But the web of subtlety is sometimes so extremely attenuated, that it is broken by its own weight; and if these implacable enemies of our church and state had attempted less, they would have effected more: for who can believe, that those names, which should always be read with a sense of duty and obligation, were ever prostituted in public advertisements, for a paultry sum, to the purposes of wretches who de. fraud the poor of their money, and the sick of their life, by dispensing as remedies, drugs that are either ineffectual or pernicious, and precluding, till it is too late, more effectual assistance? To believe this, would be as ridiculous as to doubt, whether an attempt was made to cure Mr. Woodward's patient, by applying trusses to the abdomen of his friends, after it. has been so often and so publicly asserted, in an advertisement, signed by persons of unquestionable veracity; persons who were probably among the number of those by whom trusses were worn, and might first think of applying to Mr. Woodward, upon perceiving that a remedy which was so troublesome to them, produced no apparent effect upon the patient. For my own part, I never hear the cavils of sophistry with patience; but when they are used to bring calamity upon my country, my indignation knows no bounds. Let us

unite against the arts as well as the power of our enemies, and continue to improve all the advantages of our constitution and our climate; and we cannot fail to secure health, vigour and longevity, from which the wreath of glory and the treasures of opulence derive all their value.

701906

N° 16. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 30, 1752.

Gratior & pulchro veniens in corpore virtus.

VIRG.

More lovely virtue, in a lovely form.

I HAVE observed in a former paper, that the relation of events is a species of writing which affords more general entertainment than any other: and to afford entertainment appears to have been often the principal if not the only design of those by whom events have been related.

It must, indeed, be confessed, that when truths are to be recorded, little is left to the choice of the writer; a few pages of the book of NATURE or of PROVIDENCE are before him; and if he transcribes with fidelity, he is not to be blamed, if in this fragment good and evil do not appear to be always distributed as reward and punishment.

But it is justly expected of the writer of fiction, who has unbounded liberty to select, to vary and to complicate, that his plan should be complete, that he should principally consider the moral tendency of his work, and that when he relates events he should teach virtue.

The relation of events becomes a moral lecture, when vicious actions produce misery, and vicious characters incur contempt; when the combat of virtue is rewarded with honour, and her sufferings terminate in felicity: but though this method of

instruction has been often recommended, yet I think some of its peculiar advantages have been still over. looked, and for that reason not always secured.

Facts are easily comprehended by every understanding: and their dependence and influence upon each other are discovered by those, who would soon be bewildered in a series of logical deductions; they fix that volatility which would break away from ratiocination; and the precept becomes more forcible and striking as it is connected with example. Precept gains only the cold approbation of reason, and compels an assent which judgment frequently yields with reluctance, even when delay is impossible; but by example the passions are roused; we approve, we emulate, and we honour or love; we detest, we despise, and we condemn, as fit objects are successively held up to the mind: the affections are, as it were, drawn out into the field: they learn their exercise in a mock fight, and are trained for the service of virtue.

Facts, as they are most perfectly and easily com prehended, and as they are impressed upon the mind by the passions, are tenaciously remembered, though the terms in which they are delivered are presently forgotten; and for this reason the instruction that results from facts, is more easily propagated: many can repeat a story, who would not have understood a declamation; and though the expression will be varied as often as it is told, yet the moral which it was intended to teach will remain the same.

But these advantages have not been always se cured by those who have professed to make a story the vehicle of instruction,' and 'to surprize levity into knowledge by a shew of entertainment;' for instead of including instruction in the events themselves, they have made use of events only to

introduce declamation and argument. If the events excite curiosity, all the fine reflections which are said to be interspersed, are passed over; if the events do not excite curiosity, the whole is rejected together, not only with disgust and disappointment, but indignation, as having allured by a false promise, and engaged in a vain pursuit. These pieces, if they are read as a task by those for whose instruction they are intended, can produce none of the effects for which they were written; because the instruction will not be necessarily remembered with the facts; and because the story is so far from recommending the moral, that the moral is detested as interrupting the story. Nor are those who voluntarily read for instruction, less disappointed than those who seek only entertainment; for he that is eager in the pursuit of knowledge, is disgusted when he is stopped by the intervention of a trivial incident or a forced compliment, when a new personage is introduced, or a lover takes occasion to admire the sagacity of a mistress.

But many writers who have avoided this error, and interwoven precept with event, tho' they intended a moral lecture, have yet defeated their own purpose, by taking from virtue every accidental excellence, and decorating vice with the spoils.

I can think of nothing that could be alleged in defence of this perverse distribution of graces and defects, but a design to shew that virtue alone is sufficient to confer honour upon the lowest character, and that without it nothing can preserve the highest from contempt; and that those excellencies which we can acquire by our own efforts, are of more moment than those which are the gift of na ture: but in this design, no writer, of whatever abilities, can succeed.

It has been often remarked, tho' not without wonder, that almost every man is more jealous of his natural than his moral qualities; and resents with more bitterness a satire upon his abilities than his practice: the fact is unquestionably true; and perhaps it will no longer appear strange, if it be considered, that natural defects are of necessity, and moral of choice; the imputation of folly if it is true, must be suffered without hope, but that of immorality may at any time be obviated by removing

the cause.

But whatever be the reason, it appears by the common consent of mankind, that the want of virtue does not incur equal contempt with the want of parts; and that many vices are thought to be rather honourable than infamous, merely because they imply some natural excellence, some superiority which cannot be acquired by those who want it, but to which those who have it believe they can add all that others possess, whenever they shall think fit to make the attempt.

Florio, after having learned the Latin and Greek languages at Westminster and spent three years at the university, made the tour of Europe, and at his return obtained a place at court. Florio's imagination is sprightly, and his judgment strong: he is well acquainted with every branch of polite literature, and travel has polished the sound scholar into the fine gentleman: his person is graceful, and his manner polite, he is remarkable for the elegance of his dress; and he is thought to dance a minuet, and understand the small sword, better than any other man in the kingdom. Among the ladies Florio has made many conquests; and has challenged and killed in a duel an officer, who upbraided him with the breach of a promise of a marriage, confirmed by an oath, to a young beauty whom he kept