fay at prefent is, that I find my good Soul, encourag'd by your Prefence, has got the better of my bad.

I know not whether my Readers will allow of this piece of Philofophy; but if they will not, they must confefs we meet with as different Paffions in one and the fame Soul, as can be fuppofed in two. We can hardly read the Life of a great Man who lived in former Ages, or converse with any who is eminent among our Contemporaries, that is not an Inftance of what I am faying.

BUT as I have hitherto only argued against the Partiality and Injustice of giving our Judgment upon Men in grofs, who are fuch a Compofition of Virtues and Vices, of Good and Evil; I might carry this Reflection ftill farther, and make it extend to most of their Actions. If on the one hand we fairly weighed every Circumftance, we should frequently find them obliged to do that Action we at firft fight condemn, in order to avoid another we fhould have been much more displeased with. If on the other hand we nicely examined fuch Actions as appear more dazling to the Eye, we fhould find moft of them either defi

cient and lame in feveral Parts, produced by a bad Ambition, or directed to an ill End. The very fame Action may fometimes be fo oddly circumstanced, that it is difficult to determine whether it ought to be rewarded or punished. Those who compiled the Laws of England were fo fenfible of this, that they have laid it down as one of their first Maxims, It is better fuffering a Mischief than an Inconvenience, which is as much as to fay in other Words, That fince no Law can take in or provide for all Cafes, it is better private Men should have fome Injustice done them, than that a publick Grievance fhould not be redreffed. This is ufually pleaded in defence of all thofe Hardships which fall on particular Perfons in particular Occafions, which could not be forefeen when a Law was made. To remedy this however as much as poffible, the Court of Chancery was erected, which frequently mitigates and breaks the Teeth of the Common Law, in case of Men's Properties, while in criminal Cafes there is a Power of pardoning ftill lodged in the Crown.

NOTWITHSTANDING this, it is perhaps impoffible in a large Go

vernment to diftribute Rewards and Punishments strictly proportion'd to the Merits of every Action. The Spartan Common-wealth was indeed wonderfully exact in this Particular; and I do not remember in all my Reading to have met with so nice an Example of Juftice as that recorded by Plutarch, with which I fhall clofe my Paper for this Day.

THE City of Sparta being unexpectedly attacked by a powerful Army of Thebans, was in very great danger of falling into the Hands of their Enemies. The Citizens fuddenly gathering themselves into a Body, fought with a Refolution equal to the Neceffity of their Affairs, yet no one fo remarkably diftinguished himself on this Occafion, to the Amazement of both Armies, as Ifadas the Son of Phebidas, who was at that time in the bloom of his Youth, and very remarkable for the Comeliness of his Perfon. He was coming out of the Bath when the Alarm was given, fo that he had not time to put on his Cloaths, much less his Armour; however transported with a Defire to serve his Country in fo great an Exigency, fnatching up a Spear in one Hand, and

a

a Sword in the other, he flung himself into the thickest Ranks of his Enemies. Nothing could withstand his Fury: In what Part foever he fought he put the Enemies to flight without receiving a fingle Wound. Whether, fays Plutarch, he was the particular Care of fome God, who rewarded his Valour that Day with an extraordinary Prote&tion, or, that his Enemies, ftruck with the Unufualnefs of his Drefs and Beauty of his Shape, fuppofed him fomething more than Man, I fhall not de

termine.

THE Gallantry of this Action was judged fo great by the Spartans, that the Ephori, or chief Magiftrates, decreed he should be prefented witha Garland; but as foon as they had done fo, fined him a thoufand Drachmas, for going out to the Battle unarmed.

-Deum namque ire per omnes

Terrasque, tractusque maris, cœlumque profun

dum.

I

Virg.

I at

Was Yesterday about Sunfet walking in the open Fields 'till the Night infenfibly fell upon me. firft amufed my self with all the Richness and Variety of Colours, which appeared in the Western Parts of Heaven: In Proportion as they faded away and went out, feveral Stars and Planets appeared one after another, 'till the whole Firmament was in a Glow. The Blueness of the Ether was exceedingly heightened and enlivened by the Seafon of the Year, and by the Rays of all thofe Luminaries that paffed through it. The Galaxy appeared in its most beautiful White. To compleat the Scene, the full Moon rofe at length in that clouded Majefty, which Milton takes Notice of, and opened to

the