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features and limos, bear witness how careful I have Ralph Gapley, Esq. hit by a random-shot at the been in the other parts of their education. ring. “ I am, Sir,

8. R. caught his death upoạ the water, April "Your most humble Servant, the 1st. T. " RACHAEL WATCHPUL." W. W. killed by an unknown hand, that was

playir.g with the glove off upon the side of the front

box in Drury-lane. No. 377.) TUESDAY, MAY 13, 1712. Sir Christopher Crasy, Bart. hurt by the brusb of Quid quisque vitet, nunquam homini satis

a whale-bone petticoat. Cautum est in horas.- Hor. 2 Od. xiii. 13.

Sylvius, shot through the sticks of a fan at St.
What each should fly, is seldom known;

James's church.
We unprovided, are undone. --CREECH.

Damon struck through the heart by a diamond Love was the mother of poetry, and still produces, necklace. ainong the most ignorant and barbarous, a thousaná Thomas Trusty, Francis Goosequill, William imaginary distresses and poetical complaints. It Meanwell, Edward Callow, Esers. standing in a makes a footman talk like Oroondates, and converts row, fell all four at the same time, by an ogle of the a brutal rustic into a gentle swain. The most or.

Widow Trapland. dinary plebeian or mechanic in love bleeds and Tom Ratile, chancing to tread upon a lady's tail pines away with a certain elegance and tenderness as he came out of the play-house,' she turned full of sentiments which this passion naturally inspires. upon him, and laid him dead upon the spot. These inward languishings of a mind infected with

Dick Tastewell, slain by a blush from the queen's this softness have given birth to a phrase which box in the third act of the Trip to the Jubilee. is made use of by all the mesting tribe, from the

Samuel Felt, haberdasher, wounded in his walks highest to the lowest-I mean that of “dying for to Islington, by Mrs. Susannah Cross-stitch, as she love.”

was clambering over a stile. Romances, which owe their very being to this R. F. T. W. S.I. M.P. &c. put to death in the passion, are full of these metaphorical deaths. last birth-day massacre. Heroes and heroines, knights, squires, and damsels, Roger Blinko, cut off in the twenty-first year of are all of them in a dying condition. There is the his age by a white-wash. same kind of mortality in our modern tragedies,

Musidorus, slain by an arrow that flew out of a wbere every one gasps, faints, bleeds, and dies. dimple, in Belinda's left cheek. Many of the poets, to describe the execution which Ned Courtly, presenting Flavia with her glove is done by this passion, represent the fair sex as (which she had dropped on purpose), she received basilisks, that destroy with their eyes; but I think it, and took away his life with a curtsey. Mr. Cowley bas, with great justness of thought, com

John Gosselin, having received a slight hurt from pared a beautiful woman to a porcupine, that sends a pair of blue eyes, as he was making his escape, an arrow from every part.

was dispatched by a smile. I have often thought that there is no way so

Strephon, killed by Clarinda as she looked down effectual for the cure of this general infirmity, as a into the pit. man's reflecting upon the motives that produce it.

Charles Careless, shot flying by a girl of fifteen, When the passion proceeds from the sense of any who unexpectedly popped her head upon him out pirtue or perfection in the person beloved, I would of a coach. by no means discourage it; but if a man considers

Josiah Wither, aged threescore and three, sent to that all his heavy complaints of wounds and deaths his long home by Elizabeth Jetwell, spinster. rise from some little affectations of coquetry, which

Jack Freelove, murdered by Melissa in her hair. are improved into charms by his own fond imagina

William Wiseacre, Gent. drowned in a flood of tion, the very laying before himself the cause of his tears by Moll Common. distemper may be sufficient to effect the cure of it. John Pleadwell, Esq. of the Middle Temple, bar

It is in this view that I have looked over the se-rister-at-law, assassinated in his chambers the sixth Feral bundles of letters which I have received from inst. by Kitty Sly, who pretended to come to him dying people, and composed out of them the follow- for his advice. ing bill of mortality, which I shall lay before my

I. reader without any further preface, as hoping that

No. 378.] WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 1712. it may be useful to him in discovering those several places where there is most danger, and those fatal Aggredere, o magnos ! aderit jam tempus, honores.

