his fame as involved in the event of every action. Many of the virtues and vices of youth proceed from this quick fenfe of reputation. This it is that gives firmness and conftancy, fidelity and difinterestedness, and it is this that kindles refentment for flight injuries, and dictates all the principles of fanguinary honour. But as time brings him forward into the world, he foons difcovers that he only shares fame or reproach with innumerable partners; that he is left unmarked in the obfcurity of the crowd; and that what he does, whether good or bad, foon gives way to new objects of regard. He then easily fets himself free from the anxieties of reputation, and confiders praise or cenfure as a tranfient breath, which, while he hears it, is paffing away, without any lafting mifchief or advantage. In youth, it is common to meafure right and wrong by the opinion of the world, and in age to act without any measure but intereft, and to lofe fhame without fubftituting virtue. Such is the condition of life, that fomething is always wanting to happiness. In youth we have warm hopes which are foon blafted by rafhness and negligence, and great defigns which are defeated by inexperience. In age, we have knowledge and prudence without fpirit to exert, or motives to prompt them; we are able to plan fchemies, and regulate meafures; but have not time remaining to bring them to completion. No CXCVII. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 1752. SIR, CUJUS VULTURES HOC ERIT CADAVER ? MART. SAY, TO WHAT VULTURE'S SHARE THIS CARCASE FALLS? TO THE RAMBLER. Belong to an order of mankind, confiderable at least for their number, to which your notice has never been form ally extended, though equally entitled to regard with thofe triflers who have hitherto fupplied you with topicks of amusement or inftruction. Iam, Mr. Rambler, a legacy-hunter; and as every man is willing to think well of the tribe in which his name is registered, you will forgive my vanity if I remind you that the legacy-hunter, however degraded by an ill-compounded appellation in our barbarous language, was known, as I am told, in ancient Rome, by the fonorous titles of Captator and Hæredipeta. My father was an attorney in the country, who married his matter's daughter in hopes of a fortune which he did not obtain, having been, as he afterwards difcovered, chofen by her only becaufe, he had no better offer, and was afraid of service. I was the filt off fpring of a marriage thus reciprocally fraudulent, and therefore could not be expected to inherit much dignity or ge nerofity, and if I had them not from nature, was not likely ever to attain thein; for in the years which I spent at F. Lewis. home, I never heard any reafon for action or forbearance, but that we should gain money or lofe its nor was taught any other ftyle of commendation, than that Mr. Sneaker is a warm man, Mr. Gripe has done his business, and needs care for nobody. My parents, though otherwife not great philofophers, knew the force of early education; and took care that the blank of my understanding should be filled with impreffions of the value of money. My mother used, upon all occafions, to inculcate fome falutary axioms, fuch as might incite me to keep what I had, and get what I could; the informed me that we were in a world, where all muff catch that catch.com; and as I grew up, stored my memory with deeper obfervations; reftrained nie from the ufual puerile expences, by remarking that many a little made a mickle; and, when I envied the finery of any of my neighbours, told me, that Brag was a good dog, but Holdfafi was a better. I was foon fagacious enough to dif cover that I was not born to great wealth; and, having heard no other name for happiness, was fometimes inclined to repine at my condition. But my mother always always relieved me, by saying, that there was money enough in the family, that it was good to be of kin to means that I had nothing to do but to please my friends, and I might come to hold up my head with the beft fquire in the Country. Thefe fplendid expectations arofe from our alliance to three perfons of confidérable fortune. My mother's aunt had attended on a lady, who, when the died, rewarded her officioufnefs and fidelity with a large legacy. My father had two relations, of whom one had broken his indentures and run to sea, from whence, after an absence of thirty years, he returned with ten thousand pounds; and the other had lured an heiress out of a window, who dying of her first child, had left him her eftate, on which he lived without any other care than to col lect his rents, and preferve from poach ers that game which he could not kill himself. Thefe hoarders of money were visited and courted by all who had any pretence to approach