273 • fublimeft Poetry, foftned in the most moving Strains ⚫ of Mufick, can ever fail of humbling or exalting the Soul to any Pitch of Devotion. Who can hear the • Terrors of the Lord of Hofts defcribed in the most expreffive Melody without being awed into a Veneration? or who can hear the kind and endearing At< tributes of a merciful Father, and not be foftned in6 to Love towards him!

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AS the rifing and finking of the Paffions, the cafting foft or noble Hints into the Soul, is the natural Privilege of Mufick in general, fo more particu larly of that kind which is employed at the Altar. Thofe Impreffions which it leaves upon the Spirits are more deep and lafting as the Grounds from which 'it receives its Authority are founded more upon Reafon. It diffufes a Calmnefs all around us, it makes us drop all those vain or immodest Thoughts which 'would be an hindrance to us in the Performance of that great Duty of Thanksgiving, which, as we are informed by our Almighty Benefactor, is the most acceptable Return which can be made for those infi'nite Stores of Bleffings which he daily condefcends " to pour down upon his Creatures. When we make Ufe of this pathetical Method of addi effing our felves to him, we can fcarce contain fiom Raptures! The 'Heart is warmed with a Sublimity of Goodneis! We are all Piety and all Love!

HOW do the Bleffed Spirits rejoice and wonder to behold unthinking Man proftrating his Soul to his ⚫ dread Sovereign in fuch a Warmth of Pley as they themselves might not be afhamed of!

I fhall clofe thefe Reflections with a Paffage taken out of the Third Book of Milton's Paralife Loft, where those harmonious Beings are thus nobly de<fcribed.

Then Crown'd again their Gold'n Harps they took,
Harps ever tun'd, that littering by their fue
Like Quivers bing, and with Preamble fweet
of Charming Symphony they introduce
VOL, VIII.

N

The

The Sacred Song, and waken Raptures high;
No one exempt, no Voice but well could join
Melodious part, fuch Concord is in Heav'n.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

6TH HE Town cannot be unacquainted, that in divers Parts of it there are vociferous Setts of • Men who are called Rattling Clubs; but what fhocks me moft is, they have now the Front to invade the • Church and inftitute thefe Societies there, as a Clan of them have in late times done, to fuch a degree of Infolence, as has given the Partition where they refide in a Church near one of the City Gates, the • Denomination of the Rattling Pew. Thefe gay Fel• lows, from humble Lay Profeffions, fet up for Criticks without any Tincture of Letters or Reading, ⚫ and have the Vanity to think they can lay hold of fomething from the Parfon, which may be formed

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into Ridicule.

• IT is needless to obferve, that the Gentlemen who every Sunday have the hard Province of Inftructing thefe Wretches in a way they are in no prefent Difpofition to take, have a fixt Character for Learning and Eloquence, not to be tainted by the weak Efforts of this Contemptible Part of their Audiences. Whether the Pulpit is taken by thefe Gentlemen, or any Strangers their Friends, the way of the Club is this: If any Sentiments are delivered too Sublime for their Conception; if any uncommon Topick is entred on, or one in ufe new modified with the finest Judgment ⚫ and Dexterity; or any controverted Point be never • fo elegantly handled; in fhort, whatever furpaffes the narrow Limits of their Theology, or is not fuited to their Tafte, they are all immediately upon their Watch, fixing their Eyes upon each other, with as much Warmth as our Gladiators of Hockley in the Hole, and waiting like them for a Hit; if one touches, all take Fire, and their Noddles inftantly meet in the Centre of the Pew; then, as by beat of Drum, with exact Discipline, they rear up into a full length of Stature, and with odd Looks and Gefticulations confer toge• ther

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ther in fo loud and clamorous a manner, continued to the clofe of the Difcourfe, and during the AfterPfalm, as is not to be filenced but by the Bells. Nor • does this fuffice them, without aiming to propagate their Noife through all the Church, by Signals given to the adjoining Seats, where others defigned for this Fraternity are fometimes placed upon Tryal to re'ceive them.

THE Folly as well as Rudeness of this Practice is in nothing more confpicuous than this, that all ⚫ that follows in the Sermon is loft; for whenever our Sparks take alarm, they blaze out and grow fo Tu• multuous that no After-Explanation can avail, it being impoffible for themfelves or any near them to give an Account thereof. If any thing really Novel is advanced, how averfe foever it may be to their C way of thinking, to fay nothing of Duty, Men of lefs Levity than thefe would be led by a natural Curiofity to hear the whole.

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

I fhall not here enter upon the Veneration due to the Sanctity of the Place, the Reverence owing the Minifter, or the Refpect that fo great an Affembly as a whole Parish may juftly claim. I fhall only tell them, that, as the Spanish Cobler, to reclaim a profligate Son, bid him have fome regard to the Dignity of his Family, fo they as Gentlemen (for we Citízens affume to be fuch one Day in a Week,) are bound for the future to repent of, and abstain from the grofs Abufes here mentioned, whereof thay • have

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have been Guilty in Contempt of Heaven and Earth, and contrary to the Laws in this Cafe made and ⚫ provided.

Had occafion to go a few Miles out of Town, fome

I Days

my Fellow-Travellers a dirty Beau, and a pretty young Quaker-Woman. Having no Inclination to Taik much at that time, I placed my felf backward, with a defign to furvey them, and pick a Speculation out of my two Companions. Their different Figures were fufficient of themselves to draw my Attention. The Gentleman was dreffed in a Suit, the Ground whereof had been Black, as I perceived from fome few Spaces, that had escaped the Powder, which was Incorporated with the greateft part of his Coat: His Periwig, which coft no fmall Snm, was after fo Slovenly a manner caft over his Shoulders, that it feemed not to have been combed fince the Year 1712; his Linnen, which was not much concealed, was chuted with plain Spanish from the Chin to the lowet Button, and the Diamond upon his Finger (which naturally dreaded the Water) put me in mind how it fparkled amidst the Rubbi of the Mine, where it was £ift difcovered. On the other hand, the pretty Quaker appeared in all the Elegance of Cleanliness. Not 2 Speck was to be found upon her. A clear clean

oval

oval Face, juft edged about with little thin Plaits of the pureft Cambrick, received great Advantages from the Shade of her black Hood; as did the Whiteness of her Arms from that fober coloured Stuff, in which fhe had Cloathed her felf. The Plainnefs of her Dress was very well fuited to the Simplicity of her Phrases; all which put together, though they could not give me a great Opinion of her Religion, they did of her. Innocence.

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

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

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

I might obferve farther, that as Cleanliness renders us agreeable to others, fo it makes us cafie to our felves; that it is an excellent Prefervative of Health; and that feveral Vices, deftructive both to Mind and