who first reported it, tall or fhort, black for fair, a gentleman or a raggamuffin, according as they liked the intelligence. I have heard one of our ingenious writers of news fay, that when he has had a cuftomer come with an advertifement of an apprentice or a wife run saway, he has defired the advertifer to compose himself a little, before he dictated the defcription of the offender: for when a perfon is put into a public paper by a man who is angry with him, the real defeription of fuch perfon is hid in the deformity with which the angry man, defcribed him; therefore this fellow always made his customer de-fcribe him as he would the day before he offended, or else he was fure he would never find him out. These and many other hints I could fuggeft to you for the elucidation of all fictions; but I leave it to your own fagacity to improve or neglect this fpeculation. I am, Sir, Your most obedient humble fervant. POSTSCRIPT TO THE SPECTATOR, N. B. There are in the play of The Self-Tormentor of Terence, which is allowed a moft excellent comedy, feveral incidents which would draw tears from any man of fenfe, and not one which would move his laughter. N° DXXII. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29 ADJURO NUNQUAM BAM ME DESERTURUM ; NON, SI CUPIUNDOS MIHI SCIAM ESSE INIMICOS OMNES HOMINES. 1.2 * I SWEAR NEVER TO FORSAKE HER; NO, THOUGH I WERE SURE TO MAKE A . Grable. He that has excellent talents, with a moderate ettate, and an agreeable perfon, is preferable to him who is only Should efteem myself a very happy man, if my fpeculations could in the leaft contribute to the rectifying the conduct of my readers in one of the most im-rich, if it were only that good faculties portant affairs of life, to wit, their choice may purchase riches, but riches cannot in marriages. This ftate is the foundation, purehafe worthy endowments. I do of community, and the chief band of fo- not mean that wit, and a capacity to ciety; and I do not think I can be too fre- entertain, is what fhould be highly vaquent on fubjects which may give light lued, except it is founded upon goodto my unmarried readers in a particular nature and humanity. There are many which is foeffential to their following hap- ingenious men, whofe abilities do linle pinefs or mifery. A virtuous difpofition, elle but make themselves and those about a good understanding, an agreeable per- them uneafy fuch are thofe who are far fon, and an eafy fortune, are the things gone in the pleatures of the town, who which fhould be chiefly regarded on this cannot fupport life without quick fendaoccafion. Because my prefent view is tions and gay reflections, and are franto direct a young lady, who, I think, gers to tranquillity, to right reason, and is now in doubt whom to take of many a calm motion of fpirits without translovers, I fhall talk at this time to my port or dejection. These ingenious female reader. The advantages, as I men, of all men living, are, most to be was going to fay, of fenfe, beauty, and avoided by her who would be happy in riches, are what are certainly the chief a husband. They are immediately fated motives to a prudent young woman of with poffeffion, and muft neceffarily dy "fortune for changing her condition; but to new acquifitions of beauty, to pals as the is to have her eye upon each ofs away the whiling moments and intervals thefe," he is to afk herfelf whether the of life; for with them every hour is man who has most of thefe recommen- heavy that is not joyful. But there is dations in the lump is not the moft de a fort of man of wit and fenfe, that can I reflect reflect upon his own make, and that of his partner, with the eyes of reafon and honour, and who believes he offends againt both thefe, if he does not look upon the woman (who chofe him to be under his protection, in ficknefs and health) with the utmost gratitude, whe ther from that moment the is fhining or defective in perfon or mind: Ifay, there are thofe who think themfelves bound to fupply with good-nature the failings of those who love them, and who always think thofe the objects of love and pity, who came to their arms the objects of joy and admiration.. Of this latter fort is Lyfander, a man of wit, learning, fobriety, and goodnature, of birth and eftate below no woman to accept, and of whom it might be faid, thould he fucceed in his prefent wishes, his mitrefs railed his fortune, but not that the made it. When a woman is deliberating with herself whom the thall chufe of many near each other in other pretensions, certainly he of belt understanding is to be preferred. Life