it, the birds flew ftill finging before me, and though I preffed onward with great celerity, I was ftill in fight of pleafures of which I could not yet gain the poffeffion, and which feemed to mock my diligence, and to retire as I advanced." Though I was confounded with fo many alternations of joy and grief, I yet perfifted to go forward, in hopes that thefe fugitive delights would in time be overtaken. At length I faw an innumerable multitude of every age and fex, who feemed all to partake of fome general felicity; for every cheek was flushed with confidence, and every eye sparkled with eagerness: yet each appeared to have fome particular and fecret pleasure, and very few were willing to communicate their intentions, or extend their concern beyond themselves. Most of them feemed, by the rapidity of their motion, too bufy to gratify the curiofity of a stranger, and therefore I was content for a while to gaze upon them, without interrupting them with troublesome enquiries. At laft I obferved one man worn with time, and unable to struggle in the crowd; and therefore fuppofing him more at leifure, I began to accoft him: but he turned from me with anger, and told me he muft not be disturbed, for the great hour of projection was now come, when Mercury fhould lofe his wings, and flavery fhould no longer dig the mine for gold.

I left him, and attempted another, whofe foftness of mien, and easy movement, gave me reafon to hope for a more agreeable reception: but he told me, with a low bow, that nothing would make him more happy than an opportunity of ferving me, which he could not now want, for a place which he had been twenty years foliciting would be foon vacant. From him I had recourfe to the next, who was departing in hafte to take poffeffion of the eftate of an uncle, who by the courfe of nature could not live long. He that followed was preparing to dive for treasure in a new-invented bell; and another was on the point of discovering the longitude.

Being thus rejected wherefoever I applied myfelf for information, I began to imagine it beft to defift from enquiry, and try what my own obfervation would difcover: but feeing a young man, gay and thoughtless, I refolved upon one more experiment, and was informed that I was in the garden of Hope, the daughter of Defire, and that all those whom I

faw thus tumultuously bustling round me, 'were incited by the promifes of Hope, and haftening to feize the gifts which the held in her hand.

I turned my fight upward, and faw a goddess in the bloom of youth, fitting on a throne: around her lay all the gifts of fortune, and all the bleffings of life were spread abroad to view; she had a perpetual gaiety of afpect, and every one imagined that her fmile, which was impartial and general, was directed to himself, and triumphed in his own fuperiority to others, who had conceived the fame confidence from the fame mistake.

I then mounted an eminence, from which I had a more extenfive view of the whole place, and could with lefs perplexity confider the different conduct of the crowds that filled it. From this ftation I obferved, that the entrance into the garden of Hope was by two gates, one of which was kept by Reason, and the other by Fancy. Reafon was furly and fcrupulous, and seldom turned the key without many interrogatories, and long hefitation; but Fancy was a kind and gentle portrefs; the held her gate wide open, and welcomed all equally to the district under her fuperintendency; fo that the paffage was crowded by all thofe who either feared the examination of Reason, or had been rejected by her.

From the gate of Reafon there was a way to the throne of Hope, by a craggy, flippery, and winding path, called the Streight of Difficulty, which thofe who entered with the permiffion of the guard endeavoured to climb. But though they furveyed the way very cheerfully before they began to rife, and marked out the feveral stages of their progrefs, they commonly found unexpected obftacles, and were obliged frequently to ftop on the fudden, where they imagined the way plain and even. A thoufand intricacies embarrassed them, a thousand flips threw them back, and a thousand pitfals impeded their advance. So formidable were the dangers, and fo frequent the mifcarriages, that many returned from the first attempt, and many fainted in the midst of the way, and only a very finall number were led up to the fummit of Hope, by the hand of Fortitude. Of thefe few, the greater part, when they had obtained the gift which Hope had promifed them, regretted the labour which it coft, and felt in their fuccefs the regret of difappointinent; the

