point out the real caufe of that decline in literature, which has of late years been founiverfally complained of in this kingdom. My itory requires no animadverfion, as every man of fenfe muft exclaim with the poet

SIR,

IT

TO THE BABLER.,

T was a very wife faying of an old philofopher, that happines was infinitely (weeter in the expectation than in the poffeffion, fince the generality of mankind are rather apt to over-value what they have not, and to fet too fmall an eftimation upon what they actually have. I remember, Sir, about thirty years 2go, when my circumstances were a little contracted, I fancied no man could be miferable who was matter of a great eftate: it is inconceivable how I uled to lie in bed of a morning, building caftles in the air, and chalking out future plans of generofity and magnificence, if my ftars thould ever kindly indulge me with this ne plus ulera of human felicity! I have been a member of parliament; have drawn up an impeachment againa Sir Robert; harangued the Houfe like a cherubim; received gold boxes from every corporation in the kingdom; refufed a peerage; and inarried a woman of exquifite beauty and immenfe fortune, in the fance of half an hour-when, O dreadful catastrophe! all thefe golden fantafies have been in an inttant fwept from my imaginations, by the milkwonan's yell at the door, the falling of the tones, or the accidental jump of our old black cat."

Yet, Sir, though my finances were moderate enough at the time I am peaking of, ftill I found more fatisfaction in indulging thote imaginary objects of felicity than ever I experienced since I came, by the death of a very diftant relation, to the poifeffion of two thousand pounds a year. 1 Batter myself, I am no more of the mifer than the generality of my neighbours; and, if I know my own heart, it is as likely to feel for the diftreffes of the unfortunate, and as willing to relieve them, as fome whom I know to pique themselves mightily on the humanity of their tempers. But this is not the point, my fortune has, I may

almoft fay, unhinged the fyftem upon which I formerly built my happiness, and the actual poffeffion cuts off every pleafure which originally refulted from a chimeri al expectation.

This you will probably look upon as a very extraordinary circumftance; but it is nevertheless literally true: instead of being able to reap any great pleature from an estate, I find it productive of nothing but uneafinefs and anxiety; my wants are very limited, and toon grati fed; and the very fuperflux of fortune, which to any other man might poflibly be a matter of the highest satisfaction, is to me a conflant fource of vexation and regret. In the fift place, I have no child to enjoy my poffeffions after I am gone, and I am nothing more than amafling for people who envy me when living, and will in all likelihood defpife me when dead. The very man to whom I leave my eftate, will, perhaps, be the first to damn the old curmudgeon for not tipping off half a dozen of years fooner; and those for whom I am continually doing a great deal, the readiest to execrate my memory, becaufe I have not done a great deal more.

But though a fenfibility of this nature might in fome meafore render me re gardless to the care of my affairs, I lock upon it as an indifpeniable part of my duty to prevent, as much as pofable, the kait difadvantage from my negligence and inattention; and am lefs fearful of the probable contempt I may meet from my relations, than the certain ridicule must fuffer from my tenants and dependants, was I to wink at a continual plunder of my property, and to permiť them indifcriminately to grow opulent at my expence. Thus, any way, Sir, whether exert a commendable prudence, or throw it entirely afide, this unfor tonate citate clings like a detelted fin to my remembrance, and poifons every comfort which I once was weak enough to imagine it would have produced.

If

If it rains for any time, I am fearful my corn will be washed away; if the wea-, ther is uncommonly fine, I am apprehenfive of it's being parched up; if it freezes with feverity, alas! for my poor flower-garden; if the wind happens to be high, my apple-trees are destroyed; and if it fnows, I am in an abfolute ague about my little lambs, and eternally fcolding John and Thomas for not taking fufficient care to preferve them from the inclemency of the weather. Thus again, in whatever manner the wif dom of the Deity thinks proper to direct the feafons, I am fure to fhew an impious diffatisfaction at his decrees; and, to use the emphatical words of Mr. Pope, with a little alteration

Snatch from his hand the balance and the rod, Rejudge his laws, and am the God of God.

SIR,

From my fituation, Mr. Babler, let thofe in the lower claffes of life, who murmur at the difpeniations of Providence, and think it ncommonly hard to toil for a precario si bfitence, while their neighbours are rolling it away in coaches and fix, learn to confider that it is not the dignity of rank, or the affluence of fortune, which is the fource of real felicity, but a man's own mind; let them learn to confider, that this very rank, and this very opulence for which they continually languish, are very often the caufes of the most levere affliction; and that the fwelling dome of courtly magnificence undergoes many a ftorm, which the humility of the villager's fitua tion keeps from breaking on his little fhed. I am your's, &c.

