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Confidence. I expect you'll perform

your commiffion with punctuality. "And as for you," continued the Ge

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· Inius, addreffing the traveller, "when "once I have bound this fillet round 86 your eyes, let no voice of perfuafion, 68 nor threats the moft terrifying, per"fuade you to unbind it in order to "look round; keep the fillet fast, look

not at the ocean below, and you may "certainly expect to arrive at a région "of pleafure."

Thus faying, and the traveller's eyes being covered, the Dæmon muttering · curfes, raised him on his back, and < inftantly up-borne by his ftrong pinions, directed his flight among the clouds. Neither the loudest thunder, nor the most angry tempeft, could 'perfuade the traveller to unbind his " eyes. The Dæmon directed his flight downwards, and fkimmed the furface of the ocean; a thousand voices, fome with loud invectives, others in the farcaftic tones of contempt, vainly en

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deavoured to perfuade him to look round; but he ftill continued to keep his eyes covered, and would in all probability have arrived at the happy • land, had not flattery effected what other means could not perform. For 6 now he heard himfelf welcomed on every fide to the promised land, and an univerfal fhout of joy was fent forth at his fafe arrival; the wearied traveller, defirous of feeing the long withed for country, at length pulled the fillet from his eyes, and ventured to look round him. But he had unloofed the band too foon; he was not yet above half way over. The Dæmon, who was still hovering in the air, and had produced thofe founds only in order to deceive, was now freed from his commiffion; wherefore throwing the aftonished traveller from his back, the unhappy youth fell headlong into the fubjacent Ocean of Doubts, from whence he never after was feen te rife.'

LETTER XXXVIII.

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

WHEN Parmenio, the Grecian, fubordinate rank, and mankind now be

had done fomething which excited an univerfal fhout from the furrounding multitude, he was inftantly truck with the doubt, that what had their approbation must certainly be wrong; and turning to a philofopher who stood near him- Pray, Sir,' fays he, pardon me; I fear I have been ¿ guilty of fome absurdity.'

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You know that I am not lefs than him a defpifer of the multitude; you know that I equally deteft flattery to the great; yet fo many circumstances have concurred to give a luftre to the latter part of the present English monarch's reign, that I cannot with-hold my contribution of praife; I cannot avoid the acknowledging the crowd for once juft In their unanimous approbation.

Yet think not that battles gained, dominion extended, or enemies brought to fubmiffion, are the virtues which at prefent claim my admiration. Were the reigning monarch only famous for his victories, I fhould regard his character with indifference: the boast of heroism in this enlightened age is juftly tegarded as a qualification of a very

gin to look with becoming horror on thefe foes to man; the virtue in this aged monarch which I have at prefent in view, is one of a much more exalted nature, is one of the moft difficult of attainment, is the leaft praifed of all kingly virtues, and yet deferves the greatest praife: the virtue I mean is JUSTICE; aftrict administration of justice, without feverity and without fa

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Of all virtues this is the most difficule to be practifed by a king who has a power to pardon. All men, even tyrants themfelves, lean to mercy, when unbiaffed by paffions or intereft; the heart naturally perfuades to forgiveness, and purfuing the dictates of this pleafing deceiver, we are led to prefer our private fatisfaction to public utility. What a thorough love for the public, what a strong command over the paffons, what a finely conducted judgment, muft he poffefs who opposes the dictates of reafon to thofe of his heart, and prefers the future interest of his people to his own immediate fatisfaction!

If still to a man's own natural bias for tendernefs, we add the numerous folicitations made by a criminal's friends for mercy; if we furvey a king not only oppofing his own feelings, but reluctantly refusing thofe he regards, and this to fatisfy the public, whofe cries he may never hear, whofe gratitude he may never receive; this furely is true greatnefs! Let us fancy ourselves for a moment in this juft old man's place, furrounded by numbers, all foliciting the fame favour, a favour that Nature difpofes us to grant, where the inducements to pity are laid before us in the ftrongeft light, fuppliants at our feet, fome ready to refent a refufal, none oppofing a compliance; let us, I fay, fuppofe ourselves in fuch a fituation, and I fancy we should find ouriclves more apt to act the character of good-natured men than of upright magiftrates.

What contributes to raife Juftice above all other kingly virtues is, that it is feldom attended with a due fhare of applaufe, and those who practise it must be influenced by greater motives than empty fame. The people are generally well pleafed with a remiflion of punishment, and all that wears the appearance of humanity; it is the wife alone who are capable of difcerning that impartial juftice is the trueft mercy: they know it to be very difficult, at once to compaffionate, and yet condemn an obje&t that pleads for tenderness.

