the attention thus drawn to his conduct, and the ridicule excited by the contrast between his principles and practice, led to any perceptible improvement. In order to enliven his character, and so diminish the occasion of mirth to his comrades, he produced, in 1701, a comedy entitled The Funeral, or Grief à-la-mode, in which, with much humour, there is combined a moral tendency superior to that of most of the dramatic pieces of the time. Steele, though personally too much a rake, made it a principle to employ his literary talents only in the service of virtue. In 1703, he sent forth another successful comedy, called The Tender Husband, or The Accomplished Fools; and in the year following was represented his third, entitled The Lying Lover, the strain of which proved too serious for the public taste. The ill success which it experienced deterred him from again appearing as a dramatist till 1722, when his admirable comedy, The Conscious Lovers, was brought out with unbounded applause. The great, the appropriate praise of Steele,' says Dr Drake, 'is to have been the first who, after the licentious age of Charles II., endeavoured to introduce the Virtues on the stage. He clothed them with the brilliancy of genius; he placed them in situations the most interesting to the human heart; and he taught his audience not to laugh at, but to execrate vice, to despise the lewd fool and the witty rake, to applaud the efforts of the good, and to rejoice in the punishment of the wicked."* After the failure of The Lying Lover,' which, he says, was damned for its piety,' Steele conceived the idea of attacking the vices and foibles of the age through the medium of a lively periodical paper. Accordingly, on the 12th of April 1709, he commenced the publication of the Tatler, a small sheet designed to appear three times a-week, 'to expose,' as the author stated, the false arts of life, to pull off the disguises of cunning, vanity, and affectation, and to recommend a general simplicity in our dress, our discourse, and our behaviour.' Steele, who had then reached his thirty-eighth year, was qualified for his task by a knowledge of the world, acquired in free converse with it, and by a large fund of natural humour; his sketches, anecdotes, and remarks, are accordingly very entertaining. To conciliate the ordinary readers of news, a part of each paper was devoted to public and political intelligence; and the price of each number was one penny. At first, the author endeavoured to conceal himself under the fictitious name of Isaac Bickerstaff, which he borrowed from a pamphlet by Swift; but his real name soon became known, and his friend Addison then began to assist him with a few papers upon more serious subjects than he himself was able or inclined to discuss, and also with various articles of a humorous character. When the work had extended to the 271st number, which was published on the 2d of January 1711, the editor was induced, by a consideration of the inconvenience of writing such a work without personal concealment, to give it up, and to commence a publication nearly similar in plan, and in which he might assume a new disguise. This was the more celebrated Spectator, of which the first number appeared on the 1st of March 1711. The 'Spectator' was published daily, and each number was invariably a complete essay, without any admixture of politics. Steele and Addison were conjunct in this work from its commencement, and they obtained considerable assistance from a few other writers, of whom the chief were Thomas Tickell, and a gentleman named Budgell. The greater part of the light and humorous sketches are Essays Illustrative of the Tatler, &c. i. 57. by Steele; while Addison contributed most of the articles in which there is any grave reflection or elevated feeling. In the course of the work, several fictitious persons were introduced as friends of the supposed editor, partly for amusement, and partly for the purpose of quoting them on occasions where their opinions might be supposed appropriate. Thus, a country gentleman was described under the name of Sir Roger de Coverley, to whom reference was made when matters connected with rural affairs were in question. A Captain Sentry stood up for the army; Will Honeycomb gave law on all things concerning the gay world; and Sir Andrew Freeport represented the commercial interest. Of these characters, Sir Roger was by far the most happily delineated: it is understood that he was entirely a being of Addison's imagination; and certainly, in the whole round of English fiction, there is no character delineated with more masterly strokes of humour and tenderness. The Spectator,' which extended to six hundred and thirty-five numbers, or eight volumes, is not only much superior to the Tatler,' but stands at the head of all the works of the same kind that have since been produced; and, as a miscellany of polite literature, is not surpassed by any book whatever. All that regards the smaller morals and decencies of life, elegance or justness of taste, and the improvement of domestic society, is touched upon in this paper with the happiest combination of seriousness and ridicule: it is also entitled to the praise of having corrected the existing style of writing and speaking on common topics, which was much vitiated by slang phraseology and profane swearing. The Spectator' appeared every morning in the shape of a single leaf, and was received at the breakfast tables of most persons of taste then living in the metropolis, and had a large sale. During the year 1713, while the publication of the