On the progreffive Latenefs of Hours kept in England. 
his meals, than between the meals of the 
vulgar; and that the farmer, who has been 
at work from fix in the morning, has pro- 
bably earned his twelve o’clock dinner 
full as well as the fine gentleman or lady 
their repaft at fix. Itis happy that our 
defcr:ptive writers have not yet thought 
of adapting the language of poetry to the 
preicnt capricious acceptation of words. 
Should they ever do fo, what new and 
uncouth imagery would be produced ; the 
morning would be ftripped of her dews 
and her rofes, the day would be ufhered 
in by what we now call the evening-ftar, 
or delcricd from afar by the approach of 
the lamp-lighters ; and the fable soddefs, 
inftead of being confined to her ebon 
throne, and her rayieis majefty, would in- 
clude in her dominion fome of the moft 
brilliance hours in the four and twenty. I 
have fometimes thought to draw up she 
complaints of the morning, fetting forth 
that fhe is no longer permitted to confine 
herfelf to thofe-cool and quiet hours which 
{uit the delicacy of her conftitution; that 
fhe is obliged to thew her forehead in high 
noon, and to fit {corching under the beams 
of the meridian fun, to the great detri- 
ment of her complexion; that her levee 
is deferted, or attended only by farmers 
and ftage-coachmen ; that fhe has not fo 
much dew as would fill an acorn cup, and 
is obliged to refrefh herfelf with ice- 
creams ; that her concerts, which ufed to 
be more brilliant than Madam Mara’s, 
are reduced to the note of the cuckoo 
and the fhrill fong of the grafshopper. 
The-evening might lament, on her part, 
that fhe is no longer l'heure du Bergir ; 
that, inftead of the light-brown in which 
fhe ufed to be habited, and the thin veil 
ot black gauze which rendered her beauty 
more foft and interefting, the is mufHled 
‘up in the thickeft mantle of gloom and 
darknefs, and chilled with the unwhole- 
fome vapours of midnight. Thus all 
the parts of the day, fo aptly harmonized 
and adapted to follow each other in fuc- 
ceflive order by the hand of Nature, put 
into confufion by. our abfurd cuftoms, 
might mutually aceufe each other of en- 
croachments. 
To be ferious, wherever Ipfee great 
deviations from nature, I cannot help 
fufpe&ting fome bad paffion to be the lurk- 
ing caufe of them; and, in the prefent 
initance, I 2m afraid we muft refer this 
perveriity of tafte to a culpable defire of 
diftinguifhing ourfelves in every particu- 
lar from the lower orders. “The rich 
man finds himfelf fubjeéted to the fame 
neceflities of food and {leep with his 
Jabourers; but is refolyéd, at leait, he 
. 
5 
will not fatisfy them at the fame hours. 
His little vanity leads him to reject the 
pureft gifts of nature, air and funfhine, 
it they are to be fhared with thole from 
whom he conceived himfelf feparated by 
a line of difcrimination. He will not 
enjoy the light in common with the poor ; 
and he is confcious of the difference 
between the peafant’s rufh-light over his 
turf-fire, and the brilliant Ulumination 
of wax-tapers in his {plendid rooms, he 
chutes to pafs the greateft portion of his 
waking time at thofe hours in which he 
has fo much the advantage; and I do 
not know whether he would condefcend 
to ufe day-licht at all, if it. were not 
pretty highly taxed as it comes through 
the plate-glafs of his fafh-windows. Nay, 
it is faid of a certain noble family, who 
went into the north to {pend their Chrift- 
mas at their country-feat, that being . 
fairly refolved to fhew the fun they could 
do without him, they never vouchfafed 
to open their dining-room fhutters dur 
ing the weeks of their relidence there. 
But, independently of any malignant 
comparifon of our own comforts with 
thofe of others, we fhould confider whe- 
ther there is not a degree of moral guilt 
in flighting the plaineft indications of the 
will of the Author of nature, and pour- 
ing contempt upon rules written with the 
radiant fingers of the morning. Why 
has the Great Parent hufhed all nature 
in fuch deep and ftill repofe, and drawn 
around us the curtains of darknefs, but 
to mark out the proper time “for our 
wearied faculties to intermit their func 
tions? Why, but that our eyes may 
clofe, when objects no longer folicit their 
attention; that our ears may fufpend 
their liftening, when founds have ceafed ; 
and that we may be ftretched under fafe 
fhelter, while the vegetable world is 
bathed with thofe retrefhing dews that 
are to us noxious vapours. Let thole 
whom guilt has ferced to addrefs the glo- 
rious fun only to tell him, ow they hate 
his beams, withdraw themfelves from the 
chearings of his. prefence; but minds 
full of innocence and confcious peace 
fhould-welcome his approach. Sunfhine, 
like the touch of Ithuriel’s fpear, tries 
true beauty and cleanlinef$} and it isa 
fort of teit of the purity and health of 
the foul to be willing to fuftain fuch an 
ordeal. Who would wifh to be ceon- 
founded with the fons of violence and 
rapin€; with thofe who love the night, 
because their deeds are evil; or to begin 
his orifons like the child of defpair— 
** Now hungry wolves howl at the night's 
pale moon?” One would really com- 
pound 
