He enquired for a news-paper, and was told that
farmers never minded news, but that they could
fend for it from the ale-houfe. A meffenger was
difpatched, who ran away at full fpeed, but loitered
an hour behind the hedges, and at laft coming
back with his feet purpofely bemired, inftead of ex-
preffing the gratitude which Mr. Shifter expected
for the bounty of a fhilling, faid, that the night was
wet, and the way dirty, and he hoped that his
\vorihip would not think it much to give him half a
crown.
Dick now went to bed with fome abatement of
his expectations; but fleep, I know not how, re-
vives our hopes, and rekindles our defires. He
rofe early in the morning, furveyed the landfcape,
and was pleafed. He walked out, and paffed from
field to field, without obferving any beaten path,
and wondered that he had not feen the fhcpherd-
efles dancing, nor heard the fwains piping to their
flocks.
At laft he faw fome reapers and harveft-women
at dinner. Here, faid he, are the true Arcadians,
and
N'7 1 - T H E I D L E R. 287
and advanced courteously towards them, as afraid of
confuting them by the dignity of his preience.
They acknowledged his fuperiority by no other
token than that of afking him for fomething to
drink. He imagined that he had now purchafed
the privilege of difcourfe, and began to defccnd to
familiar queftions, endeavouring to accommodate
his difcourfe to the groflhefs of ruftick under-
flandings. The clowns foon found that he did
not know wheat from rye, and began to defpife him;
one of the boys, by pretending to Ihew him a bird's
neft, decoyed him into a ditch ; and one of the wenches
fold him a bargain.
This walk had given him no great pleafure ; but
he hoped to find other rufticks lefs coarfe of man-
ners, and lefs mifchievous of difpplition. Next
morning he was accofted by an attorney, who told
him, that, unlefs he made farmer Dobfon Satisfaction
for trampling his grafs, he had orders to indict him.
Shifter was offended, but not terrified ; and, telling
the attorney that he was himfelf a lawyer, talked fo
volubly of pettyfoggers and barraters, that he drove
him away.
Finding his walks thus interrupted, he was in-
clined to ride, and, being pleafed with the ap-
pearance of a horfe that was grazing in a neigh-
bouring meadow, enquired the owner, who war-
ranted him found, and would not fell him, but that
he was too fine for a plain man. Dick paid down
the price, and, riding out to enjoy the evening, fell
with his new horfe into a ditch ; they got out with
difficulty, and, as he was going to mount again, a
countryman looked at the horfe, and perceived
him
288 T H E I D L E R. N 71.
him to be blind. Dick went to the feller, and de-
manded back his money; but was told, that a
man who rented his ground muft do the beft for
himfelf, that his landlord had his rent though
the year was barren, and that, whether horfes had
eyes or no, he fhould fell them to the higheft
bidder.
Shifter now began to be tired with ruftick fim-
plicity, and on the fifth day took pofleffion again
of his chambers, and bade farewel to the regions
of calm content and placid meditation.
NUMB. 72. SATURDAY, September i, 1759.
EN complain of nothing more frequently
than of deficient memory ; and, indeed,
every one finds that many of the ideas which he de-
fired to retain have flipped irretrievably away ; that
the acquifitions of the mind are fometimes equally
fugitive with the gifts of fortune ; and that a (hort
intermiffion of attention more certainly leflens know-
ledge than impairs an eftate.
To affift this weaknefs of our nature, many me-
thods have been propofed, all of which may be
juftly fufpedled of being ineffectual ; for no art of
memory, however its effects have been boafted or
admired, has been ever adopted into general ufe,
nor have thofe who pofleffed it appeared to excel
others in readinefs of recollection or multiplicity of
attainments.
2 There
N 72. T H E I D L E R. 289
There is another art of which all have felt the
xvanr, though Themijtocles only confefled it. We
fuffer equal pain lro;n the pertinacious adhefion of
unwelcome images, as from the evanefcence of
thofe which are pleafing and ufeful ; and it may be
doubted whether we (hould be more benefited by
the art of memory or the art of forgetful nefs.
Forgetfulnefs is neceffary to remembrance. Ideas
are retained by renovation of that impreffion which
time is always wearing away, and which new images
are ftriving to obliterate. If ufelefs thoughts could
be expelled from the mind, all the valuable parts of
our knowledge would more frequently recur, and
every recurrence would reinftate them in their for-
mer place*
It is impoffible to confider, without fome regret,
how much might have been learned, or how much
might have been invented, by a rational and vi-
gorous application of time, ufeleffly or painfully
palTed in the revocation of events, which have left
neither good nor evil behind them, in grief for mif-
fortunes either repaired or irreparable, in refentment
of injuries known only to ourfelves, of which death
has put the authors beyond our power.
