disposition, and good nairal in"clination to all virtue and piety, "which, from of old, they have "possessed; and that even now, "according to what the Fathers "have seen, much fewer sins are "found among them, than in many "other Christian countries in Europe, where our holy faith re* mains

as yet uncorrupted." Again: "They give with much "willingness alms to the poor, and "treat strangers with hospitality." The Patriarch Alphonso Mendez also thus speaks of them, and his authority is of great weight, considering that he retained these opinions after his expulsion from the Country: They are wonderfully "affected towards divine matters; "and have, from the time of the "Apostles, amid the darkness of "the Gentiles and Mahommedans, kept alive a spark of faith and of "the Christian name. Above all things, they are inclined to read"ing and knowledge. As to what "belongs to their disposition, I

can generally say, that the more "noble and cultivated among them "do not yield to Europeans, and "that those of the lower order fat "excel our common people; so "that there is scarcely one amoug "them who can be called stupid "and foolish," &c.

Poncet, whose fidelity as a tra veller must ever rank him high, (p. 242.) bears witness to their piety, attention to the duties of their religion, and their singular moderation with regard to others differing from them in point of doctrine. In addition to these, my own observations tend fully to cor roborate what I have here quoted. I believe them in general to be possessed of most excellent inclinations, with great quickness of understanding, and an anxious desire of improvement; and I am fully persuaded that there is no part of the world where Europesa influence might be exerted with more beneficial effects than in Abyssinia."

"

ORE than one illustrious foreigner has envied the happiness of our English country gentlemen; more than one foreign prince has exclaimed, "The life "of an English country gentleman "is assuredly the happiest life in "the world."

When we reflect upon the condition of English country gentlemen, we must perceive, that much of their happiness has arisen from their independence of mind; and much from their maintaining what is called independent fortunes. It

was long their boast, their honest pride, to despise show and frippery, to do without the luxuries of a city, yet, to live hospitably, and in a manner becoming their station, They paid their debts regularly. They thanked God, that they were independent of all men, and could speak their minds freely on every subject, private or public, without fear or reward. Between this in dependence of mind and of fortune there is such an intimate connexion, that the one must be destroyed, il the other be sacrificed. If country gentlemen,

gentlemen, from the desire to make a figure in the metropolis, or to outshine their neighbours, enter into contests of extravagance and scenes of fashionable dissipation; if, instead of living upon their own estates and attending to their own affairs, they crowd to water-drinking places, and think only of hazard or Newmarket, the consequences must be, the ruin of their private fortunes, and the forfeitute of their political integrity. Instead of being their country's pride and tl:e bulwark of her freedom, they will become the wretched slaves of a party, or the despicable tools of a court. They will be contemned and ridiculed by their superiors in rank, whom with unequal steps they awkwardly pursue. They will be detested by their neighbours, their inferiors, their tenantry, and dependents, and by the nation whose interests they abandon or betray. For when a country gentleman has lived beyond his income, what is his resource? not trade, not business of any kind; to that he cannot stoop; for this he is not qualified. He has no resource but to sell his vote, if he be in parliament; or if he be not, to solicit and bargain, perhaps by his county interest, with parliamentary friends, who may provide for his sons or procure for him the means of repairing his shattered fortune. But what can restore his independence of mind!

How much the ncblest virtues depend on the smallest can be thoroughly known only to those, who have looked closely into the secret motives of human actions. The great, the brilliant, and the solid virtues of integrity, patriotism, and generosity, cannot long subsist, unless they be supported and protected by the seemingly insignifi

cant and homely habits of prudence and economy.

If this were a treatise on political economy, it might be necessary here to define the term luxury: by some writers, it is used to signify every thing beyond the mere necessaries of life; with others, it comprehends chiefly the objects of the fine arts, and with others, whatever implies effeminaty of manners. But it is by no means certain, that a taste for luxury diminishes the martial spirit of a people; and to restrict men to the necessaries of life, would be to destroy commerce, and to reduce them to a state of Spartan simplicity, equally incompatible with modern ideas of happiness and modern systems of defence. The principle of the Lacedæmonian system of defending a country seems to have been, to deprive it of all that could tempt an invader. In modern times, Sparta and the life of a Lacedæmonian would scarcely appear worth fighting for; and it would be bad policy in these days, even if it were possible, to restrict the pleasures of life to that of bare existence, to reduce the love of our country, embellished by commerce and the arts, to mere habitual attachment to the

natal soil. It is not in the Spartan, nor yet in the ascetic sense of the term, that luxury is here used.

