it than our's. I do not think however that this inclination either in men or women arifes more from fpleen or ill nature, than a want of fome other fubject of converfation, or from a fuppofition that it is agreeable to those with whom they are converfing: for we frequently find perfons taking a great pleafure in reporting tales concerning those who have done nothing to offend them, and are fo far removed from them by rank in life or distance of place, that they are very unlikely to be the objects of their envy.

Some perfons may flatter themselves they can build their own fame upon the ruin of that of others; and may think their own good qualities will shine with fuperior luftre, if those of their friends are thrown into the fhade. This kind of artifice does not always gain its end. If Mifs A-, for example, defcribes any one of her neighbours as ill natured, vain, or cenforious; if the afferts that The fings badly, dances ungracefully, and looks horribly, it is very clear who is to be

regarded

regarded as the model of all poffible perfection; and that the wishes to degrade her neighbour for the fake of exalting herself.

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You will fometimes meet with those who have a peculiarly artful manner of relating a story, with a view of faving themselves from being thought cenforious. They preface their narratives with affuring you, they only relate what they have heard; but they will not venture to pledge themselves for the truth of what they are going to lay." Then they proceed by their tone of voice, innuendoes, and laughing, to fhow you, as plainly as poffible, their opinion of the cafe, and what impreffion they are anxious to make upon your mind. There is too a mode of contradicting a story, which may ferve to confirm it-a mode well known, and fuccessfully practifed by many a Mrs. Candor you may chance to meet with. She afferts, indeed, fhe does not credit a word of the affair; but The may fpeak in such an ironical manner, as to convince the whole company the wishes every fyllable of it to be believed.

This may be called Scandal by implication; when " more is meant than meets the ear." It may be true, that those who communicate a ftory in this manner, may not be the inventors of it; but if they circulate it from malevolent motives, they are furely as culpable as if they were fo. The intention conftitutes the offence; or else there would be no juftice in the law which enacts, that the man who circulates a bank note, well knowing it to be bad, is as guilty as he who forged it..

If I proceed to a farther defcription of thofe, whofe chief delight confifts in the wanton exercise of their tongue, for the unfeeling purposes of calumny and detraction, you must not attribute my attempt to my own indulgence of fuch a practice, but rather to my wish to put you upon your guard, and to prevent you from being blinded by their plaufibility, and deceived by their arts.

The tale-bearers who are prompted by illnature to mifreprefent the conduct of others, make the worft poffible ufe of thofe figures of rhetoric which confift in omitting fome circum

circumstances, adding others, and in fwelling trifles into subjects of the greatest importance. The mischief they may produce in fociety is incalculable. They cause coldnefs, and even hatred, to take place among friends; they inflame suspicion into jealousy, diflike into malice, and averfion into revenge. Such are the bufy-bodies, who, by the whif pers of infinuation, and the peftilent breath of flander, alienate brother from brother, and eftrange the affections of the wife from the husband and they have been known to produce effects more injurious than these even to raise the arm of the duellift to fhed the blood of his friend-perhaps of his benefactor. Such perverters of the gift of speech ought to be the outcasts of society; and yet they are too often admitted, and welcomed into its bofom, because they are pleasant companions. If, however, our anxiety for the characters and feelings of others do not induce us to keep them at a distance, we may at least have some regard for ourselves; for while we are listening to their plausible tales,

we

we may be affured, that we are marked out as the prey of their garrulity. Our abfence only is requifite to make us the sport of their tongues we shall suffer by the fame fate, to which others in our hearing have been condemned and can our punishment be undeferved, if we have cordially joined in the laugh of approbation, and affifted in fwelling the triumph of malevolence over innocence and merit?

Be affured, that a pure and unfullied reputation is one of the greateft bleffings a mortal can enjoy. The continuation of it to future ages, which conftitutes fame or glory, is the greatest reward of valor, genius, and patriotism. It was for This a Chatham counfelled, and for This a Nelfon fought and died. In private life, it gives fplendor to every rank of fociety: it is the pride of the rich man, and is more precious than all his treafures it may be the only poffeffion of the poor, and should he preferve this, he is not likely to remain long in a ftate of indigence, and he can never be an object of contempt.

A good