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'V, ^ •■ ■■■ 7' ■■-■■-•'77" 't K CHAR ACT ERISTICKS. Volume I. A Letter concerning Enthusiasm. Sejtfus Com?nunis ; an Eflay on the Freedom of Wit and Humour. Soliloquy^ or Advice to an Author. Printed in the Year M.DCC.XXXIL A 4 IV-; "' ■<- 'v<— ■, • .' ' /-.•■ '. ■ v, :• — ■ ■-. .■ ■ V ' ■ 'i ; 5 #;.v- 'V I ' ■»« »> .. .. ■ ,1 ••' , V ■ ' I ;■; ■ . , • .’•■ , • .' • -• ^ T-V- '' ■ ' •’'*■ *■"■■■'''■ ; ■’ ■y.iv*- • V *•'■ ■■ • ■ •■ • V. V -t.-r:. '■••. "■ i. *"’ r j' ' ; /v.y,: ,. ' ■ • •• ,- V - ' • , . .r; ^,. , , 4 f %'•■•' vSi ■•-A/.y-w: '• . C'* ».- f ‘.pfi ‘t* -*i jt ■ .* •• . .'•r-* .? *. ', 3 f ,. ' ■/ ■'■< '■ 'T:*' •/ l-i: • » -v;. ^ .. . .■'•t L'A': ' ■' .'.''V’iv.... ■ L V '-jf ^ ' :'■'; ’ . 1 . ' ‘ • 'S-' A ■* ‘^ ' ■ ' ' ‘ , ik- ' ‘ S' .C''*' .^'fc ■ • • '/ r ‘ ' ** '' V'' ' ' '■ '^ ' ‘4 . „ ■ ■■■ . - , ‘ ;-^ *.. .-> • • .-• '■< , ' 'tl- ,• i , '•, . •V r .V^'' A-,;-.., .,. • F the Author of thefe united Fra6is had been any Friend to Prefaces, he nsoou d proba- bly have made his Entrance after that manner^ in one or other of the Five ‘Treatifes formerly publijh d apart. But as to all Prefatory or Dedicatory FFifcourfe^ he has told us his Mind fufpcientlyy in that 'Treatife which he calls SoLiLOQ_UT. Being fatif- fyd however., that there are many Ferfqns iV R E F A C E. *TerJbns who ejieem thefe Introduc tory Pieces as very ejfential in the Conjiitution of a Work 5 he has thought fih' in behalf of hts honeji Printer, to JubJlitute thefe Lines under the Title of A Prefacej and to declare^ “ That {according to his heji Judg- “ ment and Authority) thefe Tre- “ fents ought to pajs, and he receiv’d^ conjlrud, and taken^ as fatisfac- “ tory in full, for all Preliminary Compojition, T)edication, direct or “ indired Application for Favour to “ the Puhlick, or to any private “ Patron, or Party whatfoever : “ Nothing to the contrary appearing “ to him, from the Jide of Truth, “ or Reafon.” Witnefs his Hand, this Fifth Day of December, 1710. A. A. C. A. N.A.yP, C.M.D.C.L.X.X.J. Treatise I. VIZ. A LETTER CONCERNING ENTHUSIASM, T O My Lord Sommers. — - Ridentem dicere Verum ^id vet at ? Hor. Sat. i. Printed firft in the Year M.DCC.VIIL A LETTER, &c. My Lord, Sept 1707. N O W, you are return’d to and before the Seafon comes which muft engage you in the weightier Matters of State ; if you care to be entertain’d a-while with a fort of idle Thoughts, fuch as pretend on- ly to Amufement, and have no relation to Bufinefs or Affairs, you may caft your Eye llightly on what you have before you y and if there be any thing inviting, you may read it over at your leifure. It 4 A LETTER Sedt. I. It has been an eftablifli’d Cuftom for Poets, at the entrance of their Work, to addrefs themfelves to fome Mufe : and this Praftice of the Antients has gain'd fo much Repute, that even in our days we find it al- moft conftantly imitated. I cannot but fan- fy however, that this Imitation, which paf- fes fo currently with other Judgments, mult at fome time or other have ftuck a little with your Lordfhip ; who is us'd to examine Things by a better Standard than that of Fafhion or the common Tafle. You mull certainly have obferv'd our Poets under a remarkable Conftraint, when oblig'd to af- fume this Charader : and you have won- der'd, perhaps, why that Air of Enthujiafniy which fits fo gracefully with an Antient, fhou'd be fo fpirltlefs and aukard in a Mo- dern. But as to this Doubt, your Lordfhip wou'd have foon refolv'd your-felf : and it cou'd only ferve to bring a-crofs you a Re- fledion you have often made, on many oc- cafions befides ^ T^hat T'ruth is the mojl pow- erful thing in the Worlds fince even Fidion * it~felf muft be govern'd by it, and can only pleafe by its refemblance. The Appearance of Reality is neceflary to make any Paffion agreeably reprefented : and to be able to move others, we muft firft be mov'd our- felves, or at leaft feem to be fo, upon fome probable Grounds. Now what poffibility ^ Infra, p. 14 :, 5cc. and VOL, Ml. />. i^o, 5cc. is concerning Enthusiasm. 5 I is there that a Modern, who is known never Sedt. i. to have worfhip’d A p o l l o, or own’d any fuch Deity as the MufeSy fhou’d perfuade us I to enter into his pretended Devotion, and ; move us by his feign’d Zeal in a Religion out of date ? But as for the Antients, ’tis known they deriv’d both their Religion and I Polity from the Mufes Art. How natural therefore muft it have appear’d in any, but efpecially a Poet of thofe times, to addrels himfelf in Raptures of Devotion to thofe * acknowledg’d Patroneffes of Wit and Sci- ence ? Here the Poet might with probabili- ty feign an Extafy, tho he really felt none: and fuppofing it to have been mere AfFedla- tion, it wou’d look however like fomething natural, and cou’d not fail of pleafing. But perhaps, my Lord, there was a ! further Myftery in the cafe. Men, your Lordihip knows, are wonderfully happy in a Faculty of deceiving themfelves, when- ' ever they fet heartily about it ; and a very fmall Foundation of any Paffion will ferve us, not only to adl it well, but even to work our-felves into it beyond our own reach. Thus, bv a little Affeftation in Love-Matters, and with the help of a Ro- mance or Novel, a Boy of Fifteen, or a grave Man of Fifty, may be fure to grow a very natural Coxcomb, and feel the Belle Pajjion in good earned:. A Man of tole- rable Good-Nature, who happens to be a little 6 A LETTER Sed:. I. little piqu'd, may, by improving his Re- fentment, become a very Fury for Re- venge. Even a good Chriftian, who wou'd needs be over-good, and thinks he can ne- ver believe enough, may, by a fmall Incli- nation well improv’d, extend his Faith fo largely, as to comprehend in it not only all Scriptural and Traditional Miracles, but a folid Syftem of Old-Wives Storys. Were it needful, I cou’d put your Lordihip in mind of an Eminent, Learned, and truly Chriftian Prelate you once knew, who cou’d have given you a full account of his Belief in Fairys, And this, methinks, may ferve to make appear, how far an antient Poet’s Faith might poffibly have been rais’d, to- gether with his Imagination. But we Chriftians, who have fuch ample Faith our-felves, will allow nothing to poor Heathens. They muft be Infidels in every fenfe. We will not allow ’em to believe fo much as their own Religion ; which we cry is too abfurd to have been credited by any befides the mere Vulgar. But if a Reverend Chriftian Prelate may be fo great a Volunteer in Faith, as beyond the ordinary Prefcription of the Catholick Church, to believe in Fairys-, why may not a Heathen Poet, in the ordinary way of his Religion, be allow’d to believe in Mujes? For thefe, your Lordfhip knows, were fo many Divine Perfons in the Heathen Creed, toncernmg Enthusiasm. f and were eflential in their Syftem of Theo-Sedl. logy. The Goddeffes had their Temples U'VNi and Worlhip, the fame as the other Deitys : And to dilbelieve the Holy Nine^ or their Ap o l l o, was the fame as to deny Jove himfelf 5 and muft have been efteem’d e- qually profane and atheiftical by the gene- rality of fober Men. Now what a mighty advantage muft it have been to an antient Poet to be thus orthodox, and by the help of his Education, and a Good-will into the bargaittj to work himfelf up to the Belief of a Divine Prefence and Heavenly Infpi- ration ? It was never furely the bufinefs of Poets in thofe days to call Revelation in queftion, when it evidently made fo well for their Art. On the contrary, they cou'd not fail to animate their Faith as much as poffible ; when by a Angle Aft of it, well inforc’d, they cou'd raile themfelve§ into fuch Angelical Company. H ow much the Imagination of fuch a Prefence muft exalt a Genius, we may ob- ferve merely from the Influence which an ordinary Prefence has over Men. Our mo- dern Wits are more or lefs rais’d by the Opinion they have of their Company, and the Idea they form to themfelves of the Perfons to whom they make their Addref- fes. A common A6lor of the Stage will inform us how much a full Audience of the Better Sort exalts him above the common VoL I, B phcht 8 A LETTER Sed:. I. pitch* And you, my Lord, who are the nobleft Adlor, and of the nobleft Part af- fign’d to any Mortal on this earthly Stage, when you are adling for Liberty and Man- kind ; does not the publick Prefence, that of your Friends, and the Well-wifhers to your Caufe, add fomething to your Thought and Genius ? Or is that Sublime of Rea- fon, and that Power of Eloquence, which you difcover in publick, no more than what you are equally Mafler of, in pri- vate ; and can command at any time, alone, or with indifferent Company, or in any eafy or cool hour ? This indeed w^re more Godlike; but ordinary Humanity, I think, reaches not fo high. For my own part, my Lord, I have really fo much need of fome confiderable Prefence or Company to raife my Thoughts on any occalion, that when alone, I muft endeavour by ftrength of Fancy to fupply this want; and in default of a Mufe^ muft inquire out fome Great Man of a more than ordinary Genius, whofe imagin’d Prefence may infpire me with more than what I feel at ordinary hours. And thus, my Lord, have I chofen to addrefs my-felf to your Lordlhip ; tho without fubfcribing my Name : allowing you as a Stranger, the full liberty of reading no more than what you may have a fanfy for ; but referving to my-felf the privilege of imagining you read concerning Enthusiasm. p read all, with particular notice, as a Friend, Sed:. 2^ and one whom I may juftifiably treat with the Intimacy and Freedom which follows. SECT. IL I F*the knowing well how to expofe any Infirmity or Vice were a fufficient Secu- rity for the Virtue v/hich is contrary, how excellent an Age might we be prefum'd to live in ! Never was there in our Nation a time known, when Folly and Extrava- gance of every kind w^ere more fharply infpecded, or more wittily ridicul'd. And one might hope at leaft from this good Symptom, that our Age was in no de- clining ftate 5 fince whatever our Diftem- pers are, we Hand fo well afteded to our Remedy s. To bear the being told of Faults, is in private Perfons the beft token of Amendment. 'Tis feldom that a Pub- lick is thus difpos'd. For where Jealoufy of State, or the ill Lives of the Great Peo- ple, or any other Caufe is powerful enough to reftrain the Freedom of Cenfure in any part, it in effed deftroys the Benefit of it in the whole. There can be no impartial and free Cenfure of Manners where any peculiar Cuftom or National Opinion is fet apart, and not only exempted from Criti- cifm, but even flatter'd with the higheft Art. 'Tis only in a free Nation, fuch as ours, that Impofture has no Privilege 5 and B 2 that t5 A LETTER Sedt. 2. that neither the Credit of a Court, the Power of a Nobility, nor the Awefulnefs of a Church can give her Protedion, or hin- der her from being arraign’d in every Shape and Appearance. ’Tis true, this Liberty may feem to run too far. We may per- haps be faid to make ill ufe of it. So every one will fay, when he himfelf is touch’d, and his Opinion freely examined. But v/ho (hall be Judg of what may be freely examin’d, and what may not ? Where Liberty may be us’d ; and where it may not ? What Remedy fhall we prefcribe to this in general ? Can there be a better than from that Liberty it-felf which is com- plain’d of ? If Men are vicious, petulanr or abufive ; the Magiftrate may corredl them : But if they reafon ill, ’tis Reafon ftill muil teach ’em to do better. Juflnefs of Thought and Style, Refinement in Man- ners, good Breeding, and Politenefs of e- very kind, can come only from the Trial and Experience of what is beft. Let but the Search go freely on, and the right Meafure of every thing will foon be found. Whatever Humour has got the ftart, if it be unnatural, it cannot hold ; and the Ri- dicule^ if ill plac’d at firft, will certainly fall at laft where it deferves. I Have often wonder’d to fee Men of Senfe fo mightily alarm’d at the approach of any thing like Ridicule on certain Sub- jefls ; concerning Enthusiasm. ii jedls; as if they miftrufted their own Judg-Seil. ment. For what Ridicule can lie againft Reafon ? Or how can any one of the lead: Juftnefs of Thought endure a Ridicule wrong plac’d ? Nothing is more ridiculous than this it-felf. The Vulgar, indeed, may fwallow any fordid Jeft, any mere Drollery or Buffoonery ; but it mud: be a finer and truer Wit which takes with the Men of Senfe and Breeding. How comes it to pafs then, that we appear fuch Cowards in rea- foning, and are fo afraid to fland the Tejl of Ridicule ? O ! fay we, the Subjefts are too grave. —Perhaps fo : but let us fee fird: whether they are really grave or no: for in the manner we may conceive ’em, they may peradventure be very grave and weighty in our Imagii^tion ,• but very ridiculous and impertinent in their own na- ture. Gravity is of the very Eflence of Impoflure. It does not only make us mif- take other things, but is apt perpetually almoft to miflake it-felf. For even in com- mon Behaviour, how hard is it for the grave Charafter to keep long out of the limits of the formal one ? We can never be too grave, if we can be allur’d we are really what we fuppofe. And we can never too much honour or revere any thing for grave j if we are alfur’d the Thing is grave, as we apprehend it. The main Point is to know always true Grayity from the falfe % and this can only be, by carrying the Rule B 3 II ^LETTER Sedir. 2. conftantly with us, and freely applying it not only to the Things about us, but to our-felves. For if unhappily we lofe the Meafure in our-felves, we {hall foon lofe it in every thing befides. Now what Rule or Meafure is there in the World, except in the confidering of the real Temper of Things, to find which are truly ferious, and which ridiculous ? And how can this be done, unlefs by ^ applying the Ridicule^ to fee whether it will bear ? But if we fear to apply this Rule in any thing, what Secu- rity can we have againfl the Impoflure of Formality in all things ? We have allow'd our-felves to be Formalijls in one Point ; and the fame Formality may rule us as it pleafes in all other. "T I s not in every Difpolition that we are capacitated to judg of things. We mult be- forehand judg of our own Temper, and ac- cordingly of other things which fall under our Judgment. But we muft never more pretend to judg of things, or of our own Temper in judging them, when we have given up our preliminary Right of Judg- ment, and under a prefumption of Gravity, have allow'd our-felves to be moft ridicu- lous, and to admire profoundly the moft ri- diculous things in nature, at leaft for ought we know. For having refolv'd never to try, we can never be fure, * Infra, png. 6i, 74. i?/-r ' concernhig Enthusiasm. Seft. 2. ^ Ridiculum acri Fortius & melius magnas plerumque fecat res. This, my Lord, I may fafely aver. Is fo true in it-felf, and fo well known for Truth by the cunning For?naliJis of the Age, that they can better bear to have their Impof- tures rail’d at, with all the Bitternefs and Vehemence imaginable, than to have them touch’d ever fo gently in this other way. They know very well, that as Modes and Fafhions, fo Opinions^ tho ever fo ridicu- lous, are kept up by Solemnity : and that thofe formal Notions which grew up pro- bably in an ill Mood, and have been con- ceiv’d in fober Sadnefs, are never to be re- mov’d but in a fober kind of Chearfulnefs, and by a more eafy and pleafant way of Thought. There is a Melancholy which accompanys all Enthufiafm. Be it Love or Religion (for there are Enthufiafms in both) nothing can put a Hop to the growing mif- chief of either, till the Melancholy be re- mov’d, and the Mind at liberty to hear what can be faid againft the Ridiculoufnefs of an Extreme in either way. I T was heretofore the Wifdom of fome wife Nations, to let People be Fools as much as they pleas’d, and never to punifh * Hor. Sat. 10. B 4 feri- 14 ^ LETTER Seito 2.ferioufly what deferv’d only to be laugh’d C/^VNJat, and was, after all, beft cur’d by that innocent Remedy. There are certain Hu- mours in Mankind, which of neceffity muft have vent. The Human Mind and Body are both of ’em naturally fubjedl to Commotions: and as there are ftrange Fer- ments in the Blood, which in many Bodys occafion an extraordinary Difcharge , fo in Reafon too, there are heterogeneous Par- ticles which muft be thrown off by Fer- mentation. Shou’d Phylicians endeavour abfolutely to allay thofe Ferments of the Body, and ftrike in the Humours which difcover themfelves in fuch Eruptions, they ^ might, inftead of making a Cure, bid fair perhaps to raife a Plague, and turn a Spring- Ague or an Autumn-Surfeit into an epidemical malTgnant Fever. They are certainly as ill Phyficians in the Body-Poli^ tick^ who wou’d needs be tampering with thefe mental Eruptions ; and under the fpecious pretence of healing this Itch of Superftirion, and faving Souls from the Con^ tagion of Enthufiafm, fhou’d fet all Nature in an uproar, and turn a few innocent Car- buncles into an Inflammation and mortal Gaiigrene. W E read ^ in Hiftory that Pan, when he accompany’d Bacchus in an Expedi- tion to the Iiidies^ found means to ftrike a PoJyasni Strateg. Ub, i. 2. Terror concerning Enthusiasm. Terror thro’ a Hoft of Enemys, by theSedt. 