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commodiously into volumes, and become genteeler appendages of the teatable. The candid reader will undoubtedly impute this extraordinary care about, externals to the modefty of us prefent effayifts, who are willing to compenfate for our poverty of genius, by bestowing thefe outward graces and embellishments on our works. For my own part, I never reflect on the first unadorned pub. lication of the SPECTATOR, and at the fame time take up one of my own papers, fet off with every ornament of the prefs, but I am afraid that the critics will apply, what a facetious peer is faid to have remarked on two different ladies; that

THE

the first is a foul without a body, and the last a body without a foul.'

As in this fashionable age there are many of Lord Foppington's opinion, that a book fhould be recommended by it's outfide to a man of quality and breeding, it is incumbent on all authors to let their works appear as well dreffed as poffible, if they expect them to be admitted into polite company. Yet we fhould not lay too much ftrefs on the decorations, but rather remember Tully's precept to all who build, that' the

owner should be an ornament to the ' house, and not the house to the owner.” T

N° IX. THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 1754.

SOLVITQUE ANIMIS MIRACULA RERUM,

ERIPUIT QUE JOVI FULMEN, VIRESQUE TONANTI.

MANIL.

HE FREED OUR MINDS FROM DREAD OF THINGS ABOVE,
AND SNATCH'D THE THUNDER FROM THE HAND OF JOVE.

HE publication of Lord Bolingbroke's pofthumous works has given new life and spirit to Free-thinking. We seem at present to be endeavouring to unlearn our catechifm, with all that we have been taught about religion, in order to model our faith to the fashion of his lordship's fyftem. We have now nothing to do, but to throw away our Bibles, turn the churches into theatres, and rejoice that an act of parliament, now in force, gives us an opportunity of getting rid of the clergy by transportation. I was in hopes that the extraordinary price of thefe volumes would have confined their influence to perfons of quality. As they are placed above extreme indigence and abfolute want of bread, their loofe notions would have carried them no farther than cheating at cards, or perhaps plundering their country: but if thefe opinions Ipread among the vulgar, we fhall be knocked down at noon-day in our streets, and nothing will go forward but robberies and murders.

The inftances I have lately feen of Free-thinking, in the lower part of the world, make me fear, they are going to be as fashionable and as wicked as their betters. I went the other night to the Robin Hood; where it is ufual for the advocates againft religion to aflem

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ble, and openly avow their infidelity. One of the questions for the night was→→→→ 'Whether Lord Bolingbroke had not 'done greater fervice to mankind by his writings, than the Apostles or Evan gelifts As this fociety is chiefly compofed of lawyers clerks, petty tradef men, and the lowest mechanics, I was at first surprised to find fuch amazing erudition among them. Toland, Tindal, Collins, Chubb, and Mandeville, they feemed to have got by heart. A fhoemaker harangued his five minutes. upon the excellence of the tenets maintained by Lord Bolingbroke; but I foon found that his reading had not been ex-: tended beyond the Idea of a Patriot King,. which he had mistaken for a glorious fyttein of Free-thinking. I could not help fmiling at another of the company, who took pains to fhew his difbelief of the Gospel by unfainting the Apoftles, and calling them by no other title than plain Paul or plain Peter. The proceedings of this fociety have, indeed, almost induced me to wish, that (like the Roman Catholics) they were not permitted to read the Bible, rather than they should read it only to abuse it.

I have frequently heard many wife tradefinen fettling the most important articles of our faith over a pint of beer. A baker took occafion from Canning's

affair to maintain, in oppofition to the Scriptures, that man might live by bread alone, at least the woman might' For elfe,' faid he, how could the girl have been fupported for a whole month by a few hard crufts?' I anfwer to this, a barber furgeon fet forth the improbability of that story; and thence inferred, that it was impoffible for our Saviour to have fafted forty days in the Wilderness. I lately heard a midshipman fwear that the Bible was all a lye: for he had failed round the world with Lord Anson, and if there had been any Red Sea, he must have met with it. I know a bricklayer, who, while he was working by line and rule, and carefully laying one brick upon another, would argue with a fellow labourer, that the world was made by chance; and a cook, who thought more of his trade than his Bible, in a difpute concerning the Miracles, made a pleasant mistake about the nature of the First, and gravely asked his antagonist what he thought of the SUP. PER at Cana.

