I find out some faces formerly known to me, but soon perceive they do not belong to the persons I was acquainted with. Filled with these reflections at a late assembly, where curiosity had engaged me, I went home, and to bed at my usual hour of rising.

I was but a few minutes at rest when I found myself landing from a vessel at the mouth of a river, and on the shore of a country wholly unknown to me. I should have been at a loss where to go or what to do, had I not just then luckily met with an old woman, with whom I had been formerly a little acquainted. Her aspect though deeply furrowed by the plough of time, had in it somewhat venerable, rather than forbidding, with an eye that penetrated the soul of him she looked at. Her air was rather masculine than delicate. Her garments, simple as they appeared to be, and really were, had in them that which was most convenient and graceful in the dress of every nation through which I had travelled. She held in her hand a staff, not so much for support, as for some extraordinary virtues, which, I afterward perceived, were enclosed in it. You have seen me sometimes, said she. Yes, I replied with a blush; your name is, Experience. It is, answered she, and as I have always, though too often unsuccessfully, endeavoured to direct your steps, I now again offer my service in a place where you may have other guides, it is true, but few so safely to be trusted. Having received her overture with a sort of submission approaching to fear more than thankfulness, I put myself under her direction, and began with asking her the name of the river which lay before us. That river, said she, is the most remarkable river in the world for its fountain, which after the search of all mankind is yet discovered by few or none; for the length of its course, which also is yet undiscovered by geographers; for the extraordinary property of its waters sought after but found out by as few, by none indeed, but an old man and woman, who were instructed in their nature by myself; and for the extensive countries it divides. Its name is Competency. I have often heard its name, said I, but never saw it before. In vain have I asked for directions to it, though every body pretended to know where and what it was. The guess

which seemed to come nearest the matter, was that of a poor countryman, who defined it to be a little more than one has. In so saying, replied my guide, he intended rather to ridicule the folly of mankind, than to clear up the nature of the thing. This river, continued she, arises from the purest of all fountains, called Wisdom, which I myself could not find till I was above a thousand years old, when I arrived at it, after having examined every other spot of the globe, and discovered its situation among certain mountains, almost inaccessible, and as high as the heavens, from whence immediately and not from this turbid air we breathe, they receive the waters of the river before you, in etherial dews. As to the course of this river, I can only say, that it extends to all the inhabited parts of the globe; or at least may be derived in drills to every habitation on earth, yet is scarcely found at any, the generality of mankind preferring to it the troubled waters they draw from fountains of their own digging, or such as they purchase from watermen who supply them from the next pool. The qualities nevertheless wherewith the waters of this river are impregnated, ought to give it a preference to all others. There is no liquor so wholesome, so pleasant, or so refreshing as this; could you take but one good draught of it, you need hardly ever after suffer the uneasy sensation of thirst. Could! interrupted I, could! why, I will drink, till I can hold no more. I will drink at it, I will swim and swill in it. Hold, said she; the quantity is not the thing. Many who drink large draughts of this water, find themselves but the more thirsty; and some who drink sparingly are satisfied. Besides, you cannot so much as obtain a taste of it, unless you approach it on the right. You see how flat the bank is on that side; how steep and rocky on the other.

But let us take a walk through the countries, between which it runs. Then she led me from the shore, and said, This is the land of Nature. Here you see a fine country, but thinly inhabited, and only so far cultivated as mere necessity requires. Those rocks, you see, seem ready to fall on your head. The rivers pour down in cataracts, rather than cascades; and the plains are overgrown with thorns and brambles, rather than trees. The people are alike ignorant of civility and luxury. Here are no merchants, no

divines, no lawyers, or physicians. You will nowhere find so high instances of kindness or cruelty, as here. You see how that man fights till he faints, at the door of his hut, to defend his guest who is within; and you see how slowly and how barbarously that other tortures his prisoner to death, and enjoys his agonies. They are the most hospitable of all the human race; yet are ever engaged in bloody wars among themselves about that you will call trifles; but to them they are necessaries. They have hardly any principles, but of common honesty and common humanity, which do not hinder them from acting, on many occasions, with a degree of treachery and cruelty, the most horrible that can be conceived. You see they go almost naked, but with a modesty and chastity, unknown in other nations, pampered by luxury. They never eat but when they are hungry; nor drink, but when they are thirsty. They sleep only by night, and lie no longer than while they are asleep. I am an utter stranger to them, though often among them, for they have no letters, no records of past transactions; and indeed no memory but of two things, a benefit and an injury, which they will requite in kind, sometimes to the third generation. They never drink the waters of the river, though so safely approached on their side, because, although thirst arises to an endemic disease among them, they are satisfied with the momentary refreshment afforded by other waters, and never once think of assuaging this troublesome appetite, for more than the present hour or day. Were you, sir, to reside here for years, you could learn no more of the naturalists than you have already gathered from my words, and your own observation.

