See, a long race thy Spacious courts adorn; C. 60. v. 4. C. 60. v. 3. And beap'd with products of Sabean fprings! C. 6o. v. 6. And feeds of gold in Ŏphir's mountains glow. Reveal'd, and God's eternal day be thine! mains: Thy Realm for ever lafts, thy orun Meffiah reigns. T Cap. 60. V. 19, 20. C. 51. v. 6. and C. 54. V. 10. No 379 Thursday, May 15. Scire tuum nihil eft nifi te fcire hoc fciat alter. Perf. Sat. 1. v. 27. Science is not fcience till reveal'd. DRYDEN. Have often wondered at that ill-natured pofition I which has been fometimes maintained in the fchools, and is compris'd in an old Latin verfe, namely, that A man's knowledge is worth nothing, if he communicates what he knows to any one befides. There is certainly no more fenfible pleasure 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, fince it is almoft impoffible it fhould be exerciled without the improvement of the person who practifes it. The reading of books, and the daily occurrences of life, are continually furnishing us with matter for thought and reflexion. It is extremely natural for us to defire to fee fuch our thoughts put into the drefs of words, without which indeed we can fcarce have a clear and diftin&t idea of them ourselves : When they are thus clothed in expreffions, nothing fo truly fhews us whether they are juft or falfe, as those effects which they produce in the minds of others. I am apt to flatter myfelf, that in the course of these my fpeculations, I have treated of feveral subjects, and laid down many fuch 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 fo many fecrets they have found out for the conduct of themfelves, but were refolved never to have made public. I am I am the more confirmed in this opinion from my having received feveral letters, wherein I am cenfur'd for having prostituted learning to the embraces of the vulgar, and made her, as one of my correfpondents phrafes it, a common trumpet: I am charged by another with laying open the Arcapa, or fecrets of prudence, to the eyes of every reader. The narrow fpirit which appears in the letters of the fe my correfpondents is the lefs furprifing, as it has fhewn itself in all ages: there is ftill extant an epiftle written by Alexander the Great to his tutor Ariftotie, upon that philofopher's publishing fome part of his writings; in which the prince complains of his having made known to all the world thofe fecrets in learning which he had before communicated to him in private lectures; concluding, That he had rather excel the rest of mankind in knowledge than in power. Luifa de Padilla, a lady of great learning, and countefs of Aranda, was in like manner angry with the famous Gratian, upon his publishing his treatife of the Difcreto; wherein the fancied that he had laid open thofe maxims to common readers, which ought only to have been referved for the knowledge of the great. Thefe objections are thought by many of fo much weight, that they often defend the above-mentioned authors, by affirming they have affected fuch an obscurity in their tile and manner of writing, that tho' every one may read their works, there will be but very few who can comprehend their meaning. Perfus, the Latin fatirift, affected obfcurity for another reafon; with which however Mr. Cowley is fo offended, that writing to one of his friends, You, fays he, tell me, that you do not know whether Perfius be a good poet or no, because you cannot understand him; for which very reafon I affirm that he is not fo. However, this art of writing unintelligibly has been very much improved, and follow'd by feveral of the moderns, who obferving the general inclination of mankind to dive into a fecret, and the reputation many have acquired by concealing their meaning under obfcure terms and phrafes, refolve, that they may be still more abftrufe, to write without any meaning at all. This art, as it is at prefent practifed by many eminent authors, confifts in throwing fo many words at at a venture into different periods, and leaving the curious reader to find the meaning of them. The Egyptians, who made ufe of hieroglyphics to fignify fevral things, expreffed a man who confined his knowledge and difcoveries altogether within himself, by the figure of a dark-lanthorn clofed on all fides, which, tho' it was illuminated within, afforded no manner of light or advantage to fuch as stood by it. For my own part, as I fhall from time to time communicate to the public whatever difcoveries I happen to make, I should much rather be compared to an ordinary lamp, which confumes and waftes itself for the benefit of every paffenger. I hall conclude this paper with the ftory of Roficrucius's fepulchre. 1 fuppofe I need not inform my readers that this man was the author of the Roficrucian lect, and that his difciples ftill pretend to new difcoveries which they are never to communicate to the rest of mankind. A certain person having occafion to dig fomewhat deep in the ground, where this philofopher lay interr'd, met with a small door having a wall on each fide of it. His curiofity, and the hopes of finding fome hidden treasure, foon prompted him to force open the door. He was immediately furpris'd by a fudden blaze of light, and difcovered a very fair vault: At the upper end of it was a ftatue of a man in armour fitting by a table, and leaning on his left arm. He held a truncheon in his right hand, and had a lamp burning before him. The man had no fooner fet one foot within the vault, than the ftatue erected itself from its leaning pofture, stood bolt upright; and upon the fellow's advancing another ftep, lifted the truncheon in his right hand. The man fill ventur'd a third ftep, when the ftatue with a furious blow broke the lamp into a thousand pieces, and left his guest in a fudden darkness. up Upon the report of this adventure, the country people foon came with lights to the fepulchre, and difcovered that the ftatue, which was made of brafs, was nothing more than a piece of clock-work; that the floor of the vault was all loofe, and underlaid with feveral fprings, which, 247 which, upon any man's entering, naturally produced that which had happened. Roficrucius, fay his difciples, made ufe of this method, to fhew the world that he had re-invented the everburning lamps of the ancients, tho' he was refolv❜d no one should reap any advantage from the difcovery. X N° 380 Friday, May 16. Rivalem patienter habe Ovid. Ars Am. 1. 2. v. 538. With patience bear a rival in thy love. SIR, T Thursday, May 8, 1712. HE character you have in the world of being the lady's philofopher, and the pretty advice I have feen you give to others in your papers, make me addrefs myfelf to you in this abrupt manner, and to defire your opinion what in this age a woman may call a lover. I have had lately a gen⚫tleman that I thought made pretenfions to me, info• much that most of my friends took notice of it and thought we were really married; which I did not take much pains to undeceive them, and especially a young gentlewoman of my particular acquaintance which was then in the country. She coming to town, and feeing our intimacy fo great, fhe gave herfelf the liberty of taking me to talk concerning it: I ingenuoufly told her we were not married, but I did not know what might be the event. She foon got acquainted with the gentleman, and was pleased to take upon her to examine him about it. Now whether a new face had made a greater conqueft than the old, I'll leave you to judge: But I am informed that he utterly deny'd all pretenfions to courtship, but withal . L 4 |