general prepoffeffions have fo far prevailed over an unthinking world, that thofe neceffitous creatures, who cannot relish life without applaufe, attendance, and equipage, are fo far from making a contemptible figure, that diftreffed virtue is less esteemed than fuccessful vice. But if a man's appeal in cafes that regard his honour were made to his own Soul, there would be a bafis and standing rule for our conduct, and we should always endeavour rather to be, than appear honourable. Mr. Collier, in his Effay on Fortitude, has treated this fubject with great wit and magnanimity. "What, fays he, can be more honourable than to have courage "enough to execute the commands of reafon and con"fcience; to maintain the dignity of our Nature, and "the ftation affigned us? To be proof against poverty, pain, and death itself? I mean fo far as not to do any thing that is fcandalous or finful to avoid them; "To ftand adverfity under all shapes with decency and "refolution? To do this, is to be great above title and "fortune. This argues the Soul of an heavenly ex"traction, and is worthy the offspring of the Deity." What a generous Ambition has this man pointed to us? When n men have fettled in themselves a conviction by fuch noble precepts, that there is nothing honourable which is not accompanied with innocence; nothing mean but what has guilt in it: I fay, when they have attained thus much, though poverty, pain, and death, may. ftill retain their terrors; yet riches, pleasures, and honours, will eafily lose their charms, if they stand between us and our integrity. What is here faid with allufion to fortune and fame, may as juftly be applied to wit and beauty; for these latter are as adventitious as the other, and as little concern the effence of the Soul. They are all laudable in the man who poffeffes them, only for the juft application of them. A bright imagination, while it is fubfervient to an honeft and noble Soul, is a faculty which makes a man justly admired by mankind, and furnishes him with reflections upon his own actions, which add delicates to the feaft of a good confcience: But when wit defcends to wait upon fenfual pleasures, or promote the base purposes of Ambition, it is then to be contemned in pro portion 237 portion to its excellence. If a man will not refolve to place the foundation of his happiness in his own mind, life is a bewildered and unhappy ftate, incapable of rest or tranquillity. For to fuch a one, the general applaufe of valor, wit, nay of honefty itself, can give him but a very feeble comfort; fince it is capable of being interrupted by any who wants either understanding or good-nature to fee or acknowledge fuch excellencies. This rule is fo neceffary, that one may very fafely fay, it is impoffible to know any true relifh of our Being without it. Look about you in common life among the ordinary race of mankind, and you will find merit in every kind is allowed only to thofe, who are in particular diftricts or fets of company: But fince men can have little pleasure in thefe faculties which denominate them perfons of diftinction, let them give up fuch an empty purfuit; and think nothing effential to happiness but what is in their own power, the capacity of reflecting with pleasure on their own actions, however they are interpreted. It is fo evident a truth, that it is only in our own bofoms we are to fearch for any thing to make us happy, that it is, methinks, a difgrace to our Nature to talk of taking our measures from thence only, as a matter of fortitude. When all is well there, the viciffitudes and diftinctions of life are the mere fcenes of a drama; and he will never act his part well, who has his thoughts more fixed upon the applause of the audience than the defign of his part. The life of a man who acts with a steady integrity, without valuing the interpretation of his actions, has but one uniform regular path to move in, where he cannot meet oppofition, or fear ambuscade. On the other fide, the leaft deviation from the rules of honour introduces a train of numberlefs evils, and involves him in inexplicable mazes. He that has entered into guilt has bid adieu to reft; and every criminal has his fhare of the misery expreffed fo emphatically in the tragedian, Macbeth fhall fleep no more! It It was with deteftation of any other grandeur but the calm command of his own paffions, that the excellent Mr. Cowley cries out with fo much juftice; If e'er Ambition did my fancy cheat, N° 252. Saturday, November 18, 1710. T From my own Apartment, November 17. HE following Letter, and feveral others to the fame purpofe, accufe me of a rigour of which I am far from being guilty, to wit, the