1711.

him where to lye down in Safety, and sleep amidst No. 11. the Falls of Waters, and Melody of Nightingales. Her Tuesday, Part was to watch and hold him awake in her Arms, March 13, for fear of her Countrymen, and awake him on Occasions to consult his Safety. In this manner did the Lovers pass away their Time, till they had learn'd a Language of their own, in which the Voyager communicated to his Mistress, how happy he should be to have her in his Country, where she should be Cloathed in such Silks as his Wastecoat was made of, and be carried in Houses drawn by Horses, without being exposed to Wind or Weather. All this he promised her the Enjoyment of, without such Fears and Alarms as they were there tormented with. In this tender Correspondence these Lovers lived for several Months, when Yarico, instructed by her Lover, discovered a Vessel on the Coast, to which she made Signals; and in the Night, with the utmost Joy and Satisfaction, accompanied him to a Ship's-Crew of his Countrymen, bound for Barbadoes. When a Vessel from the Main arrives in that Island, it seems the Planters come down to the Shoar, where there is an immediate Market of the Indians and other Slaves, as with us of Horses and Oxen,

To be short, Mr. Thomas Inkle, now coming into English Territories, began seriously to reflect upon his loss of Time, and to weigh with himself how many Days Interest of his Money he had lost during his Stay with Yarico. This Thought made the young Man very pensive, and careful what Account he should be able to give his Friends of his Voyage. Upon which Considerations, the prudent and frugal young Man sold Yarico to a Barbadian Merchant; notwithstanding that the poor Girl, to incline him to commiserate her Condi tion, told him that she was with Child by him: But he only made use of that Information, to rise in his Demands upon the Purchaser.

I was so touch'd with this Story, (which I think should be always a Counterpart to the Ephesian Matron) that I left the Room with Tears in my Eyes; which a Woman of Arietta's good Sense, did, I am sure, take for greater Applause, than any Compliments I could make her. R

Wednesday

No. 12,
[ADDISON.]

Wednesday, March 14,

Veteres avias tibi de pulmone revello,-Pers.

A before I could settle my self in a House to my
T my coming to London, it was some time

liking. I was forced to quit my first Lodgings, by reason
of an officious Landlady, that would be asking me every
Morning how I had slept. I then fell into an honest
Family, and lived very happily for above a Week; when
my Landlord, who was a jolly good-natured Man, took
it into his Head that I wanted Company, and therefore
would frequently come into my Chamber to keep me
from being alone. This I bore for two or three Days;
but telling me one Day that he was afraid I was melan-
choly, I thought it was high time for me to be gone,
and accordingly took new Lodgings that very Night.
About a Week after, I found my jolly Landlord, who,
as I said before, was an honest hearty Man, had put
me into an Advertisement of the Daily Courant, in the
following Words. Whereas a melancholy Man left his
Lodgings on Thursday last in the Afternoon, and was
afterwards seen going towards Islington; If any one can
give Notice of him to R. B. Fishmonger in the Strand, he
shall be very well rewarded for his pains. As I am the
best Man in the World to keep my own Counsel, and my
Landlord the Fishmonger not knowing my Name, this
Accident of my Life was never discovered to this very Day,

I am now settled with a Widow-woman, who has a great many Children, and complies with my Humour in every thing, I do not remember that we have exchanged a Word together these Five Years; my Coffee comes into my Chamber every Morning without asking for it; if I want Fire I point to my Chimney, if Water to my Bason: Upon which my Landlady nodds, as much as to say she takes my Meaning, and immediately obeys my Signals, She has likewise model'd her Family so well, that when her little Boy offers to pull me by the Coat, or prattle in my Face, his eldest Sister immediately calls him off, and bids him not disturb the Gentleman. At my first entring into the Family, I was troubled with the Civility of their

day,

March 14,

1711.

rising up to me every time I came into the Room; but my No. 12. Landlady observing that upon these Occasions I always Wednes cried Pish, and went out again, has forbidden any such Ceremony to be used in the House; so that at present I walk into the Kitchen or Parlour without being taken notice of, or giving any Interruption to the Business or Discourse of the Family, The Maid will ask her Mistress (tho' I am by) whether the Gentleman is ready to go to Dinner, as the Mistress (who is indeed an excellent House wife) scolds at the Servants as heartily before my Face as behind my Back, In short, I move up and down the House and enter into all Companies, with the same Liberty as a Cat or any other Domestick Animal, and am as little suspected of telling any thing that I hear or see,

