TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE PHILIP EARL OF CHESTERFIELD. MY LORD, TH HAT I prefume to dedicate the first volume of the WORLD to your Lordship, will, I hope, be forgiven me. It is not enough that I can flatter myfelf with having been frequently honoured with your correfpondence; I would infinuate it to the public, that under the fanction of your Lordship's name, I may hope for a more favourable reception from my readers. If it should be expected, upon this occafion, that I fhould point out which papers are your Lordship's, and which my own, I must beg to be excufed; for while, like the Cuckoo in the fable, I am mixing my note with the Nightingale's, I cannot refift the vanity of crying out- How sweetly we birds fing!' If I knew of any great or amiable qualification that your Lordship did not really poffefs, I would (according to the ufual cuftom of dedications) beflow it freely: but, till I am otherwise inftructed, I fhall reft fatisfied with paying my moft grateful acknowledgments to your Lordship, and with fubfcribing myself, Your LORDSHIP's obliged, And most obedient Servant, ADAM FITZ-ADAM. N° I. THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1753. NIHIL DULCIUS EST, RENE QUAM MUNITA TENERE T the village of Aronche, in the province of Eftremadura,' says an old Spanish author, lived Gon'zales de Caftro, who from the age of 'twelve to fifty-two was deaf, dumb, and blind. His chearful fubmiffion to fo deplorable a misfortune, and the 'misfortune itfelf, fo endeared him to 'the village, that to worship the Holy Virgin, and to love and ferve Gonza'les, were confidered as duties of the ⚫ fame importance; and to neglect the ' latter, was to offend the former. • It happened one day, as he was fitting at his door, and offering up his 'mental prayers to St. Jago, that he 'found himself, on a fudden, restored to all the privileges he had loft. The news ran quickly through the village, and old and young, rich and poor, the bufy and the idle, thronged round 'him with congratulations. 'But, as if the bleffings of this life were only given us for afflictions, he LUCRET. began in a few weeks to lofe the relish of his enjoyments, and to repine at the poffeffion of thofe faculties, which ferved only to difcover to him the follies and diforders of his neighbours, and to teach him that the intent of fpeech was too often to deceive. Though the inhabitants of Aronche were as honeft as other villagers, yet Gonzales, who had formed his ideas of men and things from their natures and ufes, grew offended at ‹ their manners. He faw the avarice of age, the prodigality of youth, the quarrels of brothers, the treachery of friends, the frauds of lovers, the infolence of the rich, the knavery of the poor, and the depravity of all. 'Thefe, as he faw and heard, he spoke of with complaint; and endeavoured by the gentlet admonitions to excite men to goodness." From this place the ftory is torn out to the last paragraph; which fays-That he 6, lived to a comfortable old age, defpifed and hated by his neighbours for pretending to be wiler and better than themselves; and that he breathed out his foul in thefe memorable words, that He who would enjoy many friends, and live happy in the world, fhould be deaf, dumb, and blind, to the follies and vices of it. If candour, humility, and an earneft defire of instruction and amendment, were not the diftinguishing characteritics of the prefent times, this fimple ftory had filenced me as an author. But when every day's experience thews me, that our young gentlemen of fashion are lamenting at every tavern the frailties of their natures, and confeffing to one another whofe daughters they have ruined, and whofe wives they have corrupted; not by way of boating, as fome have ignorantly imagined, but to be reproved and amended by their penitential companions: when I obferve too, from an almoft blameable degree of modefty, they accufe themselves of more vices than they have conftitutions to commit; I am led by a kind of impulfe to this work, which is indeed to be a public repofitory for the real frailties of thefe young gentlemen, in order to relieve them from the neceffity of fuch private confeffions. The prefent times are no lefs favourable to me in another very material circumitance. It was the opinion of our ancellors, that there are few things more difficult, or that require greater skill and address, than the fpeaking properly of one's felf. But if by fpeaking properly he meant fpeaking fuccefsfully, the art is now as well known among us as that of printing or of making gun. powder. Whoever is acquainted with the writings of thofe eminent practitioners in phyfic, who make their appearance either in hand-bills, or in the weekly or daily papers, will fee clearly that there is a certain and invariable method of fpeaking of one's felf to every body's fatisfaction. I thall therefore introduce my own importance to the public, as near as I can, in the manner and words of thofe gentlemen; not doubting of the fame credit, and the fame advantages. ADVERTISEMENT. travel through all the parts of the known and unknown world; after having investigated all the sciences, acquired all languages, and entered into the deepelt receffes of nature and the paffions; is, at laft, for the emolument and glory of his native country, returned to England, eafes of the