hangs heavily in the repeated converfation of one who has no imagination to be fired at the feveral occafions and ob jects, which come before him, or who cannot ftrike out of his reflections new paths of pleafing discourse. Honeft Will Thrath and his wife, though not married above four months, have fearce had a word to say to each other this fix weeks; and one cannot form to one's felf a fulier picture than these two creatures in foJeho pomrand plenty unable to enjoy their fortunes, and at a full top among a crowd of fervants, to whofe taste of ife they are beholden for the little fatiffactions by which they can be underflood to be a much as barely in being. The hours of the day, the diftinctions of noon and night, dinner and fupper, are the greateft notices they are capable of This is perhaps reprefenting the life of a very modeft woman, joined to a dull fellow, more infipid than it really deferves; burkam fuure it is not to exalt the commerce with an ingenious companion too high, to fay that every new accident or object, which comes into fuch a gentleman's way, gives his wife new pleafures and satisfactions. The approbation of his words and actions is a continual new feast to her, nor can fhe enough applaud her good fortune in having her life varied every hour, her mind more' imved, and her heart more glad from every circumftance which they meet with. He will lay out his invention in forming new pleasures' and amufements, and make the fortune the has brought him fubfervient to the honour and reputation of her and hers. A man of fenfe who is thus obliged, is ever contriving the happinefs of her who did him fo great a distinction; while the fool is ungrateful without vice, and never returns a favour because he is not fenfible of it. I would, methinks, have fo much to fay for myself, that if I fell into the hands of him who treated me ill, he should be fenfible when he did fo: his confcience fhould be of my fide,' whatever became of his inclination. I do not know but it is the infipid choice which has been made by those who have the care of young women, that the marriage ftate itself has been liable to fo much ridicule. But a well-chofen love, moved by paffion on both fides, and perfected by the generofity of one party, must be adorned with fo many handfome incidents on the other fide, that every particular couple would be an example in many circumstances to all the reft of the fpecies. I fhall end the chat upon this fabject with a couple of letters, one from a lover, who is very well acquainted with the way of bargaining on thefe occafions; and the other from his rival, who has a lefs eftate, but great gallantry of temper. As for my man of prudence, he makes love, as he fays, as if he were already a father, and laying afide the paffion, comes to the reafon of the thing. MADAM, MY counfel has perufed the inven tory of your estate, and confidered what eftate you have, which, it feems, is only yours, and to the male heirs of your body; but, in default of fuch iffue, to the right heirs of your uncle Edward for ever. Thus, Madam, I am advifed you cannot (the remainder not being in you) dock the entail; by which means my eftate, which is fee-fimple, will come by the fettlement propofed to your children begotten by me, whether they are males or females: but my chil dren begotten upon you will not inherit your lands, except I beget a fon. Now, Madam, fince things are fo, you are a woman of that prudence, and underftand the world fo well, as not to expect I thould give you more than you can 6 P give NUNC LYCE SORTES, NUNC ET JOVE MISSUS AB IPSO T VIRG. ÆN. IV. VER. 376, NOW LYCIAN LOTS, AND NOW THE DELIAN GOD; I Am always highly delighted with Am always highly delighted with the discovery of any rifing genius among my countrymen. For this reafon I have read over, with great pleafure, the late miscellany published by Mr. Pope, in which there are many excellent compofitions of that ingenious gentleman. I have had a pleasure of the fame kind in perufing a poem that is Just published on the profpect of peace, and which, I hope, will meet with fuch a reward from it's patrons, as fo noble a performance deferves. I was particularly well pleafed to find that the author had not amufed himself with fables out of the Pagan Theology, and that when he hints at any thing of this nature he alludes to it only as to a fable. Many of our modern authors, whofe learning very often extends no farther than Ovid's Metamorphofes, do not know how to celebrate a great man, without mixing a parcel of school-boy tales with the recital of his