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I fhall herein regulate my felf, by the Example of that good Man, who used to talk with Charity of the greatest Villains; nor was ever heard to speak with Rigor of any one, till he affirmed with Severity that Nero was a Wag.

HAVING thus prepared thee, gentle Reader, I fhall not fcruple to entertain thee with a Panegyric upon the Gamefters. I have indeed fpoken incautiously heretofore of that Clafs of Men; but I fhould forfeit all Titles to Modefty, fhould I any longer oppose the common Senfe of the Nobility and Gentry of the Kingdom. Were we to treat all thofe with Contempt, who are the Favourites of blind Chance, few Levees would be crowded. It is not the heighth of Sphere in which a Man moves but the Manner in which he acts, that makes him truly valuable. When therefore I fee a Gentleman lofe his Mony with Serenity, I recognize in him all the great Qualities of a Philofopher. If he ftorms, and invokes the Gods, I lament that he is not placed at the Head of a Regiment. The great Gravity of the Countenances round Harrison's Table, puts me in mind of a Council-board; and the indefatigable Application of the feveral Combatants, furnifhes me with an unanfwerable Reply to thofe gloomy Mortals, who cenfure this as an Idle Life. In short, Í cannot fee any Reason why Gentlemen fhould be hindered from raifing a Fortune by those Means, which at the fame time enlarge their Minds. Nor fhall I fpeak difhonourably of fome little Artifice and Fineness used upon these Occafions, fince the World is fo juft to any Man who is become a Poffeffor of Wealth, as not to refpect him the lefs, for the Methods he took to come by it.

UPON Confiderations like thefe, the Ladies fhare in thefe Diverfions. I muft own, that I receive great Plea fure in feeing my pretty Country-women engaged in an Amusement, which puts them upon producing fo many Virtues. Hereby they acquire fuch a Boldness, as raises them nearer that Lordly Creature Man. Here they are taught fuch Contempt of Wealth, as may dilate their Minds, and prevent many Curtain Lectures. Their natural Tenderness is a Weakness here eafily unlearned; and I find my Soul exalted, when I fee a Lady Sacrifice the Fortune of her Children with as little Concern as a Spartai or a Roman Dame. In fuch a Place as the Bath I might

urge,

urge, that the Cafting of a Die is indeed the properest Exercise for a fair Creature to affift the Waters; not to mention the Opportunity it gives to difplay the well-turned Arm, and to scatter to Advantage the Rays of the Diainond. But I am fatisfied, that the Gamefter Ladies have furmounted the little Vanities of fhowing their Beauty, which they fo far neglect, as to throw their Features into violent Distortions, and wear away their Lillies and Roses in tedious Watching, and reftlefs Elucubrations. I fhould rather obferve, that their chief Paffion is an Emulation of Manhood, which I am the more inclined to believe, because, in fpite of all Slanders, their Confidence in their Virtue keeps them up all Night, with the most dangerous Creatures of our Sex. It is to me an undoubted Argument of their Eafe of Confcience, that they go directly from Church to the Gaming Table; and fo highly reverence Play, as to make it a great part of their Exer cife on Sundays.

THE Water Poets are an innocent Tribe, and deserve all the Encouragement I can give them. It would be barbarous to treat thofe Authors with Bitterness, who never write out of the Season, and whofe Works are useful with the Waters. I made it my Care therefore to sweeten fome four Critics who were fharp upon a few Sonnets, which, to speak in the Language of the Bath, were meer Alkalies. I took particular Notice of a Lenitive Electuary, which was wrapt up in fome of these gentle Compofitions; and am perfuaded, that the pretty one who took it, was as much relieved by the Cover as the Medicine. There are a hundred general Topicks put into Metre every Year, viz. The Lover is inflamed in the Water; or, he finds his Death where he fought his Cure; or, the Nymph feels her own Pain, without regarding her Lover's Torment. These being for ever repeated, have at present: a very good Effect; and a Physician affures me, that Laudanum is almoft out of Doors at the Bath.

THE Phyficians here are very numerous, but very good-natured. To these charitable Gentlemen I owe, that I was cured, in a Week's time, of more Distempers than I ever had in my Life. They had almoft killed me with their Humanity. A Learned Fellow-Lodger prefcribed me a little fomething, at my first coming, to keep

up my Spirits; and the next Morning I was fo much enlivened by another, as to have an Order to Bleed for my Feaver. I was proffered a Cure for the Scurvy by a third, and had a Recipe for the Dropfie Gratis before Night. In vain did I modeftly decline these Favours ; for I was awakened early in the Morning by an Apothecary, who brought me a Dose from one of my Wellwithers. I payed him, but withal told him severely, that I never took Phyfick. My Landlord hereupon took me for an Italian Merchant, that fufpected Poison ; but the Apothecary, with more Sagacity, gueffed that I was certainly a Phyfician my self.