Spectator' was temporarily suspended, Steele, with the same assistance, published the Guardian, which was also issued daily, and extended to a hundred and seventy-five numbers, or two volumes. It ranks in merit between the Spectator' and Tatler,' and is enriched by contributions of Pope, Berkeley, and Budgell. Addison's papers occur almost exclusively in the second volume, where they are more numerous than those of Steele himself. Of two hundred and seventy-one papers of which the 'Tatler' is composed, Steele wrote one hundred and eightyeight, Addison forty-two, and both conjointly thirtysix. Of six hundred and thirty-five Spectators,' Addison wrote two hundred and seventy-four, and Steele two hundred and forty. And of one hundred and seventy-six Guardians,' Steele wrote eightytwo, and Addison fifty-three. The beneficial influence of these publications on the morality, piety, manners, and intelligence of the British people, has been extensive and permanent. When the Tatler' first appeared, the ignorance and immorality of the great mass of society in England were gross and disgusting. By the generality of fashionable persons of both sexes, literary and scientific attainments were despised as pedantic and vulgar. "That general knowledge which now circulates in common talk, was then rarely to be found. Men not professing learning were not ashamed of ignorance; and in the female world, any acquaintance with books was distinguished only to be censured."* Politics formed almost the sole topic of conversation among the gentlemen, and scandal among the ladies; swearing and indecency were fashionable vices; gaming and drunkenness abounded; and the practice *Johnson's Life of Addison. of duelling was carried to a most irrational excess. In the theatre, as well as in society, the corruption of Charles II.'s reign continued to prevail; and men of the highest rank were the habitual encouragers of the coarse amusements of bull-baiting, bear-baiting, and prize-fighting. To the amelioration of this wretched state of public taste and manners did Steele and Addison apply themselves with equal zeal and success, operating by the means thus stated in the Spectator:-'I shall endeavour to enliven morality with wit, and to temper wit with morality, that my readers may, if possible, both ways find their account in the speculation of the day. And to the end that their virtue and discretion may not be short, transient, intermittent starts of thought, I have resolved to refresh their memories from day to day, till I have recovered them out of that desperate state of vice and folly into which the age is fallen. The mind that lies fallow but a single day, sprouts up in follies that are only to be killed by a constant and assiduous culture. It was said of Socrates, that he brought philosophy down from heaven to inhabit among men; I shall be ambitious to have it said of me, that I have brought philosophy out of closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and in coffee-houses.' Of the excellent effects produced by the essays of Steele and Addison, we possess the evidence not only of the improved state of society and literature which has since prevailed, but likewise of writers contemporary with the authors themselves. All speak of a decided and marked improvement in society and manners. ascribed the commencement of a just taste in the * If in taste and literature such numerous benefits were conferred upon the people through the medium of these papers, of still greater importance were the services which they derived from them in the department of manners and morals. Both public and private virtue and decorum, indeed, received a firmer tone and finer polish from their precepts and examples; the acrimony and malevolence that had hitherto attended the discussion of political opinion were in a short time greatly mitigated; and the talents which had been almost exclusively occupied by controversy, were diverted into channels where elegance and learning mutually assisted in refining and purifying the passions.' The success and utility of the 'Tatler,' 'Spectator,' and Guardian,' led to the appearance, throughout the eighteenth century, of many works similar in form and purpose; but of these, with the exception of the Rambler, Adventurer, Idler, World, Connoisseur, Mirror, and Lounger, none can be said to have obtained a place in the standard literature of our country. Of the productions just named, an account will be given when we come to speak of the authors principally concerned in them; and with respect to the others, it is sufficient to remark, that so slender is their general merit, that from fortyone of the best among them, Dr Drake has been able to compile only four volumes of papers above mediocrity." "The acquisition,' says Dr Drake, of a popular relish for elegant literature, may be dated, indeed, from the period of the publication of the " Tatler;" to the progress of this new-formed desire, the "Spectator" and "Guardian" gave fresh acceleration; nor has the impulse which was thus received for a moment ceased to spread and propagate its influence through every rank of British society. To these papers, in the department of polite letters, we may ascribe the following great and never-to-be-forgotten obligations. They, it may be affirmed, first pointed out, in a popular way, and with insinuating address, the best authors of classical antiquity and of modern times, and infused into the public mind an enthusiasm for their beauties; they, calling to their aid the colouring of humour and imagination, effectually detected the