N° 665. Monday, April 18. Τὸ μὲν τελευτῆσαι, πάντων ἡ πεπρωμένη κατέκρινε τὸ δὲ καλῶς ἀποθανῶν ἴδιον ταῖς σπουδαίοις. Ifocrates. N OTHING can give a more effectual Check to our Appetites, or a duer Solidity to our best Refolutions, than thofe Refolutions which we naturally make, when we are paying our laft Devotions to our Friends, or are occafionally prefent with any others at their Diffolution: How vain and unreasonable do we then esteem the carking Thirftinefs of fordid Avarice, or the reftlefs and unbounded Endeavours of unfatiable Ambition? How ill-grounded doth the Value we usually set upon our felves, on the Account of our natural er acquired Excellencies, appear? When we behold the fparkling Eyes of thofe once beautiful Objects, eternally fix'd, and thofe amiable Features, which just now captivated us with Love and Admirati on, faded and vanifh'd the fprightlieft Mien and nobleft Endowments, the happiest Memory and clear-eft Judgment diftorted with Convulfions, obliterated with Sickness, and diftracted with Deliriums, we cannot but be affected then with the Sense of thofe Frailties, which, whilft our felves and all about us flourish, we too often forget; and our Pride, from whatever it arifeth, muft neceffarily be mortify'd, when we fee that however our own Prudence, or the favourable Conjunction of Incidents, may have defended us from the Mutability of unftable Fortune, yet Death will unavoidably be the Catastrophe to all thofe pleafing Scenes, which Wealth, Pomp, and Honour afford us. With no lefs Profit may we confider the particular Difpofitions of the dying Perfons, when we behold a Soul as ferene and pacifick as thofe Regions fhe is about to take her G 4 Flight: Flight to, wholly fubmiffive to the Will of an All-wife Providence, however immature her approaching Separation be in respect to herself, or feemingly disadvantageous to others, when the lucid Intervals of Sickness Thew a ftrong Hope, an invincible Patience, an habitual Love and Charity to God and Men; 'tis the greatest Alleviation of the Grief, our Relation to the fuffering Perfon may engage us in, and we cannot but take fome fecret Pleasure in the midst of the Affliction; on the other hand, how dreadful is the Cafe, where Death becomes grievous only thro' the Troubles and Terrors of Mind! and when we hear fuch Expreffions of them, which would be at other times fhocking, but are then horrible! Another Reflexion easily arifeth in our Minds, viz. that of the Excellency of the Human Soul, when the Body juft now perhaps, adorn'd with the largest Capacity, and greatest of attainable Perfections, becomes an unactive, deformed, and even naufeous Lump of Matter. Mr. SPECTATOR, Cambridge, April 12, 1715. BEING a Stranger in this Place, I was fomewhat furprised at a Cuftom in Vogue here, which I ⚫ believe is at least uncommon in other Parts of England; being in Company where mention was made of a • Perfon lately deceas'd, one ask'd, When Madam was put into the Ground? 'Twas answer'd, On Friday Night, a few Hours after the expired. And when is "The to be buried? 'Twas faid, next Tuesday or Wednesday. I could not but be fo curious as to ask the Distincti. on they made betwixt being buried, and put into the • Ground. Upon which I was inform'd, that the Manner here is, that as soon as the Grave, Coffin, &c. can be got ready, the Corps is immediately interr'd, but the Funeral Solemnity is deferr'd four or five days or a Week, more or lefs, according to the Quality of the Deceased; after which, an empty Bier is attended with Flambeaux, yea and finging Men in Persons * of Distinction, but always by a Train of weeping • Relations, and down-looking Friends; and the reft of the C the Exequies are performed with the ufual Ceremony, not without the extraordinary Limitations of the Female Mourners, on the Minifter's committing the Body to the Ground. Now, tho' familiar Ufe may • have made this a Cuftom, yet I am perfuaded it would • merit the Place of a very extraordinary Remark in the Journal of a Foreigner, in his Travels thro' Great Britain, and might redound to the Credit of the Me⚫dicinal Faculty in this Learned Body, to whofe Concern, for the prevention and removing Infections, its Original might with great Probability be attributed; and it must be owned, that if this Custom is owing to their Advice and Influence, it