1711. As No. 123. the daily Visits and Conversations of his Friend. Saturday, they were one Day talking together with their usual July 21, Intimacy, Leontine, considering how incapable he was of giving his Daughter a proper Education in his own House, and Eudoxus reflecting on the ordinary Behaviour of a Son who knows himself to be the Heir of a great Estate, they both agreed upon an Exchange of Children, namely that the Boy should be bred up with Leontine as his Son, and that the Girl should live with Eudoxus as his Daughter, till they were each of them arrived at Years of Discretion. The Wife of Eudoxus, knowing that her Son could not be so advantageously brought up as under the Care of Leontíne, and considering at the same time that he would be perpetually under her own Eye, was by degrees pre vailed upon to fall in with the Project. She therefore took Leonilla, for that was the Name of the Girl, and educated her as her own Daughter. The two Friends on each side had wrought themselves to such an habitual Tender ness for the Children who were under their Direction, that each of them had the real Passion of a Father, where the Title was but imaginary. Florio, the Name of the young Heir that lived with Leontine, though he had all the Duty and Affection imaginable for his supposed Parent, was taught to rejoyce at the Sight of Eudoxus, who visited his Friend very frequently, and was dictated by his natural Affection, as well as by the Rules of Prudence, to make himself esteemed and beloved by Florio. The Boy was now old enough to know his supposed Father's Circumstances, and that therefore he was to make his way in the World by his own Industry. This Consideration grew stronger in him every Day, and produced so good an Effect, that he applyed himself with more than ordinary Attention to the Pursuit of every thing which Leontine recommended to him. His natural Abilities, which were very good, assisted by the Directions of so excellent a Counsellor, enabled him to make a quicker Progress than ordinary through all the Parts of his Education. Before he was twenty Years of Age, having finished his Studies and Exercises with great Applause, he was removed from the University to the Inns of Court, where there are very few that make themselves considerable Proficients in the Studies a Studies of the Place, who know they shall arrive at great No. 123, Estates without them. This was not Florio's Case; he Saturday, found that three hundred a Year was but a poor Estate July 21, for Leontine and himself to live upon, so that he Studied without Intermission till he gained a very good Insight into the Constitution and Laws of his Country, I should have told my Reader, that whilst Florio lived at the House of his Foster-father he was always an ac ceptable Guest in the Family of Eudoxus, where he became acquainted with Leonilla from her Infancy, His Acquaint ance with her by degrees grew into Love, which in a Mind trained up in all the Sentiments of Honour and Virtue became a very uneasy Passion. He despaired of gaining an Heiress of so great a Fortune, and would rather have died than attempted it by any indirect Methods, Leonilla, who was a Woman of the greatest Beauty joined with the greatest Modesty, entertained at the same time a secret Passion for Florio, but conducted her self with so much Prudence that she never gave him the least Intimation of it. Florio was now engaged in all those Arts and Improvements that are proper to raise a Man's private Fortune, and give him a Figure in his Country, but secretly tormented with that Passion which burns with the greatest Fury in a virtuous and noble Heart, when he received a sudden Summons from Leontine to repair to him into the Country the next Day, For it seems Eudoxus was so filled with the Report of his Son's Re putation, that he could no longer with-hold making him self known to him. The Morning after his Arrival at the House of his supposed Father, Leontine told him that Eudoxus had something of great Importance to com municate to him; upon which the good Man embraced him, and wept. Florio was no sooner arrived at the great House that stood in his Neighbourhood, but Eudoxus took him by the Hand, after the first Salutes were over, and conducted him into his Closet. He there opened to him the whole Secret of his Parentage and Education, conclud ing after this manner. I have no other way left of acknowledging my Gratitude to Leontine than by marry, ing you to his Daughter. He shall not lose the Pleasure of being your Father, by the discovery I have made to you 1711. No. 123. 1711. you. Leonilla too shall be still my Daughter; her filial Saturday, Piety, though misplaced, has been so exemplary that it July 21, deserves the greatest Reward I can confer upon it. You shall have the Pleasure of seeing a great Estate fall to you, which you would have lost the Relish of had you known your self born to it. Continue only to deserve it in the same manner you did before you were possessed of it. I have left your Mother in the next Room. Her Heart yearns towards you. She is making the same Discoveries to Leonilla which I have made to yourself. Florio was so overwhelmed with this Pro fusion of Happiness, that he was not able to make a Reply, but threw himself down at his Father's Feet, and amidst a Flood of Tears, kissed and embraced his Knees, asking his Blessing, and expressing in dumb