V. то SOAME JENYNS, ESQ. One of the Lords Commissioners for Trade SIR, To promote the circulation of these small volumes, by limiting their number to no more than six, it was thought advisable to put a stop to the paper of the World, at a time when the demand for it greatly exceeded my expectation, and while it was the only fashionable vehicle, in which men of rank and genius chose to convey their sentiments to the public. To extend this circulation (for I confess myself a self-interested person), I have separately addressed the first five volumes to those of my correspondents whose pieces are the most numerous, and whose names and characters do me the great honour. It will not, therefore, I hope, displease you, if among these favourite names you happen to discover your own; it being impossible for me to say any thing more to the advantage of this work, than that many of the essays in it were written by Mr. Jenyns. I am, Sir, your most obliged, and Most obedient humble servant, VI. To MR. MOORE. In the list of those whom I am proud to call my assistants in this work, and to the principal of whom, as far as they are come to my knowledge, I have dedicated the former volumes of it, to have omitted you, my best and sincerest friend, would have been strange and unpardonable. It would have been strange, as you are sensible how high a regard I have always paid to whatever came from your hand; and unpardonable, as I am convinced you never sat down to write me a paper but from motives of pure love and affection. It is true, and I scorn to flatter even in a dedication, I have not always regarded your papers with that degree of admiration which some other of my correspondents commanded from me; yet so partial have I been to your talents and abilities, that you must own I have never, through the whole course of the work, refused any one of your lucubrations: insomuch that I greatly fear my readers may now and then have reason to reproach me with having suffered my friendship to blind my judgment. But let Malice and Envy say their pleasure, I shall always acknowledge with gratitude the favour of your assistance in the long contention I have had with the vices and follies of the world; and that it was frequently owing to your ironical smile, that I have been enabled to raise the laugh of raillery in favour of virtue and good manners. I confess indeed, and you will not be angry, that to yourself I avow it, the immortality I have reason to hope for, arises from the conjunction of many higher names than yours, which I have had the honour to associate with me in this favoured undertaking. And here I feel my vanity struggling to get loose, and indulge itself in the pleasing theme. The name of FitzAdam shall be carried down to latest posterity with those of his age, the most admired for their genius, their learning, their wit and humour. But I check myself. I dare not engage in the task of saying what ought to be said on this occasion, and therefore beg leave to hide my inability in silence. You will pardon, Sir, this short digression, though not made in your favour; and be assured notwithstanding all I have said, and whatever I may think of you as a writer, as a man I bear you a true affection, take a very interested part in all your concerns, and should you ever meet with that reward from the public, which I think your merits have long deserved, I hope you are satisfied that no one will more truly rejoice in your good fortune than, Dear Sir, your most affectionate friend, and humble servant, ADAM FITZ-ADAM. THE WORLD. N° 1. THURSDAY, JANUARY 4, 1753. Nihil dulcius est, benè quàm munita tenere, Ad summas emergere opes, rerumque potiri.-LUCRET. 1 AT the village of Aronche, in the province of Estremadura (says an old Spanish author) lived Gonzales de Castro, who from the age of twelve to fifty-two was deaf, dumb, and blind. His cheerful submission to so deplorable a misfortune, and the misfortune itself, so endeared him to the village, that to worship the holy Virgin, and to love and serve Gonzales, were considered as duties of the same importance; and to neglect the latter was to offend the former. It happened one day, as he was sitting at his door, and offering up his mental prayers to St. Jago, that he found himself, on a sudden, restored to all the privileges he had lost. The news ran quickly through the village, and old and young, rich and poor, the busy and the idle, thronged round him with congratulations. But as if the blessings of this life were only given us for afflictions, he began in a few weeks to lose the relish of his enjoyments, and to repine at the possession of those faculties, which served only to discover to him the follies and disorders of his neighbours, and to teach him that the intent of speech was too often to deceive. 6 Though the inhabitants of Aronche were as honest as other villagers, yet Gonzales, who had formed his ideas of men and things from their natures and uses, grew offended at their manners. He saw the avarice of age, the prodigality of youth, the quarrels of brothers, the treachery of friends, the frauds of lovers, the insolence of the rich, the knavery of the poor, and the depravity of all. These, as he saw and heard, he spoke of with complaint; and endeavoured by the gentlest admonitions to excite men to goodness.' From this place the story is torn out to the last paragraph; which says, That he lived to a comfortless old age, despised and hated by his neighbours for pretending to be wiser and better than themselves; and that he breathed out his soul in these memorable words, that He who would enjoy many friends, and live happy in the world, should be deaf, dumb, and blind, to the follies and vices of it.' If candour, humility and an earnest desire of instruction and amendment, were not the distinguishing characteristics of the present times, this simple story had silenced me as an author. But when every day's experience shews me, that our young gentlemen of fashion are lamenting at every tavern the frailties of their natures, and confessing to one another whose daughters they have ruined, and whose wives they have corrupted; not by way of boasting, as some have ignorantly imagined, but to be reproved and amended by their penitential com |