2* help of a fmall Company, whofe Clamors he manag’d to good advantage among the echoing Rocks and Caverns of a woody Vale. The hoarfe bellowing of the Caves, join’d to the hideous afpedl of fuch dark and defart Places, rais’d fuch a Horror in the Enemy, that in this ftate their Imagination help’d ’em to hear Voices, and doubtlefs to fee Forms too, which were more than Hu- man : whilft the Uncertainty of what they fear’d made their Fear yet greater, and fpread it fafter by implicit Looks than any Narration cou’d convey it. And this was what in after-times Men call’d a PanicL The Story indeed gives a good Hint of the nature of this Paffion, which can hardly be without fome mixture of Enthufiafm, and Horrors of a fuperftitious kind. One may with good reafon call every ■ Paffion Panick which is rais’d in a ^ Mul- titude, and convey’d by Afpedt, or as it were by Contadi: or Sympathy. Thus po- pular Fury may be call’d Panicky when the Rage of the People, as we have fometimes known, has put them beyond themfelves 5 efpecially where ^ Religion has had to do. And in this ftate their very Looks are in- fedtious. The Fury flies from Face to Face : and the Difeafe is no fooner feen than caught. They who in a better Skua- ^ Infra, p. 45 - and VOL. III. f. 66. in the Notes. tion i6 A LETTER Sedk. 2.tion of Mind have beheld a Multitude under the power of this Paflion, have own’d that they faw in the Countenances of Men fomething more ghaftly and terrible than at other times is exprefs’d on the moft paffionate occafion. Such force has ^ So- ciety in ill, as well as in good Paffions : and fo much ftronger any Affedlion is for being facial and communicative. Thus, my Lord, there are many Pa^ nicks in Mankind, befides merely that of Fear. And thus is Religion alfo Panick ; when Enthufiafm of any kind gets up ; as oft, on melancholy occalions, it will. For Vapours naturally rife ; and in bad times efpecially, when the Spirits of Men are low, as either in publick Calamitys, or during the Unwholefomnefs of Air or Diet, or when Convulfions happen in Nature, Storms, Earthquakes, or other amazing Prodigys : at this feafon the Panick muft needs run high, and the Magiftrate of neceffity give way to it. For to apply a ferious Remedy, and bring the Sword, or FafceSy as a Cure, muft make the Cafe more melancholy, and increafe the very Caufe of the Diftemper. To forbid Mens natural Fears, and to en- deavour the over-powering them by other Fears, muft needs be a moll unnatural Me- * Infrai p. iio, tcz. and VOL. II. p. loo, io6, kc. 127, &:c. thod. concerning Enthusiasm. \y thod. The Magiftrate, if he be any Artift, Sed. 2. fliou’d have a gentler hand ; and inftead of Cau flicks, Incifions, and Amputations, fhou’d be ufing the fofteft Balms; and with a kind Sympathy entering into the Concern of the People, and taking, as it were, their Paffion upon him, fhou’d, when he has footh’d and fatisfy’d it, endeavour, by chearful ways, to divert and heal it. This was antient Policy : and hence (as a notable ^ Author of our Nation ex- prefTes it) 'tis neceffary a People fliou’d have a Publick Leading in Religion. For to deny the Magiflrate a Worfhip, or take away a National Church, is as mere En- thuliafm as the Notion which fets up Per- fecution. For why fhou'd there not be publick Walks, as well as private Gardens ? Why not publick Librarys, as well as pri- vate Education and Home-Tutors ? But to prefcribe bounds to Fancy and Speculation, to regulate Mens Apprehenfions and reli- gious Beliefs or Fears, to fupprefs by Vio- lence the natural Paffion of Enthufiafm, or to endeavour to afcertain it, or reduce it to one Species, or bring it under any one Mo- dification, is in truth no better Senfe, nor deferves a better Charafter, than what the ' ^ Comedian declares of the like Projedl in the Affair of Love — - *Harrington> j- Ter. Eun. i. i. •—ISlihilo i8 A LETTER Secft. 2. Nihilo plus agas ^am Jt des operam ut cum ratione mfmttaSn, Not only the Vilionarys and Enthu- liafts of all kinds were tolerated, your Lordfhip knows, by the Antients; but on the other fide, Philofophy had as free a courfe, and was permitted as a Ballance a- gainft Superllition. And whilft fome Seils, fuch as the Pythagorean and latter Plato- nicky join’d in with the Superllition and En- thufiafm of the Times; the Epicureany the Academicky and others, were allow’d to ufe all the Force of Wit and Raillery againft it. And thus matters were happily bal- lanc’d ; Reafon had fair Play ; Learning and Science flourifii’d. Wonderful was the Har- mony and Temper which arofe from all thefe Contrarietys. Thus Superftition and Enthufiafm were mildly treated ; and being let alone, they never rag’d to that degree as to occafion Bloodfhed, Wars, Perfecu- tions and Devaftations in the World. But a new fort of Policy, which extends it-felf to another World, and confiders the future Lives and Happinefs of Men rather than the prefent, has made us leap the Bounds of natural Humanity ; and out of a fuperna- tural Charity, has taught us the way of plaguing one another moft devoutly. It has rais’d an ^ Antipathy which no tem- poral Intereft cou’d ever do ; and entail'd * VOL. III. />. 59. 6o, vVc. 8o, 8i, &c. upon concerning Enthusiasm. ip upon us a mutual Hatred to all Eternity. Sedl. 2. And now Uniformity in Opinion (a hope- (✓VNJ ful Projedl !) is look’d on as the only Ex- pedient againft this Evil. The favtng of Souls Is now the heroick Paffion of exalted Spirits ; and is become in a manner the chief Care of the Magiftrate, and the very End of Government it-felf. I F Magiftracy fhou’d vouchfafe to inter- pofe thus much in other Sciences, I am afraid we fhou’d have as bad Logick, as bad Mathematicks, and in every kind as bad Philofophy,/as we often have Divinity, in Countrys where a precife Orthodoxy is fettled by Law. ’Tis a hard matter for a Government to fettle Wit. If it does but ^ keep us fober and honeft, ’tis likely we fhall have as much Ability in our fpiritual as in our temporal Affairs : and if we can but be trufted, we ftiall have Wit enough to fave our-felves, when no Prejudice lies in the way. But if Honefty and Wit be infufficient for this faving Work, ’tis in vain for the Magiftrate to meddle with it : fince if he be ever fo virtuous or wife, he may be as foon miftaken as another Man. I am fure the only way to fave Mens-Senfe, or preferve Wit at all in the World, is to give Liberty to Wit. Now Wit can never have its Liberty, where the Freedom of Raillery is taken away : For againft ferious Extravagances and fplene- ao A LETTER Se£l. 2. tick Humours there is no other Remedy than this. W E have indeed full pov^er over all o- ther Modifications of Spleen. We may treat other Enthufiafms as pleafe. We may ridicule Love, or Gallantry, or Knight-Er- rantry to the utmofl ; and we find, that in thefe latter days of Wit, the Humour of this kind, which was once fo prevalent, is pretty well declin’d. The Crufades, the rescuing of Holy Lands, and fuch devout Gallantrys are in lefs requeft than former- ly : But if fomething of this militant Re- ligion, fomething of this Soul-refcuing Spi- rit, and Saint-Errantry prevails ftill, we need not wonder, when we confider in how folemn a manner we treat this Diftemper, and how prepofteroufly we go about to cure Enthufiafm. I Can hardly forbear fanfying, that if we had a fort of Inquifition, or formal Court of Judicature, with grave Officers and Judges, eredled to reftrain Poetical Licence, and in general to fupprefs that Fancy and Humour of Verfification ; but in particular that mofl extravagant Paflion of Love, as it is fet out by Poets, in its Heathenifli Drefs of Venus’s and Cu- pids: if the Poets, as Ringleaders and Teachers of this Herefy, were, under grievous Penaltys, forbid to enchant the People concerning Enthusiasm. 21 People by their vein of Rhyming ; and ifSed. 3- the People, on the other fide, tvere, un-O^YN^ der proportionable Penaltys, forbid to hearken to any fuch Charm, or lend their Attention to any Love-Tale, fo much as in a Play, a Novel, or a Ballad 5 we might perhaps fee a new Arcadia arifing out of this heavy Perfecution : Old People and Young would be feiz’d with a verfifying Spirit : We fhou’d have Field-Conventicles of Lovers and Poets : Forefts wou’d be fill’d with romantick Shepherds and Shep- herdefles ; and Rocks refound with E- choes of Hymns and Praifes offer’d to the Powers of Love. We might indeed have a fair Chance, by this Management, to bring back the whole Train of Heathen Gods, and fet our cold Northern Ifland burning with as many Altars to Venus and Apollo, as were formerly in Cyprus^ Delos, or any of thofe warmer Grecian Climates. SECT. III. B U T, my Lord, you may perhaps won- der, that having been drawn into fuch a ferious Subjed: as Religion, I ftiou’d for- get my felf fo far as to give way to Rail-^ lery and Humour. I muft own, my Lord, ^tis not merely thro’ Chance that this has happen’d. To fay truth, I hardly care fo much as to think on this Subjed, much i lefs J. LETTER Sea. 3. left to write on it, without endeavouring to pur iny felf in as good Humour as is poffibie. People indeed, who can endure no middle Temper, but are all Air and Hu- mour, know little of the Doubts and Scru- ples of Religion, and are fafe from any im- mediate Influence of devout Melancholy or EiJthufiafm 5 which requires more Delibe- ration and thoughtful Praaice to fix it-felf in a Temper, and grow habitual. But be the Habit what it will ; to be deliver’d of it at fo fad a Coil as Inconfideratenefs, or Madnefs, is what I wou’d never wifh to be my Lot. I had rather ftand all Adven- tures with Religion, than endeavour to get rid of the Thoughts of it by Diverfion. All I contend for, is to think of it in a right Humour : and that this goes more than half-way towards thinking rightly of it, is what I fhall endeavour to demon- ftrate. f- - ■ Good PIumour is not only the befl Security again ft Enthufiajm^ but the beft Foundation of Piety and true Religion : For if right Thoughts and worthy Ap- prehenfions of the Supreme Being, are fundamental to all true Worfliip and Ado- ration 5 ’tis more than probable, that we ftiall never mifcarry in this refpeft, except thro’ ill Humour only. Nothing befide ill Humour, either natural or forc’d, can bring a Man to think ferioufly that the World concerning Enthusiasm. 2^ World is govern’d by any devilifti or ma-Seft. 3. licious Power. I very much queftion whe-i^'VN^ ther any thing, befides ill Humour, can be the Caufe of Atheifm. For there are fo many Arguments to perfuade a Man in Humour, that, in the main, all things are kindly and well difpos’d, that one wou’d think it impoffible for him to be fo far out of conceit with Affairs, as to imagine they all ran at adventures ; and that the Worlds as venerable and wife a Face as it carry’d, had neither Senfe nor Meaning in it. This however I am perfuaded of, that nothing befide ill Humour can give us dreadful or ill Thoughts of a Supreme Manager. No- thing can perfuade us of Sullennefs or Sournefs in fuch a Being, befide the aftual fore-feeling of fomewhat of this kind with- in our-felves : and if we are afraid of bring- ing good Humour into Religion, or think- ing with Freedom and Pleafantnefs on fuch ! I a Subjedl as God; ’tis becaufe we con- ceive the Subjeft fo like our-felves, ^and can hardly have a Notion of Majejly and Greatnefs^ without Statelinefs and Morofe^ nefs accompanying it. This, however, is the juft Reverfe of that Charafter, which we own to be moft divinely Good, when we fee it, as we fome- times do, in Men of higheft Power among us. If they pafs for truly Goody we dare treat them freely, and are fure they will a Vol C not 24 ^ LETTER Seft. 3. not be difpleas’d with this Liberty. They are doubly Gainers by this Goodnefs of theirs. For the more they are fearch’d into, and familiarly examin’d, the more their Worth appears ; and the Difcoverer, charm’d with his Succefs, efteems and loves more than ever, when he has prov’d this additional Bounty in his Superior, and re- fiedts on that Candor and Generofity he has experienc’d. Your Lordlhip knows more perhaps of this Myftery than any- one. How elfe Ihou’d you have been fo belov’d in Power, and out of Power fo ad- her’d to, and ftill more belov’d ? Thank Heaven! there are even in our own Age fome fuch Examples. In former Ages there have been many fuch. We have known mighty Princes, and even Emperors of the World, who cou’d bear unconcernedly, not only the free Cenfure of their Adtions, but the mofl fpiteful Re- proaches and Calumnys, even to their faces. Some perhaps may wifh there had never been fuch Examples found in Hea^ ihensy but more efpecially, that the occa- fion had never been given by Ckrijiians, ’Twas more the Misfortune indeed of Mankind in general, than of Chriftians in particular, that fome of the earlier Roman Emperors were fuch Monftei s of Tyran- ny, and began a Perfecution, not on reli- gious Men merely, but on all who were fufpedled concerning Enthusiasm. 25 fufpedted of Worth or Virtue. What cou’d Sedl. 3. have been a higher Honour or Advantage U'^^VNJ to Chriftianity, than to be perfecuted by a Nero? But better Princes, who came after, were perfuaded to remit thefeyfevere Courfes. 'Tis true, the Magiftrate might poffibly have been furpriz'd with the new- nefs of a Notion, which he might pretend, perhaps, did not only deftroy the Sacred- nefs of his Power, but treated him and all Men as profane, impious, and damn'd, who enter'd not into certain particular Modes of Worlhip ; of which there had been for- merly fo many thoufand inftituted, all of ’em compatible and fociable till that time. However, fuch was the Wifdom of fome fucceeding Miniflrys, that the Edge of Perfecution was much abated ; and even that Prince, who was efteem’d the great- eft Enemy of the Chriftian Sedt, and who himfelf had been educated in it, was a great Reftrainer of Perfecution, and wou’d allow of nothing further than a Refump- tion of Church-Lands and publick Schools, without any attempt on the Goods or Per- fons even of thofe who branded the State- Religion, and made a Merit of affronting the publick Worfhip. ’T I s well we have the Authority of a facred Author in our Religion, to affure us, * See VOL. III. p. 87, 88, 89. in the Notes. C 2 that 26 A LETTER Sedl. 3. that the Spirit of Love and Humanity is above that of Martyrs, Other wife, one might be a little fcandaliz'd, perhaps, at the Hiftory of many of our primitive Con- feffors and Martyrs, even according to our own accounts. There is hardly now in the World fo good a Chriftian (if this be indeed the Mark of a good one) who, if he happen’d to live at Conjiantinopley or elfewhere under the Protection of the T^urks^ would think it fitting or decent to give any Difturbance to their Mofque- Worfhip. And as good Proteftants, my Lord, as you and I are, we fliou’d confider him as little better than a rank Enthufiaft, who, out of hatred to the Romifh Idola- try, fhou’d, in time of high Mafs (where Mafs perhaps was by Law eftablilh’d) in- terrupt the Priefl with Clamors, or fall foul on his Images and Relicks. There are fome, it feems, of our good Brethren, the French Proteftants, lately come among us, who are mightily taken with this Primitive way. They have fet a-foot the Spirit of Martyrdom to a wonder in their own Country ; and they long to be trying it here, if we will give ’em leave, and afford ’em the Occa- fion : that is to fay, if we will only do ’em the favour to hang or imprifon ’em j if we * 1 Cor. ch. xiii. ver. 3. will concerning Enthusiasm. 27 will only be fo obliging as to break their Seel. 3. Bones for ’em, after their Country-fafliion, blow up their Zeal, and ftir a-frefli the Coals of Perfecution. But no fuch Grace can they hitherto obtain of us. So hard- hearted we are, that notwithftanding their own Mob are^^lling to beflow kind Blows upon ’em, and fairly ftone ’em now and then in the open Street ; tho the Priefts of their own Nation wou’d gladly give ’em their defir’d Difeipline, and are earned: to light their probationary Fires for ’em ; we Englijh Men, who are Mailers in our own Country, will not fuifer the Enthu- fiafts to be thus us’d. Nor can we be fup- pos’d to a6l thus in envy to their Phenix-- Sed:, which it feems has rifen out of the Flames, and wou’d willingly grow to be a new Church by the fame manner of Pro- pagation as the old-one, whofe Seed was truly faid to be from the Blood of the Martyrs. But how barbarous ftill, and more than heatheniihly cruel, are we tolerating Englijh Men! For, not contented to deny thefe prophefying Ent^uliafts the Honour of a Perfecution, we have deliver’d ’em over to the cruelleft Contempt in the World. I am told, for certain, that they are at ^ this very time the Subjed of a * Viz. Anno 1707. Cl choice 1 % ^LETTER Seft. 3. choice Droll or Puppet-Show at Barflemy- Fair. There, doubtlefs, their ftrange Voices and involuntary Agitations are admirably well a6led, by the Motion of Wires, and Infpiration of Pipes. For the Bodys of the Prophets, in their State of Prophecy, being not in their own power, but (as they fay themfelves) mere paflive Organs, actuated by an exterior Force, have nothing natural, or refembling real Life, in any of their Sounds or Motions : fo that how aukardly foever a Puppet- Show may imitate other Adlions, it muft needs reprefent this Paffion to the Life. And whilft Bart* lemy-YdJvc is in pofleffion of this Privilege, I dare ftand Security to our National Church, that no Sedt of En- thufiafls, no new Venders of Prophecy or Miracles, fhall ever get the ftart, or put her to the trouble of trying her Strength with 'em, in any Cafe. Happy it was for us, that when Po- pery had got pofleffion, Smithjield was us'd in a more tragical way. Many of our firft Reformers, 'tis fear’d, were little better than Enthu Gafts : and God knows whe- ther a Warmth of this kind did not confi- derably help us in throwing off that fpiri- tual Tyranny. So that had not the Priefts, as is ufual, prefer’d the love of Blood to all other Paffions, they might in a merrier way, perhaps, have evaded the greateft 2 Force concerning Enthusiasm. 