6

multuous that no After-Explanation can avail, it being impoffible for themselves or any near them to give an Account thereof. If any thing really Novel is advanced, how averfe foever it may be to their way of thinking, to fay nothing of Duty, Men of lefs Levity than these would be led by a natural Curiofity to hear the whole.

LAUGHTER, where things Sacred are transacted, is far lefs pardonable than Whining at a Conventicle; the last has at least a Semblance of Grace, and where the Affectation is unfeen may poffibly imprint wholfom Leffons on the Sincere; but the firft has no Excufe, breaking through all the Rules ⚫ of Order and Decency, and manifefting a Remiffnefs of Mind in thofe important Matters, which require the ftricteft Composure and Steadiness of Thought; A Proof of the greatest Folly in the • World.

6

I fhall not here enter upon the Veneration due to the Sanctity of the Place, the Reverence owing the Minifter, or the Refpect that fo great an Affembly as a whole Parish may juftly claim. I fhall only tell them, that as the Spanish Cobler, to reclaim a profligate Son, bid him have fome regard to the Dignity of his Family, fo they as Gentlemen (for we Citizens affume to be fuch one Day in a Week) are bound for the future to repent of, and abstain from, the grofs Abufes here mentioned, whereof they have been Guilty in Contempt of Heaven and Earth, and contrary to the Laws in this Cafe made and pro⚫vided. I am, SIR,

N° 631. Friday, December 10.

I

Simplex Munditiis

Hor.

pretty

Had occafion to go a few Miles out of Town, fome Days fince, in a Stage-Coach, where I had for my Fellow-Travellers a dirty Beau, and young Quaker-Woman. Having no Inclination to Talk much at that time, I placed my felf backward, with a defign to furvey them, and pick a Speculation out of my two Companions. Their different Figures were fufficient of themselves to draw my Attention. The Gentleman was dreffed in a Suit, the Ground whereof had been Black, as I perceived from fome few Spaces, that had escaped the Powder, which was Incorporated with the greatest part of his Coat: His Periwig, which coft no fmall Sum, was after fo Slovenly a manner caft over his Shoulders, that it seemed not to have been combed fince the Year 1712; his Linen, which was not much concealed, was daubed with plain Spanish from the Chin to the lowest Button, and the Diamond upon his Finger (which naturally dreaded the Water) put me in mind how it fparkled amidst the Rubbish of the Mine, where it was first discovered. On the other hand, the pretty Quaker appeared in all the Elegance of Cleanliness. Not a Speck was to be found on her. A clear, clean oval Face, juft edged about with little thin Plaits of the pureft Cambrick, received great Advantages from the Shade of her black Hood; as did the Whitenefs of her Arms from that fober-coloured Stuff, in which fhe had Clothed her felf. The Plainnefs of her Dress was very well fuited to the Simplicity of her Phrases; all which put together, though they could not give me a great Opinion of her Religion, they did of her In

nocence.

THIS

THIS Adventure occafioned my throwing together a few Hints upon Cleanliness, which I fhall confider as one of the Half-Virtues, as Ariftotle calls them, and shall recommend it under the three following Heads, As it is a Mark of Politenefs: As it produces Love; and As it bears Analogy to Purity of Mind.

Firft, IT is a Mark of Politenefs. It is univerfally agreed upon, that no one, unadorn'd with this Virtue, can go into Company without giving a manifest Offence. The easier or higher any one's Fortune is, this Duty rifes proportionably. The different Nations of the World are as much distinguished by their Cleanlinefs, as by their Arts and Sciences. The more any Country is civilized, the more they confult this part of Politeness. We need but compare our Ideas of a Female Hottentot and an English Beauty to be fatisfied of the Truth of what hath been advanced.

IN the next Place, Cleanliness may be faid to be the Fofter-Mother of Love. Beauty indeed most commonly produces that Paffion in the Mind, but Cleanliness preferves it. An indifferent Face and Perfon, kept in perpetual Neatness, hath won many a Heart from a pretty Slattern. Age it felf is not unamiable, while it is preferved clean and unfullied: Like a piece of Metal conftantly kept fmooth and bright, we look on it with more Pleasure than on a new Veffel that is canker'd with Ruft.

