I

STR,

TO THE ADVENTURER.

T has been obferved, I think by Sir William Temple, and after him by almoft every other writer, that England affords a greater variety of characters than the reft of the world. This is afcribed to the liberty prevailing amongst us, which gives every man the privilege of being wife or foolish his own way, and preferves him from the neceflity of hypocrify or the fervility of imitation.

That the pofition itself is true, I am not completely fatisfied. To be nearly acquainted with the people of different countries can happen to very few; and in life, as in every thing elfe beheld at a distance, there appears an even uniformity: the petty difcriminations which diverfify the natural character, are not difcoverable but by a clofe infpection; we, therefore, find them moft at home, because there we have moft opportunities of remarking them. Much less am I convinced that this peculiar diverfification, if it be real, is the confequence of peculiar liberty; for where is the government to be found that fuperintends individuals with fo much vigilance, as not to leave their private conduct without restraint? Can it enter into a reafonable mind to imagine, that men of every other nation are not equally mafters of their own time or houfes with ourfelves, and equally at liberty to be parfimonious or profufe, frolic or fullen, abftinent or luxurious? Liberty is certainly neceffary to the full play of predominant humours; but fuch liberty is to be found e under the government of the many archies or in comor the few, in mot monwealths.

How readily the predominant paffion fnatches an interval of liberty, and how faft it expands itself when the weight of refraint is taken away, I had lately an opportunity to discover, as I took a

HOR.

FRANCIS. journey into the country in a stagecoach; which, as every journey is a kind of adventure, may be very properly related to you, though I can difplay ne fuch extraordinary affembly as Cervantes has collected at Don Quixote's inn.

In a ftage-coach the paffengers are for the moft part wholly unknown to one another, and without expectation of ever meeting again when their journey is at an end; one fhould, therefore, imagine, that it was of little importance to any of them, what conjectures the reft fhould form concerning him. Yet fo it is, that as all think themselves fecure from detection, all affume that character of which they are moft defirous, and on no occafion is the general ambition of fuperiority more apparently indulged.

On the day of our departure, in the twilight of the morning, I afcended the vehicle with three men and two women, my fellow-travellers. It was eafy to obferve the affected elevation of mien with which every one entered; and the fupercilious civility with which they paid their compliments to each other. When the first ceremony was dispatched, we fat filent for a long time, all employed in collecting importance into our faces, and endeavouring to ftrike reverence and fubmiffion into our companions.

It is always obfervable that filence propagates itfelf, and that the longer talk has been fufpended, the more difficult it is to find any thing to fay. We began now to with for converfation; but no one feemed inclined to defcend from

his dignity, or firft propofe a topic of difcourfe. At laft a corpulent gentleman, who had equipped himfelf for this expedition with a fearlet furtout and a large hat with a broad lace, drew out his watch, looked on it in filence, and then held it dangling at his finger. This was, I fuppofe, under

ftood

food by all the company as an invitation to afk the time of the day, but nobody appeared to heed his overture; and his defire to be talking fo far overcame his refentment, that he let us know of his own accord that it was past five, and that in two hours we should be at breakFaft.

His condefcenfion was thrown away; we continued all obdurate; the ladies held up their heads; I amufed myfelf with watching their behaviour; and of the other two, one feemed to employ himfelf in counting the trees as we drove by them, the other drew his hat over his eyes and counterfeited a flumber. The man of benevolence, to fhew that he was not depreffed by our neglect, hummed a tune and beat time upon his Inuff-box.

Thus univerfally displeased with one another, and not much delighted with ourfelves, we came at laft to the little inn appointed for our repaft; and all began at once to recompenfe themselves for the conttraint of filence, by innumerable questions and orders to the people that attended us. At laft, what every one had called for was got, or declared impoffible to be got at that time, and we were perfuaded to fit round the fame table; when the gentleman in the red furtout looked again upon his watch, told us that we had half an hour to fpare, but he was forry to fee fo little merriment among us; that all fellowtravellers were for the time upon the level, and that it was always his way to make himself one of the company. • I remember,' fays he, it was on juft fuch a morning as this, that I and my Lord Mumble and the Duke of Tenterden were out upon a ramble: we called at a little houfe as it might be this; and my landlady, I warrant you, ⚫ not fufpecting to whom she was talking, was fo jocular and facetious, and made fo many merry anfwers to our questions, that we were all ready to burft with laughter. At last, the good woman happening to hear me whifper ← the duke and call him by his title, was fo furprised and confounded, that we could scarcely get a word from her; and the duke never met me from that day to this, but he talks of the little houfe, and quarrels with me for terrifying the landlady."