29 Force of our reforming Spirit. I never Se^W^ well advis’d in their ill Purpofe of fup- prefling the Chriflian Religion in its firfl Rife, as to make ufe, at any time, of this Barf lemy-Vziv yi^thoA. But this I am per- fuaded of, that had the Truth of the Gof- pel been any way furmountable, they wou’d have bid much fairer for the filen- cing it, if they had chofen to bring our primitive Founders upon the Stage in a pleafanter way than that of Bear-Skins and Pitch-Barrels. The yews were naturally a very ^ clou- dy People, and wou’d endure little Rail- lery in any thing ; much lefs in what be- long’d to any religious Do6lrines or Opi- nions. Religion was look’d upon with a fullen Eye > and Hanging was the only Remedy they cou’d prefcribe for any thing which look’d like fetting up a new Revela- tion. The fovereign Argument was, Cru-- cify^ Crucify. But with all their Malice and Inveteracy to our Saviour, and his Apoftles after him, had they but taken the Fancy to ad: fuch Puppet-Shows in his Contempt, as at this hour the Papiflis are ading in his Honour; I am apt to think * Our Author having been cenfur’d for this and feme fol- lowing Paffages concerning the Jews, the Reader is referred to the Notes and Citations in VOL. HI. p. 53, 4, 5, 6. And, ibid. 115, 116, &c. See alfo belozv, p. 282, 283. C 4 they 30 A LETTER Sed:. 3. they might poffibly have done our Re- t/VNJ ligion more harm, than by all their other ways of Severity. I Believe our great and learned Apo- ftle found ^ lefs Advantage from the eafy Treatment of his Athenian Antagonifts, than from the furly and curft Spirit of the moft perfecuting Jewipo Citys. He made lefs Improvement of the Candor and Ci- vility of his Roman Judges, than of the Zeal of the Synagogue, and Vehemence of his National Priefts. Tho when I con- lider this Apoftle as appearing either be- fore the witty Athenians^ or before a Ro^ man Court of Judicature, in the Prefence of their great Men and Ladys, and fee how handfomly he accommodates himfelf to the Apprehenfions and Temper of thofe politer People : I do not find that he de- clines the way of Wit or good Humour ^ but, without fufpicion of his Caufe, is willing generoufly to commit it to this Proof, and try it againft the Sharpnefs of any Ridicule which might be offer’d. But tho the Jews were never pleas’d to try their Wit or Malice this way againft * What Advantage he made of his Sufferings, and how pa- thetically his Bonds and Stripes were fet to view, and often pleaded by him, to raife his Charader, and advance the Inte- reft of Chriftianity, any one who reads his Epiftles, and is well acc^uainted with his Manner and Style, may eafily obferve. our concerning Enthusiasm. 31 our Saviour or his Apoftles ; the irreligious Sedt. 3. part of the Heathens had try'd it long before againft the beft Dodtrines and beft .Charadlers of Men which had ever arifen amongft ’em. Nor did this prove in the end an Injury, but on the contrary the higheft Advantage to thofe very Charac- ters and Dodtrines, which, having flood the Proof, were found fo folid and juft. The divineft Man who had ever appear’d in the Heathen World, was in the height of witty Times, and by the wittieft of all Poets, moft abominably ridicul’d, in a whole Comedy writ and adled on purpofe. But fo far was this from finking his Re- putation, or fuppreffing his Philofophy, that they each increas’d the more for it; and he apparently grew to be more the Envy of other Teachers. He was not on- ly contented to be ridicul’d ; but, that he might help the Poet as much as poffible, he prefented himfelf openly in the Thea- ter ; that his real Figure (which was no advantageous one) might be compar’d with that which the witty Poet had brought as his Reprefentative on the Stage. Such was his good Humour! Nor cou’d there be in the World a greater Teftimony of the invincible Goodnefs of the Man, or a greater Demonftration, that there was no Impofture either in his Charadler or Opi- nions. For that Impojiure fhou’d dare fuftain the Encounter of a grave Enemy, is no 3z A LETTER Sedt. 4. no wonder. A folemn Attack, flie knows, is not of fuch danger to her. There is nothing {he abhors or dreads like Pleafant- nefs and good Humour, SECT. IV. I N SHORT, my Lord, the melancholy way of treating Religion is that which, according to my apprehenfion, renders it fo tragical, and is the occafion of its add- ing in reality fuch difmal Tragedys in the World. And my Notion is, that provi- ded we treat Religion with good Man- ners, we can never ufe too much good Hu- mour y or examine it with too much Free- dom 2inA Familiarity, For, if it be genuine and fincerc, it will not only {land the Proof, but thrive and gain advantage from hence : if it be fpurious, or mix’d with any Impoilure, it will be detedled and expos'd. The melancholy way in which we have beeii taught Religion, makes us unapt to think of it in good Humour. 'Tis in Adveriity chiefly, or in ill Health, under Afflidlion, or Diflurbance of Mind, or Dif- compofure of Temper, that we have re- courfe to it. Tho in reality we are never fo unfit to think of it as at fuch a heavy and dark hour. We can never be fit to contemplate any thing above us, when we concerning Enthusiasm. I we are in no condition to look into our-Sedl. 4^ felves, and calmly examine the Temper of our own Mind and Paffions. For then it is we fee Wrath, and Fury, and Revenge, and Terrors in the Deity; when we are full of Difturbances and Fears within^ and have, by Sufferance and Anxiety, loft fo much of the natural Calm and Eafinefs of our Temper. W E muft not only be in ordinary good Humour, but in the bell of Humours, and in the fweeteft, kindeft Difpolition of our Lives, to underftand well what true Goodnefs is, and what thofe Attri- butes imply, which we afcribe with fuch Applaufe and Honour to D e i t y. We lhall then be able to fee beft, whether thofe Forms of Juftice, thofe Degrees of Punilhment, that Temper of Refentment, and thofe Meafures of Offence and Indig- nation, which we vulgarly fuppofe in G o d, are futable to thofe original Ideas of Good- nefsy which the fame Divine Being, or Nature under him, has implanted in us, and which we muft neceffarily prefuppofe, in order to give him Praife or Honour in any kind. This, my Lord, is the Secu- rity againft all Superftition : To remem- ber, that there is nothing in God but what is God-like \ and that He is either not at all^ or truly and perfeBly Good, But when we are afraid to ufe our Reafon freely. 34 ^ LETTER Sedt. 4 . freely, even on that very Queftion, Whe- “ ther He really be^ or not f ' we then aftually prefume him bad^ and flatly con- tradidt that pretended Charadler of Good- nefs and Greatnefs \ whilfl; we difcover this Miflruft of his Temper, and fear his Anger and Refentment, in the cafe of this Free- dom of In qui r y. W E have a notable Inflance of this Free^ dom in one of our facred Authors. As patient as Job is faid to be, it cannot be denied that he makes bold enough with God, and takes his Providence roundly to talk. His Friends, indeed, plead hard with him, and ufe all Arguments, right or wrong, to patch up Objedtions, and let the Affairs of Providence upon an equal foot. They make a merit of faying all the Good they can of God, at the very ftretch of their Reafon, and fometimes quite beyond it. But this, in J o b’s opinion, is ^ fattering God, accepting of G o d’s Perfon^ and even mocking him. And no wonder. For, what merit can there be in believing God, or his Providence^ upon frivolous and weak grounds? What Virtue in alfuming an Opinion contrary to the appearance of Things, and revolving to hear nothing which may be faid againft it ? Excellent Charadter of the G od of T7mth ! that he Ihou’d be offended at us, for having refus’d ^ Chap, xiii. vcr, 7, 8, 9, & lo. to concerning E n T h u s i A s m, ^ j to ‘ put the lye upon our UnderftandingSjSeft. 4,’ as much as in us lay ; and be fatisfy’d with (,/VV us for having believ’d at a venture, and againft our Reafon, what might have been the greateft FaKhood in the world, for any thing we cou’d bring as a Proof or Evi- dence to the contrary ! I T is impoffible that any befides an ill- natur’d Man can wifti againft the Being of a G o D : for this is wiftiing againft the Pub- lick, and even againft one’s private Good too, if rightly underftood. But if a Man has not any fuch Ill-will to ftifle his Belief, he muft have furely an unhappy Opinion of G o D, and believe him not fo good by far as he knows Himfelf to be, if he imagines that an impartial Ufe of his Reafon, in any matter of Speculation whatfoever, can make him run any rilk Hereafter ; and that a mean Dental of his Reafon^ and an Affedia-- tion of Belief in any Point too hard for his Underftanding, can intitle him to any 1 Favour in another World. This is being I Sycophants in Religion, mere Paraftes of , Devotion. ’Tis ufing G o D as the crafty ^ Beggars ufe thofe they addrefs to, when I they are ignorant of their Quality. The I Novices amongft ’em may innocently come ( out, perhaps, with a Good Sir, or a Good \ Forfooth ! But with the old Stagers, no I matter whom they meet in a Coach, ’tis i VOL, HI. p. 125,6,7,8. < always ^6 A LETTER Seft. 4. always Good your Honour ! or Good your Lordfhip / or your LadyP^ip ! For if there fliou’d be really a Lord in the cafe, we fhou*d be undone (fay they) for want of giving the Title ; but if the Party ftiou’d be no Lord^ there wou’d be no Offence ; it wou’d not be ill taken. And thus it k in Religion. We are highly concern’d how to beg rightly and think all depends upon hitting the T’itky and making a good Guefs, ’Tis the moft beggarly Refuge imaginable, which is fo mightily cry’d up, and {lands as a great Maxim with many able Men ; “ That they {hou’d ilrive to have Faiths and believe to the utmoft : becaufe if, after all, there ‘‘ be nothing in the matter, there will be no harm in being thus deceiv’d; but if there be any thing, it will be fatal for them not to have believ’d to the full.” But they are fo far miflaken, that whilfl they have this Thought, ’tis certain they can never believe either to their Satisfac- tion and Happinefs in this World, or with any advantage of Recommendation to another. For befides that our Reafon, which knows the Cheat, will never reft thorowly fatisfy’d on fuch a Bottom, but turn us often a-drift, and tofs us in a Sea of Doubt and Perplexity ; we cannot but actually grow worfe in our Religion, and entertain a ^mrje Opinion ftill of a Supreme Deity, ' concerning Enthusiasm. 57 i Deity, whilft our Belief is founded on Sedt. 4* ! fo injurious a Thought of him, T o love the Publick, to ftudy univer- fal Good, and to promote the Interell of the whole World, as far as lies within our power, is furely the Height of Goodneft, and makes that Temper which we call Divine, In this Temper, my Lord, (for furely you jhou’d know it well) 'tis natu- ral for us to wilh that others Ihou’d par- take with us, by being convinc'd of the Sincerity of our Example. 'Tis natural for us to wifli our Merit fhou’d be known ; particularly, if it be our fortune to have ierv'd a Nation as a good Minifter ; or as fome Prince, or Father of a Country, to have render'd happy a confiderable Part of Mankind under our Care. But if it hap- pen'd, that of this number there fliou'd be fome fo ignorantly bred, and of fo re- ! mote a Province, as to have lain out of : the hearing of our Name and Aftions ; or 1 hearing of 'em, ftiou'd be fo puzzl'd with I odd and contrary Storys told up and down : concerning us, that they knew not what i to think, whether there were really in the ' World any fuch Perfon as our-felf : Shou'd 1 we not, in good truth, be ridiculous to I take offence at this ? And fhou'd we not ; pafs i for extravagantly morofe and- ill- ; humour'd, if inftead of treating the' mat- : ter in Raillery^ we fhou'd think in earneft jS A LETTER Seft, 5.of revenging our-f elves on the offending Partys, who, out of their ruftick Igno- rance, ill Judgment, or Incredulity, had detracted from our Renown ? How fhall we fay then ? Does it really deferve Praife, to be thus concern’d about it ? Is the doing Good for Glory\ fake, fo divine a thing ? or. Is it not diviner, to do Good even where it may be thought inglo- rious, even to the Ingrateful, and to thofe who are wholly infenfible of the Good they receive ? How comes it then, that what is fo divine in us, fhou’d lofe its Cha- rafter in the Divine Being ? And that ac- cording as the De i t y is represented to us, he Ihou’d more refemble the weak, * wo- manilh, and impotent part of our Nature, than the generous, manly, and divine ? SECT- V. O N E wou’d think, my Lord, it were in reality no hard thing to know our own Weakneffes at firfl. fight, and diftinguifh the Features of human Frailty, with which we are fo well acquainted. One wou’d think it were eafy to under- ftand, that Provocation and Offence, An- ger, Revenge, Jealoufy in point of Ho- nour or Power, Love of Fame, Glory, and the like, belong only to limited Be- * Infra, p- 331 - And VOL. III. 306. ings. concerning Enthusiasm. Ings, and are neceflarily excluded a Being Sedl. which is perfetft and univerfal. But if we have never fettled with our-fe!ves any Notion of what is morally excellent ; or if we cannot truft to that Reafon which • tells us, that nothing befide what is fo^ can have place in the Deity; we can nei- ther truft to any thing which others relate of him, or which he himfelf reveals to us. We muft be fatisfy’d before-hand, that he is goody and cannot deceive us. Without this, there can be no real religious Faith, or Confidence. Now, if there be really fomething previous to Revelation, fome antecedent Demonftration of Reafon, to afiure us that God isy and withal, that he is fo good as not to deceive us ; the fame Reafon, if we will truft to it, will demonftrate to us, that God is fo good as to exceed the very beft of us in Good- nefs. xA.nd after this manner we can have no Dread or Sufpicion to render us uneafy ; for it. is Malice only, and not Goodnefsy which can make us afraid. I There is an odd way of reafoning, but in certain Diftempers of Mind very fovereign to thofe who can apply it ; and it is this : “ There can be no Malice “ but where Interefts are oppos’d. A “ univerfal Being can have no Intereft oppofite ; and therefore can have no Malice.” If there be d gejieral Mindy Vol. I, D ft 40 Sed:. c A LETTER it can have no particular Interefl: : But the general Good, or Good of the Whole, and its own private Good, muft of ne- ceflity be one and the fame. It can in- tend nothing befides, nor aim at any thing beyond, nor be provok’d to any thing contrary. So that tve have only to confider, whether there be really fuch a thing as a Mind which has relation to the Whole ^ or not. For if unhappily there be no Mhid^ we may comfort our felves, howxver, that Nature has no Malice : If there be really Mind, we may reft fatisfy’d, that it is the bejl-natur^ d one in the World, The laft Cafe, one wou’d ima- gine, fhou’d be the moft comfortable ; and the Notion of a common Parent lefs frightful than that of forlorn Nature^ and a father lefs World. Tho, as Religion Hands amongft us, there are many good People who wou’d have lefs Fear in being thus expos’d ; and wou’d be eafier, per- haps, in their Minds, if they were affur’d they had only mere Chance to truft to. For no body trembles to think there fhou’d be no God ; but rather that there JhoiPd be one. This however wou’d be other* W'ife, If Deity were thought as kindly of as Humanity \ and we cou’d be per- fuaded to believe, that if there really was ^ G o D, the higheft Goodnefs muft of neceffity belong to him, without any of thofe V mncevning Enthusiasm. 