THIS Gentleman's Conduct, tho' a very common way of Management, is as ridiculous as that Officer's would be, who had but few Men under his Command, and fhould take the Charge of an Extent of Country rather than of a small Pafs. To pay for, perfonate, and keep in a Man's Hands, a greater Estate than he really has, is of all others the most unpardonable Vanity, and must in the End reduce the Man who is guilty of it to Dishonour. Yet if we look round us in any County of Great Britain, we fhall fee many in this fatal Error; if that may be called by fo foft a Name, which proceeds from a falfe Shame of appearing what they really are, when the contrary Behaviour would in a fhort Time advance them to the Condition which they pretend to. LAERTES has fifteen hundred Pounds a Year; which is mortgaged for fix thousand Pounds; but it is impoffible to convince him that if he fold as much as would pay off that Debt, he would fave four Shillings in the Pound, which he gives for the Vanity of being the reputed Mafter of it. Yet if Laertes did this, he would, perhaps, be eafier in his own Fortune; but then Irus, a Fellow of Yefterday, who has but twelve hundred a Year, would be his Equal. Rather than this fhall be, Laertes goes on to bring well-born Beggars into the World, and every Twelve-month charges his Eftate with at least one Year's Rent more by the Birth of a Child. LAERTES and Irus are Neighbours, whofe Way of living are an Abomination to each other. Irus is moved by the Fear of Poverty, and Laertes by the Shame of it. Tho' the Motive of Action is of fo near Affinity in both, and may be refolved into this, "that to each of them Pover"ty is the greatest of all Evils," yet are their Manners very widely different. Shame of Poverty makes Laertes launch into unneceffary Equipage, vain Expence, and lavish Entertainments; Fear of Poverty makes Irus allow himself only plain Neceffaries, appear without a Servant, fell his own Corn, attend his Labourers, and be himself a Labourer. Shame of Poverty makes Laertes go every Day a Step nearer to it: and Fear of Poverty ftirs up Irus to make every Day fome further Progrefs from it. THESE different Motives produce the Exceffes which Men are guilty of in the Negligence of and Provifion for F 2 thems themselves. Ufury, Stock-Jobbing, Extortion and Oppreffion, have their Seed in the Dread of Want; and Vanity, Riot and Prodigality, from the Shame of it: But both thefe Exceffes are infinitely below the Pursuit of a reasonable Creature. After we have taken Care to command fo much as is neceffary for maintaining our felves in the Order of Men fuitable to our Character, the Care of Superfluities is a Vice no less extravagant, than the Neglect of Neceffaries would have been before. CERTAIN it is, that they are both out of Nature, when she is followed with Reafon and good Senfe. It is from this Reflection that I always read Mr. Cowley with the greatest Pleasure: His Magnanimity is as much above that of other confiderable Men, as his Understanding; and it is a true diftinguifhing Spirit in the elegant Author who publifhed his Works, to dwell fo much upon the Temper of his Mind and the Moderation of his Defires: By this Means he has rendered his Friend as amiable as famous. That State of Life which bears the Face of Poverty with Mr. Cowley's great Vulgar, is admirably defcribed; and it is no fmall Satisfaction to thofe of the fame Turn of Defire, that he produces the Authority of the wifeft Men of the beft Age of the World, to ftrengthen his Opinion of the ordinary Purfuits of Mankind. IT would methinks be no ill Maxim of Life, if according to that Anceftor of Sir ROGER, whom I lately mentioned, every Man would point to himself what Sum he would refolve not to exceed. He might by this Means cheat himself into a Tranquility on this Side of that Expectation, or convert what he should get above it to nobler Ufes than his own Pleafures or Neceffities. This Temper of Mind would exempt a Man from an ignorant Envy of restless Men above him, and a more inexcufable Contempt of happy Men below him, This would be failing by fome Compafs, living with fome Design; but to be eternally bewildered in Profpects of future Gain, and putting on unneceffary Armour againft improbable Blows of Fortune, is a Mechanick Being which has not good Senfe for its Direction, but is carried on by a fort of acquired Inftinct towards things below our Confideration and unworthy our Efteem. It is poffible that the Tranquility I now enjoy at Sir ROGER'S may have created in me this Way Way of Thinking, which is fo abftracted from the common Relish of the World: But as I am now in a pleafing Arbour furrounded with a beautiful Landskip, I find no Inclination fo ftrong as to continue in thefe Manfions, fo remote from the oftentatious Scenes of Life; and am at this prefent Writing Philofopher enough to conclude with Mr. Cowley, If e'er Ambition did my Fancy cheat, T N° 115. B Thursday, July 12. -Ut fit Mens fana in Corpore fano. Juv. ODILY Labour is of two kinds, either that which a Man fubmits to for his Livelihood, or that which he undergoes for his Pleafure. The latter of them generally changes the Name of Labour for that of Exercife, but differs only from ordinary Labour as it rifes from another Motive. A Country Life abounds in both these kinds of Labour, and for that Reafon gives a Man a greater Stock of Health, and confequently a more