the hand, and lead me through all the mazes, the winding labyrinths of Nature, Initiate me into all those myfteries which profane eyes never beheld. Teach we, which to thee is no difficult task, to know mankind better than they know themselves. Remove that mift which dims the intellects of mortals, and caufes them to adore men for their art, or to deteft them for their cunning in de ceiving others, when they are, in reality, the objects only of ridicule, for deceiving themfelves. Strip off the thin difguife of wisdom from self-conceit, of plenty from avarice, and of glory from ambition. Come thou, that haft infpired thy Ariftophanes, thy Lucian, thy Cervantes, thy Rabelais, thy Moliere, thy Shakespeare, thy Swift, thy Mariveux, fill my pages with humour; till mankind. learn the good nature to laugh only at the follies of others, and the humility to grieve at their own.

And thou, almoft the conftant attendant on true genius, Hamanity, 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 thefe alone proceed the noble difinterefted 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 favourite 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 thou, 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 pbilofophic, thy poetic, and thy historical treasures, whether with Greek or Roman characters thou hast chofen to inferibe the ponderdus chefts give me a while that key to all thy treafures, 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 levce, to the bailiff in his fpunging-houfe ;from the duchefs 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, hath ever been a Atranger.

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

CHA P. II.

What befel Mr Jones on his arrival in Lai šan.

THER

HE learned Dr Mifaubin used to fay, that the proper directions to him was, To Dr Mifaubin, in the World; intimating that there were few people in it to whom his great reputation was not known. And perhaps, upon nice examination into the matter, we fhall find that this circumftance bears no inconfiderable part among the many bieffings of grandeur.

a very

To the great happiness of being known to pofterity,. with the hopes of which we fo delighted ourselves in the preceding chapter, is the portion of few. To have the feveral dements which compofe our names, as Sydenham expreffes it, repeated a thousand years hence, is a gift beyond the of title and wealth; and is fcarce to be purchafed, unless by the fword and the pen. But to avoid the fcandalous imputations, while we yet live, of being one whom nobody 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 honour or estate.

power

From the figure, therefore, which the Irish peer, who brought Sophia to town, hath already made in this hiftory, the reader will conclude, doubtless, it must have

* See the fecond Odyffey, ver. 175.

been an eafy matter to have difcovered his houfe in London, without knowing the particular ftreet or square 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 lefs 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 intercourfe with the houfeholders of Hanover or Grofvenor-fquare, (for he entered through Gray's-Inn-Lane), fo he rambled about fome time, before he could even find his way to those happy manfions where fortune fegregates from the vulgar thofe magnanimous heroes, the defcendants of ancient Britons, Saxons, or Danes, whofe ancestors being born in better days, by fundry kinds of merit have entailed riches and honour on their pofterity.

Jones being at length arrived at those terrestrial Elyfian fields, would now foon have discovered his lordship's manfion; but the peer unluckily quitted his former house 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 ftruck eleven, Jones at last yielded to the advice of Partridge, and retreated to the Bull and Gate in Holborn,. that being the inn where he had first alighted, and where he retired to enjoy that kind of repofe which ufually attends perfons in his circumftances.

Early in the morning he again fet forth in pursuit of Sophia; and many a weary ftep 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 fireet which was honoured by his lordship's relidence; and being directed to the houfe, he gave one gentle rap at the door.

The porter, who, from the modefty of the knock, had conceived, no high idea of the perfon approaching, conceived but little better from the appearance of Mr Jones, who was dreffed in a fuit of fuftain, 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, therefore, inquired after the young lady who had come to town with his lordship, this fellow anfwered furlily, That there were no ladies there. Jones then defired to fee the master of the house; but was informed that his lordship would fee no body that morning: and, upon growing more preffing, the porter faid, He had pofitive orders to let no perfon in ; but if you think proper,' faid he, to leave your name, I will acquaint, his lordship; and if you call another time, you fhall know when he will fee you.'

Jones now declared, That he had very particular bufinefs with the young lady, and could not depart without feeing her. Upon which the porter, with no very agreeable voice or afpect, affirmed, That there was no young lady in that house, and confequently none could he fee adding, fure you are the ftrangest man I ever met with; • for you

will not take an anfwer.'

I have often thought that, by the particular defcription of Cerberus, the porter of hell, in the 6th Æneid, Virgil might poffibly intend to fatirize the porters of the great men in his time; the picture, at leaft, refembles thofe who have the honour to attend at the doors of

our great men. The porter in his lodge, anfwers exact. ly to Cerberus in his den, and, like him, must be ́apeafed by a fop, before accefs can be gained to his mafter. Perhaps Jones might have feen him in that light, and have recollected the paffage where the Sibil, in order to procure an entrance for Eneas, prefents the keeper of the Stygian avenue with fuch a fop. Jones, in like manner, now began to offer a bribe to the human Cerberus, which a footman overhearing, inftantly advanced, and declared, If Mr Jones would give him the fum propofed, he would conduct him to the lady. Jones inftantly agreed, and was forthwith conducted to the lodging of Mrs Fitzpatrick, by the very fellow who had attended the ladies thither the day before.

Nothing more aggravates ill fuccefs than the near approach to good. The gamefter, who lofes his party at

piquet by a fingle point, laments his bad luck ten times as much as he who never came within a profpect of the game. So in a lottery, the proprietors of the next numbers to that which wins the great prize, are apt to account themselves much more unfortunate than their fellowfufferers. In short, these kind of hair-breadth miflings of happiness look like the infults of Fortune, who may be confidered as thus playing tricks with us, and wantonly diverting herself at our expence.

Jones, who, more than once already, had experienced this frolicfome difpofition of the Heathen goddefs, was now again doomed to be tantalized in the like manner: for he arrived at the door of Mrs Fitzpatrick, about ten minutes after the departure of Sophia. He now addreffed himself to the waiting-woman belonging to Mrs Fitzpatrick, who told him the difagreeable news, that the lady was gone, but could not tell him whither; and the fame anfwer he afterwards received from Mrs Fitzpatrick herself. For as that lady made no doubt but that Mr Jones was a perfon detached from her uncle Western, in purfuit of his daughter, fo fhe was too generous to betray her.

Though Jones had never feen Mrs Fitzpatrick, yet he had heard that a coufin of Sophia was married to a gentleman of that name. This, however, in the prefent tumult of his mind, never once recurred to his memory: but when the footman, who had conducted him from his lordship's, acquainted him with the great intimacy between the ladies, and with their calling each other coufin, he then recollected the ftory of the marriage which he had formerly heard; and as he was prefently convinced that this was the fame woman, he became more furprised at the answer which he had received, and very earneftly defired leave to wait on the lady herself; but he as pofitively refused him that

honour.

any

Jones, who, though he had never feen a court, was better bred than moit who frequent it, was incapable of rude or abrupt behaviour to a lady. When he had received, therefore, a peremptory denial, he retired for the prefent, faying to the waiting-woman, That if this was an improper hour to wait on her lady, he would return in the afternoon; and that he then hoped to have VOL. III.

B