tiently to servants, making a man repeat what he says, or anything that betrays inattention or dishumor, are also criminal without reprieve. But it is provided, that whoever observes the illnatured fit coming upon himself, and voluntarily retires, shall be received at his return from the infirmary with the highest marks of esteem. By these and other wholesome methods, it is expected that, if they cannot cure one another, yet at least they have taken care that the ill-humor of one shall not be troublesome to the rest of the company. There are many other rules which the society have established for the preservation of their ease and tranquillity, the effects of which, with the incidents that arise among them, shall be communicated to you from time to time, for the public good, by

"Sir, your most humble Servant,

"R. O."

"THERE is hardly anything gives me a more sensible delight than the enjoyment of a cool still evening, after the uneasiness of a hot sultry day. Such a one I passed not long ago, which made me rejoice when the hour was come for the sun to set, that I might enjoy the freshness of the evening in my garden, which then affords me the pleasantest hours I pass in the whole four-and-twenty. I immediately rose from my couch and went down into it. You descend at first by twelve stone steps into large square divided into four grassplots, in each of which is a statue of white marble. This is separated from a large parterre by a low wall; and from thence, through a pair of iron gates, you are led into a long broad walk of the finest turf, set on each side with tall yews, and on either hand bordered by a canal, which on the right divides the walk from a wilderness parted into a variety of alleys and arbors, and on the left from a kind of amphitheater, which is the receptacle of a great number of oranges and myrtles. The moon shone bright, and seemed then most agreeably to supply the place of the sun, obliging me with as much light as was necessary to discover a thousand pleasing objects, and at the same time divested of all power of heat. The reflection of it in the water, the fanning of the wind rustling on the leaves, the singing of the thrush and nightingale, and the coolness of the walks, all conspired to make me lay aside all displeasing thoughts, and brought me into such a tranquillity of mind as is, I believe, the next happiness to that of hereafter. In this sweet retirement I naturally fell into the repetition of some lines out of a poem of Milton's, which he entitles Il Pensoroso, the ideas of which were exquisitely suited to my present wanderings of thought :

Sweet bird! that shunn'st the noise and folly,
Most musical! most melancholy!
Thee, chantress, oft, the woods among,

I woo to hear thy ev'ning song:

And missing thee I walk unseen

On the dry, smooth-shaven green,
To behold the wand'ring moon,
Riding near her highest noon,

Like one that hath been led astray Through the heaven's wide, pathless way, And oft, as if her head she bow'd, Stooping through a fleecy cloud.

Then let some strange, mysterious dream
Wave with its wings in airy stream,
Of lively portraiture display'd,
Softly on my eyelids laid:

And, as I wake, sweet music breathe
Above, about, or underneath,
Sent by spirits to mortals' good,

Or the unseen genius of the wood.

"I reflected then upon the sweet vicissitudes of night and day, on the charming disposition of the seasons, and their return again in a perpetual circle and oh! said I, that I could from these my declining years, return again to my first spring of youth and vigor; but that, alas! is impossible! all that remains within my power is to soften the inconveniences I feel, with an easy, contented mind, and the enjoyment of such delights as this solitude affords me. In this thought, I sat me down on a bank of flowers, and dropped into a slumber, which, whether it were the effect of fumes and vapors, or my present thoughts, I know not; but methought the genius of the garden stood before me, and introduced into the walk where I lay this drama and different scenes of the revolution of the year, which while I then saw even in my dream, I resolved to write down, and send to the Spectator :

The first person whom I saw advancing toward me was a youth of a most beautiful air and shape, though he seemed not yet arrived at that exact proportion and symmetry of parts which a little more time would have given him; but, however, there was such a bloom in his countenance, such satisfaction and joy, that I thought it the most desirable form that I had ever seen. He was clothed in a flowing mantle of green silk, interwoven with flowers: he had a chaplet of roses on his head, and a narcissus in his hand: primroses and violets sprang up under his feet, and all nature was cheered at his approach. Flora was on one hand, and Vertumnus on the other, in a robe of changeable silk. After this, I was surprised to see the moonbeams reflected with a sudden glare from armor, and to see a man completely armed advancing with his sword drawn.

