herself of her delusions as they termed them, by taking off those agreeable colourings of light and shade which lie upon the objects around us, and give them all their richness and beauty. They would have been glad to turn the creation into a colourless waste, that they might have wandered up and down, and taken a closer survey of it.

The next class of petitioners, I observed, were the men of business. They set out with remarking, that they did not join in the complaints that were made against love upon their own account; for though they had been weak enough in the younger part of their lives to fall under its influence, it was many years since they had felt the slightest impressions of it. They had in view the welfare of their children, and this being neither more nor less than their affluence, they were led to consider love, chiefly in the light of an expensive passion. Its little tendernesses and endearments appeared to them inexpressibly ridiculous, and they wondered how any body could be foolish enough to spend hours in tattling to women, without thinking to gain a farthing by it. They gave a long list of young men who had been frugal and industrious, till they were enticed by love to prefer pleasure to profit. They declared, that when we take an account of bails, and treats, and trinkets of various kinds, with the loss of time inseperably attendant upon them, it was at the peril of a fortune to attempt the heart of a beloved object. I was a good deal amused with the manner in which they treated of love; they considered it as they would any other commodity, setting a price upon every part of it. They reckoned a sigh at a shilling, and if it chanced to be observed by the person for whom it was intended, it was well if half-aguinea cleared the expence of it. A side glance was rated at half as much as a full view; they portioned out all the parts of a beautiful person, and made a valuation of each of them. The same scale was applied to their very attitudes; for the sight of a beautiful woman dancing, was accounted a matter of enormous expense, and if she chanced to smile with any degree of complacency upon any one, it was well if he was not ruined; under these impressions they

considered love as the certain forerunner of poverty.

There was one complaint raised against this passion, which I thought had something in it more plausible, than any I have yet mentioned; it turned upon the ease with which it makes its approaches upon us, and the impossibility of guarding against its first advances. We have been able, said they, by art, to manage the elements so as in general to prevent any dangerous overflowings of them. We brave the storm in ships, and dive into the sea in bells; but the ingenuity of man has hit upon no contrivance to save us from the influence of love. Could we call it in to amuse a leisure hour, or to relieve the langour of a few tedious moments, and then dismiss it again; it might be esteemed a blessing in a life so barren of enjoyment. But it is an influence that is spread all around us, and pours itself upon us from every corner. It often lies hid betwixt the keys of an harpsichord, and is shaken out with a few touches of the finger. It flounces in an apron, and is trailed along with a petticoat. No circumspection can preserve us from it, for it will often steal upon us, when we are least upon our guard. It hides itself in a lock, and waves in ringlets of the hair. It will enter by an eye, an ear, a hand or a foot. A glance and gaze are sometimes equally fatal.

I was next presented with a scene which I thought as interesting and solemn as can enter into the imagination of man. This was no other than a view of the whole train of disappointed lovers. At the sight of them my heart insensibly melted into the most tender compassion. There was an extreme dejection, mingled with a piercing wildness in their looks, that was very affecting. Cheerfulness and serenity, I could easily perceive, they had been long strangers to. Their countenances were overspread with a gloom which appeared to be of long standing, and to be collected there from dark and dismal imaginations. There was at the same time all that kind of animation in their features, which betokens troubled thoughts. Their air and manner were altogether singular, and such as mark a spirit at once eager and irresolute. Their step was irregular, and they ever and anon started and looked around

them, as though they were alarmed with some secret terror. I was somewhat surprised in looking through the whole assembly, not to see any one that wept. When they had arrived at the place where they had determined to present their united petitions, I was particularly attentive to observe every thing that passed. Though I listened, I could not learn any thing distinctly. After an interval of profound silence, a murmur only of broken sighs, and piercing exclamations was heard through the assembly. I should have mentioned that some of them fell off before they got to the place of rendezvous. They halted for some time, and continued in melancholy suspense, whether they should turn back or go forward. They knew not which to prefer, the tranquillity of indifference, or the tender distresses of love; at length they inclined to the latter, not having resolution even to wish for the extinction of a passion which mingled itself with the very elements of their existence. Why, said they, should we banish from our minds, the image of all that is pleasing and delightful, and which if we could once forget, there would be nothing left in the world worth remembering? The agitation and anxiety felt upon this occasion, could I lay it fully open to the reader, would form a much more interesting picture, than the deliberations of Cæsar whether he should pass the Rubicon.

I imagined there were several other distinct bodies of men, who complained to the heavenly powers of the tyranny of love, but the particulars having in a great measure faded from my memory, the reader must excuse my passing them over in silence. I must not however forget to observe, that the number and unanimity of those who presented their petitions upon this occasion, were such, that they might fairly be considered as representing the sentiments of far the greater part of mankind.

Perhaps, Providence never chastises the folly of men more justly, than by granting the indulgence of their requests. Upon this occasion, I observed, their wishes were accomplished, and they were relieved from a tyranny of which they had so heavily complained. Upon an appointed day, the Goddess of Love took her flight to the higher regions from which she

The

had descended; her influence was at once withdrawn, and all her enchantments were broken up. I thought nothing could equal the joy that was expressed upon this occasion. air rang with acclamations, and every man was in haste to congratulate his neighbour on their deliverance from a thraldom, which had sunk the spirit, and degraded the dignity of the human race. They seemed all to be lightened of a load, and to break forth with fresh vivacity and spirit. Every one imagined he was entering upon quite a new career, and that the world was laid fresh open before him.

I could not help feeling an inward delight in seeing my fellow-creatures made at once so happy. At the same time, I was anxious to know what would follow upon this new revolution, and particularly whether it would answer the high expectations that were formed from it. Upon my looking around, I was a witness to appearances which filled me with melancholy and regret A total change had taken place in the whole train of human affairs, and I observed, to my sorrow, the change was every where for the worse. It was melancholy now to enter into company; for instead of conversation enlivened by vivacity and wit, there was nothing heard but a drowsy humming to the last degree tiresome and insipid. In the social intercourse of men, the heart had no place; pleasure and the desire of pleasing were equally unknown. Those that I had an opportunity of observing, I thought, very much resembled the loungers and coxcombs of our day, who without any view of receiving pleasure, mingle in a crowd and engage in conversation, not to enjoy time, but to kill it. I now sought in vain for those friendly meetings, at which I had so often been present, where every one, desirous of adding something to the pleasure of the whole, drew forth the fairest ideas of his mind, and by the display of tender sentiments, melted the heart and soothed the imagination. With what regret did I recollect those conversation parties, in which my heart was wont to be full, and to pour itself forth, as we talked ourselves alternately into sadness and into joy.

I had an opportunity of correcting a mistake into which I had fallen, in imagining that love reached only

to courtship and marriage; I saw that it insensibly mingles with our most trifling actions, refining our thoughts, and polishing our manners, when we are least aware of it. The men had now entirely thrown aside that tenderness and gallantry which are the great ornaments of human nature, and are so peculiarly needful to temper and soften the rudeness of masculine strength. Men and women were now placed quite upon a level, so that the harmonious softness of the female voice was drowned in turbulence and noise. The ear was filled but the heart was left empty. Politeness was exchanged for a tame civility, wit for merriment, and serenity for dulness. I began to think more highly than ever of the fair sex, and regarded them in a new light, as a beautiful mirror, lying in the fancy of a lover, for him to dress his thoughts by. People were every where falling a prey to dejection, and complaining of the faintness of human enjoyments, as might well be expected, when the influence of love was withdrawn from them, which by inspiring romantic hopes and romantic fears, keeps the mind always in motion, and makes it clear and bright. You may be sure, nothing could make a more ridiculous appearance than courtship, at a time when women retained their vanity after they had lost their charms. Such is the force of habit, that you might often see a pretty creature twirling her fan and playing off her little enchanting airs before her lover, who perhaps sat all that time perfectly insensible, fingering his buttons or picking his teeth. Vanity, I perceived, was a kind of instinct in women, that made them employ the whole artillery of their charms, when they knew they could do no execution. Indeed their airs appeared so ridiculous now in the eyes of the men, that they had often much ado to refrain from laughter. The coquettes particularly in their flutterings to and fro, made as odd a figure, as fish who should be frozen around in the very act of swimming. Out of respect to the ladies however, I would compare them to the Grecian chiefs, who according to the representation of the poets, carried with them so lively an impression of their former employments, that they would be marshalling their troops and brandish

ing their swords even in the shades below. However, the fair sex were soon relieved from this sort of ridicule. They no longer took any pains to smooth their brow, to soften their features with a smile, or light up the beam of brightness in their eye. Careless of offending, where they knew they could not please, they became negligent in their persons, and vulgar in their air. I cannot express the regret I felt, upon beholding the fairest and most beautiful part of the creation thus thrown into shade.

