quent we shall experience it fo, even when it is truly lamented; and when, to avoid it, is both our wish and our endeavour. And if the influence of truth may receive fuch hindrance from our natural depravity, from this depravity, even when we have kept out of the way of all, who would encourage us to favour it, there, furely, muft be an high degree of probability, that we fhall be yet lefs mindful of our obligations, when we are not only prompted by our own appetites to violate them, but moved thereto by the counsel and example of thofe, whofe converfation beft pleafes us; and whofe opinions and actions will, therefore, come with a more than ordinary recommendation to us.

The affent, which we give, upon fufficient evidence, to moral truths, could no more be unfettled by ridicule and fophiftry, than that which we give to mathematical truths, did our minds always retain the · fame difpofition with refpect to the one, that they do, as to the other.

With regard to the latter, we are never willing to be deceived-we always ftand alike affected towards them: our conviction about them was obtained, at firft, upon fuch grounds, as must always remain our inducements to preserve it: no luft could be gratified, no intereft ferved, by its acting lefs forcibly upon us in its defence the credit of our understanding is greatly concerned. And how vain muft ridicule and fophiftry be neceffarily thought, where their only aim is, that we should acknowledge a fuperior difcernment in those perfons, whofe oppofition increafes our contempt of their ignorance, by making a plainer difcovery of it?

As for moral truths, they are often difagreeable to us-When we have had the fulleft evidence of them, we want not, occafionally, the inclination to overlook it: If, under fome circumftances, we are ready to acknowledge its force; there are others, when we will not give it any attention. Here fancy and hope interpofe: a governing pathon allows us only a faint view of, or wholly diverts our notice from, whatever fhould be our inducement to restrain it; and fuffers us to dwell on nothing but what will justify, or excufe, us in giving way to it. Our reluctance to admit, that we have not judged as we ought to have done, is ftrangely abated, when we thereby are fet at liberty to act as we please.

When the endeavour is to laugh us, or to argue us, out of thofe principles that

we, with much felf-denial adhere to; we fhall but feebly oppofe its fuccefs. He has a ftrong party on his fide within our bofoms, who feeks to make us quit opinions, which are ftill controuling our affections. If we are not fecure from acting contrary to our duty, what cogent proofs foever we have of its being fuch, and what fatisfaction foever we have had in its discharge; we are highly concerned to avoid every temptation to offend: and it, undoubtedly, is a very ftrong one, to hear continually what is likelieft to remove the fear of indulging our appetites; and continually to fee, that they who apply to us act as they advile allow themfelves in the liberties, they would have us to take; and are under none of the checks, which they prompt us to throw off.

Though what we did not relish, and what we thought would fpeedily deftroy us, we might not eat, when our companions fhewed themselves fond of it, and preffed us to tafte it; yet, if we apprehended no immediate danger from their meal-if we were eye-witneffes of its being attended with none-if they were continually expreff ing their high delight in it, and repeating their affurances, that all, either our indifference towards, or difrelifh of it, was only from prejudice and prepoffeffion; we, very probably, fhould at length yield, and quit both our disgust of their repaft, and our dread of its confequences. And if this might enfue, when we were invited to partake of that, which was lefs agreeable to our palates, what fhould be feared, when our company tempted us to that, which we could be pleased with, and were only withheld from by fuch an apprehenfion of danger, as nothing could fooner remove, than our obferving thofe, with whom we moft converfed, to be without it?

Reafon is, certainly, always on the fide of duty. Nor is there, perhaps, any man, who, when he seriously confiders what is best for him to do, will not purpose to do that, which is right. But, fince we can act without confideration in the most important articles, and nothing is lefs likely to be confidered, than what we find quite cuftomary with others what we fee them act without remorie or fcruple; when we are, day after day, cye-witnesses of our affociates allowing themfelves in a wrong practice, perfifting in it without expreffing the least dread of its confequences; it is as abfurd to think, that our moral feeling should not be injured thereby, as it is to

H 4

fuppofe

fapp de, that our hands would preferve the for foftnefs, when they had been for years accustomed to the oar, which they had when they first took it up; or, that hard labour would affect us as much when inured to it, as when we entered upon it.

I will, for the prefent, take my leave of you with an Italian proverb, and an Englih one exactly anfwerable to it

Dimmi con chi tu vai, fapro chel che fai, Tell me with whom thou goeft, and I'll tell thee what thou doest.

I know not what I can add on the prefent fubject of our correfpondence, that may be of greater service to you than the following fhort relation.-I may not, indeed, be exact in every particular of it, because I was not at all acquainted with the gentleman, whom it concerns; and because many years have paffed fince I received an account of him: but as my information came from perfons, on whofe veracity I could depend, and as what they told me much affected me when I heard it, and has, fince, been very often in my thoughts; I fear that the melancholy defcription, which you will here have of human frailty, is but too true in every thing material

therein.

