But though there are feveral of these wild scenes that are more delightful than any artificial fhows; yet we find the works of nature still more pleasant, the more they refemble those of art: for in this cafe our pleasure rifes from a double principle; from the agreeableness of the objects to the eye, and from their fimilitude to other objects: we are pleased as well with comparing their beauties, as with furveying them, and can represent them to our minds either as copies or originals. Hence it is that we take delight in a profpect which is well laid out, and diverfified with fields and meadows, woods and rivers; in thofe accidental landfkips of trees, clouds, and cities, that are fometimes found in the veins of marble; in the curious fret-work of rocks and grottos; and, in a word, in any thing that hath fuch a variety or regularity as may feem the effects of defign, in what we call the works

of chance.

If the products of nature rife in value, according as they more or lefs refemble thofe of art, we may be sure that artificial works receive a greater advantage from their resemblance to fuch as are natural; because here the fimilitude is not only pleafant, but the pattern more perfect. The prettieft landskip I ever faw, was one drawn. on the walls of a dark room, which ftood oppofite on one fide to a navigable river, and on the other to a park. The experiment is very common in optics. Here you might discover the waves and fluctuations of the water in ftrong and proper colours, with the picture of a fhip entering, at one end, and failing by degrees through the whole piece. On another there appeared the green fhadow of trees, waving to and fro with the wind, the herds of deer among them in miniature, leaping about upon the wall. I must confefs, the novelty of fuch a fight may be one occafion of its pleafantnefs to the imagination, but certainly the chief reason is its near refemblance to nature, as it does not only, like other pictures, give the colour and figure, but the motion of the things it reprefents.

We have before obferved, that there is generally in nature fomething more grand and auguft, than what we meet with in the curiofities of art. When, therefore, we fee this imitated in any measure, it gives us a nobler and more exalted kind of pleasure than what we receive from the nicer and

more accurate productions of art. On this account our English gardens are not fo entertaining to the fancy as those in France and Italy, where we fee a large extent of ground covered over with an agreeable mixture of garden and foreft, which reprefent every where an artificial rudeness, much more charming than that neatnefs and ele gance which we meet with in those of our own country. It might, indeed, be of ill confequence to the public, as well as unprofitable to private perfons, to alienate so much ground from pafturage and the plow, in many parts of a country that is fo well peopled, and cultivated to a far greater advantage. But why may not a whole estate be thrown into a kind of garden by frequent plantations, that may turn as much to the profit, as the pleasure of the owner? A marfh overgrown with willows, or a mountain fhaded with oaks, are not only more beautiful but more beneficial, than when they lie bare and unadorned. Fields of corn make a pleasant profpect, and if the walks were a little taken care of that lie between them, if the natural embroidery of the meadows were helped and improved by fome small additions of art, and the feveral rows of hedges fet off by trees and flowers that the foil was capable of receiving, a man might make a pretty landskip of his own poffeffions. Spedator.

$105. On the Progress of the Arts.

The natural progrefs of the works of men is from rudeness to convenience, from convenience to elegance, and from elegance to nicety.

The firft labour is enforced by neceflity. The favage finds himself incommoded by heat and cold, by rain and wind; he shelters himself in the hollow of a rock, and learns to dig a cave where there was none before. He finds the fun and the wind excluded by the thicket, and when the accidents of the chafe, or the convenience of pafturage, leads him into more open places, he forms a thicket for himself, by planting flakes at proper diftances, and laying branches from one to another.

The next gradation of skill and induftry produces a house, clofed with doors, and divided by partitions; and apartments are multiplied and difpofed according to the va rious degrees of power or invention; improvement fucceeds improvement, as he that is freed from a greater evil grows impatient of a lefs, 'till cafe in time is advanced to pleasure.

The

The mind, fet free from the importunities of natural want, gains leifure to go in fearch of fuperfluous gratifications, and adds to the ufes of habitation the delights of profpect. Then begins the reign of fymmetry; orders of architecture are invented, and one part of the edifice is conformed to another, without any other reason than that the eye may not be offended.

The paffage is very short from elegance to luxury. Ionic and Corinthian columns are foon fucceeded by gilt cornices, inlaid floors, and petty ornaments, which fhew rather the wealth than the taste of the poffeffor.

Idler.

In fair weather, when my heart is cheared, and I feel that exaltation of fpirits which refults from light and warmth, joined with a beautiful profpect of nature, I regard myfelf as one placed by the hand of God in the midst of an ample theatre, in which the fun, moon, and stars, the fruits alfo and vegetables of the earth, perpetually changing their pofitions or their afpects, exhibit an elegant entertainment to the understanding as well as to the eye.

Thunder and lightning, rain and hail, the painted bow and the glaring comet, are decorations of this mighty theatre; and the fable hemifphere ftudded with fpangles, the blue vault at noon, the glorious gildings and the rich colours in the horizon, I look on as fo many fucceffive scenes.