sources of bad writing, and exposed to neverdying ridicule the puerilities and meretricious decorations of false wit and bloated composition; they first rendered criticism familiar and pleasing to the Notwithstanding the high excellence which must general taste, and excited that curiosity, that acute-be attributed to the British Essayists,' as this class ness and precision, which have since enabled so many of writings is usually called, it cannot be concealed, classes of readers to enjoy, and to appreciate with that since the beginning of the present century, their judgment, the various productions of genius and popularity has undergone a considerable decline. learning. This, we think, may easily be accounted for. All that relates in them to temporary fashions and absurdities, is now, for the most part, out of date; while many of the vices and rudenesses which they attack, have either been expelled from good society by their own influence, or are now fallen into such general discredit, that any formal exposure of them appears tedious and unnecessary. Add to this, that innumerable popular works of distinguished excelIn the "Spectator," moreover, was the public first lence, on the same class of subjects, have appeared presented with a specimen of acute analysis in the in later times, so that the essayists are no longer in papers on the sources and pleasures of the imagina- undisputed possession of the field which they origi tion; they form a disquisition which, while it in-nally and so honourably occupied. Since the age of structed and delighted the unlearned reader, led the way, though the arrogance of the literati of the present day may disclaim the debt, to what has been termed by modern ostentation philosophical criticism. To the circulation of these volumes also may be To the essays of Addison, in particular, are we likewise indebted for the formation of a style beyond all former precedent pure, fascinating, and correct, that may be said to have effected a revolution in our language and literature, and which, notwithstanding all the refinements of modern criticism, is still entitled to the praise of a just and legitimate model. The selection was published in 1811, under the title of Queen Anne, moreover, there has come into request reproof through the medium of a quotation from the a more vigorous, straightforward, and exciting style tragedy of Cato. 'Every reader,' says Dr Johnof writing than that of Steele, or even of Addison, son, surely must regret that these two illustrious so that the public taste now demands to be stimu- friends, after so many years passed in confidence lated by something more lively and piquant than and endearment, in unity of interest, conformity of what seemed to our grandmothers the ne plus ultra opinion, and fellowship of study, should finally part of agreeable writing. Yet, after making every in acrimonious opposition. Such a controversy was abatement, it is certain that there are in these bellum plusquam civile, as Lucan expresses it. Why collections so many admirably written essays on could not faction find other advocates? But among subjects of abiding interest and importance on the uncertainties of the human state, we are doomed characters, virtues, vices, and manners, which will to number the instabilities of friendship.'* During chequer society while the human race endures- his long intercourse with Addison, Steele, though that a judicious selection can never fail to present completely eclipsed by his friend, never evinced indescribable charms to the man of taste, piety, towards him the slightest symptom of envy or philanthropy, and refinement. In particular, the jealousy, but, on the contrary, scems to have looked humorous productions of Addison, which to this up to him with uniform admiration and respect. day have never been surpassed, will probably main- Though Steele realised considerable sums by his tain a popularity coexistent with our language itself. writings, as well as by his places under government, But to return to the biography of Sir Richard and the theatrical patent, and farther increased his Steele. While conducting the Tatler,' and for resources by marrying a lady of fortune in South some years previously to its commencement, he Wales, he was always at a loss for money, which, it occupied the post of Gazette writer under the Whig may be said, he could neither want nor keep. With ministry; and for the support which he gave them many amiable features of character-such as goodin the political department of that work, he was nature, vivacity, candour, urbanity, and affectionrewarded in 1710 with an appointment as one of and with a high admiration of virtue in the abstract, the commissioners of the Stamp-office. When the his conduct, as we have seen, was frequently inconTories the same year came into power, an attempt sistent with the rules of propriety-a circumstance was made to win over his services, by allowing him which is attributed in part to his pecuniary embarto retain office, and holding out hopes of farther rassments. Being once reproached by Whiston, a preferment; but Steele, true to his principles, pre- strange but disinterested enthusiast in religion, for served silence on politics for several years, till at giving a vote in parliament contrary to his former length, in the 'Guardian' of 28th April 1713, he professed opinions, he replied, Mr Whiston, you entered into a controversy with a famous Tory can walk on foot, but I cannot;' a sentiment which, paper called the Examiner,' in which Dr Swift at if serious, certainly lays him open to the