don, they fuppofe equally publick in all other places, and known where they could neither be feen, related, nor conjectured. To this haughtiness they are indeed too much encouraged by the respect which they receive among us, for no other reafon than that they come from London. For no dooner is the arrival of one of thefe diffeminators of knowledge known in the country, than we crowd about him from every quarter, and by innumerable enquiries flatter him into an opinion of his own importance. He fees himself furrounded by multitudes, who propofe their doubts, and refer their controverfies, to him, as to a being defcended from fome nobler region; and he grows on a fudden oraculous and infallible, folves all difficulties, and fets all objections at defiance. There is, in my opinion, great reafon for fufpecting, that they fometimes take advantage of this reverential modefty, and impofe upon ruftick understandings with a falfe fhow of univerfalintelligence; for I do not find that they are willing to own themselves ignorant of any thing, or that they difinifs any enquirer with a pofitive and decifive anfwer. The court, the city, the park, and exchange, are to thofe men of unbounded obfervation equally familiar, and they are alike ready to tell the hour at which stocks will rife, or the miniftry be changed. A fhort refidence at London entitles a man to knowledge, to wit, to politeness, and to a defpotick and dictatorial power of preferibing to the rude multitude, whom he condefcends to honour with a biennial vifit; yet, I know not well upon what motives, I have lately found myself inclined to cavil at this prefcription, and to doubt whether it be not, on fome occafions, proper to withhold our veneration, till we are more authentically convinced of the merits of the claimant. It is well remembered here, that, about feven years ago, one Frolick, a tall boy, with lank hair, remarkable for stealing eggs, and fucking them, was taken from the fchool in this parish, and fent up to London to study the law. As he had given amongst us no proofs of a genius, defigned by nature for extraordinary performances, he was, from the time of his departure, totally forgotten; nor was there any talk of his vices or virtues, his good or his ill-fortune, till laft fummer a report burst upon us, that Mr. Frolick was come down in the firft poft-chaise which this village had feen, having travelled with fuch rapidity, that one of his poftilions had broke his leg, and another narrowly efcaped fuffocation in a quickfand. But that Mr. Frolick feemed totally unconcerned, for fuch things were never heeded at London. Mr. Frolick next day appeared among the gentlemen at their weekly meeting on the bowling-green; and now were feen the effects of a London education. His drefs, his language, his ideas, were all new; and he did not much endeavour to conceal his contempt of every thing that differed from the opinions, or practice, of the modifh world. He fhewed us the deformity of our skirts and fleeves, informed us where hats of the proper fize were to be fold, and recommended to us the reformation of a thousand abfurdities in our cloaths, our cookery, and our converfation. When any of his phrafes were unintelligible, he could not fupprefs the joy of confeffed fuperiority, but frequently delayed the explanation, that he might enjoy his triumph over our barbarity. When he is pleafed to entertain us with a ftory, he takes care to crowd into it names of treets, fquares, and buildings, with which he knows we are unacquainted. The favourite topicks of his difcourfe are the pranks of drunkårds, and the tricks put upon country gentlemen by porters and link-boys. When he is with ladies, he tells them of the innumerable pleasures to which he can introduce them; but never fails to hint, how much they will be deficient, at their first arrival, in the knowledge of the town. What it is to know the town, he has not indeed hitherto informed us; though there is no phrafe fo frequent in his mouth, nor any fcience which he appears to think of fo great a value, or fo difficult attainment. But my curiofity has been moft en◄ gaged by the recital of his own adventures and atchievements. I have heard of the union of various characters in fingle perfons, but never met with fuch a conftellation of great qualities as this man's narrative affords. Whatever has diftinguifhed the hero; whatever has elevated the wit; whatever has endcared the lover; are all concentered in Mr.. Frolick, whofe life has, for seven years, been a regular interchange of intrigues, dangers dangers, and waggeries, and who has diftinguished himself in every character that can be feared, envied, or admired. I question whether all the officers of the royal navy can bring together, from all their journals, a collection of fo many wonderful efcapes as this man has known upon the Thames, on which he has been a thousand and a thousand