Pagina-afbeeldingen
PDF
ePub
[ocr errors]

her. She said, 'It was indeed true, that she had behalf of the old man, and prayed an arrest of judgpractised all the arts and means she could, to dis-ment; for that he, the said young man, held certain pose of herself happily in marriage, but thought she lands by his, the said old man's life.' Upon this, the did not come under the censure expressed in my solicitor of the upholders took an occasion to demand writings for the same; and humbly hoped I would him also, and thereupon produced several evidences not condemn her for the ignorance of her accusers, that witnessed to his life and conversation, It apwho, according to their own words, had rather re-peared, that each of them divided their hours in presented her killing, than dead.' She further matters of equal moment and importance to themalleged, That the expressions mentioned in the selves and to the public. They rose at the same papers written to her were become mere words, and hour: while the old man was playing with his cat, that she had been always ready to marry any of those the young one was looking out of his window; who said they died for her; but that they made their while the old man was smoking his pipe, the young escape as soon as they found themselves pitied or man was rubbing his teeth; while one was at dinner, believed.' She ended her discourse, by desiring I the other was dressing; while one was at backwould for the future settle the meaning of the words gammon, the other was at dinner; while the old I die,' in letters of love. fellow was talking of Madam Frances, the young one was either at play, or toasting women whom he never conversed with. The only difference was, that the

Mrs. Pindust behaved herself with such an air of innocence, that she easily gained credit, and was acquitted. Upon which occasion, I gave it as a stand-young man had never been good for any thing; the ing rule, that any person, who, in any letter, billet, or discourse, should tell a woman he died for her, should, if she pleased, be obliged to live with her, or be immediately interred upon such their own confession, without bail or mainprize.'

old man, a man of worth before he knew Madam Frances. Upon the whole, I ordered them both to be interred together, with inscriptions proper to their characters, signifying, that the old man died in the year 1689, and was buried in the year 1709; and over the young one it was said, that he departed this world in the twenty-fifth year of his death.

The next class of criminals were authors in prose and verse. Those of them who had produced any still-born work were immediately dismissed to their burial, and were followed by others, who, notwithstanding some sprightly issue in their life time, had given proofs of their death by some posthumous children that bore no resemblance to their elder brethren. As for those who were the fathers of a mixed progeny, provided always they could prove the last to be a live child, they escaped with life, but not without loss of limbs; for, in this case, I was satisfied with amputation of the parts which were mortified.

It happened, that the very next who was brought before me was one of her admirers, who was indicted upon that very head. A letter, which he acknowledged to be his own hand, was read, in which were the following words: Cruel creature, I die for you.' It was observable that he took snuff all the time his accusation was reading. I asked him how he came to use these words, if he were not a dead man?' He told me, he was in love with the lady, and did not know any other way of telling her so; and that all his acquaintance took the same method,' Though -1 was moved with compassion towards him, by reason of the weakness of his parts, yet for example-sake I was forced to answer, Your sentence shall be a warning to all the rest of your companions, not to tell lies for want of wit. Upon this, he began to These were followed by a great crowd of superbeat his snuff-box with a very saucy air; and open-annuated benchers of the inns of court, senior fellows ing it again, Faith, Isaac,' said he, thou art a of colleges, and defunct statesmen; all whom I very unaccountable old fellow.-Pr'ythee, who gave ordered to be decimated indifferently, allowing the thee power of life and death? What a-pox hast thou rest a reprieve for one year, with a promise of a free to do with ladies and lovers? I suppose thou wouldst pardon in case of resuscitation. have a man be in company with his mistress, and say nothing to her. Dost thou call breaking a jest, telling a lie?' He was going on with this insipid common-place mirth, sometimes opening his box, sometimes shutting it, then viewing the picture on the lid, and then the workmanship of the hinge, when, in the midst of his eloquence, I ordered his box to be taken from him; upon which he was immediately struck speechless, and carried off stone

dead.

The next who appeared was a hale old fellow of sixty. He was brought in by his relations, who desired leave to bury him. Upon requiring a distinct account of the prisoner, a credible witness deposed, that he always arose at ten of the clock, played with his cat until twelve, smoked tobacco until one, was at dinner until two, then took another pipe, played at back-gammon until six, talked of one Madam Frances, an old mistress of his, until eight, repeated the same account at the tavern until ten, then returned home, took the other pipe, and then to bed.' I asked him, what he had to say for himself? As to what,' said he, they mention concerning Madam Frances

[ocr errors]

I did not care for hearing the Canterbury tale, and, therefore, thought myself seasonably interrupted by a young gentleman, who appeared in the

There were still great multitudes to be examined; but, finding it very late, I adjourned the court, not without the secret pleasure that I had done my duty, and furnished out a handsome execution.