VIRG. EcL ix. 48 arts which are made use of to destroy the heedless and unwary:

Mature in years, to ready honours move.-DRYDIN. Lysander, slain at a puppet-show on the third of I will make no apology for entertaining the September.

reader with the following poem, which is written by Thyrsis, shot from a casement in Piccadilly. a great genius, a friend of mine in the country,

T. S. wounded by Zelinda's scarlet stocking, as who is not ashamed to employ his wit in the praise she was stepping out of a coach.

of his Maker. Will Simple, smitten at the opera by the glance

MESSIAH: of an eye that was aimed at one who stood by him. Tho. Vainlove, lost his life at a ball.

4 SACRED ECLOGUE, Tim. Tattle, killed by the tap of a fan on his left Composed of several passages of Isaiah the prophet: shoulder by Coquetilla, as he was talking carelessly

Written in Imitation of Virgit Poltio. with her in a bow.window.

Yo nymphs of Solyma ! begin the song:
Sir Simon Softly, murdered at the play-house in To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong,
Drury.lane by a frown.

The mossy fountains, and the sylvan shades, Philander, mortally wounded by Cleora, as she The dreams of Pindus, and th Aonian maids, w Wjusting her tucker.

* Pope. Sec No. 58t.

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Delight no more-O Thou my voice inspire. For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,
Who touchd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with tire! And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.

Rapt into future times, the bard begun : See heav'n its sparkling pc:tals wide display,

A virgin shall conceive, a virgin bear a son! And break upon thee in a flood of day!
Isa x. 4 From Jesse's root behold a branch arise,

No more the rising sun shall guld the morn, Isa. lx. 19, 20
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies: Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver born,
Th' ethereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move,

But lost, dissolv'd in thy superior rays,
And on its top descends the mystic Dove.

One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
xlv. 8
Ye heavens ! from high the dewy nectar pour,

O'erflow thy courts : the Light HIMSELF shall shine
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower! Reveald, and God's eternal day be thine!
XXV. 4. The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid,

The seas shall waste, the skies in smoke decay, Ii. 6. and
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.

Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away: hv. 10. All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall lail But fix'd His word, His saving power remains; ix 7 Returning Justice list alost her scale:

Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigts
Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, T.
And white-rob'd Innocence from heaven descend.
Swift fly the years, and rise the expected morn!
Oh spring to light, auspicious Babe, be born!
See Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,

No. 379.)

THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1712.
With all the incense of the breathing spring :
xv. 2
See lofty Lebanon his head advance,

Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter
See nodding forests on the niountains dance,

PIRs. Sat. i. 27
See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise.

Science is not science till reveald-DRYDEN. And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies ! xl. 3,4 Hark! a glad voice ihe lonely desert cheers; I Have often wondered at that ill-natured position

Prepare the way! a God, a God appears : which has sometimes been maintained in the schools,
A God! a God! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th approaching Deity:

and is comprised in an old Latin verse, namely,
Lo earth receives him from the bending skies! that “ A man's knowledge is worth nothing if he
Sink down, ye mountains : and ye valleys, rise! communicates what he knows to any one besides."
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay:
Be smooth, ye rocks: ye rapid Noods, give way! There is certainly no more sensible pleasure to a

The Savious comes! by ancient bards foretold good-natured man, than if he can by any means
xlii. 18. Hear him, ye deaf: and all ye blind, behold! gratify or inform the mind of another. I might
Xxxv. 5, 6. He from thick films shall purge the visual ray,
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day.

