different objects that made up this whimfical groupe, a figure fuddenly darted by us, mounted and dreffed in all the elegance of thofe polite gentry, who come to fhew you they have a little money, and rather than pay their juft debts at home generously come abroad to beftow it on gamblers and pickpockets. As I had not an opportunity of viewing his face till his return, I gently walked after him, and met him as he came back, when to my no fmall furprise I beheld in this gay Narciffus the vifage of Jack Varnish, an humble vender of prints. Difgufted at the fight, I pulled my friend by the fleeve, preffed him to return home, telling him all the way, that I was fo enraged at the fellow's impudence, I was refolved never to lay out another penny with him. And now, pray fir, let me beg of you to give this a place in your paper, that Mr. Varnish may understand he mistakes the thing quite, if he imagines horfe-racing recommendable in a tradefman ; and that he, who is revelling every night in the arms of a common ftrumpet (though bleffed with an indulgent wife) when he ought to be minding his bufinefs, will never thrive in this world. He will find himself soon mistaken, his finances decrease, his friends fhun him, cuftomers fall off, and himself thrown into a gaol. I would earneftly recommend this adage to every mechanic in London, Keep your fhop, and your fhop will keep you." A ftrict obfervance of these words will, I am fure, in time gain them eftates. Induftry is the road to wealth, and honefty to happinefs; and he, who ftrenuously endeavours to puriue them both, may never fear the critic's lafh, or the fharp cries of penury and 66 want. 66 SABINUS SABINUS AND OLINDA. IN a fair, rich, and flourishing country, whose clifts are washed by the German ocean, lived Sabinus, a youth formed by Nature to make a conqueft wherever he thought proper; but the conftancy of his difpofition fixed him only with Olinda. He was indeed fuperior to her in fortune, but that defect on her fide was fo amply supplied by her merit, that none was thought more worthy of his regards than she. He loved her, he was beloved by her; and in a fhort time, by joining hands publickly, they avowed the union of their hearts. But alas! none, however fortunate, however happy, are exempt from the fhafts of envy, and the malignant effects of ungoverned appetite. How unfafe, how deteftable are they who have this fury for their guide! How certainly will it lead them from themselves, and plunge them in errors they would have fhuddered at, even in apprehenfion! Ariana, a lady of many amiable qualities, very nearly allied to Sabinus, and highly efteemed by him, imagined herself flighted, and injurioufly treated, fince his marriage with Olinda. By uncautiously fuffering this jealousy to corrode in her breaft, fhe began to give a loose to paffion; fhe forgot those many virtues, for which the had been fo long and fo juftly applauded. Caufelefs fufpicion and miftaken refentment betrayed her into all the gloom of difcontent; fhe fighed without ceafing; the happiness of others gave her intolerable pain; the thought of nothing but revenge. How unlike what fhe was, the cheerful, the prudent, the compaffionate Ariana! She continually laboured to disturb an union fo firmly, fo affectionately founded, and planned every fcheme which the thought moft likely to disturb it. 4 Fortune Fortune feemed willing to promote her unjuft intentions; the circumftances of Sabinus had been long embarraffed by a tedious lawfuit, and the court determining the caufe unexpectedly in favour of his opponent, it funk his fortune to the lowest pitch of penury from the higheft affluence. From the nearnefs of relationship Sabinus expected from Ariana thofe affiftances his prefent fituation required; but she was infenfible to all his entreaties, and the juftice of every remonftrance, unless he first separated from Olinda, whom the regarded with deteftation. Upon a compliance with her defires in this refpect, fhe promifed that her fortune, her intereft, and her all, fhould be at his command. Sabinus was fhocke t the propofal; he loved his wife with inexpreffible tenderness, and refufed thofe offers with indignation, which were to be purchased at so high a price. Ariana was no less displeased to find her offers rejected, and gave a loose to all that warmth, which the had long endeavoured to fupprefs. Reproach generally produces recrimination; the quarrel rofe to fuch a height, that Sabinus was marked for deftruction; and the very next day, upon the strength of an old family debt, he was fent to gaol, with none but Olinda to comfort him in his miferies. In this manfion of distress they lived together with refignation and even with comfort. She provided the frugal meal; and he read to her while employed in the little offices of domeftic concern. Their fellow prifoners admired their contentment, and whenever they had a defire of relaxing into mirth, and enjoying thofe little comforts that a prifon affords, Sabinus and Olinda were fure to be of the party. Inftead of reproaching each other for their mutual wretchednefs, they both lightened it, by bearing each a fhare of the load impofed by Providence. Whenever Sabinus fhewed the leaft concern on his dear dear partner's account, fhe conjured him by the love he bore her, by thofe tender ties which now united them for ever, not to difcompofe himself; that fo long as his affection lafted, fhe defied all the ills of fortune, and every lofs of fame or friendship; that nothing could make her miferable but his feeming to want happiness, nothing pleased but his fympathifing with her pleasure. A continuance in prifon foon robbed them of the little they had left, and famine began to make its horrid appearance; yet still was neither found to murmur; they both looked their little boy, who infenfible of their or his own diftrefs was playing about the room, with inexpreffible yet filent anguish, when a meffenger came to inform them that Ariana was dead, and that her will in favour of a very diftant relation, who was now in another country, might eafily be procured and burnt, in which cafe all her large fortune would revert to him as being the next heir at law. upon A propofal of fo bafe a nature filled our unhappy couple with horror; they ordered the meffenger immediately out of the room, and falling upon each other's neck indulged an agony of forrow; for now even all hopes of relief were banished. The meffenger who made the propofal, however, was only a fpy fent by Ariana to found the difpofitions of a man The loved at once and perfecuted. This lady, though warped by wrong paflions, was naturally kind, judicious, and friendly. She found that all her attempts to shake the conftancy or the integrity of Sabinus were ineffectual; he had therefore begun to reflect, and to wonder how he could fo long and fo unprovoked injure fuch uncommon fortitude and affection. She had from the next room herself heard the reception given to the meffenger, and could not avoid feeling all the force of fuperior virtue; fhe therefore therefore re-affumed her former goodness of heart; The came into the room with tears in her eyes, and acknowledged the feverity of her former treatment. She bestowed her firft care in providing them all the neceffary fupplies, and acknowledged them as the most deferving heirs of her fortune. From this moment Sabinus enjoyed an uninterrupted happiness with Olinda, and both were happy in the friendship and affistance of Ariana, who, dying foon after, left them in poffeffion of a large eftate, and in her laft moments confeffed that virtue was the only path to true glory; and that, however innocence may for a time be depreffed, a fteady perfeverance will in time lead it to a certain victory. THE SENTIMENTS OF A FRENCHMAN ON THE TEMPER OF THE ENGLISH. NOTHING is fo uncommon among the English as that eafy affability, that inftant method of acquaintance, or that cheerfulness of difpofition, which make in France the charm of every fociety. Yet in this gloomy referve they feem to pride themselves, and think themselves lefs happy, if obliged to be more focial. One may affert, without wronging them, that they do not ftudy the method of going through life with pleasure and tranquillity like the French. Might not this be a proof that they are not so much philofophers as they imagine? Philofophy is no more than the art of making ourselves happy; that is of feeking pleasure in regularity, and reconciling what we owe to fociety with what is due to ourselves. VOL. IV. T This |