of our entering into those religious assemblies. The resemblance which this bears to our indeed proper behaviour in theatres, may be some instance of ne incongruity in the above-mentioned places. Ir Rsman Catholic churches and chapels abroad. I myself have observed, more than once, persons of the fs quality, of the nearest relation, and intimatest acquaintance, passing by one another unknowing as I were, and unknown, and with so little notice of each other, that it looked like having their minds mare suitably and more solemnly engaged; at least I was an acknowledgment that they ought to have been sLL I have been told the same even of the Mahometan with relation to the propriety of their demeanour in the conventions of their erroneous worship; and I cannot but think either of them suciet iandate patterns for our imitation in this particular ‘I cannot help, upon this occasion, remarking on the excellent memories of those devotioniKA, VIS upon returning from church shall give a particular account how two or three hundred people were dressed: a thing, by reason of its variety, & difficit to be digested and fixed in the head, that it is a m racle to me how two poor hours of civine service can be time sufficient for so elaborate at demaking, the duty of the place too being joy, and 10 doubt oft pathetically, performed along with i Where it is said in sacred writ, that ought to have a covering on her head because of the angels," that last word is by some thought to be metaphorically used, and to signify young men. Allowing this interpretation to be right, the text may not appear to be wholly foreign to our present purpos 'When you are in a disposition proper for writing on such a subject, I earnestly recommend this to you: and am, Sir, T. Your very humble servant." N° 461. TUESDAY, AUGUST 19, 1712. -Sed non ego credulus illis.-VIRG. Ecl. ix. 34. But I discern their flattʼry from their praise.—Dryden. FOR want of time to substitute something else in the room of them, I am at present obliged to publish compliments above my desert in the following letters. It is no small satisfaction to have given occasion to ingenious men to employ their thoughts upon sacred subjects, from the approbation of such pieces of poetry as they have seen in my Saturdays' papers. I shall never publish verse on that day but what is written by the same hand*: yet shall I not accompany those writings with eulogiums, but leave them to speak for themselves. 'FOR THE SPECTATOR. 'MR. SPECTATOR, • You very much promote the interests of virtue, while you reform the taste of a profane age; and persuade us to be entertained with divine poems, while we are distinguished by so many thousand humours, and split into so many different sects and parties; yet persons of every party, sect, and humour, are fond of conforming their taste to yours. You can transfuse your own relish of a poem into all readers according to their capacity to receive; and when you recommend the pious passion that reigns in the verse, we seem to feel the devotion, and grow proud and pleased inwardly, that we have souls capable of relishing what the Spectator approves. your Upon reading the hymns that you have published * Addison. in some late papers, I had a mind to try yesterday whether I could write one. The exith psaim ap pears to me an admirable ode, and I began to turn it into our language. As I was describing the journey of Israel from Egypt, and added the Divine Presence amongst them, I perceived a beauty in this psalm, which was entirely new to me, and which I was going to lose; and that is, that the poet utterly conceals the presence of God in the beginning of it, and rather lets a possessive pronoun go without a substantive, than he will so much as mention any thing of divinity there. "Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion or kingdom." The reason now seems evident, and this conduct necessary; for, if God had appeared before, there could be no wonder why the mountains should leap and the sea retire; therefore, that this convulsion of nature may be brought in with due surprise, his name is not mentioned till afterward; and then, with a very agreeable turn of thought, God is introduced at once in all his majesty. This is what I have attempted to imitate in a translation without paraphrase, and to preserve what I could of the spirit of the sacred author. 'If the following essay be not too incorrigible, bestow upon it a few brightenings from your genius, that I may learn how to write better, or to write no more. Your daily admirer and humble servant, &c.' PSALM CXIV. L When Israel, freed from Pharaoh's hand, Left the proud tyrant and his land, The tribes with cheerful homage own II. Across the deep their journey lay, The streams of Jordan saw, and fled The mountains shook like frighted sheep, What power could make the deep divide? V. Let every mountain, ev'ry flood, VI. He thunders-and all nature mourns ; 'MR. SPECTATOR, There are those who take the advantage of your putting a halfpenny value upon yourself above the rest of our daily writers, to defame you in public conversation, and strive to make you unpopular upon the account of this said halfpenny. But, if I were you, I would insist upon that small acknowledgment for the superior merit of yours, as being a work of invention. Give me leave, therefore, to do you justice, and say in your behalf, what you cannot yourself, which is, that your writings have made learning a more necessary part of good breeding than it was before you appeared; that modesty is become fashionable, and impudence stands in need of some wit, since you have put them both in their proper lights. *By Dr. Isaac Watts. Profaneness, lewdness, and debauchery, are not now qualifications; and a man may be a very fine gentleman, though he is neither a keeper nor an infidel. 'I would have you tell the town the story of the Sibyls, if they deny giving you two-pence. Let them know, that those sacred papers were valued at the same rate after two-thirds of them were destroyed, as when there was the whole set. There are so many of us who will give you your own price, that you may acquaint your nonconformist readers, that they shall not have it, except they come in within such a day, under three-pence. I do not know but you might bring in the Date Obulum Belisario with a good grace. The witlings come in clusters to two or three coffee-houses which have left you off; and I hope you will make us, who fine to your wit, merry with their characters who stand out against it. I am your most humble servant. 'P. S. I have lately got the ingenious authors of blacking for shoes, powder for colouring the hair, pomatum for the hands, cosmetic for the face, to be your constant customers; so that your advertisements will as much adorn the outward man, as your paper does the inward.'-T. N° 462. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 20, 1712. Nil ego prætulerim jucundo sanus amico.-HOR. 1 Sat. v. 44. Nothing so grateful as a pleasant friend. PEOPLE are not aware of the very great force which pleasantry in company has upon all those with whom a man of that talent converses. His faults are ge |