have quoted out of Mr. Locke; for if our notion of time is produced by our reflecting on the fucceffion of ideas in our mind, and this fucceffion may be infinitely accelerated or retarded, it will follow, that different beings may have different notions of the fame parts of duration, according as their ideas, which we fuppofe are equally diftinct in each of them, follow one another in a greater or lefs degree of rapidity.

There is a famous paffage in the Alcoran, which looks as if Mahomet had been poffeffed of the notion we are now fpeaking of. It is there faid, that the angel Gabriel took Mahomet out of his bed one morning to give him a fight of all things in the feven heavens, in paradife, and in hell, which the prophet took a diftin&t view of; and after having held ninety thousand conferences with God, was brought back again to his bed. All this, fays the Alcoran, was tranfacted in fo fmall a fpace of time, that Mahomet at his return found his bed ftill warm, and took up an earthen pitcher, which was thrown down at the very inftant that the angel Gabriel carried him away, before the water was all spilt.

There is a very pretty story in the Turkish Tales which relates to this paffage of that famous impoftor, aad bears fome affinity to the fubje&t we are now upon. A fultan of Egypt, who was an infidel, used to laugh at this circumftance in Mahomet's life, as what was altogether impoffible and abfurd: but converfing one day with a great doctor in the law, who had the gift of working miracles, the doctor told him he would quickly convince him of the truth of this paffage in the hif tory of Mahomet, if he would confent to do what he fhould defire of him. Upon this the fultan was directed to place himfelf by an huge tub of water, which he did accordingly; and as he stood by the tub amidst a circle of his great men, the holy man bid him plunge his head into the water, and draw it up again: the king accordingly thruft his head into the water, and at the fame time found himfelf at the foot of a mountain on a fea-fhore. The king immediately began to rage against his doctor for this piece of treachery and witchcraft; but at length, knowing it was in vain to be angry, he fet himself to think on proper methods for getting a livelihood in this ftrange country: accordingly he applied himself to fome people whom he faw at work in a neighbouring wood: thefe people conducted him to a town that stood at a little distance from the wood, where, after fome adventures, he married a woman of great beauty and fortune. He lived with this woman fo long until he had by her feven fons and feven daughters; he was afterwards reduced to great want, and forced to think of plying in the streets as a porter for his Livelihood. One day as he was walking alone by the fea-fide, being feized with many me, lancholy reflections upon his former and his prefent ftate of life, which had raifed a fit of devotion in him, he threw off his clothes with a defign to wafh himself, according to the cuftom of the Mahometans, before he faid his prayers.

After his first plunge into the fea, he no fooner raifed his head above the water but he found himself standing by the fide of the tub, with the great men of his court about him, and the holy man at his fide. He immediately upbraided his teacher for having fent liim on fuch a courfe of adventures, and betrayed him into fo long a ftate of mifery, and fervitude; but was wonderfully furprifed when he heard that the itate he talked of was only

a dream and delufion; that he had not stirred from the place where he then stood; and that he had only dipped his head into the water, and immediately taken it out again.

The Mahometan Doctor took this occafion of inftructing the fultan, that nothing was impoffible with God; and that He, with whom a thousand years are but as one day, can, if he pleafes, make a fingle day, nay a fingle moment, appear to any of his creatures as a thousand years.

I shall leave my reader to compare thefe Eaftern fables with the notions of thofe two great Philofophers whom I have quoted in this paper; and fhall only by way of application, defire him to confider how we may extend life beyond its natural dimenfions, by applying ourfelves diligently to the purfaits of knowledge.

The hours of a wife man are lengthened by his ideas, as thofe of a fool are by his paffions, the time of the one is long, because he does not know what to do with it; fo is that of the other, because he diftinguishes every moment of it with ufcful or amufing thoughts; or in other words, because the one is always withing it away, and and the other always enjoying it.

