vent fatiety, and to endear life by a fhort abfence; and to the miferable, to relieve them by intervals of quict. Life is to moft, fuch as could not be endured without frequent intermiffions of existence: Homer, therefore, has thought it an office worthy of the goddess of wisdom, to lay Ulyffes afleep when landed on Phe

acia.

It is related of Barretier, whofe early advances in literature fearce any human mind has equalled, that he spent twelve hours of the four and twenty in fleep: yet this appears, from the bad ftate of his health, and the fhortness of his life, to have been too fmall a refpite for a mind fo vigorously and intenfely employed: it is to be regretted, therefore, that he did not exercite his mind lefs, and his body more; fince by this means it is highly probable, that though he would not then have aftonifhed with the blaze of a comet, he would yet have fhone with the permanent radiance of a fixed star.

Nor fhould it be objected, that there have been many men who daily fpent fifteen or fixteen hours in ftudy: for by fome of whom this is reported, it has never been done; others have done it for a fhort time only; and of the reft it appears, that they employed their minds in fuch operations as required neither celerity nor ftrength, in the low drudgery of collating copies, comparing authorities, digefting dictionaries, or accumulating compilations.

Men of ftudy and imagination are frequently upbraided by the induftrious and plodding fons of care, with paffing too great a part of their life in a ftate of inaction. But thefe defiers of fleep feem not to remember, that though it must be granted them that they are crawling about before the break of day, it can feldom be faid that they are perfectly awake; they exhauft no fpirits, and require no repairs; but lie torpid as a toad in marble, or at leaft are known to live only by an inert and fluggish loco-motive faculty; and may be faid, like a wounded fnake, to drag their flow ⚫ length along.'

Man has been long known among philofophers by the appellation of the microcofm, or epitome of the world: the refemblance between the great and little world might, by a rational obferver, be detailed to many particulars; and to many more by a fanciful fpeculatift. I know not in which of thefe two claffes I

fhall be ranged for obferving, that as the total quantity of light and darkness allotted in the courfe of the year to every region of the earth, is the fame, though diftributed at various times and in different portions; fo, perhaps, to each individual of the human fpecies, nature has ordained the fame quantity of wakefulness and fleep; though divided by fome into a total quiefcence and vigor ous exertion of their faculties, and blended by others in a kind of twilight of exiftence, in a state between dreaming and reafoning, in which they either think without action, or act without thought.

The poets are generally well affected to fleep: as men who think with vigour, they require refpite from thought; and gladly refign themfelves to that gentle power, who not only bestows reft, but frequently leads them to happier regions, where patrons are always kind, and audiences are always candid; where they are feafted in the bowers of imagination, and crowned with flowers divested of their prickles, and laurels of unfading verdure.

The more refined and penetrating part of mankind, who take wide surveys of the wilds of life, who see the innumerable terrors and diftreffes that are perpetually preying on the heart of man, and difcern with unhappy perfpicuity calamities yet latent in their caufes, are glad to close their eyes upon the gloomy profpect, and lofe in a fhort infenfibility the remembrance of others miferies and their own. The hero has no higher hope, than that, after having routed legions after legions, and added kingdom to kingdom, he fhall retire to milder happinefs, and clofe his days in focial feftivity. The wit or the fage can expect no greater happinefs, than that, after having harraffed his reafon in deep refearches, and fatigued his fancy in boundlefs excurfions, he shall fink at night in the tranquillity of fleep.

The poets, among all those that enjoy the bleffings of fleep, have been leaft afhamed to acknowledge their benefactor. How much Statius confidered the evils of life as affwaged and foftened by the balm of flumber, we may difcover by that pathetic invocation, which he poured out in his waking nights: and that Cowley, among the other felicities of his darling folitude, did not forget to number the privilege of fleeping without difturbance, we may learn from the rank that he

affigns

He confidered thefe phenomena as blemishes in the moral fyftem, and could not fupprefs romantic wishes to fee them removed. There wishes he now believes to be in fome degree accomplished; for he conceives himself tranfported to another planet, peopled with beings like himself, and governed by fuch laws as humam pride has often dictated to Divine Wisdom for the government of the earth; he fancies too, that he is attended by a being of a fuperior order, who has been commanded to take charge of him during his excurfion; and he says the name of this being is Azail. But notwithstanding thefe extravagancies, he will fometimes reafon with great fubtilty; and perfectly comprehends the force of any argument that is brought against him, though the next moment he will be wandering in the mazes of phrenzy, or bufied to accomplish fome trifling or ridiculous purpose.

