Were most stories of this nature thoroughly examined, it would be found that numbers of such as have been said to suffer were no way injured; and that of those who have been actually bitten, not one in a hundred was bit by a mad dog. Such accounts in general, therefore, only serve to make the people miser-son, to be rich, and have money, be more eager able by false terrors, and sometimes fright the patient into actual phrenzy by creating those very symptoms they pretended to deplore.

FROM LIEN CHI ALTANGI, TO HINGPO, BY THE while his mill stood and went, he was sure of

One day as he was indulging these wishes, he was informed, that a neighbour of his had found a pan of money under ground, having I am amazed how men call her blind, when, dreamed of it three nights running before. by the company she keeps, she seems so very These tidings were daggers to the heart of discerning. Wherever you see a gaming-poor Whang." Here am I," says he, "toiling table, be very sure Fortune is not there; where- and moiling from morning till night for a few ever you see a house with the doors open, be paltry farthings, while neighbour Hunks only very sure Fortune is not there; when you see goes quietly to bed, and dreams himself into a man whose pocket-holes are laced with gold, thousands before morning. O that I could be satisfied Fortune is not there: wherever dream like him; with what pleasure I would you see a beautiful woman good-natured and dig round the pan; how slily would I carry it

home; not even my wife should see me; and then, O the pleasure of thrusting one's hand into a heap of gold up to the elbow!"

Such reflections only served to make the miller unhappy; he discontinued his former assiduity, he was quite disgusted with small gains, and his customers began to forsake him. Every day he repeated the wish, and every night laid himself down in order to dream. Fortune, that was for a long time unkind, at last however seemed to smile upon his distresses, and indulged him with the wished-for vision. He dreamed, that under a certain part of the foundation of his mill, there was concealed a monstrous pan of gold and diamonds buried deep in the ground, and covered with a large flat stone. He rose up, thanked the stars that were at last pleased to take pity on his sufferings, and concealed his good luck from every person, as is usual in money dreams, in order to have the vision repeated the two succeeding nights, by which he should be certain of its veracity. His wishes in this also were answered; he still dreamed of the same pan of money, in the very same place.

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about, show their best clothes and best faces, and listen to a concert provided for the occasion.

I accepted an invitation a few evenings ago from my old friend, the man in black, to be one of a party that was to sup there; and at the appointed hour waited upon him at his lodgings. There I found the company assembled, and expecting my arrival. Our party consisted of my friend in superlative finery, his stockings rolled, a black velv.. waistcoat, which was formerly new, and a grey wig combed down in imitation of hair. A pawnbroker's widow, of whom, by the bye, my friend was a professed admirer, dressed out in green damask, with three gold rings on every finger. Mr Tibbs, the second-rate beau I have formerly described, together with his lady, in flimsy silk, dirty gauze instead of linen, and a hat as big as an umbrella.

Our first difficulty was in settling how we should set out. Mrs Tibbs had a natural aversion to the water, and the widow being. a little in flesh, as warmly protested against walking; a coach was therefore agreed upon; which being too small to carry five, Mr Tibbs consented to sit in his wife's lap.

Now, therefore, it was past a doubt; so getting up early the third morning, he repairs alone, with a mattock in his hand, to the mill, In this manner, therefore, we set forward, and began to undermine that part of the wall being entertained by the way with the bodings which the vision directed. The first omen of of Mr Tibbs, who assured us he did not exsuccess that he met was a broken mug; digging pect to see a single creature for the evening still deeper, he turns up a house tile, quite new above the degree of a cheesemonger: that this and entire. At last, after much digging, he was the last night of the gardens, and that came to the broad flat stone, but then so large, consequently we should be pestered with the that it was beyond one man's strength to re- nobility and gentry from Thames-street and move it. Here," cried he, in raptures to Crooked-lane, with several other prophetic. himself, "here it is! under this stone there is ejaculations, probably inspired by the uneasiroom for a very large pan of diamonds indeed!ness of his situation. I must e'en go home to my wife, and tell her the whole affair, and get her to assist me in turning it up." Away therefore he goes, and acquaints his wife with every circumstance of their good fortune. Her raptures on this occasion may be easily imagined; she flew round his neck, and embraced him in an agony of joy; but those transports, however, did not delay their eagerness to know the exact sum; returning, therefore, speedily together to the place where Whang had been digging, there they found-not indeed the expected treasure, but the mill, their only support, undermined and fallen. Adieu.