I remember last Winter there were several young Girls of the Neighbourhood sitting about the Fire with my Landlady's Daughters, and telling Stories of Spirits and Apparitions. Upon my opening the Door the young Women broke off their Discourse, but my Landlady's Daughters telling them that it was no Body but the Gentleman (for that is the Name which I go by in the Neighbourhood as well as in the Family) they went on without minding me. I seated my self by the Candle that stood on a Table at one end of the Room; and pretending to read a Book that I took out of my Pocket, heard several dreadful Stories of Ghosts as pale as Ashes that had stood at the Feet of a Bed, or walked over a Church-yard by Moon-light And of others that had been conjured into the Red-Sea, for disturbing People's Rest, and drawing their Curtains at Midnight; with many other old Women's Fables of the like nature. As one Spirit raised another, I observed that at the End of every Story the whole Com pany closed their Ranks, and crouded about the Fire: I took Notice in particular of a little Boy, who was so attentive to every Story, that I am mistaken if he ventures to go to Bed by himself this Twelve-month. Indeed they talked so long, that the Imaginations of the whole Assembly were manifestly crazed, and I am sure will be the worse for it as long as they live. I heard one of the Girls, that had looked upon me over her Shoulder, asking the Com pany how long I had been in the Room, and whether I

ૐ

did

No. 12.
Wednes

1711

did not look paler than I used to do. This put me under some Apprehensions that I should be forced to explain day, March 14, my self if I did not retire; for which Reason I took the Candle in my Hand, and went up into my Chamber, not without wondering at this unaccountable Weakness in reasonable Creatures, that they should love to astonish and terrifie one another. Were I a Father, I should take a particular Care to preserve my Children from these little Horrors of Imagination, which they are apt to con tract when they are young, and are not able to shake off when they are in Years. I have known a Soldier that has entered a Breach, affrighted at his own Shadow: and look pale upon a little scratching at his Door, who the Day before had marched up against a Battery of Cannon, There are Instances of Persons, who have been terrified, even to Distraction, at the Figure of a Tree, or the shaking of a Bull-rush. The Truth of it is I look upon a sound Imagination as the greatest Blessing of Life, next to a clear Judgment and a good Conscience In the mean time, since there are very few whose Minds are not more or less subject to these dreadful Thoughts and Apprehensions, we ought to arm our selves agains them by the Dictates of Reason and Religion, to pull the old Woman out of our Hearts (as Persius expresses it in the Motto of my Paper) and extinguish those impertinent Notions which we imbibed at a Time that we were not able to judge of their Absurdity. Or if we believe, as many wise and good Men have done, that there are such Phantoms and Apparitions as those I have been speaking of, let us endeavour to establish to our selves an Interest in him who holds the Reins of the whole Creation in his Hand, and moderates them after such a Manner, that it is impossible for one Being to break loose upon another without his Knowledge and Permission,

For my own Part, I am apt to join in Opinion with those who believe that all the Regions of Nature swarm with Spirits; and that we have Multitudes of Spectators on all our Actions, when we think our selves most alone But instead of terrifying myself with such a Notion, I am wonderfully pleased to think that I am always engaged with such an innumerable Society, in searching out the

Wonders

Wonders of the Creation, and joining in the same Consort No. 12. of Praise and Adoration, Wednes

day,

Milton has finely described this mixed Communion of March 14. Men and Spirits in Paradise; and had doubtless his Eye 1711. upon a Verse in old Hesiod, which is almost Word for Word the same with his third Line in the following Passage,

Nor think, though Men were none,

That Heav'n would want Spectators, God want Praise
Millions of spiritual Creatures walk the Earth
Unseen, both when we wake and when we sleep:
All these with ceaseless Praise his Works behold
Both Day and Night. How often from the Steep
Of echoing Hill or Thicket have we heard
Celestial Voices to the midnight Air,

Sole, or responsive each to other's Note,
Singing their great Creator? Oft in Bands
While they keep Watch, or nightly rounding walk
With heav'nly Touch of instrumental Sounds,
In full harmonick Number join'd, their Songs
Divide the Night, and lift our Thoughts to Heav'n.

No. 13,
[ADDISON.]

is

Thursday, March 15,

C

Dic mihi, si fias tu leo, qualis eris?—Mart. HERE is nothing that of late Years has afforded Matter of greater Amusement to the Town than Signior Nicolini's Combat with a Lion in the Hay Market, which has been very often exhibited to the general Satisfaction of most of the Nobility and Gentry in the Kingdom of Great Britain. Upon the first Rumour of this intended Combat, it was confidently affirmed, and is still believed by many in both Galleries, that there would be a tame Lion sent from the Tower every Opera Night, in order to be killed by Hydaspes; this Report, though altogether groundless, so universally prevailed in the upper Regions of the Play-house, that some of the most refined Politicians in those Parts of the Audience gave it out in Whisper, that the Lion was a Cousin German of the Tyger who made his Appearance in King William's Days, and that the Stage would be supplied with Lions at the publick Expence, during the whole

D

Session