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LETTER XLIV.

FROM LIEN CHI ALTANGI, TO HINGPO, A SLAVE IN PERSIA.

T is impoffible to form a philofophic fyftem of happinefs which is adapted to every condition of life, fince every perfon who travels in this great purfuit takes a feparate road. The differing colours which fuit different complexions, are not more various than the different pleafures appropriated to different minds. The various fects who have pretended to give leffons to inftruct me in happinefs, have defcribed their own particular fenfations, without confidering ours; have only loaded their difciples with contraint, without adding to their real felicity.

If I find pleasure in dancing, how ridiculous would it be in me to prescribe fuch an amusement for the entertainment of a cripple! Should he, on the other hand, place his chief delight in painting, yet would he be abfurd in recommending the faine relish to one who had loft the power of diftinguishing colours. General directions are therefore commonly useless; and to be particular would exhauft volumes, fince each individual may require a particular fyftem of precepts to direct his choice.

Every mind feems capable of entertaining a certain quantity of happiness, which no inftitutions can increafe, no circumstances alter, and entirely independent on fortune. Let any man compare his prefent fortune with the paft, and he will probably find himself, upon the whole, neither better nor worse than formerly.

Gratified ambition, or irreparable calamity, may produce tranfient fenfations of pleasure or diftrefs. Those ftorms may difcompofe in proportion as they are strong, or the mind is pliant to their impreffion. But the foul, though at firit lifted up by the event, is every day operated upon with diminished influence; and at length fubfides into the level of it's ufual tranquillity. Should fome unexpected turn of fortune take thee from fetters, and place thee on a throne, exultation would be natural upon the change; but the temper, like the face, would foon refume it's native ferenity,

Every with, therefore, which leads us to expect happiness fomewhere elfe but where we are, every inftitution which teaches us that we should be better, by being poffeffed of fomething new, which promifes to lift us a step higher than we are, only lays a foundation for uneafinefs, because it contracts debts which we cannot repay; it calls that a good, which when we have found it, will in fact add nothing to our happiness.

To enjoy the prefent, without regret for the paft, or folicitude for the future, has been the advice rather of poets than philofophers. And yet the precept seems more rational than is generally imagined. It is the only general precept refpecting the purfuit of happiness, that can be applied with propriety to every condition of life. The man of pleasure, the man of bufinefs, and the philofopher, are equally interested in it's dif quifition. If we do not find happiness in the prefent moment, in what shall we find it? Either in reflecting on the past, or prognofticating the future. But let us fee how thefe are capable of producing fatisfaction.

A remembrance of what is past, and an anticipation of what is to come, feem to be the two faculties by which man differs moft from other animals. Though brutes enjoy them in a limited degree, yet their whole life feems taken up in the prefent, regardlefs of the past and the future. Man, on the contrary, endeavours to derive his happinefs, and experiences moft of his miferies, from these two fources.

Is this fuperiority of reflection a prerogative of which we should boast, and for which we fhall thank Nature; or is it a misfortune of which we should complain and be humble? Either from the abufe, or from the nature of things, it certainly makes our condition more miferable.

Had we a privilege of calling up, by the power of memory, only fuch paffages as were pleasing, unmixed with fuch as were difagreeable, we might then excite K, 2

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at pleasure an ideal happiness, perhaps more poignant than actual fenfation. But this is not the cafe; the past is never reprefented without fome difagreeable circumftance, which tarnishes all it's beauty; the remembrance of an evil carries in it nothing agreeable, and to remember a good is always accompanied with regret. Thus we lofe more than we gain by remembrance.

And we shall find our expectation of the future to be a gift more distressful even than the former. To fear an approaching evil is certainly a most dif agreeable fenfation; and in expecting an approaching good, we experience the inquietude of wanting actual possesfion.

Thus, which ever way we look, the profpect is difagrecable. Behind, we have left pleasures we fhall never more enjoy, and therefore regret; and before, we fee pleafures which we languish to poffefs, and are confequently uneafy till we poffefs them. Was there any method of feizing the prefent, unimbittered by fuch reflections, then would our state be tolerably easy.

This, indeed, is the endeavour of all mankind, who, untutored by philofophy, purfue as much as they can a life of amufement and diffipation. Every rank in life, and every fize of understanding, feems to follow this alone; or not pursuing it, deviates from happinefs.

