whole expence of this would rife to but 3000l. a year: by this inconfiderable charge a prince would have a conftant nursery for a wife and able miniftry. But those ought to be well chofen; none ought to pretend to the nomination; it ought to rife from the motion of the honefteft and moft difinterefted of all his minifters, to the prince in fecret. As great a care ought to be had, in the nomination of the chaplains of his minifters abroad, that there may be a breed of worthy clergymen, who have large thoughts and great notions, from a more enlarged view of mankind and of the world. If a prince would have all that serve him grateful and true to him, he must study to find out who are the propereft and worthieft men capable of employments, and prevent their applications, and surprise them with beftowing good pofts unfought, and raifing them higher as they ferve well. When it is known that a prince has made it his maxim to follow this method in diftributing his favours, he will cut off applications for them; which will otherwife create a great uneafinefs to him, and have this certain ill effect, that, where there are many pretenders, one must have the preference to all the reft; fo that many are mortified for being rejected, and are full of envy at him who has obtained the favour, and therefore will detract from him as much as poffible. This has no where worse effects than among the clergy, in the difpofal of the dignities of the church: and therefore queen Mary refolved to break those afpirings; which refolution fhe carried on effectually for fome years * : a conftant purfuing that maxim would have a great effect on the nation.

Frequent progreffes round the nation, fo divided, that once in feven, eight or ten years, the chief places of it might be gone through, would recommend a prince wonderfully to the people; efpecially if he were gentle and affable, and would fo manage his progress, that it should not be a charge to any, by refufing to accept of

entertainments, from any perfon whatfoever for the accepting thefe only from fuch as could easily bear the charge of it, would be an affronting of others, who being of equal rank, though not of equal eftates, would likewife defire to treat the prince. So to make a progrefs every where acceptable, and no where chargeable, the fure method would be, according to the established rules of the household, for the prince to carry the travelling wardrobe with him, and to take fuch hou fes in the way, as are most convenient for him; but to entertain himself and his court there, and have a variety of tables for fuch as may come to attend on him. On this queen Mary had fet her heart, if she had lived to fee peace in her days; by this means a prince may fee and be seen by his people; he may know fome men that deferve to be diftinguished, of whom otherwise he would never have heard; and he may learn and redrefs the grievances of his people, preventing all parliamentary complaints, except for fuch matters as cannot be cured but by a remedy in parliament: methods like thefe would make a prince become the idol of his people.

It is certain, that their affections muft follow a prince, who would confider go vernment and the royal dignity as his calling, and would be daily employed in it, ftudying the good and happiness of his people, pursuing the propereft ways for promoting it, without either delivering himself to the floth of luxury and vain magnificence, or affecting the barbarity of war and conqueft; which render those who make the world a fcene of blood and rapine, indeed the butchers of mankind. If these words feem not decent enough, I will make no other apology, but that I ufe them, because I cannot find worfe for as they are the worst of men, so they deferve the worst of language. Can it be thought that princes are raised to the highest pitch of glory and wealth, on defign to corrupt their minds with pride and contempt of the rest of mankind, as if they

were

were made only to be the inftruments of their extravagancies, or the subject of their passions and humours? No! they are exalted for the good of their fellow-creatures, in order to raise them to the trueft fublimity, to become as like divinity as a mortal creature is capable of being. None will grudge them their great treasures and authority, when they fee it is all employed to make their people happy. None will envy their greatnefs, when they fee it accompanied with a fuitable greatness of foul; whereas a magnified and flattered pageant foon will fall under univerfal contempt and hatred. There is not any one thing more certain and more evident, than that princes are made for the people, and not the people for them; and perhaps there is no nation under heaven, that is more entirely poffeffed with this true notion of princes, than the English nation is in this age; fo that they will foon be uneafy to a prince who does not govern himself by this maxim, and in time grow very unkind to him.