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This affectation of Free-thinking, among the lower clafs of people, is at prefent happily confined to the men. On Sundays, while the husbands are toping at the alehoufe, the good women their wives think it their duty to go to church, fay their prayers, bring home the text, and hear the children their catechifm. But our polite ladies are, I fear, in their lives and converfations, little better than Free-thinkers. Going to church, since it is now no longer the fashion to carry on intrigues there, is almoft wholly laid afide: and I verily believe, that nothing but another earthquake can ever fill the churches with people of quality. The fair fex in general are too thoughtlefs to concern themselves in deep enquiries into inatters of religion. It is fufficient, that they are taught to believe themfelves angels: it would therefore be an ill compliment, while we talk of the heaven they beftow, to perfuade them into the Mahometan notion, that they have no fouls; though perhaps our fine gentlemen may imagine, that by convincing a lady, that The has no foul, the will be lefs fcrupuJous about the difpofal of her body.

The ridiculous notions maintained by Free-thinkers in their writings, fcarce deserve a serious refutation; and perhaps the best method of answering them would be to felect from their works all

the abfurd and impracticable notions, which they fo ftiffly maintain in order to evade the belief of the Chriftian religion. I fhall here throw together a few of their principal tenets, under the contradictory title of

THE UNBELIEVER'S CREED.

Believe that there is no God, but that Matter is God, and God is Matter; and that it is no matter whether there is any God or no.

I believe, that the World was not made; that the World made itfelf; that it had no Beginning; that it will last for ever, World without End.

I believe, that Man is a Beaft; that the Soul is the Body, and the Body the Soul, and that after Death there is neither Body nor Soul.

I believe, that there is no Religion; that Natural Religion is the only Religion; and that all Religion is Unnatural.

I believe not in MOSES; I believe in the First Philofophy: I believe not the EVANGELISTS; I believe in Chubb," Collins, Toland, Tindal, Morgan, Mandeville, Woolfton, Hobbes, Shaftfhury: I believe in Lord Bolingbroke; I believe not St. PAUL.

I believe not REVELATION; I believe in Tradition: I believe in the Talmud; I believe in the Alcoran; I believe not the BIBLE: I believe in Socrates; I believe in Confucius; I believe in Sanconiathon; I believe in Ma homet; I believe not in CHRIST.

Laftly, I believe in all UNBELIEF.

AN..

ADDRESS

TO BOTH

HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT.

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,

EVER fince We have thought fit to

take thefe Kingdoms into Our immediate Care, We have made it Our earneft Endeavour to go Hand in Hand with Your Wifdoms in promoting the Welfare and Profperity of the People. The important Bufinefs of Taxes, Lotteries, Marriages, and Jews, We have left to Your weighty Confideration; while Ourfelves have been employed in the Regulation of Fashions, the Establishment of Talte, and Amend

ment

ment of the Morals. We have the Satisfaction to find, that both Our Meafures have hitherto met with Success: and the Public Affairs are at present in fo profperous a Condition, that the National Vices feem as likely to decrease as the National Debt.

The Diffolution of Your Affembly is now at Hand; and as Your whole Attention will naturally be engaged in fecuring to Yourselves and Friends a Seat in the next Parliament, it is needless to recommend to You, that Heads fhould be broken, Drunkenness encouraged, and Abufe propagated; which has been found by Experience to be the best Method of fupporting the Freedom of Elections. In the mean Time, as the Care of the Nation must be left to Us, it is neceffary, that during this Interval Our Prerogative, as CENSOR-GENERAL, fhould be confiderably extended, and that We fhould be invefted with the united Power of Lords and Commons.

When We are entrusted with this important Charge, We shall expect, that every different Faction fhall concur in Our Measures for the Public Utility; that Whig and Tory, High-Church, and Low-Church, Court and Country, fhall all unite in this Common Caufe; and that oppofite Parties in the Body Politic, like the Arms and Legs in the Body Natural, fhall move in Concert, though they are on different Sides. In Our Papers, which We shall continue to publish on Thurfdays, under the Title of The CONNOISSEUR, every Mifdemeanor fhall be examined, and Offenders called to the Bar of the Houfe. Be it therefore enacted, that these Our Orders and Refolutions have an equal Authority with Acts of Parliament: as We

doubt not, They will be of equal Advantage to the Community.

