N° 82.

SATURDAY, February 19. 1780.

HE paper of to-day was received from

TH

an unknown hand feveral weeks ago. The publication of it may, perhaps, appear rather unfeasonable after the laft Gazette. There is ftill, however, much truth in my correfpondent's obfervations, who, I dare fay, will not regret that Sir George Rodney's fuccefs has fomewhat leffened their force.

For the MIRROR.

Romulus et Liber pater, et cum Caftore Pollux, Poft ingentia facta, Deorum in templa recepti. HOR. EP.

ΜΕ MEN who either poffefs a natural fournefs of temper, or who have been unfortu nate in the world from accident or imprudence, or perhaps think they have been for from over-rating their own deferts, are apt to afcribe to human nature a variety of vices and imperfections. They confider these as the

chief ingredients of the compofition of mankind, and that their virtues and good qualities are only exceptions from the general rule, like accidental ftrokes of genius, or colouring, in the works of a painter whofe performances, on the whole, are coarse and irregular.

Nothing can be more groundless and unjuft than this accufation. I am convinced, that, upon a thorough examination, though we might difcover many vicious and profligate individuals, we fhould find, in general, that human nature is virtuous and well difpofed, and little merits the abufe that peevish or unfortunate men are inclined to bestow upon it.

One charge, much infifted upon against mankind, is public ingratitude. With what justice or truth this is urged, we may judge, by examining the behaviour of men from the earliest period to the prefent times; and, in doing fo, I flatter myself we shall be able to difcover that the reverfe is true, and that a ftrong fpirit of gratitude has appeared on all occafions where it was due, though, in different ages and countries, it has been expreffed in a different manner.

In Egypt and ancient Greece, the tribute paid by the public voice to the benefactors of mankind,

mankind, was to confider them as objects of divine worship, and, for that purpofe, to inroll them among the gods. Such was Ceres, for the invention of corn, Bacchus, for the discovery of wine, and a variety of others, with whom every fchool-boy is acquainted. If a man of superior strength and valour happened to repel an invader, deftroy a monster, or perform any notable deed of public fervice, he was revered while living, and, after his death, his memory was respected, and a fpecies of inferior worship was paid to him, as a hero, or a demi-god.

In later times, in the Grecian ftates, the general who fought a fuccefsful battle, or deftroyed an enemy's fleet, had ftatues erected to him by the public voice, and at the expence of the public. The Romans did not think of honouring their active or fortunate commanders with ftatues; but they had their triumphs and ovations bestowed by the public,, and fupported by the voluntary applause and attendance of a grateful populace.

I fhould be extremely forry if the moderns yielded in the article of public gratitude either to the Greeks or Romans. I fhall not enter upon the practice or manners of other Euro

pean nations; but I can venture to affert, with fome degree of confidence, that the people of Great Britain poffefs a degree of public gratitude unexampled in any other age or country.

In making this affertion, I do not allude to public monuments, hereditary penfions, or thanks of parliament, which, though of a pu blic, and feemingly of a general nature, may nevertheless proceed from a very limited cause. -I allude to that universal effufion of honeft gratitude which the good people of England frequently beftow on fuccefsful commanders, by putting up their pictures as figns for their taverns and ale houfes, and frequenting thefe more than any other, till the reputation of the original begins to be obfcured, by the ri fing glory of fome new favourite.

I muft, at the fame time, observe, that great statesmen have feldom experienced this mark of public applaufe. The late Mr Pitt was, indeed, an exception from the remark; but he was, in fact, a minifter of war only, and never meddled with finance. A firft Lord of the Treafury, let him be as wife as Ximenes, and as moderate as Fleury, cannot expect to be revered on the fign-poft of an alehoufe;

every article of confumpt there has felt the weight of his hand; and, whether the company get drunk in wine or punch, or enjoy the cool collations of tea and coffee, ftill the reckoning recals ideas that lead to execrations on the whole system of finance and taxation, from the department of the first minifter to the walk of the loweft excifeman; and, by an easy transition, the dislike of the system and the offices paffes, in fome degree, to the perfons of those who fill them.

But, as the fame cause of unmerited obla quy does not exist with respect to our admirals and generals, they have been often and much the objects of this fpecies of public gratitude. It is needlefs to go far back. In the year 1739, Admiral Vernon took Porto-bella with fix fhips only. The public gratitude to him was boundless.-He was fung in ballads. -Ar the enfuing general election in 1741, he was returned from three different corporations; but, above all, his portrait filled every fign-poft; and he may be figuratively faid to have fold the ale, beer, porter, and purl of England for fix years,

Towards the close of that period, the Admiral's favour began to fade apace with the colours