them, and received prefents and compliments from coufins who could fcarcely tell the degree of their relation. But we had peculiar advantages which encouraged us to hope, that we fhould by degrees fupplant our competitors. My father, by his profeffion, made himself neceffary in their affairs; for the failor and the chambermaid, he inquired out mortgages and fecurities, and wrote bonds and contracts; and had endeared himself to the old woman, who once rafhly lent an hundred pounds without confulting him, by informing her, that her debtor was on the point of bankruptcy, and pofting fo expeditiouf ly with an execution, that all the other ereditors were defrauded. To the fquire he was a kind of few ard, and had diftinguifhed himfelf in his office by his addrefs in raifing the rents, his inflexibility in diftreffing the tardy tenants, and his acuteness in fetting the parifh free from burthenfome inhabitants, by fhifting them off to fome other fettlement. Bufinefs made frequent aftendance neceflary; truft foon produced intimacy; and fuccefs gave a claim to kindness; fo that we had opportunity to practife all the arts of flattery and endearment. My mother, who could not fupport the thought of long any thing, determined, that all their fortunes fhould cen ter in me; and, in the prosecution of het fchemes, took care to inform me that nothing caft lefs than good words, and that it is comfortable to leap into an eftate which another has got. She trained me by these precepts to the utmost ductility of obedience, and the clofeft attention to profit. At an age when other boys are sporting in the fields, or murmuring in the school, I was contriving fome new method of paying my court; inquiring the age of my future benefactors; or confidering how I fhould employ their legacies. If our eagerness of money could have been fatisfied with the poffeffions of any one of my relations, they might perhaps have been obtained; but as it was impoffible to be always prefent with all three, our competitors were bufy to efface any trace of affection which we might have left behind; and fince there was not, on any part, fuck fuperiority of merit as could enforce a conftant and unfhaken preference, whoever was the laft that flattered or obliged, had, for a time, the afcendant. My relations maintained a regular exchange of courtesy, took care to mifs no occafion of condolence or congratu lation, and fent prefents at ftated times but had in their hearts not much effecm for one another. The feaman looked with contempt upon the fquire as a milkfop and a landman, who had lived without knowing the points of the compafs, or feeing any part of the world beyond the county-town; and whenever they met, would talk of longitude and latitude, and circles and tropicks, would fearcely tell him the hour without fome mention of the horizon and meridian, nor fhew him the news without detecting his ignorance of the fituation of ather countries. The fquire confidered the failor as a rude uncultivated favage, with little more of human than his form, and di verted himfelf with his ignorance of all common objects and affairs; when he could perfuade him to go into the field, he always expofed him to the fportfmen, by fending him to look for game in improper places; and once prevailed upon him to be prefent at the races, only that he might how the gentlemen how a failor fat upon a horfe The old gentlewoman thought herself wiser than both, for the lived with no fervant but a maid, and faved her mo ney. ney. The others were indeed fufficient ly frugal; but the fquire could not live without dogs and horfes, and the failor never fuffered the day to pass but over a bowl of punch, to which, as he was not critical in the choice of his company, every man was welcome that could roar out a catch, or tell a story. All thefe, however, I was to please; an arduous task; but what will not youth and avarice undertake? I had an unrefifting fuppleness of temper, and an unfatiable with for riches; I was perpetually inftigated by the ambition of my parents, and affifted occafionally by their inftructions. What these advantages enabled me to perform, fhall be told in the next letter of, Yours, &c. CAPTATOR. No CXCVIII. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1752. SIR, NIL MIHI DAS VIVUS, DICIS POST FATA DATURUM, YOU'VE TOLD ME, MARO, WHILST YOU LIVE, TO THE RAMBLER. Yinclination which almost every YOU, who must have obferved the man, however unactive or infignificant, discovers of reprefenting his life as diftinguished by extraordinary events, will not wonder that Captator thinks his narrative important enough to be continued. Nothing is more common than for those to teaze their companions with their hiftory, who have neither done nor fuffered any thing that can excite curiofity, or afford inftruction. As I was taught to flatter with the firft effays of speech, and had very early loft every other paffion in the defire of money, I began my purfuit with omens of fuccefs; for I divided my officioufnefs fo judiciously among my relations, that I was equally the favourite of al!. When any of them entered the door, I went to welcome him with raptures; when he went away, I hung down my head, and fometimes intreated to go with him with fo much importunity, that I very narrowly escaped a confent which I dreaded in my heart. When at an annual entertainment they were all together, I had a harder talk; but plied them fo impartially with careffes, that none could charge me with neglect; and when they were wearied with my fond F. LEWIS. MART. nefs and civilities, I was always difmiffed with money to buy playthings. Life cannot be kept at a stand; the years of innocence and prattle were foon at an end, and other qualifications were neceffary to recommend me to continuance of kindness. It luckily happened that none of my friends had high notions of book-learning. The failor hated to fee tall boys fhut up in a fchool, when they might more properly be feeing the world, and making their fortunes; and was of opinion, that when the first rules of arithmetick were known, all that was neceffary to make a man complete might be learned on fhip-board. The fquire only infifted, that fo much fcholarship was indifpenfably neceffary, as might confer ability to draw a lease and read the court-hands; and the old chambermaid declared loudly her contempt of books, and her opinion that they only took the head off the main chance. To unite, as well as we could, all their fyftems, I was bred at home. Each was taught to believe, that I followed his directions, and I gained likewife, as my mother obferved, this advantage, that I was always in the way; for the had known many favourite children fent to schools or academies, and for gotten. As I grew fitter to be tufted to my own own difcretion, I was often difpatched upon various pretences to vifit my relations, with directions from my parents how to ingratiate myself, and drive away competitors. no predominant paffion but avarice, and was therefore cold and inacceffible. She had no conception of any virtue in a young man but that of faving his money. When he heard of my exploits in the field, fhe would fhake her head, inquire how much I fhould be the richer for all my performances, and lament that fuch fums fhould be spent upon dogs and horfes. If the failor told her of my inclination to travel, fhe was fure there was no place like England, and could not imagine why any man that can live in his own country should leave it. This fullen and frigid being I found means however to propitiate by frequent I was, from my infancy, confidered by the failor as a promifing genius, becaufe I liked punch better than wine; and I took care to improve this prepoffeffion by continual enquiries about the art of navigation, the degree of heat and cold in different climates, the profits of trade, and the dangers of fhipwreck. I admired the courage of the feamen, and gained his heart by importuning him for a recital of his adventures, and a fight of his foreign curiolities. I liften-commendations of frugality, and pered with an appearance of clofe attention petual care to avoid expence. to ftories which I could already repeat, and at the close never failed to exprefs my resolution to visit diftant countries, and my contempt of the cowards and drones that spend all their lives in their native parish; though I had in reality no defire of any thing but money, nor ever felt the stimulations of curiofity or ardour of adventure, but would contentedly have paffed the years of Neftor in receiving rents, and lending upon mortgages. The fquire I was able to please with lefs hypocrify, for I really thought it pleafant enough to kill the game and eat it. Some arts of falfehood, how ever, the hunger of gold perfuaded me to practife, by which, though no other mifchief was produced, the purity of my thoughts was vitiated, and the reverence for truth gradually destroyed. I sometimes purchafed fifh, and pretended to have caught them; I hired the countrymen to fhew me partridges, and then gave my uncle intelligence of their haunt; I learned the feats of hares at night, and difcovered them in the morning with a fagacity that raifed the won-, der and envy of old fportfmen. One only obstruction to the advancement of my reputation I could never fully furmount; I was naturally a coward, and was therefore always left fhamefully behind, when there was a neceffity to leap a hedge, to iwim a river, or force the horfes to their utmost speed; but as thefe exigencies did not frequently