41 thofe ^ Defefts of Paffion, thofe Mean-Seit. 5. neffes and Imperfedlions which we ac- knowledg fuch in our-felves, which as good Men we endeavour all we can to be fu- perior to, and which we find we every day conquer as we grow better. Methinks, my Lord, it wou’d be well for us, if before •f' we afcended into the higher Regions of Divinity^ we wou’d vouchfafe to defcend a little into our-- feheSy and beftow fome poor Thoughts upon plain honeft Morals, When we had once look’d into our-felves, and diftin- guilh’d well the nature of our own Af- fedions, we (hou’d probably be fitter Judges of the Divinenefs of a Charader, and difcern better what Affedions were futable or unfutable to a perfect Being. We might then underftand how to love and praife^ when we had acquir’d fome •oonfiftent Notion of what was laudable or lovely, Otherwife we might chance to do God little Honouf, when we intended him the moft. For ’tis hard to imagine what Honour can arlfe to the Deity For my own part, fays honeft Plutarch, I had ra- ther Men fhou’d fay of me, “ That there neither is, nor ever “ was fuch a one as Plutarch than they ftiould fay. There was a Plutarch, an unfteddy, changeable, ea- ** fily provokable, and revengeful Man ; rtC’e- ofJijj', fxiKso^v^zs'Q', Plutarch, de Superftitione. See VOL. lil. p. 127. f Vol. Ill, p. 37. and 202, 203. in the Notes. D 2 from 4z A LETTER Sedt. 5. from the Praifes of Creatures, who are unable to difcern what is praife-moorthy or excellent in their own kind. If a Mufician were cry’d up to the Skies by a certain Set of People who had no Ear in Mufick, he wou’d furely be put to the blufh ; and cou'd hardly, with a good Countenance, accept the Benevo- lence of his Auditors, till they had ac- quir’d a more competent Apprehenfion of him, and cou’d by their own Senfes find out fomething really good in his Perfor- mance. Till this were brought about, there wou’d be little Glory in the cafe ; and the Mufician, tho ever fo vain, wou’d have little reafon to be contented. They who affedt Praife the moft, had rather not be taken notice of, than be im- pertinently applauded. I know not how it comes about, that H e who is ever faid to do Good the moft difintereftedly, fhou’d be thought defirous of being prais’d fo lavilhly, and be fuppos’d to fet fo high a Rate upon fo cheap and low a Thing, as ignorant Commendation and forced flauje. ’T I s not the fame with Goodnefs as with other Qualitys, which we may un- derftand very well, and yet not poflefs. We may have an excellent Ear in Mufick^ with'** concerning Enthusiasm. 4^ without being able to perform in anySeft. 6. kind. We may judg well of Poetry, wich-<^/^VNJ out being Poets, or poffeffing the leaft of a Poetick Vein : But we can have no to- lerable. Notion of Goodnefs, without being tolerably good. So that if the Praife of a Divine Being be fo great a part of his Wor- fhip, we (hou’d, methinks, learn Goodnefs, were it for nothing elfe than that we might learn, in fome tolerable manner, how to praife. For the praife of Goodnefs from an unfound hollow Heart, muft certainly make the greatefl DilTonance in the world. SECT. VI. _ • O THER Reafons, my Lord, there are, why this plain home-fpun Phi- lofophy, of looking into our-felves, may do us wondrous fervice, in rectifying our Errors in Religion. For there is a fort of Enthufiafm of fecond hand. And when Men find no original Commotions in them- felves, no prepofleffing Panick which be- witches 'em ; they are apt ftill, by the Teftimony of others, to be impos'd on, and led creduloufly into the Belief of ma- ny falfe Miracles. And this Habit may I make 'em variable, and of a very incon- I ftant Faith, eafy to be carry'd away with I every Wind of DoCtrine, and addicted to every upftart SeCt or Superftition. But the 8 knowledg of our Pafiions in their very D 3 Seeds, 44 ^ LETTER Sed:. 6. Seeds, the meafuring well the Growth and Progrefs of Enthufiafm, and the judging rightly of its natural Force, and what command it has over our very ^ Senfes, may teach us to oppofe more fuccefsfully thofe Delufions which come arm’d with the fpecious Pretext of moral Certainty, and Matter of Fa^, The new prophefying Sed, I made mention of above, pretend, it feems, a- mong many other Miracles, to have had a moft fignal one, aded premeditately, and with warning, before many hundreds of People, who adually give Teftimony to the Truth of it. But I wou’d only alk. Whether there were prefent, among thofe hundreds, any one Perfon, who having never been of their SeB^ ^or addided to their Way, will give the fame Teftimony with them ? I muft not be contented to aik. Whether fuch a one had been wholly free of that particular Enthufiafm ? but, Whether, before that time, he was efteem’d of fo found a Judgment, and clear a Head, as to be wholly free of Melancholy y and in all likelihood incapable of all Enthu- fiafm befides? For otherwife, the Pa?2ick may have been caught ; the Evidence of the Senfes loft, as in a Dream 5 and the Imagination fo inflam’d, as in a moment to f VOL, III. f . 39, 40. k 66, 67, 68, have concerning Enthusiasm. 45 have burnt up every Particle of Judgment Sedt. 6, and Reafon, The combuftible Matters lie prepar’d within, and ready to take fire at a Spark ; but chiefly in a * Multitude feiz’d with the fame Spirit. No wonder if the Blaze rifes fo of a fudden ; when innume- rable Eyes glow with the Paflion, and heaving Breafts are labouring with Infpira- tion : when not the Afpedl only, but the very Breath and Exhalations of Men are infedlious, and the infpiring Difeafe im- parts it-felf by infenfible Tranfpiration. I am not a Divine good enough to refolve what Spirit that was which prov’d fo catching among the antient Prophets, that even the profane 4* S a u l was taken by it. But I learn from Holy Scripture, that there was the “f* ^"^iK well as the good Spirit of Prophecy. And I find by prefent Ex- perience, as well as by all Hiflorys, Sacred and Profane, that the Operation of this Spirit is every where the fame, as to the bodily Organs. A Gentleman who has writ lately in defence of reviv'd Prophecy, and has fince fallen himfelf into tW prophet ick Ex- tafySy tells us, “ That the antient Prophets had the Spirit of God upon them tm- der Extajpy with divers ftrange Geflures * VOL. III. p. 66. in the Notes, f See I Kings ch. xxii. ver. 20, ^V. 2 Chron. ch.xviii. ver. 19, And VOL. III. p. 116, 317. D 4 “ of 4 « Sedt. 6. {✓VNJ A LETTER of Body denominating them Madmen, (or Enthufiafts) as appears evidently, fays he^ in the Inftances of Balaam, Saul, David, Ezekiel, Daniel, And he proceeds to juftify this by the Practice of the Apoftolick Times, and by the Regulation which the ^ Apoftle himfelf applies to thefe feemingly irregu- lar Gifts^ fo frequent and ordinary (as our Author pretends) in the primitive Church, on the firft rife and fpreading of Chriftianity^ But I leave it to him to make the Refem- blance as well as he can between his own and the Apoftolick way. I only know, that the Symptoms he defcribes, and which himfelf (poor Gentleman !) labours under, are as Heathenifo as he can poffibly pre- tend them to be Cbrifiian, And when I faw him lately under an Agitation (as they call it) uttering Prophecy in a pompous Latin Style, of which, out of his Extafy, it feems, he is wholly incapable ; it brought into my mind the Latin Poet’s Defcription of the Sibyl, whofe Agonys were fo per- fedtly like thefe. non miltus^ non color units ^ Non comptce nianfere comae \ fed pedlus an-- helum^ Lt rabie fera cor da tument ; majorque vL deri ^ I Car. di. f Virg. /it. 6. Nec concerning Enthusiasm. 47 ISlec rnortale fonans : afflata ejl NumineSt&i, 6. quayido ^am propiore Dei And again prefently after: Immanis in antro Bacchatur Vates^ magnum fi peEiore pqffit ExcnUilfe Deum : tanto magis Ille fatigat Os rabidum^ fera cor da domans^ F i n g i t- QUE Premendo. Which is the very Style of our experienced Author. For the lurpir’d {fays he) un- dergo a Probation, wherein the Spirit, by frequent Agitations, forms the Organs^ ordinarily for a Month or two before Utterance^* The Rmnan Hiftorian, fpeaking of a moft horrible Enthufiafm which broke out in Rome long before his days, defcribes this Spirit of Prophecy ; Viros n^elut mente captdy cum jaBatione fanaticd corporis va- ticinari, Liv. 39. The deteftable things which are further related of thefe Enthu- fiafts, I wou’d not willingly tranfcribe : but the Senate^s mild Decree in fo execrable a Cafe, I can’t omit copying ; being fatisfy’d, that tho your Lordfhip has read it before now, you can read it again and again with admiration ; In reliquum demde (fays Livy) Sc C, cautum cf^ &c. Si quis tale facrum folenne 48 A LETTER Seft. 6,folenne & necejfarium duceret^ me fine Re^ Itgtone Gf Piaculo fe id emitter e pojfe ; apud Praetor em Urbaniim profiteretur : Preetor Senatum confuleret. Si ei permijfum ejfety cum in Senatu centum non minus ejjenty it a id facrum faceret ; dum ne plus quinque facrificio interejfenty neu qua pecunia commu^ nisy neu quis Magijler facrorumy aut Sacer-^ dos ejjet. So necelTary it is to give way to this Dlftemper of Enthufafmy that even that Philofopher who bent the whole Force of his Philofophy againft Superftition, appears to have left room for vifionary Fancy, and to have indireitly tolerated Enthufiafm. For it is hard to imagine, that one who had fo little religious Faith as Epicurus, fhou'd have fo vulgar a Credulity, as to believe thofe accounts of Armys and Caftles in the Air, and fuch vifionary Phenomena. Yet he allows them; and then thinks to folve 'em by his Effluviay and Aerial Look- ing-glailes, and I know not what other fluff : which his Latin Poet, however, fets off beautifully, as he dees all. Rerum Simulacra vagari Multay 7?2odis multisy in cunBas undiqtue parteis L^enuidy qu(B facile inter fe jungWtuv in auriSy 5 Lucret. Uh, 4c Obvia conc6Yntng Enthusiasm. Obvia cum veniunt^ ut aranea hra^eaque^tO:. 6. aiiri Centauros itaque^ & Scyllanm Membra vide-- muSy Cerbereafque caniim faciesy Jimulacraque eorum ^orum morte obit a telliis ample dlitur off a : Omne genus quoniam pajjim Jimulacra je- runtuTy Partim fponte fud quae jiunt aere in ipfo ^ Partim qua variis ab rebus cumq, recedunt. ’Twas a fign this Philofopher bdlev’d there was a good Stock of Vifiojiary Spirit originally in Human Nature. He was fo fatisfy'd that Men were inclin'd to fee Vifions, that rather than they fhou’d go without, he chofe to make 'em to their hand. Notwithftanding he deny'd the Principles of Religion to be ^ naturaly he was forcM tacitly to allow there was a wondrous Difpofition in Mankind to- wards fupernatural Objedls ; and that if thefe Ideas were vain, they were yet in a manner innate , or fuch as Men were really born to, and cou'd hardly by any means avoid. From which Conceffion, a Divine, methinks, might raife a good Argument againfi: him, for the P’ruth as well as the VJefulnefs of Religion. But fo it is ; '* Infra, pag. 117. whetlier 50 A LETTER Sedl. 6. whether the Matter of Apparition be true or falfe, the Symptoms are the fame, and the Paffion of equal force in the Perfon who is Vifion-ftruck. The Lymphatici of , the Latins were the Nympholepti of the Greeks, They were Perfons faid to have leen fome Species of Divinity, as either fome rural Deity ^ or Nymph ; which threw them into fuch Tranfports as overcame their Reafon. The Extafys exprefs'd them- felves outwardly in Q^akings, Tremblings, Toffings of the Head and Limbs, Agita-^ tio72Sy and (as Livy calls them) Fanatt- cal Lhrows or Convulfions, extemporary Prayer, Prophecy, Singing, and the like. All Nations have their Lymphaticks of fome kind or another y and all Churches, Hea- then as well as Chriftian, have had their Complaints againft Fanaticifm, One wou’d think the Antients ima- gin'd this Difeafe had fome relation to that which they call'd Hydrophoby, Whe- ther the antient Lymphaticks had any way like that of biting, to communicate the Rage of their Diftemper, I can't fo pofi- tively determine. But certain Fanaticks there have been fince the time of the An- tients, who have had a mod: profperous Faculty of communicating the Appetite of the Teeth. For fince firft the fnappifli Spirit got up in Religion, all Sedls have been at it, as the faying is, Foeth a?id Naihy I and concerning Enthusiasm. 51 and are never better pleas’d, than in wor-Seft. 6. tying one another without mercy. S o far indeed the innocent kind of Fanaticifm extends it-felf, that when the Party is ftruck by the Apparition, there follows always an Itch of imparting it, and kindling the fame Fire in other Breafts. For thus Poets are Fanaticks too. And thus Horace either is, or feigns himfelf Lymphaticky and fhews what an EfFeft the Vifion of the Nymphs and Bacchus had on him. ^ Bacchum in remotis carmina rupibus Vidi docentem^ credite pojieriy NTMPHASque difcentes PiVce ! recenti mens trepidaf metUy Plenoque Bacchi pediore turbidum f LYMPUATlVR as Heinjius reads. No Poet (as I ventur’d to fay at firfl: to your Lordfliip) can do any thing great in his own way, without the Imagination or Suppofition of a Divine PrefencCy which may raife him to fome degree of this Paf- fion we are fpeaking of. Even the cold * Od. 19. lib. 2. •f* So again. Sat. 5. fver. 97. Gnatia Lymphis Iratls ex^ pruQa: where Horace wittily treats the People of Gnatia as Lymphaticks and Enthufiafts, for believing a Miracle of their Priefts : Credat Judaus Apella. Hor. ihid. See Hein s lu s and Torrentius ; and the Quotation in the following Notes, Clio twk &c. Lucre- p A LETTER Se6l. 7. Lucretius ^ makes ufe of Infplratlon^ when he writes againft it ; and is forc’d to raife an Apparition of Nature^ in a Di- vine Form, to animate and condudt him in his very Work of degrading Nature, and defpoiling her of all her feeming Wifdom and Divinity. 'j- ^Ima Venus, cceli fubter labentia Jlgna mare navigerumy qua terras frugi^ ferenteis Concelebras {naSy Slua quoniam rerum naturam fola guber- Nec fine te quidquam dias in luminis oras Exaritury neque fit latum neque amabile quidquam : Te fociam fiudeo fcribundis verfibus effcy ^os Ego de rerum naturd pangere Conor Memmiad^e nofiro. SECT VII. T H E only thing, my Lord, I wou’d infer from all this, is, that Enthu- siasm is wonderfully powerful and ex- tenfive 5 that it is a matter of nice Judg- ment, and the hardeft thing in the world to know fully and diftindlly ; fince even J Atheifm is not exempt from it. For, as fome have well remark’d, there have been Enthufiajlical Atheifis, Nor can Divine In- • VOL. III. p. 32. -J- Lucret. lib. j. VOL.m. /.63,64. fpiration, concerning Enthusiasm. 55 fpiration, by its outward Marks, be eafilySedl. 7. diftinguifli'd from it. For Infpiration isO^VNj a real feeling of the Divine Prefence, and Enthufiafm a falfe one. But the Paffion they raife is much alike. For when the Mind is taken up in Vifion, and fixes its view either on any real Objedt, or mere Spefter of Divinity ; when it fees, or thinks it fees any thing prodigious, and more than human 5 its Horror, Delight, Confufion, Fear, Admiration, or what- ever Paffion belongs to it, or is uppermoft on this occafion, will have fomething vaft, immaney and (as Painters fay) beyond Life. And this is what gave occafion to the name oi Fanaticifmy as it was us’d by the An- tients in its original Senfe, for an Appa^ rition tranfporting the Mind. Something there will be of Extra- vagance and Fury, when the Ideas or Ima- ges receiv’d are too big for the narrow human Veflel to contain. So that Infpi- ration may be juftly call’d Divine En- thusiasm: For the Word it-felf fignifies Divine Prefencey and was made ufe of by the Philofopher whom the earlieft Chriftian Fathers call’d Divine y to exprefs whatever was fublime in human Paffions This was oieS-’ 077 vzjro ruv^v^(pav \k >7F£^V6ldLi TqJcIVTU. fXiV (Tot ^ £77 TTMIU Metvictf fitTo KifeiV ipyi. See. Phsedr. Kou 'aro^tj/K^f T^my (peu^iv ecK ©sfsj re Svoli ^ Meno. 54 A LETTER Sed. 7. was the Spirit he allotted to HeroeSy Sfatef- corv/ meriy PoetSy OratorSy MuficianSy and even Philofophers themfelves. Nor can we, of our own accord, forbear afcribing to a * no- ble Enthusiasm, whatever is greatly perform’d by any of Thefe. So that al- moft all of us know fomething of this Principle. But to know it as we fhou’d do, and difcern it in its feveral kinds, both in our-felves, and others ; this is the great Work, and by this means alone we can hope to avoid Delufion. For fo judg the Spirits whether they are of Gody we muft antecedently judg our own Spirit ; whether it be of Reafon and found Senfe-y whether it be fit to judg at all, by being fedate, cool, and impartial ; free of every bialfing Paffion, every giddy Vapor, or melancholy Fume. This is the firfl; Knowledg and previous Judgment : To underftand our-^ feheSy and know what Spirit we are ofy Afterwards we may judg the Spirit m others, confider what their perfonal Merit is, and hyvwv HI' cLV Zj TGOV ov ohiya raw on » avitidt. CtKhcL (pvjei nvt &>(T 7 re^ ct Apol. In particular as to Philofophers, Plutarch tells us, ’twas the Complaint of fome of the four old Ro?nans, when Learning frit came to them from Greece, that their Youth Enthujiafick with Philofophy. P'or fpeaking of one of the Philofophers of the Athe7iia7i Embaify, he fays, ^’Epuja, J^eivh ki^-CiCniKi lioii » ’Tcav nJhvav JictjeiCup iKTrlovyjii 'EvQdcnuai (pihc. 37 - prove concerning Enthusiasm. prove the Validity of their Teftimony bySeft, 7« the Solidity of their Brain. By this means we may prepare our-felves with fome An^ tidote againft Enthufiafm. And this is what I have dat'd affirm is beft perform'd by keeping to Good Humour. For otherwife the Remedy it-felf may turn to the Difeafe. And now, my Lord, having, after all, in fome meafure juftify'd Enthusiasm, and own’d the Word y if I appear extrava- gant, in addreffing to you after the manner I have done, you muft allow me to plead an Impulfe. You muft fuppofe me (as with truth you may) moft paffionately your’s ; and with that Kindnefs which is natural to you on other occafions, you muft tolerate your Enthujiajtick Friendy who, excepting only in the cafe of this over-forward Zeal^ muft ever appear, with the higheft Refpeft, My Lord, Tour LordJhifSy &c. Vol. i . E Tr E A- Treatise II. VIZ. Senfus Communis: A N ESSAY ON THE FREEDOM O F ^F/Tand HUMOUR. In a LETTER to a Friend. — -Hac urget Lupus, hdc Cams — Hor. Sat. 2. Lib. 2. Printed firft in the Year M.DCC.IX. £ 2 A N E S S A Y, part I . ' ' ' ' " ' SECT. I. I HAVE been confidering (my Friend!) what your Fancy was, to exprefs fuch a furprize as you did the other day, when I happen'd to fpeak to you in commendation of Raillery. Was it poffible you fhou’d fuppofe me fo grave a Man, as to diflike all Converfation of Vol. I. [E] 6o ^dn ESSAY on the Freedom Part’i|/tWs kind? Or were you afraid I fhoud not ftand the trial, if you put me to it, by making the experiment in my .own Cafe } 1 M u s T confefs, you had reafon enough for your Caution ; if you cou'd imagine me at the bottom fo true a Zealot^ as not to bear the lead; Raillery on my own Opinions. ’Tis the Cafe, I know, with many. Whatever they think grave or fo- lemn, they fuppofe muft never be treated out of a grave and folemn way : Tho what Another thinks fo, they can be con- tented to treat other wife; and are forward to try the Edge of Ridicule againft any Opinions belides their own. The Quefllon is. Whether this be fair or no ? and, Whether it be not juft and reafonable, to make as free with our ow?i Opinions, as with thofe of other People? For to be fparing in this cafe, may be look’d upon as a piece of Selfilhnefs. We may be charg’d perhaps with wilful Igno- rance and blind Idolatry, for having taken Opinions upon Truft, and confecrated in our-felves certain 7^3^^?