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a reasonable mind tortured with an extreme innate desire of that perfection which it despairs to obtain.

It is with great pleasure that I behold inxtinct, reason, and faith, concurring to attest this comfortable truth. It is revealed from neaven, it is discovered by philosophers; and the ignorant, unenlightened part of mankind have a natural propensity to believe it. It is an agreeable entertainment to reflect on the various shapes under which this doctrine bas appeared in the world. The Pythagorean trausmigration, the sensual habitations of the Mahometan, and the shady realms of Pluto, do all agree in the main points, the continuation of our existence, and the distribution of rewards and punishments, proportioned to the merits or demerits of men in this life.

evidently corresponds with the other parts of his creation.

I know not how to account for this absurd turn of thought, except it proceed from a want of other employment joined with an affectation of singularity. I shall, therefore, inform our modern free-thinkers of two points whereof they seem to be ignorant. The first is, that it is not the being singular, but being singular for something, that argues either extraordinary endowments of nature, or benevolent intentions to mankind, which draws the admiration and esteem of the world. A mistake in this point naturally arises from that confusion of thought which I do not remember to have seen so great instances of in any writers as in certain modern free-thinkers.

The other point is, that there are innumerable objects within the reach of a human mind, and each of these objects may be viewed in innumerable lights and positions, and the re

But in all these schemes there is something gross and improbable, that shocks a reasonable and speculative mind. Whereas nothing can be more rational and sublime than the Chris-lations arising between them are innumerable. tian idea of a future state. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive the things which God hath prepared for those that love him.' The above-mentioned schemes are narrow transcripts of our present state: but in this indefinite description there is something ineffably great and noble. The mind of man must be raised to a higher pitch, not only to partake the enjoyments of the Christian paradise, but even to be able to frame any notion of them.

There is therefore an infinity of things whereon to employ their thoughts, if not with advantage to the world, at least with amusement to themselves, and without offence or prejudice to other people. If they proceed to exert their talent of free-thinking in this way, they may be innocently dull, and no one take any notice of it. But to see men without either wit or argument pretend to run down divine and buman laws, and treat their fellow-subjects with contempt for professing a belief of those points, on which the present as well as future interest of mankind depends, is not to be endured. For my own part, I shall omit no endeavours to render their persons as despicable, and their practices as odious, in the eye of the world, as they deserve.

Fungar vice cotis- Hor. Ars l'oct. ver. 304. I'll play the whetstone. Creech.

Nevertheless, in order to gratify our imagination, and by way of condescension to our low way of thinking, the ideas of light, glory, a crown, &c. are made use of to adumbrate that which we cannot directly understand. 'The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters; and God shall wipe No. 90.] Wednesday, June 24, 1713. away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away, and behold all things are new. There shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them light, and shall make them drink of the river of his pleasures; and they shall reign for ever and ever. They shall receive a crown of glory which fadeth not away.'

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These are cheering reflections; and I have often wondered that men could be found so dull and phlegmatic, as to prefer the thought of annihilation before them; or so ill-natured, as to endeavour to persuade mankind to the disbelief of what is so pleasing and profitable even in the prospect; or so blind, as not to see that there is a Deity, and if there be, that this scheme of things flows from his attributes, and

Ir is, they say, frequent with authors to write letters to themselves. either out of lazi ness or vanity.

The following is genuine, and, I think, deserves the attention of every man of sense in England.

To the Guardian.

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him, but to prevent the impression what be says may have upon others. I shall end this paper with a letter I have just now written to a gentleman, whose writings are often inserted in the Guardian, without deviation of one tittle from what he sends.'

'SIR,

June 23.

the Examiner himself has nothing to object, out his care and concern for the protestant religion, which by him, it seems, is thought a sufficient fault) has lately published a book, in which he endeavours to show the folly, iguorance, and mistake of the church of Rome in its worship of saints. From this the Examiner takes occasion to fall upon the author with his 'I have received the favour of yours with atmost malice, and to make him the subject of his ridicule. Is it then become a crime for the inclosed, which made up the papers of the a protestant to speak or write in defence of his two last days. I cannot but look upon myself religion? Shall a papist have leave to print with great contempt and mortification, when and publish in England what he pleases in de-reflect that I have thrown away more hours fence of his own opinion, with the Examiner's than you have lived, though you so much excel approbation; and shall not a protestant be per-I knew you, I thought it the privilege of angels me in every thing for which I would live. Until mitted to write an answer to it? For this, Mr. Guardian, is the present case. Last year a papist (or to please Mr. Examiner, a Roman catholic) published the life of St. Weuefrede, for the use of those devout pilgrims who go in great numbers to offer up their prayers to her at her well. This gave occasion to the worthy prelate, in whose diocess that well is, to make some observations upon it; and in order to undeceive so many poor deluded people, to show how little reason, and how small authority there is, not only to believe any of the

