depend upon the imagination: of which truth those strange workings of fancy in fleep are no inconfiderable inftances; fo that not only the advantage a man has of making difcoveries of himself, but a regard to his own ease or difquiet, may induce him to accept of my advice. Such as are willing to comply with it, I fhall put in a way of doing it with pleasure, by observing only one maxim which I fhall give them, viz. To go to bed with a mind entirely free from paffion, and a body clear of the leaft intemperance. They indeed who can fink into fleep with their thoughts lefs calm or innocent than they should be, do but plunge themselves into scenes of guilt and mifery, or they who are willing to purchase any midnight difquietudes for the fatisfaction of a full meal, or a fkinful of wine; these I have nothing to say to, as not knowing how to invite them to • reflections full of shame and horror: but those that ⚫ will obferve this rule, I promise them they fhall • awake into health and cheerfulness, and be capable of recounting with delight thofe glorious moments, wherein the mind has been indulging itself in fuch luxury of thought, fuch noble hurry of imagina• tion. Suppofe a man's going fupperless to bed fhould introduce him to the table of fome great · prince or other, where he fhall be entertained with • the nobleft marks of honour and plenty, and do fo • much business after, that he fhall rife with as good " a ftomach to his breakfast as if he had fafted all night long; or fuppofe he fhould fee his dearest friends remain all night in great diftreffes, which he could inftantly have difengaged them from, could he have been content to have gone to bed without the other bottle? Believe me, thefe effects of fancy are no contemptible confequences of • commanding or indulging one's appetite. I forbear recommending my advice upon many • other other accounts until I hear how you and your • readers relifh what I have already faid; among whom if there be any that may pretend it is useless to them, because they never dream at all, there " may be others, perhaps, who do little elfe all day ⚫ long. Were every one as fenfible as I am of what happens to him in his fleep, it would be no dispute whether we pass so confiderable a portion of our time in the condition of stocks and ftones, or whether the foul were not perpetually at work upon the principle of thought. However, it is an honeft • endeavour of mine to perfuade my countrymen to reap fome advantage from fo many unregarded hours, and as fuch you will encourage it. I fhall conclude with giving you a sketch or two of my way of proceeding. If I have any bufinefs of confequence to do tomorrow, I am scarce dropt afleep to-night but I am in the midft of it, and when awake I confider the whole proceflion of the affair, and get the advan· tage of the next day's experience before the fun has rifen upon it. There is fcarce a great poft but what I have fome ⚫ time or other been in; but my behaviour while I was master of a college, pleafes me fo well, that • whenever there is a province of that nature vacant, I intend to ftep in as foon as I can. I have done many things that would not pafs examination, when I have had the art of flying or be⚫ing invisible; for which reafon I am glad I am not • poffeffed of those extraordinary qualities. Laftly, Mr. SPECTATOR, I have been a great correfpondent of yours, and have read many of which I never wrote you. letters in your paper my If you have a mind I fhould really be fo, I have got a parcel of vifions, and other mifcellanies, in my noctuary, which I shall send you to enrich your paper with on proper occafions. I am, &c. JOHN SHADOW.' Oxford, Aug. 20. / VOL. VIII. No. 587. MONDAY, AUGUST 30. -Intus, et in cute novi. PERS. Sat. iii. ver. 30. I know thee to thy bottom; from within DRYDEN. THOUGH author an apt to think it may HOUGH the author of the following vifion is unknown to me, I am apt to think it may be the work of that ingenious gentleman, who promifed me, in the laft paper, fome extracts out of his noctuary. SIR, I was the other day reading the life of Mahomet. Among many other extravagancies, I find it recorded of that impoftor, that in the fourth year of his age the angel Gabriel caught him up while he was among his play-fellows, and carrying him afide, cut open his breaft, plucked out his heart, and wrung out of it that black drop of blood, in which, fay the Turkish divines, is contained the • Fomes Peccati, fo that he was free from sin ever after. I immediately faid to myfelf, though this • story be a fiction, a very good moral may be drawn from it, would every man but apply it to himself, • and endeavour to squeeze out of his heart whatever fins or ill qualities he finds in it. While my mind was wholly taken up with this contemplation, I infenfibly fell into a most pleasing umber, when methought two porters entered my chamber, carrying a large cheft between them. • After ་ After having fet it down in the middle of the room they departed. I immediately endeavoured to open what was fent me, when a fhape, like that in which we paint our angels, appeared before me, and forbade me. Inclofed, faid he, are the hearts of feveral of your friends and acquaintance; but before you can be qualified to fee and animadvert on the failings of others, you must be pure your felf; whereupon he drew out his incifion-knife, cut me open, took out my heart, and began to fqueeze it. I was in a great confufion, to fee how many things, which I had always cherished as virtues, iffued out of my heart on this occafion. In short, after it had been thoroughly fqueezed, it looked like an empty bladder, when the phantom, breathing a fresh particle of divine air into it, reflored it fafe to its former repofitory; and, having fewed me up, we began to examine the cheft. The hearts were all inclofed in tranfparent phials, • and preserved in a liquor which looked like fpirits of wine. The first which I caft my eye upon I was afraid would have broke the glafs which contained it. It fhot up and down with incredible fwiftnefs, through the liquor in which it swam, and very frequently bounced against the fide of the phial. The Fomes, or fpot in the middle of it was not large, but of a fiery red colour, and feemed to be the caufe of thefe violent agitations. That, fays my • inftructor, is the heart of Tom Dread-nought, who • behaved himself well in the late wars, but has, for thefe ten years laft paft, been aiming at fome • post of honour to no purpose. He is lately retir⚫ed into the country, where, quite choked up with fpleen and choler, he rails at better men than him• felf, and will be for ever uneafy, because it is impoffible he fhould think his merit fufficiently re warded. The next heart that I examined was remarkable for its fallness; it lay ftill at the bottom of the phial, and I could hardly perceive that 6 ་ it beat at all. The Fomes was quite black, and bad almost diffused itself over the whole heart. This, fays my interpreter, is the heart of Dick Gloomy, who never thirsted after any thing but money. Notwithstanding all his endeavours, he is fill poor. This has flung him into a moft deplorable state of melancholy and defpair. He is a compofition of envy and idlenefs, hates mankind, but gives them their revenge by being more uneasy to himself than to any one else. The phial I looked upon next contained a large fair heart, which beat very ftrongly. The Fomes or fpot in it was exceedingly fmall, but I could not help obferving, that which way foever I turned the phial it always appeared uppermoft, and in the ftrongest point of light. The heart you are examining, fays my companion, belongs to Will Worthy. He has indeed a most noble foul, and is poffeffed of a thoufand good qualities. The speck which you difcover is Vanity. Here, fays the angel, is the heart of Freelove, your intimate friend. Freelove and I, said I, are at present very cold to one another, and I do not care for looking on the heart of a man, which I fear is overcaft with rancour. My teacher commanded " me to look upon it; I did fo, and, to my unfpeakable furprife, found that a fmall fwelling spot, which I at first took to be ill-will towards me, was only paffion, and that, upon my nearer inspection, it wholly disappeared; upon which the phantom • told me, Freelove was one of the best-natured men • alive. This, fays my teacher, is a female heart of your acquaintance. I found the Fomes in it of the largest fize, and of an hundred different colours, which were ftill varying every moment. Upon my afking to whom it belonged, I was informed that it was the heart of Cequetilla. I fet it down and drew out another, in which I ⚫ took |