whose aid, in vain we struggle against the ftream of nature. Thou, who doft fow the generous feeds which art nourishes, and brings to perfection. Do thou kindly take me by the hand, and lead me through all the mazes, the winding labyrinths of nature. Initiate me into all those my myfteries which profane eyes never beheld. Teach me, which to thee is no difficult talk, to know mankind better than they know themselves. Remove that mist which dims the intellects of mortals, and caufes them to adore men for their art, or to deteft them for their cunning in deceiving others, when they are, in reality, the objects only of ridicule, for deceiving themselves. Strip off the thin disguise of wisdom from felf-conceit, of plenty from avarice, and of glory from ambition. Come thou, that hast inspired thy Aristophanes, thy Lucian, thy Cervantes, thy Rabelais, thy Moliere, thy Shakefpeare, thy Swift, thy Marivaux, fill my pages with humor; till mankind learn the good-nature to laugh only at the follies of others, and the humility to grieve at their own.

And thou, almost the constant attendant on true Genius, Humanity, bring all thy tender fenfations. If thou haft already difpofed of them all between thy Allen and thy Lyttleton, fteal them a little while from their bofoms. Not without these the tender fcene is painted. From these alone proceed the noble difinterested friendship, the melting love, the generous fentiment, the ardent gratitude, the foft compaffion, the candid opinion;

and all thofe ftrong energies of a good mind, which fill the moistened eyes with tears, the glowing cheeks with blood, and fwell the heart with tides of grief, joy and benevolence.

And thou, O Learning! (for without thy affiftance nothing pure, nothing correct can genius produce) do thou guide my pen. Thee, in thy favorite fields, where the limpid, gently-rolling Thames washes thy Etonian banks, in early youth I have worshipped. To thee, at thy birchen altar, with true Spartan devotion, I have facrificed my blood. Come then, and from thy vaft, luxuriant ftores, in long antiquity piled up, pour forth the rich profufion. Open thy Mæonian and thy Mantuan coffers, with whatever elfe includes thy philofophic, thy poetic, and thy hiftorical treasures, whether with Greek or Roman characters thou haft chofen to infcribe the ponderous chefts: give me ́a-while that key to all thy treasures, which to thy Warburton thou haft intrusted.

Laftly, come Experience, long converfant with the wife, the good, the learned, and the polite. Nor with them only, but with every kind of character, from the minifter at his levee, to the bailiff in his fpunging-houfe; from the Dutchefs at her drum, to the landlady behind her bar. From thee only can the manners of mankind be known; to which the reclufe pedant, however great his parts, or extenfive his learning may be, has ever been a ftranger.

Come all thefe, and more, if poffible; for arduous is the talk I have undertaken: and without all your affistance, will, I find, be too heavy for me to fupport. But if you all fmile on my labors, I hope ftill to bring them to a happy conclufion.

CHA P. I I.

What befel Mr. Jones on his Arrival in London.

THE learned Dr. Misaubin used to say, that the proper direction to him was, To Dr. Misaubin, in the World; intimating, that there were ⚫ few people in it to whom his great reputation was not known. And, perhaps, upon a very nice examination into the matter, we fhall find that this circumftance bears no inconfiderable part among the many bleffings of grandeur.

The great happiness of being known to pofterity, with the hopes of which we fo delighted ourfelves in the preceding Chapter, is the portion of few. To have the feveral elements which compofe our names, as Sydenham expreffes it repeated a thousand years hence, is a gift beyond the power of title and wealth: and is fcarce to be purchased, unlefs by the fword and the pen. But to avoid the fcandalous imputation, while we yet live, of being one whom no-body knows (a

fcandal, by the by, as old as the days of Homer *) will always be the envied portion of those, who have a legal title either to honor or estate.

From that figure, therefore, which the Irish Peer, who brought Sophia to town, has already made in this History, the Reader will conclude, doubtless, it must have been an eafy matter to have difcovered his houfe in London, without knowing the particular street or fquare which he inhabited, fince he must have been one whom every body knows. To fay the truth, so it would have been to any of thofe tradefmen who are accustomed to attend the regions of the Great : for the doors of the Great are generally no less eafy to find, than it is difficult to get entrance into them. But Jones, as well as Partridge, was an entire ftranger in London; and as he happened to arrive first in a quarter of the town, the inhabitants of which have very little intercourse with the houfholders of Hanover or GrofvenorSquare (for he entered through Gray's-Inn - Lane) fo he rambled about fome time, before he could even find his way to thofe happy manfions, where fortune fegregates from the vulgar, thofe magnanimous Heroes, the defcendants of ancients Britons, Saxons, or Danes, whofe ancestors being born in better days, by fundry kinds of merit, have entailed riches and honor on their pofterity.

* See the fecond Odyffey, ver. 175.

Jones being at length arrived at thofe terreftrial Elyfian fields, would now foon have difcovered his Lordship's manfion; but the Peer unluckily quitted his former houfe when he went for Ireland; and as he was just entered into a new one, the fame of his equipage had not yet fufficiently blazed in the neighbourhood: fo that after a fuccefslefs inquiry till the clock had struck eleven, Jones, at laft, yielded to the advice of Partridge, and retreated to the Bull and Gate in Holborn, that being the inn where he had firft alighted; and where he retired to enjoy that kind of repose, which usually attends perfons in his circumstances.

Early in the morning he again fet forth in purfuit of Sophia; and many a weary step he took to no better purpose than before. At laft, whether it was that fortune relented, or whether it was no longer in her power to disappoint him, he came into the very street which was honored by his Lordship's refidence; and being directed to the houfe, he gave one gentle rap at the door.

The porter, who, from the modesty of the knock, had conceived no high idea of the perfon approaching, conceived but little better from the appearance of Mr. Jones, who was dreft in a suit of fuftian, and had by his fide the weapon formerly purchased of the ferjeant; of which, though the blade might be compofed of well tempered fteel, the handle was compofed only of brass, and that none of the brighteft.

When Jones,