to her. It is indeed the most difficult mastery over ourselves we can poffibly attain, to resist the grief of her who charms us; but let the heart ake: be the anguish never fo quick and painful, it is what must be fuffered and passed through, if you think to live like a gentleman, or be confcious to yourself that you are a man of honefty. The old argument, that "you do not "love me if you deny me this," which firft was ufed to obtain a trifle, by habitual fuccefs will oblige the unhappy man who gives way to it, to refign the caufe even of his country and his honour. T • Dear Spec. INDING that my last letter took, I do Fintend to continue my epiftolary corref What I would recommend to thee on this 'occafion is, to establish fuch an imaginary fair in Great Britain: thou couldst make it very 'pleafant, by matching women of quality with coblers and carmen, or defcribing titles and garters leading off in great ceremony shopkeeper's and farmers daughters. Though to tell thee the truth, I am confoundedly afraid that as the love of money prevails in our island more than it did in Perfia, we fhould find that 'fome of our greatest men would choose out the portions, and rival one another for the richeft piece of deformity; and that on the 'contrary, the toafts and belles would be bought up by extravagant heirs, gamesters and spendthrifts. Thou couldft make very pretty re'flexions upon this occafion in honour of the "Perfian politics, who took care, by fuch mar riages, to beautify the upper part of the species, and to make the greatest perfons in the government the most graceful. But this I shall leave to thy judicious pen. I have another story to tell thee, which I likewife met with in a book. It seems the < general of the Tartars, after having laid fiege to a strong town in China, and taken it by 'ftorm, would fet to fale all the women that were found in it. Accordingly, he put each of them into a fack, and after having thoroughly confidered the value of the woman 'who was inclofed, marked the price that was ' demanded for her upon the fack. There were a great confluence of chapmen, that resorted from every part, with a defign to purchase, which they were to do unfight unfeen. The pondence with thee, on thofe dear confounded creatures, women. Thou knoweft, all the little learning I am master of is upon that fubject; I never looked in a book, but for their fakes. I have lately met with two pure ftories for a Spectator, which I am fure wili please mightily, if they pafs through thy hands. The firft of them I found by chance in an English book, called Herodotus, that lay in my friend Dapperwit's window, as I vifited him one morn-book mentions a merchant in particular, who ing. It luckily opened in the place where I met with the following account. He tells us that it was the manner among the Perfians to have feveral fairs in the kingdom, at which all the young unmarried women were anually ex6 pofed to fale. The men who wanted wives came hither to provide themselves; every woman was given to the highest bidder, and the money which the fetched laid afide for the · public ufe, to be employed as thou shalt hear by and by. By this means the richest people had the choice of the market, and culled out all the most extraordinary beauties. As foon " as the fair was thus picked, the refufe was to be diftributed among the poor, and among those who could not go to the price of a beauty. Several of thefe married the agreeables, without paying a farthing for them, unless fomebody chanced to think it worth his while to bid for them, in which cafe the beft bidder was always the purchafer. But now you must know, Spec, it happened in Perfia as it does in our own country, that there were as many ugly 'women as beauties or agreeables; ' obferving one of the facks to be marked pretty high, bargained for it, and carried it off with him to his houfe. As he was refting with it upon a halfway bridge, he was refolved to take a furvey of his purchafe: upon opening the fack, a little old woman popped her head 'out of it; at which the adventurer was in fo great a rage, that he was going to fhoot her out into the river. The old lady, however, begged him firft of all to hear her ftory, by which he learned that he was fifter to a great Mandarin, who would infallibly make the fortune of his brother-in-law as foon as he should 'know to whofe lot the fell. Upon which the merchant again tied her up in his fack, and 'carried her to his houfe, where the proved an excellent wife, and procured him all the riches from her brother that he had promifed him. I fancy, if I was difpofed to dream a fecond time, I could make a tolerable vifion upon this plan. I would fuppofe all the unmarried wo men in London and Westminster brought to market in facks with their refpective prices on each fack. The firft fack that is fold is