I might obferve farther, that as Cleanliness renders us agreeable to others, fo it makes us eafy to our felves; that it is an excellent Prefervative of Health; and that feveral Vices, deftructive both to Mind and Body, are inconfiftent with the Habit of it. But thefe Reflexions I fhall leave to the Leisure of my Readers, and fhall obferve in the Third Place, that it bears a great Analogy with Purity of Mind, and naturally inIpires refined Sentiments and Paffions.

WE find from Experience, that through the Prevalence of Custom, the most vicious Actions lose their Horror, by being made familiar to us. On the contrary, thofe who live in the Neighbourhood of good Examples, fly from the first Appearances of what is

fhocking.

fhocking. It fares with us much after the fame Manner, as to our Ideas. Our Senfes, which are the Inlets to all the Images conveyed to the Mind, can only tranfmit the Impreffion of fuch things as ufually furround them. So that pure and unfullied Thoughts are naturally fuggefted to the Mind, by thofe Objects that perpetually encompass us, when they are beautiful and elegant in their kind.

IN the Eaft, where the Warmth of the Climate makes Cleanliness more immediately neceffary than in colder Countries, it is made one Part of their Religion: The Jewish Law, (and the Mahometan, which in fome things copies after it) is filled with Bathings, Purifications, and other Rites of the like Nature. Though there is the abovenamed convenient Reason to be affigned for these Ceremonies, the chief Intention undoubtedly was to typify inward Purity and Cleannefs of Heart by thofe outward Washings. We read feveral Injunctions of this Kind in the Book of Deuteronomy, which confirm this Truth; and which are but ill accounted for by faying, as fome do, that they were only inftituted for Convenience in the Defert, which otherwife could not have been habitable for fo many Years.

I fhall conclude this Effay, with a Story which I have fomewhere read in an Account of Mahometan Superftitions.

A Dervife of great Sanctity one Morning had the Misfortune as he took up a Crystal Cup, which was confecrated to the Prophet, to let it fall upon the Ground, and dafh it in Pieces. His Son coming in, fome time after, he ftretched out his Hand to blefs him, as his manner was every Morning; but the Youth going out ftumbled over the Threshold and broke his Arm. As the old Man wondered at these Events, a Caravan paffed by in its way from Mecca. The Dervife ap proached it to beg a Bleffing; but as he ftroked one of the Holy Camels, he received a Kick from the Breaft, that forely bruifed him. His Sorrow and Amazement increafed upon him, till he recollected that through Hurry and Inadvertency he had that Morning come abroad without washing his Hands.

Monday,

N° 632. Monday, December 13.

TH

Explebo numerum, reddarque tenebris. Virg.

HE Love of Symmetry and Order, which is natural to the Mind of Man, betrays him fometimes into very whimfical Fancies. This noble Principle, fays a French Author, loves to amufe it self on the moft trifling Occafions. You may fee a profound Philofopher, fays he, walk for an Hour together in his Chamber, and induftriously treading, at every Step, upon every other Board in the Flooring. Every Reader will recollect feveral Inftances of this Nature without my Affiftance. I think it was Gregorio Leti who had publifhed as many Books as he was Years old; which was a Rule he had laid down and punctually observed to the Year of his Death. It was, perhaps, a Thought of the like Nature, which determined Homer himself to divide each of his Poems into as many Books, as there are Letters in the Greek Alphabet. Herodotus has in the fame manner adapted his Books to the Number of the Mufes, for which Reafon many a Learned Man hath wished there had been more than Nine of that Sifterhood.

SEVERAL Epic Poets have religioufly followed Virgil as to the Number of his Books; and even Milton is thought by many to have changed the Number of his Books from Ten to Twelve, for no other Reafon; as Cowley tells us, it was his Defign, had he finished his Davideis, to have also imitated the Æneid in this Particular. I believe every one will agree with me, that a Perfection of this Nature hath no Foundation in Reafon; and, with due Refpect to thefe great Names, may be looked upon as fomething whimsical.