He had fcarcely time to congratulate himself on the veneration which this

narrative must have procured him from the company, when one of the ladies having reached out for a plate on a diftant part of the table, began to remark the inconveniences of travelling, and the difficulty which they who never fat at home without a great number of attendants found in performing for themfelves fuch offices as the road required; but that people of quality often travelled in difguife, and might be generally known from the vulgar by their condefcenfion to poor inn-keepers, and the allowance which they made for any defect in their entertainment; that for her part, while people were civil and meant well, it was never her custom to find fault, for one was not to expect upon a journey all that one enjoyed at one's own house.

A general emulation feemed now to be excited. One of the men, who had hitherto faid nothing, called for the last news-paper; and having perufed it a while with deep penfivenefs It is impoffible,' fays he, for any man to

nefs how to act with regard to the tocks: laft week it was the general opinion that they would fall, and I fold out twenty thousand pounds in order to a purchase; they have now rifen unexpectedly; and I make no doubt but at my return to London I fhall risk thirty thousand pounds among them again.'

A young man, who had hitherto diftinguifhed himself only by the vivacity of his looks, and a frequent diverfion of his eyes from one object to another, upon this clofed his fnuff-box, and told us, that he had a hundred times talked with the chancellor and the judges on the fubject of the ftocks; that for his part he did not pretend to be well acquainted with the principles on which they were established, but had always heard them reckoned pernicious to trade, uncertain in their produce, and unfolid in their foundation; and that he had been advised by three judges, his moft intimate friends, never to venture his money in the funds, but to put it out upon land-fecurity till he could light upon an eftate in his own country.

It might be expected, that upon these glimpfes of latent dignity, we should all have began to look round us with veneration; and have behaved like the princes of romance, when the enchantment that difguifes them is diffolved, E e 2

and

Such is the talk of many who think themselves wife, and of fome who are thought wife by others; of whom part probably believe their own tenets, and part may be justly fufpected of endeavouring to fhelter their ignorance in multitudes, and of wishing to deftroy that reputation which they have no hopes to share. It will, I believe, be found invariably true, that learning was never decried by any learned man; and what credit can be given to those who venture to condemn that which they do not know? If reafon has the power afcribed to it by it's advocates, if fo much is to be difcovered by attention and meditation, it is hard to believe, that fo many millions, equally participating of the bounties of nature with ourfelves, have been for ages upon ages meditating in vain: if the wits of the prefent time expect the regard of potterity, which will then inherit the reafon which is now thought fuperior to instruction, furely they may allow themselves to be inftructed by the reafon of former generations. When, therefore, an author declares, that he has been able to learn nothing from the writings of his predeceffors, and fuch a declaration has been lately made, nothing but a degree of arrogance unpar donable in the greatest human underftanding, can hinder him from perceiving that he is raifing prejudices against his own performance; for with what hopes of fuccefs can he attempt that in which greater abilities have hitherto mifcarried? or with what peculiar force does he fuppofe himself invigorated, that difficulties hitherto invincible should give way before him?

Of thofe whom Providence has qualified to make any additions to human knowledge, the number is extremely fmall; and what can be added by each fingle mind, even of this fuperior clafs, is very little: the greatest part of mankind must owe all their knowledge, and all must owe far the larger part of it, to the information of others. To underftand the works of celebrated authors, to comprehend their fyftems, and retain their reafonings, is a talk more than equal to common intellects; and he is by Do means to be accounted ufelefs or idle, who has ftored his mind with acquired knowledge, and can detail it occasionally to others who have lefs leifure or weaker abilities.

Perfius has juftly obferved, that knowledge is nothing to him who is not known by others to poffefs it: to the scholar himself it is nothing with refpe&t either to honour or advantage, for the world cannot reward thofe qualities which are concealed from it; with respect to others it is nothing, because it affords no help to ignorance or error.

It is with juftice, therefore, that in an accomplished character, Horace unites juft fentiments with the power of expreffing them; and he that has once acé cumulated learning, is next to confider, how he fhall most widely diffuse and moft agreeably impart it..

A ready man is made by converfation. He that buries himself among his manufcripts befprent,' as Pope expreffes it, with learned duft,' and wears out his days and nights in perpetual refearch and folitary meditation, is too apt to lofe in his elocution what he adds to his wisdom; and when he comes into the world, to appear overloaded with his own notions, like a man armed with weapons which he cannot wield. He has no facility of inculcating his fpeculations, of adapting himself to the various degrees of intellect which the accidents of converfation will prefent; but will talk to most unintelligibly, and to all unpleafantly.