mar opening of it, I find it filled with an admira ble houfe-wife, of an agreeable countenance. The purchafer, upon hearing her good quali ties, pays down her price very chearfully. The fecond I would open, fhould be a five hundred fo that by confequence, after the magiftratesked with five thousand pounds: upon the had put off a great many, there were ftill a < great many that ftuck upon their hands. In order therefore to clear the market, the money which the beauties had fold for, was difpofed of among the ugly; fo that a poor man, who could not afford to have a beauty for his wife,pound fack: the lady in it, to our furprize, was forced to take up with a fortune; the greateft portion being always given to the most deformed. To this the author adds, that every poor man was forced to live kindly with his wife, or in cafe he repented of his bargain, to return her portion with her to the next public fale. has the face and perfon of a toaft: as we are ' wondering how he came to be fet at fo low a price, we hear that she would have been valued at ten thousand pounds, but that the public had made thofe abatements for her being a fcold, I would afterwards find fome beauti ful ful, modeft, and difcreet woman, that fhould be the top of the market: and perhaps difcover ⚫ half a dozen romps tied up together in the fame fack, at one hundred pounds an head. The ⚫ prude and the coquette fhould be valued at the fame price, though the first should go off the • better of the two. I fancy thou wouldst like • fuch a vifion, had I time to finish it; because, to talk in thy own way, there is a moral in it. "Whatever thou mayeft think of it, pr'ythee do ⚫ not make any of thy queer apologies for this letter, as thou didft for my last. The women love a gay lively fellow, and are never angry at ⚫ the railleries of one who is their known admirer. I am always bitter upon them, but well with ⚫ them. Thine, .HONEYCOMB.' No 512. FRIDAY, OCOBER 17. that gives her an idea of her own perfections and This oblique manner of giving advice is fo inoffenfive, that if we look into ancient hiftories, we find the wife men of old very often chofe to give counsel to their kings in fables. To omit HOR. Ars Poet, ver. 344. many which will occur to every one's memory, Lectorem delectando, pariterque monendo. Mixing together profit and delight. T HERE is nothing which we receive with fo much reluctance as advice. We look upon the man who gives it us as offering an affront to our understanding, and treating us like children or idiots. We confider the inftruction as an implicit cenfure, and the zeal which any one shews for our good on fuch an occafion as a piece of prefumption or impertinence. The truth of it is, the perfon who pretends to advife, does, in that particular, exercife a fuperiority over us, and can have no other reason for it, but that in comparing us with himself, he thinks us defective either in our conduct or our understanding. For thefe reafons, there is nothing fo difficult as the art of making advice agreeable; and indeed all the writers, both ancient and modern, have diftinguished themselves among one another, according to the perfection at which they have arrived in this art. How many devices have been made ufe of, to render this bitter potion palatable? Some convey their inftructions to us in the best chofen words, others in the most harmonious numbers, fome in points of wit, and others in fhort proverbs. But among all the different ways of giving counfel, I think the finest, and that which pleafes the most universally, is Fable, in whatsoever shape it appears. If we confider this way of inftructing or giving advice, it excels all others, because it is the leaft fhocking, and the leaft fubject to those exceptions which I have before mentioned. This will appear to us, if we reflect in the first place, that upon the reading of a fable we are made to believe we advife ourselves. We peruse the author for the fake of the ftory, and confider the precepts rather as our own conclufions than his inftructions. The moral infinuates itself imperceptibly, we are taught by surprize, and become wifer and better unawares. In short, by this method a man is fo far over-reached as to think he is directing himfelf, while he is following the dictates of another, and confequently is not fenfible of that which is the most unpleafing circum ftance in advice. In the next place, if we look into human nature, we shall find that the mind is never so much pleafed, as when the exerts herself in any action there is a pretty inftance of this nature in a Turkish tale, which I do not like the worfe for that little oriental extravagance which is mixed with it. We are told that the Sultan Mahmoud, by his perpetual wars abroad, and his tyranny at home, had filled his dominions with ruin and defolation, and half unpeopled the