ciety; who thinks himself obliged by this principle to the practice of fome virtues, and not of others, is by no means to be reckoned among true men of honour. Timogenes was a lively inftance of one actuated by falfe honour. Timogenes would fmile at a man's jeft who ridiculed his Ma. ker, and at the fame time run a man through the body that fpoke ill of his friend. Timogenes would have scorned to have betrayed a fecret that was intrufted with him, though the fate of his country depended upon the difcovery of it. Timogenes took away the life of a young fellow in a duel, for having fpoken ill of Belinda, a lady whom he himself had seduced in her youth, and betraye into want and ignominy. To clofe his character, Timogenes, after having ruined feveral poor tradefmen's families who had trufted him, fold his eftate to fatisfy his creditors; but, like a man of honcur, difpofed of all the money he could make of it, in paying off his play debts, or, to speak in his own language, his debts of honour. In the third place, we are to confider thofe perfons, who treat this principle as chimerical, and turn it into ridicule. Men who are profeffedly of no honour, are of a more profligate and abandoned nature than even tafe who are actuated by falfe notices of it; as there is more hope of an hereti. than of an atheist. Theie fons of ala y confider nonour, with old Syphax in the play before-mentioned, as a fine imaginary notion that leads aftray young unexperienced men, and draws them into real mitchiefs, while they are engaged in the parfait of a fhadow. Thefe are generally perfons who, in Shakespeare's phrafe, "are worn and hackneyed in the ways of men;" whofe imaginations are grown callous, and have lost all thofe delicate fentiments which are natural to minds that are innocent and undepraved. Such old battered mifcreants radicule every thing as romantic, that comes in competition with their prefent intereft; and treat thofe perfons as vifionaries, who dare to ftand up, in a corrupt age, for what Las not its immediate reward joined to it. The talents, intereft, or experience of fuch men, make them very often ufeful in all parties, and at all times. But whatever wealth and dignities they may arive at, they ought to confider, that every one ftands as a blot in the arnals of his country, who arrives at the temple of honour by any Per way than through that of virtue. Guardian. $ 115. On Modefty. I know no two words that have been more abufed by the different and wrong interpretations, which are put upon them, than thefe two, Modefty and Assurance. To fay fuch a one is a modeft man, fometimes indeed paffes for a good character; but at prefent is very often used to fignify a fheepish, awkward fellow, who has neither good-breeding, politeness, nor any knowledge of the world. Again: A man of affurance, though at firft it only denoted a perfon of a free and open carriage, is now very ufually applied to a profligate wretch, who can break through all the rules of decency and morality without a blush. I shall endeavour, therefore, in this esfay, to reftore theie words to their true meaning, to prevent the idea of Modefty from being confounded with that of Sheepifhnefs, and to hinder Impudence from paffing for Allurance. If I was put to define Modefty, I would call it, The reflection of an ingenuous mind, either when a man has committed an action for which he centures himself, or fancies that he is expofed to the cenfure of others. For this reafon a man, truly modeft, is as much fo when he is alone as in company; and as fubject to a blush in his clofet as when the eyes of multitudes are upon him. I do not remember to have met with any inftance of modefty with which I am fo well pleafed, as that celebrated one of the young Prince, whofe father, being a tributary king to the Romans, had feveral complaints laid against him before the fenate, as a tyrant and oppreffor of his fabjects. The Prince went to Rome to defend his father; but coming into the fcnate, and hearing a multitude of crimes proved upon him, was fo oppressed when it came to his turn to fpeak, that he was unable to utter a word. The story tells us, that the fathers were more moved at this inftance of modefty and ingenuity, than they could have been by the moft pathetic oration; and, in thort, pardoned the guilty father for this early promife of virtue in the fon. I take Aurance to be, The faculty of poffeiting a man's felf, or of faying and doing indifferent things without any uneafinefs or emotion in the mind. That which generally gives a man afurance, is a moderate knowledge of the world; but above all, all, a mind fixed and determined in itself to do nothing against the rules of honour and decency. An open and affured behaviour is the natural confequence of fuch a refolution. A man thus armed, if his words or actions are at any time misinterpreted, retires within himself, and from a confcioufnefs of his own integrity, affumes force enough to defpife the little cenfures of ignorance or malice. Every one ought to cherish and encourage in himself the modefty and affurance I have here mentioned. A man without affurance is liable to be made uneafy by the folly or ill-nature of every one he converfes with. A man without modely is loft to all fenfe of honour and virtue. It is more than probable, that the Prince above-mentioned poffeffed both thofe qualifications in a very eminent degree. With out affurance, he would never have undertaken to speak before the moft auguft affembly in the world; without medefty, he would have pleaded the cause he had taken upon him, though it had appeared ever fo fcandalous. From what has been faid, it is plain that modefty and affurance are both amiable, and may very well