our minds the memory of persons, with whom the idea of enjoyment is connected.

It has been justly observed, that discord generally operates in little things; it is inflamed to its utmost vehemence by contrariety of taste, oftener than of principles; and might therefore commonly be avoided by innocent conformity, which, if it was not at first the motive, ought always to be the consequence, of indissoluble

It is commonly, therefore, to little purpose that any one endeavours to ingratiate himself with such as he cannot accompany in their amusements and diversions. Men have been known to rise to favour and to fortune, only by being skilful in the sports with which their patron hap-union. pened to be delighted, by concurring with his taste for some particular species of curiosities, by

relishing the same wine, or applauding the same No. 100.] SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 1751. cookery.

Even those whom wisdom or virtue have placed above regard to such petty recommendations, must nevertheless be gained by similitude of manners. The highest and noblest enjoyment of familiar life, the communication of knowledge and reciprocation of sentiments, must always presuppose a disposition to the same inquiry, and delight in the same discoveries.

Omne vafer vitium ridenti Flaccus amico
Tangit, et admissus circum præcordia ludit.

PERSIUS

Horace, with sly insinuating grace,
Langh'd at his friend, and look'd him in the face;
Would raise a blush where secret vice he found,
And tickle while he gently probed the wound.
With seeming innocence the crowd beguiled,
But made the desperate passes when he smiled.

TO THE RAMBLER.

DRYDEN

With what satisfaction could the politician lay his schemes for the reformation of laws, or his comparison of different forms of government, before the chymist, who has never accustomed his SIR, thoughts to any other object than salt and sul- As very many well-disposed persons, by the un phur? or how could the astronomer, in explain- avoidable necessity of their affairs, are so unfor ing his calculations and conjectures, endure the tunate as to be totally buried in the country, coldness of a grammarian, who would lose sight where they labour under the most deplorable ig of Jupiter and all his satellites, for a happy ety-norance of what is transacting among the polite mology of an obscure word, or a better explication of a controverted line?

Every man loves merit of the same kind with his own, when it is not likely to hinder his advancement or his reputation; for he not only best understands the worth of those qualities which ne labours to cultivate, or the usefulness of the art which he practises with success, but always feels a reflected pleasure from the praises which, though given to another, belong equally to himself.

part of mankind, I cannot help thinking, that, as a public writer, you should take the case of these truly compassionable objects under your consideration.

These unhappy languishers in obscurity should be furnished with such accounts of the employ ments of people of the world, as may engage them in their several remote corners to a lauda ble imitation; or, at least so far inform and pre pare them, that if by any joyful change of situation they should be suddenly transported into There is indeed no need of research and re-the gay scene, they may not gape, and wonder, finement to discover that men must generally select their companions from their own state of life, since there are not many minds furnished for great variety of conversation, or adapted to multiplicity of intellectual entertainments.

The sailor, the academic, the lawyer, the mechanic, and the courtier, have all a cast or look peculiar to their own fraternity, have fixed their attention upon the same events, have been engaged in affairs of the same sort, and make use of allusions and illustrations which themselves only can understand.

To be infected with the jargon of a particular profession, and to know only the language of a single rank of mortals, is indeed sufficiently despicable. But as limits must be always set to the excursions of the human mind, there will be some study which every man more zealously prosecutes, some darling subject on which he is principally pleased to converse; and he that can most inform or best understand him, will certainly be welcomed with particular regard.

Such partiality is not wholly to be avoided, nor is it culpable, unless suffered so far to predominate as to produce aversion from every other kind of excellence, and to shade the lustre of dissimilar virtues. Those, therefore, whom the lot of life has conjoined, should endeavour constantly to approach towards the inclination of each other, invigorate every motion of concurrent desire, and fan every spark of kindred curiosity.

and stare, and be utterly at a loss how to behave and make a proper appearance in it.

It is inconceivable how much the welfare of all the country towns in the kingdom might be promoted, if you would use your charitable endeavours to raise in them a noble emulation of the manners and customs of higher life.