happen, I maintained my honour with fufficient fuccefs, and was never left out of a hunting party. The old chambermaid was not fo certainly, nor so easily pleased, for the had From the failor was our firft and most confiderable expectation; for he was richer than the chambermaid, and older than the fquire. He was so awkward and bathful among women, that we concluded him fecure from matrimony; and the noify fondnefs with which he used to welcome me to his houfe, made us imagine that he would look out for no other heir, and that we had nothing to do but wait patiently for his death. But in the midst of our triumph, my uncle faluted us one morning with a cry of transport, and clapping his hand hard on my shoulder, told me I was a happy fellow to have a friend like him in the world, for he came to fit me out for a voyage with one of his old acquaintances. I turned pale and trembled ; my father told him, that he believed my constitution not fitted to the fea; and my mother, burfting into tears, cried out, that her heart would break if the loft me. All this had no effect; the failor was wholly infufceptive of the fofter paffions, and, without regard to tears or arguments, persisted in his resolution to make me a man. We were obliged to comply in appearance, and preparations were accordingly made. I took leave of my friends with great alacrity, proclaimed the beneficence of my uncle with the highest ftrains of gratitude, and rejoiced at the opportunity now put into my hands of gratifying my thirst of knowledge. But a week before the day appointed for my departure, I fell fick by my mother's direction, and refused all food but what the privately brought me; whenever my uncle vifited me I was lethargick or de lirious, but took care in my raving fits to talk inceffantly of travel and merchandize. The room was kept dark; the table was filled with vials and gallipots; my mother was with difficulty perfuaded not to endanger her life with nocturnal attendance; my father lamented the lofs of the profits of the voyage; and fuch fuperfluity of artifices was employed, as perhaps might have difcovered the cheat to a man of penetration. But the failor, unacquainted with subtilties and ftratagems, was eafily deluded; and as the fhip could not stay for my recovery, fold the cargo, and left me to re-establish my health at leifure. I was fent to regain my flesh in a purer air, left it should appear never to have been wafted, and in two months returned to deplore my difappointment. My uncle pitied my dejection, and bid me prepare myfelf against next year, for no land-lubber fhould touch his money. A reprieve however was obtained, and perhaps fome new ftratagem might have fucceeded another fpring; but my uncle unhappily made amorous advances to my mother's maid, who, to promote fo advantageous a match, difcovered the fecret, with which only the had been in trufted. He ftormed, and raved, and declaring that he would have heirs of his own, and not give his fubftance to cheats and cowards, married the girl in two days, and has now four children. Cowardice is always fcorned, and deceit univerfally detefted. I found my friends, if not wholly alienated, at least cooled in their affection; the fquire, though he did not wholly difcard me, was lefs fond, and often inquired when I would go to fea. I was obliged to bear his infults, and endeavoured to rekindle his kindness by affiduity and respect; but all my care was vain; he died without a will, and the estate devolved to the legal heir. Thus has the folly of my parents condemned me to spend in flattery and attendance those years in which I might have been qualified to place myself above hope or fear. I am arrived at manhood without any ufeful art or generous fentiment; and, if the old woman should likewife at last deceive me, am in danger at once of beggary and ignorance. I am, &c. CAPTATOR. NO CXCIX. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1752. SIR, DECOLOR, OBSCURUS, VILIS, NON ILLE REPEXAM CLAUDIANUS. OBSCURE, UNPRIS'D, AND DARK, THE MAGNET LIES, TO THE RAMBLER. HOUGH you have feldom diTH grefied from moral fubjects, I fuppofe you are not fo rigerous or cynical as to deny the value or usefulness of natural philofophy; or to have lived in this age of inquiry and experiment, without any attention to the wonders every day produced by the pokers of magnetism and the wheels of electricity. At least, I may be allowed to hope that, fince nothing is more contrary to moral excellence than envy, you will not refufe to promote the moral happinefs of others, merely because you cannot partake of their enjoyments. In confidence, therefore, that your ignorance has not made you an enemy to knowledge, I offer you the honour of introducing to the notice of the publick an |