INFELIX.

THE

TO THE BABLER.

HE good-natured readiness with which I fee you infert a variety of letters upon domeftic occurrences, has induced me to trouble you with a complaint against my husband, in hopes that his error may be avoided by others at least, though it fhould fail of the intended reformation in himfelf.

You must know, Sir, my good man is a fhop-keeper near Cripplegate, and as honeft a pains-taking young fellow as any of his bufinefs; but his notions are rather too elevated for his circ mitances; fo that neither the ftricteft induitry, nor the molt rigid integrity, are Jikely to carry him proiperoufly through life, unless I can prevail upon him to change the prefent frame of his inclination. As the principal part of his acquaintance are tradefinen of eminence, and have their fnug little country houfes to retire to of a Sunday, my husband determined to make as genteel a figure as the heft of them, and accordingly took a handfome box enough laft fummer near Stratford. It was in vain that I reprefented the inconveniences which i would inevitably produce, or mentioned a word about the prodigious expence. I was told that Mr. Refine, the goldmith, our next door neighbour, was as

little able to afford fuch a circumstance as ourselves: it was observed, that Sir Richard Steele fomewhere said, the fireft method of making a good fortune was to carry the appearance of an eafy one; and that surely n was very hard, if we could not have a place where we might enjoy a little peace and quietnefs one day in the week. To crown the whole, my husband, like many other people when they have a favourite point to carry, was refolved to find reafons enough to fupport not only the propriety but the abfolute neceffity of his behaviour, and brought one which was unanswerable: he complained his health was confider. ably impaired by a conftant refidence in town, and' infitted that nothing but a change of air was able to re over it, This filenced me at once; and a house of twenty-fix pounds a year, with a neat pretty garden behind it, was taken immediately, contig ous to the road-fide, for the greater facility of taking the stagecoach, and feeing the various rounds of company that paffed by.

As our house has a very reputable appearance without, my husband was refolved that a correfpondence should be kept up within; and therefore furnished it very genteelly, laying out no less than three hundred pounds for this purpose. So large a fum expended, as I may say,

K

upon

upon an unneceffary account, was not a little inconvenient to a young couple, fcarcely four years in trade, and whofe capital at firft was rather moderate. In fact, Sir, we foon felt it, and were under the difagreeable exigence of borrow ing the fame fum, at an intereft of five per cent. to keep up our bufinefs with a proper degree of confequence and punctuality. Well, Sir, every thing being in order at our new habitation, we entered upon it, to enjoy a mouthful of freth air and a little repofe from the fatigues of the week. But fee the uncertainty of all human expectations! The fairer the weather, the more we were deprived of the air; for being fituated fo immediately on the road, we were choaked with a cloud of duft if the window was kept open but a fingle moment, and had no other profpect but what was furnished by a lifelefs ftare through an humble pane of glass: if we retired backwards, we loft the variety which company afforded, and tood a chance of being ferenaded with the music of half an hondred hogs, which our next door neigh bour had constantly breeding in his yard. This circumftance was very difagreeable; but ftill a material confolation remained, that of enjoying our Sundays wholly uninterrupted: but here alle, Mr. Babler, we were quickly undeceived. The moment we entered, our acquaintance formed parties to dine at our haufe, and any three or four who were at a lofs to kill a Sunday, agreed, without any hesitation, to go and eat a bit of mutton with their friend Will Sheffield, the hardware-man, By this means, Sir, instead of retiring to tranquillity and repofe, we opened a new scene of bustle and confufion, and kept a houfe for no other purpose but to bring on an everlafting round of drudgery, and a very heavy expence. Those who know any thing of houfekeeping, Mr. Babler, are fenfible how small a way a guinea goes in providing a decent entertainment for half a dozen people. I therefore leave you to judge how agreeably I must be fituated, when forced to wear a conftant appearance of the utmoft fatisfaction to the very people whom, in my heart, I could have wifhed in a horse-pond, or fcolded out of the house.

