indeed who are not informed by it, and incorrigible whofe tempers are not mended by it.

What then shall we fay of Mr. Dyer who could read it, approve it, and fo far fhake off his natural phlegm as to declare himself fafcinated by, and actually begin a tranflation of it, yet could abandon his work, and fink into the very character against which it was an antidote, but that floth had obtained the dominion over him, that a paralyfis had feized his mental faculties, and that rejecting the prudent counfels, the moral precepts, and the religious inftruction contained in this elegant tract, he had given himself up to criminal indolence and felfgratification, and defeated the hopes of his best friends?

In the tranflation into English, much of the spirit of the original has evaporated; but it has merit, as fome particulars which the different manners of the two nations made it fit to alter, are properly adapted in it to the genius of our country, and indeed the translation, even if it had had lefs claim to our regard, must have been acceptable, as it extended the benefits of this valuable tract.

Dyer's fupport, in the idle way of life which he had made choice of, was the produce of a patrimony in the funds, that could not be great; his father, from whom he derived it, having left, befides himself, a widow, an elder fon and a daughter. Johnson and myself, that he might be getting fomething, ftrongly preffed him to write the life of Erafmus; but he could not be induced to undertake it. A work of lefs labour, but lefs worthy of him, he was however prevailed on

by Mr. Samuel Sharp, the furgeon, to engage in :

this was a revifion of the old tranflation of Plutarch's lives by feveral hands. He undertook, and, with heavy complaints of the labour of his tafk, completed it, and had for his reward from Mr. Draper the partner of Mr. Tonfon, whom Mr. Sharp had folicited to find fome employment for him, the fum of two hundred pounds.

While he was a member of the club, Johnson fufpected that his religious principles, for which at first he honoured him, were giving way, and it was whispered to me by one who feemed picafed that he was in the fecret, that Mr. Dyer's religion was that of Socrates. What farther advances he made in Theism I could not learn, nor will I venture to affert, that which fome expreffions that I have heard drop from him led me to fear, viz. that he denied, in the philofophical fenfe of the term, the freedom of the human will, and fettled in materialifm and its confequent

tenets.

As all his determinations were flow and deliberate, and feemed to be the refult of reason and reflection, the change in his principles and conduct here noted was gradual. Of this the firft fymptoms were an imbecillity to refift any temptation abroad on a Sunday evening, that fhould eafe him of the trouble of fuch exercises as he had been accuftomed to perform in the family of his mother, and an eager curiosity in the perufal of books not merely of entertainment, but of fuch, as together with a knowledge of the world, furnished his mind with fuch palliatives of vice as made him half a convert to it.

While his mind was in this state of trepidation, a young gentleman who had been a fellow-ftudent with him at Leyden, arrived in England, disordered in his health, of whom and whofe conversation he became fo enamoured, that to entertain him while he was feeking the recovery of it, Dyer was almoft loft to all the reft of his friends. To thofe with whom he was most intimate, he would, notwithstanding the clofeness of his nature, defcribe him and display his attractions, which as he reprefented them, were learning, wit, politenefs, elegance, particularly in the article of drefs; free and open manners, a genteel figure, and other perfonal charms that rendered him the delight of the female fex. It was a queftion that fome of thofe with whom he was thus open would frequently afk him, What are the most of these qualifications to you, Mr. Dyer, who are a man of a different character ? you who know the value of wifdom, and have a mind fraught with knowledge, which you are capable of applying to many beneficial purpofes, can never be emuious of thofe diftinctions which difcriminate a 'man of pleasure from a philofopher:' his anfwers to which ferved only to fhew that his judgment was corrupted: The habitation of his friend, whom he thus vifited, was a brothel, and his difeafe fuch as thofe feldom efcape who frequent houses of lewd refort. The folicitude which the females in that place fhewed for the recovery of his friend, their clofe attendance on him, and affiduity in administering to him his medicines, and fupplying all his wants, he attributed to genuine love; and feemed almoft to envy in him that power which could interest so many young'

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young perfons of the other fex in the restoration of his health.

What effect thefe vifits, and the blandifhments to which, as often as he made them, he was a witness, had upon Dyer, I know not, fave that to defeat the enchantments of these fyrens he practifed none of the arts of Ulyffes on the contrary, they feemed to have wrought in him an opinion, that thofe miftook their intereft, and fhewed their ignorance of human life, who abftained from any pleasure that difturbed not the quiet of families or the order of fociety; that natural appetites required gratification, and were not to be difmiffed without it; that the indulgence of the irafcible paffions alone was vice; and that to live in peace with all mankind, and in a temper to do good offices, was the most effential part of our duty.

Having admitted thefe principles into his mind, he fettled into a fober fenfualift; in a perfect confiftency with which character, he was content to eat the bread of idleness, laying himfelf open to the invitations of thofe that kept the beft tables, and contracting intimacies with men not only of oppofite parties, but with fome who seemed to have abandoned all principle, whether religious, political or moral. The houses of many fuch in fucceffion were his home; and for the gratifications of a well-fpread table, choice wines, variety of company, card-parties, and a participation in all domeftic amufements and recreations, the owners thought themfelves recompenfed by his converfation and the readinefs with which he accommodated himself to all about him. Nor was he ever at a lofs for reafons to juftify this abufe of his parts or wafte

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waste of his time: he looked upon the practice of the world as the rule of life, and thought it did not become an individual to resist it.

By the death of his mother, his brother and fifter, all of whom he furvived, he became poffeffed of about 8000l. in the funds, which, as he was an œconomist and inclined to no extravagance, it feemed highly improbable he would ever be tempted to diffipate; but he had contracted a fatal intimacy with fome perfons of defperate fortunes, who were dealers in India stock, at a time when the affairs of the company were in a state of fluctuation; and though, from his indolent and abstracted temper of mind and ignorance of business, the last man to be fufpected of yielding to fuch delufions, he first invested all he had in that precarious fund, and next became a candidate for the office of a director of the company, but failed in his attempt. After this, he entered into engagements for the purchase or sale of stock, and by violating them, made fhipwreck of his honour. Laftly, he made other contracts of the like kind, to the performance whereof he was strictly bound: these turned out against him, and fwallowed the whole of his fortune. About the time of this event he was feized with a quinfey, which he was affured was mortal; but whether he refigned himself to the flow operation of that disease, or precipitated his end by an act of felf-violence, was, and yet is, a queftion among his friends. He left not in money or effects fufficient to defray the expence of a decent funeral, and the last office of humanity towards him was performed by one of those who had been acceffary to his ruin. A portrait

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