I have dwelt the longer on this inftance, because, whilft it takes nothing from the truth which has been established, it teaches us another of great importance. Wife men are certainly fuperior to all the evils of exile. But in a ftrict fenfe he, who has left any one paffion of his foul unfubdued, will not deferve that appellation. It is not enough that we have ftudied all the duties of public and private life, that we are perf &ly acquainted with them, and that we live up to them in the eye of the world. A paffion that lies dormant in the heart, and has escaped our fcrutiny, or which we have obferved and indulged as venial, or which we have perhaps encouraged, as a principle to excite and to aid our virtue, may one time or other destroy our tranquillity, and difgrace our whole character.-This was the cafe of Cicero. Vanity was his cardinal vice. It had, I question not, warmed his zeal, quickened his induftry, animated the love of his country, and fupported his conftancy against Cataline: but it gave to Clodius an entire victory over him.' Having fhewn, that change of place is the delight of many, and that it may be borne by every man; his lordfhip proceeds thus: But who can bear the evils that accompany exile? You who afk the queftion can bear them. Every one who confiders them as they are in themselves, inftead of looking at them through the falfe optic which prejudice holds before our eyes. For what? you have loft your eftate: reduce your defires, and you will perceive yourself to be as rich as ever; with this confiderable advantage to boot, that your cares will be diminished.-Banish out of your exile all imaginary, and you will fuffer no real wants. The little ftream which is left will fuffice to quench the thirst of nature, and that which cannot be quenched by it, is not your thirst, but your diffemper; a diftemper formed by the vicious habits of your mind, and not the effect of exile. How great a part of mankind bear poverty with chearfulness, because they have been bred in it, and are accustomed to it? Shall we not be able to acquire, by reafon and by reflection, what the meanest artisan poffeffes by habit?--Let us caft our eyes backwards on thofe great men who lived in the ages of virtue, of fimplicity, of frugality, and let us blush to think that we enjoy in banishment more than they were mafters of in the midft of their glory, in the utmost affluence of their fortune. Let us imagine that we behold a great dictator giving audience to the Samnite ambaffadors, and preparing on the hearth hearth his mean repaft with the fame hand which had fo often fubdued the enemies of the commonwealth, and borne the triumphal laurel to the capitol. Let us remember that Plato had but three fervants, and that Zeno had none.-After fuch examples, fhall we be afraid of poverty? Shall we difdain to be adopted into a family which has fo many illuftrious ancestors? Shall we complain of banishment, for taking from us what the greateft philofophers, and the greatest heroes of antiquity never enjoyed?' over. His lordship now confiders the inconvenience attending exile, which arifes from a feparation from our family and friends. You are feparated, fays he, from your family and your friends: take the lift of them, and look it well How few of your family will you find who deferve the name of friends? and how few among those who are really fuch? Eraze the names of fuch as ought not to ftand on the roll, and the voluminous catalogue will foon dwindle into a narrow compafs. Regret, if you pleafe, your feparation from this fmall remnant. Far be it from me, whilst I declaim against a fhameful and vicious weakness of mind, to profcribe the fentiments of a virtuous friendship. Regret your feparation from your friends; but regret it like a man who deferves to be theirs. This is ftrength, not weakness of mind; it is virtue, not vice.' With regard to contempt and ignominy, he tells us, that they can never fall to the lot of a wife and virtuous man. It is impoffible, fays he, that he who reverences himfelf fhould be defpifed by others and how can ignominy affect the man who collects all his ftrength within himself, who appeals from the judgment of the multitude to another tribunal, and lives independent of mankind and of the accidents of life? Cato loft the election of prætor, and that of conful; but is any one blind enough to truth to imagine, that these repulfes reflected any difgrace on him? The dignity of thefe two magiftracies would have been encreafed by his wearing them. They fuffered, not Cato BANISHMENT, with all its train of evils, is fo far from being the caufe of contempt, that he who bears up with an undaunted fpirit against them, while fo many are dejected by them, erects on his very misfortunes a trophy to his honour: for fuch is the frame and temper of our minds, that nothing ftrikes us with greater admiration than a man intrepid in the midst of misfortunes. Of all igno minies an ignominious death must be allowed to be the greateft; greatest; and yet, where is the blafphemer who will prefume to defame the death of Socrates? This faint entered the prison with the fame countenance with which he reduced thirty tyrants, and he took off ignominy from the place: for how could it be deemed a prifon when Socrates was there?' His lordship concludes this excellent treatife in the following manner: These are fome of thofe reflections which may ferve to fortify the mind under banishment, and under the other misfortunes of life, which it is every man's intereft to prepare for, because they are common to all men: I fay, they are common to all men; because even they who escape them are equally expofed to them. The darts of adverfe fortune are always levelled at our heads. Some reach us, fome graze against us, and fly to wound our neighbours. Let us therefore impofe an equal temper on our minds, and pay without murmuring the tribute which we owe to humanity. The winter brings cold, and we