WE had a Rabbinical Divine in England, who was Chaplain to the Earl of Effex in Queen Elizabeth's Time, that had an admirable Head for Secrets of this Nature. Upon his taking the Doctor of Divinity's Degree, he preached before the University of Cambridge, upon the First Verfe of the First Chapter of the First Book of Chronicles,inwhich, fays he, you have the three following Words, Adam, Sheth, Enofh. He divided this fhort Text into many Parts, and by difcovering feveral Myfteries in each Word, made a moft learned and elaborate Difcourfe. The Name of this profound Preacher was Doctor Alabafter, of whom the Reader may find a more particular Account in Doctor Fuller's Book of English Worthies. This Inftance will, I hope, convince my Readers that there may be a great deal of fine Writing in the Capital Letters which bring up the Rear of my Paper, and give them fome Satisfaction in that Particular. But as for the full Explication of these Matters, I must refer them to Time, which discovers all Things. *************** N° 222. Wednesday. November 14. Cur alter fratrum ceffare, & ludere, & ungi, C Hor. Ep. 2. 1. 2. v. 183. Mr. SPECTATOR, TH HERE is one thing I have often look'd for in your Papers, and have as often wondered to find my felf disappointed; the rather, because I think it a Subject every way agreeable to your Design, and by being left unattempted by others, feems referved as a 'proper Employment for you; I mean a Difquifition, from whence it proceeds, that Men of the brightest Parts, and moft comprehenfive Genius, completely furnished with Talents for any Province in human Affairs; fuch as by their wife Leffons of Oeconomy to o'thers have made it evident, that they have the juftest No'tions of Life, and of true Sense in the Conduct of it-: VOL. III. K from ⚫ from what unhappy contradictious Cause it proceeds, that Persons thus finished by Nature and by Art, fhould fo often fail in the Management of that which they so ⚫ well understand, and want the Address to make a right Application of their own Rules. This is certainly a prodigious Inconfiftency in Behaviour, and makes much fuch a Figure in Morals as a monftrous Birth in Naturals, with this Difference only, which greatly aggra⚫vates the Wonder, that it happens much more frequently; and what a Blemish does it caft upon Wit and Learning in the general Account of the World? And in how difadvantageous a Light does it expofe them to the bufy Clafs of Mankind, that there fhould be fo many Inftances of Persons who have fo conducted their Lives in fpite of these transcendent Advantages, as neither to be happy in themselves, nor useful to their Friends; when every Body fees it was intirely in their own Power to be eminent in both thefe Characters? For my part, I think there is no Reflexion more aftonishing, than to ⚫ confider one of thefe Gentlemen spending a fair Fortune, running in every Body's Debt without the leaft Apprehenfion of a future Reckoning, and at laft leaving not only his own Children, but poffibly those of other People, by his Means, in ftarving Circumftances; while ⚫ a Fellow whom one would scarce fufpect to have a hu man Soul, fhall perhaps raise a vaft Eftate out of Nothing, and be the Founder of a Family capable of be ing very confiderable in their Country, and doing many illuftrious Services to it. That this Obfervation is juft, Experience has put beyond all Difpute. But though the Fact be fo evident and glaring, yet the Caufes of it are ftill in the Dark; which makes me perfuade my felf, that it would be no unacceptable Piece of Enter⚫tainment to the Town, to enquire into the hidden • Sources of fo unaccountable an Evil. 6 I am, SIR, Your most humble Servant. WHAT this Correfpondent wonders at, has been Mattor of Admiration ever fince there was any fuch thing as human human Life. Horace reflects upon this Inconfiftency very agreeably in the Character of Tigellius, whom he makes a mighty Pretender to Oeconomy, and tells you, you might One Day hear him fpeak the moft philofophick Things imaginable concerning being contented with a little, and his Contempt of every thing but mere Neceffaries, and in half a Week after spend a thousand Pound. When he fays this of him with relation to Expence, he describes him as unequal to himself in every other Circumftance of Life. And indeed, if we confider lavish Men carefully, we fhall find it always proceeds from a certain Incapacity of poffefling themselves, and finding Enjoyment in their own Minds. Mr. Dryden has expreffed this very excellently in the Character of Zimri. A Man fo various, that he feem'd to be THIS loofe State of the Soul hurries the Extravagant from one Purfuit to another; and the Reason that his