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He treated her in the bower which he had planted amidst the wood of nightingales. This wood was made up of fuch fruit-trees and plants as are most agreeable to the feveral kinds of finging-birds; fo that it had drawn into it all the mufic of the country, and was filled from one end of the year to the other with the most agreeable concert in feafon.

He fhewed her every day fome beautiful and furprising scene in this new region of woodlands; and, as by this means he had all the opportunities he could wish for of opening his mind to her, he fucceeded fo well, that upon her departure the made him a kind of promife, and gave him her word to return to him a pofitive anfwer in less than fifty years.

She had not been long among her own people in the vallies, when the received new overtures, and at the fame time a most splendid vifit, from Mifhpach, who was a mighty man of old, and had built a great city, which he called after his own name. Every houfe was made for at leaft a thousand years, nay, there were fome that were leafed out for three lives; fo that the quantity of ftone and timber confumed in this building is fcarce to be imagined by those who live in the present age of the world. This great man entertained her with the voice of mufical inftruments which had been lately invented, and danced before her to the found of the timbrel. He alfo prefented her with feveral domeftic utenfils wrought in brafs and iron, which had been newly found out for the conveniency

of

of life. In the mean time Shalum grew very uneafy with himself, and was forely displeased. at Hilpa for the reception which the had given to Mithpach, infomuch that he never wrote to her or fpoke of her during a whole revolution. of Saturn; but, finding that this intercourfe went no further than a vifit, he again renewed his addreffes to her; who, during his long filence, is faid very often to have caft a wishing eye upon Mount Tirzah.

Her mind continued wavering about twenty years longer between Shalum and Mishpach; for though her inclinations favoured the farmer, her intereft pleaded very powerfully for the other. While her heart was in this unfettled condition, the following accident happened, which determined her choice. A high tower of wood that flood in the city of Mishpach having caught fire by a flash of lightning, in a few days reduced the whole town to afhes. Mifhpach refolved to rebuild the place whatever it hould coft him; and, having already destroyed all the timber of the country, he was forced to have recourfe to Shalum, whofe forefts were now two hundred years old. He purchated these woods with fo many herds of cattle and flocks of fheep, and with fuch a vast extent of fields and paftures, that Shalum was now grown more wealthy than Mifhpach; and therefore appeared fo charming in the eyes of Zilpah's daughter, that the no longer refufed him in marriage. On the day in which he brought her up into the mountains he raised a most prodigious

digious pile of cedar, and of every fweet finelling wood, which reached above three hundred cubits in height; he alfo caft into the pile bundles of myrrh and fheaves of spikenard, enriching it with every fpicy fhrub, and making it fat with the gums of his plantations. This was the burnt-offering which Shalum offered in the day of his efpoufals: the smoke of it afcended up to Heaven, and filled the whole country with incenfe and perfume.

No 586. Friday, August 27, 1714.

*

Qua in vita ufurpant homines, cogitant, curant, vident, quæque agunt vigilantes, agitantque, ea cuique in fomno accidunt. Cic. de Div.

The things which employ mens waking thoughts and actions recur to their imaginations in fleep.'

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Better, which is built upon a thought that

is new, and very well carried on; for which reafons I fhall give it to the public without alteration, addition, or amendment.

• SIR,

IT

T was a good piece of advice which Pythagoras gave to his fcholars-that every night before they flept they fhould examine

VOL. VIII.

* By ADDISON.

M

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what they had been doing that day, and so difcover what actions were worthy of pur'fuit to-morrow, and what little vices were to be prevented from flipping unawares into a habit. If I might fecond the philofopher's advice, it fhould be mine, that, in a morning before my fcholar rofe, he should confider 'what he had been about that night, and with the fame ftrictnefs as if the condition he has • believed himself to be in was real. Such a fcrutiny into the actions of his fancy must be of confiderable advantage; for this reafon, because the circumftances which a man imagines • himself in during fleep are generally fuch as entirely favour his inclinations, good or bad, and give him imaginary opportunities of purfuing them to the utmoft; fo that his temper will lie fairly open to his view, while he confiders how it is moved when free from those constraints which the accidents of real life put it under. Dreams are certainly the refult of our waking thoughts, and our daily hopes and fears are what give the mind fuch. nimble relishes of pleafure, and fuch fevere touches of pain, in its midnight rambles. A man that murders his enemy, or deferts his friend in a dream, had need to guard his temper against revenge and ingratitude, and take heed that he be not tempted to do a vile thing in the pursuit of falfe or the neglect of true honour. For my part, I feldom receive a benefit, but in a night or two's ⚫ time I make moft noble returns for it; which, though

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though my benefactor is not a whit the better for, yet it pleafes me to think that it was from a principle of gratitude in me that my mind was fufceptible of fuch generous tranfport, while I thought myself repaying the 'kindness of my friend: and I have often been ready to beg pardon, instead of returning an injury, after confidering that when the offender was in my power I had carried my refentments much too far.

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I think it has been obferved, in the courfe ' of your Papers, how much one's happiness or mifery may depend upon the imagination: of which truth thofe ftrange workings of fancy in fleep are no inconfiderable inftances; fo that not only the advantage a man has of making discoveries of himself, but a regard to his own cafe or difquiet, may induce him to accept of my advice. Such as are willing to comply with it, I fhall put into a way of doing it with pleasure, by obferving only one maxim which I fhall give them, viz.

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go to bed with a mind entirely free from paffion, and a body clear of the least intemperance.'

They, indeed, who can fink into fleep with their thoughts lefs calm or innocent than they fhould be, do but plunge themfelves into fcenes of guilt and mifery; or they who are willing to purchase any midnight difquietudes for the fatisfaction of a full meal, or a skin'full of wine; these I have nothing to fay to,

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