[ocr errors]

Going out of the court, I received a letter, informing me, that, in pursuance of the edict of justice in one of my late visions, all those of the fair sex began to appear pregnant who had run any hazard of it; as was manifest by a particular swelling in the petticoats of several ladies in and about this great city.' I must confess, I do not attribute the rising of this part of the dress to this occasion, yet must own, that I am very much disposed to be offended with such a new and unaccountable fashion. I shall, however, pronounce nothing upon it, until I have examined all that can be said for and against it. And, in the mean time, think fit to give this notice to the fair ladies who are now making up their winter suits, that they may abstain from all dresses of that kind, until they shall find what judgment will be passed upon them; for it would very much trouble me, that they should put themselves to any unnecessary expense; and I could not but think myself to blame, if I should hereafter forbid them the wearing of such garments, when they have laid out money upon them, without having given them any previous admonition.

N.B. A letter of the sixteenth instant about one of

the fifth, will be answered according to the desire of that meet together, with the zeal and seriousness of the party, which he will see in a few days.

apostles, to extirpate common sense, and propagate infidelity. These are the wretches, who, without any show of wit, learning, or reason, publish their

No. 111.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1709. crude conceptions with an ambition of appearing
-Procul, O! Procul, este profani!
Hence, ye profane! far hence be gone!

Sheer-lane, December 23.

THE watchman, who does me particular honours, as being the chief man in the lane, gave so very great a thump at my door last night, that I awakened at the knock, and heard myself complimented with the usual salutation of Good-morrow, Mr. Bickerstaff; good-morrow, my masters all.' The silence and darkness of the night disposed me to be more than ordinarily serious; and, as my attention was not drawn out among exterior objects by the avocations of sense, my thoughts naturally fell upon myself. I was considering, amidst the stillness of the night, what was the proper employment of a thinking being? what were the perfections it should propose to itself? and, what the end it should aim at? My mind is of such a particular cast, that the falling of a shower of rain, or the whistling of wind, at such a time, is apt to fill my thoughts with something awful and solemn. It was in this disposition, when our bellman began his midnight homily, which he has been repeating to us every winter night for these twenty years, with the usual exordium;

'Oh mortal man, thou that art born in sin!'

more wise than the rest of mankind, upon no other pretence than that of dissenting from them. One gets by heart a catalogue of title-pages and editions; and, immediately, to become conspicuous, declares that he is an unbeliever. Another knows how to write a receipt, or cut up a dog, and forthwith argues against the immortality of the soul. I have known many a little wit, in the ostentation of his parts, rally the truth of the scripture, who was not able to read a chapter in it. These poor wretches talk blasphemy for want of discourse, and are rather the objects of scorn or pity, than of our indignation; but the grave disputant, that reads and writes, and spends all his time in convincing himself and the world that he is no better than a brute, ought to be whipped out of a government, as a blot to civil society, and a defamer of mankind. I love to consider an infidel, whether distinguished by the title of deist, atheist, or freethinker, in three different lights, in his solitudes, his afflictions, and his last moments.

A wise man that lives up to the principles of reason and virtue, if one considers him in his solitude, as in taking in the system of the universe, observing the mutual dependence and harmony, by which the whole frame of it hangs together, beating down his passions, or swelling his thoughts with magnificent ideas of Providence, makes a nobler Sentiments of this nature, which are in themselves figure in the eye of an intelligent being, than the just and reasonable, however debased by the circum-greatest conqueror amidst all the pomps and solemnistances that accompany them, do not fail to produce ties of a triumph. On the contrary, there is not a their natural effect in a mind that is not perverted ment. His mind is incapable of rapture or elevation. more ridiculous animal than an atheist in his retireand depraved by wrong notions of gallantry, polite- He can only consider himself as an insignificant ness, and ridicule. The temper which I now found myself in, as well as the time of the year, put me in figure in a landscape, and wandering up and down in mind of those lines in Shakspeare, wherein, accord- a field or a meadow, under the same terms as the ing to his agreeable wildness of imagination, he has meanest animals about him, and as subject to as total wrought a country tradition into a beautiful piece of is the only one amongst them, who lies under the a mortality as they; with this aggravation, that he poetry. In the tragedy of Hamlet, where the ghost vanishes upon the cock's crowing, he takes occasion apprehension of it. to mention its crowing all hours of the night about Christmas time, and to insinuate a kind of religious

veneration for that season.

