The monarch hears the thundering peals around,

From trembling woods and echoing hills rebound;

Nor miffs yet, amid the deafening train, The roarings of the hoaife refounding main.

As in the flood he fails, from either fide, He views his kingdom in it's rural price; A various fcene the wide spread landskip yields, O'er rich inclufures and luxuriant fields; A lowing herd each fertile pature fills, And distant flocks itray o'er a thousand hills. Fair Greenwich hid in woods with new delight, (Shade above fhade) nowrifes to the fight. His woods ordain'd to vifit every fhore, And guard the island which they grac'd before.

The fun now rolling down the western way, A blaze of fires renews the fading day; Unnumber'd barks the regal barge infold, Brightening the twilight with it's beamy gold; Lefs thick the finny thoals, a countless fry, Before the whale or kingly dolphin fly; In one vaft fhout he feeks the crouded strand, And in a peal of thunder gains the land.. Welcome, great franger, to our longing eyes

Oh! king dcfir'd,' adopted Albion cries. For thee the east breath'd out a profp'rous ⚫ breeze,

Bright were the funs, and gently swell'd ..the feas.

Thy prefence did each doubtful heart com

"pose,

And factions wonder'd that they once were foes;

That joyful day they loft each hoftile name, The fame their aspect, and their voice the

⚫ fame.'

So two fair twins whofe features were defign'd

At one foft moment in the mother's mind, Show each the other with reflected grace, And the fame beauties bloom in either face; The puzzled ftrangers which is which inquire; Delusion grateful to the fmiling fire.

From that fir hill, where hoary fages boast

To name the stars, and count the heav'nly hoft,

By the next dawn doth great Augufta rife, Proud town! the nobleft scene beneath the fkies.

O'er Thaines her thousand fpires their luftre thed,

And a valt navy hides his ample bed,
A floating forest. From the diftant ftrand
A line of golden cars frikes o'er the land:
Britannia's peers in pomp and rich array,
Before their king, triumphant led the way.
Far as the eye can reach, the gaudy train,
A bright proceffion, shines along the plain.

So haply through the heav'n's wide path

le's w.ys.

A comet draws a long extended blaze; From east to west burns through th' ethereal frame,

And half heav'n's convex glitters with the flame.

Now to the regal towers fecurely brought, Refumes the delegated pow'r he gave, He plans Britannia's glories in his thought,

Rewards the faithful, and reftores the brave. Whom shall the mufe from out the shining throng

Select, to heighten and adorn her fong?
Thee, Halifax. To thy capacious mind,
O man approv'd,'s Britain's wealth confign'd.
Her coin (while Naflau fought) debas d and
rude,

By thee in beauty and in truth renew'd,
An arduous work' again thy charge we fee.
And thy own care once more returns to thee.
O! form'd in every fcene to awe and please,
Mix wit with pomp, and dignity with eale;
Tho' call'd to fhine aloft, thou wilt net from
To fmile on arts thyfelf did once adora:
For this thy name fucceeding time fhall praise,
And envy lefs thy garter, than thy bays. ;.

The mufe, if fir'd with thy enlivening

beams,

Perhaps shall aim at more exalted themes,
Record our monach in a nobler strain,
And fing the op'ning wonders of his reign;
Bright Carolina's heav'nly beauties trace,
Her valiant Confort, and bis blooming race,
A train of kings their fruitful love fupplies,
A glorious fcene to Albion's ravish deyen
Who fees by Brunswick's hand her scepte
fway'd,

And through his line from age to age convey'd.

TH

LUCAN, L. ix. VER. 11.

HE following letter having in it fome obfervations out of the common road, I shall make it the entertainment of this day.

MR. SPECTATOR,

THE common topics against the pride

of man, which are laboured by florid and declamatory writers, are taken from the bafenefs of his original, the imperfections of his nature, or the fhort duration of thofe goods in which he makes his boast. Though it be true that we can have nothing in us that ought to raife our vanity, jet a con, fcioufnels of our own merit may be ometimes laudable. The folly thereFore lies here; we are apt to pride our felves in worthless or perhaps fhameful things; and on the other hand, count that difgraceful which is our trueft glory. Hence it is, that the lovers of praife take wrong measures to attain it. Would a vain mam confult his own heart, he would find that if others knew his weakneffes as well as he himself doth, he could not have the impudence to expect the public elteem.. Pride therefore flows from want of reflection, and ignorance of ourfelves. Knowledge and humility come upon us together.

The proper way to make an estimate of ourselves, is to confider seriously what it is we value or defpife in others. A man who boasts of the goods of fortune, a gay drefs, or a new title, is generally the mark of ridicule. We ought there, fore not to admire in ourselves, what we are fo ready to laugh at in other

men.