meet in the fame perfon. When they are thus mixed and blended together, they compofe what we endeavour to exprefs, when we fay, a modeft affurance; by which we understand, the juft mean between bathfulness and impudence. I shall conclude with obferving, that as the fame man may be both modest and affured, fo it is alfo poffible for the fame perfon to be both impudent and bafhful. We have frequent inftances of this odd kind of mixture in people of depraved minds and mean education; who, though they are not able to meet a man's eyes, or pronounce a fentence without confufion, can voluntarily commit the greatest villanies or moft indecent actions. Such a perfon feems to have made a refolation to do ill, even in fpite of himself, and in defiance of all thofe checks and reftraints his temper and complexion feem to have laid in his way. Upon the whole, I would endeavour to eftablish this maxim, That the practice of virtue is the most proper method to give a man a becoming affurance in his words and actions. Guilt always feeks to fhelter itfelf in one of the extremes; and is fome. times attended with both. Spectator. 116. On difinterested Friendship. I am informed that certain Greek writers (Philofophers, it feems, in the opinion of their countrymen) have advanced fome very extraordinary pofitions relating to friendship; as, indeed, what subject is there, which thefe fubtle geniufes have not tortured with their fophiftry? The authors to whom I refer, diffuade their difciples from entering into any ftrong attachments, as unavoidably creating fupernumerary difquietudes to thofe who engage in them; and, as every man has more than fufficient to call forth his folicitude in the course of his own affairs, it is a weakness they contend, anxiously to involve himfelf in the concerns of others. They recommend it alfo, in all connections of this kind, to hold the bands of union extremely lcofe; fo as always to have it in one's power to ftraiten or relax them, as circumstances and fituations fhall render moft expedient. They add, as a capital article of their doctrine, that "to live exempt from cares, is an effential ingredient to constitute human happinefs: but an ingredient, however, which he, who voluntarily diftreffes himself with cares in which he has no neceffary and perfonal intereft, must never hope to poffefs." I have been told likewife, that there is another fet of pretended philofophers, of the fame country, whofe tenets, concerning this fubject, are of a still more illiberal and ungenerous caft. 68 The propofition they attempt to eftablish, is, that friendship is an affair of felf-intereft entirely, and that the proper motive for engaging in it, is, not in order to gratify the kind and benevolent affections, but for the benefit of that affiftance and fup. port which is to be derived from the connection." Accordingly they affert, that thofe perfons are moft difpofed to have recourse to auxiliary alliances of this kind, who are leaft qualified by nature, or fortune, to depend upon their own ftrength and powers: the weaker fex, for inftance, being generally more inclined to engage in friendships, than the male part of our fpecies; and thofe who are depreft by indigence, or labouring under misfortunes, than the wealthy and the profperous. Excellent and obliging fages, thefe, undoubtedly! To ftrike out the friendly affections from the moral world, would be like extinguishing the fun in the natural: each each of them being the fource of the beft and most grateful fatisfactions that Heaven has conferred on the fons of men. But I fhould be glad to know what the real value of this boafted exemption from care, which they promife their difciples, july amounts to an exemption flattering to felf-love, I confefs; but which, upon many occurrences in human life, should be rejected with the utmoft difdain. For nothing, furely, can be more inconfiftent with a well-poifed and manly fpirit, than to decline engaging in any laudable action, or to be difcouraged from perfevering in it, by an apprehenfion of the trouble and iclicitude with which it may probably be attended. Virtue herfelf, indeed, ought to be totally renounced, if it be right to avoid every poffible means that may be productive of uneafinefs: for who, that is actuated by her principles, can obkrve the conduct of an oppofite character, without being affected with fome degree of fecret diffatisfaction? Are not the juft, the brave, and the good, neceffarily expoled to the difagreeable emotions of diflike and averfion, when they respectively meet with inftances of fraud, of cowardice, or of villainy? It is an effential property of every well-conftituted mind, to be acted with pain, or pleafure, according to the nature of thofe moral appearances that prefent themselves to obfervation. If fenfibility, therefore, be not incompatible with true wisdom (and it furely is not, unless we fuppofe that philofophy deadens every finer feeling of our nature) what juft reafon can be affigned, why the fympathetic fufferings which may refult from friendship, fhould be a fufficient inducement for banishing that generous affection from the human breast? Extingaith all emotions of the heart, and what difference will remain, I do not fay between man and brute, but between man and a mere inanimate clod? Away then with thofe austere philofophers, who reprefent virtue as hardening the foul against all the fofter impreflions of humanity! The fact, certainly, is much otherwise: a truly good man is, upon many occafions, extremely fufceptible of tender fentiments; and his heart expands with joy, or shrinks with forrow, as good or ill fortune accompanies his friend. Upon the whole, then, it may fairly be concluded, that, as in the