coachman, who overturned him in a ditch, in a very handfome inn, three weeks after; and at another time difcharge his footman, at a moment's warning, for wearing too little powder in his wig. Were we to make an effay into human nature, and examine the lives of our modern philofophers with any degree of circumfpection, we should find the principal number approach fo very near the standard of Frank Surly, that the account given of him will ferve as no improper description of them all. The ridiculous light in which one of the moft fenfible is fet, will, I hope, serve for as good an admonition as I can poffibly give to this tribe of very important beings; and I fhall think myself particularly happy if the foregoing picture is attended with any falutary effect. N° XV. SATURDAY, MAY 21. Did myfelf the pleafure, a few even ings ago, to call at the houfe of an old friend, with whom I have been intimate these thirty years, and for whom I have infinitely more than a common refpect. An affair of arbitration had, however, called him abroad; and I found nobody at home but Mifs Maria, his younger daughter, who is now the moft lively picture of innocence and beauty which I ever faw, and clofely bordering upon twenty-one. As I al ways avoid ftiffening my conversation with the ftarch of antiquity, and conftantly endeavour at appearing more ready to be inftructed than to instruct, the young people are very fond of admit. ting me into their company; and there is fcarcely a day that I have not an invitation or two from fome of the most fprightly tea-tables in town; which is more. I fancy, than can be faid by any other old fellow of fixty within the weekly bills. On my enquiring for her papa, Mifs Maria ftepped out of the parlour, and feizing one of my hands, cried-O Mr. Babler, is it you? I infift upon your coming in. Few entreaties are neceflary to make a man do what he likes. I immediately affented, fat down, and paffed two of the most agreeable hours I ever experienced in my whole life. turgy might be very much improved. Great complaints have been often made, that fo fmall a number of the congregation join in the finging of pfalms; and though I admit the neglect is highly unpardonable, and the cenfure extremely juft, yet reformation would, in my opinion, be infinitely fuperior to reprehension; and I think every room for complaint might be removed by a proper fuppreffion of the caule. The end of poetry and mufic, if I am right in my information, is to actuate upon the paffions; and, in all religious compofition, to raise the mind to an elevated de fire of acknowledging the wonderful mercy and goodness of the divine Being. How far the hymns ufed in the established church for this purpose are from anfwering fo falutary an end, it is no lefs painful than ⚫ unneceffary to obferve: in the verfifi'cation of the very beft pfa ms, all the rapture of the original text is loft, and in that the mufic fhould be no way fuperior to the poetry; there is hardly any one tune which can create the leaft emotion but fleep. In fact, Sir, the moft trifling compofitions, which are ⚫ formed for the business of amusement, have twenty times more merit than -thofe fet apart for the fervice of reli'gion; and infinitely greater pains are taken in the writing or fetting of a Ranelagh ballad, than in a hymn to the honour of the living God. ་ Our converfation, after turning upon a variety of topics, at last fell upon that divine part of our church-worship, in which the congregation fing praises to the Moft High. If it is proper,' fays From what I have faid, Mr. Bab. Maria, for a perfon of my years to ler, I would by no means infer, that fpeak of fo important a fubject as re- either the poetical or mufical part of ligion, and not too prefumptuous for our hymns fhould be light, trifling, the petticoats to comment upon the or airy; but furely, Sir, the fpirit of worthip of the church, I should think, • devotion would breathe confiderably Mr. Babler, that this part of our liftronger in thefe pieces, and have a ' much ⚫ much greater effect, if an author of reputation fhould give us a fine verfi'fication of the pfalms, and a master of • eminence should receive proper encou ragement to fee them exquifitely fet. We have a number of tunes, plaintive, ⚫ folemn, and enchanting, to a mirac e; which are nevertheless as familiar as they are charming, and calculated to · bewitch the carelefs and inattentive to a fenfe, to a paffion for that duty which they now treat with a lifeless indifference, or an infupportable neglect. Religion, Sir, by this means, would become fashionable; and it ⚫ would be deemed no longer inelegant for a fine lady, or a fine gentleman, to join in the praifes of their God. Lord, Mr. Babler, how can you ⚫ have patience to hear me chatter fo much! but I fhall not trefpafs on