For this purpose you should give a very cleat and ample description of the whole set of polite acquirements; a complete history of forms, fa shions, frolics, of routs, drums, hurricanes, balls, assemblies, ridottos, masquerades, auc tions, plays, operas, puppet-shows, and bear gardens; of all those delights which profitably engage the attention of the most sublime characters, and by which they have brought to such amazing perfection the whole art and mystery of passing day after day, week after week, and year after year, without the heavy assistance of any one thing that formal creatures are pleased to call useful and necessary.

In giving due instructions through what steps to attain this summit of human excellence, you may add such irresistible arguments in its favour, as must convince numbers, who in other instances do not seem to want natural under standing, of the unaccountable error of supposing they were sent into the world for any other pur pose but to flutter, sport, and shine. For, after all, nothing can he clearer than that an everlasting round of diversion, and the more lively

are evidently inadequate to our capacities of enjoyment; conquest serves no purpose but that of kindling ambition, discovery has no effect but of raising expectation; the gratification of one desire encourages another; and, after all our labours, studies, and inquiries, we are continually at the same distance from the completion of our schemes, have still some wish importunate to be satisfied, and some faculty restless and turbulent for want of its enjoyment.

'merce, or the mensuration of time? They were delighted with the splendour of the nocturnal skies, they found that the lights changed their places; what they admired they were anxious to understand, and in time traced their revolutions.

There are indeed, beings in the form of men, who appear satisfied with their intellectual possessions, and seem to live without desire of enlarging their conceptions; before whom the world passes without notice, and who are equally unmoved by nature or art.

The desire of knowledge, though often animated by extrinsic and adventitious motives, This negligence is sometimes only the temposeems on many occasions to operate without rary effect of a predominant passion; a lover subordination to any other principle; we are finds no inclination to travel any path, but that eager to see and hear, without intention of re- which leads to the habitation of his mistress; a ferring our observations to a further end; we trader can pay little attention to common occurclimb a mountain for a prospect of the plain; rences, when his fortune is endangered by a we run to the strand in a storm, that we may storm. It is frequently the consequence of a contemplate the agitation of the water; we total immersion in sensuality; corporeal plearange from city to city, though we profess nei-sures may be indulged till the memory of every ther architecture nor fortification; we cross seas other kind of happiness is obliterated; the mind, only to view nature in nakedness, or magnifi-long habituated to a lethargic and quiescent state, cence in ruins; we are equally allured by novelty of every kind, by a desert or a palace, a cataract or a cavern, by every thing rude and every thing polished, every thing great and every thing little; we do not see a thicket but with some temptation to enter it, nor remark an insect flying before us but with an inclination to pursue it.

This passion is, perhaps, regularly heightened in proportion as the powers of the mind are elevated and enlarged. Lucan therefore introduces Casar speaking with dignity suitable to the grandeur of his designs and the extent of his capacity, when he declares to the high-priest of Egypt, that he has no desire equally powerful with that of finding the origin of the Nile, and that he would quit all the projects of the civil war for a sight of those fountains which had been so long concealed. And Homer, when he would furnish the Sirens with a temptation, to which his hero, renowned for wisdom, might yield without disgrace, makes them declare, that none ever departed from them but with increase of knowledge.

is unwilling to wake to the toil of thinking; and though she may sometimes be disturbed by the obtrusion of new ideas, shrinks back again to ignorance and rest.

But, indeed, if we except them to whom the continual task of procuring the supports of life denies all opportunities of deviation from their own narrow track, the number of such as live without the ardour of inquiry is very small, though many content themselves with cheap amusements, and waste their lives in researches of no importance.

There is no snare more dangerous to busy and excursive minds, than the cobwebs of petty inquisitiveness, which entangle them in trivial employments and minute studies, and detain them in a middle state, between the tediousness of total inactivity, and the fatigue of laborious efforts, enchant them at once with ease and novelty, and vitiate them with the luxury of learning The necessity of doing something, and the fear of undertaking much, sinks the historian to a genealogist, the philosopher to a journalist of the weather, and the mathematician to a constructor of dials.

