post by every petty incident, that he is the mere | interview, alienate by some sudden transport his slave of casualty, and that his reason and virtue dearest friend; or break out, upon sotne slight are in the power of the wind. contradiction, into such terms of rudeness as can One motive there is of these loud extravagan-never be perfectly forgotten. Whoever conces, which a man is careful to conceal from others, and does not always discover to himself. He that finds his knowledge narrow, and his arguments weak, and by consequence his suffrage not much regarded, is sometimes in hope of gaining that attention by his clamours which he cannot otherwise obtain, and is pleased with remembering, that at least he made himself heard, that he had the power to interrupt those whom he could not confute, and suspend the decision which he could not guide.

go away laughing.-Madam will stretch her courses. But in the morning she came and tola small shanks in the entry; she will know theme that she had one trial more for me; Euphehouse again.—At sunset the two first days I was mia wanted a maid, and perhaps I might do for told, that my lady would see me to-morrow, and on the third, that her woman stayed.

My week was now near its end, and I had no hopes of a place. My relation, who always laid upon me the blame of every miscarriage, told me that I must learn to humble myself, and that all great ladies had particular ways: that if I went on in that manner, she could not tell who would keep me; she had known many that had refused places, sell their clothes and beg in the

streets.

It was to no purpose that the refusal was declared by me to be never on my side; I was reasoning against interest and against stupidity; and therefore I comforted myself with the hope of succeeding better in my next attempt, and went to Mrs. Courtly, a very fine lady, who had routes at her house, and saw the best company

in town.

her; for, like me, she must fall her crest, being forced to lay down her chariot upon the loss of half her fortune by bad securities, and with her way of giving her money to every body that pretended to want it, she could have little beforehand; therefore I might serve her; for, with all her fine sense, she must not pretend to be nice. I went immediately, and met at the door a young gentlewoman, who told me she had herself been hired that morning, but that she was ordered to bring any that offered up stairs. I was accordingly introduced to Euphemia, who, when I came in, laid down her book, and told me that she sent for me not to gratify an idle curiosity, but lest my disappointment might be made still more grating by incivility; that she was in pain to deny any thing, much more what was no favour; that she saw nothing in my appearance which did not make her wish for my company; but that another, whose claims might perhaps be

ing so near to such a place, and missing it, brought tears into my eyes, and my sobs hindered me from returning my acknowledgments. She rose up confused, and supposing by my concern that I was distressed, placed me by her, and made me tell her my story; which when she had heard, she put two guineas in my hand, ordering me to lodge near her, and make use of her table till she could provide for me. I am now under her protection, and know not how to show my gratitude better than by giving this account to the Rambler.

No. 13.]

TUESDAY, MAY 1, 1750.

ZOSIMA.

Commissumque teges, et vino tortus et ira.- HOR.

And let not wine or anger wrest
Th' intrusted secret from your breast.-

FRANCIS.

I had not waited two hours before I was called up, and found Mr. Courtly and his lady at pi-equal, had come before me. The thought of bequet, in the height of good humour. This I looked on as a favourable sign, and stood at the lower end of the room, in expectation of the common questions. At last Mr. Courtly called out, after a whisper, Stand facing the light, that one may see you. I changed my place and blushed. They frequently turned their eyes upon me, and seemed to discover many subjects of merriment; for at every look they whispered and laughed with the most violent agitations of delight. At last Mr. Courtly cried out, Is that colour your own, child?-Yes, says the lady, if she has not robbed the kitchen hearth.-This was so happy a conceit, that it renewed the storm of laughter, and they threw down their cards in hopes of better sport. The lady then called me to her, and began with an affected gravity to inquire what I could do? But first turn about, and let us see your fine shape. Well, what are you fit for, Mrs. Mum? You would find your tongue, I suppose, in the kitchen.-No, no, says Mr. Courtly, the girl's a good girl yet, but I am afraid a brisk young fellow, with fine tags on his shoulder- It is related by Quintus Curtius, that the PerCome, child, hold up your head What! you sians always conceived an invincible contempt have stole nothing.-Not yet, says the lady, but of a man who had violated the laws of secrecy; she hopes to steal your heart quickly. Here for they thought that, however he might be dewas a laugh of happiness and triumph, prolong-ficient in the qualities requisite to actual exceled by the confusion which I could no longer re-lence, the negative virtues at least were in his press. At last the lady recollected herself: power, and though he perhaps could not speak Stole! no-but if I had her, I should watch her: well if he was to try, it was still easy for him not for that downcast eye-why cannot you look to speak. people in the face?-Steal! says her husband, she would steal nothing but, perhaps, a few ribands before they were left off by her lady.-Sir, answered I, why should you, by supposing me a thief, insult one from whom you have received no injury?-Insult! says the lady; are you come here to be a servant, you saucy baggage, and talk of insulting! What will this world come to, if a gentleman may not jest with a servant! Well, such servants! pray be gone, and see when you will have the honour to be so insulted again. Servants insulted!-a fine time!-Insulted! Get aown stairs, you slut, or the footman shall insult

you.

