unmanly impatience that prompted him to feek fhelter in the grove, and despised the perty curiofity that led him on from trifle to trifle. While he was thus reflecting, the air grew blacker, and a clap of thunder broke his meditation.

He now refolved to do what remained yet in his power; to tread back the ground which he bad paffed, and try to find fome iflue where the wood might open into the plain. He proftrated himself on the ground, and commended his life to the Lord of nature. He rose with confidence and tranquillity, and preffed on with his fabre in his hand, for the beafts of the defert were in motion, and on every hand were heard the mingled howls of rage and fear, and ravage and expiration; all the horrors of darkness and folitude furrounded him; the winds roared in the woods, and the torrents tumbled from the hills.

Work'd into fudden rage by wint'ry show'rs, Down the steep hill the roaring torrent pours; The mountain shepherd hears the diftant noife. Thus forlorn and diftreffed, he wandered through the wild, without knowing whither he was going, or whether he was every moment drawing nearer to safety or to deftruction. At length, not fear, but labour, began to overcome him; his breath grew fhort, and his knees trembled, and he was on the point of lying down in refignation to his fate, when he beheld through the brambles the glimmer of a taper. He advanced towards the light, and finding that it proceeded from the cottage of a hermit, he called humbly at the door, and obtained admiffion. The old man fet before him fuch provifions as he had collected for himself, on which Obidah fed with eagernels and gratitude.

When the repaft was over, Tell me,' faid the hermit, by what chance thou haft been brought hither; I have been now twenty years an inhabitant of the wilder nefs, in which I never faw a man before.' Obidah then related the occurrences of his journey, without any concealment or palliation.

Son,' faid the hermit, let the errors and follies, the dangers and efcape of this day, fink deep into thy heart. Remember, my fon, that human life is the journey of a day. We rife in the morning of youth, full of vigour, and full of expectation; we fet forward with spirit and hope, with gaiety and with diligence, and travel on a while in the strait road of piety towards the mansions of rest. In a fhort time we

remit our fervour, and endeavour to find fome mitigation of our duty, and fome more easy means of obtaining the fame end. We then relax our vigour, and refolve no longer to be terrified with crimes at a distance, but rely upon our own conftancy, and venture to approach what we refolve never to touch. We thus enter the bowers of cafe, and repofe in the fhades of fecurity. Here the heart foftens, and vigilance fubfides; we are then willing to enquire whether another advance cannot be made, and whether we may not, at leaft, turn our eyes upon the gardens of pleasure. We approach them with fcruple and hesitation; we enter them, but enter timorous and trembling, and always hope to pafs through them without losing the road of virtue, which we, for a while, keep in our fight, and to which we propose to return. But temptation fucceeds temptation, and one compliance prepares us for another; we in time lofe the happiness of innocence, and folace our difquiet with fenfual gratifications. By degrees we let fall the remembrance of our original intention, and quit the only adequate object of rational defire. We entangle ourselves in business, immerge ourfelves in luxury, and rove through the labyrinths of inconftancy, till the darkness of old age begins to invade us, and disease and anxiety obfruct our way. We then look back upon our lives with horror, with forrow, with repentance; and wish, but too often vainly wish, that we had not forfaken the ways of virtue. Happy are they, my fon, who fhall learn from thy example not to despair, but fhall remember, that though the day is past, and their strength is wafted, there yet remains one effort to be made; that reformation is never hopeless, nor fincere endeavours ever unaffifted; that the wanderer may at length return, after all his errors; and that he who implores ftrength and courage from above, fhall find danger and difficulty give way before him. Go now, my fon, to thy repofe; commit thyself to the care of Omnipotence; and when the morning calls again to toil, begin anew thy journey and thy life.' Rambler.

§ 4. The prefent Life to be confidered only as it may conduce to the Happiness of a future

one.

happy for the space of only threescore and ten years, nay, perhaps, of only twenty or ten years, I might fay, of only a day or an hour, and miferable to all eternity; or, on the contrary, miferable for this fhort term of years, and happy for a whole eternity; what words are fufficient to exprefs that folly and want of confideration which in fuch a cafe makes a wrong choice!

I here put the cafe, even at the worst, by fuppofing (what feldom happens) that a courfe of virtue makes us miferable in this life; but if we fuppofe (as it generally happens) that virtue will make us more happy, even in this life, than a contrary cou fe of vice; how can we fufficiently admire the stupidity or madnefs of those perfons who are capable of making fo abfurd a choice!

Every wife man, therefore, will confider this life only as it may conduce to the happinefs of the other, and chearfully facrifice the pleasures of a few years to thofe of an eternity.

Spectator.

§ 5. The Advantages of a good Education. I confider an human foul without education like marble in the quarry, which fhews none of its inherent beauties, until the fkill of the polisher fetches out the colours, makes the furface fhine, and difcovers every ornamental cloud, fpot, and vein, that runs through the body of it. Education, after the fame manner, when it works upon a noble mind, draws out to view every latent virtue and perfection, which, without fuch helps, are never able to make their appearance.

