On the Character of Lord Chesterfield. much wifdom and virtue as the arrogant philofopher, with his own rich inheritance of native wit into the bargain, you must certainly allow him to be the more admirable character of the two. That he was, indeed, neither lefs wife nor lefs virtuous than Johnfon, is fufficiently evident to me, from a little furvey that I have taken of what I may call the morning and the evening in the lives of each.-Let me fet the two men before you, for an instant, in thofe ftriking periods of their existence. At the age of thirty, a season when the firft whirlwind of the paffions has fubfided, and the mind of man begins to affume a fettled temperature, how do we find Johnfon employed? Why truly, in writing a rebellious pamphlet, which his very biographer reprefents as mean in its execution, and deteftable in its design.-Now let me direct your eyes to Chesterfield, at the fame age. What was the noble Lord doing at thirty? In this year of his life, I find him giving an early example of that generous integrity, which he maintained through every ftage of his political career-and politely rejecting the advice of thofe who recommended it to him to increase the profits of a poit that he had juft accepted, by felling the fubordinate places in his difpofal. You may tell me, perhaps, that fuch an early comparison of the two men, in a point of political purity, confidering the difference of their birth and station, is neither candid nor juft. Let us look then at the two veterans, when each was turned of feventy, when both were preparing to quit the ftage of life, the Philofopher weary of having inftructed the world, and the Wit of having enlivened it." At fuch a feafon, if the Philofopher had indeed been a man of found wifdom and virtue, we might expect to find him calmly and chearfully looking for 247 ward to an immortal reward for the benefits which his labour had beftowed upon mankind; and if the gayer life of the Wit had in truth been a mere tiffue of vice and folly, we might expect alfo to behold him, at this important feafon, finking under the dread of a tremendous retribution. Now, are these the refpective conditions in which we may actually contemplate thefe two oppofite, but illuftrious old men? No! it is juft the reverse. We fee the imperious Philofopher looking back with remorse, looking forward with confternation, and ftrangely converting a juftice of peace into a confeffor, to tell him more fecret tranfgreffions than he was willing to hear. Now take a view of the fuperannuated Wit, fo unjuftly fufpected of a fettled depravity in heart and fpirit. We find him, and I beg you will obferve the contraft, foothing the ills of departing life, and particularly that moft depreffive affliction, his long and incurable deafnefs, by pouring out all his manly and natural feelings, in letters of the most tender friendfhip to a venerable prelate-a prelate who was long his bofom-friend; whom he had raised, in a generous manner, that did himfelf fingular honour, to epifcopal dignity; and who, to his own credit, and to that of his noble patron, was diftinguished by the glorious appellation of the Good Bishop. It was thus that Johnfon and Chesterfield first appeared on our clamorous theatre of the world, and it was thus they quitted it. They are now gone to their great audit, before the Judge of every heart, who alone, perhaps, can truly decide, which was indeed the man of most wisdom and virtue. As far as their own books, and the printed accounts of both, can enable my limited faculties to form a juft eftimate of the two characters, I declare, and I entreat you you not to condemn me too haftily for my declaration, that, were I acting under Heaven as a judge, to decide the merits of the two, I fhould rather give the palm of virtue to Chesterfield than to Johnfon. Were I mafter of the divine talent of Eloquence, I hardly know a fubject on which I fhould more delight to employ it, than in doing juftice to a man who deferved fo highly of this nation, and whofe character has been fo bafely degraded. We talk of the frequent cruelty and injustice of Athens, to the virtue that defended her walls, and to the talents that immortalized her glory; but I question if ever any meritorious Athenian ever experienced fuch pofthumous ingratitude (if I may use fuch an expreffion) from his capricious fellow-citizens, as Chesterfield has received from us. Let me remind you, that he was justly esteemed, for half a century, as one of the most accomplished characters in this kingdom. He ferved his country as an ambassador in Holland; and made the pureft character's of that republic his friends. He ferved his country as a governor of Ireland, at a period of great difficulty and danger; and his virtues appeared to expand with his power. He ferved his country as a minifter at home; and nobly quitted his place the moment he found it inconfiftent with his integrity and honour. He refigned, not to indulge himself in faftious turbululence, but in literary retirement. Study and converfation were, indeed, among his favourite amufements, at every feafon of life; for the native caft of his character was rather gentle than vehement; and he oppofed his enemies rather with gaiety than rancour. In the course of a bufy and fplendid life, he found time to write a few periodical lef fons on life and manners, in which he equalled the firft authors in that branch of literature; and, having fufficiently proved his tafte by his own admirable productions, he was univerfally regarded as the most accomplished patron of letters. His manners and his wit were so enga ging, that he was long esteemed the chief ornament and delight of fociety; and the eminent characters of every country in Europe appear. ed ambitious of his acquaintance and regard. His latter days were embittered with many bodily infirmi ties, which he supported, however, with a chearful and religious philofophy, in confidering this life as a fugitive dream, that he did not with to renew; and in thinking of his Creator, as he tells his bofom-friend, the good Bishop of Waterford, with more hope than fear. So lived, and fo died, the Earl of Chesterfield, refpected by the world, and idolized by his friends. But a Lady, who had great reafon to think well of the noble Lord, feized the opportunity of his decease, to publish a collection of letters written for a very private and very particular purpofe. She knew that they had been dictated by the parental tenderness of a good heart; and she did not forefee, that the public could ingenioufly misinterpret them fo far as to call them the fuggeftions of an evil fpirit; but, as there is a constant eagerness in mankind to feize, even the flighteft opportunity of degra ding an exalted name, as foon as these letters were published, an outcry was raised against them, by many hypocritical pretenders to goodnefs, and by many truly good people, who wanted either faculties or patience to form a fair eftimate of their author. Malevolent ridicule scattered her gibes on the father, fo folicitoufly ftriving to improve the awkward perfon of his child; and mistaken On the Character of Lord Chesterfield, mistaken piety reprefented him as a prodigy of wickedness, labouring to infufe all his own follies and vices into his offspring, and to eftablish a corrupt fyftem of education, that would annihilate all the virtue of our country. But, after all, what is this master-piece of profligacy, when examined by truth and candour? It is a fingular, and, in many points, the moft admirable monument of paternal tendernefs and anxiety, that the literature of any nation can exhibit; it is a work, that, instead of corrupting our fons, may rather ftimulate their parents to a quicker fenfe of their duty, by fhewing us, that a man, in all the tumultuous buitle of bufy, of gay, and of splendid life, could find tinie to labour, with inceffant attention, in trying to counteract the peculiar perfonal imperfections of a dear, though awkward fon. 249 the fame correfpondence affords us many ferious paffages of the pureft morality. There is a double injuf tice in the common cenfure on these admirable letters: they are condemned as a general fyftem, when they were exprefsly defigned to correct the particular blemishes of an individual they are condemned for not fpeaking more of morality and religion, when the author informs us, he had intentionally left thofe points to a worthy delegate. Yet, that he touched upon them fometimes, and did it with all the affecting energy of a father truly anxious for the moral excellence of his fon, I hope to convince you, by reading the few following extracts. Pray obferve, with what honeft and ferious warmth this fuppofed advocate for vice, exhorts his young difciple to the moit fcrupulous integrity. "Your moral character must be "not only pure, but, like Cæfar's "wife, unfufpected. The leaft fpeck or blemish upon it is fa"tal. Nothing degrades and vilifies more; for it excites and unites "deteftation and contempt. There "are, however, wretches in the "world profligate enough to ex"plode all notions of moral good "and evil; to maintain that they "are merely local, and depend en"tirely upon the customs and fa "fhions of different countries: nay, "there are ftill, if poffible, more "unaccountable wretches; I mean; "thofe who affect to preach and "propagate fuch abfurd and infa All the immoral advice of Chefterfield, may be compared to a drug, which, though it is rank poifon if fwallowed indifcriminately by the multitude, may operate as an innocent and useful medicine to a particular patient. The disease of young Stanhope, to purfue the metaphor, was awkwardness in the extreme, and gallantry was the prefcription of Chesterfield. By giving his fon credit, in thefe private letters, for more influence over the fair than he was formed to attain, the father might mean no more than to lead him frequently into fuch female fociety as had the best chance of rendering him less an object of ridicule. Immorality of this kind, we mous notions without believing hear every day in the fportive fal-them themfelves. These are the lies of converfation between parents "devil's hypocrites. Avoid, as and children, where no real act of "much as poffible, the company of licentioufnefs is intended, and where "fuch people; who reflect a deno cenfure falls on the jefting preacher of very fimilar doctrine. It is particularly cruel to give the dark. eft interpretation to the licentious levity of these motley letters, when VOL. VI. N° 34. gree of difcredit and infamy upon all who converfe with them. "But, as you may fometimes by "accident fall into fuch company, take great care that no complai Hh fance, "fance, no good-humour,no warmth "of feftal mirth, ever make you "feem even to acquiefce, much lefs "to approve or applaud fuch infa"mous doctrines *" Can the most rigid moralist, that ever existed, furpass the rectitude and the fervency of these admonitions-not delivered, indeed, with the blotted affectation of pompous and pointed fentences, but breathing the tenderness and the warmth of a pure parental spirit. The ladies, in their laudable zeal for the honour of their fex, are