;

The last day of the last week was now coming, and my kind cousin talked of sending me down in the wagon to preserve me from bad

In forming this opinion of the easiness of secrecy, they seem to have considered it as opposed, not to treachery, but loquacity, and to have conceived the man whom they thus censured, not frighted by menaces to reveal, or bribed by promises to betray, but incited by the mere pleasure of talking, or some other motive equally trifling, to lay open his heart without reflection and to let whatever he knew slip from him, only for want of power to retain it. Whether, by their settled and avowed scorn of thoughtless talkers, the Persians were able to diffuse to any great extent the virtue of taciturnity, we are hindered by the distance of those times from being able to discover, there being very few memoirs remaining of the court of Persepolis, nor any distinct accounts handed down to us of their office

clerks, their ladies of the bed-chamber, their at- | are intrusted is always treachery, and treachery torneys, their chamber-maids, or their footmen. for the most part combined with folly. In these latter ages, though the old animosity There have, indeed, been some enthusiastic against a prattler is still retained, it appears and irrational zealots for friendship, who have wholly to have lost its effect upon the conduct maintained, and perhaps believed, that one of mankind; for secrets are so seldom kept, that friend has a right to all that is in possession of it may with some reason be doubted, whether another; and that, therefore, it is a violation of the ancients were not mistaken in their first kindness to exempt any secret from this boundpostulate, whether the quality of retention be so less confidence. Accordingly, a late female generally bestowed, and whether a secret has minister of state* has been shameless enough to not some subtle volatility, by which it escapes inform the world, that she used, when she imperceptibly at the smallest vent, or some wanted to extract any thing from her sovereign, power of fermentation, by which it expands it-to remind her of Montaigne's reasoning, who has self so as to burst the heart that will not give it way.

determined, that to tell a secret to a friend is no breach of fidelity, because the number of persons trusted is not multiplied, a man and his friend being virtually the same.

Those that study either the body or the mind of man, very often find the most specious and pleasing theory falling under the weight of con- That such a fallacy could be imposed upon trary experience; and, instead of gratifying their any human understanding, or that an author vanity by inferring effects from causes, they are could have advanced a position so remote from always reduced at last to conjecture causes from truth and reason, any other ways than as a deeffects. That it is easy to be secret, the specu-claimer, to show to what extent he could stretch latist can demonstrate in his retreat, and there- his imagination, and with what strength he fore thinks himself justified in placing confi- could press his principle, would scarcely have dence; the man of the world knows, that, whe- been credible, had not this lady kindly shown ther difficult or not, it is uncommon, and there- us how far weakness may be deluded, or infore finds himself rather inclined to search after dolence amused. But since it appears, that even the reason of this universal failure in one of the this sophistry, has been able, with the help of a most important duties of society. strong desire, to repose in quiet upon the understanding of another to mislead honest intentions, and an understanding not contemptible, it may not be superfluous to remark, that those things which are common among friends are only such as either possesses in his own right, and can alienate or destroy without injury to any other person. Without this limitation, confidence must run on without end, the second person may tell the secret to the third, upon the same principle as he received it from the first, and a third may hand it forward to a fourth, till at last it is told in the round of friendship to them from whom it was the first intention to conceal it.

The vanity of being known to be trusted with a secret, is generally one of the chief motives to disclose it; for however absurd it may be thought to boast an honour by an act which shows that it was conferred without merit, yet most men seem rather inclined to confess the want of virtue than of importance, and more willingly show their influence, though at the expense of their probity, than glide through life with no other pleasure than the private consciousness of fidelity; which, while it is preserved,must be without praise, except from the single person who tries and knows it.

The confidence which Caius has of the faith

There are many ways of telling a secret, by which a man exempts himself from the re-fulness of Titius is nothing more than an opinion proaches of his conscience, and gratifies his pride, without suffering himself to believe that he impairs his virtue. He tells the private affairs of his patron, or his friend, only to those from whom he would not conceal his own; he tells them to those who have no temptation to betray the trust, or with a denunciation of a certain forfeiture of his friendship, if he discovers that they become public.

Secrets are very frequently told in the first ardour of kindness, or of love, for the sake of proving, by so important a sacrifice, sincerity or tenderness; but with this motive, though it be strong in itself, vanity concurs, since every man desires to be most esteemed by those whom he loves, or with whom he converses, with whom he passes his hours of pleasure, and to whom he retires from business and from care.

When the discovery of secrets is under consideration, there is always a distinction carefully to be made between our own and those of another; those of which we are fully masters, as they affect only our own interest, and those which are reposited with us in trust, and involve the happiness or convenience of such as we have no right to expose to hazard. To tell our own secrets is generally folly, but that folly is without guilt; to communicate those with which we

which himself cannot know to be true, and which Claudius, who first tells his secret to Caius, may know to be false; and therefore the trust is transferred by Caius, if he reveal what has been told him, to one from whom the person originally concerned would have withheld it, and whatever may be the event, Caius has hazarded the happiness of his friend, without necessity and without permission, and has put that trust in the hand of fortune which was given only to virtue.