It is happy when those who cannot content themselves to be idle, nor resolve to be industrious, are at least employed without injury to others; but it seldom happens that we can contain ourselves long in a neutral state, or forbear to sink into vice, when we are no longer soaring towards virtue.

There is, indeed, scarce any kind of ideal ac quirement which may not be applied to some use, or which may not at least gratify pride with occasional superiority; but whoever attends the motions of his own mind will find, that upon the first appearance of an object, or the first start of a question, his inclination to a nearer view, or more accurate discussion, precedes all thoughts of profit, or of competition, and that his desires Nugaculus was distinguished in his earlier take wing by instantaneous impulse, though their years by an uncommon liveliness of imagination, flight may be invigorated, or their efforts renew-quickness of sagacity, and extent of knowledge ed, by subsequent considerations. The gratifi- When he entered into life, he applied himsel. cation of curiosity rather frees us from uneasi- with particular inquisitiveness to examine the ness than confers pleasure; we are more pained various motives of human actions, the compli by ignorance than delighted by instruction. Cu-cated influence of mingled affections, the differ riosity is the thirst of the soul; it inflames and torments us, and makes us taste every thing with joy, however, otherwise insipid, by which it may be quenched.

It is evident that the earliest searchers after knowledge must have proposed knowledge only as their reward; and that science, though perhaps the nursling of interest, was the daughter of curiosity: for who can believe that they who first watched the course of the stars, foresaw the use of their discoveries to the facilitation of com

ent modifications of interest and ambition, and the various causes of miscarriage and success both in public and private affairs.

Though his friends did not discover to what purpose all these observations were collected, or how Nugaculus would much improve his virtue or his fortune by an incessant attention to changes of countenance, bursts of inconsideration, sallies of passion, and all the other casualities by which he used to trace a character, yet they could not deny the study of human nature to be worthy of

The report presently spread through half the country that Demochares was arrived, and had brought with him the celebrated Hilarius, by whom such merriment would be excited, as had never been enjoyed or conceived before. I knew, indeed, the purpose for which I was invited, and, as men do not look diligently out for pos sibie miscarriages, was pleased to find myself courted upon principles of interest, and considered as capable of reconciling factions, composing feuds, and uniting a whole province in

were of the same age with myself; and, finding | a man whose abilities were so generally allowed. that my academical gravity contributed very little to my reputation, applied my faculties to jocularity and burlesque. Thus, in a short time, I had heated my imagination to such a state of activity and ebullition, that upon every occasion it fumed away in bursts of wit, and evaporations of gayety. I became on a sudden the idol of the coffeehouse, was in one winter solicited to accept the presidentship of five clubs, was dragged by viofence to every new play, and quoted in every controversy upon theatrical merit; was in every public place surrounded by a multitude of hum-social happiness. ble auditors, who retailed in other places of resort my maxims and my jests, and was boasted as their intimate and companion by many, who had no other pretensions to my acquaintance, than that they had drank chocolate in the same

room.

After a few days spent in adjusting his domestic regulations, Demochares invited all the gentlemen of his neighbourhood to dinner, and did not forget to hint how much my presence was expected to heighten the pleasure of the feast. He informed me what prejudices my reputation had raised in my favour, and represented the satisfaction with which he should see me kindle up the blaze of merriment, and should remark the various effects that my fire would have upon such

You will not wonder, Mr. Rambler, that I mention my success with some appearance of triumph and elevation. Perhaps no kind of superiority is more flattering or alluring than that which is conferred by the powers of conversa-diversity of matter. tion, by extemporaneous sprightliness of fancy, copiousness of language, and fertility of sentiment. In other exertions of genius, the greater part of the praise is unknown and unenjoyed; the writer, indeed, spreads his reputation to a wider extent, but receives little pleasure or advantage from the diffusion of his name, and only obtains a kind of nominal sovereignty over regions which pay no tribute. The colloquial wit has always his own radiance reflected on himself, and enjoys all the pleasure which he bestows; he finds his power confessed by every one that approaches him, sees friendship kindling with rapture, and attention swelling into praise.