miracles attributed to St. Wenefrede, but even

to believe there ever was such a person in the world. And shall then a good man, upon such an account, be liable to be abused in so public a manner? Can any good church of England man bear to see a bishop, one whom her present majesty was pleased to make, treated in

only to be very knowing and very innocent.
In the warmth of youth to be capable of such
abstracted and virtuous reflections (with a suit.
able life) as those with which you entertain
yourself, is the utmost of human_perfection
and felicity. The greatest honour I can con-
ceive done to another, is when an elder does
reverence to a younger, though that younger
is not distinguished above him by fortune.
Your contempt of pleasures, riches, and honour
will crown you with them all, and I wish you
them not for your own sake, but for the reason
which only would make them eligible by your-
self, the good of others.
I am, dearest youth,

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your friend and admirer,

'NESTOR IRONSIDE

so ludicrous a way? Or should one pass by the No. 91.] Thursday, June 25, 1713.
scurrility and the immodesty that is to be
found in several parts of the paper? Who can
with patience see St. Paul and St. Wenefrede
set by the Examiner upon a level, and the
authority for one made by him to be equal
with that for the other? Who that is a Chris-
tian can endure his insipid mirth upon so
serious an occasion? I must confess it raises
my indignation to the greatest height, to see
a pen that has been long employed in writing
panegyrics upon persons of the first rank (who
would be, indeed, to be pitied were they to
depend upon that for their praise) to see, I say,
the same pen at last made use of in defence

· Inest sua gratia parvis.
Little things have their value.

IT is the great rule of behaviour to follow nature. The author of the following letter is so much convinced of this truth, that he turns

of popery.

I think I may now with justice, congratulate with those whom the Examiner dislikes; since, for my own part, I should reckon it my great honour to be worthy his disesteem, and should count his censure praise.

'I am, Sir,

what would render a man of little soul, exceptious, humorsome, and particular in all his actions, to a subject of raillery and mirth. He is, you must know, but half as tall as an ordinary man, but is contented to be still at his friend's elbow, and has set up a club, by which he hopes to bring those of his own size into a little reputation.

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'I remember a saying of yours concerning persons in low circumstances of stature, that their littleness would hardly be taken notice · your most humble servant.' of, if they did not manifest a consciousness of it themselves in all their behaviour. Indeed, the observation that no man is ridiculous for being what he is, but only in the affectation of being something more, is equally true in re gard to the mind and the body.

The above letter complains, with great justice, against this incorrigible creature; but I do not insert any thing concerning him, in hopes what I say will have any effect upon

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'The place we have chosen for this meeting is in the Little Piazza, not without an eye to the neighbourhood of Mr. Powel's opera, for the performers of which we have, as becomes us, a brotherly affection.

'At our first resort hither an old woman brought her son to the club-room, desiring he might be educated in this school, because she saw here were finer boys than ordinary. However, this accident no way discouraged our designs. We began with sending invitations to those of a stature not exceeding five foot, to repair to our assembly; but the greater part returned excuses, or pretended they were not qualified.

"The table was so high, that one who can e by chance to the door, seeing our chins just above the pewter dishes, took us for a circle o men that sat ready to be shaved, and sent in half a dozen barbers. Another time one of the club spoke contumeliously of the president, imagining he had been absent, when he was only eclipsed by a flask of Florence which stoo on the table in a parallel line before his face. We therefore new-furnished the room in all respects proportionably to us, and had the door made lower, so as to admit no man of above five foot high, without brushing his foretop, which whoever does is utterly unqualified to sit among us.

'Some of the statutes of the club are as follow: 'I. If it be proved upon any member, though never so duly qualified, that he strives as much as possible to get above his size, by stretching, cocking, or the like; or that he hath stood on tiptoe in a crowd, with design to be taken for as tall a man as the rest; or hath privily conveyed any large book, cricket, or other device under him, to exalt him on his seat: every such offender shall be sentenced to walk pumps for a whole month.

'One said he was indeed but five foot at pre-in sent, but represented that he should soon exceed that proportion, his periwig-maker and shoemaker having lately promised him three inches more betwixt them.

'Another alleged, he was so unfortunate as to have one leg shorter than the other, and whoever had determined his stature to five foot, had taken him at a disadvantage; for when he was mounted on the other leg, he was at least five foot two inches and a half.

'There were some who questioned the exact. ness of our measures; and others, instead of complying, returned us informations of people yet shorter than themselves. In a word, almost every one recommended some neighbour or acquaintance, whom he was willing we should look upon to be less than he. We were not a little ashamed that those who are past the years of growth, and whose beards pronounce them men, should be guilty of as many unfair tricks in this point, as the most aspiring children when they are measured.