times on the point of perishing, fometimes by the terrors of foolish women in the fame boat, fometimes by his own acknowledged imprudence in paffing the river in the dark, and fometimes by fhooting the bridge, under which he has rencountered mountainous waves, and dreadful cataracts. Nor lefs has been his temerity by land, nor fewer his hazards. He has reeled with giddinefs on the top of the Monument; he has croffed the ftreet amidst the rush of coaches; he has been furrounded by robbers without number; he has headed parties at the playhoufe; he has scaled the windows of every toaft of whatever condition; he has been hunted for whole winters by his rivals; he has flept upon bulks, he has cut chairs, he has bilked coachmen; he has refcued his friends from the bailiffs, has knocked down the conftable, has bullied the juftice, and performed many other exploits, that have filled the town with wonder and with merriment. But yet greater is the fame of his understanding than his bravery; for he informs us, that he is, at London, the eftablished arbitrator of all points of honour, and the decifive judge of all performances of genius; that no mufical performer is in reputation till the opinion of Frolick has ratified his pretenfions; that the theatres fufpend their fentence till he begins the clap or hifs, in which all are proud to concur: that no publick entertainment has failed or fucceeded, but because he oppofed or favoured it; that all controverfies at the gaming-table are referred to his determination; that he adjusts the ceremonial at every affem bly, and prefcribes every fashion of pleas fure or of drefs. With every man whofe name occurs in the papers of the day, he is intimately acquainted; and there are very few pofts, either in the ftate or army, of which he has not more or lefs influenced the difpofal. He has been very frequently confulted both upon war and peace; but the time is not yet come when the nation fhall know how much it is indebted to the genius of Frolick. Yet, notwithstanding all thefe declarations, I cannot hitherto perfuade myfelf to fee that Mr. Frolick has more wit, or knowledge, or courage, than the reft of mankind, or that any uncommon enlargement of his faculties has happened in the time of his abfence. For when he talks on fubjects known to the rest of the company, he has no advantage over us, but by catches of interruption, brifknefs of interrogation, and pertnefs of contempt; and therefore if he has ftunned the world with his name, and gained a place in the firit ranks of humanity, I cannot but conclude, that either a little understanding confers eminence at London, or that Mr. Frolick thinks us unworthy of the exertion of his powers, or that his faculties are benumbed by rural ftupidity, as the magnetick needle lofes it's animation in the polar climes. I would not, however, like many hafty philofophers, search after the caufe till I am certain of the effect; and therefore I defire to be informed, whether you have yet heard the great name of Mr. Frolick. If he is celebrated by other tongues than his own, I fhall willingly propagate his praife; but if he has fwelled among us with empty boafts, and honours conferred only by himself, I fhall treat him with ruftick fincerity, and drive him as an impoftor from this part of the kingdom to fome region of more credulity. I am, &c. RURICOLA. N° LXII. I N° LXII. SATURDAY, OCTOBER 20, 1750. SIR, NUNC EGO TRIPTOLEMI CUPEREM CONSCENDERE CURRUS, NOW WOULD I MOUNT HIS CAR, WHOSE BOUNTEOUS HAND OR THOSE WHICH WAFTED PERSEUS ON HIS WAY. TO THE RAMBLER, Am a young woman of a very large fortune, which, if my parents would have been perfuaded to comply with the rules and cuftoms of the polite part of mankind, might long fince have raised me to the highest honours of the female world; but fo ftrangely have they hitherto contrived to waite my life, that I am now on the borders of twenty, without having ever danced but at our monthly affembly, or been toasted but among a few gentlemen of the neighbourhood, or feen any company in which it was worth a wish to be diftinguished. My father having impaired his patrimony in foliciting a place at court, at lait grew wife enough to ceafe his purfuit; and, to repair the confequences of expenfive attendance and negligence of his affairs, married a lady much older than himfelf, who had lived in the fashionable world till fhe was confidered as an encumbrance upon parties of pleafure, and, as I can collect from incidental informations, retired from gay affemblies juft time enough to efcape the mortification of univerfal neglect. She was, however, ftill rich, and not yet wrinkled. My father was too diftrefsfully embarraffed to think much on any thing but the means of extrication; and though it is not likely that he wanted the delicacy which polite converfation will always produce in understandings not remarkably defective, yet he was