The desire which every man feels of importance and esteem, is so much gratified by finding an assembly, at his entrance, brightened with gladness and hushed with expectation, that the recollection of such distinctions can scarcely fail to be pleasing whensoever it is innocent. And my conscience does not reproach me with any mean or criminal effects of vanity; since I always employed my influence on the side of virtue, and never sacrificed my understanding or my religion to the pleasure of applause.

This declaration, by which he intended to quicken my vivacity, filled me with solicitude. I felt an ambition of shining which I never knew before; and was therefore embarrassed with an unusual fear of disgrace. I passed the night in planning out to myself the conversation of the coming day; recollected all my topics of raillery, proposed proper subjects of ridicule, prepared smart replies to a thousand questions, accommodated answers to imaginary repartees, and form. ed a magazine of remarks, apophthegms, tales, and illustrations.

The morning broke at last in the midst of these busy meditations. I rose with the palpitations of a champion on the day of combat; and, notwithstanding all my efforts, found my spirits sunk under the weight of expectation. The company soon after began to drop in, and every one, at his entrance, was introduced to Hilarius. What conception the inhabitants of this region had formed of a wit, I cannot yet discover; but observed that they all seemed, after the regular exchange of compliments, to turn away disappointed; and that while we waited for dinner, they cast their eyes first upon me and then upon each other, like a theatrical assembly waiting for a show.

There were many whom either the desire of enjoying my pleasantry, or the pride of being From the uneasiness of this situation, I was thought to enjoy it, brought often into my com- relieved by the dinner; and as every attention pany: but I was caressed in a particular manner was taken up by the business of the hour, I by Demochares, a gentleman of large estate, and sunk quietly to a level with the rest of the coma liberal disposition. My fortune being by no pany. But no sooner were the dishes removed, means exuberant, inclined me to be pleased with than, instead of cheerful confidence and familiar a friend who was willing to be entertained at his prattle, a universal silence again showed their own charge. I became by daily invitations ha- expectation of some unusual performance. My bituated to his table, and, as he believed my ac-friend endeavoured to rouse them by healths and quaintance necessary to the chart.cter of elegance, which he was desirous of establishing, I lived in all the luxury of affluence, without expense, or dependence, and passed my life in a I had waited in hope of some opportunity to perpetual reciprocation of pleasure, with men divert them, but could find no pass opened for a brought together by similitude of accomplish-single sally; and who can be merry without an ments, or desire of improvement. object of mirth? After a few faint efforts, which But all power has its sphere of activity, be- produced neither applause nor opposition, I was yond which it produces no effect. Demochares content to mingle with the mass, to put round the being called by his affairs into the country, ima-glass in silence, and solace myself with my own gined that he should increase his popularity by contemplations.

questions, but they answered him with great brevity, and immediately relapsed into their former taciturnity.

coming among his neighbours accompanied by My friend looked round him: the guests

stared at one another; and if now and then a few syllables were uttered with timidity and hesitation, there was none ready to make any reply. All our faculties were frozen, and every minute took away from our capacity of pleasing, and disposition to be pleased. Thus passed the hours to which so much happiness was decreed; the hours which had, by a kind of open proclamation, been devoted to wit, to mirth, and to Hilarius.

scenes: we first leave childhood behind us, then youth, then the years of ripened manhood, then the better and more pleasing part of old age." The perusal of this passage having excited in me a train of reflections on the state of man, the incessant fluctuation of his wishes, the gra dual change of his disposition to all external objects, and the thoughtlessness with which he floats along the stream of time, I sunk into a slumber amidst my meditations, and, on a sudden, found my ears filled with the tumult of labour, the shouts of alacrity, the shrieks of alarm, the whistle of winds, and the dash of

At last the night came on, and the necessity of parting freed us from the persecutions of each other. I heard them as they walked along the court, murmuring at the loss of the day, and in-waters. quiting whether any man would pay a second visit to a house haunted by a wit?

