not be converted into scenes of indecent altercation: one man would challenge precedence because he thought himself the wisest; another, on account of his birth or figure in the world; and a third, perhaps, because he supposed himself the wealthiest in the company: in order, therefore, to maintain the peace, well-bred people agree in such cases to suspend their several claims, and to act towards one another with apparent deference and respect.

Such are the ordinary motives to civility, and such is their operation in public life. Let us now consider them in relation to retirement, where their influence is much less, and often overpowered by contrary principles.

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He who spends his days at a distance from the busy scenes of the world, who is neither engaged in the traffic of the city, nor in the intrigues or employments of a court, and who, by his independent cir

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cumstances, is rather in a condition to extend than to receive assistance, can have no strong inducement, from views of interest, to treat others with much attention; and for want of such a motive to counteract his natural pride, increased in this case by the advantages of fortune, he will be prone to act, at least towards his inferiors, with a degree of neglect or rudeness. Nor is a country gentleman more likely to be formed to courtesy by motives of ambition, unless they should prompt him to solicit a seat in parliament, or some other public situation which could not easily be obtained without the recommendation of popular manners; and then he would no longer be the retired man of whom we speak. And in regard to the last motive to civility we have stated, arising from the need we find of it in order to harmonize our social interviews, it is evident that, in proportion to the degree of abstraction in which we live, this consideration must have less influence, and will more easily give way to every sally of humour or passion.

Hence it may appear, that the retired man, unless he is willing tamely to yield the palm of courtesy to the man of the world, must recur to motives of a superior nature, such as the views of reason and religion will readily supply. Among the topics to this purpose, I shall only suggest the following:

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First, let him consider the dignity of our common nature, that it was originally formed in the image of God, and, notwithstanding it is now fallen from its primitive perfection, is still endowed with many noble powers and capacities, which sometimes break forth amidst all the disadvantages of a mean condition. Let him next consider, that he whom he is tempted to regard with disdain, would probably be found, if all circumstances were duly estimated, better entitled to respect than himself. And, lastly, let him take into his account the possible as well as actual state of others; and though human nature, for the most part, is little better than a ruin, let him remember, it is the ruin of a temple, and that this temple may again be raised to more than its primeval glory. It is impossible for him who is under the impression of such views, to treat any of his fellow-creatures either with rudeness or indifference.

V. Another evil, which is apt to grow up in retirement, is churlishness, or that kind of brutality which is made up of low insolence and sordid parsimony. Of this base disposition we have a striking example in Nabal, whose behaviour, as recorded in the first book of Samuel *, entitles him to a disgraceful pre-eminence among the race of churls. This man, instead of that ready compliance which became him, to the request of the anointed king of Israel, who intreated him in terms the most obliging and respectful to be admitted to share in his hospitality, at a season when the most unfeeling and contracted heart is apt to expand with kindness, replied

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rudely to his messengers, Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There be many servants now-a-days that break away every man from his master. Shall I take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men whom I know not whence they be? It is no wonder that such an insulting denial inflamed the indignation of a prince whose spirit was undoubtedly generous, (whatever were his failings,) and put him upon sudden thoughts of vengeance,

This Nabal, we are told, had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats on mount Carmel; he was rich for those ages, and probably passed his days in the midst of his servants and dependants; and when these circumstances meet with a mind unformed by education, the natural product is a churl, This conjunction is indeed less frequent in the present times, when almost every country gentleman or wealthy farmer, instead of confining his son at home to converse with rustics and fatten bul