of the Lord's family had claimed the seignory, and the tenantry were divided in support of their claims. For the sake of distinction, one of the parties had painted their noses red, so that the two factions were thence denominated the red and white noses. The contest spread carnage and desolation through the manor for years, and the effects of it were never forgotten by the posterity of the combatants, as will appear from the following pious prayer of one of their poets or bards, who flourished many ages afterwards:

"Remember him, the villain, righteous heaven,
In thy great day of vengeance: blast the traitor
And his pernicious counsels; who, for wealth,
For pow'r, the pride of greatness, or revenge,
Would plunge his native land in civil wars.
Have we so soon forgot those days of ruin,
When, like a matron butcher'd by her sons,
And cast beside some common way, a spectacle
Of horror and affright to passers-by,

Our groaning country bled at every vein;
When murders, rapes, and massacres prevail'd;
When churches, palaces, and cities blaz'd;
When insolence and barbarism triumph'd,
And swept away distinction: peasants trod,

Upon the necks of nobles: low were laid
The rev'rend crozier, and the holy mitre,
And desolation cover'd all the land!
Who can remember this, and not, like me,
Here vow to sheathe a dagger in his heart,

Whose damn'd ambition would renew these horrors,
And set once more that scene of blood before us?"

It must be allowed, that the land which the Squire ploughed up, was either too common, or worn out, to produce any such seeds of dissention, and it would have been happy, perhaps, for the tenantry, if all his younger brethren had pursued his taste and example, in that respect at least.

VOL. I.

CHAPTER IX.

HOBBY-HORSES.-D KINGS AND COBLERS. THE PAS'SIONS ARE THE ORIGIN OF VIRTUES AND VICES. THE NEAR ALLIANCE BETWEEN THE TWO LATTER.- VANITY OCCASIONS MANY GOOD ACTS, PARTICULARLY THE CULTIVATION OF THE ARTS AND SCIENCES. AMAZING ADDITIONS MADE TO THE LIST OF THEM BY THE ENLIGHTENED MODERNS, HAVE RENDERED those oF THE ANCIENTS OBSOLETE AND USELESS. SOME INCONVENIENCES ATTEND MODERN ARTS AND SCIENCES, SUCH AS FRAUD AND MANY OTHER KINDS OF VICE.-VICE IS VICE WHETHER IN PRINCES OR PIG-DRIVERS.

ALL mankind, from the king to the cobler, have their hobby-horses, on which they ride over the course of life; some at full speed, some in a canter, some in a jog trot, and some in a walk, according to the ebullition or flatness of their animal spirits. Hence arises what natural philosophers term the distinction of

character. Now, as a hobby-horse will kick off a king as readily as a cobler, if he ride without judgement, a superiority of rank does not always ensure greater ease, happiness, or safety; and some philosophers who have had no more manners than hobby-horses, have asserted that as brutes make no distinction between persons, there is really none; that man is man, and that a cobler is as good a man as a king, and sometimes a better one. It is certain that if some kings have been an ornament, many, and by far the greater part, have been a disgrace to humanity, and we ourselves really believe that a good cobler is better than a bad king, as the former always continues mending, and the latter grows worse and worse; but, in general, there can be no parallel, drawn between a sceptre and an awl. It is, however an immutable law laid down by Nature, the Steward (or more properly Stewardess) of the course of life, that no han, whether king or cobler, shall ride his hobby in such a manner as to injure another; and Justice, who is the clerk of the course, is to take care that all, who enter their hobbies, shall run fair, and not cross or

jostle his neighbour. But laws are, with too much truth, we fear, likened to cobwebs, in which feeble flies are entangled, whilst more powerful drones break through them at pleasure. Our Squire's hobby proved restive at the outset, and created no small confusion on the course.

To drop metaphor, Reader; these hobbyhorses are only the passions, which impel man through his career of life. All of them, even the most vicious, may be made useful, if they are kept in proper subjection by the rein of reason. Ambition, it has been justly observed, becomes true honour; lust, virtuous loye; and ayarice, prudence:

"As fruits ungrateful to the planter's care,
On savage stock inserted learn to bear;
The surest Virtues thus from passions shoot,
Wild Nature's vigour working at the root.
What crops of wit and honesty appear
From spleen, from obstinacy, hate or fear!
See anger, zeal and fortitude supply;
Ev'n av'rice, prudence; sloth, philosophy;
Lust thro' some certain strainers well refin'd,
Is gentle love, and charms all womankind ;-
Envy, to which th' ignoble mind 's a slave;
Is emulation in the learn'd or brave: