ried on, metbinks it is so very easy to be what is in the general culled virtuous, that it need not cost one hour's reflection in a month to preserve that appellation. It is pleasant to hear the pretty rogues talk of virtue and vice among each other. "She is Ithe laziest creature in the world, but, I must confess, strictly virtuous : the peevishest hussy breathing; but as to her virtue she is without blemish. She has not the least charity for any of her acquaintance; but I must allow her rigidly virtuous." As the unthinking part of the male world call every man a man of honour who is not a coward; so the crowd of the other sex terms every woman who will not be a wench, virtuous. STEELE. , T. No. 391. THURSDAY, MAY 29, 1712. Non tu prece poscis emaci Quae nisi seductis nequeas committere divis: At bona pars procerum tacita libabit acerra. Haud cuivis promptum est, murmurque humilesque susurros Tollere de templis; et nperto vivere voto. Mens bona, fama, fides; hsec clare, et ut audiat hospes, Ilia aibi intmrsmn, et sub lingua immurraurat: O si Kbullit patrui pncclarum funus 1 Et 0 si Sub rastro crepet argenti mihi seria dextro Herculel pupillumve utinam, quern proximus hoeres Impcllo, expungam! PERS. SAT. II. • Thy pray'rs the test of heav'n will bear; Nor need'st thou take the gods aside, to hear : While others, e'en the mighty men of Rome. Big swell'd with mischief, to the temples come, And in low murmurs, and with costly smoke, Heav'n's help, to prosper their black vows, invoke. So boldly to the gods mankind reveal What from each other they, for shame, conceal. " Give me good fame, ye pow'rs, and make me just:" Thus much the rogue to public ears will trust. In private then " When wilt thou, mighty Jove, My wealthy uncle from this world remove 1" Or " 0 thou thund'rer's son, great Hercules, That once thy bounteous deity would please- Where Homer represents Phoenix, the tutor of Achilles, as persuading bis pupil to lay aside his resentments, and give himself up to the entreaties of his countrymen, the poet, iu order to make him speak in character, ascribes to him a speech full of those fables and allegories which old men take delight in relating, and which are tery proper for instruction. " The gods," says be, " sutler themselves to be prevailed upon by entreaties. When mortals have offended them by their transgressions, they appease them by vows and sacrifices. You roust know, Achilles, that Prayers are the daughters of Jupiter. They are crippled by frequent kneeling, have their feces full of scars and wrinkles, and their eyes always cast towards heaven. They are constant attendants on the goddess Ate, and march behind her. This goddess walks forward with a bold and haughty air, and, being very light of foot, runs through the whole earth, grieving and afflicting the sons of men. She gets the start of Prayers, who always follow her, in order to heal those persons whom she wounds. He who honours these daughters of Jupiter, when they draw near to him, receives great benefits from them; bat as for him who rejects them, they entreat their father to give his orders to the goddess Ate, to punish him for his hardness of heart." This noble allegory needs but little explanation; for whether the goddess Ate signifies injury, as some have explained it; or guilt in general, as others; or divine justice, as I am the more apt to think; the interpretation is obvious enough. I shall produce another heathen fable relating to prayers, which is of a more diverting kind. One would think by some passages in it, that it was composed by Lucian, or at least by some author who has endeavoured to imitate his way of writing; but as dissertations of this nature are more curious than useful, I shall give my reader the fable, without any further inquiries after the author. " Menippus the philosopher was a second time taken up into heaven by Jupiter, when for his entertainment, he lifted up a trapdoor that was placed by his footstool. At its rising, there issued through it such a din of cries as astonished the philosopher. Upon his asking what they meant, Jupiter told him they were the prayers that were sent up to him from the eartb. Slenippus, amidst the coufusion of voices, which was so great that nothing l«s than the ear of Jove could distinguish them, heard the words 'riches, honour,' and 'long life,' repeated to several different tones and languages. When the first hubbub of sounds was over, lie trap-door being left open, the voices came up more separate and distinct. The first prayer was a very odd one; it came from Alliens, and desired Jupiter to increase the wisdom and the beard of his humble supplicant. Menippus knew it by the voice to be the prayer of his friend Licander the philosopher. This was succeeded by the petition of one who had just laden a ship, and promised Jupiter, if he took care of it, and'returned it home again full af riches, he would make him an ottering of a silver cup. Jupiter thanked him for nothing; and bending down his ear more attentively than ordinary, heard a voice complaining to him of the cruelty of an Ephesian widow, and begging him to breed compassion in her heart. ' This,' says Jupiter, ' is a very honest fellow. I have received a great deal of incense from him ; I will not be so cruel to him as to hear his prayers.' He was then interrupted with a whole volley of vows which were made for the health of a tyrannical prince by his subjects who prayed for him in his presence. Menippus was surprised, after having listened to prayers ottered up with so much Hrdour and devotion, to hear low whispers from the same assembly, expostulating with Jove for suffering such a tyrant to live, and asking him how his thunder could lie idle? Jupiter Whs So offended at these prevaricating rascals, that he took down the first vows, and puffed away the last. The philosopher seeing a great cloud mounting upwards, and making its way directly to the trap-door, inquired of Jupiter what it meant. ' This,' says Jupiter, ' is the smoke of a whole hecatomb that is offered me by the general of an army, who is very importunate with me t» let him cut off an hundred thousand men that are drawn up in array against him. What does the impudent wretch think I see in him, to believe that I will make a sacrifice of so many mortals, as good as himself, and all this is to his glory forsooth ? But hark,' says Jupiter, 'there is a voice I never heard but in time of danger: 'tis a rogue that is shipwrecked in