I thought, I perceived, that the fine arts began to languish, the paintings that made their appearance at this time, were neither so boldly sketched nor so brightly coloured as those, I was wont to survey; they were chiefly confined to still life. I observed, however, that the extinction of love affected poetry still more than painting. It no longer regaled the mind with descriptions of beauty, or softened it with tender distress. Its enchantment was entirely dissolved; that enchantment which will carry us from world to world, will raise a visionary creation around us, will make us rejoice when there is nothing to rejoice in, and tremble when there is nothing to alarm us. These interesting situations which awaken the attention, and enchain the mind in solemn suspense, till it breaks forth into agony or rapture, now no longer existed in nature, and were no longer described by the poet; he wrote rather from memory than feeling, for the breath of inspiration had ceased.

Upon this occasion, I was not at all surprised at the decline of eloquence. I have thought love the nurse of sensibility, and that if it were not cherished by this passion, it would grow cold, and give way to a selfish indifference. My conjecture was now abundantly confirmed, for though I saw many discourses composed at this time, that were well argued, elegant and correct; they all wanted those essential touches that give language its power of persuading.

One thing a good deal surprised me, and that was, to observe that even the profound parts of learning were less attended to than ever. I was well aware that few apply themselve closely to study, but with the hope of sometimes displaying their acquisitions to the public; and I had imagined fame was a sufficient recompence

for any toil human nature could sustain; but I was surprised to find that in all great and noble undertakings, the desire of appearing respectable in the eyes of a beloved object, was of more consequence than the general admiration of mankind. These I thought were not the only melancholy consequences that flowed from the departure of love. It may be sufficient, however, to observe in general, that human nature was becalmed, and all its finest emotions frozen into a torpid insensibility. The situation of mankind was truly pitiable ;strangers to the delicate pleasures of the heart, every thing around them looked cheerless and barren ;-calamity left them nothing to hope, and prosperity gave them nothing to enjoy. I observed that they were now, as desirous of bringing back the agency of love, as they had been before to exclude it. At length, I imagined, Jupiter was touched with compassion at their unhappy situation, and appointed a day in which love was to revisit the abode of men. An immense number of people of all orders and ranks, and of every age and condition, assembled themselves, as you may suppose, to behold the descent of the Goddess, and to hail her approach. The heavens, I thought, glowed as she descended, and so many beautiful streaks of light glanced along the surface of the sky, that they divided it into separate tracts, brightened up every cloud within it, and turned the whole into an aerial landscape. The birds at the same time leaped among the branches, and warbling their sprightliest notes, filled the air with a confused melody of sounds, that was inexpressibly delightful. Every thing looked brighter than before, every thing smelled sweeter, and seemed to offer up fresh incense to the Goddess. The face of nature was changed, and the creation seemed to grow new again; my heart glowed with delight; I rejoiced in the renovation of nature, and was revived through my inmost powers. There thrilled through me a delightful sensation of freshness and novelty, similar to what a happy spirit may be supposed to feel, when he first enters a new state of existence and opens his eyes on immortality.

I thought, I had but a very confused idea of the person of the Goddess her

self; for her raiment was so full of light and lustre, that I could scarcely take a steady view of her. I observed, however, that her complexion was rather too glowing, and the motions of her eye too piercing and fiery, for perfect feminine beauty. Her beauty, I thought, was too raised and had too much glory in it, to be entirely attractive. I was very much astonished to observe, that whoever she glanced her eye upon, immediately fell under the influence of the passion over which she presided. It was a very singular sight to see a whole assembly, one after another, falling into love; and I was much entertained in observing the change it occasioned in the looks of each of them, according to their different temper and constitution. Some appeared wild and piercing, others dejected and melancholy. The features of several glowed with admiration, whilst others looked down with a timid and bashful respect. A trait of affectation was plainly to be discerned in all of them, as might well be expected from a passion, the very first effect of which, is to make one lose the possession of one's self. Several ladies in particular, seemingly careless and gay, were whispering to those who stood next them and assuming airs of particular vivacity, whilst you might easily see their countenance was chequered with anxiety, lest they should chance not to please those upon whom they had fixed their affections. The greater part of the fair sex, however, I observed, smiled with an inef able sweetness, nor could any thing appear more lovely than their features, upon which there was imprinted a tender reserve, mingled with modest complacency and desire. I imagined that after the Goddess had thoroughly surveyed the assembly, and they had seated themselves in some degree of composure, she thus addressed them:

"Ye children of men;-ye abound in the gifts of Providence, and many are the favours heaven has bestowed upon you. The earth teems with bounty, pouring forth the necessaries of life, and the refinements of luxury. The sea refreshes you with its breeze, and carries you to distant shores upon its bosom; it links nation to nation in the bonds of mutual advantage, and transfers to every climate the blessings of all. To the sun you are indebted for the splendor of the day,