6 any one of several men of. fenfe who languished for • me; but my cafe is juft. I believed my fuperior underftanding would form him into a tractable creature. But, alas, my fpoufe has cunning and fufpicion, the infeparable companions of little minds; and every attempt I make to divert, by putting on an agreeable air, a fudden chearfulness, or kind behaviour, he looks upon as the first act towards an infurrection against his • undeferved dominion over me. Let every one who is ⚫ftill to choose, and hopes to govern a fool, remember TRISTISSA.' 'Mr. SPECTATOR, St. Martins, November 25" THIS is to complain of an evil practice which I think very well deferves a redrefs, though you have not as yet taken any notice of it: if you mention it in your paper, it may perhaps have a very good effect. < What I mean is the difturbance fome people give to ⚫ others at church, by their repetition of the prayers after the minifter, and that not only in the prayers, but also the absolution and the commandments fare no better, which are in a particular manner the priest's office this I have known done in fo audible a manner, • that fometimes their voices have been as loud as his. As little as you would think it, this is frequently done by people feemingly devout. This irreligious inadvertency is a thing extremely offenfive; but I do not recommend it as a thing I give you liberty to ridicule, 'but hope it may be amended by the bare mention. T. N° 237. • Sir, Your very humble fervant, Saturday, December 1. 'T. S.' Vifu carentem magna pars veri latet. SENECA in Edip. It is very reafonable to believe, that part of the plea fure which happy minds fhall enjoy in a future ftate, will arife from an enlarged contemplation of the divine wisdom in the government of the world, and a discovery of the fecret and amazing fteps of Providence, from the beginning to the end of time. Nothing feems to be an entertainment more adapted to the nature of man, if we confider that curiofity is one of the ftrongeft and moft lafting appetites implanted in us, and that admiration is one of our moft pleafing paffions; and what à perpetual fucceffion of enjoyments will be afforded to both thefe, in a scene fo large and various as shall then be laid open to our view in the fociety of fuperior fpirits, who perhaps will join with us in so delightful a profpect! It is not impoffible, on the contrary, that part of the punishment of fuch as are excluded from blifs, may confift, not only in their being denied this privilege, but in having their appetites at the fame time vastly increased, without any fatisfaction afforded to them. In these, the vain purfuit of knowledge fhall, perhaps, add to their infelicity, and bewilder them into labyrinths of error, darkness, diftraction and uncertainty of every thing but their own evil state. Milton has thus reprefented the fallen angels reasoning together in a kind of refpite from their torments, and creating to themselves a new difquiet amidst their very amufements; he could not properly have described the fports of condemned fpirits, without that caft of horror and melancholy he has fo judiciously mingled with them. "Others apart fat on a hill retired, "In thoughts more elevate, and reafon'd high In our prefent condition, which is a middle state, our minds are, as it were, chequered with truth and falfehood; and as our faculties are narrow, and our views imperfect, it is impoffible but our curiofity muft meet with many repulfes. The bufinefs of mankind in this life being rather to act than to know, their portion of knowledge is dealt to them accordingly. From hence it is, that the reafon of the inquifitive has fo long been exercifed with difficulties, in accounting for the promiscuous diftribution of good and evil to the virtuous and the wicked in this world. From hence come all those pathetic complaints of fo many tragical events, which happen to the wife and the good; and of fuch furprising profperity, which is often the reward of the guilty and the foolish; that reason is fometimes puzzled, and at a loss what to pronounce upon so mysterious a difpenfation. Plato expreffes his abhorrence of fome fables of the poets, which feem to reflect on the gods as the authors of injuftice; and lays it down as a principle, that whatever is permitted to befall a juft man, whether poverty, ficknefs, or any of thofe things which feem to be evils, fhall either in life or death conduce to his good. My reader will observe how agreeable this maxim is to what we find delivered by a greater authority. Seneca has written a difcourfe purposely on this fubject, in which he takes pains, after the doctrine of the Stoics, to fhew that adverfity is not in itself an evil; and mentions a noble faying of Demetrius, "That nothing would be more unhappy than a man who had never known affliction." He compares profperity to the indulgence of a fond mother to a child, which often proves his ruin; but the affection of the