thofe unlawful proceedings of princes and ftates; which, by being common, appear lefs criminal: though custom can never alter the nature of good and

ill.

Pray let no quibbles of lawyers, no refinements of cafuifts, break into the plain notions of right and wrong, which every man's right reafon, and plaincommon-fenfe, fuggeft to him. To do as you would be done by, is the plain, fure, and undifputed rule of morality and juftice. Stick to that, and be convinced, that whatever breaks into it, in any degree, however fpecioufly it may be turned, and however puzzling it may be to answer it, is, notwithstanding, falfe in itself, unjuft, and 'criminal. I do not know a crime in the world, which is not, by the cafuifts among the Jefuifts (efpecially the twenty four collected, I think, by Ef cobar) allowed in fome, or many cafes, not to be criminal. The principles firft laid down by them are often fpecious, the reafonings plaufible, but the conclufion always a lie for it is contrary to that evident and undeniable rule of juftice, which I have mentioned above, of not doing to any one what you would not have him do to you. But however, thefe refined pieces of cafu iftry and fophiftry, being very convenient and welcome to people's paffions and appetites, they gladly accept the indulgence, without defiring to detect the fallacy of the reafoning and indeed many, I might fay moft people, are not able to do it; which makes the publication of fuch quibblings and refinements the more pernicious. I am no fkilful cafuift, nor fubtle difpu- : tant; and yet I would undertake to juftify and qualify the profeffion of a highwayman, step by step †, and fo plaufibly, as to make many ignorant people embrace the profeffion, as an innocent, if not even a laudable one; and to puzzle people, of fome degree of knowledge, to anfwer me point by point. I have seen a book, entitled Quidlibet ex Quolibet, or, The Art of making any thing out of any thing; which is not so difficult as it

It is remarkable that this has actually been done fince his lordship wrote, by fome atheistical metaphyficians, who have attempted ro fet del moral obligations.

would feem, if once one quits certain plain truths, obvious in grofs to every understanding, in order to run after the ingenious refinements of warm imaginations and fpeculative reafonings. Dr. Berk ley, bifhop of Cloyne, a very worthy, ingenious, and learned man, has written a book to prove, that there is no fuch thing as matter, and that nothing exists but in idea: that you and I only fancy ourselves eating, drinking, and fleeping; you at Leipfig, and I at London; that we think we have flesh and blood, legs, arms, &c. but that we are only fpirit. His arguments are, ftrictly speaking, unanswerable; but yet I am so far from being convinred by them, that I am determined to go on to eat and drink, and walk and ride, in order to keep that matter, which I fo mistakenly imagine my body at prefent to onfift of, in as good plight as poffible. Common enfe (which, in truth, is very uncommon) is the best enfe I know of: abide by it, it will counfel you best. Read and hear, for your amusement, ingenious fyftems, ice queftions fubtily agitated, with all the refinements hat warm imaginations fuggeft; but confider them mly as exercitations for the mind, and return always fettle with common fenfe.

I ftumbled the other day, at a bookfeller's upon Tomte de Gabalis, in two very little volumes, which I ad formerly read. I read it over again, and with refh aftonishment. Moft of the extravagances are taen from the Jewish rabbins, who broached those wild otions, and delivered them in the unintelligible jargon hich the Caballifts and Roficrucians deal in to this ay. Their number is, I believe, much leffened, but ere are ftill fome; and I myself have known two, who died and firmly believed in that myftical nonfense. hat extravagancy is not man capable of entertaining, hen once his fhackled reafon is led in triumph by ncy and prejudice! The ancient alchymifts gave ve much into this ftuff, by which they thought they ould difcover the philofopher's ftone and fome of e moft celebrated empirics employed it in the pursuit the univerfal medicine. Paracelfus, a bold empiric, ad wild caballift, afferted, that he had difcovered it,

and called it his alkaheft. Why, or wherefore, God knows; only that thofe madmen call nothing by an intelligible name. You may eafily get this book from the Hague; read it, for it will both divert and aftonish you; and at the fame time teach you nil admirari †—a very neceffary leffon.

