of different ranks and interefts; for where they are of the fame rank, and confequently have an intereft to manage peculiar to that rank, it differs but little from a defpotical government in a fingle perfon. But the greateft fecurity a people can have for their liberty, is when the legislative power is in the hands of perfons fo happily diftinguifhed, that by providing for the particular interetts of their feveral ranks, they are providing for the whole body of the people; or in other words, when there is no part of the people that has not a common intereft with at least one part of the legiflators.

If there be but one body of legiflators, it is no better than a tyranny; if there are only two, there will want a cafting voice, and one of them muft at length be fwallowed up by difputes and contentions that will neceffarily arife between them. Four would have the fame inconvenience as two, and a greater number would caufe too much confufion. I could never read a paflage in Polybius, and another in Cicero, to this purpofe, without a fecret pleafure in applying it to the English conftitution, which it fuits much better than the Roman. Both thefe great authors give the pre-eminence to a mixt govern ment, confifting of three branches, the regal, the noble, and the popular. They had doubtlefs in their thoughts the conftitution of the Roman commonwealth, in which the conful reprefented the king, the fenate the nobles, and the tribunes the people. This divifion of the three powers in the Roman conftitution was by no means so diftin&t and natural, as it is in the English form of government. Among feveral objections that might be made to it, I think the chief are thofe that affect the confular power, which had only the ornaments without the force of the regal authority. Their number had not a cafting voice in it; for which reafon, if one did not chance to be employed abroad, while the other fat at home, the public bufinefs was fometimes at a ftand, while the confuls pulled two different ways in it. Befides, I do not find that the confuls had ever a negative voice in the paffing of a law, or decree of fenate, fo that indeed they were rather the chief body of the nobili ty, or the first minifters of state, than a diftin&t branch of the fovereignty, in which none can be looked upon as a part,

who are not a part of the legislature. Had the confuls been invefted with the regal authority to as great a degree as our monarchs, there would never have been any occafions for a dictatorship, which had in it the power of all the three orders, and ended in the fubversion of the whole conftitution.

Such an history as that of Suetonius, which gives us a fucceffion of abfolute princes, is to me an unanfwerable argument against defpotic power. Where the prince is a man of wifdom and vir tue, it is indeed happy for his people that he is abfolute; but fince in the common run of mankind, for one that is wife and good you find ten of a contrary character, it is very dangerous for a nation to ftand to it's chance, or to have it's public happiness or mifery depend on the virtues or vices of a tingle perfon. Look into the history I have mentioned, or into any feries of abfolute princes, how many tyrants muft you read through, before you come to an emperor that is fupportable. But this is not all; an honeft private man often grows cruel and abandoned, when converted into an abfolute prince. Give a man power of doing what he pleafes with impunity, you extinguish his fear, and confequently overturn in him one of the great pillars of morality. This too we find confirmed by matter of fact. How many hopeful heirs apparent to grand empires, when in the poffeffion of them, have become fuch monsters of lust and cruelty as are a reproach to human

nature.

Some tell us we ought to make our governments on earth like that in heaven, which, fay they, is altogether monarchical and unlimited. Was man like his Creator in goodnets and juftice, I should be for following this great model; but where goodness and justice are not effential to the ruler, I would by no means put myself into his hands to be difpofed of according to his particular will and pleasure.

It is odd to confider the connection between defpotic government and barbarity, and how the making of one perfon more than man, makes the rett lefs. About nine parts of the world in ten are in the loweft ftate of flavery, and confequently funk in the soft grofs and brutal ignorance. European flavery is indeed a state of liberty, if compared with that which prevails in the other

three

three divifions of the world; and therefore it is no wonder that thofe who grovel under it have many tracks of light among them, of which the others are wholly deftitute.

Riches and plenty are the natural fruits of liberty; and where thefe abound, learning, and all the liberal arts, will immediately lift up their heads and flourish. As a man must have no flavish fears and apprehenfions hang ing upon his mind, who will indulge the flights of fancy or fpeculation, and pufh his researches into all the abstruse corners of truth, fo it is neceffary for him to have about him a competency of all the conveniencies of life.