angry with Chesterfield, for reprefenting them as unable to keep a fecret; but they forget the great object he had in view: it was to form a minifter for foreign courts; and his caution, therefore, on this article, was only guarding his fon against those infinuating enemies, to which an ambaffador is particularly expofed. The noble Author is accused of preferring manners to morals. I intreat you to hear how juftly he maintains, in the following paffage, the pre-eminence of the latter. "Good manners are to particular "focieties, what good morals are "to fociety in general; their ce"ment and their fecurity-and, as "laws are enacted to enforce good "morals, or at least to prevent the ill effects of bad ones, fo there "are certain rules of civility uni"verfally implied and received to "enforce good manners and punish "bad ones: and, indeed, there "feems to me to be lefs difference, both between the crimes " and the punishments, than at first "one would imagine. The immo"ral man, who invades another "man's property, is justly hanged "for it; and the ill-bred man, who "by his ill manners invades and "difturbs the quiet and comforts of "private life, is by common con"fent as justly banished fociety. "Mutual complaifances, attentions, " and facrifices of little convenien"cies, are as natural an implied compact between civilized peo"ple, as protection and obedience are between kings and fubjects; whoever, in either cafe, violates "that compact, justly forfeits all "advantages arifing from it. For "my own part, I really think, "that, next to the consciousness of doing a good action, that of do"ing a civil one is the most plea"fing; and the epithet which I "fhould covet the most, next to that "of Aristides, would be that of "well-bred t." Again, in the clofe of the fame letter, "Be convinced, that goodbreeding is, to all worldly quali"fications, what charity is to all "Christian virtues.” Can any preceptor exhibit founder fentiments than thefe, either as to exterior accomplishment, or internal perfection?" Curious Account of a Malabar Festival, public, through the channel of fome periodical work, the obfervations I have made at present, I fhall confine myself to their religion, which is certainly the fummit of idolatry; yet, at the fame time, I allow its original institutions were excellent, and tended to the promotion of happiness. I allow that their private regulations, and that extenfion of humanity fubfifting in every caft; that paternal affection and filial piety, which ever reigns amongst them, would throw a fplendid honour upon the most enlightened people, and, perhaps, even add a ray of luftre to the fyftem of Chriftianity. Having thus premised, I fhall follow the object of my purfuit, I mean an elucidation of my position refpecting the idolatry of the Ma labar religion. In the year 1775, curiofity led me to be prefent at a festival, annually celebrated at a mountain about feventy miles from the ruins of Fort St David's, called Terunamally, or the Holy Mountain. The feaft begins on the day of the full moon, in the month of November, and the multitude of people who flock to it from all parts of the country is incredible. They commenced with a procession round the mountain, through an avenue that feems to have been formed for the purpose, in which are interfperfed, at equal distances, twenty-four fmall temples, and in the front of each is a refervoir of fine water. On either fide of the road I observed a line of religious of all denominations, in various attitudes, and in various habits, holding out brafs bafons to those who palled by, and continually calling out, "Give alms, and receive Heaven;" others fat at the fhrines of deities, proclaiming their feveral attributes and actions, and recommending them as deferving the pureft worship. Whilft they were thus endeavouring to dif 251 fufe a sense of their divine greatnefs, their eyes frequently turned to their brafs bafons, that were gradually filling with a copper coin, called cash. Befides the ftrange figures of Pandarans that are common in other places, there were here fome who had their hair hanging down, and twifted about their feet; others lay in the middle of the road covered with earth, like dead bodies that were just about to be burnt, their mouths left open, they called out from their biers for alms of those who ftood by them. Some were covered over with earth in large heaps, fo that it was inconceivable how they refpired; but that the spectators might not take fuch spots for mere heaps of earth, the ends of their hands and feet were expofed, Many lay stretched out upon beds of fharp thorns; fome danced round bafons with bundles of lighted torches under their left arm, fo that the fire rofe into their faces; in their left hand they held a veffel of oil, with which they fed the flame, and which they managed fo dexteroufly, as to prevent it from doing them any injury. Many were fufpended by ropes, faftened between two trees, with a fire under them, and fome stood upon their heads without moving. At one of the little pagodas hung above a do zen cradles filled with men, and which exhibited a curious spectacle. On the trees were fixed indecent figures, and which were touched by barren women for the purpose of promoting fecundity. While the people were going round the hill they bowed to the pagodas as they paffed them, and fprinkled a handful of water upon themfelves from the tanks :-they alfo bowed feveral times to the top of the hill, which they think has five faces, anfwering to the five fenfes or powers of the God of the mountain. They Hh 2 paid |