How different is the view of paft life, in the man who is grown old in knowledge and wisdom, from that of him who is grown old in ignorance and folly? The latter is like the owner of a barren country that fills his eye with the profpect of naked hills and plains, which produce nothing either profitable or ornamental; the other beholds a beautiful and spacious landscape divided into delightful gardens, green meadows, fruitful ficlds, and can fcarce caft his eye on a fingle fpot of his poffeffions, that is not covered with fome beautiful plant or flower.

H

L

AVING read the two following letters with much pleasure, I cannot but think the good fenfe of them will be as agreeable to the town as any thing I could fay either on the topics they treat of, or any others. They both allude to former papers of mine, and I do not question but the firft, which is upon inward mourning, will be thought the production of a man who is well acquainted with the generous yearnings of diftrefs in a manly temper, which is above the relief of tears. A fpeculation of my own on that fubject I fhall defer until another occafion.

The second letter is from a lady of a mind as great as her understanding. There is perhaps fomething in the beginning of it which I ought in modefty to conceal; but I have fo much eftcem for this correfpondent, that I will not alter a tittle of what the writes, though I am thus fcrupulous at the price of being ridiculous.

"

friends. You cannot go to vifit a fick friend, but fome impertinent waiter about him obforves the muscles of your face, as ftrictly as if they were prognoflics of his death or recovery. If he happens to be taken from you, you are immediately furrounded with numbers of thefe fpectators, who expe& a melancholy fhrug of your fhoulders, a pathetical fhake of your head, and an expreffive diftortion of your face, to measure your affection and value for the deceafed but there is nothing, on these occafions, fo much in their favour as immoderate weeping. As all their paflions are fuperacial, they imagine the feat of love and friendfnip to be placed vifibly in the eyes: they judge what ftock of kindness you had for the living, by the quantity of tears you pour out for the dead; fo that if one body " wants that quantity of falt - water another abounds with, he is in great danger of being thought infenfible or ill-natured: they are ftrangers to friendship, whofe grief happens < not to be moist enough to wet fuch a parcel of handkerchiefs. But experience has told us, nothing is fo fallacious as this outward fign of forrow; and the natural hiftory of our bodies will teach us that this flux of the eyes; this faculty of weeping, is peculiar only to fome conftitutions. We obferve in the tender bodies of children, when croffed in their little wills and expectations, how diffolvable they are into tears; if this were what grief is in men, nature would not be able to support them in the excefs of it for one moment. Add to this obfervation, how quick is their tranfition from this paffion to that of their joy. I will not fay we fee often, in the next tender things to children, tears fhed without much grieving. Thus it is common to fhed tears without much forrow, and as common to fuffer much forrow without hedding tears. Grief and weeping are indeed frequent comC panions; but, I believe, never in their higheft exceffes. As laughter does not proceed from profound joy, fo neither does weeping from profound forrow. The forrow which appears fo easily at the eyes, cannot have pierced deeply into the heart. The heart diftended with grief, ftops all the paffages for tears or lamentations.

public benefit; fo I am fenfible, be that as it 'will, you must nevertheless find the secret and incomparable pleasure of doing good, and be a great harer in the entertainment you give. I acknowledge our fex to be much obliged, and I hope improved by your labours, and even your intentions, more particularly for our fervice. If it be true, as it is fometimes faid, that our fex have an influence on the other, your paper may be a yet more general good. Your directing us to reading is certainly the beft means to our inftruction; but I think, with you, caution in that particular very ufeful, fince the improvement of our understandings may, or may not, be of fervice to us, ac'cording as it is managed. It has been thought we are not generally fo ignorant as ill-taught, or that our fex does fo often want wit, judgment, or knowledge, as the right application of them; you are fo well-bred, as to fay your 'fair readers are already deeper fcholars than the beaux, and that you could name fome of them that talk much better than feveral gen'tlemen who make a figure at Will's: this may poffibly be, and no great compliment, in my opinion, even fuppofing your comparison to reach Tom's and the Grecian: fure you are too wife to think that a real commendation of a woman. Were it not rather to be wifhed we improved in our own fphere, and approved ourfelves better daughters, wives, mothers, and < friends?