Much lefs can we with reafon pride ourfelves in thofe things, which at fome time of our life we thall certainly de

}

ROWE.

fpife. And yet, if we will give ourfelves the trouble of looking backward and forward on the feveral changes which we have already undergone and hereafter must try, we hall find that the greater degrees of our knowledge and wisdom ferve only to fhew us our own imperfections.

As we rife from childhood to youth, we look with contempt on the toys and trifles which our hearts have hitherto been fet upon. When we advance to manhood, we are held wife in propor tion to our shame and regret for the rash. nefs and extravagance of youth. Old age fills us with mortifying reflections upon a life mif- fpent in the purfuit of anxious wealth or uncertain honour. Agreeable to this gradation of thought in this life, it may be reafonably fuppofed, that in a future ftate, the wif dom, the experience, and the maxims of old age, will be looked upon by a feparate fpirit in much the fame light as an ancient man now fees the little follies and toyings of infants. The pomps, the honours, the policies, and arts of mortal men, will be thought as trifling as hobby-horfes, mock-battles, or any other ports that now employ all the cunning, and ftrength, and ambition of rational beings from four years old to nine or ten.

If the notion of a gradual rife in be-ings from the meanest to the most high, be not a vain imagination, it is not improbable that an angel looks down upon a man, as a man doth upon a creature, which approaches the nearest to the rational nature, By the fame rule, if I may indulge my fancy in this particular, a fuperior brute looks with a kind of pride on one of an inferior fpecies. 7 0 2

If

If they could reflect, we might imagine from the gestures of fome of them that they think themselves the fovereigns of the world, and that all things were made for them. Such a thought would not be more abfurd in brute creatures, than one which men are apt to entertain, namely, that all the ftars in the firma. ment were created only to please their eyes and amufe their imaginations. Mr. Dryden, in his fable of the Cock and the Fox, makes a fpeech for his hero the cock, which is a pretty inftance for this purpofc.

HOR. EP. XVIII. L.I. VER. IC3.

MR.SPECTATOR,

I level, ter
N a former fpeculation you have ob-

confift in that pomp and noife wherein the generality of mankind are apt to place it. You have there taken notice, that virtue in obfcurity often appears more illustrious in the eye of fuperior beings, than all that paffes for grandeur and magnificence among men.

When we look back upon the hiftory of those who have borne the parts of kings, itatefmen, or commanders, they appear to us ftripped of thofe outfide ornaments that dazzled their contemporaries; and we regard their perfons as great or little, in proportion to the emihence of their virtues or vices. The wife fayings, generous fentiments, or difinterested conduct of a philofopher under mean circumftances of life, fet him higher in our esteem than the mighty potentates of the earth, when we view them both through the long profpect of many ages. Were the memoirs of an obfcure man, who lived up to the dignity of his nature, and according to the rules of virtue, to be laid before us, we fhould find nothing in fuch a character which might not fet him on a level with men of the highest stations. The following extract out of the private papers of an honeft country gentleman will fet this matter in a clear light. Your reader will, perhaps conceive a greater idea of him from thefe actions

POOLY

done in fecret, and without a witness, them the admiration ofhave drawn than of thofe which have drawn upon

MEMOIRS.

In my twenty-second year I found a violent affection for my coufin Charles's wife growing upon me, wherein I was in danger of fucceeding, if I had not upon that account begun my travels into foreign countries.

A little after my return to England, at a private meeting with my uncle Francis, I refufed the offer of his eftate, and prevailed upon him not to difinherit his fon Ned.

Mem. Never to tell this to Ned, left he should think hardly of his deceafed father; though he continues to fpeak ill of me for this very reafon.

Prevented a fcandalous law-fuit be twixt my nephew Harry and his mother, by allowing her underhand, out of my own pocket, fo much money yearly as the difpute was about.

Procured a benefice for a young divine, who is fifter's fon to the good. man who was my tutor, and hath been dead twenty years.

Gaye ten pounds to poor Mrs. my friend H-'s widow. Mem. To retrench one difh at my table, until I have fetched it up again. Mem. To repair my house and finish my gardens in order to employ poor people after harvest-timę.

• Ordered

Prevailed upon M. T. Efq, not to take the law of the farmer's fon for hooting a partridge, and to give him his gun again.

Paid the apothecary for curing an old woman that confeffed herself a witch,

Gave away my favourite dog for biting a beggar,

• Made the minifter of the parish and ♦ a whig justice of one mind, by putfting them to explain their notions to one another.

When my neighbour John, who hath often injured me, comes to make his request to-morrow:

Mem. I have forgiven him.

