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ffurprised to find my good fortune pub. lifhed to all the world in the newspaper! though I could not but fmile (and madam was greatly pleased) at the printer's exalting me to the dignity of Efquire, having been nothing but plain Mr. all my life before. And now the misfortunes arising from my good for tune began to pour in thick upon me. In confequence of the information given in the news-paper, we were no fooner fat down to breakfast than we were complimented with a rat-a-tatoo from the drums, as if we had been juft marFied after thefe had been filenced by the ufual method, another band of mufic faluted us with a peal from the 'marrow-bones and cleavers to the fame tune. I was haraffed the whole day with petitions from the hofpital boys that drew the ticket, the commiffioners clerks that wrote down the ticket, and the clerks of the office where I bought the ticket, all of them praying, "That my Honour would confider them." I fhould be glad you would inform me what these people would have given me if I had had a blank.

My acquaintance in general called to know, when they fhould wait upon me to es my good fortune. My own relations, and my wife's relations, came in fuch fhoals to congratulate me, that I hardly knew the faces of many of them. One infifted on my giving a piece of plate to his wife; another recommended to me to put his little boy. (my two-and-fortieth coufin) out 'prentice; another, lately white-washed, propofed to me my fetting him up again in bufinefs; and feveral of them very kindly told me, they would borrow three or four hundred pounds of me, as they knew I could now fpare it.

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My wife in the mean time, you may be fure, was not idle in contriving how to difpofe of this new acquifition. She found out, in the first place, (according to the complaint of moft women) that she had not got a gown to her back, at least not one fit for her now to appear in. Her wardrobe of linen was no lefs deficient; and fhe difcovered feveral chafms in our furniture, especially in the articles of plate and china. She is alfo determined to fee a little pleasure,

as fhe calls it, and has actually made a party to go to the next opera. Now, in order to fupply thefe immediate wants and neceffities, the has prevailed on me (though at a great lofs) to turn the prize into ready money; which I dared not refufe her, because the number was her own choofing; and he has further perfuaded me (as we have had such good luck) to lay out a great part of the produce in purchafing more tickets, all of her own choofing. To me it is indifferent which way the money goes; for, upon my making out the balance, I already find I fhall be a lofer by my gains and all my fear is, that one of the tickets may come up a five thousand or ten thousand.

I am

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147.

B. Thornton.

Characters of CAMILLA and
FLORA.

Camilla is really what writers have fo often imagined; or rather, the poffeffes a combination of delicacies, which they have feldom had minuteness of vir tue and tafte enough to conceive; to fay fhe is beautiful, the is accomplished, fhe is generous, fhe is tender, is talking in general, and it is the particular I would defcribe. In her person she is almost tall, and almost thin; graceful, commanding, and infpiring a kind of tender refpect; the tone of her voice is melodious, and the can neither look nor move without expreffing fomething to her advantage. Poffeffed of almost every excellence, fhe is unconscious of any, and this heightens them all: he is modeft and diffident of her own opinion, yet always perfectly comprehends the fubject on which fhe gives it, and fees the queftion in its true light: fhe has neither pride, prejudice, nor precipi tancy to mifguide her; she is true, and therefore judges truly. If there are fubjects too intricate, too complicated for the feminine fimplicity of her foul, her ignorance of them ferves only to difplay a new beauty in her character,

which refults from her acknowledging, nay, perhaps from her poffeffing that very ignorance. The great characteriftic of Camilla's understanding is tafte; but when the fays moft upon a fubject, she still fhews that she has much more to fay, and by this unwillingness to triumph, the perfuades the more. With the most refined fentiments, fhe poffeffes the fofteft fenfibility, and it lives and fpeaks in every feature of her face. Is Camilla melancholy? does fhe figh? Every body is affected: they enquire whether any misfortune has happened to Camilla; they find that the fighed for the misfortune of another, and they are affected ftill more. Young, lovely, and high born, Camilla graces every company, and heightens the brilliancy of courts; wherever the appears, all others feem by a natural impulfe to feel her fuperiority; and yet when the converfes, he has the art of infpiring others with an ease which they never knew before he joins to the moft fcrupulous politenefs a certain feminine gaiety, free both from restraint and boldnefs; always gentle, yet never inferior; always unaffuming, yet never afhamed or awkward; for fhame and awkwardness are the effects of pride, which is too often mifcalled modefty: nay, to the most critical difcernment, The adds fomething of a blufhing timidity, which ferves but to give a meaning and piquancy even to her looks, an admirable effect of true fuperiority! by this filent unaffuming merit fhe overawes the turbulent and the proud, and ftops the torrent of that indecent, that overbearing noife, with which inferior natures in fuperior ftations overwhelm the flavish and the mean. Yes, all admire, and love, and reverence Camilla.