/-Notions, which we will never fuffer to be unveil’d, or feen in open light. They may perhaps be Monfters, and not Divinitys, or Sacred Truths, which are kept thus choicely, in fome dark Corner of our Minds : The Speders may impofe on us, whilft we re- fufe Wit and Humour, 6 1 fufe to turn ’em every way, and view their Sed:. i. Shapes and Complexions ' in- every light, For that which can be (hewn only in a cer^ tain Light, ^ is queftionable. Truth, ’tis fuppos’ci, may bear all Lights : and one of thofe principal Lights or natural Mediums, by which Things are to be view’d, in or- der to a thorow Recognition, is Ridicule it-felf, or that Manner of Proof by which we difcern whatever is liable to juft Rail- lery in any Subjed. So much, at leaft, is allow’d by All, who at any time appeal to this Criterion, The graved: Gentlemen, even in the graved; Subjeds, are fuppos’d to acknowledg this : and can have no Right, ’tis thought, to deny others the Freedom of this Appeal \ whilft they are free to cenfure like other Men, and in their graved: Arguments make no fcruple to alk, h it not Ridiculous ? d O F this Affair, therefore, I dedgn you fliou’d know fully what my Sentiments are. And by this means you will be able to judg of me ; whether I was dncere the other day in the Defence of Raillery^ and can continue ftill to plead for thofe inge- nious Friends of ours, who are often cen- fur’d for their Humour of this kind, and for the Freedom they take in fuch an airy way of Converfation and Writing. An ESSAY on the Freedom 6i Part T, SECT. IL I N GOOD earneft, when one confiders whac life is fornetimes made of this Species of Wit, and to what an excefs it has rifen of late, in fome Charafters of the Age j one may be ftartled a little, and in doubt, what to think of the Praftice, or whither this rallying Humour will at length carry us. It has pafs’d from the Men of Pleafure to the Men of Bulinefs. Politi- cians have been infedted with it : and the grave Affairs of State have been treated with an Air of Irony and Banter. The ableft Negotiators have been known the notableft Buffoons : the moll celebrated Au- thors, the greateil Mailers of Burlefque. There is Indeed a kind of defenffje Raillery (if I may fo call it) which I am willing enough to allow in Affairs of what- ever kind ; when the Spirit of Curiolity wou'd force a Dlfcovery of more Truth than can conveniently be told. For we can never do more Injury to Truth, than by difcovering too much of it, on fome occafions. ’Tis the fame with Under- Handings as with Eyes : To fuch a cer- tain Size and Make jull fo much Light is neceffary, and no more. Whatever is be- yond, brings Darknefs and Confufion. ’Tis of Wit and Humour <5 5 Seft. 2. 'Tis real Humanity and Kindnefs, toL/VNJ hide ftrong Truths from tender Eyes. And to do this by a pleafant Amufement, is eafier and civiller, than by a harfh De- nial, or remarkable Referve. But to go about induftrioully to confound Men, in a myfterious manner, and to make ad- vantage or draw pleafure from that Per- plexity they are thrown into, by fuch un- I certain Talk; is as unhandfom in a way of Raillery, as when done with the great- eft Serioufnefs, or in the moft folemn way of Deceit. It may be neceflary, as well now as heretofore, for wife Men to fpeak in ParableSy and with a double Meaning, that the Enemy may be amus'd, and they only who have Ears to hear^ may hear^ But 'tis certainly a mean, impotent, and dull fort of Wit, which amufes all alike, and leaves the moft fenfible Man, and even a Friend, equally in doubt, and at a lofs to underftand what one's real Mind is, up- on any Subjeft. This, Is that grofs fort of 'Raillery^ which is fo offenfive in good Company. And indeed there is as much difference between one fort and another, as between Fair-dealing and Hypocrify ; or between the genteeleft Wit, and the moft fcurrilous Buffoonery. But by Freedom of Conver- fation this illiberal kind of Wit will lofc E 3 its 64 Essay on the Freedom Part I. its Credit. For Wit is its own Remedy. Liberty and Commerce bring it to its true Standard. The only danger is, the laying an Embargo. The fame thing happens here, as in the Cafe of l^rade. Impofitions and Reftriaions reduce it to a low Ebb : Nothing is fo advantageous to it as a Free-Port. W E have feen in our own time the Decline and Ruin of a falfe fort of Wit, which fo much delighted our Anceftors, that their Poems and Plays, as well as Sermons, were full of it. All Humour had fomething of the ^ibhle. The very Language of the Court was Punning, But ’tis now baniOi’d the Town, and all good Company There are only fome few Footfteps of it in the Country ; and it feems at laft confin’d to the Nurferys of Youth, as the chief Entertainment of Pe- dants and their Pupils, And thus in o- ther refpedls Wit will mend upon our hands, and Humour wfill refine it-felf 3 if / we take care not to tamper with it, and bring it under Conftraint, by fevere Ufage and rigorous Prefcriptions. All Politenefs is owing to Liberty. We polifli one ano- ther, and rub off our Corners and rough Sides by a fort of amicable Collifion, To reftrain this, is inevitably to bring a Ruft upon Mens Underftandings. ’Tis a de- ftroying of Civility, Good Breeding, and even of Wit and Humour. 6^ even Charity it-felf, under pretence of main-Sedl, 3. raining it. SECT. III. T O deferibe true Raillery wou’d be as hard a matter, and perhaps as little to the purpofe, as to define Good Breeding. None can underftand the Speculation, bc- fides thofe who have the Pradtice. Yet every-one thinks himfelf well-bred: and the formalleft Pedant imagines he can railly with a good Grace and Humour. I have known fome of thofe grave Gentlemen undertake to corredl an Author for de- fending the Ufe of Raillery, who at the fame time have upon every turn made ufe of that Weapon, tho they were naturally fo very aukard at it. And this I believe may be obferv’d in the Cafe of many Zea- lots, who have taken upon ’em to anfwer our modern Free- Writers. The Tragical Gentlemen, with the grim Afpedt and Mein of true Inquijitors^ have but an ill Grace when they vouchfafe to quit their Aufterity, and be jocofe and pleafant with an Adverfary, whom they wou’d chufe to treat in a very different manner. For to do ’em Juftice, had they their Wills, I doubt not but their Condudt and Mein wou’d be pretty much of a-piece; They wou’d, in all probability, foon quit their Farce, and make a thorow Tragedy. But E 4 at 66 An Es SAY on the Fveedom Part I. at prefent there is nothing fo ridiculous as this JANUS-Face of Writers, who with one Countenance, force a Smile, and with another (how nothing befide Rage and Fu- ry. Having enter'd the Lifts, and agreed to the fair Laws of Combat by Wit and Ar- gument, they have no fooner prov’d their Weapon, than you hear ’em crying aloud for help, and delivering over to the Secu- lar Arm. There can’t be a more prepofterous Sight than an Executioner and a Merry-- Andrew ading their Part upon the fame Stage. Yet I am perfuaded ariy-one will find this to be the real Pidure of certain modern Zealots in their Controverfial Wri- tings. They are no more Mafters of Gra- vity, than they are of Good Humour. The firft always runs into harfti Severity, and the latter into an aukard Buffoonery. And thus between Anger and Pleafure, Zeal and Drollery, their Writing has much fuch a Grace as the Play of humourfom Children, who, at the fame inftant, are both peevifh and wanton, and can laugh and cry almoft in one and the fame breath. How agreeable fuch Writings are like to prove, and of what effed towards the winning over or convincing thofe who are fuppos’d to be in Error, I need not go gbQut to explain. Nor can I wonder, on of Wit and Humour. 6/ this account, to hear thofe publick La-Sedl. 3. mentations of Zealots, that whilft the^^^VNJ Books of their Adverfarys are fo current, their Anfwers to ’em can hardly make their way into the World, or be taken the leaf!: notice of. Pedantry and Bigotry are Mill-ftones able to fink the beft Book, which carries the leaft part of their dead weight. The Temper of the Pedagogue futes not with the Age. And the World, however it may be taught^ will not be tu- tor d, If a Philofopher fpeaks. Men hear him willingly, while he keeps to his Phi- lofophy. So is a Chrillian heard, while he keeps to his profefs’d Charity and Meeknefs. In a Gentleman we allow of Pleafantry and Raillery, as being manag’d always with good Breeding, and never grofs or clownifh. But if a mere Scho- laftick, intrenching upon all thefe Cha- rafters, and writing as it were by Starts and Rebounds from one of thefe to ano- ther, appears upon the whole as little able to keep the Temper of Chrillianity, as to ufe the Reafon of a Philofopher, or the Raillery of a Man of Breeding 5 what wonder is it, if the monftrous Produil of fuch a jumbled Brain be ridiculous to the World ? I F you think (my Friend !) that by this Defeription I have done wrong to thefe Zealot-Wr iters in reli2;ious Contro- verlv \ 68 An Essay on the Fveedom Part i.verfy; read only a few Pages in any one t/VV of ’em, (even where the Conteft is not Abroady but within their own Pale) and then pronounce. SECT. IV. ^ B U T upw that I have faid thus much concerning Authors and Writings, you fhall hear my Thoughts, as you have defir’d, upon the Subject of Converfatioriy and particularly a late One of a free kind, which you remember I was prefent at, with fome Friends of yours, whom you fanfy’d I Ihou’d in great Gravity have condemn’d. ’T w A s, I mull own, a very diverting one, and perhaps not the lefs fo, for end- ing as abruptly as it did, and in fuch a fort of Confulion, as almofh brought to nothing whatever had been advanc’d in the Difcourfe before. Some Particulars of this Converfation may not perhaps be fo proper to commit to Paper. ’Tis enough that I put you in mind of the Conver- fation in general. A great many fine Schemes, ’tis true, were dellroy’d ; many grave Reafonings overturn’d : but this be- ing done without olfence to the Partys concern’d, and with improvement to the good Humour of the Company, it fet the Appetite the keener to fuch Converfations. And of Wit a7td Humour. 6^ And I am perfuaded, that had Reafon her-Se(5t. 4 . felf been to judg of her own Intereft, fhe wou’d have thought fhe receiv'd more ad- vantage in the main from that eafy and fa- miliar way, than from the ufual ftiff Adhe- rence to a particular Opinion. But perhaps you may ftill be in the fame humour of not believing me in ear- ned. You may continue to tell me, I affed: to be paradoxical, in commending a Converfation as advantageous to Reafon, which ended in fuch a total Uncertainty of what Reafon had feemingly fo well eftablifh'd. T o this I anfwer. That according to the Notion I have of Reafon^ neither the written Treatifes of the Learned, nor the fet Difcourfes of the Eloquent, are able of themfelves to teach the ufe of it. 'Tis the Habit alone of Reafoning, which can make a Reafo72er, And Men can never be better invited to the Habit, than when they find Plea fu re in it. A Freedom of Raillery, a Liberty in decent Language to queftion every thing, and an Allov/ance of unravelling or refuting any Argument, without offence to the Arguer, are the only Terms which can render fuch fpecu- lative Converfations any way agreeable. For to fay truth, they have been render’d burdenfom to Mankind by die Stridnefs of 70 An Essay on the Freedom Part I. of the Laws prefcrib’d to ’em, and by the prevailing Pedantry and Bigotry of thofc who reign in ’em, and aflume to themfelves to be Dictators in thefe Provinces. ^ Semper ego Auditor tantum ! is as natural a Cafe of Complaint in Divinity, in Morals, and in Philofophy, as it was of old, the Satirijl's^ in Poetry. ViciJJitude is a mighty Law of Difcourfe, and mighti- ly long’d for by Mankind. In matter of Reafon, more is done in a minute or two, by way of Queftion and Reply, than by a continu’d Difcourfe of whole Hours. Ora^ Horn are fit only to move the Paffions : And the Power of Declamation is to ter- rify, exalt, ravifh, or delight, rather than latisfy or inftrudt. A free Conference is a clofe Fight. The other way, in compari- lon to it, is merely a Brandifhing, or Beat-^ ing the Air. To be obftrudted therefore and manacled in Conferences, and to be confin’d to hear Orations on certain Sub- jedis, muft needs give us a Diftafle, and render the Subjects fo manag’d, as difagree- able as the Managers. Men had rather reafon upon Trifles, fo they may reafon freely, and without the Impofition of Au- thority, than on the ufefulleft and beft Subjects in the world, where they are held under a Reftraint and Fear. ^ Juv. Sat. I. Nor of Wit and Humour. 7 1’ Sea. 4. Nor is it a wonder that Men are nerally fuch faint Reafoners, and care fo little to argue ftriftly on any trivial Sub- jeft in Company 5 when they dare fo little exert their Reafon in greater matters, and are forc’d to argue -lamely, where they have need of the greateft Aftivity and Strength. The fame thing therefore hap- pens here as in ftrong and healthy Bo- dys, which are debar’d their natural Ex- ercife, and confin’d in a narrow Space. They are forc’d to ufe odd Geftures and Contortions. They have a fort of Adion, and move ftill, tho with the worft Grace imaginable. For the animal Spirits in fuch found and aftive Limbs cannot lie dead, or without Employment. And thus the natural free Spirits of ingenious Men, if imprifon’d and controul’d, will find out other ways of Motion to relieve them- felves in their Conjlraint : and whether it be in Burlefque, Mimickry or Buffoonery, they will be glad at any rate to vent themfelves, and be reveng’d on their Con-^ Jlrainers. I F Men are forbid to fpeak their minds ferioufly on certain Subjeds, they will do it ironically. If they are forbid to fpeak at all upon fuch Subjeds, or if they find it really dangerous to do fo ; they will then redouble their Difguife, involve them- 3 felves 72 Essay on the Freedom Part i.felves in Myfterioufnefs, and talk fo as hardly to be underftood, or at leaft not plainly interpreted, by thofe who are dif- pos'd to do ’em a mifchief. And thus Raillery is brought more in fafhion, and runs into an Extreme. ’Tis the perfecu- ting Spirit has rais’d the bantering one : And want of Liberty may account for want of a true Politenefs, and for the Cor- ruption or wrong Ufe of Pleafantry and Humour. I F in this refpedl we ftrain the juft mea- fure of what we call Urbanifyy and are apt fometimes to take a Buffooning Ruftick Air, we may thank the ridiculous Solem- nity and four Humour of our Pedagogues : or rather, they may thank themfelves, if they in particular meet with the heavieft of this kind of Treatment. For it will na- turally fall heavieft, where the Conftraint has been the fevereft. The greater the Weight is, the bitterer will be the Satin The higher the Slavery, the more exquifite the Buffoonery. That this is really fo, may appear by looking on thofe Countrys where the fpiritual Tyranny is higheft. For the greateft of Buffoons are the Italians: and in their Writings, in their freer fort of Converfations, on their Theatres, and in their Streets, Buffoonery and Burlefque are of Wit and Humour. sre in the higheft vogue. ’Tis the on-Sedt. ly manner in which the poor cramp’d Wretches can difcharge a free Thought. We muft yield to ’em the Superiority in this fort of Wit. For what wonder is it if we, who have more of Liberty, have lefs Dexterity in that egregious way of Raillery and Ridicule ? SECT. V. ’TT^IS for this reafon, I verily believe, JL that the Antients difcover fo little of this Spirit, and that there is hardly fuch a thing found as mere Burlefque in any Authors of the politer Ages. The man- ner indeed in which they treated the very graved: Subjedls, was fomewhat different from that of our days. Their Treatifes were generally in a free and familiar Style. They chofe to give us the Reprefentation of real Difeourfe and Converfe, by treat- ing their Subjects in the way of ^ Dialogue and free Debate. The Scene was common- ly laid at Table, or in the publick Walks or Meeting-places 5 and the ufual Wit and Humour of their real Difeourfes appear’d in thofe of their own compofing. And this was fair. For without Wit and Hu- mour, Reafon can hardly have its proof, or be diftinguifh’d. The Magifterial Voice * See the following Treatife, viz. Soliloquy, Part I. Sefl. 3. and 74 Essay on the Freedom Part I. and high Strain of the Pedagogue, com- mands Reverence and Awe. 