fors; you ever find his warriors able to conquer armies, and his fages acquainted with more than possible knowledge: human nature is to him an unknown country; he thinks it capable of great things, because he is ignorant of it's boundaries; whatever can be conceived to be done, he allows to be poffible; and whatever is poffible he conjectures must have been done. He never measures the actions and powers of others by what himself is able to perform, nor makes a proper eftimate of the greatness of his fellows, by bringing it to the ftandard of his own incapacity. He is fatisfied to be one of a country where mighty things have been; and imagines the fancied power of others reflects a luftre on himself. Thus, by degrees, he lofes the idea of his own infignificance in a confused notion of the extraordinary powers of humanity, and is willing to grant extraordinary gifts to every pretender, because unacquainted with their claims. This is the reafon why demi-gods and heroes have ever been erected in times or countries of ignorance and barbarity; they addreffed a people who had high opinions of human nature, because they were ignorant how far it could extend; they addressed a people who were willing to allow that men should be gods, because they were yet imperfectly acquainted with God, and with man, These impoftors knew, that all men are naturally fond of feeing fomething very great made from the little materials of humanity; that ignorant nations are not more proud of building a tower to reach heaven, or a pyramid to last for ages, than of railing up a demi-god of their own country and creation. The fame pride that erects a coloflus, or a pyramid, inftalls a god or an hero: but though the adoring favage can raife his coloffus to the clouds, he can exalt the hero not one inch above the standard of humanity; incapable therefore of exalting the idol, he debafes himself, and falls proftrate before him. When man has thus acquired an erroneous idea of the dignity of his fpecies, he and the gods become perfectly intimate; men are but angels, angels are but men, nay, but fervants that ftand in waiting to execute human commands. The Perfians, for instance, thus addrefs their prophet Haly *. I falute thee, glorious Creator, of whom the fun is • but the shadow! Masterpiece of the 'Lord of human creatures, Great Star of Jutice and Religion! The fea is not rich and liberal but by the gifts of thy munificent hands. The angeltreasurer of heaven reaps his harveft in the fertile gardens of the purity of thy nature. The primum mobile would 'never dart the ball of the fun through the trunk of heaven, were it not to ⚫ ferve the morning out of the extreme love fhe has for thee. The angel Ga➡ briel, meffenger of truth, every day kiffes the groundfil of thy gate. Were there a place more exalted than the 'most high throne of God, I would af firm it to be thy place, O master of the faithful! Gabriel, with all his art and knowledge, is but a mere fcholar to thee.' Thus, my friend, men think proper to treat angels; but if indeed there be fuch an order of beings, with what a degree of fatirical contempt muft they listen to the fongs of little mortals' thus flattering each other! Thus to see creatures, wifer indeed than the monkey, and more active than the oyster, claiming to themfelves the mastery of heaven; minims, the tenants of an atom, thus arrogating a partnership in the creation of univerfal Nature! Sure Heaven is kind that launches no thunder at thofe guilty heads; but it is kind, and regards their follies with pity, nor will deftroy creatures that it loved into being. But whatever fuccefs this practice of making demi-gods might have been attended with in barbarous nations, I do' not know that any man became a god in a country where the inhabitants were refined. Such countries generally have too close an inspection into human weaknefs, to think it invefted with celeftial power. They fometimes indeed admit the gods of ftrangers, or of their anceftors, which had their existence in times of obfcurity; their weakness being forgotten, while nothing but their power and their miracles were remembered. The Chinete, for instance, never had a god of their own country; the idols which the vulgar worship at this day were brought from the barbarous na tions around them. The Roman em Chardins Travels, p. 402, perors, perors, who pretended to divinity, were generally taught by a poignard that they were mortal; and Alexander, though he paffed among barbarous countries for a real god, could never perfuade his polite countrymen into a fimilitude of think ing. The Lacedemonians fhrewdly complied with his commands by the fol lowing farcastic edict. Ε. Αλέξανδρος