The first thing every one looks after, is to provide himself with neceffaries. This point will engrofs our thoughts until it be fatisfied. If this is taken care of to our hands, we look out for pleasures and amufements; and among a great number of idle people, there will be many whofe pleafures will lie in reading and contemplation. Thefe are the two great fources of knowledge, and as men grow wife they naturally love to communicate their difcoveries; and others feeing the happinefs of fuch a learned life, and improving by their converfation, emulate, imitate, and furpafs one another, until a nation is filled with races of wife and underftanding perfons. Eafe and plenty are therefore the great cherishers of know. ledge: and as most of the defpotic governments of the world have neither of them, they are naturally over-run with ignorance and barbarity.

In

Europe, indeed, notwithstanding feveral of it's princes are abfolute, there are men famous for knowledge and learning; but the reafon is becaufe the fubjects are many of them rich and wealthy, the prince not thinking fit to exert himfelf in his full tyranny like the princes of the eastern nations, left his fubjects fhould be invited to new-mould their conftitution, having fo many profpects of liberty within their view. But in all defpotic governments, though a par ticular prince may favour arts and letters, there is a natural degeneracy of mankind, as you may obferve from Auguftus's reign, how the Romans lott themfelves by degrees until they fell to an equality with the moft barbarous nations that furrounded them. Lock upon Greece under it's free ftates, and you would think it's inhabitants lived in different climates, and under different heavens, from thofe at prefent; fo different are the geniufes which are formed under Turkish flavery, and Grecian liberty.

Befides poverty and want, there are other reafons that debafe the minds of men, who live under flavery, though I look on this as the principal. This natural tendency of defpotic power to ignorance and barbarity, though not infilted upon by others, is, I think, an unanfwerable argument against that form of government, as it fhews how repugnant it is to the good of mankind, and the perfection of human nature, which ought to be the great ends of all civil inftitutions.

L

HOR. EP. VI. L. I. VER. IC.

may appear to have fome fenfe of gallantry, think they must pay their devoirs to one particular fair; in order to which they fingle out from amongst the herd of females her to whom they defign to make their fruitless addreffes. This done, they first take every opportunity of being in her company, and then never fail upon all occafions to be particular to her, laying themfelves at her feet, protesting the reality of their paffion

with

with a thousand oaths, foliciting a return, and faying as many fine things as their stock of wit will allow; and if they are not deficient that way, generally fpeak fo as to admit of a double interpretation; which the credulous fair is too apt to turn to her own advantage, fince it frequently happens to be a raw, innocent, young creature, who thinks all the world as fincere as herself, and fo her unwary heart becomes an eafy prey to thofe deceitful moniters, who no fooner perceive it, but immediately they grow cool, and fhun her whom they before seemed fo much to admire, and proceed to act the fame common. place villainy towards another. A coxcomb flushed with many of these in famous victories fhall fay he is forry for the poor fools, proteft and vow he never thought of matrimony, and wonder talking civilly can be fo ftrangely mifinterpreted. Now, Mr. Spectator, you that are a profeffed friend to love, will, I hope, obferve upon thofe who abufe that noble paffion, and raife it in innocent minds by a deceitful affectation of it, after which they defert the enamoured. Pray beftow a little of your counsel to thofe fond believing females who already have or are in danger of broken hearts; in which you will oblige a great part of this town, but in a particular manner, Sir, your (yet heartwhole) admirer, and devoted humble fervant,

MELAINIA.

