much freightned and confined as in numerous Affemblies.' When a Multitude meet together upon any Subject of Dilcourse their Debates are taken up chiefly with Forms and general Pofitions; nay, if we come into a more contracted Affembly of Men and Women, the Talk generally runs upon the Weather, Fashions, News, and the like publick Topicks. In Proportion, as Converfation gets into Clubs and Knots of Friends, it defcends into Particulars, and grows more free and communicative: But the most open, inftructive, and unreferved Difcourfe, is that which paffes between two Perfons who are familiar and intimate Friends. On thefe Occafions, a Man gives a Loose to every Pallion and every Thought that is uppermoft, difco vers his most retired Opinions of Perfons and Things, tries the Beauty and Strength of his Sentiments, and expofes his whole Soul to the Examination of his Friend.

TULLY was the first who obferved, that Friendship improves Happinefs and abates Mifery, by the doubling of our Joy and dividing of our Grief; a Thought in which he hath been followed by all the Effayers upon Friendfhip, that have written fince his Time. Sir Francis Ba con has finely defcribed other Advantages, or, as he calls them, Fruits of Friendship; and indeed there is no Subject of Morality which has been better handled and more exhaufted than this. Among the feveral fine things which have been spoken of it, I fhall beg Leave to quote fome out of a very ancient Author, whofe Book would be regarded by our Modern Wits as one of the moft fhining Tracts of Morality that is extant, if it appeared under the Name of a Confucius, or of any celebrated Grecian Philo, fopher: I mean the little Apocryphal Treatife entitled, The Wisdom of the Son of Sirach. How finely has he defcribed the Art of making Friends, by an obliging and affable Behaviour? And laid down that Precept which a late excellent Author has delivered as his own, ‹ That we should have many Well-wishers, but few Friends. Sweet Language will multiply Friends; and a fair-fpeaking Tongue will encrease kind Greetings. Be in Peace with many, nevertheless have but oneCounsellor of a thousand. With what Prudence does he caution us in the Choice of our Friends? And with what Strokes of Nature (I could almost say of Humour) has he defcribed the Behaviour of a treacherous VOL. I

M

and

and felf-interested Friend? If thou would't get a Friend, prove him firft, and be not hafty to credit him: For fome Man is a Friend for his own Occafion, and will not abide in the Day of thy Trouble. And there is a Friend who being turned to Enmity and Strife will discover thy Reproach. Again, Some Friend is a Companion at the Table, and will not continue in the Day of thy Affliction: But in thy Profperity he will be as thy felf, and will be bold over thy Servants. If thou be brought low he will be against thee, and hide himself from thy Face. What can be more ftrong and pointed than the following Verfe? Separate thy felf from thine Enemies, and take Heed of thy Friends. In the next Words he particularizes one of thofe Fruits of Friendship which is described at length by the two famous Authors above-mentioned, and falls into a general Elogium of Friendship, which is very juft as well as very fublime. A faithful Friend is a strong Defence; and he that hath found fuch an one, hath found a Treafure. Nothing doth countervail a faithful Friend, and his Excellency is unvaluable. A faithful Friend is the Medicine of Life; and they that fear the Lord fhall find him. Whofo feareth the Lord fhall direct his Friendship aright; for as he is, fo fhall his Neighbour (that is his Friend) be alfe. I do not remember to have met with any Saying that has pleafed me more than that of a Friend's being the Medicine of Life, to exprefs the Efficacy of Friendship in healing the Pains and Anguish which naturally cleave to our Exiftence in this World; and am wonderfully pleased with the Turn in the laft Sentence, That a virtuous Man fhall as a Bleffing meet with a Friend who is as virtuous as himself. There is another Saying in the fame Author, which would have been very much admired in an Heathen Writer; Forfake not an old Friend, for the new is not comparable to him: A new Friend is as new Wine; when it is old thou shalt drink it with Pleasure. With what Strength of Allufion, and Force of Thought, has he defcribed the Breaches and Violations of Friendship? Whofe cafteth a Stone at the Birds frayeth them away; and he that upbraideth his Friend, breaketh Friendship. Tho' thou draweft a Sword at a Friend yet despair not, for there may be a returning to Favour: if thou haft opened thy Mouth against thy Friend fear not, for there may be a Reconciliation; except for Upbraiding, or Pride, or difclofing of Secrets, or a treache

H

rous Wound; for, for these things every Friend will depart. We may obferve in this and feveral other Precepts in this Author, thofe little familiar Instances and Illuftrations which are so much admired in the moral Writings of Horace and Epictetus. There are very beautiful Inftances of this Nature in the following Paffages, which are likewise written upon the fame Subject: Whofe difcovereth Secrets lofeth his Credit, and shall never find a Friend to his Mind. Love thy Friend and be faithful unto him; but if thou bewrayeft his Secrets, follow no more after him: For as a Man hath deftroyed his Enemy, fo haft thou loft the Love of thy Friend; as one that letteth a Bird go out of his Hand, fo haft thou let thy Friend go, and shalt not get him again: Follow after him no more, for he is too far off; he is as a Roe escaped out of the Snare. As for a Wound it may be bound up, and after reviling there may be Reconciliation; but he that bewrayeth Secrets, is without Hope.