the Ionian sea. I saved him on a plank but three days ago, upon bis promise to mend his manners; the scoundrel is not worth a groat, and yet has the impudence to offer me a temple if I will keep him •from" sinking. But yonder,' says he,' 1b a special youth for you ; he desires me to take his father, who keeps a great estate from him, out of the miseries of human life. The old fellow shall live till he makes his heart ache. I can tell him that for his pHins.' This was followed up by the soft voice of a pious lady, desiriDg Jupiter that she might appear amiable and charming in the sight of her emperor. As the philosopher was reflecting on this extraordinary petition, there blew a gentle wind through the trap-door, which he at first mistook for a gale of Zephyrs, but afterwards found it to be a breeze of sighs. They smelt strong of flowers and incense, and were succeeded by most passionate complaints of wounds and torments, fires and arrows, cruelty, despair, and death. Menippus fancied that such lamenUble cries arose from tome general execution, or from wretches lying under the torture; but Jupiter told him that they came up to him from the Isle of Paphos, and that he every day received complaints of the same nature from that whimsical tribe of mortals who are called lovers. ' I am so trifled with,' says he, ' by this generation of both sexes, and lind it so impossible to please them, whether I grant or refuse their petitions, that I shall order a western wind for the future to intercept them in their passage, and blow them at random upon the earth.' The last petition I heard was from a very aged man of near an hundred years old, begging but for one year more of life, and then promising to die contented. ' This is the rarest old fellow!' says Jupiter; ' he has made this prayer to me for above twenty years together. When he was but fifty years old, he desired only that he might live to see his son settled in the world. I panted it. He then begged the same favour for his daughter, and afterwards that he might see the education of a grandson. When all this was brought about, he puts up a petition that he might live to finish a house he was building. In short, he is an unreadable old cur, and never wants an excuse; I will hear no more of him.' Upon which he flung down the trapdoor in a passion, and was resolved to give no more audiences that dny." Notwithstanding the levity of this fable, the moral of it very well deserves our attention, and is the same with that which has been inculcated by Socrates Hnd Plato, not to mention Juvenal and Persius,* who have each of them made the finest satire in their whole works upon this subject. The vanity of men's wishes, which are the natural prayers of the mind, as well as many of those secret devotions which they offer to the Supreme Being* are sufficiently exposed by it Among other reasons for set forms of prayer, I have often thought it a very good ono, that by this means the folly and extravagance of men's desires may be kept within due bounds, and not break out in absurd and ridiculous petitions on so great and solemn an occasion. ADDISON. L. Per ambages et ininisterih deorum The Transformation of Fidelio into a Looking-glass. " Mr. Spectator, "I Was lately at a tea-table, where some young ladies entor•■Jned the company with a relation of a coquette in the neighbourhood, who had been discovered practising before her glass. To '"m the discourse, which from being witty, grew to be malicious, Hie matron of the family took occasion from the subject to wish •Juv. Sat. x. Pen. Sat ii. that there were to be found amongst men such faithful monitors to dress the mind by, as we consult to adorn the body. She added, that if a sincere friend were miraculously changed into a lookingglass, she should not be ashamed to ask its advice very often. This whimsical thought worked so much upon my fancy the whole evening, that it produced a very odd dream. " Methought that, as 1 stood before my glass, the image of a youth of an open and ingenuous aspect appeared in it, who with a shrill voice spoke in the following manner.— " ' The looking-glass you see, was heretofore a man, even I the unfortunate Fidelio. I had two brothers, whose deformity and shape were made up by the clearness of their understandings. It must be owned, however, that (as it generally happens) they had each a perverseness of humour suitable to their distortion of body. The eldest, whose belly sunk in monstrously, was a great coward ; and, though his splentic contracted temper made him take fire immediately, he made objects that beset him appear greater than they were. The second, whose breast swelled into a bold relievo, on the contrary, took great pleasure in lessening everything, and and was perfectly the reverse of his brother. These oddnesses pleased company once or twice, but disgusted when often seen; for which reason the young gentlemen were sent from court to study mathematics at the university. "' I need not acquaint you, that I was very well made, and reckoned a bright polite gentleman. I was the confidant and darling of all the fair; and if the old and ugly spoke ill of me, all the world knew it was because I scorned to flatter them. No ball, no assembly, was attended till I had been consulted. Flavia coloured her hair before me, Celia showed me her teeth, Pantbea heaved her bosom, Cleora brandished her diamond ; I have seen Cloe's foot, and tied artificially the garters of Rhodope. " ' It is a general maxim, that those who doat upon themselves can have no violent affection for another: but, on the contrary, 1 found that the women's passion rose for me in proportion to the love they bore to themselves. This was verified in my amour with Narcissa, who was so constant to me, that it was pleasantly sai3, had I been little enough, she would have hung me at her girdlB. The most dangerous rival I hud was a gay empty fellow, who by the strength of a long intercourse with Narcissa, joined to his natural endowments, had formed himself into a perfect resemblance with her. I had been discarded, had she not observed that he frequently asked my opinion about matters of the last consequence. This made me still more considerable in her eye. " ' Though I Whs eternally caressed by the ladies, such was ther opinion of my honour, that I was never envied by the men. A jealous lover of Narcissa one day thought he had cnught her in an amorous conversation; for though he was at such a distance that |