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written "with Sobriety and Judgment- That " he had no manner of Curiofity to see what had "been written on the Subject in other Nations,

having read and confidered leifurely what this "Author had written upon it in England; "than which, fays the Doctor, I can see no"thing more primitive, nor can expect any thing more candid and fatisfactory from the

greatest Patriarch.”—And, in another Place, be wishes, "that it were published not only "in England, but in fome other Languages alfo "that might render it more univerfal:” And, I hear, it has been tranflated into High Dutch. The Great and Good Archbishop Sharp approved of it very much; and the late Earl of Oxford, a very able Judge of thofe kind of Studies, intended to have provided for him, if he bad continued much longer in the Adminiftration. Dr. Wells, in his Commentary on the Revelations, has made great use of it, acknowledges that he received confiderable Helps from it, and recommends it to all Perfons ftudious in thofe Matters. It has been long out of Print, but a Friend of the Author's has affured me, that if he were in any Place where he could bave recourfe to Libraries, he would reprint it, with Additions and Improvements: But, fuch feems to be the Activity of this Writer's Spirits, fuch the Warmth of his Zeal for Religion, I dare fay, a better Edition of one of his former Pieces is not the only, or the greatest Lofs, which the Public has fufiained by his improper Situation. It is natural for a Dwarf to look upon

Perfons

Perfons of but a common Stature as Giants in Nature; and it is nothing strange that fuch a one as I am, should look up at another so much above him with fome Aftonishment; but, furely, if we compare this Writer's firft with his laft Performances, he must appear, to Perfons much taller than myself, to be a good deal above the ordinary Size. If you read over the former, you would think them the Product of his ad vanced Years, while the latter carry all the Fire and Fancy of his juvenile Age: It is hard to fay which is most wonderful, the Maturity of 60 at 22, or the Vigour and Sprightliness, the Eafe and Gaiety of 22 at the Age of 60. He does not feem ever to have been a Boy, and is not likely ever to become an old Man. The Uncommonnefs of his Genius refembles that of a Comet, which does not rife and fet regularly; though, in its Influence, it is more like the Sun, which chears and enlivens every Thing that bebolds it, and fhews the Defects, or Beauties, of every Object that it shines upon. I am forry that I cannot do Justice to his Character, without throwing Disgrace upon others; but I must inform the Reader, that, though he still writes in fo polite, fo chearful, and engaging a Manner, his Youth and middle Age were spent in the Capacity of a Country Schoolmaster, and the Remainder in that of a Country Clergyman, in an obfcure Village. Would any one think it poffible that he could write fo very agreeably, who, for a long Course of Years, has lived fo difagreeable a Life? Or, that there should be fo Little Religion in a Chriftian, fo little GeneroVOL. I.

F

fity,

fity, Honour, and Humanity, in a civilized Nation, as to permit Men, capable of doing God and the Public fo much Service, to be buried in Obfcurity; as not to distinguish fuch extraordinary Inftances of perfonal Merit; as not to compaffionate a fublime Genius, an inlarged Soul, affociated with low and little Minds, while fome others are advanced to more confpicuous Pofts who, to speak decently, would not be miffed, if they were to change Places with my Country Coufin. I speak my Thoughts the more freely of this deferving neglected Gentleman, because I cannot be fufpected to speak with Partiality or finifter Views. Though he does me the Honour to claim Kindred with me, I never had the Pleasure of being perfonally known to him. The Efteem and Concern which I have for him, proceed folely from a generous Regard to his great Merit, and an affecting Senfe of his hard Fate. But fo, this Writer has told us, it must be in the latter Days. The Worldly Spirit, which reigns fo generally in the Hearts of the prefent Age, was to precede the Coming of the Prince of this World to make his last Effort, in the Perfon of Anti-Chrift, and is too plain a Symptom that he will probably appear in a fhort Time. I have nothing farther to add, by way af Preface, but an Apology to my Relation for writing thefe fort Memoirs of his Life (the beft that I could procure from his Friends and Acquaintance); but, as he has been buried almoft forty Years, he may very fairly be confidered as a dead Man.

R. HOOKER.

a late Letter I took notice of a dangerous Evil, arifing from a Misapplication of Names and Confufion of Cha16racters, and particularly with regard to those wrong-headed Gentlemen are who the great Pretenders to Free-thinking. I fhall now confider another Species of Ambiguities, commonly called Men of Honour to which all Men make Pretensions, and to which not one in a thousand has a real Title. I fhall endeavour to explain the true Meaning of the Words, and rescue them from the Abuses of com→ mon Speech, from whence it will evidently appear who are really and truly Men of Honour, and who they are that vainly affume the Title, without any real' Foundation of Claim to fuppport it. Mr. Addifon F 2

has

has long ago obferved in one of his Tatlers, that in modern Eftimation, the fingle Point of Honour was Courage in Men and Chastity in Women. Whence it comes to pafs, that every Man who dares to fend, or accept a Challenge, and every pretty Female that dares to refuse one, have an indifputable Title to Honour: And he that has Religion and good Sense enough to refuse a Challenge, is in Danger of being kicked out of the fashionable World for a Scoundrel and a Coward; and every Woman who has once been fo unhappy as to offend in Point of Chastity, cannot, by the most sincere Repentance, by all the merciful Abatements that ought to be made for human Frailty, and a thousand amiable Qualities befides, thrown into the Balance, be ever able to wipe off an indelible Mark of Infamy fixed upon her by all the ill-natured Prudes and Coquets about Town.

I have often thought that from these falfe Notions one might account for numberless Abfurdities in common Life, of which I fhall only mention two or three. There is many a Man, who, if you were to charge him with Blafphemy, Adultery, Fornication, or Drunkenness, would hear it with Patience at least, if not with Pleasure, and might perhaps have the prepofterous Vanity of affecting to be thought more wicked than he really was; but if you were to give that Man the Lye, he would take fire at once, and nothing but Blood should give him Satisfaction. Now whence can this proceed, but from an Opinion that a Lye is a certain Mark of Cowardice, that none but an abject Scoundrel could be guilty of a Thing that he would be ashamed to own, and that Lying was

the