THE Oppreffion of Civilities which I underwent, from the Sage Gentlemen of the Faculty, frightened me from making fuch Enquiries into the Nature of thefe Springs, as would have furnished out a nobler Entertainmeni upon the Bath, than the loofe Hints I have now thrown together. Every Man who hath received any Benefit there, ought, in proportion to his Abilities, to improve, adorn, or recommend it. A Prince fhould found Hofpitals, the Noble and the Rich may diffuse their ample Charities. Mr. Tompion gave a Clock to the Bath, and I Neftor Ironfide have dedicated a Guardian.

N° 175. Thursday, October 1.

Quique fui memores alios fecere merendo.

T

Virg.

HE noble Genius of Virgil would have been exalt ted still higher, had he had the Advantage of Chriftianity. According to our Scheme of Thoughts, if the Word Memores in the Front of this Paper were changed into Similes, it would have very much heightened the Motive of Virtue in the Reader. To do good and great Actions meerly to gain Reputation, and transmit a Name to Pofterity, is a vicious Appetite, and will certainly infnare the Perfon who is moved by it, on fome occafions, into a falfe Delicacy for fear of Reproach; and at others, into Artifices which taint his Mind, though they

may

may enlarge his Fame. The Endeavour to make Men like you, rather than mindful of you, is not fubject to fuch ill Confequences, but moves with its Reward in its own Hand; or, to fpeak more in the Language of the World, a Man with this Aim is as happy as a Man in an Office, that is paid out of Mony under his own Direction. There have been very worthy Examples of this Self-denying Virtue among us in this Nation; but I do not know of a nobler Example in this Tafte, than that of the late Mr. Boyle, who founded a Lecture for the Proof of the Chriftian Religion, against theifts, and other notorious Infidels. The Reward of perpetual Memory amongst Men, which might poffibly have fome Share in this Sublime Charity, was certainly confidered but in a fecond Degree; and Mr. Boyle had it in his Thoughts to make Men imitate him as well as fpeak of him, when he was gone off our Stage.

THE World has received much Good from this In-ftitution, and the noble Emulation of great Men on the inexhauftible Subject of the Effence, Praife and Attributes: of the Deity, has had the natural Effect, which always attends this kind of Contemplation, to wit, that he who writes upon it with a fincere Heart, very eminently excells whatever he has produced on any other Occafion.. It eminently appears from this Obfervation, that a parti-cular Bleffing has been bestowed on this Lecture. This great Philofopher provided for us, after his Death, an Employment not only fuitable to our Condition, but to his own at the fame time. It is a Sight fit for Angels, to behold the Benefactor and the Perfons obliged, not only in different Places, but under different Beings, employed in the fame Work.

THIS worthy Man ftudied Nature, and traced all her Ways to thofe of her unfearchable Author. When he had: found him, he gave this Bounty for the Praife and Contemplation of him. To one who has not ran through regular Courses of Philofophical. Enquiries, (the, other Learned Labourers in this Vineyard will forgive me) I cannot but principally recommend the Book, Entitled,, Phyfico Theology. Printed for William Innys in St. Paul's. Church Yard.

IT is written by Mr. Derham, Retor of Upminster

in Effex. I do not know what Upminster is worth; but I am fure, had I the beft Living in England to give, I fhould not think the Addition of it fufficient Acknowledge. ment of his Merit. especially fince I am informed, that the Simplicity of his Life is agreeable to his useful Knowledge and Learning.

THE Praife of this Author feems to me to be the great Perfpicuity and Method which render his Work intelligible and pleafing to People who are Strangers to fuch Enquiries, as well as to the Learned. It is a very defirable Entertainment to find Occafions of Pleasure and Satiffaction in thofe Objects and Occurrences which we have all our Lives, perhaps, over-looked, or beheld, without exciting any Reflections that made us wifer or happier. The plain good Man does, as with a Wand, show us the Wonders and Spectacles in all Nature, and the particular Capacities with which all living Creatures are endowed for their feveral Ways of Life; how the Organs of Creatures are made according to their different Paths in which they are to move, and provide for themselves and Families; whether they are to creep, to leap, to fwim, to fly, to walk; whether they are to inhabit the Bowels of the Earth, the Coverts of the Wood, the muddy or clear Streams, to howl in Forefts or converfe in Cities. All Life, from that of a Worm to that of a Man, is explain'd; and, as I may fo fpeak the wondrous Works of the Creation, by the Obfervations of this Author, lie before us as Objects that create Love and Admiration, which, without fuch Explications, ftrike us only with Confulion and Amafement.

THE Man who, before he had this Book, dreffed and went out to loiter and gather up fomething to entertain a Mind too vacant, no longer needs News to give himself Amusementment; the very Air he breaths fuggefts abundant Matter for his Thoughts. He will confider that he has begun another Day of Life, to breath with all other Creatures in the fame Mafs of Air, Vapours, and Clouds, which furround our Globe; and of all the numberlefs Animals that live by receiving momentary Life, or rather momentary and new Reprieves from Death, at their Noftrils, he only ftands Erect, Confcious and Con templative of the Benefaction.

A

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