LETTER LXX.

FROM LIEN CHI ALTANG TO FUM HOAM, FIRST
PRESIDENT OF THE CEREMONIAL ACADEMY

AT PEKIN IN CHINA.

THE people of London are as fond of walking as our friends at Pekin of riding; one of the principal entertainments of the citizens here in summer, is to repair about nightfall to a garden not far from town, where they walk

The illuminations began before we arrived, and I must confess, that upon entering the gardens I found every sense overpaid with more than expected pleasure; the lights every where glimmering through the scarcely moving trees, the full-bodied concert bursting on the stillness of the night, the natural concert of birds, in the more retired part of the grove, vieing with that which was formed by art; the company gaily dressed, looking satisfaction, and the tables spread with various delicacies, all conspired to fill my imagination with the visionary happiness of the Arabian lawgiver, and lifted me into an ecstasy of admiration. "Head of Confucius," cried I to my friend, "this is fine! this unites rural beauty with courtly magnificence! if we except the virgins of immortality, that hang on every tree, and may be plucked at every desire, I do not see how this falls short of Mahomet's Paradise!" "As for virgins," cries my friend, "it is true they are a fruit that do not much abound in our gardens here; but if ladies, as plenty as apples in autumn, and as complying as any houri of them all, can content you, I fancy we have no need to go to heaven for paradise."

I was going to second his remarks, when we were called to a consultation by Mr Tibbs

pieces ought rather to excite horror than satisfaction; she ventured again to commend one of the singers, but Mrs Tibbs soon let her know, in the style of a connoisseur, that the singer in question had neither ear, voice, nor judgment.

and the rest of the company, to know in what | sitting, but was soon convinced that such paltry manner we were to lay out the evening to the greatest advantage. Mrs Tibbs was for keeping the genteel walk of the garden, where, she observed, there was always the very best company; the widow, on the contrary, who came but once a season, was for securing a good standing place to see the water-works, which she assured us would begin in less than an hour at farthest; a dispute therefore began, and as it was managed between two of very opposite characters, it threatened to grow more bitter at every reply. Mrs Tibbs wondered how people could pretend to know the polite world, who had received all their rudiments of breeding behind a counter; to which the other replied, that though some people sat behind counters, yet they could sit at the head of their own tables too, and carve three good dishes of hot meat whenever they thought proper; which was more than some people could say for themselves, that hardly knew a rabbit and onions from a green goose and gooseberries.

It is hard to say where this might have ended, had not the husband, who probably knew the impetuosity of his wife's disposition, proposed to end the dispute, by adjourning to a box, and try if there was any thing to be had for supper that was supportable. To this we all consented; but here a new distress arose : Mr and Mrs Tibbs would sit in none but a genteel box, a box where they might see and be seen, one, as they expressed it, in the very focus of public view; but such a box was not easy to be obtained, for though we were perfectly convinced of our own gentility, and the gentility of our appearance, yet we found it a difficult matter to persuade the keepers of the boxes to be of our opinion; they chose to reserve genteel boxes for what they judged more genteel company.

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At last, however, we were fixed, though somewhat obscurely, and supplied with the usual entertainment of the place. The widow found the supper excellent, but Mrs Tibbs thought every thing detestable. Come, come, my dear," cries the husband, by way of consolation, "to be sure we can't find such dressing here as we have at Lord Crump's or Lady Crimp's; but for Vauxhall dressing it is pretty good it is not their victuals indeed I find fault with, but their wine; their wine," cries he, drinking off a glass, indeed, is most abominable."