The extraordinary Supplies requifite for the Service of the current Weeks, and for the Support of Our Own Privy Purfe, oblige Us to demand of You, that a Sum, not exceeding Two-pence, be levied Weekly on each Perfon, to be collected by our trufty and well-beloved the Bookfellers. We must also particularly request of You, that the fame Privilege and Protection be extended to Us, which is enjoyed by Yourselves, and is fo very convenient to many of Your honourable Members. It is no less expedient, that We should be fecured from Let or Molestation: Be it therefore provided, that no one prefume to Arreft or caufe to be Arrested Our Perfon, or the Perfons of Our Publisher, Printer, Corrector, Devil, or any other employed in Our Service.

We have only to add, that You may rely on Our Care and Diligence in difcharging the high Truft repofed in Us, in fuch Manner as fhall merit the Thanks of the next Parliament. We shall then recommend it to Their Confideration, whether it would not be for the Interest of thefe Kingdoms, that We should have a Woolpack allotted Us with the Bifhops, or be allowed a perpetual Seat among the Commons, as the Reprefentative of the Whole People. But if this fhould be deemed too great an Honour, it will at least be thought neceffary, that We should be occafionally called in, like the Judges, to give Our Opinion in Cafes of Importance,

TOWN, CONNOISSEUR, CRITIC, AND CENSOR-GENERAL, T

N° X. THURSDAY, APRIL 4, 1754.

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WHAT KNOWS THE STRIPLING OF THE SOLDIER'S TRADE,
BEYOND HIS REGIMENTALS AND COCKADE?

LEARNING, as it polishes the teriftic that diftinguishes the gentleman

mind, enlarges our ideas, and gives an ingenuous turn to our whole converfation and behaviour, has ever been efteemed a liberal accomplishment; and is, indeed, the principal charac

from the mechanic.

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who, notwithstanding their fhameful deficiency in this main requifite, are generally propofed as the most exact models of good behaviour and standards of politeness.

The art of war is no eafy study: it requires much labour and application to go through what Milton calls the rudiments of foldiership, in all the skill of embattling, marching, encamping, fortifying, befieging and battering, with all the helps of ancient and mo⚫dern ftratagems, tactics, and warlike maxims. With all these every officer fhould undoubtedly be acquainted; for mere regimentals no more create a foldier, than the cowl makes a monk. But, I fear, the generality of our army have made little proficiency in the art they profefs; have learnt little more than juft to acquit themselves with fome decency at a review; have not ftudied and examined, as they ought, the ancient and modern principles of war;

Nor the divifion of a battle know,
More than a fpinster.

SHAKESPEARE.

part of the poem is made up of war. These ftudies cannot furely fail of animating a modern breaft, which often kindled fuch a noble ardour in the an

cients.

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If we look into the lives of the greateft generals of antiquity, we fhall find them no mean proficients in fcience. They led their armies to victory by their courage, and fupported the state by their counfels. They revered the fame Pallas, as the goddess of war and of wifdom; and the Spartans in particular, before they entered on an engagement, always facrificed to the Mules. The exhortations, given by commanders before the onset, are some of the most animated pieces of oratory in all antiquity, and frequently produced aftonishing effects, roufing the foldiers from defpair, and hurrying them on to victory. `An illiterate commander would have been the contempt of Greece and Rome. Tully, indeed, was called the learned Conful in derifion; but then, as Dryden obferves, his head was turned another way. When he read the tactics, he was thinking on the bar, which was his field of battle.' I am particularly pleafed with the character of Scipio Emilianus as drawn by Velleius Paterculus, and would recommend it to the ferious imitation of our modern officers. He was fo great an admirer of liberal ftudies, that he always retained the most eminent wits in his camp: nor did any one fill up the intervals of bufinefs with more elegance, retiring from war only to cultivate the arts of peace; always employed in arms or tudy, always exercifing his body with perils, or difciplining his mind with fence. The author contrafts this amiable portrait with a defcription of Mummius; a general fo little verfed in the polite arts, that havPoetry too, more especially that of ing taken at Corinth feveral pictures the ancients, feems particularly calcu- and ftatues of the greatest artists, he lated for the perufal of thofe concerned threatened the perfons, who were inin war. The fubject of the Iliad is entrusted with the carriage of them to Itatirely martial; and the principal cha- ly, that, if they lost these, they should racters are diftinguished from each other 'give new ones.' chiefly by their different exertion of the fingle quality of courage. It was, I fuppofe, on account of this martial fpirit, which breathes throughout the Iliad, that Alexander was fo captivated with it, that he is faid to have laid it every night under his pillow. The principal character in the Æneid is a general of remarkable piety and courage; and great

