rules which are laid down for our direction in Sacred Writ, and to compare our lives with the life of that perfon who acted up to the perfection of human nature, and is the ftanding example, as well as the great guide and inftructor, of those who receive his doctrines. Though thefe two heads cannot be too much infifted upon, I fhall buft just mention them, fince they have been handled by many great and eminent writers.

. I would therefore propofe the following methods to the confideration of fuch as would find out their fecret faults, and make a true estimate of themselves.

In the first place, let them confider well what are the characters which they bear among their enemies. Our friends very often flatter us, as much as our own hearts. They either do not fee our faults, or conceal them from us, or foften them by their reprefentations, after such a manner, that we think them too trivial to be taken notice of. An adversary, on the contrary, makes a stricter fearch into us, difcovers every flaw and imperfection in our tempers, and though his malice may fet them in too ftrong a light, it has generally fome ground for what it advances. A friend exaggerates a man's virtues, an enemy inflames his crimes. A wife man should give a juft attention to both of them, fo far as they may tend to the improvement of one, and the diminution of the other. Plutarch has written an effay on the benefits which a man may receive from his enemies, and, among the good fruits of enmity, mentions this in particular, that by the reproaches which it cafts upon us we fee the worft fide of ourfelves, and open our eyes to feveral blemishes and defects in our lives and converfations, which we fhould not have observed, without the help of fuch ill-natured monitors.

In order likewife to come at a true knowledge of ourfelves, we should confider on the other hand how far we may deferve the praises and approbations which the world bestow upon us: whether the actions they celebrate proceed from laudable and worthy motives; and how far we are really poffeffed of the virtues which gain us applause among thofe with whom we converfe. Such a reflexion is abfolutely neceffary, if we confider how apt we are either to value or condemn ourselves by the opi

4

nions

nions of others, and to facrifice the report of our own hearts to the judgment of the world.

in the next place, that we may not deceive ourselves in a point of fo much importance, we fhould not lay too great a ftrefs on any fuppofed virtues we poffefs that are of a double nature: And fuch we may efteem all those in which multitudes of men diffent from us, who are as good and wife as ourfelves. We fhould always act with great cautioufnefs and circumfpection in points, where it is not impoffible that we may be deceived. Intemperate zeal, bigotry and perfecution for any party or opinion, how praife-worthy foever they may appear to weak men of our own principles, produce infinite calamities among mankind, and are highly criminal in their own nature; and yet how many perfons eminent for piety fuffer fuch monftrous and abfurd principles of action to take root in their minds under the colour of vir tues? For my own part, I muft own I never yet knew any party fo juft and reasonable, that a man could follow it in its height and violence, and at the fame time be innocent.

We should likewise be very apprehenfive of thofe actions which proceed from natural conftitutions, favourite paffions, particular education, or whatever promotes our worldly intereft or advantage. In thefe and the like cafes, a man's judgment is eafily perverted, and a wrong bias hung upon his mind. There are the inlets of prejudice, the unguarded avenues of the mind, by which a thoufand errors and fecret faults find admiffion, without being obferved or taken notice of. A wife man will fufpect thofe actions to which he is directed by fomething befides reason, and always apprehend fome concealed evil in every refolution that is of a difputable nature, when it is conformable to his particular temper, his age, or way of life, or when it favours his pleasure or his profit.

There is nothing of greater importance to us than thus diligently to fift our thoughts, and examine all these dark receffes of the mind, if we would establish our fouls in fuch a folid and fubftantial virtue as will turn to account in that great day, when it must stand the teft of infinite. wifdom and juftice.

I fhall

I fhall conclude this effay with obferving that the two kinds of hypocrify I have here spoken of, namely that of deceiving the world, and that of impofing on ourselves, are touched with wonderful beauty in the hundred thirty ninth pfalm. The folly of the first kind of hypocrify is there fet forth by reflexions on God's omniscience and omniprefence, which are celebrated in as noble strains of poetry as any other I ever met with either facred or profane. The other kind of hypocrify, whereby a man deceives himself, is intimated in the two laft verses where the pfalmift addreffes himself to the great fearcher of hearts in that emphatical petition; Try me, O God, and Seek the ground of my heart; prove me, and examine my thoughts. Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me, and lead me in the way everlafting.

Monday, June 9.

L

N° 400

Latet anguis in herba.

Virg. Ecl. 3. v. 93.

[English Proverb.]