Melainia's complaint is occafioned by fo general a folly, that it is wonderful one could fo long overlook it. But this falfe gallantry proceeds from an impotence of mind, which makes thofe who are guilty of it incapable of pursuing what they themselves approve. Many a man wishes a woman his wife whom he dare not take for fuch. Though no one has power over his inclinations or fortunes, he is a flave to common fame. For this reafon I think Melainia gives them too foft a name in that of male coquets. I know not why irrefolution of mind should not be more contemptible than impotence of body; and thefe frivolous admirers would be but tenderly used, in being only included in the fame term with the infufficient another way. They whom my correfpondent calls male coquets, fhould hereafter be called fribblers. A fribbler is one who

profeffes rapture and admiration for the woman to whom he addreffes, and dreads nothing fo much as her confent. His heart can flutter by the force of imagination, but cannot fix from the force of judgment. It is not uncommon for the parents of young women of moderate fortune to wink at the addreffes of fribblers, and expofe their children to the ambiguous behaviour which Melainia complains of, until by the fond nefs to one they are to lofe, they become incapable of love towards others, and by confequence in their future marriage lead a joyless or a miferable life. As therefore I fhall in the fpeculations which regard love be as fevere as I ought on jilts and libertine women, fo will I be as little merciful to insignificant and mifchievous men. In order to this, all vifitants who frequent families wherein there are young females, are forthwith required to declare themselves, or abfent from places where their prefence banishes fuch as would pass their time more to the advantage of those whom they vifit. It is a matter of too great moment to be dallied with: and I shall expect from all my young people a fatisfactory account of appearances. Strephon has from the publication hereof feven days to explain the riddle he prefented to Eudamia; and Chloris an hour after this comes to her hand, to declare whether he will have Philotas, whom a woman of no lefs merit than herself, and of fuperior fortune, languishes to call her own.

SIR,

TO THE SPECTATOR.

SINCE fo many dealers turn authors,

and write quaint advertisements in praise of their wares, one who from an author turned dealer may be allowed for the advancement of trade to turn author again. I will not, however, fet up like fome of them, for felling cheaper than the most able honest tradelinen can; nor do I fend this to be better known for choice and cheapness of china and japan wares, tea, fans, muflins, pictures, arrack, and other Indian goods. Placed as I am in Leadenhall Street, near the India Company, and the centre of that trade, thanks to my fair cuftomers, my warehoufe is graced as well as the benefit-days of my plays and operas; and the foreign goods I fell 4 A

feem no less acceptable than the foreign books I tranflated, Rabelais and Don Quixote: this the critics allow me; and while they like my wares they may dif praife my writing. But as it is not fo well known yet that I frequently crofs the feas of late, and fpeaking Dutch and French, belides other languages, I have the conveniency of buying and importing rich brocades, Dutch atlas's, with gold and filver, or without, and other foreign filks of the newest modes and beft fabrics, fine Flanders lace, linens, and pictures, at the beft hand; this my new way of trade I have fallen into I cannot better publish than by an application to you. My wares are fit only for fuch as your readers; and I would beg of you to print this addrefs in your paper, that thofe whofe minds you adorn may take the ornaments for their perfons and houfes from me. This, Sir, if I may prefume to beg it, will be the greater favour, as I have lately received rich filks and fine lace to a confiderable value, which will be fold cheap

for a quick return, and as I have alfo a large flock of other goods. Indian filks were formerly a great branch of our trade; and fince we must not fell them, we must feek amends by dealing in others. This I hope will plead for one who would leffen the number of teazers of the mufes, and who, fuiting his fpirit to his circumftances, humbles the poet to exalt the citizen. Like a true tradefiman, I hardly ever look into any books but thofe of accounts. Το fay the truth, I cannot, I think, give you a better idea of my being a downright man of traffic, than by acknow ledging I oftener read the advertisements, than the matter of even your paper. I am under a great temptation to take this opportunity of admonishing other writers to follow my example, and trouble the town no more; but as it is my prefent bufinefs to encrease the number of buyers rather than fellers, I haften to tell you that I am, Sir, your most hum, ble and moft obedient fervant, Τ

PETER MOTTEUX,

HOR, OD. IV. L. I. VER. IS

UPON

CAEECH.

pers, I may poffibly make my escape out of this world of forrows, into that condition of existence, wherein I hope to be happier than it is poffible for me at prefent to conceive.

