a man's reflecting upon the motives that produce it. When the passion proceeds from the sense of any virtue or perfection in the person beloved, I would by no means discourage it; but if a man considers that all his heavy complaints of wounds and deaths rise from some little affectations of coquetry, which are improved into charms by his own fond imagination, the very laying before himself the cause of his distemper may be sufficient to effect the cure of it.

It is in this view that I have looked over the several bundles of letters which I have received from dying people, and composed out of them the following bill of mortality, which I shall lay before my reader without any farther preface, as hoping that it may be useful to him in discovering those several places where there is most danger, and those fatal arts which are made use of to destroy the heedless and unwary.

Lysander, slain at a puppet-show on the third of September.

Thrysis shot from a casement in Piccadilly.

T. S. wounded by Zelinda's scarlet stocking, as she was stepping out of a coach.

Will Simple, smitten at the opera by the glance of an eye that was aimed at one who stood by him. Tho. Vainlove, lost his life at a ball.

Tim. Tattle, killed by the tap of a fan on his left shoulder by Coquetilla, as he was talking carelessly with her in a bow-window.

Sir Simon Softly, murdered at the play-house in Drury-lane by a frown..

Philander, mortally wounded by Cleora, as she was adjusting her tucker.

Ralph Gapley, esq. hit by a random-shot at the

F. R. caught his death upon the water, April the 1st.

W. W. killed by an unknown hand, that was playing with the glove off upon the side of the front box in Drury-lane.

Sir Christopher Crazy, bart. hurt by the brush of a whale-bone petticoat.

Sylvius, shot through the sticks of a fan at St. James's church.

Damon struck through the heart by a diamond necklace.

Thomas Trusty, Francis Goosequill, William Meanwell, Edward Callow, esqrs. standing in a row, fell all four at the same time, by an ogle of the widow Trapland.

Tom Rattle, chancing to tread upon a lady's tail as he came out of the playhouse, she turned full upon him, and laid him dead the spot. Dick Tastewell, slain by a blush from the queen's box in the third act of the Trip to the Jubilee.

upon

Samuel Felt, haberdasher, wounded in his walks to Islington, by Mrs. Susanna Cross-stitch, as she was clambering over a stile.

R. F. T. W. S. I. M. P. &c. put to death in the last birth-day massacre.

his

Roger Blinko, cut off in the twenty-first year of age by a white-wash.

Musidorus, slain by an arrow that flew out of a dimple in Belinda's left cheek.

Ned Courtly, presenting Flavia with her glove (which she had dropped on purpose), she received it, and took away his life with a courtesy.

John Cosselin, having received a slight hurt from a pair of blue eyes, as he was making his escape, was dispatched by a smile.

Strephon, killed by Glarinda as she looked down into the pit.

Charles Careless shot flying by a girl of fifteen, who unexpectedly popped her head upon him out of a coach.

Josiah Wither, aged threescore and three, sent to his long home by Elizabeth Jetwell, spinster. Jack Freelove, murdered by Melissa in her hair. William Wiseacre, gent. drowned in a flood of tears by Moll Common.

John Pleadwell, esq. of the Middle Temple, barrister at law, assassinated in his chambers the 6th inst. by Kitty Sly, who pretended to come to him for his advice.

I.

N° 378. WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 1712.

Aggredere, O magnos ! aderit jam tempus honores.

VIRG, Ecl. iv. 43.

Mature in years, to ready honours move.

DRYDEN.

I WILL make no apology for entertaining the reader with the following poem, which is written by a great genius, a friend of mine* in the country, who is not ashamed to employ his wit in the praise of his Maker.

MESSIAH:

A SACRED ECLOGUE,

Composed of several passages of Isaiah the Prophet:
Written in Imitation of Virgil's Pollio.

YE nymphs of Solyma! begin the song:
To heavenly themes sublimer strains belong
The mossy fountains, and the sylvan shades,
The dreams of Pindus, and th' Aonian maids,
Pope. See No. 534.

