N Dryden. TEXT to the people who want a place, there are none to be pitied more than thofe who are folicited for one. A plain anfwer with a denial in it is looked upon as pride, and a civil answer as a promife. Nothing is more ridiculous than the pretenfions of people upon thefe occafions. Every thing a man hath fuffered, whilft his. enemies were in play, was certainly brought about by the malice' of the oppofite party. A bad caufe would not have been loft, if fuch an one had not been upon the bench; nor profligate youth difinherited, if he had not got drunk every night by toasting an outed ministry. I remember a tory, who having been fined in a court of juftice for a prank that deferved the pillory, defired upon · the merit of it to be made a justice of peace when his friends came into power; and fhall never forget a whig criminal, who, upon being indicted for a rape, told his friends, You fee what a man fuffers for fticking to his principles." The truth of it is, the fufferings of a man in party are of a very doubtful nature. When they are fuch as have promoted a good caufe, and fallen upon a man undeservedly, they have a right to be heard and recompenfed beyond any other pretenfion. But when they rife out of rafhnefs or indifcretion, and the purfuit of fuch measures as have rather ruined, than promoted the intereft they aim at, which hath always been the cafe of many great fufferers, they only ferve to recommend them to the children of violence or folly. I have by me a bundle of memorials prefented by feveral cavaliers upon the restoration of King Charles II. which may serve as fo many instances to our present purpose. Among feveral perfons and pretenfions recorded by my author, he mentions one of a very great eftate, who, for having roafted an ox. whole, and diftributed a hogshead upon King. Charles's birth-day, defired to be provided for, as his majefty in his great wisdom shall fures were concerted for the restoration, and without which he verily believes that happy revolution had never been effected; who therefore humbly prays to be made postmaster-ge There is likewife the petition of one who having let his beard grow from the martyrdom of King Charles the firft, until the restoration of King Charles the fecond, defired in confideration thereupon, to be made a privy-counsellor. I must not omit a memorial fetting forth that the memorialift had, with great difpatch, carried a letter from a certain lord to a certain lord, wherein, as it afterwards appeared, mea neral. A certain gentleman, who feems to write with a great deal of fpirit, and uses the words GalJantry and Gentleman-like very often in his petition, begs (that in confideration of his having worn his hat for ten years paft in the loyal cavalier cock, to his great danger and detriment) he may be made a captain of the guards. I shall close my account of this collection of memorials, with the copy of one petition at length, which I recommend to my reader as a very valuable piece. The petition of E. H. Efq; humbly sheweth, T HAT your petitioners's father's brother's uncle, Colonel W. H. loft the third finger of his left hand at Edgehill fight. That your petitioner notwithstanding the fmallness of his fortune (he being a younger brother) always kept hofpitality, and drank • confufion to the roundheads in half a score bumpers every Sunday in the year, as feveral honeft gentlemen (whofe names are under written) are ready to testify. That your petitioner is remarkable in his country, for having dared to treat Sir P. P. a curfed fequeftrator, and three members of the affembly of divines, with brawn and minced pies upon New Year's-day. That your faid humble petitioner hath been five times imprifoned in five feveral countygaols, for having been a ring-leader in five different riots; into which his zeal for the royal cause hurried him, when men of greater ⚫eftates had not the courage to rife. That he the faid E. H. hath had fix duels and four and twenty boxing matches in defence of his majesty's title; and that he received fuch a blow upon the head at a bone'fire in Stratford upon Avon, as he hath been never the better for from that day to this. That your petitioner hath been fo far from improving his fortune, in the late damnable 'times, that he verily believes, and hath good reafon to imagine, that if he had been master of an eftate, he had infallibly been plundered and fequeftred. Your petitioner, in confideration of his faid merits and sufferings, humbly requests that he may have the place of receiver of the taxes, collector of the customs, clerk of the peace, deputy-lieutenant, or whatsoever elfe he fhall be thought qualified for. And your petitioner shall ever pray, &c.' I SIR, Oxford, Nov. 22. · that fatisfaction, which the learned world uft receive in reading one of our fpeculations, by publishing this endeavour, you will very much oblige and improve one, who has the boldness to hope, that he may be admitted into the number of your correfpondents. I have often wondered to hear men of good fenfe and good-nature profess a diflike to mu<fic, when at the fame time they do not fcruple to < own, that it has the moft agreeable and im· proving influences over their minds: it feems to me an unhappy contradiction, that thofe ⚫ perfons fhould have an indifference for an art, which raifes in them fuch a variety of fublime < pleafures. However, though fome few, by their own or the unreasonable prejudices of others, may be led into a diftafte for thofe mufical focieties, which are erected merely for entertainment; yet fure I may venture to fay, that no one can have the leaft reafon for difaffection to that fo• lemn kind of melody which confifts of the praifes of our Creator. 