F LETTER LXVII. TO EUPHRONIUS. I* you received the firft account of my lofs from other hands than mine, you must impute it to the dejection of mind into which that accident threw me. The blow, indeed, fell with too much feverity, to leave me capable of recollecting myself enough to write to you immediately; as there cannot, perhaps, be a greater fhock to a breaft of any fenfibility, than to fee it's earliest and most valuable connections irreparably broken; than to find itself for ever torn from the firft and most endeared object of it's highest veneration. At leaft, the affection and esteem I bore to that excellent parent were founded upon fo many and fuch uncommon motives, that his death has given me occafion to lament not only a moft tender father, but a most valuable friend. That I can no longer enjoy the bene fit of his animating example, is one among the many aggravating circumftances of my affliction; and I often apply to myfelf, what an excellent antient has faid upon a fimilar occafion, Vereor ne nunc negligentius vivam. There is nothing, in truth, puts us fo much upon our guard, as to act under the conftant infpection of one, whofe virtues, as well as years, have rendered venerable. Never, indeed, did the dignity of goodnefs appear more irresistible in any man: Yet there was fomething at the fame time fo gentle in his manners, fuch an innocency and chearfulness in his converfation, that he was as fure to gain affection as to infpire reverence. It has been obferved (and I think, by Cowley) That a man in much bufinefs mutt either make himself a knave, or the world will make him a fool. If there is any truth in this obfervation, it is not, however, without an exception. My father was early engaged in the great fcenes of bufinefs, where he continued almoft to his very laft hour; yet he preferved his integrity firm and unbroken, through all thofe powerful affaults he muft neceffarily have encountered in fo long a couple of action. MAY 5, 1743. If it were justice, indeed, to his other virtues, to fingle out any particular one as fl ning with fuperior luftre to the reft, I held point to his probity as the bright part of his character. But the truth the whole tenor of his conduct was one uniform exercise of every moral quality that can adorn and exalt human nature. To defend the injured, to relieve the indigent, to protect the diftreffed, was the chief end and aim of all his endeavours, and his principal motive both for engaging and perfevering in his profeffion was, to enable himfelf more abundantly to gratify fo glorious an ambition. No man had a higher relish of the pleafures of retired and contemplative life; as none was more qualified to enter into thofe calm fcenes with greater ease and dignity. He had nothing to make him defirous of flying from the reflcctions of his own mind, nor any paffions which his moderate patrimony would not have been more than fufficient to have gratified. But to live for himself only, was not confiftent with his generous and enlarged fentiments. It was a fpirit of benevolence that led him into the active fcenes of the world; which upon any other principle he would either never have entered, or foon have renounced. And it was that godlike fpirit which conducted and fupported him through his ufeful progrefs, to the honour and intereft of his family and friends, and to the benefit of every crea ture that could poffibly be comprehended within the extenfive circle of his beneficence. I well know, my dear Euphronius, the high regard you pay to every character of merit in general, and the esteem in which you held this most valuable man in particular. I am fure, therefore, you would not forgive me, were I to make an apology for leaving with you this private monument of my veneration for a parent, whofe leaft and lowest claim to my gratitude and esteem is, that I am indebted to him for my birth. Adieu. I am, &c. LET I LETTER LXVIII. TO PHILOTES. Am particularly pleafed with a paffage in Homer, wherein Jupiter is reprefented as taking off his eyes, with a fort of fatiety, from the horror of the field of battle, and relieving himfelf with a view of the Hippomolgi; a people famous, it seems, for their innocence and fimplicity of manners. It is in cr der to practife the fame kind of experiment, and give myself a short remiffion from that scene of turbulence and contention in which I am engaged, that I now turn my thoughts on you, Philotes, whofe temperance and moderation may well juftify me in calling you a modern Hippomolgian. I forget which of the antients it is, that recommends this method of thinking over the virtues of one's acquaintance: but I am fure it is fometimes neceffary to do fo, in order to keep one's felf in humour with our fpecies, and preferve the spirit of philanthropy from being entirely extinguished. Thofe who frequent the ambitious walks of life, are apt to take their eftimate of mankind from the