When I confider things in this light, methinks it is a fort of impiety to have no attention to the courfe of nature, and the revolutions of the heavenly bodies. To be regardless of thofe phænomena that are placed within our view, on purpofe to entertain our faculties, and difplay the wisdom and power of our Creator, is an affront to Providence of the fame kind (I hope it was not impious to make fuch a fimile) as it would be to a good poet to fit out his play without minding the plot or beauties of it. And yet how few are there who attend to the drama of nature, its artificial ftructure, and thofe admirable scenes whereby the paffions of a philofopher are gratefully agitated, and his foul affected with the fweet emotions of joy and furprize!

How many fox-hunters and rural fquires are to be found all over Great Britain, who are ignorant that they have lived all this time in a planet; that the fun is feveral thousand times bigger than the earth; and

that there are feveral other worlds within our view, greater and more glorious than our own!" Ay, but," fays fome illiterate fellow, "I enjoy the world, and leave it to others to contemplate it." Yes, you eat, and drink, and run about upon it; that is, you enjoy as a brute; but to enjoy as a rational being is to know it, to be fenfible of its greatnefs and beauty, to be delighted with its harmony, and by these reflections to obtain juft fentiments of the almighty mind that framed it.

The man who, unembarraffed with vulgar cares, leifurely attends to the flux of things in heaven and things on earth, and obferves the laws by which they are governed, hath fecured to himself an eafy and convenient feat, where he beholds with pleasure all that paffes on the ftage of nature, while those about him are, fome faft afleep, and others ftruggling for the highest places, or turning their eyes from the entertainment prepared by Frovidence, to play at push-pin with one another.

Within this ample circumference of the world, the glorious lights that are hung on high, the meteors in the middle region, the various livery of the earth, and the profufion of good things that diftinguish the feafons, yields a profpect which annihilates all human grandeur. Tatler.

$107. The planetary and terreftrial Worlds comparatively confidered.

To us, who dwell on its furface, the earth is by far the most extenfive orb that our eyes can any where behold: it is alfo clothed with verdure, diftinguished by trees, and adorned with variety of beautiful decorations; whereas to a spectator placed on one of the planets, it wears an uniform afpect, looks all luminous, and no larger than a spot. To beings who ftill dwell at greater distances it entirely difappears. That which we call alternately the morning and the evening ftar; as in one part of the orbit she rides foremoft in the proceffion of night, in the other ushers in and anticipates the dawn; is a planetary world, which with the four others, that fo wonderfully vary their myftic dance, are in themfelves dark bodies, and fhine only by reflection; have fields, and feas, and fkies of their own, are furnished with all accommodations for animal fubfiftence, and are fuppofed to be the abodes of intellectual life; all which, together with our earthly habitation, are dependent on that grand difpenfer of divine munificence, the fun; receive their light from the diftri3 G

bution

bution of his rays, and derive their comfort from his benign agency.

The fun which feems to perform its daily ftages through the sky, is in this refpect fixed and immoveable; 'tis the great axle of heaven, about which the globe we inhabit, and other more fpacious orbs, wheel their stated courfes. The fun, though feemingly fmaller than the dial it illuminates, is abundantly larger than this whole earth, on which fo many lofty mountains rife, and fuch vaft oceans roll. A line extending from fide to fide through the centre of that refplendent orb, would measure more than eight hundred thousand miles: a girdle formed to go round its circumference,would require a length of millions. Were its folid contents to be estimated, the account would overwhelm our understanding, and be almost beyond the power of language to exprefs. Are we startled at thefe reports of philofophy? Are we ready to cry out in a tranfport of furprize, "How mighty is the Being who kindled fuch a prodigious fire, and keeps alive from age to age fuch an enormous mafs of flame!" let us attend our philofophic guides, and we fhall be brought acquainted with fpeculations more enlarged and more inflaming.

This fun, with all its attendant planets, is but a very little part of the grand machine of the universe; every star, though in appearance no bigger than the diamond that glitters upon a lady's ring, is really a vaft globe, like the fun in fize and in glory; no lefs fpacious, no lefs luminous, than the radiant fource of the day: fo that every ftar is not barely a world, but the centre of a magnificent fyftem; has a retinue of worlds, irradiated by its beams, and revolving round its attractive influence, all which are loft to our fight in unmeafurable wilds of ether. That the ftars appear like fo many diminutive and fearce diftinguishable points, is owing to their immenfe and inconceivable diftance. Immenfe and inconceivable indeed it is, fince a ball, shot from the loaded cannon, and flying with unabated rapidity, must travel at this impetuous raté almoft feven hundred thousand years, before it could reach the nearest of these twinkling luminaries.