I have been led into this commonplace train of thought by a late ftriking intance in this country of the impartiality of justice, and of the king's inflexible refolution of indicting punishment where it was juftly due. A man of the first quality, in a fit either of paffron, melancholy, or madnefs, murdered his fervant: it was expected that his station in life would have leffened the ignominy of his punishment; however, he was arraigned, condemned, and underwent the fame degrading death with the meaneft malefactor. It was well confidered that virtue alone is true nobility; and that he whofe actions fink him even beneath the vulgar, has no right to those diftinctions which fhould be the rewards only of merit; it was perhaps confidered that crimes were more heinous among the higher claffes of people, as neceflity expofes them to fewer temptations.

Over all the Eaft, even China not exsepted, a perfon of the fame quality

guilty of fuch a crime, might, by giving up a fhare of his fortune to the judge, buy off his fentence. There are feveral countries even in Europe, where the fervant is entirely the property of his mafter: if a flave kills his lord, he dies by the most excruciating tortures; but if the circumftances are reverfed, a fmall fine buys off the punishment of the offender. Happy the country where all are equal, and where thofe who fit as judges have too much integrity to receive a bribe, and too much honour to pity from a fimilitude of the prisoner's title or circumstances with their own! Such is England. Yet think not that it was always equally famed for this strict impartiality: there was a time even here when title foftened the rigours of the law, when dignified wretches were fuffered to live, and continue for years an equal difgrace to juftice and nobility.

To this day, in a neighbouring country, the great are often moft fcandaloufly pardoned for the moft fcandalous offences. A perfon is ftill alive among them who has more than once deferved the most ignominious severity of justice. His being of the blood-royal, however, was thought a fufficient atonement for his being a difgrace to humanity. This remarkable perfonage took pleafure in fhooting at the paffengers below, from the top of his palace; and in this moft princely amufement he usually fpent fone time every day. He was at length arraigned by the friends of a perfon whom in this manner he had killed, was found guilty of the charge, and condemned to die. His merciful monarch pardoned him in confideration of his rank and quality. The unrepenting criminal foon after renewed his ufual entertainment, and in the fame manner killed another man. He was a fecond time condemned; and, ftrange to think, a fecond time received his majefty's par don! Would you believe it? A third time the very fame man was guilty of the very fame offence; a third time therefore the laws of his country found him guilty

I wish for the honour of humanity I could fupprefs the reft!-A third time he was pardoned! Will you not think fuch a story too extraordinary for belief? will you not think me defcribing the favage inhabitants of Congo? Alas, the ftory is but too true, and the country where it was tranfactet regards itself as the politeft in Europe! Adieu. LETTER

LETTER XXXIX.

FROM LIEN CHI ALTANGI, TO

EREMONIES are different in

is every where the fame. Ceremonies, which take up fo much of our attention, are only artificial helps which ignorance affumes, in order to imitate politeness, which is the refult of good-fenfe and good-nature. A perfon poffeffed of thofe qualities, though he had never feen a court, is truly agreeable; and if without them, would continue a clown, though he had been all his life a gentleman

usher.

How would a Chinese, bred up in the formalities of an Eastern court, be regarded, fhould he carry all his good. manners beyond the Great Wall?" "How would an Englishman, fkilled in all the decorums of Western good-breeding, appear at an Eaftern entertainment? Would he not be reckoned more fantastically favage than even his unbred footman!

Ceremony refembles that bafe coin which circulates through a country by the royal mandate; it ferves every purpofe of real money at home, but is entirely ufelefs if carried abroad: a perfon who should attempt to circulate his native trash in another country, would be thought either ridiculous or culpable. He is truly well-bred who knows when to value and when to defpife thofe na tional peculiarities which are regarded by fome with fo much obfervance: a traveller of tafte at once perceives that the wife are polite all the world over; but that fools are polite only at home.

I have now before me two very faThionable letters upon the fame fubject, both written by ladies of diftin&tion; one of whom leads the fashion in EngJand, and the other fets the ceremonies of China. They are both regarded in their respective countries by all the beau monde as ftandards of tafte, and models of true politenefs, and both give us a true idea of what they imagine elegant in their admirers; which of them underftands true politeness, or whether either, you shall be at liberty to deter-' mine. The English lady writes thus to her female confidant.

MERCHANT IN AMSTERDAM.