The man of pleature purfues dif fipation by profeffion; the man of businefs purfues it not lets, as every voluntary labour he undergoes is only diffipation in difguife.The philofopher himfelf, even while he reafons upon the fubject, does it unknowingly with a view of diffipating the thoughts of what he was, or what he must be.

The fubject, therefore, comes to this. Which is the most perfect fort of diffipation: pleafure, bufinefs, or philofophy? which beft ferves to exclude thofe unealy fenfations, which memory or anticipation produce?

unqualified to feel the real pleasure of drinking; the drunkard, in turn, finds few of thofe tranfports which lovers boaft in enjoyment; and the lover, when cloyed, finds a diminution of every other appetite, Thus, after a full indulgence of any one fenfe, the man of pleature finds a languor in all, is placed in a chafm between paft and expected enjoyinent, perceives an interval which must be filled up. The prefent can give no fatisfaction, because he has already robbed it of every charm: a mind thus left without immediate gratification. Inftead of a life of diffipation, none has more frequent converfations with difagreeable felf than be: his enthufiafins are but few and tranfient; his appetites, like angry creditors, continually making fruitless demands for what he is unable to pay; and the greater his former pleafure, the more impatient his expectations; a life of pleature is therefore the most unpleafing life in the

world.

Habit has endered the man of businels more cool in his defires; he finds lefs regret for paft pleasures, and lefs folicitude for thofe to come. The life he now leads, though tainted in fome meature with hope, is yet not afficted fo ftrongly with regret, ard is le's divided between fhort-lived rapture and lafting anguifh. The pleafures he has enjoyed are not fo vivid, and thofe he has to expect, cannot confequently create fo much anxiety.

The philofopher, who extends his regard to all mankind, must have still a finaller concern for what has already af fected, or may hereafter affect himself; the concerns of others make his whole ftudy, and that ftudy is his pleafure; and this pleafure is continuing in it's nature, because it can be changed at will, leaving but few of these anxious intervals which are employed in remembrance or anticipation. The philofopher, by this means, leads a life of almoft continued diffipation; and reflection, which makes the uneafinefs and mifery of others, ferves as a companion and inftructor to him.

The enthufiafin of pleafure charms only by intervals. The higheft rapture lafts only for a moment; and all the fentes icem to combined, as to be foon In a word, pofitive happiness is contired into languor by the gratification of ftitutional, and incapable of encrease; any one of them. It is only among the mifery is artificial, and generally propoets we hear of men changing to one ceeds from our folly. Philofophy can delight, when fatiated with another. add to our happiness in no other manIn nature it is very different: the glut-ner, but by diminishing our mifery: it, ton, when fated with the full meal, is fhould not pretend to encrease our pre

jent

fent stock, but make us œconomists of
what we are poffeffed of. The great
fource of calamity lies in regret or an-
ticipation: he, therefore, is most wife,
who thinks of the prefent alone, regard.
lefs of the paft or the future. This is
impoffible to the man of pleasure; it is

difficult to the man of bufinefs; and is in fome measure attainable by the philofopher. Happy were we all born philofophers; all born with a talent of thus diffipating our own cares, by fpreading them upon all mankind! Adieu.

LETTER XLV.

FROM LIEN CHI ALTANGI, TO FUM HOAM, FIRST PRESIDENT OF THE
CEREMONIAL ACADEMY AT PEKIN, IN CHINA.

TH

HOUGH the frequent invitations I receive from men of diftinction here might excite the vanity of fome, I am quite mortified however when I confider the motives that infpire their civility. I am fent for not to be treated as a friend, but to fatisfy curiofity; not to be entertained fo much as wondered at; the fame earnestness which excites them to fee a Chinese, would have made them equally proud of a visit from the rhi

noceros.

thus his face underwent an involuntary ablution, and he found himself reduced to his primitive complexion and indigence.

He

After fome time, being freed from gaol, he was now grown wifer, and initead of making himself a wonder, was refolved only to make wonders. learned the art of pafting up mummies; was never at a lofs for an artificial lufus natura; nay, it has been reported, that he has fold feven petrified lobsters of his own manufacture to a noted collector of rarities; but this the learned Cracovius Putridus has undertaken to refute in a very elaborate differtation.