cafe of virtue, fo in that of friendship, those painful fenfations, which may fometimes be produced by the one, as well as by the other, are equally infufficient grounds for excluding either of them from taking poffeffion of our bofoms. They who infift that " utility is the first and prevailing motive, which induces mankind to enter into particular friendhips," appear to me to diveft the affociation of its moft amiable and engaging principle. For, to a mind rightly difpofed, it is not fo much the benefits received, as the affectionate zeal from which they flow, that gives them their best and most valuable recommendation. It is fo far indeed from being verified by fact, that a fenfe of our wants is the original caufe of forming these amicable alliances; that, on the contrary, it is obfervable, that none have been more diftinguished in their friendships than thofe whofe power and opulence, but, above all, whofe fuperior virtue (a much firmer fupport) have raised them above every neceffity of having recourfe to the affiftance of others. The true diftin&tion, then, in this queftion is, that " although friendship is certainly productive of utility, yet utility is not the primary motive of friendship.” Thofe felfish fenfualifts, therefore, who, lulled in the lap of luxury, prefume to maintain the reverfe, have furely no claim to attention; as they are neither qualified by reflection, nor experience, to be competent judges of the fubject. Good Gods! is there a man upon the face of the earth, who would deliberately accept of all the wealth and all the affluence this world can beftow, if offered to him upon the fevere terms of his being unconnected with a fingle mortal whom he could love, or by whom he fhould he be loved? This would be to lead the wretched life of a detefted tyrant, who, amidst perpetual fufpicions and alarms, paffes his miferable days a ftranger to every tender fentiment, and utterly precluded from the heart-felt fatisfactions of friendship. Melmoth's Tranflation of Cicero's Lælius. § 117. The Art of Happiness. Almost every object that attracts our notice has its bright and its dark fide. He who habituates himself to look at the difpleafing fide, will four his difpofition, and confequently impair his happiness; while he, who conftantly beholds it on the bright fide, infenfibly meliorates his temper, and, in confequence of it, improves his own happiness, and the happiness of all about him. Arachne and Meliffa are two friends. They They are, both of them, women in years, and alike in birth, fortune, education, and accomplishments. They were originally alike in temper too; but, by different management, are grown the reverse of each other. Arachne has accuftomed herself to look only on the dark fide of every object. If a new poem or play makes its appearance, with a thousand brilliancies, and but one or two blemishes, the flightly fkims over the paffages that should give her pleafure, and dwells upon thofe only that fill her with dislike.-If you fhew her a very excellent portrait, fhe looks at fome part of the drapery which has been neglected, or to a hand or finger which has been left unfinished. Her garden is a very beautiful one, and kept with great neatnefs and elegancy; but if you take a walk with her in it, the talks to you of nothing but blights and forms, of fnails and caterpillars, and how impoffible it is to keep it from the litter of falling leaves and worm-cafts. If you fit down in one of her temples, to enjoy a delightful profpect, fhe obferves to you, that there is too much wood, or too little water; that the day is too funny, or too gloomy; that it is fultry, or windy; and finishes with a long harangue upon the wretchedness of our climate.-When you return with her to the company, in hope of a little chearful converfation, the cails a gloom over all, by giving you the history of her own bad health, or of fome melancholy accident that has befallen one of her daughter's children. Thus fhe infenfibly finks her own fpirits, and the fpirits of all around her; and, at laft, difcovers, fhe knows not why, that her friends are grave. Melifla is the reverfe of all this. By conftantly habituating herfelf to look only on the bright fide of objects, the preferves a perpetual chearfulness in herfelf, which, by a kind of happy contagion, the communicates to all about her. If any miffortune has befallen her, fhe confiders it might have been worfe, and is thankful to Providence for an efcape. She rejoices in folitude, as it gives her an opportunity of knowing herself; and in fociety, becaufe the can communicate the happiness the enjoys. She oppofes every man's virtue to his failings, and can find out fomething to cherish and applaud in the very wort of her acquaintance. She opens every book with a defire to be entertained or inftruated, and therefore feldom mifles what the looks for. Walk with her, though it be on a heath or a common, and fhe will difcover numberless beauties, unobferved before, in the hills, the dales, the brooms, brakes, and the variegated flowers of weeds and poppies. She enjoys every change of weather and of feafon, as bringing with it fomething of health or convenience. In converfation, it is a rule with her, never to start a subject that leads to any thing gloomy or difagreeable. You therefore never hear her repeating her own grievances, or those of her neighbours; or, (what is worst of all) their faults and imperfections. If any thing of the latter kind be mentioned in her hearing, fhe has the addrefs to turn it into entertainment, by changing the moft odious railing into a pleafant raillery. Thus Melilla, like the bee, gathers honey from every weed; while Arachne, like the fpider, fucks poifon from the fairest