N° 86. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1786.

I HAPPENED to spend some days lately in the country, at the house of a gentleman distinguished in the republic of letters, and whose conversation is at all times in the highest degree instructive and entertaining. On my road home from his house, my whole thoughts were taken up with the agreeable entertainment I had received from his company, and I was employed in treasuring up in my mind the many useful observations that had fallen from him. When I arrived in town, the first person I met with was my old acquaintance Symposius. Symposius is what is called a good bottle companion; that is, one who thinks none, talks little, and drinks a great deal. He is much in company, and good company too; because he keeps his seat quietly, has a steady hand at decanting a bottle, never forgets where the toast stands, never interrupts a story except by filling a bumper, can make punch, brew negus, and season a devil. With this combination of qualities, Symposius is oftener seen at good dinners than any man in town; and were it not for the liquor he consumes, would be as harmless as e'er a bottle-slider at the table. At some house of my acquaintance he had heard of my country-excursion, and where I had passed my time. You are a happy man.' said he, in possessing an intimacy and friendship so valuable as that of Mr.

I was once accidentally at his house: he had the finest batch of wine of any man in the country. I never drank such Old Hock in my life.'

I could not help smiling at Symposius's idea of a valuable friendship; and yet, when I considered the

matter a little more closely, I began to think that in most men the same disposition might be traced, to value others according to the standard of themselves to form their opinions and their attachments from circumstances as partial, though not so ridiculous, as the friendship of Symposius for the cellar of Mr.

I had not long párted with Symposius when I met with my old college-companion Dr. Syntax. He was, when I knew him first, a tutor at one of the uni versities, which he left on the death of a relation in India, who bequeathed him a considerable annuity for life. When at the university, he was remarkable for his skill in the Latin language, and still considers the knowledge of that tongue as the only thing which can conduct a man to eminence. I remember to have had some conversation with him about a gen tleman, who, in his younger years was one of Syntax's pupils. This gentleman had been bred to the bar; and after having figured in his profession, he be came a member of the legislature, and was consider ed as one of the ablest speakers in the house in which he sat. Yes,' said my learned friend, I always knew the lad would do well. When he was under my care, he wrote Latin verses faster than any boy I ever knew, and composed the best discourse I ever read upon Patavinity. I took care not to let Syntax know that the first thing his pupil did, was to endeavour to forget almost all he had learnt from his master, and that to this he principally ascribed his success in life.

But it is not only amongst men of learning that this narrowness of opinion is to be met with. It is to be found in all professions and in every situation. Ditticus is a man of fortune, and indeed he has this merit, that it has been principally made by himself. To men whose wealth is of their own acquirement,

it naturally appears of the highest value, as the Israelites worshipped the golden image they had made. Ditticus supposes, that the possession of wealth constitutes the great happiness of life. In this perhaps, however false the supposition, Ditticus is not singular; but he carries the matter a good deal farther, and thinks that wealth confers not only every blessing, bnt every talent and accomplishment. He thinks meanly of the sense, the learning or the taste of any man who walks on foot, a little better of one who rides a-horseback, but his idea of supreme excellence is confined to the person who lolls in his coach and six. When you see Ditticus with a stranger, you may judge of the weight of his purse from the degree of complaisance and attention which Ditticus pays to his opinions. Ditticus would not for the world be thought to be intimate with a poor man; and avoids as much as possible being seen with persons suspected of poverty; and if he should be so unlucky as to encounter with any of them, he takes care to shew, by his behaviour, in what repute he holds their abilities and understanding. If he has a rich man at his table, he sends him a larger slice of his mutton than to any other person, as if his stomach were proportionally capacious as his purse; if he is engaged in a party at cards, he chuses the wealthiest man of the set for his partner, as if riches could give skill in the game. I dined t'other day with Ditticus, when, upon his telling me a story that appeared not a little improbable, I expressed some difficulty to give entire credit to it; Ditticus, with great earnestness, assured me it was most certainly true; for he had heard it from a gentleman of 3000l, a-year.

The character of Valens is very different from that of Ditticus, but he is guided by principles equally absurd. Valens has the good fortune to be possessed.

of a hale robust constitution. Valens is not only sensible of the advantage arising from this circumstance, but prizes it so highly as to think it commu nicates every other advantage; and that the want of it is connected with every thing that is mean and unworthy. Valens never sees a man with broad shoulders, brawny legs, or an open chest, but he looks upon him with respect, and wishes to become his friend; while he starts back with horror from, and avoids, as he would do a thing contaminated, a man who has the appearance of a weak and sickly constitution. In short, good health with Valens is like the crust of loaf bread, which Peter told his brothers was the staff of life, in which was contained the quintessence of beef, mutton, veal, venison, partridge, plum-pudding, and custard. As Valens is a man of some education, he has formed a theory, in order to justify his conduct and principles. If you attempt to reason with him, he will tell you, that health must be the foundation, not only of good morals, but of every thing else that is valuable; that without a robust constitution, no man can possess firmness and intrepidity of mind, or give that application and attention which is requisite for the purposes life; that it is health alone which can give cheerfulness, and its attendants, good-will and benevolence to others; that without health a man becomes peevish, chagrined, morose, and discontented, displeased with himself, and unfriendly to all the rest of mankind. When he has a mind to be more diffuse, as he is a man of some humour, he will tell you, that John Knox could never have brought about the Reformation, had he not been a man of a strong make and a firm constitution: that Marlborough would never have been able to stem the power of France, had he not been of that figure of body which gives strength and vigour to the mind; that Cicero's long,

of

neck produced that feebleness of soul, which threw such a cloud over his other qualities; and that had not Alexander the Great been a man of small stature, he would not only have conquered the world, but have been able to hand down the empire he had won undivided to his successors.

The character of Pallidus forms an exact counterpart to that of Valens. Pallidus inherited from nature a feeble constitution; and the effeminate education which he received from his doting parents, who had no other child, did not tend to correct or to strengthen it. As Pallidus's state of health is very different from that of Valens, so he has formed a system directly opposite. Pallidus is constantly telling you, and he is uneasy if you do not be lieve him, that it is only men of delicate constitutions who can be susceptible of the delicacies of virtuous feeling; that men who are robust and hardy, acquire a ferociousness and a hardness of mind which destroys all the finer principles of the soul. Pallidus is at times eloquent upon the subject; he will run you over a long list of names of men who have been confessedly allowed to be possessed of the finest genius; and concludes with assuring you, it was the extreme delicacy of their health, that gave birth to their exquisite sensibility of mind, which exerted itself in those displays of imagination and of science which have rendered them immortal. Pallidus is exceedingly fond of the society of the ladies, and courts their company, but he was never known to be attached to a woman remarkable for the goodness of her constitution, who was able to bear fatigue, or to share those exercises which require bodily strength. Pallidus has ever in his mouth that remark of Dean Swift's, That he never knew a woman who was good for any thing, that had a constant flow of health and good spirits.' Nay, Pallidus carries the