fcholaftick language, there is nothing but what every man has heard and imagines himself to know. But who would not believe that fome wonderful novelty is prefented to his intellect, when he is afterwards told, in the true bugbear style, that the ares, in the former fenfe, are things that lie between the have-beens and fhall-bes. The have-beens are things that are. paft; the fhall-bes are things that are to come; and the things that ARE, in the latter fenfe, are things. that have not been, nor fhall be, nor ftand in the midft of fuch as are before them, or shall be after them. The. things that have been, and shall be, have refpect to prefent, paft, and future. Thofe likewife that now ARE bave moreover place; that, for inftance, which is bere, that which is to the east, that which is to the west.

All this, my dear reader, is very strange; but though it be ftrange, it is not new; furvey these wonderful fentences again, and they will be found to contain nothing more than very plain truths, which till this Author arofe had always been delivered in plain language.

NUMB. 37. SATURDAY, December 30, 1758.

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HOSE who are skilled in the extraction and preparation of metals, declare, that iron is every where to be found; and that not only its proper ore is copioufly treasured in the caverns of the earth, but that its particles are difperfed throughout all other bodies.

If the extent of the human view could comprehend the whole frame of the univerfe, I believe it would be found invariably true, that Providence has given that in greatest plenty, which the condition of life makes of greatest use; and that nothing is penuriously imparted or placed far from the reach of man, of which a more liberal diftribution, or more eafy acquifition, would increase real and rational felicity.

Iron is common, and gold is rare. Iron contributes fo much to fupply the wants of nature, that its ufe conftitutes much of the difference between favage and polished life, between the ftate of him that flumbers in European palaces, and him that shelters himself in the cavities of a rock from the chilnefs of the night, or the violence of the ftorm. Gold can never be hardened into faws or axes; it can neither furnish inftruments of manufacture, utenfils of agriculture, nor weapons of defence; its only quality is to

Thine, and the value of its luftre arifes from its

fcarcity.

Throughout the whole circle, both of natural and moral life, neceffaries are as iron, and fuperfluities as gold. What we really need we may readily obtain; fo readily, that far the greater part of mankind has, in the wantonnefs of abundance, confounded natural with artificial defires, and invented neceffities for the fake of employment, because the mind is impatient of inaction, and life is fuftained with fo little labour, that the tedioufnefs of idle time cannot otherwise be supported.

Thus plenty is the original caufe of many of our needs; and even the poverty, which is fo frequent and distressful in civilized nations, proceeds often from that change of manners which opulence has produced. Nature makes us poor only when we want neceffaries, but cuftom gives the name of poverty to the want of fuperfluities.

When Socrates paffed through fhops of toys and ornaments, he cried out, How many things are here which I do not need! And the fame exclamation may every man make who furveys the common accommodations of life.

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Superfluity and difficulty begin together. Το drefs food for the ftomach is eafy, the art is to irritate the palate when the ftomach is fufficed. rude hand may build walls, form roofs, and lay floors, and provide all that warmth and fecurity require; we only call the nicer artificers to carve the cornice, or to paint the cielings. Such dress as may enable the body to endure the different feafons, the moft

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most unenlightened nations have been able to procure; but the work of science begins in the ambition of diftinction, in variations of fashion, and emulation of elegance. Corn grows with eafy culture; the gardener's experiments are only employed to exalt the flavours of fruits, and brighten the colours of flowers.

Even of knowledge, thofe parts are most easy which are generally neceffary. The intercourse of fociety is maintained without the elegances of language. Figures, criticifms, and refinements, are the work of thofe whom idleness makes weary of themselves. The commerce of the world is carried on by eafy methods of computation. Subtilty and study are required only when questions are invented merely to puzzle, and calculations are extended to fhew the fkill of the calculator. The light of the fun is equally beneficial to him, whofe eyes tell him that it moves, and to him whofe reafon perfuades him that it ftands ftill, and plants grow with the fame luxuriance, whether we fuppofe earth or water the parent of vegetation.

If we raise our thoughts to nobler enquiries, we shall still find facility concurring with usefulness. No man needs ftay to be virtuous till the moralists have determined the effence of virtue; our duty is made apparent by its proximate confequences, though the general and ultimate reafon fhould never be difcovered. Religion may regulate the life of him to whom the Scotifts and Thomifts are alike unknown; and the affertors of fate and free-will, how

ever different in their talk, agree to act in the fame

manner.

It is not my intention to depreciate the politer arts or abftrufer ftudies. That curiofity which always fucceeds eafe and plenty, was undoubtedly given us as a proof of capacity which our prefent state is not able to fill, as a preparative for fome better mode of existence, which fhall furnish employment for the whole foul, and where plea fure fhall be adequate to our powers of fruition. In the mean time, let us gratefully acknowledge that goodness which grants us eafe at a cheap rate, which changes the feasons where the nature of heat and cold has not been yet examined, and gives the viciffitudes of day and night to those who never marked the tropicks, or numbered the conftellations.

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