Thus it appears that the satirist advised rightly, when he directed us to resign ourselves to the hands of Heaven, and to leave to superior powers the determination of our lot: 

  Permittes ipsis expendere Numinibus, quid
  Conveniat nobis, rebusque sit utile nostris:—­
  Carior est illis homo quam sibi. JUV.  Sat. x. 347.

  Intrust thy fortune to the Pow’rs above: 
  Leave them to manage for thee, and to grant
  What their unerring wisdom sees the want. 
  In goodness as in greatness they excel: 
  Ah! that we lov’d ourselves but half so well.  DRYDEN.

What state of life admits most happiness, is uncertain; but that uncertainty ought to repress the petulance of comparison, and silence the murmurs of discontent.

No. 115.  TUESDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1753.

  Scribimus indocti doctique. HOR.  Lib. ii.  Ep. i. 17.

  All dare to write, who can or cannot read.

They who have attentively considered the history of mankind, know that every age has its peculiar character.  At one time, no desire is felt but for military honours; every summer affords battles and sieges, and the world is filled with ravage, bloodshed, and devastation:  this sanguinary fury at length subsides, and nations are divided into factions, by controversies about points that will never be decided.  Men then grow weary of debate and altercation, and apply themselves to the arts of profit; trading companies are formed, manufactures improved, and navigation extended; and nothing is any longer thought on, but the increase and preservation of property, the artifices of getting money, and the pleasures of spending it.

The present age, if we consider chiefly the state of our own country, may be styled, with great propriety, The Age of Authors[1]; for, perhaps, there never was a time in which men of all degrees of ability, of every kind of education, of every profession and employment, were posting with ardour so general to the press.  The province of writing was formerly left to those, who by study, or appearance of study, were supposed to have gained knowledge unattainable by the busy part of mankind; but in these enlightened days, every man is qualified to instruct every other man:  and he that beats the anvil, or guides the plough, not content with supplying corporal necessities, amuses himself in the hours of leisure with providing intellectual pleasures for his countrymen.

It may be observed, that of this, as of other evils, complaints have been made by every generation:  but though it may, perhaps, be true, that at all times more have been willing than have been able to write, yet there is no reason for believing, that the dogmatical legions of the present race were ever equalled in number by any former period:  for so widely is spread the itch of literary praise, that almost every man is an author, either in act or in purpose:  has either bestowed his favours on the publick, or withholds them, that they may be more seasonably offered, or made more worthy of acceptance.