fingular in its Kind, and does not fall in with the Madneis of a Multitude.

THE Subject of this Effay was occafioned by a Letter which I received not long fince, and which, for want of Room at prefent, I fhall infert in my next Paper.

N° 577. Friday, August 6.

Hoc tolerabile, fi non

Et furere incipias

Juv.

THE Letter mentioned in my laft Paper is as fol

lows.

SIR,

OU have fo lately decried that Cuftom, too

Y much in ufe amongst most People, of making

themselves the Subjects of their Writings and Converfation, that I had fome Difficulty to perfuade my felf to give you this Trouble, till I had confidered that tho' I fhould fpeak in the Firft Perfon, yet I could not be juftly charged with Vanity, fince I fhall not add my Name; as alfo, because what I fhall write will not, to fay the beft, redound to my Praife; but is only defigned to remove a Prejudice conceived against me, as I hope, with very little Foundation. My fhort Hiftory is this.

I have lived for fome Years laft paft altogether in London, till about a Month ago an Acquaintance of · mine, for whom I have done fome fmall Services in Town, invited me to pafs Part of the Summer with him at his Houfe in the Country. I accepted his Invitation, and found a very hearty Welcome. My Friend, an honeft plain Man, not being qualified to pafs away his Time without the Reliefs of Bufinefs, has grafted the Farmer upon the Gentleman, and brought himself to fubmit even to the fervile Parts

• of

of that Employment, fuch as infpecting his Plough, and the like. This neceffarily takes up fome of his Hours every Day; and as I have no Relifh for fuch Diverfions, I ufed at thefe Times to retire either to I my Chamber, or a fhady Walk near the House, and entertain my felf with fome agreeable Author. Now you must know, Mr. SPECTATOR, that when I read, efpecially if it be Poetry, it is very ufual with me, when I meet with any Paffage or Expreffion 'which strikes me much, to pronounce it aloud, with that Tone of the Voice which I think agreeable to the Sentiments there expreffed; and to this I generally add fome Motion or Action of the Body. It was not long before I was obferved by fome of the Family in one of thefe heroick Fits, who thereupon received Impreffions very much to my Disadvantage. This however I did not foon difcover, nor fhould ⚫ have done probably, had it not been for the following Accident. I had one Day fhut my self up in my Chamber, and was very deeply engaged in the • Second Book of Milton's Paradife Loft. I walked to and fro with the Book in my Hand, and, to fpeak the Truth, I fear I made no little Noife; when prefently coming to the following Lines,

On a fudden open fly,

With impetuous Recoil and jarring Sound,
Th' infernal Doors, and on their Hinges grate
Harf Thunder, &c.

I in great Transport threw open the Door of my Chamber, and found the greatest Part of the Family standing on the Outfide in a very great Confternation. I was in no lefs Confufion, and begged Pardon for having. difturbed them; addreffing my felf particularly to comfort one of the Children, who received an unlucky Fall in this Action, while he was too intently furveying my Meditations through the Key-hole. To be fhort, after this Adventure I easily obferved that great Part of the Family, efpecially the Women and Children, looked upon me with fome

Apprehenfions of Fear; and my Friend himfelf, tho' he ftill continued his Civilities to me, did not feem altogether eafy: I took notice, that the Butler was C never after this Accident ordered to leave the Bottle upon the Table after Dinner. Add to this, that I frequently overheard the Servants mention me by the Name of the crazed Gentleman, the Gentleman a little touched, the mad Londoner, and the like. This made me think it high Time for me to shift my Quar ters, which I refolved to do the firft handfome Opportunity; and was confirmed in this Refolution by a young Lady in the Neighbourhood who frequently vifited us, and who one Day, after having heard all the fine things I was able to fay, was pleafed with a fcornful Smile to bid me go to fleep.

L

THE firft Minute I got to my Lodgings in Town I fet Pen to Paper to defire your Opinion, whether, upon the Evidence before you, I am mad or not. I can bring Certificates that I behave my self foberly before Company, and I hope there is at leaft fome 'Merit in withdrawing to be mad. Look you, Sir, I am contented to be efteemed a little touched, as they phrafe it, but fhould be forry to be madder than my Neighbours; therefore, pray let me be as much in my Senfes as you can afford. I know I could bring your felf as an Inftance of a Man who has confeffed talking to himself; but yours is a particular Cafe, and cannot justify me, who have not kept Silence any Part of my Life. What if I fhou'd own my felf in Love? You know Lovers are always allowed the Comfort of Soliloquy.But I will fay no more upon this Subject, because I have long fince obferved, the ready Way to be thought Mad is to contend that you are not fo; as we generally conclude that Man drunk, who takes Pains to be thought fober. I will therefore leave my felf to your Determination; but am the more defirous to be thought in my Senfes, that it may be no. Difcredit to you when I affure you that I have always been very much Your Admirer. P. S. If I must be mad, I defire the young Lady may believe it is for her.

The

The humble Petition of John a Nokes and John a Stiles,

Sherweth,

T HAT your Petitioners have had Caufes depending in Weftminster-Hall above five hundred Years, and that we despair of ever seeing them brought to an Iffue: That your Petitioners have not been involved in thefe Law Suits out of any litigious Temper of 'their own, but by the Inftigation of contentious Perfons; that the young Lawyers in our Inns of Court are continually fetting us together by the Ears, and "think they do us no Hurt, because they plead for us without a Fee; That many of the Gentlemen of 'the Robe have no other Clients in the World befides us two; That when they have nothing elfe to do, they make us Plaintiffs and Defendants, tho' they were never retained by either of us; That they traduce, condemn or acquit us, without any manner of Regard to our Reputations and good Names in the World. Your Petitioners therefore (being thereunto encouraged by the favourable Reception which you lately gave to our Kinsman Blank) do humbly pray that you will 6 put an end to the Controverfies which have been fo long depending between us your faid Petitioners, and that our Enmity may not endure from Generation to Generation; it being our Refolution to live here• after as it becometh Men of peaceable Difpofitions.

And your Petitioners (as in Duty bound) shall ever Pray, &c.

No 578. Monday, August 9.

Eque feris humana in corpora tranfit,

Inque feras Nofter

T

Ovid.

HERE has been very great Reason, on several Accounts, for the learned World to endeavour at fettling what it was that might be faid to compofe perfonal Identity.

Mr. LOCKE, after having premifed that the Word Perfon properly fignifies a thinking intelligent Being that has Reafon and Reflexion, and can confider it felf as it felf; concludes That it is Consciousness alone, and not an Identity of Subftance, which makes this perfonal Identity of Sameness. Had I the fame Consciousness (fays that Author) that I faw the Ark and Noah's Flood, as that I faw an Overflowing of the Thames laft Winter; or as that I now write; I could no more doubt that I who write this now, that faw the Thames overflow laft Winter, and that viewed the Flood at the general Deluge, was the fame Self, place that Self in what Subftance you pleafe, than that I who write this am the fame My felf now while I write (whether I confist of all the fame Subftance material or immaterial or no) that I was Yesterday; For as to this Point of being the fame Self, it matters not whether this prefent Self be made up of the fame or other Subftances.

I was mightily pleafed with a Story in fome meafure applicable to this Piece of Philofophy, which I read the other Day in the Perfian Tales, as they are lately very well tranflated by Mr. Philips; and with an Abridgement whereof I fhall here prefent my Readers.

I fhall only premise that thefe Stories are writ after the Eastern Manner, but fomewhat more correct.