A
SI live, my dear Charlotte, I be-
lieve the colonel will carry it at
laft; he is a moft irrefiftible fellow, that
is flat. So well dreffed, fo neat, fo
fprightly, and plays about one fo agree-
ably, that, I vow, he has as much fpirits
as the Marquis of Monkeyman's Italian
greyhound. I firft faw him at Rane-
lagh; he fhines there; he is nothing
without Ranelagh, and Ranelagh no-
thing without him. The next day he
fent a card, and compliments, defiring
to wait on mamma and me to the mufic
fubfcription. He looked all the time
with fuch irrefiftible impudence, that
pofitively he had fomething in his face
gave me as much pleafure as a pair-
royal of naturals in my own hand. He
waited on mamma and me the next
morning to know how we got home:
you must know the infidious devil makes
love to us both. Rap went the foot-
man at the door; bounce went my heart;
I thought he would have rattled the
houfe down. Chariot drove up to the
window, with his footmen in the pret-
tieft liveries: he has infinite tafe, that is
flat. Mamma had spent all the morn-
ing at her head; but, for my part, I was
in an undrefs to receive him; quite eafy,
mind that; no way difturbed at his
proach: mamma pretended to be as de-
gagée as I, and yet I faw her blush in
fpite of her. Pofitively he is a most
killing devil! We did nothing but laugh
all the time he itaid with us; I never
heard fo many very good things before.
At first he mistook mamma for my fifter;
at which the laughed: then he mistook
my natural complexion for paint; at
which I laughed: and then he fhewed
us a picture in the lid of his fnuff-box,
at which we all laughed. He plays pic-
quet fo very ill, and is fo very fond of
cards, and lofes with fuch a grace, that
pofitively he has won me; I have got a
cool hundred, but have loft my heart. I
need not tell you that he is only a colo-
nel of the Train-bands.

I am, dear Charlotte,
Yours for ever,

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ap

BELINDA.

The

The Chinese lady addreffes her confidant, a poor relation of the family, upon the fame occafion; in which he feems to understand decorums even better than the Weftern beauty. You who have refided fo long in China will readily acknowledge the picture to be taken from nature; and, by being acquainted with the Chinese customs, will better apprehend the lady's meaning.

FROM YAOUA TO YAYA.

PAPA infits upon one, two, three,

four hundred taels from the colonel my lover, before he parts with a lock of my hair. Ho, how I with the dear creature may be able to produce the money, and pay papa my fortune. The colonel is reckoned the politeft man in all Shenfi. The firft vifit he paid at our houfe; mercy, what flooping, and cringing, and ftopping, and figeting, and going back, and creeping forward, there was between him and papa, one would have thought he had got the feventeen books of ceremonies all by heart. When he was come into the hall he flourished his hands three times in a very graceful manner. Papa, who would not be outdone, flourished his four times; upon this the colonel began again, and both thus continued flourishing for fome minutes in the politelt manner imaginable. I was poited in the ufual place behind the fcreen, where I faw the whole ceremony through a flit. Of this the colonel was fenfible, for papa informed him. I would have given the world to have fhewn him my little fhoes, but had no opportunity. It was the first time I had ever the happiness of feeing any man but papa; and I vow, my dear Yaya, I thought my three fouls would actually have fled from my lips. Ho, but he looked most charmingly; he is reckoned the belt fhaped man in the whole province, for he is very fat, and very fhort; but even thofe natural advantages are improved by his drefs, which is fathionable patt defcription. His head was clofe haven, all but the crown, and the hair of that was braided into a mott beautiful tail, that reached down to his heels, and was terminated by a bunch of yellow rofes. Upon his firit entering the room, I could easily perceive he had been highly perfumed with affafoetida. But then his looks, his looks, my dear Yaya, were irrefiftible! He kept

his eyes ftedfaftly fixed on the wall during the whole ceremony, and I fincerely believe no accident could have difcompofed his gravity, or drawn his eyes away. After a polite filence of two hours, he gallantly begged to have the finging women introduced, purely for my amufement. After one of them had for fome time entertained us with her voice, the colonel and the retired for fome minutes together, I thought they would never have come back; I muft own he is a molt agreeable creature. Upon his return, they again renewed the concert, and he continued to gaze upon the wall as ufual; when, in lefs than half an hour more, Ho! but he retired out of the room with another. He is indeed a mott agreeable creature.

