they practical Enemies to Natural Religion. But I am rather induced to believe, chat the modern Free thinkers are Atheists as well as Deifts, fince they perform no religious Duties at all. A I feems to me very abfurd, that Men fhould now-a-days pay fuch Compliments to their own Reafon, as to affirm it to be a fufficient Guide in Matters of Religion; when Perfons (perhaps of as good natural Parts as those who thus glory in their Reafon) are daily feen to proftrate themfelves to Idols. I am certain, no Free- B thinker ever, by his great Penetration, yet difcovered, that paying Homage to any but God is true Religion, or agreeable to right Reafon. Every Man, who is perfwaded there is a Gon, and is defirous of worshipping Him acceptably, will worfhip Him according to that Method, which he has all the Reafon in the World to C believe God hath prefcribed; much rather than any that the Glimmerings of his own Reason fhall dictate. Light is come into the World, and this is their Condemnation, they defpife it. BIRMINGHAM. Town. It will be needlefs to point out her Merits and Perfections: In general I may fay, that her Piety, her good Nature, her Sincerity, and her Affability, were remarkable even to a Proverb in the Market where the lived. As many went to fee the Wife as to hear the Husband. She fmiled upon them all, and generally faid fomething in Praife of the Orator and his Learning. She always had a Hand in his most elaborate Difcourfes : And thofe Orations which appear to have the moft Fire, and to be leait intelligible to vulgar Understandings, were the Redundancies of her Pen. But fhe is gone! and we are to look forward to the Confequences of her Death, rather than spend our Time in fruitless Tears and inharmonious Sighs.. The Orator has many Enemies. Envy and Malice follow Merit throughout the Univerfe And the Orator's Tenderness on this late unhappy Occafion, has betray'd him into a kind of Frenzy: He is, as Mauxalinda fays, non fe ipfe, and grieves beyond the Power of his own Oratory to defcribe. His Enemies take Advantage of his Mifery, and already begin to form D Schemes for his Ruin. New Orators arife; the Daily Papers are filled with their Advertisements: What can this end in? Is it not Time for the Orator to roufe himself, and break from his Grief? &c. The Wife of Orator Henley is dead! E She is fallen amidst the Sighs and Tears of all the Poulterers and Fishmongers in Clare-Market, even Butchers weep; and we may fay with Macbeth, She fhould have died hereafter. She was a Woman whofe Underflanding and whofe Perfon both combin'd to make the Orator happy. She was capti- F vated with his Manly Countenance during the mott melancholy Days of her Widowhood. She no fooner faw him labouring in his Roftram, but the Air and Mien of fo great a Man ftruck her at once with Love and Surprize; and upon her Return home, as he was unpinning her Hood, G The cried out, (being a perfect Miftrefs of Virgil) Agnofco veteris Veftigia Flammæ. The Orator had the Dart within him as well as the Lady: He view'd her from his Pulpit, with no lefs Emotion than David view'd Bath Sheba from the Roof of his Houfe. The Consequence of Love, among virtuous People, is Marriage, and their Nuptials were celebrated with great Oratorial Pomp and Gaiety: The Orator himself dancing, with fuiprifing Nimble H I have administered to my Oratorical R. S. The Literary cutter of Grub-street, Jan. 5. Numb. 1. 1738. THE Grub fireet Journal, having for 8 Years, acted its part, fometimes well, and fometimes ill, like all other Comedians; made its Exit with the last Year. But to continue to divert, undeceive, and inform the Public, The Literary Courier of Grub-freet fets out, for the firtt time, this day from the Pegafus. The making up of his Paquet is intrufted chicfly to me, as Secretary of the Society: in the dif charge of which office, I fhall not propofe the example of any of my Predeceffors as an exact pattern for my imitation. There was hardly ever any Litterary Scheme formed fo well at first, but it either had fome deficiency in its original contrivance, or had afterwards fome occafion given for alteration by inconveniencies unforeseen. The excl devoted to Politics; the Infertion of fo much trivial, falfe, and nonfenfical News from the Daily Papers, without any Contradiction or Reflection; and the A Omiffion of fresh, original