had accustomed himself to it early, will be unpleasant and impracticable late: fuch men lofe their intellectual powers for want of exerting them, and, having trifled away youth, are reduced to the neceffity of trifling away age. It fares with the mind juft as it does with the body. He who was born with a texture of brain as ftrong as that of Newton, may become unable to perform the common rules of arithmetic; juft as he who has the fame elafticity in his mufcles, the fame fupplenefs in his joints, and all his nerves and finews as well braced as Jacob Hall, may become a fat unwieldy fluggard. Yet further; the implicit creature, who has thought it all his life needlefs, or unlawful, to examine the principles of facts that he took originally on truft, will be as little able as the other to improve his folitude to any good purpofe: unless we call it a good purpose, for that fometimes happens, to confirm and exalt his prejudices, fo that he may live and die in one continued delirium. The confirmed prejudices of a thoughtful life are as hard to change as the confirmed habits of an indolent life: and as fome muft trifle away age because they trifled away youth, others must labour on in a maze of error, because they have wandered there too long to find their way Bolingbroke.

out.

Few men at that time looked forward enough to foresee the neceffary confequences of the new conflitution of the revenue that was foon afterwards form

we feel and all we fear, was not the effect of ignorance, mistake, or what we call chance, but of defign and fcheme in thofe who had the fway at that time. I am not fo uncharitable, however, as to believe, that they intended to bring upon their country all the mischiefs that we, who came after them, experience, and apprehend. No; they faw the meafures they took fingly, and unrelatively, or relatively alone to fome immediate object. The notion of attaching men to the new government, by tempting them to embark their fortunes on the fame bottom, was a reafon of state to fome: the notion of creating a new, that is, a monied intereft, in opposition to the landed intereft, or as a balance to it, and of acquiring a fuperior influence in the city of London, at least, by establishment of great corporations, was a reafon of party to others and I make no doubt that the opportunity of amaffing immenfe eftates by the managements of funds, by trafficking in paper, and by all the arts of jobbing, was a reafon of private intereft to thofe who fupported and improved this fcheme of iniquity, if not to thofe who devifed it. They looked no farther. Nay, we who came after them, and have long taited the bitter fruits of the corruption they planted, were far from taking fuch an alarm at our distress, and our danger, as they deferved; till the most remote and fatal effect of caufes, laid by the last generation, was very near becoming an object of experience in this. Ibid.

a Lady.

It is with wonderful fatisfaction I find you are grown fuch an adept in the occult arts, and that you take a laudable pleafure in the ancient and ingenious ftudy of making and folving riddles. It is a fcience, undoubtedly, of most neceffary acquirement, and deferves to make a part in the meditation of both fexes. Thofe of yours may by this means very innocently indulge their ufual curiofity of difcovering and dif clofing a fecret; whilft fuch amongst ours who have a turn for deep fpecu

lations,

It has often been alleged, that the paffions can never be wholly depofed, and that by appealing to thefe, a good writer will always be able to force himfelf into the hearts of his readers; but even the strongest paffions are weakened, nay fometimes totally extinguished and deftroyed, by mutual oppofition, diffipation, and acquired infentibility. How often at our theatre has the tear of fympathy and burft of laughter been repreffed by a malignant fpecies of pride, refufing approbation to the author and actor, and renouncing fociety with the audience! I have feen a young creature, poffeffed of the most delicate complexion, and exhibiting features that indicate fenfibility, fit without the leaft emotion, and behold the moit tender and pathetic fcenes of Otway reprefented with all the energy of action; so happy had the been in her efforts to conquer the prejudices of nature. She had been trained up in the belief that nothing was more aukward, than to betray a fenfe of fhame or fympathy; fhe feemed to think that a confent of paffion with the vulgar, would impair the dignity of her character; and that the herfelf ought to be the only object of approbation, But he did not confider that fuch approbation is feldom acquir. ed by difdain; and that want of feeling is a very bad recommendation to the human heart. For my own fhare, I never fail to take a furvey of the female part of an audience, at every intereft ing incident of the drama. When I perceive the tear ftealing down a lady's cheek, and the fudden figh efcape from her breast, I am attracted toward her by an irrefiftible emotion of tenderness and efteem; her eyes fhine with enchanting luftre, through the pearly moisture that furrounds them; my heart warms at

3

the glow which humanity kindles on her cheek, and keeps time with the accelerated heavings of her fnowy bofom; I at once love her benevolence, and revere her difcernment. On the contrary, when I fee a fine woman's face unaltered by the distress of the fcene, with which I myfelf am affected, I refent her indifference as an infult on my own understanding; I fuppofe her heart to be favage, her difpofition unfocial, her organs indelicate, and exclaim with the fox in the fable, O pulchrum caput, fed cerebrum non habet!

