leave London 'till Kitty does. I know you will be a little angry with this Account of myself, 'till you recollect, that I have not feen her for fome Months, and that the greatest Part of our Converfation is about you; which being a Subject I fhall never be weary of, I cannot think of quitting it without Reluctance.

With your's I received a long Letter from Lady I think, according to your Definition of it, the Letter O is much better adapted to her than to me; for the is, indeed, the Center of female Perfection. By her Defire, I inclose you Lord's Letter. Nothing can be more elegant than your Sentiments, with Regard to her Intentions to ferve you.

I am vaftly anxious to know what you have determined about Belvidere.-Kitty is tearing the Pen out of my Hand: When fhall I be able to write, or converfe with you, fans Interruption? I can no longer withstand the Riot round me; but, though they force my Hand away, my Heart is unalterably your's.

Frances.

LETTER

LETTER CLXXXVII.

Dear FANNY,

S the Poft for this Day is not come in,

A si

I do not know yet, whether you leave Town To-morrow or no; therefore I fhall write to you, because I would not fpare myself any Trouble certain, for even the Chance of giving you a Quarter of an Hour's Amusement.

I met with a small Treatife Yesterday, intitled, "On the Employment of Time." It is wrote by Gilbert Weft. I think it is very well collected; for, indeed, it is moftly a Heap of Quotations, and fhews more of Learning than Understanding: For a Work of this Kind almost any Man may compile, who reads with a Common-place Book by him.

Young, the Satirift, has two very fevere Lines against Quotations, which, for that Reason, I fhall not recite; and there is certainly nothing fo tiresome to the Reader as Writings of that Kind, which are only to be admitted in Works of Fancy, but not at all neceffary upon moral or philofophical Subjects. For Example; If Mr. Weft fpeaks Senfe or Reafon, what Occasion is there to inform us, that Cicero thought the fame Way, or faid the fame Thing? It is Argument, not Authority, which convinces. All Know

ledge

ledge is derived originally from the human Understanding; and a Thought is nevertheless our own, becaufe it has been hit on by fomebody else before: And one may as well quote Adam for breathing, because he was the firft Creature who did fo, as Euclid for faying that the three Angles of every Triangle are equal to two right ones, because he was the first Person who demonftrated that Propofition.

A quoting Author is just as ridiculous as a Country Girl, who, upon her first coming to Town, being decked out by the Help of her Friends, fhould make public Acknowledgment from whom he had her Stockings, her Shift, her Stays, &c. So that, if every Person was there to claim their own, fhe would be left as naked as the Jay in the Fable, or as fuch a pyebald Author, fay Writer rather, fay Complier, fay Publisher, fay fecond-hand Cook, who gives you a Beggar's Difh out of Fragments, or fay Printer's Sign-Poft, upon which are pasted the heterogeneous Scraps of many Authors.

I remember a ftupid Sort of Fellow, who used to put me in mind of these Men, who are too modeft to fay any Thing of their own; for he never afked for Bread, Drink, told you what o'Clock it was, or mentioned even the most trifling Occurrence, without adding, " as the "Man faid:" And whenever he had a mind, like these Men, to fhew the Extent of his Learning,

Learning, by recurring up to the most antient Authority, he would cry, " as the Man faid 66. a great while ago.”

The Importance of the Subject, which Mr. Weft treats on, is great, and ought to be the frequent Reflection of every Man of Senfe, Morality, or Religion. He has confidered it with Regard to the two laft, and placed the Matter in feveral very ftrong Lights: But, as a Thing of this Confequence cannot ftand in too many Points of View, I fhall attempt to confider it with Relation to the first, merely as a rational Man, without any Regard to Virtue; relative only to our prefent State, and, in that Refpect, confined intirely to ourselves: Which few Hints you may ftile, Of the Oeconomy of Time Of the fimple Enlargement of it-Or, a certain Method to lengthen Life, in Spight of Fate, or of the Grave.

provokes me extremely;

There is an Expreffion often made ufe of by thoughtless People, which aftonishes and "Let us do fo and fo, "to kill Time." It is fome Revenge, however, to observe, what Suicides they are, at the fame Time of this moft horrid and unnatural Murder: So true it is, that We and our Time must live and die together. We generally lament the Shortness of Man's Life taken together, while we are blaming the Tediousness of every Portion of it. This Contradiction may be accounted

for,

for, if we confider, that as Time, unemployed, lags heavily along, an idle Perfon, for this Reason, must complain of tiresome Days; and as Duration is marked only by the Succeffion of Ideas, his Life must appear fhortest, who has fewest Actions or Paffages to recollect.

To confider Man, then, only with Regard to this Life; What a miferable Wretch muft he be, whose paffing Minutes are told as fo many Hours, and whose past Years are reflected upon but as fo many Days!

Let us then, as rational Creatures, contrive fo to employ ourselves in a Series of Actions, which, by marking every Period of our Lives, we may enjoy this great and happy Advantage, that the present Moments fhall glide imperceptibly away, and our paft Age appear fo long, upon fumming up, that we may not murmur at the fhort Span" of threescore Years and ten.”

O Vita Stulto longa, Sapienti brevis !

Again, 'tis computed, that the generality of Men fleep away about one Third of their Time, that is, about eight Hours in the twenty-four. Now five Hours is full fufficient for any Perfon, who would preferve Health of Body, and Vigour of Mind: So that there may be above three Hours faved out of every Day, which is about one Day in the Week, and that is one Year in feven. Then, by the Time a Man has reached