Expences are greater than another's, is, that his Wants are alfo more numerous. But what makes fo many go on in this Way to their Lives End, is, that they certainly do not know how contemptible they are in the Eyes of the reft of Mankind, or rather, that indeed they are not fo contemptible as they deferve. Tully fays, it is the greatest of Wickedness to leffen your paternal Eftate. And if a Man would thoroughly confider how much worfe than Banishment it must be to his Child, to ride by the Estate which should have been his, had it not been for his Father's Injustice to him, he would be fmitten with the Reflexion more deeply than can be understood by any but one who No. 223. is a Father. Sure there can be nothing more afflicting, than to think it had been happier for his Son to have been born of any other Man living than himself. IT is not perhaps much thought of, but it is certainly a very important Leffon, to learn how to enjoy ordinary Life, and to be able to relish your Being without the Transport of fome Paffion, or Gratification of fome Appetite. For want of this Capacity, the World is filled with Whetters, Tipplers, Cutters, Sippers, and all the numerous Train of those who, for want of Thinking, are forced to be ever exercising their Feeling or Tafting. It would be hard on this Occafion to mention the harmless Smokers of Tobacco and Takers of Snuff. THE flower Part of Mankind, whom my Correfpondent wonders should get Eftates, are the more immediately formed for that Purfuit: They can expect diftant Things without Impatience, because they are not carried out of their Way either by violent Paffion or keen Appetite to any Thing. To Men addicted to Delights, Bufinefs is an Interruption; to fuch as are cold to Delights, Bufinefs is an Entertainment. For which Reason it was faid to one who commended a dull Man for his Application, No Thanks to him; if he had no Bufinefs, he would have nothing to do. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 O fuavis Anima! qualem te dicam bonam T Phædr. Fab. 1.1. 3. v. 5. O fweet Soul! how good muft you have been heretofore, when your Remains are fo delicious! W HEN I reflect upon the various Fate of those Multitudes of ancient Writers who flourished in Greece and Italy, I confider Time as an immenfe Ocean, in which many noble Authors are intirely fwallowed up, many very much shattered and damaged, fome quite disjointed and broken into pieces, while fome have wholly efcaped the common Wreck; but the Number of the last is very small. Apparent Apparent rari nantes in gurgite vafto. Virg. Æn. 1. v. 122. One here and there floats on the vast Abyss. AMONG the mutilated Poets of Antiquity, there is none whofe Fragments are fo beautiful as thofe of Sappho They give us a Taste of her Way of Writing, which is perfectly conformable with that extraordinary Character we find of her, in the Remarks of those great Criticks who were converfant with her Works when they were intire. One may fee by what is left of them, that the followed Nature in all her Thoughts, without defcending to thofe little Points, Conceits, and Turns of Wit with which many of our modern Lyricks are fo miferably infected. Her Soul seems to have been. made up of Love and Poetry: She felt the Paffion in all its Warmth, and described it in all its Symptoms. She is called by ancient Authors the Tenth Muse; and by Plutarch is compared to Cacus the Son of Vulcan, who breathed out nothing but Flame. I do not know, by the Character that is given of her Works, whether it is. not for the Benefit of Mankind that they are loft. They were filled with fuch bewitching Tenderness and Rapture, that it might have been dangerous to have given. them a Reading. AN inconftant Lover, called Phaon, occafioned great Calamities to this poetical Lady. She fell defperately in Love with him, and took a Voyage into Sicily, in Pursuit of him, he having withdrawn himself thither on purpose to avoid her. It was in that Ifland, and on this Occafion, fhe is fuppofed to have made the Hymn to Venus, with a Tranflation of which I fhall present my Reader. Her Hymn was ineffectual for the procuring that Happinefs which the prayed for in it. Phaon was ftill obdurate, and Sappho fo tranfported with the Violence of her Paffion, that she was refolved to get rid of it at any Price. THERE was a Promontory in Acarnania called Leucate, on the Top of which was a little Temple dedicated to Apollo. In this Temple it was ufual for despairing Lovers to make their Vows in fecret, and afterwards to fling themselves from the Top of the Precipice into the Sea, where they were fometimes taken up alive. This Place was therefore called,The Lover's Leap; and whether or no K 3 the |