fmall part of it that lies before them, and confider the rest of the world as practising, in different and underparts, the fame treachery and diffimulation which marks out the characters of their fuperiors. It is difficult indeed to preferve the mind from falling into a general contempt of our race, whilft one tof is converfant with the worst part of it. I labour, however, as much as poffible, to guard against that ungenerous difpofition; as nothing is fo apt to kill thofe feeds of benevolence which every L man fhould endeavour to cultivate in his breaft. Ill furely, therefore, have thofe wits employed their talents, who have made our fpecies the object of their fatire, and affected to fubdue the vanity, by derogating from the virtues, of the human heart. But it will be found, I believe, upon au impartial examination, that there is more folly than malice in our natures, and that mankind oftener act wrong through ignorance than defign. Perhaps the true measure of human merit is neither to be taken from the hiftories of former times, nor from what paffes in the more ftriking scenes of the prefent generation. The graiteit virtues have, probably, been ever the moft obfcure; and, I am perfuaded, in all ages of the world, more genuine heroifin has been overlooked and unknown, than either recorded or obferved. That aliquid divinum, as Tully calls it, that celeftial fpark which every man, who coolly contemplates his own mind, may difcover within him, operates where we leaft look for it, and often raifes the nobleft productions of virtue in the shade and obfcurity of life. But it is time to quit fpeculation for action, and return to the common affaus of the world. I fhall certainly do so with more advantage, by keeping Philotes ftill in my view; as I fhall enter into the interefts of mankind with more alacrity, by thus confidering the virtues of his honeft heart as lefs fingular than I am fometimes inclined to fuppofe. Adieu. I am, &c. LETTER LXIX. TO THE SAME. ET it not be any difcouragement to you, Philotes, that you have hitherto received but little fatisfaction from thofe noble fpeculations wherein you are. employed. Truth,' to use the expreffion of the excellent Mr. Wollafton, AUGUST 31735. is the offspring of unbroken medita tions, and of thoughts often revifed and corrected. It requires indeed great patience and refoluition to diffipate that cloud of darkness which furrounds her; or (if you will allow me to go to an an old philofopher for my allufion) to draw her up from that profound well in which the lies concealed. There is, however, such a general connection in the operations of nature, that the difcovery even of a fingle truth opens the way to numberlefs others; and when once the mind has hit upon a right scent, The cannot wholly pursue her enquiries in vain : Cones at montivage perfæpe feraï LUCRET. It must be owned, nevertheless, that, after having exerted all our fagacity and industry, we shall fcarce arrive at certainty in many fpeculative truths. Providence does not feem to have intended that we should ever be in poffeffion of demonftrative knowledge, beyond a very limited compafs; though at the fame time it cannot be fuppofed, without the highest injuftice to the benevolent Author of our natures, that he has left any neceffary truths without evident notes of diftinction. But while the powers of the mind are thus limited in their extent, and greatly fallible likewife in their operations, is it not amazing, Philotes, that mankind fhould infult each other for difference in opinion, and treat every notion that oppofes their own with obloquy and contempt? Is it not amazing that a creature with talents fo precarious and circumfcribed, fhouid ufurp that confidence which can only belong to much fuperior beings and claim a defe rence which is due to perfection alone? Surely the greatest arrogance that ever entered into the human heart, is that which not only pretends to be pofitive itself in points wherein the belt and wifeft have difagreed, but looks down with all the infolent fuperiority of contemptuous pity on thofe whofe impartial reafonings have led them into oppofite conclufions. There is nothing, perhaps, more evident, than that our intellectual faculties are not formed by one general ftandard; and confequently that diverfity of opinion is of the very effence of our natures. It seems probable that this difparity extends even to our fenfitive powers; and though we agree indeed in giving the fame names to certain vifible appearances, as whiteness, for instance, to fnow; yet it is by no means demonstration, that the particular body which, affects us with that fenfation, raises the fame precife idea in any two perfons who hall happen to contemplate it together. Thus I have often heard you mention your youngest daughter as being the exact counter-part of her mother: now he does not appear to me to resemble her in any single feature. To