add, that this virtue naturally carries it own reward "Tis He th obstructed paths of sound shall clear, along with it, since it is almost impossible it should And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear: be exercised without the improvement of the person The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, who practises it. The reading of books, and the And leap exulting like the bounding roe; No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear,

daily occurrences of life, are continually furnishing From every face he wipes off every tear; us with matter for thought and reflection. It is ex. In adamantine chains shall death be bound, tremely natural for us to desire to see such our

And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound, *). 11. As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,

thoughts put in the dress of words, without which, Seeks freshest pastures and the purest air,

indeed, we can scarce have a clear and distinct idea
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs, of them ourselves. When they are thus clothed in
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects, expressions, nothing so truly shows us whether they
The tender Lamb he raises in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms;

are just or false, as those effects which they proMankind shall thus his guardian care engage,

duce in the minds of others. ix, 6. The promis'd Father of the future age.

I am apt to flatter myself, that, in the course of ii. 4. No more shall nation against nation rise, Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,

these my speculations, I have treated of several Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,

subjects, and laid down many such rules for the coo.
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more: duct of a man's life, which my readers were either
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion in a plough-share end.

wholly ignorant of before, or which at least those Ixv. 21, 22. Then palaces shall rise ; the joyful son

few who were acquainted with them, looked upon as Shall finish what his short-liv'd sire begun : so many secrets they have found out for the conduct Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield, of themselves, but were resolved never to have made

Aud the same hand that sow'd shall reap the field Xuv 1. 7. The swain in barren deserts with surprise

public.
Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise,

I am the more confirmed in this opinion from my
And starts amidst the thirsty wilds to hear having received several letters, wherein I am cen-
New falls of water murmuring in his ear : sured for having prostituted Learning to the eme
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.

braces of the vulgar, and made her, as one of any xJl

. 19. and Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn, correspondents phrases it, a common strumpet. I Iv. 13 The spiry fir and shapely box adom:

am charged by another with laying open the arcada, To leafless shrubs the powering palms succeed, And od'rous myrtle to the noisome weed.

or secrets of prudence to the eyes of every reader. xi. 6, 7, 8. The lambs with wools shall grace the verdant The narrow spirit which appears in the letters of mead,

these my correspondents is the less surprising, s it And boys in flowery bands the tiger lead;

has shown itself in all ages: there is still extant an The steer and lion at one crib shall meet, And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet:

epistle written by Alexander the Great to his tutor The smiling infant in his hand shall take Aristotle, upon that philosopher's publishing some The crested basilisk and speckled soake- part of his writings; in wbich the prince complains Pleas'd the green lustre of the scales survey, And with their forked tongue and pointless'sting of his having made known to all the world those shall play.

secrets in learning which he had before communiIx. 1. Rise, crown d with light, imperial Salem, rise ! cated to him in private lectures : concluding, that. Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes !

he had rather excel the rest of mankind in knowIx. 4 See a long race thy spacious courts adorn!

ledge than in power.
See future sons and daughters yet unborn
In crowding ranks on every side arise,

Louisa de Padilla, a lady of great learning, and Demanding life, impatient for the skies! countess of Aranda, was in like manner angry with x 3. See barb'rous nations at thy gates attend,

the famous Gratian, upon his publishing his treatise Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend!

See thy bright altars throng d with prostrate kings, of the Discreto, wherein she fancied that be had laid L. 6 And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs ! open those maxiins to common readers wbich ought

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only to have been reserved for the knowledge of the with several springs, which upon any man's entergreat.

ing, naturally produced that which had happened.” These objections are thought by many of so much Rosicrusius, say bis disciples, made use of this weight, that they often defend the above-mentioned method to show the world that he had re-invented authors by affirming they have affected such an ob- the ever burning lamps of the ancients, though he scurity in their style and manner of writing, that, was resolved no one should reap any advantage though every one may read their works, there will from the discovery.--X be but very few who can comprehend their meaning.

