purpose than wifdom; and it is no wonder that this fpecies of pedantry, in itself fo ridiculous and defpicable, was foon brought into contempt by these powers, against which truth and rectitude have not always maintained their dignity, The features of learning began infenfibly to lose their aufterity, and her air became engaging and eafy: philofophy was now decorated by the graces.

The abftrufe truths of aftronomy were explained by Fontenelle to a lady by moonlight; juftnefs and propriety of thought and fentiment were difcuffed by Bouhours amid the delicacies of a garden; and Algarotti introduced the Newtonian theory of light and colours to the toilet. Addison remarks, that Socrates was faid to have brought philofophy down from heaven to inhabit among men: 'And I,' fays he, fhall be ambitious to have it faid of me, that I have brought philofophy out of clofets ⚫ and libraries, fchools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and affenblies, at tea⚫ tables, and in coffee-houses,'

But this purpofe has in fome measure been defeated by it's fuccefs; and we have been driven from one extreme with fuch precipitation, that we have not ftopped in the medium, but gone on to the other.

Learning has been divefted of the peculiarities of a college drefs, that he might mix in polite affemblies, and be admitted to domeftic familiarity; but by this means the hath been confounded with ignorance and levity. Those who before could diftinguish her only by the fingularity of her garb, cannot now diftinguish her at all; and whenever the afferts the dignity of her character, fhe has reafon to fear that ridicule which is infeparably connected with the remembrance of her drefs; fhe is, therefore, in danger of being driven back to the college, where, fuch is her transformation, The may at laft be refuted admittance; for, inftead of learning's having elevated converfation, converfation has degraded learning; and the barbarous and inaccurate manner in which an extemporary fpeaker expreffes a hafty conception, is now contended to be the rule by which an author fhould write. It feems, there fore, that to correct the tafte of the prefent generation, literary fubjects fhould he again introduced among the polite

and

gay, without labouring too much to difguife them like common prattle; and

that converfation fhould be weeded of folly and impertinence, of commonplace rhetoric, jingling phrafes, and trite repartee, which are echoed from one vifitor to another without the labour of thought, and have been fuffered by better understandings in the dread of an imputation of pedantry. I am of opinion, that with this view Swift wrote his Polite Converfation; and where he has plucked up a weed, the writers who fucceed him fhould endeavour to plant a flower. With this view, Criticifm has in this paper been intermixed with fubjects of greater importance; and it is hoped that our fashionable converfation will no longer be the difgrace of rational beings; and that men of genius and literature will hot give the fanction of their example to popular folly, and fuffer their evenings to pafs in hearing or in telling the exploits of a pointer, difcuffing a method to prevent wines from being pricked, or folving a difficult cafe in backgammon.

I would not, however, be thought folicitous to confine the converfation even of scholars to literary fubjects, but only to prevent fuch fubjects from being totally excluded. And it may be remarked, that the prefent infignificance of converfation has a very extenfive effect: excellence that is not understood will never be rewarded, and without hope of reward few will labour to excel; every writer will be tempted to negligence, in proportion as he defpifes the judgment of thofe who are to determine his merit; and as it is no man's intereft to write that which the public is not difpofed to read, the productions of the prefs will always be accommodated to popular tafte, and in proportion as the world is inclined to be ignorant, little will be taught them. Thus the Greek and Roman architecture are difcarded for the novelties of China; the Ruins of Palmyra, and the copies of the capital pictures of Correggio, are neglected for gothic defigns, and burlesque political prints; and the tinfel of a Burletta has more admirers than the gold of Shakefpeare, though it now receives new fplendor from the mint, and, like a medal, is illuftrious, not only for intrinsic worth, but for beauty of expreffion.

Perhaps it may be thought, that if this be indeed the state of learning and tafte, an attempt to improve it by a private hand is romantic, and the hope of

fuccefs

fuccefs chimerical: but to this I am not folicitous to give other anfwer, than that fuch an attempt is confiftent with the character in which this paper is written;

and that the Adventurer can affert, upon claffical authority, that in brave attenipts it is glorious even to fail.

Ꮓ

VIRG.

WARTON.

ned, it was determined that, whatever might be the fuccefs, it should not be continued as a paper, till it became unwieldy as a book: for no immediate advantage would have induced the Adventurer to write what, like a newspaper, was defigned but for a day; and he knew, that the pieces of which it would confift, might be multiplied till they were thought too numerous to collect, and too costly to purchase, even by those who should allow them to be excellent in their kind. It was foon agreed, that four volumes, when they should be printed in a pocket fize, would circulate better than more, and that fcarce any of the purposes of publication could be effected by lefs; the work, therefore, was limited to four volumes, and four volumes are now compleated.