what can this difagreement in our judgments be owing, but to a difference in the ftructure of our organs of fight? Yet as justly, Philotes, might you difclaim me for your friend, and look upon me with contempt for not difcovering a fimilitude which appears fo evident to your eyes; as any man can abuse or despise another for not apprehending the force of that argument which carries conviction to his own understanding. Happy had it been for the peace of the world, if our maintainers of fyltems, either in religion or politics, had conducted their feveral debates with the full impreffion of this truth upon their minds. Genuine philofophy is ever, indeed, the leaft dogmatical; and I am always inclined to fufpe&t the force of that argument which is obtruded with arrogance and fufficiency. I am wonderfully pleased with a pasfage I met with the other day in the preface to Mr. Boyle's Philofophical Effays; and would recommend that cautious fpirit, by which he profeffes -to have conducted himself in his phyfical refearches, as worthy the imitation of enquirers after truth of every kind. Perhaps you will wonder,' fays he, that in almost every one of the following effays, I fhould ufe fo often, perhaps, it feems, 'tis not improbable, as argue a diffidence of the truth of the opinions I incline to; and that I should be fo fhy of laying down principles, and fometimes of fo much as venturing at explications. But I must freely confefs, that having met with many things of which I could give myself no one probable caufe, and fome things of which feveral caufes may be affigned fo differing, as not to agree in any thing, unless in their being all of them probable enough; I have often found fuch difficulties in fearching into the causes and manner of things, and I am fo fenfible of my own difabi lity lity to furmount thofe difficulties, that I dare fpeak confidently and positively of very few things, except matter of fact. And when I venture to deliver any thing by way of opinion, I fhould, if it were not for mere fhame, fpeak yet more diffidently than I have been wont to do. Nor have my thoughts been altogether idle-in forming notions and attempting to devife hypothefes. But I have hitherto (though not always, yet not unfrequently) found that what pleafed me for a while, was foon after disgraced by fome farther or new experiment. And, in⚫deed, I have the lefs envied many (for I fay not all) of thofe writers who have taken upon them to deliver the causes of things, and explicate the myfteries of nature, fince I have had opportunity to obferve how many of their doctrines, after having been for a while applauded and even admired, ⚫ have afterwards been confuted by fome · new phænomenon in nature, which ' was either unknown to fuch writers, " or not fufficiently confidered by them.' If pofitiveness could become any man in any point of mere fpeculation, it must have been this truly noble philofopher when he was delivering the refult of his ftudies in a fcience, wherein, by the united confeffion of the whole world, he fo eminently excelled. But he had too much generosity to prescribe his own notions as a measure to the judgment of others, and too much good-fenfe to affert them with heat or confidence. Whoever, Philotes, pursues his fpeculations with this humble unarrogating temper of mind, and with the best exertion of those faculties which Providence has affigned him, though he should not find the conviction, never, furely, can he fail of the reward of truth. I am, &c. LETTER LXX. TO PALAMEDES. F malice had never broke loose upon I the world, fill it feized your reputation, I might reasonably condole with you on failing the first prey to it's unrestrained rage. But this fpectre has haunted merit almost from it's earliest existence: and when all mankind were as yet included within a fingle family, one of them, we know, rose up in malignity of foul against his innocent brother. Virtue, it should feem, therefore, has now been too long acquainted with this her conftant perfecutor, to be either terrified or dejected at an appearance fo common, The truth of it is, the muft either renounce her noblett theatre of action, and feclude herfelf in cells and defarts, or be contented to enter upon the ftage of the world with this fiend in her train. She cannot triumph, if the will not be traduced; and the fhould confider the clamours of cenfure, when joined with her own confcious applaufe, as fo many acclamations that confirm her victory. Let those who harbour this worst of human difpofitions, confider the many wretched and contemptible circumstances which attend it: but it is the bufinefs of kim who unjustly suffers from it, to re flect how it may be turned to his advan tage. Remember then, my friend, that Generofity would lose half her dignity, if malice did not contribute to her elevation; and he that has never been injured, has never had it in his power to exercise the nobleft