligence. No CXXIX. TUESDAY, JANUARY 26, 1754. SIR, QUICQUID AGUNT HOMINES, VOTUM, TIMOR, IRA, VOLUPTAS WHATEVER EXCITES OUR HATRED, LOVE, OR JOY, OR HOPE, OR FEAR, THESE THEMES MY MUSE EMPLOY. TO THE ADVENTURER. BATH, DEC. 29. LEONARDO Di Vinci, one of EONARDO Da Vinci, one of the art of painting, was accustomed to delineate inftantly in his pocket-book every face in which he difcovered any fingularity of air or feature. By this method he obtained a vaft collection of various countenances; and efcaped that baren uniformity and refemblance, fo vifible in the generality of hiftory pieces, that the fpectator is apt to imagine all the figures are of one family. As a moraliit should imitate this practice, and sketch characters from the life, at the inftant in which they ftrike him; Iamufed myself yesterday in the Pumproom, by contemplating the different conditions and characters of the perfons who were moving before me, and particularly the various motives that influenced them to croud to this city. Aphrodifius, a young nobleman of great hopes and large property, fell into a courfe of early debauchery at Weftminfter fchool, and at the age of fixteen privately kept an abandoned woman of the town, to whofe lodgings he ftole in the intervals of fchool-hours, and who foon communicated to him a difeafe of peculiar power to poifon the fprings of life, and prevent the maturity of manhood. His body is enervated and emaciated, his cheek yellow and bloodless, his hand palfied, and his mind gloomy Juv. and dejected. It being thought, however, abfolutely neceffary for the welfare of his family that he fhould marry, he has been betrothed, in this dreadful condition, to a lady whofe beauty and vivacity are in their meridian: and his phyficians have ordered him to thefe falutary waters to try if it be poffible for him to recover a little health before the marriage is celebrated. Can we wonder at the diminished race of half-formed animals, that crawl about our streets in the fhape of men, when matches fo unequal and fo unnatural are not only permitted, but enjoined as a test of filial duty, and the condition of parental fa acount, having waited for it with impatience and uneafinefs a month longer than the expected time, he hurried to this city, in hopes of acquiring it by the efficacy of the waters. I found him yesterday extremely dejected; and, on my entering his chamber- Life,' faid he, is full of vexations and difappointments: what a dreadful accident!' I imagined that fome felected friend, fome brother of his choice was dead, or that the college treafury was burnt: but he immediately undeecived me by adding -I was prefented with the fineft, the fattest collar of brawn, and expected it at dinner this day: but the rafcally carrier has conveyed it to a wrong place, fifty miles off, and before I can receive it, it will be abfolutely unfit for eating. Here likewife is the learned and ingenious Crito. Crito is a genius of a fuperior order, who hath long instructed and entertained his country by many incomparable works of literature and morality; and who, in a Grecian commmonwealth, would have had a ftatue erected, and have been maintained at the public expence; but in this kingdom he has with great difficulty gained a precarious competence, by inceffant labour and application. Thefe uninterrupted and unrewarded ftudies have at length impaired his health, and undermined a conftitution naturally vigorous and happy: and as Crito has never been able to lay up a fum fufficient to procure him the affistance which the debility of fick nefs and age require, he was obliged to infure his life, and borrow at exorbitant intereft a few pounds to enable him to perform this journey to Bath, which alone could restore his health and fpirits; and now, as his money and credit are exhausted, he will be compelled to abandon this place, when his cure is only half effected; and must retire to fanguifh in a little lodging in London, while his readers and admirers content themfelves with lamenting his diftrefs, and wondering how it comes to pafs that nothing has been done for a man of fuch diftinguifhed abilities and integrity. Doctor Pamper is poffeffed of three large ecclefiaftical preferments: his motive for coming hither is fomewhat fingular; it is, becaufe his parishes cannot furnish him with a fet of perfons that are equal to him in the knowledge of whift; he is, therefore, neceffitated every feafon to frequent this place, where alone he can meet with gamelters that are worth contending with. Spumotius, who is one of the livelieft of free-thinkers, had not been three months at the Temple before he became irrefiftibly enamoured of the beauty of virtue. He always carried a Shaftefbury in his pocket, and used to read and explain the ftriking paffages to large circles