our reason comes again to our succour, and throws down all those little prejudices which rise in us unawares, and are natural to the, mind of man.

We shall, therefore, utterly extinguish this melancholy thought, of our being overlooked by our Maker in the multiplicity of his works, and the infinity of those objects among which he seems to be incessantly employed, if we consider, in the first place, that he is Omnipresent; and, in the second, that he is Omniscient.

If we consider him in his Omnipresence: his Being passes through, actuates, and supports, the whole frame of nature. His creation, and every part of it, is full of him. There is nothing he has made that is either so1 distant, so little, or so inconsiderable, which he does not essentially inhabit. His substance is within the substance of every being, whether material or immaterial, and as intimately present to it, as that Being is to itself. It would be an imperfection in him, were he able to remove out of one place into another, or to withdraw himself from anything he has created, or from any part of that space which is diffused and spread abroad to infinity. In short, to speak of him in the language of the old philosopher, he is a Being whose centre is everywhere, and his circumference nowhere.

In the second place, he is Omniscient as well as Omnipresent. His Omniscience indeed necessarily and naturally flows from his Omnipresence; he cannot but be conscious of every motion that arises in the whole material world, which he thus essentially pervades, and of every thought that is stirring in the intellectual world, to every part of which he is thus intimately united. Several moralists have considered the creation as the temple of God, which he has built with his own hands, and which is filled with his presence. Others have considered infinite space as the receptacle, or rather the habitation, of the Almighty: but the noblest and most exalted way of considering this infinite space, is that of Sir Isaac Newton, who calls it the sensorium of the Godhead. Brutes and men have their sensoriola, or little sensoriums, by which they apprehend the presence, and perceive the actions, of a few objects that lie contiguous to them. Their knowledge and observation turns within a very narrow circle.

1 That is either so-he had better said-be it ever so-for, which refers to nothing, not to so.

But as God Almighty cannot but perceive and know everything in which he resides, infinite space gives room to infinite knowledge, and is, as it were, an organ to Omniscience.

Were the soul separate from the body, and with one glance of thought should start beyond the bounds of the creation, should it for millions of years continue its progress through infinite space with the same activity, it would still find itself within the embrace of its Creator, and encompassed round with the immensity of the Godhead. Whilst we are in the body he is not less present with us, because he is concealed from us. "Oh that I knew where I might find him! (says Job.) Behold I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he does work, but I cannot behold him; he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him." In short, reason as well as revelation assures us, that he cannot be absent from us, notwithstanding he is undiscovered by us.

In this consideration of God Almighty's Omnipresence and Omniscience, every uncomfortable thought vanishes. He cannot but regard everything that has being, especially such of his creatures who fear they are not regarded by him. He is privy to all their thoughts, and to that anxiety of heart in particular, which is apt to trouble them on this occasion; for as it is impossible he should overlook any of his creatures, so we may be confident that he regards, with an eye of mercy, those who endeavour to recommend themselves to his notice, and in an unfeigned humility of heart, think themselves unworthy that he should be mindful of them.

Possibly it we had aried det

L

o wake al No. 567. WEDNESDAY, JULY 14.

-Inceptus clamor frustratur hiantes. VIRG.

I HAVE received private advice from some of my correspondents, that if I would give my paper a general run, I should take care to season it with scandal. I have, indeed, observed of late, that few writings sell which are not filled with great names and illustrious titles. The reader gener

'Should start. Should has no substantive. We may correct thus"Were the soul separate from the body, and should it, with one glance of thought, start beyond the bounds of the creation, nay, should it," &c.

ally casts his eye upon a new book, and if he finds several letters separated from one another by a dash, he buys it up, and peruses it with great satisfaction. An M and an h, a T and an r, with a short line between them, has sold many an insipid pamphlet. Nay, I have known a whole edition go off by virtue of two or three well-written &c—————'s.

A sprinkling of the words Faction, Frenchman, Papist, Plunderer, and the like significant terms, in an Italic cha

racter, hath also a very good effect upon the eye of the pur

chaser; not to mention scribbler, liar, rogue, rascal, knave, and villain, without which it is impossible to carry on a modern controversy.

Our party-writers are so sensible of the secret virtue of an innuendo to recommend their productions, that of late they never mention the Q- -n or Pt at length, though they speak of them with honour, and with that deference which is due to them from every private person. It gives a secret satisfaction to the peruser of these mysterious works, that he is able to decipher them without help, and, by the strength of his own natural parts, to fill up a blank space, or make out a word that has only the first or last letter in it.

