LETTER FROM DR. FRANKLIN TO MADAME B**; WRITTEN AT PASSEY, NEAR PARIS. YOU perhaps recollect, Madam, when we lately fpent fo happy a day in the delightful gardens of Moulin Joli, with the amiable fociety who refided there, that I ftopped in one of the walks, and permitted the company to pafs on without me. We had been shewn an infinite number of dead flies of the ephemeron fpecies, the fucceffive generations of which, it is faid, are born and die in the fame day. I happened to perceive, on a leaf, a living family engaged in converfation. You know, Madam, Junderitand the language fpoken by every fpecies of animals inferior to our own; and the very clofe application I give to the ftudy of them, is perhaps the best excufe I can offer for the little proficiency I have made in your charming language. Curiofity led me to liften to the converfation of these little creatures; but, from the vivacity peculiar to their nation, three or four of them fpoke at once, and I could fcarcely learn any thing from their difcourfe. I understood, however, from fome broken fentences which I caught now and then, that they were warmly difputing about the merit of two foreign muficians, a drone and a gnat; and that they appeared to spend their time in thefe debates with as little concern for the brevity of life, as if they had been fure of living for a whole month. "Happy people!" faid I to myfelf, " you certainly live under a wife, equitable, and moderate government; fince no public grievances call forth your complaints, and your only fource of difpute is the perfection or imperfection of foreign mufic." I left them foon after, in order to obferve an aged ephemeron with gray hairs, who, perched folitarily on a leaf, was talking to himfelf. His foliloquy will, I believe, amufe that amiable friend to whom I am indebted for the moft agreeable of my recreations, the charms charms of animated converfation, and the divine harmony of mufical execution. "It was the opinion," faid he, "of the learned philofophers of our race, who lived and flourished before us, that this vaft world itself could not subfift more than eighteen hours: and that opinion to me appears to have fome foundation, fince, by the motion of the great luminary that gives life to the whole nation, and which in my time has, in a perceptible manner, declined confiderably towards the ocean that. bounds the earth, it must neceffarily terminate its courfe at that period, be extinguished in the waters that furround us, and deliver up the world to cold and darkness, the infallible forerunners of death and univerfal deftruction. I have lived feven hours in these eighteen; it is a great age, amounting to no less than four hundred and twenty minutes. How few of us live fo long! I have feen whole generations fpring up, flourish, and difappear. My prefent friends are the children and grandchildren of the friends of my youth, who, alas are no more, and whom I muft foon follow; for, in the ordinary courfe of nature, I cannot expect, though in good health, to live more than feven or eight minutes longer. "What avail at prefent all my labours, all my fatigues, to accumulate a provifion of fweet dew, which I fhall not live long enough to confume? What avail the political difcuffions in which I am engaged for the fervice of my countrymen, the inhabitants of this bush; or my philofophical inquiries, devoted to the welfare of the fpecies in general? In politics, what are laws without manners? "A courfe of minutes will render the prefent generation as corrupt as the ancient inhabitants of other bufhes, and, of confequence, as unhappy. And in philofophy, how flow is our progrefs! Alas! art is long, and life is fhort! My friends would confole me with the the name which they fay I fhall leave behind me. They tell me I have lived long enough for glory and for nature. But what is fame to an ephemeron that will be no longer in existence? What will history become, when, at the eighteenth hour, the world itself will be drawn to a clofe, and be no longer any thing but a heap of ruins? "For myself, after having made fo many bufy refearches, the only real bleffings that remain to me, are, the fatisfaction of having fpent my life with the view of being useful, and in pleafing converfation with a fmall number of good lady ephemeras, and now and then the captivating fmiles of Madame B***, and the fweet founds of her forte piano." DIALOGUE, BETWEEN A FREEHOLDER AND HIS REPRESENTATIVE IN PARLIAMENT. [From the Morning Poft.] THESE are mighty bad times; you grow worse and worfe. You are our parliament-man, and I wish you would endeavour to mend them. Reprefentative. I am very defirous to mend them.What would you have me do? F. Do! why, in the first place I would have you vote for peace, and tell Mr. Pitt to play off no more of his fhuffling tricks, but to fet about the work fincerely. R. Tell Mr. Pitt! If I were to defire Mr. Pitt to make peace in any other way than he pleafes, Mr. Wilberforce would accufe me of wishing to behead the King. F. Then I am certain he would accufe you very falfely. R. But that is the ftyle of argument now fet up; and an independent member muft not fpeak, but as it pleases pleases the Minifter, otherwise he will be accused of treafon; and you must be fenfible that no man likes to be accused of treafon. F. I am very fenfible of that; but how the deuce can you be accused of treafon ? R. By the new plan of argument. When Mr. Fox, judging by the acts and relying on the declarations of the Irish and British Government, warned Ministers of the dangerous fituation of Ireland, he was accused by Mr. Wilberforce of making an inflammatory fpeech, tending to produce commotions in that country, and to invite the French to invade it; and Lord Dillon, following up Mr. Wilberforce's idea, has actually attributed the late attempt on Ireland to Mr. Fox's fpeeches. This is accufing Mr. Fox of treafon; and although I think Mr. Fox spoke nothing but truth, and gave very wholesome advice, yet I have not courage to encounter a charge of treafon, though for the good of my country. F. Then if you cannot fpeak for peace, will you demand that the war may be conducted with ability? R. I dare not. For, according to Mr. Wilberforce's argument, expofing the incapacity of Minifters would be encouraging the enemy to continue hoftilities, and even encouraging them to make a defcent on the Englifh coaft. F. What! won't you cenfure Lord Spencer for allowing the French fleets to efcape? Won't you tell his Lordship he may know fomething of old books, but he is totally unfit to direct our Admiralty? R. Oh!treafonable! Mr. Wilberforce would charge me point blank with inviting the French again to invade Ireland, by fhewing they had nothing to fear from our navy, the directors of it being either negligent, ftupid, or ignorant blockheads. F. Well this is very hard. No redrefs! As you must not meddle with war or peace, furely you may endeavour to protect private property?. I hold a good deal deal of India stock, and you must know that I think Government ufe our Company very ill. Minifters will feize all into their own hands. They drag the Directors and bully the Proprietors into any measure they please. They lord it over our property as if it were not our own, and make us give them juft whatever they choose. They are alienating the affections of our army, and they will ruin our whole concern.-Surely, you may interfere on this fubject? R. The most dangerous of all. It would be infinuated that I have defigns against the commercial profperity of the country; and Mr. Wilberforce would fay I was defirous of alienating our valuable poffeffions in the Eaft, by fowing difcontent among the Directors and Proprietors at home, and difaffection among the Company's officers abroad. F. My eldeft fon died lately in the Weft Indies of the yellow fever, and Tom is now on the eve of being fent off. Will you not endeavour to fave the thousands of our brave countrymen, fent to conquer ruined plantations and ufelefs iflands, from a horrid and untimely grave? R. That would be withholding the neceffary forces, in order to allow the French to conquer our islands, in Mr. Wilberforce's opinion. F. But the money fent to the Emperor without the confent of Parliament R. I dare not mention it. If I do, Mr. Wilberforce will fay I am fecretly paid by the French to difguft and alienate the Emperor from our alliance, that he may make peace with France, a meafure which will enable the French to invade this country. F. Then our enormous and accumulating debt and taxes R. Would you have me charged with a defign of fowing difcontent, and making the people infenfible to the bleffings of our prefent Administration? VOL. I. Q F. The |