g, Sir John, to assign other causes
for the decline and fall of conversation."

"One very affecting reason," replied he; "is that the alarming state of
public affairs fills all men's minds with one momentous object. As every
Englishman is a patriot, every patriot is a politician. It is natural
that that subject should fill every mouth which occupies every heart,
and that little room should be left for extraneous matter."

"I should accept this," said I, "as a satisfactory vindication, had I
heard that the same absorbing cause had thinned the public places, or
diminished the attraction of the private resorts of dissipation."

"There is a third reason," said Sir John. "Polite literature has in a
good degree given way to experimental philosophy. The admirers of
science assert, that the last was the age of words, and that this is the
age of things. A more substantial kind of knowledge has partly
superseded these elegant studies, which have caught such hold on your
affections."

"I heartily wish," replied I, "that the new pursuits may be found to
make men wiser; they certainly have not made them more agreeable."

"It is affirmed," said Mr. Stanley, "that the prevailing philosophical
studies have a religious use, and that they naturally tend to elevate
the heart to the great Author of the universe."

"I have but one objection to that assertion," replied Sir John, "namely,
that it is not true. This would seem indeed to be their direct tendency,
yet experiment, which you know is the soul of philosophy, has proved the
contrary."

He then adduced some instances in our own country, which I forbear to
name, that clearly evinced that this was not their necessary
consequence; adding, however, a few great names on the more honorable
side. He next adverted to the Baillies, the Condorcets, the D'Alemberts,
and the Lalandes, as melancholy proofs of the inefficacy of mere science
to make Christians.

"Far be it from me," said Sir John, "to undervalue philosophical
pursuits. The modern discoveries are extremely important, especially in
their application to the purposes of common life; but where these are
pursued exclusively, I can not help preferring the study of the great
classic authors, those exquisite masters of life and manners, with whose
spirit conversation, twenty or thirty years ago, was so richly
impregnated."

"I confess," said I, "there may be more matter; but there is certainly
less mind in the reigning pursuits. Th