It faded on the crowing of the cock. Some say, that ever 'gainst that seasons comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all night long. And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad: The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes; no witch hath power to charm ; So hallow'd and so gracious is the time.' This admirable author, as well as the best and greatest men of all ages, and of all nations, seems to have had his mind thoroughly seasoned with religion as is evident by many passages in his plays, that would not be suffered by a modern audience; and are, therefore, certain instances that the age he lived in had a much greater sense of virtue than the

present.

It is, indeed, a melancholy reflection to consider, that the British nation, which is now at a greater height of glory for its councils and conquests than it ever was before, should distinguish itself by a certain looseness of principles, and a falling-off from those schemes of thinking, which conduce to the happiness and perfection of human nature. This evil comes upon us from the works of a few solemn blockheads,

In distresses, he must be of all creatures the most helpless and forlorn; he feels the whole pressure of a present calamity, without being relieved by the memory of any thing that is past or the prospect of any thing that is to come. Annihilation is the greatest blessing that he proposes to himself, and a halter or a pistol the only refuge he can fly to. But if you would behold one of these gloomy miscreants the terrors, or at the approach, of death. in his poorest figure, you must consider him under

[ocr errors]

About thirty years ago I was a shipboard with one could frighten nobody but himself. Upon the rolling of these vermin, when there arose a brisk gale, which of the ship, he fell upon his knees, and confessed to the chaplain, that he had been a vile atheist, and had denied a Supreme Being ever since he came to his estate.' The good man was astonished, and a report immediately ran through the ship, that there was an atheist upon the upper deck. Several of the common seamen, who had never heard the word before, thought it had been some strange fish; but they were more surprised when they saw it was a man, and heard out of his own mouth, that he never believed until that day that there was a God. As he lay in the agonies of confession, one of the honest tars whispered to the boatswain, that it would be a good deed to heave him overboard.' But we were now within sight of port, when of a sudden the wind

[ocr errors]

fell, and the penitent relapsed, begging all of us that were present, as we were gentlemen, not to say any thing of what had passed.'

He had not been ashore above two days, when one of the company began to rally him upon his devotion on shipboard, which the other denied in so high terms, that it produced the lie on both sides, and ended in a duel. The atheist was run through the body, and after some loss of blood, became as good a Christian as he was at sea, until he found that his wound was not mortal. He is at present one of the free-thinkers of the age, and now writing a pamphlet against several received opinions concerning the existence of fairies.

6

the terrace, where I am enjoying a few hours sunshine, the scanty sweet remains of a fine autumn. The year is almost at the lowest; so that, in all appearance, the rest of my letters between this and spring will be dated from my parlour fire, where the little fond prattle of a wife and children will so often break in upon the connexion of my thoughts, that you will easily discover it in my style. If this winter should prove as severe as the last, I can tell you before hand that I am likely to be a very miserable man, through the perverse temper of my eldest boy. When the frost was in its extremity, you must know that most of the blackbirds, robins, and finches of the parish, whose music had entertained me in the summer, took refuge under my roof. Upon this, my care was, to rise every morning before day, to set open my windows for the reception of the cold and the hungry, whom, at the same time, I relieved with a very plentiful alms, by strewing corn and seeds upon the floors and of hospitality, considered the casements as so many traps, and used every bird as a prisoner at discretion. Never did tyrant exercise more various cruelties. Some of the poor creatures he chased to death about the room; others he drove into the jaws of a bloodthirsty cat! and even in his greatest acts of mercy, either clipped the wings, or singed the tails, of his innocent captives. You will laugh, when I tell you I sympathized with every bird in its misfortunes; but I believe you will think me in the right for bewailing the child's unlucky humour. On the other hand, I am extremely pleased to see his younger brother carry a universal benevolence towards every thing that has life. When he was between four and five years old, I caught him weeping over a beautiful butterfly, which he chanced to kill as he was playing with it; and I am informed, that this morning he has given his brother three-halfpence, which was his whole estate, to spare the life of a tom-tit. These are at present the matters of greatest moment within my observation, and I know are too trifling to be communicated to any but so wise a man as yourself, and from one who has the happiness to be