Show those Senti ments of Love, Duty and Gratitude that were too big for Utterance. To conclude, the happy Pair were married, and half Eudoxus's Estate settled upon them. Leontine and Eudoxus passed the Remainder of their Lives together; and received in the dutiful and affectionate Behaviour of Florio and Leonilla the just Recompence, as well as the natural Effects, of that Care which they had bestowed. upon them in their Education. No. 124, Μέγα βιβλίον, μέγα κακόν. Monday, July 23, L A MAN who publishes his works in a Volume, has an infinite Advantage over one who communicates his Writings to the World in loose Tracts and single Pieces, We do not expect to meet with any thing in a bulky Volume, till after some heavy Preamble, and several Words of Course, to prepare the Reader for what follows: Nay, Authors have established it as a Kind of Rule, That a Man ought to be dull sometimes; as the most severe Reader makes Allowances for many Rests and Nodding places in a Voluminous Writer. This gave Occasion to the famous Greek Proverb which I have chosen for my Motto, That a great Book is a great Evil. On On the contrary, those who publish their Thoughts No. 124. in distinct Sheets, and as it were by Piece-meal, have Monday, none of these Advantages. We must immediately fall July 23, 1711. into our Subject, and treat every part of it in a lively Manner, or our Papers are thrown by as dull and in Osipid: Our Matter must lie close together, and either be = wholly new in itself, or in the Turn it receives from our Expressions. Were the Books of our best Authors thus to be retailed to the Publick, and every Page sub mitted to the Taste of forty or fifty thousand Readers, I am afraid we should complain of many flat Expres sions, trivial Observations, beaten Topicks, and common. Thoughts, which go off very well in the Lump, At the same Time, notwithstanding some Papers may be made up of broken Hints and irregular Sketches, it is often expected that every Sheet should be a kind of Treatise, and make out in Thought what it wants in Bulk: That a Point of Humour should be worked up in all its Parts; and a Subject touched upon in its most essential Articles, without the Repetitions, Tautologies, and Enlargements that are indulged to longer Labours. The ordinary Writers of Morality prescribe to their Readers after the Galenick Way; their Medicines are made up in large Quantities. An Essay Writer must practise in the Chymical Method, and give the Virtue of a full Draught in a few Drops. Were all Books reduced thus to their Quintessence, many a bulky Author would make his Appearance in a Penny Paper: There would be scarce such a thing in Nature as a Folio: The Works of an Age would be contained on a few Shelves; not to mention Millions of Volumes that would be utterly annihilated. I cannot think that the Difficulty of furnishing out separate Papers of this Nature has hindered Authors from communicating their Thoughts to the World after such a Manner: Though I must confess I am amazed that the Press should be only made use of in this Way by News Writers, and the Zealots of Parties; as if it were not more advantageous to Mankind to be in structed in Wisdom and Virtue, than in Politicks; and to be made good Fathers, Husbands, and Sons, than Counsellors No. 124. Counsellors and Statesmen, Had the Philosophers and Monday, great Men of Antiquity, who took so much Pains in July 23, order to instruct Mankind, and leave the World wiser 1711. and better than they found it; had they, I say, been possessed of the Art of Printing, there is no Question but they would have made such an Advantage of it, in dealing out their Lectures to the Publick. Our common Prints would be of great Use were they thus calculated to diffuse good Sense through the Bulk of a People, to clear up their Understandings, animate their Minds with Virtue, dissipate the Sorrows of a heavy Heart, or unbend the Mind from its more severe Em ployments with innocent Amusements. When Know ledge, instead of being bound up in Books, and kept in Libraries and Retirements, is thus obtruded upon the Publick; when it is canvassed in every Assembly, and exposed upon every Table; I cannot forbear reflecting upon that Passage in the Proverbs, Wisdom cryeth without, she uttereth her Voice in the Streets: She cryeth in the chief Place of Concourse, in the Open ings of the Gates, In the City she uttereth her Words, saying, How long, ye simple ones, will ye love Simplicity? and the Scorners delight in their Scorning? and Fools hate Knowledge? The many Letters which come to me from Persons of the best Sense in both Sexes (for I may pronounce their Characters from their Way of Writing) do not a little en courage me in the Prosecution of this my Undertaking: Besides that, my Bookseller tells me, the Demand for these my Papers increases daily, It is at his Instance that I shall continue my rural Speculations to the End of this Month; several having made up separate Sets of_them, as they have done before of those relating to Wit, to Operas, to Points of Morality, or Subjects of Humour, I am not at all mortified, when sometimes I see my Works thrown aside by Men of no Taste nor Learning. There is a kind of Heaviness and Ignorance that hangs upon the Minds of ordinary Men, which is too thick for Knowledge to break through: Their Souls are not to be enlightned, Nox atra cava circumvolat umbra To |