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coat, a better gun, or a finer knife, and he is inftantly in raptures at fo great an improvement. In fhort, we only defire to know what we defire to poffefs; and whatever we may talk againft it, luxury adds the fpur to curiofity, and gives us a defire of becoming more wise.

But not our knowledge only, but our virtues are improved by luxury. Obferve the brown favage of Thibet, to whom the fruits of the fpreading pomegranate fupply food, and its branches an habitation. Such a character has few vices, I grant, but those he has are of the most hideous nature; rapine and cruelty are scarcely crimes in his eye; neither pity nor tenderness, which ennoble every virtue, have any place in his heart; he hates his enemies, and kills thofe he fubdues. On the other hand, the polite Chinese and civilized European feem even to love their enemies. I have just now seen an instance where the English have fuccoured thofe enemies, whom their own countrymen actually refused to relieve.

The greater the luxuries of every country, the more closely, politically fpeaking, is that country united. Luxury is the child of fociety alone; the luxurious man ftands in need of a thousand different artifts to furnish out his happiness; it is more likely, therefore, that he fhould be a good citizen who is connected by motives of felf-intereft with fo many, than the abftemious man who is united to none.

In whatsoever light, therefore, we confider luxury; whether as employing a number of hands naturally too feeble for more laborious employment; as finding a variety of occupation for others who might be totally idle, or as furnishing out new inlets to happiness, without encroaching on mutual property; in whatever light we regard it, we fhall have reason to stand up in its defence, and the fentiment of Confucius ftill remains unfhaken; that VOL. III.

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we should enjoy as many of the luxuries of life as are confiftent with our own fafety, and the profperity of others; and that he who finds out a new pleasure is one of the most useful members of fociety.

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FROM the funeral folemnities of the Daures, who think themselves the politeft people in the world, I muft make a tranfition to the funeral folemnities of the English, who think themselves as polite as they. The numberlefs ceremonies which are used here when a perfon is fick, appear to me fo many evident marks of fear and apprehenfion. Afk an Englifhman, however, whether he is afraid of death, and he boldly anfwers in the negative; but observe his behaviour in circumftances of approaching fickness, and you will find his actions give his affertions

the lie.

The Chinese are very fincere in this refpect; they hate to die, and they confefs their terrors; a great part of their life is fpent in preparing things proper for their funeral. A poor artizan fhall fpend half his income in providing himself a tomb twenty years before he wants it; and denies himself the neceffaries of life, that he may be amply provided for when he fhall want them no more.

But people of diftinction in England really deferve pity, for they die in circumftances of the moft extreme diftrefs. It is an established rule, never to let a man know that he is dying: phyficians are fent for, the clergy are called, and every

thing paffes in filent folemnity round the fick bed. The patient is in agonies, looks round for pity; yet not a fingle creature will fay that he is dying. If he is poffeffed of fortune, his relations entreat him to make his will, as it may restore the tranquillity of his mind. He is defired to undergo the rites of the church; for decency requires it. His friends take their leave only because they do not care to see him in pain. In short, an hundred ftratagems are used to make him do what he might have been induced to perform only by being told, Sir, you are paft all hopes, and bad as good think decently of dying.

Befides all this, the chamber is darkened, the whole house echoes to the cries of the wife, the lamentations of the children, the grief of the fervants, and the fighs of friends. The bed is furrounded with priests and doctors in black, and only flambeaux emit a yellow gloom. Where is the man, how intrepid foever, that would not fhrink at fuch a hideous folemnity? For fear of affrighting their expiring friends, the English practife all that can fill them with terror. Strange effect of human prejudice, thus to torture merely from miftaken tendernefs!

You fee, my friend, what contradictions there are in the tempers of thofe iflanders; when prompted, by ambition, revenge, or difappointment, they meet death with the utmoft refolution: the very man who in his bed would have trembled at the afpect of a doctor, fhall go with intrepidity to attack a bastion, or deliberately noofe himself up in his garters.

The paffion of the Europeans for magnificent interments, is equally ftrong with that of the Chinese. When a tradefman dies, his frightful face is painted up by an undertaker, and placed in a proper fituation to receive company; this is called lying in ftate. To this difagreeable fpectacle all the idlers in town flock, and learn to loath the wretch dead, whom

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they despised when living. In this manner you fee fome, who would have refused a fhilling to fave the life of their dearest friend, beftow thousands on adorning their putrid corpfe. I have been told of a fellow who, grown rich by the price of blood, left it in 'his will that he fhould lie in ftate; and thus unknowingly gibbeted himself into infamy, when he might have otherwife quietly retired into oblivion.

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When the perfon is buried, the next care is to make his epitaph; they are generally reckoned best which flatter moft; fuch relations, therefore, as have received moft benefits from the defunct, difcharge this friendly office, and generally flatter in proportion to their joy. When we read thofe monumental hiftories of the dead, it may be juftly faid, that all men are equal in the dust; for, they all pear equally remarkable for being the moft fincere Chriftians, the most benevolent neighbours, and the honefteft men of their time. To go through an European cemetery, one would be apt to wonder how mankind could have so basely degenerated from fuch excellent ancestors; every tomb pretends to claim your reverence and regret; fome are praised for piety, in thofe infcriptions, who never entered the temple until they were dead; some are praised for being excellent poets, who were never mentioned, except for their dulnefs, when living; others for fublime orators, who were never noted except for their impudence; and others ftill for military atchievements, who were never in any other fkirmishes but with the watch. Some even make epitaphs for themselves, and befpeak the reader's good-will. It were indeed to be wifhed, that every man would early learn in this manner to make his own; that he would draw it up in terms as flattering as poffible; and that he would make it the employment of his whole life to deferve it!

I have not yet been in a place called Westminster Abbey, but foon intend to vifit it. There, I am told, I fhall fee justice done to deceased merit; none, I am told, are permitted to be buried there but fuch as have adorned as well as improved mankind. There no intruders, by the influence of friends or fortune, prefume to mix their unhallowed afhes with philofophers, heroes, and poets. Nothing but true merit has a place in that awful fanctuary. The guardianship of the tombs is committed to feveral reverend priefts, who are never guilty, for a fuperior reward, of taking down the names of good men, to make room for others of equivocal character, nor ever prophane the facred walls with pageants, that pofterity cannot know, or fhall blufh to own.

I always was of opinion, that fepulchral honours of this kind fhould be confidered as a national concern, and not trufted to the care of the priests of any country, how refpectable foever; but from the conduct of the reverend perfonages, whofe difinterefted patriotism I fhall fhortly be able to discover,. I am taught to retract my former fentiments. It is true, the Spartans and the Perfians made a fine political ufe of fepulchral vanity; they permitted none to be thus interred, who had not fallen in the vindication of their country. A monument thus became a real mark of diftinction; it nerved the hero's arm with tenfold vigour; and he fought without fear, who only fought for a grave. Farewell.

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