If my reader will give me leave to change the allufion fo foon upon him, I fhall make use of the fame inllance to illuftrate the force of education, which Arif. totle has brought to explain his doctrine of fubftantial forms, when he tells us that a ftatue lies hid in a block of marble; and that the art of the ftatuary only clears away the fuperfluous matter, and removes the rubbish. The figure is in the ftone, and the fculptor only finds it. What fculpture is to a block of marble, education is to an human foul. The philofopher, the faint, or the hero, the wife, the good, or the great man, very often lie hid and concealed in a plebeian, which a proper education might have dif-interred, and have brought to light. I am therefore much delighted with reading the accounts of favage nions, and with contemplating thofe

virtues which are wild and uncultivated; to fee courage exerting itself in fiercenefs, refolution in obftinacy, wifdom in cunning, patience in fullennefs and despair.

Men's paffions operate varioufly, and appear in different kinds of actions, according as they are more or less rectified and swayed by reason. When one hears of negroes, who upon the death of their mafters, or upon changing their fervice, hang themselves upon the next tree, as it frequently happens in our American plantations, who can forbear admiring their fidelity, though it expreffes itself in fo dreadful a manner? What might not that favage greatness of foul, which appears in thefe poor wretches on many occafions, be raised to, were it rightly cultivated? And what colour of excufe can there be for the contempt with which we treat this part of our fpecies; that we should not put them upon the common foot of humanity; that we fhould only fet an infignificant fine upon the man who murders them; nay, that we should, as much as in us lies, cut them off from the prospects of happiness in another world, as well as in this, and deny them that which we look upon as the proper means for attaining it!

It is therefore an unspeakable bleffing to be born in those parts of the world where wisdom and knowledge flourish; though it must be confeffed there are, even in thefe parts, feveral poor uninftructed perfons, who are but little above the inhabitants of thofe nations of which I have been here fpeaking; as those who have had the advantages of a more liberal education, rise above one another by several different degrees of perfection. For, to return to our ftatue in the block of marble, we fee it fometimes only begun to be chipped, fometimes rough-hewn, and but juft sketched into an human figure; fometimes we fee the man appearing diftinctly in all his limbs and features; fometimes we find the figure wrought up to great elegancy; but feldom meet with any to which the hand of a Phidias or a Praxiteles could not give feveral nice touches and finishings. Spectator.

6. The Disadvantages of a bad Educa

lows the mind to indulge parental affection with greater intenfenefs. My birth was celebrated by the tenants with feafts, and dances, and bagpipes; congratulations were fent from every family within ten miles round; and my parents difcovered, in my first cries, fuch tokens of future virtue and understanding, that they declared themselves determined to devote the remaining part of life to my happiness, and the encrease of their estate.

The abilities of my father and mother were not perceptibly unequal, and education had given neither much advantage over the other. They had both kept good company, rattled in chariots, glittered in playhouses, and danced at court, and were both expert in the games that were in their times called in as auxiliaries against the intrafion of thought.

When there is fuch a parity between two perions affociated for life, the dejection which the hufband, if he be not completely ftupid, muft always fuffer for want of fuperiority, finks him to fubmiffiveness. My mamma therefore governed the family without controul; and, except that my father ftill retained fome authority in the stables, and now and then, after a fupernumerary bottle, broke a looking-glais or china-diin to prove his fovereignty, the whole courfe of the year was regulated by her direction, the fervants received from her all their orders, and the tenants were continued or difmiffed at her difcretion.

She therefore thought herself entitled to the fuperintendance of her fon's education; and when my father, at the inftigation of the parfon, faintly propofed that I fhould be fent to school, very positively told him, that the would not fuffer a fine child to be ruined; that he never knew any boys at a grammar-fchool, that could come into a room without blushing, or fit at the table without fome aukward uneafinefs; that they were always putting themfelves into danger by boisterous plays, or vitiating their behaviour with mean company; and that, for her part, fhe would rather follow me to the grave, than fee me tear my cloaths, and hang down my head, and freak about with dirty fhoes and blotted Engers, my hair unpowdered, and my hat uncocked.

My father, who had no other end in his propofal than to appear wife and manly, foon acquiefced, fince I was not to live by my learning; for indeed, he had known very few ftudents that had not fome ftiff

nefs in their manner. They therefore agreed, that a domeftic tutor fhould be procured; and hired an honeft gentleman of mean converfation and narrow fentiments, but whom having paffed the common forms of literary education, they implicitly concluded qualified to teach all that was to be learned from a fcholar. He thought himself fufficiently exalted by being placed at the fame table with his pupil, and had no other view than to perpetuate his felicity by the utmost flexibility of fubmiflion to all my mother's opinions and caprices. He frequently took away my book, left I fhould mope with too much application, charged me never to write without turning up my ruffles, and generally brushed my coat before he dismissed me into the parlour.