When I entered his room, he was fitting in a contemplative pofture, with his eyes fixed upon the ground: he just glanced them upon me; but as I perceived that his imagination was bufy, I was not willing to interrupt it by the intrufion of foreign ideas: I therefore feated myself near him, without fpeaking a word; and after he had continued in his reverie near a quarter of an hour, he rofe up, and feemed by his gestures to take leave of fome invifible guest, whom with great ceremony he attended to the door. When he returned, he addreffed me with his ufual formality; and without expreffing any curiosity to know how I had followed him into a region fo remote and difficult of accefs, he began to acquaint me with all that had paffed in his imagination.

6

Azail,' faid he, has just promised, that he will to-morrow remove me from this folitary retirement, to the " metropolis; where the advantages that arife from a perfect coincidence of the natural and the moral world, will be more apparent and itriking: he tells me that you have been abroad with him this morning, and have made fome difcoveries, which you are to communicate to me. Come, I know that you find this world very different from ⚫ that which you left: there, all is confufion and deformity; good and evil feem to be diftributed not by defign, • but by chance; and religion is not

founded on reason, but faith. Here, all is order, harmony, and beauty: vice itself is only a deep fhadow that gives ftrength and elegance to other figures in the moral picture. Happinefs does, indeed, in fome degree de'pend upon externals; but even external advantages are the appendages of 'virtue: every man fpontaneously believes the rectitude which he fees, and rejoices that a blind affent to propofitions which contradict his experience is not exacted.'

To this addrefs I was at a lofs how to reply; but fome time was happily allowed me for recollection by my friend, who having now exhausted his ideas, lighted a pipe of tobacco, and refigned himself again to meditation. In this interval I determined to accommodate myself to his conceptions, and try what could be effected by decorating fome arguments with the machinery of his fancy.

• to me,

If Azail,' faid I, has referred you I will readily gratify your curiofity: but, for my own part, I am more and more difgufted with this place, and I fhall rejoice when I return to our own world. We have, I confefs, been abroad this morning; but though the weather as you fee is fine, and the country pleasant, yet I have great reafon to be diffatisfied with my walk. This, as you have remarked, is a retired part of the country: my difcoveries, therefore, with refpect to the people, have been few; and, till to-day, I have seen no object that has much excited my curiofity, or could much contribute to my information; but just as we had croffed the third field from the house, • I difcovered a man lying near the path, who feemed to be perifhing with difeafe and want: as we approached, he looked up at us with an afpect that expreffed the utmoft diftrefs, but no expectation of relief; the filent complaint, which yet fcarce implied a petition, melted my heart with pity; ‹ I ran to him; and, gently raising him from the ground, inquired how I could be employed to affift him: the man gazed at me with astonishment; and while he was making an effort to fpeak, Azail fuddenly forced me from him. "Supprefs thy pity,” said he, "for it is impious; and forbear at

tempts

"tempts of relief, for they are vain. Haft "thou forgot, that happiness and mifery " are here exactly proportioned to vir“tue and vice; and, therefore, that to "alleviate the mifery, or increase the happiness, is to destroy the equipoife "of the balance, and to counterwork "the defigns of Heaven?"

I felt the force of this reproof; and ⚫ turning my eyes from an object which I could not behold without anguish, I foon discovered another perfon ftanding at some distance, and looking to'wards us: his features were fixed in the dead calm of indifference, and expreffed neither pleasure nor pain. I, therefore, enquired of Azail, to what moral clafs he belonged; what were his virtues, paffions, enjoyments, and ' expectations."

"The man," faid Azail, "who is "the fubject of thy enquiry, has not de"ferved, and therefore does not fuffer, "pofitive pain, either of body or mind: "he poffeffes eafe and health, and en"joys the temperate gratification of his "natural appetites; this temperance is "his virtue, and this enjoyment it's re"ward. He is deftitute of whatever is

diftinguished upon earth by the name

" of Kind Affections or Social Virtue: "the kind affections would render his "happiness dependent upon others; and "the exercife of focial virtue prefup"poses the happiness of others to be de

pendent upon him. Every individual is here a kind of feparate fyftem: among these there can be neither pity nor relief, neither bounty nor grati"tude. To cloathe the naked, to feed "the hungry, and to comfort the afflict

y that would afford a probable proof "of their exiftence beyond it, would be regarded as the most fortunate event "that could befal them. In that of which "others complain, they would rejoice; "and adore as bounty that which upon "earth has been cenfured as injuftice." When Azail had vouchsafed me this information, I earnestly requested that I might no longer continue where my 'virtues had no object, where there was no happinefs worthy my complacency, nor any mifery that I was permitted to relieve.'