Perfian empire. The Vifier to this great Sultan (whether an humourist or an enthusiast, we are not informed) pretended to have learned of a certain Dervice to understand the language of birds, fo that there was not a bird that could open his mouth, but the Vifier knew what it was he faid. As he was one evening with the Emperor, in their return from hunting, they faw a couple of owls upon a tree that grew near an old wall out of an heap of rubbish. "I would "fain know," fays the Sultan," what those two "owls are faying to one another; liften to their "difcourfe and give me an account of it." The Vifier approached the tree, pretending to be very attentive to the two owls. Upon his return to the Sultan, Sir, fays he, "I have heard part of "their converfation, but dare not tell you what "it is." The Sultan would not be satisfied with fuch an answer, but forced him to repeat word for word every thing the owls had faid. You must "know then," faid the Vifier, "that one of thefe owls has a fon, and the other a daughter, << between whom they are now upon a treaty of "marriage. The father of the fon faid to the "father of the daughter, in my hearing, brother, "I confent to this marriage, provided you will "fettle upon your daughter fifty ruined villages "for her portion. To which the father of the "daughter replied, instead of fifty I will give her five hundred, if you pleafe. God grant a long "life to Sultan Mahmoud; whilst he reigns over « us, we shall never want ruined villages.' The story says, the Sultan was fo touched with the fable, that he rebuilt the towns and villages which had been destroyed, and from that time forward confulted the good of his people. To fill up my paper, I shall add a most ridiculous piece of natural magic, which was taught by no lefs a philofopher than Democritus, namely, that if the blood of certain birds, which he mentioned, wers mixed together, it would produce a ferpent of fuch a wonderful virtue, that whoever did eat it should be skilled in the language of birds, and Ни understand SIR, THE HE indifpofition which has long hung upon me, is at laft grown to fuch a head, that it muft quickly make an end of me, or of itfelf. You may imagine, that whilst I am in this bad ftate of health, there are none of your works which I read with greater pleasure than your Saturdays papers. I fhould be very glad if I could furnish you with any hints for that day's entertainment. Were I able to drefs up feveral thoughts of a ferious nature, which have made great impreffions on my mind during a long fit of fickness, they might not be improper entertainment for that occafion. "into the next for while our fouls are con"fined to these bodies, and can look only through thefe material cafements, nothing but what "is material can affect us; nay, nothing but what is fo grofs, that it can reflect light and "convey the shapes and colours of things with "it to the eye: fo that though within this vifible "world, there be a more glorious fcene of things Among all the reflexions which usually rife in the mind of a fick man, who has time and inclination to confider his approaching end, there is none more natural than that of his going to appear naked and unbodied before him who made him. When a man confiders, that as foon as the vital union is diffolved, he thall fee that Supreme Being, whom he now contemplates at a diftance, and only in his works; or, to speak more philofophically, when by fome faculty in the foul he fhall apprehend the Divine Being, and be more fenfible of his prefence, than we are now of the prefence of any object which the eye beholds, a man must be loft in careleffuefs and ftupidity, who is not alarmed at fuch a thought. Dr. Sherlock, in his excellent Treatife upon Death, has reprefented, in very strong and lively colours, the ftate of the foul in its firft feparation from the body, with regard to that invifible world which every where furrounds us, though we are not able to difcover it through this groffer world of matter, which is accommodated to our fenfes in this life. His words are as follow: than what appears to us, we perceive nothing "at all of it; for this veil of flesh parts the * vifible and invifible world; but when we put "off thefe bodies, there are new and furprifing "wonders prefent themselves to our views: when "thefe material fpectacles are taken off, the foul, "with its own naked eyes, fees what was in"vifible before: and then we are in the other world, when we can fee it, and converse with it: thus St. Paul tells us, that when we are "at home in the body, we are abfent from the "Lord, but when we are abfent from the body, we "That death, which is our leaving this world, is nothing elfe but our putting off thefe bodies, teaches us, that it is only our union to thefe bodies, which intercepts the fight of the other world: the other