As I have taken upon me to censure the faults of the age and country in which I live, I should have thought myself inexcusable to have passed over this crying one, which is the subject of my present discourse. I shall, therefore, from time to time, give my countrymen particular cautions against this dis-shelves. But Dicky, without any regard to the laws temper of the mind, that is almost become fashionable, and by that means more likely to spread. I have somewhere either read or heard a very memorable sentence, that a man would be a most insupportable monster, should he have the faults that are incident to his years, constitution, profession, family, religion, age, and country;' and yet every man is in danger of them all. For this reason, as I am an old man, I take particular care to avoid being covetous, and telling long stories. As I am choleric, I forbear not only swearing, but all interjections of fretting, as pugh! or pish! and the like. As I am a layman, I resolve not to conceive an aversion for a wise and a good man, because his coat is of a different colour from mine. As I am descended of the ancient family of the Bickerstaffs, I never call a man of merit an upstart. As a protestant, I do not suffer my zeal so far to transport me, as to name the pope and the devil together. As I am fallen into this degenerate age, I guard myself particularly against the folly I have been now speaking of. And, as I am an Englishman, I am very cautious not to hate a stranger, or despise a poor Palatine.

No. 112.] TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1709. Accedat suavitas quædam oportet sermonum, atque morum haudquaquam, mediocre condimentum amicitiæ tristitia autem, et in omni re severitas absit. Habet illa quidem gravitatem, sed amicitia remissior esse debet, et liberior, et dulcior, et ad omnem comitatem facilitatemque proclivior. Cic. De Amicitia.

There should be added a certain sweetness of discourse and manners, which is no inconsiderable sauce to friendship. But by all means throw out sadness and severity in every thing. There is something of gravity indeed in it; but friendship requires a greater remissness, freedom, and pleasantness, and an inclination to good temper and affability.

[ocr errors]

Your most faithful, and most obedient servant.' The best critic that ever wrote, speaking of some passages in Homer which appear extravagant or fri. volous, says, indeed, that they are dreams, but the dreams of Jupiter. My friend's letter appears to me in the same light. One sees him in an idle hour; but at the same time in the idle hour of a wise man. A great mind has something in it too severe and for. bidding, that is not capable of giving itself such little relaxations, and of condescending to these agreeable ways of trifling. Tully, when he celebrates the friendship of Scipio and Lælius, who were the greatest as well as the politest men of their age, re presents it as a beautiful passage in their retirement, that they used to gather up shells on the sea shore, and amuse themselves with the variety of shape and colour which they met with in those little unregarded works of nature. The great Agesilaus could be a companion to his own children, and was surprised by As I was looking over my letters this morning, I the ambassadors of Sparta, as he was riding among chanced to cast my eye upon the following one, them upon a hobby-horse. Augustus, indeed, had no which came to my hands about two months ago from play-fellows of his own begetting; but is said to have an old friend of mine, who, as I have since learned, passed many of his hours with little Moorish boys at was the person that writ the agreeable epistle in-a game of marbles, not unlike our modern tav. serted in my paper of the third of the last month. It is of the same turn with the other, and may be looked upon as a specimen of right country letters. 66 SIR,

Sheer-lane, December 26.

"This sets out to you from my summer-house upon

There is, methinks, a pleasure in seeing great men thus fall into the rank of mankind, and entertain themselves with diversions and amusements that are agreeable to the very weakest of their species. I must frankly confess, that it is to me a beauty in

Cato's character, that he would drink a cheerful bottle with his friend; and I cannot but own, that I have seen with great delight one of the most celebrated authors of the last age feeding the ducks in St. James's park. By instances of this nature, the heroes, the statesmen, the philosophers, become, as it were, familiar with us, and grow the more amiable, the less they endeavour to appear awful. A man who always acts in the severity of wisdom, or the haughtiness of quality, seems to move in a personated part. It looks too constrained and theatrical, for a man to be always in that character which distinguishes him from others; besides that the slackening and unbending our minds on some occasions makes them exert themselves with greater vigour and alacrity, when they return to their proper and natural state.

As this innocent way of passing a leisure hour is not only consistent with a great character, but very graceful in it; so there are two sorts of people to whom I would most earnestly recommend it. The first are those who are uneasy out of want of thought; the second are those who are so out of a turbulence

of spirit. The first are the impertinent, and the second the dangerous part of mankind.

to the tom-tit. For my own part, I am excluded all
conversation with animals that delight only in a
country life, and am therefore forced to entertain
myself as well as I can with my little dog and cat.
They both of them sit by my fire every night, ex-
pecting my coming home with impatience; and, at
my entrance, never fail of running up to me, and
bidding me welcome, each of them in his proper
language. As they have been bred up together from
their infancy, and seen no other company, they have
learned each other's manners, so that the dog often
gives himself the airs of a cat, and the cat, in several
of her motions and gestures, affects the behaviour of
the little dog. When they are at play, I often make
one of them: and sometimes please myself with
considering how much reason and instinct are
capable of delighting each other. Thus, you see,
I have communicated to you, the material oc-
currences in my family, with the same freedom
that you use to me, as I am, with the same
sincerity and affection,
"Your most faithful humble servant,
ISAAC BICKERSTAFF."

