fashionable chapel for a place where the living God was worshiped with the incenfe of the heart in fpirit and in truth. Whether or not Mr. H. would have made the amende honorable for this breach of politeffe in his fecond addrefs, I leave thote to conjecture who are acquainted with this gentleman's confiftency of character; but the opportunity of determining this point was precluded by a notification to Mr. H that the permiffion to repeat his exhortation was withdrawn, in confequence of the inconvenience refulting to the occupiers of the fittings at the Chapel from the common people who went thither to be benefited by his difcourfe. Mr. H. while he pitied fuch delufion, and finiled at his own miftake, remembered that a fimilar fate had befallen one infinitely greater than himself, who was defpifed and abhorred by the Pharifees and Scribes and chief Priefts; but the common people heard him gladly." Preface to Mr. Warner's Sermon, vii. n.

A TRAVELLER.

feffion; and are now in one of the moft refpectable public libraries in the kingdom. The contents of them, I have no doubt, will be thought curious. Yours, &c. Dr. CUTLER of Boften to Dr. Z GREY, Sept. 29, 1743. "WHITFIELD has plagued us with a witnefs, efpecially his friends and followers, who are like to be battered to pieces by that batteringram they had provided againft our Church here. It would be an endless attempt to defcribe that fcene of confufion and difturbance occafioned by him; the divifions of families, neighbourhoods, and towns, the contrarie y of hufbands and wives, the undutifulness of children and fervants, the quarrels among the teachers, the diforders of the night, the intermiffion of labour and bufinels, the neglect of hufbandry, and of gathering the harveft. Our preffes are for ever teeming with books, and our women with baftards though regener ration and converfion is the whole cry The teachers have many of them left their particular cures, and frolled about the country. Some have been ordained by them Evangelizers as they called thein, and had their Armour bearers and Exhorters; and in many,

conventicles and places of rendezvous there has been checquered work indeed, feveral preaching and feveral exhorting at the fame time, the reft crying or laughing, yelping, fprawling, fainting; and this revel maintained in fome places many days and nights together without intermiffion; and then there were the bleffed out-pourings of the Spirit. The New Lights have with fome overdone themfelves by ranting and blafphemy, and are quite demolished; others have extremely weakened their interest ; and others are terrified from going the lengths they incline to. On the other hand, the Old Lights (thus are they diftinguished) have been many of them forced to town, and fome have loft their congregations; for they will foon raise up a new conventicle in any new town where they are oppofed; and I don't know but we have 50 in one place or other, and fome of them large and much frequented.

"When Mr. Whitfield firft arrived here, the whole town was alarmed. He made his firft vifit to Church on a Friday, and converfed frk with many

them, me efpecially, when he had done. Being not invited into our pulpits, the Diffenters were highly pleated, and engroffed him ; and immediately the bells rung, and alkhands went to lecture; and this how kept on all the while he was here. The town was ever alarmed; the freets filled with people, with coaches and chaifes, all for the benefit of that holy man, The conventicles were crowded, but he chofe rather our common, where multitudes might fee him in all his awful poftures; befides that, in one crowded conventicle, before he came in, fix people were killed in a fright. The fellow treated the most venerable with an air of fuperiority. But he for ever lafhedrande anathematized the Church of England; and that was enough.

"After him came one Tennent, a minifter impudent and faucy; and told them all, they were damned, damned, damned! This charmed them; and, in the dreadfullelt winter I ever faw, people wallowed in the now night and day for the benefit of his beally braying, and many ended their days under thofe fatigues. Both of them carried more money out of thefe parts than the poor could be thankful for.

"Many

Many others vifited us; but one Davenport was a nonpareil the wilder the better, the lefs reafon the more fpiritual. But, Sir, I ftop here, and leave your to find out a little more by what now fend you. The book I have obtained for you as a prefent from my reverend brother Davenport in this town. The author, Dr. Channcey, told me, that he could have printed more flagrant accourts, if his intelligencers would have allowed him. "This has turned to the growth of the Church in many places, and its reputation univerfally; and it fuffers no otherwife than as Religion does, and that is fadly enough.

"I am forry to hear that the Rev. Dr. Afhton is very much broken with iofirinity. Include in your prayers, worthy fir,

Yours, &c. TIM. CUTLER."

2.Mr.EBENEZER MILLERAO Dr. GREY. Braintree in N. England, Oct. 6, 1743.