your patience much longer. Mr. Wellworth (who, you know, vifits us every day) and I were talking on this very fubject a few evenings ago; and as he has really a fweet taste for poetry, I ⚫ took the liberty of requesting he would IN Some how or other my eye encountered with Mifs Maria's at the end of this speech; the feemed conscious; and on my obferving that Mr. Wellworth was an excellent young man, the reddened exceffively, and feemed at a stand for words. As I would not confufe her by any means, I fhifted the converfation; but the refumed it immediately, and faid- Well, Mr. Babler, you must give me your fentiments on this little production; here it is,' conti nued the, taking it out of her pocketbook-and here-no, not here, but in the next number, I fhall present it, with fomething elfe of confequence which it occafioned, to my readers. N° XVI. SATURDAY, MAY 28. N my laft I promised my readers a Hymn; and as I would by no means be worse than my word, or delay their expectations, I give it without further introduction. HYMN. THE lark, now high foaring in air, Salutes the firft blush of the moin, And the roles new incenfe prepare, To breathe on the dew-dropping thorn; Fresh feelings inftinctively foring In the steer, as he turns up the clod; And creation itself feems to fing, in the honour and glory of GoD. In what fenfual mazes with-held, What the herbage all tells on the fod; That beats, and beats only for him? All fwift as the lightning's keen blaze, To the honour and glory of GoD Some law does he madly defy, Which the BEING OF BEINGS Commands? The bolt ready lifted on high, Shall dash him to duft as he ftands: In thunder Omnipotence breaks, Fall proftrate, O wretch! at his nod; See earth to her center deep shakes, All difmay'd at the voice of her GoD! v. Life's road let me cautioufly view, And no longer difdain to be wife; But redden fuch paths to pursue, As my reafon fhould hate or defpife: To crown both my age and my youth, Let me mark where religion has trod; Since nothing bot virtue and truth Can reach to the throne of my God. When I had done reading, Mifs Maria demanded my opinion of this performance, which I could not but praise very much. I told her, however, that the thought of concluding every ftanza with the name of the Deity was bor Da rowed rowed from Eve's Hymn in the Death of Abel; though I could not think of making any comparison, pretty as that hymn was, with this of Mr. Wellworth's. The young lady seemed vaftly delighted at my commendation; and was beginning to make a verbal acknowledgment of her fatisfaction, when her father's rap was heard at the door My old friend entered the parlour with an air of mingled anger and dejection; and, instead of taking any notice of me, began at once upon his daughter-* So, Madam, this is fine information I have received!-What, you are under an ⚫ engagement to Mr. Wellworth, are you? O Maria! Maria!' The fecret was now out; and I found my fufpicions of Mifs Maria's attachment had confiderably more than a toJerable ground. The poor girl flood quite confounded, and feemed utterly incapable of making a reply. As I faw nothing culpable in her regard for a worthy young fellow, I took upon me to intercede in her behalf; and at last reduced her father to the temper I could with. I found a difparity of fortune was the only objection which the old gentleman had to his daughter's choice; for though my friend has as benevolent a heart as any man alive, yet he has the caution of all old fellows, and keeps a ftrict eye on the main chance. When SIR, A$ I had brought him to fome degree of good-humour, I took an opportunity of turning the converfation, and read him the foregoing hymn. He was charmed with it, and asked me if I knew the author. Yes,' fays I, Mr. Wellworth.'- 'Fore God!' returned he, though I do not approve of his connection with my daughter, I am mightily taken with his works. This was all I wanted And pray, my good Sir,' answered I, which is it more for 'your credit and your child's happiness, to beltow her on a deferving young man, whom she loves, and you cannot but admire, or to run the precarious iffue of matching her with one, who, though he may have twice Mr. Wellworth's fortune, either may not have fense or inclination to reward either her merit, or your goodness, as he ought? You can fettle them both, if not fplendidly, at least elegantly, in the world; and, my life for it, in a year or two, you would not change your fon-inlaw for the Indies. I faw my old friend was struck with the justice of the cafe; yet still he seemed defirous of being perfuaded to act as he knew be ought- indulged him; and Saturday laft he and I obtained a fpecial Itcence; and, to the inexpreffible happiness of the young folks, got them married that morning. NO XVII. SATURDAY, JUNE 4. TO THE BABLER. SI