fideration, it is proper that a man ftop at the first thoughts, to remark how he was led thither, and why he continues the reflection. If he is dwelling with delight upon a ftratagem of fuccefsful fraud, a night of licentious riot, or an intrigue of guilty pleasure, let him fummon off his imagination as from an unlawful purfuit, expel thofe paffages from his remembrance, of which, though he cannot seriously approve them, the pleafure overpowers the guilt, and refer them to a future hour, when they may be confidered with greater fafety. Such an hour will certainly come; for the impreffions of paft pleafure are always leffening, but the fenfe of guilt, which refpects futurity, continues the fame.

The ferious and impartial retrofpect of our conduct is indifputably neceflary to the confirmation or recovery of virtue, and is therefore recommended under the name of felf-examination, by divines, as the first act previous to repentance. It is, indeed, of fo great ufe, that without it we fhould always be to begin life, be feduced for ever by the fame allurements, and misled by the fame fallacies. But in order that we may not lofe the advantage of our experience, we muft endeavour to fee every thing in it's proper form, and excite in ourfelves thofe fentiments which the great Author of nature has decreed the concomitants or followers of good or bad actions.

Μηδ ̓ ὕπνον μαλακοῖσιν ἐπ ̓ ὄμμασι προσδέξασθκι,

Πρὶν τῶν ἡμερινῶν ἔξων τρὶς ἔκασον ἐπελθεῖν· Πῆ παρέβην, τι δ ̓ ἔξεξα; τί μοι δέον ἐκ ἐτελέσθη ̓Αρξάμενος δ ̓ ἀπὸ πρώτε ἐπέξιθι καὶ μετέ

WELTA,

Δειλὰ μὲν ἐκπρήξας, ἐπιπλήσσει, χρηςὰ δὲ,

τέρπα.

Let not sleep, says Pythagoras, fall upon thy eyes till thou haft thrice reviewed the tranfactions of the paft day. Where have I turned afide from rectitude? What have I been doing? What have I left undone, which I ought to have done? Begin thus from the first act, and proceed; and, in conclufion, at the ill which thou haft done be troubled, and rejoice for the good.

Qur thoughts on prefent things being determined by the objects before us, fall not under thofe indulgences, or excurfions, which I am now confidering. But I cannot forbear, under this head, to caution pious and tender minds, that

In futurity chiefly are the fnares tangled. Futurity is the proper abode lodged by which the imagination is inof hope and fear, with all their train fions and defires. In futurity, events and progeny of fubordinate apprehenand chances are yet floating at large, caufes; and we therefore eafily indulge without apparent connection with their the liberty of gratifying ourselves with a pleafing choice. To pick and cull among poffible advantages is, as the civil law terms it, in vacuum venire-to take what belongs to nobody: but it has this hazard in it, that we shall be unwilling to quit what we have feized, though an owner fhould be found. It is easy to think on that which may be gained, till at last we refolve to gain it; and to image the happiness of particular conditions, till we can be eafy in no other. We ought at least to let our defires fix upon nothing in another's power for the fake of our quiet, or in another's poffeffion for the fake of our innocence. When a man finds himself led, though by a train of honeft fentiments, to with for that to which he has no right, he should start back as from a pitfal covered with flowers. He that fancies he should benefit the publick more in a great ftation than the man that fills it, will in time

imagine it an a&t of virtue to fupplant him; and, as oppofition readily kindles into hatred, his eagerness to do that good to which he is not called will betray him to crimes which in his original scheme were never proposed.

He therefore that would govern his actions by the laws of virtue must regulate his thoughts by thofe of reafon : he must keep guilt from the receffes of his heart; and remember that the pleafures of fancy, and the emotions of defire, are more dangerous as they are more hidden, fince they efcape the awe of obfervation, and operate equally in every fituation, without the concurrence of external opportunities.

N° IX.

T is juftly remarked by Horace, that, occafionally of the hardships of his condition, he is seldom willing to change it for any other on the fame level: for whether it be that he who follows an employment made choice of it at first on account of it's fuitableness to his inclination; or that, when accident, or the determination of others, have placed him in a particular ftation, he, by endeavouring to reconcile himfelf to it, gets the custom of viewing it only on the faireft fide; or whether every man thinks that clafs to which he belongs the mott illuftrious, merely because he has honoured it with his name; it is certain that, whatever be the reafon, most men have a very strong and active prejudice in favour of their own vocation, always working upon their minds, and influencing their behaviour.