When he came to take his leave, the whole ceremony began afresh; papa would fee him to the door, but the colonel fwore he would rather fee the earth turned upside down than permit him to fir a fingle step, and papa was at last obliged to comply. As foon as he was got to the door, papa went out to fee him on horfe-back: here they continued half an hour bowing and cringing, before one would mount, or the other ga in; but the colonel was at last victorious. He had fcarce gone an hundred paces from the houfe, when papa running out, halloo'd after him- A good journey.' Upon which the colonel returned, and would fee papa into his houfe before ever he would depart. He was no fooner got home than he fent me a very fine prefent of duck eggs painted of twenty different colours. His generofity I own I have ever since been has won me. trying over the eight letters of good fortune, and have great hopes. All I have to apprehend is, that after he has married me, and that I am carried to his house clofe fhut up in my chair, when he comes to have the firit fight of my face, he may fhut me up a fecond time, and fend me back to papa. However, I fhall appear as fine as poffible; mamma and I have been to buy the cleaths for my wedding. I am to have a new fong whang in my hair, the beak of which will reach down to my nofe; the milliner from whom we bought that and our ril bons cheated us as if he had no confcience, and fo to quiet mine I cheated her. All this is fair, you know. I remain, my dear Yaya, your ever faithful,

YAOUA. LETTER

Y

LETTER XL.

FROM THE SAME.

OU have always teftified the highelt efteem for the English poets, and thought them not inferior to the Greeks, Romans, or even the Chinese, in the art. But it is now thought, even by the English themselves, that the race of their poets is extinct; every day produces fome pathetic exclamation upon the decadence of talte and genius. Pegafus,' fay they, has flipped the bridie from his mouth, and our modern bands attempt to direct his flight by catching him by the tail.'

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Yet, my friend, it is only among the ignorant that fuch difcourfes prevail; men of true dicernment can fee feveral poets till among the English, foine of whom equal, if not furpals, their predecellors. The ignorant term that alone poetry which is couched in a certain number of fyllables in every line, where a vapid thought is drawn out into a number of verses of equal length, and perhaps pointed with rhymes at the end. But glowing fentiment, ftriking imagery, concife expreffion, natural defcription, and modulated periods, are full fufficient entirely to fill up my idea of this art, and make way to every paffion.

If my idea of poetry therefore be juft, the English are not at prefent fo deftitute of poetical merit as they seem to imagine. I can fee feveral poets in difguile among them; men furnished with that ftrength of foul, fublimity of fentiment, and grandeur of expreffion, which conftitute the character. Many of the writers of their modern odes, fonnets, tragedies, or rebufes, it is true, deferve not the name, though they have done nothing but clink rhymes and measure fyllables for years together; their Johnfons and Smollets are truly poets; though, for aught I know, they never made a fingle verfe in their whole lives.

In every incipient language the poet and the profe writer are very diftinct in their qualifications: the poet ever proceeds first, treading unbeaten paths, enriching his native funds, and employed in new adventures. The other follows with more cautious fteps; and, though

flow in his motions, treafures up every ufeful or pleafing difcovery. But when once all the extent and the force of the language is known, the poet then feems to rest from his labour, and is at length overtaken by his affiduous purfuer. Both characters are then blended into one; the hiftorian and orator catch all the poet's fire, and leave him no real mark of diftin&tion except the iteration of numbers regularly returning. Thus, in the decline of ancient European learning, Seneca, though he wrote in profe, is as much a poet as Lucan; and Longinus, though but a critic, more fubine than Apollonius.

From this then it appears that poetry is not difcontinued, but altered, among the English at prefent; the outward form feems different from what it was, but poetry still continues internally the fame; the only question remains whether the metric feet ufed by the good writers of of the laft age, or the profaic numbers employed by the good writers of this, be preferable. And here the practice of the laft age appears to me fuperior; they fubmitted to the restraint of numbers and fimilar founds; and this restraint, instead of diminishing, augmented the force of their fentiment and file. Fancy restrained may be compared to a fountain which plays higheit by diminihing the aperture. Of the truth of this maxim, in every language, every fine writer is perfectly fenfible from his own experience; and yet to explain the reafon would be perhaps as difficult as to make a frigid genius profit by the difcovery.

There is ftill another reafon in favour of the practice of the laft age, to be drawn from the variety of modulation. The mufical period in profe is confined

to a

a very few changes; the numbers in verfe are capable of infinite variation. I fpeak not now from the practice of modern verfe-writers, few of whom have any idea of mufical variety, but run on in the fame monotonous flow through the whole poem; but father from the example of their former poets, who were tolerable malters of this variety, and

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