find it fo very customary for people of all denominations to give a sketch of their lives, and to pubith any particular inftances of folly, or extraordinary turns of fortune, to the world; I take the liberty of fending you a portrait of myself; in which, abftracted from it's being a ftriking likenefs, I fhall claim no merit, unless it be allowed a general one. v. 44 I am the only fon of a tradefman, who died about five years ago in the city, Mr. Babler, and left me in very handsome circumftances. My father had a common-council fort of pride about him, which aspired at bringing up his fon a gentleman, and an ambition of making him carry an air of profufion, while the moft rigid economy was obferved in his expence. I have been tricked out, Sir, in the very pink of city linery, a laced waistcoat and a bag-wig, at a time that I was scarcely allowed a fufficiency to pay my club at the Horseshoe and Magpie; and talked about tavern bills and fupper, when half a guinea has been the extent of my finances for a whole week. Upon the death of old Squaretoes, Mr. Babler, I found myself poffelfed of ten thousand pounds; and fcarcely got a wink of fleep, during a whole month, my imagination was fo perpetually haunted by the recollection of the fum. Habituated, however, to the fight of the money, I foon began to entertain a notion of laying a few hundreds elegantly out. With this view a carriage was inftantly befpoke, an everlafting leave taken of all the streets between Temple Bar Bar and Whitechapel, and a handfome apartment furnished at the other end of the town. The three formidable letters of E, S, and Q, were quickly added to my name; and having a strong inclination to be thought, I fancied in reality that I was, a fine gentleman. The first fix weeks after it came home, I spent at least fourteen hours a day in my coach. I appeared every where, faw every thing, and upon addreffing days frequently invited fome of the aldermen to a dish of chocolate. Indeed, one accident happened at my firft going to court which made me not a little taken notice of: I never before had prefumed to put on a fword, and being in the circle making my bow, it unfortunately got between my legs, and threw me on my face; in order to fave myself from falling, I laid hold of an officer's fkirt, who was just near me, and held it with fuch a force, that I dragged him with me down. The whole drawing room was in a roar; the ladies tittered, the men burst into a horfe-laugh, and even the face of majesty itself relaxed into a fmile. As foon as poffible I pick ed myself up, and retired; the officer did the fame; and as I had been the caufe of his difgrace, I made him a number of apologies, and took him home to dine. Before we parted, a reciprocal efteem was cordially expreffed; and my new acquaintance talking fomething about a scarcity of money, he did me the favour to borrow fifty pieces, and gave me a pofitive affurance of coming to break fait the next morning. He was better than his word; he came, and brought half a dozen brother officers in his hand. We dined at Al. macks; drank Burgundy till we were blind; fcoured the streets, and beat the watch. The frolic was new to me, Mr. Babler; I was charmed with it; and behaved fo well, that my compa nions honoured me with the name of a very honest fellow, and fwore it was a damned pity I was fo aukward with my fword. Thefe being the first gentlemen I ever had acquaintance with, it is no wonder I treated them with extraordinary re fpect: bred up to an intercourse with none but fellers of linen, and dealers in packthread, I confidered every man with a laced coat and cockade as infinitely my fuperior, and endeavoured, with a fedulity of an uncommon nature, to imitate what I fo paffionately admired. Happily, my endeavours fucceeded fo, well, that in a little time I fwore, got drunk, broke windows, kicked waiters, and infulted modelt women, with as. good a grace as if I had been colonel. of a regiment. In thele fashionable amufements I wafted away above half my fortune in two or three years, with no other character than that of a very honeft fellow; when: a fpirited rape on the daughter of my taylor took away two, thousand pounds to hush a profecution and make.. it up. The action increased my reputation, but hurt my circumftances much: I had not now as much more left in the world. I was difclaimed by my rela-. tions, and defpifed by my father's fober friends. One half of my companions had died, and the other half were in danger of a jail. The fame misfortune stared. me in the face; my debts were nume rous, my creditors preffing, discharged, they were obliged to be, and accordingly were; and, when every thing was finally fettled, I found myself, instead, of having increased my ten thousand, to have no more than feven hundred and fifty