Philofophy has accumulated precept 1 upon pre-
cept, to warn us againft the anticipation of future
calamities. All ufelefs mifery is certainly tolly,
and he that feels evils before they come may be de-
fervedly cenfured; yet furely to dread, the future is
more reafonable than to lament the paft. The bu-
finefs of life is to go forwards : he who fees evil in
profpecl: meets it 1 ' 1 his way -, but he who catches it
VOL. VII. U by
290 THE IDLER. N' 72,
by retrofpedtion turns back to find it. That which
is feared may fometimes be avoided, but that which
is regretted to-day may be regretted again to-
morrow.
Regret is indeed ufeful and virtuous, and not
only allowable but neceffary, when it tends to the
amendment of life, or to admonition of error which
we may be again in danger of committing. But a
very fmall part of the moments fpent in meditation
on the part, produce any reaibnable caution or fa-
lutary forrow. Mod of the mortifications that we
have fuffered, arofe from the concurrence of local
and temporary circumftances, which can never meet
again ; and moft of our difappointments have fuc-
ceeded thofe expectations, which life allows not to
be formed a fecond time.
It would add much to human happinefs, if an art
could be taught of forgetting all of which the re-
membrance is at once ufelefs and afflictive, if that
pain which never can end in pleafure could be
driven totally away, that the mind might perform-
its functions without incumbrance, and the paft
might no longer encroach upon the prefect.
Little can be done well to which the whole mind
is not applied; the bufmefs of every day calls for
the day to which it is affigned -, and he will have no-
leifure to regret yefterday's vexations who refolves
not to have a new fubject of regret to-morrow.
But to forget or to remember at pleafure, are
equally beyond the power of man. Yet as memory
may be affifted by method, and the decays of know-
ledge repaired by ftated times of recollection, fo
the
N 7*' THE IDLER. 291
the power of forgetting is capable of improvement.
Reafon will, by a refolute conteft, prevail over ima-
gination, and the power may be obtained of tranf-
ferring the attention as judgement fhall direct.
The incurfions of troublefome thoughts are often
violent and importunate; and it is not eafy to a
mind accuftomed to their inroads to expel them
immediately by putting better images into motion;
but this enemy of quiet is above all others weakened
by every defeat; the reflexion which has been once
overpowered and ejected, feldom returns with any
formidable vehemence.
Employment is the great inftrument of intel-
lectual dominion. The mind cannot retire from
its enemy into total vacancy, or turn afide from one
object but by paffing to another. The gloomy and
the refentful are always found among thofe who
have nothing to do, or who do nothing. We muft
be bufy about good or evil, and he to whom the pre-
fent offers nothing will often be looking backward
on the paft.
U 2 NUMB*
292 T H E I D L E R. N 73..
NUMB. 73. SATURDAY, September 8, 1759.
THAT every man would be rich if a wifh
could obtain riches, is a pofition which I be-
lieve few will conteft, at leaft in a nation like ours,
in which commerce has kindled an univerfal emu-
lation of wealth, and in which money receives all
the honours which are the proper right of knowledge
and of virtue.
Yet though we are all labouring for gold as for
the chief good, and, by the natural effort of un-
wearied diligence, have found many expeditious
methods of obtaining it, we have not been able to
improve the art of ufing it, or to make it pro-
duce more happinefs than it afforded in former
times, when every declairner expatiated on its mif-
chiefs, and every philofopher taught his followers to
defpife it.
Many of the dangers imputed of old to exor-
bitant wealth, are now at an end. The rich are
neither waylaid by robbers, nor watched by in-
formers ; there is nothing to be dreaded from pro-
fcriptions, or feizures. The neceffity of concealing
treafure has long ceafed ; no man now needs coun-
terfeit mediocrity, and condemn his plate and jewels
to caverns and darknefs, or feaft his mind with the
confcioufnefs of clouded fplendour, of finery which
is ufelefs till it is ihewn, and which he dares not
la
N 73. THE IDLER. 293
In our time the poor are ftrongly tempted to af-
fume the appearance of wealth, but the wealthy-
very rarely defire to be thought poor j for we are
all at full liberty to difplay riches by every mode
of oftentation. We fill our houfes with ufelefs
ornaments, only to Ihew that we can buy them;
we cover our coaches with gold, and employ artifls
in the difcovery of new fafhions of expence ; and
yet it cannot be found that riches produce hap-
pinefs.