Yet this infenfibility is not perhaps owing to any original defect. Nature may have fretched the ftring, tho' it has long ceafed to vibrate. It may have been difplaced and diftracted by the firft violence offered to the native machine; it may have lolt its tone through long difufe; or be fo twisted and overfirained as to produce an effect very different from that which was primarily intended. If fo little regard is paid to Nature when the knocks fo powerfully at the breast, fhe must be altogether neglected and despised in her calmer mood of ferene tranquillity, when nothing appears to recommend her but fimplicity, propriety, and innocence. A clear, blue sky, fpangled with stars, will prove a homely and infipid object to eyes accustomed to the glare of torches, tapers, gilding, and glitter; they will be turned with loathing and difguft from the green mantle of the fpring, fo gorgeoufly adorned with. buds and foliage, flowers and bloffoms, to contemplate a gaudy negligee, ftriped and interfected with abrupt unfriendly tints that fetter the maffes of light, and diftract the vifion; and cut and pinked into the most fantastic forms; and flounced and furbelowed, patched and fringed with all the littleness of art, unknown to elegance. Those ears that are offended by the fweetly wild notes of the thrufh, the black-bird, and the nightingale, the diftant cawing of the rook, the tender cooing of the turtle, the foft fighing of reeds and ofiers, the magic murmur of lapfing ftreams; will be regaled and ravished by the extravagant and alarming notes of a fqueaking fiddle, extracted by a

mufician

mufician who has no other genius than that which lies in his fingers; they will even be entertained with the rattling of coaches, the rumbling of carts, and the delicate cry of cod and mackarel.

The fenfe of fmelling that delights in the scent of excrementitious animal juices, fuch as mufk, civet, and urinous falts, will loath the fragrancy of newmown hay, the hawthorn's bloom, the fweet-briar, the honey-fuckle, and the rofe; and the organs that are gratified with the taste of fickly veal which has been bled into the palfy, rotten pullets crammed into fevers, brawn made up of dropfical pig, the abortion of pigeons and of poultry, 'fparagus gorged with the crude unwholefome juice of dung, peafe without fubftance, peaches without tafte, and pine-apples without flavour, will certainly naufeate the native, genuine, and falutary tafte of Welsh beef, Banftead mutton, Hampfhire pork, and barn-door fowls; whofe juices are concocted by a natural digeftion, and whofe flesh is confolidated by free air and exercise.

In fuch a total perverfion of the fenfes, the ideas must be mifreprefented, the powers of the imagination difordered, and the judgment of confequence unfound. The difeafe is attended with a falfe appetite, which the natural food of the mind will not fatisfy. It must have fauces compounded of the most heterogeneous trash. The foul feems to fink into a kind of fleepy idiotifim, or childish vacancy of thought. It is diverted by toys and baubles, which can only be pleafing to the mott fuperficial curiofity. It is enlivened by a quick fucceffion of trivial objects, that glifen, and glance, and dance before the eye; and, like an infant kept awake and infpirited by the found of a rattle, it must not only be dazzled and aroufed, but also cheated, hurried, and perplexed by the artifice of deception, butinefs, intricacy, and intrigue, which is a kind of low juggle that may be termed the legerdemain of genius. This being the cafe, it cannot enjoy, nor in deed diftinguish, the charms of natural and moral beauty or decorum. The ing nucus blush of native innocence, the plain language of ancient faith and

