THE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD; OR, LETTERS FROM A Chinese Hhilosopher, RESIDING IN LONDON, TO HIS FRIENDS IN THE EAST. BY DR GOLDSMITH. VOLUME BLI London: PUBLISHED BY VERNOR, HOOD, & SHARPE, FOULTRY; AND PRINTED FOR, AND SOLD BY J. ROBERTSON, 270. д. g. 722. THE EDITOR'S PREFACE. THE Schoolmen had formerly a very exact way of computing the abilities of their saints or authors. Escobar, for instance, was said to have learning as five, genius as four, and gravity as seven. Caramuel was greater than be. His learning was as eight, his genius as six, and bis gravity as thirteen. Were I to estimate the merits of our Chinese Philosopher by the same scale, I would not hesitate to state his genius still higher ; but as to his learning and gravity, these, I think, might safely be marked as nine hundred and ninety-nine, within one degree of absolute frigidity. Yet, upon his first appearance here, many were angry not to find him as ignorant as a Tripoline ambassador, or an envoy from Mujac. They were surprised to find a man born so far from London, that school of prudence and wisdom, endued even with a moderate capacity. They expressed the same surprise at his knowledge, that the Chinese do at ours. "How comes it, (said they), that the Europeans, so remote from China, think with so much justice and precision? They have never read our books, they scarcely know even our letters, and 99 yet they talk and reason just as we do *. The truth is, the Chinese and we are pretty much alike. Different degrees of refinement, and not of distance, mark the distinctions among mankind. Savages of the most opposite climates have all but one charac ter of improvidence and rapacity ; and tuiqred nations, however separate, make use of the very same methods to procure refined enjoyment. The distinctions of polite nations are few ; but such as are peculiar to the Chinese appear in every page of the following correspondence. The metaphors and allusions are all drawn from the East. Their formality our author carefully preserves, Many of their favourite tenets in morals are illustrated. The Chinese are always concise, so is be : Simple so is he. The Chinese are grave and sententious, so is he. But, in one particular, the resemblance is peculiarly striking; the Chinese are often dull, and so is he. Nor bas my assistance been wanting. We are told, in an old romance, of a certain knight-errant and his horse who contracted an intimate friendship. The horse most usually bore the knight; but, in cases of extraor dinary dispatch, the knight returned the favour, and carried his horse. Thus, in the intimacy between my author and me, he has usually given me a list of his Eastern sublimity, and I have sometimes given him a return of my colloquial ease. Yet it appears strange, in this season of panegy ric when scarce an author passes unpraised, either * Le Compte, vol. 1. P. 210. by his friends or himself, that such merits as our Philosopher's should be forgotten. While the epi-. thets of ingenious, copious, elaborate, and refined are lavished among the mob, like medals at a corona. tion, the lucky prizes fall on every side, but not one on him. I could, on this occasion, make myself melancholy, by considering the capriciousness of public taste, or the mutability of fortune: but, during this fit of morality, lest my reader should sleep, I'll take a nap myself, and, when I awake, tell him my dream. I imagined the Thames was frozen over, and I stood by its side. Several looths were erected upon the ice, and I was told by one of the spectators, that FASHION FAIR was going to begin. He added, that every author who should carry his works there, might probably find a very good reception. I was resolved however to observe the bumours of the place in safety from the shore, sensible that ice was at best precarious, and having been always a little cowardly in my sleep. Several of my acquaintance seemed much more bardy than I, and went over the ice with intrepidi ty. Some carried their works to the fair on sledges,. some on carts, and those which were more voluminous, were conveyed in waggons. Their temerity astonished me. Iknew their cargoes were heavy, and expected every moment they would have gone to the bottom. They all entered the fair, however, in 1 |