Willie, beholding this vaft expanfe, I learn my own extreme meanness, I would alfo difcover the abject littleness of all terreftrial things. What is the earth, with all her oftentatious fcenes, compared with this aftonishing grand furniture of the fkies? What, but a dim fpeck, hardly perceivable

in the map of the universe? It is observed by a very judicious writer, that if the fun himself, which enlightens this part of the creation, was extinguished, and all the host of planetary worlds, which move about him, were annihilated, they would not be miffed by an eye that can take in the whole compass of nature, any more than a grain of fand upon the fea-fhore. The bulk of which they confift, and the space which they occupy, is fo exceedingly little in comparifon of the whole, that their lofs would leave fcarce a blank in the immenfity of God's works. If then, not our globe only, but this whole fyftem, be fo very diminutive, what is a kingdom or a county? What are a few lordships, or the fo much admired patrimonies of those who are ftiled wealthy? When I measure them with my own little pittance, they fwell into proud and bloated dimenfions: but when I take the univerfe for my ftandard, how fcanty is their size, how contemptible their figure! they fhrink into pompous nothings. Spectator.

108. The Chara&er of Toby Bumper.

It is one of the greatest advantages of education, that it encourages an ingenuous fpirit, and cultivates a liberal difpofition. We do not wonder that a lad who has never been fent to school, and whofe faculties have been fuffered to ruft at the hall-houfe, should form too close an intimacy with his best friends, the groom and the game-keeper; but it would amaze us to fee a boy well educated cherish this ill-placed pride, of being, as it is called, the head of the company. A perfon of this humble ambition will be very well content to pay the reckoning, for the honour of being diftinguished by the title of the gentleman,' while he is unwilling to affociate with men of fashion, let they should be his fuperiors in rank or fortune; or with men of parts, left they fhould excel him in abilities. Sometimes indeed it happens that a perfon of genius and learn. ing will stoop to receive the incenfe of mean and illiterate flatterers in a porter-houfe and cyder-cellar; and I remember to have heard of a poet, who was once caught in a brothel, in the very fact of reading his verfes to the good old mother, and a circle of her daughters.

There are fome few, who have been led into low company, merely from an affectation of humour, and, from a defire of feeing the droller fcenes of life, have defcended to affociate with the meanest of the mob, and picked their cronies from lanes and alleys.

Tac

The most striking inftance I know of this low paffion for drollery, is Toby Bumper, a young fellow of family and fortune, and not without talents,who has taken more than ordinary pains to degrade himself; and is now become almost as low a character, as any of those whom he has chofen for his companions. Toby will drink purl in a morning, fmoke his pipe in a night-cellar, dive for a dinner, or eat black-puddings at Bartholomew-fair, for the humour of the thing. He has alfo ftudied, and practifes, all the plebeian arts and exercises, under the best masters; and has difgraced himself with every unpolite accomplishment. He has had many a fet-to with Buckhorfe; and has now and then the honour of receiving a fall from the great Broughton himself. Nobody is better known among the hackney-coachmen, as a brother whip: at the noble game of prifon-bars, he is a match even for the natives of Effex and Cheshire; and he is frequently engaged at the Artillery-ground with Faulkner and Dingate at cricket; and is himself esteemed as good a bat as either of the Bennets. Another of Toby's favourite amufements is, to attend the executions at Tyburn; and it once happened, that one of his familiar intimates was unfortunately brought thither; when Toby carried his regard to his deceafed friend fo far, as to get himself knocked down in endeavouring to rescue the body from the furgeons.

As Toby affects to mimic, in every particular, the art and manners of the vulgar, he never fails to enrich his converfation with their emphatic oaths and expreflive dialect, which recommends him as a man of excellent humour and high fun, among the Choice Spirits at Comus's court, or at the meeting of the Sons of found Senfe and Satisfaction. He is alfo particularly famous for finging thofe cant fongs, drawn up in the barbarous dialect of fharpers and pickpockets; the humour of which he often heightens, by fcrewing up his mouth, and rolling about a large quid of tobacco between his jaws. Thefe and other like accomplishments frequently promote him to the chair in thefe facetious focieties.

Toby has indulged the fame notions of humour even in his amours; and is wellknown to every street-walker from Cheapfide to Charing-crofs. This has given feveral fhocks to his conftitution, and often involved him in unlucky fcrapes. He has been frequently bruifed, beaten, and kicked, by the bullies of Wapping and Fleet-ditch;

and was once foundly drubbed by a foldier for engaging with his trull. The last time I faw him he was laid up with two black eyes, and a broken pate, which he got in a midnight skirmish, about a mistress, in a night-cellar. Connoiffeur.