Now, Sir, what I would incline you to in all this, is, that you would inform the fhallow critics and obfervers upon forrow, that true affliction labours to be invifible, that it is a ftranger to ceremony, and that it bears in its own nature a dignity much above the little circumftances which are affected under the notion of decency. You must know, Sir, I have lately loft a dear friend, for whom I have not yet fhed a tear, and for that reafon your animadverfions on that fubject would be the more acceptable to,

• Sir,

Your most humble fervant,

6

I cannot but agree with the judicious trader in Cheapfide, though I am not at all preju'diced in his favour, in recommending the ftu'dy of arithmetic; and muft diffent even from the authority which you mention, when it advifes the making our fex fcholars. Indeed a little more philofophy, in order to the fubduing our paffions to our reafon, might be 'fometimes ferviceable, and a treatife of that nature I fhould approve of, even in cxchange for "Theodofius, or the Force of Love;" but as I well know you want not hints, I will proceed no further than to recommend the bishop of "Cambray's Education of a Daughter," as it is tranflated into the only language 'I have any knowledge of, though perhaps very much to its difadvantage. I have heard it ob'jected against that piece, that its inftructions are not of general ufe, but only fitted for a great lady; but I confefs I am not of that opinion; for I do not remember, that there are any rules laid down for the expences of a woman, in which particular only I think a gentlewoman ought to differ from a lady of the best fortune, or highest quality, and not in their principles of juftice, gratitude, fincerity, prudence, or modefty. I ought perhaps to make an apology for this long epiftle; but as I rather believe you a friend to fincerity, than ceremony, fhall only affure you I am,

• Anabella.

No.

N° 96. WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20.

-Ami um

Mancipium domino, & frugi

HOR. Sat. 7. 1. 2. v. 3. The faithful fervant, and the true.

• Mr. Spectator,

I

CREECH.

Have frequently read your difcourfe upon fer

vants, and, as I am one myfelf, have been much offended, that in that variety of forms wherein you confidered the bad, you found no place to mention the good. There is however · one obfervation of yours I approve, which is, that there are men of wit and good fenfe among all orders of men, and that fervants report mot of the good or ill which is fpoken of their mafters. That there are men of fenfe who live in fervitude, I have the vanity to fay I have felt to my woful experience. You attribute very justly the fource of our general iniquity to board-wages, and the manner of living out of a domeftic way; but I cannot give you my thoughts on this subject any · way fo well, as by a fhort account of my own life to this the forty-fifth year of my age; that is to fay, from my being firft a footboy at fourteen, to my prefent ftation of a nobleman's porter in the year of my age above-mentioned.

Know then, that my father was a poor tenant to the family of Sir Stephen Rackrent. Sir Stephen put me to fchool, or rather made me follow his fon Harry to fchocl, from my ninth year; and there, though Sir Stephen paid fomething for my learning, I was ufed like a fervant, and was forced to get what scraps of learning I could by my own induftry, for the fchoolmafter took very little notice of me. My young mafter was a lad of very fprightly parts; and my being conftantly about him, and loving him, was no small advantage to me. My mafter loved me extremely, and has often been whipped for not keeping me at a diftance. He used always to fay, that when he came to his eftate I fhould have a leafe of my father's tenement for nothing. I came up to town with him to Weftminster-fchool; at which time he taught me at night all he learnt; and put me to find cut words in the dictionary when he was about his exercife. It was the will of providence that mafter Harry was taken very ill of a fever, of which he died within ten days after his first falling fick. Here was the first forrow I ever knew; and I affure you, Mr. Spectator, I remember the beauti ful action of the fweet youth in his fever, as fresh as if it were yesterday. If he wanted any thing it must be given him by Tom: when I let any thing fall through the grief I was under, he would · cry, do not beat the poor boy: give him fome more julep for me, no body elfe fhall give it me. He would ftrive to hide his being fo bad, when he faw I could not bear his being in fo much danger, and comforted me, faying, " Tom, Tom, have a "good heart." When I was holding a cup at his mouth, he fell into convulfions; and at this very time I hear my dear master's laft groan. I was quickly turned out of the room, and left to fob and beat my head against the wall at my leifure. The grief I was in was inexpreffible; and every body thought it would have coft me my life. In a few days my old lady, who was one of the house

