plying with the freaks of negligence, and of waiting patiently for the lucky moment of voluntary attention. To a man whose imagination was filled with the dignity of knowledge, and to whom a studious life had made all the common amusements insipid and contemptible, it was not very easy to suppress his indignation, when he saw himself forsaken in the midst of his lecture, for an opportunity to catch an insect, and found his instructions debarred from access to the intellectual faculties, by the me-notified; every hour of every day brought more mory of a childish frolic, or the desire of a new plaything.

Those vexations would have recurred less frequently, had not his mamma, by entreating at one time that he should be excused from his task as a reward for some petty compliance, and withholding him from his book at another, to gratify herself or her visitants with his viva-merous assembly, and his heart dances at the city, shown him that every thing was more pleasing and more important than knowledge, and that study was to be endured rather than chosen, and was only the business of those hours which pleasure left vacant, or discipline usurped.

or wind, and told me, that with care I might per- | circle of visits convinced me, that my reign was haps become tolerable again. The prospect of at an end; that life and death were no longer in being tolerable had very little power to elevate my hands; that I was no more to practise the the imagination of one who had so long been ac-glance of command, or the frown of prohibition; customed to praise and ecstacy; but it was some to receive the tribute of sighs and praises, or be satisfaction to be separated from my mother, who soothed with the gentle murmurs of amorous was incessantly ringing the knell of departed timidity. My opinion was now unheard, and my beauty, and never entered my room without the proposals were unregarded; the narrowness of whine of condolence, or the growl of anger. She my knowledge, and the meanness of my sentioften wandered over my face, as travellers over ments, were easily discovered, when the eyes the ruins of a celebrated city to note every place were no longer engaged against the judgment; which had once been remarkable for a happy and it was observed, by those who had formerly feature. She condescended to visit my retire-been charmed with my vivacious loquacity, that ment, but always left me more melancholy; for after a thousand trifling inquiries about my diet, and a minute examination of my looks, she generally concluded with a sigh, that I should never more be fit to be seen.

my understanding was impaired as well as my face, and that I was no longer qualified to fill a place in any company but a party at cards.

It is scarcely to be imagined how soon the mind sinks to a level with the condition. I, who At last I was permitted to return home, but had long considered all who approached me as found no great improvement of my condition; vassals condemned to regulate their pleasures by for I was imprisoned in my chamber as a crimi- my eyes, and harass their inventions for my nal, whose appearance would disgrace my friends, entertainment, was in less than three weeks and condemn me to be tortured into new beauty. reduced to receive a ticket with professions of Every experiment which the officiousness of obligation; to catch with eagerness at a compli folly could communicate, or the credulity of ig-ment; and to watch with all the anxiousness of norance admit, was tried upon me. Sometimes dependence, lest any little civility that was paid I was covered with emollients, by which it was me should pass unacknowledged. expected that all the scars would be filled, and my cheeks plumped up to their former smoothness; and sometimes I was punished with artificial excoriations, in hopes of gaining new graces with a new skin. The cosmetic science was exhausted upon me; but who can repair the ruins of nature? My mother was forced to give me rest at last, and abandon me to the fate of a fallen toast, whose fortune she considered as a hopeless game, no longer worthy of solicitude or attention.

The condition of a young woman who has never thought or heard of any other excellence than beauty, and whom the sudden blast of disease wrinkles in her bloom, is indeed sufficiently calamitous. She is at once deprived of all that gave her eminence or power; of all that elated her pride, or animated her activity; all that filled her days with pleasure, and her nights with hope; all that gave gladness to the present hour, or brightened her prospects of futurity. It is perhaps not in the power of a man whose attention has been divided by diversity of pursuits, and who has not been accustomed to derive from others much of his happiness, to image to himself such helpless destitution, such dismal inanity. Every object of pleasing contemplation is at once snatched away, and the soul finds every receptacle of ideas empty, or filled only with the memory of joys that can return no more. All is gloomy privation, or impotent desire; the faculties of anticipation slumber in despondency, or the powers of pleasure mutiny for employ

ment.

