107 condition of life he is in, and not according to his beha viour, his thoughts, and fentiments, in that conditon. For if a man be loaded with riches and honours, and in that state of life has thoughts and inclinations below the meanest artificer; is not fuch an artificer, who within his power is good to his friends, moderate in his demands. for his labour, and chearful in his occupation, very much fuperior to him who lives for no other end but to serve himself, and affumes a preference in all his words and actions to thofe, who act their part with much more: grace than himself? Epictetus has made ufe of the fimilitude of a ftage-play to human life with much fpirit. It is not, fays he, to be confidered among the actors, who is Prince, or who is Beggar, but who acts Prince or Beggar beft. The circumftance of life fhould not be that which gives us place, but our behaviour in that circumftance is what should be our folid diftinction. Thus, a wife man should think no man above him or below him,, any further than it regards the outward order or difcipline of the world: For if we conceive too great an idea of the eminence of our fuperiors, or fubordination of our infe-riors, it will have an ill effect upon our behaviour to both. He who thinks no man above him but for his virtue, none below him but for his vice, can never be obfequious or affuming in a wrong place; but will fre-quently emulate men in rank below him, and pity those

about him.

This fenfe of mankind is fo far from a levelling principle, that it only fets us upon a true bafis of diftinction, and doubles the merit of fuch as become their condition.. A man in power, who can, without the ordinary prepoffeffions which ftop the way to the true knowledge and fervice of mankind, overlook the little diftinctions of fortune, raise obfcure merit, and discountenance fuccessful indefert, has, in the minds of knowing men, the figure of an angel rather than a man; and is above the rest of men in the highest character he can be, even that of their benefactor.

Turning my thoughts, as I was taking my pipe this evening, after this manner, it was no fmall delight to me to receive advice from Felicia, that Eboracenfis was: appointed a governor of one of their plantations. As N F 6

ак

am a great lover of mankind, I took part in the happinefs of that people who were to be governed by one of fo great humanity, juftice, and honour. Eboracenfis has read all the schemes which writers have formed of government and order, and been long converfant with men who have the reins in their hands; so that he can very well diftinguish between chimerical and practical politics. It is a great bleffing, when men have to deal with fuch different characters in the fame fpecies as those of freemen and flaves, that they who command have a just fenfe of human nature itself, by which they can temper the haughtiness of the mafter, and foften the fervitude of the flave. He tibi erunt artes. This is the notion with which those of the plantation receive Eboracenfis And as I have caft his nativity, I find there will be a record made of this perfon's administration; and on that part of the shore from whence he embarks to return from. his government, there will be a monument with these words:"Here the people wept, and took leave of Eboracenfis, the first governor our mother Felicia fent, "who, during his command here, believed himself her fubject."

45

White's Chocolate-house, September 16.

The following Letter wants fuch fudden dispatch, that all things elfe must wait for this time.

46

SIR,

TH

Sept. 13, Equal day and night.

HERE are two Ladies, who, having a good opinion of your take and judgment, defire you to make use of them in the following particular, which perhaps you may allow very extraordinary. "The two Ladies before mentioned have, a coufider

able time fince, contracted a more fincere and con"ftant friendship, than their adverfaries the men will "allow confiftent with the frailty of female nature; and, being from a long acquaintance convinced of the perfect agreement of their tempers, have thought upon an expedient to prevent their feparation, and * cannot think any so effectual (fince it is common for * lovs.

"love to destroy friendship) as to give up both their liberties to the fame perfon in marriage. The Gen❝tleman they have pitched upon is neither well-bred nor

agreeable, his understanding moderate, and his per"fon never defigned to charm women; but having fo *much self-intereft in his nature, as to be fatisfied with

making double contracts, upon condition of receiving "double fortunes; and most men being fo far fenfible "of the uneafinefs that one woman occafions; they think him, for thefe reafons, the moft likely perfon

of their acquaintance to receive thefe proposals. "Upon all other accounts, he is the last man either of "them would chufe, yet for this preferable to all the reft. They defire to know your opinion the next poft, refolving to defer farther proceeding, until they have received it. I am,

