As poverty and hard labour debafe the minds of the common people, and render them unfit for any fcience and ingenious profeffion, fo where any government becomes very oppreffive to all its fubjects, it must have a proportional effect on their temper and genius, and must banish all the liberal arts from amongst them.

The fame principle of moral caufes fixes the characters of different profeffions, and alters even the difpofition which the particular members receive from the hand of nature. A foldier and a priest are different characters in all nations and all ages, and this difference is founded on circumftances, whofe operation is external and unalterable.

The uncertainty of their life makes foldiers lavish and generous, as well as brave; their idleness, as well as the large focieties which they form in camps or garrifons, inclines them to pleafure and gallantry; by their frequent change of company they acquire good breeding and an openness of behaviour; being employed only against a public and open enemy, they become candid, honeft, and undefigning and as they ufe more the labour of the body than the mind, they are commonly thoughtlefs and ignorant.

'Tis a trite but not altogether a falfe maxim, that priests of all religions are the fame; and though the character of the profeffion will not in every inftance prevail over the perfonal character, yet is it fure always to predominate with the greater number. For as chemifts obferve, that fpirits when raifed to a certain height are all the fame, from whatever materials they be extracted; fo thefe men being elevated above humanity, acquire an uniform character, which is entirely their own, and which is in my opinion, generally speaking, not the most amiable that is to be met with in human fociety; it is in most points oppofite to that of a foldier, as is the way

of life from which it is derived.

Hume's Effays. $110. Chastity an additional Ornament to Beauty.

There is no charm in the female fex, that can fupply the place of virtue. Without innocence, beauty is unlovely, and quality contemptible; good-breeding degenerates into wantonnefs, and wit into impudence. It is obferved, that all the virtues are reprefented by both painters and ftatuaries

୭

But as I am now talking to the world yet untainted, I will venture to recommend chastity as the nobleft male qualification.

It is, methinks, very unreafonable, that the difficulty of attaining all other good habits, is what makes them honourable; but in this cafe, the very attempt is become very ridiculous: but in fpite of all the raillery of the world, truth is ftill truth, and will have beauties infeparable from it. I fhould, upon this occafion, bring examples of heroic chastity, were I not afraid of having my paper thrown away by the modifh part of the town, who go no farther, at beft, than the mere abfence of ill, and are contented to be rather irreproachable than praife-worthy. In this particular, a gentleman in the court of Cyrus reported to his majefty the charms and beauty of Panthea; and ended his panegyric by telling him, that fince he was at leifure, he would carry him to vifit her. But that prince, who is a very great man to this day, anfwered the pimp, because he was a man of quality, without roughness, and faid, with a fmile, "If I fhould visit her upon your introduction, now I have leifure, I don't know but I might go again upon her own invitation when I ought to be better employed." But when I caft about all the inftances which I have met with in all my reading, I find not one fo generous, fo honeft, and fo noble, as that of Jofeph in holy writ. When his master had trufled him fo unrefervedly (to speak it in the emphatical manner of the fcripture)" He knew not aught he had, fave the bread which he did eat," he was fo unhappy as to appear irrefiftibly beautiful to his miftrefs; but when this fhameless woman proceeds to folicit him, how gallant is his anfwer!" Behold my mater wotteth not what is with me in the houfe, and hath committed all that he hath to my hand, there is none greater in the house than I, neither hath he kept back any thing from me but thec, because thou art

his

his wife." The fame argument, which a bafe mind would have made to itself for committing the evil, was to this brave man the greatest motive for forbearing it, that he could do it with impunity; the malice and falfehood of the difappointed woman naturally arofe on that occafion, and there is but a fhort ftep from the practice of virtue to the hatred of it. It would therefore be worth ferious confideration in both fexes, and the matter is of importance enough to them, to afk them felves whether they would change lightnefs of heart, indolence of mind, chearful meals, untroubled flumbers, and gentle difpofitions, for a conftant pruriency which fhuts out all things that are great or indifferent, clouds the imagination with infenfibility and prejudice to all manner of delight, but that which is common to all creatures that extend their fpecies.

A loose behaviour, and an inattention to every thing that is ferious, flowing from fome degree of this petulancy, is obfervable in the generality of the youth of both fexes in this age. It is the one common face of most public meetings, and breaks in upon the fobriety, I will not fay feverity, that we ought to exercife in churches. The pert boys and flippant girls are but faint followers of thofe in the fame inclinations at more advanced years. I know not who can oblige them to mend their manners; all that I pretend to, is to enter my proteft, that they are neither fine gentlemen nor fine ladies for this behaviour. As for the portraitures which I would propofe, as the images of agreeable men and women, if they are not imitated or regarded, I can only anfwer, as I remember Mr. Dryden did on the like occafion, when a young fellow, juft come from the play of Cleomenes, told him, in raillery againft the continency of his principal character. If I had been alone with a lady, I fhould not have paffed my time like your Spartan: "That may be," anfwered the bard with a very grave face; "but give me leave to tell you, Sir, you are no hero."

Guardian.