Persius, the Latin satirist, affected obscurity for another reason; with which, bowever, Mr.Cowley

No. 380.] FRIDAY, MAY 16, 1712. is so offended, that, writing to one of his friends, “You,” says he, " tell me, that you do not know Rivalem patienter hahe. Ovid, Ars Am. ii. 533. whether Persius be a good poet or no, because you With patience bear a rival in thy love. cannot understand him; for which very reason I affirm that he is not so.'

Thursday, May 8, 1712. However, this art of writing unintelligibly has " The character you have in the world of being been very much improved, and followed by several the ladies' philosopher, and the pretty advice I have of the moderns, who, observing the general inclina- seen you give to others in your papers, make me tion of mankind to dive into a secret, and the repu- address myself to you in this abrupt manner, and tation many have acquired by concealing their to desire your opinion of what in this age a woman meaning under obscure terms and phrases, resolve, may call a lover. I have lately had a gentleman that they may be still more abstruse, to write with that I thought made pretensions to me, insomuch out any meaning at all. This art, as it is at pre- that most of my friends took notice of it, and sent practised by many eminent authors, consists thought we were really married. I did not take in throwing so many words at a venture into diffe- much pains to undeceive them, and especially a ren: periods, and leaving the curious reader to find young gentlewoman of my particular acquaintance, out the meaning of them.

who was then in the country. She coming to The Egyptians, who made use of hieroglyphics town, and seeing our intimacy so great, gave her. to signify several things, expressed a man who con- self the liberty of taking me to task concerning it: fined bis knowledge and discoveries altogether within 1 ingenuously told her we were not married, but I hiniself by the figure of a dark lantern closed on all did not know what might be the event.

She soun sides, which, though it was illuminated within, af- got acquainted with the gentleman, and was pleased forded no manner of light or advantage to such as

to take upon her to examine him about it. Now, stood by it. For my own part, as I shall from time whether a new face hall made a greater conquest to time communicate to the public whatever disco-than the old I will leave you to judge. I am in. veries I happen to make, I should much rather be formed that he utterly denied all pretensions to compared to an ordinary lamp, which consumes and colirtship, but withal professed a sincere friendship wastes itself for the benefit of every passenger.

for me; but, whether marriages are proposed by I shall conclude this paper with the story of Ro- way of friendship or not, is what I desire to know, sicrusius's sepulchre. I suppose I need not inform and wbat I may really call a lover? There are so my readers, that this man was the founder of the many who talk in a language fit only for that chaRosicrusian sect, and that his disciples still pretend racter, and yet guard themselves against speaking to new discoveries, which they are never to com- in direct terms to the point, that it is impossible to muricate to the rest of mankiud.

distinguish between courtship and conversation. "A certain person having occasion to dig some- I hope you will do me justice both upon my lover what deep in the ground, where this philosopher lay and my friend, if they provoke me further. In the interred, met with a small door, having a wall on mean time I carry it with so equal a behaviour, that each side of it. His curiosity, and the hopes of the nymph and the swain too arc mightily at a loss: finding some hidden treasure, soon prompted him each believes I, who know them both well

, think to force open the door. He was immediately sur-myself revenged in their love to one another, which prised by a sudden blaze of light, and discovered a creates an irreconcilable jealousy. If all comes very fair fault. At the upper end of it was a statue right again, you shall hear further from, of a man in armour, sitting by a table, and leaning

• Sir, your most obedient Servant, on his left arm. He held a truncheon in his right

“ MYRTILLA." hand, and had a lamp burning before him. The man had no sooner set one foot within the vault,

" MR. SPECTATOR,

April 28, 1712. than the statue erected itself from its leaning pos- “ Your observations on persons that have beture, stood bolt upright, and upon the fellow's ad- baved themselves irreverently at church, I doubt not vancing another step, lifted up the truncheon in his have had a good effect on some that have read them: right hand. The man still ventured a third step, but there is another fault which has hitherto escaped when the statue, 'with a furious blow, broke the lamp your notice, I mean of such persons as are there into a thousand pieces, and left his guest in a sud- very zealous and punctual to perform an ejaculation den darkness.

