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any, it renders a thousand times more criminal than that of a thief, the villainy of them, who, by violating every facred obligation between nation and nation, give rife to miferies and mischiefs moft dreadful in their nature; and to which no human, power can fay, Thus far fhall ye proceed, and no farther. Are not the natural and moral evils of life fufficient, but they must be rendered more acute, more numerous, and more embittered by artificial means? My heart bleeds over those complicated scenes of woe, for which no epithet can be found fufficiently defcriptive. Language fails in labouring to exprefs the horrors of war amid private families, who are fo unfortunate as to be situated on the seat of it.

War, however, it will be faid, has always been permitted by Providence. This is indeed true; but it has been only permitted as a fcourge. Let a fpirit and activity be exerted in regulating the morals of a nation, equal to that with which war, and all its apparatus, are attended to, and mankind will no longer be fcourged, neither will it be neceffary to evacuate an empire of its members, for none will be fuperfluous. Let us, according to the advice of a pious divine of the present age, think lefs of our fleets and armies, and more of our faith and practice. While we are warriors, with all our pretenfions to civilization, we are favages..

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On the Beauty and Happiness of an open Behaviour and an ingenuous Disposition.

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Great part of mankind, if they cannot furnish themselves with the courage and generofity of the lion, think themselves equally happy, and much wifer, with the pitiful cunning of the fox. Every word they fpeak, however trivial the fubject, is weighed before it is uttered. A difguftful filence is obferved till fomebody of authority has advanced an opinion, and then, with a civil leer, a doubtful and hesitating affent is given, fuch as may not preclude the opportunity of a fubfequent retraction. If the converfation turn only on the common topics of the weather, the news, the play, the opera, they are no lefs referved in uttering their opinion, than if their lives and fortunes depended on the fentiment they should at last venture to advance, with oracular dignity. Whatever may be their real idea on the subject, as truth is a trifle compared to the object of pleafing those with whom they converse, they generally contrive gently to agree with you; unless it fhould appear to them, on mature confideration, that their opinion (if contingencies to the number of at leaft ten thousand should take place) may, at the distance of half a century, involve them in fome small danger of giving a little offence, or of incurring a small embarraffment. They wear a conftant fmile on their countenance, and are all goodness and benevolence, if you will believe their profeffions: but beware; for their hearts are as dark as the abyffes which constitute the abode of the evil fpirit. A man of this character, as Horace fays, is black, and thou, who juftly claimeft the title of an honeft Englishman, be upon thy guard when thine ill fortune introduces thee into his company.

These crafty animals are even more reserved, cautious, timid, and ferpentine, in action than in converfation. They lay the deepeft fchemes, and no conclave

of cardinals, no combination of confpirators, no confederacy of thieves, ever deliberated with more impenetrable fecrecy. Connections are fought with the most painful folicitude. No arts and no affiduities are neglected to obtain the favour of the great. Their hearts pant with the utmost anxiety to be introduced to a family of distinction and opulence, not only because the connection gratifies their pride, but also because, in the wonderful complications and viciffitudes of human affairs, it may one day promote their intereft. Alas! before that day arrives, their perpetual uneafiness has often put a period to their ambition, by terminating their existence. But even if they gain their ends, after a youth and a manhood confumed in constant care and fervitude, yet the pleasure is not adequate to the pain, nor the advantage to the labour. Every one is ready to complain of the fhortness of life; to spend, therefore, the greateft part of it in perpetual fear, caution, fufpenfe, and folicitude, merely to accomplish an object of worldly ambition or avarice; what is it but the proverbial folly of him who lofes a pound to fave a penny? Give me, C ye powers! an ingenuous man would exclaim, give me health and liberty, with a competence, and I will compaffionate the man of a timid and fervile foul, who has at last crept on hands and knees, through thick and thin, into a stall, and feated his limbs, after they have been palfied with care, on the bench of judges or of bifhops!