Difappointed in all his expectation, Mr. Babler, and the charm of novelty being alfo worn away, my husband is heartily fick of his villa, yet is both

afhamed and afraid to throw it off his hands; he is fearful his friends will circulate the laugh againft him, and is apprehenfive his enemies will make use of it to prejudice him in his trade. I have told him over and over, it is better for him to be thought a blockhead than to prove himself one, and much more to his intereft to bear a cafual reflection on his circumftances, than to be a beggar at once: I have pointed out a variety of tradefmen, whofe ruin originally proceeded from the vanity of keeping a country-houfe, but all to no purpofe; for though he acknowledges the justice of my obfervation, he remains incorrigible; and therefore I have thought it better to print his name in your paper than fuffer it to appear in the London Ga

This, Sir, not to fay a word of the additional charge of houfe-keeping, (for. there must be meat, drink, and fire, for our apprentice, fhopman, and maid in town) vifitors, and unavoidable neglect, of bufinefs, is aconfiderable fum; and in a courfe of twenty years, with a little. management, and the bleffing of Providence, would prove a pretty provifion for my poor children. Pray, Sir, print my letter, that London Tradefmen may, fuit get fortunes before they entertain a notion of spending them; and not, for the vanity of occupying a country-heufe twenty or thirty days in a whole year, throw away what would purchase a handfome independence for the whole lives.

I am, Sir, your most humble fervant,
SARAH SHEFFIELD,

I

STRS

TO THE BABLER.

DON'T know a more prevailing error at prefent among all ranks of people, than an endeavour to disguise their real fituation in life, by an appearance totally inconfiftent with their character and circumstances. This reflection I am naturally led into by a vifit which I paid the other morning to my old friend Sir Timothy Trotter, who has been many years in a declining way with the gout; but who, nevertheless, like another Lord Chalkftone, is all life and fpirits in the lucid intervals, as I may fay, of his distemper.

When I was fhewed up ftairs, it did not a little furprize me to fee two fel. lows, dreffed like grooms, fitting very familiarly by Sir Timothy's elbowchair, with jockey-whips in their hands, talking in a carelefs indolent manner of hot mathes, long ftirrups, curry-combs, and curbs: as my old friend had always been remarkable for keeping the belt company, I was the more amazed at fo odd a couple of visitors. I remember to have dined with him at the fquare, when there have been half a dozen ttars in the room, befides the two archbishops, and three of the foreign ambaffadors. How ever, as it was no bulinets of mine, I fat down, and, in a little time, to my inexpreffible aftonishment, heard that thefe two defpicable looking things were no lefs than two noblemen of very great fortune, the Earl of Snaffleworth, and my Lord Donefirst.

Struck as I was at that time, I could not help reflecting, how unworthy a nobleman of Great Britain, a man born to be a legiflator in the inoft generous country of the univerfe, and honoured with fo great a degree of political fanctity, that his bare affirmation was confidered as important as an oath, fhould be dreft in a dirty pair of boots, greafy leather breeches, a triped flannel waiftcoat, a thread-bare drab-coat, and a little round hat like a waterman's. No wonder, thought I, that the French fhould look upon us as a nation of paltryminded people, when we study to appear contemptible; and our very nobility, who ought to glory in keeping up

the confequence of their characters, are afhamed to look like what they are, and Ineak from the dignity of titles into the high and mighty quality of grooms.

While I was thus reflecting, the fervant came up, and told Sir Thomas, that Dr. Styptic, and Mr. Skirts the taylor, were below ttairs; upon which he was ordered, without much compliment, I thought, to the doctor, to fend them both up: he did fo; and a welllooking man, of about fifty, first entered, dreffed in a very handsome fuit of full-trimmed black, a large deep-bottomed wig, and every neceffary article requifite for the ferioufnefs of the faculty.-Ay, thinks I, this gentleman, is perfectly in character; and is, I dare fay, a fenfible perfon, by fo clofe an adherence to propriety. I had fcarcely made the reflection, however, when Sir Thomas cried out- So, Skirts, have

you brought the breeches home?' to which having received an answer in the affirmative, he returned- Well, that's an honeft fellow-go about your bufinefs."

Being fo much difappointed in the taylor, I wifhed for the doctor's appearance, and wondered what the deuce could detain him fo long: at last the door opened, and a gentleman entered, in a fuit of fpotted filk, his hair nicely dreft and bagged, and nothing about him but what bespoke the very meridian of Parifian elegance. Thinks I, if this fhould be the doctor! My conjecture was not ill-founded; this was the identical fon of Galen, whom, if I had not feen actually writing a recipe, I fhould have pofitively taken for a Frenchman of fashion, or a figure-dancer at the theatre.

When I was juft going away, Sir. Thomas's nephew, who has been lately called to the bar, came in from Well minster, in his gown and tye-wig.. 'Well,' fays I to myself, thank Heaven! here is one man who is not afhamed of appearing in character." But the young gentleman was not feated above three minutes before he pulled off his wig, in the prefence of the whole company, and hewed as fmart a head of hair, in the Tyburn talte, as could be found within the bills of mortality. I

Aared,