world is not at fuch a distance from from us as we may imagine; the throne of God indeed is at a great remove from this earth, "above the third heavens, where he difplays his glory to thofe blefed fpirits which encompafs his throne; but as foon as we ftep our of these bodies, we ftep into the other world, which is not fo properly another world, (for there is. **the fame heaven and earth ftill) as a new state of life! To live in thefe bodies is to live in <this world; to live out of them is to remove are prefent with the Lord, 2 Cor. v. 6, 8. And "methinks this is enough to cure us of our fondnefs for these bodies, unless we think it more de"firable to be confined to a prifon, and to look "through a grate all our lives, which gives us but neither, than to be fet at liberty to view all the "a very narrow profpect, and that none of the best glories of the world. What would we give now for the leaft glimpse of that invifible world, which "the first step we take out of thefe bodies will "prefent us with? There are fuch things as eye "hath not feen, nor ear heard, neither hath it "entered into the heart of man to conceive: « Death opens our eyes, enlarges our profpect, "prefents us with a new and more glorious world, "which we never can fee while we are shut up " in flesh; which should make us as willing to part with this veil, as to take the film off of our eyes, which hinders our fight." affected with the idea of his appearing in the As a thinking man cannot but be very much prefence of that Being "whom none can fee and "live" he must be much more affected when he confiders that this Being whom he appears before, 'will examine all the actions of his paft life, and reward or punish him accordingly. I must confefs that I think there is no fcheme of religion, • befides that of Christianity, which can poffibly fupport the most virtuous perfon under this thought. Let a man's innocence be what it will, let his virtues rife to the highest pitch of perfection attainable in this life, there will be ftill in him fo many fecret fins, fo many human frailties, fo many offences of ignorance, paffion and prejudice, fo many unguarded words and thoughts, and in short, fo many defects in his best actions, that, without the advantages of fuch an expiation and atonement as Chriftianity has revealed to us, it is impoffible that he should be cleared before his fovereign judge, or that he fhould be able to ftand in his fight." Our holy religion fuggefts to us the only means whereby our guilt may be taken away, and our imperfect obedience accepted. It is this feries of thought that I have endeavoured to exprefs in the following hymn, which I have compofed during this my fickness. II. If yet while pardon may be found, And mercy may be fought, My heart with inward horror fhrinks, And trembles at the thought; III. When thou, O Lord, fhall stand difclos'd In majefty fevere, And fit in judgment on my foul, O how fhall I appear! IV. But thou haft told the troubled mind, V. Then fee the forrow of my heart, Ere yet it be too late; And hear my Saviour's dying groans, To give thofe forrows weight. VI. For never fhall my foul despair Her pardon to procure, Who knows thine only Son has dy'd To make her pardon fure. There is a noble hymn in French, which Monfieur Bayle has celebrated for a very fine "one," and which the famous author of the Art "of Speaking calls an admirable one," that turns upon a thought of the fame nature. If I could have done it juftice in English, I would have fent it to you tranflated; it was written by Monfieur Des Barreaux, who had been one of the greatest wits and libertines in France, but in his last years was as remarkable a penitent.' GRAND Dieu, tes jugemens font remplis d'equité; Toujours tu prens plaifer à nous étre propice. Mais j'ai tant fait de mal, que jamais ta bonté Ne me pardonnera, fans choquer ta juftice. Oui, mon Dieu, la grandeur de mon impieté Ne laiffe à ton pouvoir que le choix du fupplice: Ton intereft s'oppose à ma felicité : Et ta clemence même attend que je periffe. Contente ton defir, puis qu'ilt'eft glorieux; Offenfe toy des pleurs qui coulent de mes yeux; Tonne, frappe, il eft tems, rens moi guerre pour guerre ; J'adore en periffant la raifen qui t' aigrit. Mais deffus quel endroit tombera ton tonnere, Qui ne foit tout couvert du fang de Jesus Christ? If these thoughts may be ferviceable to you, I defire you would place them in a proper light, ❝ and am ever with great fincerity, • Sir, Your's, &c.'. N° 514. MONDAY, OCT. 20. -Me Parnali deferta per ardua dulcis Raptat amor juvat ire jugs quà nulla prior um Caftaliam molli divertitur orbita clivo. VIRG. Georg. 