severest that time wrote with great force and virulence. In censure. But on various trying occasions, his polithis step, the patriotism of Steele prevailed over his tical virtue stood firm; and it is only justice to interest, for he shortly afterwards, in a manly letter mention, that when his affairs became involved to Lord Oxford, resigned the emoluments which he shortly before his death, he retired into Wales solely derived from government. Thus freed from tram- for the purpose of doing justice to his creditors, at mels, he entered with the utmost alacrity into poli- a time when he had the fairest prospect of satisfy tical warfare, to which he was excited by the danger ing their claims to the uttermost farthing. He died that seemed, towards the close of Queen Anne's at Llangunnor, near Caermarthen, in 1729. By the reign, to threaten the Protestant succession. Not content with wielding the pen, he procured a seat in parliament; from which, however, he was speedily expelled, in consequence of the freedom with which he commented on public affairs in one of his pamphlets. For these efforts against the Tory party, he was, on the accession of George I., rewarded with the post of surveyor to the royal stables at Hampton court. He obtained once more a seat in parliament, was knighted by the king, and in 1717 visited Edinburgh as one of the commissioners of forfeited estates. While in the northern metropolis, he made a hopeless attempt to bring about a union of the English and Scotch churches; and also furnished a proof of his humorous disposition, by giving a splendid entertainment to a multitude of beggars and decayed tradesmen, collected from the streets. Two years afterwards, he offended the ministry by strenuously opposing a bill which aimed at fixing permanently the number of peers, and prohibiting the king from creating any, except for the purpose of replacing extinct families. By this proceeding he not only lost a profitable theatrical patent which he had enjoyed for some years, but became embroiled in a quarrel with his old friend Addison, which arose during a war of pamphlets, in which Addison took publication of his private correspondence in 1787, the side of the ministry. That eminent person for- from the originals in the British Museum, his chagot his dignity so far as to speak of Steele as 'Little racter has been exhibited in a very amiable light; Dicky, whose trade it was to write pamphlets; and it would be difficult to point out any productions and it is highly creditable to Steele, that, notwith-more imbued with tender feeling than the letters standing so gross an insult, he retained both the written to his wife, both before and after marriage. feeling and the language of respect for his anta gonist, and was content with administering a mild Life of Addison. † See Bishop Hoadly's works, vol. i. p. xix. In manner as well as matter, the writings of Steele are inferior to those of Addison. He aimed only at giving his papers an air of common speech;' and though improved by the example of Addison, his style never attained to accuracy or grace. Vivacity and ease are the highest qualities of his composition. He had, however, great fertility of invention, both as respects incident and character. His personages are drawn with dramatic spirit, and with a liveliness and airy facility, that blinds the reader to his defects. The Spectator Club, with its fine portraits of Sir Roger de Coverley, Sir Andrew Freeport, Will Honeycomb, &c., will ever remain a monument of the felicity of his fancy, and his power of seizing upon the shades and peculiarities of character. If Addison heightened the humour and interest of the different scenes, to Steele belongs the merit of the original design, and the first conception of the actors. We have already spoken of the prose style of Addison, and Dr Johnson's eulogium on it has almost passed into a proverb in the history of our literature. Whoever wishes,' says the critic and moralist, to attain an English style, familiar but not coarse, and elegant but not ostentatious, must give his days and nights to the volumes of Addison.' There he will find a rich but chaste vein of humour and satire-lessons of morality and religion divested of all austerity and gloom-criticism at once pleas. ing and profound-and pictures of national character and manners that must ever charm from their vivacity and truth. The mind of Addison was so happily constituted, that all its faculties appear to have been in healthy vigour and due proportion, and to have been under the control of correct taste and principles. Greater energy of character, or a more determined hatred of vice and tyranny, would have curtailed his usefulness as a public censor. He led the nation gently and insensibly to a love of virtue and constitutional freedom, to a purer taste in morals and literature, and to the importance of those everlasting truths which so warmly engaged his heart and imagination. Besides his inimitable essays, Addison wrote Remarks on Several Parts of Italy in the 1701, 1702, 1703, in which he has considered the passages of the ancient poets that have any tion to the places and curiosities he saw. style of this early work is remarkable for its order and simplicity, but seldom rises into eloquence. He published also Dialogues on the Usefulness of Ancient Medals, especially in relation to the Latin and Greek Poets, a treatise uniting patient research and originality of thought and conception. Pope addressed some beautiful lines to Addison on these Dialogues, in which he has complimented him with his usual felicity