Befides 'the ftudy of the art of war itself, there are many collateral branches of literature, of which, as gentlemen and as foldiers, they fhould not be ignorant. Whoever bears a commiffion in the army, fhould be well read in hiftory. The examples of Alexander, Caefar, or Marlborough, however illustrious, are of little concern to the generality of readers, but are fet up as fo many land-marks, to direct those who are purfuing the fame courfe to glory. A thorough knowledge of hiftory would furnish a commander with true courage, infpire him with an honeft emulation of his ancestors, and teach him to gain a victory without fhedding blood.

I would fain have a British officer looked upon with as much deference as thofe of Greece and Rome: but while they neglect the acquifition of the fame accomplishments, they will never meet with the fame refpect. Instead of cultivating their minds, they are wholly taken up in adorning their bodies, and look upon gallantry and intrigue as effen

tial

tial parts of their character. To glitter in the boxes, or at an affembly, is the full difplay of their politeness; and to be the life and foul of a lewd brawl, almost the only exertion of their courage; infomuch that there is a good deal of justice in Macheath's raillery, when he fays If it was not for us, and the other gentlemen of the fword, Drury Lane would be uninhabited.'

It is fomething ftrange, that officers hould want any inducement to acquire fo gentleman-like an accomplishment as learning. If they imagine it would derogate from their good-breeding, or call off their attention from military bufinefs, they are miftaken. Pedantry is no, more connected with learning, than rashness with courage. Cæfar, who was the finest gentleman and the greatest general, was alfo the best scholar of his age.

To fay the truth, learning wears a more amiable afpect and winning air in courts and camps, whenever it appears there, than amid the gloom of colleges and cloisters. Mixing in genteel life files off the ruft that may have been contracted by study, and wears out any little oddnefs or peculiarity, that may be acquired in the clofet. For this reafon the officer is more inexcufable, who neglects an accomplishment that would fit to gracefully upon him: for this reafon too, we pay fo great deference to thofe few who have enriched their minds with the treasures of antiquity. An illiterate officer either hardens into a bravo, or refines into a fop. The infipidity of the fop is utterly contemptible; and a rough brutal courage, unpolished by fcience and unaflifted by realon, has no more claim to heroifm, than the cafehardened valour of a bruifer or prizefighter. Agreeable to this notion, Ho

mer in the fifth Iliad reprefents the goddefs Minerva as wounding Mars, and driving the heavy deity off the field of battle; implying allegorically, that wifdom is capable of fubduing courage.

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I would flatter myfelf, that British minds are still as noble, and British genius as exuberant, as thofe of any other nation or age whatever; but that fome are debased by luxury, and others run wild for want of proper cultivation. If Athens can boaft her Miltiades, Themiftocles, &c. Rome her Camillus, Fabius, Cæfar, &c. England has had her Edwards, Henrys, and Marlboroughs. It is to be hoped the time will come, when learning will be reckoned as neceflary to qualify a man for the army, as for the bar or pulpit. Then we may expect to fee the British foldiery enter on the field of battle, as on a theatre, for which they are prepared in the parts they are to act. They will not then,' (as Milton expresses himself with his ufual ftrength in his Treatife on Education) if intrufted with fair and hopeful armies, fuffer them, for want of juft and wife difcipline, to fhed away from about them like fick feathers, though they be never fo oft fupplied: they would not fuffer their empty and unrecruitable colonels of twenty men in a company, to quaff out, or convey into fecret hoards, the wages of a delufive lift and a miferable remnant; yet in the mean while to be overmastered with a score or two of drunkards, the only foldiery left about them, or elfe to comply with all rapines and violences. No certainly, IF THEY

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KNEW OUGHT OF THAT KNOW'LEDGE, THAT BELONGS TO GOOD MEN AND GOOD GOVERNORS, they ⚫ would not fuffer these things.'

N° XI. THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 1754

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