3. ver. 291. But the commanding. mufe my chariot guides, Which o'er the dubious cliff fecurely rides : And pleas'd I am no beaten road to take, But first the way to new discov'ries make. • Mr. Speater, Dryden. thould be more difpofed to reft. He is the author whom I always choose on such occafions, no one writing in fo divine, fo harmonious, nor fo equal a ftrain, which leaves the mind 'compofed and foftened into an agreeable melancholy; the temper, in which, of all others, 'I choose to clofe the day. The paffages I turned to were thofe beautiful raptures in his Georgics, where he profeffes himself intirely given up to the mufes, and fmit with the love of poetry, paffionately wishing to be tranfported to the cool fhades and retirements of the mountain Hamus. I clofed the book and went to bed. What I had just before been reading made fo ftrong an impreffion on my mind, that fancy feemed almost to fulfil to me the wish of Virgil, in presenting to me the following vifion, Came home a little later than ufual the other night, and not finding myself inclined to fleep, I took up Virgil to divert me until Į Methought I was on a fudden placed in the plains of Boeotia, where at the end of the ho⚫rizon I saw the mountain Parnaffus rifing be'fore me. The profpect was fo large an extent, that I had long wandered about to find a path which fhould directly lead me to it, ' had I not seen at fome diftance a grove of trees which in a plain that had nothing else remark'able enough in it to fix my fight, immediately determined me to go thither. When I arrived at it, I found it parted out into a great 'number of walks and alleys, which often widened into beautiful openings, as circles or ovals, fet round with yews and cypresses, ' with niches, grottoes, and caves placed on the 'fides, encompaffed with ivy. There was no found to be heard in the whole place, but only that of a gentle breeze paffing over the leaves of the foreft; every thing befide was buried in a profound filence. I was captivated with the beauty and retirement of the place, and never fo much, before that hour, 'was pleased with the enjoyment of myself. I indulged the humour, and fuffered myself to wander without choice or defign. At length at the end of a range of trees, I saw three 'figures feated on a bank of mofs, with a filent brook creeping at their feet. I adored them as the tutelar divinities of the place, and itood 'ftill to take a particular view of each of them. The middlemoft, whofe name was Solitude, fat with her arms across each other, and feemed rather penfive and wholly taken up with her own thoughts, than any ways grieved or difpleafed. The only companions which the admitted into that retirement, was the 'goddess Silence, who fat on her right hand with her finger on her mouth, and on her 'left Contemplation, with her eyes fixed upon the heavens. Before her lay a celeftial globe, 'with several schemes of mathematical theorems. She prevented my speech with the greatest af fability in the world. Fear not, faid fhe, I know your request before you speak it; you would be led to the mountain of the muses; the only way to it lies through this place, and no one is fo often employed in conducting 'perfons thither as myfelf. When she had thus fpoken, fhe rofe from her feat, and I imme diately placed myfelf under her direction; but whilft I paffed through the grove, I could not help enquiring of her who were the perfons admitted into that fweet retirement. Surely, faid I, there can nothing enter here but virtue and virtuous thoughts; the whole H h 2 • woed wood feents defigned for the reception and reward of fuch perfons as have spent their lives according to the dictates of their confcience and the commands of the gods. You imagine right, faid fhe; affure yourself this place was at first defigned for no other: fuch it continued to be in the reign of Saturn, when none entered here but holy priests, deliverers of their country from oppreffion and tyranny, who repofed themfelves here after their labours, and thofe whom the study and love of wisdom had fitted for divine converfa ⚫tion. But now it is become no lefs dangerous than it was before defirable: vice has learned fo to mimic virtue, that it often creeps in hither under its difguife. See there! juft before you, Revenge ftalking by, habited in the robe of Honour. Obferve not far from him Ambition ftanding alone; if you ask him his name, he will tell you it is Emulation or Glory. But the most frequent intruder we have is Luft, who fucceeds now the Deity to whom in better days this grove was entirely devoted. Virtuous Love, with Hymen, and the graces attending him, once reigned in this happy place; a whole train of virtues waited on him, and no difhonourable thought durft prefume for admittance: but now, how is the whole profpect changed! and how feldom renewed by fome few who dare defpife fordid wealth, and imagine themselves fit companions for fo charming a divinity! The Goddes had no fooner faid thus, but we were arrived at the utmost boundaries of