He had no occafion to complain of too burthenfome an employment; for my mother very judiciously confidered, that I was not likely to grow politer in his company, and fuffered me not to pass any more time in his apartment than my leffon required. When I was fummoned to my tafk, the enjoined me not to get any of my tutor's ways, who was feldom mentioned before me but for practices to be avoided. I was every moment admonished not to lean on my chair, crofs my legs, or fwing my hands like my tutor; and once my mother very feriously deliberated upon his total difmiffion, because I began, she faid, to learn his manner of sticking on my hat, and had his bend in my shoulders, and his totter in my gait.

Such, however, was her care, that I escaped all these depravities; and when I was only twelve years old, had rid myself of every appearance of childish diffidence. I was celebrated round the country for the petulance of my remarks, and the quicknefs of my replies; and many a fcholar five years older than myfelf, have I dashed into confufion by the fteadiness of my countenance, filenced by my readiness of repartee, and tortured with envy by the addrefs with which I picked up a fan, prefented a fnuff-box, or received an empty tea-cup.

At fourteen I was compleatly fkilled in all the niceties of drefs, and I could not only enumerate all the variety of filks, and diflinguifh the product of a French loom, but dart my eye through a numerous company, and obferve every deviation from the reigning mode. I was univerfally fkilful in all the changes of

expensive

expensive finery; but as every one, they fay, has fomething to which he is particularly born, was eminently knowing in Bruffels lace.

The next year faw me advanced to the truft and power of adjusting the ceremonial of an affembly. All received their partners from my hand, and to me every ftranger applied for introduction. My heart now difdained the inftructions of a tutor; who was rewarded with a small annuity for life, and left me qualified, in my own opinion, to govern myself.

In a fhort time I came to London, and as my father was well known among the higher claffes of life, foon obtained admiffion to the moft fplendid affemblies, and molt crowded card-tables. Here I found myself univerfally careffed and applauded; the ladies praised the fancy of my clothes, the beauty of my form, and the foftness of my voice; endeavoured in every place to force themfelves to my notice; and invited, by a thousand oblique folicitations, my attendance to the playhoufe, and my falutations in the Park. I was now happy to the utmost extent of my conception; I paffed every morning in drefs, every afternoon in vifits, and every night in some select affemblies, where neither care nor knowledge were fuffered to moleft us.

After a few years, however, thefe delights became familiar, and I had leisure to look round me with more attention. I then found that my flatterers had very little power to relieve the languor of fatiety, or recreate wearinefs, by varied amufement; and therefore endeavoured to enlarge the fphere of my pleasures, and to try what fatisfaction might be found in the fociety of men. I will not deny the mortification with which I perceived that every man whofe name I had heard mentioned with refpect, received me with a kind of tenderness nearly bordering on compaffion; and that thofe whofe reputation was not well established, thought it neceffary to juftify their understandings, by treating me with contempt. One of thefe witlings elevated his creft, by afking me in a full coffee-house the price of patches; and another whispered, that he wondered Mifs Frisk did not keep me that afternoon to watch her fquirrel.

When I found myself thus hunted from all masculine converfation by those who were themselves barely admitted, I returned to the ladies, and refolved to dedicate

my life to their service and their pleasure, But I find that I have now loft my charms Of thofe with whom I entered the gay world, fome are married, fome have re tired, and fome have fo much changed their opinion, that they fcarcely pay any regard to my civilities, if there is any other man in the place. The new fight of beauties, to whom I have made my addreffes, fuffer me to pay the treat, and then titter with boys. So that I now find myself welcome only to a few grave ladies, who, unacquainted with all that gives either ufe or dignity to life, are content to pass their hours between their bed and their cards, without efteem from the old, or reverence from the young.

I cannct but think, Mr. Rambler, that I have reafon to complain; for furely the females ought to pay fome regard to the age of him whofe youth was paffed in endeavours to please them. They that en courage folly in the boy, have no right to punish it in the man. Yet I find, that though they lavish their firft fondness upon pertnefs and gaiety, they foon transfer their regard to other qualities, and ungratefully abandon their adorers to dream out their last years in stupidity and contempt.

I am, &c. Florentulus,

Rambler.

§ 7. Omniscience and Omnipresence of the Deity, together with the Immenfity of bis Works.

I was yesterday, about fun-fet, walking in the open fields, till the night infenfibly fell upon me. I at firft amused my felf with all the richness and variety of colours which appeared in the western parts of heaven: in proportion as they faded away and went out, feveral iters and planets appeared one after another, till the whole firmament was in a glow. The bluenefs of the æther was exceedingly heightened and enlivened by the feafon of the year, and the rays of all thofe luminaries that paffed through it. The galaxy appeared in its moft beautiful white. To complete the fcene, the full moon rofe at length in that clouded majesty which Milton takes notice of, and opened to the eye a new picture of nature, which was more finely fhaded, and difpofed among fofter lights, than that which the fun had before difcovered to us.

As I was furveying the moon walking in her brightnefs, and taking her progres among the conftellations, a thought arofe