I am very sorry for it,' cries the doctor; but I will talk to them then of honour and honesty ; this is a language which I hope they will at least 6 pretend to understand. Now to deny a man the preferment which he merits, and to give it to ano'ther man who doth not merit it, is a manifest act of injustice; and is consequently inconsistent with both honour and honesty. Nor is it only an act of injustice to the man himself, but to the publick, for whose good principally all public offices are, or ought to be, instituted. Now this good can never be completed, nor obtained, but by employing all persons according to their capacities. Wherever true merit is liable to be superseded by favour and partiality, and men are intrusted with offices without any regard to capacity or integrity, the affairs of that state will always be in a deplorable situation. Such, as Livy tells us, was 'the state of Capua, a little before its final destruction; and the consequence your lordship well knows. But, my lord, there is another mischief which attends this kind of injustice, and that is, it hath a manifest tendency to destroy all virtue and all ability among the people, by taking away all that encouragement and incentive which 'should promote emulation, and raise men to aim ' at excelling in any art, science, or profession. Nor can any thing, my lord, contribute more to render a nation contemptible among its neighbours ; for what opinion can other countries have of the councils, or what terror can they conceive of the arms, of such a people? and it was chiefly owing to the avoiding this error, that Oliver Cromwell carried the reputation of England higher than it ever was at any other time. I will add only one argument more, and that is founded on the most narrow and selfish system of politics; and this is, that such a conduct is sure to create universal 'discontent and grumbling at home; for nothing

'can bring men to rest satisfied, when they see others preferred to them, but an opinion that they deserve that elevation; for as one of the greatest

men this country ever produced, observes,

One worthless man that gains what he pretends,

Disgusts a thousand unpretending friends.'

With what heart-burnings then must any nation ⚫ see themselves obliged to contribute to the support ❝ of a set of men, of whose incapacity to serve them 'they are well apprised, and who do their country a double diskindness, by being themselves em'ployed in posts to which they are unequal, and by keeping others out of those employments for which they are qualified!'

And do you really think, doctor,' cries the nobleman, that any minister could support himself in this country upon such principles as you recommend? Do you think he would be able to baffle an opposition, unless he should oblige his friends by conferring places often, contrary to his own 'inclinations, and his own opinion?'

Yes, really do I,' cries the doctor.

Indeed, if

a minister is resolved to make good his confession in the liturgy, by leaving undone all those things • which he ought to have done, and by doing all those "things which he ought not to have done; such a minister, I grant, will be obliged to baffle opposition, as you are pleased to term it, by these arts; for, as Shakspeare somewhere says,

'Things ill begun strengthen themselves by ill.' But if, on the contrary, he will please to consider the true interest of his country, and that only in great and national points; if he will enC gage. his country in neither alliances or quarrels, but where it is really interested; if he will raise no money but what is wanted, nor employ any civil or military officers but what are useful; and

4

place in these employments men of the highest integrity, and of the greatest abilities; if he will employ some few of his hours to advance our • trade, and some few more to regulate our domestic government; if he would do this, my lord, I will answer for it, he shall either have no opposition to baffle, or he shall baffle it by a fair appeal to his conduct. Such a minister may, in the language of the law, put himself on his country when he pleases, and he shall come off with honour and applause.'

And do you really believe, doctor,' cries the peer, 'there ever was such a minister, or ever will be?'

6

It

Why not, my lord?' answered the doctor. requires no very extraordinary parts, nor any extraordinary degree of virtue. He need practise no ، great instances of self-denial. He shall have power, and honour, and riches, and, perhaps, all in a 'much greater degree than he can ever acquire by pursuing a contrary system. He shall have more of each, and much more of safety.'

'Pray, doctor,' said my lord, let me ask you one simple question. Do you really believe any man upon earth was ever a rogue out • of choice?'

Really, my lord,' says the doctor, I am ashamed to answer in the affirmative; and yet I • am afraid experience would almost justify me if I 'should. Perhaps the opinion of the world may • sometimes mislead men to think those measures necessary, which in reality are not so. Or the truth may be, that a man of good inclinations finds his office filled with such corruption by the iniquity of his predecessors, that he may despair ❝ of being capable of purging it; and so sits down 'contented, as Augeas did with the filth of his

stables, not because he thought them the better, or that such filth was really necessary to a stable;

but that he despaired of sufficient force to cleanse them.'

I will ask you one question more, and I have 'done,' said the nobleman. 'Do you imagine, that if any minister was really as good as you would have him, that the people in general would believe that he was so ?'

Truly, my lord,' said the doctor, I think they may be justified in not believing too hastily. But I beg leave to answer your lordship's question by ' another. Doth your lordship believe that the people of Greenland, when they see the light of the sun, and feel his warmth, after so long a season of cold and darkness, will really be persuaded that he shines upon them?'

My lord smiled at the conceit; and then the doctor took an opportunity to renew his suit, to which his lordship answered, He would promise nothing,

and could give him no hopes of success; but you $ may be assured,' said he, with a leering countenance, I shall do him all the service in my power.' A language which the doctor well understood; and soon after took a civil, but not a very ceremonious leave.

CHAP. III.

The History of Mr. Trent,

WE will now return to Mr. Booth and his wife, The former had spent his time very uneasily, ever since he had discovered what sort of man he was indebted to; but lest he should forget it, Mr. Trent thought now proper to remind him, in the following letter, which he read the next morning, after he had put off the appointment,

SIR,

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I AM Sorry the necessity of my affairs obliges me to mention that small sum which I had 'the honour to lend you the other night at play; and which I shall be much obliged to you, if you will let me have some time either to-day, or to

This letter a little surprized Booth, after the genteel, and, indeed, as it appeared, generous behaviour of Trent. But lest it should have the same effect upon the reader, we will now proceed to account for this, as well as for some other phænomena that have appeared in this history, and which, perhaps, we shall be forgiven, for not having opened more largely before.

Mr. Trent then was a gentleman, possibly of a good family; for it was not certain whence he sprung on the father's side. His mother, who was the only parent he ever knew or heard of, was a single gentlewoman, and for some time carried on the trade of a milliner in Covent-garden. She sent her son, at the age of eight years old, to a charityschool, where he remained till he was of the age of fourteen, without making any great proficiency learning. Indeed, it is not very probable he should, for the master, who, in preference to a very learned and proper man, was chosen by a party into this school, the salary of which was upwards of a hundred pounds a year, had himself never travelled through the Latin Grammar, and was, in truth, a most consummate blockhead.

At the age of fifteen, Mr. Trent was put clerk to an attorney, where he remained a very short time