reft

reft retired with their prize, and were led by Wildom to the bowers of Content. Turning then towards the gate of Fancy, I could find no way to the feat of Hope; but though the fat full in view, and held out her gifts with an air of invitation, which filled every heart with rapture, the mountain was, on that fide, inacceffibly steep, but fo channelled and fhaded, that none perceived the impoffibility of afcending it, but each imagined himself to have difcovered a way to which the reft were ftrangers. Many expedients were indeed tried by this induftrious tribe, of whom fome were making themfelves wings, which others were contrving to actuate by the perpetual motion. But with all their labour, and all their artifices, they never rofe above the ground, or quickly fell back, nor ever approached the throne of Hope, but continued ftill to gaze at a distance, and laughed at the flow progrefs of those whom they faw toiling in the Streight of Difficulty..

Part of the favourites of Fancy, when they had entered the garden, without making, like the reft, an attempt to climb the mountain, turned immediate ly to the vale of Idlenefs, a calm and undisturbed retirement, from whence they could always have Hope in profpect, and to which they pleased themselves with believing that the intended fpeedily to defcend. These were indeed fcorned by all the reft; but they feemed very little affected by contempt, advice, or reproof, but were refolved to expect at ease the favour of the goddess.

Among this gay race I was wandering, and found them ready to answer all my questions, and willing to communicate their mirth: but turning round, I faw two dreadful monsters entering the vale, one of whom I knew to be Age, and the other Want. Sport and revelling were now at an end, and an univer fal fhriek of affright and distress burst out and awaked me.

Juvi

HERVEY.

throbs, which never break into complaint. Perhaps, likewife, our pleasures are for the most part equally fecret, and moft are borne up by fome private fatiffaction, fome internal confciousness, some latent hope, fome peculiar profpect, which they never communicate, but referve for folitary hours, and clandeftine meditation.

The main of life is, indeed, compofed of fmall incidents, and petty occurrences; of wishes for objects not remote, and grief for difappointments of no fatal confequence; of infect vexations which fting us and fly away, impertinences which buzz a while about us, and are heard no more; of meteorous pleafures which dance before us and are diffipated;

U

fipated, of compliments which glide off the foul like other mufick, and are forgotten by him that gave and him that received them.

Such is the general heap out of which every man is to cull his own condition: for, as the chemifts tell us, that all bodies are refolvable into the fame elements, and that the boundless variety of things arifes from the different proportions of very few ingredients; fo a few pains and a few pleasures are all the materials of human life, and of thefe the proportions are partly allotted by Providence, and partly left to the arrange ment of reafon and of choice.

As thefe are well or ill difpofed, man is for the most part happy or miferable. For very few are involved in great events, or have their thread of life entwifted with the chain of caufes on which armies or nations are fufpended; and even those who seem wholly bufied in publick affairs, and elevated above low cares, or trival pleasures, pafs the chief part of their time in familiar and domeftick fcenes; from these they come into publick life, to thefe they are every hour recalled by paflions not to be fuppreffed; in thefe they have the reward of their toils, and to these at laft they retire.

The great end of prudence is to give cheerfulness to thofe hours which fplendour cannot gild, and acclamation cannot exhilarate; thofe foft intervals of unbended amufement, in which a man fhrinks to his natural dimenfions, and throws afide the ornaments or difguifes, which he feels in privacy to be ufelefs incumbrances, and to lose all effect when they become familiar. To be happy at home is the ultimate refult of all ambition, the end to which every enterprise and labour tends, and of which every defire prompts the profecution.

It is, indeed, at home that every man must be known by those who would make a just estimate either of his virtue or felicity; for fmiles and embroidery are alike occafional, and the mind is of ten dreffed for fhow in painted honour and fictitious benevolence.