Great care ought to be taken in the nomination of judges and bishops. I join thefe together; for law and religion, justice and piety, are the fupport of nations, and give ftrength and fecurity to governments: judges must be recommended by thofe in the high pofts of the law; but a prince may, by his own taste and upon knowfedge, choose his bishops. They ought to be men eminent for piety, learning, difcretion, and zeal: not broken with age, which will quickly render them incapable of ferving the church, to any good purpofe: a person fit to be a bishop at fixty, was fit at forty; and had then spirit and activity, with a strength both of body and mind. The vast expence they are at in entering on their bithopricks, ought to be regulated no bishopricks can be in any good degree ferved under a thousand a year at least. The judges ought to be plentifully provided for, that they may be under no temptation, to fupply themfelves by indirect ways. One part of a prince's care, to be recommended to judges in their

circuits, is to know what perfons are, as it were, hid in the nation that are fit for employments, and deserve to be encouraged; of fuch, they ought to give an account to the lord chancellor, who ought to lay it before the throne. No crime ought to be pardoned, till the judge who gave fentence, is heard, to give an account of the evidence, with the circumstances of the fact, as it appeared on the trial. No regard ought to be had to ftories that are told, to move compaffion; for in these little regard is had to truth: and an easinefs in pardoning is, in some fort, an ene couragement of crimes, and giving licence to commit them.

But to run out no longer into particu lars, the great and comprehenfive rule of all is, that a king should confider himself, as exalted by providence into that high dignity, as into a capacity of doing much good, and of being a great blessing to mankind, and in fome fort a deity on earth; and therefore as he expects that his minifters should study to advance his fervice, his interests, and his glory; and that, fo much the more, as he raises them to higher posts of favour and honour; fo he, whom God has raised to the greatest exaltation this world is capable of, fhould apply himfelf wholly to cares becoming his rank and station; to be in himself a pattern of virtue and true religion; to promote juftice; to relieve and revenge the oppreffed, and to feek out men of virtue and piety, and bring them into fuch degrees of confidence, as they may be capable of; to encourage a due and a generous freedom in their advices; to be ready to fee his own errors, that he may correct them, and to entertain every thing that is fuggefted to him for the good of his people, and for the benefit of mankind; and to make a difference between thofe who court his favour for their own ends, who ftudy to flatter, and by that to please him, often to his own ruin, and those who have great views and noble aims, who fet him on to purfue defigns worthy of him, without mean or partial regards to any ends or

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interests of their own. It is not enough for a prince not to encourage vice or impiety, by his own practices; it ought to appear that these are odious to him, and that they give him horror: a declaration of this kind, folemnly made, and steadily purfued, would foon bring on at least an exterior reformation, which would have a great effect on the body of the nation, and on the rifing generation, though it were but hypocritically put on at first. Such a prince would be perhaps too great a bleffing to a wicked world: queen Mary feemed to have the feeds of all this in her ; but the world was not worthy of her; and fo God took her from it.

I will conclude, continues the bishop, this whole addrefs to pofterity with that, which is the most important of all other things, and which alone will carry every thing else along with it; which is to recommend, in the most folemn and ferious manner, the study and practice of religion to all forts of men, as that which is both the light of the world, and the falt of the earth. Nothing does fo open our faculties, and compofe and direct the whole man, as an inward sense of God, of his authority over us, of the laws he has fet us, of his eye ever upon us, of his hearing our prayers, affifting our endea

vours, watching over our concerns, and of his being to judge and to reward or punish us in another state, according to what we do in this. Nothing will give a man fuch a deteftation of fin, and fuch a fenfe of the goodness of God, and of our obligations to holiness, as 'a right understanding and a firm belief of the chriftian religon: nothing can give a man fo calm a peace within, and such a firm fecurity against all fears and dangers without, as the belief of a kind and wife providence, and of a future ftate. An integrity of heart gives a man a courage, and a confidence that cannot be shaken: a man is fure that by living according to the rules of religion, he becomes the wifeft, the beft, and happiest creature, that he is capable of being: honeft industry, the em. ploying his time well, and a conftant fo briety, and undefiled purity and chastity, with a quiet ferenity, are the best prefervatives of life and health: fo that, take a man as a fingle individual, religion is his guard, his perfection, his beauty, and his glory this will make him the light of the world, fhining brightly, and enlightning many round about him.---Fear God therefore, and keep his commandments, for this is the all of man, the whole both of his duty and his happiness.