Your letters, except when upon a given fubject, are exceedingly laconic, and neither anfwer my defires, nor the purpose of letters, which fhould be familiar converfations between absent friends. As I defire to live with you upon the footing of an intimate friend, and not of a parent, I could with that your letters gave me more particular accounts of yourfelf, and of your leffer tranfactions. When you write to me, fuppose yourself converfing freely with me, by the fire-fide. In that cafe, you would naturally mention the incidents of the day; as where you had been, whom you had feen, what you thought of them, &c. Do this in your letters; acquaint me fometimes with your ftudies, fometimes with your diverfions; tell me of any new perfons and characters that you meet with in company, and add your own obfervations upon them in fhort, let me fee more of you in your letters. How do you go on with lord Pulteney? And how does he go on at Leipfig? Has he learning, has he parts, has he appli cation? Is he good or ill natured? In fhort what is he; at least what do you think of him? You may tell me without referve, for I promise you fecrecy. You are now of an age that I am defirous to begin a confiden tial correfpondence with you; and as I fhall, on m part, write to you very freely my opinion upon men and things, which I fhould often be very unwilling tha any body but you and Mr. Harte fhould fee; fo on your part, if you write to me without referve, you may de pend upon my inviolable fecrecy. Tell me what books you are now reading, either by way of ftudy or amufe ment; how you pals your evenings when at home, and where you pass them when abroad. I know that you go fometimes to Madame Valentin's affembly: wha

To wonder at nothing.

do you do there? Do you play, or fup, or is it only la belle converfation ?

I fhould with that you were polifhed, before you go to Berlin; where, as you will be in a great deal of good company, I wifh you to have the right manners for it. In your destination this will be abfolutely neceffary; for a minifter who only goes to the court he refides at in form, to ask an audience of the prince or the minifter, upon his laft inftructions, puts them upon their guard, and will never know any thing more than what they have a mind that he should know.Adieu !

LETTER LXIII.

The Question difcuffed, What is good Company ?...Cautions against low Company... Against the adoption of fashionable

Vices.

DEAR BOY,

[Bath, October the 12th

I CAME here three days ago, upon account of a dif

order in my stomach, which affected my head and gave me vertigos. I already find myfelf fomething better. But however or wherever I am, your welfare, your character, your knowledge, and your morals, employ my thoughts more than any thing that can happen to me, or that I can fear or hope for myself. I am going off the stage, you are coming upon it: with me, what has been, has been, and reflection now would come too late; with you, every thing is to come, even, in fome manner, reflection itself: fo that this is the very time when my reflections, the refult of experience, may be of ufe to you, by fupplying the want of yours. As foon as you leave Leipfig, you will gradually be going into the great world; where the first impreffions that you fhall give of yourself will be of great importance to you; but those which you fhall receive will be decifive, for they always ftick. To keep good company, efpecially at your first fetting out, is the way to receive good impreffions. If you afk me what I mean by good company, I will confefs to you, that it is pretty difficult to │

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define; but I will endeavour to make you understand it as well as I can.

Good company is not what refpective fets of company are pleafed either to call or think themselves; but it is that company which all the people of the place call, and acknowledge to be good company, notwithftanding fome objections which they may form to fome of the individuals who compofe it. It confifts chiefly (but by no means without exception) of people of confiderable birth, rank, and character: for people of neither birth nor rank, are frequently, and very juftly, admitted into it, if diftinguished by any peculiar merit, or eminency in any liberal art or fcience. Nay, fo motley a thing is good company, that many people, without birth, rank or merit, intrude into it by their own forwardness, and others flide into it by the protection of fome confiderable perfon; and fome even of indifferent characters and morals make part of it. But, in the main, the good part preponderates, and people of infamous and blafted characters are never admitted. In this fashionable good company, the best manners, and the beft language of the place, are moft unquest ionably to be learnt; for they establish and give the tone to both, which are therefore called the language and manners of good company: there being no legal, tribunal to afcertain either.

A company confifting wholly of people of the first quality, cannot, for that reafon, be called good company, in the common acceptation of the phrafe, unless they are, into the bargain, the fathionable and accredited company of the place; for people of the very first quality can be as filly, as ill-bred, and as worthlefs, as people of the meaneft degree. On the other hand, a company confifting entirely of people of very low condition, whatever their merit or parts may be, can never be called good company; and confequently fhould not be much frequented, though by no means defpifed.

A company wholly compofed of men of learning, though greatly to be valued and refpected, is not meant by the words good company they cannot have the eafy manners of the world, as they do not live in it. If

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