112. The Characters of Gameflers.

The whole tribe of gamefters may be ranked under two divifions: Every man who makes carding, dicing, and betting his daily practice, is either a dupe or a fharper; two characters equally the objects of envy and admiration. The dupe

is generally a person of great fortune and weak intellects:

"Who will as tenderly be led by th' nofe, "As alles are." SHAKESPEARE.

He plays, not that he has any delight in cards and dice, but because it is the fafhion; and if whift or hazard are propofed, he will no more refuse to make one at the table, than among a fet of hard drinkers, he would object drinking his glass in turn, because he is not dry.

There are fome few inftances of men of fenfe, as well as family and fortune, who have been dupes and bubbles. Such an unaccountable itch of play has feized them, that they have facrificed every thing to it, and have feemed wedded to feven's the main, and the odd trick. There is not a more melancholy object than a gentleman. of fenfe thus infatuated. He makes himfelf and family a prey to a gang of villains more infamous than highwaymen; and perhaps when his ruin is completed, he is glad to join with the very fcoundrels that deftroyed him, and live upon the spoil of others, whom he can draw into the fame follies that proved fo fatal to himself.

Here we may take a furvey of the character of a sharper; and that he may have no room to complain of foul play, let us begin with his excellencies. You will perhaps be ftartled, Mr. Town, when I mention the excellencies of a fharper; but a gamefter, who makes a decent figure in the world, must be endued with many amiable qualities, which would undoubtedly appear with great luftre, where they not eclipfed by the odicus character affixed to his trade. In order to carry on the common bufinefs of his profeffion, he must be a man of quick and lively parts, attended with a ftoical calmness of temper, and a conftant prefence of mind. He must fmile at the lofs of thoufands; and is not to be difcompofed, though ruin ftares him in the face. As he is to live among the great, he must not want politenefs and affability; he must be fubmiflive, but not fervile; he must be master of an ingenuous liberal air, and have a feeming opennefs of behaviour.

Thefe must be the chief accomplishments of our hero: but left I fhould be accufed of giving too favourable a likenefs of him, now we have feen his outfide. let us take a view of his heart. There we fhall find avarice the main fpring that

moves the whole machine. Every gamefter is eaten up with avarice; and when this paflion is in full force, it is more strongly predominant than any other. It conquers even luft; and conquers it more effectually than age. At fixty we look at a fine woman with pleafure; but when cards and dice have engroffed our attention, women and all their charms are flighted at five-and-twenty. A thorough gamefter renounces Venus and Cupid for Plutus and Ames-ace, and owns no miftrefs of his heart except the queen of trumps. His infatiable avarice can only be gratified by hypocrify; fo that all thofe fpecious virtues already mentioned, and which, if real, might be turned to the benefit of mankind, must be directed in a gamefter towards the deftruction of his fellow-creatures. His quick and lively parts ferve only to inftruct and aflift him in the moft dexterous method of packing the cards and cogging the dice; his fortitude, which enables him to lefe thoufands without emotion, muit often be practifed against the flings and reproaches of his confcience, aud his liberal deportment and affected openness is a fpecious veil to recommend and conceal the blackett vil lainy.

It is now neceflary to take a fecond furvey of his heart; and as we have icen its vices, let us confider its miferies. The covetous man, who has not fufficient courage or inclination to encreafe his fortune by bets, cards, or dice, but is contented to hoard up thoufands by thefts lefs public, or by cheats lefs liable to uncertainty, lives in a flate of perpetual fufpicion and terror; but the avaricious fears of the gamefter are infinitely greater. He is conflantly to wear a mafk; and like Monfieur St. Croix, coadjuteur to that famous empoisonneufe, Madame Brinvillier, if his mafk falls off, he runs the hazard of being fuffocated by the ftench of his own poifons. I have feen fome examples of this fort not many years ago at White's. I am uncertain whether the wretches are ftill alive; but if they are till alive, they breathe like toads under ground, crawling amidit old walls, and paths long fince unfrequented.

But fuppofing that the fharper's hypocrify remains undetected, in what a flate of mind muft that man be, whose fortune depends upon the infincerity of his heart, the difingenuity of his behaviour, and the falfe bias of his dice! What fenfations mut he fupprefs, when he is obliged to

fmile, although he is provoked; when he mut look ferene in the height of defpair: and when he must act the ftoic, without the confolation of one virtuous fentiment. or one inoral principle! How unhappy muft he be, even in that fituation from which he hopes to reap moft benefit; I mean amidit ftars, garters, and the various herds of nobility! Their lordships are not always in a humour to play: they choose to laugh; they chcofe to joke; in the mean while our hero muft patiently await the good hour, and must not only join in the laugh, and applaud the joke, but must humour every turn and caprice to which that fet of fpoiled children, called bucks of quality, are liable. Surely his brother Thicket's employment, of fauntering on horseback in the wind and rain till the Reading coach paffes through Smallberry-green, is the more eligible, and no lefs honeft occupation.