"YOU know by Mr. Whitfield's Journals that he has been here. The Clergy of the Church of England were unanimous in their refolution not to fuffer him to go into their pulpits; fo that a Diffenting Preacher of confiderable note, in a paragraph of a letter that was printed, faid, that "he came to his own, and his own received him not; but we (the Diffenters) received him as an angel of God." The effects of his and his followers' preaching in this country are extravagant beyond defeription, and almoft beyond belief. I think the party is on the decline; but Whitfield is foon expected here; and how he may revive the dying work, I cannot fay. But I believe he will not be received with the fame refpect as formerly by the Diffenters them felves; he having raifed fuch Contentions and caufed fuch divifions among them, as has much weakened them, and inclined many of the more wife and thinking among them to the Church."

knowledge, in pointing out its impor tance, and the fatal confequences of neglecting it; yet I know not that any writers have touched upon a fubject which is very intimately connected with it, and which I have deterinined to handle in this paper: I mean the advantages of ignorance. We have so many encouraging treatifes written to remove the difficulties which impede knowledge, that it would be impoffi ble to enumerate them; but, as far as my acquaintance with literature extends, we have no book expreffly calculated to point out the difficulty of being ignorant, and the inconveniences arifing from it. Yet many eminent teachers of youth have affured me that they find this one of the greateft impediments in their progress, and that they could have fent out a much greater proportion of able young men from fchools and colleges, if they could have perfuaded them to remain ignorant a little longer.

Something like this I have fo often obferved in the young men of the prefent day, that I am convinced the complaint is made on a good foundation, and I know not whether it is not the peculiar characteristic of the clever fellows of our day, that, as Seneca fays in my motto, they fail in acquiring knowledge, merely because they think they have acquired it already." It is to this, I doubt not, we mult impute the flow progrefs made in our publick fchools and feminaries, and, what I deem much worfe, the little ufe that feems to be made of books and libraries: for how can we expect that the one will be ftudioufly attended, or the other carefully confulted by those who refufe to confefs their ignorance?

In former days I can well remember that young men were not ashamed of being ignorant for a much longer pe riod than would now be tolerated,, A youth, for example, of fifteen knew fcarcely anything, avowed his igno rance, and fat in filence at the feet of his Gamaliel, that he might acquire knowledge, as he acquired ftrength, in the courfe of nature. A young man of twenty was not lefs willing to be ignorant, and when introduced into the company of his elders and fuperiors, was attentive and fubmiffive, retiring with fome acquifition of knowledge, but ftill more and more convinced of his ignorance, and fo little athamed of it, that he often coufelfed it as a thing

unavoidable

unavoidable at his age. I can remember too that even at the ages of twenty five or more it was not the fashion for men to fuppofe themfelves univerfal fcholars, or that nature and fcience had poured into their capacious minds the whole of their ftores. They fill did not blush to be unacquainted with what they had no means of knowing, and were content to wait the flow procefs of time and ftudy, or information, to remove their ignorance in a fatisfactory and fubftantial manner. I can even recollect that fome men very far advanced in life preferved the fame wife principles, and to their laft hour maintained the diftinction between unavoidable and voluntary ignorance.

We now purfue a very different plan, with what fuccefs I fhall not fay, but it is certain that we can find very few in the early periods of life who are content to be ignorant; the greater part feem to have overcome every difficulty when they have ac quired the alphabet; and every other kind of knowledge pours in upon them fo faft, that long before the period of manhood they have acquired all that this world can yield, and are old in every thing which can fit them for a speedy departure into another.

Among other confequences of this plan, it has given rife to the breed of puppies a defeription of the human fpecies very different from that incidentally touched upon by my predeceffors. Puppies in former days were ignorant, aud contented to be fo: knowledge was not in their way; they filled up departments in fociety where it was not wanted. Our modern puppies, however, are diftinguifhed by an affectation of knowledge, which is fo much worfe than downright ignorance as it is more difficult to remove. The wife man has indeed long ago determined that there is more hope of a fool than of a young man wife in his own conceit ;" and I am happy to ftrengthen my poor opinions by fo venerable an authority..

All knowledge is comparative; but although among wife men fome are content to know one thing, and fome another, and although all are convinced that human life is infufficient for univerfal feience, yet the puppy of the prefent times is one who knows every thing, or fays he does fo, which with him is much the fame thing. He holds this, indeed, as a point of

honour, and is fo teus of it, that the most respectful of fetting him right is conftrued into a rude contradiction which he is bound to refent; and hence fo many argumentative pofitious have lately been adjusted by means of a bet, or a cafe of pifiols.

