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who by their very Admiration of it are carried to a Defire of ruining it.s

A virtuous Mind in a fair Body is indeed bafind Picture in a good Light, and therefore it is no wonder that it makes the beautiful Sex all over Charms.

AS Virtue in general is of an amiable and lovely nature, there are some particular kinds of it which are more for than others, and these are such as difpofe us to do good to Mankind. Temperance and Abftinence, Faith and Devotion, are in themselves perhaps as laudable as any other Virtues; but those which make a Man popular and beloved, are Justice, Charity, Munificence, and, in fhort, all the good Qualities that render us beneficial to each other. For which Reason, even an extravagant Man, who has nothing else to recommend him but a falfe Generofity, is of ten more beloved and efteemed than a Perfon of a much more finished Character, who is defective in this Particular.

THE two great Ornaments of Virtue, which fhew her in the most advantagious Views, and make her altoge*ther lovely, are Chearfulness and Goodnature. These generally go together,

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as a Man cannot be agreeable to others who is not eafie within himself. They are both very requifite in a virtuous Mind, to keep out Melancholy from the many serious Thoughts it is engaged in, and to hinder its natural Hatred of Vice from fouring into Severity and Cenforiousness.

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IF Virtue is of this amiable Nature, what can we think of those who can look upon it with an Eye of Hatred and Ill-will, or can fuffer their Averfion for a Party to blot out all the Me-{ rit of the Perfon who is engaged in it. A Man must be exceffively ftupid, as well as uncharitable, who believes that there is no Virtue but on his own Side, and that there are not Men as honeft as. himself who may differ from him in Political Principles. Men may oppose one... another in fome Particulars, but ought not to carry their Hatred to thofe Qualities which are of fo amiable a Nature in themselves, and have nothing to do with the Points in difpute. Men of Virtue, though of different Interests, ought to confider themfelves as more nearly united with one another, than with the vicious Part of Mankind, who embark with them in the fame civil

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Concerns. We fhould bear the fame Love towards a Man of Honour, who is a living Antagonist, which Tully tells us in the forementioned Paffage every one naturally does to an Enemy that is dead. In fhort, we fhould efteem Vir tue though in a Foe, and abhor Vice though in a Friend.

I fpeak this with an Eye to those cruel Treatments which Men of all Sides are apt to give the Characters of those who do not agree with them. How many Probity, and exemplary Virtue, on either Side, are blackned and defamed? How many Men of Honour expofed to publick Obloquy and Reproach? Those therefore who are either the Inftruments or Abettors in fuch Infernal Dealings, ought to be looked upon as Perfons who make use of Religion to promote their Caufe, not of their Caufe to promote Religion.

Perfons of unde

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Judex & callidus andis. Hor.

Covent-Garden, Nov. 7.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

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Cannot, without a double Injustice, forbear expreffing to you the Satisfaction which a whole Clan of Virtuofos have received from thofe Hints which you have lately given the Town on the Cartons of the inimitable Raphael. It fhould be methinks the Business of a SPECTATOR to improve the Pleasures of Sight, and there cannot be a more immediate Way to it than recommending the Study and Obfervation of excellent Drawings and Pictures. When I first 'went to view thofe of Raphael which you have celebrated, I muft confefs I was but barely pleased; the next time 'I liked them better, but at last as I grew better acquainted with them, I

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fell deeply in Love with them, like wife Speeches they funk deep into my Heart; for you know, Mr. SPEC TATOR, that a Man of Wit may extreamly affect one for the prefent, but if he has not Difcretion, his Merit foon vanishes away, while a Wife Man that has not fo great a Stock of Wit, fhall nevertheless give you a far greater and more lafting Satisfaction: Just so it is in a Picture that is fmartly touched but not well ftudied; one may call it a witty Picture, tho' the Painter in the mean time may be in danger of being called a Fool. On the other hand, a Picture that is throughly understood in the Whole, and well performed in the Particulars, that is begun on a Foundation of Geometry, carried on by the Rules of Perfpective, Architecture, and Anatomy, and perfected by a good Harmony, a juft and natural Colouring, and 'fuch Paffions and Expreffions of the Mind as are almoft peculiar to Raphael; this is what you may justly ftile a wife Picture, and which feldom fails to ftrike us dumb, till we can affem'ble all our Faculties to make but a tolerable Judgment upon it. Other Pi

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