'We therefore proceeded to fit up the clubroom, and provide conveniencies for our accommodation. In the first place we caused a total removal of all the chairs, stools, and tables, which had served the gross of mankind for many years. The disadvantages we had undergone while we made use of these, were unspeakable. The president's whole body was sunk in the elbow chair: and when his arms were spread over it, he appeared (to the great lessening of his diguity) like a child in a go-cart. It was also so wide in the seat, as to give a wag occasion of saying, that notwithstanding the president sat in it, there was a sede vacunte.

II., If any member shall take advantage, from the fulness or length of his wig, or any part of his dress, or the immoderate extent of his hat, or otherwise, to seem larger or higher than he is; it is ordered, he shall wear red heels to his shoes, and a red feather in his hat, which may apparently mark and set bounds to the extremities of his small dimension, that all people may readily find him out, between bis bat and his shoes.

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III. If any member shall purchase a horse for his own riding above fourteen hands and a half in height, that horse shall forthwith be sold, a Scotch galloway bought in its stead for him, and the overplus of the money shall treat the club.

'IV. If any member, in direct contradiction to the fundamental laws of the society, shall wear the beels of his shoes exceeding one inch and half, it shall be interpreted as an open renunciation of littleness, and the criminal shall instantly be expelled. Note, The form to be used in expelling a member shall be in these words, Go from among us, and be tall if you

can!"

་་

It is the unanimous opinion of our whole society, that since the race of mankind is granted to have decreased in stature from the beginning to this present, it is the intent of nature itself, that men should be little; and we believe that all human kind shall at last grow down to perfection, that is to say, be re duced to our own measure.

'I am, very literally,

your humble servant, BOB SHORT!

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'THE club rising early this evening, I have time to finish my account of it. You are already acquainted with the nature and design of our institution; the characters of the members, and the topics of our conversation, are what remain for the subject of this epistle.

fare of Europe, which is also thought to have stinted his growth: for he hath destroyed bis own constitution with taking care of that ef the nation. He is what Mons. Balzac calls“ a great distiller of the maxims of Tacitus." When he speaks, it is slowly, and word by word, as one that is loth to enrich you too fast with bis observations: like a limbec, that gives you, drop by drop, an extract of the simples in it.

'The last I shall mention is Tim Tuck, the hero. He is particularly remarkable for the length of his sword, which intersects bis person

like a fly that the boys have run a pin through and set a walking. He once challenged a tall fellow for giving him a blow on the pate with his elbow as he passed along the street. But what be especially values himself upon is, that in all the campaigns he has made, be never once ducked at the whiz of a cannon-ball. Tim was full as large at fourteen years old as he is now. This we are tender of mentioning, your little heroes being generally choleric.

The most eminent persons of our assembly are, a little poet, a little lover, a little politi-in a cross line, and makes him appear not uncian, and a little hero. The first of these, Dick Distich by name, we have elected president, not only as he is the shortest of us all, but because he has entertained so just a sense of the stature, as to go generally in black, that he may appear yet less. Nay, to that perfection is he arrived, that he stoops as he walks. The figure of the man is odd enough: he is a lively little creature, with long arms and legs: a spider is no ill emblem of him. He has been taken at a distance for a small windmill. But indeed what principally moved us in his favour was his talent in poetry, for he hath promised to undertake a long work in short verse to celebrate the heroes of our size. He has entertained so great a respect for Statius, on the score of that line,

"Major in exiguo regnabat corporé virtus.” "A larger portion of heroic fire

Did his small limbs and little breast inspire." that he once designed to translate the whole Thebaid for the sake of little Tydeus.

'Tom Tiptoe, a dapper black fellow, is the most gallant lover of the age. He is particularly nice in his habiliments; and to the end justice may be done him that way, constantly employs the same artist who makes attire for the neighbouring princes and ladies of quality at Mr. Powel's. The vivacity of his temper inclines him sometimes to boast of the favours of the fair. He was the other night excusing his absence from the club upon account of an assignation with a lady, (and, as he had the vanity to tell us, a tall one too) who had consented to the full accomplishment of his desires that evening; but one of the company, who was his coufidant, assured us she was a woman of humour, and made the agreement on this condition, that his toe should be tied to hers.