Of riches, as of every thing elfe, the hope is
more than the enjoyment ; while we confider them
as the means to be ufed, at fome future time, for
the attainment of felicity, we prefs on our pur-
fuit ardently and vigoroufly, and that ardour fe-
cures us from wearinefs of ourfelves; but no fooner
do we fit down to enjoy our acquisitions, than
we find them inefficient to fill up the vacuities of
iife.
One caufe which is not always obferved of the
infufficiency of riches, is, that they very feldom
make their owner rich. To be rich, is to have
more than is deiired, and more than is wanted ; to
have fomething which may be fpent without reluc-
tance, and fcattered without care, with which the
fudden demands of defire may be gratified, the ca-
fual freaks of fancy indulged, or the unexpected
opportunities of benevolence improved.
Avarice is always poor, but poor by her own fault.
There is another poverty to which the rich are ex-
pofed with lefs guilt by the officioumefs of others.
Every man, eminent for exuberance of fortune, is
U 3 furrounded
294 T H E I D L E R. N 73.
furronnded from morning to evening, and from
evening to midnight, by flatterers, whole art of adu-
lation confifts in exciting artificial wants, and in
forming new fchemes of profufion.
'Tom Tranquil, when he came to age, found him-
felf in poflcffion of a fortune, of which the twen-
tieth part might perhaps have made him rich. His
temper is eafy, and his affections foft; he receives
every man with kindnefs, and hears him with credulity.
'His friends took care to fettle him by giving him a
wife, whom, having no particular inclination, he ra-
ther accepted than chofe, becaufe he was told that
(he was proper for him.
He was now to live with dignity proportionate to
his fortune. What his fortune requires or admits
Tom does not know, for he has little fkill in compu-
tation, and none of his friends think it their inte-
reft to improve it. If he was fuffered to live by
his own choice, he would leave every thing as he
finds it, and pafs through the world diflinguifhed
only by inoffenfive gentlenefs. But the miniflers
of luxury have marked him out as one at whofe ex-
pence they may exercife their arts. A companion,
who had juft earned the names of the Italian matters,
runs from fale to fale, and buys pictures, for which
Mr. Tranquil pays, without enquiring where they
fhall be hung. Another fills his garden with fla-
mes, which Tranquil wifhes away, but dares not
remove. One of his friends is learning architec-
ture by building him a houfe, which he pafTed by,
and enquired to whom it belonged ; another has
been for three years digging canals and raifing
i mounts,
N 73. THE IDLER. 295
mounts, cutting trees down in one place, and plant-
ing them in another, on which Tranquil looks with
ferene indifference, without aflcing what will be the
coft. Another proje&or tells him that a water-
work, like that of Verfailles^ will complete the
beauties of his feat, and lays his draughts before
him ; Tranquil turns his eyes upon them, and the
artift begins his explanations ; Tranquil raifes no
objections, but orders him to begin the work, that
he may efcape from talk which he docs not under-
ftand.
Thus a thoufand hands are bufy at his expence,
without adding to his pleafures. He pays and re*
ceives vifits, and has loitered in publick or in foli-
tude, talking in fummer of the town, and in winter
of the country, without knowing that his fortune is
impaired, till his fleward told him this morning,
that he could pay the workmen no longer but by
mortgaging a manor.
U4 NUMB.
296 THE IDLER, N 3 74,
NUMB. 74. SATURDAY, September 15, 1759,
IN the mythological pedigree of learning, me-
mory is made the mother of the mufes, by
which the matters of ancient wifdom, perhaps,
meant to {hew the neceffity of ftoring the mind co-
pioufly with true notions, before the imagination
fhould be fuffered to form fictions or collect embeli
lifhments; for the works of an ignorant poet can af-
ford nothing higher than pleafing found, and fiction
is of no other ufe than to "difplay the treafures of
memory.
The neceffity of memory to the acquifition of
knowledge is inevitably felt and Mniverfally allowed,
fo that fcarcely any other of the mental faculties are
commonly confidered as necefTary to a ftuclent : he
that admires the proficiency of another, always at-
tributes it to the happinefs of his memory ; and he
that laments his own defects, concludes with a wiflj
' that his memory was better.
It is evident, that when the power of retention is
weak, all the attempts at eminence of knowledge
muft be vain ; and as few are willing to be doomed
to perpetual ignorance, I may, perhaps, afford con-
folation to fome that have fallen too ealily into de-
fpondence, by obferving that fuch weaknefs is, in
my opinion, very rare, and that few have reafon to,
complain of nature as unkindly {paring of the gifts
pf memory.