privilege of heroic virtue. There is another confolation which may be derived from the rancour of the world, as it will inftru&t one in a piece of knowledge of the moft fingu. lar benefit in our progrefs through it: it will teach us to diftinguish genuine friendship from counterfeit. For he only who is warmed with the real flame of amity, will rife up to fupport his fingle negative, in oppofition to the clamorous votes of an undiftinguishing multitude. He, indeed, who can fee a cool and deliberate injury done to his friend, without feeling himself wounded in his moft fenfible part, has never known the force of the most generous of all the human affections. Every man, who has not taken the facred name of friendship in vain, will fubfcribe to those fentiments which Homer puts into the mouth of Achilles, and which Mr. Pope has opened and enlarged with fuch inimitable strength and spirit, A gen'rous A gen'rous friendship no cold medium knows, Burns with one love, with one refentment glows; One fhould our int'refts and our pallions be; My friend muft hate the man that injures me. ix. 609. It may greatly alfo allay the pain which attends the wounds of defamation, and which are always moit feverely felt by those who leaft deferve them, to reflect, that though malice generally flings the first stone, it is folly and ignorance, it is indolence or irrefolution, which are principally concerned in welling the heap. When the tide of cenfure runs ftrongly against any particular character, the generality of mankind are too careless or too impotent to withstand the current; and thus, without any particular malice in their own natures, are often indolently carried along with others, by tamely falling in with the general stream. The number of those who TH really mean one harm, will wonderfully leffen after the deductions which may fairly be made of this fort: and the cup of unjuft reproach muft furely lofe much of it's bitternefs, where one is perfuaded that malevolence has the least share in mingling the draught. For nothing, perhaps, ftings a generous mind more fenfibly in wrongs of this fort, than to confider them as evidences of a general malignity in human nature. But from whatever caufes thefe ftorms may arife, Virtue would not be true to her own native privileges, if the fuffered herself to fink under them. It is from that ftrength and firmness, which upright intentions will ever fecure to an honeft mind, that Palamedes, I am perfuaded, will stand fuperior to thofe unmerited reproaches which affault his character, and preferve an unbroken repofe amidft the little noife and ftrife of ignorant or malicious tongues. Farewel. I am, &c. LETTER LXXI. TO PHILOTES. HERE is no advantage which attends a popular genius that I am fo much inclined to envy, as the privilege of rendering merit confpicuous. An author who has raifed the attention of the public to his productions, and gained a whole nation for his audience, may be confidered as guardian of the temple of Fame, and invefted with the prerogative of giving entrance to whomfoever he deems worthy of that glorious diftinétion. But the praife of an ordinary writer obftru&ts rather than advances the honour due to merit, and fullies the lure it means to celebrate. Impotent panegyric operates like a blight wherever it fails, and injures all that it touches. Accordingly, Henry the IV. of France was wont humorously to atcribe his early grey hairs to the effect of numberlefs wretched compliments, which were paid him by a certain ridiculous orator of his times. But though the wreaths of folly fhould not difgrace the temple they furround; they wither, at Jeait, as soon as received: and if they fhould not be offentive, moft certainly, however, they will be tranfient. Whereas thofe, on the contrary, with which APRIL 9, 1740. an Horace or a Boileau, an Addison or a Pope, have crowned the virtues of their contemporaries, are as permanent as they are illustrious, and will preserve their colours and fragrance to remotest ages. If I could thus weave the garlands of unfading applaufe; if I were in the number of thofe chofen fpirits whofe approbation is fame, your friend should not want that distinguishing tribute which his virtues deferve, and you request. I would tell the world (and tell it in a voice that should be heard far and remembered long) that Eufebes, with all the knowledge and experience of these later ages, has all the innocence and fimplicity of the earlielt: that he enforces the doctrines of his facred function, not with the vain pomp of oftentatious eloquence, but with the far more powerful perfuafion of active and exemplary virtue: that he foftens the feverity of precept with the eafe and familiarity of converfation, and by generously mingling with the meanett committed to his care, infinuates the inftructor under the air of the companion: that whilft he thus fills up the circle of his private station, N he |