isdom. Take me back to the school aan, and educate me as one of the : ignorant and the youngest of your ples."

deed, my son, it is better to have ads in our passage through life, than efal dependants; and as love is a more ing, so it is a more lasting, tribute extorted obligation. As we are 1sy when greatly obliged, gratitude refased can never after be recovered. mind that is base enough to disallow just return, instead of feeling any asness upon recollection, triumphs in nes acquired freedom, and in some Are is pleased with conscious baseness. Ter different is the situation of diseng friends. Their separation proes mutual uneasiness. Like that del being in fabulous creation, their phetic souls once more desire their

nion; the joys of both are impertheir gayest moments tinctured with es; each seeks for the smallest ons to clear the way to a wishedanation; the most trifling acknownt, the slightest accident, serves to mutual reconciliation.

instead of pursuing the thought, me to soften the severity of advice European story, which will fully te my meaning. kiler and his wife, who had rubbed life, as most couples usually do, res good friends, at others not well, one day happened to have te, which was conducted with bespirit on both sides. The wife Are she was right, and the husband olved to have his own way. What > be done in such a case? The grew worse by explanations, and Lt the fury of both rose to such a that they made a vow never to together in the same bed for the This was the most rash vow that I be imagined, for they were still is at bottom, and, besides, they had one bed in the house. However, ed they were to go through with d at night the fiddle-case was laid bed between them, in order to make aration. In this manner they confor three weeks; every night the

fiddle-case being placed as a barrier to divide them.

By this time, however, each heartily repented of their vow; their resentment was at an end, and their love began to return; they wished the fiddle-case away, but both had too much spirit to begin. One night, however, as they were both lying awake, with the detested fiddle-case between them, the husband happened to sneeze, to which the wife, as is usual in such cases, bid God bless him. Ay, but,' returns the husband, woman, do you say that from your heart?"deed I do, my poor Nicholas," cries his wife; "I say it with all my heart."so, then," says the husband, " we had as good remove the fiddle-case."

66

LETTER LXVII

To the same.

66

"In

"If

Books, my son, while they teach us to respect the interests of others, often make us unmindful of our own; while they instruct the youthful reader to grasp at social happiness, he grows miserable in detail, and, attentive to universal harmony, often forgets that he himself has a part to sustain in the concert. I dislike, therefore, the philosopher who describes the inconveniences of life in such pleasing colours that the pupil grows enamoured of distress, longs to try the charms of poverty, meets it without dread, nor fears its inconveniences till he severely feels them.

A youth who has thus spent his life among books, new to the world, and unacquainted with man but by philosophic information, may be considered as a being whose mind is filled with the vulgar errors of the wise; utterly unqualified for a journey through life, yet confident of his own skill in the direction, he sets out with confidence, blunders on with vanity, and finds himself at last undone.

He first has learned from books, and then lays it down as a maxim, that all mankind are virtuous or vicious in excess; and he has been long taught to detest vice, and love virtue. Warm, therefore, in attachments, and steadfast in enmity, he treats every creature as a fries or foe; expects from those he loves

erring integrity, and consigns his enemies to the reproach of wanting every virtue. On this principle he proceeds; and here begin his disappointments. Upon a closer inspection of human nature he perceives that he should have moderated his friendship, and softened his severity; for he often finds the excellencies of one part of mankind clouded with vice, and the faults of the other brightened with virtue; he finds no character so sanctified that has not its failings, none so infamous but has somewhat to attract our esteem; he beholds impiety in lawn, and fidelity in fetters.

He now, therefore, but too late, perceives that his regards should have been more cool, and his hatred less violent; that the truly wise seldom court romantic friendships with the good, and avoid, if possible, the resentment even of the wicked: every moment gives him fresh instances that the bonds of friendship are broken, if drawn too closely, and that those whom he has treated with disrespect more than retaliate the injury; at length, therefore, he is obliged to confess, that he has declared I war upon the vicious half of mankind, without being able to form an alliance among the virtuous to espouse his quarrel. Our book-taught philosopher, however, is now too far advanced to recede; and though poverty be the just consequence of the many enemies his conduct has created, yet he is resolved to meet it without shrinking. Philosophers have described poverty in most charming colours, and even his vanity is touched in thinking that he shall show the world, in himself, one more example of patience, fortitude, and resignation. "Come, then, O Poverty! for what is there in thee dreadful to the WISE? Temperance, Health, and Frugality walk in thy train; Cheerfulness and Liberty are ever thy companions. Shall any be ashamed of thee, of whom Cincinnatus was not ashamed? The running brook, the herbs of the field, can amply satisfy nature; man wants but little, nor that little long. Come, then, O Poverty, while kings stand by and gaze with admiration at the true philosopher's resignation."