At the first appearance of in town, nothing, perhaps, was more the topic of converfation, than his merit. He had read much: what he had read, as it was on the most useful fubjects, fo he was thoroughly mafter of it; gave an exact account of it, and made very wife reflections upon it. During his long refidence at a distance from our metropolis, he had met with few, to whom he was not greatly fuperior, both in capacity and attainments: yet this had not in the leaft difpofed him to dictate, to be pofitive and affuming, to treat any with contempt or neglect.

He was obliging to all, who came near him; talked on the fubjects which they beft understood, and which would be likelieft to induce them to take their full fhare of the converfation.

They, who had spent every winter near the court, faw nothing in his behaviour, that fhew'd how far he had lived from it nothing which was lefs fuitable to any civility, that could be learned in it.

His manners were only lefs courtly, in their fimplicity and purity. He did not,

often, directly reprove the libertine difcourfe of his equals; but would recommend himfelf to none, by exprefling the flightest approbation of fuch difcourje: He fhew'd it did not pleafe him, though he declined Jaying fo.

He forbore that invective against the manners of the age, which could only irritate; and thought that, at his years, the fitteft cenfure he could pafs on them, would be to avoid them. It feemed, indeed, his particular care, that he might not be reprefented either as a bigot, or a cynic; but yet, as he knew how to defend his principles, fo he fhew'd himself, on every proper occafion, neither afraid nor ashamed to engage in their defence.

His converfation was among perfons of his own rank, only fo far as decorum required it should be: their favourite topics were fo little to his tafte, that his leisure hours, where he could have his choice, were paffed among thofe, who had the most learning and virtue, and, whether diftinguished, or not, by their ancestors worth, would be fo by their own.

He had high notions of his duty to his country; but having feen what felf-intereftedness, at length, fhew'd itself, where he had heard the frongeft profeflions of patriotifm, it made him very cautious with whom he engaged, and utterly averfe from determining of any as friends to the public, merely becaufe they were oppofers of the court.

No one judged more rightly of the hurt that muft enfue, from irreligion fpreading itself among the common people; and, therefore, where his example was moft remarked, and could be moft efficacious, he took particular care, that it should promote a juft reverence of the Deity.

Thus did A. A, fet out in the world, and thus behaved, for fome years, notwithstanding the bad examples he had every where before him, among thofe of his own ftation. In one of the accomplishments of a gentleman (though, furely, one of the very meanest of them) he was thought to excel; and many fine fpeeches were made him upon that account. They were but too much regarded by him; and, gradually, drew him often into the company that he would have despised, had he heard lefs of his own praife in it. The compliments fo repeatedly paid him by the frivolous reconciled him, at length, to them. As his attachment to them got ground, his seriousness loft it. The patriot was no

more

more-The zeal he had for the morals of his countrymen abated.

The tragical conclufion of his ftory, let thofe tell you, who would not feel that concern at the relation of it, which I should do: this you certainly may learn from it -That, as the conftant dropping of water wears away the hardest ftone, fo the continual folicitations of the vitious are not to be withitood by the firmeft mind-All, who are in the way of them, will be hurt by them-Wherefoever they are ufed, they will make an impreffion-He only is fecure from their force, who will not hazard its being tried upon him.

In what you have hitherto received from me, I have argued wholly from your own dipations, and endeavoured to fhew you, from thence, the danger of having bad companions: See now your danger from their difpofitions. And, firft, let these perfons be confidered, only, in general, as partial to their notions and practices, and eager to defend them.

Whatever our perfuafion or conduct is, we are ufually favourable to it; we have our plea for it; very few of us can bear, with any patience, that it fhould be judged irrational The approbation of it is a compliment to our understanding, that we receive with pleafure; and to cenfure it, is fuch a difparagement of us, as doth not fail to difguft us. I will not fay, there are name to be found, that give themselves little or no concern who thinks or acts as they do; but it is certain, that, ordinarily, we are delirous to be joined in the cause we espouse -we are folicitous to vindicate and spread our opinions, and to have others take the fame courfes with us. Should I allow you to be as intent on this, as any of your acquaintance are; yet, pray, confider what you may expect, when you stand alone, or when a majority is against you-when each of them relieves the other in an attack upon you when this attack is, day after day, repeated when your numerous opponents join in applauding, or ftrengthening, or enlivening their feveral objections to your fentiments; and in treating whatever you can urge in your defence, as abfurd, or weak and impertinent-when your peace can only be purchased by your filence when you find, that there is no hope of bringing thofe you delight to be with into your opinions, that they confirm each other in oppofition to you, and that you can only be agreeable to them, by adopting their maxims, and conforming to their manners, It is next to be confidered, what you