All the arguments upon which a man who is telling the private affairs of another may ground his confidence of security, he must upon reflection know to be uncertain, because he finds them without effect upon himself. When he is imagining that Titius will be cautious, from a regard to his interest, his reputation, or his duty, he ought to reflect that he is himself at that instant acting in opposition to all these reasons, and revealing what interest, reputation, and duty, direct him to conceal.

Every one feels that in his own case he should consider the man incapable of trust, who believed himself at liberty to tell whatever he knew to the

* Sarah, Dutchess of Marlborough.~~C.
†That of Queen Anne.-C.

first whom he should conclude deserving of his own confidence; therefore Caius, in admitting Titius to the affairs imparted only to himself must know that he violates his faith, since he acts contrary to the intention of Claudius, to whom that faith was given. For promises of friendship are like all others, useless and vain, unless they are made in some known sense, adjusted and acknowledged by both parties.

character, and having preserved in a private and familiar interview, that reputation which his works had procured him.

Those whom the appearance of virtue, or the evidence of genius, have tempted to a nearer knowledge of the writer in whose performances they may be found, have indeed had frequent reason to repent their curiosity: the bubble that sparkled before them has become common water at the touch; the phantom of perfection has vanished when they wished to press it to their bosom. They have lost the pleasure of imagining how far humanity may be exalted, and, perhaps, felt themselves less inclined to toil up the steeps of virtue, when they observe those who seem best able to point the way, loitering below, as either afraid of the labour, or doubtful of the reward.

I am not ignorant that many questions may be started relating to the duty of secrecy, where the affairs are of public concern; where subsequent reasons may arise to alter the appearance and nature of the trust; that the manner in which the secret was told may change the degree of obligation, and that the principles upon which a man is chosen for a confidant may not always equally constrain him. But these scruples, if not too intricate, are of too extensive consideration It has long been the custom of the oriental mo for my present purpose, nor are they such as ge-narchs to hide themselves in gardens and palaces, nerally occur in common life; and though casu- to avoid the conversation of mankind, and to be istical knowledge be useful in proper hands, yet known to their subjects only by their edicts. The it ought by no means to be carelessly exposed, same policy is no less necessary to him that since most will use it rather to lull than to awak-writes, than to him that governs; for men would en their own consciences; and the threads of not more patiently submit to be taught than comreasoning, on which truth is suspended, are fre-manded, by one known to have the same follies quently drawn to such subtilty, that common eyes cannot perceive, and common sensibility cannot feel them.

and weaknesses with themselves. A sudden intruder into the closet of an author would perhaps feel equal indignation with the officer, who having long solicited admission into the presence of Sardanapalus, saw him not consulting upon

Inies, but employed in feminine amusements, and directing the ladies in their work.

The whole doctrine as well as practice of secrecy, is so perplexing and dangerous, that, next to him who is compelled to trust, I think him un-laws, inquiring into grievances, or modelling arhappy who is chosen to be trusted; for he is often involved in scruples without the liberty of calling in the help of any other understanding; he is frequently drawn into guilt under the appearance of friendship and honesty; and sometimes subjected to suspicion, by the treachery of others, who are engaged without his knowledge in the same schemes; for he that has one confidant has generally more, and when he is at last betrayed, is in doubt on whom he shall fix the crime.

The rules therefore that I shall propose concerning secrecy, and from which I think it not safe to deviate, without long and exact deliberation, are-Never to solicit the knowledge of a secret. Not willingly, nor without many limitations, to accept such confidence when it is offered. When a secret is once admitted, to consider the trust as of a very high nature, important as society, and sacred as truth, and therefore not to be violated for any incidental convenience, or slight appearance of contrary fitness.

It is not difficult to conceive, however, that for many reasons a man writes much better than he lives. For without entering into refined speculations, it may be shown much easier to design than to perform. A man proposes his schemes of life in a state of abstraction and disengagement, exempt from the enticements of hope, the solicitations of affection, the importunities of appetite, or the depressions of fear, and is in the same state with him that teaches upon land the art of navigation, to whom the sea is always smooth, and the wind always prosperous.

The mathematicians are well acquainted with the difference between pure science, which has to do only with ideas, and the application of its laws to the use of life, in which they are constrained to submit to the imperfection of matter and the influence of accidents. Thus, in mora discussions, it is to be remembered, that many impediments obstruct our practice, which very easily give way to theory. The speculatist is only in danger of erroneous reasoning; but the man involved in life has his own passions and those of others to encounter, and is embarrassed with a thousand inconveniences which confound him with variety of impulse, and either perplex or ob struct his way. He is forced to act without de. liberation, and obliged to choose before he can examine; he is surprised by sudden alterations of the state of things, and changes his measures according to superficial appearances; he is led by others, either because he is indolent, or because he is timorous; he is sometimes afraid to know what is right, and sometimes finds friends or enemies diligent to deceive him.

We are, therefore, not to wonder that most fail, amidst tumult, and snares, and danger, in the observance of those precepts, which they lay