Mr. Addifon, who, in that trying fcene, fent for his fon-in-law, the earl of Warwick, that he might utter to the youthful ear of diffipation, this inftructive leffon- See with what peace a Chriftian can die.'

At that black hour which general horror fheds

On the low level of th' inglorious throng, Sweet peace, and heavenly hope, and humble joy,

Divinely beam on his exalted foul; Destruction gild, and crown him for the fkies,

With incommunicable luftre bright.

YOUNG.

TH

HIS world hath often been compared to a wide theatre, where every man hath a part allotted him to act; and it highly becomes every man to acquit himfelf properly in that character which he perfonates; that when he retires from the ftage, there may be conferred upon him the defirable encomiums of a diligent actor, a faithful friend, and a generous patriot. What excufe then can be made for that portion of mankind who pass their days in a culpable indolence or in a criminal activity; whofe knowledge is circumfcribed to a juft tafte in claret, and actions extend little further than to the drinking of it! men, whofe ambition rifes no higher than to a preeminence in their horfes and hounds; and who experience only thofe fenfual delights, which their dogs perhaps enjoy in a degree fuperior to themfelves? There are, indeed, several fmall trivial qualifications, which, when joined with greater, may occafionally render the poffeffor the more agreeable; but which, if once drawn out, and exposed to light by themfelves, are incapable of exciting the leaft efteem; like particular fhades in a picture, which, while they are connected with the main defign, may be laudable decorations, but if once ab

ftracted, appear inferior to the paintings of a fign-poft.

What is a greater argument of a mean and ignoble spirit, than to dance life away in a perpetuated affembly, or to play away threescore years and ten at repeated games at cards? When perfons of this character make their exit, they are as little regarded, after the curtain is dropped, as thofe dramatis perfonæ which are hired to fill up the retinue of the hero.

There are a vast number and variety in the provinces of life, infomuch that there is no excufe left for an ungenerous indolence. Though all men are not alike capable of acting in an exalted sphere, of perfonating the general or the ftatefman, yet every man is capacitated to act fome part or another well. Gentlemen of eftates can never be at a lofs to employ their time; because to such a large field lies open, where they may expatiate with the greateft fatisfaction to themfelves, and usefulness to others. There are unnumbered pleasures, which a mere eftate itfelf entitles a man to; and he who will be so just to himself, and good to others, as to lay hold on the happy opportunities that money offers, hath this peculiar privilege, that at the fame time he is promoting

promoting the benefit of others, he is procuring to himself, by fuch acts of benevolence, the greatest happiness attainable in life.

And here I shall addrefs myself to a particular advantage, which gentlemen, whofe eftates lie in land, may enjoy, I mean that of culture and improvement, which at once dilates and instructs the mind, makes conftant acceffions to the eftate, confirms and invigorates the health, and is of diffufive fervice to the poorer part of the nation. To a man of a philofophical turn here are continually new fcenes prefenting themselves to the imagination, fresh wonders opening to curiofity, and a continued ftream of pleafure ever pouring in upon the foul. The earth feems, as it were, in filent gratitude, amply to repay the industry bestowed upon her; while nature puts on all her gaudy dreffes, and appears with a variety of beauties, at once to please and inform the mind, and at the fame time to charm and gratify the fenfes. This employment, under proper regulations, is a theme worthy of a refined tafte, and fuited to a fublime genius; whence accordingly we find, that the greatest and the wifet men were frequently withdrawing themfelves from affairs of ftate, to retire into the country, where we may obferve them, in the molt luxuriant ftyle and paffionate expreffions, enlarging upon the rich profufion and fatisfactory pleafures of the fame.

The vegetable kingdom may be faid to be in one continual bloom to a

contemplative mind; and every gradual change, which nature introduces, exhibits a new fubject for the employ of his thoughts. How delightful is it to furvey the different growths, ftages, and progreffive fucceffions of plants, trees, and fruits, from their firft fwelling and expanding into life, to their fhooting into a flender youth, and thence terminating in a beautiful maturity!