the wood, which lay contiguous to a plain that ended at the foot of the mountain. Here II kept clofe to my guide, being folicited by feveral phantoms, who affured me they would fhew me a nearer way to the mountain of the mufes. Among the reft vanity was extremely importunate, having deluded infinite f numbers, whom I faw wandering at the foot of a hill. I turned away from this defpicable troop with difdain, and addreffing myself to my guide, told her, that as I had fome ! hopes fhould be able to reach up part of the afcent, fo I defpaired of having strength enough to attain the plain on the top. But f being informed by her that it was impoffible to ftand upon the fides, and that if I did not proceed onwards, I fhould irrevocably fall down to the loweft verge, I refolved to hazard any • labour and hardship in the attempt: fo great a defire had I of enjoying the fatisfaction I hoped to meet with at the end of my enter• prize! There were two paths, which led up by dif⚫ferent ways to the fummit of the mountain; the one was guarded by the Genius which prefides over the moment of our births. He had it in charge to examine the feveral pretenfions of those who defired to pafs that way, but to admit none excepting those only on whom Melpomene had looked with a propitious eye at the hour of their nativity. The other way was guarded by Diligence, to whom many of thofe perfons applied who had met with a denial the other way; but he was fo tedious in granting their requeft, and indeed after admittance the way was fo very intricate · and laborious, that many, after they had made < fome progrefs, chofe rather to return back than proceed, and very few perfifted fo long as to <arrive at the end they propofed. Befides thefe two paths, which at length severally led to the top of the mountain, there was a third made up of these two, which a little after the entrance joined in one. This carried those happy few, whofe good fortune it was to find it, di<rectly to the throne of Apollo. I do not know whether I fhould even now have had the refolution to have demanded entrance at either of thefe doors, had I not feen a peasant-like man (followed by a numerous and lovely train of youths of both fexes) infift upon entrance for all whom he led up. He put me in mind of the country clown who is painted in the map for leading Prince Eugene over the Alps. He had a bundle of papers in his hand, and producing feveral which, he said, were given to him by hands which he knew Apollo would allow as paffes; among which, methought I faw fome of my own writing. The whole affembly was admitted, and gave, by their prefence, a new beauty and pleasure to these happy manfions. I found the man did not pretend to enter himself, but ferved as a kind of forefter in the lawns to direct paffengers, who by their own merit, or instructions he pro'cured for them, had virtue enough to travel that way. I looked very attentively upon this kind homely benefactor, and forgive me, Mr. Spectator, if I own to you I took him for yourfelf. We were no fooner entered, but we · were sprinkled three times with the water of the fountain of Aganippe, which had power to deliver us from all harms, but only envy, which reacheth even to the end of our journey. We had not proceeded far in the middle path when we arrived at the fummit of the hill, where there immediately appeared to us two figures, which extremely engaged my attention; the one was a young nymph in the prime of her youth and beauty; fhe had wings on her fhoulders and feet, and was able to 'tranfport herfelf to the most diftant regions in the fmallest space of time. She was continually varying her drefs, fometimes into the most 'natural and becoming habits in the world, and at others into the most wild and freakish garb that 'can be imagined. There stood by her a man full aged and of great gravity, who corrected her inconfiftencies by fhewing them in this mirrour, and ftill flung her affected and unbecoming ornaments down the mountain, which fell in the plain below, and were gathered up and wore with great fatisfaction by thofe that inhabited it. The name of this nymph was Fancy, the daughter of Liberty, the most beautiful of all the mountain nymphs. The other was Judgment, the offspring of Time, and the only child he acknowledged to be his. A youth, who fat upon a throne juft between them, was their genuine offspring; his name was Wit, and his feat was compofed of the ' works of the most celebrated authors. I could ⚫ not but fee with a secret joy, that though the Greeks and Romans made the majority, yet our own countrymen were the next both in number and dignity. I was now at liberty to take a full profpect of that delightful region. I was infpired with new vigour and life, and faw " every thing in nobler and more pleafing views than before; I breathed a purer æther in a sky |