locks, sends him into the world to acquire a tincture of letters, and a civility of deportment, which may qualify him, upon his return, to act his part with a degree of decency.

By this mode of education the tribe of churls has been diminished, and their character mitigated; so that now we may traverse the country without often meeting with one of those discourteous knights, who are so far broken off from the general system of humanity, as to repel the stran ger from their gate, or entertain a guest with a surly penurious hospitality.

Thus, by a wide diffusion of knowledge and politeness, this kind of human savage is almost driven from our coasts; and were it not for a blind indulgence, which sometimes leaves the heir of the family to be bred up in the stable amidst hounds and horses, instead of sending him forth to partake of the general progress of society, or providing for his instruction at home,

we might hope to see the race wholly exterminated.

VI. The last evil I shall notice as incident to retirement is misanthropy; which, by the following short deduction, will appear to be the natural term and completion of the several evils already stated. I shall name them again in the same order.

Idleness. Man is formed for action; and his faculties, if not duly exercised upon their proper objects, will be apt to turn inward, and prey upon himself; and this secret corrosion can hardly fail to operate upon his temper, and render it harsh and repulsive. In this, as in other instances, the mind bears a striking analogy to the body, which we know is liable to be troubled with sharp and acrid humours, unless they are prevented or thrown off by a course of regular exercise. Indeed, when the active principle is naturally feeble or indisposed to exertion, idleness may asso

ciate for a time with good humour, till calamity, sickness, or old age, calls for those powers of resistance or sufferance which have not been provided; and then the sluggard will be left to experience the bitter consequences of his neglect, in a fretful impatience with himself, and a peevish dissatisfaction with those about him.

Humour. In the first part of life, many caprices of fancy and behaviour pass off without sensible inconvenience. Youth and beauty are every where received with particular kindness, and the faults or foibles which usually attend them are overlooked amidst their natural attractions. But as advancing years cast a damp on that vivacity, and impair those graces of person, which enchant our imaginations, and disarm our better judgments, the defects of character are more clearly discerned, and discerned too without a disposition to treat them with our former indulgence. Hence those sallies of humour, which before were

tolerated, and perhaps pleasing, are now no more endured; they encounter a growing opposition from the humour or reason of others, which must naturally produce a peevish resentment; and peevishness, if indulged, will rankle into malignity..

Conceit. He who prides himself upon qualities of which he is either destitute, or possessed in a less degree than he supposes, will sometimes, at least, find his pretensions treated with expressions of contempt or pity; and this can hardly fail to call forth his malevolent passions; for since there can be no thorough confidence or satisfaction but in truth, such a man must have a secret misgiving that his claims are ill-founded, and consequently is in no capacity to bear their rejection, and in a manner so humiliating, with patience; and must either dismiss the false opinion he entertains of himself, or be liable to an im placable resentment; unless he is so beset with inferiors and dependents, or so in. toxicated with the praise of flattery, or the

admiration of ignorance, that truth can find no access, or make no durable impression.

Incivility. As this, in its own nature, implies a want of due respect to others, it may be considered as a species of injury; and, as we commonly bear some resentment towards those whom we have injured, it follows, that by a course of ill manners, disrespect may grow at length into hatred. Besides, incivilities provoke a return in the same kind, and, by this ungentle reciprocation, the parties become mutually irritated, and an implacable feud is engendered. These trespasses upon good behaviour are also the more dangerous, as the remedy is difficult. There are few whose pride in such cases will suffer them to seek an explanation; and for want of it, a flight discourtesy is often brooded over in secret till it swells into an unpardonable offence; like a scratch upon a distempered body, which, by the omission of a timely application, rankles into a viru