This partiality is fufficiently visible in every rank of the human fpecies; but it exerts itself more frequently and with greater force among thofe who have never learned to conceal their fentiments for reafons of policy, or to model their expreffions by the laws of politenefs; and therefore the chief contefts of wit among artificers and handicraftsmen arise from a mutual endeavour to exalt one trade by depreciating another.

From the fame principles are derived many confolations to alleviate the inconveniences to which every calling is peculiarly expofed. A black fmith was lately pleafing himself at his anvil, with obferving that, though his trade was hot and footy, laborious and unhealthy, yet he had the honour of living by his hammer; he got his bread like a man; and if his fon fhould rife in the world, and keep his coach, nobody could reproach him that his father was a taylor.

A man truly zealous for his fraternity, is never fo irresistibly flattered as when fome rival calling is mentioned with contempt. Upon this principle a linen-draper boafted that he had got a new customer whom he could fafely truft, for he could have no doubt of his

ELPHINSTON.

honefly, fince it was known, from un

filing a bill in chancery to delay payment for the cloaths which he had worn the last seven years; and he himself had heard him declare, in a publick coffeehouse, that he looked upon the whole generation of woollen-drapers to be fuch defpicable wretches that no gentleman ought to pay them.

It has been obferved that phyficians and lawyers are no friends to religion; and many conjectures have been formed to difcover the reafon of fuch a combination between men who agree in nothing elfe, and who feem lefs to be affected, in their own provinces, byreligious opinions, than any other part of the community. The truth is, very few of them have thought about religion: but they have all feen a parfon; feen him in a habit different from their own, and therefore declared war against him. A young ftudent from the inns of court, who has often attacked the curate of his father's parish with fuch arguments as his acquaintances could furnish, and returned to town without fuccefs, is now gone down with a refolution to destroy him; for he has learned at laft how to manage a prig, and if he pretends to hold him again to fyllogifm, he has a catch in referve, which neither logick nor metaphyficks can refiit.

I laugh to think how your unfhaken Cats Will look aghast, when unforeseen deftruc

tion

Pours in upon him thus.

The malignity of foldiers and failors against each other has been often experienced at the coft of their country; and, perhaps, no orders of men have an enmity of more acrimony, or longer continuance. When, upon our late fucceffes at fea, fome new regulations were naval commanders, a captain of foot concerted for establishing the rank of the very acutely remarked, that nothing was more abfurd than to give any honorary rewards to feamen: For honour,' fays he,

ought only to be won by bra

⚫very; and all the world knows that in a fea-fight there is no danger, and ⚫ therefore no evidence of courage.' But although this general defire of aggrandizing themselves by raifing their profeffion, betrays men to a thousand ridiculous and mischievous acts of fupplantation and detraction, yet as almoft all paffions have their good as well as bad effects, it likewife excites ingenuity, and fometimes raifes an honeft and useful emulation of diligence. It may be obferved in general, that no trade had ever reached the excellence to which it is now improved, had it's profeffors looked upon it with the eyes of indifferent fpectators; the advances, from the first rude effays must have been made by men who vahed themfelves for performances for which fearce any other would be perfuaded to esteem them.

It is pleafing to contemplate a manufacture rifing gradually from it's firft mean flate by the fucceffive labours of innumerable minds; to confider the firft hollow trunk of an oak, in which, perhaps, the thepherd could fcarce venture to cross a brook fwelled with a fhower, enlarged at laft into a fhip of war, attacking fortrelles, terrifying nations, fetting forms and billows at defiance, and vifiting the remote parts of the globe. And it might contribute to difpofe us to a kinder regard for the labours of one another, if we were to confider from what unpromising beginnings the most useful productions of art have probably arifen. Who, when he faw the first fand or afhes, by a cafual intenfenefs of heat melted into a metalline form, rugged with excrefcences, and clouded with impurities, would have immagined, that in this fhapelefs lump lay concealed fo many conveniences of life as would in time contitute a great part of the happiness of the world? Yet by fome fuch fortuitous fiquefaction was mankind taught to procure a body at once in a high degree fofid and transparent, which might adinit

the light of the fun, and exclude the vialence of the wind; which might extend the fight of the philofopher to new ranges of exiftence, and charm him at one time with the unbounded extent of the material creation, and at another with the endlefs fubordination of animal life; and, what is yet of more importance, might fupply the decays of nature, and fuccour old age with fubfidiary fight. Thus was the firit artificer in glafs employed, though without his own knowledge or expectation. He was facilitating and prolonging the enjoyment of light, enlarging the avenues of fcience, and conferring the highest and most lafting pleafures; he was enabling the ftudent to contemplate nature, and the beauty to behold herself.

