IT happened at Athens, during a publick Reprefentation of fome Play exhibited in Honour of the Com-monwealth, that an old Gentleman came too late for • a Place suitable to his Age and Quality. Many of the young Gentlemen who obfervedth Difficulty and Con-fufion he was in, made Signs to him that they would accommodate him if he came where they fat: The good Man buftled through the Crowd accordingly; but 'when he came to the Seats to which he was invited, the Jeft was to fit close, and expofe him, as he flood. out of Countenance, to the whole Audience. The Fro⚫lick went round all the Athenian Benches. But on thofe Occafions there were alfo particular Places affigned for Foreigners: When the good Man skulked towards the Boxes appointed for the Lacedemonians, that honeft People, more virtuous than polite, rose up all to a Man, and with the greatest Respect received him among them. The Athenians being fuddenly touched ⚫ with a Senfe of the Spartan Virtue and their own Degeneracy, gave a Thunder of Applause; and the old Man cried out, The Athenians understand what is good, but the Lacedemonians pradife it. N° 7. Thursday, March 8. Somnia, terrores magicos, miracula, Sagas, R Hor. Ep. 2. 1. 2. v. 208. Vifions, and magic Spells, can you defpife, G OING Yesterday to dine with an old Acquaintance, I had the Misfortune to find his whole Family very much dejected. Upon asking him the Occafion of it, he told me that his Wife had dreamt a ftrange Dream the Night before, which they were afraid portended fome Misfortune to themselves or to their Children. At her coming into the Room I obferved' a fettled Melancholy in her Countenance, which I hould should have been troubled for, had I not heard from whence it proceeded. We were no fooner fat down, but after having looked upon me a little while, My Dear (fays fhe, turning to her Husband) you may now see the Stranger that was in the Candle laft Night. Soon after this, as they began to talk of Family Affairs, a little Boy at the lower end of the Table told her, that he was to go into Join-hand on Thursday. Thursday? (fays the) No, Child, if it please God, you shall not begin upon Childermas-day; tell your Writing-Mafter that Friday will be foon enough. I was reflecting with my felf on the Oddnefs of her Fancy, and wondering that any Body would eftablifh it as a Rule to lofe a Day in every Week. In the midst of these my Mufings, the defired me to reach her a little Salt upon the Point of my Knife, which I did in fuch a Trepidation and Hurry of Obedience, that I let it drop by the Way; at which the immediately ftartled, and faid it fell towards her. Upon this I looked very blank; and, obferving the Concern of the whole Table, began to confider my felf, with fome Confufion, as a Perfon that had brought a Difafter upon the Family. The Lady however recovering her felf after a little Space, faid to her Husband, with a Sigh, My Dear, Misfortunes never come fingle. My friend, I found, acted but an Under-Part at his Table, and being a Man of more Good-nature than Understanding, thinks himself obliged to fall in with all the Paffions and Humours of his Yoke-Fellow: Do not you remember, Child, (fays fhe) that the Pigeon-houfe fell the very Afternoon that our carelefs Wench pilt the Salt upon the Table? Yes, (fays he) My Dear, and the next Poft brought us an Account of the Battle of Almanza. The Reader may guefs at the Figure I made, after having done all this Mifchief. I difpatched my Dinner as foon as I could, with my ufual Taciturnity; when, to my utter Confufion, the Lady feeing me quitting my Knife and Fork, and laying them across one another upon my Plate, defired me that I would humour her fo far as to take them out of that Figure, and place them Side by Side. What the Abfurdity was which I had committed I did not know, but I suppose there was fome traditionary Superftition it it; and therefore, in Obedience to the Lady of the House, N° 7. Houfe, I difpofed of my Knife and Fork in two parallel Lines, which is the Figure I fhall always lay Pay them in for the future, tho' I do not know any Reason for it. IT is not difficult for a Man to fee that a Person has conceived an Averfion to him. For my own part, I quickly found, by the Lady's Looks, that the regarded me as a very odd kind of Fellow, with an unfortunate Afpect. For which Reason I took my Leave immediately after Dinner, and withdrew to my own Lodgings. Upon my Return Home, I fell into a profound Contemplation on the Evils that attend thefe fuperftitious Follies of Mankind; how they fubje&t us to imaginary Afflictions, and additional Sorrows, that do not properly come within our Lot. As if the natural Calamities of Life were not fufficient for it, we turn the most indifferent Circumftances into Misfortunes, and fuffer as much from