Luxury in fact, is a word that must vary in every age, and in every country, with the progress of civilization: it is not a positive but a comparative term; for what is luxury in one rank of life, is not. luxury in another; and the luxuries of yesterday become the necessaries of to-day; no general or permanent definition therefore can be precise. Sumptuary laws, which have attempted to define luxuries, have always been absurd and in-. competent,

competent. On this subject common opinion is the only standard; and as this varies with circumstances, so must the conduct of individuals. In every rank and situation there is a certain style in living, in houses, equipage, furniture, which is usual to persons of that class. Whoever in any of these things vies with persons of a superior station and passes the bounds of his rank and fortune, may be justly accused of being luxurious and extravagant. Those who consider the wealth of nations as the first object, are right in wishing to encourage this species of luxury, and to speak of it as tending only to the quick transfer of property and division of estates; but those who consider the happiness of nations as an object far preferable to their wealth, will wish rather to preserve their moral independence, which must be sacrificed in the indulgence of these tastes for extravagance.

In the education of country gentlemen, therefore, early care should be taken to prevent their acquiring tastes, that may render them extravagant. The first means to be used are of a preventive nature, Parents should avoid giving children false notions of the value of things, by praising objects of mere luxury, by anxiety about external appearance, and by deference to wealth and show. They should not teach by example, that ornament is to be preferred to utility: and that people of fashion are superior to other mortals. All who have attended to children know how ⚫ early they catch notions from those they live with, and how quickly they form deductions from casual expressions of admiration or contempt. By a few well-timed words of praise or blame, parents may

infuse a noble and rational prids into the minds of youth, raise them above that petty emulation in expense which ruins the happiness of families, and prepares the destruction of kingdoms. Magnificent houses and furniture, and parks, and equipages, and great entertainments, and fashionable company, are desired not so much for the pleasure they really afford, as for the distinction which they confer. Men are, we see, as proud of plain coats, as of gold and embroidery, according as the one or the other happens to be the mode; and in the same manner one person may be proud of paying his debts, and living within his income, while another is vain of bilking duns, and spending twice as much as he is worth. Young people may ba taught to consider certain good qualities as greater distinctions than those external marks of wealth, of which the generality are so ambitious. From his childhood, the son of a country gentleman should hear, and see in his own family, that independence of character is respected; principles of honour, and the first feelings of generosity, should be joined in his young mind with the habits of economy. He should be encouraged to give, but never to waste, bis playthings, his clothes, his money, or any thing that can be useful to himself or others. He should be taught a few honest maxims, of which he will feel the value and force when he begins to reason and to act for himself; he should learn, that a gen. tleman ought to live within his income, and to pay his debts: that he should scorn to take a bribe, or to be the hanger-on of a court. These are wholesome truths, which, once fixed in a boy's mind, will form a firm foundation for the

plain character of a country gentleman. Even before a child can have an accurate idea of what constitutes a good master, a good land. Jord, or a good magistrate, his ambition may be excited to become what his ancestors have been before him, or what his parents and friends commend and respect. These impressions may be made without formal lessons, by seizing proper opportunities as they occur. If the child hear his father speak to his domestics or tenants, or the country people in the neighbourhood, with kindness; if the boy sees that his father exerts himself to improve their houses, to add to their comforts, to prevent them from disputing, and to do justice among them, he will early acquire some notions of the true duty of a country gentleman: and if he hear his father's dependants and neighbours speak of him with gratitude and respect, he will even in his childhood be touched by these praises, and will probably resolve to imitate his father's conduct when he grows up to be a man. Many things occur between the forming and keeping such a resolution; but it is well even to have formed it; such impressions may be weakened by time, or apparently effaced by succeeding events: but it often happens that notions, which seem to have been obliterated, recur when people are placed in circumstances similar to those in which the thoughts were first introduced into the mind. Much has been attributed to hereditary propensities, which arise from the recollection of examples seen in childhood; these recur to the mind at the ages when they can be imitated: hence it has often been observed, that children, who had no resemblance to their parents when they were 1809.

young become like them as they grew older.