From the higheft to the loweft, this people feem fond of fights and monsters. I am told of a perfon here who gets a very comfortable livelihood by making wonders, and then felling or fhewing them to the people for money, no matter how infignificant they were in the beginning, by locking them up clofe, and thewing for money, they foon became prodigies! His first effay in this way was to exhibit himself as a wax-work figure behind a glass door at a puppetfhow. Thus keeping the fpectators at a proper diftance, and having his head adorned with a copper crown, he looked extremely natural, and very like the life itself. He continued this exhibition with fuccefs, till an involuntary fit of fneezing brought him to life before all the spectators, and confequently rendered him for that time as entirely ufelefs, as the peaceable inhabitant of a cata-fold his filken rope for almoft what it comb.

Determined to act the ftatue no more, he next levied contributions under the figure of an Indian king; and by painting his face, and counterfeiting the favage howl, he frighted feveral ladies and children with amazing fuccefs: in this manner, therefore, he might have lived very comfortably, had he not been arrefted for a debt that was contracted when he was the figure in wax-work;

His lat wonder was nothing more than an halter, yet by this halter he gained more than by all his former exhibitions. The people, it seems, had got it in their heads, that a certain noble criminal was to be hanged with a filken rope. Now there was nothing they fo much defired to fee as this very rope; and he was refolved to gratify their curiofity: he therefore got one made, not only of filk, but, to render it more striking, feveral threads of gold were intermixed. The people paid their money only to fee filk, but were highly fatiffied when they found it was mixed with gold into the bargain. It is fcarce neceffary to mention, that the projector

had coft him, as foon as the criminal was known to be hanged in hempen materials.

By their fondness of fights, one would be apt to imagine, that instead of defiring to fee things as they fhould be, they are rather folicitous of feeing them as they ought not to be. A cat with four legs is difregarded, though never so useful; but if it has but two, and is confequently incapable of catching mice, it

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is reckoned ineftimable, and every man of taite is ready to raile the auction. A man, though in his perfon faultlefs as an aerial genius, might farve; but if fuck over with hideous warts like a porcanine, his fortune is made for ever, and he may propagate the breed with impunity and applaufe.

A good woman in my neighbourhood, who was bred an habit-maker, though the handled her needle tolerably well, could fcarcely get employment. But being obliged by an accident to have both her hands cut off from the elbows, what would in another country have been her ruin, made her fortune here; the now was thought more fit for her trade than before; butinefs flowed in apace, and all people paid for feeing the mantuamaker who wrought without hands.

A gentleman fhewing me his collection of pictures, stopped at one with peculiar admiration: There,' cries he, is an inestimable piece! I gazed at the picture for fome time, but could fee none of thofe graces with which he feemed enraptured; it appeared to me the most paltry piece of the whole coltion: I therefore demanded where thofe beauties lay, of which I was yet infenfible. Sir,' cries he, the merit does not confift in the piece, but in the manner in which it was done. The painter drew the whole with his foot, and held the pencil between his toes: I bought it at a very great price; for peculiar merit fhould ever be rewarded.'.

But thefe people are not more fond of wonders, than liberal in rewarding thofe who thew them. From the wonderful dog of knowledge, at prefent under the patronage of the nobility, down to the man with the box, who profeffes to fhew be muft imitation of nature that was ever feen, they all live in luxury. A finging woman fhall colle&t fubfcriptions in her own coach and fix; a fellow fhall make a fortune by toffing a ftraw from his toe to his nofe; one in particular has found that eating fire was the most ready way to live; and another, who gingles feveral bells fixed to his cap, is

the only man that I know of who has received emolument from the labours of his head.

A young author, a man of good-nature and learning, was complaining to me fome nights ago of this mifpliced generosity of the times. Here, fays

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he, have I spent part of my youth in attempting to inftruct and amufe my fellow-creatures, and all my reward has been folitude, poverty, and reproach; while a fellow, poffeffed of even the finalleft share of fiddling merit, or who has perhaps learned to whiffle double, is rewarded, applauded, and careffed!'- Pr'ythee, young 'man,' fays I to him, are you ignorant, that in fo large a city as this, it is better to be an amusing than an ufeful member of fociety? Can you leap up, and touch your feet four times before you come to the ground?' No, Sir. Can you pimp for a man of quality? No, Sir.'- Can you ftand upon two horfes at full fpced? No, Sir. Can you fwallow a pen-knife?' I can do none of thefe tricks. Why, then," cried I, there is no other prudent means of fubfiftence left but to apprize the town that you speedily intend to eat up your own nole, by fubfcrip

