only, by way of application, defire him to confider how we may extend life beyond its natural dimenfions, by applying ourselves diligently to the purfuits of knowledge.

The hours of a wife man are lengthened by his ideas, as thofe of a fool are by his paffions: The time of the one is long, because he does not know what to do with it; fo is that of the other, because he distinguishes every moment of it with ufeful or amufing thoughts; or, in other words, because the one is always wishing it away, and the other always. enjoying it.

How different is the view of past life, in the man who is grown old in knowledge and wisdom, from that of him who is grown old in ignorance and folly? The latter is like the owner of a barren country, that fills his eye with the prospect of na. ked hills and plains, which produce nothing either profitable or ornamental; the other beholds a beautiful and fpacious landscape divided into delightful gardens, green meadows, fruitful fields, and can fcarce caft his eye on a single spot of his poffeffions, that is not covered with fome beautiful plant or flower.

Cura leves loquuntur, ingentes ftupent.

Light forrows speak, great grief is dumb.

L

AVING read the two following letters with much pleasure, I cannot but think the good sense of them will be as agreeable to the town as any thing I could fay, either on the topicks they treat of, or any other. They both allude to former papers of mine, and I do not question but the firft, which is upon inward mourning, will be thought the proVOL. II.

F

duction

duction of a man who is well acquainted with the generous earnings of diftrefs in a manly temper, which is above the relief of tears. A fpeculation of my own on that subject I fhall defer till another occafion.

The fecond letter is from a lady of a mind as great as her understanding. There is perhaps fomething in the beginning of it which I ought in modefty to conceal; but I have fo much efteem for this correfpondent, that I will not alter a title of what the writes, though I am thus fcrupulous at the price of being ridiculous.

Mr SPECTATOR,

If

'I WAS very well pleased with your discourse upon general mourning, and fhould be obliged " to you if you would enter into the matter more deeply, and give us your thoughts upon the com'mon fenfe the ordinary people have of the de'monftrations of grief, who prescribe rules and 'fashions to the moft folemn affliction; fuch as the lofs of the nearest relations and dearest 'friends. You cannot go to vifit a fick friend, but fome impertinent waiter about him obferves the mufcles of your face, as ftrictly as if they 'were prognosticks of his death or recovery. he happens to be taken from you, you are immediately furrounded with numbers of these fpectators, who expect a melancholy fhrug of your thoulders, a pathetical thake of your head, and an expreffive diftortion of your face, to 'measure your affection and value for the deceafed : But there is nothing, on these occasions, 'fo much in their favour as immoderate weeping. As all their paffions are fuperficial, they imagine 'the feat of love and friendship to be placed vifibly in the eyes: They judge what flock of kind'nefs you had for the living, by the quantity of tears you pour out for the dead; fo that if one 'body

body wants that quantity of falt-water another ' abounds with, he is in great danger of being " thought infenfible or ill-natured: They are ftrangers to friendship, whofe grief happens not to be moift enough to wet fuch a parcel of hand. 'kerchiefs, But experience has told us, nothing is fo fallacious as this outward fign of forrow and the natural history of our bodies will teach us that this flux of the eyes, this faculty of weep. ing, is peculiar only to fome conftitutions. We obferve in the tender bodies of children, when croffed in their little wills and expectations, how diffolvable they are into tears. If this were what grief is in men, nature would not be able to fupport them in the excess of it for one moment. Add to this obfervation, how quick is their 'transition from this paffion to that of their joy. I will not fay we fee often, in the next tender things to children, tears fhed without much grieving. Thus it is common to fhed tears without much forrow, and as common to fuffer much • forrow without fhedding tears. Grief and weep⚫ing are indeed frequent companions: But, I be'lieve, never in their higheft exceffes. As laughter does not proceed from profound joy, fo neither does weeping from profound forrow. The forrow which appears fo easily at the eyes, cannot have pierced deeply into the heart. The heart • distended with grief, ftops all the paffages for tears or lamentations.

Now, Sir, what I would incline you to in all this, is, that you would inform the thallow criticks and obfervers upon forrow, that true af'fliction labours to be invisible, that it is a stranger to ceremony, and that it bears in its own nature a dignity much above the little circumftances which are affected under the notion of decency. You must know, Sir, I have lately loft a dear friend, for whom I have not yet fhed a tear, and D 2 • For

for that reafon your animadverfions on that sub

ject would be more acceptable to,

SIR,

Your moft humble fervant,

Mr SPECTATOR,

'B. D.'

June the 15th.

'As I hope there are but few who have fo little gratitude as not to acknowledge the usefulnefs of your pen, and to efteem it a publick benefit; fo I am fenfible, be that as it will, you must nevertheless find the fecret and incomparable pleasure of doing good, and be a great fharer ' in the entertainment you give. I acknowledge our fex to be much obliged, and I hope improved by your labours, and even your intentions more particularly for our fervice. If it be true, as it is fometimes faid, that our sex have an influence on the other, your paper may be a yet more 'general good. Your directing us to reading is certainly the best means to our inftruction; but I think, with you, caution in that particular very ufeful, fince the improvement of our understandings may, or may not be of service to us, according as it is managed. It has been thought we are not generally fo ignorant as ill-taught, or that our fex does so often want wit, judgment, or knowledge, as the right application of them: You are fo well bred, as to fay your fair readers are " already deeper fcholars than the beaus, and that you could name fome of them that talk much 'better than feveral gentlemen that make a figure at Will's: This may poffibly be, and no great compliment, in my opinion, even fuppofing your < comparison to reach Tom's and the Grecian : Surely you are too wife to think that a real • commendation of a woman. Were it not rather to be wifhed we improved in our own sphere, ' and approved ourfelves better daughters, wives, mothers, and friends?

'I cannot

'I cannot but agree with the judicious trader in Cheapfide (though I am not at all prejudiced in his favour) in recommending the ftudy of arith'metick; and muft diffent even from the authority which you mention, when it advises the making our sex scholars. Indeed a little more philofophy, in order to the fubduing our paffions to our reafon, might be fometimes fervicible, and a treatife of this nature I fhall approve of, even ' in exchange for Theodofius, or The Force of Love; "but as I well know you want not hints, I will pro'ceed no further than to recommend the Bishop ' of Cambray's education of a daughter, as it is 'tranflated into the only language I have any knowledge of, though perhaps very much to its difadvantage. I have heard it objected against that piece, that its inftructions are not of general ufe, but only fitted for a great lady; but I con. 'fess I am not of that opinion; for I don't re'member that there are any rules laid down for the expences of a woman, in which particular only I think a gentlewoman ought to differ from a lady of the best fortune, or highest quality, and not in their principles of justice, gratitude, fincerity, prudence, or modefty. I ought perhaps to make an apology for this long epiftle; but as I ' rather believe you a friend to fincerity, than ce remony, fhall only affure you I am,

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