My astonishment for a time repressed my cu. riosity; but soon recovering myself so far as to Demochares, whose benevolence is greater inquire whither we were going, and what was than his penetration, having flattered his hopes the cause of such clamour and confusion, I was with the secondary honour which he was to gain told that we were launching out into the ocean by my sprightliness and elegance, and the affec- of life; that we had already passed the streights tion with which he should be followed for a per- of infancy, in which multitudes had perished, petual banquet of gayety, was not able to con- some by the weakness and fragility of their ves ceal his vexation and resentment, nor would ea- sels, and more by the folly, perverseness, or nesily be convinced, that I had not sacrificed his in-gligence, of those who undertook to steer them; terest to sullenness and caprice, and studiously and that we were now on the main sea, abanendeavoured to disgust his guests, and suppress-doned to the winds and billows, without any ed my powers of delighting, in obstinate and premeditated silence. I am informed that the reproach of their ill reception is divided by the gentlemen of the country between us; some being of opinion that my friend is deluded by an impostor, who, though he has found some art of gaining his favour, is afraid to speak before men of more penetration; and others concluding, that I think only London the proper theatre of my abilities, and disdain to exert my genius for the praise of rustics.

other means of security than the care of the pi lot, whom it was always in our power to choose among great numbers that offered their direction and assistance.

I then looked round with anxious eagerness; and first turning my eyes behind me, saw a stream flowing through flowery islands, which every one that sailed along seemed to behold with pleasure: but no sooner touched, than the current, which, though not noisy or turbulent, was yet irresistible, bore him away. Beyond these islands all was darkness, nor could any of the passengers describe the shore at which he first embarked.

I believe, Mr. Rambler, that it has sometimes happened to others, who have the good or ill fortune to be celebrated for wits, to fall under the same censures upon the like occasions. I Before me, and on each side, was an expanse hope, therefore, that you will prevent any mis- of waters violently agitated, and covered with representations of such failures, by remarking, so thick a mist, that the most perspicacious eye that invention is not wholly at the command could see but a little way. It appeared to be of its possessor; that the power of pleasing is full of rocks and whirlpools, for many sunk unvery often obstructed by the desire; that all expectedly while they were courting the gale expectation lessens surprise, yet some surprise with full sails, and insulting those whom they is necessary to gayety; and that those who de- had left behind. So numerous, indeed, were sire to partake of the pleasure of wit must con- the dangers, and so thick the darkness, that no tribute to its production, since the mind stag-caution could confer security. Yet there were nates without external ventilation, and that effervescence of the fancy, which flashes into transport, can be raised only by the infusion of dis

many, who, by false intelligence, betrayed their followers into whirlpools, or by violence pushed those whom they found in their way against the rocks.

The current was invariable and insurmountable; but though it was impossible to sail agains! it, or to return to the place that was once passed, yet it was not so violent as to allow no opportunities for dexterity or courage, since, though none could retreat back from danger, yet they might often avoid it by oblique direction.

It was, however, not very common to steer with much care or prudence; for by some universal infatuation, every man appeared to think himself safe, though he saw his consorts every moment sinking round him; and no sooner had the waves closed over them, than their fate and their misconduct were forgotten; the voyage was pursued with the same jocund confidence; every man congratulated himself upon the soundness of his vessel, and believed himself able to stem the whirlpool in which his friend was swal

lowed, or glide over the rocks on which he was dashed; nor was it often observed that the sight of a wreck made any man change his course; if he turned aside for a moment, he soon forgot the rudder, and left himself again to the disposal of chance.

This negligence did not proceed from indifference or from weariness of their present condition; for not one of those who thus rushed upon destruction, failed, when he was sinking, to call loudly upon his associates for that help which could not now be given him; and many spent their last moments in cautioning others against the folly by which they were intercepted in the midst of their course. Their benevolence was sometimes praised, but their admonitions were unregarded.