'Tis of ad- mirable ufe to keep Underftandings at a dif* tance, and out of reach. The other Man- ner, on the contrary, gives the faireft hold, and fuffers an Antagonift to ufe his full Strength hand to hand, upon even ground, "Tis not to be imagin’d what advan- tage the Reader has, when he can thus cope with his Author, who is willing to come on a fair Stage with him, and ex- change the Tragick Bufkin for an eafier and more natural Gate and Habit. Gr/- mace and Tone are mighty Helps to Im- pofture. And many a formal Piece of Sophiftry holds proof under a fevere Brow, which wou’d not pafs under an eafy one. ^Twas the Saying of ^ an antient Sage, That Humour was the only Teft of Gra- vity j and Gravity, of Humour. For a Subje£l which wou’d not bear Raillery, “ was fufpicious ; and a Jeft which wou’d not bear a ferious Examination, was cer- tainly falfe Wit.” But fome Gentlemen there are fo full of the Spirit of Bigotry^ and falfe Zealy that when they hear Principles examin’d, Sciences and Arts inquir’d into, and Mat- * Gorgias Leontinus, apud Arifl:. Rhetor, lib. 3. cap. 18. Till/ ^Iv Toy di ydhaTA i which the T ranflator renders, Seria Rij'ut Rifum Se~ riis difcutere. \ tcrs of Wit an^ Humour. 7j’ ters of Importance treated with this frank- Sedl. 5. nefs of Humour, they imagine prefently that all Profeffions muft fall to the ground, all Eftablifhrnents come to ruin, and no- thing orderly or decent be left {landing in the world. They fear, or pretend to fear, that Religion it-felf will be endanger'd by this free way * and are therefore as much alarm'd at this Liberty in private Conver- fation, and under prudent Management, as if it were grofly us'd in publick Com- pany, or before the folemneft Aifembly. But the Cafe, as I apprehend it, is far dif- ferent. For you are to remember (my Friend !) that I am writing to you in de- fence only of the Liberty of the Club^ and of that fort of Freedom which is taken amongfl Gentlemen and Friends^ who know one another perfectly w^ell. And that 'tis ^ natural for me to defend Liberty with this reflridion, you may infer from the very Notion I have of Liberty it-felf. 'T I s furely a Violation of the Freedom of publick AfTemblys, for any one to take the Chair, who is neither call'd nor invited to it. To ftart Qi^ftions, or manage De- bates, which offend the publick Ear, is to be wanting in that Refpecl which is due to common Society. Such Subjects iliou'd either not be treated at all in publick, or in fuch a manner as to occafion no Scandal or Difturbance. The Publick is not, on any < Vol. I. F account, 76 An Essay on the Freedom Part I. account, to be laugh'd at, to its face ; or fo reprehended for its F ollys, as to make it think it-felf contemn'd. And what is con- trary to good Breeding, is in this refpedl as contrary to Liberty. It belongs to Men of flavifh Principles, to affecfl a Superiori- ty over the Vulgar^ and to defpife the Mul- titude, The Lovers of Mankind refpedt and honour Conventions and Societys of Men. And in mix’d Company, and Pla- ces where Men are met promifcuoufly on account of Diverfion or Affairs, 'tis an Impofition and Hardfhip to force ’em to hear what they diflike, and to treat of ^ Matters in a Dialed, which many who are prefent have perhaps been never us'd to. 'Tis a breach of the Harmony of pub- lick Converfation, to take things in fuch a Key, as is above the common Reach, puts others to Mence, and robs them of their Privilege of Turn, But as to private Society, and what paffes in feled Compa- nys, where Friends meet knowingly, and with that very defign of exercifing their Wit, and looking freely into all Subjeds ; I fee no pretence for any one to be of- fended at the way of Raillery and Humour, which is the very Life of fuch Converfa- tions ; the only thing which makes good Company, and frees it from the Formality of Bufinefs, and the Tutorage and Dogma- ticalnefs of the Schools, SECT. "of Wit and Humour. 77 Sedl. 6. SECT. VI. T O return therefore to our Argument. If the heft of our modern Converfa- tions are apt to run chiefly upon Trifles; if rational Difcourfes (efpecially thofe of a deeper Speculation) have loft their cre« dit, and are in difgrace becaufe of their Formality \ there is reafon for more allow- ance in the way of Humour and Gaiety. An eafier Method of treating thefe Sub- I jedls, will make ’em more agreeable and fa- I miliar. To difpute about ’em, will be the I fame as about other Matters. They need not fpoil good Company, or take from the I Eafe or Pleafure of a polite Converfation. 1 And the oftner thefe Converfations are re- 1 new’d, the better will be their Effed:. ’ We {hall grow better ’Reafojiers^ by rea- . foning pleafantly, and at our eafe ; taking i up, or laying down thefe Subjects, as we fanfy. So that, upon the whole, I muft pwn to you, I cannot be fcandaliz’d at the Raillery you took notice of, nor at ! the Effedt it had upon our Company. The 1 Humour was agreeable, and the pleafant ^ Confuflon which the Converfation ended in, is at this time as pleafant to me upon Refledlion ; when I confider, that inftead of being difcourag’d from refuming the Debate, we were fo much the readier to . meet again at any time, and difpute upon F 2 the 78 An Ess At: on the Freedom Part I. the fame Subjects, even with more eafe and fatisfa£tion than before. / W E had been a long while entertain’d, you know, upon the Subjedt of Morality and Religion, And amidft the different Opinions ftarted and maintain’d by feve- ral of the Partys with great Life and In- genuity ; one or other wou’d every now and then take the liberty to appeal to Common Sense. Every-one allow’d the Appeal, and was willing to ftand the trial. No-one but was affur’d Common Se72je wou’d juftify him. But when Ifliie was join’d, and the Caufe examin’d at the Bar, there cou’d be no Judgment given. The Partys however were not lefs for- ward in renewing their Appeal, on the very next occafion which prefented. No- one wou’d offer to call the Authority of the Court in queftion ; till a Gentleman, whofe good Underftanding was never yet brought in doubt, defir’d the Company, very gravely, that they wou’d tell him ^hat Common Se?ije was, ‘'If by the word Senfe we were to “ underfland Opinion and Judgment, and “ by the word common the Generality or “ any confiderable part of Mankind ; “ ’twou’d be hard, he faid, to difcover “ where the Subject of common Senfe “ cou’d lie. For that which was accor- 2 . • the Cafe was fo fully known to all, and fo feeling- ly underftood by Chriflians, in particu- “ lar, among themfelves. They had made found Experiment upon one another ; each Party in their turn. No Endea- “ vours had been wanting on the fide of any particular Sed:. Which-ever chanc’d “ to have the Power, fail’d not of putting all means in execution, to make their private Senfe the publick one. .But all in vain. Com??io?i Senfe was as hard ftill io determine as Catholic k or Orthodox. F 3 What 8 o An E s s A Y OM the Freedom Part i/' What with one was inconceivable Myfte- ry, to another was of eafy Comprehen- fion. What to one was Abfurdity, to another was Demonftration. A s for Policy; What Senfe or whofe cou'd be call’d common, was equally a queftion. If plain Britijh or Dutch Senfe were right, Turkijh and French Senfe muft certainly be very wrong. And as mere Nonfenfe as Paf- five-Obedience feem’d ; we found it to be the common Senfe of a great Party amongft our-felves, a greater Party in Europe^ and perhaps the greateft Part of all the World befides. As for Morals; The difference, if poffible, was ftill wider. For with- out confidering the Opinions and Cuf- toms of the many barbarous and illite- rate Nations ; we faw that even the few who had attain’d to riper Letters, and to Philofbphy, cou’d never as yet agree on one and the fame Syftem, or acknowledg the fame moral Principles. And fome even of our moft admir’d modern Philo- fophers had fairly told us, that Virtue and Vice had, after all, no other Law or Meafure^ than mere FaJJnon and !! J^ogue'\ It of Wit and Humour. 8 1 Se£l. 6. It might have appear’d perhaps unfair in our Friends, had they treated only the graver Subjeds in this manner; and fufFer’d the lighter to efcape. For in the gayer Part of Life, our Follys are as folemn as in the moft ierious. The fault is, we carry the Laugh but half-way. The falfe Earneft is ridicul’d, but the falfe Jef paffes fecure, and becomes as errant Deceit as the other. Gur Diverfions, our Plays, our Amufe- ments become folemn. We dream of Hap- pineffes, and Poffeffions, and Enjoyments, in which we have no Underftanding, no Cer- tainty ; and yet we purfue thefe as the beft known and moft certain things in the World. There is nothing fo foolifh and deluding as a ^ partial Scepticifm. For whilft the Doubt is call only on one fide, the Certainty grows fo much ftronger on the other. Whilft only one Face of Folly appears ridiculous, the other grows more folemn and deceiving. But ’twas not thus with our Friends. They feem’d better Criticks^ and more in- genious, and fair in their way of queftion- ing receiv’d Opinions, and expofing the Ridicule of Things. And if you will ^ al- low me to carry on their Humour, I will venture to make the Experiment thro’- out ; and try what certain Knowledg or * V O L. II. pag. 230, 231. F 4 Aflurance 82 Es SAY on the Freedom Fart 2.Affurance of things may be recover’d, in that very way, by which all Certainty, you thought, was loft, and an ^ndlefs Scep^ ticifm introduc’d? PART 11. SECT I. I F a Native of Ethiopia were on a fudden tranfported into Europe, and placed either at Paris or V e n i c e at a time of Carnival, when the general Face of Mankind was difguis’d, and al- moft every Creature wore a Malk ; ’tis probable he wou’d for fomie time be at a ftand, before he difcover’d the Cheat : not imagining that a whole People cou’d be fo fantaftical, as upon Agreement, at tn appointed time, to transform themfelves by a Variety of Habits, and make it a folemn Practice to impofe on one another, by this univerfal Confufion of Charadters and Perfons. Tho he might at firft per- haps have look’d on this with a ferious eye, it wou’d be hardly poffible for him to hold his Countenance, when he had per- . ‘ ceiv’d i of Wit and Humour. 8 5 ; ceiv’d what was carrying on. The Eu-Sefl:. i. ' ROPEANS, on their fide, might laugh ® perhaps at this Simplicity. But our : Ethiopian wou’d certainly laugh with better reafon. ’Tis eafy to fee which of the two wou d be ridiculous. For he who laughs, and is himfelf ridiculous, bears a double fhare of Ridicule. However, Ihou’d it fo happen, that in the Tranfport of Ridicule, our Ethiopian, having his Head {till running upon Masks, and knowing nothing of the fair Complexion and common Drefs of the Europeans, (hou’d upon the fight of a natural Face and Habit, laugh juft as heartily as before ; wou’d not he in his turn become ridicu- lous, by carrying the Jeft too far 3 when by a filly Prefumption he took Nature for mere Art, and miftook perhaps a Man of • Sobriety and Senfe for one of thofe ridicu- [ lous Mummers f There was a time when Men were ‘ accountable only for their Aftions and 1 Behaviour. Their Opinions were left to I themfelves. They had liberty to differ in 1 thefe, as in their Faces. Every one took I the Air and Look which was natural to \ - him. But in procefs of time, it was thought I. decent to mend Men^ Countenances, and i render their intelledtual Complexions unl- I form and of a fort. Thus the Magiftrate 1 became a DreJJery and in his turn was drejs\i 84 An Essay on the Freedom Part 2,drejsd too, as he deferv’d ; when he had i/VNJ given up his Power to a new Order of T^ire-Men. But tho in this extraordinary conjuncture ’twas agreed that there was only one certain and true Drefs^ one Jingle peculiar Air^ to which it was neceffary all People fhou'd conform ; yet the mifery was, that neither the Magiftrate nor the l!ire- Men themfelves, cou’d refolve, which of the various Modes was the exaB trne-one. Imagine now, what the Effeft of this muft needs be ; when Men became perfecuted thus on every fide about their Air and Feature^ and were put to their Ihifts how to adjuft and compofe their Mein^ accord- ing to the right Mode ; when a thoufand Models, a thoufand Patterns of Drefs were current, and alter’d every now and then, upon occafion, according to Fajhion and the Humour of the Times. Judg whether Mens Countenances were not like to grow conftrain’d, and the natural Vifage of Man- kind, by this Habit, diilorted, convuls’d, and render’d hardly knowable. But as unnatural or artificial as the general Face of Things may have been render’d by this unhappy Care of Drefs^ and Over-Tendernefa for the Safety of Complexions ; we muft not therefore ima- gine that all Faces are alike befmear’d or plaifter’d. All is not Fiiciis^ or mere Var- niflic Nor is the Face of Truth lefs fair and- of Wit and Humour. 8 5 and beautiful, for all the counterfeit Vizards Seft. i. which have been put upon her. We muft v./V^ remember the Carnival^ and what the Occafion has been of this wild Concourfe and Medley ; who were the Inftitutors of it 5 and to what purpofe Men were thus fet a-work and amus’d. We may laugh fufficiently at the original Cheat ; and, if pity will fuffer us, may make our-felves di- verfion enough with the Folly and Madnefs of thofe who are thus caught, and praftis’d on, by thefe Impoftures. But we muft re- member withal our Et Hiopi AN, and be- ware, left by taking plain Nature for a Vi- zard, we become more ridiculous than the People whom we ridicule. Now if a Jeft or Ridicule thus ftrain’d, be capable of leading the Judgment fo far aftray ; ’tis probable that an Excefs of Fear or Horror may work the fame Effeft. Had it been your fortune (my Friend !) to have liv’d in Asia at the time when the ^ M AGi by an egregious Impofture got pofleflion of the Empire ; no doubt you wou’d have had a deteftatlon of the A<51: And perhaps the very Perfons of the Men might have grown fo odious to you, that after all the Cheats and Abufes they had committed, you might have feen ’em difpatch’d with as relentlefs an eye as our later European Anceftors faw the * VOL. III. p. 4^,49. De- 86 Essay on the Freedom Part 2 -Deftrufl:ion of a like politick Body of Con- jurers, the Knights Templars y who were almoft become an Over-Match for the civil Sovereign. Your Indignation perhaps might have carry ’d^ you to propofe the razing all Monuments and Memorials of thefe Ma- gicians. You might have refolv'd not to leave fo much as their Houfes ftanding. But if it had happen’d that thefe Magi- cians, in the time of their Dominion, had made any Collection of Books, or com- pil’d any themfelves, in which they had treated of Philofophyy or Moralsy or any other Science, or Part of Learning ; wou’d you have carry’d your Refentment fo far as to have extirpated thefe alfo, and con- demn’d every Opinion or Dodtrine they had efpous’d, for no other reafon than merely becaufe they had ej'ponsd it ? Hardly a Scythian, aTARXAR, or a Goth, wou’d act or reafon fo abfurdly. Much lefs wou’d you (my Friend!) have carry’d on this M A G o p H 0 N Y, or Priejl-Majfa-^ crey v/ith fuch a barbarous Zeal. For, in good earneft, to deflroy a Philofophy in ha- tred to a Man, implies as errant a Tartar-- Notion, as to deftroy or murder a Man in order to plunder him of his Wit, and get the inheritance of his Underftanding. I Must confefs indeed, that had all the Inhitutions, Statutes, and Regulations of this antient Hierarchyy refembled the funda- ' of W\t cind Humour. 87 fundamental ^ one, of the Order k-felf, Sedt. i. ! they might with a great deal of Juftice have been fupprefs’d ; For one can't with- ; out fome abhorrence read that Law of theirs ^ •f Nam Magus ex Matre & Gnato gig-^ natur oportet. But the Conjurers (as we'll rather fup- pofe) having confider'd that they ought in their Principle to appear as fair as poffible to the World, the better to conceal their PraBice^ found it highly for their Interefl: to efpoufe fome excellent moral Rules, and i eftablifli the very beft Maxims of this kind, i They thought it for their advantage per- I haps, on their firft fetting out, to recom- mend the greateft Purity of Religion, the I greateft Integrity of Life and Manners. They may perhaps too, in general, have I preach'd up Charity and Good-will. They may have fet to view the faireft Face of human Nature ; and, together with their By-Laws, and political Inftitutions, have interwove the honefteft Morals and beft Doftrine in the World, H o w therefore fhou'd we have behav'd our-felves in this Affair ? How fliou'd we \X- 24 . f Catull. 