N® 386.

Friday, May 23.

T

Cum Triftibus fevere, cum Remiffis jucunde, cum Senibus graviter, cum Juventute comiter vivere.

T

Tull

HE piece of Latin on the Head of this Paper is part of a Character extremely vicious, but I have fet down no more than may fall in with the Rules of Juftice and Honour. Cicero fpoke it of Catiline, who, he faid, lived with the Sad feverely, with the Chearful a greeably, with the Old gravely, with the Young pleafantly; he added, with the Wicked boldly, with the Wanton Jafciviously. The two laft Inftances of his Complaifance I forbear to confider, having it in my thoughts at prefent only to fpeak of obfequious Behaviour as it fits upon a Companion in Pleasure, not a Man of Defign and Intrigue. To vary with every Humour in this manner, cannot be agreeable, except it comes from a Man's own Temperand natural Complexion; to do it out of an Ambition to excel that way, is the most fruitless and unbecoming Profti. tution imaginable. To put on an artful Part to obtain no other End but an unjuft Praife from the Undifcerning, is of all Endeavours the most defpicable. A Man muft be fincerely pleafed to become Pleafure, or not to interthat of others: For this reafon it is a moft calamitous Circumftance, that many People who want to be alone or fhould be fo, will come into Converfation. It is certain, that all Men who are the leaft given to Reflection, are feized with an Inclination that way; when, perhaps, they had rather be inclined to Company: but indeed they had better go home, and be tired with themfelves, than force themfelves upon others to recover their Good-Humour. In all this the Cafes of communicating to a Friend a fad Thought or Difficulty, in order to relieve a heavy Heart, ftands excepted; but what is here meant, is, that a Man fhould always go with Inclination to the Turn of the Company he is going into, or not pretend to be of the

rupt

Party,

I remember Tully, fpeaking, I think, of Anthony, fays, That in eo facetia erant, que muila arte tradi poffunt: He had a witty Mirth, which could be acquired by no Art. This Quality must be of the Kind of which I am now fpeaking; for all forts of Behaviour which depend upon Obfervation and Knowledge of Life, is to be acquired: but that which no one can describe, and is apparently the Act of Nature, must be every where prevalent, becaufe every thing it meets is a fit Occafion to exert it; for he who follows Nature, can never be improper or unfeafonable.

HOW unaccountable then muft their Behaviour be, who, without any manner of Confideration of what the Company they have just now entered are upon, give themselves the Air of a Meffenger, and make as diftinct Relations of the Occurrences they laft met with, as if they had been dispatched from thofe they talk to, to be punctually exact in a Report of thofe Circumftances: It is unpardonable to thofe who are met to enjoy one another, that a fresh Man fhall pop in, and give us only the laft part of his own Life, and put ftop to ours during the Hiftory. If fuch a Man comes from Change, whether you will or not, you must hear how the Stocks go; and tho' you are ever fo intently employed on a graver Subject, a young Fellow of the other end of the Town will take his place, and tell you, Mrs. Such-a-one is charmingly handfome, because he just now faw her. But I think I need not dwell on this Subject, fince I have acknowledged there can be no Rules made for excelling this way, and Precepts of this kind fare like Rules for writing Poetry, which, 'tis faid, may have prevented ill Poets, but never made good ones,

T

Saturday,

N® 387.

Saturday, May 24.

Quid purè tranquillet

Hor.

N my last Saturday's Paper I fpoke of Chearfulness as it is a Moral Habit of the Mind, and accordingly mentioned fuch moral Motives as are apt to cherish and keep alive this happy Temper in the Soul of Man: I fhall now confider Chearfulness in its natural State, and reflec on thofe Motives to it, which are indifferent either as to Virtue or Vice.

CHEARFULNESS is, in the first place, the best Promoter of Health. Repinings and fecret Murmurs of Heart, give imperceptible Strokes to thofe delicate Fibres of which the vital parts are compofed, and wear out the Machine infenfibly; not to mention thofe violent Ferments which they ftir up in the Blood, and thofe irregular disturbed Motions, which they raise in the animal Spirits, Ifcarce remember, in my own Obfervation, to have met with many old Men, or with fuch, who (to use our English Phrafe) wear well, that had not at least a certain Indolence in their Humour, if not a more than ordinary Gaiety and Chearfulness of Heart. The truth of it is, Health and Chearfulness mutually beget each other; with this difference, that we feldom meet with a great degree of Health which is not attended with a certain Chearfulnefs, but very often fee Chearfulness where there is no great degree of Health.

CHEARFULNESS bears the fame friendly regard to the Mind as to the Body: It banishes all anxious Care and Difcontent, fooths and composes the Paffions, and keeps the Soul in a perpetual Calm. But having already touched on this laft Confideration, I fhall here take notice, that the World, in which we are placed, is filled with innumerable Objects that are proper to raise and keep alive this happy Temper of Mind.

If we confider the World in its Subferviency to Man, one would think it was made for our Ufe; but if we con

fider it in its natural Beauty and Harmony, one would be apt to conclude it was made for our Pleafure. The Sun, which is as the great Soul of the Univerfe, and produces all the Neceffaries of Life, has a particular Influence in chearing the Mind of Man, and making the Heart glad.

THOSE feveral living Creatures which are made for our Service or Suftenance, at the fame time either fill the Woods with their Mufick, furnish us with Game, or raife pleafing Ideas in us by the delightfulness of their Appearance, Fountains, Lakes, and Rivers, are as refreshing to the Imagination, as to the Soil through which they pafs.

THERE are Writers of great Diftinction, who have made it an Argument for Providence, that the whole Earth is covered with Green, rather than with any other Colour, as being fuch a right Mixture of Light and Shade, that it comforts and ftrengthens the Eye inftead of weakning or grieving it. For this reafon feveral Painters have a green Cloth hanging near them, to eafe the Eye upon, after too great an Application to their Colouring. A famous modern Philofopher accounts for it in the following manner: All Colours that are more luminous, overpower and diffipate the animal Spirits which are employ'd in fight; on the contrary, thofe that are more obfcure do not give the animal Spirits a fufficient Exercife; whereas the Rays that produce in us the Idea of Green, fall upon the Eye in fuch a due proportion, that they give the animal Spirits their proper Play, and by keeping up the ftruggle in a juft Ballance, excite a very pleafing and agreeable Senfation. Let the Caufe be what it will, the Effect is certain, for which reafon the Poets afcribe to this particular Colour the Epithet of Chearful.

TO confider further this double End in the Works of Nature, and how they are at the fame time both ufeful and entertaining, we find that the most important Parts in the vegetable World are those which are the moft beautiful. These are the Seeds by which the feveral Races of Plants are propagated and continued, and which are always lodged in Flowers or Bloffoms. Nature feems to hide her principal Defign, and to be induftrious in making the Earth gay and delightful, while fhe is carrying on her great Work, and intent upon her own Prefervation. The Husbandman