If we examine the writers whofe compofitions have ftood the test of ages, and obtained that highest honour, the concurrent approbation of diftant times and nations, we fhall find that the character of fimplicity is the unvarying circumftance, which alone hath been able to gain this univerfal homage from mankind. Among the Greeks, whofe writers in general are of the fimple kind, the divineft poet, the most commanding orator, the finest historian, and deepest philofopher, are, above the reft, confpicuoufly eminent in this great quality. The Roman writers rife towards perfection according to that measure of true fimplicity which they mingle in their works. Indeed, they are all inferior to the Greek models. But who will deny, that Lucretius, Horace, Virgil, Livy, Terence, Tully, are at once the fimpleft and best of Roman writers? unless we add the noble Annalift, who appeared in after times; who, notwithstanding the political turn of his genius, which fometimes interferes, is admirable in this great quality; and by it, far fuperior to his contemporaries. It is this one circumstance that hath raised the venerable Dante, the father of modern poetry, above the fucceeding poets of his country, who could never long maintain the local and temporary honours bestowed upon them; but have fallen under that just neglect, which time will ever decree to thofe who defert a jutt fimplicity for the florid colourings of ftyle, contrasted phrafes, affected conceits, the mere trappings of compofition, and Gothic minutia. It is this hath given to Boileau the most lafting wreath in France,

and

and to Shakespeare and Milton in England; efpecially to the laft, whofe writings are more unmixed in this reTpect, and who had formed himself entirely on the fimple model of the best Greek writers and the facred fcriptures. As it appears from thefe inftances, that fimplicity is the only univerfal characteristic of juft writing; fo the fuperior eminence of the facred fcrip,tures in this prime quality hath been generally acknowledged. One of the greatest critics in antiquity, himself confpicuous in the fublime and fimple manner, hath borne this teftimony to the writings of Mofes and St. Paul; and by parity of reason we must conclude, that had he been converfant with the other facred writers, his tafte and candour would have allowed them the fame encomium. Brown's Essay. 88. Simplicity confpicuous in the Scrip

tures.

It hath been often obferved, even by writers of no mean rank, that the fcriptures fuffer in their credit by the difadvantage of a literal verfion, while other ancient writings enjoy the advantage of a free and embellished tranflation." But in reality thefe gentlemen's concern is ill placed and groundlefs. For the truth is, "That moft other writings are indeed impaired by a literal tranflation; whereas, giving only a due regard to the idioms of dif ferent languages, the facred writings, when literally tranflated, are then in their full perfection."

Now this is an internal proof, that in all other writings there is a mixture of local, relative, exterior ornament; which is often loft in the transfufion from one language to another. But the internal beauties, which depend not on the particular conftruction of tongues, no change of tongue can deftroy. Hence the bible compofition preferves its native beauty and ftrength alike in every language, by the fole energy of unadorned phrafe, natural images, weight of fentiment, and great fimplicity.

It is in this refpect like a rich vein of gold, which, under the fevereft trials of heat, cold, and moisture, retains its original weight and fplendor,

without either lofs or alloy; while bafer metals are corrupted by earth, air, water, fire, and affimilated to the various elements through which they pafs.

This circumftance then may be juftly regarded as fufficient to vindicate the compofition of the facred fcriptures; as it is at once their chief excellence, and greateft fecurity. It is their excellence, as it renders them intelligible and ufeful to all; it is their fecurity, as it prevents their being disguised by the falfe and capricious ornaments of

vain or weak tranflators.

We may fafely appeal to experience and fact for the confirmation of these remarks on the fuperior fimplicity, utility, and excellence of the style of the holy féripture. Is there any book in the world fo perfectly adapted to all capacities that contains fuch fublime and exalted precepts, conveyed in fach an artless and intelligible ftrain? that can be read with fuch pleasure and ad, vantage by the lettered fage and the unlettered peafant? Ibid.

89. Simplicity should be preferred to Refinement in Writing.

Fine writing, according to Mr. Addifon, confifts of fentiments which are natural, without being obvious. There cannot be a jufter, and more concife definition of fine writing.

Sentiments which are merely natural, affect not the mind with any pleasure, and feem not worthy to engage our attention. The pleafantries of a waterman, the obfervations of a peasant, the ribaldry of a porter or hackney coachman; all these are natural, and difagreeable. What an infipid comedy fhould we make of the chit-chat of the tea-table, copied faithfully and at full length? Nothing can pleafe perfons of tafte, but nature drawn with all her graces and ornaments, la belle nature; or if we copy low-life, the strokes muft be ftrong and remarkable, and muft convey a lively image to the mind. The abfurd naiveté of Sancho Pancha is reprefented in fuch inimitable colours by Cervantes, that it entertains as much as the picture of the most magnanimious hero or softeft lover.

3 B

The