No. 132. 1711 usually conceive of each other at first Sight. The Coach Wednes jumbled us insensibly into some sort of Familiarity; and day, we had not moved above two Miles, when the Widow August 1, asked the Captain what Success he had in his Recruiting? The Officer, with a Frankness he believed very graceful, told her, 'That indeed he had but very little Luck, and had suffered much by Desertion, therefore should be glad to end his Warfare in the Service of her or her fair Daughter. In a Word,' continued he, 'I am a Soldier, and to be plain is my Character: You see me, Madam, young, sound, and impudent; take me your self, Widow, or give me to her, I will be wholly at your Disposal, I am a Soldier of Fortune, ha!' This was followed by a vain Laugh of his own, and a deep Silence of all the rest of the Company, I had nothing left for it but to fall fast asleep, which I did with all Speed. 'Come,' said he, 'resolve upon it, we will make a Wedding at the next Town: We will wake this pleasant Companion who is fallen asleep, to be the Brideman, and,' (giving the Quaker a Clap on the Knee) he concluded, 'This sly Saint, who, I'll warrant understands what's what as well as you or I, Widow, shall give the Bride as Father.' The Quaker, who happened to be a Man of Smartness, answered, 'Friend, I take it in good Part that thou hast given me the Authority of a Father over this comely and virtuous Child; and I must assure thee, that if I have the giving her, I shall not bestow her on thee, Thy Mirth, Friend, savoureth of Folly: Thou art a Person of a light Mind; thy Drum is a Type of thee, it soundeth because it is empty. Verily, it is not from thy Fullness, but thy Emptiness, that thou hast spoken this Day, Friend, Friend, we have hired this Coach in Partnership with thee, to carry us to the great City; we cannot go any other Way. This worthy Mother must hear thee if thou wilt needs utter thy Follies; we cannot help it Friend, I say; if thou wilt, we must hear thee; But if thou wert a Man of Understanding, thou wouldst not take Advantage of thy couragious Counten ance to abash us Children of Peace. Thou art, thou sayest, a Soldier; give Quarter to us, who cannot resist thee. Why didst thou fleer at our Friend, who feigned himself asleep? he said nothing; but how dost thou know what what he containeth? If thou speakest improper things No. 132. in the Hearing of this virtuous young Virgin, consider it Wednes as an Outrage against a distressed Person that cannot get day, August 1, from thee: To speak indiscreetly what we are obliged to 1711. hear, by being hasped up with thee in this publick Vehicle, is in some Degree assaulting on the high Road.' Here Ephraim paused, and the Captain with an happy and uncommon Impudence (which can be con Ivicted and support it self at the same time) crys, 'Faith 1 Friend, I thank thee; I should have been a little im pertinent if thou hadst not reprimanded me, Come, thou art, I see, a smoaky old Fellow, and I'll be very orderly the ensuing Part of the Journey, I was going to give my self Airs, but Ladies I beg Pardon' The Captain was so little out of Humour, and our Company was so far from being sowered by this little Ruffle, that Ephraim and he took a particular Delight in being agreeable to each other for the future; and assumed their different Provinces in the Conduct of the Company Our Reckonings, Apartments, and Ac commodation, fell under Ephraim; and the Captain looked to all Disputes on the Road, as the good Behaviour of our Coachman, and the Right we had of taking Place as going to London of all Vehicles coming from thence. The Occurrences we met with were ordinary, and very little happen'd which could entertain by the Relation of them: But when I consider'd the Company we were in, I took it for no small good Fortune that the whole Journey was not spent in Impertinences, which to one Part of us might be an Entertainment, to the other a Suffering, What therefore Ephraim said when we were almost arrived at London, had to me an Air not only of good Understanding, but good Breeding, Upon the young Lady's expressing her Satisfaction in the Journey, and declaring how delight ful it had been to her, Ephraim delivered himself as follows: 'There is no ordinary Part of humane Life which expresseth so much a good Mind, and a right inward Man, as his Behaviour upon Meeting with Strangers, especially such as may seem the most un suitable Companions to him: Such a Man when he falleth 1711, No. 132, falleth in the Way with Persons of Simplicity and Wednes Innocence, however knowing he may be in the Ways day, of Men, will not vaunt himself thereof; but will August 1, the rather hide his Superiority to them, that he may not be painful unto them. My good Friend,' continued he, turning to the Officer, 'thee and I are to part by and by, and peradventure we may never meet again: But be advised by a plain Man; Modes and Apparels are but Trifles to the real Man, therefore do not think such a Man as thy self terrible for thy Garb, nor such a one as me contemptible for mine. When two such as thee and I meet, with Affections as we ought to have towards each other, thou shouldst rejoyce to see my peaceable Demeanour, and I