my prayers, but of receiving such frequent instructions as I can convey to you by letters. Go on cheerfully in the glorious course you have undertaken, and you will quickly find such a peace and satisfaction in your mind which it is not in the power of the world to give.' Constantia's heart was so elevated with the discourse of father Francis, that the very next day she entered upon her vow. As soon as the solemnities of her reception were over, she retired, as it is usual, with the abbess into her own apartment. The abbess had been informed the night before of all that had passed between her noviciate and father Francis; from whom she now delivered to her the following letter: 'As the first fruits of those joys and consolations which you may expect from the life you are now engaged in, I must acquaint you that Theodosius, whose death sits so heavy upon your thoughts, is still alive; and that the father, to whom you have confessed yourself, was once that Theodosius whom you so much lament. The love which we have had for one another will make us more happy in its disappointment than it would have done in its Providence has disposed of us for our advantage, though not according to our wishes. Consider your Theodosius still as dead, but assure yourself of one who will not cease to pray for you in father success. 'FRANCIS.' Constantia saw that the hand-writing agreed with the contents of the letter: and upon reflecting on the voice of the person, the behaviour, and above all the extreme sorrow of the father during her confes sion, she discovered Theodosius in every particular. After having wept with tears of joy, 'It is enough,' says she, 'Theodosius is still in being: I shall live with comfort, and die in peace. The letters which the father sent her afterwards are yet extant in the nunnery where she resided: and are often read to the young religious, in order to inspire them with good resolutions and sentiments of virtue. It so happened, that, after Constantia had lived about ten years in the cloister, a violent fever broke out in the place, which swept away great multitudes, and among others Theodosius. Upon his death-bed he sent his benediction in a very moving manner to Constantia, who at that time was herself so far gone in the same fatal distemper that she lay delirious. Upon the interval which generally precedes death in sicknesses of this nature, the abbess, finding that the physicians had given her over, told her that Theodosius was just gone before her, and that he had sent her his benediction in his last moments. Constantia received it with pleasure. 'And now,' says she, 'if I do not ask any thing improper, let me be buried by Theodosius. My vow reaches no farther than the grave. What I ask is I hope no violation of it'- -She died soon after, and was interred according to her request. Their tombs are still to be seen, with a short Latin inscription over them to the following purpose: 'Here lie the bodies of father Francis and sister Constance. They were lovely in their lives, and in their death they were not divided.' C. By Addison, Chelsea. See final note to No. 5, on Addison's signa tures. ** The governor and company of English adventurers trading to Hudson's-bay, adv", that having divided 19777. 12s. 6d for enlarging marriageportions among such as married before the 24th of June last, there would be a second dividend on marriages Jan. 1st to such as married before the 23d of Dec.; and that there would be a dividend in October for enabling apprentices to set up their trades, if their contracts and indentures expired before the 26th of September, &c.-Spect. in folio. No. 165. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 8, 1711. -Si fortè necesse est, Fingero cinctutis non exaudita Cethegis Contingot: dabiturque licentia sumpta pudenter.z -If you would unheard-of things express, HOR. Ars Poet. 48. CREECH. I HAVE often wished, that, as in our constitution there are several persons whose business is to watch over our laws, our liberties, and commerce, certain men might be set apart as superintendants of our language, to hinder any words of a foreign coin from passing among us; and in particular to prohibit any French phrases from becoming current in this kingdom, when those of our own stamp are altogether as valuable. The present war has so adulterated our tongue with strange words, that it would be impossible for one of our great grandfathers to know what his posterity have been doing, were he to read their exploits in a modern newspaper. Our warriors are very industrious in propagating the French language, at the same time that they are so gloriously successful in beating down their power. Our soldiers are men of strong heads for action, and perform such feats as they are not Semivirumque bovem, semibovemque virum. OVID. Spect. in folio able to express. They want words in their own tongue to tell us what it is they achieve, and therefore send us over accounts of their performances in a jargon of phrases, which they learn among their conquered enemies. They ought however to be provided with secretaries, and assisted by our foreign ministers, to tell their story for them in plain English, and to let us know in our mother tongue what it is our brave countrymen are about. The French would indeed be in the right to publish the news of the present war in English phrases, and make their campaigns unintelligible. Their people might flatter themselves that things are not so bad as they really are, were they thus palliated with foreign terms, and thrown into shades and obscurity; but the English cannot be too clear in their narrative of those actions, which have raised their country to a higher pitch of glory than it ever yet arrived at, and which will be still the more admired the better they are explained. For my part, by that time a siege is carried on two or three days, I am altogether lost and bewildered in it, and meet with so many inexplicable difficulties, that I scarce know which side has the better of it, till I am informed by the Tower guns that the place is surrendered. I do indeed make some allowances for this part of the war, fortifications having been foreign inventions, and upon that account abounding in foreign terms. But when we have won battles which may be described in our own language, why are our papers filled with so many unintelligible exploits, and the French obliged to lend us a part of their tongue before we can know how they are conquered? They must be made accessary to their own disgrace, as the Britons were formerly so artificially wrought in the curtain of the Roman theatre, that they seemed to draw it up in order to give the spectators an opportunity of seeing their own defeat celebrated upon the stage; for so Mr. Dryden has translated that verse in Virgil: 'Purpurea intexti tollant aulæa Britanni.' GEORG. iii. 25. 'Which interwoven Britons seem to raise, The histories of all our former wars are trans mitted to us in a vernacular idiom, to use the phrase of a great modern critic. I do not find in any of our chronicles, that Edward the third ever reconnoitred the enemy, though he often discovered the posture of the French, and as often vanquished them in battle. The Black Prince passed many a river without the help of pontoons, and filled a ditch with fagots as successfully as the generals of our times do it with fascines. Our commanders lose half their praise, and our people half their joy, by means of those hard words and dark expressions in which our newspapers do so much abound. I have seen many a prudent citizen, after having read every article, inquire of his next neighbour what news the mail had brought. I remember, in that remarkable year when our country was delivered from the greatest fears and apprehensions, and raised to the greatest height of gladness it had ever felt since it was a nation, I mean the year of Blenheim," I had the copy of a letter sent me out of the country, which was written from a young gentleman in the army to his father, * Dr. Richard Bentley. The battle of Blenheim was fought Aug. 2, 1704. |