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berry! at least it will not be stripped to pieces by a descendant! You will find all these fine meditations dictated by pride, not by philosophy. Pray consider through how many mediums philosophy must pass before it is purified—

"-how often must it weep, how often burn!"

My mind was extremely prepared for all this gloom by parting with Mr. Conway yesterday morning; moral reflections or common places are the livery one likes to wear, when one has just had a real misfortune. He is going to Germany: I was glad to dress myself up in transitory Houghton, in lieu of very sensible concern. To-morrow I shall be distracted with thoughts, at least images of very different complexion. I go to Lynn, and am to be elected on Friday. I shall return hither on Saturday again alone, to expect Burleighides on Sunday, whom I left at Newmarket. I must once in my life see him on his grandfather's throne.

Epping, Monday night, 31st.-No, I have not seen him; he loitered on the road, and I was kept at Lynn till yesterday morning. It is plain I never knew for how many trades I was formed, when at this time of day I can begin electioneering, and succeed in my new vocation. Think of me, the subject of a mob, who was scarce ever before in a mob, addressing them in the town-hall, riding at the head of two thousand people through such a town as Lynn, dining with above two hundred of them amid bumpers, huzzas, songs, and tobacco, and finishing with country dancing at a ball and sixpenny whisk. I have borne it all cheerfully; nay, have sat hours in conversation, the thing upon earth that I hate, have been to hear misses play on the harpsichord,2 ,2 and to see an alderman's copies of Rubens and Carlo Marat. Yet to do the folks justice, they are sensible and reasonable and civilised; their very language is polished since I lived among them. I attribute this to their more frequent intercourse with the world and the capital, by the help of good roads and post-chaises, which, if they have abridged the king's dominions, have at least tamed his subjects. Well, how comfortable it will be to-morrow, to see my parroquet, to play at loo, and not be obliged to talk seriously! The Heraclitus of the beginning of this letter will be overjoyed on finishing it to sign himself old friend,

your

(1) Whisk, now called whist.

DEMOCRITUS.

(2) Harpsichord, the second stage in the conversion of the virginal into the pianoforte.

P.S. I forgot to tell you that my ancient aunt Hammond came over to Lynn to see me; not from any affection, but curiosity. The first thing she said to me, though we have not met these sixteen years, was, "Child, you have done a thing to-day that your father never did in all his life; you sat as they carried you, he always stood the whole time." 'Madam," said I, "when I am placed in a chair I conclude I am to sit in it; besides, as I cannot imitate my father in great things, I am not at all ambitious of mimicking him in little ones." I am sure she proposes to tell her remarks to my uncle Horace's ghost the instant they meet.

1.

LORD BOLINGBROKE.'

PHILOSOPHICAL COMPOSURE.

(FROM "IDEA OF A PATRIOT KING," PUBLISHED IN 1749.)

WHATEVER is best is safest, lies out of the reach of human power, can neither be given nor taken away. Such is this great and beautiful work of nature, the world. Such is the mind of man, which contemplates and admires the world, whereof it makes the noblest part. These are inseparably ours, and as long as we remain in one, we shall enjoy the other. Let us march, therefore, intrepidly wherever we are led by the course of human accidents. Wherever they lead us, on what coast soever we are thrown by them, we shall not find ourselves absolutely strangers. We shall meet with men and women, creatures of the same figure, endowed with the same faculties, and born under the same laws of nature.

We shall see the same virtues and vices, flowing from the same principles, but varied in a thousand different and contrary modes, according to that infinite variety of laws and customs which is established for the same universal end, the preservation of society. We shall feel the same revolution of seasons,

(1) Bolingbroke's style is flowing and stately, distinguished more for prodigality than choice of words. He is an artist, and lays on abundance of colour, without, however, much heed to the delicate toning which betokens mastery of the brush.

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and the same sun and moon will guide the course of our year. The same azure vault, bespangled with stars, will be everywhere spread over our heads. There is no part of the world from whence we may not admire those planets which roll, like ours, in different orbits, round the same central sun; from whence we may not discover an object still more stupendous, that army of fixed stars hung up in the immense space of the universe; innumerable suns, whose beams enlighten and cherish the unknown worlds which roll around them; and whilst I am ravished by such contemplations as these, whilst my soul is thus raised up to heaven, it imports me little what ground I tread upon.

2. FORTUNE NOT TO BE TRUSTED.

(FROM THE SAME WORK.)

