N° 3. Saturday, March 3. Et quoi quifque ferè ftudio devinctus adhæret, Lucr. 1. 4. v. 959. What Studies pleafe, what most delight, And fill mens thoughts, they dream them o'er at night. CREECH. N one of my late Rambles, or rather Speculations, I looked into the great Hall where the Bank is kept, and was not a little pleased to see the Directors, Secretaries, and Clerks, with all the other Members of that wealthy Corporation, ranged in their feveral Stations, according to the Parts they act in that just and regular Oeconomy. This revived in my Memory the many Difcourfes which I had both read and heard concerning the Decay of publick Credit, with the Methods of restoring it, and which in my Opinion have always been defective, because they have always been made with an Eye to feparate Interests, and Party Principles. THE Thoughts of the Day gave my Mind Employment for the whole Night, fo that I fell infenfibly into a kind of Methodical Dream, which difpofed all my Contemplations into a Vifion or Allegory, or what elfe the Reader fhall please to call it. METHOUGHT I returned to the Great Hall, where I had been the Morning before, but, to my Surprise, instead of the Company that I left there, I faw towards the upper end of the Hall, a beautiful Virgin, feated on a Throne of Gold. Her Name (as they told me) was Publick Credit. The Walls, inftead of being adorned with Pictures and Maps, were hung with many Acts of Parliament written in Golden Letters. At the upper end of the Hall was the Magna Charta, with the the Act of Uniformity on the right Hand, and the Act of Toleration on the Left. At the lower end of the Hall was the Act of Settlement, which was placed full in the Eye of the Virgin that fat upon the Throne. Both the Sides of the Hall were covered with fuch Acts of Parliament as had been made for the Establishment of Publick Funds. The Lady feemed to fet an unspeakable Value upon these several Pieces of Furniture, infomuch that the often refreshed her Eye with them, and often fmiled with a fecret Pleasure, as fhe looked upon them; but, at the fame time, fhewed a very particular Uneafinefs, if the faw any thing approaching that might hurt them. She appeared indeed infinitely timorous in all her Behaviour: And, whether it was from the Delicacy of her Conftitution, or that she was troubled with Vapours, as I was afterwards told by one who I found was none of her Well-wishers, fhe changed Colour, and ftartled at every thing fhe heard. She was likewife (as Į afterwards found) a greater Valetudinarian than any I had ever met with, even in her own Sex, and fubject to fuch momentary Confumptions, that in the twinkling of an Eye, he would fall away from the most florid Complexion, and the most healthful State of Body, and wither into a Skeleton. Her Recoveries were often as fudden as her Decays, infomuch that she would revive in a Moment out of a wafting Distemper, into a Habit of the highest Health and Vigour. I had very foon an Opportunity of obferving thefe quick Turns and Changes in her Conftitution. There fat at her Feet a Couple of Secretaries, who received every Hour Letters from all Parts of the World, which the one or the other of them was perpetually reading to her and, according to the News fhe heard, to which the was exceedingly attentive, fhe changed Colour, and difcovered many Symptoms of Health or Sickness. ; BEHIND the Throne was a prodigious Heap of Bags of Money, which were piled upon one another fo high that they touched the Cieling. The Floor, on her right Hand, and on her Left, was covered with vaft Sums of Gold that rofe up in Pyramids on either fide of her: But this I did not fo much wonder at, when I heard, upon Inquiry, that fhe had the fame Virtue in her Touch, which which the Poets tell us a Lydian King was formerly poffefs'd of: and that fhe could convert whatever the pleas'd into that precious Metal. AFTER a little Dizziness, and confufed Hurry of Thought, which a Man often meets with in a Dream, methought the Hall was alarmed, the Doors flew open, and there enter'd half a dozen of the most hideous Phantoms that I had ever seen (even in a Dream) before that time. They came in two by two, though matched in the most diffociable manner, and mingled together in a kind of Dance. It would be tedious to defcribe their Habits and Perfons, for which Reason I fhall only inform my Reader that the firft Couple was Tyranny and Anarchy, the fecond were Bigotry and Atheism, the third the Genius of a Commonwealth, and a young Man of about twenty two Years of Age, whofe Name I could not learn. He had a Sword in his right Hand, which in the Dance he often brandished at the Act of Settlement; and a Citizen, who stood by me, whispered in my Ear, that he faw a Spunge in his left Hand. The Dance of fo many jarring Natures put me in mind of the Sun, Moon and Earth, in the Rehearsal, that danced together for no other end but to eclipfe one another. THE Reader will eafily fuppofe, by what has been before said, that the Lady on the Throne would have been almost frighted to Distraction, had the feen but any one of thefe Spectres; what then must have been her Condition when fhe faw them all in a Body? She fainted and died away at the Sight. Et neque jam color eft mifto candore rubori ; Nec Vigor, Vires, & quæ modò vifa placebant ; Ovid. Met. 1. 