1711 the Intention of Jupiter in sending them among No. 183, Mankind. To remedy therefore this Inconvenience, Saturday, it was stipulated between them by Article, and con Sept. 29, firmed by the consent of each Family, that notwith standing they here possessed the Species indifferently; upon the Death of every single Person, if he was found to have in him a certain Proportion of Evil, he_should be dispatched into the infernal Regions by a Passport from Pain, there to dwell with Misery, Vice, and the Furies, Or on the contrary, if he had in him a certain Proportion of Good, he should be dispatched into Heaven by a Passport from Pleasure, there to dwell with Happiness, Virtue and the Gods. No. 184. WH -Hor. L -Opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum.HEN a Man has discovered a new Vein of Humour, it often carries him much further than he expected from it. My Correspondents take the Hint I give them, and pursue it into Speculations which I never thought of at my first starting it. This has been the Fate of my Paper on the Match of Grinning, which has already produced a second Paper on parallel Subjects, and brought me the following Letter by the last Post I shall not premise any thing to it further than that it is built on Matter of Fact, and is as follows, 'Sir, You have already obliged the World with a Discourse upon Grinning, and have since proceeded to Whistling, from whence you are at length come to Yawning; from this I think you may make a very natural Transition to Sleeping. I therefore recommend to you for the Subject of a Paper the following Advertisement, which about two Months ago was given into every Body's Hands, and may be seen with some Additions in the Daily Courant of August the Ninth Nicholas Hart, who slept last Year in St. Bartholomew's Hospital No. 184. Hospital, intends to sleep this Year at the Cock and 1711 Having since enquired into the Matter of Fact, I find that the above-mentioned Nicholas Hart is every Year seized with a periodical Fit of Sleeping, which begins upon the Fifth of August, and ends on the Eleventh of the same Month: That On the First of that Month he grew dull; On the Sixth was heard to snore; On the Seventh turned himself in his Bed; On the Tenth about Midnight awaked; On the Eleventh in the Morning called for a little Small-Beer. This Account I have extracted out of the Journal of this sleeping Worthy, as it has been faithfully kept by a Gentleman of Lincoln's Inn who has undertaken to be his Historiographer. I have sent it to you, not only as it represents the Actions of Nicholas Hart, but as it seems a very natural Picture of the Life of many an honest English Gentleman, whose whole History very often consists of Yawning, Nodding, Stretching, Turning, Sleeping, Drinking, and the like extraordinary Par ticulars, I do not question, Sir, that if you pleased you could put out an Advertisement not unlike the above-mentioned of several Men of Figure, that Mr. John such a one, Gentleman, or Thomas such a one, Esquire, who slept in the Country last Summer, intends to sleep in Town this Winter. The worst of it is, that the drowsie Part of our Species is chiefly made up of very honest Gentlemen, who live quietly among their Neighbours without ever disturbing the publick Peace: They are Drones without Stings. I could heartily I wish that several turbulent, restless, ambitious Spirits would for a while change Places with these good Men, and 2 and enter themselves into Nicholas Hart's Fraternity, No. 184. Could one but lay asleep few busie Heads which I Monday, could name, from the first of November next to the October 1 first of May ensuing, I question not but it would very much redound to the Quiet of particular Persons as well as to the Benefit of the Publick. But to return to Nicholas Hart: I believe, Sir, you will think it a very extraordinary Circumstance for a Man to gain his Livelihood by Sleeping, and that Rest should procure a Man Sustenance as well as Industry ; yet so it is that Nicholas got last Year enough to support himself for a Twelvemonth. I am likewise informed that he has this Year had a very comfortable Nap, The Poets value themselves very much for sleeping on Parnassus, but I never heard they got a Groat by it: On the contrary, our Friend Nicholas gets more by sleeping than he could by working, and may be more properly said, than ever Homer was, to have had Golden Dreams. Juvenal indeed mentions a drowsie Husband who raised an Estate by Snoring, but then he is re presented to have slept what the Common People call a : Dog's Sleep; or if his Sleep was real, his Wife was awake and about her Business. Your Pen, which