109. Causes of national Characters. The vulgar are very apt to carry all national characters to extremes; and having once established it as a principle, that any people are knavifh, or cowardly, or ignorant, they will admit of no exception, but comprehend every individual under the fame character. Men of fenfe condemn thefe undiftinguithing judgments; though at the fame time they allow, that each nation has a peculiar fet of manners, and that fome particular qualities are more frequently to be met with among one people than among their neighbours. The common people in Switzerland have furely more probity than thofe of the fame rank in Ireland; and every prudent man will, from that circumstance alone, make a difference in the truft which he repofes in each. We have reafon to expect greater wit and gaiety in a Frenchman than in a Spaniard, though Cervantes was born in Spain. An Englishman will naturally be thought to have more wit than a Dane, though Tycho Brahe was a native of Denmark.

Different reafons are affigned for thefe national characters, while fome account for them from moral, and others from phyfical caufes. By moral caufes I mean all circumstances which are fitted to work on the mind, as motives or reasons, and which render a peculiar fet of manners habitual to us. Of this kind are the nature of the government, the revolutions of public affairs, the plenty or penury in which the people live, the fituation of the nation with regard to its neighbours, and fuch like circumftances. By phyfical causes, I mean thefe qualities of the air and climate, which are fuppofed to work infenfibly on the temper, by altering the tone and habit of the body, and giving a particular complexion; which, though reflection and rea fon may fometimes overcome, yet will it prevail among the generality of mankind, and have an influence on their manners.

That the character of a nation will very much depend on moral caufes, must be evident to the most fuperficial obferver; fince a nation is nothing but a collection of individuals, and the manners of individuals are frequently determined by there caufes.

3 G 2

As

As poverty and hard labour debafe the minds of the common people, and render them unfit for any science and ingenious profeffion, fo where any government becomes very oppreffive to all its fubjects, it must have a proportional effect on their temper and genius, and must banish all the liberal arts from amongst them.

The fame principle of moral caufes fixes the characters of different profeffions, and alters even the difpofition which the particular members receive from the hand of nature. A foldier and a prieft are different characters in all nations and all ages, and this difference is founded on circumstances, whofe operation is external and unalterable.

The uncertainty of their life makes foldiers lavish and generous, as well as brave; their idleness, as well as the large focieties which they form in camps or garrifons, inclines them to pleasure and gallantry; by their frequent change of company they acquire good breeding and an openness of behaviour; being employed only against a public and open enemy, they become candid, honest, and undefigning and as they ufe more the labour of the body than the mind, they are commonly thoughtlefs and ignorant.

'Tis a trite but not altogether a falfe maxim, that priests of all religions are the fame; and though the character of the profeffion will not in every inftance prevail over the perfonal character, yet is it fure always to predominate with the greater number. For as chymifts obferve, that fpirits when raised to a certain height are all the fame, from whatever materials they be extracted; fo these men being elevated above humanity, acquire an uniform character, which is entirely their own, and which is in my opinion, generally fpeak ing, not the most amiable that is to be met with in human fociety: it is in most points oppofite to that of a foldier, as is the way of life from which it is derived.

Hume's Effays.

$110. Chastity an additional Ornament to Beauty.

There is no charm in the female fex, that can fupply the place of virtue. Without innocence, beauty is unlovely, and quality contemptible; good-breeding degenerates into wantonnefs, and wit into impudence. It is obferved, that all the virtues are reprefented by both painters and ftatuaries

But as I am now talking to the world yet untainted, I will venture to recommend chastity as the nobleft male qualification.

It is, methinks, very unreasonable, that the difficulty of attaining all other good habits, is what makes them honourable; but in this cafe, the very attempt is become very ridiculous: but in spite of all the raillery of the world, truth is ftill truth, and will have beauties infeparable from it, I fhould, upon this occafion, bring examples of heroic chastity, were I not afraid of having my paper thrown away by the modifh part of the town, who go no farther, at beft, than the mere absence of ill, and are contented to be rather irreproach able than praise-worthy. In this particular, a gentleman in the court of Cyrus reported to his majesty the charms and beauty of Panthea; and ended his panegyric by telling him, that fince he was at leifure, he would carry him to vifit her. But that prince, who is a very great man to this day, antwered the pimp, because he was a man of quality, without roughness, and faid, with a fimile, "If I fhould vifit her upon your introduction, now I have leifure, I don't know but I might go again upon her own invitation, when I ought to be better employed." But when I cat about all the inftances which I have met with in all my reading, I find not one fo generous, fo honeft, and fo noble, as that of Jofeph in holy writ. When his matter had trufted him fo unrefervedly (to speak it in the emphatical manner of the fcripture)" He knew not aught he had, fave the bread which he did eat," he was fo unhappy as to appear irrefiftibly beautiful to his miftrefs; but when this shameless woman proceeds to folicit him, how gallant is his anfwer! " Behold my mafter wotteth not what is with me in the houfe, and hath committed all that he hath to my hand; there is none greater in the house than I, neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thee, because thou art