try, till they had wrought in it all those beautiful vaults and caverns into which it is divided at this day. As soon as this rock was thus curiously scooped to their liking, a prodigious number of hands must have been employed in chipping the outside of it, which is now as smooth as the surface of a pebble; and is in several places hewn out into pillars, that stand like the trunks of so many trees bound about the top with garlands of leaves. It is probable that when this great work was begun, which must have been many hundred years ago, there was some religion among this people, for they give it the name of a temple, and have a tradition that it was designed for men to pay their devotion in. And, indeed, there are several reasons which make us think, that the natives of this country had formerly among them some sort of worship; for they set apart every seventh day as sacred but upon my going into one of these holy houses on that day, I could not observe any circumstance of devotion in their behaviour there was, indeed, a man in black who was mounted above the rest, and seemed to utter something with a great deal of vehemence; but as for those underneath him, instead of paying their worship to the deity of the place, they were most of them bowing and curtseying to one another, and a considerable number of them fast asleep. • The queen of the country appointed two men to attend us, that had enough of our language to make themselves understood in some few particulars. But we soon perceived these two were great enemies to one another, and did not always agree in the same story. We could make a shift to gather out of one of them, that this island was very much infested with a monstrous kind of animals, in the shape of men, called Whigs; and he often told us, that he hoped we should meet with none of them in our way, for that, if we did, they would be apt to knock us down for being kings. 'Our other interpreter used to talk very much of a kind of animal called a Tory, that was as great a monster as the Whig, and would treat us as ill for being foreigners. These two creatures, it seems, are born with a secret antipathy to one another, and engage when they meet us naturally as the elephant and the rhinoceros. But as we saw none of either of these species, we are apt to think that our guides deceived us with misrepresentations and fictions, and amused us with an account of such monsters as are not really in their country. 1 1 'These particulars we made a shift to pick out from the discourse of our interpreters; which we put together as well as we could, being able to understand but here and there a word of what they said, and afterwards making up the meaning of it among ourselves. The men of the country are very cunning and ingenious in handicraft works; but withal so very idle, that we often saw young, lusty, raw-boned fellows, carried up and down the streets in little covered rooms by a couple of porters, who are hired for that service. Their dress is likewise very barbarous, for they almost strangle themselves about the neck, and bind their bodies with many ligatures, that we are apt to think are the occasion of several distempers among them, which our country is entirely free from. Instead of those beautiful feathers, with which we adorn our heads, they often buy up a monstrous bush of hair, which covers their heads, and falls down in a large fleece below the middle of their backs, with which they walk up and down the streets, and are as proud of it as if it was of their own growth. 'We were invited to one of their public diversions, where we hoped to have seen the great men of their country running down 1Of these two animals the Indian kings could have no idea, and therefore seem here to be illustrating obscurum per obscurius and explaining the monsters spoken of here by animals that were not really in their country. -C. a stag, or pitching a bar, that we might have discovered who were the persons of the greatest abilities among them; but instead of that, they conveyed us into an huge room lighted up with abundance of candles, where this lazy people sat still above three hours to see several feats of ingenuity performed by others, who it seems were paid for it. 'As for the women of the country, not being able to talk with them, we could only make our remarks upon them at a distance. They let the hair of their heads grow to a great length; but as the men make a great show with heads of hair that are none of their own, the women, who they say have very fine heads of hair, tie it up in a knot, and cover it from being seen. The women look like angels, and would be more beautiful than the sun, were it not for little black spots that are apt to break out in their faces, and sometimes rise in very odd figures. I have observed that those little blemishes wear off very soon; but when they disappear in one part of the face, they are apt to break out in another, insomuch that I have seen a spot upon the forehead in the afternoon, which was upon the chin in the morning.' The author then proceeds to shew the absurdity of breeches and petticoats, with many other curious observations, which I shall reserve for another occasion. I cannot, however, conclude this paper without taking notice, that amidst these wild remarks, there now and then appears something very reasonable. I cannot likewise forbear observing, that we are all guilty in some measure of the same narrow way of thinking, which we meet with in this abstract of the Indian Journal; when we fancy the customs, dresses, and manners of other countries are ridiculous and extravagant, if they do not resemble those of our own. ** C. ** At the desire of several ladies of quality, and for the entertainment No. 55. THURSDAY, MAY 3. -Intus, et in jecore ægro, Nascuntur domini. PERS. Sat. 5, v. 129. Our passions play the tyrant in our breasts. Most of the trades, professions, and ways of living among mankind, take their original either from the love of pleasure, or the fear of want. The former, when it becomes too violent, degenerates into luxury, and the latter into avarice. As these two principles of action draw different ways, Persius has given us a very humorous account of a young fellow who was roused out of his bed, in order to be sent upon a long voyage by Avarice, and afterwards overpersuaded and kept at home by Luxury. I shall set down at length the pleadings of these two imaginary persons, as they are in the original, with Mr. Dryden's translation of them. Mane, piger, stertis: surge, inquit Avaritia; eja of the Emperor of the Mohocks, and the three Indian kings, being the last time of their public appearance, on Monday next, May 1, for the benefit of Mr. Hennings, will be performed at the great room in York Buildings, a consort of music. V. Tatler 171, note.-C. Quid petis? Ut nummi, qos hic quincunce modesto Indulge genio: carpamus dulcia; nostrum est Quod vivis; cinis, et manes, et fabula fies. Vive memor lethi: fugit hora. Hoc quod loquar, inde est. Whether alone, or in thy harlot's lap, When thou would'st take a lazy morning's nap, Stretchest thy limbs, and yawn'st, but all in vain ; SAT. V. 132.1 At his command th' unwilling sluggard wakes. 'Tis wholesome sin.-But Jove, thou say'st, will hear.— A tradesman thou! and hope to go to Heav'n? Resolv'd for sea, the slaves thy baggage pack, Nothing retards thy voyage now, but he, That soft voluptuous prince, call'd Luxury; What dost thou make a shipboard? to what end? Art thou of Bethlem's noble college free? Stark, staring mad, that thou would'st tempt the sea? Cubb'd in a cabin, on a mattress laid, On a brown George, with lousy swabbers fed; Dead wine, that stinks of the Borachio, sup From a foul jack, or greasy maple cup? Say, would'st thou bear all this, to raise thy store From six i'the' hundred to six hundred more? Indulge, and to thy genius freely give; For, not to live at ease, is not to live: 1 V. Boileau, Sat. iii.—who has imitated this passage very happily.-C. |