THE sudden invasion of an enemy overthrows such as are not on their guard; but they who foresee the war, and prepare themselves for it before it breaks out, stand without difficulty the first and the fiercest onset. I learned this important lesson long ago, and never trusted to fortune, even while she seemed to be at peace with me. The riches, the honours, the reputation, and all the advantages which her treacherous indulgence poured upon me, I placed so that she might snatch them away without giving me any disturbance. I kept a great interval between me and them. She took them, but she could not tear them from me. No man suffers by bad fortune, but he who has been deceived by good. If we grow fond of our gifts, fancy that they belong to us, and are perpetually to remain with us; if we lean upon them, and expect to be considered for them, we shall sink into all the bitterness of grief, as soon as all these false and transitory benefits pass away, as soon as our vain and childish minds, unfraught with solid pleasures, become destitute even of those which are imaginary. But, if we do not suffer ourselves to be transported with prosperity, neither shall we be reduced by adversity. Our souls will be proof against the dangers of both these states: and having explored our strength, we shall be sure of it; for in the midst of felicity, we shall have tried how we can bear misfortune.

SAMUEL JOHNSON.'

1. DISAPPOINTED EXPECTATIONS.

(FROM THE "PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH DICTIONARY,”
PUBLISHED IN 1755.)

WHEN first I engaged in this work, I resolved to leave neither words nor things unexamined, and flattered myself with a prospect of the hours which I should revel away in feasts of literature, with the obscure recesses of northern learning which I should enter and ransack,2 the treasures with which I expected every search into those neglected mines to reward my labour, and the triumph with which I should display my acquisitions to mankind. When I had thus inquired into the original of words, I resolved to show likewise my attention to things; to pierce deep into every science, to inquire [into] the nature of every substance of which I inserted the name, to limit every idea by a definition strictly logical, and exhibit every production of art or nature in an accurate description, that my book might be in place of all other dictionaries, whether appellative (of common names) or technical. But these were the dreams of a poet doomed at last to wake a lexicographer. I soon found that it is too late to look for instruments when the work calls for execution, and that whatever abilities I had brought to my task, with those I must finally perform it. To deliberate

(1) The peculiarities of Johnson's style, obvious enough even in the first halfdozen sentences of the above extract, and though somewhat modified in his latest works, tincturing strongly all that he wrote, have exposed him, especially in our time, to vehement condemnation. They were, however, differently appreciated in his own; they were praised as beauties, and, what is far more flattering, extensively imitated and adopted. Both the praise and the blame may, without injustice, be pronounced excessive. The mind of Johnson-sparkling, surging, swelling, thundering, through his resonant sentences, on its way into our own-is, in spite of all disparaging criticism, an object well worthy of attentive study, not with a view to that imitation which would be barren and lifeless, but to that mental appreciation which is life-giving. The principal fault of Johnson's style- even a greater fault than his Latinism-is his ceaseless antithesis. In this respect he represents very closely, and even exaggerates, the characteristic peculiarities of Lylie. See note 1, p. 93.

(2) Ransack, fr. Icelandic ransaka, wh. fr. ran, plunder, and saka, to seek. It would be interesting to know how this pure Norse word got into our language. It is used both by Chaucer and Gower.

whenever I doubted, to inquire whenever I was ignorant, would have protracted the undertaking without end, and perhaps without much improvement; for I did not find by my first experiments, that what I had not of my own was easily to be obtained: I saw that one inquiry only gave occasion to another, that book referred to book, that to search was not always to find, and to find was not always to be informed; and that thus to pursue perfection was, like the first inhabitants of Arcadia, to chase the Sun, which, when they had reached the hill where he seemed to rest, was still beheld at the same distance from them.

I then contracted my design, determining to confide in myself, and no longer to solicit auxiliaries, which produced more incumbrance than assistance (which hindered more than they helped). By this I obtained at least one advantage, that I set limits to my work, which would in time be ended,' though not completed.1

2. LETTER TO LORD CHESTERFIELD.

February 7, 1755. MY LORD,-I have been lately informed by the proprietor of "The World," that two papers, in which my Dictionary is recommended to the public, were written by your lordship. To be so distinguished, is an honour which, being very little accustomed to favours from the great, I know not well how to receive, or in what terms to acknowledge.

When, upon some slight encouragement, I first visited your Lordship,2 ,2 I was overpowered, like the rest of mankind, by the enchantment of your address, and could not forbear to wish that I might boast myself le vainqueur du vainqueur de la terre; -that I might obtain that regard for which I saw the world

(1) End, finish, complete. "To 'end' is to discontinue, to finish' is to work at for the last time, and to 'complete' is to end finishing. What is ended, may not be finished; what is finished, may not be complete; but whatever is finished or complete, is ended."-Taylor.

(2) It appears that Johnson had addressed the plan or proposals for his Dictionary seven years before to Lord Chesterfield, as an invitation to him to patronise it. This he had not done, and Johnson was offended by the neglect; hence this famous letter, which has been generally considered more severe than the occasion justified. It is, however, a striking composition. Lord Chesterfield himself "pointed

to Dodsley the printer "the severest passages, and observed how well they ressed," remarking at the same time, "This man has great powers."

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