Spinnmont, it was by the guilt of Pharamond. I "come not, oh excellent prince, to implore your "pardon; I come to relate my forrow, a forrow "too great for human life to fupport: From "henceforth fhall all occurrences appear dreams 86 or fhort intervals of amusement, from this one *affliction which has feized my very being: Par❝don me, oh Pharamond, if my griefs give me "leave, that I lay before you, in the anguifh of a wounded mind, that you, good as you are, are "guilty of the generous blood fpilt this day by this "unhappy hand: oh that it had perifhed before "that inftant?" Here the ftranger paufed, and recollecting his mind, after fome little meditation, he went on in a calmer tone and gesture, as • follows: "There is an authority due to distress, and as none "of human race is above the reach of forrow, none should be above the hearing the voice of it; "I am fure Pharamond is not. Know then, that I "have this morning unfortunately killed in a duel, "the man whom of all men living I moft loved. "I command myself too much in your royal pre"fence, to fay, Pharamond, give me my friend! "Pharamond has taken him from me! I will not "fay, fhall the merciful Pharamond deftroy his own fubjects? Will the father of his country "murder his people? But, the merciful Pharamond "does deftroy his fubjects, the father of his coun"try does murder his people. Fortune is fo much.. "the purfuit of mankind, that all glory and ho"nour is in the power of a prince, because he has "the diftribution of their fortunes. It is there"fore the inadvertency, negligence, or guilt of "princes, to let any thing grow into custom which ❝is against their laws. A court can make fashion "and duty walk together; it can never, without "the guilt of a court, happen that it fhall not "be unfashionable to do what is unlawful. But, alas! "alas in the dominions of Pharamond, by the force of a tyrant cuftom, which is mif-named a "point of honour, the duellift kills his friend "whom he loves; and the judge condemns the "duellift, while he approves his behaviour. Shame "is the greatest of all evils; what avail laws, when "death only attends the breach of them, and "thame obedience to them? As for me, oh Pha"ramond, were it poffible to defcribe the nameless "kind of compunctions and tendernesses I feel, "when I reflect upon the little accidents in our "former familiarity, my mind fwells into forrow "which cannot be refifted enough to be filent in "the prefence of Pharamond." (With that he fell into a flood of tears and wept aloud.) "Why "fhould not Pharamond hear the anguifh he only 66 can relieve others from in time to come? Let "him hear from me, what they feel who have giv"6 en death by the falfe mercy of his adminiftra"tion, and form to himfelf the vengeance called "for by thofe who have perifhed by his negli66 gence." R No 85. THURSDAY, JUNE 7. Interdum fpeciofa locis, morataque recl'é HOR. Ars Poet. ver. 319. Sometimes in rough and undigested plays IT ROSCOMMON T is the custom of the Mahometans, if they fee any printed or written paper upon the ground, to take it up and lay it aside carefully, as not knowing but it may contain fome piece of their Alcoran, I muft confefs I have fo much of the Muffulman in me, that I cannot forbear looking into every printed paper which comes in my way, under whatfoever defpicable circumftances it may appear; for as no mortal author, in the ordinary fate and viciffitude of things, knows to what use his work may, fome time or other, be applied, a man may often meet with very celebrated names in a paper of tobacco. I have lighted my pipe more than once with the writings of a prelate; and know a friend of mine, who, for these several years, has converted the effays of a man of quality into a kind of fringe for his candlesticks. I remember in particular, after having read over a poem of an eminent author on a victory, I met with several fragments of it upon the next rejoicing day, which had been employed in fquibs and crackers, and by that means celebrated its fubject in a double capacity. I once met with a page of Mr Baxter under a Christmas-pye.. Whether or no the pastry-cook had made ufe of it through chance or waggery, for the defence of that fuperftitious viande, I know not; but upon the perufal of it, I conceived fo good an idea of the author's piety, that I bought the whole book. I have often profited by these accidental readings, and have fometimes found very curious pieces, that are either out of print, or not to be met with in the fhops of our London bookfellers. For this reason, when my friends take a furvey of my liberary, they are very much furprized to find, upon the thelf of folios, two long band-boxes ftanding upright among my books, till I let them fee that they are both of them lined with deep erudition and abftruse literature. I might likewise mention a paper kite, from which I have received great improvement; and a hat-cafe, which I would not exchange for all the beavers in Great Britain. This my inquifitive temper, or rather impertinent humour of prying into all forts of writing, with my natural averfion to loquacity, give me a good deal of employment when I enter any house in the country; for I cannot for my heart leave a room, before I have thoroughly ftudied the walls of it, and examined the feveral printed papers which are ufually pafted upon them. The laft piece that I met with upon this occafion gave me a most exquisite pleasure. My reader will think I am not serious, when I acquaint him that the piece I am going to fpeak of was the old ballad of The Two children in the Wood, which is one of the darling fongs of the common people, and has been the delight of moft Englishmen in fome part of their age. This fong is a plain fimple copy of nature, deftitute of the helps and ornaments of art. The tale of it is a pretty tragical story, and pleases for no other reafon but because it is a copy of nature. There is even a defpicable fimplicity in the verfe; and and yet, because the fentiment appears genuine and unaffected, they are able to move the mind of the most polite reader with inward meltings of humanity and compaffion. The incidents grow out of the fubject, and are fuch as are the most proper to excite pity; for which reason the whole narration has fomething in it very moving, notwithstanding the author of it (whoever he was) has delivered it in fuch an abject phrafe and poornefs of expreffion, that the quoting any part of it would look like a defign of turning it into redicule. But though the language is mean, the thoughts, as I have before faid, from one end to the other, are natural, and therefore cannot fail to please those who are not judges of language, or those who, notwithstanding they are judges of language, have a true and unprejudiced tafte of nature. The condition, speech, and behaviour of the dying parents, with the age, innocence, and diftrefs of the children, are fet forth in fuch tender circumftances, that it is impoffible for a reader of common humanity not to be affected with them. As for the circumftance of the Robin-red-breaft, it is indeed a little poetical ornament; and, to fhew the genius of the author amidst all his fimplicity, it is just the same kind of fiction which one of the greatest of the Latin poets has made ufe of upon a parallel occafion: I mean that paffage in Horace, where he defcribes himfelf, when he was a child, fallen afleep in a defert wood, and covered with leaves by the turtles that took pity on him. 1 Me fabulofa vulture in Apulo, Texere Od. iv. 1. In lofty vulture's rifing grounds, 3. ver. 9. When |