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'Latin Derivation. But this were supportable ftill, would they fuffer me to enjoy an uninterrupted Ignorance; but unless I fall in with their diftracted Ideas of Things (as they call 'them) I must not expect to fmoak one Pipe in quiet. In a late Fit of the "Gout I complained of the Pain of that Diftemper, when my Niece Kitty begged leave to affure me, that whatever "I might think, feveral great Philofophers, both ancient and modern, were of Opinion, that both Pleasure and Pain were imaginary Diftinctions; and that there was no fuch thing as either in rerum Natura. I have often heard them affirm that the Fire was not hot; and one Day when I, with the Authority of an old Fellow, defired one of them to put my blue Cloak on my Knees, fhe answered, Sir, I will reach the Cloak; but, take notice, I do not do it as allowing your Defcription; for it might as well be called Yellow as Blue; for Colour is nothing but the various Infractions of the Rays of the Sun. Mifs Molly told me one 'Day, That to fay Snow was white, is allowing a vulgar Error; for as it contains a great Quantity of nitrous

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Particles, it may more reasonably be fuppofed to be black. In fhort, the "young Huffeys would perfuade me, C that to believe ones Eyes is a fure way to be deceived; and have often advifed me, by no means, to truft any thing fo fallible as my Senfes. What I have to beg of you now, is, to turn one Speculation to the due Regulation of Female Literature, fo far at leaft, as to make it confiftent with the Quiet of fuch whofe Fate it is to be liable to its Infults; and to tell us the diffe"rence between a Gentleman that should "make Cheesecakes and raise Paste, and a Lady that reads Lock, and underftands the Mathematicks. In which you will extremely oblige

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Your hearty Friend,

and bumble Servant,

Abraham Thrifty.

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No 243. Saturday, December 8.

Formam quidem ipfam, Marce fili, & tanquam faciem Honefti vides: que fi oculis cerneretur, mirabilis amores (ut ait Plato) excitaret' Sapientiæ. Tull. Offic.

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Do not remember to have read any Difcourfe written exprefly upon the Beauty' and Loveliness of Virtue, without confidering it as a Duty, and as the Means of making us happy both now and hereafter. I defign therefore this Speculation as an Ef fay upon that Subject, in which I fhall confider Virtue no further than as it is in it self of an amiable Nature, after having premised, that I understand by the Word Virtue fuch a general Notion as is affixed to it by the Writers of Morality, and which by devout Men generally goes under the Name of Religion, and by Men of the World under the Name of Honour.

HY.

HYPOCRISY it felf does great Honour, or rather Juftice, to Religion, and tacitly acknowledges it to be an Ornament to humane Nature. The Hypocrite would not be at fo much Pains to put on the Appearance of Virtue, if he did not know it was the most, proper and effectual Means to gain the Love and Efteem of Mankind.

WE learn from Hierocles, it was a common Saying among the Heathens, that the wife Man hates no Body, but only loves the Virtuous.

TULLY has a very beautiful Gra dation of Thoughts, to fhew how amiable Virtue is. We love a virtuous Man, fays he, who lives in the remoteft Parts of the Earth, tho' we are altogether out of the Reach of his Virtue, and can receive from it no manner of Benefit; nay, one who died feveral Ages ago raifes a fecret Fondness and Benevolence for him in our Minds, when we read his Story: Nay, what is ftill more, one who has been the Enemy of our Country, provided his Wars were regulated by Justice and Humanity, as in the Inftance of Pyrrhus, whom Tully mentions on this Occafion in Oppofition C S

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to Hannibal. Such is the natural Beauty and Loveliness of Virtue.

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STOICISM, which was the Pedantry of Virtue, afcribes all good Qualifications, of what kind foever, to the virtuous Man. Accordingly Cato, in the Character Tully has left of him, carries Matters fo far, that he would not callow any one but a virtuous Man to be handfome. This indeed looks more like a Philofophical Rant, than the real Opinion of a wife Man; yet this was what Cato very ferioufly maintained. In fhort, the Stoicks thought they could not fufficiently reprefent the Excellence of Virtue, if they did not comprehend in the Notion of it all poffible Perfection; and therefore did not only fuppofe, that it was tranfcendently beautiful in it felf, but that it made the very Body amiable, and banished every kind of Deformity from the Perfon in whom it refided.

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IT is a common Obfervation, that the most abandoned to all Senfe of Goodness, are apt to wish those who are related to them of a different Character; and it is very obfervable, that none are more ftruck with the Charms of Virtue in the fair Sex, than those who

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