AMONG the feveral Qualifications of a good Friend,
this wife Man has very juftly fingled out Conftancy and
Faithfulness as the principal: To thefe, others have added
Virtue, Knowledge, Difcretion, Equality in Age and
Fortune, and, as Cicero calls it, Morum Comitas, a Plea-
fantnefs of Temper. If I were to give my Opinion up-
on fuch an exhaufted Subject, I fhould join to these o-
ther Qualifications a certain Æquability or Evenness of
Behaviour. A Man often contracts a Friendship with one.
whom perhaps he does not find out 'till after a Year's
Converfation; when on a fudden fome latent ill Humour
breaks out upon him, which he never difcovered or fu-
fpected at his firft entering into an Intimacy with him.
There are feveral Perfons who in fome certain Periods of
their Lives are inexpreffibly agreeable, and in others as
odious and deteftable. Martial has given us a very pret-
ty Picture of one of this Species in the following Epigram;
Difficilis, facilis, jucundus, acerbus es idem,
Nec tecum poffum vivere, nec fine te.

In all thy Humours, whether grave or mellow,
Thou'rt fuch a touchy, testy, pleasant Fellow;
Haft fo much Wit, and Mirth, and Spleen about thee,
There is no living with thee, nor without thee.

It is very unlucky for a Man to be entangled in a Friendfhip with one, who by these Changes and Viciffitudes of Humour is fometimes amiable and fometimes odious: And as moft Men are at fometimes in an admirable Frame and Difpofition of Mind, it fhould be one of the greatest Tasks of Wisdom to keep our felves well when we are fo, and never to go out of that which is the agreeable Part of our Character. C

N® 69.

Saturday, May 19.

Hic fegetes, illic veniunt felicius uva:
Arborei fatus alibi, atque injuffa virefcunt
Gramina. Nonne vides, croceos ut Imolus odores,
India mittit ebur, moiles fua thura Sabai?
At Chalybes nudi ferrum, virofaque Pontus
Caftorea, Eliadum palmas Epirus equarum?
Continuo has leges aternaque foilera certis
Impofuit Natura locis

T

Vir.

HERE is no Place in the Town which I fo much love to frequent as the Royal Exchange. It gives me a fecret Satisfaction, and, in fome meafure, gratifies my Vanity, as I am an Englishman, to see so rich an Affembly of Country-men and Foreigners confulting together upon the private Bufinefs of Mankind, and ma king this Metropolis a kind of Emporium for the whole Earth. I must confefs I look upon High-Change to be a great Council, in which all confiderable Nations have their Reprefentatives. Factors in the Trading World are what Ambaffadors are in the Politick World; they negotiate Affairs, conclude Treaties, and maintain a good Cor refpondence between those wealthy Societies of Men that are divided from one another by Seas and Oceans, or live on the different Extremities of a Continent. I have often been pleased to hear Difputes adjusted between an Inhabitant of Japan and an Alderman of London, or to fee a Subject of the Great Mogul entering into a League with one of the Czar of Mufcovy. I am infinitely delighted in mixing with thefe feveral Minifters of Commerce, as they are diftinguished by their different Walks and differ

ent

ent Languages: Sometimes I am juftled among a Body of Armenians: Sometimes I am loft in a Crowd of Jews; and sometimes make one in a Groupe of Dutchmen. İ am a Dane, Swede, or Frenchman at different times; or rather fancy my felf like the old Philofopher, who upon being asked what Country-man he was, replied, That he was a Citizen of the World.

THOUGH I very frequently vifit this bufie Multitude of People, I am known to no body there but my Friend Sir ANDREW, who often fmiles upon me as he fees me buftling in the Crowd, but at the fame time connives at my Prefence without taking any further Notice of me. There is indeed a Merchant of Egypt, who just knows me by fight, having formerly remitted me fome Money to Grand Cairo; but as I am not versed in the Modern Coptick, our Conferences go no further than a Bow and a Grimace.

THIS grand Scene of Bufinefs gives me an infinite Variety of folid and fubftantial Entertainments. As I am a great Lover of Mankind, my Heart naturally overflows with Pleasure at the fight of a profperous and happy Multitude, infomuch that at many publick Solemnities I cannot forbear expreffing my Joy with Tears that have ftoln down my Cheeks. For this Reafon I am wonderfully delighted to fee fuch a Body of Men thriving in their own private Fortunes, and at the fame time promoting the Publick Stock; or in other Words, raifing Eftates for their own Families, by bringing into their Country whatever is wanting, and carrying out of it whatever is fuperfluous.

NATURE feems to have taken a particular Care to diffeminate her Bleffings among the different Regions of the World, with an Eye to this mutual Intercourfe and Traffick among Mankind, that the Natives of the feveral Parts of the Globe might have a kind of Dependance. upon one another, and be united together by their com→ mon Intereft. Almost every Degree produces fomething peculiar to it. The Food often grows in one Country, and the Sauce in another. The Fruits of Portugal are corrected by the Products of Barbadoes: The Infufion of a China Plant fweetned with the Pith of an Indian Cane. The Philippick Islands give a Flavour to our European Bowls. The fingle Drefs of a Woman of Quality is often