After

was soon informed by the genius it was Mars, who had long usurped a place among the attendants of the Spring. He made way for a softer appearance. It was Venus, without any ornament but her own beauties, not so much as her own cestus, with which she had encompassed a globe, which she held in her right hand, and in her left hand she had a scepter of gold. her, followed the Graces, with their arms entwined within one another: their girdles were loosed, and they moved to the sound of soft music, striking the ground alternately with their feet. Then came up the three months which belong to this season. as March advanced toward me, there was, methought, in his look a louring roughness, which ill befitted a month which was ranked in so soft a season, but as he came forward, his features became insensibly more mild and gentle; he smoothed his brow, and looked with so sweet a countenance, that I could not but lament his departure, though he made way for April. appeared in the greatest gayety imaginable, and had a thousand pleasures to attend him: his look was frequently clouded, but immediately returned to its first composure, and remained fixed in a smile. Then came May, attended by Cupid, with his bow strung, and in a posture to let fly an arrow: as he passed by, methought I heard a confused noise of soft complaints, gentle ecstasies,

He

and tender sighs of lovers; vows of constancy, and as many complainings of perfidiousness: all which the winds wafted away as soon as they had reached my hearing. After these, I saw a man advance in the full prime and vigor of his age; his complexion was sanguine and ruddy, his hair black, and fell down in beautiful ringlets beneath his shoulders; a mantle of hair-colored silk hung loosely upon him: he advanced with a hasty step after the Spring, and sought out the shade and cool fountains which played in the garden. He was particularly well pleased when a troop of Zephyrs fanned him with their wings. He had two companions who walked on each side, that made him appear the most agree able: the one was Aurora, with fingers of roses, and her feet dewy, attired in gray: the other was Vesper, in a robe of azure beset with drops of gold, whose breath he caught while it passed over a bundle of honeysuckles and tuberoses, which he held in his hand. Pan and Ceres followed them with four reapers, who danced a norrice to the sound of oaten pipes and cymbals. Then came the attendant Months. June retained still some small likeness of Spring; but the other two seemed to step with a less vigorous tread, especially August, who seemed almost to faint, while for half the steps he took, the dog-star leveled his rays full at his head. They passed on, and made way for a person that seemed to bend a little under the weight of years; his beard and hair, which were full grown, were composed of an equal number of black and gray: he wore a robe which he had girt round him, of a yellowish cast, not unlike the color of fallen leaves, which he walked upon. I thought he hardly made amends for expelling the foregoing scene by the large quantity of fruits which he bore in his hands. Plenty walked by his side with a healthy, fresh countenance, pouring out from a horn all the various products of the year. Pomona followed with a glass of cider in her hand, with Bacchus in a chariot drawn by tigers, accompanied by a whole troop of satyrs, fawns, and sylvans. September, who came next, seemed in his looks to promise a new Spring, and wore the livery of those months. The succeeding month was all soiled with the juice of grapes, as if he had just come from the wine-press. November, though he was in this division, yet by the many stops he made, seemed rather inclined to the Winter, which followed close at his heels. He advanced in the shape of an old man in the extremity of age; the hair he had was so very white, it seemed a real snow; his eyes were red and piercing, and his beard hung with a great quantity of icicles; he was wrapped up in furs, but yet so pinched with excess of cold, that his limbs were all contracted, and his body bent to the ground, so that he could not have supported himself had it not been for Comus, the god of revels, and Necessity, the mother of Fate, who sustained him on each side. The shape and mantle of Comus was one of the things that most surprised me: as he advanced toward me, his countenance seemed the most desirable I had ever seen. On the fore part of his mantle was pictured joy, delight, and satisfaction, with a thousand emblems of merriment and jests, with faces looking two ways at once; but as he passed from me I was amazed at a shape so little correspondent to his face; his head was bald, and all the rest of his limbs appeared old and deformed. On the hinder part of his mantle was represented murder, with disheveled hair and

a

* The English are branded, perhaps unjustly, with being

addicted to suicide about this time of the year.

