Notwithstanding the failure of the project of preferving America as a British colony, the advantage from American trade may probably be very great to England. No other country is fo well calculated to fupply them with what they want; nor is there any other country fo capable of doing it. It is in vain to imagine that friendship or gratitude to the French will make them deal with that country to their own difadvantage; it is equally vain as to fuppofe that they would remain fubject to Britain after it ceafed to be their intereft. Can any ties to France be more ftrong than thofe to Britain once were? Nay, can they be half fo ftrong? If they are not ftronger, they must be broke.

Hiftory, perhaps, does not furnish a greater inftance of the downfal of ambition, and the vanity of human project, than Britain experienced in the revolt of America. The idea of preferving it in a ftate of dependence, was rapacious, impolitic, and unjust. Happy would it have been for both nations had it then been confidered fo by the mother country. England might have faid, "We never expected to derive any other revenue from you, than what may be the confequence of a mutual trade; nor were we ever foolish enough to conceive that you would ever trade with us but when it was your intereft; the extent of your coafts, and your diftant and continental fituation, prevent that. You are able, and you wish to be independent; let us part friends, and deal as extenfively as is our mutual intereft; that is all we can expect of each other."-The trade to America would in that event have been immenfe; and it will yet be very great; for though we perceive a most fudden and great decline, yet that arofe only from the circumftances that operated during the war; and, in a few years, there can be no doubt that the trade will be greater than it ever has been. The Americans probably will not attempt those manufactures with which they have and may be fup. plied from England. It will not be their intereft to do fo for many years yet to come; and though it is not impollible that they may attempt it, it is very improbable that they will perfevere. The fame divifion of labour that takes place in fingle manufactories, takes place alfo in towns, counties, and nations; and the advantages arising from it must have been very foon perceived; for all VOL. XLIX.

nations are acquainted with barter and exchange; and without divifion of la bour there would have been very little of that in the world.

The American trade requires great capital, for the money returns flowly; therefore probably we may not be able to do to fo great an amount for fome years to come as we have done: but if we preferve any fort of friendship with America, as foon as it is our intereft and inclination, we fhall find it in our power to fupply them almoft with whatever articles we please. That univerfal jealousy of trade that pervades mankind, is the most narrow, illiberal thing in the world; and when we with well to England, we fhould join in withing well to Ireland and America: The more money they get, the more we fhall have from them. If individuals were to go upon the fame principle, that the wealth of their neighbours is a Lofs to them, the North of Scotland, or the Orkneys, would be the fitteft place for an avaritious merchant; for there he would have all the riches to himself. We may pretty safely say, however, that they judge much better who do bufinefs and affociate with people as rich as themselves.”

Origin of the STOCKING LOOM.

TT is not out of fome mens remem

brance, that a young gentleman of no fortune, a student at Oxford, fell in love with an inn-keeper's daughter of that town, whose circumstances were very narrow. He had philosophy enough to defpife fuperfluous wealth, and judgement to forefee the neceffity of a competence; but love was headftrong, and too hard for reason; so that, after a year or two's ineffectual delay, they bid defiance to their stars, and had courage enough to marry! The fcholar gained a wife, and loft a fellowship, the only small subsistence he before depended on.

Our inn-keeper often upbraided the bridegroom with the barren effects of his learning, and thought it very strange, as he well might, that while every body told him his fon-in-law was a great scholar, his whole ftock of knowledge could not help him to one penny of his own getting.

Six or feven months after this marriage, the father-in-law dies, miferably poor, and the credit which his industry E maintained

there may be fome who from natural incapacity, or want of education, are really incapable of it, and can drudge on thro' life with scarce any feelings or apprehenfions beyond the prefent moment:--But if these are supposed to be the happieft of mankind, then the end of the argument will be,

"In happiness the beast excels the man,
"The worm excels the beaft, the clod the
worm."

And it seems scarce poffible to fuppofe any rational creature (not under the immediate influence of paffion) to be really fo far convinced of this, as to wish to exchange his fituation in the fcale of being with the beast or the clod.

If then we fuppofe the mind in full poffeffion of its powers, is it poffible to fuppofe that the way to enjoy happiness, or even peace, is by preventing their exertion? If positive pain and pleasure are taken away, if all the objects propofed to it make no impreffion, will the mind therefore be at eafe? Far from it, furely. On the contrary, it will be torn in pieces by wifhes which will have no object whereon to fix; it will feel in itself powers and capacities for happiness; but finding nothing to make it happy, thofe very powers will make it miferable; having no motive for action, no object to purfue, every rifing day will present a blank which it will be impoffible to fill up with any thing that can give pleafure; and the wish of every morning will be that the day were paft, though there is no profpect that the next will produce any thing more fatisfactory.