wives of the world, thought of turning me out of doors, becaufe I put her in mind of her fon. Sir Stephen propofed putting me to prentice; but my lady being an excellent manager, would not let her husband throw away his money in acts of charity. I had fenfe enough to be under the utmost indignation, to fee her difcard with fo little concern, one her fon had loved fo much; and went out of the houfe to ramble wherever my feet would carry me.

The third day after I left Sir Stephen's family, I was ftrolling up and down the walks in the Temple. A young gentleman of the house, who, as I heard him fay afterwards, feeing me half-ftarved and well-dreifed, thought me an equipage ready to his hand, after very little enquiry more than "Did I want a mafter?" bid me follow him; I did fo, and in a very little while thought myself the happieft creature in this world. My time was taken up in carrying letters to wenches, or meflages to young ladies of my mafter's acquaintance. We rambled from tavern to tavern, to the play-house, the mulberry-garden, and all places of refort; where my mafter engaged every night in fome new amour, in which and drinking, he spent all his time when he had money. During thefe extravagancies I had the pleafure of lying on the ftairs of a tavern half a night, playing at dice with other fervants, and the like idleneffes, When my mafter was moneylefs, I was generally employed in tranfcribing amorous pieces of poetry, old fongs, and new lampoons. This life held until my mafter married, and he had then the prudence to turn me off, because I was in the fecret of his intrigues.

I was utterly at a lofs what courfe to take next; when at laft I applied myself to a fellowfufferer, one of his mistrefies, a woman of the town. She happening at that time to be pretty full of money, clothed me from head to foot; and knowing me to be a fharp fellow, employed me accordingly. Sometimes I was to go abroad with her, and when he had pitched upon a young fellow, fhe thought for her turn, I was to be dropp <ed as one she could not truft. She would often cheapen goods at the New-Exchange, and when fhe had a mind to be attacked, fhe would fend me away on an errand. When an humble fervant and the were beginning a parley, I came immediately, and told her Sir John was come home; then he would order another coach to prevent being dogged. The lover makes figns to me as I get behind the coach, I shake my head; it was impoffible: I leave my lady at the next turning, and follow the cully to know how to fall in his way on another occafion. Befides good offices of this nature, I writ all my miftrefs's love-letters; fome from a lady that faw fuch a gentleman at fuch a place in fuch a coloured coat, fome fhewing the terror he was in of a jealous old husband, others explaining that the feverity of her parents was fuch, though her fortune was fettled, that he was willing to run away with fuch a one, though fhe knew he was but a younger brother. In a word, my half education and love of idle books made me outwrite all that made love to her by way of epiftle; and as fhe was extremely cunning, fhe did well enough in company by a skilful affec-. tation of the greatest modefty. In the midst of all this I was furprized with a letter from her and a ten pound note.

"fatal decifions have arifen, that by this wick"ed custom, maugre all the precepts of our "holy religion, and the rules of right reafon, the greatest act of the human mind, forgivenefs of injuries, is become vile and fhameful; "that the rules of good fociety and virtuous "converfation are hereby inverted; that the loofe, the vain, and the impudent, infult the careful, the difcreet, and the modeft; that all "virtue is fuppreffed, and all vice fupported, “in the one act of being capable to dare to the "death. We have alfo further, with great forrow of mind, obferved, that this dreadful ac❝tion, by long impunity (our royal attention "being employed upon matters of more gene"ral concern) is become honourable, and the "refufal to engage in it ignominious. In thefe our royal cares and inquiries we are yet far❝ther made to understand, that the perfons of moft eminent worth, and moft hopeful abilities, accompanied with the strongest passion "for true glory, are fuch as are most liable to be involved in the dangers arifing from this licence. Now taking the faid premifes into our ferious confideration, and well weighing "that all fuch emergencies (wherein the mind "is incapable of commanding itself, and where "the injury is too fudden or too exquifite to be "borne) are particularly provided for by laws ❝heretofore enacted; and that the qualities of "lefs injuries, like those of ingratitude, are too "nice and delicate to come under general rules; we do refolve to blot this fashion, or wanton"ness of anger, out of the minds of our fub"jects, by our royal refolutions declared in this "edict as follows.