and grace :— years The literature died at the age of forty-seven, and that [Agreeable Companions and Flatterers.] An old acquaintance who met me this morning seemed overjoyed to see me, and told me I looked as well as he had known me do these forty years; but, continued he, not quite the man you were when we visited together at Lady Brightly's. Oh! Isaac, those days are over. Do you think there are any such fine creatures now living as we then conversed with! He went on with a thousand incoherent circumstances, which, in his imagination, must needs please me; but they had the quite contrary effect. The flattery with which he began, in telling me how well I wore, was not disagreeable; but his indiscreet mention of a set of acquaintance we had outlived, recalled ten thousand things to my memory, which made me reflect upon my present condition with regret. Had he indeed been so kind as, after a long absence, to felicitate me upon an indolent and easy old age, and mentioned how much he and I had to thank for, who at our time of day could walk firmly, eat heartily, and converse cheerfully, he had kept up my pleasure in myself. But of all mankind, there are none so shocking as these injudicious civil people. They ordinarily begin upon something that they know inust be a satisfaction; but then, for fear of the imputation of flattery, they follow it with the last thing in the world of which you would be reminded. It is this that perplexes civil persons. The reason that there is such a general outcry among us against flatterers, is, that in this life, and is a part of eloquence which does not there are so very few good ones. It is the nicest art want the preparation that is necessary to all other parts of it, that your audience should be your wellwishers; for praise from an enemy is the most pleasing of all commendations. agreeable to a man for a constancy, is he that has r It is generally to be observed, that the person most rela-ining qualities, but is a certain degree above great and who will either overlook or not observe his little imperfections, whom he can live with as his inferior, defects. Such an easy companion as this, either now and then throws out a little flattery, or lets a man silently flatter himself in his superiority to him. If you take notice, there is hardly a rich man in the world who has not such a led friend of small consideration, who is a darling for his insignificancy. It is a great ease to have one in our own shape a species below us, and who, without being listed in our service, is by nature of our retinue. These dependents are of excellent use on a rainy day, or when a man has not a mind to dress; or to exclude solitude, when one has neither a mind to that or to company. There are of this good-natured order who are so kind to divide themselves, and do these good offices to many. Five or six of them visit a whole quarter of the town, and exfrequent. If they do not prescribe physic, they can clude the spleen, without fees, from the families they be company when you take it. Very great benefactors to the rich, or those whom they call people at their ease, are your persons of no consequence. I have known some of them, by the help of a little cunning, make delicious flatterers. They know the course of the town, and the general characters of persons; by this means they will sometimes tell the most agreeable falsehoods imaginable. They will acquaint you that such one of a quite contrary party said, that though you were engaged in different interests, yet he had Touched by thy hand, again Rome's glories shine; The learning of Addison is otherwise displayed in the greatest respect for your good sense and address. When one of these has a little cunning, he passes his time in the utmost satisfaction to himself and his friends; for his position is never to report or speak a displeasing thing to his friend. As for letting him go on in an error, he knows advice against them is the office of persons of greater talents and less discretion. The Latin word for a flatterer (assentator) implies no more than a person that barely consents; and indeed such a one, if a man were able to purchase or maintain him, cannot be bought too dear. Such a one never contradicts you, but gains upon you, not by a fulsome way of commending you in broad terms, but liking whatever you propose or utter; at the same time is ready to beg your pardon, and gainsay you, if you chance to speak ill of yourself. An old lady is very seldom without such a companion as this, who can recite the names of all her lovers, and the matches refused by her in the days when she minded such vanities (as she is pleased to call them, though she so much approves the mention of them). It is to be noted, that a woman's flatterer is generally elder than herself, her years serving to recommend her patroness's age, and to add weight to her complaisance in all other particulars. We gentlemen of small fortunes are extremely necessitous in this particular. I have, indeed, one who smokes with me often; but his parts are so low, that all the incense he does me is to fill his pipe with me, and to be out at just as many whiffs as I take. This is all the praise or assent that he is capable of, yet there are more hours when I would rather be in his company than that of the brightest man I know. It would be a hard matter to give an account of this inclination to be flattered; but if we go to the bottom of it, we shall find that the pleasure in it is something like that of receiving money which lay out. Every man thinks he has an estate of reputation, and is