I was so little able to find entertainment for myself, that I was forced in a short time to venture abroad, as the solitary savage is driven by hunger from his cavern. I entered with all the humility of disgrace into assemblies, where I had lately sparkled with gayety, and towered with triumph. I was not wholly without hope, that dejection had misrepresented me to myself, and that the remains of my former face might yet have some attraction and influence; but the first

Though the negligence of the men was not very pleasing when compared with vows and adoration, yet it was far more supportable than the insolence of my own sex. For the first ten months after my return into the world, I never entered a single house in which the memory of my downfal was not revived. At one place I was congratulated on my escape with life; at another I heard of the benefits of early inoculation; by some I have been told in express terms, that I am not yet without my charms; others have whispered at my entrance, This is the cele brated beauty. One told me of a wash that would smooth the skin; and another offered me her chair that I might not front the light. Some soothed me with the observation that none can tell how soon my case may be her own; and some thought it proper to receive me with mournful tenderness, formal condolence, and consolatory blandishments.

Thus was I every day harassed with all the stratagems of well-bred malignity; yet insolence was more tolerable than solitude, and I therefore persisted to keep my time at the doors of my acquaintance, without gratifying them with any appearance of resentment or depression. I expected that their exultation would in time vapour away; that the joy of their superiority would end with its novelty; and that I should be suffered to glide along in my present form among the nameless multitude, whom nature never intended to excite envy or admiration, nor enabled to delight the eye or inflame the heart.

This was naturally to be expected, and this I began to experience. But when I was no longer agitated by the perpetual ardour of resistance, and effort of perseverance, I found more sensibly the want of those entertainments which had formerly delighted me; the day rose upon me without an engagement; and the evening closed in its natural gloom, without summoning me to a concert or a ball. None had any care to find amusements for me, and I had no power of amusing myself. Idleness exposed me to me

lancholy, and life began to languish in motion- | own carelessness to hopeless calamity and barren less indifference.

I SAT yesterday morning employed in deliberating on which, among the various subjects that To act is far easier than to suffer; yet we occurred to my imagination, I should bestow the every day see the progress of life retarded by the paper of to-day. After a short effort of medita-vis inertia, the mere repugnance to motion, and tion, by which nothing was determined, I grew every moment more irresolute, my ideas wandered from the first intention, and I rather wished to think, than thought, upon any settled subject; till at last I was awakened from this dream of study by a summons from the press; the time was come for which I had been thus negligently purposing to provide, and, however dubious or sluggish, I was now necessitated to write.

miseries by which all earthly beings are really | No. 135.]
more or less tormented, but with those which
do not yet exist, and which can only be discerned
by the perspicacity of cowardice.

TUESDAY, JULY 2, 1751.

Calum, non animum mutant.—

HOR

Place may be changed; but who can change his mind? Ir is impossible to take a view on any side, or observe any of the various classes that form the great community of the world, without discovering the influence of example, and admitting with new conviction the observation of Aristotle, that

Among all who sacrifice future advantage to present inclination, scarcely any gain so little as those that suffer themselves to freeze in idleness. Others are corrupted by some enjoyment of more or less power to gratify the passions; but to neglect our duties, merely to avoid the labour of performing them, a labour which is always punc-man is an imitative being. The greater, far the tually rewarded, is surely to sink under weak temptations. Idleness never can secure tranquillity; the call of reason and of conscience will pierce the closest pavilion of the sluggard; and though it may not have force to drive him from his down, will be loud enough to hinder him from sleep. Those moments which he cannot resolve to make useful by devoting them to the great business of his being, will still be usurped by powers that will not leave them to his disposal; remorse and vexation will seize upon them, and forbid him to enjoy what he is so desirous to appropriate.

greater number follow the track which others have beaten, without any curiosity after new discoveries, or ambition of trusting themselves to their own conduct. And of those who break the ranks and disorder the uniformity of the march, most return in a short time from their deviation, and prefer the equal and steady satisfaction of security before the frolics of caprice and the honours of adventure.

