"defcription. No; the charges againft me are all "of one kind, that I have pufhed the general prin"ciples of general juftice and benevolence too far; "further than a cautious policy would warrant, and "further than the opinions of many would go with "me. In every accident which may happen through "life, in pain, in forrow, in depreffion, and diftrefs, "I will think of this accufation and be comforted." There are not indeed many of the members who favour the public with their harangues, fo that we have not an opportunity of judging of all fo well as of Mr. Burke's. We muft, however, acknowledge our great obligations to the ingenious Mr. Woodfall, the editor of the Morning Chronicle, whofe memory feems equal to the inftances of which we read, but which do not ofter occur in our intercourfe with fociety. No. CLIII. A LIFE OF LETTERS USUALLY A LIFE OF COMPARATIVE INNOCENCE. I Tis not the least among the happy effects of a ftudious life, that it withdraws the ftudent from the turbulent fcenes and pursuits, in which it is fcarcely Jefs difficult to preferve innocence than tranquillity. Successful ftudy requires fo much attention, and engroffes fo much of the heart, that he who is deeply engaged in it, though he may indeed be liable to temporary lapfes, will feldom contract an inveterate habit of immorality. There is in all books of character a reverence for virtue, and a tendency to infpire a laudable emulation. He who is early, long, and fuccessfully converfant with them, will find his bofom filled with the love of truth, and finely affected with a delicate fenfe of honour. By conftantly exercifing his reafon, his paffions are gradually reduced to fubjection, and his head and heart keep pace with each other in improvement. But when I affert that fuch are the confequences of literary purfuits, it is neceffary to dif tinguish between the real and pretended ftudent; for there there are many defultory readers and volatile men of parts, who affect eccentricity, whofe lives, if one may fo exprefs it, are uniformly irregular, and who confequently exhibit remarkable inftances of mifery and misfortune. Folly and imprudence will produce moral and natural evil, their genuine offspring, in all fituations and modes of life. The knowledge of arts and sciences cannot prevent the vices and the woes which muft arife from the want of knowing how to regulate our private and focial conduct. But where prudence and virtue are not deficient, I believe few walks of life are pleafanter and fafer than those which lead through the regions of literature. Many among mankind are involved in perpetual tumult, fo that if they felt an inclination to confider their duty, their nature, their trueft happiness, they really would not be able to find an opportunity. But he, whom Providence has bleft with an enlightened mind, and the command of his own time, is enabled to form his heart, and direct his choice according to the dictates of the moft improved intellects, and the examples of the most accomplished characters. He is, indeed, a creature far fuperior to the common herd of men; and being acquainted with pure and exalted pleafures, is not under the neceffity of feeking delight in the groffer gratifications. He confiders not property as the chief good; he is therefore free from temptations to violate his integrity. Difappointment in matters of intereft will never render him uneafy or difcontented, for his books have difcovered to him a treasure more valuable, in his eftimation, than the riches of Peru. Through all the viciffitudes of life he has a fource of confolation in the retirement of his library, and in the principles and reflections of his own bofom. From his reading he will collect a juft eftimate of the world and of all around him; and, as he will cherish no unreasonable expectations, he will be exempted from severe disappoint ment. The converfation of many abounds with flander and detraction, not originally and entirely derived from a malignity of nature, but alfo from ignorance, from a vacancy vacancy of intellect, and from an inability to expatiate on general and generous topics. But whatever be the motive of them, it is certain that few crimes are more injurious to private happiness, and oppofite to the fpirit of our amiable religion, than flander and detraction. The man of reading is under no temptation to calumniate his neighbour from the defect of ideas, or a want of tafte for liberal and refined converfation. He interefts himfelf in his neighbour's happinefs; but does not pry into the affairs, nor fit in judgment on the domeftic arrangements, of another's family. Moft of the topics of fcandal are too little and too low for him. He will not stoop from his elevation low enough to pick the dirty trifles from the ground. His thoughts are engaged in elegant and fpeculative fubjects, far removed from all which tend to excite envy, jealoufy, or malevolence. The want of employment is one of the frequent caufes of vice; but he who loves a book will never want employment. The