eternal and happy adieu, and adding, My dear Lord, I wish I could alone pay the reckoning, and fuffer for us. both. The latter was first executed; and during that time Lord Balmerinoch remained in an apartment near the scaffold, in which his deportment was graceful without affectation, cheerful, but not prefumptuous. He there converted freely with his friends, twice refreshed himself with a bit of bread and a glass of wine, and defired the company to drink to himain degrae ta haiven," but above all, he called frequently on God, and appeared both prepared and willing to die.

Upon the Sheriff's coming into the apartment, his Lordship faid, I fuppofe Lord Kilmarnock is no more: and having afked how the executioner performed his duty, upon receiving the account, added, then it was well done; and now, gentlemen, I will detain you no longer, for I defire not to protract my life. He then faluted the company in a manner fo cheerful as to draw tears from every eye, and haftened to the fcaffold, which he mounted with fo undaunted a step as furprized every spectator, walked round it, bowed to the people, read the following infcription upon his coffin," Arturus Dominus de "Balmerino, decollatus 18vo, die Au“gufii 1746, ætatis fuæ 58," faid it was right, and then looking on the block with apparent gleafure, filed it his pillow of rest.

His Lordship then called for the executioner, who being introduced, was about to ask forgivenefs; but he flopped him, and faid," Friend, you

DEAR SON,

66

coat," which he inftantly took off and laid upon his coffin. Having prepared himself for the block, he took his laft farewell of his friends; and having once more taken a view of the great number of fpectators, faid, "I am afraid there are some "who may think my behaviour bold;" and turning to a gentleman near him, added," Remember, Sir, what I tell

you, it arifes from a confidence in "God, and a clear confcience." Then taking the axe from the execu tioner, he felt its edge, and returned it to him again, at the fame time fhewing him where to ftrike the blow, and animating him to do it with refolution, For in that, friend, faid he, will confift your mercy. Then, with the fame furprifing countenance, he kneeled down at the block, and having, with arms extended, faid this fhort prayer. "O Lord, "reward my friends, forgive my ene"mies, blefs King James, and receive "

my foul," fubmitted, and gave the fignal to the executioner. His body was buried along with that of the Earl of Kilmarnock in the Tower Chapel, and having had no iffue by his wife, Margaret, daughter of Captain Chalmers, the male line of this branch of the Elphinston family, which had experienced fo many viciffitudes of fortune, became extinct.

of pleafure, and to fix his attention on fome fole and higheft good, which might render all others foreign and fuperfluous. The voice of nature

within him has proved too ftrong to be filenced by artificial precepts; and mankind have ever made it a great object of their lives to enjoy as much and as various pleasure as they have been capable of procuring. Taking the word in its large fenfe, and extending the plan of enjoyment far enough, both as to fpecies and duration, I fee no reason to find fault with the purpofe; and I expect no bene fit to arife from eftablishing one fyftem of morals for the fchools, and another for real life. Suppofing then, the end of obtaining pleafure to be, within certain limits, an allowable one, the means are a fit fubject on which those who are experienced in the world may communicate their obfervations to those who have its leffons yet to learn. It is an interefting topic, and its difcuffion is fairly within the compass of human reason and knowledge.

The advice of contracting our defires, so much infifted on by all the moral preceptors of antiquity, is a very important one towards the attainment of true felicity. It would, however, be a mistake to fuppofe that the fuppreffion of defire, in itfelf, leads to happinefs. There can be no enjoyments without defires; for in their gratification, all enjoyment, as well intellectual' as fenfual, confists. Those sects, therefore, which infifted on the entire abolition of defire, as neceffary to happiness, were influenced by an artificial philofophy, which fet out with misunderstanding man's real nature and deftination. But, on the other hand, unfatisfied defires, or rather, fuch as we have no reasonable profpect of being able to fatisfy, are the fource of the greatest calamities of life. The true art of happiness, then, confifts in proportioning defires to means, or, in other words, in acquiring a relish for procurable pleafures.

There is fcarcely a fiation in life in which fome attention to this point

U

is not neceffary; for defire is as much disposed to exceed the range of prefent enjoyment in the higheft, as in the lowest. But it is more peculiar. ly neceffary in thofe conditions, where an enlarged plan of education, and free intercourfe with the fuperior ranks in fociety, have fottered lively ideas of gratifications which fortune commonly refufes the means of obtaining. What are termed the genteel profeffions are eminently of this kind; and numbers belonging to them pay a fevere tax for the privileges annexed to their fituation, in the perpetual torment of unattainable wishes.

The profeffion you have chofen, my Son, in a peculiar manner forbids indulging those defires which are connected with the poffeffion of opulence. To be made happy it is requifite that you fhould be made cheaply fo; and I please myself with thinking, that many fources of enjoyment will be fully acceffible to you, which will fcarcely leave you behind the most fortunate in the power of fecuring genuine pleafures. Taking for granted that you will feek, and will find, the highest of all gratifications in the performance of your profeffional duty, I fhall now fuggeft to you fome of those voluntary objects of pursuit which may moft happily employ your leifure.