human mind. He cures ly. where he undertakes to cure all the dif ing, cheating, fwearing, drinking, gam. ing, avarice, and ambition, in the men; and envy, flander, coquetry, prudery, vanity, wantonness, and inconftancy, in pleasant, and speedy method, to get hufthe women. He undertakes, by a safe, bands for young maids, and good-huafter the easiest and newest fashion, in mour for old ones. He instructs wives, the art of pleafing, and widows in the art of mourning. He gives commontants, modefty to critics, decency to men fense to philofophers, candour to dispuFor farther particulars enquire at the of fashion, and frugality to tradesmen. place above-mentioned, or of any of the kings and princes in Europe, Afia, Africa, or America. rations by lenitives and alteratives; neN. B. The doctor performs his opever applying corrofives, but when inveterate ill habits have rendered gentler methods ineffectual. Having thus fatisfied the public of doubt, raifed it's curiofity to an extramy amazing abilities, and having, no ordinary height, I fhall defcend, all at once, from my doctorial dignity, to adof a weekly paper of amusement, called dreis myfelf to my readers as the author THE WORLD. 1 My defign in this paper is to ridicule, fhians, follies, vices, and abfurdities, of with novelty and good-humour, the facalls itself the WORLD, and to trace it that part of the human fpecies which through all it's bufinefs, pleasures, and amusements. But though my subjects wil chiefly confine me to the town, I do not mean never to make excursions into the country; on the contrary, when have enabled me to fet up a one-horie the profits of thefe lucubrations fhail chair, I fhall take frequent occafions of inviting my reader to a feat in it, and of driving him to icenes of pure air, tranhurry, and intrigue. quillity, and innocence, from smoke, There are only two fubjects which, as matters ftand at prefent, I shall abfolutely folutely disclaim touching upon; and thefe are religion and politics. The former of them feems to be fo univerfally practifed, and the latter fo generally understood, that to enforce the one, or to explain the other, would be to offend the whole body of my readers. To fay truth, I have ferious reafons for avoiding the first of these subjects. A weak advocate may ruin a good caufe. And if religion can be defended by no better arguments than fome I have lately feen in the public papers and magazines, the wifeft way is to fay nothing about it. In relation to politics, I fhall only observe, that the minifter is not yet fo thoroughly acquainted with my abilities as to truft me with his fecrets. The moment he throws afide his reserve, I fhall throw afide mine, and make the public as wife as myself. My readers will, I hope, excufe me, if hereafter they fhould find me very fparing of mottos to thefe effays. I know very well that a little Latin or Greek, to those who understand no language but English, is both fatisfactory and entertaining. It gives an air of dignity to a paper, and is a convincing proof that the author is a perfon of profound learning and erudition. But in the opinion of those who are in the fecret of fuch mottos, the cuftom is, as Shakefpeare fays, more honoured in the breach than the obfervance; a motto being generally chofen after the effay is written, and hardly ever having affinity to it through two pages together. But the truth is, I have a stronger reafon for de clining this cuftom: it is, that the follies I intend frequently to treat of, and the characters I fhall from time to time exhibit to my readers, will be fuch as the Greeks and Romans were entirely unacquainted with. It may perhaps be expected, before I difmifs this paper, that I fhould take a little notice of my ingenious brother authors, who are obliging the public with their daily and periodical labours, With all these gentlemen I defire to live in peace, friendship, and good neighbourhood; or if any one of them fhall think proper to declare war against me unprovoked, I hope he will not infift upon my taking farther notice of him, than only to fay, as the old ferjeant did to his enfign who was beating him-' I befeech your honour not to hurt your• felf.' No II. THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 1753. T is an obfervation of Lord Bacon, That the fame of Cicero, Sencca, and the younger Pliny, had fcarce lafted to this day, or at least not so fresh, if it had not been joined with fome vanity and boafting in themfelves: For boaft⚫ing, continues that great writer, ⚫feenis to be like varnish, that not only ⚫ makes wood shine, but latt.' How greatly are the moderns obliged to Lord Bacon for giving another reafon for the fuccefs of the ancients than fuperiority of merit! Thefe gentlemen have taken care, it feems, to lay on their varnish fo extremely thick, that common wood has been mistaken for ebony, and ebony for enamel. But if the ancients owe all their reputation to their skill in varnishing, as no doubt they do, it appears very wondeiful, that while the art remains, it fhould be fo totally neglected by modern authors; efpecially when they experience every day, that for want of this covering, the critics, in the fhape of worms, have eat into their wood, and crumbled it to powder. But to treat this matter plainly, and without a figure; it is most certainly owing to the bafhfulness of the moderns that |