N 74. THE IDLER. 297
In the common bufinefs of >/<:_, \\e find the me-
mory of one like that oi another, and honeftly im-
pute omiffions not to involuntary forgetfulnefs, but
culpable in a v.\, ration; but in literary inquiries, failure
is imputed rather to want of memory than of dili-
gence.
We confider ourfelves as defective in memory,
either becaufe we remember lefs than we defire, or
lefs than we fuppofe others to remember.
Memory is like all other human powers, with
which no man can be fatisfied who meafures them
by what he can conceive, or by what he can defire.
He whofe mind is moft capacious, finds it much too
narrow for his wifhes : he that remembers mod, re-
members little compared with what he forgets. He
therefore that, after the perufal of a book, finds
few ideas remaining in his mind, is not to confider
the difappointment as peculiar to himfelf, or to
refign all hopes of improvement, becaufe he does
not retain what even the author has perhaps for-
gotten.
He \vho compares his memory with that of
others, is often too hafty to lament the inequa-
lity. Nature has fometimes, indeed, afforded ex-
amples of enormous, wonderful, and gigantick me-
mory. Scaliger reports of himfelf, that, in his
youth, he could repeat above an hundred verfes,
having once read them ; and Earthicus declares,
that he wrote his Comment upon Claudian without
confulting the text. But not to have fuch degrees
of memory, is no more to be lamented, than not
to have the ftrength of Hercules, or the fwiftnefs of
Achilles*
198 T H E I D L E R. N 74.
Achilles. He that, in the diftribution of good, has
an equal {hare with common men, may juflly be
contented. Where there is no ftriking difparity,
it is difficult to know of two which remembers
moil, and Hill more difficult to difcover which reads
with greater attention, which has renewed the firft
impreflion by more frequent repetitions, or by what
accidental combination of ideas either mind might
have united any particular narrative or argument to
its former flock.
But memory, however impartially distributed,
fo often deceives our truft, that almoft every man
attempts, by fome artifice or other, to fecure its
fidelity.
It is the practice of many readers to note, in the
margin of their books, the moft important paflages,
the flrongefl arguments, or the brighteft fentiments.
Thus they load their minds with fuperfluous atten-
tion, reprefs the vehemence of curiofity by ufelefs
deliberation, and by frequent interruption break the
current of narration or the chain of reafon, and at
laft clofe the volume, and forget the paffages and
marks together.
Others I have found unalterably perfuaded, that
nothing is certainly remembered but what is tran-
fcribed ; and they have therefore patted weeks and
months in transferring large quotations to a com-
mon-place book. Yet, why any part of a book,
which can be confulted at pleafure, ihould be co-
pied, I was never able to difcover. The hand
has no clofer correfpondence with the memory than
the eye. The at of writing itfclf diftrads the
thoughts,
N 74. THE IDLER. 299
thoughts, and what is read twice is commonly bet-
ter remembered than what is tranfcribed. This
method therefore confumes time without affifting
memory.
The true art of memory is the art of attention.
No man will read with much advantage, who is not
able, at pleafure, to evacuate his mind, or who
brings not to his author an intellect defecated and
pure, neither turbid with care, nor agitated by
pleafure. If the repofitories of thought are al-
ready full, what can they receive ? If the- mind is
employed on the paft or future, the book will be
held before the eyes in vain. What is read with
delight is commonly retained, becaufe pleafure al-
ways fecures attention -, but the books which are
confulted by occafional neceffity, and perufed with
impatience, feldom leave any traces on the mind.
NUMB.
SOD THE IDLER. N c
NUMB. 75. SATURDAY, September 22, i -59.
IN the time when Baffora was confidered as the
fchool of AJia, and flourished by the reputation
of its profeffors and the confluence of its ftudents,
among the pupils that liftened round the chair of
Albumazar was Gelaleddin, a native of Tauris in
Perjia, a young man amiable in his manners and
beautiful in his form, of boundlefs curiofity, incef-
fant diligence, and irrefiftible genius, of quick ap-
prehenfion and tenacious memory, accurate with-
out narrownefs, and eager for novelty without in-
conftancy.
No fooner did Gelaleddln appear at BaJJora, than
his virtues and abilities raifed him to diftinftion.
He paffed from clafs to clafs, rather admired than
envied by thofe whom the rapidity of his progrefs
left behind ; he was confulted by his fellow-ftuclents
as an oraculous guide, and admitted as a competent
auditor to the conferences of the fages.
