is, to advise them, when they are prompted by reason and inclination, to demur only out of form, and fo ar as decency requires. A virtuous woman fhould reject the first offer of marriage, as a good man does that of a bishopric; but I would advife neither the one nor the other to perfift in refufing what they fecretly approve. I would in this particular propofe the example of Eve to all her daughters, as Milton has represented her in the following paffage, which I cannot forbear tranfcribing intire, though only the twelve last lines are to my prefent purpose. "The rib he form'd and fashion'd with his hands; "Under his forming hands a creature grew, "Manlike, but diff'rent fex; fo lovely fair, "That what feem'd fair in all the world, feem'd now "She difappear'd, and left me dark: I wak'd "I overjoy'd, could not forbear aloud. "This turn hath made amends; thou haft fulfill'd "Thy words, Creator bounteous and benign ! "Giver of all things fair! but fairest this "Of all thy gifts, nor enviest. I now fee "Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, myself... "Her virtue, and the confcience of her worth, Vol. II. "Not "Not obvious, not obtrufive, but retir'd " No. XC. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 13. Magnus fine viribus ignis Incaffum furit VIRG. Georg. 3. v. 99. In vain he burns, like hasty stubble fires. DRYDEN. L HERE is not, in my opinion, a confideration more Teffectual to extinguish inordinate defires in the foul of man, than the notions of Plato and his followers upon that fubject. They tell us, that every paffion which has been contracted by the foul during her refidence in the body, remains with her in a feparate state; and that the foul in the body, or out of the body, differs no more than the man does from himself when he is in his houfe, or in open air. When therefore the obfcene paffions in particular have once taken root, and spread themselves in the foul, they cleave to her infeparably, and remain in her for ever, after the body is caft off and thrown afide. As an argument to confirm this their doctrine they obferve, that a lewd youth who goes on in a continued courfe of voluptuoufnefs, advances by degrees into a libidinous old man; and that the paffion furvives in the mind when it is altogether dead in the body; nay, that the defire grows more violent, and, like all other habits, gathers ftrength by age, at the fame time that it has no power of executing its own purpofes. If, fay they, the foul is the most fubject to these paffions at a time when it has the least instigations from the body, we may well fuppofe fhe will ftill retain them when the is intirely divefted of it. The very fubftance of the foul is feftered with them, the gangrene is gone too far to be ever cured; the inflammation will rage to all eternity. In this therefore, fay the Platonists, confifts the punishment of a voluptuous man after death: he is tormented with defires which it is impoffible for him to gratify, folicited by a passion that has neither objects nor organs adapted to it: The lives in a state of invincible defire and impotence, and always burns in the purfuit of what he always defpairs to poflefs. It is for this reason, fays Plato, that the fouls of the dead appear frequently in cœmiteries, and hover about the places where their bodies are buried, as ftill hankering after their old brutal pleasures, and defiring again to enter the body that gave them an opportunity of fulfilling them. Some of our most eminent divines have made use of this Platonic notion, fo far as it regards the subsistence of our paffions after death, with great beauty and strength of reafon. Plato indeed carries the thought very far, when he grafts upon it his opinion of gholts appearing in places of burial. Though I must confefs, if one did believe that the departed fouls of men and women wandered up and down thefe lower regions, and entertained themselves with the fight of their fpecies, one could not devife a more proper hell for an impure fpirit than that which Plato has touched upon. The ancients feem to have drawn fuch a state of torments in the defcription of Tantalus, who was punished with the rage of an eternal thirst, and fet up to the chin in water, that fled from his lips whenever he attempted to drink it. Virgil, who has caft the whole fyftem of Platonic philofophy, fo far as it relates to the foul of man, into beautiful allegories, in the fixth book of his Æneid gives us the punishment of a voluptuary after death, not unlike that which we are here speaking of. "Lucent genialibus altis "Aurea fulcra toris, epulæque ante ora paratæ Regifico luxu: Furiarum maxima juxta "Accubat, & manibus prohibet contingere menfas; Exurgitque facem attollens, atque intonat ore. 66 AN. 6. v. 604. "They lie below on golden beds difplay'd, "And genial feafts with regal pomp are made: "The queen of furies by their fide is fet, "And fnatches from their mouths th' untafted meat; "Which if they touch, her hifling fnakes fhe rears, "Toffing her torch. and thund'ring in their ears." DRYDEN. The That I may a little alleviate the feverity of this my fpeculation, which otherwife may lofe me feveral of my polite readers, I fhall tranflate a story that has been quoted upon another occafion by one of the most learned men of the prefent age, as I find it in the original. reader will fee it is not foreign to my prefent fubject, and I dare fay will think it a lively reprefentation of a perfon lying under the torments of fuch a kind of tantalism, or Platonic hell, as that which we have now under confideration. Monfieur Pontignan, fpeaking of a love-adventure that happened to him in the country, gives the following account of it. "When I was in the country laft fummer, I was "often in company with a couple of charming women, "who had all the wit and beauty one could defire in "female companions, wih a dath of coquetry, that "from time to time gave me a great many agreeable ❝ torments. I was, after my way, in love with both of "them, and had fuch frequent opportunities of pleading "my paffion to them when they were afunder, that "had reafon to hope for particular favours from each of "them. As I was walking one evening in my chamber, with nothing about me but my night-gown, they both came into my room and told me, they had 66 a very pleafant trick to put upon a gentleman that "was in the fame houfe, provided I would bear a part "in it. Upon this they told me fuch a plaufible ftory, "that I laughed at their con rivance, and agreed to do "whatever they should require of me. They immedi"ately began to fwaddle me up in my night-gown with "long pieces of linen, which they folded about me until "they had wrapt me in above an hundred yards of "fwathe: my arms were preffed to my fides, and my legs << us. legs clofed together by fo many wrappers one over "another, that I looked like an Egyptian mummy. "As I ftood bolt upright upon one end in this antique «figure, one of the ladies burst out a laughing. “And "now, Pontignan, fays fhe, we intend to perform the "promife that we find you have extorted from each of You have often asked the favour of us, and I "dare fay you are a better bred cavalier than to refuse "to go to bed to two ladies, that defire it of you." "After having stood a fit of laughter, I begged them "them to uncafe me, and do with me what they pleased. "No, no, faid they, we like you very well as you are; " and upon that ordered me to be carried to one of their "houses, and put to bed in all my fwaddles. The "room was lighted up on all fides; and I was laid very decently between a pair of fheets, with my head, "which was indeed the only part I could move, upon " a very high pillow: this was no fooner done, but my "two female friends came into bed to me in their finest "night-clothes. You may eafily guefs at the condition "of a man that faw a couple of the most beautiful wo"men in the world undreffed and in bed with him, "without being able to ftir hand or foot. I begged "them to release me, and struggled all I could to get "leofe, which I did with fo much violence, that about "midnight they both leaped out of the bed, crying out "they were undone. But feeing me fafe, they took "their posts again, and renewed their raillery. Find"ing all my prayers and endeavours were loft, I com"pofed myself as well as I could; and told them, that "if they would not unbind me, I would fall asleep "between them, and by that means difgrace them for "ever: but alas! this was impoffible; could I have "been difpofed to it, they would have prevented me "by feveral little ill-natured careffes and endearments « which they bestowed upon me. As much devoted as "I am to woman-kind, I would not pafs fuch another "night to be matter of the whole fex. My reader will " doubtless be curious to know what became of me the "next morning: why truly my bed-fellows left me D 3 << about |