dagger all bloody, Anger in a robe of scarlet, and Suspicion squinting with both eyes; but above all, the most conspicuous was the battle of the Lapitha and the Centaurs. I detested so hideous a shape, and turned my eyes upon Saturn, whe was stealing away behind him, with a scythe in one hand and an hour-glass in the other, unobserved. Behind Necessity was Vesta, the goddess of fire, with a lamp which was perpetually sup plied with oil, and whose flame was eternal. She cheered the rugged brow of Necessity, and warmed her so far as almost to make her assume the festures and likeness of Choice. December, January, and February, passed on after the rest, all in fors; there was little distinction to be made among them; and they were only more or less displeas ing, as they discovered more or less haste toward the grateful return of Spring."-Z.

No. 426.] WEDNESDAY, JULY 9, 1712.
Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,

Auri sacra fames?-VIRG. Æn. iii. 56.

O cursed hunger of pernicious gold!
What bands of faith can impious lucre hold.—DETDE.

A VERY agreeable friend of mine, the other day, carrying me in his coach into the country to dianer, fell into discourse concerning the "care of parents due to their children," and the "piety of children toward their parents." He was reflecting upon the succession of particular virtues and qualities there might be preserved from one generation to another, if these regards were recipro cally held in veneration; but as he never fails to mix an air of mirth and good-humor with his good sense and reasoning, he entered into the following relation :

"I will not be confident in what century, or un der what reign it happened, that this want of ma tual confidence and right understanding between father and son was fatal to the family of the Valentines in Germany. Basilius Valentinus was a person who had arrived at the utmost perfection in the hermetic art, and initiated his son Alexandri nus in the same mysteries; but, as you know, they are not to be attained but by the painful, the pious, the chaste, and pure of heart, Basilius did not open to him, because of his youth, and the deviations too natural to it, the greatest secrets of which he was master, as well knowing that the operation would fail in the hands of a man so liable to errors in life as Alexandrinus. But be lieving, from a certain indisposition of mind as well as body, his dissolution was drawing nigh, he called Alexandrinus to him, and as he lay on a couch, over-against which his son was seated, and prepared by sending out servants one after another, and admonition to examine that no one overheard them, he revealed the most important of his secrets with the solemnity and language of an adept. My son,' said he, many have been the watchings, long the lucubrations, constant the labors of thy father, not only to gain a great and plentiful estate to his posterity, but also to take care that he should have no posterity. Be t amazed, my child: I do not mean that thou shal be taken from me, but that I will never leave thee, and consequently cannot be said to have posterity Behold, my dearest Alexandrinus, the effect of what was propagated in nine months. We are not to contradict Nature, but to follow and to help her; just as long as an infant is in the womb of its parent, so long are these medicines' of revivifica tion in preparing. Observe this small rial and this little gallipot-in this an unguent, in the

other a liquor. In these, my child, are collected such powers, as shall revive the springs of life when they are yet but just ceased, and give new strength, new spirits, and, in a word, wholly restore all the organs and senses of the human body to as great a duration as it had before enjoyed from its birth to the day of the application of these my medicines. But, my beloved son, care must be taken to apply them within ten hours after the breath is out of the body, while yet the clay is warm with its late life, and yet capable of resuscitation. I find my frame grown crazy with perpetual toil and meditation; and I conjure you, as soon as I am dead, to anoint me with this unguent; and when you see me begin to move, pour into my lips this inestimable liquor, else the force of the ointment will be ineffectual. By this means you will give me life as I have you, and we will from that hour mutually lay aside the authority of having bestowed life on each other, live as brethren, and prepare new medicines against such another period of time as will demand another application of the same restoratives.' In a few days after these wonderful ingredients were delivered to Alexandrinus, Basilius departed this life. But such was the pious sorrow of the son at the loss of so excellent a father, and the first transports of grief had so wholly disabled him from all manner of business, that he never thought of the medicines till the time to which his father had limited their efficacy was expired. To tell the truth, Alexandrinus was a man of wit and pleasure, and considered his father had lived out his natural time; his life was long and uniform, suitable to the regularity of it; but that he himself, poor sinner, wanted a new life, to repent of a very bad one hitherto, and, in the examination of his heart, resolved to go on as he did with this natural being of his, but to repent very faithfully, and spend very piously the life to which he should be restored by application of these rarities, when time should come, to his own person.