In questions difficult or dangerous it is indeed natural to repose upon authority, and, when fear happens to predominate, upon the authority of those whom we do not in general think wiser than ourselves. Very few have abilities requisite for the discovery of abstruse truth; and of those few some want leisure, and some resolution. But it is not so easy to find the reason of the universal submission to precedent where every mar might safely judge for himself; where no irre

of long continuance incurred. Vanity might be expected to operate where the more powerful passions are not awakened; the mere pleasure of acknowledging no superior might produce slight singularities, or the hope of gaining some new degree of happiness awaken the mind to invention or experience.

There are other causes of inactivity incident to more active faculties and more acute discernment. He to whom many objects of pursuit arise at the same time, will frequently hesitate between different desires till a rival has precluded him, or change his course as new attractions prevail, and harass himself without advanc-parable loss can be hazarded, nor any mischief ing. He who sees different ways to the same end, will, unless he watches carefully over his own conduct, lay out too much of his attention upon the comparison of probabilities, and the adjustment of expedients, and pause in the choice of his road till some accident intercepts his journey. He whose penetration extends to remote consequences, and who, whenever he applies his attention to any design, discovers new prospects of advantage, and possibilities of improvements, will not easily be persuaded that his project is ripe for execution; but will superadd one contrivance to another, endeavour to unite various purposes in one operation, multiply complications, and refine niceties, till he is entangled in his own scheme, and bewildered in the perplexity of various intentions. He that resolves to unite all the beauties of situation in a new purchase, must waste his life in roving to no purpose from province to province. He that hopes in the same house to obtain every convenience, may draw plans and study Palladio, but will never lay a stone. He will attempt a treatise on some important subject, and amass materials, consult authors, and study all the dependant and collateral parts of learning, but never conclude himself qualified to write. He that has abilities to conceive perfection, will not easily be content without it; and, since perfection cannot be reached, will lose the opportunity of doing well in the vain hope of unattainable excellence.

If in any case the shackles of prescription could be wholly shaken off, and the imagination left to act without control, on what occasion should it be expected, but in the selection of lawful pleasure? Pleasure, of which the essence is choice; which compulsion dissociates from every thing to which nature has united it; and which owes not only its vigour but its being to the smiles of liberty. Yet we see that the senses, as well as the reason, are regulated by credulity; and that most will feel, or say that they feel, the gratifications which others have taught them to expect.

At this time of universal migration, when almost every one, considerable enough to attract regard, has retired, or is preparing with all the earnestness of distress to retire, into the country; when nothing is to be heard but the hopes of speedy departure or the complaints of involuntary delay; I have often been tempted to inquire what happiness is to be gained, or what inconvenience to be avoided, by this stated recession? Of the birds of passage, some follow the summer, and some the winter, because they live upon The certainty that life cannot be long, and the sustenance which only summer or winter can probability that it will be much shorter than na-supply; but of the annual flight of human rovers ture allows, ought to awaken every man to the active prosecution of whatever he is desirous to perform. It is true that no diligence can ascertain success, death may intercept the swiftest career; but he who is cut off in the execution of an honest undertaking, has at least the honour of falling in his rank, and has fought the battle, though he missed the victory.

it is much harder to assign the reason, because they do not appear either to find or seek any thing which is not equally afforded by the town and country.

