of hypocrify; and his guilt is greater, as the end, for which he puts on the falfe appearance, is more pernicious. But he that, with an awkward address, and unpleafing countenance, boafts of the conquefts made by him among the ladies, and counts over the thousands which he might have poffeffed if he would have fubmitted to the yoke of matrimony, is chargeable only with affectation. Hypocrify is the neceffary burthen of villainy, affectation part of the chofen trappings of folly; the one completes a villain, the other only finishes a fop. Contempt is the proper punishment of affectation, and deteftation the juft confequence of hypocrify. With the hypocrite it is not at prefent my intention to expoftulate, though even he might be taught the excellency of virtue, by the neceffity of feeming to be virtuous; but the man of affectation may, perhaps, be reclaimed, by finding how little he is likely to gain by perpetual conftraint, and inceffant vigilance, and how much more fecurely he might make his way to esteem, by cultivating real, than difplaying counterfeit qualities. Every thing future is to be estimated by a wife man, in proportion to the probability of attaining it, and its value when attained; and neither of these confiderations will much contribute to the encouragement of affectation. For, if the pinacles of fame be, at beft, flippery, how unfteady muft his footing be who ftands upon pinacles without foundation! If praise be made, by the inconftancy and maliciousness of those who must confer it, a bleffing which no man can promife himself from the moft confpicuous merit, and vigorous induftry, how faint must be the hope of gaining it, when the uncertainty is multiplied by the weakness of the pretenfions! He that purfues fame with juft claims, trufts his happiness to the winds; but he that endeavours after it, by falfe merit, has to fear, not only the violence of the ftorm, ftorm, but the leaks of his veffet. Though he fhould happen to keep above water for a time, by the help of a foft breeze, and a calm fea, at the first guft he muft inevitably founder, with this melancholy reflexion, that, if he would have been content with his natural station, he might have escaped his calamity. Affectation may poffibly fucceed for a time, and a man may, by great attention, perfuade others, that he really has the qualities which he prefumes to -boaft; but the hour will come when he fhould exert them, and then whatever he enjoyed in praise, he muft fuffer in reproach. Applause and admiration are by no means to be counted among the neceffaries of life, and therefore any indirect arts to obtain them have very little claim to pardon or compaffion. There is scarcely any man without fome valuable or improveable qualities, by which he might always fecure himself from contempt. And perhaps exemption from ignominy is the most eligible reputation, as freedom from pain is, among fome philofophers, the definition of happiness. If we therefore compare the value of the praise obtained by fictitious excellence, even while the cheat is yet undifcovered, with that kindness which every man may fuit by his virtue, and that esteem to which most men may rife by common understanding fteadily and honeftly applied, we fhall find that when from the adfcititious happiness all the deductions are made by fear and cafualty, there will remain nothing equiponderant to the security of truth. The ftate of the poffeffor of humble virtues, to the affecter of great excellencies, is that of a fmall cottage of ftone, to the palace raised with ice by the emprefs of Ruffia; it was for a time fplendid and luminous, but the first funshine melted it to nothing. NUMB. E NUMB. 21. TUESDAY, May 29, 1750. Terra falutiferas berbas, eademque nocentes, Our bane and phyfick the fame earth bestows, OVID. VERY man is prompted by the love of himself to imagine, that he poffeffes fome qualities, fuperior, either in kind or in degree, to thofe which he fees allotted to the rest of the world; and, whatever apparent difadvantages he may fuffer in the comparison with others, he has fome invifible diftinctions, fome latent referve of excellence, which he throws into the balance, and by which he generally fancies that it is turned in his favour. The ftudious and fpeculative part of mankind always feem to confider the fraternity, as placed in a ftate of oppofition to thofe who are engaged in the tumult of publick business; and have pleafed themfelves, from age to age, with celebrating the felicity of their own condition, and with recounting the perplexity of politicks, the dangers of greatnefs, the anxieties of ambition, and the miseries of riches. Among the numerous topicks of declamation, that their industry has difcovered on this fubject, there is none which they prefs with greater efforts, or on which they have more copioufly laid out their reafon and their imagination, than the inftability of high ftations, and the uncertainty with which the profits and honours are poffeffed, that must be acquired with fo much hazard, vigilance, and labour. This they appear to confider as an irrefragable argument against the choice of the ftatesman and the warrior; and fwell with confidence of victory, thus furnished by the mufes with the arms which never can can be blunted, and which no art or strength of their adverfaries can elude or resist. It was well known by experience to the nations which employed elephants in war, that, though by the terror of their bulk, and the violence of their impreffion, they often threw the enemy into disorder, yet there was always danger in the use of them, very nearly equivalent to the advantage; for, if their firít charge could be fupported, they were eafily driven back upon their confederates; they then broke through the troops behind them, and made no lefs havock in the precipitation of their retreat, than in the fury of their onfet. I know not whether thofe, who have fo vehemently urged the inconveniences and dangers of an active life, have not made use of arguments that may be retorted with equal force upon themselves; and whether the happinefs of a candidate for literary fame be not fubject to the fame uncertainty with that of him who governs provinces, commands armies, prefides in the fenate, or dictates in the cabinet. That eminence of learning is not to be gained without labour, at leaft equal to that which any other kind of greatnefs can require, will be allowed by those who wish to elevate the character of a scholar; fince they cannot but know, that every human acquifition is valuable in proportion to the difficulty implied in its attainment. And that thofe, who have gained the efteem and veneration of the world, by their knowledge or their genius, are by no means exempt from the folicitude which any other kind of dignity produces, may be conjectured from the innumerable artifices which they make ufe of to degrade a fuperior, to reprefs a rival, or obftruct a follower; artifices fo grofs and mean, as to prove evidently how much a man may excel in learning, without being either more wife or more virtuous than those whofe ignorance he pities or despises. Nothing Nothing therefore remains, by which the ftudent can gratify his defire of appearing to have built his happiness on a more firm bafis than his antagonist, except the certainty with which his honours are enjoyed. The garlands gained by the heroes of literature must be gathered from fummits equally difficult to climb with those that bear the civick or triumphal wreaths, they must be worn with equal envy, and guarded with equal care from thofe hands that are always employed in efforts to tear them away; the only remaining hope is, that their verdure is more lafting, and that they are lefs likely to fail by time, or lefs obnoxious to the blafts of accident. Even this hope will receive very little encouragement from the examination of the hiftory of learning, or obfervation of the fate of scholars in the prefent age. If we look back into past times, we find innumerable names of authors once in high reputation, read perhaps by the beautiful, quoted by the witty, and commented by the grave; but of whom we now know only that they once exifted. If we confider the diftribution of literary fame in our own time, we shall find it a poffeffion of very uncertain tenure; fometimes bestowed by a sudden caprice of the publick, and again transferred to a new favourite, for no other reafon than that he is new; fometimes refused to long labour and eminent defert, and fometimes granted to very flight pretenfions; loft fometimes by fecurity and negligence, and sometimes by too diligent endeavours to retain it. A fuccefsful author is equally in danger of the diminution of his fame, whether he continues or ceases to write. The regard of the publick is not to be kept but by tribute, and the remembrance of paft fervice will quickly languifh unless fucceffive performances frequently revive it. Yet in every new attempt there is new hazard, and there are few who |