Articles, and of feveral other ufeful Particulars; were all, I think, original Mistakes in the Grubean Scheme. But in the Execution, there were double the Number: Such as the permitting of fome Controverfies to run out into fo great a Length; the Secretary's frequent engaging on one Side; his fupprefling of fo many Pieces, as unfit to appear; his altering offeveral, tho' perhaps for the better, &c. B To avoid all these Errors for the future, The Literary Courier fhall take in Letters, Elays, or Verfes upon Political Subjects, as well as all other, on both fides of the Question. To prevent C the Prolixity of Controverfics, in imitation of the Pleadings in Courts of Judicature, the contending Parties fhall be generally confined within the Limits of an Opening, an Answer, and a Reply; and no Rejoinder fhall be admitzed, except on fome extraordinary Occafion. No Decifion fhall be given D in favour of either Side; but the Evidence fhall be fairly Summed up, and the Judgment left to the Public.-There is an abfolute Power in the Managers of all Papers, to refufe to pubJifh all dangerous Pieces; as well as a difcretional Power, to fix a Price up- E on the Publication of fuch as they apprehend will yield no agreeable Enterragment, tho their Authors may be of a contrary Opinion. In the latter Cafe therefore, fuch fhall not be abfolutely rejected, as formerly; but a Liberty allowed to the Authors to try the Taste of the Public, on very reafonable Terms. Few or no Alterations fhall be made in any Copies; on which Account it is defired they may be fent as correct as the Authors would have them appear; who must alone be answer able for their Incorrectnefs, and the Dif advantages thence arifing to their Cause. F EPH. QUIBUS.G The late Grubean Secretary, blind to his own Faults, and prejudic'd against our Magazine, to its Success attributed the Decay of his Journal. With the fame View, be reprinted feveral Charges against us in bis Journal of Dec. 22, tho' they had been proved falfe in our Magazine for May last. raft finan January 7. No. 600. Dear Caleb, HERE is a famous Paffage in 2d Book of the Eneid; where, fpeak ing of feveral Trojan Heroes gloriously flain, whillt fighting with the treacherous Greeks, amongst the Reft he mentions Ripheus, falling a Victim to their Perfidioufnefs. --Cadit & Ripheus, juftiffimus unus Qui fuit in Teucris, & fervantiffimus æqui. Diis aliter vifum. H Next did bleed Juft Ripheus, whom no Trojan did exceed In Virtue ; yet the Gods his Fate decreed. And much after the fame Manner Mr Pitt. Next Ripheus bled, the jufteft far of all The TrojanRace; yet Heav'n permits his fall. Which, tho' far better Divinity than That of Virgil, and a fine Improvement upon the Original, muft be allow'd to be a wide Deviation from it.Mr Trapp expreffes it thus. Next Ripheus falls, than whom NoTrojan was more just and good; tho' heav'n Decreed not fo. Decrecd not how? Flat and ambiguous! If we understand this Paffage according to the common and obvious Acceptation of it, I don't fee how We can vindicate it from the Imputation, not only of a contradictory, but a proreally a juft and righteous Man, how phane Sentiment; for it Ripheus was cou'd the Gods poffibly think Him therwise? If the Gods thought Him otherwife, how could He be fuch as He is here reprefented; and what Idea mult We form of the Omnifcience of fuch Deities, as make an Estimate of Perfons directly contrary to their true Character? The Criticks almost unanimously condemn that famous Turn of Lucan, Victrix Caufa Diis placuit, fed vita Catoni, as at once both falfe and impious; fince it advances Cato above the Gods. But here behold a Writer of the golden, the Auguftan Age, the moft judicious and correct of all the Roman Poets, guilty of the fame Falfhood and Impiety of Thought, d oppofing his own Judyment to That of the Deities! How then shall We reconcile this Paffage to the well-known Character of Virgil, thro' every Page of whofe divine Poetry an Air of Religion is diffused? You will fmile, Sir, no doubt, at the Whimficalnefs of Conceit; but I can't help fancying that the Poet here defigns a clean, tho' latent Sarcasm, under the Difguife of a Panegyrick. He feems, methinks, to paint Ripheus as a fanctified Hypocrite; as one, who appear'd to be what He was not; for why may we not paraphrafe the Verfes thus? Juftiffimus Fifci Regii