actions. If you read a poem on a fine woman, among the authors of this clafs, you fhall fee that it turns more upon Venus DRYDENS or Helen, than on the party concerned, I have known a copy of verfes on a great hero highly commended; but upon atking to hear fome of the beautiful paí fages, the admirer of it has repeated to me a speech of Apollo, or a defeription of Polypheme. At other times when I have fearched for the actions of a great man, who gave a fubject to the writer, I have been entertained with the exploits of a river-god, or have been forced to attend a fury in her mifchievous progrefs, from one end of the poem to the other. When we are at fchool it is ne-, ceffary for us to be acquainted with the fyftem of Pagan theology, and may be allowed to enliven a theme, or point an epigram with a heathen god; but when we would write a manly panegyric, that thould carry in it all the colours of truth, nothing can be more ridiculous than 10, have recommfe to our Jupiters and Junos. No thought is beautiful which is net juft; and no thought can be just which is not founded in truth, or at least in that which paffes for fuch. In mock heroic poems, the ufe of the heathen Theathen mythology is not only excufable but graceful, because it is the design of fuch compofitions to divert, by adapting the fabulous machines of the ancients to low fubje&s, and at the fame time by ridiculing fuch kinds of machinery in modern writers. If any are of opinion, that there is a neceflity of admitting thefe claffical legends into our ferious compofitions in order to give them a more poetical turn; I would recommend to their confideration the pattorals of Mr. Phillips. One would have thought it impoffible for this kind of poetry to have fubfifted without fauns and fatyrs, wood nymphs and water nymphs, with all the tribe of 1ural deities: but we fee he has given a new life, and a more natural beauty to this way of writing, by fubftituting in the place of thefe antiquated fables, the fuperftitious mytho. logy which prevails among the fhepherds of our own country. Virgil and Homer might compliment their heroes, by interweaving the actions of deities with their atchievements; but for a Chriftian author to write in the Pagan creed, to make Prince Eugene a favourite of Mars, or to carry on a correfpondence between Bellona and the Marthal de Villars, would be downright puerility, and unpardonable in a poet that is past fixteen. It is want of fufficient elevation in a genius to defcribe realities, and place them in a fhining light, that makes him have recourfe to fuch trifling antiquated fables; as a man may write a fine defcription of Bacchus or Apollo, that does not know how to draw the character of his contemporaries. In order therefore to put a stop to this abfurd practice, I fhall publish the fol lowing edit, by virtue of that fpectatorial authority with which I ftand inveited. WHEREAS the time of a general peace is, in all appearance, diawing near, being informed that there are feveral ingenious perfons who intend to fhew their talents on fo happy an occafion, and being willing, as much as in me lies, to prevent that effufion of noufenfe, which we have good cause to apprehend, I do hereby ftrictly require every perfon, who fhall write on this fubject, to remember that he is a Chriftian, and not to facrifice his catechifm to his poetry. In order to it, I do expect of him in the firft piace to make his own poem, without depending upon Phoebus før any part of it, or calling out for aid upon any one of the Mules by name. I do likewife pofitively forbid the fending of Mercury with any particular meflage or dispatch relating to the peace, and fhall by no means suffer Minerva to take upon her the fhape of any plenipotentiary concerned in this great work. I do further declare, that I fhall not allow the Deftinies to have had a hand in the deaths of the feveral thousands who have been flain in the late war, being of opinion that all fuch deaths may be very well accounted for by the Chriftian fyftem of powder and ball. I do therefore strictly forbid the Fates to cut the thread of man's life upon any pretence whatfoever, unlefs it be for the fake of the rhyme. And whereas I have good reafon to fear, that Nepture will have a great deal of business on his hands, in feveral poems which we may now fuppofe are upon the anvil, I do alfo prohibit his appearance, unless it be done in metaphor, fimile, or any very fhort allufion, and that even here he be not permitted to enter but with great caution and circumspection. I defire that the fame rule may be extended to his whole fraternity of heathen gods, it be ing my defign to condemn every poem to the flames in which Jupiter thunders, or exercifes any other act of authority which does not belong to him: in fhort, I expect that no Pagan agent shall be introduced, or any fact related which a man cannot give credit to with a good confcience. Provided always that nothing herein contained fhall extend, or be conftrued to extend, to feveral of the female poets in this nation, who fhall ftill be left in full poffeffion of their gods and goddeffes in the fame manner as if this paper had never been written. N° DXXIV. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31. NOS POPULO DAMUS AS THE WORLD LEADS, WE FOLLOW. WHEN I first of all took it in SIR, SEN. into a ferious reflection on the reafonableness of virtue, and great folly of vice, from an excellent fermon I had heard that afternoon in my parish. church. Among other observations, the preacher thewed us that the temptations which the tempter propofed, were allon a fuppofition, that we are either madmen or fools, or with an intention to render us fuch; that in no other affair we would fuffer ourselves to be thus imposed upon, in a cafe fo plainly and clearly againit our vifible interest. His illuftrations and arguments carried fo much perfuafion and conviction with them, that they remained a considerable while fresh, and working in my memory; until at last the mind, fatigued with thought, gave way to the forcible oppreffions of lumber and fleep; whilft fancy, unwilling yet to drop the fubject, prefented me with the foll lowing vision. my head to write dreams and Was laft Sunday in the evening led vifions, I determined to print nothing of that nature, which was not of my own invention. But feveral laborious dreamers have of late communicated to me works of this nature, which, for their reputations and my own, I have hitherto fuppreffed. Had I printed every one that came to my hands, my book of fpeculations would have been little elfe but a book of vifions. Some of my correfpondents have indeed been fo very modeft, as to offer at an excufe for their not being in a capacity to dream better. I have by me, for example, the dream of a young gentleman pot paft fifteen. I have likewife by me the dream of a perfon of quality, and another called the Lady's Dream. In thefe, and other pieces of the fame nature, it is fuppofed the ufual allowances will be made to the age, condition, and fex of the dreamer. To prevent this inundation of dreams, which daily flows in upon me, I shall apply to all dreamers of dreams, the advice which Epictetus has couched, after his manner, in a very fimple and concife precept. Never tell thy dream,' fays that philofopher; for though thou thyfelf inayeft take a pleature in tell ing thy dream, another will take no pleafure in hearing it. After this hort preface, I must do juftice to two or three vifions which I have lately publifhed, and which I have owned to have been written by other hands. I fhall add a dream to thefe, which comes to me from Scotland, by one who deciares himfelf of that country, and for all I know, may be fecond fighted. There is, indeed, fomething in it of the spirit of John Bunyan; but at the fame time a certain fublime, which that author was never matter of. I thall publish it becaufe I question not but it will fall in with the taite of all my popular readers, and amute the imaginations of thofe who are more profound; declaring at the fame time, that this is the lait dream which I intend to publish this feafon. 6 up Methought I was just awoke out of a fleep, that I could never remember the beginning of; the place where I found myself to be, was a wide and spacious plain, full of people that wandered and down through feveral beaten paths, whereof fome few were traight, and in direct lines, but most of them winding and turning like a labyrinth; but yet it appeared to me afterwards, that thefe laft all niet in one iffue, fo that many that feemed to fteer quite contrary courfes, did at length meet and face one another, to the no little amazement of many of them. ** In the midst of the plain there was a great fountain: they called it the Spring of Self-love; out of it iffued two rivulets to the eastward and weltward; the name of the first was Heavenly Wiklom, it's water was wonderfully clear, but of a yet more wonderful effect; the other's name was Worldly Wisdom, it's water was thick, and yet far from being dormant or ftagnating, for it was in a continual violent agitation; which kept the travellers, whom I fhall mention by and by, |