trifling Accidents, as from real Evils. I have known the shooting of a Star fpoil a Night's Reft; and have seen a Man in Love grow pale and lofe his Appetite, upon the plucking of a Merry-thought. A ScreechOwl at Midnight has alarmed a Family more than a Band of Robbers; nay, the Voice of a Cricket hath struck more Terror than the Roaring of a Lion. There is nothing fo inconfiderable, which may not appear dreadful to an Imagination that is filled with Omens and Prognofticks. A rufty Nail, or a crooked Pin, fhoot up into Prodigies. I remember I was once in a mixt Affembly, that was full of Noife and Mirth, when on a fudden an old Woman unluckily obferved there were thirteen of us in Company. This Remark ftruck a panick Terror into feveral who were prefent, infomuch that one or two of the Ladies were going to leave the Room; but a Friend of mine taking notice that one of our female Companions was big with Child, affirmed there were fourteen in the Room, and that, instead of portending one of the Company fhould die, it plainly foretold one of them fhould be born. Had not my Friend found out this Expedient to break the Omen, I queflion not but half the Women in the Company would have fallen fick that very Night. AN AN Old Maid, that is troubled with the Vapours, produces infinite Difturbances of this kind among her Friends and Neighbours. I know a Maiden Aunt, of a great Family, who is one of thefe Antiquated Sibs, that forebodes and prophefies from one end of the Year to the other. She is always feeing Apparitions, and hearing Death-Watches; and was the other Day almoft frighted out of her Wits by the great House-Dog, that howled in the Stable at a time when the lay ill of the Tooth-ach. Such an extravagant Caft of Mind engages Multitudes of People, not only in impertinent Terrors, but in fupernumerary Duties of Life; and arifes from that Fear and Ignorance which are natural to the Soul of Man. The Horror with which we entertain the Thoughts of Death (or indeed of any future Evil) and the Uncertainty of its Approach, fill a melancholy Mind with innumerable Apprehenfions and Sufpicions, and confequently difpofe it to the Obfervation of fuch groundless Prodigies and Predictions. For as it is the chief Concern of Wife Men to retrench the Evils of Life by the Reafonings of Philcfophy; it is the Employment of Fools to multiply them by the Sentiments of Superftition. FOR my own part, I fhould be very much troubled were I endowed with this Divining Quality, though it should inform me truly of every thing that can befal me. I would not anticipate the Relish of any Happiness, nor feel the weight of any Mifery, before it actually arrives. I know but one way of fortifying my Soul against thefe gloomy Prefages and Terrors of Mind, and that is, by fecuring to my felf the Friendship and Protection of that Being who difpofes of Events, and governs Futurity. He fees, at one View, the whole Thread of my Existence, not only that Part of it which I have already paffed through, but that which runs forward into all the Depths of Eternity. When I lay me down to Sleep, I recom mend my felf to his Care; when I awake, I give my felf up to his Direction. Amidst all the Evils that threaten me, I will look up to him for Help, and queftion not but he will either avert them, or turn them to my Advantage. Though I know neither the Time nor the Manner of the Death I am to die, I am not at all folicitous about about it; becaufe I am fure that he knows them both, and that he will not fail to comfort and fupport me under them. C N° 8. Friday, March 9. At Venus obfcuro gradientes aëre fepfit, Virg. Æn. 1. v. 415, They march obfcure, for Venus kindly fhrouds DRYDEN. Shall here communicate to the World a couple of Letters, which I believe will give the Reader as good an Entertainment as any that I am able to furnish him with, and therefore fhall make no Apology for them. SIR, I To the SPECTATOR, &C.. Am one of the Directors of the Society for the Reformation of Manners, and therefore think my ⚫ felf a proper Perfon for your Correfpondence. I have thoroughly examined the prefent State of Religion in Great-Britain, and am able to acquaint you with the predominant Vice of every Market-Town in the whole Ifland. I can tell you the Progrefs that Virtue has ⚫ made in all our Cities, Boroughs, and Corporations; and 6 know as well the evil Practices that are committed in • Berwick or Exeter, as what is done in my own Family.. • In a word, Sir, I have my Correfpondents in the remoteft Parts of the Nation, who fend me up punctual • Accounts from time to time of all the little Irregularities that fall under their Notice in their feveral Diftricts and Divifions. I am no lefs acquainted with the particular Quarters and Regions of this great Town, than with the diffe rent |