at the coffee-houfe; he was of opinion, that for purity and perfpicuity, elegance of file, and force of reafoning, the Characteristics were incomparable, and were models equally proper for regulating our tafte and our morals. He difcovered a delicate artificial connection in thefe difcourfes, which to vulgar eyes appear to be loofe and incoherent rhapfodies; nay, he clearly perceived, that each treatife depended on the foregoing, and altogether compofed one uniform whole, and the nobleft system of truth and virtue that had been imparted to mankind. He quarrelled irreconcilably with his dearest friend, who happened to hint, that the file was affected and unharmonious, the metaphors farfetched and violent, and frequently coarfe and illiberal, the arguments inconclufive and unfair, the raillery frigid and infipid, and totally different from the Attic irony of Socrates, which the author prefumed to propofe for his pattern. Spumofius always difdained to practife virtue on the mean and mercenary motives of reward and punishment; and was convinced, that so excellent a creature as man might be kept in order by the filken cords of delicacy and decorum. He, therefore, frequently fneered at the priestly notions of heaven and hell, as fit only to be entertained by vulgar and fordid minds. But being lately attacked by a fevere diftemper, he betrayed fears that were not compatible with the boldness of his former profeffions; and terrified at the approach ́ of death, he had recourfe to various remedies, and is at last arrived here, as full of doubt as of disease, but feeling more acute pains in his mind than can poffibly be inflicted on his body. Mr. Gull was lately a foap-boiler at Chefter; but having accumulated a vast fortune by trade, he is now refolved to be polite, and enjoy his money with taste. He has brought his numerous family of aukward girls hither, only because he has heard that people of fashion do at this time of the year generally take a trip to Bath; and for the fame reason he intends in the fpring to make a journey to Paris, and will, I dare fay, commence virtuofo on his return, and be a profeffed judge of drefs, pictures, and furniture. think the Adventurer tolerable; but he generally exclaims- How grave and fententious! Good Heavens! what, more Greek! This circumstance will ruin the credit of the paper. They will not take my advice, for you mult know I am intimate with all the authors of it; they are ten in number; and fome of them-- But as I have been entrusted with their fecrets, I muft difclofe no more. To tell you the truth, I have given them a few effays myfelf, which I have written for my amufement upon guard.' I must not forget to inform you that we have the company of Captain Gairifh, a wit and a critic, who pretends he is perfectly acquainted with the bett writers of the age, and whofe opinion on every new work is deemed decifive in the Pump-room. The prefaces of Dryden, and the French critics, are the fources from which his immenfe litera- If thefe portraits, which are faithfulture is derived. Dacier's Plutarch has ly copied from the life, fhould amufe enabled him to talk familarly of the most you, I may perhaps take an opportunicelebrated Greeks and Romans, andty of adding to the collection. Bayle's Dictionary finished him for a I am, Mr. Adventurer, yours, fcholar. Sometimes he vouchfafes to PHILOMEDES. N° CXXX. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 1754. QUI NON EST HODIE, CRAS MINUS APTUS ERIT. MART. THE MAN WILL SURELY FAIL WHO DARES DELAY, IT we confine frequently fotter T was faid by Raleigh, when fome ment under a fentence of death, which he knew not how foon he might fuffer, that the world itself was only a larger prifon, out of which fome were every day felected for execution. That there is a time when every man is ftruck with the fenfe of this awful truth, I do not doubt; and, perhaps, a hafty fpeculatift would conclude, that it's influence would be ftronger in proportion as it more frequently occurred: but upon every mind that is become familiar with calamity, calamity lofes it's force; and mifery grows lefs only by it's continuance, because those who have long fuffered, lofe their fenfibility, If he who lies down at night in the vigour and health of five-and-twenty, fhould rife in the morning with the infirmities of four-fcore, it is not improbable that he would fink under a fenfe of his condition; regret of enjoyments which could never return, would preclude all that remained, and the last mournful effects of decay would be haftened and aggravated by anticipation. But thofe who have been enfeebled by degrees, who have been fhaken ten years by the paifey, or crippled by the gout, about upon thair crutches with an air of waggith jocularity, are always ready to entertain their