N° 125. Tuesday, July 24. Ne pueri, ne tanta animis affuefcite bella: Virg. worthy Friend Sir ROGER, when we are talk Ming of the Malice of Parties, very frequently tells us an Accident that happened to him when he was a School-Boy, which was at a time when the Feuds ram high betwen the Round-heads and Cavaliers. This worthy Knight being then but a Stripling, had Occafion to enquire which was the Way to St. Anne's Lane, upon which the Perfon whom he fpoke to, instead of anfwering his Queftion, called him a young Popish Cur, and asked him who had made Anne a Saint! The Boy being in fome Confufion, enquired of the next he met which was the Way to Anne's Lane; but was call'd a prick-eared for his Pains, and instead of being fhewn the Way, was told that fhe had been a Saint before he was born, and would be one after he was hanged. Upon this, fays Sir ROGER, I did not think fit to repeat the former Queftion, but going into every Lane of the Neighbourhood, asked what they called the Name of that Lane. By which ingenious Artifice he found out the Place he enquired after, without giving Offence to any Party. Sir ROGER generally clofes this Narrative with Reflections on the Mischief that Parties do in the Country: how they fpoil good Neighbourhood, and make honest Gentlemen hate one another; befides that they manifeftly tend to the Prejudice of the Land-Tax, and the Deftruction of the Game. THERE cannot a greater Judgment befall aCountry than such a dreadful Spirit of Divifion as rends a Government into two distinct People, and makes them greater Strangers and more averfe to one another, than if they were actually two different Nations. The Effects of fuch a Divifion are pernicious to the laft degree, not only with regard to thofe Advantages which they give the Common Enemy, but to thofe private Evils which they produce in the Heart of almost every particular Perfon. This Influence is very fatal both to Mens Morals and their Understandings; It finks the Virtue of a Nation, and not only fo, but deftroys even Common Sense. A furious Party-Spirit, when it rages in its full Violence, exerts it felf in Civil War and Bloodfhed; and when it is under its greatest Restraints naturally breaks out in Falfhood, Detraction, Calumny, and a partial Adminiftration of Justice. In a Word, it fills a Nation with Spleen and Rancour, and extinguishes all the Seeds of GoodNature Compaffion and Humanity. PLUTARCH fays very finely, That a Man fhould not allow himself to hate even his Enemies, because, says he, if you indulge this Paffion in fome Occafions, it will rife of it felf in others; if you hate your Enemies, you will contract fuch a vicious Habit of Mind, as by Degrees will break out upon thofe who are your Friends, or thofe who are indiffent to you. I might here obferve how admirably this Precept of Morality (which derives the Malignity of Hatred from the Paffion it self, and not from its Object) anfwers to that great Rule which was dictated to the World about an Hundred Years before this Philofopher wrote, but instead of that, I fhall only take Notice, with a real Grief of Heart, that the Minds of many good Men among us appear fowered with Party-Principles, and alienated from one another in such a manner, as feems to me altogether inconfiftent with the Dictates either of Reafon or Religion. Zeal for a Publick Caufe is apt to breed Paffions in the Hearts of virtuous Perfons, to which the Regard of their own private Interest would never have betrayed them.' IF this Party-Spirt has fo ill an Effect on our Morals, it has likewife a very great one upon our Judgments. We often hear a poor infipid Paper or Pamphlet cryed up, and fometimes a noble Piece depreciated, by those who are of a different Principle from the Author. One who is actuated by this Spirit is almoft under an Incapacity of difcerning either real Blemishes or Beauties. A Man of Merit in a different Principle, is like an Objec Object feen in two different Mediums, that appears crooked or broken, however ftreight and intire it may be in it felf. For this Reafon there is fearce a Perfon of any Figure in England, who does not go by two contrary Characters, as oppofite to one another as Light and Darkness. Knowledge and Learning fuffer in a particular manner from this ftrange Prejudice, which at prefent prevails amongst all Ranks and Degrees in the British Na tion. As Men formerly became eminent in learned Societies by their Parts and Acquifitions, they now diftinguifh themselves by the Warmth and Violence with which they efpouse their respective Parties. Books are valued upon the like Confiderations: An Abusive fcurrilous Style paffes for Satyr, and a dull Scheme of Party-Notions is called fine Writing. THERE is one Piece of Sophiftry practifed by both Sides, and that is the taking any fcandalous Story that has been ever whispered or invented of a private Man, for a known undoubted Truth, and raifing fuitable Speculations upon it. Calumnies that have been never proved, or have been often refuted, are the ordinary Poftula tums