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called upon to pay to each other. If this fad occafion which leads him there, has not done it already, take notice, to what a serious and devout frame of mind every man is reduced the moment he enters this gate of affliction. The busy and fluttering fpirits, which in the houfe of mirth were wont to tranfport him from one diverting object to another-fee how they are fallen how peaceably they are laid! In this gloomy mantion, full of fhades and uncomfortable damps to feize the foulfee, the light and eafy heart, which never knew what it was to think before, how penfive it is now, how soft, how fufceptible, how full of religious impreffions, how deeply it is fmitten with a fenfe and with a love of virtue! Could we, in this crifis, whilst this empire of reafon and religion lafts, and the heart is thus exercifed with wifdom and butied with heavenly contemplationscould we fee it naked as it is-ftripped of its paffions, unfpotted by the world, and regardless of its pleafures -we might then fafely reft our caufe upon this fingle evidence, and appeal to the most fenfual, whether Solomon has not made a juft determination here, in favour of the houfe of mourning? not for its own fake, but as it is fruitful in virtue, and becomes the occafion of fo

much good. Without this end, forrow, I own, has no ufe but to fhorten a man's days-nor can gravity, with all its fudied folemnity of look and carriage, ferve any end but to make one half of the world merry, and impofe upon the other.

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SECTION III.

1. The Honour and Advantage of a conflant Adherence to Truth.

PETRARCH, a celebrated Italian poet, who flourished about four hundred years ago, recommended himself to the confidence and affection of Cardinal Colonna, in whose family he refided, by his candour and strict regard to truth. A violent quarrel occurred in the household of this nobleman; which was carried fo far, that recourse was had to arms. The Cardinal wifhed to know the foundation of this affair; and, that he might be able to decide with justice, he affembled all his people, and obliged them to bind themselves, by a moft folemn oath on the Gofpels, to declare the whole truth. Every one, without exception, fubmitted to this determination; ex ven the bishop of Luna, brother to the Cardinal, was not excufed. Petrarch, in his turn, prefenting himself to take the oath, the Cardinal clofed the book, and faid, As to you, Petrarch, your word is fufficient.

II. Impertinence in Difcourfe

THIS kind of impertinence is a habit of talking much without thinking.

A man who has this diftemper in his tongue fhall en tertain you, though he never faw you before, with a long ftory in praife of his own wife; give you the particulars of his last night's dream, or the defcription of a feft he has been at, without letting a fingle difh escape him. When he is thus entered into converfation, he grows very wife; descants upon the corruption of the times and the degeneracy of the age we live in; from which, as his tranfitions are fomewhat fudden, he falls upon the price of corn, and the number of strangers that are in town. He undertakes to prove, that it is better putting to fea in fummer than in winter, and that rain is neceffary to produce a good crop of corn; telling you, in the fame breath, that he intends to plough up fuch a

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part of his eftate next year, that the times are hard, and that a man has much ado to get through the world. His whole difcourfe is nothing but hurry and incoherence. He acquaints you, that Demippus had the largeft torch at the feaft of Ceres; afks you, if you remember how many pillars are in the mufic-theatre; tells you that he took phyfic yefterday; and defires to know what day of the month it is. If you have patience to hear him, he will inform you what feftivals are kept in Auguft, what in October, and what in December.

When you fee fuch a fellow as this coming towards you, run for your life. A man had much better be vifited by a fever; fo painful is it to be faftened upon by one of this make, who takes it for granted that you have nothing elfe to do but to give him a hearing.

III. Character of Addison as a Writer.

AS a defcriber of life and manners, Mr. Addison must be allowed to stand perhaps the first in the first rank. His humour is peculiar to himself; and is so happily dif fufed, as to give the grace of novelty to domeftic fcenes and daily occurrences. He never d'ereps the modefly of nature, nor raifes merriment or wonder by the violation of truth. His figures neither divert by diftortion, nor amaze by aggravation. He copies life with fo much fidelity, that he can hardly be faid to invent; yet his exhibitions have an air fo much original, that it is diffi cult to fuppofe them not merely the product of imagi

nation.

