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thing.' As to Bolingbroke, Onslow, the Speaker, insisted, that his object was power, without any other gratification than what the present enjoyment gave him; that is, he had no prospective views.

I doubt this but it is certain, that multitudes of men are merely actuated by the present feeling; and it is equally certain, that Sir William Temple spoke like a prophet, when he asserted, that a man in public affairs is like one at sea, never in his own disposal, but in that of the winds and tides.

Lord Chesterfield once tried to persuade Lord Scar'borough to accept office; but his lordship replied, that the natural warmth and melancholy of his temper made him unfit for it. Besides,' said he, I know very well, that in these ministerial employments, the course of business makes it necessary to do many hard and some unjust things, which can only be authorized by the Jesuitical casuistry of the direction of the intention; a doctrine I cannot adopt.'

Had Lord Chesterfield stopped here in giving an account of this conversation, it would have passed off lightly; but he adds, no doubt, from the experience he had himself acquired, Whether Lord Scarborough was the first that ever made that objection, I cannot affirm, but I suspect that he will be the last.'

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XIV.

CONFORMERS TO THE TASTE OF OTHERS.

SOME have an extraordinary power of conforming to the tastes of others, and even acting with them in concert, so that every thing executed appears the offspring of one mind.

Michael Colonna, the painter, had this faculty to a very extraordinary degree; insomuch, that Lanzi assures us*, that though he painted with Dentone, Mitelli, Alboresi, and Pizzioli, no one, who gazed upon the pictures, would have any conception that each picture was the production of two masters. Instances of this are rare.

XV.

WHO NEVER INTERFERE WITH OTHER MEN'S CONCERNS.

THESE are very agreeable persons to live near; but I do not confound them with those sketched in Thomson's Castle of Indolence.' They may be very active

in their own concerns, and yet very reluctant to engage in those of other persons. There are some, however, of whom the following passage is exceedingly characteristic :

'There nought but candour reigns, indulgent ease,
Good-natured lounging, sauntering up and down;
They, who are pleased themselves, must always please;
On others' ways they never squint or frown,

Nor heed what haps in hamlet or in town.'

*Istor. Pitt. Ital.

We could very much envy some of the higher classes in Florence, and some of the lower in Naples.

'The

' river Arno,' says Gray, in a letter to his father, ' runs 'under our windows, which we can fish out of.

The

sky is so serene, and the air so temperate, that one 'can sit in the open air all night long, in a slight

gown, without any danger; and the marble bridge is 'the resort of every body, where they hear music, eat 'iced creams, and sup by moonlight.' 'The common 'sort at Naples,' says he, in a letter to his mother, are a jolly, lively kind of animals, more industrious ' than Italians usually are; they work till evening, then 'take their lute or guitar (for they all play), and walk ' about the city or upon the sea-shore with it, to enjoy 'the fresco.'

If life could be passed thus by all orders of persons, who would care to interfere in any thing belonging to his neighbour?

XVI.

WHERE POLITENESS IS ALTERED BY THE MENTION OF

MONEY.

MANNERS and conversation are not all commanding. We often admire those qualities in persons we are fated to condemn, and of this Charles II. was a conspicuous example. Courtesy and good humour are, in fact, but too often the companions of loose principles, loose thoughts, loose conduct. I hope no wise person, now, will insist that I say it is always the case.

When men meet in public, or when they mix together in private, how graciously they look! how cour

teously they smile! how agreeably they converse! Mention the subject of money; attempt to bargain for an estate, a horse, or even a cane, how frigid does the atmosphere immediately become! All seem transported, as if by magic, from the Tuileries at Paris to the Royal Exchange in London, or the Jews' Walk at Amsterdam. Politeness, then, no longer resembles the bark of the birch tree, in being more durable than the wood which it envelops.

XVII.

WHO ASK ADVICE, WITHOUT TELLING ALL THE CIRCUM

STANCES.

Nulla meis sine te quæretur gloria rebus.'

༦

En., ix., v. 278.

MR. BURKE observed, though upon an unfortunate occasion*, that he, who calls in the aid of an equal 'judgment, doubles his own.' one of Correggio's picture of Gardent.' The Messiah receives his light from Heaven; the angel, who administers, receives the light from Him.

This argument reminds
Christ praying in the

Some, to compare small things with great,'-resemble, in conversation, Ariosto in narration. They commence, as it were, in the middle of the combat, and never afterwards stop to inform us any thing of the previous history. They rush into the midst, and finish as they began, with neither preparation nor explanation. Of this order was the Duke of Newcastle. He would

* His difference with Mr. Fox, Feb. 9, 1790.

In the Angerstein Gallery.

talk of affairs belonging to himself, as if his hearers knew them as well as he did; and then express surprise, that advice was given inconsonant with his own.

XVIII.

RIENZI.

In one respect Rienzi stands single from the rest of mankind. Boispeareux assures us, that he was abject in adversity, and astonished at the smallest calamity. In this he was far from being singular; but,—and here arises the wonder, he was, at the same time, capable of employing the boldest measures for re-establishing his fortune. In this I am not aware of a parallel *.

XIX.

WHO WASTE BY LITTLES.

Our

JOHNSON must consent to fill this measure up. 'friend,' said he, is wasting his fortune. Wasting a 'fortune is evaporation by a thousand imperceptible means. If it were a stream, he'd stop it. Were he

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a gamester, it could be said, he had hopes of winning. 'Were he a bankrupt in trade, he might grow rich; ' but he has neither spirit to spend, nor resolution to 'spare. He does not spend fast enough to have plea

sure from it. He has the crime of prodigality, and ' the wretchedness of parsimony. If a man is killed in a duel, he is killed as many a one has been killed; ' but it is a sad thing to lie down and die; to bleed to

* The character of Rienzi will be the subject of a future page.