I was once prefent at the lectures of a profound philofopher, a man really skilled in the fcience which he profeffed, who having occafion to explain the terms OPACUM and PELLUCIDUM, told us, after fome hesitation, that OPACUM was, as one might fay, OPAKE, and that PELLUCIDUM fignified PELLUCID. Such was the dexterity with which this learned reader facilitated to his auditors the intricacies of fcience; and fo true is it, that a man may know what he cannot teach.

Boerhaave complains, that the writers who have treated of chemistry before him, are ufelefs to the greater part of ftudents, because they prefuppofe their readers to have fuch degrees of skill as are not often to be found. Into the fame error are all men apt to fall, who have familiarized any fubject to themfelves in folitude: they difcourse as if they thought every other man had beca employed in the fame inquiries; and expect that fhort hints and obfcure allufions will produce in others the fame

train

train of ideas which they excite in themfelves.

Nor is this the only inconvenience which the man of fludy fuffers from a reclufe life. When he meets with an opinion that pleafes him, he catches it up with eagerne's; looks only after fuch arguments as tend to his confirmation; or fpares himfelf the trouble of difcuffion, and adopts it with very little proof; indulges it long without fufpicion, and in time unites it to the general body of his knowledge, and treasures it up among inconteftible trutas: but when he comes into the world among men who, arguing upon diffimilar principles, have been led to different conclufions, and being placed in various fituations, view the fame object on many fides; he finds his darling pofition attacked, and himself in no condition to defend it: having thought always in one train, he is in the state of a man who having fenced always with the fame mafter, is perplexed and amazed by a new posture of his antagonist; he is entangled in unexpected difficulties, he is haraffed by fudden objections, he is unprovided with folutions or replies, his furprize impedes his natural powers of reafoning, his thoughts are fcattered and confounded, and he gratifies the pride of airy petulance with an easy victory.

It is difficult to imagine with what obftinacy truths which one mind perceives almost by intuition, will be rejested by another; and how many artifices must be practifed, to procure admiffion for the most evident propofitions into understandings frighted by their novelty, or hardened against them by accidental prejudice; it can fcarcely be conceived, how frequently, in thefe extemporaneous controverfies, the dull will be fubtile, and the acute abfurd; 'how often stupidity will elude the force of argument, by involving itfelf in it's own gloom; and miftaken ingenuity will weave artful fallacies, which reafon can fcarcely find means to disentangle.

In thefe encounters the learning of the reclufe ufually fails him: nothing but long habit and frequent experiments can confer the power of changing a pofition into various forms, prefenting it in different points of view, connecting it with known and granted truths, fortifying it with intelligible arguments, and illuftrating it by apt fimilitudes;

and he, therefore, that has collected his knowledge in folitude, muft learn it's application by mixing with mankind.

But while the various opportunities of converfation invite us to try every mode of argument, and every art of recommending our sentiments, we are frequently betrayed to the ufe of fuch as are not in themselves ftrictly defensible: a man heated in talk, and eager of victory, takes advantage of the mistakes or ignorance of his adverfary, lays hold of conceffions to which he knows he has no right, and urges proofs likely to prevail on his opponent, though he knows himfelf that they have no force: thus the feverity of reafon is relaxed, many topics are accumulated, but without juft arrangement or diftinction; we learn to fatisfy ourselves with fuch ratiocination as filences others; and feldom recal to a close examination that discourse which has gratified our vanity with victory and applause.

Some caution, therefore, must be used, left copioufness and facility be made lefs valuable by inaccuracy and confusion. To fix the thoughts by writing, and fubject them to frequent examinations and reviews, is the best method of enabling the mind to detect it's own fophifins, and keep it on guard again't the fallacies which it practifes on others: in conversation we naturally diffuse our thoughts, and in writing we contract them; method is the excellence of writing, and unconstraint the grace of converfation.

To read, write, and converfe in due proportions, is, therefore, the bufinefs of a man of letters. For all these there is not often equal opportunity; excellence, therefore, is not often attainable; and moft men fail in one or other of the ends propofed, and are full without readinefs, or ready without exactnefs. Some deficiency must be forgiven all, because all are men; and more must be allowed to pafs uncenfured in the greater part of the world, becaufe none can confer upon himself abilities, and few have the choice of fituations proper for the improvement of thofe which nature has bestowed: it is, however, reasonable, to have Perfection in our eye; that we may always advance towards it, though we know it never can be reached.

Τ

N° LXXXVI.