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 underwritten) are ready to testify.

THAT your petitioner is remarkable in his country 'for having dared to treat Sir P. P. a curfed fequeftraItor, 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 imprisoned in five feveral county-goals, for having been a ringleader 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 bonfire in Stratford upon Avon, as he hath been ne6 ver the better for from that day to this.

.

THAT your petitioner hath been so far from improving his fortune in the late damnable times, that he verily believes, and hath good reason to imagine, that if he had been master of an eftate, he had infallibly been plundered and fequeftered. •

YOUR petitioner, in confideration of his faid merits and fufferings, 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.

N° 630.

And your petitioner shall ever pray, &c.'

Wednesday, December 8.

AVING no fpare time to write any thing of my Hown, or to correct what is fent me by others, I

have thought fit to publish the following letters.

SIR,

F you

I

Oxford, November 22.

would be fo kind to me, as to fufpend that fatisfaction, which the learned world muft receive in reading one of your 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 mufic, when at the fame time they do not fcruple to own, that it has the most agreeable and improving 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 pleafares.

HOWEVER, though fome few, by their own or the unreasonable prejudices of others, may be led into a diftafte of 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 folemn kind of melody which confists of the praises of our Creator..

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 fa'crifice and adoration has claimed a place in the laws and 'cuftoms of the most different nations; as the Grecians and Romans of the profane, the Jews and Chriftians of the facred world, did as unanimously agree in this, as they difagreed in all other parts of their economy.

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 most 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 something very laudable in the custom of a voluntary before the firft 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 fhould be nothing near the foul but peace and tranquillity. So Y 2

that

that in this short office of praife, the man is raised above himself, and is almoft loft already amidst the joys of ⚫ futurity.

་

I HAVE heard fome nice obfervers frequently com'mend the policy of our church in this particular, that it leads us on by fuch eafy and regular methods, that we are perfectly deceived into piety. When the fpirits begin to languifh (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 raptures of an anthem. 'Nor can we doubt that the fublimeft poetry, foftened in 'the most moving ftrains of mufic, can ever 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, without being awed ⚫into a veneration? Or who can hear the kind and endearing attributes of a merciful Father, and not be soft⚫ened into love towards him?

As the raifing and finking of the paffions, the cafting foft or noble hints into the foul, is the 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 those vain or immodest thoughts which would be an hindrance to us in the performance ' of that great duty of thanksgiving, which, as we are informed by our almighty Benefactor, is the moft acceptable return which can be made for those 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 warmed with a fublimity of goodness! We are all piety and all love!

How do the bleffed fpirits rejoice and wonder to be'hold unthinking man proftrating his foul to his dread Sovereign in fuch a warmth of piety as they themfelves might not be afhamed of!

'I SHALL clofe thefe reflections with a paffage taken out of the third book of Milton's Paradife Loft, where thefe harmonious beings are thus nobly defcribed.

Then

Then crown'd again, their golden harps they took,
Harps ever tun'd, that glitt'ring by their fide
Like quivers hung, and with preamble fweet
Of charming fymphony they introduce
The facred fong, and waken raptures high:
No one exempt, no voice but well could join
Melodious part; fuch concord is in heaven.

Mr SPECTATOR,

"TH

parts

HE town cannot be unacquainted, that in divers of it there are vociferous fets of men who are called Rattling Clubs; but what shocks me moft is, they have now the front to invade the church, and infti'tute thofe 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 Per. Thefe 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 observe, that the gentlemen, who e'very Sunday have the hard province of inftructing 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 strangers their friends, the way of the club is this: If any fentiments are delivered too fublime for their conception; if any uncommon to'pic is entered on, or one in ufe new modified with the fineft 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 their 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, all 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 clamo- .

'

rous 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, without aiming to propagate the 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 practice is in nothing more confpicuous than this, that all that follows in the fermon is loft; for whenever our fparks take alarm, they blaze out, and grow fo tumultuous, that no ' after explanation can avail, it being impoffible for themfelves or any near them to give an account thereof. If any thing really novel is advanced, how averfe foever it may be to their way of thinking, to fay nothing of duty, men of less levity than these would be led by a * natural curiofity to hear the whole.

LAUGHTER, where things facred are tranfacted, is far lefs pardonable than whining at a conventicle; the laft has at least a semblance of grace, and where the af*fectation is unfeen may poffibly imprint wholfome leffons on the fincere; but the firft has no excufe, breaking through all the rules of order and decency, and maniféfting a remiffness of mind in thofe important matters, which require the ftricteft compofure and fteadinefs of thought; a proof of the greatest folly in the world.

'I SHALL not here enter upon the veneration due to 'the fanctity of the place, the reverence owing the minifter, or the refpect that fo great an affembly as a whole parish may justly claim. I fhall 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 abstain 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 provi ded.'

.

I am, SIR,

Your very humble fervant,

R. M.

NO