CENTER [144]



DOUBLE RULE



CENTER A
CENTER TRAVELLER


[I]s a Native of all Countries, and an Alien at
[I]Home. He flies from the Place where he
was hatched, like a Wildgoos_e, and prefers all
others before it. He has no Quarrel to it, but
becaus_e he was born in it, and like a Bas_tard,
he is as_hamed of his Mother, becaus_e s_he is of
him. He is a Merchant, that makes Voyages
into foreign Nations, to drive a Trade in Wis_-
dom and Politics, and it is not for his Credit
to have it thought, he has made an ill Return,
which mus_t be, if he s_hould allow of any of
the Growth of his own Country. This makes
him quick and blow up hims_elf with Admira-
tion of foreign Parts, and a generous Con-
tempt of Home, that all Men may admire, at
leas_t, the means he has had of Improvement,
and deplore their own Defects_. His Obs_erva-
tions are like a Sieve, that lets the finer Flour
pas_s, and retains only the Bran of Things;

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CENTER A TRAVELLER. #JUSTIFY LEFT 145
FOR HIS WHOLE RETURN OF WIS_DOM PROVES TO BE
BUT AFFECTATION, A PERIS_HABLE COMMODITY, WHICH
HE WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO PUT OFF. HE BELIEVES
ALL MEN'S WITS ARE AT A S_TAND, THAT S_TAY AT
HOME, AND ONLY THOS_E ADVANCED, THAT TRAVEL ;
AS IF CHANGE OF PAS_TURE DID MAKE GREAT POLITI-
CIANS, AS WELL AS FAT CALVES. HE PITIES THE LITTLE
KNOWLEDGE OF TRUTH WHICH THOS_E HAVE, THAT
HAVE NOT S_EEN THE WORLD ABROAD, FORGETTING,
THAT AT THE S_AME TIME HE TELLS US, HOW LITTLE
CREDIT IS TO BE GIVEN TO HIS OWN RELATIONS AND
THOS_E OF OTHERS, THAT S_PEAK AND WRITE OF THEIR
TRAVELS. HE HAS WORN HIS OWN LANGUAGE TO
RAGS, AND PATCHED IT UP WITH SCRAPS AND ENDS
OF FOREIGN--THIS S_ERVES HIM FOR WIT, AND THEY AP-
PLAUD ONE ANOTHER ACCORDINGLY. HE BELIEVES
THIS RAGGEDNES_S OF HIS DIS_COURS_E A GREAT DEMON-
S_TRATION OF THE IMPROVEMENT OF HIS KNOWLEDGE ;
AS (I) INNS-OF-COURT (I) MEN INTIMATE THEIR PROFICIENCY
IN THE LAW BY THE TATTERS OF THEIR GOWNS-
ALL THE WIT HE BROUGHT HOME WITH HIM IS LIKE
FOREIGN COIN, OF A BAS_ER ALLOY THAN OUR OWN,
AND S_O WILL NOT PAS_S HERE WITHOUT GREAT LOS_S.
ALL NOBLE CREATURES, THAT ARE FAMOUS IN ANY
VOL. II #CENTER L


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146 A TRAVELLER.
one Country, degenerate by being trans_planted;
and thos_e of mean Value only improve--If it
hold with Men, he falls among the Number
of the latter, and his Improvements are little
to his Credit. All he can s_ay for hims_elf is,
his Mind was s_ick of a Cons_umption, and
change of Air has cured him : For all his other
Improvements have only been to eat in . . . .
and talk with thos_e he did not unders_tand; to
hold Intelligence with all Gazettes, and from
the Sight of States_men in the Street unriddle
the Intrigues of all their Councils, to make a
wondrous Progres_s into Knowledge by riding
with a Mes_s_enger, and advance In Politics by
mounting of a Mule, run through all Sorts of
Learning in a Waggon, and found all Depths
of Arts in Felucca, ride pos_t into the Secrets
of all States, and grow acquainted with their
clos_e Des_igns in Inns and Hos_tleries; for cer-
tainly there is great Virtue in Highways and
Hedges to make an able Man, and a good
Pros_pect cannot but let him s_ee far into Things.

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