Every man must have found fome whofe lives, in every houfe but their own, was a continual feries of hypocrify, and who concealed under fair appearances bad qualities, which, whenever they thought themfelves out of the reach of cenfure, broke out from their

restraint, like winds imprisoned in their caverns, and whom every one had reafon to love, but they whofe love a wife man is chiefly folicitous to procure. And there are others who, without any fhow of general goodness, and without the attractions by which popularity is conciliated, are received among their own families as beftowers of happiness, and reverenced as inftructors, guardians, and benefactors.

The most authentick witneffes of any man's character are those who know hims in his own family, and fee him without any restraint, or rule of conduct, but fuch as he voluntarily prefcribes to himfelf. If a man carries virtue with him into his private apartments, and takes no advantage of unlimited power or probable fecrecy; if we trace him through the round of his time, and find that his character, with thofe allowances which mortal frailty must always want, is uniform and regular, we have all the evi dence of his fincerity that one man can have with regard to another: and, indeed, as hypocrify cannot be it's own reward, we may, without hesitation, determine that his heart is pure.

The higheft panegyrick, therefore, that private virtue can receive, is the praise of fervants. For, however vanity or infolence may look down with contempt on the fuffrage of men undignified by wealth, and unenlightened by education, it very feldom happens that they commend or blame without justice. Vice and virtue are easily diftinguished. Opprefiion, according to Harrington's aphorifm, will be felt by thofe that cannot fee it; and, perhaps, it falls out very often, that, in moral queftions, the philofophers in the gown, and in the livery, differ not fo much in their fentiments as in their language, and have equal power of difcerning right, though they cannot point it out to others with equal address.

There are very few faults to be committed in folitude, or without fome agents, partners, confederates, or witneffes; and therefore the fervant must commonly know the fecrets of a mafter, who has any fecrets to entrust; and failings, merely perfonal, are fo frequently expofed by that fecurity which pride and folly generally produce, and fo inquifitively watched by that defire of reduc ing the inequalities of condition, which

the

the lower orders of the world will al ways feel, that the testimony of a menial domeftick can feldom be confidered as defective for want of knowledge. And though it's impartiality may be fometimes fufpected, it is at least as credible as that of equals, where rivalry inftigates cenfure, or friendship dictates palliations.

The danger of betraying our weaknefs to our fervants, and the impoffibili ty of concealing it from them, may be justly confidered as one motive to a regular and irreproachable life. For no condition is more hateful or defpicable, than his who has put himself in the power of his fervant; in the power of him whom, perhaps, he has firft corrupted by making him fubfervient to his vices, and whole fidelity he therefore cannot enforce by any precepts of honefty or reafon. It is feldom known that autho. rity, thus acquired, is possessed without infolence, or that the mafter is not forced to confefs, by his tamenefs or for

bearance, that he has enflaved himself by fome foolish confidence. And his crime is equally punished, whatever part he takes of the choice to which he is reduced; and he is from that fatal hour, in which he facrificed his dignity to his paffions, in perpetual dread of infolence or defamation; of a controuler at home, or an accufer abroad. He is condem ned to purchase, by continual bribes, that fecrecy which bribes never fecured and which, after a long courfe of fubmilion, promifes, and anxieties, he will find violated in a fit of rage, or in a frolick of drunkennefs.

To dread no eye, and to fufpect no tongue, is the great prerogative of inno cence; an exemption granted only to invariable virtue. But guilt has always it's horrors and folicitudes; and to make it yet more fhameful and deteftable, it is doomed often to stand in awe of thofe to whom nothing could give influence or weight, but their power of betraying

Ovid.

ELPHINSTONG

ing to fhew the miferies that attend the laft ftage of man, imprecates upon thofe who are fo foolish as to with for long life, the calamity of continuing to grow old from century to century. He thought that no adventitious or foreign pain was requifite, that decrepitude itfelf was an epitome of whatever is dreadful, and nothing could be added to the curfe of Age, but that it fhould be extended beyond it's natural limits.