divine being to that of a wife father who would have his fons exercised with labour, difappointment, and pain, that they may gather ftrength and improve their fortitude. On this occafion the philofopher rifes into that celebrated sentiment, "That there is not on earth a fpectacle more "worthy the regard of a Creator intent on his works "than a brave man fuperior to his fufferings;" to which he adds, "that it must be a pleasure to Jupiter "himself to look down from heaven, and fee Cato amidst "the ruins of his country, preferving his integrity." This thought will appear yet more reasonable, if we confider human life as a state of probation, and adverfity as the poft of honour in it, affigned often to the beft and most select fpirits. But what I would chiefly infift on here, is, that we are not at prefent in a proper fituation to judge of the counfels by which providence acts, fince but little arrives at our knowledge, and even that little we difcern imperfectly; or according to the elegant figure in holy writ, "We fee but in part, and as in a glafs darkly." It is to No 237. be confidered, that providence in its economy regards the whofe fyftem of time, and things together, fo that we cannot discover the beautiful connexion between incidents which lie widely feparated in time, and by lofing fo many links of the chain, our reafonings become broken and imperfect. Thus thofe parts of the moral world which have not an abfolute, may yet have a relative beauty, in refpect of fome other parts concealed from us, but open to his eye before whom " past, prefent, and to come," are fet together in one point of view: and thofe events, the permiffion of which feems now to accuse his goodness, may in the confummation of things both magnify his goodness, and exalt his wifdom. And this is enough to check our prefumption, fince it is in vain to apply our measures of regularity to matters of which we know neither the antecedents nor the confequents, the beginning nor the end. I fhall relieve my readers from this abftracted thought, by relating here a Jewish tradition concerning Mofes, which feems to be a kind of parable, illuftrating what I have laft mentioned. That great prophet, it is faid, was called up by a voice from heaven to the top of a mountain; where, in a conference with the Supreme Being, he was permitted to propofe to him fome questions concerning his administration of the universe. In the midft of this divine colloquy he was commanded to look down on the plain below. At the foot of the mountain there iffued out a clear spring of water, at which a foldier alighted from his horfe to drink. He was no fooner gone than a little boy came to the fame place, and finding a purfe of gold which the foldier had dropped, took it up and went away with it. Immediately after this came an infirm old man, weary with age and travelling, and having quenched his thirft, fat down to reft himself by the fide of the fpring. The foldier miffing his purfe returns to fearch for it, and demands it of the old man, who affirms he had not seen it, and appeals to Heaven in witnefs of his innocence. The foldier not believing his proteftations, kills him. Mofes fell on his face with horror and amazement, when the divine voice thus prevented his expoftulation; Be not furprised, Mofes, nor afk why the judge of the whole earth has fuffered this thing to come to pafs: the child is the occafion that the 'blood of the old man is fpilt; but know, that the 'old man whom thou faweft, was the murderer of that 'child's father.' N° 238. Monday, December 3. Nequicquam populo bibulas donaveris aures ; C. PERSIUS, Sat. 4. ver. 50. Please not thyself the flatt'ring croud to hear; DRYDEN. AMONG all the difeafes of the mind, there is not one more epidemical or more pernicious than the love of flattery. For as where the juices of the body. are prepared to receive a malignant influence, there the disease rages with most violence; fo in this diftemper of the mind, where there is ever a propenfity and inclination to fuck in the poifon, it cannot be but that the whole order of reafonable action must be overturned; for, like music, it -So foftens and difarms the mind, "That not one arrow can refiftance find." Firft we flatter ourselves, and then the flattery of others is fure of fuccefs. It awakens our felf-love within, a party which is ever ready to revolt from our better judgment, and join the enemy without. Hence it is, that the profufion of favours we fo often fee poured upon the parafite, are reprefented to us, by our felf-love, as juftice done to the man, who fo agreeably reconciles us to ourselves. When we are overcome by fuch foft infinuations and enfnaring compliances, we gladly recompence the artifices that are made ufe of to blind our reason, and which triumph over the weakneffes of our temper and inclinations. But were every man perfuaded from how mean and low a principle this paffion is derived, there can be no VOL. III. M |