87,, have 88 jin Essay on the Freedom Part l.have carry’d our-fclves towards this Order t/'VNp# of Men, at the time of the Difcovery of their Cheat, and Ruin of their Empire ? Shou’d we have falfn to work inftantly with their Syftems, ftruck at their Opinions and Dodrines without diftindlion, and e- re£ted a contrary Philofophy in their teeth ? Shou’d we have flown at every religious and moral Principle, deny’d every natural and focial Affedlion, and render’d Men as much ^ Wolves as was poflible to one ano- ther, whilfl: we defcrib’d ’em fuch ; and en- deavour’d to make them fee themfelves by far more monllrous and corrupt, than with the worfl: Intentions it was ever poflible for the worfl of ’em to become ? This, you’ll fay, doubtlefs wou’d have been a very prepoflerous Part, and cou’d never have been adted by other than mean Spirits, fuch as had been held in awe, and over- frighted ‘f by the Magi. And yet an J able and witty Philofo- pher of our Nation was, we know, of late * Infra, p. 1 18. and VOL. II. p. 320. ■f VOL. III. p. 64, 65. in the Notes. J Mr. Hobbes, who thus expreffes himfelf : By reading of thefe Greek and Latin Authors, Men from their Childhood have gotten a Habit ( under a falfe Jhezu of Liberty ) of fa- vouring Fumults, and of licentious controlling the ABions of their Sovereigns. Leviathan, Part 2. ch. z\. p. ill. By this Reafoning of Mr. Hobbes it Ihou’d follow, that there can never be any T umults or depoling of Sovereigns at Confan- tinople, or in Mogol. See again, p. 171, and 377. and what he intimates to his Prince (p. 193.) concerning this Extirpa- tion of antient Literature, in favour of his Leviathan-Hypo- thelis, and new Philofophy, Years, of Wit and Humour. Sp Years, fo poffefsd with a Ebrror of thlsSedl. r. kind, that both with refpedt to Politicks C/VNii and Morals, he diredlly afted in this Spirit of Mafacre, The Fright he took upon the Sight of the then governing Powers, who unjuftly affum’d the Authority of the People, gave him fuch an Abhorrence of ; all popular Government, and of the very Notion of Liberty it-felf ; that to extinguifh it for ever, he recommends the very ex- I tingu idling of Letters, and exhorts Princes i not to fpare fo much as an antient Roman I or Greek Hiflorian. — Is not this in I truth fomewhat Gothick ? And has not our I Philofopher, in appearance, fomething of the Savage^ that he fhou’d ufe Philofophy and Learning as the Scythians are faid to have us’d Anacharsis and others, for having vifited the Wife of Greece, I and learnt the Manners of a polite People ? His Quarrel with Religion was the 1 fame as with Liberty. The fame Times j gave him the fame Terror in this other i kind. He had nothing before his Eyes 1 befide the Ravage of Enthujiafm^ and the ^ Artifice of thofe who rais’d and conduc- : ted that Spirit. And the good fociable ! Man, as favage and unfociable as he > wou’d make himfelf and all Mankind appear by his Philofophy, expos’d himfelf ) during his Life, and took the utmofi: pains, that 5>o An Essay on the Freedom Part 2. that after his Death we might be deliver’d from the occafion of thefe Terrors. He did his utmoft to fhew us, ‘‘ That both “ in Religion and Morals we were im- pos'd on by our Governors ; that there was nothing which by Nature inclin’d us either way ; nothing which natural- ly drew us to the Love of what was without, or beyond ^ our --f elves Tho the Love of fuch great Truths and fove- reign Maxims as he imagin’d thefe to be, made him the moft laborious of all Men in compofing Syftems of this kind for our Ufe ; and forc’d him, notwithftanding his natural Fear, to run continually the higheft rifk of being a Martyr for our Delive- rance. Give me leave therefore (my Friend !) on this occafion, to prevent your Seriouf. nefs, and allure you, that there is no fuch mighty Danger as we are apt to imagine from thefe fierce Profecutors of Superfti- tion, who are fo jealous of every religious or moral Principle. Whatever Savages they may appear in Philofophy, they are in their common Capacity as Civil Perfons, as one can wifli. Their free communicating of their Principles may witnefs for them. ’Tis the height of Sociablenefs to be thus friendly and communicative. * VOL. II. p. So, If of Wit and Humour. pi Sedt. r. I F the Principles, indeed, were con- i ceal'd from us, and made a Myjtery^ they might become confiderable. Things are often made fo, by being kept as Secrets of a Sedt or Party ; and nothing helps this more than the Antipathy and Shynefs of a contrary Party. If we fall prefently in- to Horrors, and Confternation, upon the hearing Maxims which are thought poi^ Jbnous ; we are in no dlfpofition to ufe that familiar and eafy part of Reafon, which 1 is the beft Antidote. The only Poifon to Reafon, is PaJJion. For falfe Reafon- ing is foon redrefs'd, where Paffion is re- mov'd. But if the very hearing certain Propofitions of Philofophy be fufficient to [ move our Paflion ; 'tis plain, the Poifon ! has already gain'd on us, and we are effec- : tually prevented in the ufe of our reafon- i ing Faculty. \ Were it not for the Prejudices of • this kind ; what fhou'd hinder us from [ diverting our-felves with the Fancy of one of thefe modern Reformers we have been fpeaking of ? What ihou'd we fay to one of thefe Anti-zealots^ who, in the Zeal of fuch a cool Philofophy, fhou'd aflure us faithfully, “ That we were the “ moft miftaken Men in the world, to • ‘‘ imagine there was any fuch thing as natural Faith or Juftice? for that it Vol. ic G ‘‘ was px Au Essay on the Freedom Part 2.'^ was only Force and Power which con- V’V^ ftituted Right, That there was no fuch thing in reality as Virtue ; no Prin- ciple of Order in things above, or be- low ; no fecret Charm or Force of Na- ture, by which every-one was made to operate willingly or unwillingly to- v/ards publick Good, and punilh’d and tormented if he did otherwife/’ I Is not this the very Charm it-felf ? Is not the Gentleman at this inftant un- der the power of it ? Sir ! The Philofophy you have condefcended to reveal to us, is moft extraordinary. We are beholden to you for your In- Ilruftion. But, pray, whence is this Zeal in our behalf? What are TVe to Ton ? Are You our Father? Or if You were, v/hy this Concern for Us ? Is there then fuch a thing as natural Af- feBion ? If not ; why all this Pains, why all this Danger on our account ? Why not keep this Secret to Your-felf ? I Of what advantage is it to You, to deliver us from the Cheat ? The more are taken in it, the better. ^Tis di- redlly againft your Intereft to unde- ceive Us, and let us know that only private Intereft governs You ; and that nothing nobler, or of a larger kind, ftiou’d govern us, whom you converfe with. Leave us to our-felves, and to that notable At't by which we are hap- z pily of Wit and Humoun pily tam’d, and render’d thus mild andSedt. 2* jbeepifh, ’Tis not fit we fhou’d know “ that by Nature we are all JVohes. Is it poffible that one who has really difco- ver’d himfelf fuch, fhou’d take pains to communicate fuch a Difcovery ?” SECT. IL I N reality (my Friend!) a fevere Brow may well be fpar’d on this occafion | ! when we are put thus upon the Defenfe I of common Honejly^ by fuch fair honeft I Gentlemen, who are in Pradlice fo diffe-^ rent from what they wou’d appear in Spe- culation. Knaves I know there are in I Notion and Principle^ as well as in Prac^ I tice : who think ail Honefly as well as Re- i ligion a mere Cheat ; and by a very confif- I tent reafoning, have refolv’d deliberately to do whatever by Power or Art they are I able, for their private Advantage. But fuch : as thefe never open themfelves in Friend- {hip to others. They have no fuch Paffion for Truth, or Love for Mankind. They 1 have no Quarrel with Religion or Morals 5 ' but know what ufe to make of both, up- on occafion. If they ever difcover their Principles, ’tis only at unawares. They I are fure to preach Honefty, and go to i Churchy Ox O 2, 94 -An Essay on the Freedom Part 2 . On the other fide, the Gentlemen for whom I am apologizing, cannot however be call’d Hypocrites, They fpeak as ill of themfelves as they poffibly can. If they have hard thoughts of human Nature ; ’tis a Proof ftill of their Humanity, that they give fuch warning to the World. If they reprefent Men by Nature treacherous and wild^ ’tis out of care for Mankind ; left by being too tame and trujiing^ they fhou’d eafily be caught. Impostors naturally fpeak the beft of human Nature, that they may the ea- fier abufe it. Thefe Gentlemen, on the contrary, fpeak the worft j and had rather they themfelves fhou’d be cenfur’d with the reft, than that a Few fliou’d by Impofture prevail over the Many, For ’tis Opinion of Goodnefs ^ which creates Eafinefs of Truft : and by Trujl we are betray’d to Power ; our very Reafon being thus captivated by thofe in whom we come infenfibly to have an implicit Faith, But fuppofing one another to be by Nature fuch very Savages^ we fhall take care to come lefs in one another’s power : and apprehending Power to be in- fatiably coveted by all^ we fliall the better "fence againft the Evil ; not by giving all into one Hand (as the Champion of this * YOL. IL 334. and VOL, III. 114. Caufe of Wit and Humour. 95 Caufe wou'd have us) but, on the contrary, Sedt. 2* by a right Divifion and Balance of Power, and by the Reftraint of good Laws and Limitations, which may fecure the publick Liberty. Should you therefore afk me, whe- ther I really thought thefe Gentlemen were fully perfuaded of the Principles they fo often advance in Company ? I fliou’d tell you, That tho I wou d not abfolutely ar- raign the Gentlemens Sincerity ; yet there was fomething of Myflery in the Cafe, more than was imagin’d. The Reafon, perhaps, why Men of Wit delight fo much to efpoufe thefe paradoxical Syftems, is not in truth that they are fo fully fatisfy’d with ^em ; but in a view the better to oppofe fome other Syftems, which by their fair appearance have help’d, they think, to bring Mankind under Subjedtion. They imagine that by this general Scepticijm^ which they wou’d introduce, they fhall bet- ter deal with the dogmatical Spirit which prevails in fome particular SnbjeBs. And when they have accuftom’d Men to bear Contradidlion in the mainy and hear the Nature of Things difputed, at large ; it may be fafer, they conclude, to argue fe^ parateljy upon certain nice Points in which they are not altogether fo well fatisfy’d. So that from hence, perhaps, you may ftill better apprehend why, in Converfation, G 3 the An Ess AT on the Freedom Part 2Jhe Spirit of Raillery prevails fo much, and Notions are taken up for no reafon befides their being odd^ and out of the ^d)ay. SECT IIL B ut let who will condemn the Hu^ mour thus defer ib’d ; for my part, I am in no fuch apprehenfion from this , fceptical kind of Wit. Men indeed may, in a ferious way, be fo wrought on, and confounded, by different Modes of Opi- nion, different Syftems and Schemes im^ posd by Authority y that they may wholly lofe all Notion or Comprehenfion oi Truth. I can eafily apprehend what Effedt Awe has over Mens Underftandings. I can very well fuppofe Men may be frighted out of their Wits: but I have no app ehenfion they lliou'd be laugh’d out of ’em. I can hardly imagine that in a pleafant way they fliou’d ever be talk’d out of their Love for Society, or reafon’d out of Hu- manity and common Senje. A mannerly Wit can hurt no Caufe or Intereft for which I am in the leaft concern’d : And philofophical Speculations, politely ma- nag’d, can never furely render Mankind more un-fociable or un-civiliz’d. This is not the Oerter from whence I can poffi- biy expedt an Inroad of Savagenefs and Barbarity. And by the beft of my Ob- fervation, I have learnt, that Virtue is never . of wit and Humour. 5>7 I never fuch a Sufferer, by being contejled^ Seil. 3. as by being hetrafd. My Fear is not much from its vs^itty Antagonijis^ who give it Exercife, and put it on its Defbnfe, as from its tender NurfeSy who are apt to over-lay it, and kill it, with Excefs of Gate and Cherifhing. I Have known a Building, which by the Officioufnefs of the Workmen has been fo Jhoddy and /crew'd upy on the fide where they pretended it had a Leaning, that it has at laft been turn’d the con- trary way, and overthrown. There has fomething, perhaps, of this kind hap- pen’d in Morals. Men have not been contented to fhew the natural Advantages of Honefty and Virtue. They have ra- ther leffen’d thefe, the better, as they I thought, to advance another Foundation. ' They have made Virtue fo mercenary a thing, and have talk’d fo much of its Rewardsy that one can hardly tell what th6re is in it, after all, which can be worth rewarding. For to be brib’d only or ter- ! rify’d into an honeft Praftice, befpeaks little of real Honefty or Worth. We may make, ’tis true, whatever Bargain we think fit ; and may beftow in favour what Over- plus we pleafe. But there can be no Ex- cellence or Wifdom in voluntarily reward- I ing what is neither eftimable, nor de- ferving. And if Virtue be not really G 4 eftimable 5)8 An Essay on the Freedom Part 2 .eftlmable in it-felf, I can fee nothing efti- mable in following it for the fake of a Bargain. I F the Love of doing good, be not, of it-felf, a good and right Inclination ; I know not how there can poflibly be fuch a thing as Goodnefi or Virtue. If the Inclination be right', ’tis a perverting of it, to apply it folely to the Reward, and make us con- ceive fuch Wonders of the Grace and Fa-^ vour which is to attend Virtue s when there is fo little {hewn of the intrinfick Worth or Value of the Thing it-felf. I c o u’d be almoft tempted to think, that the true Reafon why fome of the moil heroick Virtues have fo little notice taken of 'em in our holy Religion, is, becaufe there wou’d have been no room left for Dijinterejiednefs, had they been in titled to a lhare of that infinite Reward, which Providence has by Revelation aflign'd to other Dutys. ^ Private Friend/hip, and Zeal ^ By Frlvate frleyidjhlp no fair Reader can here fuppofe is meant that common Bene^volence and Charity which every Chriftian is oblig’d to fhew towards all Men, and in parti- cular towards his Fellow-Chriilians, his Neighbour, Brother, ^nd Kindred, of whatever degree ; but that peculiar Relation which is form’d by a Confent and Harmony of Minds, by mutual EEeem, and reciprocal Tendernefs and Affeftion ; and which we emphatically call aFRIENDSHIP. Such was that jbetween the two Jey^iJh Heroes after-mention’d, ^ ’ wheft of Wit and Humour. pp 2eal for the Publick^ and our Country^ are S eft. 3 . Virtues purely voluntary in a Chriftian, They are no effential Parts of his Charity^ He is not fo ty’d to the Affairs of this Life j nor is he oblig’d to enter into fuch Engagements v^ith this lower World, as are of no help to him in acquiring a better. His Converfation is in Heaven. Nor has he occafion for fuch fupernumerary Cares or wliofe Love and Tendernefs was furfa^ng that of Women, (2 Samuel, ch. i.) Such were thofe Friendfhips defcrib’d lb frequently by Poets, between Py lades and Ores- tes, Theseus and Pirithous, with many -others. Such were thofe between Philofophers, Heroes, and. the greatell of Men ; between Socrates and Antisthenes, Plato and Dion, Epaminondas and Pelopidas, SciPio and L/^lius, Cato and Brutus, Thrasea and He L VIDIUS. And fuch there may have lately been, and are dill perhaps in our own Age ; tho Envy fuffers not the few Examples of this kind to be remark’d in pub- lick. The Author’s Meaning is indeed fo plain of it-felf, that it needs no explanatory Apology to fatisfy an im- partial Reader. As for others who objedl the Singularity of the Adertion, as differing, they fuppofe, from what our Reverend Dodlors in Religion commonly maintain, they may read what the learned and pious Bifliop Traylor fays in his Treatife of Frie^idfhip. You inquire, fays he, how far a dear and a perfedl Friendlhip is authoriz’d by the Principles of Chrillianity ? To this I anfwer. That the " word Friend/hip in the fenfe we commonly mean by it, is not fo much as nam’d in the New Teftament ; and “ our Religion takes no notice of it. You think it “ ftrange ; but read on, before you fpend fo much as the “ beginning of a PalTion or a Wonder upon it. There is mention of Friendjhip of the World', and it is faid to be Emnity nxjith God: but the Word is no where elfc ** nam’d, or to any other purpofe, in all the New Teda- ment. It fpeaks of Friends often; but by Friends are meant our Acquaintance, or our Kindred, the Relatives of our Family, or our Fortune, or our Sett, “ And lOO An Essay on the Freedom Part 2. or EmbaralTments here on Earth, as may obftrudt his way thither, or retard him in the careful Talk of working out his own Salvation. If neverthelefs any Portion of Reward be referv’d hereafter for the ge- nerous Part of a Patriot^ or that of a thorow Friend j this is ftill behind the Cur- tain, and happily conceal'd from us 5 that we may be the more deferving of it, when it comes. And I think I hav6 reafon to be confident, that the word Friend (fpeaking of human Intercourfe) is no other- ways us’d in the Gofpels, or Epiftles, or Afts of the “ Apoflles.” And afterwards, Chrifiian Charity (fays he) is Friendihip to all the World; and when Friend- fhips weie the nobleft things in the World, Charity was little, like the Sun drawn in at a Chink, or his Beams drawn into the Center of a Burning-glafs : But Chriftian Charity is Friendftiip expanded like the Face of the Sun, when it mounts above the Eaftern Hills.” In reality the good Bilhop draws all his Notions as well as Examples of private Friendfhip from the Heathen World, or from the Times preceding Chriftianity. And after citing a Greek Author, he immediately adds : ‘‘ Of fuch immortal, ab- flradled, pure Friendlhips, indeed there is no great plenty ; but they who are the fame to their Friend when he is in another Country, or in another World, are fit to preferve the facred Fire for eternal Sacrifices, and to perpetuate the Memory of thofe exemplary Friendlhips of the beft Men, which have fill’d the World with Hiilory and Wonder: for in no other fenfe but ‘‘ this can it be true, that Friendlhips are pure Loves, re- garding to do good more than to receive it. He that is a Friend after Death, hopes not for a Recompence from his Friend, and makes no bargain either for Fame or f‘ Love ; but is rewarded with the Confcience and SatiL fadion of doing bravely.” It of Wit Humour. loi Sed:. 