is his chief Good, and the most suitable to the Excellency of his Nature.

IN the third and last Place he informs him, that the beft Methods he could make use of to draw down Bleffings upon himself, and to render his Prayers acceptable, would be to live in a conftant Practice of his Duty towards the Gods, and towards Men. Under this Head he very much recommends a Form of Prayer the Lacedemonians made use of, in which they petition the Gods, to give them all good Things, fo long as they are virtuous. Under this Head likewife he gives a very remarkable Account of an Oracle to the following Purpose.

WHEN the Athenians in the War with the Lace demonians received many Defeats both by Sea and Land, they fent a Meffage to the Oracle of Jupiter Ammon, to ask the Reafon why they who erected fo many Temples to the Gods, and adorned them with fuch coftly Offerings; why they who had instituted fo many Feftivals, and accompanied them with fuch Pomps and Ceremonies; in fhort, why they who had flain fo many Hecatombs at their Altars, fhould be lefs fuccessful than the Lacedemonians, who fell fo fhort of them in all these Particulars. To this, fays he, the Oracle made the following Reply; I am better pleafed with the Prayer of the Lacedemonians, than with all the Oblations of the Greeks. As this Prayer implied and encouraged Virtue in thofe who made it; the Philofopher proceeds to fhew how the most vicious Man might be devout, fo far as Victims could make him, but that his Offerings were regarded by the Gods as Bribes, and his Petitions as Blafphemies. He likewife quotes on this Occafion two Verses out of Homer, in which the Poet fays, That the Scent of the Trojan Sacrifices was carried up to Heaven by the Winds; but that it was not acceptable to the Gods, who were displeased with Priam and all his People.

THE Conclufion of this Dialogue is very remarkable. Socrates having deterr'd Alcibiades from the Prayers and Sacrifices which he was going to offer, by, fetting

forth

forth the above-mentioned Difficulties of performing that Duty as he ought, adds thefe Words, We must therefore wait till fuch Time as we may learn how to behave our felves towards the Gods, and towards Men. But when will that time come, fays Alcibiades, and who is it that will inftru&t us? For I would fain fee this Man, whoever he is. It is one, fays Socrates, who takes Care of you; but as Homer tells us, that Minerva removed the Mift from Diomedes his Eyes, that he might plainly discover both Gods and Men; fo the Darkness that hangs upon your Mind must be removed, before you are able to difcern what is Good and what is Evil. Let him remove from my Mind, fays Alcibiades, the Darkness, and what else he pleases; I am determined to refufe nothing he fhall order me, whoever he is, fo that I may become the better Man by it. The remaining Part of this Dialogue is very obfcure: There is fomething in it that would make us think Socrates hinted at himself, when he spoke of this Divine Teacher who was to come into the World, did not he own that he himself was in this Refpect as much at a Lofs, and in as great Distress as the rest of Mankind.

SOME learned Men look upon this Conclufion as a Prediction of our Saviour, or at leaft that Socrates, like the High-Prieft, prophesied unknowingly, and pointed at that Divine Teacher who was to come into the World fome Ages after him. However that may be, we find that this great Philofopher faw, by the Light of Reason, that it was fuitable to the Goodness of the Divine Nature, to fend a Perfon into the World who fhould inftru&t Mankind in the Duties of Religion, and, in particular, teach them how to Pray.

WHOEVER reads this Abstract of Plato's Difcourfe on Prayer, will, I believe, naturally make this Reflection, That the great Founder of our Religion, as well by his own Example, as in the Form of Prayer which he taught his Difciples, did not only keep up to those Rules which the Light of Nature had fuggefted to this great Philofopher, but inftructed his Difciples in the

