N° 65. fations, and fprean the infectious Villany through the • Nation, while the leffer Rogues, that rob for Hunger or Nakedness, are facrificed by the blind, and, in this ← Respect, partial and defective, Law. Could you open Men's Eyes against the Occafion of all this, the great Corrupter of our Manners and Morality, the Author of more Bankrupts than the War, and * fure Bane of all Industry, Frugality, and good Na. ture; in a Word, of all Virtues; I mean publick or • private Play at Cards or Dice: How willingly would I contribute my Utmoft, and poffibly fend you fome • Memoirs of the Lives and Politicks of fome of the Fraternity of great Figure, that might be of Ufe to you in fetting this in a clear Light against next Seffi. on; that all who care for their Country or Pofterity, • and see the pernicious Effects of fuch a publick Vice, may endeavour its Deftruction by fome effectual Laws. In Concurrence to this good Defign, I re⚫ main,

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Bath, August 30. Mr. Bickerstaff,

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-Your Humble Servant, &c; Friday Sept. 2.. HEARTILY join with you in your laudable Defign against the Myrmidons as well as your late Infinuations against Coxcombs of Fire; and Í take this Opportunity to congratulate you on the Succefs of your Labours, which I obferved Yefterday in one of the hottest Fire-men in Town; who not affects a foft Smile, but was feen to be twice contradicted, without fhewing any Sign of Impatience. Thefe, I fay, fo happy Beginnings promife fair, and on this Account I rejoice you have undertaken to un'kennel the Curs; a Work of fuch Ufe, that I admire it fo long escaped your Vigilance; and exhort you, by the Concern you have for the good People of Eng land, to purfue your Defign; and that thefe Vermin may not flatter themselves that they pafs undiscovered, I defire you'd acquaint Jack Haughty, that the whole Secret of his bubbling his Friend with the Swiss at the Thatch'd House is well known, as alfo his Sweet

Will's Coffee-houfe, September 9.

HE Subject of the Difcourfe this Evening was Eloquence and graceful Action. Lyfander, who is fomething particular in his Way of Thinking and Speaking, told us, a Man could not be Eloquent without Action: For the Deportment of the Body, the Turn of the Eye, and an apt Sound to every Word that is uttered, muft all confpire to make an accomplish'd Speaker. Action in one that fpeaks in publick, is the fame Thing as good Mien in ordinary Life. Thus, as a certain Infenfibility in the Countenance recommends a Sentence of Humour and Jeft, fo it must be a very lively Confcioufnefs that gives Grace to great Sentiments. The Jeft is to be a Thing unexpected; therefore your undefigning Manner is a Beauty in Expreffions of Mirth; but when you are to talk on a fet Subject, the more you are moved your felf, the more you will move others.

THERE is, faid he, a remarkable Example of that Kind. Efchines, a famous Orator of Antiquity, had pleaded at Athens in a great Cause against Demosthenes; but having loft it, retired to Rhodes. Eloquence was then the Quality moft admired among Men; and the Magiftrates of that Place having heard he had a Copy of the Speech of Demofthenes, defired him to repeat both their Pleadings. After his own, he recited alfo the Oration of his Antagonist. The People expreffed their Admiration of both, but more of that of Demof thenes. If you are, faid he, thus touched with hearing only what that great Orator faid, How would you have been affected had you feen him fpeak? For he who hears Demofthenes only, loofes much the better Part of the Oration,

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N⚫ 66. Oration. Certain it is, that they who fpeak gracefully, are very lamely reprefented in having their Speeches read or repeated by unskilful People; for there is fome. thing native to each Man, fo inherent to his Thoughts and Sentiments, which it is hardly poffible for another to give a true Idea of. You may obferve in common Talk, when a Sentence of any Man's is repeated, an Acquaintance of his fhall immediately obferve, That is fe like him, methinks I fee how he look'd when he faid it.

BUT of all the People on the Earth, there are none who puzzle me fo much as the Clergy of Great Britain, who are, I believe, the most learned Body of Men now in the World; and yet this Art of Speaking, with the proper Ornaments of Voice and Gesture, is wholly neglected among them; and I'll engage, were a deaf Man to behold the greater Part of them preach, he would rather think they were reading the Contents only of fome Difcourfe they intended to make, than actually in the Body of an Oration, even when they are upon Matters of fuch a Nature as one would believe it were impoffible to think of without Emotion.