company with a jeft, meet their acquaintance with a toothlefs grin, and are the firit to toast a young beauty when they can fcarce lift the glafs to their lips. Even criminals, who knew that in the morning, they were to die, have often flept in the night; though very few of thofe who have been committed for a capital offence, which they knew would be eafly proved; have flept the first night after they were confined. Danger fo fudden and fo imminent alarms, confounds and terrifies; but after a time ftupor fupplies the want of fortitude; and as the evil approaches, it is in effe&t leis terrible, except in the moment when it arrives; and then, indeed, it is common to lament that infenubility, which before perhaps was voluntarily increated by drunkenness or diffipation; by folitary intemperance, or tumultuous company. There is fome reafon to believe, that this power of the world to come,' as it is exprefled in the fublimity of Eaftern metaphor, is generally felt at the fame age, The dread of death has feldom been been found to intrude upon the cheerfulnefs, fimplicity, and innocence of children; they gaze at a funeral proceflion with as much yacant curiofity as at any other fhew, and fee the world change be fore them without the leaft fenfe of the r own fhare in the viciffitude. In youth, when all the appetites are ftrong, and every gratification is heightened by novelty, the mind refifts mournful impreffions with a kind of elastic power, by which the fignature that is forced upon it is immediately effaced: when this tumult firft fubfides, while the attachment to life is yet ftrong, and the mind begins to look forward, and concert meafures by which thofe enjoyments may be fecured which it is folicitous to keep, or others obtained to atone for the difappointments that are paft, then death ftarts up like a spectre in all his terrors, the blood is chilled at his appearance, he is perceived to approach with a conftant and irrefiftible pace, retreat is impoffible, and refiftance is vain. The terror and anguish which this image produces whenever it first rufhes upon the mind, are always complicated with a fenfe of guilt and remorte; and generally produce fome hafty and zealous purposes of more uniform virtue and ardent devotion, of fomething that may fecure us not only from the worm that never dies and the fire that is not quenched, but from total mortality, and admit hope to the regions beyond the grave. ples which yet in his heart he does not believe; he thinks himself convinced, that virtue must be happiness, and then dreams that happiness is virtue. Thefe frauds, though they would have been impoffible in the hour of conviction and terror, are yet practifed with great eafe when it is past, and contribute very much to prevent it's return. It is, indeed, fcarce poffible, that it should return with the fame force, because the power of novelty is neceffarily exhaufted in the firft onfet. Some incidents, however, there are, which renew the terror; and they seldom fail to renew the purpose: upon the death of a friend, a parent, or a wife, the comforts and the confidence of fophiftry are at an end; the moment that fufpends the influence of temptation, reftores the power of confcience, and at once rectifies the underftanding. He who has been labouring to explain away thofe duties which he had not fortitude to practife, then fees the vanity of the attempt; he regrets the time that is paft, and refolves to improve that which remains: but if the first purpofe of reformation has been ineffectual, the fecond is feldom executed; as the fenfe of danger by which it is produced is not fo ftrong, the motive is lets; and as the power of appetite is increased by habitual gratification, the oppofition is more: the new conviction wears off; the duties are again neglected as unnecellary which are found to be unpleasant; the lethargy of the foul returns, and as the danger increases the becomes leis fufceptible of fear. Thus the dreadful condition of him, who looks back after having put his hand to the plough,' may be resolved into natural caufes; and it may be af ples, that there is a call which is repeated no more, and an apostacy from which it is extremely difficult to return. This purpofe is feldom wholly relinquifhed, though it is not always execut ed with vigour and perfeverance; the reflection which produced it often recurs, but it ftill recurs with lefs force; defire of immediate pleasure becomes predominant; appetite is no longer reftrained; and either all attempts to fe-firmed, upon mere philofophical princicure future happinefs are deferred to a ❝ more convenient feafon,' or fome expedients are fought to render fenfuality and virtue compatible, and to obtain every object of hope without leffening the treasures of poffeffion. Thus vice naturally