just observation of Shenstone, "that a fool can neither eat, nor drink, nor staud, nor walk, nor, in short, laugh, nor cry, nor take snuff, like a man of

sense.

MONRO.

No. XXVI.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1787.

WHEN I have had the good fortune to light upon any subject which has been relished by the nice discerning palate of the public, it is my custom to try whether something more cannot be made of it: for having entered upon business with a moderate stock only in trade, it is expedient for me to husband it well, and to throw nothing away that can be used again. Being born with an antipathy to plagiarism, I will be free to confess, (as gentlemen express it in the house of commons) that I took the hint from my landlord of the Red Lion at Brentford; who, when some punch was called for, and there was no more fruit in the house, was overheard to say, in a gentle voice, to Mrs. Bonny, face, "Betty, ca'sn't give the old lemons t'other squeeze?"

I have demonstrated upon a former occasion-I should hope, to the satisfaction of every impartial person in Great Britain, the manifold advantages accruing to the community from the multiplication of newspapers among us. It has since occurred to

me, that some directions might be given, as to the best method of reading a newspaper with profit and advantage I mean not, whether it should be read longitudinally, latitudinally, or transversely; though very great additions have been made to science by experiments of this kind; but how it may be rendered productive of reflections in different ways, which will prove of real service in life.

I was not a little pleased, the other day, upon paying a visit at the house of a person of distinction in the country, to find the family assembled round a large table, covered with maps, and globes, and books, at the upper end of which sat a young lady, like a professor reading from the chair. In her hand she held a newspaper. Her father told me, he had long accustomed her, while reading one of those vehicles of intelligence, to acquaint herself with the several towns and countries mentioned, by turning to the names in Salmon's Gazetteer, and then finding them out upon the globe, or a map; in which she was become so great a proficient, as to be at that time, in truth, giving a lecture in geography to her younger brothers and sisters. It was his farther intention, he said, "that from Campbell's Present State of Europe, she should acquire a sufficient knowledge of the history of the kingdoms around us, as well as our own, to form an idea of their importance and interests respectively, and the relation each bears to the rest." Verily, thought I to myself, this is reading a newspaper to some purpose!

Children, very early in life, are eager for a sight of the newspaper. By being called upon, in a free and easy way, for some little account of what is in

it, they may be gradually brought to read with attention, and to fix upon those articles which are most worthy of attention; as also to remember what they have read, from one day to another, and put things together.

While we are in the world, we must converse with the world; and the conversation, in part, will turn on the news of the day. It is the first subject we begin upon; a general introduction to every thing else. All mankind, indeed, are our brethren, and we are interested, or ought to be interested, in their pleasures and their pains, their sufferings or their deliverances, throughout the world. Accounts of these should produce in us suitable emotions, which would tend to the exercise of different virtues, and the improvement of our tempers. We should accustom ourselves hereby to rejoice with those who do rejoice, and sympathize with those who mourn.

When any country is likely to become the theatre of remarkable events and revolutions, (as, for instance, Holland, at this present moment,) it is worth one's while to refresh one's memory with the history of that country, its constitution, and the changes it has heretofore undergone, the nature and disposition of the people, &c.—a sort of knowledge which is sure to be called for. The man who makes himself perfect and correct in it, will gain credit, and give pleasure, in every company, into which it may happen to fall.

Whatever instruction is reaped from history, may be reaped from a newspaper, which is the history of the world for one day. It is the history of that world in which we now live, and with

which we are, consequently, more concerned than with those which have passed away, and exist only in remembrance: though, to check us in our too fond love of it, we may consider, that the present, likewise, will soon be past, and take its place in the repositories of the dead.

There is a passage in the Night Thoughts, which I cannot resist the temptation of transcribing, as it contains one of the most astonishing flights of the human imagination, upon this awful and important subject, the transient nature of all sublunary things:

Nor man alone; his breathing bust expires:

His tomb is mortal. Empires die; where, now,
The Roman, Greek? They stalk, an empty name!
Yet few regard them in this useful light,
Though half our learning is their epitaph.
When down thy vale, unlock'd by midnight thought,
That loves to wander in thy sunless realms,

O Death! I stretch my view; what visions rise!
What triumphs, toils imperial, arts divine,
In wither'd laurels, glide before my sight!
What lengths of far-famed ages, billow'd high
With human agitation, roll along

In unsubstantial images of air!

The melancholy ghosts of dead renown,
Whispering faint echoes of the world's applause,
With penitential aspect, as they pass,

All point at earth, and hiss at human pride,
The wisdom of the wise, and prancings of the great.
Night ix.

Accounts of the most extraordinary events in old time are now perused by us with the utmost indifference. With equal indifference will the history of our own times be perused by our descend

ants; and a day is coming, when all past transactions will appear in the same light, those only excepted, by a consideration of which we have been made wiser and better.

There are few, perhaps, by which we may not become so.

What nooler employment for the human mind, than to trace the designs of Providence in the rise and fall of empires; the overthrow of one, and the establishment of another upon its ruins! to watch diligently the different steps by which these changes are effected! to observe the proceedings of the great Ruler of the universe, always in strict conformity to the rules with which he himself has furnished us! to behold generals with their armies, and princes with their people, executing his counsels while pursuing their own! to view, upon the stage of the world, those scenes which are continually shifting, the different actors appearing in succession, and the gradual progress of the drama; each incident tending to develope the plot, and bring on the final catastrophe!

In the midst of these secular commotions, these conflicts of contending nations, it is useful to observe the effects produced by them on the state of religion upon the earth; while, among the powers of the world, some protect, and others persecute; some endeavour to maintain it in its old forms, and others wish to introduce new; all, perhaps, more or less, aim at converting it into an engine of state, to serve their own purposes, and to avail themselves of that influence which it must always have on the minds of men. Above and beyond these human machinations, a discerning eye sees the con