It were a moft defireable thing to rectify the prevailing notions refpect ing fhame, of which a fpurious kind is foon likely to deftroy the genuine. When we confider how many things a young man cannot be expected to know, and how many things, which he may think of fome importance, he ought not to know; and when we confider how flowly all really valuable knowledge can be acquired, we may furely allow that every kind of ignorance is not a difgrace. But unfortu nately knowledge and courage have by fome means been confounded, and a young man is unwilling to be thought deficient in a alte for literature, left he fhould be thought to have no tafte for fighting. Two young gentlemen, we were told fome time ago, fought duel; the difpute was about religion, and of the point in queftion it was found that they were both ignorant; but then they had both commiffions in the army, where they would have us think that courage and controverfial divinity fhould be equally fou rifhing.

a

IS

In modern times it must be allowed that many perfons incur the fufpicion of knowing fomething at a more ealy, rate than formerly. Literature fprinkled over the nation by means of journals and periodical works in fuch a manner, that many acquire a knack of talking about matters beyond their reach, merely by fuch ftudies as they can purfue while under the hands of a hairdreffer." In this way the puppy has many advantages over the man of bufinefs; the outfide of his head being an object of much greater importance, his courfe of fiudies are prolonged in proportion to the talents of his operator, and therefore one who is engaged to a drefs-ball muft carry with him a prodigious quantity of information, which it is a pity thould be loft in the mazes of a new dance. This mode of ftudy, however, is now fo common with both fexes, that the keeper of an eminent circulating library affures me that he can always calcu late the popularity of a new book by the quantity of hair-powder between

the

the leaves, and has often gratified the vanity of a young author by fhowing him how ably his belt thoughts were illuftrated by pomatum, and his finelt flowers fcented by marechalle. This fame gentleman, however, hints that he is afraid he hail ere long be a fufferer by the prevalence of wigs among his male and female cuftomers. They have no other time for fludy, Mr. Projector, than when under the hand. of their frizeurs; and if they take to wigs, which they are doing very faft, they will give up reading altogether, for it can't be expected they thould fpare any other time for ftudy, and I have met with fome cuftoniers who fince thefe curfed wigs came in, have not only returned their books almoft quite clean, but have actually withdrawn their fubfcriptions at the end of the quarter, as having no leifure read. If it were not for the girls at boarding-schools, who have neither hair-dreffers nor wigs, I don't know what would become of literature, I affure you Mr. Projector. And, blefs their little hearts, they read every thing through and through, and are wondrous knowing at an age when you would think they knew nothing."

to

It has always appeared furprising to me, that while the imputation of ignorance is an infult not to be borne, and while a spirited young man would rather be called a rogue than a fool, no means have been adopted to render ignorance more reputable. This too is the more furprifing, as their affo ciating with one another would feem to give countenance and fupport to their caufe; and the care they take to exclude their elders or fuperiors, fhews a kind of tacit confciousness that they are men of knowledge only when in each other's company. But, without attempting to reconcile thefe contradictions, it certainly were to he wifhed that no men were afhamed of ignorance, unless thofe who have neglected the opportunities of acquiring knowledge, and that thofe who would pafs for men of knowledge would patiently wait the times and feafons when it might be fubftantially acquired. Pretenders to knowledge cannot expect to hold out long; the appearances they put on may deceive thofe who truft only in appearances, but they will foon find that in endeavouring to ape their fuperiors, they have been living be

yond their income, and muft have re courfe to borrowing, and other trickspractifed by that clafs of perfons known by the name of the shabby-genteel, who may now and then give a miter's feat, but muit ftarve the reft of the year for it.

Another unhappy accompaniment of unacknowledged ignorance is a certain degree of confidence, which, in matters of this kind, is peculiarly of fenfive, and forms one of the jufteft objects of ridicule. On the contrary, it is one of the happieft confequences of the legitimate defire for knowledge, that it leffens a man's confidence, becaufe the more he knows, the more he finds it neceffary to be unaffuming and fubmiflive. Hence, in company we univerfally find that the beft in formed men are the leaft prefumptuous, and that all that difturbs focial converfation, and renders it ufelefs as to the purposes of knowledge, arifes from the pert forwardnefs of thofe who know nothing, or but a little at fecondhand, and who are permitted to deliver their opinions only because modern politenefs requires that they fhould not be defired to hold their tongues.