should be glad to see thy s Strength and Ability to protect me in it.' Th HERE is a sort of Delight, which is alternately templation of Death. The Soul has its Curiosity more than ordinarily awaken'd, when it turns its Thoughts h upon the Conduct of such who have behaved them selves with an Equal, a Resigned, a Chearful, a Generous or Heroick Temper in that Extremity. We are affected with these respective manners of Behaviour, as we R secretly believe the Part of the Dying Person imitable by our selves, or such as we imagine our selves more particularly capable of Men of exalted Minds march before us like Princes, and are, to the Ordinary Race of Mankind, rather Subjects for their Admiration than Example, However, there are no Ideas strike more forcibly upon our Imaginations, than those which are raised from Reflections upon the Exits of great and excellent Men, Innocent Men who have suffered as Criminals, tho' they were Benefactors to Humane Society, seem to be Persons of the highest Distinction, among the vastly greater number of Humane Race, the 1711 the Dead, When the Iniquity of the Times brought No. 133. Socrates to his Execution, how great and wonderful Thursday, is it to behold him, unsupported by any thing but the August 2, Testimony of his own Conscience and Conjectures of Hereafter, receive the Poison with an Air of Mirth and good Humour, and as if going on an agreeable Journey bespeak some Deity to make it fortunate, When Phocion's good Actions had met with the like Reward from his Country, and he was led to Death with many others of his Friends, they bewailing their Fate, he walking composedly towards the place of Execu tion, how gracefully does he support his Illustrious Character to the very last Instant. One of the Rabble spitting at him as he passed, with his usual Authority he called to know if no one was ready to teach this Fellow how to behave himself. When a Poor-spirited Creature that dyed at the same time for his Crimes bemoaned himself unmanfully, he rebuked him with this Question, Is it no Consolation to such a Man as thou art to dye with Phocion? At the instant when he was to Dye they asked what Commands he had for his Son, he answer'd, To forget this Injury of the Athenians. Niocles, his Friend, under the same Sentence, desired he might Drink the Potion before him; Phocion said because he never had denyed him any thing he would not even this, the most difficult Request he had ever made, These Instances were very noble and great, and the Reflections of those Sublime Spirits had made Death to them what it is really intended to be by the Author of Nature, a Relief from a various Being ever subject to Sorrows and Difficulties. Epaminondas the Theban General, having receiv'd in fight a Mortal Stab with a Sword, which was left in his Body, lay in that posture till he had Intelligence that his Troops had obtained the Victory, and then permitted it to be drawn out, at which instant he express'd himself in this manner, This is not the end of my Life, my Fellow Soldiers, it is now your Epaminondas is born, who dies in so much Glory, It were an endless Labour to collect the Accounts with No. 133. which all Ages have filled the World of Noble and Thursday, Heroick Minds that have resigned this Being, as if the August 2, termination of Life were but an ordinary Occurrence 1711 of it. This common-place way of Thinking I fell into from an awkward Endeavour to throw off a real and fresh Affliction, by turning over Books in a melancholy Mood; but it is not easy to remove Griefs which touch the Heart, by applying Remedies which only entertain the Imagination. As therefore this Paper is to consist of any thing which concerns Human Life, I cannot help letting the present Subject regard what has been the last Object of my Eyes, tho' an Entertainment of Sorrow, I went this Evening to visit a Friend, with a design to rally him, upon a Story I had heard of his intend ing to steal a Marriage without the Privity of us his intimate Friends and Acquaintance. I came into his Apartment with that Intimacy which I have done for very many Years, and walked directly into his Bed chamber, where I found my Friend in the Agonies of Death. What could I do? The innocent Mirth in my Thoughts struck upon me like the most flagitious Wickedness: I in vain called upon him; he was sense (a less, and too far spent to have the least Knowledge of th my Sorrow, or any Pain in himself. Give me leave 1 then to transcribe my Soliloquy, as I stood by his Mother Dumb, with the weight of Grief for a Son who 3 was her Honour, and her Comfort, and never till that t Hour since his Birth had been an Occasion of a Moment's Sorrow to her, 'How surprising is this Change from the Possession of vigorous Life and Strength, to be reduced in a few Hours to this fatal Extremity! Those Lips which look so pale and livid, within these few Days gave Delight to all who heard their Utterance: It was the Business, the Purpose of his Being, next to Obeying him to whom he is going, to please and instruct, and that for no other end but to please and instruct Kindness was the motive of his Actions, and with all the Capacity requisite for making a Figure in a con tentious |