pounds left. What was to be done? I could not bear the thoughts of going back into the city, and understood no bufinefs if I did. A lieutenancy offering, I purchased it as the last resource, and am now starving upon the half pay. A ftriking example of ignorant pride and under-bred prodigality, at once the warning and contempt of our fhewy little citizens. My letter needs neither comment nor application; what I fhall fay may ber contained in the butt-end of the old fong Learn to be wife from other's harms, I am, Sir, yours, &e. 1 N UN N° XVIII. SATURDAY, JUNE 11. NFASHIONABLE foever as it may be to enter upon religious fubjects in fuch an age as the prefent, there are fome who, I flatter myself, will nevertheless pay a little attention to a topic of fuch importance without a blufh, and think it no difgrace either to their gentility or their understanding, to emplay a few moments in the confideration of fome points, for which, at the awful period of their diffolution, eternities upon eternities will hardly feem too much. When we confider the differences which daily fubfiit in the various modes or fyftems of the Chriftian religion, and think upon the inflexible partiality which every man entertains in favour of his own, we ought to be abfolutely certain that the particular form which each of us glories to poffefs, is perfectly conformable to our notions of the Deity, and confiftent in the minuteft degree with thofe divine leffons which were inculcated by the Saviour of the world, in his mysterious miflion to man. If we are not pofitive in this, let our belief be distinguished by what name foever we think proper, let us be Proteftants or Papifts, Quakers or Prefbyterians, I can take upon me to aver, that we have no right to the name of Christians; and may, with equal propriety, take a leffon from the ALCORAN as the GOSPEL. It is not the ceremony used at baptifm, the fprinkling of water, nor the promises of our parents in the pretence of God, which constitute the CHRISTIAN; no, it is an actual conformity to the precepts of our BLESSED LORD, and an undeviating obedience to the tenets which are laid down in the hiftory of his life and miracles. Nothing can be more abfurd, nor in reality more criminal, than for a man to afpire at the glorious title of a Chriftian, who is regardless of the duties which that appellation renders indifpenfably neceflary, or a stranger to the obligations which are particularly enjoined by the name; it is at once a fatal deception of his own most important expectations, an infult to his Saviour, and a defiance of his God. With what propriety, fhall I beg leave to afk, can the various fects of religion in this kingdom call themfelves Chrif tians, when, in the unremitting hatred which they conftantly entertain towards one another, they utterly destroy that univerfal principle of Charity which ought to be the foundation, nay, the very effence of their belief? With what propriety can he, who is bleffed with unbounded affluence, ftile himself a Chrif tian, if his ear is turned away from the fight of affliction, or his heart unaffected with the tear of diftrefs? Chriftianity obliges him to a conftant relief of the wretched; and, without a behaviour entirely confonant to the duties of this belief, what poffible pretenfion can he have to a name that exalts him to a fellowship with angels, and lifts him above the ftars? Will a constant attendance on the public place of his worhip, exculpate the opprefior of the widow and the fatherless? or give the name of Chriflian to the villain who infamously lifts a dagger to the breast of his benefactor, or bafely strives to mure, der the reputation of his friend? Can the betrayer of unfufpecting innocence think on the pangs of fome violated virgin, left without affiflance, without. comfort, without bread; expofed to all the upbraidings of a relentless world, to aggravate the feverity of her own refections, and poffibly plunged in the additional mifery of having a helpless. little innocent, and an unalterable affection for the monster by whom the is. fo cruelly undone? I fay, can the per-. petrator of an act like this, fit down calmly, fatisfied with the rectitude of. his behaviour, and think himself, as a Chriftian, fincerely acquitted to his God?... Alas! if any man, thus culpable, can be fo prefumptuously daring as to think himself a Chriftian, it is doubtful whe ther he is most a reprobate or an idiot, or whether he is moft regardless or ig norant of his crimes. In every profeffion of the Christian faith there is a number of good-natured. people, who are always uneafy about the fate of the Mahometans, and terribly afflicted left the ignorant favages of America fhould not, at the last day, be received into the favour of the Supreme Being. These people entertain. frange 1 notions |