You fee a character that you admire, and you think it perfect; do you therefore conclude that every different character is imperfect? what, will you allow a variety of beauty almoft equally ftriking in the art of a Corregio, a Guido, and a Raphael, and refufe it to the infinity of nature! How different from lovely Camilla is the beloved Flora! In Camilla, nature has difplayed the beauty of exact regularity, and the

elegant foftnefs of female propriety: in Flora, fhe charms with a certain artlefs poignancy, a graceful negligence, and an uncontrouled, yet blameless freedom. Flora has fomething original and peculiar about her, a charm which is not eafily defined; to know her and to love her is the fame thing; but you cannot know her by description. Her perfon is rather touching than majestic, her features more expreffive than regular, and her manner pleases rather becaufe it is reftrained by no rule, than because it is conformable to any that cuftom has established. Camilla puts you in mind of the most perfect music that can be compofed; Flora, of the wild fweetnefs which is fometimes produced by the irregular play of the breeze upon the Eolian harp. Camilla reminds you of a lovely young queen; Flora, of her more lovely maid of honour. In Camilla you admire the decency of the Graces; in Flora, the attractive sweetness of the Loves. Artlefs fenfibility, wild, native feminine gaiety, and the moft touching tenderness of foul, are the ftrange characteristics of Flora. Her countenance glows with youthful beauty, which all art feems rather to diminish than increafe, rather to hide than adorn; and while Camilla charms you with the choice of her drefs, Flora enchants you with the neglect of hers. Thus different are the beauties which nature has manifested in Camilla and Flora! yet while fhe has, in this contrariety, fhewn the extent of her power to please, she has alfo proved, that truth and virtue are always the fame. Generofity and tendernefs are the first principles in the minds of both favourites, and were never poffeffed in an higher degree than they are poffeffed by Flora: fhe is juft as attentive to the intereft of others, as fhe is negligent of her own; and tho fhe could fubmit to any misfortune that could befal herself, yet the hardly knows how to bear the misfortunes of another. Thus does Flora unite the strongest fen fibility with the most lively gaiety; and both are expreffed with the most bewitching mixture in her countenance. While Camilla infpires a reverence that keeps you at a refpectful, yet admiring diftance, Flora excites the moft ardent,

yet

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Once upon a time the feven wife men of Greece were met together at Athens, and it was propofed that every one of them fhould mention what he thought the greatest wonder in the creation. One of them, of higher conceptions than the reft, propofed the opinion of fome of the aftronomers about the fixed

ftars, which they believed to be fo many funs, that had each their planets rolling about them, and were ftored with plants and animals like this earth. Fired with this thought, they agreed to fupplicate Jupiter, that he would at leaft permit them to take a journey to the moon, and stay there three days, in order to fee the wonders of that place, and give an account of them at their return. Jupiter confented, and ordered them to affemble on a high mountain, where there should be a cloud ready to convey them to the place they defired to fee. They picked out fome chofen companions, who might affift them in defcribing and painting the objects they fhould meet with. At length they arrived at the moon, and found a palace there well fitted up for their reception. The next day, being very much fatigued with their journey, they kept quiet at home till noon; and being ftill faint, they refreshed themfelves with a most delicious entertaiment, which they relifhed fo well, that it overcame their curiofity. This day they only faw through the window that delightful fpot, adorned with the moft beautiful flowers, to which the beams of the fun gave an uncommon luftre, and heard the finging of most melodious birds till evening came on. The next day they rofe very early in order to begin their obfervations; but fome very beautiful young ladies of that country coming to make them a vifit, ad

vifed them firft to recruit their strength before they expofed themfelves to the laborious task they were about to undertake.