This pailion for the honour of a prafeffion, like that for the grandeur of our own country, is to be regulated, not extinguifhed. Every man, from the highest to the lowest station, ought to warm his heart and animate his endeavours with the hopes of being ufeful to the world, by advancing the art which it is his lot to exercife; and for that end he must neceffarily confider the whole extent of it's application, and the whole weight of it's importance. But let him not too readily imagine that another is ill employed; becaufe, for want of fuller knowledge of his bufinefs, he is not able to comprehend it's dignity. Every man ought to endeavour at eminence, not by pulling others down, but by railing himself; and enjoy the pleafure of his own fuperiority, whether imaginary or real, without interrupting others in the fame felicity. The philofopher may very justly be delighted with the extent of his views, and the artificer with the readiness of bis hands: but let the one remember, that without mechanical performances, refined speculation is an empty dream; and the other, that, without theoretical reafoning, dexterity is little more than a brute instinct,

of the prefs. It is no lefs a proof of eminence to have many enemies than many friends; and I look upon every letter, whether it contains encomiums or reproaches,

proaches, as an equal atteftation of rifing credit. The only pain which I can feel from my correfpondence, is the fear of difguiting thofe whofe letters I fhall neglect; and therefore I take this opportunity of reminding them, that, in difapproving their attempts, whenever it may happen, I only return the treatment which I often receive. Befides, many particular moeives influence a writer, known only to himself, or his private friends; and it may be juftly concluded, that not all letters which are postponed are rejected, nor all that are rejected, critically condemned.

Having thus cafed my heart of the enly apprehenfion that fat heavy on it, I can pleafe myfelf with the candour of Benevolus, who encourages me to proceed, without finking under the anger Flirtilla, who quarrels with me for being old and ugly, and for wanting both activity of body and fprightlinefs of mind; feeds her monkey with my lucubrations, and refufes any reconciliation till I have appeared in vindication of mafquerades. That the may not how ever unagine me without fupport, and left to rest wholly upon my own fortitude, I fhall now publish fome letters which I have received from men as well dreffed, and as handfome, as her favourite; and others from ladies whom I fincerely believe as young, as rich, as gay, as pretty, as fashionable, and as often toasted and treated as herself.

'A Set of candid readers fend their refpects to the Rambler, and ac⚫ knowledge his merit in fo well beginning a work that may be of publick benefit. But, fuperior as his genius is to the impertinences of a trifling age, they cannot help a wifh, that he would • condefcend to the weakness of minds foftened by perpetual amusements, and now and then throw in, like his predeceffor, fome papers of a gay and ⚫ humorous turn. Too fair a field now lies open, with too plentiful a harvest of follies! Let the chearful Thalia put • in her fickle; and, finging at her work, ⚫ deck her hair with red and blue.'

a perfon now alive, and in town? If he be, fhe will do herfelf the honour to write to him pretty often: and hopes, from time to time, to be the better for his advice and animadverfions; for his animadverfions on her neighbours at leaft. But, if he is a mere essayist, ⚫ and troubles not himself with the manners of the age, fhe is forry to tell him, that even the genius and correctnefs of an Addifon will not fecure him from neglect.'

No man is fo much abstracted from common life, as not to feel a particular pleasure from the regard of the female world; the candid writers of the firft billet will not be offended, that my hafte to fatisfy a lady has hurried their addrefs too foon out of my mind, and that I refer them for a reply to fome future paper, in order to tell this curious inquirer after my other name; the answer of a philofopher to a man who, meeting him in the street, defired to fee what he carried under his cloak- I carry it

there,' fays he, that you may not fee it.' But, though fhe is never to know my name, the may often fee my face: for I am of her opinion, that a diurnal writer ought to view the world; and that he who neglects his cotemporaries, may be, with juftice, neglected by them.

'LA

ADY Racket fends compliments 'to theRambler; and lets him know, she shall have cards at her house every Sunday, the remainder of the season, where he will be fure of meeting all the good company in town. By this means the hopes to fee his papers in⚫terfperfed with living characters. She longs to fee the torch of Truth produced at an affembly, and to admire the charming luftre it will throw on the jewels, complexions, and behaviour of every dear creature there.'

It is a rule with me to receive every offer with the fame civility as it is made; and, therefore, though Lady Racket may have had fome reafon to guefs that I feldom frequent card-tables on Sundays, I fhall not infift upon an exception which may to her appear of fo little force. My bufinefs has been to view, as oppor tunity was offered, every place in which mankind was to be feen: but at cardtables, however brilliant, I have always thought my vifit loft, for I could know no

thing