endowments of his mind, or the benevolence of his heart.

But in fpeaking thus highly of meditation, I do not with to be confidered as recommending the folitude of the eremite, or the aufterity of the mifanthrope. There is no fituation of life, nor any period of our existence, at which a contemplative mind needs be unemployed. Any ordinary occurrence may fometimes lead our thoughts into an inftructive and delightful train: an inconfiderable ftem frequently fpreads out into the most luxuriant ramifications. It is a mistaken notion, that reflection is incompatible with pleasure it is productive of it; but the pleafure which it begets is not the fudden burit of unmeaning frenzy, but the uniform cheerfulness of a mind which applies the lenitive of philofophy to every pain. I am always very highly pleafed with that beautiful paffage of Addifon, where he fo forcibly delineates this happy turn of mind. "For my own part," fays he, "though I am always ferious, I do not know what it is to be melancholy, and can therefore take a view of nature in her deep and solemn fcenes with the fame pleature as in her mot gay and delightful ones. By this means," he adds, "I can improve myfelf with thofe objects which others confider with terror." As the bow which is always trung lofes its force, to the mind which is always kept on the stretch of thought mult neceflarily be exhautted. Occafional intermiflions are the neceflary relief of nature but we must be mindful to prefcribe proper bounds to our recreations; for the allurements of pleafure are too apt to gain upon our affections. He who devotes himself to fruition, and never employs his talents but in itriking out new ftratagems of voluptuous in dulgence, is always miferable. A certain litleness, which overcafts his mind, robs very gratification of its charms: he reviews the paft day with difguft, and anticipates the morrow with defpair. It is therefore the part of prudence to teinper reflection with recreation, and to relieve the fatigue of the one by the vacancy of the other.

It should be our study to improve every important event which falls within our obfervation, and to imitate the example of the bee, which feeks for honey in every Hower. The mif

VOL. XLII. SEPT. 18026

fortunes of others should teach us pru-dence, our own fhould teach us humility; the prosperity of others should ftimulate our industry, our own should. excite our gratitude. When we fee our friends carried to their graves, we fhould refiect on the vanity of all the honours which ambition can obtain, and all the wealth which avarice can hoard; we fhould remember that que too fhall be foon borne to the fame, common receptacle; and thould en-, quire, how far we have fulfilled the purposes of our existence. When any peculiar difpenfation of Providence roufes us from the ftupor of heedless indifference, and crowds upon our recollection the fins of which we have been guilty, the favours which we have received, and the dithculties, from which we have been extricated, this furvey fhould tend to thame us into virtue, and to encourage our confilence in HIM whofe indulgence and, support we have fo repeatedly and fo, undeservedly experienced

But it too frequently happens, that impreffions of a ferious nature are framped but faintly upon the mind, and are foon obliterated by the deftructive example of the vicious, or effaced by the ravages of time. For this reafon, we ought to encourage their frequent recurrence, and to build upon them fuch ferious refolutions as may convert them to our laiting advantage. Reflection will prove of but little avail, if we fuffer the virtuous emotions which it awakens in our breaits to be dilipated by the firit trivial occurrence that attracts our notice. It is then that it thines forth in all its unclouded luftre, when the beneficial effects of its influence are displayed in our lives. I would therefore with to recommend a habit of reviewing in the evening the incidents of the day, of examining impartially how far our conduct has been praife-worthy, and wherein we might have acted with greater prudence; and of availing ourselves of the deductions of our meditation, whenever any opportunity is offered to us. Thus no day would glide away without teaching us fome leflon, and no leffon would pass by unimproved. This habit would ferve as a faithful compaís to inform us, how far we have proceeded in the courfe of virtue, or how far we have deviated from it. For if we find the

Bb

task

Tell my Lord of Canterbury, that I leave it freelie to him, whether be will com doune or not; for as the jurnie will be most trubelsum, fo I cannot promife anic great comforte any of es will take of this meeting.

likewise desired me not to be too forward in making any fuch difpatches to your Majefty, until I had advifed with my Lord of Canterbury, which I most willingly obeyed, never intending to enter upon a bufinefs of fuch weight without his and the Committe's knowledge; and these confiderations was done by them, which I I now prefent to your Majesty herewith, and this the Lords have propofed meerly as an advice upon that which Mr. Se cretary Vane fignified in his letters, that your Majefty expect ed an advise from my Lords, even what was fit to be done in this exigence; and the Committe - not (though, for my part, I with the bufinets had gon no farther, until we had more particularly understood your Ma jetty's Senfe of it and Commandments) but, when they came to the Councile, which likewife met this Afternoon, after I had given Account of Mr. Secretary Vane's dispatches, and that your Majefty expected Advice from them, this Calling of the Peers was proposed, and put to Votes, and it was unanimously voted by the whole Board, to be offered to your Majefty, as their humble Send me Word who Advice, faveing thofe Lords were. that fome of the Lords did joyn with it the Calling of a Parliament fodainly; but this laft, if it were practi. cable, what prefent Remedy it could give to your Majesty's Affairs, now the Enemy is at our Gate, I do not yet understand: However, I am commanded by the Lords moit humbly to pre. fent and fubmit this Calling of the Peers to your Majefty, as their Opinion only; with this, that, at this Diftance, they are in the Dark, and find no Grounds, by any Advertisement that comes from thence, upon what they can fettle a Councill in fo important a Bufiness.

The Lords have thought fit to fend Mr. Nicholas to attend your Majelty on this Bufinefs; fo he hath the Extracts of Mr. Twr. Letters,

I have fent back your Confiderations anfavered by Apoftyle.

upon which this Advice of theirs is taken and founded; and likewife the Confiderations of the Committe, now likewife fent by this Bearer, that your Majefty may be fo much the better prepared to difpatch Mr. Nicholas away back again, when he fhall arrive there, which will be more flowly much than this Bearer, who promises to use great Diligence.

The Lord Maior and Aldermen were likewife at the Board this Afternoon, and the Earl Marsha! delivered them your Majefty's Commiffion of Lieutenancy, letting them know the Trut you repofe in them; and, as the greateft argument thereof, that the Queen and your Royal Children are, by your Majesty's Appointment, to refide here.

The Earl Marshal further acquainted them with the prefent Danger, and made them fo fenfible of it, that they promised to be ready to affift your Majefty with all their force upon any warning, to which purpofe they defire pow

This was meft unadvyfedly done: there fore by anie means ftay the giveing of them Powder npon fome handsome pretence or other, as likewife the increase of their men.

der, which the Lords have thought fit to grant them; and they defired to encrease the number of their Trayned Bands. The Lords gave them a latitude to raise them in as great a number as they could or would.

The Lords of the Committee have likewife commanded me to represent to your Majesty that the Lieutenant of the Tower is obferved to be difcontented fince the

If I can find an Oc- Lord Constable's cafion, I will. being there; and therefore, if your Majefty could hand fomely call him from thence, and put him in fome employment in your army, they are of opinion it would much contribute to your Majefty's fervices.

The rl Marshal, and the Lord Cott. are to go Tomorrow to view a place on the other fide of the river, right over against the Lymehouse, which may be made a fit magazine for the powder, it lying very dangerously now where it is; and, in the mean time, a good proportion of it may be fent to Portimouth, if your Majesty pleafes.

The Lord Cott. hath made a provifion of 2000 pair of shoes, 1000 of Bb 2 which

which are delivered to the carrier of York, and the other fhall be fent immediately.

All that your Majefty, by your Letters or otherwife, hath given in Charge to the Lord Conftables, concerning the fortifying and repairing of the Tower, is in Hands. Sir William Uvedale goes from hence Tomorrow with 15cool. and if he could have stayed three or four Days longer, he might have had 3cm 1. more, which fhall be fent with all the speed that may be. I have received my difpatch back again, apo styled, of the 28th of Auguft, and

likewife your Majefty's Letter of the 31ft, by Mr. Walker of Carlisle, for both which your Majefty may pleafs to accept my most humble Thanks, and withal to pardon, the Length of thefe. With all Humility I crave Leave to reft,

Your Majefty's most humble,

Subject and Servant, FRANCIS WINDIBANK. Drury Lane, Wednesday Night 2d of September. 1640. Returned, apollyled, by the King, dated York, 4 Sept.

TH 'HE difadvantages of Timidity, or what the French call Mauvaise bonte, or Falfe Shame, are fo numerous and pitiable, that we cannot wonder at the great pains which perfons of the higher ranks of fociety take to diveft their fashionable offspring of fo trouble. fome a companion; and when the being perfectly at eafe means that happy point only which prefents a man to the beft advantage, unfullied by pride, affectation, or impudence, it is the perfection of good breeding, and constitutes the gentleman.

The following letter, received only a few days fince from a correfpondent who labours under the unhappy malady above-mentioned, defcribes the fymptoms and character of the difeafe fo faithfully, that no patient can be at a lofs to difcover whether he is actually affected with the complaint.