The delicate meats, the rich wines, the beauty of thefe damfels, prevailed over the refolution of these strangers. A fine concert of mufic is introduced, the young ones begin to dance, and all is turned to jollity; fo that this whole day was fpent in gallantry, till fome of the neighbouring inhabitants, growing envious at their mirth, rushed in with fwords. The elder part of the company tried to appease the younger, promifing the very next day they would bring the rioters to juftice. This they performed, and the third day the caufe was heard; and what with accufations, pleadings, exceptions, and the judgment itself, the whole day was taken up, on which the term fet by Jupiter expired. On their return to Greece, all the country flocked in upon them to hear the wonders of the moon defcribed, but all they could tell was, for that was all they knew, that the ground was covered with green intermixed with flowers, and that the birds fung among the branches of the trees; but what kind of flowers they faw, or what kind of birds they heard, they were totally ignorant. Upon which they were treated every where with contempt.

If we apply this fable to men of the prefent age, we fhall perceive a very juft fimilitude. By these three days the fable denotes the three ages of man. First, youth, in which we are too feeble in every refpect to look into the works of the Creator; all that feafon is given up to idlenefs, luxury, and paftime. Secondly, manhood, in which men are employed in fettling, marrying, educating children, providing fortunes for them, and raifing a family. Thirdly, old age, in which after having made their fortunes, they are overwhelmed with law-fuits and proceedings relating to their eftates. Thus it frequently happens that men never confider to what end they were destined, and why they were brought into the world.

Ibid.

$149

$149. Mercy recommended. My uncle Toby was a man patient of

injuries ;-not from want of courage,where juft occafions prefented, or called it forth, I know no man under whofe arm I would fooner have taken shelter; nor did this arife from any infenfibility or obtufenefs of his intellectual parts; he was of a peaceful, placid nature, no jarring element in it, all it,-all was mixed up fo kindly within him; my uncle Toby had scarce a heart to retaliate upon a fly:- -Go,-fays he, one day at dinner, to an overgrown one which had buzzed about his nofe, and tormented him cruelly all dinner-time, and which, after infinite attempts, he had caught at laft-as it flew by him ;I'll not hurt thee, fays my uncle Toby, rifing from his chair, and going across the room, with the fly in his hand.—

I'll not hurt a hair of thy head:-Go, fays he, lifting up the fafh, and opening his hand as he spoke, to let it efcape; go, poor devil,-get thee gone, why

fhould I hurt thee? This world, farely, is wide enough to hold both thee and me.

This is to ferve for parents and governors instead of a whole volume upon the fubject. Sterne.

$150. The Starling. -Befhrew the fombre pencil! faid! vauntingly for I envy not its powers, which paints the evils of life with fo hard and deadly a colouring. The mind fits terrified at the objects the has magnified herself and blackened: reduce them to their proper fize and hue, the overlooks them.- -'Tis true, said I, correcting the propofition-the Baftile is not an evil to be defpifed-but strip it of its towers-fill up the foffe-unbarricade the doors-call it fimply a confinement, and fuppofe 'tis fome tyrant of a distemper and not of a manwhich holds you in it-the evil vanishes, and you bear the other half without complaint.

In my return back through the paffage, I heard the fame words repeated twice over; and looking up, I saw it was a Starling hung in a little cage"I can't get out-I can't get out," faid the Starling.

I ftood looking at the bird; and to every person who came through the wards which they approached it, with paffage, it ran fluttering to the fide tothe fame lamentations of its captivity"I can't get out," said the StarlingGod help thee! faid I, but I will let thee out, coft what it will; fo I turned about the cage to get at the door; it was twifted and double twisted so fast with wire, there was no getting it open without pulling the cage to pieces-I

took both hands to it.

The bird flew to the place where I was attempting his deliverance, and thrufting his head through the trellis, preffed his breast against it, as if impatient. I fear, poor creature! faid I, I cannot fet thee at liberty-"No," faid the Starling. I can't get out, I can't "get out," faid the Starling.

I vow I never had my affections more tenderly awakened; nor do I remember an incident in my life, where the diffipated fpirits, to which my reafon had been a bubble, were fo fuddenly called home. Mechanical as the notes were, yet fo true in tune to nature were they chanted, that in one moment they overthrew all my fyftematic reafonings upon the Baftile; and I heavily walked up ftairs, unfaying every word I had faid in going down them.