3, I T appears indeed under the "Jewifo Dif^ penlation, that each of thefe Virtues had their illuftrious Examples, and were in fome manner recommended to us as ho- nourable, and worthy our Imitation. Even Saul himfelf, as ill a Prince as he is re- prefented, appears both living and dying to have been refpeded and prais'd for the Love he bore his native Country. And the Love which was fo remarkable between his Son and his Succeffor, gives us a noble View of a dilinterefted Friendlhip, at leaft on one lide. But the heroick Virtue of thefe Pcrfons had only the common Re- ward of Praife attributed to it, and cou'd not claim a future Recompence under a Religion which taught no future State, nor exhibited any Rewards or Punifhments, be- fides fuch as were Temporal, and had re- fpedl to the written Law. And thus the as well as Heathens were left to their Philofophy, to be in- ftrudted in the fublime part of Virtue, and induc’d by Reafon to that which was never injoin’d ’em by Command. No Premium or Penalty being inforc’d in thefe Cafes, the dilinterefted Part fubfifted, the Virtue was a free Choice^ and the Magnanimity of the Afl: was left intire. He who wou’d be generous, had the Means. He who wou’d frankly ferve his Friend, or Coun- 101 Essay on the Freedom Part 2. try, at the * expence even of his Life, might do it on fair terms. 'f*DuLCE et de- corum EST was his foie Reafon. ’T was Inviting and Becoming. *Twas Good and Honejl, And that this is ftill a good Rea- fon, and according to Common Senfe^ I will endeavour to fatisfy you. For I ftiou'd think my-felf very ridiculous to be angry with any-one for thinking me diflioneft ; if I cou'd give no account of my Honefty, nor ihew upon what Principle I differ’d from X a Knave. * Perad^venture^ fays the holy Apoflle, for a good Man one ^Qii d c'ven dare to die, 77^ ^ Tohy.A, &c. Rom, ch. 5. V. 7. This the Apoitie judicioufly mppofes to be- long to human Nature : tho he is fo far from founding any Precept on it, that he ufliers his private Opinion with a very dubious Peradventure, t HORAT. Lib. 3. Od. 2. J Inf. p. 130, 13 1, &c. 172. PART of Wit and Humour. 105 Se<9:. I. PART m. ( S E C T. 1. T he Roman Satirift may be thought more than ordinarily fatirical, when fpeaking of the Nobility and Courts he is fo far from allowing them to be the Standard of Politenefs and good Senfe, that ' he makes ’em in a manner the Reverfe. ^ Rarus enim ferme Senfus communis in ilia Fortiind-—^ Some of the •f moft ingenious Commen- tators, however, interpret this very diffe- rently from what is generally apprehended. They * Juv. Sat. 8. ‘V. 73. -j- Fiz. The two Cafauhons^ If. and Mer. Salntajtusr and our Englijh Gataker: See the firft in Capitolwusy Fit . M. Ant. fub finem. The fecond in his Comment on M. Ant. lib. i. fed. 13, & 16. Gataker on the fame place ; and Salmajius in the lame Life of Capitolinusy at the end of his Annotations. The word is which interprets^ moderatam, ufitatam ^ ordinariam hqminis mentem qua* ill 104 Essay 6n the Freedom Part 3. They make this Common Senfe of the Poet, by a Gree^ Derivation, to fignify Senfe of Publick Weaf and of the Common Interejl ; Love of the Community or Society^ natural AfFedtion, Humanity, Obligingnefs, or that fort of Civility which rifes from a juft Senfe of the common Rights of Mankind, and the natural Equality there is among thofe of the fame Species. And indeed if we conlider the thing nicely, it muft feem fomewhat hard in the Poet, to have deny’d Wit or Ability to- a Court in commune quodammodo confulit, nec omnia ad commo- dum fuum refert, refpeftumque eciam habet eortm cum ** quibus verfatur, modelle, modiceque de le lentiens. At contra inflati & fuperbi omnes fe iibi tantiim I'uifque com- modis natos arbitrantur, & prae fe caeteros contemnunt & negligent ; & hi funt qui Senfuin Co7nmunem non habere redte dici polTunt. Nam ita Senfum Communem accipit ** Juvenalis, Sat. 8. Rarus enim ferme SENSUS CO M- MUNIS, Cfr. & Xprirornlet Galenus vo- cat, quam Marcus de fe loquens Yioivovov\tAJ>(7Cvw ; & aiibi^ -** ubi de eadem re loquitur, Kj Evyv«oixo(TJvt)Vf qua gratiam illi fecerit Marcus limui eundi ad Germanicum ** Bellum ac fequendi fe.” In the fame manner 1/aac Cafau- hon : Herodianus, fays he, calls this the 73' /O'c/as* Subjicit verb Antoninus quafi hanc vocem interpie- tans, ^ 75 lipeiffScti ivlf (MTi auvS^ei^v^v avt$ mAV fMjTE covA'7roJ\iiJLf,v WdvAyKJi^ ” This, I am perfua-- ded, is the Seitfus Communis ot Horace, Sat. 3. lib. i. which has been unobferv’d, as far as I can learn, by any of his Commentators : it being remarkable withal, that in this early Satir of Horace, before his latter days, and when his Philofophy as yet inclin’d to the iefs rigid Afl'ertors of Virtue, he puts this Exprelfion (as may be feen by the whole Satir taken together) into the Mouth of a Cri/pinus, or fome ridiculous Mimick of that fevere Philofophy, to which the Coinage of the word properly belong’d. of Wit and Humour. 105 ' Court fuch as that of R o m e, even under Seft. i* I a Tiberius or aNERo. But for Hu- 77ianity or Senje of Publick Good^ and the i common Inter fi of Mankind, ’twas no fuch deep Satir to queftion whether this was properly the Spirit of a Court, ’Twas diffi- cult to apprehend what Community fubfifted among Courtiers ; or what Publick be- tween an abfolute Prince and his Slave- SubjecSs. And for real Society^ there ccu'd For fo the Poet again {fat. 4. 77.) ufes the word S E N- S U S, fpeaking of thofe who without Senfe of Manners, or common Society, without the leaft refpedl or deference to others, prefs rudely upon their Friends , and upon all Com “ pany in general, without regard to Time or Place, or any thing befides their felhlh and brutifh Humour : ■ — Hand illud qu<^renfes, num fine S E NSU, Tempore num faciant alieno.' as old Lamhin interprets it, tho without any other Explana- tion ; referring only XXi CtitZenfui Communis in that other Satir. Thus Seneca, Epift. 105. Odiujn au- tem ex offenfa Jic perhaps, that what we moft admir’d, even in the turn of outward Features, was only a myfterious Expreffion, and a kind of Sha- dow of fomething inward in the Temper : and that when we were ftruck with a ma- jejiick Air, a fprightly Look, an Amazon bold Grace, or a contrary foft and gentle one ; ’twas chiefly the Fancy of thefe Cha- radters or Qinlitys which wrought on us : our Imagination being bufy’d in forming beauteous Shapes and Images of this ratio- nal kind, which entertain’d the Mind, and held it in admiration ; whilfl: other Paflions of a lower Species were employ’d another way. The preliminary Addrefles, the De- clarations, the Explanations, Confidences, Clearings ; the Dependence on fomething mutual, fomething felt by way of return ; the Spes animi credula mutui : all thefe be- come neceflary Ingredients in the Affair of Love, and are authentically eftablifh’d by the Men of Elegance and Art in this way of Paflion. Nor can the Men of cooler Paflions, and more deliberate Purfuits, withftand the Force of Beauty^ in other Subjedts. E ve- ry-one is a Virtuofoy of a higher or lower degree : E very-one purfues a Grace, and courts a'^VENUS of one kind or ano- ther. The Venujiumy the Honejlumy the * Infra, pa^^ 357. Decorum of Wit and Humour* i j p t)ecorum of Things, will force its way.Sedl. 2. They who refbfe to give it fcope in the bier Subjefts of a rational and moral kind, will find its Prevalency elfewhere, in an inferior Order of Things. They who overlook the main Springs of Ad:ion, and defpife the Thought of Numbers and Pro- j portion in a Life at large^ will in the mean I Particulars of it, be no lefs taken up, and i engag’d ; as either in the Study of common Arts, or in the Care and Culture of mere i mechanick Beautys. The Models of Hou- i fes, Buildings, and their accompanying Or- I naments ; the Plans of Gardens, and their I Compartments ; the ordering of Walks, I Plantations, Avenues 5 and a thoufand o- : ther Symmetrys, will fucceed in the room I of that happier and higher Symmetry and 1 Order of a Mind. The •f* Species of Fairy . Nobky Handfomy will difcover it-felf on a ’ thoufand Occafions, and in a thoufand Sub- jedts. The Spedier ftill will haunt us, in fome fhape or other : and when driven from our cool Thoughts, and frighted from the Clofety will meet us even at Court y and fill our Heads with Dreams of Grandure, Titles, Honours, and a falfe Magnificence and Beauty ; to which we are ready to fa- crifice our higheft Pleafure and Eafe ; and for the fake of which, we become the mereft Drudges, and moft abjedl Slaves. 1 86, * VOL. ILL p. 173. d V O L. III. 33. 182 Vol. I. K The 140 An Essay on the Freedom Parc 4. The Men of Pleafure, who feem the greateft Contemners of this philofophical Beauty, are forc’d often to confefs her "" Charms. They can as heartily as others commend Hone fly 3 and are as much ftruck with the Beauty of a generous Part. They admire the Thing it-felf, tho not the Means. And, if poffible, they wou’d fo order it, as to make Probity and Luxury agree. But the Rules of Harmony will not permit it. The DilTonancys are too flrong. However, the Attempts of this kind are not unpleafant to obferve. For tho fome of the voluptuous are found for- did Pleaders for Bafenefs and Corruption of every fort : yet others, more generous, endeavour to keep meafures with Ho- nefty y and underjftanding Pleafure better, are for bringing it under fome Rule. They condemn this manner ; they praife the other. “ So far was right : but further, wrong. Such a Cafe was allowable : “ but fuch a one not to be admitted.” They introduce a Juflicey and an Order in their Pleafures. They wou’d bring Reajon to be of their Party, account in fome man- ner for their Lives, and form themfelves to fome kind of Confonancy, and Agree- ment : Or ihou’d they find this impraftica- ble on certain terms, they wou’d chufe to facrifice their own Pleafures to thofe which arife from a generous Behaviour, a Regu- of .Wit and Humour. 141 larky of Condufl:, and a Confiftency ofSed-. 2. Life and Manners : ^ Et verce niunerofque rnodofque edifcere vitce. Other Occafions will put us upon this Thought : but chiefly a ftrong View of Me- rit^ in a generous CharaBer^ oppos’d to fome dereftably vile one. Hence it is that , among Poets^ the Satirijis feldom fail in doing Juftice to Virtue. Nor are any of the nobler Poets falfe to this Caufe. Even modern Wits, whofe Turn is all towards ! Gallantry and Pleafure, when bare-fac’d Villany ftands in their way, and brings the contrary Species in view, can fing in paflao- nate ftrains the Praifes of plain Honejly, When we are highly Friends with the World, fuccefsful with the Fair, and prof- I perous in the poflfefllon of other Beautys ; we may perchance<^s is ufual, defpife this fober Miftrefs. But when we fee, in the ifllie, what Riot and Excefs naturally pro- duce in the World ; when we find that by Luxurf s means, and for the fervice of vile Interefts, Knaves are advanc’d above us, and the -f* vileft of Men prefer’d before the honefteft 5 we then behold Virtue in a new Light, and by the afliflance of ^ Hor, Epifl. 2. lib. 2. f VOL. HI. />. 308, 309. K 2 fuch 14^ Essay on the Freedom Part 4.fucha Foil, can difcern the Beauty of TJ?- nefty^ and the reality of thofe Charms, which before we underftood not to be ei- ther natural or powerful. SECT. III. A n D thus, after all, the moft natural Beauty in the World is Honejly^ and moral T’ruth. For all Beauty is Truth. 'T^rue Features make the Beauty of a Face; and true Proportions the Beauty of Archi- tecture ; as true Meafures that of Harmo- ny and Mufick. In Poetry, which is all Fable, T^ruth ftill is the Perfection. And whoever is Scholar enough to read the antient Philofopher, or his ^ modern Co- plfls, upon the nature of a Dramatick and Epick Poem, will eafily underfland •f this account of T’ruth, Painter, if he has any Genius, underftands the Truth and Unity of De- iign ; and knows he is even then unnatu- ral, when he follows Nature too clofe, and ftriCtly copys Life, For his Art al- lows him not to bring All Nature into his ^ The French Tranflator, no doubt, has juftly hit our Au- thor’s Thought, by naming in liis Margin the excellent Bo s- s u du Poerae Epiqiie ; who in that admirable Comment and Explanation of Aristotle, has perhaps not only Ihewn himielf the greateit of the French Criticks, but prefented the World with a View of antient Literature and juli Writing, beyond any other Modern of whatever Nation. f \'OL. in. p. I So, i8i, 182, 183, 260, &c. Piece, of Wit and Humour. 1 4^. Piece, but a Part only. However, hisSed:. 3, Piece, if it be beautiful, and carrys Pruth^ L/^y^ mu ft be a Whole, by it-felf, compleat, in- dependent, and withal as great and com- prehenfive as he can make it. So that Particulars, on this occafion, muft yield to . the general Delign ; and all things be fub- fervient to that which is principal : in order to form a certain Eajinefs of Sight ; a limple, clear, and ^ united View, which vyou'd be broken and difturb’d by the Ex- ' preflion of any thing peculiar or diftindt. Now ^ The 7T3 '^v(rvvQ7r]ov *, as the great Mafter of Arts calls it, in his Poeticks, ch. 23. but particularly cb. 7. where he ihews, “ That the to KcthoVy the Beautiful, or the Sublime, in thefe above-mention’d Arts, is from the ExprelTion of Greatnefs with Order: that is to fay, exhibiting the Principal or Main of what is defign’d, in the very largek Proportions in which it is capable of being view’d. For “ when it is gigantick, ’tis in a manner out of fight, and can be no way comprehended in that fimple and united ‘‘ VieTv. As, on the contrary, when a Piece is of the ‘‘ Miniature-kind ; when it runs into the Detail, and nice “ Delineation of every little Particular ; ’tis, as it were, inviiible, for the fame reafon 5 becaufe the fummary “ Beauty, the WHOLE it-felf, cannot be comprehended j “in that ONE united Vie'-” I i I cannot better tranflate the Pafl'age than as I ha\ e done in thefe explanatory Lines. For befides what relates to mere K 3 Art, An Essay on the Freedom 144 Part 4. ' L/VNj Now the Variety of Nature is fuch as to diftinguifh every thing {lie forms, by a peculiar original Character ; which, if ftridlly obferv’d, will make the Subjedt appear unlike to any thing extant in the World befides. But this Effedt the good Poet and Painter feek induftrioufly to pre- vent. They hate Minutejiefs^ and are a- fraid of Singularity ; which wou’d make their Images, or Charadlers, appear capri- cious and fantaftical. The mere Face- Painter, indeed, has little in common with the Poet i but, like the mere Hiftorian, \ Art, the philofophical Senfe of the Original is fo majeftick, and the whole Treatife fo mafterly, that when I find even the Latin Interpreters come fo fhort, I lliou’d be vain to attempt any thing in our own Language. I wou’d only add a fmall Remark of my own, which may perhaps be notic’d by the Studiers of vStatuary and Painting ; That the greateft of the antient as well as modern Artiits, were ever inclin’d to follow this Rule of the Philofopher ; and when they err’d in their Dejigns^ or Draughts^ it was on the fide of Greatnefs, by running into the unfizable and gigantick, rather than into the minute and delicate. Of this, Mich. Angelo, the great Beginner and Founder among the Moderns, and Zeuxis the fame among the Antients, may ferve as Inilances, See Pliny, lib. 35 cap. 9. concerning Zeuxis, and the Notes of Father Harduin in his Edition in ulum Delphini.f p. 200. on the words, Depre- henditur tanien Zeuxis., &c. And again Pliny himfelf upon Euphranqr, in the fame Book, cap. \ \. p. 226. Docilis, ac lahoriofus, ante omnes, iff in quocumque genere excellens, ac fthi aqualis. Hu primus