:

By this last contradiction, the widow was fairly conquered in point of politeness. She perceived now that she had no pretensions in the world to taste; her very senses were vulgar, since she had praised detestable custard, and smacked at wretched wine; she was therefore content to yield the victory, and for the rest of the night to listen and improve. It is true, she would now and then forget herself, and confess she was pleased, but they soon brought her back again to miserable refinement. She once praised the painting of the box in which we were

Mr Tibbs, now willing to prove that his wife's pretensions to music were just, entreated her to favour the company with a song; but to this she gave a positive denial-" for you know very well, my dear," says she, “that I am not in voice to-day, and when one's voice is not equal to one's judgment, what signifies singing; besides, as there is no accompaniment it would be but spoiling music." All thee excuses, however, were overruled by the rest of the company, who, though one would think they already had music enough, joined in the entreaty. But particularly the widow, now willing to convince the company of her breeding, pressed so warmly, that she seemed determined to take no refusal. At last then the lady complied, and after humming for some minutes, began with such a voice, and such affectation, as I could perceive, gave but little satisfaction to any except her husband. He sat with rapture in his eye, and beat time with his hand on the table.

You must observe, my friend, that it is the custom of this country, when a lady or gentleman happens to sing, for the company to sit as mute and motionless as statues. Every feature, every limb, must seem to correspond in fixed attention; and while the song continues, they are to remain in a state of universal petrefaction. In this mortifying situation we had continued for some time, listening, and looking with tranquillity, when the master of the box came to inform us, that the water-works were just going to begin. At this information I could instantly perceive the widow bounce from her seat; but correcting herself, she sat down again, repressed by motives of good-breeding. Mrs Tibbs, who had seen the water-works a hundred times, resolving not to be interrupted, continued her song without any share of mercy, nor had the smallest pity on our impatience. The widow's face, I own, gave me high entertainment; in it I could plainly read the struggle she felt between good-breeding and curiosity: she talked of the water-works the whole evening before, and seemed to have come merely in order to see them; but then she could not bounce out in the very middle of a song, for that would be forfeiting all pretensions to high life, or high-lived company, ever after. Mrs Tibbs therefore kept on singing, and we continued to listen, till at last, when the song was just concluded, the waiter came to inform us that the water-works were over.

"The water-works over!" cried the widow; "the water-works over already! that's impossi. ble! they can't be over so soon!"-"It is not my business," replied the fellow, "to contradict your ladyship; I'll run again and see."

He

went, and soon returned with a confirmation | tion: this is a severe clog, as many are ashamof the dismal tidings. No ceremony could ed to have their marriage made public, from now bind my friend's disappointed mistress, motives of vicious modesty, and many afraid she testified her displeasure in the openest from views of temporal interest. It is ordainmanner; in short, she now began to find faulted, that there is nothing sacred in the ceremony, in turn, and at last insisted upon going home, just at the time that Mr and Mrs Tibbs assured the company, that the polite hours were going to begin, and that the ladies would instantaneously be entertained with the horns. Adieu.

country ever constitutes its happiness, Great wealth in the possession of one stagna es, and extreme poverty with another keeps him in unambitious indigence; but the moderately rich are generally active: not too far removed from poverty to fear its calamities, nor too near extreme wealth to slacken the nerve of labour, they remain still between both in a state of continual fluctuation. How impolitic, therefore, are those laws which promote accumulation of wealth among the rich more impolitic still in attempting to increase the depression on poverty.

and convert Hymen to a broker. Tis yours to behold small objects with a microscopic eye, but to be blind to those which require an extent of vision. 'Tis yours, O ye discerners of mankind! to lay the line between society, and weaken that force by dividing, which should bind with united vigour. 'Tis yours, to introduce national real distress, in order to avoid the imaginary distresses of a few. Your ac tions can be justified by a hundred reasons like truth; they can be opposed by but a few reasons, and those reasons are true." Farewell.