The fharper has alfo frequently the mor tification of being thwarted in his defign. Opportunities of fraud will not for ever prefent themfelves, The falfe dice cannot be conftantly produced, nor the packed cards always be placed upon the table. It is then our gamelter is in the greatest danger. But even then, when he is in the power of fortune, and has nothing but mere luck and fair play on his fide, he must stand the brunt, and perhaps give away his lat guinea, as cooly as he would lend a nobleman a fhilling.

Our hero is now going off the flage, and his catastrophe is very tragical. The next news we hear of him is his death, atchieved by his own hand, and with his own pito!. An inqueft is bribed, he is buried at midnight and forgotten before fun-rife.

Thefe two portraits of a fharper, wherein I have endeavoured to fhew different likeneffes in the fame man, put me in mind of an old print, which I remember at Oxford, of Count Guifcard. At first fight he was exhibited in a full-bottomed wig, a hat and feather, embroidered cloaths, diamond buttons, and the full court dress of thofe days; but by pulling a flring the folds of the paper were fhifted, the face only remained, a new body came forward, and Count Guifcard appeared to be a devil.

Connoiffeur.

5113. The TATLER's Advice to his Sifter Jenny; a good Leffon for young Ladies.

My brother Tranquillus being gone out of town for fome days, my filter Jenny fent

It is to this fpur which is ever in our fides, that we owe the impatience of this defire for travelling: the paffion is no ways bad, but as others are-in its mifmanagement or excefs;-order it rightly, the advantages are worth the purfuit; the chief of which are to learn the languages, the laws and customs, and underfland the government and interest of other nations,to acquire an urbanity and confidence of behaviour, and fit the mind more easily for converfation and difcourfe; to take us out of the company of our aunts and grandmothers, and from the tracks of nursery mistakes; and by fhewing us new objects, or old ones in new lights, to reform our judgments-by tafting perpetually the varieties of nature, to know what is goodby obferving the addrefs and arts of men, to conceive what is fincere,-and by feeing the difference of fo many various humours and manners-to look into ourselves, and form our own.

This is fome part of the cargo we might return with; but the impulfe of feeing new fights, augmented with that of getting clear from all leffons both of wifdom and reproof at home-carries our youth too early out, to turn this venture to much account; on the contrary, if the fcene paiuted of the prodigal in his travels, looks more like a copy than an original-will it not be well if fuch an adventurer, with fo unpromising a fetting-out-without care, -without compafs,--be not call away for ever;—and may he not be faid to efcape well-if he returns to his country only as naked as he first left it?

But you will fend an able pilot with your fon-a fcholar.

If wildom could fpeak no other language but Greek or Latin-you do well-or if mathematics will make a gentleman, or natural philofophy but teach him to make a bow, he may be of fome fervice in in. troducing your fon into good focieties, and fupporting him in them when he has done but the upfhop will be generally this, that in the most preffing occafions of addrefs, if he is a man of mere reading, the unhappy youth will have the tutor to carry, -and not the tutor to carry him.

But you will avoid this extreme; he fhall be escorted by one who knows the world, not merely from books-but from his own experience:- -a man who has been employed on fuch fervices, and thrice made the tour of Europe with fuccefs.

That is, without breaking his own, or

his pupil's neck;-for if he is fuch as my eyes have feen! fome broken Swifs valetde-chambre-fome general undertaker, who will perform the journey in fo many months, if God pe mit,"-much knowledge will not accrue;-fome profit at least,

he will learn the amount to a halfpenny, of every stage from Calais to Rome;-he will be carried to the best inns,inftructed where there is the best wine, and fup a livre cheaper, than if the youth had been left to make the tour and bargain himself. Look at our governor! I beseech you :fee, he is an inch taller as he relates the advantages.

-And here endeth his pride-his knowledge, and his use.

But when your fon gets abroad, he will be taken out of his hand, by his fociety with men of rank and letters, with whom he will pafs the greateft part of his time.

Let me obferve, in the first place,-that company which is really good is very rare

and very fhy: but you have furmounted this difficulty, and procured him the bet letters of recommendation to the most eminent and refpectable in every capital.

And I anfwer, that he will obtain all by them, which courtely frictly ftands obliged to pay on fuch occafions, but no more.

There is nothing in which we are fo much deceived, as in the advantages propofed from our connections and difcourie with the literati, &c. in foreign parts; efpecially if the experiment is made before we are matured by years or fudy.

Converfation is a traffick; and if you enter into it without fome flock of knowledge, to balance the account perpetually betwixt you, the trade drops at once: and this is the reafon, however it may be boafted to the contrary, why travellers have fo little (efpecially good) converfation with natives, owing to their fufpicion, or perhaps conviction, that there is nothing to be extracted from the converfa tion of young itinerants, worth the trouble of their bad language,—or the interruption of their visits.

The pain on thefe occafions is ufually reciprocal; the confequence of which is, that the difappointed youth feeks an easier fociety; and as bad company is always ready, and ever laying in wait-the career is foon finished; and the poor prodigal returns the fame object of pity, with the prodigal in the gospel.

Sterne's Sermons.