contented with a match, by which he ught he fet free from inconveniencies, that would have deftroyed all the plea F. LEWIS fures of imagination, and taken from foftnefs and beauty the power of delighting. As they were both somewhat difgufted with their treatment in the world, and married, though without any dislike of each other, yet principally for the fake of fetting themfelves free from dependence on caprice or fashion, they foon retired into the country, and devoted their lives to rural bufinefs and diverfions. They had not much reafon to regret the change of their fituation; for their vanity, which had fo long been tormented by neglect and difappointment, was here gratified with every honour that could be paid them. Their long familiarity with publick life made them the oracles of all thofe who afpired to intelligence, or politeness. My father dictated politicks, my mother prefcribed the mode; and it was fufficient to entitle any family to fome confideration, that they were known to visit at Mrs. Courtly's. In this ftate they were, to speak in the ftyle of novelifts, made happy by the birth of your correfpondent. My parents had no other child; I was therefore not brow-beaten by a faucy brother, or loft in a multitude of coheireffes, whofe fortunes being equal, would probably have conferred equal merit, and procured equal regard; and as my mother was now old, my understanding and my perfon had fair play, my enqui ries were not checked, my advances towards importance were not reprefled, and I was foon fuffered to tell my own opi nions, nions, and early accustomed to hear my own praises. By thefe accidental advantages I was much exalted above the young ladies with whom I converfed, and was treated by them with great deference. I faw none who did not feem to confefs my fuperiority, and to be held in awe by the fplendour of my appearance; for the fondness of my father made himself pleafed to fee me dreffed, and my mother had no vanity nor expences to hinder her from concurring with his inclinations. my Thus, Mr. Rambler, I lived without much defire after any thing beyond the circle of our vifits; and here I fhould have quietly continued to portion out my time among my books, and needle, and my company, had not my curiofity been every moment excited by the converfation of my parents, who, whenever they fit down to familiar prattle, and endeavour the entertainment of each other, immediately tranfport themfelves to London, and relate fome adventure in a hackney-coach, fome frolick at a mafquerade, fome converfation in the Park, or fome quarrel at an affembly; difplay the magnificence of a birth-night, relate the conquefts of maids of honour, or give a hiftory of diverfions, fhows, and entertainments, which I had never known but from their accounts. I am fo well verfed in the hiftory of the gay world, that I can relate, with great punctuality, the lives of all the laft race of wits and beauties; can enumerate, with exact chronology, the whole fucceffion of celebrated fingers, muficians, tragedians, comedians, and harlequins; can tell to the last twenty years all the changes of fafhions; and am, indeed, a complete antiquary with refpect to head-drefes, dances, and operas. You will eafily imagine, Mr Rambler, that I could not hear thefe narratives, for fixteen years together, without fuffering fome impreffion, and wifhing myfelf nearer to thofe places where every hour brings fome new pleasure, and life is diverfified with an unexhausted fuccefLion of felicity. I indeed often afked my mother why The left a place which the recollected with fo much delight, and why the did not vifit London once a year, like fome other ladies, and initiate me in the world by fhowing me it's amufements, it's grandeur, and it's variety. But she always told me that the days which the had feen were fuch as will never come again; that all diverfion is now degene- rated, that the converfation of the prefent age is infipid, that their fashions are unbecoming, their customs abfurd, and their morals corrupt; that there is no ray left of the genius which enlightened the times that the remembers; that no one who had feen, or heard, the ancient performers, would be able to bear the bunglers of this defpicable age; and that there is now neither politenefs, nor pleafure, nor virtue, in the world. She therefore affures me that the confults my happine's by keeping me at home, for I fhould now find nothing but vexation and difgut, and the fhould be ashamed to fee me pleased with such fopperies and trifles, as take up the thoughts of the prefent fet of young people. With this answer I was kept quiet for feveral years, and thought it no great inconvenience to be confined to the coun-try, till last fummer a young gentleman and his fifter came down to país a few months with one of our neighbours. They had generally no great regard for the country ladies, but diftinguished me