once infected, lose their relish for happiness, faunter about with looks of defpondence, afk after the calamities of the day, and receive no comfort but in heightening each other's diftrefs. It is infignificant how remote or near, how weak or powerful the object of terror may be, when once they refolve to fright and be frighted, the meereft trifles fow confternation and difmay, each proportions his fears not to the object, but to the dread he discovers in the countenance of others; for when once the fermentation is begun, it goes on of itself, though the original caufe be difcontinued which firft fet it in

motion.

A dread of mad dogs is the epidemic terror which now prevails, and the whole nation is at prefent actually groaning under the malignity of its influence. The people fally from their houses with that circumfpection which is prudent in fuch as expect a mad dog at every turning. The physician publishes his prefcription, the beadle prepares his halter, and a few of unusual bravery arm themselves with boots and buff gloves, in order to face the enemy if he fhould offer to attack them. In fhort, the whole people ftand bravely upon their defence, and feem by their prefent fpirit to fhew a refolution of not being tamely bit by mad dogs any longer.

Their manner of knowing whether a dog be mad or no fomewhat refembles the antient European cuftom of trying witches. The old woman fufpected was tied hand and foot and thrown into the water. If the swam, then fhe was inftantly carried off to be burnt for a witch, if the funk, then indeed she was acquitted of the charge, but drowned in the experiment. In the fame manner a crowd gather round a dog fufpected of madness, and they begin by teazing the devoted animal on every fide; if he attempts to ftand upon the defenfive and bite, then is he unaniVOL. III.

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moufly found guilty, for a mad dog always fnaps ať every thing; if, on the contrary, he ftrives to efcape by running away, then he can expect no compaffion, for mad dogs always run ftraight forward before them. It is pleasant enough for a neutral being like me, who have no fhare in these ideal calamities, to mark the stages of this national disease. The terror at first feebly enters with a difregarded ftory of a little dog, that had gone through a neighbouring village, that was thought to be mad by feveral that had feen him. The next account comes, that a mastiff ran through a certain town, and had bit five geefe, which immediately run mad, foamed at the bill, and died in great agonies foon after. Then comes an affecting hiftory of a little boy bit in the leg, and gone down to be dipt in the falt water; when the people have fufficiently fhuddered at that, they are next congealed with a frightful account of a man who was faid lately to have died from a bite he had received fome years before. This relation only prepares the way for another, ftill more hideous, as how the mafter of a family, with feven small children, were all bit by a mad lap dog, and how the poor father first perceived the infection by calling for a draught of water, where he faw the lap dog fwimming in the cup.

When epidemic terror is thus once excited, every morning comes loaded with fome new difafter; as in ftories of ghofts each loves to hear the account, though it only serves to make him uneafy, fo here each liftens with eagernefs, and adds to the tidings new circumftances of peculiar horror. A lady for inftance, in the country, of very weak nerves has been frighted by the barking of a dog; and this, alas! too frequently happens. The ftory foon is improved and spreads, that a mad dog had frighted a lady of distinction. These circumftances begin to grow

grow terrible before they have reached the neighbouring village, and there the report is, that a lady of quality was bit by a mad maftiff. This account every moment gathers new strength and grows more difmal as it approaches the capital, and by the time it has arrived in town the lady is described, with wild eyes, foaming mouth, running mad upon all four, barking like a dog, biting her fervants, and at last fmothered between two beds by the advice of her doctors: while the mad maftiff is in the mean time ranging the whole country over, flavering at the mouth, and feeking whom he may devour.

My landlady, a good-natured woman, but a little credulous, waked me fome mornings ago before the ufual hour with horror and aftonishment in her looks; fhe defired me if I had any regard for my fafety, to keep within; for a few days ago fo difmal an accident had happened, as to put all the world upon their guard. A mad dog down in the country, the affured me, had bit a farmer, who foon becoming mad ran into his own yard, and bit a fine brindled cow; the cow quickly became as mad as the man, began to foam at the mouth, and raifing herfelf up, walked about on her hind legs, fometimes barking like a dog, and fometimes attempting to talk like the farmer. Upon examining the grounds of this ftory, I found my landlady had it from one neighbour, who had it from another neighbour, whe heard it from very good authority.

Were most stories of this nature thoroughly examined, it would be found that numbers of fuch as have been faid to fuffer were no way injured, and that of those who have been actually bitten, not one in a hundred was bit by a mad dog. Such accounts in general therefore only ferve to make the people miferable by false terrors, and fometimes fright the

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patient into actual phrenzy, by creating those very fymptoms they pretended to deplore.

But even allowing three or four to die in a season of this terrible death (and four is probably too large a conceffion), yet ftill it is not confidered, how many are preserved in their health and in their property by this devoted animal's fervices. The midnight robber is kept at a diftance; the infidious thief is often detected, the healthful chace repairs many a worn constitution, and the poor man finds in his dog a willing affiftant, eager to leffen his toil, and content with the fmalleft retribution.

A dog, fays one of the English poets, "is an "honeft creature, and I am a friend to dogs." Of all the beafts that graze the lawn or hunt the forest, a dog is the only animal, that leaving his fellows, attempts to cultivate the friendship of man; to man he looks in all his neceffities with a fpeaking eye for affiftance; exerts for him all the little fervice in his power with chearfulness and pleasure; for him bears famine and fatigue with patience and refignation; no injuries can abate his fidelity, no diftrefs induce him to forfake his benefactor; ftudious to please, and fearing to offend, he is ftill an humble ftedfaft dependant, and in him alone fawning is not flattery. How unkind then to torture this faithful creature who has left the foreft, to claim the protection of man; how ungrateful a return to the trufty animal for all his fervices. Adieu.

LETTER

LETTER LXIX.

From Lien Chi Altangi to Hingpo, by the way of Moscow. THE Europeans are themselves blind, who defcribe Fortune without fight. No first-rate beauty ever had finer eyes, or faw more clearly; they who have no other trade but feeking their fortune, need never hope to find her; coquet like the flies from her clofe purfuers, and at laft fixes on the plodding mechanic, who ftays at home, and minds his business.

I am amazed how men can call her blind, when by the company the keeps the feems fo very difcerning. Wherever you fee a gaming-table, be very fure Fortune is not there; wherever you see an house with the doors open, be very fure Fortune is not there; when you fee a man whofe pocket-holes are laced with gold, be fatisfied Fortune is not there; wherever you fee a beautiful woman good-natured and obliging, be convinced Fortune is never there. In fhort, fhe is ever feen accompanying industry, and as often trundling a wheel-barrow, as lolling in a coach and fix.

If you would make Fortune your friend, or to perfonize her no longer, if you defire, my fon, to be rich and have money, be more eager to save than to acquire: when people fay, Money is to be got here, and money is to be got there, take no notice; mind your own business; stay where you are; and fecure all you can get, without ftirring. When you hear that your neighbour has picked up a purfe of gold in the street, never run out into the fame ftreet, looking about you in order to pick up such another;