I own there are Exceptions to this general Obfervation, and that the Dean we heard the other Day toge ther, is an Orator, He has fo much Regard to his Congregation, that he commits to his Memory what he is to fay to them; and has fo foft and graceful a Behaviour, that it must attract your Attention. His Perfon, it is to be confefs'd, is no fmall Recommendation; but he is to be highly commended for not lofing thatAdvantage, and adding to the Propriety of Speech (which must pass the Criticifm of Longinus) an Action which would have been approved by Demofthenes. He has a peculiar Force in his Way, and has many of his Audience who could not be intelligent Hearers of his Difcourfe, were there not Explanation as well as Grace in his Action. This Art of his is ufed with the most exact and honest Skill: He never attempts your Paffions, till he has convinced your Reafon. All the Objections which he can form, are laid open and difperfed, before he uses the leaft Vehemence in his Sermon; but when he thinks he has your Head, he very foon wins your Heart; and never

pretends to fhew the Beauty of Holiness, till he hath convinced you of the Truth of it.

WOULD every one of our Clergymen be thus careful to commend Truth and Virtue in their proper Fi gures, and fhew fo much Concern for them as to give them all the additional Force they were able, it is not poffible that Nonfenfe fhould have fo many Hearers as you find it has in Diffenting Congregations, for no Reafon in the World, but because it is fpoken Extempore: For ordinary Minds are wholly govern'd by their Eyes and Ears, and there is no Way to come at their Hearts › but by Power over their Imaginations.

THERE is my Friend and merry Companion Daniel: He knows a great deal better than he speaks, and can form a proper Difcourfe as well as any Orthodox Neighbour. But he knows very well, that to bawl out, My Beloved; and the Words, Grace! Regeneration! Sancti fication! A New Light! The Day! The Day! Ay, my Beloved, the Day! Or rather, The Night! The Night is coming! And Judgment will come, when we leaft think of it! And fo forth He knows, to be vehe- ment is the only Way to come at his Audience. Daniel, when he fees my Friend Greenbat come in, can give him a good Hint, and cry out, This is only for the Saints! The Regenerated! By this Force of Action, though mixed with all the Incoherence and Ribaldry imagina ble, Daniel can laugh at his Diocefan, and grow fat by voluntary Subfcription, while the Parfon of the Parifi goes to Law for half his Dues. Daniel will tell you, It is not the Shepherd, but the Sheep with the Bell, which the Flock follows.

ANOTHER Thing, very wonderful this learned Body fhould omit, is, Learning to read, which is a moft neceffary Part of Eloquence in one who is to ferve at the Altar: For there is no Man but must be fenfible, that the lazy Tone, and inarticulate Sound of our common Readers, depreciates the most proper Form of Words that were ever extant in any Nation or Language, to fpeak our own Wants, or his Power from whom we ask Relief,

THERE cannot be a greater Inftance of the Power of Actionthan in little Parfon Dapper, who is the com

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mon Relief to all the lazy Pulpits in Town. This smart Youth has a very good Memory, a quick Eye, and a clean Handkerchief. Thus equipped, he opens hisText, huts his Book fairly, fhews he has no Notes in his Bible, opens both Palms, and fhews all is fair there too. Thus, with a decifive Air, my young Man goes on without Hefitation; and though from the Beginning to the End of his pretty Difcourfe, he has not ufed one proper Gefture, yet at the Conclufion, the Church-warden pulls his Gloves from off his Head; Pray, who is this extraordinary young Man? Thus the Force of Action is fuch, that it is more prevalent, even when improper, than all the Reafon and Argument in the World without it. This Gentleman concluded his Difcourfe by saying, I do not doubt, but if our Preachers would learn to fpeak, and our Readers to read, within Six Months Time we should not have a Diffenter within a Mile of a Church in Great Britain.

From my own Apartment, September 9.

I have a Letter from a young Fellow who complains to me, that he was bred a Mercer, and is now juft out of his Time, but unfortunately (for he has no Manner of Education fuitable to his prefent Eftate) an Uncle has left him 1000l. per Annum. The young Man is fenfible, that he is fo fpruce, that he fears he fhall never be genteel as long as he lives, but applies himself to me, to know what Method to take to help his Air, and beat fine Gentleman.

HE fays, That feveral of thofe Ladies who were: formerly his Cuftomers, vifits his Mother on Purpose to fall in his Way, and fears he shall be obliged to marry againft his Will; for (fays he) if any one of them fhould ask me, I shall not be able to deny her.. I am (fays he further) utterly at a Lofs how to deal with them; for though I was the most pert Creature in the World when I was Foreman, and could hand a 'Woman of the first Quality to her Coach as well as her own Gentleman-Ufher, I am now quite out of my Way, and fpeechlefs in their Company. They commend my Modefty to my Face. No one fcruples to fay, I fhould certainly make the beft Husband in the World, a Man of my fober Education..

Mrs