of ruffles, and draw practical inferences from a full-bottomed periwig. This I thought fit to mention, by way of excufe, for my ingenious correfpondent, who hath introduced the following letter by an image which, I will beg leave to tell him, is too ridiculous in fo ferious and noble a fpeculation.

• Mr. SPECTATOR,

WHE THEN I have feen young pufs playing her wanton gambols, and with a thousand antic 'fhapes exprefs her own gaiety at the fame time that the moved mine, while the old grannum hath fat with a moft exemplary gravity, unmoved at all that paft; it hath made me reflect what should be the occafion of humours fo oppofite in two creatures, between whom there was no vifible ⚫ difference but that of age; and I have been able to refolve it into nothing elfe but the force of novelty.

6

In every fpecies of creatures, thofe who have been least time in the world, appear beft pleafed • with their condition: For, befides that to a new " comer the world hath a freshness on it that strikesthe sense after a moft agreeable manner, being itfelf, unattended with any great variety of enjoy" ments, excites a fenfation of pleasure. But as age advances, every thing feems to wither, the fenfes are difgufted with their old entertainments, and existence turns flat and infipid. We may fee this exemplified in mankind: The child, let him be free from pain, and gratified in his change of toys, is diverted with the smallest trifle. Nothing • difturbs the mirth of the boy, but a little punish⚫ment or confinement. The youth muft have more 'violent pleafures to employ his time; the man loves the hurry of an active life, devoted to the pursuits of wealth or ambition; and laftly, old age, having loft its capacity for thefe avocations, * becomes

⚫ becomes its own insupportable burden. This va riety may in part be accounted for by the vivacity and decay of the faculties; but, I believe, is chiefly owing to this, that the longer we have been in poffeffion of being, the lefs fenfible is 'the guft we have of it; and the more it requires of adventitious amusements to relieve us from the fatiety and wearinefs it brings along with it.

And as novelty is of a very powerful, so of a ' most extenfive influence. Moralifts have long • fince obferved it to be the fource of admiration, which leffens in proportion to our familiarity with objects, and, upon a thorough acquaintance, is utterly, extinguifhed. But I think it hath not 'been fo commonly remarked, that all the other paffions depend confiderably on the fame circum'ftances. What is it but novelty that awakens defire, enhances delight, kindles anger, provokes envy, infpires horror? To this caufe we muft afcribe it, that love languifhes with fruition, and ⚫ friendship itself is recommended by intervals of abfence: Hence monsters, by ufe, are beheld without lothing, and the moft inchanting beauty without rapture. That emotion of the fpirits in which paffion confifts, is ufually the effect of furprife, and as long as it continues, heightens the agreeable or difagreeable qualities of its object; 'but as this emotion ceases (and it ceafes with the novelty) things appear in another light, and 'affect us even less than might be expected from their proper energy, for having moved us too <much before.

It may not be an useless inquiry, how far the love of novelty is the unavoidable growth of nature, and in what refpects it is peculiarly adapted to the prefent ftate. To me it feems impoffible, 'that a reasonable creature fhould reft abfolutely fatisfied in any acquifitions whatever, without endeavouring farther; for, after its highest im