Βαλεται είναι Θεός, Θεος εςω. Adieu TH LETTER CXVI. TO THE SAME. HERE is fomething irresistibly pleafing in the converfation of a fine woman; even though her tongue be filent, the eloquence of her eyes teaches wisdom. The mind fympathizes with the regularity of the object in view; and ftruck with external grace, vibrates into refpondent harmony. In this agreeable difpofition, I lately found myself in company with my friend and his niece. Our converfation turned upon Jove, which the feemed equally capable of defending and infpiring. We were each of different opinions upon this fubject; the lady infifted that it was a natural and univerfal paffion, and produced the happiness of thofe who cultivated it with proper precaution. My friend denied it to be the work of nature, but allowed it to have a real exiftence, and affirmed that it was of infinite service in refining fociety; while I, to keep up the difpute, affirmed it to be merely a name, first used by the cunning part of the fair-fex, and admitted by the filly part of ours; therefore no way more natural than taking fnuff or chewing opium. How is it poffible,' cried I, that fuch a pailion can be natural, when our opinions even of beauty, which infpires it, are entirely the refult of fashion and caprice? The ancients, who pretended to be connoiffeurs in the art, have praised narrow foreheads, red hair, and eye-brows that " joined each other over the nose. Such were the charms that once captivated Catullus, Ovid, and Anacreon. Ladies would at prefent be out of humour if their lovers praised them for fuch graces; and should an antique beauty now revive, her face would certainly be put under the dif ⚫cipline of the tweezer, forehead-cloth, and lead comb, before it could be feen in public company. But the difference between the ancients and moderns is not fo great as between the different countries of the prefent world. A lover of Gongora, for inftance, fighs for thick lips; a Chinefe lover is poetical in praife of thin. In Circaffia a ftraight nofe is thought moft confident with beauty; crofs but a mountain which feparates it from the Tartars, and there flat nofes, tawny fkins, and eyes three inches afunder, are all the fashion. In Perfia, and fome other countries, a man, when he marries, chufes to have his bride a maid; in the Phillipine Islands, if a bridegroom happens to perceive on the firit night that he is put off with a virgin, the marriage is declared void to all intents and purposes, and the bride fent back with difgrace. In fome parts of the Eaft, a woman of beauty, properly fed up for fale, often amounts to one hundred crowns; in the kingdom of Loango, ladies of the very beft fashion are fold for a pig; queens, however, fell better, and fometimes amount to a cow. In short, turn even to England, do not I there fee the beautiful part of the fex neglected; and none now marrying, or making love, but old men and old women that have faved money? Do not I fee beauty, from fifteen to twenty-one, rendered null and void to all intents and pur pofes, and thofe fix precious years of womanhood put under a ftatute of virginity? What! fhall I call that rancid paffion love, which palles between an old batchelor of fifty-fix and a widow lady of forty-nine? Never! never! What advantage is fociety to reap from an intercourse, ' where where the big belly is ofteneft on the 'man's fide? Would any perfuade me • that such a passion was natural, unlefs the human race were more fit for love as they approached the decline, and, like filk-worms, became breed'ers, just before they expired?' Whether love be natural or no, replied my friend, gravely, it contri butes to the happiness of every fociet into which it is introduced. All our pleasures are fhort, and can only charm at intervals; love is a method of protracting our greatest pleature; and furely that gamefter, who plays the greatest stake to the beft advantage, will at the end of life rife victo rious. This was the opinion of Va• nini, who affirmed, " that every hour "was loft which was not spent in love." His accufers were unable to comprehend his meaning, and the poor advocate for love was burned in flames, alas! no way metaphorical. But whatever advantages the individual may reap from this paffion, fociety will certainly be refined and improved by it's introduction: all laws, calcu lated to difcourage it, tend to embrute the fpecies, and weaken the state. Though it cannot plant morals in the human breast, it cultivates them when there: pity, generofity, and honour, receive a brighter polish from it's af fiftance; and a fingle amour is fuffi. cient entirely to brush off the clown. But it is an exotic of the most delicate conftitution; it