Quæftor fuerat. inter Trojanos, Aulicarum Partium, Ipftufque Lenonum Voce comprobatus eft; revera injuftiffimus, equique minime tenax. which may be tranflated into English thus. He had been Chancellor of the Exchequer for 17 Year, more or less. He was magnify'd by the Voice of the Court-Party, and his own proftituté Creatures, as a Man of the most unblemish'd Integrity in the whole Nation. Whereas in Truth, He was the very Reverse, and the farthest from Justice, or Equity, of any Man upon Earth. This he proves from Dictys Cretenfis, and Dares Phrygius. He farther acquaints Us that Ripheus, by his falfe Politicks, and pernicious Counfels, had involved his deluded Mafter in fucla inextricable Difficulties, as terminated in the Deftruction of Troy, in the Slaughter of almoft all his numerous Family, together with the Lofs of his own Life. B -He was (That is, He was reputed or He was to all outward Appearance) the jufteft Man among the Trojans, the ftritteft Obferver of Equity; but the Gods, who fee not as Man feeth, but difcern the very Thoughts and Intents of the Heart, beheld Him in a different Light. They knew all his feeming Vir-C tue to be nothing but Hypocrify and Grimace. I am fenfible that Servius, Ruceus and Mr. Trapp, tho' at Variance amongst Themselves, are all against Me Servius, aware of the Prophaneness of the Thought, endeavours to palliate it, D by fuppofing Eneas in a violent Paf fion. But ought not the Poet to have guarded his pious Eneas against falling into fuch an Excels of Indignation? Ruceus thus explains the Paffage in Dif pure. Licet juftiffimus effet, vifus eft tamen Diis reus, ac Morte dignus effe. But is not This a fcurvy Reflection upon the divine Juftice? Mr Trapp iliftrates, or rather obfcures it, thus. Diis aliter vifum; That is, (by Ellipfis) the Gods decreed not that He should be SUCCESSFUL; which is fuch a forced Construction, that I cannot think it will pafs Mufter; fince the Word aliter F feems manifeftly to relate, not to the Succefs, but to the moral Character of Ripheus. A. B. POSTSCRIPT. G Juft as I was folding up my Letter, who fhould come in to quaff a Bottle with me, but an honest jovial Country & Parfon? Who, brought with Him a mouldy Edition of Virgil, printed at Francfort in 1553, be antifully embellifhed with wooden Cuts, and illuftrated with the Scholia of one Belchandwheezius, a learned German. He remarks that Ripheus was Prime-Minifter of State to old King Priam; by whofe unconscionable H Opprellions, Male-Administration, and wrong-concerted Measures, his Countrymen had feverely fmarted. Hic Ripheus, lays He, per feptendecim plus minas "Annos Unicus Hic tantum potuit fuadere Malorum ; fo fatal is it for a Prince to fuffer his Ear to be engrofs'd by a fingle Statef man, whilft He is deaf to the loud Clamours of his injured People!- He concludes his political Obfervations with this memorable Irony. Troy might have ftood much longer, if righteous Ripheus had fallen much fooner! On the foregoing Paffage from VIRGIL. HE GAZETTEER, N° 788. ob Tferves, that Dictys Cretenfis fays, Ripheus maintained a long and obftinate Fight in Defence of his Country against its Enemies, aptly ftiled in the Craftsman, Treacherous Greeks, who could not prevail against him till they had fet the whole Town in a Flame. Daily Gazetteer, No. 792. MR D'anvers allows Mr Pitt has made fomething extremely pertinent and fenfible of it, tho' fuch as he affines us the Author himself never dreamt of. Now the only Exception that can be made to it, must be the Lofs we are at to find what Aliter can immediately refer to. Suppofe then the rendering thus, Next perif'd Ripheus, in th' unequal Strife, None liv'd more Juft,or more deferving lite. But Heaven thought otherwife. I fhall be asked, no doubt, what Ground for this Supplement of (more dejerving Life) there being no fuch Expreition in the Original. But I would anfwer, that ther there is this very Expreffion in the Original, as plain as if it had been actually written there. May we not well fuppofe Eneas, on fuch a Mistortune betalling fo good a Man, ready to break out in Grief of Heart with Mr Addifon's Ca ro,-And merited, alas! a better Fate ?-Is not this Sentiment natural, till fuppreffed by his awful Confideration of the supreme wife Difpofer of Things?