Charles Careless shot flying by a girl of fifteen,
who unexpectedly popped her head upon him out of
a coach.

Josiah Wither, aged threescore and three, sent
to his long home by Elizabeth Jetwell, spinster.

Jack Freelove, murdered by Melissa in her hair.

William Wiseacre, gent. drowned in a flood of
tears by Moll Common.

John Pleadwell, esq. of the Middle Temple,
barrister at law, assassinated in his chambers the
6th inst. by Kitty Sly, who pretended to come to
him for his advice.

I.

N° 378. WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 1712.

Aggredere, O magnos! aderit jam tempus honores.

VIRG. Ecl. iv.43.
Mature in years, to ready honours move.

DRYDEN.

I will make no apology for entertaining the reader
with the following poem, which is written by a
great genius, a friend of mine* in the country, who
is not ashamed to employ his wit in the praise of
his Maker.

MESSIAH:

A SACRED ECLOGUE,
Composed of several passages of Isaiah the Prophet:

Written in Imitation of Virgils Pollio.
Ye nymphs of Solyma ! begin the song :
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong
The mossy fountains, and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus, and tho Aonian maids,

Pope. See No.534.

fail;

Delight no more-0 Thou my voice inspire,
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire !

Rapt into future times, the bard began,
A virgin shall conceive, a virgin bear a son!
From Jesse's root behold a branch arise, Isa. xi. 4.
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies:
Th’æthereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic Dove.
Ye heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour, xlv. 8.
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower!
The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid, xxv. 1.
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.
All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall
Returning Justice lift aloft her scale ;

ix. 7. Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend, And white-rob'd Innocence from heaven de

scend. Swift fly the years,and rise the expected morn! Oh spring to light auspicious Babe, be born! xxxv. 2. See Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring, With all the incense of the breathing spring : Şec lofty Lebanon his head advance, See nodding forests on the mountains dance; See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise, And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies ! Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers ; xi. 3, 4. } Prepare the way! a God, a God appears : A God ! a God! the vocal hills reply, The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity. Lo earth receives him from the bending skies ! Sink down, ye mountains; and ye valleys, rise! With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay ; Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way! The SAVIOUR comes! by ancient bards foretold! Hear him, ye deaf; and all ye blind, behold! xlii. 18. He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, xxxv.5,6 . And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day. 'Tis He th’obstructed paths of sound shall clear, And bid pew music charm th' unfolding ear : The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego, And leap exulting like the bounding roe; No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear, From every face he wipes off every tear;

8. In adamantine chains shall death be bound, And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound. xl, 11,

VOL. XI.

XXV.

II H Η

As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pastures and the purest air,
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs,
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects,
The tender lamb he raises in his arms,
Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms;

Mankind shall thus his guardian care engage, Isa, ix.6. The promis'd Father of the future age. ii. 4. No more shall nation against nation rise,

Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more :
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,

And the broad falchion in a plough-share end. Ixv.21,22. Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son

Shall finish what the short-liv'd sire begun;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the same hand that sow'd shall reap the

field.
xxxv.1.7.The swain in barren deserts with surprise

Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise,
And starts amidst the "sty wilds to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear:
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,

The green reed trembles, and the bulrushľnods. xli.19.and Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn, lv. 13. The spiry fir and shapely box adorn :

To leafless shrubs the flowering palms succeed,

And od'rous myrtle to the noisome weed. xii. 6,7,8. The lambs with wolves shall grace the verdant

mead,
And boys in flowery bands the tyger lead;
The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet:
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested basilisk and speckled snake-
Pleas'd the green lustre of the scales survey,
And with their forked tongue and pointless

sting shall play. Ix. 1. Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise !

Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes ! Ix. 4. See a long race thy spacious courts adorn!

See future sons and daughters yet unborn
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!

1

N° 379.
SPECTATOR.

351
See harb'rous nations at thy gates attend, Isa. lx. 3.
Walk in thy light, and in thy temple bend !
See thy bright altars throng'd with prostrate

kings,
And heap'd with products of Sabæan springs ! 1x. 6.
For thee Idume's spicy forests blow,

ix.
And seeds of gold in Ophir's mountains glow.
See heav'n its sparkling portals wide display,
And break upon thee with a flood of day!
No more the rising sun shall gild the morn, 1x. 19, 20.
Nor evening Cynthia fill her silver horn, li. 6.
But lost, dissolv'd in thy superior rays,
One tide of glory, one unclouded blaze
O’erflow thy courts : the Light HIMSELF shall

shine
Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine!
The seas shall waste,'the skies in smoke decay, 1. 6. and
Rocks fall to dust, and mountains melt away ; liv. 10.
But fix'd His word, His saving power remains;
Thy realm for ever lasts, thy own Messiah reigns.

T.

1

1

N° 379. THURSDAY, MAY 15, 1712.

orn: almse е на ce the

iger les all met ilgrimi all take d snake ales sur and pain

Scire tuum nihil est, nisi te scire hoc sciat alter.

Pers. Sat. i. 27.
-Science is not science till reveal'd.

DRYDEN.
I have often wondered at that ill-natured posi-
tion which has been sometimes maintained in the
schools, and is comprised in an old Latin verse,
namely, that “ A man's knowledge is worth nothing
if he communicates what he knows to any one be-
sides. There is certainly no more sensible plea-
ture to a good-natured man, than if he can by any
means gratify or inform the mind of another. I
might add, that this virtue naturally carries its

own reward along with it, since it is almost impossible it should be exercised without the improvement of the person who practises it. The reading of books, and the daily occurrences of life, are continually furnishing us with matter for thought and reflection. It is extremely natural for us to desire to see such our thoughts put in the dress of words, without which, indeed, we can scarce have a clear and distinct idea of them ourselves. When they are thus clothed in expressions, nothing so truly shews us whether they are just or false, as those effects which they produce in the minds of others.

I am apt to flatter myself, that, in the course of these my speculations, I have treated of several subjects, and laid down many such rules for the conduct of a man's life, which my readers were either wholly ignorant of before, or which at least those few who were acquainted with them looked upon as so many secrets they have found out for the conduct of themselves, but were resolved never to have made public.

I am the more confirmed in this opinion from my having received several letters, wherein I am censured for having prostituted Learning to the embraces of the vulgar, and made her, as one of my correspondents phrases it, a common strumpet. I am charged by another with laying open the arcana or secrets of prudence to the eyes of

every reader.

The narrow spirit which appears in the letters of these my correspondents is the less surprising, as it has shewn itself in all ages: there is still extant an epistle written by Alexander the Great to his tutor Aristotle, upon that philosopher's publishing some part of his writings; in which the prince complains of his having made known to all the world those