requires the greatest art to introduce it into a ftate, and the fmallest discouragement is fufficient to reprefs it again. Let us only confider with what eafe it was formerly extinguished in Rome, and with what difficulty it was lately re vived in Europe: it feemed to fleep for ages, and at laft fought it's way among us through tilts, tournaments, dragons, and all the dreams of chivalry. The reft of the world, China only excepted, are, and have ever ⚫ been, utter ftrangers to it's delights and advantages. In other countries, as men find themselves ftronger than women, they lay a claim to a rigorous fuperiority; this is natural, and love which gives up this natural advantage muft certainly be the effect of art: · an art calculated to lengthen out our happier moments, and add new graces to fociety. I entirely acquiefce in your fentiments, fays the lady, with regard to the advantages of this paffion, but cannot avoid giving it a nobler origin than you have been pleafed to affign. * I must think, that thofe countries where it is rejected, are obliged to have recouffe to art to stifle fo natural a production; and thofe nations, where it is cultivated, only make nearer advances to nature. The fame efforts that are used in some places to fupprefs pity, and other natural paffions, may have been employed to extinguish love. No nation, however unpolifhed, is remarkable for innocence, that is not famous for paffion; it has flourished in the coldeft, as well as the warmest, regions. Even in the fultry wilds of Southern America, the lover is not fatisfied with poffeffing his miftrefs's perfon without having her mind. "In all my Enna's beauties bleft, "For though the gives me up her breaft, "It's panting tenant is not mine." • But the effects of love are too violent to be the refult of an artificial paffion! Nor is it in the power of fashion to ⚫ force the conftitution into thofe changes which we every day obferve. Several have died of it. Few lovers are uns acquainted with the fate of the two • Italian lovers, Da Corfin and Julia • Bellamano; who, after a long fepa ration, expired with pleasure in each other's arms. Such inftances are too ftrong confirmations of the reality of the paffion, and ferve to fhew, that fuppreffing it is but oppofing the na tural dictates of the heart.' Adieu. Tranflation of a South-American Ode. 2 B LETTER THE LETTER CXVII. TO THE SAME. HE clock juft ftruck two, the expiring taper rifes and finks in the focket, the watchman forgets the hour in flumber, the laborious and the happy are at rest, and nothing wakes but meditation, guilt, revelry, and defpair. The drunkard once more fills the deftroying bowl, the robber walks his midnight round, and the fuicide lifts his guilty arm against his own facred perfon. Let me no longer wafte the night over the page of antiquity, or the fallies of cotemporary genius, but pursue the folitary walk where Vanity, ever changing, but a few hours paft, walked be fore me; where he kept up the pageant; and now, like a froward child, feems huthed with her own importunities. But who are those who make the ftreets their couch, and find a fhort repose from wretchedness at the doors of the opulent? These are frangers, wanderers, and orphans; whofe circumftances are too humble to expect redrefs, What a gloom hangs all around! and whofe diftreffes are too great even The dying lamp feebly emits a yellow for pity. Their wretchedness excites gleam; ; no found is heard but of the rather horror than pity. Some are withchiming clock, or the distant watch-out the covering even of rags, and others. dog. All the bustle of human pride is forgotten; an hour like this may well difplay the emptiness of human vanity! There will come a time when this temporary folitude may be made continual; and the city itself, like it's inhabitants, fade away, and leave a defart in it's room! What cities as great as this have once triumphed in existence, had their victories as great, joy as just, and as unbounded, and with short-fighted prefumption, promifed themselves immortality! Pofterity can hardly trace the fituation of fome, The forrowful traveller wanders over the awful ruins of others; and as he beholds he learns wildom, and feels the tranfience of every fublunary poffeffion. Here, he cries, fftood their cita del, now grown over with weeds; there their fenate-house, but now the haunt of every noxious reptile; temples and theatres flood here, now only an undiftinguished heap of ruin! They are fallen; for luxury and avarice first • made them feeble. The rewards of date were conferred on amufing, and emaciated with difeafes the world has difclaimed them; fociety turns it's back upon their distress, and