On the Advantages of Conversation.

T is with much pleasure I look back upon that philofophical week which I lately enjoyed at

as there is no part, perhaps, of focial life which affords more real fatisfaction than those hours which one paffes in rational and unreferved converfation. The free communication of fentiments amongst a fet of ingenuous and fpeculative friends, fuch as those you gave me the opportunity of meeting, throws the mind into the most advantageous exercife, and fhews the ftrength. or weakness of its opinions, with greater force of conviction than any other method we can employ.

That it is not good for man to be alone," is true in more views of our fpecies than one; and fociety gives strength to our reafon, as well as polifh to our manners. The foul, when left entirely to her own folitary contemplations, is infenfibly drawn by a fort of conftitutional bias, which generally leads her opinions to the fide of her inclinations. Hence it is that the contracts thofe peculiarities of reasoning, and little habits of thinking, which fo often confirm her in the most fantastical errors. But nothing is more likely to recover the mind from this false bent, than the counterwarmth of impartial debate. Conversation opens our views, and gives our faculties a more vigorous play; it puts us upon turning our notions on every fide, and holds them up to a light that discovers those latent flaws, which would probably have lain concealed in the gloom of unagitated abstraction. Accordingly, one

may remark, that most of those wild doctrines, which have been let loose upon the world, have generally owed their birth to perfons whofe circumstances or difpofitions have given them the feweft opportunities of canvaffing their respective systems in the way of free and friendly debate. Had the authors of many an exE

travagant

travagant hypothefis difcuffed their principles in private circles, ere they had given vent to them in public, the obfervation of Varro had never, perhaps, been made, (or never, at leaft, with fo much juftice) that "there is no opinion fo abfurd, but has fome philofopher or "ether to produce in its fupport."

IN

The Hill of Science; a Vision.

N that feafon of the year when the ferenity of the sky, the various fruits which cover the ground, the difcoloured foliage of the trees, and all the fweet but fading graces of infpiring autumn, open the mind to benevolence, and dispose it for contemplation, I was wandering, in a beautiful and romantic country, till curiofity began to give way to wearinefs; and I fat me down on the fragment of a rock overgrown with moss, where the ruftling of the falling leaves, the dashing of waters, and the hum of the diftant city, foothed my mind into the most perfect tranquillity, and fleep infenfibly ftole upon me, as I was indulging the agree able reveries which the objects around me naturally inspired.

I immediately found myself in a vast extended plain, in the middle of which arise a mountain higher than I had before any conception of. It was covered with a multitude of people, chiefly youth; many of whom preffed forwards with the livelieft expreffion of ardour in their countenance, though the way was in many places steep and difficult. I obferved, that thofe who had but just begun to climb the hill thought themselves not far from the top; but, as they proceeded, new hills were continually rifing to their view, and the fummit of the highest they could before difcern feemed but the foot of another, till the mountain at length appeared to lofe itself in the clouds. As I was gazing on these things with astonishment, my good genius fuddenly appeared: The mountain before thee, faid he, is the Hill of Science. On the top is the Temple of Truth, whofe head is above the clouds, and a veil of pure light covers her face. Obferve the progrefs of her votaries; Ee filent and attentive.

I saw that the only regular approach to the mountain was by a gate, called the Gate of Languages. It was

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kept by a woman of a penfive and thoughtful appearance, whofe lips were continually moving, as though the repeated fomething to herself. Her name was Memory. On entering this firft inclosure, I was ftunned with a confufed murmur of jarring voices, and diffonant founds; which increased upon me to fuch a degree, that I was utterly confounded, and could compare the noife to nothing but the confufion of tongues at Babel. The road was alfo rough and ftony; and rendered more difficult by heaps of rubbish continually tumbling down from the higher parts of the mountain; and broken ruins of ancient buildings, which the trayellers were obliged to climb over at every step; infomuch that many, difgufted with fo rough a beginning, turned back, and attempted the mountain no more: While others, having conquered this difficulty, had not fpirits to afcend further, and fitting down on fome rubbish, harangued the multitude below with the greateft marks of importance and self-complacency.

About half-way up the hill, I obferved on each fide of the path a thick forest covered with continual fogs, and cut out into labyrinths, cross alleys, and serpentine walks, entangled with thorns and briars. This was called the Wood of Error; and I heard the voices of many who were loft up and down in it, calling to one another, and endeavouring in vain to extricate themfelves. The trees in many places fhot their boughs over the path, and a thick mift often rested on it; yet never fo much, but that it was difcernible by the light which beamed from the countenance of Truth.

In the pleasanteft part of the mountain were placed the Bowers of the Mufes, whofe office it was to cheer the fpirits of the travellers, and encourage their fainting steps with songs from their divine harps.

After I had obferved these things, I turned my eye towards the multitudes who were climbing the fteep afcent, and observed amongst them a youth of a lively look, a piercing eye, and fomething fiery and irregular in all his motions. His name was Genius. He darted

like an eagle up the mountain, and left his companions gazing after him with envy and admiration; but his progrefs was unequal, and interrupted by a thousand caprices. When Pleasure warbled in the valley, he mingled in her train. When Pride beckoned towards the precipice, he ventured to the tottering edge. He delighted in devious and untried paths; and made fo many excurfions from the road, that his feebler companions often outftripped him. I obferved that the Mufes beheld him with partiality; but Truth often frowned, and turned afide her face. While Genius was thus wafting his strength in eccentric flights, I saw a perfon of a very different appearance, named Application. He crept along with a flow and unremitting pace, his eyes fixed on the top of the mountain, patiently removing every ftone that obftructed his way, till he faw most of thofe below him who had at firft derided his flow and toilfome progrefs. Indeed there were few who afcended the hill with equal and uninterrupted fteadinefs; for, befide the difficulties of the way, they were continually folicited to turn afide by a numerous crowd of Appetites, Paffions and Pleasures, whofe importunity, when they had once complied with, they became lefs and lefs able to refift; and though they often returned to the path, the afperities of the road were more feverely felt, the hill appeared more fteep and rugged, the fruits, which were wholefome and refreshing, feemed harsh and ill-tafted, their fight grew dim, and their feet tript at every little obftruction.

I faw, with fome furprize, that the Mufes, whofe bufinefs was to cheer and encourage those who were toiling up the afcent, would often fing in the Bowers of Pleasure, and accompany those who were carried away at the call of the Paffions; they accompanied them, however, but a little way, and always forfook them when they loft fight of the hill. The tyrants then doubled their chains upon the unhappy captives, and led them away, without refiftance, to the cells of Ignorance, or the manfions of Mifery. Amongst the

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innumerable