'natural privilege of mufic in general, fo more 'particularly of that kind which is employed at the altar. Thofe impreffions which it leaves " upon the fpirits are more deep and lafting, as the grounds from which it receives its authority are founded more upon reafon. It diffufes a calmnefs all around us, it makes us drop all thofe vain or immodeft thoughts which would be an hindrance to us in the performance of that great duty of thankfgiving, which, as we are informed by our Almighty Benefac tor, is the most acceptable return which can be made for thofe infinite ftores of bleffings which he daily condefcends to pour down upon 'his creatures. When we make ufe of this pathetical method of addreffing ourselves to him, we can scarce contain from raptures! The <heart is warned with a fublimity of goodness! We are all piety and all love! How do the bleifed fpirits rejoice and wonder to behold unthinking man proftrating his foul to his dread Sovereign in fuch a warmth of piety as they themfelves might not be afhamed of!.. 'I fall clofe thefe reflections with a paffage taken out of the third book of Milton's Paradife Loft, where thofe harmonious beings are 'thus nobly described : "Then crown'd again, their golden harps they is took, You have, I prefume, already prevented me in an argument upon this occafion, which ⚫ fome divines have fuccefsfully advanced upon a much greater, that mufical facrifice and adoration has claimed a place in the laws and cuftoms of the moft different nations; as the "Harps ever tun'd, that glitt'ring by their • Grecians and Romans of the profane, the Jews fide,. and Chriftians of the facred world did as una-« Like quivers hung, and with preamble sweet nimouly agree in this, as they difagreed in all "Of charming fymphony they introduce other parts of their economy. "The facred fong, and waken raptures high: "No one exempt, no voice but well could join "Melodious part, fuch concord is in Heav'n." Mr. Spectator, I know there are not wanting fome who are of opinion 'that the pompous kind of mufic which is in ufe in foreign churches is the moft excellent, as it most affects our fenfes. But I am fwayed by my judgment to the modefty which is obferved in the mufical part of · our devotions. Methinks there is fomething very laudable in the custom of a voluntary before the first leffon; by this we are fuppofed to be prepared for the admiffion of thofe divine truths, which we are fhortly to receive. We are then to caft all worldly regards from off our hearts, all tumults within are then becalmed, and there should be nothing near the foul but peace and tranquillity. So that in this short office of praife, the man is raised above himfelf, and is almost lost already amidst the joys of futurity. I have heard fome nice obfervers frequently commend the policy of our church in this particular, that it leads us on by fuch eary and regular methods, that we are perfectly deceived into piety. When the spirits begin to languish (as they too often do with a conftant feries of petitions) fhe takes care to allow them a pious refpite, and relieves them with the rap1 tures of an anthem. Nor can we doubt that the fublimeft poetry, foftened in the moft moving ftrains of mufic, can never fail of humbling or exalting the foul to any pitch of devotion. Who can hear the terrors of the Lord of Hofts ⚫ defcribed in the most expreffive melody, with< out being awed into a veneration? Or who can hear the kind and endearing attributes of a merciful father, and not be foftened into love towards him? As the rifing and finking of the paffions, the cafting foft or noble hints into the foul, is the TH HE 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 inflitute 'these focieties 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. These 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 instructing thefe wretches in a way they are in no prefent difpofition to take, have a fixt 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 thefe 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 topic is entered on, or one in ufe "new modified with the finest 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 the 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, fall 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 gefticulations confer together in fo loud and clamorous a manner, continued to the clofe of the difcourfe, and during the after-pfalm, as is not to be filenced but by the bells. Nor does this fuffice them, with out 