Laid up my chariot, and fold my horfes to relieve the poor in a fcarcity ❝ of corn.

In the fame year remitted to my tenants a fifth part of their rents.

As I was aiting to-day, I fell into a thought that warmed my heart, and fhall, I hope, be the better for it as long as I live.

の

Am obliged to my friend, the lovecafuift, for the following curious piece of antiquity, which I shall communicate to the public in his own words.

MR. SPECTATOR,

You may remember, that I lately

tranfmitted to you an account of an ancient cultom, in the manors of East and Weft Enborne, in the county of Berks, and elsewhere. If a cuftomary tenant die, the widow fhall have what the law calls her Free-bench, in all "his copyhold lands, dum fola et cafta fuerit, that is, while the lives fingle and chafte; but if the commits incontinency, the forfeits her eftate: yet if The will come into the court riding backward upon a black ram, with his tail in her hand, and fay the words following, the fteward is bound by

,

DRYDEN

the custom to re-admit her to her freebench.

• Here I am,

Riding upon a black rata,
Like a whore as 1 am,
And for my crineum crancum
Have loft my bincum bancum
And, for my tail's game,
Have done this worldly shame.
Therefore, I pray you, Mr. Steward

let me have my land again."

After having informed you that my Lord Coke obferves, that this is the moft frail and flippery tenure of any in England, I thail tell you, fince the writing of that letter, I have, according' to my promile, been at great pains in fearching out the records of the black ram; and have at last met with the pro ceedings of the court-baron, held in

V.

that'

that behalf, for the space of a whole day. The record faith, that a strict inquifition having been made into the right of the tenants to their feveral eltates, by the crafty old fteward, he found that many of the lands of the manor were, by default of the feveral widows, forfeited to the lord, and accordingly would have entered on the premifes: upon which the good women demanded the benefit of the ram. The steward, after having perused their feveral pleas, adjourned the court to Barnaby-bright, that they might have day enough before them.

The court being fet, and filled with a great concourse of people, who came from all parts to fee the folemnity, the first who entered was the widow Frontfy, who made her appearance in the laft year's cavalcade. The regifter obferves, that finding it an easy pad-ram, and forefeeing that the might have further eccalion for it, the purchafed it of the fteward.

Mrs. Sarah Dainty, relict of Mr. John Dainty, who was the greatest prude of the parish, came next in the proceffion, She at first made fome difficulty of taking the tail in her hand; and was obferved, in pronouncing the form of penance, to foften the two most emphafical words into clincum clancum: but the fteward took care to make her Speak plain English, before he would let her have her land again.

The third widow that was brought to this worldly fhame, being mounted upon a vicious ram, had the misfortune to be thrown by him; upon which the hoped to be excufed from going through the refe of the ceremony: but the steward being well verfed in the law, obferved very wifely upon this occafion, that the breaking of the rope does not hinder the execution of the criminal.

The fourth lady upon record was the wilow Ogle, a famous coquette, 'who Bad kept half a score young fellows off and on for the pace of two years; but having been more kind to her carter John, the was introduced with the huzzisof all her lovers about her.

Mrs. Sable appearing in her weeds,

which were very new and fresh, and of the fame colour with her whimsical palfrey, made a very decent figure in the folemnity.

Another, who had been fummoned to make her appearance, was excused by the steward, as well knowing in his heart that the good fquire himself had qualified her for the ram.

Mrs. Quick having nothing to object against the indi&ment, pleaded her belly. But it was remembered that the made the fame excufe the year before. Upon which the steward obferved, that the might fe contrive it, as never to do the fervice of the manor.

The widow Fidget being cited into court, infifted that he had done no more fince the death of her husband, than what the used to do in his life-time; and withal defired Mr. Steward to confider his own wife's cafe if he should chance to die before her.

The next in order was a dowager of a very corpulent make, who would have been excufed as not finding any ram that was able to carry her; upon which the steward commuted her punishment, and ordered her to make her entry upon

a black ox.

The widow Mafkwell, a woman who had long lived with a most unblemished character, having turned off her old chambermaid in a pet, was by that revengeful creature brought in upon the black ram nine times the fame day.

Several widows of the neighbourhood, being brought upon their trial, thewed that they did not hold of the manor, and were difcharged accordingly.

A pretty young creature who clofed the proceffion came ambling in, with fo bewitching an air, that the steward was obferved to caft a fheep's eye upon her, and married her within a month after the death of his wife.

N. B. Mrs. Touchwood appeared, according to fummons, but had nothing laid to her charge; having lived irreproachable fince the decease of her bufband, who left her a widow in the fixtyninth year of her age."

I am, Sir, &c.