Reason was too often prevailed upon so far by these promises, as to venture her charge within the eddy of the gulf of Intemperance, where indeed, the circumvolution was weak, but yet interrupted the course of the vessel, and drew it, by insensible rotations, towards the centre. She then repented her temerity, and with all her force endeavoured to retreat; but the draught of the gulf was generally too strong to be overcome; and the passenger, having danced in circles with a pleasing and giddy velocity, was at last overwhelmed and lost. Those few whom Reason was able to extricate, generally suffered so many shocks upon the points which shot out from the rocks of Pleasure, that they were unable to continue their course with the same strength and facility as before, but floated along The vessels in which we had embarked being timorously and feebly, endangered by every confessedly unequal to the turbulence of the breeze, and shattered by every ruffle of the wastream of life, were visibly impaired in the course ter, till they sunk, by slow degrees, after long of the voyage; so that every passenger was cer- struggles, and innumerable expedients, always tain, that how long soever he might, by favour-repining at their own folly, and warning others able accidents, or by incessant vigilance, be pre- against the first approach of the gulf of Intemserved, he must sink at last. perance.

This necessity of perishing might have been There were artists who professed to repair the expected to sadden the gay, and intimidate the breaches and stop the leaks of the vessels which daring, at least to keep the melancholy and ti- had been shattered on the rocks of Pleasure. morous in perpetual torments, and hinder them Many appeared to have great confidence in from any enjoyment of the varieties and gratifi- their skill, and some, indeed, were preserved cations which nature offered them as the solace by it from sinking, who had received only a of their labours; yet in effect, none seemed less single blow; but I remarked that few vessels to expect destruction than those to whom it was lasted long which had been much repaired, nor most dreadful; they all had the art of conceal-was it found that the artists themselves continued ing their danger from themselves; and those afloat longer than those who had least of their who knew their inability to bear the sight of the assistance. terrors that embarrassed their way, took care The only advantage which in the voyage of never to look forward, but found some amuse-life, the cautious had above the negligent, was, ment for the present moment, and generally entertained themselves by playing with Hope, who was the constant associate of the voyage of life.

Yet all that Hope ventured to promise, even to those whom she favoured most, was, not that they should escape, but that they should sink last; and with this promise every one was satisfied, though he laughed at the rest for seeming to believe it. Hope, indeed, apparently mocked the credulity of her companions; for, in proportion as their vessels grew leaky, she redoubled her assurances of safety; and none were more busy in making provisions for a long voyage, than they whom all but themselves saw likely to perish soon by irreparable decay,

that they sunk later, and more suddenly! for they passed forward till they had sometimes seen all those in whose company they had issued from the streights of infancy, perish in the way, and at last were overset by a cross breeze, without the toil of resistance, or the anguish of expectation. But such as had often fallen against the rocks of Pleasure, commonly subsided by sensible degrees, contended long with the encroaching waters, and harassed themselves by labours that scarce Hope herself could flatter with success.

As I was looking upon the various fate of the multitude about me, I was suddenly alarmed with an admonition from some unknown Power: "Gaze not idly upon others, when thou thyself art sinking. Whence is this thoughtless tranquillity, when thou and they are equally endangered?" I looked, and seeing the gulf of Intemperance before me, started and

No. 103.]

In the midst of the current of life was the gulf of Intemperance, a dreadful whirlpool, interspersed with rocks, of which the pointed crags were concealed under water, and the tops covered with herbage, on which Ease spread couches of re-awaked. pose, and with shades, where Pleasure warbled the song of invitation. Within sight of these rocks all who sailed on the ocean of life must necessarily pass. Reason, indeed, was always at hand to steer the passengers through a narrow outlet by which they might escape; but very few could, by her entreaties or remonstrances, be induced to put the rudder into her hand, without stipulating that she should approach so near unto the rocks of Pleasure, that they might solace themselves with a short enjoyment of that delicious region, after which they always determined to pursue their course without any other deviation.

TUESDAY, MARCH 12, 1751.

JUV.

Scire volunt secreta domus, atque inde timeri.
They search the secrets of the house, and so
Are worshipped there, and fear'd for what they know.

DRYDEN.

CURIOSITY is one of the permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect. Every advance into knowledge opens new prospects, and produces new incitements to further progress. All the attainments possible in our present state