provements,

provements, the mind hath an idea of an infinity of things still behind worth knowing, to the knowledge of which therefore it cannot be indifferent; as by climbing up a hill in the midst of a wide plain, a man hath his profpect enlarged, and, together with that, the bounds of his defires. Upon this account, I cannot think he detracts 'from the ftate of the bleffed, who conceives them to be perpetually employed in frefh fearches into nature, and to eternity advancing into the fathomlefs depths of the divine perfections. In this thought there is nothing but what does honour to thefe glorified fpirits; provided still it be remembered, that the defire of more proceeds not from their difrelishing what they poffefs; and the pleasure of a new enjoyment is not with them measured by its novelty (which is a thing merely foreign and accidental) but by its real intrintic ⚫ value. After an acquaintance of many thousand years with the works of God, the beauty and magnificence of the creation fills them with the fame pleafing wonder and profound awe, which • Adam felt himself feized with as he first opened his eyes upon this glorious fcene. Truth captivates with unborrowed charms, and whatever hath once given fatisfaction will always do it: In all which they have manifeftly the advantage of us, who are fo much governed by fickly and changeable appetites, that we can with the greateft ⚫ coldness behold the ftupendous displays of omnipotence, and be in tranfports at the puny effays of human fkill; throw afide fpeculations of the ⚫ fublimeft nature and vastest importance into fome • obfcure corner of the mind, to make room for new notions of no confequence at all; are even tired of health, because not enlivened with alternate pain; and prefer the first reading of an indifferent author, to the fecond or third perufal

"of

of one whofe merit and reputation are esta• blifhed.

Our being thus formed ferves many ufeful purpofes in the prefent ftate. It contributes not a little to the advancement of learning; for, as • Cicero takes notice, that which makes men willing to undergo the fatigues of philofophical difquifitions, is not fo much the greatness of objects as their novelty. It is not enough that there is field • and game for the chace, and that the understanding is prompted with a restless thirst of knowledge, effectually to roufe the foul, funk into a ftate of floth and indolence; it is alfo neceffary, that there be an uncommon pleasure annexed to the first appearance of truth in the mind. This pleasure being exquifite for the time it lafts, but 'tranfient, it hereby comes to pafs that the mind grows into an indifference to its former notions, and paffes on after new difcoveries, in hope of repeating the delight. It is with knowledge as with wealth, the pleasure of which lies more in making endless additions, than in taking a review of our old store. There are fome inconvenien⚫cies that follow this temper, if not guarded againft, particularly this, that through a too great eagerness of fomething new, we are many times impatient of staying long enough upon a question that requires fome time to refolve it, or, which is worse, perfuade ourselves that we are mafters of the subject before we are fo, only to be at the liberty of going upon a fresh fcent; in Mr. Locke's words, We fee a little, prefume a great deal, and fo jump to the conclufion.

A farther advantage of our inclination for novelty, as at prefent circumftantiated, is, that it annihilates all the boafted diftinctions among mankind. Look not up with envy to thofe above thee. Sounding titles, ftately buildings, fine gardens, gilded chariots, rich equipage, what are

they? They dazzle every one but the poffeffor: To him that is accustomed to them, they are cheap and regardlefs things: They fupply him not with brighter images, or more fublime fatisfactions than the plain may have, whofe small eftate may just enable him to fupport the charge ' of a fimple unincumbered life. He enters heedlefs into his rooms of state, as you or I do under ● our poor fheds. The noble paintings and coftly • furniture are loft on him; he fees them not: As how can it be otherwife, when by custom a fabric infinitely more grand and finifhed, that of the univerfe, ftands unobferved by the inhabitants, and the everlafting lamps of heaven are lighted up in vain for any notice that mortals take of them? Thanks to indulgent nature, which not only placed her children originally upon a level, but still, by the ftrength of this principle, in a great measure preserves it, in spite of all the care of man to introduce artificial diftinctions.

To add no more, is not this fondness for novelty, which makes us out of conceit with all we already have, a convincing proof of a future ftate? Either man was made in yain, or this is not the only world he was made for: For there cannot be a greater inftance of vanity, than that to which man is liable, to be deluded from the cradle to the grave with fleeting fhadows of happinefs. His pleasures, and thofe not confiderable neither, die in the poffeffion, and fresh enjoy'ments do not rife fast enough to fill up half his life with fatisfaction. When I fee perfons fick of themselves, any longer than they are called away by fomething that is of force to chain down the 'prefent thought; when I fee them hurry from country to town, and then from town back again" into the country, continually fhifting poftures, ⚫ and placing life in all the different lights they can think of; furely, fay I to myself, life is vain, and

• the