mour, and kept in it. No recreation is more truly serviceable and effectual than this: and it is said of archbishop Williams, that, "the greater the performance he was about to undertake (whether a speech, a sermon, or a debate), the more liberty and recreation he first took, to quicken and open his spirits, and to clear his thoughts."

By visiting, opportunities are offered of introducing occasionally matters literary and religious, new publications, &c. For though, perhaps, this is not so often done as it might be, when people meet; yet it cannot be done at all, unless people do meet.

To render visits lively and agreeable, where the company is small, and it can be managed conveniently, the conversation should be general. The ladies, by their sprightliness, should animate the gentlemen, and the gentlemen, by their learning, inform the ladies, Instead of this, the gentlemen too often lay their heads together, on one side of the room, and talk on subjects of literature or politics; leaving the ladies to settle the articles of caps and gowns, blonds and gauzes, on the other; which is hardly fair, especially in these days, when so many of the other sex are qualified to join in a conversation on more important topics.

The end of a visit is frustrated, if it be made too long; as when the same company sit together from three in the afternoon till twelve at night, or nine hours; for then, that which was designed for a recreation becomes itself a burden, unless there be some particular business or amusement in hand.

Live not in a perpetual round and hurry of visiting. You will neglect your affairs at home;

you will by degrees contract a dislike to home, and a dread of being alone; than which nothing can be more wretched and pernicious. You will acquire a habit of being idle, of gossiping, dealing in slander, scandal, &c. and of inducing others to do the

same.

In a small party, as also in a single family, the work-basket and a book agree well together. While the ladies work, let one person read distinctly and deliberately, making proper pauses for remarks and observations; these will furnish conversation for a while; when it begins to flag, let the reader go on, till fresh matter supplies fresh conversation. A winter evening passes pleasantly in this manner; and a general wish will be expressed, that it had been longer. The mind becomes stored with knowledge, and the tongue accustomed to speak upon profitable subjects.

Rousseau asserts, that every person in a company should have something to do. I see not how this can well be contrived; but his reason is curious, and deserves consideration. "In my opinion,” says he," idleness is no less the pest of society, than of solitude. Nothing contracts the mind, nothing engenders trifles, tales, backbiting, slander, and falsities, so much as being shut up in a room, opposite each other, and reduced to no other occupation than the necessity of continual chattering. When all are employed, they speak only when they have something to say; but if you are doing nothing, you must absolutely talk incessantly, which of all constraints is the most troublesome and the most dangerous. I dare go even farther, and maintain, that to render a circle truly agreeable, every

one must be not only doing something, but something which requires a little attention."

Should this plan of Rousseau be favourably received, and a notion be entertained of carrying it into execution, the chief difficulty will be to provide proper employment for the gentlemen. My readers will turn the matter in their minds. The only case in point, which I can recollect of at present, is that of a friend, who, when young, amused himself with making partridge-nets. On a visit, he would take his work out of the bag, hitch one end of the net upon a sconce, and proceed to busi.. ness. His example militates powerfully in favour of the plan; for his conversation, while so employed, was remarkably free and easy.

Under the above regulations, we can never be the worse, and, if we keep tolerable company, shall generally be the better, for a visit. Something must occur, which is worth remembering and noting down. A reflection at the end of a visit will soon show, whether it comes properly under the denomination of those condemned by casuists, as useless and impertinent; since that is useless which tends to no good purpose; and that is impertinent, which claims your time and attention, and gives nothing in return.

Z. BISHOP HORNE.

No. XIII.

SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 1787.

WHEN a friend told Johnson that he was much blamed for having unveiled the weakness of Pope, "Sir," said he, "if one man undertake to write the life of another, he undertakes to exhibit his true and real character: but this can be done only by a faithful and accurate delineation of the particulars which discriminate that character."

The biographers of this great man seem copscientiously to have followed the rule thus laid down by him, and have very fairly communicated all they knew, whether to his advantage or otherwise. Much concern, disquietude, and offence, have been occasioned by this their conduct in the minds of many, who apprehend, that the cause in which he stood forth will suffer by the infirmities of the advocate being thus exposed to the prying and malignant eye of the world.

But did these persons then ever suppose, or did they imagine that the world ever supposed, Dr. Johnson to have been a perfect character? Alas! no: we all know how that matter stands, if we ever look into our own hearts, and duly watch the current of our own thoughts, words, and actions. Johnson was honest, and kept a faithful diary of these, which is before the public. Let any man do the same for a fortnight, and publish it: and if, after that, he should find himself so disposed, let him " cast a stone." At that hour when the failings

of all shall be made manifest, the attention of each individual will be confined to his own.

It is not merely the name of Johnson that is to do service to any cause. It is his genius, his learning, his good sense, the strength of his reasonings, and the happiness of his illustrations. These all are precisely what they were: once good, and always good. His arguments in favour of self-denial do not lose their force, because he fasted; nor those in favour of devotion, because he said his prayers. Grant his failings were, if possible, still greater than these: will a man refuse to be guided by the sound opinion of a counsel, or resist the salutary prescription of a physician, because they who give them are not without their faults? A man may do so; but he will never be accounted a wise man for doing it.

Johnson, it is said, was superstitious. But who shall exactly ascertain to us what superstition is? The Romanist is charged with it by the church-ofEngland man; the churchman by the presbyterian; the presbyterian by the independent; all by the deist; and the deist by the atheist. With some it is superstition to pray, with others to receive the sacrament, with others to believe in revelation, with others to believe in God. In some minds it springs from the most amiable disposition in the world-" a pious awe, and fear to have offended;" a wish rather to do too much than too little. Such a disposition one loves and wishes always to find in a friend; and it cannot be disagreeable in the sight of him who made us: it argues a sensibility of heart, a tenderness of conscience, and the fear of God. Let him, who finds it not in himself, beware