loves to moralize upon all Subjects, may raise something $ methinks on this Circumstance also, and point out to us those Sets of Men, who instead of growing rich by an honest Industry, recommend themselves to the Favours of the Great, by making themselves agreeable Companions in the Participations of Luxury and Pleasure. I must further acquaint you, Sir, that one of the : most eminent Pens in Grub-street is now employed in Writing the Dream of this miraculous Sleeper, which I hear will be of a more than ordinary Length, as it must contain all the Particulars that are supposed to have passed in his Imagination during so long a Sleep, He is said to have gone already through three Days and three Nights of it, and to have comprised in them the most remarkable Passages of the four first Empires of the World. If he can keep free from Party Strokes this Work may be of use; but this I much doubt, 1711. No. 184, having been informed by one of his Friends and Monday, Confidents that he has spoken some things of Nimrod October 1, with too great Freedom. 1711 L No. 185, Τ' I am ever, Sir, &c Tuesday, October 2, -Tantaene anímís coelestibus írae ?-Virg. HERE is nothing in which Men more deceive themselves than in what the World calls Zeal. There are so many Passions which hide themselves under it, and so many Mischiefs arising from it, that some have gone so far as to say it would have been for the Benefit of Mankind if it had never been reckoned in the Catalogue of Virtues. It is certain where it is once Laudable and Prudential it is an hundred times Criminal and Erroneous, nor can it be otherwise if we consider that it operates with equal Violence in all Religions, however opposite they may be to one another, and in all the Subdivisions of each Religion in particular. We are told by some of the Jewish Rabbins, that the first Murder was occasioned by a Religious Controversie; and if we had the whole History of Zeal from the Days of Cain to our own Times, we should see it filled with so many Scenes of Slaughter and Bloodshed, as would make a wise Man very careful how he suffers himself to be actuated by such a Principle, when it only regards Matters of Opinion and Speculation I would have every Zealous Man examine his Heart throughly, and, I believe, he will often find that what he calls a Zeal for his Religion is either Pride, Interest, or Ill-nature, A Man who differs from another in Opinion sets himself above him in his own Judgment, and in several Particulars pretends to be the wiser Person This is a great Provocation to the Proud Man, and gives a very keen Edge to what he calls his Zeal. And that this is the Case very often, we may observe from the Behaviour of some of the most Zealous for Orthodoxy, who have often great October 2 1711. great Friendships and Intimacies with vitious Im No. 185. moral Men, provided they do but agree with them Tuesday, in the same Scheme of Belief The Reason is, Because the vitious Believer gives the Precedency to the virtuous Man, and allows the good Christian to be the worthier Person, at the same time that he cannot come up to his Perfections. This we find exemplified in that trite Passage which we see quoted in almost every System of Ethics, tho' upon another Occasion, Video meliora proboque, Deteriora sequor On the contrary, it is certain if our Zeal were true and genuine, we should be much more angry with a Sinner than a Heretick, since there are several Cases which may excuse the latter before his great Judge, but none which can excuse the former. Interest is likewise a great Inflamer, and sets a Man on Persecution under the Colour of Zeal. For this Reason we find none are so forward to promote the true Worship by Fire and Sword, as those who find their present account in it. But I shall extend the Word Interest to a larger Meaning than what is generally given it, as it relates to our Spiritual Safety and Welfare, as well as to our Temporal. A Man is glad to gain Numbers on his side, as they serve to strengthen him in his private Opinions. Every Proselyte is like a new Argument for the Establishment of his Faith. It makes him believe that his Principles carry Conviction with them, and are the more likely to be true, when he finds they are conformable to the Reason of others, as well as to his own. And that this Temper of Mind deludes a Man very often into an Opinion of his Zeal, may appear from the common Behaviour of the Atheist, who maintains and spreads his Opinions with as much heat as those who believe they do it only out of a Passion for God's Glory, Ill-nature is another dreadful Imitator of Zeal. Many a good Man may have a Natural Rancour and |