Could it be poffible for any perfon really to have attained to fuch a ftate as this, inftead of finding it a state of cafe and fatisfaction, we thould fee him weary of himself and all around him, unhappy with nothing to complain of, and with out any hope of being ever otherwife, because he would have no determinate with, in the accomplishment of which he could promife himfelf any enjoyment.

But, happily for mankind, a state like this is not to be attained by any thinking perfon; and thofe who place their notion of happiness in mere freedom from suffering, must be reduced to envy the happiDefs of the beafts of the field, for it is not the happiness of man.

Thofe indeed, who from a state of exceffive fuffering are fuddenly relieved, and reftored to ease of body and mind, may, at the time, feel more joy from that cafe,

than they would have felt from the greateft pofitive pleasure; but then that joy will be tranfient indeed, fince it arifes only from a comparison of past fufferings, the fenfe of which is quickly loft; and as foon as the mind returns to its natural ftate, it feels again the want of that enjoyment for which it was formed, and becomes miferable, not from any pofitive fufferings, but merely from the want of happiness.

Those who take pleasure in arguments which anfwer no other purpose but to ex ercife their ingenuity, may amuse them. felves with difputing whether this inex tinguishable thirft after happiness be really a defirable gift, and whether it might not have been happier for man to have been formed without that activity of mind which prompts him continually to feck for fome enjoyment. But to thofe who feel its force, it is furely a more important point to inquire how it may best be fatisfied; and whether it may not be poffible to regulate those affections which they cannot fupprefs, and, by directing them to proper objects, to find in them a fource of happiness, which, though it can neither prevent fufferings, nor take away the fenfe of them, may yet be felt at the fame time, and ferve in a great degree to counterbalance the effect of them.

It muft, I believe, be allowed, that every man who reflects on his own fituation, will find that it has its pleasures and its pains; unmixed happiness or mifery not being the lot of this life, but referved for a future ftate. The happiness of life muft then be estimated by the proportion its joys bear to its forrows; and if what has been before fuppofed concerning the ftate of the mind be just, he will not be found to be the happiest man who has the feweft forrows, but he whole joys overbalance his forrows in the greateft degree.

This then fhould be our aim in the purfuit of happiness: not to conquer the fenfe of fuffering, for that is impoffible; not to fupprefs our defires and hopes, for that (if it were poffible) would only debate the mind, not make it happy :but to cultivate every faculty of the foul which may prove a fource of innocent delight; to endeavour as far as poffible to keep the mind open to a sense of pleafure, instead of fullenly rejecting all, becaufe we cannot enjoy exactly what we wifh; above all, to fecure to ourselves a

lafting

lafting fund of real pleasures, which may compensate those afflictions they cannot prevent, and make us not infenfible, but happy in the midst of them.

It is very certain that nothing can fully do this, except religion, and the glorious profpects it offers to our hopes: this is the only foundation of lafting happiness, the only fource of never-failing comfort. While our beft affections are fixed on any thing in this world, they must always give us pain, because they will find nothing which can fully fatisfy them; but when once they are fixed on infinite Per fection as their ultimate object, the fubordinate exercises of them will furnish many fources of pleasure and advantage, and fhould be cultivated both with a view to present and future happiness.

It feems strange to obferve, that there are few, if any, in the world, who enjoy all the bleffings which are bestowed upon them, and make their fituation in life as happy as it might be. Where-ever the felfish paffions are indulged to excefs, this must always be the confequence; for none can be happy, while they make others miferable.

Whoever is poffeffed of any degree of power, from the greateft monarch on the throne, to the mafter of the meaneft cottage, muft depend for his happiness on thofe over whom that power is exercifed; and, whether he will or no, muft fhare in the fufferings which he inflicts, and feel the want of that fatisfaction, which he might have received from a different employment of his power.

The truth of this obfervation has been experienced by all who ever endeavoured to purchase their own happiness at the expence of that of others. But even where this is not the cafe, where the intentions are good, and the pleafures of life are not embittered by the fenfe of guilt, it often happens that difappointments bring on difguft; the pleafures which were expected are not found; and therefore those which might be found are undervalued: the mind is dissatisfied, and feeks for reasons to justify itself for being fo; and when forrows are fought for, it is not difficult to find them. Such a difpofition can poifon every pleasure, and add numberless imaginary evils to thofe which must inevitably be met with in the path of life. By degrees the activity of the foul is loft; every sorrow appears in fupportable; every difficulty unconquer able; no object is thought worth purfu. ing; and life itself becomes a burden.

To guard against the fatal effects which disappointments are apt to have upon the mind, is a point of the utmost consequence towards paffing through life with any tolerable degree of comfort and fatisfaction; for difappointments, more or less, must be the lot of all.