purfuits of learning are boundless, and they prefent to the mind a delightful variety which cannot be exhaufted. No life is long enough to fee all the beautiful pictures which the arts and Iciences, or which hiftory, poetry, and eloquence are able to display. The man of letters poffeffes the power of calling up a fucceffion of fcenes to his view infinitely numerous and diverfified. He is therefore fecured from that unhappy ftate which urges many to vice and diffipation, merely to fill a painful vacuity. Even though his purfuits fhould be trifling, and his difcoveries unimportant, yet they are harmless to others, and useful to himself, as prefervatives of his innocence. Let him not be ridiculed or condemned, even though he fhould spend his time in collecting and defcribing moths, moffes, fhells, birds, weeds, or coins; for he who loves these things feldom fets his affections on pelf, or any of thofe objects which corrupt and divide human fociety. He who finds his pleasures in a museum or a library, will not often be feen in the tavern, in the brothel, or at the gaming-table. He is pleafed if he poffeffes a non-defcript foffil, and. envies not the wretched enjoyments of the intemperate, nor the ill-gotten wealth of the oppreffor or extortioner. But But his purfuits have ufually a title to much greater praise than that of being inoffenfive. Suppofe him in any of the liberal profeffions. If a clergyman, for inftance, he devotes his time and abilities to the preparation of diffuafives from vice, from folly, from mifconduct, from infidelity, from all that contributes to aggravate the wretchedness of wretched human nature. Here the pleasures naturally refulting from literary occupation are improved by the fublime fenfations of active benevolence, the comfortable consciousness of advancing the trueft happiness of thofe among our poor fellow-creatures who have not enjoyed the advantages of education. In the performance of the godlike office of a true parish priest, there is a neceffity of fetting an example, and of preferving decorum of character; a neceffity which conduces much to the fecurity of innocence. It is often a great happiness to be placed in a rank where, to the reftraints of confcience and morality, are added the fear of peculiar shame, lofs, and difgrace, neceffarily confequent on ill behaviour. Human Nature wants every fupport to keep it from lapfing into depravity. Even intereft and a folicitude for reputation, when, in fome thoughtless interval, the pillars of virtue begin to totter, may stop the fall. The poffeffion of a valuable character which may be loft, and of a dignity which must be fupported, are often very ufeful auxiliaries in defending the citadel against the temporary affaults of paffion and temptation. Since, then, the purfuit of letters is attended with many circumftances peculiarly favourable to innocence, and confequently to enjoyment of the pureft and moft permanent fpecies, they who have been fixed in fo defirable a life as a life of learning, ought to be grateful to Providence for their fortunate lot, and endeavour to make the best return in their power, by devoting their leifure, their abilities, and their acquirements, to the glory of God, and the benefit of mankind. No. No. CLIV. ON THE ADVANTAGE WHICH MAY BE DERIVED TO THE TENDER AND T is obfervable, that an audience often laughs or interesting feenes of tragedy;-a lamentable proof of the poet's imbecility. The poet! he may, indeed, be a verfifier and a declaimer, but he is no poet, who tells a tragic tale without eliciting a tear. Let us not profane the facred name of poet by bestowing it on the feeble poetafter. It is not enough that the language of a tragedy is flowery, the fimilies and metaphors brilliant, the verfe melodious; there must be a charm added by the creative power of almighty genius, which no didactic rules can teach, which cannot be adequately described, but which is powerfully felt by the vibrations of the heart-ftrings, and which caufes an irrefiftible overflowing of the Δακρυπν πηγών, the facri fontes lachrymarum Florid diction and pompous declamation are, indeed, found to be the leaft adapted of all modes of addrefs to affect the finer fenfibilities of nature. Plain words, without epithets, without metaphors, without fimilies, have oftener excited emotions of the tendereft fympathy, than the moft laboured compofition of Corneille. Ye who would learn how to touch the heart, go not to the fchools of France, but become the difciples of Sophocles, Shakespeare, Sterne, and Chatterton. O fimplicity thou captivating fimplicity! 'tis thine at once to affect what all the artifices of rhetoric, with all its tropes and figures, tedioufly and vainly labour to accomplith. 'Tis thine to diffolve the hardest heart, and to force even ftubborn nerves to tremble. A few words of fimple pathos will penetrate the foul to the quick, when a hundred lines of declamation fhall affail it as feebly and ineffectually, as a gentle gale the mountain of Plinlimmon. A writer |