Having said this, she lifted up her staff, and pointing towards the river, added, You see that island in the midst of the stream. It is called the island of Contentment, not so much because all its inhabitants are satisfied with their condition, as because they may be if they please. Having said this, a single motion of her staff brought a boat to the bank, which took us in, and while we were passing, I expressed my wonder, that the vessel could float on water so shallow; and was still more astonished at her answer; This water where least in depth, is sufficient to float a first rate, if I am on board, and where deepest, if I am absent, will

strand a cock-boat. That instant we landed on themost delicious spot my eyes had ever beheld. This, said the guide, is my favourite piece of ground, and by some is called the garden of Experience. Here you see not an inch, that is not improved to the uttermost. Here is nothing wanting, nothing superfluous. Though I have laid out nothing here merely for ornament, yet the useful is here rendered simply ornamental. Observe the architecture and disposition of those houses, how neat, how conveniently situated in regard to the adjacent grounds, where the fields for corn and pasturage strike the eye with a landscape, far superior in beauty to the gardens of Versailles. Behold the fruit-trees in blossom, intermixed with others, already bending under the weight of their golden load. Step in hither; see how conveniently this house, which I shew you but as a sample of the rest, is contrived. Can any thing be prettier than its furniture? yet its whole furniture, you may perceive, consists of utensils so finished and so disposed, as to affect the eye with more pleasure, than the superb and costly ornaments of any palace you have seen. I assented, and she went on. You sce nobody idle here; every one is employed, and (you see by their looks) delighted with their employment. They want no cards, nor dice to parry a tedious hour. At their assemblies which are once a week, and sometimes oftener, they enjoy the sweets of society in perfection. Love reigns universally among them, and conversation turns on the genius of the river, on the mountains from whence it runs; on the fruits of their industry; on the best methods of improving every thing; on acts of kindness, exhibited upon affecting occasions; on observations made in the heavens with telescopes, and among the minuter works of creation, with microscopes; on the history of past times, with all its striking characters, and interesting transactions. It would delight you more than you can conceive, to hear with what force of judgment and with what a delicate vein of wit, they entertain one another, on these and the like subjects. There is a just mixture of solidity and gaiety, which, at once dignifies and brightens their whole intercourse. In their dress, which is plain, there is, you see, somewhat so well fancied, and so nearly approaching to elegant, as exposes to contempt, on

the comparison, the frippery and foppery of those nations, who style themselves the most refined. At their tables there is cleanliness and plenty, but no more. They eat and drink only to live, and therefore live more agreeably, and to a much greater age, than other nations. Observe that youth, what agility there is in his motions, what comeliness in his countenance, what fire in his eye. Take my word for it, he was born a hundred years ago. That he is now so young when he is old, is owing to his having been old when he was young, that is, to his having been peculiarly my pupil. Take particular notice of that cottage on the very brink of the river. There live the old man and woman, whom I mentioned to you before. The inhabitants of that village, next to their house, send them every day as much victuals as they want, and every year the clothing requisite, until the next revolution of the sun hath been finished. They are happier than all the rest of the islanders, for they drink every day of the river, and never once so much as wish for more than that which is allowed them. How can that be, said I, since they subsist on charity, and are dependent? You speak like a young man, she replied. There is no man independent. All depend on others, and on the great Provider. The old people know, these resources cannot fail them, and therefore are in no sort of pain about to-morrow. The rest of the islanders, who mix the waters of the river in too small quantities with their other drink, are but half contented with their condition, as you may perceive by their continual industry to better it. There is not one of them who could imitate the old couple in that which I saw them do yesterday. As they were walking hand in hand on the bank, they found a large bag of gold, coin, and jewels. Ha! said the old man, these are the toys which the people in the land of Fashion are so fond of, and with that he jerked them all away, one after another, on the surface of the river, for the amusement of his wife, who laughed at the sport with a sneer of contempt for the fools who set a value on such gewgaws. When the people of the island go into the land of Nature, they are considered as fops; when they make an excursion into the land of Fashion, which sometimes they do, they pass for clowns, as you did an hour ago, at the assembly.