-Ecce iterum Crispinus!

Once more Crispinus comes upon the stage.

Hay-murket, December 23.

Whereas the gentleman that behaved himself in a very disobedient and obstinate manner at his late trial in Sheer-lane, on the twentieth instant, and was carried off dead upon taking away of his snuff-box, remains still unburied; the company of upholders, not knowing otherwise how they should be paid, have taken his goods in execution, to defray the charge of his funeral. His said effects are to be exposed to sale by auction, at their office in the Hay-market, on the fourth of January next, and are as follows:

It grieves me to the very heart, when I see several No 113.] THURSDAY, DECEMBER 29, 1709. young gentlemen, descended of honest parents, run up and down, hurrying from one end of the town to the other, calling in at every place of resort, without being able to fix a quarter of an hour in any, and in a particular haste without knowing for what. It would, methinks, be some consolation, if I could persuade these precipitate young gentlemen to compose this restlessness of mind, and apply themselves to any amusement, how trivial soever, that might give them employment, and keep them out of harm's way. They cannot imagine how great a relief it would be to them, if they could grow sedate enough to play for two or three hours at a game of push-pin. But these busy, idle animals are only their own tormentors. The turbulent and dangerous are for embroiling councils, stirring up seditions, and subverting constitutions, out of a mere restlessness of temper, and an insensibility of all the pleasures of life that are calm and innocent. It is impossible for a man to be so much employed in any scene of action, as to have great and good affairs enough to fill up his whole time; there will still be chasms and empty spaces, in which a working mind will employ itself to its own prejudice, or that of others, unless it can be at ease in the exercise of such actions as are in themselves indifferent. How often have I wished, for the good of the nation, that several famous politicians could take any pleasure in feeding ducks! I look upon an able statesman out of business, like a huge whale, that will endeavour to overturn the ship, unless he has an empty cask to play with.

A very rich tweezer case, containing twelve instruments for the use of each hour in the day. Four pounds of scented snuff, with three gült snuff-boxes; one of them- with an invisible hinge, and a looking-glass in the lid.

Two more of ivory, with the portraitures on their lids of two ladies of the town; the originals to be seen every night in the side-boxes of the playhouse.

Á sword, with a steel diamond hilt, never drawn but once at May-fair.

Six clean packs of cards, a quart of orangeflower water, à pair of French scissars, a tooth-pick case, and an eye-brow brush.

embroidered suits, a pocket perspective, a dozen piar of red heeled shoes, three pair of red silk stockings, and an amber-headed cane.

A large glass-case, containing the linen and But to return to my good friend and corres-cloaths of the deceased; among which are, two pondent: I am afraid we shall both be laughed at, when I confess, that we have often gone out into the field to look upon a bird's nest; and have more than once taken an evening's walk together, on purpose to see the sun set. I shall conclude with my answer to his foregoing letter:

"DEAR SIR,

"I thank you for your obliging letter, and your kindness to the distressed, who will doubtless express their gratitude to you themselves the next spring. As for Dick, the tyrant, I must desire you will put a stop to his proceedings; and, at the same time, take care that his little brother be no loser by his mercy

The strong box of the deceased, wherein were found, five billet-doux, a Bath shilling, a crooked sixpence, a silk garter, a lock of hair, and three broken fans.

A press for books; containing, on the upper

shelf,

Three bottles of diet-drink.

Two boxes of pills.

A syringe, and other mathematical instruments. On the second shelf are several miscellaneous works; as.

Lampoons.
Plays.

Tailors' bills.

And an almanack for the year seventeen hundred.
On the third shelf,

A bundle of letters unopened, indorsed in the hand of the deceased, "Letters from the old Gentleman."

Lessons for the flute.

Toland's "Christianity not mysterious:" and a paper filled with patterns of several fashionable stuffs.

One shoe.

On the lower shelf.

A pair of snuffers.

A French grammar.

A mourning hatband; and half a usquebaugh.

to be impannelled, for the clearing up of any difficult points that may arise in the trial.