What led me into the above train of thought, was a vifit I lately paid

to a friend of mine in the country; with whofe character I fhall beg leave to clofe this fpeculation.

Cornelius is a man of fifteen hundred pounds per annum. When he came to his elate, the net income thereof fcarcely exceeded half its prefent value; but by a frugal and prudent conduct, he hath paid a large debt, with which his land had been encumbered during many years. He was always of a thoughtful and studious difpofition; and, as men of this character are generally enemies to pomp and noite, fo Cornelius was ever averfe to public employments. He had arrived to fuch a knowledge of mankind, at an age when men commonly but begin this ftudy, as to know, that it required a greater degree of firmnefs and refolution to maintain an integrity amid public corruption, than what his tender unexperienced youth could pretend to; the temptations in fuch departments being no lefs perfuafive than they are numerous. The fufpected hypocrify of fome, the apparent difhonefty of others, and the great folly of most, were to him powerful inducements to retirement; fo far as fuch recefs is agreeable to those unalterable ties and obligations which a man lies under, of being ferviceable to his country. Yet this his retreat proceeded by no means from a ridiculous affectation, a fordid defire of ease, and a culpable difguft to business; but from a ferious reflection upon the difficulties of filling public ftations with honour; the unkind conftructions which men are apt to put upon the best intentions; and the univerfal ingratitude which the moft laudable meafures are fure to meet with, if unattended with fuccefs. Ingratitude! that vice by which the moft delicate minds are the most eafily affected, as the tendereft conftitutions are the fooneft indifpofed by the inclemency of the weather.

A fhallow infight into mankind may generate pride, and a fupercilious behaviour; but a profound philofopher hath too much knowledge to be vain,

envious,

envious, and ill-natured. The confequences of an unbounded underftanding, are humanity, generofity, and love. Thus the aufterity of Cornelius' virtue is fo fmoothed by the fweetness of his difpofition, improved by his knowledge, that his converfation is never lefs obliging than inftructive; and fo judiciously are good fenfe and a genteel behaviour interwoven together, that it is difficult to determine, in this happy compofition, which is most predominant, the acute philofopher, or the fine gentleman.

With these qualifications my friend is retired into the country. The method of paffing his time is amid his books in the morning; and in the afternoon his hours are devoted to friendship, or the furveying of his eftate. It is highly pleafing to observe with what a mixture of affection and refpect the tenants falute their landlord, the most inferior of them appearing rather a fpecies of friends than dependants. He hath fo juftly calculated the product of the farms they occupy, as to allow the husbandmen ample fupplies for the maintenance of their families; and the tenants are so thoroughly acquainted with the greatness of their mafter's foul, as to know, that the improvements, which they make upon his eftates, will never prove a temptation to him to raise their rents, without allowing them proper rewards for their induftry. By these means, there is not a spot of ground uncultivated. The generofity of Cornelius' mind fhines forth in the plenty of his tenants, and the wifdom of his conduct is confpicuous in the carriage of his fervants; for, as hath already been intimated, he hath fo prudently blended love and refpect in the minds of his tenants, that the latter reftrains the former from all excurfions into an indecent and naufeous familiarity.

Before I conclude this paper, I muft beg the reader's attention to the relating of a fact, which I was informed 6

of by the farmer immediately concerned. A few days ago, this honest hufbandman was waiting upon my friend, to discharge a part of his year's rent. Upon the entrance of Ruricolus into the room, Cornelius obferved a fettled melancholy in his countenance; and, suspecting the cause thereof, prevented the farmer's complaints, by asking him, whether he had made the fame gain this year of his acres as formerly? To which the countryman replied, that the violence of the winds last autumn, and the fudden ftorms of fnow toward the conclufion of the winter, had scattered fuch large quantities of his corn, and deftroyed fuch a number of his sheep, that, were it not for a little money which he had laid up, he could not have fupported the feverity of the fhock. Cornelius knowing the truth of the ftory, and the diligence of the hufbandman, generously remitted him half his year's rent.