At the first entrance into the world, when the imagination is active, the affec tions warm, and the heart a stranger to deceit, and confequently to fufpicion, what delightful dreams of happiness are formed! Whatever may be the object in which that happiness is supposed to confift, that object is purfued with ardour;

the gay and thoughtless seek for it in diffipation and amufement; the ambitious, in power, fame, and honours; the affectionate, in love and friendship; - but how few are there who find in any of these objects that happiness which they expected?

Pleasure, fame, &c. even when they are in any degree obtained, ftill leave a void in the foul, which continually reminds the poffeffor, that this is not the happiness for which he was formed; and even the best affections are liable to numberlefs disappointments, and often productive of the fevereft pangs. The unfufpecting heart forms attachments before reafon is capable of judging whether the objects of them are fuch as are qualified to make it happy; and it often happens, that the fatal truth is not difcovered till the affections are engaged too far to be recalled, and then the disappointment must prove a lafting forrow.

But it is not necessary to enumerate the disappointments which generally attend on the pursuits of youth, and indeed the profpe& is too painful to dwell upon; the intention of mentioning them is only to guard against the effects they may produce.

The imagination has painted an objec which perhaps is not to be found in this world; that object has been pursued in vain: but thall we therefore conclude, that no object is worth pursuing, and fink into a listless, inactive state, in which we must grow weary of ourselves, and all the world?

The young are too apt to fancy that the affections of their hearts will prove the fource of nothing but pleasure; -thofe who are farther advanced in life, are much too apt to run into the contrary extreme. The error of the first, even taking it in the worft light, "is productive of

fome

fome pleasure as well as pain; that of the laft ferves only to throw a damp over every pleasure, and can be productive of nothing but pain. It leads to the most fatal confequences, fince it tends to make Self the only object; and the heart which is merely felfish muft ever be incapable of virtue and of happiness, and a stranger to all the joys of affection and benevolence; without which the happieft ftate in this world must be infipid, and which may prove the fource of many pleafures, even in the midft of the fevereft afflictions.

In every ftate of life, in fpite of every difappointment, these should ftill be che rifhed and encouraged; for though they may not always bestow fuch pleasures as the romantic imaginations of youth had painted, yet they will ftill beftow such as can be found in nothing elfe in this world; and indeed they are neceffary in order to give a relish to every enjoyment.

I mention an affectionate and a bene. volent difpofition together, because I be lieve, when they are genuine, they never can be feparated; and, perhaps, the difappointments fo often complained of may fometimes be occafioned by a mistake upon this subject; for there is a selfish at tachment, which often ufurps the name of friendship, though it is indeed fomething totally different. It is an attachment like that which a mufician feels for his inftrument, or a virtuofo for his pictures and his ftatues;-the affection is not fixed on the object itself, but merely on the plea fure received from it. Such an attachment as this is liable to numberless little jealoufies and uneafineffes; - the fmalleft doubt is fufficient to awaken its fears, the moft trifling error excites its refentment, and that refentment is immediately expreffed by complaints, and often by upbraidings.

gard to themselves, every word and action must be weighed, and the fear of giving offence must throw a reftraint over every conversation.

The real friend will be difpofed to love all those who are any way connected with the object of his affection; he will be fincerely interested for their welfare, and will wish to gain their affection, and promote their happiness.

The felfifh will view them with a jealous eye, continually apprehenfive that they may rob him of fome part of a treafure which he would wish to engross.

It would be eafy to carry on the contraft much farther; for indeed it might be fhewn in almost every inftance. But what has been faid may be fufficient to shew how very wide is the difference between that fort of attachment of which a felfifh heart is capable, and that which alone deferves the name of real friendship, though it is often too indifcriminately given to both: the one is an enemy to general benevolence; the other flows from the fame fource, and belongs to the fame character.

Such a difpofition, it must be allowed, may prove the fource of many pleasures; but it may be objected, that it will prove the fource of many forrows alfo: and indeed, in this imperfect ftate, this truth is too certain to be difputed. But if it can be proved, that on the whole it affords more joys than forrows, that will be sufficient to the prefent purpofe; if it be allowed that the happinefs of man must confift in pofitive enjoyment, not in mere freedom from fuffering.

And furely much more than this might easily be proved, fince it not only can afford pleafures of the most exalted kind, and give new relish to every other plea fure; but even in the midft of the moft painful fufferings it ever occafioned, it can at the fame time inspire a fecret fatiffaction, of which thofe who never felt it can hardly form any idea.

[To be continued.]

An ufiful Hint.

With fuch a friend, the heart may ap. pear juft as it is, and enjoy the pleasure of an unbounded confidence;-but with those whofe affection is founded on a reVOL. XLIX.

of 40 years, fuppofing a man to go to bed at the fame time he otherwife would, amounts to 29,000 hours, or three years 121 days and 16 hours, which will afford eight hours a-day for exactly 10 years; fo that it is the fame as if 10 years of life, a weighty confideration, were added, in which we could command eight hours every day for the cultivation of our minds or the dispatch of business.

ODE