must freeze. The fummer returns with heat, and we must melt. The inclemency of the air diforders our health, and we must be fick. Here we are exposed to wild beafts, and there to men more favage than the beafts: and, if we escape the inconveniencies and dangers of the air and the earth, there are perils by water and perils by fire. This eftablished courfe of things it is not in our power to change: but it is in our power to assume such a greatness of mind, as becomes wife and virtuous men; as may enable us to encounter the accidents of life with fortitude, and to conform ourselves to the order of nature, who governs her great kingdom, the world, by continual mutations. Let us fubmit to this order; let us be perfuaded, that whatever does happen ought to happen, and never be fo foolish as to expoftulate with nature. The best refolution we can take is, to fuffer what we cannot alter, and to purfue, without repining, the road which providence, who directs every thing, has marked out to us for it is not enough to follow; and he is but a bad foldier who fighs, and marches on with reluctancy. We must receive the order with fpirit and chearfulness, and not endeavour to flink out of the poft which is affigned us in this beautiful difpofition of things, whereof even our sufferings make a neceffary part. Let us addrefs ourselves to God, who governs all, as CLEANTHES did in thofe admirable verfes, which are going to lofe part of their grace and energy in my tranflation of them. "Parent "Parent of nature! mafter of the world! Thus let us fpeak, and thus let us act. Refignation to the will of God is true magnanimity. But the fure mark of a pufillanimous and bafe fpirit, is, to ftruggle againft, to cenfure the order of providence, and, inftead of mending our own conduct, to fet up for correcting that of our Maker.' ART. XLVII. THEODORUS: A dialogue concerning the art of preaching. By mr. David Fordyce, late profeffor of philofophy in the marifchal college, Aberdeen. 12mo. 3 s. Dodfley. IN N an advertisement prefixed to this excellent performance we are told, that the author was originally defigned for the church, to which he was early prompted, both by his genius and difpofition; and that the whole aim of his ambition, and the whole purpose of his ftudies, for a courfe of years, was to prepare himself for it. What kind of appearance he made as a preacher, we know not: but that he was well qualified for appearing with honour in that character, no one, we are perfuaded, who perufes the piece now before us with candour and attention, will doubt. He writes like one who felt the importance of the facred character, and who was deeply fenfible of the neceffity of acquiring a-large stock of furniture, in order to fupport it with honour and usefulnefs. His piety appears to have been manly and rational; his fentiments of the divine perfections exalted and amiable; his knowledge of human nature, and of the various ways of affecting the human heart, very extenfive; and his eloquence natural and affecting. It were to be wifhed that all, who have the facred office in view, would peruse this small treatife with care and attention for, tho' our author has not entered into a full and particular detail of pulpit-eloquence, he has fhewn what the great end is, which a preacher of the gospel ought to propose to himself; what are the qualifications he ought to be poffeffed of; and what are the propereft methods of fet ting ting about the inftruction and perfuafion of mankind. With regard to his ftile and manner of writing, we need say nothing; as it may be fairly prefumed that most of our readers are well acquainted with his ingenious and entertaining dialogues on education. Our author takes up almoft a third part of his performance in reviewing the different modes of eloquence that have prevailed in different ages and nations of the world, and the more obfervable revolutions that have happened in the method of preaching in our own country, fince the reformation. In this part of his work he has fhewn great knowledge of antient and modern times, a thorough acquaintance with the genius of Greece and Rome, and has given feveral hints which may be extremely useful to all who ftudy with a view either to the pulpit or the bar: we shall not, however, detain our readers with any extracts from it, but proceed directly to that part where he enters more closely upon his fubject, after having given them his fentiments concerning our modern preachers, which he delivers in the character of AGORETES, a gentleman intended for the ministry. I am confcious to myfelf of no prejudices against our modern preachers, faid AGORETES, and am very willing to allow them all the merit that you or their warmeft advocates can plead for. I allow them generally a noble fuperiority to popular errors, great freedom and beauty of fentiment, clear reafoning and coherence of thought, deep critical fkill, elegance of itile, a juft arangement of periods, propriety of pronounciation, and much modefty in their action and manner. But, after all, I have fo unhappy a tafte, or fo unfashionable a way of thinking, as not to be thoroughly fatisfied even with all thefe combined excellencies. I want, my dear friend, to have my mind exalted above the world, and above itfelf, with the facredness and fublimity of divine things: I want to feel, warmly to feel, no less than to be coolly convinced of, the tranfcendent beauty and excellence of virtue: I want to be fufpended, and awed, as with the prefence of God, to fink into deep proftration before him, to be ftruck with the majefty of his perfections, and tranfported with the wonders of his love: I want to conceive an infinite horror at fin, to glow with an ardent paflion of doing good, to pant after perfection and immortality, and to ripen apace for both: in fhort, I want to have my understanding enlightened, my heart inflamed, every affection thrilled, and my whole life reformed. VOL. VI. E e But |