But this is not all the ufe I make of the above-mentioned weekly paper. A bill of mortality is in my opinion an unanswerable argument for a Providence. How can we, without fuppof ing ourselves under the conftant care of a Supreme Being, give any poffible account for that nice proportion, which we find in every great eity, between the deaths and births of it's inhabitants, and between the number of males and that of females, who are brought into the world? What else could adjust in fo exact a manner the recruits of every nation to it's loffes, and divide thele new fupplies of people into fuch equal bodies of both fexes? Chance could never hold the halance with fo fteady a hand. Were we not counted out by an

intelligent

intelligent Supervifor, we fhould fome. times be over-charged with multitudes, and at others waste away into a defart: we fhould be fometimes a populus virorum, as Florus elegantly expreffes it, a generation of males,' and at others à fpecies of women. We may extend this confideration to every fpecies of living creatures, and confider the whole animal world as an huge army made up of innumerable corps, if I may ufe that term, whofe quotas have been kept entire near five thousand years, in fo wonderful a manner, that there is not probably a fingle fpecies lott during this long tract of time. Could we have general bills of mortality of every kind of animals, or particular ones of every Ipecies in each continent and ifland, I could almoft fay in every wood, marfh, or mountain, what aftonishing inftances would they be of that Providence which watches over all it's works!

I have heard of a great man in the Romish church, who, upon reading thofe words in the fifth chapter of Genefis And all the days that Adam ⚫ lived were nine hundred and thirty years, and he died, and all the days of Seth were nine hundred and twelve years, and he died; and all the days of Methufelah were nine hundred and fixty-nine years, and he died;' immediately fhut himself up in a convent, and retired from the world, as not thinking any thing in this life worth purfuing, which had not regard to another.

The truth of it is, there is nothing in history which is fo improving to the reader, as thofe accounts which we meet with of the deaths of eminent perfons, and of their behaviour in that dreadful season. I may alfo add, that there are no parts in hiftory which affect and please the reader in fo fenfible a manner. The reason I take to be this, because there is no other fingle circumftance in the ftory of any perfon, which can poffibly be the cafe of every one who reads it. A battle or a triumph are conjunctures in which not one man in a million is likely to be engaged; but when we fee a perfon at the point of death, we cannot forbear being attentive to every thing he fays or does, becaufe we are fure that fome time or other we shall ourfelves be in the fame melancholy circumftances. The general, the ftatesman, or the philofopher, are perhaps characters which we may never a&t in,

but the dying man is one whom, fooner or later, we shall certainly refemble.

It is, perhaps, for the fame kind of reafon that few books, written in Englifh, have been fo much perufed as Dr. Sherlock's difcourfe upon death; though at the fame time I must own, that he who has not perused this excellent piece, has not perhaps read one of the strongest perfuafives to a religious life that ever was written in any language.

The confideration, with which I fhall clofe this effay upon death, is one of the mott ancient and most beaten morals that has been recommended to mankind. But it's being fo very common, and se univerfally received, though it takes away from it the grace of novelty, adds very much to the weight of it, as it fhews that it falls in with the general fenfe of mankind. In short, I would have every one confider, that he is in this life nothing more than a paffenger, and that he is not to fet up his rett here, but to keep an attentive eye upon that ftate of being to which he approaches every moment, and which will be for ever fixed and permanent. This fingle confideration would be fufficient to extinguish the bitterness of hatred, the thirst of avarice, and the cruelty of ambition.

I am very much pleased with the paffage of Antiphanes, a very ancient poet,' who lived near an hundred years before Socrates, which reprefents the life of man under this view, as I have here tranflated it word for word. Be not grieved, fays he, above measure for thy deceafed friends. They are not dead, but have only finished that journey which it is neceffary for every one of us to take. We ourlelves muit go to that great place of reception in which they are all of them affembled, and in this general rendezvous of mankind, live together in another state of being.

I think I have, in a former paper, taken notice of thofe beautiful meta phors in Scripture, where life is termed a pilgrimage, and thofe who pafs through it are called ftrangers and fojourners upon earth. I fhail conclude this with a tory, which I have fomewhere read in the travels of Sir John Chardin: that gentleman after having told us, that the inns which receive the caravans in Perfia, and the eastern countries, are called by the name of caravanfaries,