may fear from an intimacy with the immoral, when they must look upon themfelves to be reproached by fuch of their acquaintance, as will not concur with them in their exceffes. They cannot but do this; becaufe all who feek either to make them alter their manners, or to weaken their influence upon others, charge them with what is, really, the highest reproach to them; and because they are fenfible, that the arguments likelieft to be used by any one for his not complying with them, are grounded on the mischief of their conduct, or on its folly. Regard then yourself, as in their place. Reflect how you would behave towards the man whose opinion of you was, that you acted either a very criminal, or a very imprudent part: reflect, I fay, how you would behave towards the perfon thus judging of you, if you wished to preferve a fa iliarity with him, but yet was refolved to perfift in your notions and practice. You, certainly, would try every method to remove his dif taste of them; you would colour them as agreeably as you poffibly could: you would fpare no pains to weaken every objection, he could have to them-you would, in your turn, attack his maxims and manners; you would feek to convince him upon what flight grounds he preferred them to yours-you would apply to every artifice, that could give them the appearance of being lefs defenfible, or that could incline him to overlook what might be urged in their defence.

And if this might naturally be fuppofed the part you would act towards others; you ought to expect that they, in the fame circumftances, would behave alike towards you. But can you think it prudent to let them try, with what fuccefs they may proceed? Would not caution be your most effectual fecurity? Would it not be the wifeft method of providing for your fafety, to keep out of the way of danger?

You are, further, to look upon thofe, from affociating with whom I would diffuade you, as extremely folicitous to be kept in countenance. The vitious well know, to how many objections their conduct is liable: they are fenfible, to what efteem good morals are entitled, what praise they claim, and what they, in the most corrupt times, receive.

Virtue is fo much for the intereft of mankind, that there can never be a general agreement, to deny all manner of applaufe to the practice of it: fuch numbers are made fufferers by a departure from its

rules

rules, that there are few crimes, which meet not with an extenfive cenfure.

You have long fince learn'd it to be the language of paganism itself, that

"All, who act contrary to what the "reafon of things requires-who do what is hurtful to themfelves or others, muft "stand felf-condemned:" and you cannot want to be informed, in what light they are feen by those who do not share their guilt. The endeavour, therefore, of fuch men, while they are without any purpose of amendment, will, unquestionably, be, to make their caufe as fpecious as poffible, by engaging many in its defence; and to filence centure, by the danger, that would arife from the numbers it would provoke. The motives to this endeavour, when duly reflected on, will fully fatisfy us, with what zeal it must be accompanied; and it may well, therefore, alarm all, on whom its power is likely to be tried-may well induce them to confider feriously, what they have to fear from it, how much their virtue may fuffer by it.

I will conclude this with a fhort story of the Poet Dante, for which Bayle quotes Petrarch. Among other vifits made by Dante, after his banishment from Florence, one was to the then much-famed Can, Prince of Verona.

Can treated him, at first, with great civility; but this did not laft: and by the little complaifance at length fhewn the Poet, he plainly perceived that he ceafed to be an acceptable guest.

Scholars, it feems, were not Can's favourites he liked thofe much better, who ftudied to divert him; and ribaldry was by no means the discourse that least pleased him. Sufpecting that this did not raife Dante's opinion of him, he one day took occafion to fingle out the most obnoxious of the libertine crew, that he entertained; and, after high praises given the man, turning to Dante, he faid, I wonder how it is, that this mad fellow is beloved by us all, as giving us the pleafure which, really, we do not find in your company, wife as you are thought to be.

Sir, answered the Poet, you would not wonder at this, if you confidered, that our love of any proceeds from their manners being fuitable, and their difpofitions fimilar, Dean Bolton.

to our own.

§ 126. LETTER VII. SIR,

I have but one thing more to propofe to your confideration, as a diffuafive from

affociating with the vitious; and it isThe way, in which they, ordinarily, feek to corrupt thofe, with whom they converfe.

The logic of the immoral contributes but little to increafe their numbers, in comparison of what they effect by raillery and ridicule. This is their firength; they are fenfible of its being fo; and you may be affured that it will be exerted against you. There is nothing that cannot be jefted with; and there is nothing that we, univerfally, bear worse, than to be made the jeft of any.

What reafoning on moral fubjects may not have its force evaded by a man of wit and humour; and receive a turn, that fhall induce the less confiderate to flight it, as weak and inconclufive? The most becoming practice-that which is most our duty, and the importance of which to our prefent welfare is most evident, a lively fancy eafily places in a ridiculous view, and thereby brings it into an utter neglect.

That reverence of the Deity, which the beft both ancient and modern writers have fo ftrongly recommended-which the worthieft men in every age have fo carefully expreffed-which any obfervation of nature, any attention to our own frame, fails not to inculcate, is yet, by being reprefented under the garb of fuperftition or fanaticism, feen among us to fuch difadvantage, that many, our military gentlemen especially, appear to take a pride in fhewing themfelves divested of it.

