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tence is "That for a righteous man, none would die; but for a good man fome would even dare to die." Daily experience demonftrates the truth of this excellent remark. The tenets of Christianity, nay the religion of nature, unaided by revelation, if we believe the immortality of the foul, are fufficient to engage us to piety; for a principle of felf prefervation is one ftrong motive, and fear another, to induce men to be pious; and if by the general term righteous, we are to understand a juft man, it is well known, that the laws of civil fociety oblige every rational mortal, on prudential maxims, which regard his own welfare, to be a righteous man. But we may go one step further, and fuppofe a man to have merited the reputation of a religious, confciencious, juft, fober, prudent perfon, yet this will not entitle him to thofe exertions of perilous fervices, or to thofe unanimous applaufes of his fellow citizens to which the good man lays an indifputable claim, from the fuperiority of his character. Perfonal hazards of life, and fortune adventured for the fervice of mankind, without a retrospect to felf, deferve reciprocal returns of unbounded affection, and ́univerfal applause.

Far be it from the Cenfor to decry the practice of picty, or to depreciate the merit of the righteous man; but as we have good authority for faying that, "a man may be righteous overmuch," it may not be amifs to leffen the confequence of modern bigotry, by pointing out a more exalted character, and a nearer refemblance to the Deity, the common father of all.

The clofer we reafon (from what we know of the divine nature) on the attributes of the fupreme being, the more fully we must be convinced, that his univerfal benevolence to mankind is the object of our warme!t, most difinterested adoration, expreffed by acts of praife and thanksgiving. A enfe of our own frailties and neceffities, and of the omnipotence of the Deity, excite us to that inferior (though laudible duty of religion) prayer and fupplication. Here tn the diftinction obviously arifes, between the righteous

and the good man. The latter exalts his character by a clofer imitation of the best attribute of the Deity, and pays him the moft pure and fublime homage, by exercifing himself continually, in acts of well-judged benevolence; while the righteous man, the methodically pious, juft man, contents himself with acknowledging his dependence on the Deity, prays to him fervently for every bleffing, and when obtained, returns his heavenly benefactor but unworthy thanks; for he hoards the bounties beftowed, or confines them within the narrow circle of fome enthusiastic fect, instead of dif-. fufing them with a liberal, yet difcreet hand, on the general principle of philanthropy.

The righteoufnefs of the Scribes and Pharifees-contrafted with the story of the Good Samaritan-is a fpeaking portrait of the two characters, applicable to all times and places. London has her Pharifees as well as Jerufalem; and the many liberal foundations, for the relief of the indigent, the sick, the wounded and infane, give us room to hope, that we have many more Good Samaritans.

Yet ftill we hear groaning and complaint in our ftreets; and, if we may credit our eyes and ears, either a great want, or abufe of charity: For this feeming contradiction in our conduct, I mean to account, by fhewing, that it arifes from erroneous notions concerning goodnels. A truly good man is the noblet work of God, and ftands higher in the fcale of beings, than the merely righteous man. Mankind are fo evidently fenfible of this truth, that the majority are eager to attain this fublime perfection, but unhappily miflake the means; efpecially the female part of the creation, who, under the head of charity, commit the greatest errors, impreffed at the fame time with a strong defire to be very good women.

It is this wrong tram of thinking and acting, which the Cenfor withes to correct, by convincing thofe, who mifapply their charity, that inftead of attaining the perfection of goodnefs, they often do a great deal of mifchief undefignedly, and excite the l will,

initead

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aftead of the praises of the world, by their indifcreet benevolence.

As the most trifling occurrences fometimes give birth to great events, fo a loose hint may lay the foundation of a serious exhortation. This hap

SIR,

TH

pens to be the prefent cafe; for having received the following letter from a correfpondent, it led me infenfibly into a moral differtation on the character of a good man. It seems to be written by a foreigner.

HE beggars in France are greatly embarrailed to excite the pity of paffengers; they are now at a loss what to fay; for Chriftians have left off giving alms for the love of God; but in England they have various refources; fome beg to be idle, or to avoid the fatigue of any kind of labour, others to finoke tobacco, to take fnuff, to drink ftrong beer, or geneva. And they have another advantage over the French beggars, which is, to tell people freely what they require. As I was lately walking in the ftreets of London, a beggar afked me for a penny to burn the Earl of Bute; as I knew not that he meant only his effigy, I refuted to comply, locking upon it as a great crime to give away my money for fo vile a purpofe; but I am told, that the lovers of Liberty encourage thefe poor politicians, and that there are thousands of Wilkites who fupport fuch beggars; fo that an English pauper has nothing to do but to difcover the popular party, and by fiding with it, he cannot fail of a comfortable fubfiftence. In fine, Sir, 1 fee very plainly, that a skilful English beggar, who knows how to touch the paffions or prejudices of his countrymen, may get drunk with his gains three times in a week, while the French mendicant, who afks alms only for the love of God, cannot afford to intoxicate himfelf above once in a month. As you are a Cenfor of the public manners, I would be glad to know from you, the caufe of thofe warms of beggars in England, where you collect fuch immente fums for the poor in every parith, and have fo many endowed hofpitals for their fupport and relief. Your felicus thoughts on this

fubject, in your next number, will greatly oblige

A CONSTANT CORRESPONDENT. Portland-street, Jan. 2, 1772.