Sir,

your unknown,

unthought of,

humble fervant,

Bridget Either fide

This is very extraordinary; and much might be objected by me, who am fomething of a civilian, to the cafe of two marrying the fame man: But thefe Ladies are, I perceive, Free-thinkers; and therefore I fhall fpeak only to the prudential part of this defign, merely as a philofopher, without entering into the merit of it in the ecclefiaftical or civil law. These constant friends, Piladea and Oreftea, are at a loss to preserve their friendfhip from the encroachments of love; for which end they have refolved upon a fellow who cannot be the object of affection or esteem to either, and confequently cannot rob one of the place each has in her friend's heart. But in all my reading, (and I have read all that the Sages of love have writ,) I have found the greatest danger in jealousy. The Ladies, indeed, to avoid this paffion,

chufe

Will's Coffee-house, September 14,

I find left here for me the following Epistle.

SIR,

H

AVING lately read your difcourfe about the family of Trubies, wherein you obferve, that "there are fome who fall into laughter out of a certain "benevolence in their temper, and not out of the or dinary motive, viz. contempt, and triumph over the imperfections of others; I have conceived a good "idea of your knowledge of mankind. And, as you "have a tragi-comic genius, I beg the favour of you to give us your thoughts of a quite different effect, "which alfo is caufed by other motives than what are commonly taken notice of. What I would have you "treat of, is the caufe of fhedding tears. I defire you "would difcufs it a little, with obfervations upon the "various occafions which provoke us to that expreffion "of our concern, &c."

To obey this complaifant Gentleman, I know no way fo fhort as examining the various touches of my own bofom, on feveral occurrences in a long life to the evening of which I am arrived, after as many various incidents as any body has met with. I have often reflected, that there is a great fimilitude in the motions of the heart in mirth and in forrow; and I think the ufual occafion of the latter, as well as the former, is fomething which is fudden and unexpected. The mind has not a fufficient time to recollect its force, and immediately gushes into tears before we can utter ourselves by speech or complaint. The most notorious causes of these drops from our eyes are pity, forrow, joy, and reconciliation.

The Fair Sex, who are made of man and not of earth, have a more delicate humanity than we have; and pity is the most common cause of their tears: For as we are inwardly compofed of an aptitude to every circumstance of life, and every thing that befalls any one person might have happened to any other of human race; felf

love, and a fenfe of the pain we ourselves fhould fuffer in the circumstances of any whom we pity, is the cause of that compaffion. Such à reflection in the breast of a woman, immediately inclines her to tears; but in a man, it makes him think how fuch a one ought to act on that occafion, fuitably to the dignity of his nature. Thus a woman is ever moved for those whom the hears lament, and a man for those whom he obferves to fuffer in filence. It is a man's own behaviour in the circumftances he is under, which procures him the esteem of others, and not merely the affliction itself which demands our pity for we never give a man that paffion which he falls into for himself. He that commends himself never purchases our applaufe; nor he who bewails himself, our pity.

Going through an alley the other day, I obferved a noify impudent beggar bawl out, that he was wounded in a merchant-man; that he had loft his poor limbs, and fhewed a leg clouted up. All that paffed by made what hafte they could out of his fight and hearing; but a poor fellow at the end of the paffage, with a rufty coat, a melancholy air, and foft voice, defired them to look upon a man not used to beg. The latter received the charity of almost every one that went by. The ftrings of the heart, which are to be touched to give us compaffion, are not fo played on but by the finest hand. We fee in tragical reprefentations, it is not the pomp of language, nor the magnificence of drefs, in which the paffion is wrought, that touches fenfible Spirits; but fomething of a plain and fimple nature which breaks in upon our Souls, by that fympathy which is given us for our mutual good-will and fervice.

In the tragedy of Macbeth, where Wilks acts the part of a man whofe family has been murdered in his abfence,. the wildness of his paffion, which is run over in a torrent. of calamitous circumftances, does but raife my fpirits,. and give the alarm: But when he fkilfully feems to be out of breath, and is brought too low to fay more and upon a fecond reflection cries only, wiping his eyes, "What, both children! Both, both my children gone!" There is no refifting a forrow which feems to have caft about for all the reafons poffible for its confolation, but has no refource. "There is not one left; but both,