I

There's a fnake in the grass,

T should, methinks, preferve modefty and its interefts in the world, that the tranfgreffion of it always creates offence; and the very purposes of wantonnefs are defeated by a carriage which has in it fo much boldness, as to intimate that fear and reluctance are quite extinguish'd in an object which would be otherwife desirable. It was faid of a wit of the last age,

Sidney has that prevailing gentle art,
Which can with a refiftless charm impart
The loofeft wishes to the chafleft heart;
Raife fuch a conflict, kindle fuch a fire,
Between declining virtue and defire,
That the poor vanquish'd maid diffolves away
In dreams all nighs, in fighs and tears all day.

}

This prevailing gentle art was made up of complaifance, courtship, and artful conformity to the modesty

of a woman's manners. Rufticity, broad expreffion, and forward obtrufion, offend thofe of education, and make the tranfgreffors odious to all who have merit enough to attract regard. It is in this tafte that the fcenery is fo beautifully ordered in the defcription which Antony makes in the dialogue between him and Dolabeila, of Cleopatra in her barge.

Her ga ley down the filver Cidnos row'd;

The tackling filk, the ftreamers wav'd with gold;
The gentle winds were lodg'd in purple fails;
Her nymphs, like nereids, round her couch were plac'd,
Where fhe, another fea-born Venus, lay;

She lay, and lean'd her cheek upon her hand,
And caft a look fo languishingly fweet,
As if fecure of all beholders bearts,

Neglecting fhe could take them. Boys like Cupids
Stood fanning with their painted wings the winds
That play'd about her face: but if she fmil'd,
A darting glory feem'd to blaze abroad,
That mens defiring eyes were never weary'd,
But bung upon the object. To foft flutes
The filver oars kept time: and while they play'd,
The hearing gave new pleasure to the fight,
And both to thought·

Here the imagination is warmed with all the objects prefented, and yet there is nothing that is lufcious, or what raises any idea more loofe than that of a beautiful woman fet off to advantage. The like, or a more delicate and careful spirit of modefty, appears in the following paffage in one of Mr. Philips's paftorals.

growi

Breathe foft ye winds, ye waters gently flow,
Shield her ye trees, ye flow'rs around her
Ye fwains, I beg you, pafs in filence by,
My love in yonder vale afleep does lie.

Defire is corrected when there is a tenderness or admiration expreffed which partakes the paffion. Licentious language has fomething brutal in it, which difgraces humanity, and leaves us in the condition of the favages in the field. But it may be afk'd, to what good ufe can tend a difcourfe of this kind at all? It is to alarm VOL. VI.

B

chafte

chafte ears against fuch as have what is above called the prevailing gentle art. Mafters of that talent are capable of clothing their thoughts in fo foft a drefs, and fomething fo diftant from the fecret purpose of their heart, that the imagination of the unguarded is touched with a fondnefs which grows too infenfibly to be refifted. Much care and concern for the lady's welfare, to feem afraid left the fhould be annoyed by the very air which furrounds her, and this uttered rather with kind looks, and expreffed by an interjection, an ah, or an oh, at fome little hazard in moving or making a step, than in any direct profeffion of love, are the methods of skilful admirers: They are honeft arts when their purpose is fuch, but infamous when mifapplied. It is certain that many a young woman in this town has had her heart irrecoverably won, by men who have not made one advance which ties their admirers, though the females languifh with the utmost anxiety. I have often by way of admonition to my female readers, given them warning against agreeable company of the other sex, except they are well acquainted with their characters. Women may disguise it if they think fit, and the more to do it, they may be angry at me for faying it; but I fay it is natural to them, that they have no manner of approbation of men, without fome degree of love: For this reafon he is dangerous to be entertained as a friend or vifitant, who is capable of gaining any eminent efteem or observation, though it be never fo remote from pretenfions as a lover. If a man's heart has not the abhorrence of any treacherous defign, he may eafily improve approbation into kindnefs, and kindneís into paffion. There may poffibly be no manner of love between them in the eyes of all their acquaintance; no, it is all friendship; and yet they may be as fond as thepherd and fhepherdefs in a paftoral, but fill the nymph and the fwain may be to each other no other, I warrant you, than Pylades and Oreftes.

When Lucy decks with flowers her swelling breaft, And on her elbow leans diffembling reft;

Unable to refrain my madding mind,

Nor sheep nor pafture worth my care I find.

Once