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• If the notion of a gradual rife in beings from the meaneft to the most high, be not a vain ima'gination, it is not improbable that an angel looks ⚫ down upon a man, as a man doth upon a creature which approaches the nearest to the rational nature. By the fame rule (if I may indulge my fancy in this particular) a fuperior brute looks 'with a kind of pride on one of an inferior fpecies. If they could reflect, we might imagine from the geftures of fome of them, that they "think themselves the fovereigns of the world, ' and that all things were made for them. Such a thought would not be more abfurd in brute creatures, than one which men are apt to entertain, namely that all the ftars in the firmament were created only to please their eyes, and amuse their imaginations. Mr. Dryden, in his fable of the Cock and the Fox, makes a fpeech for his hero the cock, which is a pretty inftance for this purpose..

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Then turning, faid to Partlet, fee, my dear,
How lavifh nature hath adorn'd the year;
How the pale primrose and the violet Spring,
And birds effay their throats difus'd to fing.
All thefe are ours, and I with pleasure fee
Man ftrutting on two legs, and aping me.

:

What I would obferve from the whole is this, that we ought to value ourselves upon thofe things only which fuperior Beings think valuable, fince that is the only way for us not to fink in our own efteem hereafter."

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N622. FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19.

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Fallentis femita vita.

HOR. Ep. xviii. lib. i. ver. 103.

-A fafe private quiet, which betrays
Itfelf to eafe, and cheats away the days.

< Mr. SPECTATOR,

POOLY,

IN a former fpeculation you have obferv. ed, that true greatnefs doth not confift in that pomp and noise wherein the generality of mankind are apt to place it. You have there taken notice, that virtue in obfcurity often appears more illustrious in the eye of fuperior beings, than all that paffes for grandeur and magnificence

among men.

• When we look back upon the hiftory of those ⚫ who have borne the parts of kings, ftatefmen, or ' commanders, they appear to us ftripped of those out-fide ornaments that dazzled their contemporaries; and we regard their perfons as great or little, in proportion to the eminence of their virtues or vices. The wife fayings, generous fentiments, or difinterested conduct of a philofopher • under mean circumstances of life, fet him higher ⚫ in our esteem that the mighty potentates of the earth, when we view them both through the long profpect of many ages. Were the memoirs of an obfcure man, who lived up to the dignity of his nature, and according to the rules of virtue, to ⚫ be laid before us, we should find nothing in fuch a character which might not fet him on a level ⚫ with men of the highest ftations. The following extract out of the private papers of an honeft country-gentleman will fet this matter in a clear light. Your reader will perhaps conceive a

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⚫ greater

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greater idea of him from these actions done in fecret, and without a witness, than of thofe ← which have drawn upon them the admiration of ⚫ multitudes.

MEMOIRS.

1

"In my 22d year I found a violent affection for my coufin Charles's wife growing upon me, "wherein I was in danger of fucceeding, if I had not upon that account begun my travels into foreign countries.

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"A little after my return into England, at a private meeting, with my uncle Francis, Irefufed "the offer of his eftate, and prevailed upon him. 66 not to difinherit his fon Ned.

"Mem. Never to tell this to Ned, left he should "think hardly of his deceafed father; though "he continues to fpeak ill of me for this very " reafon.

"Prevented a fcandalous law-fuit betwixt, my "nephew Harry and his mother, by allowing her "underhand, out of my own pocket, fo much "money yearly as the difpute was about.

"Procured a benefice for a young divine, "who is fifter's fon to the good man who was my tutor, and hath been dead twenty years.

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"Gave ten pounds to poor Mrs.-, my friend H-'s widow.

"Mem. To retrench one dish at my table, until I "have fetched it up again.

"Mem. To repair my houfe and finish my gar"dens in order to employ poor people after har"vest time.

"Ordered John to let out goodman D-'s "fheep that were pounded, by night: But not to let his fellow fervants know it.

"Prevailed upon M. 7. Efq; not to take the "law of the farmer's fon for fhooting a partridge, ❝ and to give him his gun again.

"Paid the apothecary for curing an old woman "that confeffed herfelf a witch.

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"Gave away my fovourite dog for biting a beggar.

Made the minifter of the parifh and a "whig juftice of one mind, by putting them to explain their notions to one another.

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"Mem. To turn off Peter for shooting a doe "while fhe was eating acorns out of his hand.

"When my neighbour John, who hath often injured me, comes to make his request to-mor

66 row:

"Mem. I have forgiven him.

"Laid up my chariot, and fold my horfes, to "relieve the poor in a scarcity of corn.

"In the fame year remitted to my tenants a fifth "part of their rents.

As I was airing to day, I fell into a thought "that warmed my heart, and fhall, I hope, be "the better of it as long as I live.

"Mem. To charge my fon in private to erect no monument for me; but not to put this in my " laft will."

"

MONDAY,

N°623. MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22.

Sed mihi vel tellus optem prius ima dehifcat,.
Vel pater omnipotens adigat me fulmine ad umbras,
Pallentes umbras erebi načtemque profundam,
Ante, pudor, quam te violem, aut tua jura re-
folvam.

Illé meos, primus qui me fibi junxit, amores
Abftulit: ille habeat fecum, fervetque fepulchro.
VIRG. En. iv. ver. 24.

But first let yawning earth a paffage rend,
And let me thro' the dark abyfs defcend;
First let avenging Jove, with flames from high,
Drive down this body to the nether sky,
Condemned with ghosts in endless night to lie;)
Before I break the plighted faith I gave:
No; he who had my vows, fhall ever have ;
For whom I lov'd on earth, I worship in the
grave.

DRYDEN.

AM obliged to my friend, the Love-Cafuift, for the following curious piece of antiquity, which I fhall communicate to the public in his own words.

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'Mr. SPECTATOR,

You may remember, that I lately tranfmitted

to you an account of an ancient cuftom, in the manors of Eaft and Weft-Enborne, in the county of Berks, and elfewhere. If a cuftomary tenant die, the widow shall have what the law calls her Free-bench in all his copy hold-lands, dum fola & cafta fuerit, that is, while fhe lives fingle and chafte; but if fhe commits incontinency, he forfeits her eftate: Yet if he will come into the court riding backward upon a black Ram, with his tail in her band, and fay the words following, the few

ard

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