The moft indifferent or negligent fpectator can indeed fcarcely retire without heaviness of heart, from a view of the laft fcenes of the tragedy of life, in Which he finds those who in the former

oppofition of conduct, contrariety of defigns, and diffimilitude of perfonal qualities, all involved in one common diftrefs, and all struggling with afflic tion which they cannot hope to over

lefs; when we fhall all fink into helpleff nefs and fadnefs, without any power of receiving folace from the pleafures that have formerly delighted us, or any profpect of emerging into a fecond poflcifion of the bleffings that we have loft.

The industry of man has, indeed, not been wanting in endeavours to procure comforts for these hours of dejection and melancholy, and to gild the dreadful gloom with artificial light. The most ufual fupport of old age is wealth. He whofe poffeffions are large, and whose chefts are full, imagines himself always fortified against invafions on his authority. If he has loft all other means of government, if his ftrength and his reafon fail him, he can at laft alter his will; and therefore all that have hopes must likewife have fears, and he may ftill continue to give laws to fuch as have not ceafed to regard their own intereft.

This is, indeed, too frequently the citadel of the dotard, the last fortrefs to which age retires, and in which he makes the ftand against the upstart race that feizes his domains, difputes his commands, and cancels his preferiptions. But here, though there may be fafety, there is no pleasure; and what remains is but a proof that more was once poffeffed.

Nothing feems to have been more univerfally dreaded by the ancients than orbity, or want of children; and, indeed, to a man who has furvived all the companions of his youth, all who have participated his pleafures and his cares, have been engaged in the fame events, and filled their minds with the fame conceptions, this full peopled world is a difmal folitude. He ftands forlorn and filent, neglected or infulted, in the midst of multitudes,animated with hopes which he cannot fhare, and employed in bufinefs which he is no longer able to forward or retard; nor can he find any to whom his life or his death are of importance, unlefs he has fecured fome domeftick gratifications, fome tender employments, and endeared himself to fome whofe intereft and gratitude may unite them to him.

So different are the colours of life, as we look forward to the future, or backward to the past; and fo different the opinions and fentiments which this contrariety of appearance naturally produces, that the converfation of the old and young ends generally with contempt or pity on either fide. To a young man

entering the world, with fulness of hope, and ardour of purfuit, nothing is fo unpleafing as the cold caution, the faint expectations, the fcrupulous diffidence, which experience and difappointments certainly infufe; and the old man wonders, in his turn, that the world never can grow wifer, that neither precepts, nor teftimonies, can cure boys of their credulity and fufficiency; and that not one can be convinced that fnares are laid for him, till he finds himself entangled.

Thus one generation is always the fcorn and wonder of the other, and the notions of the old and young are like liquors of different gravity and texture, which never can unite. The spirits of youth fublimed by health, and volatilifed by paffion, foon leave behind them the phlegmatick sediment of wearinefs and deliberation, and burst out in temerity and enterprite. The tenderness, therefore, which nature infuses, and which long habits of beneficence confirm, is neceffary to reconcile fuch opposition; and an old man must be a father to bear with patience those follies and abfurdities which he will perpetually imagine himself to find in the fchemes and expectations, the pleasures and the forrows, of those who have not yet been hardened by time, and chilled by fruftration.

Yet it may be doubted, whether the pleasure of feeing children ripening into ftrength, be not over-balanced by the pain of fecing fome fall in the bloffom, and others blafted in their growth; fome fhaken down by ftorms, fome tainted with cankers, and fome fhrivelled in the fhade; and whether he that extends his care beyond himself does not multiply his anxieties more than his pleafures, and weary himself to no purpose, by fuperintending what he cannot regulate.

But though age be to every order of human beings fufficiently terrible, it is particularly to be dreaded by fine ladies, who have had no other end or ambition than to fill up the day and the night with drefs, diverfions, and flattery; and who having made no acquaintance with knowledge, or with bufinefs, have conftantly caught all their ideas from the current prattle of the hour, and been indebted for all their happiness to compliments and treats. With thefe ladies, age begins early, and very often lafts long; it begins, when their beauty fades, when