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1712.

Excellence, as they are to the Being and Growth of Plants; No. 404, and I know not by what Fate and Folly it is, that Men are Friday, taught not to reckon him equally absurd that will write June 13, Verses in Spite of Nature, with that Gardiner that should undertake to raise a Junquil or Tulip without the Help of their respective Seeds.

As there is no good or bad Quality that does not affect both Sexes, so it is not to be imagined but the fair Sex must have suffered by an Affectation of this Nature, at least as much as the other: The ill Effect of it is in none so conspicuous as in the two opposite Characters of Calia and Iras; Cælia has all the Charms of Person, together with an abundant Sweetness of Nature, but wants Wit, and has a very ill Voice; Iras is ugly and ungenteel, but has Wit and good Sense: If Calia would be silent, her Beholders would adore her; if Iras would talk, her Hearers would admire her; but Cælia's Tongue runs incessantly, while Iras gives her self silent Airs and soft Languors; so that 'tis Difficult to persuade ones self that Cælia has Beauty and Iras Wit: Each neglects her own Excellence, and is ambitious of the other's Character; Iras would be thought to have as much Beauty as Caelía, and Caelia as much Wit as Iras.

The great Misfortune of this Affectation is, that Men not only lose a good Quality, but also contract a bad one: They not only are unfit for what they were designed, but they assign themselves to what they are not fit for; and instead of making a very good Figure one Way, make a very ridiculous one another. If Semanthe would have been satisfied with her natural Complexion, she might still have been celebrated by the Name of the Olive Beauty; but Semanthe has taken up an Affectation to White and Red, and is now distinguished by the Character of the Lady that paints so well. In a Word, could the World be reformed to the Obedience of that famed Dictate, Follow Nature, which the Oracle of Delphos pronounced to Cicero when he consulted what Course of Studies he should pursue, we should see almost every Man as eminent in his proper Sphere as Tully was in his, and should in a very short Time find Impertinence and Affectation banish'd from among the Women, and Cox

combs

No. 404, Friday, June 13, 1712.

combs and false Characters from among the Men. For my Part, I could never consider this preposterous Repugnancy to Nature any otherwise, than not only as the greatest Folly, but also one of the most heinous Crimes, since it is a direct Opposition to the Disposition of Provi dence, and (as Tully expresses it) like the Sin of the Giants, and actual Rebellion against Heaven. Z

No. 405.
[ADDISON.]

I

Οἱ δὲ πανημέριοι μολπῇ θεὸν ἱλάσκοντο

Καλὸν ἀείδοντες παιήονα κοῦροι ̓Αχαιῶν,

Saturday, June 14,

Μέλποντες εκάεργον· ὁ δὲ φρένα τέρπετ' ἀκούων.—Hom,

The

AM very sorry to find, by the Opera Bills for this Day, that we are likely to lose the greatest Performer in Dramatick Musick that is now living, or that perhaps ever appeared upon a Stage, I need not acquaint my Reader, that I am speaking of Signior Nicolini. Town is highly obliged to that Excellent Artist, for having shewn us the Italian Musick in its Perfection, as well as for that generous Approbation he lately gave to an Opera of our own Country, in which the Composer endeavoured to do Justice to the Beauty of the Words, by following that Noble Example, which has been set him by the greatest Foreign Masters in that Art.

I could heartily wish there was the same Applications and Endeavours to cultivate and improve our Church Musick, as have been lately bestowed on that of the Stage, Our Composers have one very great Incitement to it: They are sure to meet with Excellent Words, and at the same time, a wonderful Variety of them. There is no Passion that is not finely expressed in those parts of the inspired Writing, which are proper for Divine Songs and Anthems,

There is a certain Coldness and Indifference in the Phrases of our European Languages, when they are compared with the Oriental Forms of Speech; and it happens very luckily, that the Hebrew Idioms run into the English Tongue with a particular Grace and Beauty, Our Language has received innumerable Elegancies and Improvements

1712,

Improvements, from that Infusion of Hebraism, which No. 405. are derived to it out of the Poetical Passages in Holy Writ. Saturday, They give a Force and Energy to our Expressions, warm June 14, and animate our Language, and convey our Thoughts in more ardent and intense Phrases, than any that are to be met with in our own Tongue. There is something so pathetick in this kind of Diction, that it often sets the Mind in a Flame, and makes our Hearts burn within us, How cold and dead does a Prayer appear, that is composed in the most Elegant and Polite Forms of Speech, which are natural to our Tongue, when it is not heightned by that Solemnity of Phrase, which may be drawn from the Sacred Writings. It has been said by some of the Ancients, that if the Gods were to talk with Men, they would certainly speak in Plato's Stile; but I think we may say, with Justice, that when Mortals con verse with their Creator, they cannot do it in so proper a Stile as in that of the Holy Scriptures.