that is only preparatory to the service of the church, "Upon the report of this adventure, the country and yet negleci to join in the service itself. There people soon came with lights to the sepulchre, and is an instance of this in a friend of Will Honeydiscovered that the statue, which was made of brass, comb's, who sits opposite to me. He seldom comes was nothing more than a piece of clock-work; that in till the prayers are about half over; and when the floor of the vault was all loose, and underlaid he has entered his seat (instead of joining with the

congregation) he devoutly holds his hat before his See Compte de Gabalis, par l'Abbe Villars, 1742, 2 vols. face for three or four moments, then bowe to all his ip 12mo. and Pope's Works, ed. of Warb. vol. I p. 109, 12mo acquaintance, sits down, takes a pinch of snuff (if 1770. 6 vols.

it be the evening service perhaps takes a nap). and

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spends the remaining time in surveying the congre- do them the same favour in Friday's Spectator for gation. Now, Sir, what I would desire is, that you Sunday next, when they are to appear with their would animadvert a little on this genleman's prac-humble airs at the parish church of St. Brido's. tiee. In my opinion, this gentleman's devotion, Sir, the mention of this may possibly be serviceable cap in hand, is only a compliance to the custom of to the children; and sure no one will omit a good the place, and goes no further than a little ecclesias- action attended with no expense. tical good breeding. If you will not pretend to tell

“I am, Sir, us the motives that bring such trifers to solemn

“ Your very bumble Servant, assemblies, yet let me desire that you will give this T.

" Tue SEXTON," letter a place in your paper, and shall remain, “Sir, you obliged humble Servant,

No. 381 | SATURDAY, MAY 17, 1712. “ J. S."

Æquam memento rebus in arduis « MR. SPECTATOR,

Servare mentem, non secus in bonis,
May the 5th.

Ab insolenti temperatam “ The conversation at a club, of which I am a

Lætitia, moriture Delli.-HOR 2 Od üle member, last night, falling upon vanity and the de

Be calm, my Dellius, and serene, sire of being admired, put me in mind of relating

However fortune change the scene,

In thy most dejected state, how agreeably I was entertained at my own door

Sink not underneath the weight; last Thursday, by a clean fresb-coloured girl, under

Nor yet, when happy days

begin, the most elegant and the best furnished milk.pail I

And the full tide comes rolling in, had ever observed. I was glad of such an opportu

Let a fierce, unruly, joy

The settled quiet of thy mind destroy Akos nity of seeing the behaviour of a coquette in low life, and how she received the extraordinary notice

I have always preferred cheerfulness to mirth. that was taken of her; which I found had affected The latter I consider as an act, the former as a habit every muscle of her face in the same manner as it of the mind. Mirth is short and transient, cheer. does the features of a first-rate toast at a play or in fulness fixed and permanent. Those are often raised an assembly. This hint of mine made the discourse into the greatest transports of mirth, who are sub turn upon the sense of pleasure; which ended in a ject to the greatest depressions of melancholy. Oa general resolution, that the milkmaid enjoys her the contrary, cheerfulness, though it does not give vanity as exquisitely as the woman of quality. I the mind such an exquisite gladness, prevents us think it would not be an improper subject for you from falling into any depths of sorrow. Mirtk is. to examine this frailty, and trace it to all conditions like a flash of lightning, that breaks through a gloon of life; which is recommended to you as an occasion of clouds, and glitters for a moment; cheerfolness of obliging many of your readers : among the rest, keeps up a kind of day-light in the mind, and fills “ Your most humble Servant,

it with a steady and perpetual serenity.

