A Widow poffeffed of all these three Qualities, makes not only a virtuous but a sublime Character.

THERE is fomething fo great and fo generous in this State of Life, when it is accompanied with all its Virtues, that it is the Subject of one of the finest among our modern Tragedies in the Perfon of Andromache; and had met with an univerfal and deferved Applause, when introduced upon our English Stage by Mr. Philips.

THE most memorable Widow in Hiftory is Queen Artemifia, who not only erected the famous Mausoleum, but drank up the Ashes of her dead Lord; thereby inclofing them in a nobler Monument than that which the had built, though deservedly esteemed one of the Wonders of Architecture.

THIS laft Lady feems to have had a better Title to a fecond Husband than any I have read of, fince not one Duft of her Firft was remaining. Our modern Heroines might think a Husband a very bitter Draught, and would have good Reafon to complain, if they might not accept of a fecond Partner, till they had taken fuch a troublesome Method of lofing the Memory of the first.

I fhall add to thefe illuftrions Examples out of ancient Story, a remarkable Inftance of the Delicacy of our Ancestors in Relation to the State of Widowhood, as I find it recorded in Cowell's Interpreter. At East and Weft-Enborne, in the County of Berks, if a Cuftomary Tenant die, the Widow shall have what the Law calls her Free-Bench in all his Copy-hold Lands, dum fola & cafta fuerit; that is, while the lives fingle and chafte; but if he commit Incontinency, fhe forfeits her Eftate: Yet if he will come into the Court riding backward upon a Black Ram, with his Tail in her Hand, and fay the words following, the Steward is bound by the Custom to re-admit her to her Free-Bench.

Here I am,

Riding upon a Black Ram,

Like a Whore as I am;

And,

And, for my Crincum 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.

THE like Custom there is in the Manor of Torre in Devonshire, and other Parts of the Weft.

IT is not impoffible but I may in a little time present you with a Register of Berkshire Ladies, and other Weftern Dames, who rode publickly upon this occafion; and I hope the Town will be entertained with a Cavalcade of Widows.

N° 615. Wednesday, November 3.

Qui Deorum
Muneribus fapienter uti,

Duramque callet pauperiem pati,
Pejufque letho flagitium timet:
Non ille pro caris amicis

Aut patria timidus perire.

Hor

T owned that Fear is very powerful Paf

fion, fince it is esteemed one of the greateft of Virtues.

to fubdue it. It being implanted in us for our Prefer., vation, it is no wonder that it sticks clofe to us, as long as we have any thing we are willing to preferve. But as Life,. and all its Enjoyments, would be scarce worth the keeping, if we were under a perpetual Dread of lofing them; it is the Business of Religion and Philofophy to free us from all unneceffary Anxieties, and direct our Fear to its proper Object.

IF we confider the Painfulness of this Paffion, and the violent Effects it produces, we shall fee how dangerous it is to give way to it upon flight Occafions.,

K 5

Some

The

Some have frightened themselves into Madness, others
have given up their Lives to these Apprehenfions.
Story of a Man who grew gray in the space of one Night's
Anxiety is very famous.

O! Nox, quàm longa es, quæ facis una Senem.

THESE Apprehenfions, if they proceed from a Confcioufnefs of Guilt, are the fad Warnings of Reafon; and may excite our Pity, but admit of no Remedy. When the Hand of the Almighty is vifibly lifted against the Impious, the Heart of mortal Man cannot withstand him. We have this Paffion fublimely represented in the Punishment of the Egyptians, tormented with the Plague of Darkness, in the Apocryphal Book of Wisdom ascribed to Solomon.

FOR when unrighteous Men thought to opprefs the holy Nation; they being fhut up in their Houses, the Prifoners of Darkness, and fetter'd with the Bonds of a long Night, lay there exiled from the eternal Pro'vidence. For while they fuppofed to lie hid in their fecret Sins, they were fcattered under a dark Veil of Forgetfulness, being horribly aftonifhed and troubled with ftrange Apparitions For Wickednefs, condemned. by her own Witnefs, is very timorous, and being oppreffed with Confcience, always forecafteth grievous things. For Fear is nothing elfe but a betraying of the Succours which Reafon offereth- For the whole

• World fhined with clear Light, and none were hinder⚫ed in their Labour. Over them only was spread a heavy Night, an Image of that Darknefs which fhould after⚫wards receive them; but yet were they unto themfelves more grievous than the Darknefs.

