quor mounted very fenfibly, and immediately funk again. upon his looking ferious. In fhort, he told us, that he knew very well by this invention whenever he had a man of fenfe or a coxcomb in his room.

Having cleared away the Pericardium, or the cafe and liquor above-mentioned, we came to the heart itself. The outward furface of it was extremely flippery, and the Mucro, or point, fo very cold withal, that, upon endeavouring to take hold of it, it glided through the fingers like a smooth piece of ice.

The fibres were turned and twisted in a more intricate and perplexed manner than they are ufually found in other hearts; infomuch that the whole heart was wound up together in a Gordian knot, and must have had very irregular and unequal motions, whilft it was employed in its vital function.

One thing we thought very obfervable, namely, that upon examining all the veffels which came into it or iffued out of it, we could not discover any communication that it had with the tongue.

We could not but take notice likewise, that feveral of those little nerves in the heart which are affected by the fentiments of love, hatred, and other paffions, did not defcend to this before us from the brain, but from the mufcles which lie about the eye.

Upon weighing the heart in my hand, I found it to be extremely light, and confequently very hollow, which I did not wonder at, when, upon looking into the infide of it, I faw multitudes of cells and cavities running one within another, as our hiftorians defcribe the apartments of Rofam nd's bower. Several of these little hollows were ftuffed with innumerable forts of trifles, which I fhall forbear giving any particular account of, and fhall therefore only take notice of what lay firft and uppermoft, which, upon our unfolding it, and applying our microscopes to it, appeared to be a flame-coloured hood.

We were informed that the lady of this heart, when living, received the addreffes of several who made love to her, and did not only give each of them encouragement, but made every one fhe converfed with believe that the regarded him with an eye of kindness; for which

reafon

reafon we expected to have feen the impreffion of multitudes of faces among the several plaits and foldings of the heart; but to our great furprise not a fingle print of this nature discovered itself until we came into the very core and center of it. We there observed a little figure, which, upon applying our glaffes to it, appeared dreffed in a very fantastick manner. The more I looked upon it, the more I thought I had feen the face before, but could not poffibly recollect either the place or time; when, at length, one of the company, who had examined this figure more nicely than the reft, fhewed us plainly by the make of its face, and the feveral turns of its features; that the little idol which was thus lodged in the very middle of the heart was the deceafed beau, whose head 1 gave fome account of in my laft Tuesday's paper.

As foon as we had finished our diffection, we refolved to make an experiment of the heart, not being able to determine among ourselves the nature of its substance, which differed in fo many particulars from that of the heart in other females. Accordingly we laid it into a pan of burning coals, when we obferved in it a certain falamandrine quality, that made it capable of living in the midst of fire and flame, without being confumed, or fo much as finged.

As we were admiring this ftrange Phænomenon, and ftanding round the heart in a circle, it gave a moft prodigious figh or rather crack, and difperfed all at once in fmoke and vapour. This imaginary noife, which methought was louder than the burft of a cannon, produced fuch a violent shake in my brain, that it diffipated the fumes of fleep, and left me in an instant broad awake,

L

lamentable thing that every man is full of com

Iplaints, and conftantly uttering sentences against the

fickleness of fortune, when people generally bring upon themselves all the calamities they fall into, and are conftantly heaping up matter for their own forrow and disappointment. That which produces the greatest part of the delufions of mankind, is a falfe hope which people indulge with so fanguine a flattery to themselves, that their hearts are bent upon fantastical advantages which they had no reason to believe should ever have arrived to them. By this unjust measure of calculat ing their happiness, they often mourn with real afliction for imaginary loffes. When I am talking of this unhappy way of accounting for ourselves, I cannot but reflect upon a particular fet of people, who, in their own favour, refolve every thing that is poffible into what is probable, and then reckon upon that probability as on what muft certainly happen. WILL HONEYCOMB, upon my obferving his looking on a Lady with fome particular attention, gave me an account of the great diftreffes which had laid waste that her very fine face, and had given an air of melancholy to a very agreeable perfon. That Lady, and a couple of fifters of hers, were, faid WILL, fourteen years ago, the greatest fortunes about town; but without having any lofs by bad tenants, by bad fecurities, or any damage by fea or land, are reduced to very narrow circumftances. They were at that time the most inacceffible haughty beau ties in town; and their pretenfions to take upon them at that unmerciful rate, were raifed upon the following fcheme,

fcheme, according to which all their lovers were anfwered.

Our father is a youngish man, but then our mo2 "ther is fomewhat older, and not likely to have any 'children: His eftate being 800l. per Annum, at 20 years purchase, is worth 16,000. Our uncle, who is above 50, has 400 l. per Annum, which at the afore'faid rate, is 8000 l. There is a widow aunt, who has 10,000l. at her own difpofal left by her husband, ' and an old maiden aunt, who has 6000l. Then our "father's mother has 900l. per Annum, which is worth 18,000 and 1000/. each of us has of her own, which"cannot be taken from us. Thefe fummed up together

"ftand thus.

In profpect of this, and the knowledge of their own perfonal merit, every one was contemptible in their eyes, and they refufed thofe offers which had been frequently made them. But mark the end: The mother dies, the father is married again, and has a fon, on him was entailed the father's, uncle's, and grandmother's eftate. This cut off 42,000l. The maiden aunt married a tall Irishman, and with her went the 6000. The widow died. and left but enough to pay her debts and bury her; fo that there remained for thefe three girls but their own 1000. They had by this time paffed their prime, and got on the wrong fide of thirty; and must pass the remainder of their days, upbraiding mankind that they mind nothing but money, and bewailing that virtue, fenfe, and modefty, are had at present in no manner of

eftimation.

F 3

I.men

I mention this cafe of Ladies before any other, because it is the moft irreparable: For though youth is the time lefs capable of reflexion, it is in that fex the only feafon in which they can advance their fortunes. But if we turn our thoughts to the men, we fee fuch crowds of unhappy from no other reafon, but an ill-grounded hope, that it is hard to fay which they rather deferve, our pity or contempt. It is not unpleafant to fee a fellow, after grown old in attendance, and after having paffed half a life in fervitude, call himself the unhappielt of all men, and pretend to be disappointed because a courtier broke his word. He that promises himself any thing but what may naturally arife from his own property or labour) and goes beyond the defire of poffefling above two parts in three even of that, lays up for himfelf an increafing heap of afflictions and difappointments. There are but two means in the world of gaining by other men, and thefe are by being either agreeable or confiderable. The generality of mankind do all things for their own fakes; and when you hope any thing from perfons above you, if you cannot fay, I can be thus agreeable or thus ferviceable, it is ridiculous to pretend to the dignity of being unfortunate when they leave you; you were injudicious, in hoping for any other than to be neglected for fuch as can come within these descriptions of being capable to please or serve your patron, when his humour or interefis call for their capacity either way.

It would not methinks be an ufelefs comparison between the condition of a man who fhuns all the pleasures of life, and of one who makes it his bufinefs to pursue them. Hope in the reclufe makes his aufterities comfortable, while the luxurious man gains nothing but uneafinefs from his enjoyments. What is the difference in the happiness of him who is macerated by abftinence, and his who is furfeited with excefs? He who refigns the world, has no temptation to envy, hatred, malice, anger, but is in conftant poffeffion of a ferene mind; he who follows the pleasures of it, which are in their very nature difappointing, is in conftant fearch of care, folicitude, remorfe, and confufion.

Mr.