At the head of all the pleafures which offer themfelves to the man of liberal education, may confidently be placed that derived from books. In variety, durability, and facility of attainment, no other can stand in competition with it; and even in intenfity it is inferior to few. Imagine that we had it in our power to call up the fhades of the greatest and wifeft men that ever existed, and oblige them to converfe with us on the most interefting topics-what an ineftimable privilege fhould we think it !— how fuperior to all common enjoyments-But in a well-furnished li

brary we, in fact, poffefs this power. We can question Xenophon and Cafar on their campaigns, make Demof thenes and Cicero plead before us, join in the audiences of Socrates and Plato, and receive demonftrations from Euclid and Newton. In books we have the choicest thoughts of the ablest men in their best drefs. We can at pleasure exclude dullness and impertinence, and open our doors to wit and good fenfe alone. It is needlefs to repeat the high commendations that have been bestowed on the study of letters by perfons who had free access to every other fource of gratification. Instead of quoting Cicero to you, I fhall in plain terms give you the refult of my own experience on this fubject. If domestic enjoyments have contributed in the first degree to the happiness of my life, (and I should be ungrateful not to acknowledge that they have) the pleasures of reading have beyond all question held the fecond place. Without books I have never been able to pafs a fingle day to my entire fatiffaction with them, no day has been fo dark as not to have its pleafure. Even pain and fickness have for a time been charmed away by them. By the eafy provifion of a book in my pocket, I have frequently worn through long nights and days in the moft difagreeable parts of my profeffion, with all the difference in my feelings between calm content and fretful impatience. Such occurrences have afforded me full proof both of the poffibility of being cheaply pleafed, and of the confequence it is of to the fum of human felicity, not to neglect minute attentions to make the most of life as it paffes.

Reading may in every fenfe be called a cheap amufement. A taste for books, indeed, may be made expenfive enough; but that is a tafte for editions, bindings, paper and type. If you are fatisfied with getging at the fenfe of an author in fome

commodious way, a crown at a fall will fupply your wants as well as a guinea at a fhop. Learn too, to diftinguish between books to be perused, and books to be poffed. Of the former you may find an ample store in every fubfcription library, the proper ufe of which to a fcholar is to furnish his mind, without loading his fhelves. No apparatus, no appointment of time and place, is neceffary for the enjoyment of reading. From the midst of bustle and business you may, in an inftant, by the magic of a book, plunge into fcenes of remote ages and countries, and difengage yourfelf from prefent care and fatigue. "Sweet pliability of man's fpirit, (cries Sterne, on relating an occurence of this kind in his Sentimental Journey) that can at once furrender itself to illufions, which cheat expectation and forrow of their weary moments!"

The next of the procurable pleafures that I fhall point out to you is that of converfation. This is a pleafure of higher zeft than that of reading; fince in converfing we not only receive the fentiments of others, but impart our own; and from this reciprocation a fpirit and interest arise which books cannot give in an equal degree. Fitness for converfation muft depend upon the store of ideas laid up in the mind, and the faculty of communicating them. Thefe, in a great degree, are the refults of edu cation and the habit of fociety, and to a certain point they are favoured by fuperiority of condition.

But

this is only to a certain point; for when you arrive at that class in which fenfuality, indolence and diffipation, are foftered by excefs of opulence, you lofe more by diminished energy of mind, than you gain by fuperior refinement of manner and elegance of expreffion. And, indeed, there are numbers of the higher ranks among us, whofe converfation has not even the latter qualities to recommend it,

but

but to poverty of expreffion adds the utmost coarseness of language and behaviour. There is a radical meannefs in debauchery, which even in the most elevated conditions of all, communicates the taint of vulgarity. To hear the high-bred party loudly contending in the praifes of their dogs and horfes, and difcuffing gambling questions, intermixed with groffer topics, you could not poffibly difcover by the style and matter, whether you were listening to the masters above, or the grooms below. It is by no means unfrequent to find the best company, the worst converfation. Should your character and fituation for ever exclude you from fuch focieties, you need not repine at your lofs. It will be amply compenfated by the opportunities you are likely to enjoy of free intercourfe with the most culti vated and rational of both fexes, a mong whom decency of manners and variety of knowledge will always be valued, though very moderately decorated with the advantages of for

túne.

I would not, however, inculcate too fastidious a taste with respect to the fubject and style of converfation, provided it poffefs the effentials of found fenfe and useful knowledge. Among those who have enjoyed little of the benefit of education, you will often find perfons of natural fagacity and a turn for remark, who are capable of affording both entertainment and inftruction. Who could not with to have been acquainted with Franklin when a journeyman printer, even though he had never rifen to be one of the most diftinguished characters of the age? Information, indeed, may be procured from almoft any man in affairs belonging to his particular way of life; and when we fall into company from which little is to be expected with regard to general topics, it is best to give the converfation a turn towards the technical matters with which they may be acquainted,

whence fome profit may be made out of the most unpromifing materials. Man, too, in every condition, is a fubject well worthy of examination; and the fpeculatift may derive much entertainment from obferving the manners and fentiments of all the various claffes of mankind in their feveral occupations and amufements.

Another fource of cheap pleasure is the study of nature. So many advantages with refpect to health, tranquillity of mind, ufeful knowledge, and inexhaustible amusement, are united in this ftudy, that I should not fail moft warmly to recommend it to your notice, had you not already acquired a decided tafte for its pursuits. Here, again, I can fpeak from my own experience; for the ftudy of English botany caufed feveral fummers to glide away with me in more pure and active delight than almost any other fingle object ever afforded me. It rendered every ride and walk interefting, and converted the plodding rounds of bufinefs into excurfions of pleasure. From the impreffion of thefe feelings, I have everregarded as perfectly fuperfluous the pains taken by fome of the friends of natural hiftory, to fhew its utility in reference to the common purposes of life. Many of their obfervations, indeed, are true, and may ferve to gain patrons for the ftudy among thofe who meafure every thing by the ftandard of economical value; but is it not enough to open a fource of copious and cheap amufement, which tends to harmonize the mind, and elevate it to worthy conceptions of nature and its author? If I offer a man happiness at an eafy rate, unalloyed by any debaling mixture, can I confer on him a greater bleffing? Nothing is more favourable to enjoy. ment than the combination of bedily exertion and ardour of mind. This, the refearches of natural hiftory afford in great perfection; and fuch is the immenfe variety of its objects,

that