THE answer to my correfpondent is partly given in the remarks I have already made; but that no doubt may remain upon the fubject, I shall add a fhort leffon to thofe who cannot pass a beggar in the ftreets, or on the highway, without beftowing their alms, by which they very imprudently fupport the idle and debauched, whofe induftrious labour would not only supply food and raiment for themfelves, but contribute to leffen the price of the neceffaries of life to the poor in general.

You, whofe compaffionate hearts indifcriminately prompt you to relieve the feeming wants of every artful beggar, do it undoubtedly with a view to merit the fuperlatively excellent character I have defcribed in the former part of this paper. I am fure this is the motive with my fair friends; but unhappily you fall upon wrong means to attain this defirable end.-You im

pole upon your felves, and encourage the worlt fpecies of impoftors; thofe who, under fraudulent pretexts, withhold from fociety the exercife of those talents which the God of nature has given them for the joint benefit of themselves and of the community in which they live.-Is it a child to whom you give your alms in final moneydo you reflect, that while he is thus foliciting the means of difpenting with with labour for his parents, he is neglecting education, which, however lowly, is fure to be honeft in all parts of England, is the only foundation to

make

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make that child an induftrious, virtuous man-do you confider that, by giving him an early relish for this eafy method of procuring money, you fix a bad habit of living on the public without meriting fubfiftence, and that you train him to petty-larceny, when voJuntary fupplies fail, and from thence he proceeds to capital crimes, and thus you indirectly lead him to the gallows. Is it a man or woman, in appearance robuft and vigorous-you are injuring the public in the highest degree; for there is not an art or bufinets in the kingdom, but wants additional hands. Of every penny given to fuch, be affured one half at leaft goes to the publican, the diftiller, and the excifeoffice--yet you would be performing an act, highly meritorious, much more fo than the long prayers of any modern Pharifee, if thefe were real objects of charity-but let me place them before you in another point of view.-Does the itinerant haymaker, his wife, and a ftout boy, loiter on the road, owing to your ill-timed bounty, and that of fix or feven well-difpofed old men and women, who have added their contributions do they faunter at an alehoufe, instead of arriving at the deftined place for exerting their induftry for the benefit of the hufbandman-mark the confequence-fome honeft, indefatigable little farmer, who with the fweat of his brow, literally fpeaking, earns a fcanty pittance (the furplus of a rack-rent) for the maintenance of a numerous family-already has murmured against heaven (the vice of farmers and gardeners) for an unfavourable feafon-and behold your charity completes his diftraction. His grafs is ready for the fcythe, or it has been cut down, but further affittance is wanting to finish the harvest-the fky lowers threatens approaching days of heavy rain-he wishes for labourers in his fields, but finds none-it is the featon to expect them from all quarters of the kingdom-miftaken benevolence-you have ftopped them on the way-you thought to relieve two or three apparently diftreffed objects, who would very foon have fupplied their own wants in a proper way-and you have half ruined a whole family

But fome people will tell me, they only relieve the infirm, the lame, the decrepid, the blind, the aged, and the fick-my reply fhall be introduced with a candid fuppofition.-You are most probably either houfe-keepers yourfelves, or upon a level with them; that is to fay, you live in regular families, or have connections and intereft with reputable houfe-keepers. Make ufe of your finall money in a manner that will be most beneficial to those poor objects.-Wholefome laws, that want only due execution, are provided for the purpofe of taking them out of the freets, and providing for them in a proper manner, agreeable to the dictates of humanity and found policy.Let a number of well-difpofed perfons depofit the amount of what they annually give away in going to church, or to market, or on a vifit-to form a fund to profecute all parith-officers of every denomination, who mifapply the poor's rate, and all justices of peace who refufe to punith vagrants, and detect impoftors-this has been fuccefsfully practifed in a populous village near London, by twenty families of real good people by which means real objects of charity have been fent to hofpitals and work houfes, and not one importer has appeared in it for the last three years, whereas, before that period, they had one counterfeitor of

convulfion