conviction, and abandoned my heart to the fluctuations of uncertainty, without anchor and without compass, without fatisfaction of curiofity, or peace of conscience, without principles of reafon, or motives of action.

Such is the hazard of repreffing the first perceptions of truth, of fpreading for diverfion the fnares of fophiftry, and engaging reafon against its own de

terminations.

The difproportions of abfurdity grow lefs and lefs vifible, as we are reconciled by degrees to the deformity of a mistress; and falsehood, by long use, is affimilated to the mind, as poifon to the body.

I had foon the mortification of feeing my converfation courted only by the ignorant or wicked, by either boys who were enchanted by novelty, or wretches, who having long disobeyed virtue and reason, were now defirous of my affiftance to dethrone them.

Thus alarmed, I shuddered at my own corruption, and that pride by which I had been feduced, contributed to reclaim me. I was weary of continual irresolution, and a perpetual equipoife of the mind; and ashamed of being the favourite of those who were scorned and fhunned by the reft of mankind.

I therefore retired from all temptation to difpute, prescribed a new regimen to my understanding, and refolved, instead of rejecting all established opinions which I could not prove, to tolerate though not adopt all which I could not confute. I forbore to heat my imagination with needlefs controverfies, to difcufs queftions confeffedly uncertain, and refrained

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frained fteadily from gratifying my vanity by the fupport of falsehood.

By this method I am at length recovered from my argumental delirium, and find myself in the state of one awakened from the confufion and tumult of a feverifh dream. I rejoice in the new poffeffion of evidence and reality, and ftep on from truth to truth with confidence and quiet.

I am, SIR, &c.

PERTINAX.

NUMB. 96. SATURDAY, February 16, 1751.

IT

Quod fi Platonis mufa perfonat verum,
Quod quifque difcit, immemor recordatur.

Truth in Platonick ornaments bedeck'd,
Inforc'd we love, unheeding recollect.

BOETIUS

T is reported of the Perfians, by an ancient writer, that the fum of their education consisted in teaching youth to ride, to foot with the bow, and to speak truth.

The bow and the horfe were eafily mastered, but it would have been happy if we had been informed by what arts veracity was cultivated, and by what prefervatives a Perfian mind was fecured against the temptations to falfehood.

There are, indeed, in the prefent corruption of mankind, many incitements to forfake truth; the

need

need of palliating our own faults, and the convenience of impofing on the ignorance or credulity of others, fo frequently occur; fo many immediate evils are to be avoided, and fo many prefent gratifications obtained, by craft and delusion, that very few of those who are much entangled in life, have spirit and conftancy fufficient to fupport them in the steady practice of open veracity.

In order that all men may be taught to speak truth, it is neceffary that all likewife fhould learn to hear it; for no fpecies of falsehood is more frequent than flattery, to which the coward is betrayed by fear, the dependant by intereft, and the friend by tenderness: Thofe who are neither fervile nor timorous, are yet defirous to bestow pleasure; and while unjust demands of praise continue to be made, there will always be fome whom hope, fear, or kindnefs, will difpofe to pay them.

The guilt of falsehood is very widely extended, and many whom their confcience can scarcely charge with stooping to a lie, have vitiated the morals of others by their vanity, and patronized the vice which they believe themselves to abhor.

Truth is, indeed, not often welcome for its own fake; it is generally unpleafing because contrary to our wishes and oppofite to our practice; and as our attention naturally follows our intereft, we hear unwillingly what we are afraid to know, and foon forget what we have no inclination to impress upon our

memories.

For this reafon many arts of inftruction have been invented, by which the reluctance against truth may be overcome; and as phyfick is given to children in

con

confections, precepts have been hidden under a thoufand appearances, that mankind may be bribed by pleasure to escape destruction.

While the world was yet in its infancy, TRUTH came among mortals from above, and FALSEHOOD from below. TRUTH was the daughter of JUPITER and WISDOM; FALSEHOOD was the progeny of FOLLY impregnated by the wind. They advanced with equal confidence to feize the dominion of the new creation, and as their enmity and their force were well known to the celestials, all the eyes of heaven were turned upon the conteft.

TRUTH feemed confcious of fuperior power and jufter claim, and therefore came on towering and majeftick, unaffifted and alone; REASON indeed always attended her, but appeared her follower, rather than companion. Her march was flow and stately, but her motion was perpetually progreffive, and when once he had grounded her foot, neither gods nor men could force her to retire.

FALSEHOOD always endeavoured to copy the mien and attitudes of TRUTH, and was very fuccefsful in the arts of mimickry. She was furrounded, animated, and fupported by innumerable legions of appetites and paffions, but, like other feeble commanders, was obliged often to receive law from her allies. Her motions were fudden, irregular, and violent; for he had no fteadinefs nor conftancy. She often gained conquefts by hafty incurfions, which fhe never hoped to keep by her own ftrength, but maintained by the help of the paffions, whom the generally found refolute and faithful.

It fometimes happened that the antagonists met in full oppofition. In thefe encounters, FALSEHOOD always invested her head with clouds, and commanded FRAUD to place ambushes about her. In her left hand the bore the fhield of IMPUDENCE, and the quiver of SOPHISTRY rattled on her fhoulder. All the paffions attended at her call; VANITY clapped her wings before, and OBSTINACY fupported her behind. Thus guarded and affifted, fhe fometimes advanced against TRUTH, and fometimes waited the attack; but always endeavoured to fkirmish at a distance, perpetually shifted her ground, and let fly. her arrows in different directions; for fhe certainly found that her strength failed, whenever the eye of TRUTH darted full upon her.

TRUTH had the awful afpect though not the thunder of her father, and when the long continuance of the contest brought them near to one another, FALSEHOOD let the arms of SOPHISTRY fall from her grafp, and holding up the fhield of IMPUDENCE with both her hands, fheltered herself amongst the paffions.

TRUTH, though fhe was often wounded, always recovered in a fhort time; but it was common for the flightest hurt, received by FALSEHOOD, to fpread its malignity to the neighbouring parts, and to burst open again when it feemed to have been cured.

FALSEHOOD, in a fhort time, found by experience that her fuperiority confifted only in the celerity of her course, and the changes of her pofture. She therefore ordered SUSPICION to beat the ground before her, and avoided with great care to cross the VOL. VI.

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way