SIR,

Having read with much attention, in the European Magazine, your Eflays on the Morals and Manners of the prefent age, I am encouraged to afk your opinion and advice on my peculiar cafe, which falls under the latter head, that is, of " Manners," being, you must know, very much afraid that I am extremely defective in that necef fary article of life, owing, as I imagine, to a complaint that, when it comes on me, prevents the exercife of my functions, whether vital, natural, or animal, for the time it laits; that hangs

GENTLE MASTER SLENDER.

about me worse than the jacket of Dejanira did about Hercules, or the little Old Man that clung to the shoulders of Sindbad the Sailor in the Arabian Nights Entertainments. This diforder generally attacks me when I go out of doors, or into company; it tops my mouth, feizes hold of my limbs, fixes my eyes, and paralizes the functions of my mind and body, till I become nearly as inanimate as a stock or a tone. If I be furrounded by a party in the Park, or in the ftreet, 1 look for all the world like the statue ;

of King James in Privy Gardens if I be feated in a chair in company, I am as immoveable as Banquo's Gholt; and when I dine abroad, it totally deprives me of appetite. Yet, extraordinary as it may appear, I am perfectly well and in fpirits when I am at home, can talk to inyfelf by the hour together, and stalk about the room with vaft importance. But that you may be the better able to understand the nature of my complaint, I will make you in fome measure acquainted with my conftitution and habits of living from my infancy, from which you may probably determine whether the difeafe be hereditary, confirmed, or incurable, or whether it may be possible to restore the tone of my manners, to create in me an appetite for being genteel, or to electrify me with the parks of vivacity and good-breeding. Now, Sir, you must, in-the first place, be informed, that my father, Mr. Barnaby

Bashful

much more liberal, I affure ye, than that of my friend Bob Bluiter, the upholsterer's fon next door, of whom I hall have occation to fpeak hereafter. Befide thefe acquirements, I had a good voice, and learned to play a little on the piano-forte. But, to shorten my narrative, I fhall end the days of my poor mother, who died of a decline when I was only twenty five, and I was thrown, at that tender age, upon the wide world. My inheritance was not fufficient without fome help, and I had to look out for a bulineis; that of my father, a haberdasher, I knew nothing of, fo that I was utterly at a lofs how to apply to advantage the little capital I poffeffed. At last, my old play-fellow Bob Blutter, who, being a next-door-neighbour's child, had been permitted fometimes to come in to fee me, arrived from abroad, and had been made a Captain. Luckily, he paid me uncommon attention; his father had also been dead fome years, and Bob fpent his money freely, and kept the beft company; though I confels I am at a lofs why he should have picked me out, having none of his qualifications to recommend me. Bob advifed me by all means to fet up wine merchant, and pointed but the profpect he had of ferving me in that line, from his connexions. But, as it happened, nothing could be more illjudged, as you will perceive when I recount the numerous fcrapes and difficulties in which it involved me. However, I laid in the pipes and hogfheads, which I did from the recommendation of my cellar-mar; for, as you muit know I had never drank any thing with my mother but goofeberry wine, it was natural to conjecture that I could be no great judge of port or therry: but that did not much inatter; my talte would improve in time; and I difplayed va. rious famples on the mantle-ihelf in the compting-house of the most curious brandies and shrubs; my binns in the cellar were well filled with empty bottles; and the cooper took care to find calks: thus I had a great stock, as is the way with us in the City. Bob had promifed tɔ in roduce me into the upper circles, as an opulent merchant well known on 'Change, and one day actually took me under his aim to Colonel Gaylife's houfe, in Grofvenor-treet, where he wifhed me to make my debut, as he called it. I was quite elated at the approaching

Bathful the elder, was a Citizen; but, though you may be inclined to thake your head on that account, yet you will pleafe to recollect that many of our young City blades, to ufe an expreffion that I heard the other day, and had kindly explained to me, are perfectly au fait, or up to what they ought to do in company; and therefore I am not the more incurable on that account. I was my mother's tavourite, and must admit that her regime and courte of education were ill calculated to form me agreeably to the manners of the world. My father died when I was only ten years of age, and left my mother with a little independence. The first thing he did was to take me, out of her parental tendernefs, from school before I knew my Latin, being, as the used to fay, a very delicate child, and not fit to buffet with the boys at a public feminary. I fhall never forget how the ufed to cuddle me up from the cold of a night, and carefully tie a handkerchief round my neck when I went out in the air. "Poor dear! 'tis fo tender !" was her conitant expreflion when the was fhielding me from the froit of a fine winter's morning, or covering me up from a gentle hower of rain in the midit of fummer. I never was fuffered to go any where without her, and the feldom went out, unless to take a cup of tea with Aunt Dorothy on a Sui day. The boys in the neighbourhood ufed to call me Molly Bathful, and, though I had not much inclination to fight, I believe that I should have done it once if my mother had not got hold of my arm, and infilted on my not making myfelf a blackguard. But though I might fuffer a great deal from thefe indulgencies, yet my fitua tion was attended with fome advantages; I had an extenfive library to refort to; my mother was poffeffed of a Book of Martyre, Salmon's Geography, and Pilgrim's Progrefs, and my father had left behind the great object of his ftudies when he retired on a Sunday to his villa at Kentish Town, a large Encyclopedia, or Dictionary of Arts and Sciences; but he poor man had only lived to get to H; and on all matters beyond that his understanding was altogether circumioribed; but he left me to go through the alphabet, which I did with aftonishing diligence. Such was my courfe of education, which embraced the whole circle of fcience;

event,