As a teacher of wisdom, he may be confidently-followed. His religion has nothing in it enthufiaftic or fuperftitious; he appears neither weakly credulous nor wantonly fceptical; his morality is neither dangerously Jax, nor implacably rigid. All the enchantments of fancy, and all the cogency of argument, are employed to recommend to the reader his real intereft, the care of pleafing the Author of his being. Truth is fhown fometimes as the phantom of a vifion, fometimes appears half-veiled in an allegory, fometimes attracts regard in the robes of fancy, and fometimes fteps forth in the confidence of reafon. She wears a thousand dreffes, and in all is pleafing.

His profe is the model of the middle ftyle; on grave fubjects not formal, on light occafions not groveling; pure without fcrupulofity, and exact without apparent elaboration; always equable, and always eafy, without glowing words or pointed fentences. His page is always luminous, but never blazes in unexpected fplendour. It seems to have been his principal endeavour to avoid all harshness and severity of diction; he is therefore fometimes verbose in his tranfitions and connections, and fometimes defcends too much to the language of converfation; yet, if his language had been lefs idiomatical, it might have loft fomewhat of its genuine Anglicifm. What he attempted he performed: he is never feeble, and he did not wish to be energetic; he is never rapid, and he never ftagnates. His fentences have neither ftudied amplitude nor affected brevity; his periods, though not diligently rounded, are voluble and easy.Whoever wishes to attain an English style, familiar but not coarfe, and elegant but not oftentatious, muit give his days and nights to the volumes of Addifon.

IV. Pleasure and Fain.

THERE were two families, which, from the begin ning of the world, were as oppofite to each other as light and darknefs. The one of them lived in heaven, and the other in hell. The youngest descendant of the first family was Pleafure; who was the daughter of Happinefs, who was the child of Virtue, who was the offfpring of the Gods. These, as I faid before, had their habitation in heaven. The youngest of the oppofite family was Pain; who was the fon of mifery, who was the child of Vice, who was the offspring of the Furies. The habitation of this race of beings was in hell.

The middle station of nature between thefe two op pofite extremes was the earth, which was inhabited by creatures of a middle kind; neither fo virtuous as the one, nor fo vicious as the other, but partaking of the good and bad qualities of thefe two oppofite families. Jupiter, confidering that this fpecies, commonly called man, was too virtuous to be miferable, and too vicious to be happy, that he might make a diflinction between. the good and the bad, ordered the two youngest of the

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above mentioned families (Pleasure, who was the daughter of Happinefs; and Pain, who was the fon of Mifery) to meet one another upon this part of nature; having promifed to fettle it upon them both, provided they could agree upon the divifion of it, fo as to fhare mankind between them.

Pleafure and Pain, were no fooner met in their new habitation, but they immediately agreed upon this point, That Pleasure fhould take poffeffion of the virtuous, and Pain of the vicious part of that fpecies which was given up to them. But, upon examining to which of them any individual they met with belonged, they found each of them had a right to him; for that, contrary to what they had feen in their old places of refidence, there was no perfon fo vicious who had not fome good in him, nor any perfon fo virtuous who had not in him fome evil, The truth of it is, they generally found, upon fearch, that in the most vicious man Pleafure might lay claim to an hundredth part, and that in the most virtuous man Pain might come in for at least two thirds. This they faw would occafion endless difputes between them, unless they could come to fome accommodation. To this end, there was a marriage propofed between them, and at length concluded. Hence it is that we find Pleasure and Pain are fuch conftant yoke-fellows, and that they either make their vifits together, or are never far afunder. If Pain comes into a heart, he is quickly followed by Pleasure; and if Pleasure enters, you may be fure Pain is not far off.

But notwithstanding this marriage was very convenient for the two parties, it did not feem to answer the intention of Jupiter in fending them among mankind. To remedy, therefore, this inconvenience, it was ftipu lated between them by article, and confirmed by the confent of each family, that, notwithstanding they here poffeffed the fpecies indifferently, upon the death of every perfon, if he were found to have in him a certain proportion of evil, he should be dispatched into the infernal regions by a paffport from Pain, there to dwell with Mifery, Vice, and the Furies; or, on the contrary, if he had in him a certain proportion of good, he fhould be

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