TO Fear, fo juftly grounded, no Remedy can be propofed; but a Man (who hath no great Guilt hanging upon his Mind, who walks in the plain Path of Juftice and Integrity, and yet either by natural Complexion, or confirmed Prejudices, or neglect of ferious Reflexion, fuffers himfelf to be moved by this abject and unmanly Paffion) would do well to confider, That there is nothing which deferves his Fear, but that beneficent Being who

is

is his Friend, his Protector, his Father. Were this one Thought ftrongly fixed in the Mind, what Calamity would be dreadful? What Load can Infamy lay upon us when we are fure of the Approbation of him who will repay the Difgrace of a Moment with the Glory of Eternity? What Sharpness is there in Pain and Dilcafes, when they only haften us on to the Pleasures that will never fade? What Sting is in Death, when we are affured that it is only the Beginning of Life? A Man who lives fo, as not to fear to die, is inconfiftent with himfelf, if he delivers himself up to any incidental Anxiety.

THE Intrepidity of a just good Man is fo nobly fet forth by Horace, that it cannot be too often repeated.

The Man refolv'd and feady to his Truft,
Inflexible to Ill, and obftinately just,
May the rude Rabble's Infolence defpife,
Their fenfelefs Clamours and tumultuous Cries;
The Tyrant's Fierceness he beguiles,

And the ftern Brow, and the harsh Voice defies,
And with fuperior Greatness smiles.

Not the rough Whirlwind, that deforms
Adria's black Gulf, and vexes it with Storms,
The Stubborn Virtue of his Soul can move;
Not the red Arm of angry Jove,

That flings the Thunder from the Sky,

And gives it Rage to roar, and Strength to fly.

Should the whole Frame of Nature round him break, In Ruin and Confufion burl'd,

He, unconcern'd, would hear the the mighty Crack,
And fand fecure amid a falling World.

THE Vanity of Fear may be yet farther illuftrated, if we reflect,

First, WHAT we fear may not come to pass. No human Scheme can be fo accurately projected, but some Jittle Circumstance intervening may fpoil it. He, who

directs

directs the Heart of Man at his Pleasure, and understands the Thoughts long before, may by ten thousand Accidents, or an immediate Change in the Inclinations of Men, difconcert the most fubtle Project, and turn it to the Benefit of his own Servants.

IN the next Place we fhould confider, though the Evil we imagine fhould come to pass, it may be much more fupportable than it appeared to be. As there is no profperous State of Life without its Calamities, fo there is no Adverfity without its Benefits. Ask the Great and Powerful, if they do not feel the Pangs of Envy and Ambition. Enquire of the Poor and Needy, if they have not tafted the Sweets of Quiet and Contentment. Even under the Pains of Body; the Infidelity of Friends; or the Mifconftructions put upon our laudable Actions, our Minds (when for fome time accustomed to these Preffures) are fenfible of fecret Flowings of Comfort, the prefent Reward of a pious Refignation. The Evils of this Life appear like Rocks and Precipices, rugged and barren at a diftance, but at our nearer approach, we find little fruitful Spots, and refreshing Springs, mixed with the Harshnefs and Deformities of Nature..

IN the laft Place, we may comfort our felves with this Confideration; that, as the Thing feared may not reach us, fo we may not reach what we fear: Our Lives may not extend to that dreadful Point which we have in View. He who knows all our Failings, and will not fuffer us to be tempted beyond our Strength, is often pleased in his tender Severity, to feparate the Soul from its Body and Miferies together.

IF we look forward to him for Help, we fhall never be in Danger of falling down thofe Precipices which our Imagination is apt to create. Like those who walk upon a Line, if we keep our Eye fixed upon one Point, we may ftep forward fecurely; whereas an imprudent or cowardly Glance on either Side will infallibly destroy us.

Friday,