"It has been observed, that Providence frequently punishes the self-love of men, who would do immoderately for their own offspring, with children very much below their characters and qualifications; insomuch that they only transmit their names to be borne by those who give daily proofs of the vanity of the labor and ambition of their progenitors.

"It happened thus in the family of Basilius; for Alexandrinus began to enjoy his ample fortune in all the extremities of household expense, furniture, and insolent equipage; and this he pursued till the day of his own departure began, as he grew sensible, to approach. As Basilius was punished with a son very unlike him, Alexandrinus was visited with one of his own disposition. is natural that ill men should be suspicious; and Alexandrinus, beside the jealousy, had proofs of the vicious disposition of his son Renatus, for

that was his name.

It

"Alexandrinus, as I observed, having very good reasons for thinking it unsafe to trust the real secret of his vial and gallipot to any man living, projected to make sure work, and hope for his success depending from the avarice, not the bounty of his benefactor.

"

With this thought he called Renatus to his bed-side, and bespoke him in the most pathetic gesture and accent. 'As much, my son, as you have been addicted to vanity and pleasure, as I also have been before you, you nor I could escape

the fame or the good effects of the profound knowledge of our progenitor, the renowned Basilius. His symbol is very well known to the philosophic world; and 1 shall never forget the venerable air of his countenance, when he let me into the profound mysteries of the smaragdine table of Hermes. "It is true," said he, "and far removed from all color of deceit; that which is inferior is like that which is superior, by which are acquired and perfected all the miracles of a certain work. The father is the sun, the mother the moon, the wind is in the womb, the earth is the nurse of it, and mother of all perfection. All this must be received with modesty and wisdom." The chemical people carry, in all their jargon, a whimsical sort of piety which is ordinary with great lovers of money, and is no more but deceiving themselves, that their regularity and strictness of manners, for the ends of this world, has some affinity to the innocence of heart which must recommend them to the next.' Renatus wondered to hear his father talk so like an adept, and with such a mixture of piety; while Alexandrinus, observing his attention fixed, proceeded. This vial, child, and this little earthen pot, will add to thy estate so much as to make thee the richest man in the German empire. I am going to my long home, but shall not return to common dust. Then he resumed a countenance of alacrity, and told him, that if within an hour after his death he anointed his whole body, and poured down his throat that liquor which he had from old Basilius, the corpse would be converted into pure gold. I will not pretend to express to you the unfeigned tenderness that passed between these two extraordinary persons; but if the father recommended the care of his remains with vehemence and affection, the son was not behindhand in professing that he would not cut the least bit off him, but upon the utmost extremity, or to provide for his younger brothers and sisters.

Well, Alexandrinus died, and the heir of his body (as our term is) could not forbear, in the wantonness of his heart, to measure the length and breadth of his beloved father, and cast up the ensuing value of him before he proceeded to operation. When he knew the immense reward of his pains, he began the work: but lo! when he had anointed the corpse all over, and began to apply the liquor, the body stirred, and Renatus, in a fright, broke the vial."-T.

We should be as careful of our words as our actions; and as far from speaking as from doing ill.

Ir is a certain sign of an ill heart to be inclined to defamation. They who are harmless and innocent can have no gratification that way; but it ever arises from a neglect of what is laudable in a man's self, and an impatience of seeing it in another. Else why should virtue provoke? Why should beauty displease in such a degree, that a man given to scandal never lets the mention of either pass by him, without offering something to the diminution of it? A lady, the other day, at a visit, being attacked somewhat rudely by one whose own character has been very roughly treated, answered a great deal of heat and intemperance very calmly, "Good madam, spare me, who am none of your match: I speak ill of nobody, and it is a new thing to me to be ill spoken of." Little minds think fame consists in the num ber of votes they have on their side among the