LETTER LXXII.

Bacon, the English philosopher, compares money to manure-" If gathered in heaps," says he, "it does no good; on the contrary, it becomes offensive. But being spread, though never so thinly, over the surface of the earth, FROM LIEN CHI ALTANGI, TO HINGPO, BY THE it enriches the whole country." Thus the wealth a nation possesses must expatiate, or it is of no benefit to the public; it becomes rather a grievance, where matrimonial laws thus confine it to a few.

But this restraint upon matrimonial community, even considered in a physical light, is injurious. As those who rear up animals, take all possible pains to cross the strain, in order to improve the breed; so, in those countries where marriage is most free, the inhabitants are found every age to improve in stature and in beauty; on the contrary, where it is confined to a cast, a tribe, or a horde, as among the Gaurs, the Jews, or the Tartars, each division soon as sumes a family likeness, and every tribe degenerates into peculiar deformity. Hence it may be easily inferred, that if the mandarines here are resolved only to marry among each other, they will soon produce a posterity with mandarine faces; and we shall see the heir of some honourable family scarcely equal to the abortion of a country farmer.

WAY OF MOSCOW.

AGE, that lessens the enjoyment of life, increases our desire of living. Those dangers which, in the vigour of youth, we had learned to despise, assume new terrors as we grow old. Our caution increasing as our years increase, fear becomes at last the prevailing passion of the mind; and the small remainder of life is taken up in useless efforts to keep off our end, or provide for a continual existence.

Strange contradiction in our nature, and to which even the wise are liable! If I should judge of that part of life which lies before me, by that which I have already seen, the prospect is hideous. Experience tells me, that my past enjoyments have brought no real felicity; and sensation assures me, that those I have felt are stronger than those which are yet to come. Yet experience and sensation in vain persuade; hope, more powerful than either, dresses out the distant prospect in fancied beauty; some happiness in long perspective still beckons me to pursue; and, like a losing gamester, every new disappointment increases my ardour to continue the game.

There are a few of the obstacles to marriage nere, and it is certain they have, in some measure, answered the end, for celibacy is both frequent and fashionable. Old bachelors appear abroad without a mask, and old maids, Whence, my friend, this increased love of my dear Fum Hoam, have been absolutely life, which grows upon us with our years? known to ogle. To confess in friendship, if I whence comes it, that we thus make greater were an Englishman, I fancy I should be an efforts to preserve our existence, at a period old bachelor myself; I should never find cour-when it becomes scarcely worth the keeping? age to run through all the adventures prescrib- Is it that nature, attentive to the preservation ed by law. I could submit to court my mis- of mankind, increases our wishes to live, tress herself upon reasonable terms; but to while she lessens our enjoyments; and, as court her father, her mother, and a long train she robs the senses of every pleasure, equips of cousins, aunts, and relations, and then stand imagination in the spoil? Life would be inthe butt of a whole country church, I would as supportable to an old man, who, loaded with soon turn tail and make love to her grandmother. infirmities, feared death no more than in the viI can conceive no other reason for thus load-gour of manhood; the numberless calamities ing matrimony with so many prohibitions, unless it be that the country was thought already too populous, and this was found to be the most effectual means of thinning it. If this was the motive, I cannot but congratulate the wise projectors on the success of their scheme. Hail, O ye dim-sighted politicians, ye weeders of men! 'Tis yours to clip the wing of industry,

of decaying nature, and the consciousness of surviving every pleasure, would at once induce him, with his own hand, to terminate the scene of misery; but happily the contempt of death forsakes him, at a time when it could be only prejudicial; and life acquires an imaginary value, in proportion as its real value is no more.

Our attachment to every object around us