84. Folly of false Pretences to Im- 85. Study, Composition, and Converse equally necessary to intellectual 87. Politeness a necessary Auxiliary to 88. Observations on Dreaming and Mad- ness. Remarkable Lunacy of Mr. 89. A Fragment of Simonides, and an 90. Literary Offerings in the Temple of 91. No universal Rule of moral Con- JOHNSON COLMAN HAWKESWORTH THE ADVENTURER. N° 42. SATURDAY, MARCH 31, 1753. Sua cuique DEUS fit dira Cupido. Our lusts are Gods, and what they will is fate. VIRG. I HAD the misfortune, some time ago, to be in company where a gentleman, who has the honour to be a principal speaker at a disputing society of the first class, was expected. Till this person came in, the conversation was carried on with the cheerful easy negligence of sensible good-humour: but we soon discovered that his discourse was a perpetual effort to betray the company into attempts to prove self-evident propositions; a practice in which he seems to have followed the example of that deep, philosopher, who denied motion, because,' as he said, a body must move either where it is, or where it is not; and both suppositions are equally 6 absurd.' His attempt, however, was totally unsuccessful; till at last he affirmed, that a man had no more VOL. XXIV. power over his own actions than a clock; and that the motions of the human machine were determined by irresistible propensities, as a clock is kept going by a weight. This proposition was answered with a loud laugh; every one treated it as an absurdity which it was impossible to believe; and, to expose him to the ridicule of the company, he was desired to prove what he had advanced, as a fit punishment of his design to engage others to prove the contrary, which, though for a different reason, was yet equally ridiculous. After a long harangue, in which he retailed all the sophistry that he remembered, and much more than he understood, he had the mortification to find that he had made no proselyte, nor was yet become of sufficient consequence to provoke an antagonist. I sat silent; and as I was indulging my speculation on the scene which chance had exhibited before me, I recollected several incidents which convinced me, that most of the persons who were present had lately professed the opinion which they now opposed; and acted upon that very principle which they derided as absurd, and appeared to detest as impious. The company consisted of Mr. Traffic, a wealthy merchant; Mr. Courtly, a commissioner of a public office; Mr. Gay, a gentleman in whose conversation there is a higher strain of pleasantry and humour, than in any other person of my acquaintance; and Myrtilla, the wife of our friend, at whose house we were assembled to dine, and who, during this interval, was engaged by some unexpected business in another room. Those incidents which I then recollected, I will now relate: nor can any of the persons whom I have thus ventured to name, be justly offended; because that which is declared not to be the effect of choice, cannot be considered as the object of censure. With Mr. Traffic I had contracted an intimacy in our younger days, which, notwithstanding the disparity of our fortune, has continued till now. We had both been long acquainted with a gentleman, who, though his extensive trade had contributed to enrich his country, was himself, by sudden and inevitable losses, become poor: his credit, however, was still good; and, by the risk of a certain sum, it was still possible to retrieve his fortune. With this gentleman we had spent many a social hour; we had habitually drank his health when he was absent, and always expressed our sentiments of his merit in the highest terms. In this exigency, therefore, he applied to me, and communicated the secret of his distress; a secret, which is always concealed by a generous mind till it is extorted by torture that can no longer be borne; he knew my circumstances too well, to expect the sum that he wanted from my purse: but he requested that I would, to save him from the pain and confusion of such a conversation, communicate his request, and a true state of his affairs, to Mr.. Traffic: a for,' says he, though I could raise double the sum upon my own personal security, yet I would no more borrow of a man without acquainting him at what risk he lends, than I would solicit the insurance of a ship at a common premium, when I knew, by private intelligence, that she could swim no longer than every pump was at work.' I undertook this business with the utmost confidence of success. Mr. Traffic heard the account of our friend's misfortunes with great appearance of concern; he warmly commended his integrity, and lamented the precarious situation of a trader, |