sometimes see men engaging in prospects apparently disadvantageous to themselves, that they may enjoy the comfortable thought of having benefited their families. But unfortunately this is not the general turn of mankind; and, I am afraid, still less so of my countrymen than of any others: they are constantly looking towards the dark side of the prospect, fearing every thing, and hoping nothing.

This unhappy disposition seems to spread its baleful influence more fatally in this month, than in any other of the whole year: for besides the colds, vapours, and nervous disorders with which individuals are afflicted, the state always suffers exceedingly during this month. I myself remember this country undone every November for these forty years. The truth is, that to make amends for that levity and dissipation of thought which horse-racing and rural sports have occasioned in the summer, every zealous Englishman sits down at this season seriously to consider the state of the nation; and always, upon mature reflection, concludes that matters are so bad, that the business of government cannot possibly be carried on through another session. The products of the press, either proceeding from persons really affected by the season, or cunningly designed to suit the gloomy disposition of the buyer, all tend to increase this disorder of the mind. Serious Considerations, The Tears of Trade, The Groans of the Plantations, and the like, are the titles that spread the sale of pamphlets at this season of the year; while The Cordial for Low Spirits, and The Pills to purge Melancholy, have no chance for a vent, until the spring has given a turn to the blood, and put the spirits into a disposition to be pleased.

There are indeed many recreations and amusements in this metropolis, that are designed as so many antidotes to the general gloom; but though we

have had this year the greatest importation of entertainment that ever was known, I doubt, there are many inhabitants of this city who are at present so totally possessed with the spleen, that they do not know of half the number of dancers, singers, mimics, and beauties, which are already arrived. It is, however comfortable to reflect on that happy revolution, which is constantly brought about by the Christmas holidays and the lengthening of the days. Those who seemed to be so lately lost in despair, grow into spirits on a sudden; and plays, operas, balls, pantomimes, and burlettas diffuse an universal ecstasy.

But even in the midst of this highest tide of spirits, I am sorry to say it, the most groundless suppositions of what may possibly happen, shall spread a cloud over all our joy. The idea of an invasion, a comet, or an earthquake, shall keep the whole town in an agony for many weeks. In short, every apprehension shall in its turn make an impression on our imaginations, except that of a future state.

That this great event should not occupy those minds which are totally engrossed by the present, is not much to be wondered at; but that it should be the only view towards which these lookers-forward never turn their eyes, is an inconsistency altogether unaccountable.

When Falstaff's wench is sitting upon his knee, her hint seems to be a little ill-timed, when she advises him "to patch up his old body for heaven;" and his reply is suitable to the place and occasion; " Peace, good Doll; do not speak like a death's-head; do not bid me remember mine end." Mrs. Quickly was no less blameable on the other side, when finding him so near his end that he began to cry out, she says, "Now I to comfort him, bid him he should not think of God."

I avoid entering seriously and particularly into this subject, that I may not give my paper the air of a sermon; and instead of using arguments of a religious cast, I desire only to recommend a propriety and consistency of thought and conduct. It is therefore that I would advise my readers either to throw aside, not for this month only, but for their whole lives, this gloomy curiosity that will avail them nothing, and to enter into a free and full enjoyment of the present; or if, of necessity, they must direct their whole attention to the future, let it be to that expectation, which they may depend upon with the utmost certainty, which will afford the most profitable exercise for their inquisitive thoughts, and which will be the only instance where an anxious concern for the future can possibly be of service to them.

I have been principally led into this train of thinking by a letter which I received yesterday by the penny-post, and which I shall here communicate to my readers, as a proper conclusion of this paper.

To Mr. Fitz-Adam.

SIR,

I AM just returned from a short visit to some relations of mine, who live in a large old mansionhouse in the country. The gloomy aspect of the place, the unpleasing appearance of nature at the fall of the leaf, and the alteration of the weather, with a change of the season, made me acquiesce in the received opinion, that there is really something dreadful in the influence of this month of November; which, however, we who live in London, have no such apparent reason to be affected with.

The melancholy impression which I received from the place, was greatly increased by the turn of its inhabitants. My uncle and aunt are blessed with a competent fortune and two fine children; but they neither enjoy the one, nor educate the other; their whole attention being engrossed by objects, which, in their estimation, are of much greater consequence. My uncle is continually employed in computing the year in which this kingdom is to become a province to France; and my aunt is no less occupied in endeavouring to fix the exact time of the Millennium.

A younger brother of my uncle's, who lives in the family, and who is a very great mathematician, has been busied many years in calculations, which he asserts, are of the utmost importance to the world, as they affect the duration and well-being of it. He is greatly apprehensive that from sir Isaac Newton's system, the time will come when this earth, round as it was at first created, will be as flat as a pancake: but long before this event can happen, it must certainly suffer a more palpable inconvenience. He has made a discovery that the profusion of man consumes faster than the earth produces. Vast fleets, and enormous buildings have wasted almost all our oak; and the firs of Norway are beginning to fail. What shall we do, he says, when the coal, salt, iron, and lead mines are exhausted? And besides, may it not happen before these events take place, that such vast excavations, inconsiderately made, may give a pernicious inequality to the balance of the globe? These arguments are slighted by his brother, who is more immediately alarmed for the balance of Europe; but they have great weight with my aunt, as they evince the necessity of a renewal, and tend to hasten, as well as prove, the establishment of the Millennium.

A farther account of the anxieties of this family may possibly be the subject of another letter: I shall,

however, conclude this with discovering to you my own. I am in great pain lest the young squire should turn out a vulgar and imperious blockhead, from having been left all his life to servants; and I am sorry to say, that the event which my uncle and aunt have most immediate reason to apprehend, is my cousin Mary's running away with the butler.

I am, sir,

Your humble servant,

A. Z.

No. C. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28.

I HEARD the other day, with great pleasure, from my worthy friend Mr. Dodsley, that Mr. Johnson's English Dictionary, with a grammar and history of our language prefixed, will be published this winter, in two large volumes in folio.

I had long lamented that we had no lawful standard of our language set up, for those to repair to, who might chuse to speak and write it grammatically and correctly and I have as long wished that either some one person of distinguished abilities would undertake the work singly, or that a certain number of gentlemen would form themselves, or be formed by the government, into a society for that purpose. The late ingenious Dr. Swift proposed a plan of this nature to his friend (as he thought him) the lord treasurer Oxford, but without success; precision and perspicuity not being in general the favourite objects of ministers, and perhaps still less so of that minister than any other.