Indeed, the perpetual agitation of spirits, the tormenting fears, and the ardent hopes, which alternately disorder the bofom of the subtle and fufpicious worldling, are more than a counterbalance to all the riches and titular honours which fuccessful cunning can obtain. What avail croziers, coronets, fortunes, manfionhouses, parks, and equipages, when the poor poffeffor of them has worn out his fenfibility, ruined his nerves, loft his eyes, and perhaps ftained his honour and wounded his confcience, in the toilfome drudgery of the most abject fervitude, from his youth up even to the hoary age

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of feeblenefs and decrepitude? When a man has a numerous offspring, it may, indeed, be generous to facrifice his own eafe and happiness to their advancement. He may feel a virtuous pleasure in his conduct, which may foothe him under every circumftance of difagreeable toil or painful fubmiffion. But it is obvious to obferve, that the most artful of men, and the greatest flaves to intereft and ambition, are frequently unmarried men; and that they were unmarried, because their caution and timidity would never permit them to take a ftep which could never be revoked: themselves, however unamiable, have been the only objects of their love; and the rest of mankind have been made use of merely as the inftruments of their mean purposes and felfish gratifications. But the rest of mankind need not envy them, for they inflict on themselves the punishments they deserve. They are always craving, and never fatisfied; they fuffer a torment which is juftly represented as infernal; that of being perpetually reaching after bleffings which they can never grafp, of being prohibited to taste the fruit, whofe colour appears fo charming to the eye, and whofe flavour fo delicious to the imagination.

How lovely and how happy, on the other hand, an open and ingenuous behaviour! An honeft, unfufpicious heart diffuses a ferenity over life like that of a fine day, when no cloud conceals the blue æther, nor a blast ruffles the ftillnefs of the air;-but a crafty and defigning bofom is all tumult and darkness, and may be faid to resemble a mifty and disordered atmosphere in the comfortless climate of the poor Highlander. The one raises a man almost to the rank of an angel of light; the other finks him to a level with the powers of darkness. 'The one constitutes a terrestrial heaven in the breast, the other deforms and debases it till it becomes another hell.

An open and ingenuous difpofition is not only beautiful and moft conducive to private happiness, but productive of many virtues effential to the welfare of fociety. What is fociety without confidence? But if the

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selfish and mean system, which is established and recommended among many whofe advice and example have weight, fhould univerfally prevail, in whom and in what shall we be able to confide?-It is already shocking to a liberal mind to obferve what a multitude of papers, parchments, oaths, and folemn engagements is required, even in a trivial negociation. On the contrary, how comfortable and how honourable to human nature, if promises were bonds, and affertions affidavits! What pleasure and what improvement would be derived from conversation, if every one would dare to speak his real sentiments, with modesty and decorum indeed, but without any unmanly fear of offending, or fervile defire to please for the fake of intereft! To please by honest means, and from the pure motives of friendship and philanthropy, is a duty; but they who study the art of pleafing merely for their own fakes, are, of all characters, those which ought least to please, and which appear, when the mask is removed, the moft difguftful. Truth and fimplicity of manners are not only effential to virtue and happiness, but, as objects of taste, truly beautiful. Good minds will always be pleafed with them, and bad minds we need not wish to please.

Since cunning and deceit are thus odious in themfelves, and incompatible with real happiness and dignity, I cannot help thinking, that those inftructors of the rifing generation, who have infifted on fimulation and diffimulation, on the thousand tricks of worldly wisdom, are no less mistaken in their ideas, than mean, contracted, and illiberal. Liften not, ye generous young men, whofe hearts are yet untainted, liften not to the delu five advice of men fo deluded or fo bafe. Have courage enough to avow the fentiments of your fouls, and let your countenance and your tongue be the heralds of your hearts. Pleafe, confiftently with truth and homour, or be contented not to please. Let juftice and benevolence fill your bofom, and they will thine spontaneously, like the real gem, without the aid of a foil, and with the most durable and captivating brilliancy.

A Remedy

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