Wretch, now alter'd to this State by your Munificence and good Advice. 6. WITH that one Crown I got my felf refresh'd and very clean: I had the Wickedness to borrow then (with Shame I tell it now) the Gown of a fair Partner in Sin, and going in the Street, on purpose to be pick'd up, a Merchant that was drunk litt upon me; I went to a Tavern with him, there I confider'd of his being drunk, and let him fall to fleep, as he was inclined. Out of his Pocket I got his Gold Watch, about fome threefcore Guineas, and fome Letters, by the Direction of which I knew his Name, and where he lived. I order'd him afterwards a Coach, and bade it fet him Home. With all this Money of the Merchant's about me, I confider'd your Words, that one Act of Honefty in a needy Body raised more Compaffion in a generous Perfon, than a thousand MisforI went next Day to the fame Tavern, fent for the Gentleman thither, gave him back his Money and his Watch, and with it good Advice, worth all his • Gold. He gratified me largely, inquired where I lived He came and vifited me often, made me frequently great Prefents, but at length would have had me for his Miftrefs; a Senfe of Honour had return'd upon me, and the Need he deliver'd me from, freed me from giving my Confent to fo generous a Benefactor. He liked me better for it, continued to me his Benevolence, delighted in my Conversation; I living well and contented, grew handfomer every Day, he grew in Love at laft, and married me; and all this I owe to you. 6. • tunes. 6. 6. : MY Joy, my Rapture, was as great as her's at the Change of her Fortunes. What a Fortune is here raised from a Crown! What a virtuous Woman from one Word of good Advice! BS 3 Friday N° 686. Friday, July 4. Quid dulcius hominum generi à Natura datum eft quàm fui cuique Liberi? Tull... Improbe amor, quid non mortalia pectora cogis? Virg. In Amore bac funt Mala, bellum, Pax rurfum Adde Cruorem· Stultitia, atque ignem gladio fcrutare; modo (inquam} Hor. F that Care which one has for one's own Self-prefervation, is the primary Law of Nature; the Ĉare of our Children (not to carry the Speculation higher) is certainly the fecond: I fay (not to carry the Speculation higher) because, perhaps if I did, it would bear arguing upon, very juftly. For really the frequent Inftances to be produc'd from Hiftory, and to be given in our prefent Times, not only of Fathers and Mothers, but alfo of many Animals, and thofe favage too, who have not only rifqued, but willingly loft their Lives in Defence of their Offspring, would form a good moral Argument, that thofe Parents are unnatural and inhuman, who do not even prefer the Safety and Welfare of their young ones to their own. And yet, without ftraining the Duty of Parents to fuch a pitch, how many do we daily find bury'd in a blinded Self-love, who have more Wealth than they can make use of to complete the Happiness of their own Defires, miferably hoard up the Overplus from thofe,, whom not only the Law of God, God, and the inward Law of Nature, but the written Law of all Nations, adjudges to be legal Claimers and Heirs of it, as it has been often remark'd by many Writers? That it is a strange thing that fo many, who call themselves Men of Honour, will so often deserve the Name of Lyars, that would at the fame time dare any Man to thrust the Point of his Sword into their Hearts and Bowels, that they would endure to live under the Ignominy of that infamous Appellation; fo it amazes me, that fome Mothers will, by the barbarous Ufage of their Children, deferve to be called by the Name of that Animal which devours its own Litter; a Name that hath wounded my Ears; a Name that I have been startled at, when I have heard it put upon a common Wench, by the very Scum and Offal of a Mob, as I have paffed along the Street. Upon this Subject I cannot write without Fire and Indignation, because tho' I am an old fingle Man, yet have I often confider'd my felf as the Father of many Children, and the Feelings fo inexpreffibly tender, that have fuddenly fprung up in a Moment within my very Bowels, from that bare Imagination, have made me an implacable Enemy to these favage Procreators, by the strongest and fierceft Antipathy in Nature. My Children would, methinks, be dearer to me than my self, infomuch as their Compofition arifes partly from my own, and partly from my Fair Partner's Bed, without the Participation of whole Being, my own had been uneafy, even in that very Moment fhe gave to me the higheft Proof of Joy, that she loved me above all Mankind. . TH