perfect Enjoyment of himself, than any other Way of Life. I confider the Body as a Syftem of Tubes and Glands, or to ufe a more Ruftick Phrafe, a Bundle of Pipes and Strainers, fitted to one another after fo wonderful a Manner as to make a proper Engine for the Soul to work with. This Defcription does not only comprehend the Bowels, Bones, Tendons, Veins, Nerves and Arteries, but every Mufcle and every Ligature, which is a Compofition of Fibres, that are fo many imperceptible Tubes or Pipes interwoven on all fides with invifible Glands or Strainers. THIS general Idea of a human Body, without confidering it in the Niceties of Anatomy, lets us fee how abfolutely neceffary Labour is for the right Prefervation of it. There must be frequent Motions and Agitations, to F 3 mix, 2 mix, digeft, and fepárate the Juices contained in it, as well as to clear and cleanfe that Infinitude of Pipes and Strainers of which it is compofed, and to give their folid Parts a more firm and lafting Tone. Labour or Exercise ferments the Humours, cafts them into their proper Channels, throws off Redundancies, and helps Nature in those fecret Diftributions without which the Body cannot subfift in its Vigour, nor the Soul act with Chearfulness. I might here mention the Effects which this has upon all the Faculties of the Mind, by keeping the Understanding clear, the Imagination untroubled, and refining those Spirits that are neceffary for the proper Exertion of our intellectual Faculties, during the prefent Laws of Union between Soul and Body. It is to a Neglect in this Particular that we muft afcribe the Spleen, which is fo frequent in Men of ftudious and fedentary Tempers, as well as the Vapours to which those of the other Sex are so often Subject. HAD not Exercife been abfolutely neceffary for our Well-being, Nature would not have made the Body fo proper for it, by giving fuch an Activity to the Limbs, and fuch a Pliancy to every Part as neceffarily produce thofe Compreffions, Extentions, Contortions, Dilatations, and all other kinds of Motions that are neceffary for the Prefervation of fuch a Syftem of Tubes and Glands as has been before mentioned. And that we might not want Inducements to engage us in fuch an Exercife of the Body as is proper for its Welfare, it is fo ordered that nothing valuable can be procured without it. Not to mention Riches and Honour, even Food and Raiment are not to be come at without the Toil of the Hands and Sweat of the Brows. Providence furnishes Materials, but expects that we should Work them up our felves. The Earth must be laboured before it gives its Encrease, and when it is forced into its feveral Products, how many Hands must they pass through before they are fit for Ufe? Manufaatures, Trade, and Agriculture, naturally employ more than nineteen Parts of the Species in twenty; and as for those who are not obliged to Labour, by the Condition in which they are born, they are more miserable than the rest of Mankind, unless they indulge themselves in that voJuntary Labour which goes by the Name of Excercife. MY MY Friend Sir ROGER has been an indefatigable Min in Business of this kind, and has hung feveral Parts of his Houfe with the Trophies of his former Labours. The Walls of his great Hall are covered with the Horns of feveral kinds of Deer that he has killed in the Chace, which he thinks the most valuable Furniture of his House, as they afford him frequent Topicks of Difcourfe, and fhew that he has not been Idle. At the lower end of the Hall is a large Otter's Skin ftuffed with Hay, which his Mother ordered to be hung up in that manner, and the Knight looks upon with great Satisfaction, because it seems he was but nine Years old when his Dog killed him. A little Room adjoyning to the Hall is a kind of Arsenal filled with Guns of feveral Sizes and Inventions, with which the Knight has made great Havock in the Woods, and destroyed many thousands of Pheasants, Partridges and Wood-cocks. His Stable Doors are patched with Nofes that belonged to Foxes of the Knight's own hunting down. Sir ROGER shewed me one of them that for Distinction fake has a Brafs Nail ftruck through it, which coft him about fifteen Hours riding, carried him through half a dozen Counties, killed him a Brace of Geldings, and loft above half his Dogs. This the Knight looks upon as one of the greatest Exploits of his Life. The perverfe Widow, whom I have given fome Account of, was the Death of feveral Foxes; for Sir ROGER has told me that in the Courfe of his Amours he patched the Western Door of his Stable. Whenever the Widow was cruel, the Foxes were fure to pay for it. In Proportion as his Paffion for the Widow abated, and old Age came on, he left off Fox-hunting; but a Hare is not yet fafe that fits within ten Miles of his House. THERE is no kind of Exercife which I would fo recommend to my Readers of both Sexes as this of Riding, as there is none which fo much conduces to Health, and is every way accommodated to the Body, according to the Idea which I have given of it. Doctor Sydenham is very lavish in its Praises; and if the English Reader would fee the Mechanical Effects of it defcribed at length, he may find them in a Book published not many Years fince, under the Title of Medicina Gymnaftica. For my own Part, when I am in Town, for want of thefe Opportunities, I exercise my self an Hour every Morning upon a dumb Bell F4 that' |