tradesmen of the neighbouring market-towns, that they should no longer have his custom, if they let any of his servants have any thing without their paying for it. Thus he put it out of his power to commit those imprudences to which those are liable that defer their payments by using their money some other way than where it ought to go. And whatever money he had by him, he knew that it was not demanded elsewhere, but that he might safely employ it as he pleased.

"His example was confined, by the sequestered place of his abode, to the observation of few, though his prudence and virtue would have made it valuable to all who could have known it. These few particulars, which I knew myself, or have obtained from those who lived with him, may afford instruction, and may be an incentive to that wise art of living, which he so successfully practised."

TRADE.

TALKING of trade, Johnson observed, " It is a mistaken notion that a vast deal of money is brought into a nation by trade. It is not so. Commodities come from commodities; but trade produces no capital accession of wealth. However, though there should be little profit in money, there is a considerable profit in pleasure, as it gives to one nation the productions of another; as we have wines and fruits, and many other foreign articles, brought to us."-BOSWELL.

Yes, Sir, and there is a profit in pleasure, by its furnishing occupation to such numbers of mankind."-JOHNSON. "Why, Sir, you cannot call

that pleasure to which all are averse, and which none begin but with the hope of leaving off; a thing which men dislike before they have tried it, and when they have tried it."-B. "But, Sir, the mind must be employed, and we grow weary when idle.”—J. "That is, Sir, because others being busy, we want company; but if we were all idle, there would be no growing weary; we should all entertain one another. There is, indeed, this in trade: it gives men an opportunity of improving their situation. If there were no trade, many who are poor would always remain poor; but no man loves labour for itself.”—B. "Yes, Sir, I know a person who does. He is a very laborious Judge, and he loves the labour."" -J. "Sir, that is because he loves respect and distinction. Could he have them without labour, he would like it less."-B." He tells me he likes it for itself."--J." Why, Sir, he fancies so, because he is not accustomed to abstract."

The company got into an argument whether the Judges who went to India might with propriety engage in trade. tained that they might.

Johnson warmly main"For why (he urged) should not Judges get riches, as well as those who deserve them less?" Mr. Boswell said, they should have sufficient salaries, and have nothing to take off their attention from the affairs of the public. JOHNSON. "No Judge, Sir, can give

his whole attention to his office; and it is very proper that he should employ what time he has to himself, to his own advantage, in the most profitable manner."" Then, Sir (said Mr. Davies, who enlivened the dispute by making it somewhat dramatic), he may become an insurer; and when he is going to the bench he may be stopped-' Your Lordship cannot go yet; here is a bunch of invoices; several ships are about to sail.'"-J." Sir, you may as well say a Judge should not have a house; for they may come and tell him, Your Lordship's house is on fire;' and so, instead of minding the business of his court, he is to be occupied in getting the engine with the greatest speed. There is no end of this. Every Judge, who has land, trades to a certain extent in corn or in cattle; and in the land itself undoubtedly. His steward acts for him, and so do clerks for a great merchant. A Judge may be a farmer; but he is not to castrate his own pigs. A Judge may play a little at cards for his amusement; but he is not to play at marbles, or at chuck-farthing in the Piazza. No, Sir; there is no profession to which a man gives a very great proportion of his time. It is wonderful when a calculation is made, how little the mind is actually employed in the discharge of any profession. No man would be a Judge, upon the condition of being totally a Judge. The best employed lawyer has his mind

at work but for a small proportion of his time: a great deal of his occupation is merely mechanical. -I once wrote for a Magazine: I made a calculation, that if I should write but a page a day, at the same rate, I should in ten years write nine volumes in folio of an ordinary size and print."— BOSWELL. "Such as Carte's History?"-J. 66 Yes, Sir. When a man writes from his own mind, he writes very rapidly. The greatest part of a writer's time is spent in reading, in order to write; a man will turn over half a library to make one book."

Mr. Boswell argued warmly against the Judges trading, and mentioned Hale as an instance of a perfect Judge, who devoted himself entirely to his office.-J. "Hale, Sir, attended to other things beside law: he left a great estate.”—B. "That was, because what he got accumulated without any exertion and anxiety on his part."

Johnson at another time observed, that abilities might be employed in a narrow sphere, as in getting money, which he said he believed no man could do without vigorous parts, though concentrated to a point. RAMSAY. "Yes, like a strong horse in a mill; he pulls better."

Mr. Strahan talked of launching into the great ocean of London in order to have a chance for rising into eminence; and, observing that many men were kept back from trying their fortunes

there, because they were born to a competency, said, "Small certainties are the bane of men of talents;" which Johnson confirmed. Mr. Strahan put Johnson in mind of a remark which he had made to him; "There are few ways in which a man can be more innocently employed than in getting money." "The more one thinks of this (said Strahan) the juster it will appear."

Talking of expence, Johnson observed with what munificence a great merchant will spend his money, both from his having it at command, and from his enlarged views by calculation of a good effect upon the whole. "Whereas (said he) you will hardly ever find a country gentleman who is not a good deal disconcerted at an unexpected occasion for his being obliged to lay out ten pounds."

Of an acquaintance whose manners and every thing about him, though expensive, were coarse, he said, "Sir, you see in him vulgar prosperity."

Upon a visit to Mr. Boswell at a country lodging near Twickenham, he asked what sort of society he had there. Mr. B. told him but indifferent; as they chiefly consisted of opulent traders, retired from business. Johnson said, he never much liked that class of people; "For (said he) they have lost the civility of tradesmen, without acquiring the manners of gentlemen."

Being once solicited to compose a funeral ser