The goddess appears; for Poverty ever

comes at the call: but, alas! he fi by no means the charming figure and his warm imagination had p As when an Eastern bride, whe friends and relations had long de as a model of perfection, pays her fin the longing bridegroom lifts the vei a face he had never seen before; stead of a countenance blazing with like the sun, he beholds deformity si icicles to his heart: such appears to her new entertainer; all the fa enthusiasm is at once demolished, thousand miseries rise up on its while Contempt, with pointing fir foremost in the hideous procession,

The poor man now finds that get no kings to look at him whil eating; he finds that, in proportion grows poor, the world turns its bac him, and gives him leave to act the sopher in all the majesty of solituc might be agreeable enough to pl philosopher while we are conscio mankind are spectators; but what si wearing the mask of sturdy content and mounting the stage of restraint, not one creature will assist at the e tion? Thus is he forsaken of men, his fortitude wants the satisfaction of self-applause: for either he dot feel his present calamities, and th natural insensibility; or he disguise feelings, and that is dissimulation.

Spleen now begins to take up the not distinguishing in his resentmen regards all mankind with detestation commencing man-hater, seeks solitu be at liberty to rail.

It has been said, that he who retît solitude is either a beast or an angel. censure is too severe, and the pras merited; the discontented being wh tires from society is generally some g natured man, who has begun life wi experience, and knew not how to ga in his intercourse with mankind. —A

LETTER LXVIII. From Lien Chi Altangi to Fum Hoam, k President of the Ceremonial Aca Pekin in China.

I FORMERLY acquainted thee, most Fum, with the excellence of the ing

the art of healing. The Chinese boast ir skill in pulses, the Siamese their boical knowledge, but the English adverng physicians alone of being the great torers of health, the dispensers of youth, the insurers of longevity. I can never ough admire the sagacity of this counfor the encouragement given to the ofessors of this art: with what indulgence es she foster up those of her own growth, d kindly cherish those that come from road! Like a skilful gardener, she inpes them from every foreign climate to self. Here every great exotic strikes ot as soon as imported, and feels the inal beam of favour; while the mighty etropolis, like one vast magnificent dungreceives them indiscriminately to her tast, and supplies each with more than are nourishment. hother countries the physician pretends re disorders in the lump: the same cor who combats the gout in the toe, pretend to prescribe for a pain in the d; and he who at one time cures a mption, shall at another give drugs andropsy. How absurd and ridiculous! Es being a mere jack-of-all-trades. Is nimal machine less complicated than ss pin? Not less than ten different Is are required to make a pin; and the body be set right by one single ator?

The English are sensible of the force his reasoning: they have, therefore, doctor for the eyes, another for the ; they have their sciatica doctors, inoculating doctors; they have one laor who is modestly content with ing them from bug-bites, and five dred who prescribe for the bite of mad

The learned are not here retired, with bus modesty, from public view; for ery dead wall is covered with their tries, their abilities, their amazing cures, i places of abode. Few patients can cape falling into their hands, unless lasted by lightning, or struck dead with me sudden disorder. It may sometimes ippen, that a stranger who does not unrstand English, or a countryman who nnot read, dies, without ever hearing of e vivifying drops or restorative electuary;

but, for my part, before I was a week in town, I had learned to bid the whole catalogue of disorders defiance, and was perfectly acquainted with the names and the medicines of every great man, or great woman, of them all.

But as nothing pleases curiosity more than anecdotes of the great, however minute or trifling, I must present you, inadequate as my abilities are to the subject, with some account of those personages who lead in this honourable profession.