A moral writer, of whatever abilities, who labours to reclaim thofe to whom vice is become habitual, and who are become veterans in infidelity, muft furely labour to little purpofe. Vice is a gradual and eafy defcent, where it first deviates from the level of innocence; but the declivity at every pace becomes more fteep, and thofe who defcend, defcend every moment with greater rapidity. As a moralift, therefore, I determined to mark the first infenfible gradation to ill; to caution against thofe acts which are not generally believed to incur guilt, but of which indubitable vice and hopeless mifery are the natural and moft neceffary confequences.

As I was upon these principles to write for the Young and the Gay, for thofe who are entering the path of life, I knew that it would be neceffary to amufe the imagination while I was approaching the heart; and that I could not hope to fix the attention, but by

fore, fometimes led them into the regions of fancy, and fometimes held up before them the mirror of life; I have concatenated events, rather than deduced confequences by logical reafoning; and have exhibited fcenes of profperity and diftrefs, as more forcibly perfuafive than the rhetoric of decla mation.

In the ftory of Meliffa, I have endeavoured to reprefs romantic hopes, by which the reward of laborious industry is defpifed; and have founded affluence and honour upon an act of generous integrity, to which few would have thought themselves obliged. In the life of Opfinous, I have shewn the danger of the first speculative defection, and endeavoured to demonstrate the neceflary dependence of Virtue upon Religion. Amurath's first advance to cruelty was ftriking a dog. The wretchedness of Haffan was produced merely by the want of positive virtue; and that of Mirza by the folitarinets of his devotion. The diftrefs of Lady Freeman arifes from a common and allowed deviation from truth; and in the two papers upon marriage, the importance of minute particulars is illuftrated and difplayed. With this clue, the reader will be able to difcover the fame defign in almost every paper that I have written, which may easily be known from the rett, by having no fignature at the bottom. Among thele, however, Number forty-four was the voluntary contribution of a stranger, and Number forty-two the gift of a friend; fo were the firft hints on which I wrote the story of Eugenio, and the letter figned Tim. Cogdie.

I did not, however, undertake to execute this fcheme alone; not only because I wanted fufficient leifure, but

because

because fome degree of fameness is produced by the peculiarities of every writer; and it was thought that the conceptions and expreffions of another, whofe pieces fhould have a general coincidence with mine, would produce variety, and by increafing entertainment facilitate inftruction.

With this view the pieces that appear in the beginning of the work figned A were procured; but this refource foon failing, I was obliged to carry on the publication alone, except fome cafual fapplies, till I obtained from the gentlemen who have diftinguifhed their pieces by the letters T and Z fuch affiftance as I most wished. Of their views and expectations, fome account has been already given in Number one hundred and thirty-feven, and Number one hundred and thirty-nine. But there is one particular, in which the critical pieces concur in the general defign of this paper, which has not been mentioned: thofe who can judge of literary excellence, will eatly difcover the Sacred Writings to have a divine origin by their manifeft fuperiority; he, therefore, who difplays the beauties and defects of a claffic author, whether ancient or modern, puts into the hands of thofe to whom he communicates critical knowledge, a new teftimonial of the truth of Christianity.

Befides the affiftance of thefe gentle men, I have received fome voluntary contributions which would have done honour to any collection: the allegorical letter from Night, figned S; the ftory of Fidelia, in three papers, figned Y; the letter figned Tim Wildgoofe; Number forty-four and Number ninety marked with an &, were fent by unknown hands.

But whatever was the design to which I directed my part of this work, I will not pretend, that the view with which I undertook it was wholly difintereided; or that I would have engaged in a periodical paper, if I had not confidered,

that though it would not require deep refearches and abftracted speculation, yet it would admit much of that novelty which nature can now fupply, and afford me opportunity to excel, if I pcffeffed the power; as the pencil of a mafter is as easily didinguished in ftilllife, as in a Hercules or a Venus, a landscape or a battle. I confefs, that in this work I was incited, not only by a defire to propagate virtue, but to gratify myfelf; nor has the private with, which was involved in the public, been difappointed. I have no caufe to complain, that the Adventurer has been injuriously neglected; or that I have been denied that praife, the hope of which animated my labour and cheered my weariness: I have been pleafed, in proportion as I have been known in this character; and as the fears in which I made the first experiment are past, I have fubfcribed this paper with my name. But the hour is hafting, in which, whatever praise or cenfure I have acquired by thefe compofitions, if they are remembered at all, will be remem bered with equal indifference, and the tenour of them only will afford me comfort. Time, who is impatient to date iny laft paper, will fhortly moulder the hand that is now writing it in the duft, and still the breast that now throbs at the reflection: but let not this be read as fomething that relates only to another; for a few years only can divide the eye that is now reading from the hand that has written. This awful truth, however obvious, and however reiterated, is yet frequently forgotten; for, furely, if we did not lose our remembrance, or at least our fenfibility, that view would always predominate in our lives, which alone can afford us comfort when we die.

JOHN HAWKESWORTH,

BROMLEY, IN KENT, MARCH 4, 1754.