"No person who either fends or accepts a "challenge, or the pofterity of either, though no death enfues thereupon, shall be, after the publication of this our edict, capable of bear"ing office in thefe our dominions.

thirty degrees. About ten years ago it fhot up to a very great height, infomuch that the female part of our fpecies were much taller than the men. The women were of fuch an enormous ftature, that we appeared as grafhoppers before them at prefent the whole fex is in a man ́ner dwarfed and shrunk into a raco of beauties that feem almoft another. fpecies. I remember feveral ladies who were once very near seven feet high, that at prefent want fome inches of five: How they came to be thus curtailed I cannot learn; whether the whole fex be at prefent under any penance which we know nothing of, or whether they have caft their head-dreffs in order to surprise us with fomething in that kind which shall be entirely new; or whether fome of the talleft of the fex, being too cunning for the reft, have contrived this method to make themselves appear fizeable, is still a fecret ; though I find most are of opinion, they are at present like trees new lopped and pruned, that will certainly fprout up and flourish with greater heads than before. For my own part, as I do not love to be infulted by women who are taller than myself, I admire the fex much more in their prefent humiliation, which has reduced them to their natural dimenfions, that when they had extended their perfons and lengthened themselves out into formidable and gigantic figures. I am not for adding to the beautiful edifices of nature, nor for raifing any whimsical fuperftru&ture upon her plans: I muft therefore repeat it, that I am highly pleafed with the coiffure now in fashion, and think it fhews the good fenfe which at prefent very much reigns among the valuable part of the fex. One may obferve that women in all ages have taken more pains than men to adorn the outfide of their heads; and indeed I very much admire, that those female architects, who raife fuch wonderful ftructures out of ribbands, lace, and wire, have not been recorded for their respective inventions. It is certain there have been as many orders in thefe kinds of building, as in thofe which have been made of marble; fometimes they rife in the fhape of a pyramid, fometimes like a tower, and fometimes like a fteeple. In Juvenal's time the building grew by feveral orders and stories, as he has very humorously defcribed it.

"The perfon who fhall prove the fending or "receiving a challenge, fhall receive to his own "ufe and property, the whole perfonal eftate "of both parties; and their real estate fhall be "immediately vefted in the next heir of the of"fenders in as ample manner as if the faid of "fenders were actually deceased.

"In cafes where the laws, which we have al"ready granted to our fubjects, admit of an ap"peal for blood; when the criminal is con"demned, by the faid appeal, he fhall not only "fuffer death, but his whole eftate, real, mix"ed, and perfonal, fhall from the hour of his "death be vested in the next heir of the perfon "whose blood he fpilt.

"That it shall not hereafter be in our royal 66 power, or that of our fucceffors, to pardon "the faid offences, or restore the offenders, in "their eftates, honour, or blood for ever."

"Given at our Court at Blois, the 8th of Fe"bruary, 420, in the fecond year of our reign."

No 98. FRIDAY, JUNE 22,

T

But I do not remember in any part of my reading, that the head-drefs afpired to fo great an extravagance as in the fourteenth century; when it was built up in a couple of cones or fpires, which ftood fo exceffively high on each fide of the head, that a woman, who was but a Pigmy without her head-dress, appeared like a Coloffus upon putting it on. Monfieur Paradin says, "that thefe old-fashioned fontanges rofe an ell "above the head; that they were pointed like

T

The