of piety as they themselves might not be afham • el of! I fhall close these reflections with a paffage taken out of the third book of Milton's Paradife Loft, where thofe harmonious beings are thus nobly defcribed. Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took, Mr. SPECTATOR, THE THE town cannot be unacquainted, that in divers parts of it there are vociferous fets of men who are called Rattling Clubs;, but what fhocks me moft is, they have now the front to invade the church, and institute those societies there, as a clan of them have in late times done, to fuch a degree of infolence, as has given the partition where they refide in a church near one of the city gates, the denomination of the Rattling Pew. Thefe gay fellows, from humble lay profeffions fet up for critics, without any tincture of • letters or reading, and have the vanity to think they can lay hold of fomething from the parfon, which may be formed into ridicule. It is needlefs to obferve, that the gentlemen who every Sunday have the hard province of inftructing thefe wretches, in a way they are in no prefent difpofition to take, have a fixed character for learning and eloquence, not to be tainted by the weak efforts of this contemptible part of their audiences. Whether the pulpit is taken by these gentlemen, or any ftrangers their friends, the way of the club is this: If any fentiments are delivered too fublime for their conception; if any un" common common topic is entered on, or one in ufe new modified with the fineft judgment and dexterity; or any controverted point be never fo elegantly handled: In fhort, whatever furpaffes the narrow limits of their theology, or is not fuited to their tafte, they are all immediately upon their watch, fixing their eyes upon each other, with as much warmth as our gladiators of Hockley in the hole, ' and waiting like them for a hit; if one touches,. all take fire, and their noddles inftantly meet in the centre of the pew; then, as by beat of drum, with exact difcipline, they rear up into a full length of ftature, and with odd looks and gefti'culations confer together in fo loud and clamorous a manner, continued to the clofe of the dif courfe, and during the after-pfalm, as is not to be filenced but by the bells. Nor does this suf'fice them, without aiming to propagate their noife through all the church, by fignals given to the adjoining feats, where others defigned for this fraternity are fometimes placed upon trial to re'ceive them. The folly as well as rudeness of this practice is ' in nothing more confpicuous than this, that all that follows in the fermon is loft; for whenever our fparks take alarm, they blaze out and grow fo tumultuous, that no after-explanation can avail, it being impoffible for themselves, or any C near them, to give an account thereof. If any thing really novel is advanced, how averfe foever it may be to their way of thinking, to fay nothing of duty, men of lefs levity than thefe would be led by a natural curiofity to hear the whole. Laughter, where things facred are transacted, is far lefs pardonable than whining at a conventicle; the laft has at least a femblance of grace, and where the affectation is unfeen, may poffibly imprint wholefome leffons on the fincere; but the firft has no excufe, breaking through all the Cc 3 ' rules 4 rules of order and decency, and manifefting. a remiffness of mind in thofe important matters, which require the ftricteft compofure and fteadinefs of thought: A proof of the greatest folly in the world. I fhall not here enter upon the veneration due to the fanctity of the place, the reverence owing the minifter, or the refpect that fo great an affembly as a whole parish may juftly claim. I fhall only tell them, that as the Spanish cobler, to reclaim a profligate fon, bid him have fome regard to the dignity of his family, fo they as gentlemen (for we citizens affume to be fuch one day in a week) are bound for the future to repent of, and abstain from, the grofs abufes here mentioned, whereof they have been guilty, in contempt of • heaven and earth, and contrary to the laws in this cafe made and provided. I am, SIR, • Your very humble fervant, I Charms neat without the help of art. CREECH. HAD occafion to go a few miles out of town, fome days fince, in a stage-coach, where I had for my fellow-travellers a dirty beau, and a pretty young quaker woman. Having no inclination to talk much at that time, I placed myself backward, with a defign to furvey them, and pick a speculation out of my two companions. Their different figures were fufficient of themselves to draw my attention. The gentleman was dreffed in a fuit, the ground ground whereof had been black, as I perceived from fome few spaces that had efcaped the powder, which was incorporated with the greatest part of his coat: His periwig, which coft no fmall fum, was after fo flovenly a manner caft over his fhoulders, that it seemed not to have been combed fince the year 1712; his linen, which was not much concealed, was daubed with plain Spanish from the chin to the lowest button, and the diamond upon his finger (which naturally dreaded the water) put me in mind how it fparkled amidst the rubbish of the mine, where it was first discovered. On the other hand, the pretty quaker appeared in all the elegance of cleanlinefs. Not a fpeck was to be found on her. A clear, clean, oval face, just edged about with little thin plaits of the pureft cambrick, received great advantages from the fhade of her black hood; as did the whitenefs of her arms from that fober-coloured ftuff in which fhe had clothed herself. The plainness of her dress was very well fuited to the fimplicity of her phrafes; all which put together, though they could not give me a great opinion of her religion, they did of her innocence. This adventure occafioned my throwing together a few hints upon cleanliness, which I fhall confider as one of the Half-Virtues, as Ariftotle calls them, and fhall recommend it under the three following heads. As it is a mark of politenefs; as it produduces love; and as it bears analogy to purity of mind. Firft, It is a mark of politenefs. It is univerfally agreed upon, that no one, unadorned with this virtue, can go into company without giving a manifeft offence. The eafier or higher any one's fortune is, this duty rifes proportionably. The different nations of the world are as much diftinguished by their cleanliness, as by their arts and fciences. The more any country is civilized, the more more they confult this part of politeness. We need but compare our ideas of a female Hottentot and an English beauty, to be fatisfied of the truth of what hath been advanced. In the next place, cleanliness may be faid to be the fofter-mother of love. Beauty indeed most commonly produces that paffion in the mind, but cleanlinefs preferves it. An indifferent face and perfon, kept in perpetual neatness, hath won many a heart from a pretty flattern. Age itself is not unamiable, while it is preferved clean and unfullied: Like a piece of metal conftantly kept finooth and bright, we look on it with more pleasure than on a new veffel that is cankered with ruft. I might obferve farther, that as cleanliness renders us agreeable to others, fo it makes us easy to ourfelves; that it is an excellent prefervative of health; and that several vices, deftructive both to mind and body, are inconfiftent with, the habit of it. But thefe reflections I fhall leave to the leifure of my readers, and fhall obferve, in the third place, that it bears a great analogy with purity of mind, and naturally infpires refined fentiments and paffions. We find from experience, that through the prevalence of custom, the moft vicious actions lofe their horror, by being made familiar to us. On the contrary, thofe who live in the neighbourhood of good examples, fly from the first appearances of what is fhocking. It fares with us, much after the fame manner, as our ideas. Our fenfes, which: are the inlets to all the images conveyed to the mind, can only tranfmit the impreffion of fuch. things as ufually furrounded them. So that pure and unfullied thoughts are naturally fuggefted to the mind by thofe objects that perpetually encompafs us, when they are beautiful and elegant in their kind In the eaft, where the warmth of the climate makes |