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 receive them. The folly as well as rudeness of this praçtice is in nothing more confpicuous than this, that all that follows in the fermon is loft; for whenever our sparks take alarm, they blaze out and grow fo tumultuous that no afterexplanation can avail, it being impoffible for themfelves or any near them to give an ac count thereof. If any thing really novel is advanced, how averfe foever it may be to their way of thinking, to say 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 con⚫ venticle; the laft has at least a femblance of · grace, and where the affection is unfeen may poffibly imprint wholefome leffons on the fincere; but the firft has no excufe, breaking through all the rules of order and decency, and manifefting a remiffness of mind in thofe important matters, which require the ftricteft composure 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 respect that fo great an affembly as a whole parish may justly claim. I hall 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 abftain 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 ' Į am, Sir, your very humble fervant, R. M. N° 631. FRIDAY, DECEMBER 10. Simplex munditis HOR. Od. 5, 1, 1. ver. 5. Charms neat without the help of art. CREECH. Had occafion to go a few miles out of town, fome days fince, in a ftage-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 myfelf 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 gencleman was dressed in a fuit, the ground whereef had been black, as I perceived from fome few fpaces, 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 feemed 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 amidft the rubbish of the mine, where it was first dif covered. On the other hand, the pretty quaker appeared in all the elegance of cleanlinefs. Not a fpeck was to be found upon her. A clear, clean oval face, jut 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 fobercoloured ftuff, in which the had cloathed herfelf. The plainnefs of her drefs was very well fuited to the fimplicity of her phrafes; all which put together, tho' 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 hall 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 politeness; as it produces love; and as it bears analogy to purity of mind. First, It is a mark of politeness. It is univerfally agreed upon, that no one, unadorned with this virtue, can go into company, with out 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 distinguished by their cleanliness, as by their Arts and Sciences. The more any country is civilized, the more they confult this part of politenefs. 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, cleanlinefs 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 neatnefs, hath won many a heart from a pretty Дattern. Age itself is not unamiable, while it is preferved clean and unfullied; like a piece of metal conftantly kept fmooth 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, so it makes us eafy to ourselves; that it is an excellent préfervative of health; and that feveral vices, de ftructive both to mind and body, are inconfiftent with the habit of it. But these reflections I fhall leave to the leifure of my readers, and shall observe in the third place, that it bears a great analogy with purity of mind, and natu→ rally infpires refined fentiments and paffions. We find from experience, that through the prevalence of cuftom, the most vicious actions lose 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 ३९ ideas, 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 furround them. So that pure and unfullied thoughts are naturally fuggefted to the mind, by those objects that perpetually encompafs us, when they are beautiful and elegant in their kind. In the east, where the warmth of the climate makes cleanlinefs more immediately neceifary than in colder countries, it is made one part of their religion: the Jewish law, and the Mahometan, which in fome things copies after it, is filled with bathings, purifications, and other rites of the like nature. Tho' there is the above-named convenient reafon to be affigned for thefe ceremonies, the chief intention undoubtedly was to typify inward purity and cleanlinefs of heart by thofe outward washings. We read feveral injunctions of this kind in the book of Deuteronomy, which confirm this truth; and which are but ill-accounted for by faying as fome do, that they were only inftituted for convenience in the defert, which otherwife could not have been habitable for fo many years. I shall conclude this effay, with a story which I have fomewhere read in an account of Mahometan fuperftitions. A Dervife of great fancity one morning had the misfortune as he took up a crystal cup which was confecrated to the prophet, to let it fall up on the ground, and dafh it in picces. His fon coming in, fome time after, he ftretched out his hand to blefs him, as his manner was every morning; but the youth going out ftumbled over the threshold and broke his arm. As the old man wondered at these events, a caravan paffed by in its way froni