If any one wou'd judge of the Beauties of Poetry that are to be met with in the Divine Writings, and examine how kindly the Hebrew Manners of Speech mix and incorporate with the English Language; after having per used the Book of Psalms, let him read a literal Translation of Horace or Pindar. He will find in these two last such an Absurdity and Confusion of Stile with such a Com parative Poverty of Imagination, as will make him very sensible of what I have been here advancing,

Since we have therefore such a Treasury of Words, so beautiful in themselves, and so proper for the Airs of Musick, I cannot but wonder that Persons of Distinction should give so little Attention and Encouragement to that kind of Musick which would have its Foundation in Reason, and which would improve our Virtue in propor tion as it raised our Delight. The Passions that are excited by ordinary Compositions generally flow from such silly and absurd Occasions, that a Man is ashamed t reflect upon them seriously; but the Fear, the Love, the Sorrow, the Indignation that are awakened in the Mind by Hymns and Anthems, make the Heart better, and proceed from such Causes as are altogether reasonable and praise-worthy, Pleasure and Duty go hand in hand,

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No. 405, and the greater our Satisfaction is, the greater is our
Saturday, Religion,
June 14,

1712.

Musick among those who were stiled the chosen People was a Religious Art, The Songs of Sion, which we have reason to believe were in high repute among the Courts of the Eastern Monarchs, were nothing else but Psalms and Pieces of Poetry that adored or celebrated the Supreme Being. The greatest Conqueror in this Holy Nation, after the manner of the old Grecian Lyricks, did not only compose the Words of his Divine Odes, but generally set them to Musick himself. After which, his Works, tho' they were consecrated to the Tabernacle, became the National Entertainment, as well as the Devotion of his People,

The first Original of the Drama was a Religious Wor ship consisting only of a Chorus, which was nothing else but an Hymn to a Deity. As Luxury and Voluptuous ness prevailed over Innocence and Religion, this form of Worship degenerated into Tragedies; in which however the Chorus so far remembred its first Office, as to brand every thing that was vicious, and recommend every thing that was laudable, to intercede with Heaven for the Inno cent, and to implore its Vengeance on the Criminal.

Homer and Hesiod intimate to us how this Art should be applied, when they represent the Muses as surrounding Jupiter, and warbling their Hymns about his Throne. I might shew, from innumerable Passages in Ancient Writers, not only that Vocal and Instrumental Musick were made use of in their Religious Worship, but that their most favourite Diversions were filled with Songs and Hymns to their respective Deities. Had we frequent Entertainments of this Nature among us, they would not a little purifie and exalt our Passions, give our Thoughts proper Turn, and cherish those Divine Impulses in the Soul, which every one feels that has not stifled them by sensual and immoderate Pleasures.

Musick, when thus applied, raises noble Hints in the Mind of the Hearer, and fills it with great Conceptions, It strengthens Devotion, and advances Praise into Rapture, It lengthens out every act of Worship, and produces more lasting and permanent Impressions in the Mind, than

those

those which accompany any transient Form of Words No. 405, that are uttered in the ordinary Method of Religious Saturday, Worship,

No. 406,
[STEELE.]

Monday, June 16.

Haec studia adolescentiam alunt, senectutem oblectant, secundas res ornant, adversis perfugium & solatium praebent, delectant domí, non impediunt foris, pernoctant nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur.-Tull,

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HE following Letters, bear a pleasing Image of the Joys and Satisfactions of a private Life. The first is from a Gentleman to a Friend, for whom he has a very great Respect, and to whom he communicates the Satisfaction he takes in Retirement; the other is a Letter to me, occasioned by an Ode written by my Lapland Lover; this Correspondent is so kind as to translate another of Scheffer's Songs in a very agreeable Manner. I publish them together, that the Young and Old may find something in the same Paper which may be suitable to their respective Taste in Solitude; for I know no Fault in the Description of ardent Desires, provided they are honourable,

'Dear Sir,

You have obliged me with a very kind Letter; by which I find you shift the Scene of your Life from the Town to the Country, and enjoy that mixt State which wise Men both delight in, and are qualified for. Methinks most of the Philosophers and Moralists have run too much into Extreams in praising entirely either Solitude or publick Life; in the former Men generally grow use less by too much Rest, and in the latter are destroyed by too much Precipitation: As Waters, lying still, putrifie and are good for nothing; and running violently on, do but the more Mischief in their Passage to others, and are swallowed up and lost the sooner themselves. Those who, like you, can make themselves useful to all States, should be like gentle Streams, that not only glide through lonely Vales and Forests amidst the Flocks and Shepherds, but visit populous Towns in their Course, and are at once

June 14, 1712.

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