Conjugal fidelity, though of fuch moment to the peace of families-to their intereft to the profperity of the commonwealth, that, by the laws of the wifeft and beft regulated ftates, the feverett punishment has been inflicted on the violation of it, is, nevertheless, by the levity, with which fome have treated it, so much, at prefent, flighted, that the adulterer is well received: Women, who would think it the groffeft affront to have their virtue queftioned, who affect the character of the ftricteft obfervers of decorum, shun bim not-fhew him the utmost complaifance. Whatever difhonour, in this cafe, falls on any, it accrues wholly to the injured perfon.

Can you affign a better reason, why the intemperate, among the meaner people, have fo prodigiously increafed their numbers, than the banter they ufe towards fuch as they meet with difpofed to sobriety,— the mockery, with which they treat it,

the

the fongs and catches, with which they are fo plentifully provided, in derifion of it?

I cannot give you the very terms of Lord Shaftesbury, as I have not his works; but I think I may be certain there is an obfervation in them to this effect-That, "had the enemies to Christianity expofed "its first profeffors, not to wild beasts, but "to ridicule, their endeavours to ftop its "progress might have had very different "Jaccess from what they experienced."

Had the wit of man been only concerned in the fpreading that religion, I believe the conjecture well founded. But this fuccefs could no more have affected the truth of that religion, than it leffens the worth of a public fpirit, of honesty, of temperance, that fo many have been laughed out of them that the jeft made of them has occafioned their being fo rare among us. The author of the Beggar's Opera gives the true character of his Newgate tribe, when he exhibits them ludicrous on all pretences to virtue, and thus hardening each other in their crimes. It was the moft effectual means to keep up their spirits under their guilt, and may well be judged the likelieft method of bringing others to share it.

"The Duke of Buckingham," fays a late writer," had the art of turning per"fons or things into ridicule, beyond any "man of the age. He poffeffed the young "King [Charles II.] with very ill prin"ciples, both as to religion and morality, and with a very mean opinion of his "father, whofe ftiffness was, with him, a "fubject of raillery." It is elsewhere obferved, that, to make way for the ruin of the Lord Clarendon, "He often acted "and mimicked him in the King's pre"fence, walking stately with a pair of "bellows before him, for the purfe, and "Colonel Titus carrying a fire-fhovel on his fhoulder, for the mace; with which "fort of banter and farce the King was "too much delighted."

Such are the impreffions, to the difparagement of the best things, and of the best men, that may be made by burlesque and buffoonry: They can destroy the efficacy of the wifeft precepts, and the nobleft examples.

The Monarch here fpoken of may, perhaps, be thought as ill-difpofed as the worft of his avourites; and rather humoured, than corrupted, by the sport they made with all that is, ordinarily, held ferious. Were this admitted to be true of

him-Were we to fuppofe his natural depravity not heightened by any thing faid or done before him, in acrifion of virtue or the virtuous; yet the effects of his being accustomed to fuch representations may be looked upon as extremely milchievous; when we may, fo probably, attribute to them the loofe he gave to his natural depravity-the little decorum he obferved

that utter careleffnefs to fave appearances, whence fo much hurt enfued to the morals of his people, and whereby he occafioned fuch diftraction in his affairs, fo weakened his authority, fo entirely loft the affections of the best of his fubjects; and whence that he did not experience till worse confequences, may be ascribed to a concurrence of circumstances, in which his prudence had no share.

The weakness of an argument may be clearly fhewn-The arts of the fophifter may be detected, and the fallacy of his reafoning demonftrated-To the most fubtile objections there may be given fatisfactory anfwers: but there is no confuting raillery-the acutest logician would be filenced by a Merry Andrew.

It is to no manner of purpofe that we have reafon on our fide, when the laugh is against us: and how eafy is it, by playing with our words-by a quibble-by the loweft jeft, to excite that laugh!

When the company is difpofed to attack your principles with drollery, no plea for them is attended to; the more ferious you fhew yourself in their defence, the more fcope you give to the mirth of your opponents.

How well foever we have informed ourfelves of the motives to a right conduct, thefe motives are not attended to, as often as we act: our ordinary practice is founded on the impreffion, that a former confideration of them has made; which impreflion is very liable to be weakenedwants frequently to be renewed in the fame way, that it was at first produced.

When we continually hear our virtue banter'd as mere prejudice, and our notions of honour and decorum treated, as the fole effects of our pride being dexterously flattered-When our piety is frequently fubjecting us to be derided as childishly timorous, or abfurdly fuperftitious; we foon know not how to perfuade ourselves, that we are not more fcrupulous than we need to be; we begin to question, whether, in fettling the extent of our obligations, we have fufficiently confulted the imperfections