US are they, by their sweet Confideration, fomething more endeared to us, than if they were only our fecond felves. THO' I am old enough to be a Grandfather, I must take the Part of the young People fo far, as to fay, that their Misfortunes too commonly owe their Rife, either to the ill Humours and harsh Difpofition, or to the Avarice and covetous niggardly Temper of their Parents. But in the treating of this Subject, as I am avowedly a Batchelor, it may be my Age may not be any great Protection to me, from the Cavils and Cenfures of married People, especially of those who have Children, and more more especially ftill, of thofe who treat them ill, and would do it on all their Life times, by their Good-will, without any manner of Control. I fhall therefore cover my felf with the Authority of the wife Monfieur Montaign, who was himself a married Perfon, as you will find by these his following Words, upon this very Subject. A Father is very miserable, that has no other Hold of his Childrens Affection, than the Need they have ⚫ of his Affistance; if that can be called Affection, he • must render himself worthy to be refpected by his Vir'tue and Wisdom, and belov'd by his Bounty, and the • Sweetness of his Manners. Even the very Ashes of a rich Matter have their Value, and we are wont to have the Bones and Reliques of worthy Men in Re'gard and Reverence. No old Age can be fo ruinous ⚫ and offenfive in a Man who has paft his Life in Honour, but it must be venerable, especially to his Children; the Soul of which he must have train'd up to 'their Duty, by Reason, and not by Neceflity, and the Need they have of him, nor by Roughness and Force. Et errat longè, meâ quidem fententiâ, Qui imperium credat effe gravius aut ftabilius, And he does mainly vary from my Senfe, 'I condemn all Violence in the Education of a tender Soul, that is defign'd for Honour and Liberty. There is I know not what of Servile in Rigour and 'Restraint; and I am of Opinion, that what is not to be done by Reason, Prudence and Addrefs, is never to be effected by Force. I my felf was brought up after that manner; and they tell me, that in my firft Age, I never felt the Rod but twice, and then very eadily. I would have practifed the fame Method with my Children, who all of them died at Nurfe; but Leonora, • Leonora, my only Daughter, is arriv'd to the Age of fix Years and upward, without other Correction for her childish Faults (her Mother's Indulgence eafily concurring) than Words only, and thofe very gentle, in which kind of proceeding, tho' my End Thould be fruftrated, there are Caufes enough to lay the Fault on, without blaming my Difcipline, which I know to ⚫ be natural and juft; and I fhould in this have yet been more religious towards the Males, as born to lefs Sub⚫jection and more free; and I fhould have made it my • Business to swell their Hearts with Ingenuity and Freedom. I have never observed other Effects of whipping, unless to render them more cowardly, or more ⚫ wilful and obftinate. Do we defire to be beloved of our Children? will we remove from them all Occafion ⚫ of wishing our Death (though no Occafion of fo hor⚫rid a Wish can either be juft or excufable, Nullum • fcelus rationem habet?) let us reasonably accommo• date their Lives with what is in our Power. BUT of all the Injuries cruelly inflicted by Parents on their Children, none, in my Judgment, equals that enormous Sin, which they are put upon by the most fordid Avarice imaginable, of withholding from their Sons fuch a Settlement as their Years feem to demand, and is abfolutely neceffary for their marrying well in the World; and from their Daughters that Portion, which is required for the well-difpofing of them to good, and worthy, and proper Men for Husbands, with whom they may lead all the Days of their Lives with Eafe, Content, and Satisfaction. A difmal Inftance, how unhappy the Effects are of this fordid and damnable Vice in Parents, is plentifully fet forth in a Letter, which comes from a Perfon of Virtue, who had his Information of the Fact, from a miserable Wretch, who now lies chain'd in Prifon at St. Edmundsbury, for the distracted Doings of disappointed Love. A Matter fo fresh, and fo cruel, touches me with that inward Grief, that I am not able to express my Mind, 'till I have had a Day or two's time to recover in. And I therefore refer you intirely to the Letter of my Correfpondent, who clofes his, with as entertaining and inftructive Reflexions, as would bear mentioning after fe forrowful a Subject. Mr. |