fore and worldly prosperity are not in themselves proofs or even strong presumptions of desert in. those who have been the fabricators of their own fortunes. We must scrupulously examine the grounds and nature of the progress of a vulgar man from its first point to wealth, place and honours, before we can pronounce that the consideration of his origin increases the glory of his subsequent distinction.

Of the major portion of those who have been thus exalted, I suspect it will be found, that neither superior virtues, nor superior talents have been the main ingredients of their prosperity; but habits of accommodation, of which their better-descended and more highly-endowed rivals could not brook the practice.

Let me be excused for closing this essay with a celebrated, and often-cited passage from Lord Bacon.

"As for nobility in particular persons, it is a reverend thing to see an ancient castle or building not in decay; or to see a fair timber tree sound and perfect; how much more to behold an ancient noble family, which hath stood against the waves and weathers of time. Those that are first raised to nobility, are commonly more virtuous but less

9 Here virtuous must be used as synonimous to active and full of exertion.

innocent, than their descendants; for there is rarely any rising, but by a commixture of good and evil arts; but it is reason the memory of their virtues remain to their posterity, and their faults die with themselves. Nobility of birth commonly abateth industry; and he that is not industrious envieth him that is. Besides, noble persons cannot go much higher; and he that standeth at a stay, where others rise, can hardly avoid motions of envy. On the other side, nobility extinguisheth the passive envy from others towards them, because they are in possession of honour. Certainly kings that have able men of their nobility, shall find ease in employing them; and a better slide into their business; for people naturally bend to them, as born in some sort to command." r

Jan. 18, 1809.

"Bacon's Essays-No. XV. on Nobility.

N° LXII.

On the Impolicy of Complaint.

JOHNSON, in his Life of Cowley, says, that after the Restoration, that poet having missed the Mastership of the Savoy, "published his pretensions and his discontent, in an Ode called THE COMPLAINT; in which he styles himself the melancholy Cowley. This met with the usual fortune of complaints, and seems to have excited more contempt than pity."

I am afraid that the remark, if applied to the generality of mankind, is too true; but it ought not to have been spoken so irreverently of such a man as Cowley; nor without a strong reprobation of its illiberality and injustice. There is on the contrary a sarcastic tone in the critic's expressions, as if he thought the world on such occasions were in the right.

We are, no doubt, too disgracefully inclined to estimate people according to their prosperity. Success is deemed the sure test of ability or virtue. He therefore, who would stand well in the opinion of the coarse, which is the major part of society,

should never complain. He should, on the other hand, pass unnoticed every affront, conceal every miscarriage, boast of his friends, and exult in his good luck. Sighs and melancholy will only be deemed the proofs of ill fortune; and ill fortune will be the signal for new attempts at injury and defeat. The world is like a herd of deer, that always set themselves upon the wounded stag.

It is among the most prominent frailties of "base mankind" to give a helping hand to those who do not want it, and withhold it from those who do. One success leads to another; and one injustice to another. " Woes cluster;" and he, who has received a wrong from one neighbour or alliance, is much more exposed to a second from some quarter, which was before well-intentioned towards him, than if the first had never happened. Nothing but sad and repeated experience will induce the honourable and pure-hearted to believe this frightful truth. One would have thought that injuries heaped on an undeserving head would operate as motives for the counterbalancing kindness of benefits even before unthought of. Alas! No! The example is more effective than the warning. The bad passions of our nature are drawn into play. What one has done without meeting the opprobium of the world, another may safely indulge in.

I should have extended this paper; but alas! the melancholy events announced from Spain stop my pen; and the press admits of no delay till I can compose my agitated spirits.

All I can say now is, that the terms of contempt in which Johnson concurs, regarding Cowley's Complaint, disgrace himself. It is one of the finest of his Poems; beautiful and affecting in its sentiments, and admirably happy, for the most part, in its vigorous and eloquent language. And as to the disclosure of ill usage, which reflects real shame only on its propagators, if it draw forth the scorn of the vulgar-hearted on the innocent sufferer, such frank and ingenuous pictures of the feelings of a pathetic or indignant bosom will always secure the sympathy, the love, the esteem, and gratitude of the wise and the good.

• The first tidings of the Battle of Corunna,

"The plan of this poem," says Dr. Hurd, " is highly poetical: and though the numbers be not the most pleasing,” (a position in which I cannot agree with him) "the expression is almost every where natural and beautiful. But its principal charm is that air of melancholy, thrown over the whole, so expressive of the poet's character. The address of the writer is seen in conveying his just reproaches on the court, under a pretended vindication of it against the Muse." Hurd's Cowley.

Jan. 25, 1809.