-But Heaven thought other wife. Upon this Suppolition, the Man talks neither Nonfenfe nor Blafphemy, but is indeed the Pious Eneas defigned.Nor is it Virgil nods, but We that dream. For the Text corroborates this Account in the very next Line, -Nec te tua plurima, Pantheu, Labentem Pietas, nec Apollinis Infula texit. From the Daily Gazetteer. No. 793. F Ripheus had been Prime Minister to IF old King Priam, why did not Virgil mention it? But fuppofe he was; what evil Coun fel did he ever fuggett to him? What Measures destructive to his People did ever King Priam enter upon, either by his or others Inftigation? Did not Eneas himfelf, the Pattern of Patriotism, lament the Death of that good King in the mott pathetick Terms? Was Troy destroyed by the unjult Government of Priam? Chil. dren know the contrary. A B D Virgil, forfooth, mult be thought pro-g fane, it he fays, that the Gods fuffered a Man to be taken off, who seemed by his Jultice to deferve a longer Life. Is it not as profane to affert, that the Gods de ftroyed a whole Nation, that feemed to deferve a better Fate; yet the fame Virgil fings boldly out in the next Book, Poftquam res Afia, Priamique evertere Gen- [tem F 'Tis apprehended, an Attempt to pur fome Reitraint to what in the modern Phrafe has been called the Licentioufness of the Prefs, is not far off. Indeed the extraordinary Proceedings of late towards the Printers and Publifhers of fome of the Publick Papers, and the great Damages they have fuftained by thofe Means, are understood by fome no otherwise than as an arbitrary Punishment before Conviction, and must alone amount in fome De gree to a Restraint of the Prefs, if fuf fered to go on unexamined and unoppofed. As to the Ufefulness of this Liberty, one of the most deftru&tive Schemes to our Properties and Liberties (I mean that of the Excife) owes its Defeat in a great measure to the Freedom of the Prefs: And it must be owned, to the immortal Honour of the Authors of the Craftsman, their Writings had a principal Share in that Event. G of that Constitution, under which we have hitherto enjoyed the Bleffing of Freedom in fo eminent a Degree above our Neighbours, that it becomes every Man to confider in the molt Reverential H Light this Palladium of our Rights, and to ihudder at the Thought of any Violation offered to it, as not only imprudent and unjust, but (I was going to fav) even crilegious. Well-being of a State, that the People It is abfolutely neceffary towards the fhould have an Opportunity of being informed of the Behaviour of their Governors, and of those with whom they intrust their Liberty: It is their undoubted Right to know the Opinion of wife and honeft Men in relation to publick Matters, and to form their Judgments upon them. How can we otherwife fuppofe them properly qualified to make their Choice of fuch as they entrust? How can they ever receive Information or Advice without the freeft Examination and Difcuffion of the Points in Question, and even of the Views particular Men may have in oppofing or promoting them? It is an Affront upon human Nature, ble of the Impreflions of Truth, and moft to fuppofe the Bulk of Mankind incapaliable to be wrought upon by falfe Reprefentations, therefore they thould be always kept in the Dark: But this Opinion is the Offspring only of Priesteraft and Tyranny, for they alone would have the People ignorant who defire to deceive them. I know how much the furnishing the People with the Means of forming any Judginent on Publick Tranfactions has of late been ridiculed amongst us; but this is the Effect of narrow and interested Politicks, and very different from the Sentiments of one of the wifeft and greatest Men of Antiquity, Pericles, who men tions it as an Excellency of the Athenian State, that no Man, how induftrious foever in other Butinefs, neglected making himfelf acquainted with the Politics and Laws that related to 3 Commonwealth. We all know how productive of the moft abfurd and pernicious Errors the Restraint of a Freedom of Writing has proved in the Church of Rome. Nor was the pretended Care of that Church, of keeping Men from reading A dangerous Opinions, confined wholly to Religion or State Policy, but extended even to the Liberal Sciences, as we find by the famous Galileo, whom Milton tells us he faw when he was in Italy, grown old, and a Prijoner to the Inquifition, for thinking in Altronomy otherwise than the G Francifcan and