'These are the gentlemen that most enliven our conversation. The discourse generally turns upon such accidents, whether fortunate or unfortunate, as are daily occasioned by our size. These we faithfully communicate, either as matter of mirth, or of consolation to each other. The president had lately an unlucky fall, being unable to keep his legs on a stormv day; whereupon he informed us, it was no new disaster, but the same a certain ancient poet had been subject to, who is recorded to have been so light, that he was obliged to poise himself against the wind with lead on one side and his own works on the other. The lover confessed the other night that he had been cured of love to a tall woman by reading over the legend of Ragotine in Scarron, with his tea, three mornings successively. Our hero rarely acquaints us with any of his unsuccessful adventures. And as for the politician, he declares himself an utter enemy to all kind of burlesque, so will never discompose the austerity of his aspect by laughing at our adventures, much less discover any of his own in this ludicrous light. Whatever he tells of any accidents that befal him, is by way of complaint, nor is he to be laughed at, but in his absence.

We are likewise particularly careful to communicate in the club all such passages of Our politician is a person of real gravity, history, or characters of illustrious personages, and professed wisdom. Gravity in a man of as any way reflect honour on little men. Tim this size, compared with that of one of ordinary Tuck having but just reading enough for a bulk, appears like the gravity of a cat com- military man, perpetually entertains us with pared with that of a lion. This gentleman is the same stories, of little David, that conquered accustomed to talk to himself, and was once the mighty Goliah, and little Luxembourg, overheard to compare his own person to a that made Lewis XIV. a grand monarque, never little cabinet, wherein are locked up all the forgetting little Alexander the Great. Dick secrets of state, and refined schemes of princes. Distich celebrates the exceeding humanity of His face is pale and meagre, which proceeds Augustus, who called Horace Lepidissimum from much watching and studying for the wel-Homunciolum; and is wonderfully pleased

with Voiture and Scarron, for having so welling, but it is that sort of life which alone de described their diminutive forms to all posterity. He is peremptorily of opinion, against a great reader, and all his adherents, that Æsop was not a jot properer or handsomer than be is represented by the common pictures. But the soldier believes with the learned person above-mentioned; for he thinks, none but an impudent tall author could be guilty of such an unmannerly piece of satire on little warriors, as his battle of the mouse and the frog. The politician is very proud of a certain king of Egypt, called Bocchor, who, as Diodorus assures us, was a person of very low stature, but far exceeded all that went before him in discretion and politics.

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serves truly to be called life. In effect, while we are confined to bodies, we ought to esteem ourselves no other than a sort of galley-slaves at the chain, since the soul, which is some what divine, and descends from heaven as the place of its original, seems debased and disho noured by the mixture with flesh and blood and to be in a state of banishment from its celestial country. I cannot help thinking too, that one main reason of uniting souls to bodies was, that the great work of the universe might have spectators to admire the beautiful order of nature, the regular motion of heavenly bodies, who should strive to express that regularity in the uniformity of their lives. When As I am secretary to the club, it is my busi- I consider the boundless activity of our minds, ness whenever we meet to take minutes of the the remembrance we have of things past, our transactions. This has enabled me to send foresight of what is to come; when I reflect you the foregoing particulars, as I may here. on the noble discoveries and vast improveafter other memoirs. We have spies appointed ments, by which these minds have advanced in every quarter of the town, to give us in- arts and sciences; I am entirely persuaded, formations of the misbehaviour of such refrac- and out of all doubt that a nature which bas tory persons as refuse to be subject to our in itself a fund of so many excellent things statutes. Whatsoever aspiring practices any cannot possibly be mortal. I observe further, of these our people shall be guilty of in their that my mind is altogether simple, without the amours, single combats, or any indirect means mixture of any substance or nature different to manhood, we shall certainly be acquainted from its own; I conclude from thence that it with, and publish to the world for their punish-is indivisible, and consequently cannot perish. ment and reformation. For the president has granted me the sole property of exposing and showing to the town all such intractable dwarfs, whose circumstances exempt them from being carried about in boxes; reserving only to himself, as the right of a poet, those smart characters that will shine in epigrams. Venerable Nestor, I salute you in the name of the club. BOB SHORT, Secretar?

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By no means think, therefore, my dear friends, when I shall bave quitted you, that I cease to be, or shall subsist no where. Remember that while we live together, you do not see my mind, and yet are sure that I have one actuating and moving my body; doubt not then but that this same mind will have a being when it is separated, though you cannot then perceive its actions. What nonsense would it be to pay those honours to great men after their deaths, which we constantly do, if their souls did not then subsist? For my own part, I could never imagine that our minds live only when united to bodies, and die when they and understand when disengaged from bodies, leave them; or that they shall cease to think which without them have neither sense nor reason: on the contrary, I believe the soul when separated from matter, to enjoy the greatest purity and simplicity of its nature, and to have much more wisdom and light than dies what becomes of all the parts which com while it was united. We see when the body posed it; but we do not see the mind, either in the body, or when it leaves it. Nothing more resembles death than sleep, and it is in that state that the soul chiefly shows it has something divine in its nature. How much more then must it show it when entirely disengaged?'

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