Some of our authors, indeed, when they would be more satirical than ordinary, omit only the vowels of a great man's name, and fall most unmercifully upon all the consonants. This way of writing was first of all introduced by T-m Br-wn of facetious memory, who, after having gutted a proper name of all its intermediate vowels, used to plant it in his works, and make as free with it as he pleased, without any danger of the statute.

That I may imitate these celebrated authors, and publish a paper which shall be more taking than ordinary, I have here drawn up a very curious libel, in which a reader of penetration will find a great deal of concealed satire, and if he be acquainted with the present posture of affairs, will easily discover the meaning of it.

"If there are four persons in the nation who endeavour to bring all things into confusion, and ruin their native country, I think every honest Engl-shm-n ought to be upon his guard. That there are such, every one will agree with me, who hears me name *** with his first friend and favourite ***, not to mention *** nor ***. These people may cry ch-rch, ch-rch, as long as they please, but, to make use of a homely proverb,

"The proof of the p-dd-ng is in the eating." This I am sure of, that if a certain prince should concur with a certain prelate, (and we have Monsieur Z-n's word for it,) our posterity would be in a sweet p-ckle. Must the British nation suffer forsooth, because my Lady Q-p-t-s has been disobliged? or is it reasonable that our English fleet, which used to be the terror of the ocean, should lie wind-bound for the sake of a I love to speak out and declare my mind clearly, when I am talking for the good of my country. I will not make my court to an ill man, though he were a -y or a T-t. Nay, I would not stick to call so wretched a politician, a traitor, an enemy to his country, and a bl-nd-rb-ss," &c. &c.

B

The remaining part of this political treatise, which is written after the manner of the most celebrated authors in Great Britain, I may communicate to the public at a more convenient season. In the mean while I shall leave this with my curious reader, as some ingenious writers do their enigmas, and if any sagacious person can fairly unriddle it, I will print his explanation, and, if he pleases, acquaint the world with his name.

I hope this short essay will convince my readers, it is not for want of abilities that I avoid state-tracts, and that if I would apply my mind to it, I might, in a little time, be as great a master of the political scratch, as any the most eminent writer of the age. I shall only add, that, in order to outshine all the modern race of Syncopists, and thoroughly content my English readers, I intend shortly to publish a Spectator, that shall not have a single vowel in it.

No. 568. FRIDAY, JULY 16.

-Dum recitas, incipit esse tuus.

MART.

I WAS yesterday in a coffee-house1 not far from the Royal Exchange, where I observed three persons in close conference over a pipe of tobacco; upon which, having filled one for my own use, I lighted it at the little wax candle that

The Spectator appears, in this paper, under his newly-assumed person of a talker. And, indeed, by the specimen, one is tempted to wish that he had written more of these essays on the same plan.

stood before them; and, after having thrown in two or three whiffs amongst them, sat down and made one of the company. I need not tell my reader, that lighting a man's pipe at the same candle, is looked upon, among brother smokers, as an overture to conversation and friendship. As we here laid our heads together in a very amicable manner, being intrenched under a cloud of our own raising, I took up the last Spectator, and casting my eye over it, "The Spectator (says I) is very witty to-day;" upon which a lusty lethargic old gentleman, who sat at the upper end of the table, having gradually blown out of his mouth a great deal of smoke, which he had been collecting for some time before, "Ay, (says he,) more witty than wise I am afraid." His neighbour, who sat at his right hand, immediately coloured, and being an angry politician, laid down his pipe with so much wrath that he broke it in the middle, and by that means furnished me with a tobacco-stopper. I took it up very sedately, and looking him full in the face, made use of it from time to time, all the while he was speaking: "This fellow, (says he,) cannot for his life keep out of politics. Do you see how he abuses four great men here ?" I fixed my eye very attentively on the paper, and asked him if he meant those who were represented by asterisks. "Asterisks, (says he,) do you call them? they are all of them stars. He might as well have put garters to them. Then pray do but mind the two or three next lines! Ch-rch and p-dd-ng in the same sentence! Our clergy are very much beholden to him." Upon this, the third gentleman, who was of a mild disposition, and, as I found, a Whig in his heart, desired him not to be too severe upon the Spectator neither; "For, (says he,) you find he is very cautious of giving offence, and has therefore put two dashes into his pudding." "A fig for his dash, (says the angry politician,) in his next sentence he gives a plain innuendo, that our posterity will be in a sweet p-ckle. What does the fool mean by his pickle? why does he not write at length, if he means honestly ?" "I have read over the whole sentence, (says I,) but I look upon the parenthesis in the belly of it to be the most dangerous part, and as full of insinuations as it can hold. But who (says I) is my Lady Q-p-t-s ?" "Ay, answer that if you can, sir," says the furious statesman to the poor Whig that sat over against him. But without giving him time to reply, “I