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I have frequently regretted that none of our Eaftern pofture-masters or fhowmen have ever ventured to England. I fhould be pleafed to fee that money circulate in Afia, which is now fent to Italy and France, in order to bring their vagabonds hither. Several of our tricks would undoubtedly give the English high fatisfaction. Men of fashion would be greatly pleased with the postures, as well as the condefcenfion, of our dancing-girls; and ladies would equally admire the conductors of our fire-works. What an agreeable furprize would it be to fee a huge fellow with whiskers flath a charged blunderbufs full in a lady`s face, without finging her hair, or melting her pomatum! Perhaps when the firft furprize was over, the might then grow familiar with danger; and the ladies might vie with each other in standing fire with intrepidity.

But of all the wonders of the Eaft, the moft ufeful, and, I should fancy, the most pleafing, would be the locking glass of Lao, which reflects the mind as well as the body. It is faid that the Emperor Chufi ufed to make his concubines dref their heads and their hearts in one of thefe glaffes every morning; while the lady was at her toilet, he would frequently look over her shoulder; and it is recorded, that among the three hundred which compofed his feraglio, not

one

one was found whofe mind was not even more beautiful than her perfon.

I make no doubt but a glafs in this country would have the very fame effect. The English ladies, concubines and all, would undoubtedly cut very pretty figures in fo faithful a monitor. There, fhould we happen to peep over a lady's fhoulder while dreffing, we might be able to fee neither gaming nor ill-nature; neither pride, debauchery,

UPON

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LETTER XLVI.

TO THE SAME.

PON finishing my laft letter I retired to reft, reflecting upon the wonders of the glafs of Lao, withing to be poffeffed of one here, and refolved in fuch a cafe to oblige every lady with a fight of it for nothing. What fortune denied me waking, fancy fupplied in a dream: the glass, I know not how, was put into my poffeflion, and I could perceive feveral ladies approaching, fome voluntarily, others driven forward against their wills by a set of difcontented Genii, whom by intuition I knew were their husbands.

The apartment in which I was to show away was filled with feveral gamingtables, as if juft forfaken; the candles were burnt to the focket, and the hour was five o'clock in the morning. Placed at one end of the room, which was of prodigious length, I could more eafily diftinguifh every female figure as the marched up from the door; but guefs my furprize, when I could fcarce perceive one blooming or agreeable face among the number. This, however, I attributed to the early hour, and kindly confidered that the face of a lady just rifen from bed ought always to find a compaffionate advocate.

The first person who came up in order to view her intellectual face, was a commoner's wife, who, as I afterwards found, being bred up during her virginity in a pawn-broker's fhop, now attempted to make up the defects of breeding and fentiment, by the magnificence of her drefs, and the expenfivenefs of her aruufements. Mr. Showman,' cried the, approaching, I am told you bas fomething to thew in that there *fort of magic lanthorn, by which

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⚫ folks can fee themselves on the infide I proteft, as my Lord Beetle fays, I am fure it will be vaftly pretty, for I have never feen any thing like it be fore. But how; are we to ftrip off our cloaths, and be turned infide out? If fo, as Lord Beetle fays, I abfolutely declare off; for I would not trip for the world before a man's face, and fo I tells his lordship almoft every night of my life." I informed the lady that I would dispense with the ce remony of ftripping, and immediately prefented my glafs to her view.

As when a first-rate beauty, after having with difficulty efcaped the smallpox, revifits her favourite mirrour; that mirrour which had repeated the flattery of every lover, and even added force to the complement; expecting to fee what had fo often given her pleasure, the no longer beholds the cherried lip, the polifhed forehead, and fpeaking blush, but an hateful phyz, quilted into a thoufand feams by the hand of Deformity; grief, refentment, and rage, fill her bofom by turns; he blames the Fates and the ftars, but most of all the unhappy glafs feels her refentment. So it was with the lady in queftion; the had never feen her own mind before, and was now fhocked at it's deformity. One single look was fufficient to fatisfy her curiofity. I held up the glafs to her face, and fhe fhut her eyes; no entreaties could prevail upon her to gaze once more! the was even going to fnatch it from my hands, and break it in a thousand pieces. I found it was time, therefore, to difmifs her as incorrigible, and fhew away to the next that offered.

This was an unmarried lady, who continued

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