After a few years, having paffed through all the
exercifes of probation, Gelaleddln was invited to a
profeflbr's feat, and entreated to increafe the fplen-
dour of Ba/Jora. Gelaleddln affected to deliberate
on the propofal, with which, before he confidered
it, he refolved to comply ; and next morning retired
to a garden planted for the recreation of the fludents,
and, entering a folitary walk, began to meditate upon
his future life.
N 7 5- TH E I D L E R. 301
<f If I am thus eminent," faid he, " in the regions
te of literature, I fhall be yet more confpicuous in
" any other place ; if I fhould now devote myfelf
<{ to ftudy and retirement, I muft pafs my life in.
" filence, unacquainted with the delights of wealth,
" the influence of power, the pomp of greatnefs,
'* and the charms of elegance, with all that man
" envies and defires, with all that keeps the world
t( in motion, by the hope of gaining or the fear of
" lofing it. I will therefore depart to Tauris, where
" the Per/tan monarch refides in all the fplendour
" of abfolute dominion : my reputation will fly
" before me, my arrival will be congratulated by
" my kinfmen and my friends ; I fhall fee the eyes
" of thofe who predict my greatnefs fparkling with
c * exultation, and the faces of thofe that once
" defpifed me clouded with envy, or counterfeiting
" kindnefs by artificial fmiles. I will fhew my
" wifdom by my difcourfe, and my moderation by
" my filence ; I will inftruft the modeft with eafy
" gentlenefs, and reprefs the oftentatious by feafon-
" able fupercilioufnefs. My apartments will be
" crowded by the inquifitive and the vain, by thofe
t( that honour and thofe that rival me ; my name
"will foon reach the court; I fhall ftand before
" the throne of the emperor ; the judges of the law
te will confefs my wifdom, and the nobles will con-
" tend to heap gifts upon me. If I fhall find that
" my merit, like that of others, excites malignity, 'or
" feel myfelf tottering on the feat of elevation, I
* may at laft retire to academical obfcurity, and
" become, in my lowefl (late, a profeflbr of Baf-
Having
5 o2 THE IDLER. N 75.
Having thus fettled his determination, he declared
to his friends his defjgn of vifiting Tauris, and favv
with more pleafure than he ventured to exprefs, the
regret with which he was difmifled. He could not
bear to delay the honours to which he was deftined,
and therefore haftened away, and in a fhort time en-
tered the capital of Perfia. He was immediately
immerfed in the crowd, and palled unobferved to
his father's houfe. He entered, and was received,
though not unkindly, yet without any excefs of fond-
nefs or exclamations of rapture. His father had, in
his abfence, fuffered many loffes, and Gelaleddin was
confidered as an additional burthen to a falling fa-
mily.
When he recovered from his furprize, he began to
difplay his acquifitions, and pra&ifed all the arts of
narration and difquifinon : but the poor have no
leifure to be pleafed with eloquence ; they heard his
arguments without reflection, and his plea fan tries
\viihout a fmile. He then applied himfelf fingly to
his brothers and fitters, but found them all chained
down by invariable attention to their own fortunes,
and infenfible of any other excellence than that which
could bring fome remedy for indigence.
It was now known in the neighbourhood that Ge-
laleddin was returned, and he fate for fome days in
expectation that the learned would vifit him for con-
fultation, or the great for entertainment. But who
will be pleafed or inflrudted in the manfions of po-
verty ? He then frequented places of publick reforr,
and endeavoured to attract notice by the copioufnefs
of his talk. The fpritely were filenced, and went
away to cenfure in fome other place his arrogance
and
N 75. T H E I D L E R. 303
and his pedanty ; and the dull liftened quietly for a
while, and then wondered why any man Ihould take
pains to obtain fo much knowledge which would
never do him good.
He next folicited the vifiers for employment, not
doubting but his fervice would be eagerly accepted.
He was told by one that there was no vacancy in
his office ; by another, that his merit was above any
patronage but that of the emperor ; by a third, than
he would not forget him ; and by the chief vifier,
that he did not think literature of any great ufe m
publick bufinefs. He was fometimes admitted to
their tables, where he exerted his wit and diffufed
his knowledge ; but he obferved, that where, by en-
deavour or accident, he had remarkably excelled, he
was feldom invited a fecond time.
He now returned to Bajfora, wearied and difguft-
ed, but confident of refuming his former rank, and
revelling again in fatiety of praife. But he who had
been nesledted at Tauris* was not much regarded at