Difguife thyself as thou wilt, fill, flavery faid I-ftill thou art a bitter draught and though thousands in all ages have been made to drink of thee, thou art no lefs bitter on that account.

'Tis thou, thrice fweet and gracious goddefs, addreffing myfelf to Liberty, whom all in public or in private worfhip, whofe tafte is grateful, and ever will be fo, till Nature herself fhall change-no tint of words can spot thy fnowy mantle, or chymic power turn thy fceptre into iron-with thee to fmile upon him as he eats his cruft, the it. fwain is happier than his monarch, from whofe court thou art exiled!Gracious Heaven! cried I, kneeling down upon the laft ftep but one in my afcent Grant me but health, thou

I was interrupted in the hey-day of this foliloquy, with a voice which I took to be of a child, which complained

could not get out. I looked up and down the paffage, and feeing neither man, woman, nor child, I went out without further attention,

great

great Beftower of it, and give me but this fair goddess as my companion and fhower down thy mitres, if it feems good unto thy Divine providence, upon those heads which are aching for them. Sterne.

$151. The Captive.

The bird in his cage pursued me into my room; I fat down close by my table, and leaning my head upon my hand, I began to figure to myfelf the miferies of confinement: I was in a right frame for it, and fo I gave full fcope to my imagination.

I was going to begin with the mil. lions of my fellow-creatures born to no inheritance but flavery; but finding, however affecting the picture was, that I could not bring it near me, and that the multitude of fad groupes in it did but diftra&t me

I took a fingle captive, and having first shut him up in his dungeon, I then looked through the twilight of his grated door to take his picture.

I beheld his body half wafted away with long expectation and confinement, and felt what kind of fickness of the heart it was which arifes from hope deferred. Upon looking nearer, I faw him pale and feverish in thirty years the western breeze had not once fanned his blood-he had feen no fun, no moon, in all that time-nor had the voice of

friend or kinfman breathed through his

lattice-his children

-But here my heart began to bleed -and I was forced to go on with another part of the portrait.

He was fitting upon the ground upon a little straw, in the furthest corner of his dungeon, which was alternately his chair and bed; a little calendar of fmall fticks were laid at the head, notched all over with the difmal days and nights he had paffed there he had one of these little sticks in his hand, and with a rufty nail he was etching another day of mifery to add to the heap. As I darkened the little light he had, he lifted up a hopeless eye towards the door, then caft it down-fhook his head, and went on with his work of affliction. I heard his chains upon his legs, as he turned his body to lay his little ftick upon the bundle-He gave a deep figh-faw the

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iron enter into his foul-1 burft into tears I could not fuftain the picture of confinement which my fancy had drawn. Ibid.

§ 152. Trim's Explanation of the Fifth Commandment.

Pr'ythee, Trim, quoth my fa ther,What doft thou mean, by "ho "nouring thy father and mother?"

Allowing them, an't please your honout, three halfpence a day out of my pay, when they grow old. And didít thou do that, Trim? faid Yorick. He did indeed, replied my uncle Toby.

Then, Trim, faid Yorick, fpringing out of his chair, and taking the Corporal by the hand, thou art the best commentator upon that part of the Decalogue; and I honour thee more for it, Corporal Trim, than if thou hadst had a hand in the Talmud itself. Ibid.

§ 153. Health.

O bleffed health! thou art above all

gold and treafure; 'tis thou who enlargeft the foul, and openett all its powers to receive instruction, and to relifh virtue. He that has thee, has little

more to wish for! and he that is fo wretched as to want thee,wants every thing with thee. Ibid.

$154. A Voyage to Lilliput.
CHAP. I.

The author gives fome account of himself and family: his firft inducements to travel. He is fhipwrecked, and fwims for his life; gets jafe on fhore in the country of Lilliput; is made a prifoner, and carried up the country.

My father had a small eftate in Not tinghamshire; I was the third of five fons. He fent me to Emanuel college in Cambridge at fourteen years old, where I refided three years, and applied myself close to my ftudies; but the charge of maintaining me, although I had a very fcanty allowance, being too great for a narrow fortune, I was bound apprentice to Mr. James Bates, an eminent furgeon in London, with whom I continued four years; and my father now and then fending me fmall fums of money, I laid them out in learning navigation, and other parts of the mathematics, ufeful to thofe who

intend

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