By these measures Cornelius enjoys thofe exftatic pleafures which noné but minds exaltedly virtuous are capable of relishing. He hath a fecret lodged within him for ferenity and peace against all inclemency of weather and intemperature of the seasons. The rude blasts of the east wind teem with as many bleffings as the most fertile zephyrs; inafmuch as the former enable him to tafte the fruits of the latter in their trueft perfection, by furnishing him with opportunities of relieving unfortunate industry and diftreft virtue; by placing it in his power to answer the neceffitous petition of the forlorn widow, and the moving cries of the hungry orphan !

Go on, great man! The heavens fhall ever fmile on the largeness of thy foul, and fhed their most friendly influences upon thee, thy family, thy lands, thy cattle! Thus thall thy days never know interruption of happiness, and thy end fhall be crowned with the applause of thy Maker.

HEALTH,

MADAM,

RECEIVED your obliging favour; and wish the goddefs, whom you mention with rapture, may be your conftant friend and companion. Methinks I am not at all furprised, that Pagans and Poets have deified Health. I think too they have judged mighty well in reprefenting this imaginary deity as a female, to express thereby the fuperior charms of this divinity. Had I a talent for fable, I would sketch out for you an allegory upon this fubject. I fhould probably begin my ftory after the following manner, or fomething like it.

Health is reported to be the daughter of Temperance, and born in the golden age. Some are of opinion that The was defcended, on the male fide, from Exercife. But, by the best lights I could ever obtain in a matter of fuch antiquity and obfcurity, I am inclined to think that this account of her genealogy is fpurious. For Temperance was not fo properly her mother, as nurse or guardian, one who had the tuition of her infancy, and was afterward advanced to a moft important poft, as fhall hereafter be mentioned.

Whatever darkness, however, may attend her parental defcent, yet all the annals agree in the following; that her birth was celebrated with great pomp and ceremony; for the Graces visited her in person, and each would have adopted her for their own. This beautiful young virgin, though highly accomplished, was never fond of pub-,

was justly entitled to a throne; nor was it long before she was invested with the fceptre by the concurring voices and acclamations of the people. Her reign was long and profperous, and her fubjects were happy. Nor, indeed, could lefs be expected from a queen, that founded her government upon the unerring laws of nature, which were as obligatory upon herfelf as upon her people; nor could the royal authority itself difpense, at any time whatever, with a breach of thofe primary ftatutes.

Her first minifter was Virtue, who had an unbounded afcendency over her mistress. Befide this premier favourite, there was another, who was almost a conftant afsociate of the queen. The name of this pretty sylvan was Cheerfulness. She was generally apparelled in green, of a mild and compofed afpect, liable to have her features fometimes brightened by a smile. Many other virgins joined the train of this princefs, and were adjudged to be of British extraction. There was Innocence, dreft in white, with a curious blush of crimson on her cheeks; he was handed along by Prudence, who wore a good deal of folicitude in her countenance, and feemed to ftep with great caution. She was indeed, an armed fatellite; and had more of severity than fweetnef in her brow. But there was a moft beautiful form, that juftly challenged a particular defcription; a lady, who fo clofely adhered to the white-robed fair, that it is faid, they were never feen apart. This virgin's name was Peace. She had a moft lovely ferenity in her vifage, and a foftnefs not to be delineated by a human pen. The affifiance of the imagination muft here be called in, and the portrait wear an angel's face. Though he was highly admired by the gazing crowd, yet fhe feemed to G

muft own, which appearances; Madam, would be strange felf-denial in the pretty goddeffes of our days. Her principal delight was in the fields and woods, where Flora dreft her with the role and the lily; and Diana frequently made her a companion in her ports. A nymph, thus poffeffed of more than human accomplishments,

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