A confcioufnels that knowledge is difficult to be acquired, and that the employment of the longeft life is but the advancement of a few steps, would cure this propenfity to reach the end without einploying the means. A little, learning, Pope fays, is a dangerous thing; and it is more dangerous in our days than it was in his, because more eafily acquired, and more impofing. The learning which would have been deemed little in his time, would now furnish a dozen literary petits maitres with all they wish to know, and all they wish to acquire; a fund for impertinence, on which they might draw to fupply the deficiencies of findy.

As the want of an honeft acknow ledgment of ignorance is moft generally felt in converfation, it is with a view to converfation principally that I have ventured to. throw out there remarks. I fhould run into a firain of obfervation fomewhat too trite, were I to purfue them farther. Yet, as it does not follow, that what is trite is univerfally believed, or that the truths of which we are moft fully convinced are thofe which have most influence on our practice, I fhall not be ashamed to conclude with obferving, that men talk

moft to the purpose on subjects with which they have fome acquaintance; that where we are profoundly ignorant, there can be no great harm in being profoundly filent; and that where we have had no opportunities of acquiring knowledge, it is no difgrace to avow our ignorance. The man who is afked for news, and has none, is not juftified in relating fictions; yet, perhaps, if he has a ready wit, he may even then make a better figure than him who dashes boldly into a controverfy about a matter of which he has neither heard, read, nor thought, or who wishes to pafs off the fecond-hand minutes of a former converfation as his own original ideas, the refult of feeing what he never faw, or of reading what he never read. How many critics in literature, in painting, and other fine arts, has this fpecies of petty larceny created, and how ably has the theft been concealed by cant phrafes and impofing looks! Detection, however, is neither uncommon nor difficult; and when a man's whole flock of knowledge, and even his flyle, are traced to the laft pamphlet he met with, or to the new paper in his pocket, it will be fufpected, that although he has acquired know ledge, he has not come honefily by it.

In recommending, however, a candid avowal of ignorance, where knowledge is impoffible, I would not be thought to mean any infringement on the rights and privileges of that clafs of men ufually called politicians, efpecially if they be, what they generally are, zealous party-men. Ignorance is fo much more a fertile fource of gratification to them than knowledge, that I cannot confcientiously propofe to rob them of it, or propole they fhould fubftitute any thing better in its flead. Converfation would be abfolutely at a ftand; and we fhould not only lofe

much of our authentic information as to what paffes at home in cabinet councils, privy councils, and other public places, but the whole of our fecret intelligence from the Continent would probably be annihilated; a state of defolation which no humane man can

contemplate without a becoming hor

ror. It is not for. me to haften fuch a catastrophe; but in other refpects, which have been confidered in this paper, it certainly may be of advantage to the young to remain ignorant a few years longer than is the ufual practice,

to be convinced that knowledge is not to be acquired by borrowing or ftealing without the risk of detection; and that a man may boldly and unblufhingly avow his ignorance, provided he can prove that he had no means of removing it. And as mistakes may arife from the introduction of new words, they ought alfo to be apprised, that to be very knowing is but a counterfeit of wifdom; it is fpecies of low cunning, which is much oftener feen through than the adepts in it are aware, and which when feen through takes away all pretenfions to useful knowledge, and often to common honesty. Ignorance of this, whether acknowledged or not, is a peculiar bleffing, and has very feldom been removed with impunity.

Mr. URBAN,

Baldock, July 10.

MAY, in addition to the informa tion already received on the appear ance of the Swallow tribe, inform your readers that the Hirundo ruftica appeared in this neighbourhood on April 24. On the fame day I faw a Martin (Hirundo unbica); the next day and day after, great numbers both of Swallows and Martins were feen fporting after the flies. At the time of their being firft obferved, the wind was at South Weft, and rather high, with the thermometer at 57°, as may

be feen by my journal, p. 425. I fhall not make any remarks for the present, hoping that your correfpondents will continue to furnish you with their obfervations on this fubjeét. A foli tary Swallow was feen as early as April 15 this year, in a meadow about three miles North of Baldock. The

Wry-neck (Lynx) was first heard April 19; on the 21ft I faw the firit Redftart (Ruticilla); and, the fame day, the Cuckoo (Cuculus) was heard. Swifts (Hirundo apus) were seen on May 4.

illuftration of his practicable method I am much pleafed with Mr. Ward's of adjufting Hadley's Sextant, or ras ther Octant, for back obfervations and am willing to indulge a hope that none of your aftronomical readers will withhold any thing that may be thought to promote the usefulness of thofe inftruments ufed in the prac tical parts of this noble science. Yours, &c.

T. S.