3. v. 491, Her Spirits faint, Her blooming Cheeks affume a pallid Teint, THERE was as great a Change in the Hill of Money Bags, and the Heaps of Money, the former fhrinking, and falling into fo many empty Bags, that I now found not above a tenth Part of them had been filled with Money. The reft that took up the fame Space and made the the fame Figure as the Bags that were really filled with Money, had been blown up with Air, and called into my Memory the Bags full of Wind, which Homer tells us his Hero received as a Present from Eolus. The great Heaps of Gold on either fide the Throne, now appeared to be only Heaps of Paper, or little Piles of notched Sticks, bound up together in Bundles, like Bath-Faggots. WHILST I was lamenting this fudden Defolation that had been made before me, the whole Scene vanifhed :. In the room of the frightful Spectres, there now entred a fecond Dance of Apparitions very agreeably matched together, and made up of very amiable Phantoms. The first Pair was Liberty with Monarchy at her right Hand: The fecond was Moderation leading in Religion; and the third a Perfon whom I had never feen, with the Genius of Great-Britain. At the first Entrance the Lady revived, the Bags fwelled to their former Bulk, the Piles of Faggots and Heaps of Paper changed into Pyramids of Guineas: And for my own part I. was fo tranfported with Joy, that I awaked, though I muft confefs, I would fain have fallen afleep again to have closed my Vision, if I could have done it. C Egregii Mortalem altique filenti? Hor. Sat. 6. 1. 2. v. 58. One of uncommon Silence and Referve. A N Author, when he first appears in the World, is very apt to believe it has nothing to think of but his Performances. With a good Share of this Vanity in my Heart, I made it my Bufinefs thefe three Days to liften after my own Fame; and as I have fometimes met with Circumftances which did not displease me, I have been encountered by others which gave me as much Mortification. It is incredible to think how empty I have in this Time obferved fome Part of the Species to be, what mere Blanks they are when they first come abroad in in the Morning, how utterly they are at a Stand till they are fet a going by fome Paragraph in a News-Paper: Such Perfons are very acceptable to a young Author, for they defire no more in any thing but to be new to be agreeable. If I found Confolation among fuch, I was as much difquieted by the Incapacity of others. These are Mortals who have a certain Curiofity without Power of Reflexion, and perused my Papers like Spectators rather than Readers. But there is fo little Pleasure in In quiries that fo nearly concern our felves, (it being the worst way in the World to Fame, to be too anxious about it) that upon the whole I refolved for the future to go on in my ordinary Way; and without too much Fear or Hope about the Business of Reputation, to be very careful of the Defign of my Actions, but very negligent of the Confequences of them. IT is an endless and frivolous Purfuit to act by any other Rule than the Care of fatisfying our own Minds in what we do. One would think a filent Man, who concerned himself with no one breathing, fhould be very little liable to Mifinterpretations; and yet I remember I was once taken up for a Jefuit, for no other Reafon but my profound Taciturnity. It is from this Misfortune that to be out of Harm's way, I have ever fince affected Crowds. He who comes into Affemblies only to gratify his Curiofity, and not to make a Figure, enjoys the Pleasures of Retirement in a more exquifite Degree, than he poffibly could in his Clofet; the Lover, the Ambitious, and the Mifer, are follow'd thither by a worfe Croud than any they can withdraw from. To be exempt from the Paffions with which others are tormented, is the only pleafing Solitude. I can very juftly fay with the ancient Sage, I am never lefs alone than when alone. As I am infignificant to the Company in publick Places, and as it is vifible I do not come thither as most do, to fhew my felf; I gratify the Vanity of all who pretend to make an Appearance, and have often as kind Looks from well-drefs'd Gentlemen and Ladies, as a Poet would bestow upon one of his Audience. There are fo many Gratifications attend this publick fort of Obfcurity, that fome little Diftaftes I daily receive have loft their Anguish; and I did the other Day, without the leaft Dif |