CONTENTS. 84. GENERAL observations on the social character. 85. Advice to a man of landed property. 86. Author explains the motives of his work and con- 91. A review of the present state of society in this 92. Letter from Posthumous, complaining of a certain writer, who had published a collection of his memoirs and remarkable sayings. 93. Kit Cracker, a dealer in the marvellous. 94. Walter Wormwood, an envious defamer. 95. Letter from Simon Sapling, describing his own 96. On the topic of procrastination. 97. Letter from Benevolus, giving an account of a damper. 103. Anecdotes of Jack Gayless. 104. Memoirs of a sentimentalist. 106. Observations on the passions. 111. Upon the effects of jealousy. 112. The author's explanation of his motives in an address to his readers upon the conclusion of this 113. The story of Adelisa and Leander. 114. Abstract of the history of Athens from it's origin to the time of Erecthonius, founder of the THE OBSERVER. NUMBER LXXXIV. Est genus hominum, qui esse primos se omnium rerum volunt, Nec sunt. TERENT. EUN. WHAT a delightful thing it is to find one's self in a company, where tempers harmonize and hearts are open; where wit flows without any checks but what decency and good-nature impose, and humour indulges itself in those harmless freaks and caprices, that raise a laugh, by which no man's feelings are offended. This can only happen to us in a land of freedom; it is in vain to hope for it in those arbitrary countries, where men must lock the doors against spies and informers, and must intrust their lives, whilst they impart their sentiments, to each other. In such circumstances, a mind enlightened by education is no longer a blessing: What is the advantage of discernment, and how is a man profited by his capacity of separating truth from error, if he dare not exercise that faculty? It were safer to be the blind dupe of superstition than the intuitive philosopher, if born within the jurisdiction of an inquisitorial tribunal. Can a man fecilitate himself im in the glow of genius and the gaiety of wit, when breathing the air of a country, where so dire an instrument is in force as a lettre de cachet? But experience hath shewn us, that if arbitrary monarchs cannot keep their people in ignorance, they cannot retain them in slavery: if men read, they will meditate; if they travel, they will compare, and their minds must be as dark as the dungeons which prison their persons, if they do not rise with indignation against such monstrous maxims, as imprisonment at pleasure for undefined offences, self-accusations extorted by torments and secret trials, where the prisoner hath neither voice nor advocate. Let those princes, whose government is so administered, make darkness their pavilion,' and draw their very mountains down upon them to shut out the light, or expect the period of their despotism: Illuminated minds will not be kept in slavery. 6 With a nation so free, so highly enlightened, and so eminent in letters as the English, we may well expect to find the social qualities in their best state; and it is but justice to the age we live in, to confess those expectations may be fully gratified. There are some perhaps who will not subscribe to this assertion, but probably those very people make the disappointments they complain of: If a man takes no pains to please his company, he is little likely to be pleased by his company. Liberty, though essential to good society, may in some of its effects operate against it, for as it makes men independent, independence will occasionally be found to make them arrogant, and none such can be good companions: yet let me say for the contemporaries I am living with, that within the period of my own acquaintance with the world, the reform in its social manners and habits has been gradual and increasing. The feudal haughtiness of our no bility has totally disappeared, and, in place of a proud distant reserve, a pleasing suavity and companionable ease have almost universally obtained amongst the higher orders: the pedantry of office is gone, and even the animosity of party is so far in the wain, that it serves rather to whet our wits than our swords against each other: the agitation of political opinions is no longer a subject fatal to the peace of the table, but takes its turn with other topics, without any breach of good manners or good fellowship. It were too much to say that there are no general causes still subsisting, which annoy our social comforts, and disgrace our tempers; they are still too many, and it is amongst the duties of an Observer to set a mark upon them, though by so doing I may run into repetition, for I am not conscious of hav ing any thing to say upon the subject, which I have not said before; but if a beggar, who asks charity, because of his importunity shall at length be relieved, an author perhaps, who enforces his advice, shall in the end be listened to. I must therefore again and again insist upon it, that there are two sides to every argument, and that it is the natural and unalienable right of man to be heard in support of his opinion, he having first lent a patient ear to the speaker, who maintains sentiments which oppose that opinion; I do hum bly apprehend that an overbearing voice and noisy volubility of tongue, are proofs of a very underbred fellow, and it is with regret I see society too frequently disturbed in its most delectable enjoyments by this odious character: I do not see that any man hath a right by obligation or otherwise, to lay me under a necessity of thinking exactly as he thinks Though I admit that from the fulness of the heart the tongue speaketh,' I do not admit any : |