glad to see one that will bring any of it home to him; it is no matter how dirty a bag it is conveyed to him in, or by how clownish a messenger, so the money is good. All that we want to be pleased with flattery, is to believe that the man is sincere who gives it us. It is by this one accident that absurd creatures often outrun the most skilful in this art. Their want of ability is here an advantage, and their bluntness, as it is the seeming effect of sincerity, is the best cover to artifice. Terence introduces a flatterer talking to a coxcomb, whom he cheats out of a livelihood, and a third person on the stage makes on him this pleasant remark, This fellow has an art of making fools madmen.' The love of flattery is indeed sometimes the weakness of a great mind; but you see it also in persons who otherwise discover no manner of relish of anything above mere sensuality. These latter it sometimes improves, but always debases the former. A fool is in himself the object of pity till he is flattered. By the force of that, his stupidity is raised into affectation, and he becomes of dignity enough to be ridiculous. I remember a droll, that upon one's saying the times are so ticklish that there must great care be taken what one says in conversation, answered with an air of surliness and honesty, If people will be free, let them be so in the manner that I am, who never abuse a man but to his face. He had no reputation for saying dangerous truths; therefore when it was repeated, You abuse a man but to his face? Yes, says he, I flatter him. It is, indeed, the greatest of injuries to flatter any but the unhappy, or such as are displeased with themselves for some infirmity. In this latter case we have a member of our club, that, when Sir Jeffrey falls asleep, wakens him with snoring. This makes Sir Jeffrey hold up for some moments the longer, to see there are men younger than himself among us, who are more lethargic than he is. When flattery is practised upon any other consideration, it is the most abject thing in nature; nay, I cannot think of any character below the flatterer, except he that envies him. You meet with fellows prepared to be as mean as possible in their condescensions and expressions; but they want persons and talents to rise up to such a baseness. As a coxcovab is a fool of parts, so a flatterer is a knave of parts. The best of this order that I know, is one who disguises it under a spirit of contradiction or reproof. He told an arrant driveller the other day, that he did not care for being in company with him, because he heard he turned his absent friends into ridicule. And upon Lady Autumn's disputing with him about something that happened at the Revolution, he replied with a very angry tone, Pray, madam, give me leave to know more of a thing in which I was actually concerned, than you who were then in your nurse's arms. [Quack Advertisements.] It gives me much despair in the design of reforming the world by my speculations, when I find there always arise, from one generation to another, successive cheats and bubbles, as naturally as beasts of prey and those which are to be their food. There is hardly a man in the world, one would think, so ignorant as not to know that the ordinary quack-doctors, who publish their abilities in little brown billets, distributed to all who pass by, are to a man impostors and murderers; yet such is the credulity of the vulgar, and the impudence of these professors, that the affair still goes on, and new promises of what was never done before are made every day. What aggravates the jest is, that even this promise has been made as long as the memory of man can trace it, and yet nothing performed, and yet still prevails. As I was passing along to-day, a paper given into my hand by a fellow without a nose, tells us as follows what good news is come to town, to wit, that there is now a certain cure for the French disease, by a gentleman just come from his travels. 'In Russel Court, over against the Cannon Ball, at the Surgeons' Arms, in Drury Lane, is lately come from his travels a surgeon, who hath practised surgery and physic, both by sea and land, these twenty-four years. He, by the blessing, cures the yellow jaundice, green-sickness, scurvy, dropsy, surfeits, long sea voyages, campaigns, &c., as some people that has been lame these thirty years can testify; in short, he cureth all discases incident to men, women, or children.' If a man could be so indolent as to look upon this havoc of the human species which is made by vice and ignorance, it would be a good ridiculous work to comment upon the declaration of this accomplished traveller. There is something unaccountably taking among the vulgar in those who come from a great way off. Ignorant people of quality, as many there are of such, dote excessively this way; many instances of which every man will suggest to himself, without my enumeration of them. The ignorants of lower order, who cannot, like the upper ones, be profuse of their money to those recommended by coming from a distance, are no less complaisant than the others; for they venture their lives for the same admiration. The doctor is lately come from his travels, and has practised both by sea and land, and therefore cures the green-sickness, long sea voyages, and campaigns.' Both by sea and land! I will not answer for the distempers called sea voyages and campaigns,' but I daresay that of green-sickness might be as well taken care of if the doctor stayed ashore. But the art of managing mankind is only to make them stare a little to keep up their astonishment; |