nary ardour. This put them upon various methods for facilitating the instruction of youth; and by the improvements which they made in it, they have contributed so much towards the progress of polite learning, that on this account they have merited well of society. Nor has the Order of Jesuits been successful only in teaching the elements of literature; it has produced likewise eminent masters in many branches of science, and can alone boast of a greater number of ingenious authors than all the other religious fraternities taken together.

But it is in the new world that the Jesuits have exhibited the most wonderful display of their abilities, and have contributed most effectually to the benefit of the human species, The conquerors of that unfortunate quarter of the globe acted at first as if they had nothing in view, but to plunder, to enslave, and to exterminate its inhabitants. The Jesuits alone made humanity the object of their settling there. About the beginning of the last century they obtained admission into the fertile province of Paraguay, which stretches across the southern continent of America, from the east side of the immense ridge of the Andes, to the confines of the Spanish and Portuguese settlements on the banks of the river de la Plata. They found the inhabitants in a state little different from that which takes place among men when they first begin to unite together; strangers to the arts; subsisting precariously by hunting or fishing; and hardly acquainted with the first principles of subordination and government. The Jesuits set themselves to instruct and civilize these savages. They taught them to cultivate the ground, to rear tame animals, and to build houses. They brought them to live together in villages. They trained them to arts and manufactures. They made them taste the sweets of society; and accustomed them

to

to the blessings of security and order. These people became the subjects of their benefactors; who have governed them with a tender attention, resembling that with which a father directs his children. Respected and beloved almost to adoration, a few Jesuits presided over some hundred thousand Indians. They maintained a perfect equality among all the members of the community. Each of them was obliged to labour, not for himself alone, but for the public. The produce of their fields, together with the fruits of their industry of every species, were deposited in common storehouses, from which each individual received every thing necessary for the supply of his wants. By this institution, almost all the passions which disturb the peace of society, and render the members of it unhappy, were extinguished. A few magistrates, chosen from among their countrymen by the Indians themselves, watched over the public tranquility, and secured obedience to the laws. The sanguinary punishments frequent under other governments were unknown. An admonition from a Jesuit, a slight mark of infamy, or, on some singular occasion, a few lashes with a whip, were sufficient to maintain good order among these innocent and happy people."

Sir,

SECTION IV.

To the Devonshire Adventurer.

That the age of innocence and simplicity, if such an age ever existed, is now fully passed, I deem not to be denied. However we may admire that ingenuous spirit,

which

which being good itself, delights to believe good of all the world, we must at the same time lament, that the belief is founded in error and in inexperience; and that he, who thinks thus, and acts through life with such opinions, is destined to be bitterly deceived. Man is naturally prone to evil; but more especially if he be a member of a very prosperous society. Plenty and greatness and fame have ancient and sure attendants in disease, corruption and dishonesty. The high roads to enjoyment are then opened wide, and the throngs which frequent them hear no advisers, but press down and level without delay every guard which prudence might interpose, every obstacle which sense or virtue might set up. The Goddess beckons from the bowers of her delight; and vice and the passions urge on her votaries, concealing those abhorrent features, which simple manners might discern, beneath affected smiles and artificial beauty.

This, it will be said, is no new discovery; certainly not: but if we perceive these things, why are there no attempts to correct them? Is any man so insane, as not to turn from an opening chasm? Are we all so sunk in vice, as to have become incapable of answering to the call of virtue? On the contrary, I believe, most of us, in the unfrequent hour of reflection, recoil from the humiliating scene. The darkest mind will sometimes be penetrated by the light of truth, and yearn, though but for a moment, after the lost glories of virtue. If we be therefore now and then open to conviction, why do we omit to profit

*In this, every one must agree with' Durotrigius, since it has ever been the fashion to rail at the age, and to condemn the present times as exceeding all others in depravity. Persons of this disposition however are wanted now and then to chastise the natural presumption of human nature.

fit by the genial power, while it is yet with us? Why do we not inquire into the cause of those evils, that we behold around us; why do we not endeavour to plant the first barrier to their progress; and kindling as we go with flame of virtue, strip them of their pleasing forms and allurements, and pursue the means most likely to subdue them?

This generous task has called forth abundance of zeal and ability. But unfortunately for the cause of truth, while the great and apparent channels have been cleansed, the secret and less suspected streams of corruption yet roll on unheeded. The petty vices of the poor, the ruinous habits of the rich, the weakness and folly of government, the errors and perplexities of legislation, the corruption of constitutional laws, and the ignorance or venality of statesmen, are themes, on which all the shafts of satire, all the strength of wisdom, all the vehemence of indignation have been aimed and exhausted. But these are only the prominent features in the picture; what is in the back-ground? Lo! behold the cradle, the nurse, the tutor, education, parents, children, the secrets of privacy, love, intrigue, and a long et cetera. Whence ceed all those who now stand conspicuous on the theatre of the world, but from the bosom of retirement? At home the seeds of every human quality are sown. Hence originated every good and every evil principle which can adorn or disgrace the future manhood.

pro

Let us not then judge of men as they appear in public capacities and eminent stations, but let us follow them into the depths of their privacy, and draw aside the veil which a false delicacy has thrown over their personal and domestic affairs. Nothing can be rightly estimated if its externals only are known. The countenance of the world is not that of the heart. In public the mind is

biassed

biassed by the compulsory dictates of custom, but in private it is open to every encroachment of fancy or passion. However external objects may divert the attention for a time, the mind will infallibly recur to whatever filled it strongly in privacy; and this will insensibly weave and incorporate itself with the general conduct. If we believe, that in judging of vice and virtue, we need only regard publicity, we certainly deceive ourselves: because life is not usually passed in public transactions, which the public eye sees, and the public mind canvasses, but rather in small and annoted operations, which take place in the narrow circles of individuals.

It is wisely said by a great writer, *" Though the passions of little minds, acting in low stations, do not fill the world with bloodshed and devastation, nor mark by great events the periods of time, yet they torture the breast on which they seize, infest those placed within the reach of their influence, destroy private quiet and private virtue, and undermine insensibly the happiness of the world." Now how far the passions of little minds, whether acting in low or high stations, prevail in the present day, I will leave to the experience of my readers to determine. I only assume the position, that whenever private quiet and private virtue are destroyed, the public welfare rests on a very uncertain foundation. Few, if any, can act judiciously or conscientiously in public, whose private hours are tortured by uneasy thoughts and turbulent desires. The interests, both of nations and of families, can scarcely be well managed but by men, whose hands are clean of iniquity, and whose minds are undistracted by ambition and guilt. All this goes but to establish the trite proverb, that all which glitters is not gold. It

may

Either in the Rambler or Adventurer.