difallowing the chearful ufe of wine. From my Country-house, October 25. Mr. BICKER STAFF, OUR difcourfe against Drinking, in Tuesday's Tatler, I like well enough in the main ; but "in my humble opinion you are become too rigid, "where you fay to this effect: Were there only this "fingle confideration, that we are the lefs mafters of "ourselves if we drink the leaft proportion beyond the 66 exigence 239 "exigence of thirst. I hope no one drinks wine to allay this appetite. This feems to be defigned for a "loftier indulgence of Nature; for it were hard to fuppofe, that the Author of Nature, who impofed upon "her neceffities and pains, does not allow her proper pleasures; and we may reckon among the latter the "moderate ufe of the grape: And though I am as much 66 66 66 against excefs, or whatever approaches it, as your"felf; yet I conceive one may fafely go farther than "the bounds you there prefcribe, not only without for"feiting the title of being one's own mafter, but also "to poffefs it in a much greater degree. If a man's ex"preffing himfelf upon any fubject with more life and "vivacity, more variety of ideas, more copioufly more fluently, and more to the purpose, argues it, "he thinks clearer, fpeaks more ready, and with greater choice of comprehenfive and fignificant terms. "I have the good fortune now to be intimate with a "Gentleman remarkable for this temper, who has an "inexhauftible fource of wit to entertain the curious, "the grave, the humorous, and the frolic. He can "transform himself into different fhapes, and adapt "himself to every company; yet in a Coffee-house, or "in the ordinary courfe of affairs, he appears rather "dull than fprightly. You can feldom get him to the tavern; but when once he is arrived to his pint, and begins to look about and like his company, you ad"mire a thousand things in him, which before lay bu "ried. Then you difcover the brightness of his mind, "and the ftrength of his judgment, accompanied with "the most graceful mirth. In a word, by this enliven"ing aid, he is whatever is polite, inftructive, and di"verting. What makes him ftill more agreeable is, "that he tells a story, serious or comical, with as much "delicacy of humour as Cervantes himself. And for "all this, at other times, even after a long knowledge "of him, you fhall fcarce difcern in this incomparable "perfon a whit more, than what might be expected "from one of a common capacity. Doubtless, there "are men of great parts that are guilty of downright "bashfulness, that, by a ftrange hefitation and reluc"tance to speak, murder the finest and most elegant "thoughts "thoughts, and render the moft lively conceptions flat " and heavy. "In this cafe, a certain quantity of my white or red "cordial, which you will, is an easy, but an infallible "remedy. It awakens the judgment, quickens the "memory, ripens the understanding, difperfes melancholy, chears the heart; in a word, reftores the whole man to himself and his friends, without the leaft pain "or indifpofition to the patient. To be taken only in "the evening, in a reasonable quantity, before going "to bed. Note; My bottles are fealed with three "flower-de-luces and a bunch of grapes. Beware of "counterfeits. I am, 66 1 Your most humble fervant, &c.. Whatever has been faid against the ufe of wine, upon the fuppofition that it enfeebles the mind, and renders it unfit for the duties of life, bears forcibly to the advantage of that delicious juice in cafes where it only heightens converfation, and brings to light agreeable talents, which otherwife would have lain concealed under the oppreffion of an unjust modefty. I must acknowledge I have seen many of the temper mentioned by this correfpondent, and own, wine may very allowably be used in a degree above the fupply of mere neceffity by fuch as labour under melancholy, or are tongue-tied by modefty. It is certainly a very agreeable change, when we fee a glafs raife a lifelefs converfation into all the pleafures of wit and good humour. But when Caska adds to his natural impudence the flufter of a bottle, that which fools called fire when he was fober, all men abhor as Outrage when he is drunk. Thus he, that in the morning was only faucy, is in the evening tumultuous. It makes one fick to hear one of thefe fellows fay, they love a friend and a bottle. Noify mirth has something too ruftic in it to be confidered without terror by men of politeness: But while the difcourfe improves in a well chofen company, from the addition of fpirits which flow from moderate cups, it must be acknowledged, that leifure time cannot be more agreeably, or perhaps more ufefully, employed than át fuch meetings: But there is a certain |