third is dew brushed from a banana in the gardens of Ifpahan; and, in another, brine that has rolled in the Pacifick ocean. I flatter myself that I am writing to a man who will rejoice at the honour which my labours have procured to my country; and therefore I fhall tell you that Britain can, by my care, boast of a fnail that has crawled upon the wall of China; a humming bird which an American princefs wore in her ear; the tooth of an elephant who carried the queen of Siam; the skin of an ape that was kept in the palace of the great mogul; a ribbon that adorned one of the maids of a Turkish fultana; and a scymitar once wielded by a foldier of Abas the great.

In collecting antiquities of every country, I have been careful to choose only by intrinfick worth, and real usefulness, without regard to party or opinions. I have therefore a lock of Cromwell's hair in a box turned from a piece of the royal oak; and keep in the fame drawers, fand scraped from the coffin of king Richard, and a commiffion figned by Henry the seventh, I have equal veneration for the ruff of Elizabeth, and the fhoe of Mary of Scotland; and fhould lofe, with like regret, a tobacco-pipe of Raleigh, and a stirrup of king James. I have paid the fame price for a glove of Lewis, and a thimble of queen Mary; for a fur cap of the Czar, and a boot of Charles of Sweden.

You will easily imagine that these accumulations were not made without fome diminution of my fortune, for I was fo well known to fpare no coft, that at every fale fome bid against me for hire, fome for

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for sport, and fome for malice; and if I asked the price of any thing, it was fufficient to double the demand. For curiofity, trafficking thus with avarice, the wealth of India had not been enough; and I, by little and little, transferred all my money from the funds to my closet: here I was inclined to stop, and live upon my eftate in literary leisure, but the fale of the Harleian collection fhook my refolution: I mortgaged my land, and purchased thirty medals, which I could never find before. I have at length bought till I can buy no longer, and the cruelty of my creditors has feized my repofitory; I am therefore condemned to difperfe what the labour of an age will not reaffemble. I fubmit to that which cannot be oppofed, and fhall, in a fhort time, declare a fale, I have, while it is yet in my power, fent you a pebble, picked up by Tavernier on the banks of the Ganges; for which I defire no other recompence than that you will recommend my catalogue to the publick.

QUISQUILIUS,

NUMB. 83. TUESDAY, January 1, 1751.

Nifi utile eft quod facias, flulta eft gloria.

All useless science is an empty boast.

PHED.

THE publication of the letter in my laft paper has naturally led me to the confideration of that thirst after curiofities, which often draws contempt and ridicule upon itself, but which is perhaps no otherwife blamable, than as it wants thofe cir cumftantial recommendations which add luftre even to moral excellencies, and are abfolutely neceffary to the grace and beauty of indifferent actions.

Learning confers fo much fuperiority on those who poffefs it, that they might probably have efcaped all cenfure had they been able to agree among them. felves; but as envy and competition have divided the republick of letters into factions, they have neglected the common intereft; each has called in foreign aid, and endeavoured to ftrengthen his own cause by the frown of power, the hifs of ignorance, and the clamour of popularity. They have all engaged in feuds, till by mutual hoftilities they demolished those outworks which veneration had raifed for their fecurity, and expofed themselves to barba rians, by whom every region of fcience is equally laid waste.

Between men of different ftudies and profeffions, may be obferved a conftant reciprocation of reproaches. The collector of fhells and ftones derides

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the

the folly of him who paftes leaves and flowers upon paper, pleases himself with colours that are perceptibly fading, and amaffes with care what cannot be preserved. The hunter of infects ftands amazed that any man can wafte his fhort time upon lifeless matter, while many tribes of animals yet want their history. Every one is inclined not only to promote his own study, but to exclude all others from regard, and having heated his imagination with fome favourite pursuit, wonders that the rest of mankind are not seized with the fame paffion.

There are, indeed, many subjects of study which feem but remotely allied to useful knowledge, and of little importance to happiness or virtue; nor is it eafy to forbear fome fallies of merriment, or expref, fions of pity, when we fee a man wrinkled with attention, and emaciated with folicitude, in the invefti gation of questions, of which, without vifible inconvenience, the world may expire in ignorance. Yet it is dangerous to difcourage well-intended labours, or innocent curiofity; for he who is employed in fearches, which by any deduction of confequences tend to the benefit of life, is furely laudable, in com parison of those who spend their time in counteracting happiness, and filling the world with wrong and danger, confufion and remorfe. No man can perform fo little as not to have reafon to congratulate himself on his merits, when he beholds the multitudes that live in total idlenefs, and have never yet endeavoured to be useful.

It is impoffible to determine the limits of enquiry, or to foresee what confequences a new discovery may produce. He who fuffers not his faculties to lie

torpid,

torpid, has a chance, whatever be his employment, of doing good to his fellow-creatures. The man that first ranged the woods in fearch of medicinal fprings, or climbed the mountains for falutary plants, has undoubtedly merited the gratitude of posterity, how much foever his frequent miscarriages might excite the fcorn of his contemporaries. If what appears little be univerfally despised, nothing greater can be attained, for all that is great was at firft little, and rofe to its present bulk by gradual acceffions, and accumulated labours.

Those who lay out time or money in affembling matter for contemplation, are doubtlefs entitled to fome degree of respect, though in a flight of gaiety it be easy to ridicule their treasure, or in a fit of fullennefs to defpife it. A man who thinks only on the particular object before him, goes not away much illuminated by having enjoyed the privilege of handling the tooth of a fhark, or the paw of a white bear; yet there is nothing more worthy of admiration to a philofophical eye than the structure of animals, by which they are qualified to fupport life in the elements or climates to which they are appropriated; and of all natural bodies it must be generally confeffed, that they exhibit evidences of infinite wifdom, bear their teftimony to the fupreme reason, and excite in the mind new raptures of gratitude, and new incentives to piety.

To collect the productions of art, and examples of mechanical science or manual ability, is unqueftionably useful, even when the things themselves are of small importance, because it is always advantageous to know how far the human powers have pro. ceeded,