Men of austere principles look upon mirth as too “ T. B."

wanton and dissolute for a state of probation, and as

May 12, 1712. filled with a certain triumph and insolence of heart "Coming last week into a coffee-house not far that is inconsistent with a life which is every mo from the Exchange, with my basket under my arm,

ment obnoxious to the greatest dangers. Writers a Jew of considerable note, as I am informed, takes of this complexion have observed, that the Sacred half-a-dozen oranges of me, and at the same time Person who was the great pattern of perfection was slides a guinea into my hand; I made him a curtsey,

never seen to laugh. and went my way. He followed me, and finding I

Cheerfulness of mind is not liable to any of these was going about my business, he came up with me, exceptions; it is of a serious and composed nature; and told me plainly that he gave me the guinea it does not throw the mind into a condition improper with

no other intent but to purchase my person for for the present state of humanity, and is very conan hour. Did you so, Sir," says I : you gave it soicuous in the characters of those who are looked me then to make me wicked; I will keep it to make upon as the greatest philosophers among the heathens, me honest. However, not to be in the least ungrate as well as among those who

have been deservedly es ful, I promise you I will lay it out in a couple

of teemed as saints and holy men among Christians. rings, and wear them for your sake. I am so just,

If we consider cheerfulness in three lights, with Sir, besides, as to give every body that asks how i regard to ourselves, to those we converse with, and came by my rings this account of my benefactor: to the great Author of our being, it will not a little but to save me the trouble of telling my tale over recommend itself on each of these accounts

. The and over again, I humbly beg the favour of you to man who is possessed of this excellent frame of teli it once for all, and you will extremely oblige, mind, is not only easy in his thoughts, but a perfect “ Your humble Servant,

master of all the powers and faculties of his soul.

His imagination is always clear, and his judgment “ BETTY LENON."

undisturbed; his temper is even and unruffled,

whether in action or in solitude. He comes with St. Bride's, May 15, 1712.

relish to all those goods which nature has provided “'Tis a great deal of pleasure to me, and I dare for him, tastes all the pleasures of the creation say will be no less satisfactory to you, that I have which are poured about him, and does not feel the an opportunity of informing you, that the gentlemen fult weight of those accidental evils biela mas and others of the parish of St. Bride's have raised a befal him. charity-school of fifty girls, as before of fifty boys. If we consider him in relation to the persons You were so kind to recommend the boys to the whom he converses with, it naturally produces lore charitable world; and the other sex hope you will and good-will towards him. A cheerful mind iz pot

only disposed to be affable and obliging; but raises Perhaps the initials of Swift's name, in whose works there the same good humour in those who come withig its * petron on sleoping at church.

influence. A nian sinds himself pleased, he does

“ Sir,

" SIR,

mot know why, with the cheerfulness of his compa- after millions of ages, will be still new, and still in nion. It is like a sudden sunshine that awakens a its beginning. How many self-congratulations nasecret delight in the mind, without her attending to turally arise in the mind, when it reflects on this its i The heart rejoices of its own accord, and na- entrance into eternity, when it takes a view of those terally flows out into friendship and benevolence to improvable faculties, which in a few years, and even wards the person who has so kindly an effect upon it. at its first setting out, have made so considerable a

When I consider this cheerful state of mind in its progress, and which will still be receiving an increase third relation, I cannot but look upon it as a con- of perfection, and consequently an increase of hapstant habitual gratitude to the great Author of na- piness! The consciousness of such a being spreads ture. An inward cheerfulness is an implicit praise a perpetual diffusion of joy through the soul of a and thanksgiving to Providence under all its disper- virtuous man, and makes him look upon himself sations. It is a kind of acquiescence in the state every moment as more happy than he knows how to wherein we are placed, and a secret approbation of conceive. the Divine Will in his conduct towards man.