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whole Extent of this Duty, as well as of all others. He directed them to the proper Object of Adoration, and taught them, according to the third Rule abovementioned, to apply themselves to him in their Closets, without Show or Oftentation, and to worship him in Spirit and in Truth. As the Lacedemonians in their Form of Prayer implored the Gods in general to give them all good things fo long as they were virtuous, we ask in particular that our Offences may be forgiven, as we forgive thofe of others. If we look into the fecond Rule which Socrates has prefcribed, namely, That we should apply our felves to the Knowledge of fuch things as are beft for us, this too is explained at large in the Doctrines of the Gofpel, where we are taught in feveral Inftances to regard thofe things as Curfes, which appear as Bleffings in the Eye of the World; and on the contrary, to esteem those things as Bleffings, which to the Generality of Mankind appear as Curfes. Thus in the Form which is prefcribed to us we only pray for that Happiness which is our chief Good, and the great End of our Exiftence, when we petition the fupreme Being for the coming of his Kingdom, being follicitous for no other temporal Blesfing but our daily Suftenance. On the other fide, We pray against nothing but Sin, and against Evil in general, leaving it with Omniscience to determine what is really fuch. If we look into the first of Socrates his Rules of Prayer, in which he recommends the above-mentioned Form of the antient Poet, we find that Form not only comprehended, but very much improved in the Petition, wherein we pray to the Supreme Being that his Will may be done which is of the fame Force with that Form which our Saviour used, when he pray'd against the most painful and moft ignominious of Deaths, Nevertheless not my Will, but thine be done. This comprehensive Petition is the most humble, as well as the moft prudent, that can be offered up from the Creature to his Creator, as it fuppofes the Supreme Being wills nothing but what is for our Good, and that he knows better than our felves what is fo.

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Monday,

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Monday, October 29.

Haye feveral Letters from People of good Senfe, who lament the Depravity or Poverty of Tafte the Town is fallen into with relation to Plays and publick SpeEtacles. A Lady in particular observes, that there is fuch a Levity in the Minds of her own Sex, that they seldom attend any thing but Impertinences. It is indeed prodigious to obferve how little Notice is taken of the most exalted Parts of the best Tragedies in Shakespear; nay, it is not only visible that Senfuality has devoured all Greatnefs of Soul, but the under Paffion (as I may fo call it) of a noble Spirit, Pity, feems to be a Stranger to the Generality of an Audience. The Minds of Men are indeed very differently difpofed; and the Reliefs from Care and Attention are of one Sort in a great Spirit, and of another in an ordinary one. The Man of a great Heart and a ferious Complexion, is more pleased with Inftances of Generofity and Pity, than the light and ludicrous Spiritcan poffibly be with the highest Strains of Mirth and Laughter: It is therefore a melancholy Profpect when we fee a numerous Affembly loft to all ferious Entertainments, and fuch Incidents as should move quite contrary one Sort of Concern, excite in them one. In the Tragedy of Macbeth the other Night, when the Lady who is confcious of the Crime of murdering the King, feems utterly aftonifhed at the News,' and makes an Exclamation at it; instead of the Indignation which is natural to the Occafion, that Expreffion is received with a loud Laugh: They were as merry when a Criminal was ftabbed. It is certainly an Occafion of rejoycing when the Wicked are feized in

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their Defigns; but, I think, it is not fuch a Triumph as is exerted by Laughter.

YOU may generally obferve, that the Appetites are fooner moved than the Paffions: A fly Expreffion which alludes to Bawdry, puts a whole Row into a pleasing Smirk; when a good Sentence that defcribes an inward Sentiment of the Soul, is received with the greatest Coldnefs and Indifference. A Correfpondent of mine, upon this Subject, has divided the Female Part of the Audience, and accounts for their Prepoffeffion against this reafonable Delight in the following Manner. The Prude, fays he, as the acts always in Contradiction, fo fhe is gravely fullen at a Comedy, and extravagantly gay at a Tragedy. The Coquet is fo much taken up with throwing her Eyes around the Audience, and confidering the Effect of them, that the cannot be expected to obferve the Actors but as they are her Rivals, and take off the Obfervation of the Men from her felf. Befides these Species of Women, there are the Examples, or the first of the Mode: These are to be fuppofed too well acquainted with what the Actor is going to fay to be moved at it. After thefe one might mention a certain flippant Set of Females who are Mimicks, and are wonderfully diverted with the Conduct of all the People around them, and are Spectators only of the Audience. But what is of all the most to be lamented, is, the Lofs of a Party whom it would be worth preferving in their right Senfes upon all Occafions, and thefe are thofe whom we may indifferently call the Innocent or the Unaffected. You may fometimes fee one of these fenfibly touched with a well wrought Incident; but then fhe is immediately fo impertinently obferved by the Men, and frowned at by fome fenfible Superior of her own Sex, that she is afhamed, and lofes the Enjoyment of the moft laudable Concern, Pity. Thus the whole Audience is afraid of letting fall a Tear, and fhun as a Weakness the best and worthieft Part of our Senfe,

SIR