ONE NE of the principal tasks I had propofed to myself on my arrival here, was to become acquainted with the names and characters of thofe now living, who, as scholars or wits, had acquired the greateft share of reputation. In order to fucceed in this defign, I fancied the fureft method would be to begin my enquiry among the ignorant, judging that his fame would be greatest, which was loud enough to be heard by the vulgar. Thus predifpofed, I began the fearch, but only went in queft of disappointment and perplexity. I found every diftrict had a peculiar famous man of its own. Here the storytelling shoemaker had engroffed the admiration of one fide of the street, while the bellman, who excelled at a catch, was in quiet poffeffion of the other. At one end March 1761.

of a lane the parfon of the parish was regarded as the greatest man alive; but I had not travelled half its length, till I found an enthusiast teacher had divided his reputation. My landlady perceiving my defign, waa kind enough to offer me her little advice in this affair. It was true, the obferved that she was no critic, yet the knew what pleased herself, and if I would rest upon her judgment, I should fet down Tom Collins as the most ingenious man in the world, for Tom was able to take off all mankind, and imitate befides a fow and pigs to perfection.

I now perceived, that taking my standard of reputation among the vulgar,would swell my catalogue of great names above the fize of a Court Calendar; Itherefore difcontinued this method of purfuit, and re

S

folved

folved to profecute my enquiry in that ufual refidence of fame, a bookfeller's fhop. In confequence of this, I entreated the bookfeller to let me know who were they who now made the greatest figure either in morals, wit, or learning. Without giving me a direct answer, he pulled a pamphilet from the shelf, The Young Attorney's Guide; there, Sir, cries he, there's a touch for you, fifteen hundred of thefe moved off in one day. I take the author of this pamphlet, either for title, preface, plan, body, or index, to be the completeft hand in England. I found it was vain to profecute my enquiry, where my informer appeared fo incompetent a judge of merit; fo paying for the Young Attorney's Guide, which good manners obliged me to buy, I walked off.

My purfuit after famous men now brought me into a print-shop. Here, thought I, the painter only reflects the public voice. As every man who deferved it had formerly his statue placed up in the Roman forum, fo here probably the pictures of none but fuch as merit a place in our affections are held up for public sale. But guefs my furprize when I came to examine this depofitory of noted faces; all diftinctions feem to be levelled here, as in the grave, and I could not but regard it as the catacomb of real merit. The brickduft man took up as much room as the truncheoned hero, and the judge was elbowed by the thieftaker; quacks, pimps, and buffoons encreafed the groupe, and noted ftallions only made room for more noted whores. I had read the works of fome of the moderns previous to my coming into England, with delight and approbation, but I found their faces had no place here, the walls were covered with the names of authors I had never known, or had endeavoured to forget; with the ttle felf-advertizing things of a day, who had forced themfelves into fashion, But not into fame; I could read at the bottom of fome pictures, the names of **, and ***, and ****, all equally candidates for the vulgar fhout, and foremost to propagate their unblushing faces upon brals. My uneafinefs therefore at not finding my few favourite names among the number was now changed into congratulation; I could not avoid reflecting on the fine observation of Tacitus on a fimilar occafion. In this cavalcade of flat

tures of Brutus, Caffius, nor Cato, were to be seen, to clariores quia imagines corum non deferebantur, their absence being the strongeft proof of their merit.