Mecca. The Dervife approached it to beg a bleffing; but as he ftroked one of the holy camels, he received a kick from the beast, that forely bruifed him. His forrow and amazement increafed upon him, until he recollected that through hurry and inadvertency he had that morning come abroad without wafh ing his hands. N° 631. MONDAY, DECEMBER 13. Explabo numerum, reddarque tenebris. TH This HE love of fymmetry and order, which is natural to the mind of man, betrays him fometimes into very whimsical fancies. "noble principle," fays a French author, "loves to amufe itfelf on the most trifling oc"cafions. You may see a profound philofopher," fays he, walk for an hour together in his << chamber, and induftriously treading, at every «ftep, upon every other board in the flooring.' Every reader will recollect feveral inftances of this nature without my affiftance. I think it was Gregorio Leti who had published as many books as he was years old; which was a rule he had laid down and punctually obferved to the year of his death. It was, perhaps, a thought of the like nature, which determined Homer himself to divide each of his poems into as many books, as there are letters in the Greek alphabet. Herodotus has in the fame manner adapted his books to the number of the Mufes, for which reafon many a learned man hath wished there had been more than nine of that fifterhood. Several epic poets have religiously followed Virgil as to the number of his books; and even Milton is thought by many to have changed the number of his books from ten to twelve, for no other reafon; as Cowley tells us, it was his defign, had he finished his Davideis, to have also imitated the Æneid in this particular. I believe every one will agree with me, that a perfection of this nature hath no foundation in reason; and, with due refpect to thefe great names, may be looked upon as fomething whimsical. I mention thefe great examples in defence of my bookseller, who occafioned this eighth volume of Spectators, because, as he faid, he thought feven a very old number. On the other fide, feveral grave reafons were urged on this impor tant subject; as in particular, that seven was the precife number of the wife men, and that the most beautiful constellation in the heavens was composed of seven stars. This he allowed to be true, but ftill infifted, that feyen was an odd number; fuggesting at the fame time, that if he were provided with a fufficient stock of leading papers, he should find friends ready enough to carry on the work. Having by this means got his vessel launched and fet afloat, he hath committed the steerage of it, from time to time, to fuch as he thought capable of conducing it. The clofe of this volume, which the town may now expect in a little time, may poffbly afcribe each fheet to its proper author. It were no hard task to continue this paper a confiderable time longer, by the help of large contributions fent from unknown hands. I cannot give the town a better opinion of the Spectator's correfpondents, than by publishing the following letter, with a very fine copy of verfes upon a subject perfectly new. • Mr. Spectator, Dublin, Nov. 30, 1714. Y good cuftom of their OU lately recommended to your female 'grandmothers, who used to lay out a great part of their time in needle-work: I entirely " agree with you in your fentiments, and think it would not be of lefs advantage to themfelves, and their pofterity, than to the reputation of many of their good neighbours, if they pafs many of thofe hours in this innocent entertainment, which are loft at the tea-table. I would, however, humbly offer to your confideration, the cafe of the poetical ladies; who, though they may be willing to take any advice given them by the Spectator, yet cannot fo eafily quit their pen and ink, as you may imagine. Pray allow them, at least now and then, 'to indulge themselves in other amusements of 'fancy, when they are tired with stooping to their tapestry. There is a very particular kind ' of work, which of late several ladies here in our kingdom are very fond of, which feems very well adapted to a poetical genius : it is the 'making of grotto's. I know a lady who has a very beautiful one, compofed by herself, nor is there one fhell in it not stuck up by her own hands. I here fend you a poem to the fair ar'chitect, which I would not offer to herself, un'til I knew whether this method of a lady's paffing her time were approved of by the Bri tish Spectator, which, with the poem, I submit 'to your cenfure, who am, Your conftant reader and humble fervant, A. B:' "A gretto fo complete, with fuch defign, What hands, Calypfo, could have forin'd but "thine? Each chequer'd pebble, and each shining shell, "So well proportion'd, and difpos'd fo well, "Surprising luftre from thy thought receive, "Affuming beauties more than nature gave. To her their various shapes, and gloffy hue; Their curious fymmetry they owe to you. "Not fam'd Amphion's lute, whose pow'rful "call "Made willing ftones dance to the Thebañ wall, "In more Itarmonious ranks could make them it fall. "Not ev`ning cloud a brighter arch can