Dominican Licenfers. Shall we Britons, who owe the Refor mation of our Religion, and afterwards the Prefervation of it, as well as of our Civil Liberty, to the Freedom of Writing; which exerting itself, notwithstanding the Terrors of Fines, Imprisonment, and openly to expofe themfelves, their Fami lies, or Relations, to the Malice and Refentment of a powerful Minifter. In fhort, all Restraints upon the Freedom of Writing and the Piefs, have ne ver been, nor can be made of any other Ufe, than to promote the Designs of Op. preffion and arbitrary Power. If Slander and Falfhood only are in tended to be prevented, a Reftraint upon the Prefs can never anfwer fuch an Intention; but, on the contrary, will contribute to make them more rite in the Kingdom, as we fee from the Examples of France and Rome, where the mott virulent Satyrs and Pafquinades against the higheft Perfonages are daily handed about. So that any Infringement of the Liberty of the Prefs can anfwer no good End; which feparately we fo much dread: And but is productive of all thofe Dangers as we can never be faid to be perfectly and irretrievably Slaves while we preferve our Prefs free; fo from the Moment we deprive ourselves of it, we have nothing further to do, but to give up our Necks to the Yoke, and patiently to fubmit to whatD ever thofe that fhall be then our Mafters fhall think fit to impose on us. C even ignominious and cruel Whippings, vifibly contributed to promote the late glorious Revolution: Shall we, I fay, fuffer that Freedom to be restrained? And fhall it be attempted by Men who pretend to value themfelves in the outward Profeffion of thofe Principles on the Revolution was founded? I readily agree, that the defaming of Men placed in eminent Stations, which ought to carry Dignity and Refpect with them, ought to be punished: But it will be very fatal to us, if any falfe Reverences tor Power and Authority fhould exempt the Conduct of thofe entrusted with it from being canvaffed by the Publick, and from having the free Sentiments of any Member of the Community pafled on it. Ler Calumny, and Detraction be punifhed as they ought to be, in a legal Manner. No Body can pretend to think the Laws deficient in that Point, when we reflect on the rigorous Penalties fo lately inflicted on the Printers of fome of our Publick News-Papers. Suppofe fome few trivial Inconveniencies arife from the Liberty of the Prefs as now enjoyed, yet it is impofible to prevent them by any other Methods than fuch as the Law already appoints: If a Licenfing Power is thought proper, it is abfolutely impoffible to find any Body fit for fuch a Province, without fuppofing an Infallibility in their Wifdom and Judgment, as well as in their Dilintereftédnets and Integrity. If the more plaufible Pretence of obliging all Authors to put their Names to their Writings is infifted on, we know the Effect that will have on Men endued with Modefty, which is the ufaal Attendant on Merit Befides, in Political Wri tings there are few Men to be met with, who have Refolution enough to venture E 1 From the Faily Gazettert, No. 785. Answer to the above, &c.. HE Source of thofe Fears, which Thave appeared in to pathetick a Drefs in the Country Journal and Common Sense, must be the Guiltinefs of thofe in whole Bofoms they rite. They know they have abused the Liberty of the Press, and therefore they are apprehenfive that the Liberty of the Prefs will be abridged, yet they go on to abule it, from a Perfuafion, that if it were abridged, it would F neceffarily incenfe the People. From the fame Motives, while the Mobs were tearing Informers to Pieces, they were pleased to execute them in Effigy, in their Papers; as, in compliance with an epidemick Itch to Drunkenness, they gave us Paper after Paper, and Pamphlet after Pamphlet, a gainst the Act for reftraining the exceffive Ufe of Spirituous Liquors. By the fame Rule, if they could but fpirit up a Rebellion, they would upbraid the Government with Blood-thirstincts and Cruelty, if they made any Examples; and with Pufillanimity and Cowardice, it they made none. H If the true Defign of thefe Writers were to ferve their Country, by expofing the wrong Steps of this, or of any other Adminiftration, they might do it with all the Safety imaginable; they neither have been profecuted, nor, I dare fav ever will, for diffenting from the Opini |