"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 5 a minister, I grant, will be obliged to baffle opposition, as you are pleased to term it; for as Shakespeare 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 10 points; if he will engage 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 place in these employments men of the highest integrity, and of the greatest abilities; if 15 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 have no opposition to baffle. Such a minister may, in the language of the law, put himself on his country when he pleases and he 20 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?"

"Why not, my Lord?" answered the Doctor. "It requires no very extraordinary parts, nor any extraordinary degree of 25 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."

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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 5 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 10 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 15 general would believe that he was. so?

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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 20 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 25 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 ceremonial leave.

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XXIII

A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE WORLD AND

THE STAGE

The world hath been often compared to the theatre; and many grave writers, as well as the poets, have considered human life as a great drama, resembling, in almost every particular, those scenical representations, which Thespis is first 5 reported to have invented, and which have been since received with so much approbation and delight in all polite countries.

This thought hath been carried so far, and become so general, that some words proper to the theatre, and which were, at first, metaphorically applied to the world, are now indis10 criminately and literally spoken of both: thus stage and scene are by common use grown as familiar to us, when we speak of life in general, as when we confine ourselves to dramatic performances; and when we mention transactions behind the curtain, St. James's is more likely to occur to our thoughts 15 than Drury-Lane.

It may seem easy enough to account for all this, by reflecting that the theatrical stage is nothing more than a representation, or, as Aristotle calls it, an imitation of what really exists; and hence, perhaps, we might fairly pay a very high compliment 20 to those, who by their writings or actions have been so capable of imitating life, as to have their pictures, in a manner confounded with, or mistaken for, the originals.

But, in reality, we are not so fond of paying compliments to these people, whom we use as children frequently do the 25 instruments of their amusement; and have much more pleasure in hissing and buffeting them, than in admiring their excellence. There are many other reasons which have induced us to see this analogy between the world and the stage.

Some have considered the larger part of mankind in the light of actors, as personating characters no more their own, and to which, in fact, they have no better title, than the player hath to be truly thought the king or emperor whom he represents. Thus the hypocrite may be said to be a player; and 5 indeed the Greeks called them both by one and the same

name.

The brevity of life hath likewise given occasion to this comparison. So the immortal Shakespear.

Life's a poor player,

That storms and struts his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more.

IO

For which hackneyed quotation, I will make the reader amends
by a very noble one, which few, I believe, have read. It is
taken from a poem called the DEITY, published about nine years 15
ago, and long since buried in oblivion. A proof that good
books no more than good men do always survive the bad.

From Thee* all human actions take their springs,
The rise of empires, and the fall of kings!
See the VAST THEATRE OF TIME display'd,

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While o'er the scene succeeding heroes tread!
With pomp the shining images succeed,

What leaders triumph, and what monarchs bleed!
Perform the parts thy providence assign'd,

Their pride, their passions to thy ends inclin❜d:

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A while they glitter in the face of day,

Then at thy nod the phantoms pass away;

No traces left of all the busy scene,

But that remembrance says - THE THINGS HAVE BEEN !

In all these, however, and in every other similitude of life to 30 the theatre, the resemblance hath been always taken from the

* The Deity.

stage only. None, as I remember, have at all considered the audience at this great drama.

But as Nature often exhibits some of her best performances to a very full house; so will the behaviour of her spectators 5 no less admit the above-mentioned comparison than that of her actors. In this vast theatre of time are seated the friend and the critic; here are claps and shouts, hisses and groans; in short, every thing which was ever seen or heard at the Theatre Royal.

ΙΟ Now we, who are admitted behind the scenes of this great theatre of nature, (and no author ought to write any thing besides dictionaries and spelling-books who hath not this privilege) can censure the action, without conceiving any absolute detestation of the person, whom perhaps Nature may 15 not have designed to act an ill part in all her dramas: for in this instance, life most exactly resembles the stage, since it is often the same person who represents the villain and the heroe; and he who engages your admiration today, will probably attract your contempt tomorrow. As Garrick, whom I 20 regard in tragedy to be the greatest genius the world hath ever produced, sometimes condescends to play the fool; so did Scipio the Great and Lælius the Wise, according to Horace, many years ago: nay, Cicero reports them to have been "incredibly childish."-These, it is true play'd the fool, like 25 my friend Garrick, in jest only; but several eminent characters have, in numberless instances of their lives, played the fool egregiously in earnest; so far as to render it a matter of some doubt, whether their wisdom or folly was predominant; or whether they were better intitled to the applause or censure, 30 the admiration or contempt, the love or hatred of mankind.

Those persons, indeed, who have passed any time behind. the scenes of this great theatre, and are thoroughly acquainted not only with the several disguises which are there put on,