I believe that many of these fugitives may have heard of men whose continual wish was for the quiet of retirement, who watched every op portunity to steal away from observation, to for

sake the crowd and delight themselves with the mer in the country. Should any man pursue society of solitude. There is indeed scarcely any his acquaintances to their retreats, he would find writer who has not celebrated the happiness of few of them listening to Philomel, loitering in rural privacy, and delighted himself and his the woods, or plucking daisies, catching the reader with the melody of birds, the whisper of healthy gale of the morning, or watching the groves, and the murmur of rivulets: nor any gentle coruscations of declining day. Some will man, eminent for extent of capacity, or greatness be discovered at a window by the road side, re of exploits, that has not left behind him some joicing when a new cloud of dust gathers to memoriais of lonely wisdom and silent dignity. wards them, as at the approach of a momentary But almost all absurdity of conduct arises from supply of conversation, and a short relief from the imitation of those whom we cannot resemble. the tediousness of unideal vacancy. Others are Those who thus testified their weariness of tu- placed in the adjacent villages, where they look mult and hurry, and hasted with so much eager-only upon houses as in the rest of the year, with ness to the leisure of retreat, were either men no change of objects but what a remove to any overwhelmed with the pressure of difficult em- new street in London might have given them. ployment, harassed with importunities, and dis- The same set of acquaintances still settle totracted with multiplicity; or men wholly en-gether, and the form of life is not otherwise divergrossed by speculative sciences, who having no other end of life but to learn and teach, found their searches interrupted by the common commerce of civility, and their reasonings disjointed by frequent interruptions. Such men might reasonably fly to that ease and convenience which their condition allowed them to find only in the country. The statesman who devoted the greater part of his time to the public, was desirous of keeping the remainder in his own power. The general ruffled with dangers, wearied with labours, and stunned with acclamations, gladly snatched an interval of silence and relaxation. The naturalist was unhappy where the works of Providence were not always before him. The reasoner could adjust his systems only where his mind was free from the intrusion of outward objects.

sified than by doing the same things in a different place. They pay and receive visits in the usual form, they frequent the walks in the morning, they deal cards at night, they attend to the same tattle, and dance with the same partners; nor can they, at their return to their former habitation, congratulate themselves on any other advantage, than that they have passed their time like others of the same rank; and have the same right to talk of the happiness and beauty of the country, of happiness which they never felt, and beauty which they never regarded.

To be able to procure its own entertainments, and to subsist upon its own stock, is not the prerogative of every mind. There are indeed understandings so fertile and comprehensive, that they can always feed reflection with new supplies, and suffer nothing from the preclusion Such examples of solitude very few of those of adventitious amusements; as some cities who are now hastening from the town, have any have within their own walls enclosed ground pretensions to plead in their own justification, enough to feed their inhabitants in a siege. since they cannot pretend either weariness of But others live only from day to day, and must labour, or desire of knowledge. They purpose be constantly enabled, by foreign supplies, to nothing more than to quit one scene of idleness keep out the encroachments of languor and stufor another, and, after having trifled in public, topidity. Such could not indeed be blamed for hosleep in secrecy. The utmost that they can vering within reach of their usual pleasure, more hope to gain is the change of ridiculousness to than any other animal for not quitting its native obscurity, and the privilege of having fewer wit-element, were not their faculties contracted by nesses to a life of folly. He who is not sufficiently important to be disturbed in his pursuits, but spends all his hours according to his own inclination, and has more hours than his mental faculties enable him to fill either with enjoyment or desires, can have nothing to demand of shades and valleys. As bravery is said to be a panoply, insignificancy is always a shelter.

There are, however, pleasures and advantages in a rural situation, which are not confined to philosophers and heroes. The freshness of the air, the verdure of the woods, the paint of the meadows, and the unexhausted variety which summer scatters upon the earth, may easily give delight to an unlearned spectator. It is not necessary that he who looks with pleasure on the colours of a flower should study the principles of vegetation, or that the Ptolemaic and Copernican systems should be compared before the light of the sun can gladden, or its warmth invigorate. Novelty is itself a source of gratification; and Milton justly observes, that to him who has been long pent up in cities, no rural object can be presented which will not delight or refresh some of his senses.

Yet even these easy pleasures are missed by the greater part of those who waste their sum

their own fault. But let not those who go into the country, merely because they dare not be left alone at home, boast their love of nature, or their qualifications for solitude; nor pretend that they receive instantaneous infusions of wisdom from the Dryads, and are able, when they leave smoke and noise behind, to act, or think, or reason for themselves.