more by himself, than a thousand of his fellowcreatures, employed in the same sphere, and furnished by nature with equal abilities for improvement. A hackney writer of catchpenny compilations, the printer of a newspaper, the maker of a magazine, though engaged in a multiplicity of daily and various avocations, will perform, in a few months, a portion of literary labour, which shall infinitely exceed that of whole colleges, of those who slumber, or waste their activity on hounds and horses on the borders of the muddy Cam, and the slowly winding Charwell.

But it avails little to point out the disorders of literary indolence, without endeavouring to suggest a remedy. It appears then to me, that those whom Providence has blessed with leisure, and the opportunity of spending it in the pursuits of learning, and the liberal pleasures of retirement, too often languish in their pursuits, from neglecting to render them the subjects of debate and conversation. It is the warmth of discussion in free and social meetings which invigorates solitary study, and sends the scholar back to his books with fresh alacrity. The hope of making a figure in a subsequent meeting, the fear of a shameful exposure, and of appearing inferior to those who are, in a natural and civil view, our equals, will stimulate all our powers, and engage all our attention, while we sit in those very libraries where we once nodded and slumbered over the page even of a Homer. Meetings should be established in all literary societies for the communication of remarks, and the rehearsal of compositions. But the strictest rules should be prescribed and observed for the preservation of decorum; or else a majority of Masters of Arts would vote away the books, the pens and the ink, and all the moral, philosophical, and tasteful discourses, in order to introduce pipes

It is right also, that contemplative men, however far removed from the necessity of employment by the liberality of fortune, should communicate with mankind, not only in pleasures and amusements, but in real duties and active virtues, either conjugal, paternal, professional, official, or charitable. Something should be engaged in, with such obligations to performance, that an inclination to neglect should be overruled by legal compulsion, or the fear of certain loss and shame. The best method of avoiding the wretched state of not knowing what to do, is, to involve oneself in such circumstances as shall force one to do something. The natural indolence of the human heart is found to escape every restraint but the iron arm of necessity. Such is our present condition, that we must be often chained down to our real happiness and our best enjoyments.

With respect to the prevention of indolence in an academical life, it would certainly be a happy circumstance, if none were allowed to reside in an university above seven years, who were not actually engaged in the composition of a learned work, or in superintending the education of youth as Tutors, Professors, and Heads of Colleges. A Senior Fellow, without these employments, is one of the unhappiest and least useful members of the community.

No. CXXXI.

On the Manners of a Metropolis.

WHATEVER may be the political advantages of a very populous capital, and I believe they are of a very disputable nature, the moral and physical evils

human race.

This observation is, indeed, true of all cities, in which too a great a proportion of the people is assembled; but I shall confine my present observations to the capital of the British empire.

The junction of Westminster with London, or of the Court with the City, is very justly supposed to have a pernicious influence on both; on those who are engaged in the employments of commerce, and on those who are invited from their paternal mansions by the court and the senate-house. The Courtier communicates to the Citizen a love of pleasure, of dissipation, of vanity; and the Citizen to the Courtier, an idolatrous veneration for opulence. The Courtier introduces the vicissitudes of taste and fashion; the Citizen imitates them, and furnishes, in profusion, the means of their display and gratification. Thus are luxury, and all its consequent vices and miseries, advanced to as high a degree as they can reach, by the union of ingenuity to invent modes of indulgence, with wealth to supply the materials.

Lovers of pleasure in excess, are always lovers of themselves in the same degree; and their love, with all the characteristical blindness of the passion, commonly injures its object. We shall therefore find selfishness prevailing in the metropolis, and producing all its natural effects of avarice, private gratifications, meanness, servility, and inhospitality. True patriotism and public spirit, though the very want of them will often cause the greatest pretensions to them, will seldom be found in the more numerous classes who inhabit the capital. Where money and pleasures are the sole objects of ardent pursuit, public virtue, and indeed all virtue, will be exposed to sale, whenever a purchaser can be found to pay the price. Money, O ye Citizens!" says

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sought; and it is time enough to think of virtue, when you have secured a fortune."

The inhabitants of a great city will often be inhospitable and unneighbourly. Their attention is fixed on advancing and gratifying themselves, and they consider their neighbours as rivals, or at least as not worth cultivating, since they can always buy amusement at the numerous places of public resort and diversion. But in the country, mutual good offices take place, from a mutual desire and necessity of a friendly intercourse. The Londoner hardly knows the name of his next door neighbour; and, in accidents and distress, would as soon think of sending to Rome, as to him, for comfort and assistance. But in any emergency in a village, every hand is ready to afford relief. Hospitality to strangers still lingers in the distant country, but has long been banished from that region of avarice and selfish profusion, an overgrown city. Pay a visit in Sussex, in Devonshire, in Cornwall, in Wales, in the North, and compare your reception among strangers with that which you meet with in London and Westminster. Luxury, avarice, and vice, have, indeed, a natural tendency to annihilate every generous principle, and to harden the heart against all connexions which do not promise to terminate in sensual pleasure, or in lucrative advantage.

The secresy with which crimes can be committed in a crowd, is a powerful temptation. The Londoner may be involved in debauchery, and engaged in fraud, without being suspected at home, or in his neighbourhood. In the country, the fear of shame, and a principle of pride, often operate, when virtue, honour, and conscience would cease to restrain; for no one can there be guilty of an action remarkably dishonest or immoral without detection. A gentleman who should devote himself to the arts

human race.

This observation is, indeed, true of all cities, in which too a great a proportion of the people is assembled; but I shall confine my present observations to the capital of the British empire.

The junction of Westminster with London, or of the Court with the City, is very justly supposed to have a pernicious influence on both; on those who are engaged in the employments of commerce, and on those who are invited from their paternal mansions by the court and the senate-house. The Courtier communicates to the Citizen a love of pleasure, of dissipation, of vanity; and the Citizen to the Courtier, an idolatrous veneration for opulence. The Courtier introduces the vicissitudes of taste and fashion; the Citizen imitates them, and furnishes, in profusion, the means of their display and gratification. Thus are luxury, and all its consequent vices and miseries, advanced to as high a degree as they can reach, by the union of ingenuity to invent modes of indulgence, with wealth to supply the materials.

Lovers of pleasure in excess, are always lovers of themselves in the same degree; and their love, with all the characteristical blindness of the passion, commonly injures its object. We shall therefore find selfishness prevailing in the metropolis, and producing all its natural effects of avarice, private gratifications, meanness, servility, and inhospitality. True patriotism and public spirit, though the very want of them will often cause the greatest pretensions to them, will seldom be found in the more numerous classes who inhabit the capital. Where money and pleasures are the sole objects of ardent pursuit, public virtue, and indeed all virtue, will be exposed to sale, whenever a purchaser can be found to the price. pay Money, O ye Citizens!" says