by a particular complaifance; and, as we grew intimate, gave me fuch a detail of the elegance, the fplendour, the mirth, the happiness of the town, that I am refolved to be no longer buried in ignorance and obfcurity, but to fhare with other wits the joy of being admired, and divide with other beauties the empire of the world. I do not find, Mr. Rambler, upon a deliberate and impartial comparifon, that I am excelled by Belinda in beauty, in wit, in judgment, in knowledge, or in any thing, but a kind of gay, lively familiarity, by which the mingles with ftrangers as with perfons long acquainted, and which enables her to difplay her powers without any obftruction, hefitation, or confufion. Yet fhe can relate a thousand civilities paid to her in publick, can produce, from a hundred lovers, letters filled with praifes, protestations, extafies, and defpair; has been handed by dukes to her chair; has been the occafion of innumerable quarrels; has paid twenty vifits in an afternoon; been invited to fix balls in an evening, and been forced to retire to lodgings in the country from the importunity of court fhip, and the fatigue of pleafure. I tell you, Mr. Rambler, I will stay here no longer. I have at laft prevail cd ed upon my mother to fend me to town, and fhall fet out in three weeks on the grand expedition. I intend to live in publick, and to crowd into the winter every pleasure which money can purchate, and every honour which beauty can obtain. But this tedious interval how fhall I endure? Cannot you alleviate the mifery of delay by fome pleasing defcription of IT the entertainments of the town? I can read, I can talk, I can think of nothing clfe; and if you will not footh my impatience, heighten my ideas, and animate my hopes, you may write for thofe who have more leifure, but are not to expect any longer the honour of being read by thofe eyes which are now intent only on conquest and destruction. RHODOCLIA. N° LXIII. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 1750. HABEBAT SPE DUCENTOS, SÆPE DECEM SERVOS; MODO REGES ATQUE TETRARCHAS, OMNIA MAGNA LOQUENS: MODO, SIT MIHI MENSA TRIPES, ET CONCHA SALIS PURI, ETTOGA, QUE DEFENDERE FRIGUS, QUAMVIS CRASSA, QUEAT. HOR. NOW WITH TWO HUNDRED SLAVES HE CROWDS HIS TRAIN; 6 A LITTLE SHELL, THE SACRED SALT TO HOLD; · AND CLOTHES, THO' COARSE, TO KEEP ME FROM THE COLD." T has been remarked, perhaps, by every writer who has left behind him obfervations upon Iffe, that no man is pleafed with his prefent ftate; which proves equally unfatisfactory, fays Horace, whether fallen upon by chance, or cholen with deliberation; we are always difgufted with fome circumitance or other of our situation, and imagine the condition of others more abundant in blefings, or lefs expofed to calamities. This univerfal difcontent has been generally mentioned with great feverity of cenfure, as unreefonable in itfelf, fince of two, equally envious of each other, both cannot have the larger there of happiness, and as tending to darken life with unneceffary gloom, by withdrawing our minds from the contemplation and enjoyment of that happines which our state affords us, and fixing our attention upon foreign objects, which Ave only behold to deprefs ourfelves, and increase our mifery by injurious comparisons. When this opinion of the felicity of others predominates in the heart, fo as to excite refolutions of obtaining, at whatever price, the condition to which fuch tranfcendent privileges are fuppofed to be annexed; when it burfts into action, and produces fraud, violence, and: injustice, it is to be purfued with all the rigour of legal punifiments. But while FRANCIS operating only upon the thoughts, it difturbs none but him who has happened to admit it, and, however it may interrupt content, makes no attack on piety or virtue, I cannot think it fo far criminal or ridiculous, but that it may deferve fome pity, and admit fome excufe. That all are equally happy, or miserable, I fuppofe none is fufficiently enthufiaftical to maintain; because though we cannot judge of the condition of others, yet every man has found frequent viciffitudes in his own ftate, and mutt therefore be convinced that life is fufceptible of more or lefs felicity. What then fhall forbid us to endeavour the alteration of that which is capable of being improved, and to grafp at augmentations of good, when we know it poffible to be increased, and believe that any particular change of situation will increase it? If he that finds himself uncafy may reafonably make efforts to rid himself from vexation, all mankind have a fufficient pict for fome degree of reftle!fnefs, and the fault feems to be little more than too much temerity of conclufion in favour of fomething not yet experienced, and too much readine's to believe that the mifery which our own paffions and appetites produce, is brought upon us by accidental caufes, and external efficients. |