show; Nor richer colours paint the heav'nly bow. "Where can unpolish'd nature boast a piece, "In all her moffy cells exact as this? "At the gay parti-colour'd seene we start; "For chance too regular, too rude for art. "Charm'd with the fight, my ravish'd breaft ¿ is fir'd "With hints like those which ancient bards in«fpir'd; "All the feign'd tales by fuperftition told, "All the bright train of fabled nymphs of old, "Th' enthufiaftic muse believes are true, "Thinks the spot facred, and its genius you. "Loft in wild rapture, wou'd fhe fain difelofe, "How by degrees the pleafing wonder rofe; "Induftrious in a faithful verfe to trace "The various beauties of the lovely place; "And while he keeps the glowing work in view, "Thro' ev'ry maze thy artful hand pursue. "O were I equal to the bold defign, "Or cou'd I boast such happy art as thinë! "That cou'd rude fhells in fach sweet order place, "Give common objects fuch uncommon grace! Like them my well-chose words in ev'ry line, "As fweetly temper'd should as sweetly shine. "So just a fancy fhou'd my frumber's warm, "Like the gay piece fhou'd the defcription charm. "Then with fuperior ftrength my voice I'd "raife, "The echoing grotto fhou'd approve my lays, Pleas'd to reflect the well-fung founder's "praise. No 633. WEDNESDAY, Dɛe. ij. Omnia profectò, cum fe à cœleftibus rebus referet ad bumanas, excelfiùs magnificentiúfque dices fentict: CICERO. flourishing ftates could give them, fell fo far 'fhort of the number of thofe who excelled in all other fciences. A friend of mine ufed merrily to apply to this cafe an observation of Herodotus, who fays, that the most useful animals are the most fruitful in their genera ion ; whereas the fpecies of thofe beafts that are fierce and mifchicvous to mankind are but fcarcely continued. The hiftorian inftances in a hare, which always either breeds of brings forth; and a lionefs, which brings forth but once, and then lofes all power of conception. But leaving my friend to his mirth, I am of opinion, that in tliefe latter ages we have greater caufe of Complaint than the ancients had. ← And fince that folemn festival is approaching, which calls for all the power of oratory, and which affords as noble a fubject for the pulpit as any revelation has taught us, the defign of this paper thall be to fhew, that our moderns have greater advantages towards true and folid eloquence, than any which the celebrated speakers of antiquity enjoyed. The contemplation of celeftial things will make a man both (peak and think more fublimely and magnificently, when he defcends to ht man affairs. TH HE following difcourfe is printed, as t came to my hands, without variation. Cambridge, Dec. ii. T was a very common enquiry among the ancients why the number of excellent ora. tors, under all the encouragements the moft The firft great and fubftantial difference is, that their common-places, in which almost the whole force of amplification confifts, were drawn from the profit or honesty of the action, as they regarded only this prefent fate of dura tion. But Chriftianity, as it exalts morality to a greater perfection, as it brings the con⚫fideration of another life into the question, as it propofes rewards and punishments of a higher nature and a longer continuance, is more adapted to affect the minds of the audience, naturally inclined to pursue what it imagines its greatest intereft and concern. If Pericles, as hiftorians report, could fhake the firmest refolution of his hearers, and let the paffions of all Greece in a ferment, when the prefent welfare of his country, or the fear of hoftile invafions, was the fubject: what may be ex⚫pected from that orator, who warns his audience against thofe evils who have no remedy, when once undergone, either from prudence or time? As much greater as the evils in a future ftate are than these at prefent, fo much are the motives to perfuafion under Chriftianity greater than thofe which mere moral con'fideration could fupply us with. But what L now mention relates only to the power of moving the affections. There is another part of eloquence, which is indeed its master-piece; I mean the marvellous or fublime: In this tlé christian orator has the advantage beyond contradiction. Our ideas are so infinitely enlarged by revelation, the eye of reafon has fo wide a profpect into eternity, the notions of a Deity are fo worthy and refined, and the accounts we have of a ftate of happinefs or mifery fo clear and evident, that the contemplation of fuch objects will give our difcourfe a noble vigour, an invincible force, beyond the power of any human confideration. Tully requires in his perfect orator fome ikill in the itature of heavenly bodies, because, fays he, his mind will become more extenfive and unconfined; and when he defcends to treat of human affairs, he will both think and write in a more exalted and magnificent manner. For the fanic reafon that excellent mafter would have recommended the study of thofe great and glorious myfteries which revelation has difcovered to us; to which the nobleft parts of this fyftem of the world 3 G 2 < are |