flowers. The confequence is, that, of two tempers once very nearly allied, the one is ever four and diffatisfied, the other always gay and chearful; the one fpreads an univerfal gloom, the other a continual funfhine. There is nothing more worthy of our attention, than this art of happiness. In converfation, as well as life, happiness very often depends upon the flightest incidents. The taking notice of the badnefs of the weather, a north-eaft-wind, the approach of winter, or any trifling circumftance of the difagreeable kind, fhall infenfibly rob a whole company of its good-humour, and fling every member of it into the vapours. If, therefore, we would be happy in ourfelves, and are defirous of communicating that happiness to all about us, thefe minutie of converfation ought carefully to be attended to. The brightness of the fky, the lengthening of the day, the increafing verdure of the fpring, the arrival of any little piece of good news, or whatever carries with it the most diftant glimpse of joy, fhall frequently be the parent of a focial and happy conversation. Goodmanners exact from us this regard to our company. The clown may repine at the funthine that ripens the harveft, because his turnips are burnt up by it; but the man of refinement will extract pleasure from the thunder-ftorm to which he is expoed, by remarking on the plenty and refreshment which may be expected from the fucceeding fhower. Thus does politenefs, as well as good fenfe, direct us to look at every object on the § 118. Happiness is founded in Rectitude of Conduct. All men purfue Good, and would be happy, if they knew how: not happy for mirutes, and miferable for hours; but happy, if poffible, through every part of their exiftence. Either, therefore, there is a good of this fteady, durable kind, or there is none. If none, then all good muft be tranfient and uncertain; and if fo, an cbject of the lowest value, which can little ceterve either our attention or inquiry. But if there be a better good, fuch a good as we are feeking; like every other thing, it must be derived from fome caufe; and that caufe must be either external, internal, cr mixed; in as much as, except thele three, there is no other poffible. Now a Ready, durable good cannot be derived from an external caufe; by reafon, all derived from externals must Auctuate as they fatuate. By the fame rule, not from a mixture of the two; because the part which is external will proportionably defroy its effence. What then remains but the cafe internal; the very caufe which we have fuppofed, when we place the Sovereiga Good in Mind-in Rectitude of Conduct? Ibid. 5119. The Choice of Hercules. When Hercules was in that part of his yourn, in which it was natural for him to conder what course of life he ought to pu fae, he one day retired into a defert, where the filence and folitude of the place very much favoured his meditations. As he was muling on his prefent condition, and very mucu perplexed in himfelf on the fate of life he thould chufe, he faw two women, of a larger itature than ordinary, aproaching towards him. One of them had a very noble air, and graceful deportment; her beauty was natural and eafy, br perfon clean and unfpotted, her eyes c towards the ground with an agreeable reserve, her motion and behaviour full of andely, and her raiment as white as fnow. Te other had a great deal of health and fedeis in her Countenance, which the had helped with an artificial white and red; and fhe endeavoured to appear more graceful than ordinary in her mein, by a mixture of affectation in all her geflures. She had a wonderful confidence and affurance in her looks, and all the variety of colours in her drefs, that fhe thought were the moft proper to fhew her complexion to advantage. She caft her eyes upon herfelf, then turned them on thofe that were prefent, to fee how they liked her, and often looked on the figure the made in her own fhadow. Upon her nearer approach to Hercules, the stepped before the other lady, who came forward with a regular, compofed carriage, and running up to him, accofted him after the following manner: My dear Hercules," fays fhe, "I find you are very much divided in your thoughts upon the way of life that you ought to chufe: be my friend, and follow me; I will lead you into the poffeffion of pleafure, and out of the reach of pain, and remove you from all the noife and difquietude of bufinefs. The affairs of either war or peace fhall have no power to disturb you. Your whole employment fhall be to make your life eafy, and to enterrain every fenfe with its proper gratifications. Sumptuous tables, beds of roles, clouds of perfumes, concerts of mufic, crowds of beauties, are all in readinefs to receive you. Come along with me into this region of delights, this world of pleafure, and bid farewel for ever to care, to pain, to bufinefs." Hercules hearing the lady talk after this manner, defired to know her name: to which the answered, "My friends, and those who are well acquainted with me, call me Happinefs; but my enemies, and thofe who would injure my reputation, have given me the name of Pleafure." By this time the other lady was come up, who addreffed herfelf to the young hero in a very different manner:-"Hercules," fays the, "I offer myself to you, becaufe I know you are defcended from the Gods, and give proofs of that defcent, by your love to virtue, and application to the ftudies proper for your age. makes me hope you will gain, both for yourfelf and me, an immortal reputation. But before I invite you into my fociety and friendship, I will be open and fincere with you; and ma lay thi, down as an established truth, that there is nothing truly valuable, which can be purchased This without |