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hard to put a professed Wit to his affidavit on every occasion, there are some very good judges who have declared that the essence of a story consists in its truth. "The value of every story," says Dr. Johnson, depends on its being true. A story is a picture either of an individual or of human nature in general; if it be false, it is a picture of nothing." "It is more from carelessness about truth, than from intentional lying, that there is so much falsehood in the world." This sentence may appear harsh, and if executed it have a tendency to decrease the floating stock of bon mots and jokes; but upon the whole it bids fair to be attended with advantages which will more than compensate for what we lose, and will very much heighten the value of what we retain.

may

THE PROJECTOR. N° 79.

"Posset qui ignoscere servis,

Et siguo læso non insanire lagenæ."

HORAT.

"Not prone to rage, although the felon's fork Defaced the signet of a bottle cork." FRANCIS.

January 1808.

AMONG the objections which have been made to the views of human life presented by Dr. Johnson in his works, that which appears to have the best foundation is, that he too frequently represents life as a state of uninterrupted suffering, and consequently urges that misery is the irresistible lot of man. Some excuse, however, may be made for that learned and excellent moralist, by considering that he was insensibly led to describe his own state, when he should have been ascertaining the general condition of others; and that he oftener wrote from immediate feeling, than from acquired knowledge. But no such apology, I am afraid, can be made for those who create

misery, and then complain of it; who strive to make themselves unhappy, and then assert that they were born so. To such blame are all liable who study, for whatever reason, to multiply the avoidable miseries of human life.

If, indeed, we compare the pains and anxieties which are unavoidable, which it is not within our power to prevent, or perhaps to cure, with those which are purely of our own invention, and which we are perpetually employed in varying and increasing; we shall see very little reason to complain of the lot of man, but very much ground to censure the conduct of those who are the declared foes of thankfulness and contentment.

Of the numerous tribe of complainers, it will generally be found that the majority have no motive for complaint equal to the pleasure they take in expressing it. Of twenty grievances which form the subject of their repinings, half will appear to have been brought on by their own endeavours; and the other half are matters in which they have no immediate concern. There are some of this tribe, likewise, who, in default of any cause of murmuring on their own part, will echo the outcries of others, and affect a sympathy in adverse occurrences, merely because they give them an opportunity of

venting their spleen, and interrupting the quiet of cheerful minds.

There is, however, to this numerous class so much luxury in the language of complaint, and the ebullitions of temper, that I should, perhaps, be accused of insensibility, were I to endeavour to deprive them of the many sources of pleasure which they have opened. All, therefore, that I wish to contend for, is to regulate their angry passions in such a manner that there shall be some decent proportion between the complaint and the cause; and that, if they are determined to show with what ease and how frequently they can rage and storm, they should learn to dole out their wrath in equitable shares, and not bestow upon trifles what ought to be reserved for special and important occasions. I have no objection to Anger. It is on certain occurrences a very becoming passion; and it is so implanted in our nature, that perhaps we cannot venture to root it out altogether. But, as an indiscriminate employment of it is apt to lead to some small inconveniencies, there would, I humbly think, be no great harm, if it were put under certain regulations; and, as it is a passion which no person can call an ornament to the countenance, or one which improves the voice, it were surely

better to reserve it for such incidents as in some measure bring their own excuse with them.

Of all the causes for domestic misery, and its correspondent fits of passion, there is perhaps none so general and so frequently the ground of complaint, as the carelessness of servants. And true it is, that servants, being unfortunately made of nearly the same materials with their employers, do rarely discover more caution and wisdom in the management of their affairs. It is incredible, therefore, what mischief they create, how many things they break in cleaning, and how many things they misplace when they are wanted, how often they lie in bed when they should be up, and how often they wish to go abroad when they should stay at home. They too, it is melancholy to reflect, have their passions and their tempers; and are, indeed, in all respects so like their masters and mistresses, that, if they were not servants, one would be tempted to think they were human beings, born in the same way, and educated or neglected in the same manner. But Lady assures me that this is not the case; that they are only creatures, and that she never knew one of them otherwise, except a clergyman's daughter whom