Being informed that several dead men, in and about this city, do keep out of the way and abscond, for fear of being buried; and, being willing to respite their interment, in consideration of their families, and in hopes of their amendment, I shall allow them certain privileged places, where they may appear to one another, without causing any let or molestation to the living, or receiving any, in their own persons, from the company of upholders. Between the hours of seven and nine in the morning, they may appear in safety at St. James's coffee-house, or at White's, if they do not keep their beds, which is more proper for men in their condition. From nine to eleven, I bottle of allow them to walk from Story's to Rosamond's pond in the park, or in any other public walks which are not frequented by the living at that

There will be added to these goods, to make a complete auction, a collection of gold snuff-time. Between eleven and three, they are to vanish, boxes and clouded canes, which are to continue in fashion for three months after the sale. The whole are to be set up and prized by Charles Bubbleboy, who is to open the auction with a speech.

and keep out of sight until three in the afternoon, at which time they may go to the Exchange until five; and then, if they please, divert themselves at the Hay-market, or Drury-lane, until the play begins. It is further granted in favor of these I find I am so very unhappy, that while I persons, that they may be received at any table am busy in correcting the folly and vice of one where there are present more than seven in numsex, several exorbitances break out in the other. ber: provided that they do not take upon them I have not thoroughly examined their new fashioned to talk, judge, commend, or find fault with any petticoats, but shall set aside one day in the next speech, action, or behaviour of the living. In week for that purpose. The following petition on which case, it shall be lawful to seize their persons this subject was presented to me this morning: at any place or hour whatsoever, and to convey "The humble petition of William Jingle, Coach-their bodies to the next undertaker's; any thing in maker and Chair-maker, of the liberty of this advertisement to the contrary notwithstanding. Westminster;

"TO

ISAAC BICKERSTAFF, ESQUIRE, CENSOR OF
GREAT BRITAIN;

"Showeth,
"That upon the late invention of Mrs. Catharine
Croosstitch, mantua-maker, the petticoats of ladies
were too wide for entering into any coach or
chair which was in use before the said invention.

That, for the service of the said ladies, your petitioner has built a round chair, in the form of a lantern, six yards and a half in circumference, with a stool in the centre of it; the said vehicle being so contrived, as to receive the passenger by opening in two in the middle, and closing mathematically when she is seated.

That your petitioner has also invented a coach for the reception of one lady only, who is to be let in at the top.

That the said coach has been tried by a lady's woman in one of these full petticoats, who was let down from a balcony, and drawn up again by pullies, to the great satisfaction of her lady, and all

who beheld her.

Your petitioner, therefore, most humbly prays, that, for the encouragement of ingenuity and useful inventions, he may be heard before you pass sentence upon the petticoats aforesaid.

And your petitioner, &c.' I have likewise received a female petition, signed by several thousands, praying that I would not any longer defer giving judgment in the case of the petticoat, many of them having put off the making of new cloaths, until such time as they know what verdict will pass upon it. I do therefore, hereby certify to all whom it may concern, that I do design to set apart Tuesday next for the final determination of that matter, having already ordered a jury of matrons

No. 114.] SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1709.

Ut in vita, sic in studiis, pulcherrimum et humanissimum existimo, severitatem comitatemque miscere, ne illa in tristitiam, hæc in petulantiam procedat. Plin. Epist.

As in a man's life, so in his studies, I think it the most beautiful and humane thing in the world, so to mingle gravity with pleasantry, that the one may not sink into melancholy, nor the other rise up into wantonness.

Sheer-lane, December, 30.

I was walking about my chamber this morning in a very gay humour, when I saw a coach stop at my door, and a youth about fifteen alighting out of it, whom I perceived to be the eldest son of my bosom friend that I gave some account of in my paper of the seventeenth of the last month. I felt a sensible pleasure rising in me at the sight of him, my acquaintance having begun with his father when he was just such a stripling, and about that very age. When he came up to me, he took me by the hand, and burst out in tears. I was extremely moved, and immediately said, 'Child, how does your father do?" He began to reply, My mother-' But could not go on for weaping. I went down with him into the coach, and gathered out of him, that his mother was then dying, and that, while the holy man was doing the last offices to her, he had taken that time to come and call me to his father, who, he said, would certainly break his heart, if I did not go and comfort him.' The child's discretion in coming to me of his own head, and the tenderness he showed for his parents, would have quite overpowered me, had I not

« VorigeDoorgaan »