It is in vain, cried I, to feek for true greatnefs among thefe monuments of the unburied dead; let me go among the tombs of thofe who are confeffedly famous, and fee if any have been lately depofited there, who deferve the attention of pofterity, and whofe names may be tranfmitted to my diftant friend, as an honour to the prefent age. Determined in my purfuit, I paid a fecond visit to Westminster-Abbey. There I found several new monuments erected to the memory of feveral great men; the names of the great men I abfolutely forget, but I well remember that Roubillac was the statuary who cut them. I could not however belp smiling at two modern epitaphs in particular; one of which praifed the deceased for being ortus ex antiqua ftirpe, the other commended the dead, because banc adam fuis fumptibus re edificavit, the greatest merit of one confifted in his being defcended from an illustrious house: the chief diftinction of the other, that he had propped up an old houfe that was falling. Alas, alas, cried I, fuch monuments as these confer honour, not upon the great men, but upon little Roubillac.

man

Hitherto difappointed in my enquiry after the famous men of the present age, I was refolved to mix in company, and try what I could learn among critics in coffee-houses; and here it was that I heard my favourite names talked of indeed, but mentioned with inverted fame. A gentleman of acknowledged merit, as a writer, was branded in general terms as a bad ; another of exquifite delicacy, as a poet, was reproached for wanting good nature; a third was accufed of freethinking, and a fourth for having once been a player. Strange, cried 1, how unjust are mankind in the distribution of fame; the ignorant, among whom I fought at first, were willing to grant, but incapable of diftinguishing the virtues of those which deferved it.; among thofe I now converfe with, they know the proper objects of admiration, but mix envy with ap plaufc.,

Difappointed fo often, I was now refolved to examine thofe characters in perfoh of whom the world talked fo freely;

fearch,

search, I found the truly great poffeffed of numerous small faults, and a few thining virtues ; we have often obferved, my friend, that there is a fublime in morals as in writing, and that they who have attained an excellence in either, commit numberlefs tranfgreffions, obfervable to the meanest understanding. The ignorant critic and dull remarker can readily spy a blemish in

eloquence or morals, whofe fentiments are not fufficiently elevated to obferve a beauty; fuch are judges neither of books nor of life; they can diminith no folid reputation by their cenfure, nor bestow a lasting character by their applaufe: in fhort, I found by my fearch, that fuch only can confer real fame, upon others, who have, merit themselves to deferve it. Adicu.

GENTLEMEN,

TH

HE fatal confequer ces of gaming have been fo often enlarged upon, that, without offering any previous reflections, I fhall prefent you with the following ftory, not doubting but it will prove acceptable to your readers, as the perfon who occafioned the troublesome events which it contains did not fail to meet the punishment due to his deferts.

A rich merchant of Genoa, who, though a native of England, had refided in that city the greatest part of his life, being called over to his native country by an affair of importance, left his fon, in conjunction with whom he had for fome time carried on the bufinefs, intely to his own difcretion, thinking he could depend upon his good condu&. In this, however, he was miftaken; for Damon (that was the young gentleman's name) foon after mixed with gay and fashionable company, and in lefs than two months loft three thousand pounds at play. The old gentleman, having received information of this from a merchant' of his acquaintance, returned privately to Genoa. Upon his arrival he had the mortification to learn, that Mr. Willington, an

2.

English merchant, almoft his equal in wealth, as he before had encou raged the vifits of Damon, who paid his addreffes to Conftantia, had forbid his daughter from ever seeing him again. This was a new grief to the father of Damon, who, being much attached to intereft, was forry that his fon fhould lofe a wife, who would have brought him a confiderable portion. His first care, however, was to inquire into the manner in which his fon had loft the fum abovementioned: for this end, he applied to the fervant, who, he was told, generally attended Damon in his parties of pleasure; and was informed, that he had loft it all to one perfon, who, though he affumed the title of marquis, appeared to him to be a downright harper. To this he added, that his mafter and the pretended marquis were to play that night at a maf querade, where the former flattered himself that he would have the good fortune to win back again all he had loft. Hereupon the father of Damon ordered the fervant to procure him juft fuch a difguife as that of the fharper; and, after having introduced him at the hour appointed, do his best to amuse the other, and keep him out of the way.