of thefe infamous Scriblers, upon which they proceed as upon firft Principles granted by all Men, though in their Hearts they know they are falfe, or at beft very doubtful. When they have laid these Foundations of Scurrility, it is no wonder that their Superftructure is every way answerable to them. If this fhameless Practice of the prefent Age endures much longer, Praife and Reproach will ceafe to be Motives of Action in good Men. THERE are certain Periods of Time in all Govern ments when this inhuman Spirit prevails. Italy was long torn in pieces by the Guelfes and Gibellines, and France by those who were for and against the League: But it is very unhappy for a Man to be born in fuch a ftormy and tempeftuous Seafon. It is the reftlefs Ambition of artful Men that thus breaks a People into Factions, and draws feveveral well-meaning Perfons to their Intereft by a Specious Concern for their Country. How many honest Minds are filled with uncharitable and barbarous Notions, out of their Zeal for the Publick Good? What Cruelties and Outrages would they not commit against Men of an adverfe Party, whom they would honour and efteem, efteem, if instead of confidering them as they are reprefented, they knew them as they are? Thus are Perfons of the greatest Probity feduced into fhameful Errors and Prejudices, and made bad Men even by that nobleft of Principles, the Love of their Country. I cannot here forbear mentioning the famous Spanish Proverb, If there there were neither Fools nor Knaves in the World, all People would be of one Mind. FOR my own part, I could heartily wish that all Honeft Men would enter into an Affociation, for the Support of one another against the Endeavours of those whom they ought to look upon as their Common Enemies, whatsoever Side they may belong to. Were there fuch an honeft Body of Neutral Forces, we fhould never see the worst of Men in great Figures of Life, because they are useful to a Party; nor the beft unregarded, becaufe they are above practifing those Methods which would be grateful to their Faction. We should then fingle every Criminal out of the Herd, and hunt him down, however formidable and overgrown he might ap pear: On the contrary, we fhould fhelter diftreffed Innocence, and defend Virtue, however befet with Contempt or Ridicule, Envy or Defamation. In fhort we fhould not any longer regard our Fellow-Subjects as Whigs or Tories, but should make the Man of Merit our Friend, and the Villain our Enemy. C N° 126. Wednesday, July 25. Tros Rutulufve fuat nullo difcrimine habebo. IN Virg. 'N my Yefterday's Paper I propofed, that the honeft Men of all Parties fhould enter into a kind of Affociation for the Defence of one another, and the Confufion. of their common Enemies. As it is defigned this neutral Body fhould act with a Regard to nothing but Truth and Equity, and diveft themfelves of the little Heats and Prepoffeffions that cleave to Parties of all Kinds, I have prepared prepared for them the following Form of an Affociation, which may express their Intentions in the most plain and fimple Manner. WE whofe Names are hereunto fubfcribed do folemnly declare, That we do in our Confciences believe two and two make four; and that we shall adjudge any Man whatsoever to be our Enemy who endeavours to perfwade us to the contrary. We are likewife ready to maintain, with the Hazard of all that is near and dear to us, That fix is lefs than feven in all Times and all Places; and that ten will not be more three Years hence than it is at prefent. We do also firmly declare, That it is our Refolution as long as we live to call Black black, and White white. And we shall upon all Occafions oppofe fuch Perfons that upon any Day of the Year fhall call Black white, or White black, with the utmoft Peril of our Lives and Fortunes. WERE there fuch a Combination of honest Men, who without any Regard to Places would endeavour to extirpate all fuch furious Zealots as would facrifice one half of their Country to the Paffion and Intereft of the other; as alfo fuch infamous Hypocrites, that are for promoting their own Advantage, under Colour of the Publick Good; with all the profligate immoral Retainers to each Side, that have nothing to recommend them but an implicit Submiffion to their Leaders; we fhould foon fee that furious Party-Spirit extinguished, which may in Time expofe us to the Derifion and Contempt of all the Nations about us, A Member of this Society, that would thus carefully employ himself in making Room for Merit, by throwing down the worthlefs and depraved Part of Mankind from thofe confpicuous Stations of Life to which they have been fometimes advanced, and all this without any Regard to his private Intereft, would be no small Benefactor to his Country, I remember to have read in Diodorus Siculus an Account of a very active little Animal, which I think he calls the Ichneumon, that makes it the whole Business of his Life to break the Eggs of the Crocodile, which he is always in fearch after. This Instinct is the more remarkable, because the |