Γλυκόν τε Μεδόνα τε Θερσιλοχόν τε. Glaucumque, Medontaque, Therfilochumque. Glaucus, and Medon, and Therfilochus. Ном. VIRG. The life of these men is finely defcribed in Holy Writ by "the Path of an Arrow," which is immediately clofed up and loft. Upon my going into the church, I entertained myfelf with the digging of a grave; and faw in every fhovel-full of it that was thrown up, the fragment of a bone or skull intermixt with a kind of fresh mouldering carth that fome time or other had a place in the compofition of an human body. Upon this I began to confider with myfelf what innumerable multitudes of people lay confufed together under the pavement of that ancient cathedral; how men and women, friends and enemies, priefts and foldiers, monks and prebendaries, were crumbled amongst one another, and blended together in the fame common mafs; how beauty, ftrength, and youth, with old-age, weakness, and deformity, lay undiftinguished in the fame promifcuous heap of matter. After having thus furveyed this great magazine of mortality, as it were in the lump, I examined it more particularly by the accounts which I found on feveral of the monuments which are raised in every quarter of that ancient fabric. Some of them were covered with fuch extravagant epitaphs, that if it were poffible for the dead perfon to be acquainted with them, he would blush at the praifes which his friends have beftowed upon him. There are others fo exceffively modeft, that they deliver the character of the perfon departed in Greek or Hebrew, and by that means are not understood once in a twelvemonth. In the poetical quarter, I found there were poets who had no monuments, and monu. ments which had no poets. I obferved indeed that the prefent war had filled the church with many of these uninhabited monuments, which had been erected to the memory memory of perfons whofe bodies were perhaps buried in the plains of Blenheim, or in the bofom of the ocean. I could not but be very much delighted with several modern epitaphs, which are written with great elegance of expreffion and juftnefs of thought, and therefore do honour to the living as well as to the dead. As a foreigner is very apt to conceive an idea of the ignorance or politenefs of a nation from the turn of their public monuments and infcriptions, they fhould be fubmitted to the perufal of men of learning and genius before they are put in execution. Sir Cloudefly Shovel's monument has very often given me great offence; inftead of the brave rough English admiral, which was the diftinguishing character of that plain gallant man, he is reprefented on his tomb by the figure of a beau, dreffed in a long perriwig, and repofing himfelf upon velvet cufhions under a canopy of ftate. The infcription is anfwerable to the monument; for inftead of celebrating the many remarkable actions he had performed in the fervice of his country, it acquaints us only with the manner of his death, in which it was impoflible for him to reap any honour. The Dutch, whom we are apt to defpife for want of genius, thew an infinitely greater tafte of antiquity and politenefs in their buildings and works of this nature, than what we meet with in thofe of our own country. The monuments of their admirals, which have been erected at the public expence, reprefent them like themfelves; and are adorned with roftral crowns and naval ornaments, with beautiful feftoons of fea weed, fhells, and coral. But to return to our fubject. I have left the repofitory of our English kings for the contemplation of another day, when I fhall find my mind difpofed for fo ferious an amufement. I know that entertainments of of this nature are apt to raise dark and dismal thoughts in timorous minds and gloomy imaginations; but for my own part, though I am always ferious, I do not know what it is to be melancholy; and can therefore take a view of nature, in her deep and folemn fcenes, with the fame pleasure as in her moft gay and delightful ones. By By this means I can improve myself with those objects which others confider with terror. When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate defire goes out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tomb-ftone, my heart melts with compaffion; when I fee the tomb of the parents themselves, I confider the vanity of grieving for those whom we muft quickly follow; when I fee kings lying by those who depofed them, when I confider rival wits placed fide by fide, or the holy men that divided the world with their contefts and difputes, I reflect with forrow and astonishment on the little competitions, factions, and debates of mankind. When I read the feveral dates of the tombs, of fome that died yesterday, and some fix hundred years ago, I confider that great day when we fhall all of us be contemporaries, and make our appearance together. C. No. XXVII. No. XXVII. SATURDAY, MARCH 31. Ut nox longa, quibus mentitur amica, diefque IMITATED. Long as to him, who works for debt, the day; HOR. POPE. THERE is fcarce a thinking man in the world, who is involved in the bufinefs of it, but lives under a fecret impatience of the hurry and fatigue he fuffers, and has formed a refolution to fix himfelf, one time or other, in such a state as is fuitable to the end of his being. You hear men every day in converfation profefs that all the honour, power, and riches, which they propofe to themfelves, cannot give fatisfaction enough to reward them for half the anxiety they undergo in the pursuit or poffeffion of them. While men are in this temper, which happens very frequently, how inconfiftent are they with themfelves! they are wearied with the toil they bear, but cannot find in their hearts to relinquish it; retirement is what they want, but they cannot betake themfelves to it: while they pant after fhade and covert, they ftiil affect to appear in the most glittering fcenes of life; but fure fure this is but just as reasonable as if a man fhould call for more lights when he has a mind to go to fleep. Since then it is certain that our own hearts deceive us in the love of the world, and that we cannot command ourselves enough to refign it, though we every day with ourfelves difengaged from its allurements, let us not ftand upon a formal taking of leave, but wean ourselves from them, while we are in the midft of them. It is certainly the general intention of the greater part of mankind to accomplish this work, and live according to their own approbation, as foon as they poffibly can; but fince the duration of life is fo uncertain, and that has ́ been a common topic of difcourfe ever fince there was fuch a thing as life itself, how is it poffible that we should defer a moment the beginning to live according to the rules of reafon? The man of bufinefs has ever fome one point to carry, and then he tells himfelf he will bid adieu to all the vanity of ambition; the man of pleafure refolves to take his leave at leaft, and part civilly with his miftrefs; but the ambitious man is entangled every moment in a fresh purfuit; and the lover fees new charms in the object he fancied he could abandon. It is therefore a fantastical way of thinking, when we promise ourselves an alteration in our conduct from change of place and difference of circumstances; the fame paffions will attend us whereever we are till they are conquered; and we can never live to our fatisfaction in the deepeft retirement, unless we are capable of living fo in fome measure amidst the noife and bufinefs of the world. I have ever thought men were better known by what could be obferved of them from a perufal of their private letters, than any other way. My friend the clergyman, the other day, upon ferious difcourfe with him concerning the danger of procraftination, gave me the following letters from perfons with whom he lives in great friendfhip and intimacy, according to the good breeding and good fenfe of his character. The first is from a man of bufinefs, who is his convert; the fecond from one of whom he conceives good hopes; the third from one who is |