fhewed a difinterested • Concern for the Health of their Fellow Students, and may be of Weight, in Antiquating that fhrewd Proverb, That no Phyfician wifheth the Health of his own Friend. Yet upon feeing one of thefe Funeral Masks, I could not but think it Detrimental to that Solemnity of Thought, and Gravity of Reflexion, fuch Prospects ufually frike us with; and befides, and the turning an Action full of Piety and Respect, into an empty Farce, it may feem too bold a Liberty, to make one of the Divineft Parts of our Liturgy, fubfervient to a Piece of infignificant and even ludicrous Pageantry. But as ⚫ this Cenfure may feem unneceffarily fevere, fo 1 fhall only submit it to the Decifion of better Judgments. .6 N 666. Friday, April 22. O Procères, Cenfore opus eft, an Harufpice nobis ? T Juv. HE Time of the Year beginning to grow Gay, and all the Seasons having a very great Effect upon us Ancients, I do now refolve to fet up a more brisk and entertaining Manner of Writing, than I have hitherto obferved in any other Author. I am the more inclined to give into this Indolence of Understanding, from a firm Perfuafion, that every fuch Line will be as much a Prescription for my Health, as it will be a cause of Merriment to my Reader, and correct the Uneafineffes and Infirmities of Youth and Age both together. This ludicrous Thought came into my Head the other Day, as I was fitting in my little Tub of a Clofet, with a Half-fafh thrown open, and funning my felf life Diogenes. I immediately fell a writing down many Minutes at that bright Hour, at that Lucid Interval of my Life, which I find will brighten up my future Performances, that are to be entirely Diurnal, and will far out fhine all my paft Lucubrations. While I was fetting down fome Minutes, and raifing others into a diverting Form by uncommon Tropes and Figures, which have escap'd the Notice both of the Ancients and Moderns, the following Letter was flipt into my Hand, by a little Youth, whom 'tis ufual among the Publishers of Literature, to call a Devil, tho' he was but of the Size of a Minor Imp, and in that merry Tenfe of Humour and pleasant Mood of Thinking, I could not help affording it a Place in my Paper. SIR, 6 S I-R, I T- College, Cambridge.. Have now counted three Months fince I was honoured with the Title of Senior Freshman, which gave me Occafion to think my self Somebody, fo that I could venture to peep into the Town once a Week; where as before I did not go once a Month. When I had ftept: into it, I lik'd it much, promised my felf to go oftner, and ⚫ devoted a Twopence to the Coffee-Houfe. As I was pay⚫ing my Vifit to the Coffee-boufe to fee what Affinity it bore to thofe of London, and gaping upwards, to see what every Sign-board had to fay for its Mafter, I was attack'd by a Scholar; he wore a fcanty Wig, dirty Shoes, and fomething very ragged about his Shoulders, which I fuppofe he reckon'd to be a Gown, but I'm fure it was · not like one. In short, he was fuitably qualified for the • Title he bore which was that of Wrangling Soph. Sir, faid he (fcraping with his Feet, and prancing frantically, which I thought portended to me that I was to imitate him) Come along, we'll ufe you kindly. You may guess, Sir, what a Fright I was in at these Words, and at fuch a Perfen. I told him, that I should take it as a Fa6: vour, if he would please to excufe me, for that I was engaged. For every Excufe of mine, he had fome Impertinence or other, 'till at length a full Bunch of his Comrades turn'd the Corner, and..feeing their Scout (for fo I heard he was) in clofe Colloque with me, made up to us; when my Correfpondent fet up his Throat, and told them, That he bad found a Subject "whereon to wear away half an Hour. When they had. repeated a few Scrapes of the fame fort that I told you before, and had pull'd off their Caps, that by the Dimenfion of their Heads, and the difcovery of the Greatnefs, of their Caps, I might be fully fatis fed who, and what they were; a complaifant Gentleman (who wafted five Pounds of Salt upon the Freshmen at first Tripos.) halled me along with him. At laft we came to Alma Mater's: School, where. I was order'd to afcend the Roftrum, and declaim Extempore, was commanded to fing a Song, and was bullied to leap over a Stick by thofe about me.: By these my plaufible Compliments, I ingratiated & 6. myy |