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till I have got another leg. In fact, the feeble or the defpotic alone find pleafure in multiplying these pageants of vanity, but ftrength and freedom have nobler aims, and often find the fineft adulation in majestic fimplicity.

The young monarch of this country has already teftified a proper contempt for several unmeaning appendages on royalty; cooks and fcullions have been obliged to quit their fires; gentlemen's gentlemen, and the whole tribe of necessary people, who did nothing, have been difmiffed from further fervices. A youth, who can thus bring back fimplicity and frugality to a court will foon probably have a true refpect for his own glory, and while he has difmiffed all ufelefs employments, may difdain to accept of empty or degrading titles. Adieu.

LETTER CXX.

FROM THE SAME.

WHENEVER I attempt to characterize the EngJifh in general, fome unforeseen difficulties conftantly occur to difconcert my defign; I hefitate be tween cenfure and praise: when I confider them as reafoning philofophical people, they have my applaufe; but when I reverse the medal, and obferve their inconftancy and irrefolution, I can fcarcely perfuade myself that I am obferving the fame people.

Yet upon examination, this very inconftancy, fo remarkable here, flows from no other fource than their love of reafoning. The man who examines a complicated fubject on every fide, and calls in reafon

to

to his affiftance, will frequently change; will find himself distracted by oppofing probabilities and contending proofs; every alteration of place will diverfify the profpect, will give fome latent argument new force, and contribute to maintain an anarchy in the mind.

On the contrary, they who never examine with their own reafon, act with more fimplicity: Ignorance is pofitive, inftinct perfeveres, and the human being moves in fafety within the narrow circle of brutal uniformity. What is true with regard to individuals, is not lefs fo when applied to ftates. A reafoning government like this is in continual fluctuation, while those kingdoms where men are taught not to controvert but obey, continue always the fame. In Afia, for inftance, where the monarch's authority is fupported by force, and acknowledged through fear, a change of government is entirely unknown. All the inhabitants feem to wear the fame mental complexion, and remain contented with hereditary oppreffion. The fovereign's pleafure is the ultimate rule of duty, every branch of the adminif tration is a perfect epitome of the whole; and if one tyrant is depofed, another ftarts up in his room to govern as his predeceffor. The English, on the contrary, instead of being led by power, endeavour to guide themselves by reafon; inftead of appealing to the pleasure of the prince, appeal to the original rights of mankind. What one rank of men affert is denied by others, as the reasons on oppofite fides happen to come home with greater or lefs conviction. The people of Afia are directed by precedent, which never alters; the English by reafon, which is ever changing its appearance.

The difadvantages of an Afiatic government ac ting in this manner by precedent are evident; original errors are thus continued, without hopes of

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redress,

redress, and all marks of genius are levelled down to one standard, fince no fuperiority of thinking can be allowed its exertion in mending obvious defects. But to recompence thofe defects, their governments undergo no new alterations, they have no new evils to fear, nor no fermentations in the conftitution that continue the struggle for power is foon over, and all becomes tranquil as before; they are habituated to fubordination, and men are taught to form no other defires, than those which they are allowed to fatisfy.

The difadvantages of a government acting from the immediate influence of reason, like that of England, are not less than those of the former. It is extremely difficult to induce a number of free beings to co-operate for their mutual benefit; every poffible advantage will neceffarily be fought, and every at, tempt to procure it must be attended with a new fermentation; various reafons will lead different ways, and equity and advantage will often be out-balanced by a combination of clamour and prejudice. But though fuch a people may be thus in the wrong, they have been influenced by an happy delufion, their errors are seldom feen till they are felt; each man is himself the tyrant he has obeyed, and fuch a mafter he can eafily forgive. The difadvantages he feels may in reality be equal to what is felt in the most defpotic government; but man will bear every calamity with patience, when he knows himself to be the author of his own misfortunes. Adieu.

LETTER

LETTER CXXI.

FROM THE SAME.

MY Y long refidence here begins to fatigue me, as every object ceafes to be new, it no longer continues to be pleafing; fome minds are fo fond of variety that pleasure itself, if permanent, would be infupportable, and we are thus obliged to folicit new happiness even by courting diftrefs: I only therefore wait the arrival of my fon to vary this trifling scene, and borrow new pleasure from danger and fatigue. A life, I own, thus fpent in wandering from place to place, is at beft but empty diffipation. But to purfue trifles is the lot of humanity; and whether we buftle in a pantomime, or ftrut at a coronation; whether we fhout at a bonfire, or harangue in a senate houfe; whatever object we follow, it will at last furely conduct us to futility and difappointment. The wife buftle and laugh as they walk in the pageant, but fools buftle and are important; and this probably is all the difference between them.

This may be an apology for the levity of my former correfpondence; I talked of trifles, and I knew that they were trifles; to make the things of this life ridiculous, it was only fufficient to call them by their

names.

In other refpects, I have omitted feveral ftriking circumftances in the defcription of this country, as fuppofing them either already known toyou, or as not being thoroughly known to myfelf: but there is one omiffion for which I expect no forgiveness, namely, by being totally filent upon their buildings, roads, rivers, and mountains.

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mountains. This is a branch of fcience on which all other travellers are fo very prolix, that my deficiency will appear the more glaring. With what pleasure, for inftance, do fome read of a traveller in Egypt, meafuring a fallen column with his cane, and finding it exactly five feet nine inches long; of his creeping through the mouth of a catacomb, and coming out by a different hole from that he entered; of his ftealing the finger of an antique ftatue, in fpite of the janizary that watched him; or his adding a new conjecture to the hundred and fourteen conjectures already publifhed, upon the names of Ofiris and Ifis.

Methinks I hear fome of my friends in China demanding a fimilar account of London and the adjacent villages; and if I remain here much longer, it is probable I may gratify their curiofity. I intend, when run dry on other topics, to take a ferious furvey of the city-wall; to defcribe that beautiful building the manfion-houfe; I will enumerate the magni ficent fquares, in which the nobility chiefly refide, and the royal palaces appointed for the reception of the English monarch; nor will I forget the beauties of Shoe-lane, in which I myself have refided fince my arrival. You fhall find me no way inferior to many of my brother travellers in the arts of defcription. At prefent, however, as a fpecimen of this way of writing, I send you a few hafty remarks, collected in a late journey I made to Kentish Town, and this in the manner of modern voyagers.

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Having heard much of Kentish Town, I con 'ceived a strong defire to fee that celebrated place. I could have wifhed indeed to fatisfy my curiofity without going thither; but that was impracticable, ⚫ and therefore I refolved to go. Travellers have two • methods of going to Kentish Town; they take coach which coits nine pence, or they may go a foot which cofts nothing; in my opinion, a coach

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