has given them up to nakedness and hunger. Thefe: poor fhivering females have once feen happier days, and been flattered into beauty. They have been prostituted to the gay luxurious villain, and are now turned out to meet the severity of winter. Perhaps, now lying at the doors of their betrayers, they fue to wretches whofe hearts are infenfible; or debauchees who may curse, but will not relieve, them. N Why, why was I born a man, and yet fee the fufferings of wretches I'cannot relieve! Poor houseless creatures!: the world will give you reproaches, but will not give you relief. The flighteft misfortunes of the great, the most ima« « ginary unealineffes of the rich, are aggravated with all the power of eloquence, and held up to engage our attention and fympathetic forrow. The poor weep unheeded; perfecuted by every fubordi nate fpecies of tyranny; and every law, which gives others fecurity, becomes an enemy to them. Why was this heart of mine formed 12 FUM HOAM, TO LIEN CHI ALTANGI, THE DISCONTENTED WANDERER, I Have been juft fent upon an embaffy to Japan; my commiffion is to be difpatched in four days, and you can hardly conceive the pleasure I fhall find upon revifiting my native country. I fhall leave with joy this proud, barbarous, inhofpitable region, where every object confpires to diminish my fatisfaction, and encrease my patriotism. But though I find the inhabitants favage, yet the Dutch merchants, who are permitted to trade hither, feem ftill more deteftable. They have raised my diflike to Europe in general; by them I learn how low avarice can degrade human nature; how many indignities an European will fuffer for gain. I was prefent at an audience given by the emperor to the Dutch envoy, who had sent several prefents to all the courtiers fome days previous to his admiffion; but he was obliged to attend thofe defigned for the emperor himself. From the accounts I had heard of this ceremony, my curiofity prompted me to be a fpectator of the whole. First went the prefents, fet out on beautiful enamelled tables, adorned with flowers, borne on mens fhoulders, and followed by Japanese mufic and dancers. From fo great refpect paid to the gifts themselves, I had fancied the donors must have received almoft divine honours. But about a quarter of an hour after the prefents had been carried in triumph, the envoy and his train were brought forward. They were covered from head to foot with long black veils, which prevented their feeing; each led by a conductor chofen from the meanett of the people. In this dishonourable manner having traversed the city of Jedo, they at length arrived at the palace-gate; and after waiting half an hour, were admitted into the guard-room. Here their eyes were uncovered, and in about an hour the gentleman-ufher introduced them into the hall of audience. The emperor was at length fhewn fitting in a kind of alcove at the upper end of the room, and the Dutch envoy was conducted towards the throne. As foon as he had approached within a certain diftance, the gentleman-ufher cried out with a loud voice Holanda Capitan: upon these words the envoy fell flat upon the ground, and crept upon his hands and feet towards the throne. Still approaching, he reared himself upon his knees, and then bow ed his forehead to the ground. These ceremonies being over, he was directed to withdraw, ftill grovelling on his bel ly, and going backward like a lobiter. Men must be exceffively fond of riches,... when they are earned with fuch circumstances of abject fubmiffion. Do the Europeans worship Heaven itfelf with marks of more profound refpect? Do they confer thofe honours on the Su preme of beings which they pay to a barbarous king, who gives them a permiffion to purchase trinkets and porcelaine? What a glorious exchange, to forfeit their national honour, and ever their title to humanity, for a screen or a fnuff-box! If these ceremonies effayed in the first audience appeared mortifying, thofe which are practifed in the fecond are infinitely more fo. In the fecond audience, the emperor and the ladies of court were placed behind lattices, in fuch a manner as to fee, without being feen. Here all the Europeans were directed to pass in review, and grovel and act the ferpent as before: with this fpectacle the whole court feemed highly delighted. The ftrangers were asked a thousand ridiculous questions; as their names and their ages: they were ordered to write, to ftand upright, to fit, to ftop, to compliment each other, to be drunk, to speak the Japanese language, to talk Dutch, to fing, to eat, in short, they were ordered to do all that could fatisfy the curiosity of women Imagine, my dear Altangi, a fet of 2 Ba grave |