All this while my friend feemed to liften with great attention, and I was encouraged to proceed. I could not forbear obferving to Azail, faid I, as we returned, that he had exhibited, in a very strong light, the great advantages which are derived from that very conftitution of the natural and moral world, which being generally confidered as defective, fome have concealed with a view to jullify Providence, and others have difplayed, as an argument, that all things were produced by chance.But, Sir,' faid my friend, hastily interrupting me, it is not merely the unequal diftribution, but the existence of evil, that the Stoics denied and theEpicureans admitted, for the purpofes which you fuppofe; and I can difcover, without the affiftance of Azail, that if moral evil had been excluded, the focial affections would have been • exercised only in the participation of happiness; pity would have been well exchanged for complacency, and the alleviation of evil for the mutual com'munication of good.' I now conceived hopes that I had engaged him in a train of thought, which would by degrees lead him out of all his difficulties; I applauded myself upon the fuccefs of my project, and believed I had nothing to do but to obviate the objection he had started, and to recapitu late my other arguments of which he had tacitly acknowledged the force.

66

are

My dear friend,' faid I, you talk of the exclufion of moral evil; but does not the exclufion of moral evil from a fociety of human beings placed in a ftate of probation, appear to be as impoffible as to give a circle the properties of a fquare? And could man, fuppofing him to have continued impeccable, have lived upon earth perpetual fecurity from pain? 0 2 ! Would

• Would he not have been still liable to be crushed by a fall, or wounded by a blow? And is it not easy to fhew, that thefe evils, which unavoidably become probable the moment our world and it's first inhabitants were produced, are apparently over-ruled by the WISE CREATOR, and that from these he is perpetually educing • good?

The fame act by which man for• feited his original immortality, produced eventually a proof, that it should ⚫ be restored in a future ftate; with such circumstances as more forcibly reftrained vice by fear, and encouraged virtue by hope. Man, therefore, was urged by ftronger motives to rectitude • of life, and a further deviation to ill became more difficult than the first; a new field was opened for the exercife of that virtue, which exercife only can • improve. When diftrefs came among us, the relief of diftrefs was exalted into piety: "What ye did to the fick, and "the prifoner," fays the AUTHOR of our religion, "ye did to me." But the fufferings of virtue do not only exercife virtue in others; they are an ear• neft of everlasting felicity: and hope, ⚫ without any temporary enjoyment, is of more worth than all temporary enjoyments without hope. The prefent fyftem is, indeed, evidently in a state of progreffion: in this view, it will appear to be a work worthy of Infinite Wisdom and Goodnefs; for no one can

I

SYR,

complain, that an ear of corn rots in the ground, who knows that it cannot otherwife fpring up, and produce first ⚫ the blade, then the ear, and afterwards an increafe, by which alone it becomes ufeful.'

I now paused, in expectation of his reply, with the utmost confidence of fuccefs: but while I was in fancy congratulating him on the recovery of his understanding, and receiving the thanks of his friends, to the utter confufion of my hope, he burit into a violent fit of laughter. At first I was not lefs aftonifhed than difappointed: but I foon discovered, that while I was labouring at my argument, which wholly engroffed my attention, he had found means mifchievoufly to shake the lighted tobacco from his pipe into my coat pocket, which having fet fire to my handkerchief, was now finding it's way through the lining.

This was fo learned, rational, and ingenious a confutation of all I had faid, that I could not but retract my error: and as a friend to truth and free inquiry, I recommend the fame method of reply to thofe ingenious gentlemen who have difcovered, that ridicule is the teft af truth; and I am confident, that if they manage it with dexterity, it will always enable them perfectly to difconcert an antagonist who triumphs in the strength of his argument, and would otherwise bring contempt upon those who teach Providence to govern the world.

SI MUTABILE PECTUS

TH' ATTEMPT FORSAKE,

OVID.

ADDISON.