To strengthen the impressions made by example and conversation, preceptors and parents should select from books illustrations that may amuse while they instruct. The works of Goldsmith, of Day, and many periodical papers of Addison, are well suited to inspire a boy both with the independence of manly character, and the benevo lent feelings and amiable manners, which make a country gentleman beloved and respected.

The boy will hear conversations about elections and members of parliament; he may happen to see an election: the time should then be taken to impress on his mind the idea of the duties of a member of parliament, and to inspire his young soul with the generous sentiments of a true Briton. He should, for instance, hear the account of the Lord Treasurer Danby's visit in King Charles the Second's time to the patriot Marvel in his garret ; he should hear, or he should read, of the noble firmness with which Marvel rejected the temptations that were presented to him; he refused a thousand pounds laid down before him, though he was at the time so poor, that he was obliged to borrow a guinea of a friend as soon as the Lord Treasurer departed. The boy should hear also of the independent patriot, who was found by Sir Robert Walpole supping upon a cold shoulder of mutton;, a circumstance which convinced the minister that he could not succeed in any attempt to corrupt integrity that was supported by unblushing frugality. Anecdotes such as these are not above the capacity of boys of ten or twelve years old, for they require no knowledge of the world to be tasted; and the enthusiasm

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enthusiasm that generous conduct excites, is always most felt in early youth. A few such facts related when the heart is warm, may make an indelible impression. The contrast to the sturdy respectable cha racter may be shewn in such lives as that of Sir Richard Steele, who, though he had excellent intentions, was so weak, so imprudent, and 80 extravagant, as to become utterly contemptible. Once, when he was reproached by Whiston with his political venality, he replied, "I must ride in a coach; but you can walk." This answer contains much in a few words. Anec dotes such as these, told at happy moments, will make a strong inpression on the mind of youth: and thus, even when very young, the spirit of independence may be excited among children. All this must be effected by domestic education during the years which boys spend at home, before they are sent to school, and during the vacations, which they pass with their parents. The heirs of opulent gentlemen should not be brought up in their father's house, or near their father's estate, lest they should imbibe undue ideas of their own importance, and grow up with the contracted notions common to persons, who hear only of their own possessions, and see on ly their own dependants. Young squires are apt to fancy that there is nothing in the universe equal to their father's house, and their own neighbourhood; and that no opipions can be rational or right, but those which they have been accustomed to hear, from half a dozen domestic oracles. For this reason they should be sent to public schools at a distance from their friends and connexions, where, mixing with trangers and equals, they will be

forced to seek distinction by other merits than merely those of bearing a certain name, or being heir to a certain number of acres. Measuring themselves with others, they will learn of what smail importance they are; and how very little the world thinks of those things which have perhaps occupied their exclusive attention. These practical moral lessons are some of the most salutary, which a great school teaches; and they are peculiarly useful and necessary to boys who are not intended for any of those professions, where continual competition keeps the self-importance of men in order, and where variety of circumstances must prevent them from contracting habits of dogmatizing obstinacy. The obstinacy of ignorance and of imaginary selfimportance used to be one of the common ludicrous characteristics of our English squires; but the Sir Wilful of Congreve, the Western of Fielding, and the Tony Lumpkin of Goldsmith, are not now to be found in the most remote parts of England. The ignorant, hunting, drunken, obstinate, jovial, freedom-loving tyrant is no more to be seen, except in old novels and plays. The ptarmigan, the bustard, the cock of the woods, and the country squire, are nearly extinct. Instead of country squires we have now country gentlemen. The diffusion of knowledge, and the advantages of polite and literary education, have silently and gradually operated this melioration, They must now beware, lest, to avoid the faults and foibles of their predecessors, they should run into the contrary extremes. It is said, that a Yorkshire country gentleman, not many years ago, gave an annuity of £300 for the possession of a statue of Venus, the price of