The second source of cheerfulness to a good mind These are bat two things whieh, in my opinion, is the consideration of that Being on whom we have can reasonably deprive us of this cheerfulness of our dependance, and in whom, though we behold heart. The first of these is the sense of guilt. A him as yet but in the first faint discoveries of his inan who lives in a state of vice and impenitence, perfections, we see every thing that we can imagine can have no title to that evenness and tranquillity of as great, glorious, or amiable. We find ourselves mind wbich is the health of the soul, and the natural every where upheld by his goodness, and surrounded effect of virtue and innocence. Cheerfulness in an with an immensity of love and mercy. In short, we ill man deserves a harder name than language can depend upon a Being, whose power qualifies him to furaish us with, and is many degrees beyond what we make us happy by an infinity of means, whose goodcommonly call folly or madness.

ness and truth engage him to make those happy who Atheism, by which I mean a disbelief of a Supreme desire it of him, and whose unchangeableness will Being, and consequently of a future state, under secure us in this happiness to all eternity. whatsoever titles it sbelter itself, may likewise very

Such considerations, which every one should perreasonably deprive a man of this cheerfulness of petually cherish in his thoughts, will banish from us temper. There is something so particularly gloomy all that secret heaviness of heart which unthinking and offensive to human nature in the prospect of men are subject to when they lie under no real non-existence, that I cannot but wonder, with many afiliction; all that anguish which we may feel from excellent writers, how it is possible for a man to any evil that actually oppresses us, to which I may cutline the expectation of it.' For my own part, I likewise add those little cracklings of mirth and think the being of a God is so little to be doubted, folly that are apter to betray virtue than support it; that it is almost the only truth we are sure of; and and establish in us such an even and cheerful temspek a truth as we meet with in every object, in per, as makes us pleasing to ourselves, to those with every occurrence, and in every thought. If we look whom we converse, and to Him whom we were into the characters of this tribe of infidels, we ge

made to please.-I. nerally find they are made up of pride, spleen, and cavil. It is indeed no wonder, that men who are

No. 382.] MONDAY, MAY 19, 1712. treasy to themselves should be so to the rest of the

Habes confitentem reum,-TULL. world, and how is it possible for a man to be other. wise than uneasy in himself , who is in danger every

The accused confesses his guilt. moment of losing his entire existence, and dropping I ought not to have neglected a request of one into nothing?

of my correspondents so long as I have, but I dare • The vicious man and Atheist have therefore no say I have given him time to add practice to profespretenee to cheerfulness, and would act very unrea- sion. He sent me some time ago a bottle or two of sonably should they endeavour after it. It is im- excellent wine to drink the health of a gentleman possible for any one to live in good-humour, and who had by the penny-post advertised him of an enjoy his present existence, who is apprehensive egregious error in his conduct. My correspondent either of torment or of annihilation; of being received the obligation from an unknown hand with miserable, or of not being at all.

the candour which is natural to an ingenuous mind; : After having mentioned these two great prin- and promises a contrary behaviour in that point for ciples, which are destructive of cheerfulness in their the future. He will offend his monitor with no can nature, as well as in right reason, I cannot more errors of that kind, but thanks him for his bethink of any other that ought to banish this happy nevolence. This frank carriage makes me reflect temper from a virtuous mind. Pain and sickness, upon the amiable atonement a man makes in the inshame and reproach, poverty and old age, nay death genuous acknowledgment of a fault. All such misitself, considering the shortness of their duration, carriages as flow from inadvertency are more than and the advantage we may reap from them, do not repaid by it; for reason, though not concerned in deserve the name of evils. A good mind may bear the injury, employs all its force in the atonement. up under them with fortitude, with indolence, and He that says, he did not design to disoblige you in with cheerfulness of heart. The tossing of a tem- such an action, does as much as if he should tell pest does not discompose him, which he is sure will you, that though the circumstance which displeased bring him to a joyful harbour.

was never in his thoughts, he has that respeet for A man who uses his best endeavours to live ac- you that he is unsatisfied, till it is wholly out of cording to the dictates of virtue and right reason, I yours. It must be confessed, that when an acknowhas two perpetual sources of cheerfulness, in the ledgment of an offence is made out of poorness of consideration of his own nature, and of that Being spirit, and not conviction of heart, the circumstance on whom he has a dependance. If he looks into is quite different. But in the case of my correhimself, be cannot but rejoice in that existence spondent, where both the notice is taken, and the which is so lately bestowed upon him, and which, I return made in private, the affair begins and ends

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