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 fnuff-box. Thus univerfally displeased with one another, and not much delighted with ourselves, we came at last to the little inn appointed for our repaft; and all began at once to recompenfe themfelves for the constraint of filence, by innumerable queftions and orders to the people that attended us. At last, 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 fellow-travellers 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 just "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 house 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 86 ઠંડ we were all ready to burft with laughter. At laft "the good woman happening to overhear me whisper "the duke and call him by his title, was fo furprised "and confounded, that we could fcarcely 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." VOL. III. He 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 distant 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 themselves fuch offices as the road required; but that people of quality often travelled in difguife, and might be generally known from the 66 66 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 laft news-paper; and having perufed it a while with deep pensiveness, "It is impoffible,' fays he, "for any man to guess how to act with regard "to the ftocks; 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 66 unexpectedly; and I make no doubt but at my re-. "turn to London I fhall risk thirty thousand pounds among them again.” 66 A young man, who had hitherto diftinguished himfelf only by the vivacity of his looks, and a frequent diverfion of his eyes from one object to another, upon this closed his fnuff-box, and told us that " he had a "hundred times talked with the chancellor and the. "judges "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 estate in "his own country." It might be expected, that upon these glimpses 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, and they difcover the dignity of each other: yet it happened, that none of thefe hints made much impreffion on the company; every one was apparently fufpected of endeavouring to impofe falfe appearances upon the reft; all continued their haughtiness in hopes to enforce their claims; and all grew every hour more fullen, because they found their reprefentations of themfelves without effect. Thus we travelled on four days with malevolence perpetually increafing, and without any endeavour but to outvie each other in fupercilioufnefs and neglect; and when any two of us could feparate ourselves for a moment, we vented our indignation at the faucinefs of the reft. At length the journey was at an end; and time and chance, that ftrip off all difguifes, have difcovered that the intimate of lords and dukes is a nobleman's butler, who has furnished a fhop with the money he has faved; the man who deals fo largely in the funds, is a clerk of a broker in 'Change-alley; the lady who fo carefully concealed her quality, keeps a cook-shop behind the Exchange; and the young man, who is fo happy in the friendship of the judges, engroffes and tranfcribes for bread in a garret of the Temple. Of one of the women only I could make no difadvantageous detection, becaufe fhe had affumed no character, but accommodated herself to the scene before her, without any struggle for diftinction or fuperiority. I could not forbear to reflect on the folly of practifing a fraud, which, as the event fhewed, had been already practifed too often to fucceed, and by the fuccefs of which no advantage could have been obtained; of affuming a character, which was to end with the day; and of claiming upon falfe pretences honours which must perish with the breath that paid them. But, Mr. Adventurer, let not those who laugh at me and my companions, think this folly confined to a ftage-coach. Every man in the journey of life takes the fame advantage of the ignorance of his fellowtravellers, difguifes himself in counterfeited merit, and hears those praises with complacency which his confcience reproaches him for accepting. Every man deceives himself, while he thinks he is deceiving others; and forgets that the time is at hand when every illufion fhall ceafe, when fictitious excellence fhall be torn away, and all must be fhown to all in their real estate. I am, SIR, Your humble fervant, VIATOR. NUMB. 85. TUESDAY, August 28, 1753. IT Qui cupit optatam curfu contingere metam, Multa tulit fecitque puer. HOR. The youth, who hopes th' Olympick prize to gain, FRANCIS. Tis obferved by Bacon, that "reading makes a "full man, converfation a ready man, and writing "an exact man." As Bacon attained to degrees of knowledge scarcely ever reached by any other man, the directions which he gives for ftudy have certainly a juft claim to our regard; for who can teach an art with fo great authority, as he that has practifed it with undifputed fuccefs? Under the protection of fo great a name, I fhall, therefore, venture to inculcate to my ingenious contemporaries, the neceffity of reading, the fitnefs of confulting other understandings than their own, and of confidering the fentiments and opinions of those who, however neglected in the pieient age, had in their own times, and many of them a long time afterwards, fuch reputation for knowledge and accuteness, as will scarcely ever be attained by those that despise them. An opinion has of late been, I know not how, propagated among us, that libraries are filled only with useless lumber; that men of parts stand in need of no |