The first upon the list of glory is Doctor Richard Rock, F. U. N. This great man, short of stature, is fat, and waddles as he walks. He always wears a white threetailed wig nicely combed, and frizzed upon each cheek; sometimes he carries a cane, but an hat never. It is indeed very remarkable, that this extraordinary personage should never wear an hat; but so it is, he never wears an hat. He is usually drawn at the top of his own bills, sitting in his arm-chair, holding a little bottle between his finger and thumb, and surrounded with rotten teeth, nippers, pills, packets, and gallipots. No man promise fairer nor better than he; for, as he observes, "Be your disorder never so far gone, be under no uneasiness, make yourself quite easy: I can cure you."

can

The next in fame, though by some reckoned of equal pretensions, is Doctor Timothy Franks, F.O.G.H., living in a place called the Old Bailey. As Rock is remarkably squab, his great rival, Franks, is as remarkably tall. He was born in the year of the Christian era 1692, and is, while I now write, exactly sixty-eight years, three months, and four days old. Age, however, has no ways impaired his usual health and vivacity: I am told he generally walks with his breast open. This gentleman, who is of a mixed reputation, is particularly remarkable for a becoming assurance, which carries him gently through life; for, except Doctor Rock, none are more blessed with the advantages of face than Doctor Franks.

And yet the great have their foibles as well as the little. I am almost ashamed to mention it: let the foibles of the great rest in peace: yet I must impart the whole to my friend. These two great men are

actually now at variance: yes, my dear Fum Hoam, by the head of our grandfather, they are now at variance like mere men, mere common mortals! The champion Rock advises the world to beware of bogtrotting quacks, while Franks retorts the wit and the sarcasm (for they have both a world of wit) by fixing on his rival the odious appellation of Dumplin Dick. He calls the serious Doctor Rock Dumplin Dick! Head of Confucius, what profanation! Dumplin Dick! What a pity, ye powers, that the learned, who were born mutually to assist in enlightening the world, should thus differ among themselves, and make even the profession ridiculous! Sure the world is wide enough, at least for two great personages to figure in: men of science should leave controversy to the little world below them; and then we might see Rock and Franks walking together hand in hand, smiling onward to immortality.

Next to these is Doctor Walker, preparator of his own medicines. This gentleman is remarkable for an aversion to quacks; frequently cautioning the public to be careful into what hands they commit their safety; by which he would insinuate, that if they do not employ him alone, they must be undone. His public spirit is equal to his success. Not for himself, but his country, is the gallipot prepared, and the drops sealed up, with proper directions for any part of the town or country: all this is for his country's good; so that he is now grown old in the practice of physic and virtue; and, to use his own elegance of expression, "There is not such another medicine as his in the world again."

This, my friend, is a formidable triumvirate; and yet, formidable as they are, I am resolved to defend the honour of Chinese physic against them all. I have made a vow to summon Doctor Rock to a solemn disputation in all the mysteries of the profession, before the face of every Philomath student in astrology, and memIber of the learned societies. I adhere to and venerate the doctrines of old Wangshu-ho. In the very teeth of opposition I will maintain, "That the heart is the son of the liver, which has the kidneys for

its mother, and the stomach for its I have, therefore, drawn up a disput challenge, which is to be sent speedi this effect:

"I, Lien Chi Altangi, D. N. R. H., 1 of Honan in China, to Richard RF.U.N., native of Garbage Alley, in ping, defiance. Though, sir, I am perf sensible of your importance, thoug stranger to your studies in the path nature, yet there may be many thing the art of physic with which you an unacquainted. I know full well a de thou art, great Rock, and so am L. WI fore I challenge, and do hereby invite, to a trial of learning upon hard probi and knotty physical points. In this bate we will calmly investigate the w theory and practice of medicine, bot and chemistry; and I invite all the Pl maths, with many of the lecturers in m cine, to be present at the dispute, wh I hope, will be carried on with due. corum, with proper gravity, and as be men of erudition and science, among e other. But before we meet face to fa I would thus publicly, and in the fact the whole world, desire you to answer one question; I ask it with the same e nestness with which you have often st cited the public; answer me, I say, once, without having recourse to yc physical dictionary,-Which of those thr disorders incident to the human body the most fatal, the syncope, parenthesis, apoplexy? I beg your reply may be public as this my demand. hereafter may be, your admirer or you rival."-Adieu.

LETTER LXIX.

I am,

To the same. INDULGENT Nature seems to have ex empted this island from many of th epidemic evils which are so fatal in ot parts of the world. A want of rain! for a few days beyond the expected seas in China spreads famine, desolation, ac terror over the whole country; the wins that blow from the brown bosom of western desert are impregnated with de: in every gale; but in this fortunate l of Britain the inhabitant courts health