becomes the difciple of infidelity; and the wretch who dares not afpire to the heroic virtue of a Christian, liftens with eagerness to every objection against the authority of that law by which he is condemned, and labours in vain to establish another that will acquit him: he forms many arguments to justify natural defires; he learns at length to impofe upon himself; and affents to princi Let those who still delay that which yet they believe to be of eternal moment, remember, that their motives to effect it will still grow weaker, and the difficulty of the work perpetually increase; to neg lect it now, therefore, is a pledge that it will be neglected for ever: and if they are roufed by this thought, let them inftantly improve it's influence; for even this thought, when it returns, will return with lefs power, and though it fhould roufe them now, will perhaps rouse them no more. But let them not confide in fuch fech virtue as can be practifed without a fuggle, and which interdicts the gra+fication of no pallion but malice; nor adopts principles which could never be believed at the only time when they could be useful; like arguments which nien fometimes form when they flumber, and the moment they awake difcover to Le abfurd. Let those who in the anguish of an awakened mind have regretted the past, and refolved to redeem it in the future, perfift invariably to do whatever they then wished to have done. Let this be eltablifhed as a conftant rule of action, and oppofed to all the cavils of fophiftry and fenfe; for this with will inevitably return when it muft for ever be ineffectual, at that awful moment when the fhadow ' of death fhall be ftretched over them, and that night commence in which no man can work.' 6 N° CXXXI. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1754. FON ERGO ALIQUID NOSTRIS DE MISCE AND MINGLE SOMETHING OF OUR TIMES TO PLEASE. FONTENELLE, in his panegyric on Sir Ifaac Newton, clofes a long enumeration of that great philofopher's virtues and attainments, with an obfervation, that he was not diftinguished from other men by any fingularity either natural or affected. It is an eminent inftance of Newton's fuperiority to the rest of mankind, that he was able to feparate knowledge from thofe weaknesses by which knowledge is generally disgraced; that he was able to excel in fcience and wifdom, without parchating them by the neglect of little things; and that he stood alone, merely because he had left the rest of mankind behind him, not because he deviated from the beaten track. Whoever, after the example of Plutarch, fhould compare the lives of illuftrious men, might fet this part of Newton's character to view with great advantage, by oppofing it to that of Bacon, perhaps the only man of later ages who has any pretenfions to difpute with him the palin of genius or fcience. Bacon, after he had added to a long and careful contemplation of almoft every other object of knowledge a curious inspection into common life, and, after having furveyed nature as a philofopher, had examined men's bufinefs and bofoms as a statesman; yet failed so much in the conduct of domestic affairs, that, in the most lucrative poft to which a great and wealthy kingdom could advance him, he felt all the iniferies of diftrefsful poverty, and committed all the crimes to which poverty incites. Juv. DRYDEN JUN. Such were at once his negligence and rapacity, that, as it is faid, he would gain by unworthy practices that money, which, when fo acquired, his fervants might fteal from one end of the table, while he fat ftudious and abftracted at the other. As fcarcely any man has reached the excellence, very few have funk to the weaknefs of Bacon: but almost all the ftudious tribe, as they obtain any participation of his knowledge, feel likewife fome contagion of his defects; and obftruct the veneration which learning would procure, by follies greater or lets to which only learning could betray them. It has been formerly remarked by The Guardian, that the world punishes with too great feverity the error of those who imagine that the ignorance of little things may be compenfated by the knowledge of great; for fo it is, that as more can detect petty failings than can diftinguifh or efteem great qualifications, and as mankind is in general more easily difpofed to cenfure than to admiration, contempt is often incurred by flight miftakes, which real virtue or usefulnes cannot counterbalance. Yet fuch mistakes and inadvertencies, it is not eafy for a man deeply immersed in ftudy to avoid;, no man can become qualified for the common intercourfes of life by private meditation; the manners of the world are not a regular fyftem, planned by philofophers upon fettled principles, in which every caufe has a congruous effect, and one part has a just |