*

Delight no more-O Thou my voice inspire,
Who touch'd Isaiah's hallow'd lips with fire!
Rapt into future times, the bard began,
A virgin shall conceive, a virgin bear son!
From Jesse's root behold a branch arise,
Whose sacred flower with fragrance fills the skies:
Th' æthereal Spirit o'er its leaves shall move,
And on its top descends the mystic Dove.

Isa. xi. 4.

Ye heavens! from high the dewy nectar pour, xlv. 8.
And in soft silence shed the kindly shower!

The sick and weak the healing plant shall aid, xxv. 4.
From storms a shelter, and from heat a shade.

All crimes shall cease, and ancient fraud shall

fail;

Returning Justice lift aloft her scale;

Peace o'er the world her olive wand extend,
And white-rob'd Innocence from heaven de-

scend.

Swift fly the years,and rise the expected morn!

ix. 7.

Oh spring to light auspicious Babe, be born! xxxv. 2.
See Nature hastes her earliest wreaths to bring,
With all the incense of the breathing spring :

See lofty Lebanon his head advance,

See nodding forests on the mountains dance;
See spicy clouds from lowly Sharon rise,

And Carmel's flow'ry top perfumes the skies!

Hark! a glad voice the lonely desert cheers; xi. 3, 4. |
Prepare the way! a God, a God appears :
A God! a God! the vocal hills reply,
The rocks proclaim th' approaching Deity.
Lo earth receives him from the bending skies!
Sink down, ye mountains; and ye valleys, rise!
With heads declin'd, ye cedars, homage pay ;
Be smooth, ye rocks; ye rapid floods, give way!
The SAVIOUR Comes! by ancient bards foretold!
Hear him, ye deaf; and all ye blind, behold! xlii. 18.
He from thick films shall purge the visual ray, xxxv. 5,6, ́
And on the sightless eye-ball pour the day.
'Tis He th' obstructed paths of sound shall clear,
And bid new music charm th' unfolding ear:
The dumb shall sing, the lame his crutch forego,
And leap exulting like the bounding roe;
No sigh, no murmur, the wide world shall hear,
From every face he wipes off every tear;
In adamantine chains shall death be bound,
And hell's grim tyrant feel th' eternal wound, xl, 11.

XXV. 8.

VOL. XI.

H H

As the good shepherd tends his fleecy care,
Seeks freshest pastures and the purest air,
Explores the lost, the wandering sheep directs,
By day o'ersees them, and by night protects,
The tender lamb he raises in his arms,

Feeds from his hand, and in his bosom warms;
Mankind shall thus his guardian care engage,
Isa, ix. 6. The promis'd Father of the future age.
ii. 4. No more shall nation against nation rise,

Nor ardent warriors meet with hateful eyes,
Nor fields with gleaming steel be cover'd o'er,
The brazen trumpets kindle rage no more:
But useless lances into scythes shall bend,
And the broad falchion in a plough-share end.
lxv.21,22. Then palaces shall rise; the joyful son

Shall finish what the short-liv'd sire begun;
Their vines a shadow to their race shall yield,
And the same hand that sow'd shall reap the
field.

xxxv.1.7. The swain in barren deserts with surprise
Sees lilies spring, and sudden verdure rise,
And starts amidst the thirsty wilds to hear
New falls of water murmuring in his ear:
On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes,
The green reed trembles, and the bulrush nods.

xli.19.and Waste sandy valleys, once perplex'd with thorn, lv. 13. The spiry fir and shapely box adorn :

To leafless shrubs the flowering palms succeed,
And od'rous myrtle to the noisome weed.

xii. 6,7,8. The lambs with wolves shall grace the verdant mead,

lx. 1.

1x. 4.

And boys in flowery bands the tyger lead;

The steer and lion at one crib shall meet,
And harmless serpents lick the pilgrim's feet:
The smiling infant in his hand shall take
The crested basilisk and speckled snake-
Pleas'd the green lustre of the scales survey,
And with their forked tongue and pointless
sting shall play.

Rise, crown'd with light, imperial Salem, rise!
Exalt thy towery head, and lift thy eyes!
See a long race thy spacious courts adorn!
See future sons and daughters yet unborn
In crowding ranks on every side arise,
Demanding life, impatient for the skies!