No. 629. happy Revolution had never been effected; who there, Monday, upon humbly prays to be made Post-Master-General. Dec. 6, 1714. A certain Gentleman, who seems to write with a great deal of Spirit, and uses the Words Gallantry and Gentleman-like very often in his Petition, begs that (in Consideration of his having worn his Hat for ten Years past in the Loyal Cavalier Cock, to his great Danger and Detriment) he may be made a Captain of the Guards. I shall close my Account of this Collection of Me morials, with the Copy of one Petition at Length, which I recommend to my Reader as a very valuable Piece. 'The Petition of E. H. Esq., humbly Sheweth, That your Petitioner's Father's Brother's Uncle, Colonel W. H. lost the Third Finger of his Left Hand at Edge-hill Fight. That your Petitioner, notwithstanding the Smallness of his Fortune, (he being a younger Brother) always kept Hospitality, and drank Confusion to the Roundheads in half a Score Bumpers every Sunday in the Year, as several honest Gentlemen (whose Names are under-written)_are ready to testifie, That your Petitioner is remarkable in his Country for having dared to treat Sir P. P. a cursed Sequestrator, and three Members of the Assembly of Divines, with Brawn and Mince Pies upon New Year's Day. That your said humble Petitioner hath been five times imprisoned in five several County Goals, for having been a Ring-leader in five different Riots; into which his Zeal for the Royal Cause hurried him, when Men of greater Estates had not the Courage to rise. That he, the said E. H. hath had six Duels and four and twenty Boxing-Matches in Defence of his Majesty's Title; and that he received such a Blow upon the Head at a Bonfire in Stratford upon Avon, as he hath been never the better for from that Day to this. That your Petitioner hath been so far from improving his Fortune, in the late damnable times, that he verily believes, and hath good Reason to imagine, that if he had been Master of an Estate, he hath infallibly been plundered and sequestred. Your Your Petitioner, in Consideration of his said Merits No. 629, and Sufferings, humbly requests that he may have the Monday, Dec, 6, Place of Receiver of the Taxes, Collector of the Customs, 1714. Clerk of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant, or whatsoever else he shall be thought qualified for, And your Petitioner shall ever pray, &c,' No. 630. Favete linguis Wednesday, December 8. -Hor. AVING no spare Time to write any thing of my HAVING have thought fit to publish the following Letters, Oxford, Novemb. 22. 'Sir, If you would be so kind to me, as to suspend that Satisfaction, which the Learned World must receive in reading one of your Speculations, by publishing this En deavour, you will very much oblige and improve one who has the Boldness to hope, that he may be admitted into the number of your Correspondents, I have often wondered to hear Men of good Sense and good Nature profess a Dislike to Musick, when, at the same time, they do not scruple to own, that it has the most agreeable and improving Influences over their Minds: It seems to me an unhappy Contradiction, that those Persons should have an Indifference for an Art, which raises in them such a Variety of sublime Pleasures. However, though some few, by their own or the unreasonable Prejudices of others, may be led into a Distaste for those Musical Societies which are erected meerly for Entertainment, yet sure I may venture to say, that no one can have the least Reason for Disaffec tion to that solemn kind of Melody which consists of the Praises of our Creator. You have, I persume, already prevented me in an Argument upon this Occasion (which some Divines have successfully advanced upon a much greater) that Musical Sacrifice and Adoration has claimed a Place in the Laws and Customs of the most different Nations: As No. 630, As the Grecians and Romans of the Prophane, the Jews Wednes and Christians of the Sacred World did as unanimously agree in this, as they disagreed in all other Parts of their OEconomy. day, Dec. 8, 1714. I know there are not wanting some who are of Opinion that the pompous kind of Musick which is in Use in foreign Churches is the most excellent, as it most affects our Senses. But I am swayed by my Judg ment to the Modesty which is observed in the musical Part of our Devotions. Methinks there is something very laudable in the Custom of a Voluntary before the first Lesson; by this we are supposed to be prepared for the Admission of those Divine Truths, which we are shortly to receive. We are then to cast all worldly Regards from off our Hearts, all Tumults within are then becalmed, and there should be nothing near the Soul but Peace and Tranquility, So that in this short Office of Praise, the Man is raised above himself, and is almost lost already amidst the Joys of Futurity. I have heard some nice Observers frequently com mend the Policy of our Church in this Particular, that it leads us on by such easie and regular Methods, that we are perfectly deceived into Piety. When the Spirits begin to languish (as they too often do) with a constant Series of Petitions, she takes care to allow them a pious Respite, and relieves them with the Raptures of an Anthem. Nor can we doubt that the sublimest Poetry, softned in the most moving Strains of Musick,_ can ever fail of humbling or exalting the Soul to any Pitch of Devotion. Who can hear the Terrors of the Lord of Hosts described in the most expressive Melody with out being awed into a Veneration? Or who can hear the kind and endearing Attributes of a merciful Father, and not to be softned into Love towards him? As the rising and sinking of the Passions, the cast ing soft or noble Hints into the Soul, is the natural Privilege of Musick in general, so more particularly of that kind which is employed at the Altar. Those Impressions which it leaves upon the Spirits are more deep and lasting as the Grounds from which it receives its Authority are founded more upon Reason. It diffuses a Calmness all around us, it makes us drop all those No. 630. vain or immodest Thoughts which would be an hind Wednes day, rance to us in the Performance of that great Duty Dec. 8, of Thanksgiving, which, as we are informed by our 1714. Almighty Benefactor, is the most acceptable Return which can be made for those infinite Stores of Blessings which he daily condescends to pour down upon his Creatures. When we make Use of this pathetical Method of addressing our selves to him, we can scarce contain from Raptures! The Heart is warmed with a Sublimity of Goodness! We are all Piety and all Love! How do the Blessed Spirits rejoice and wonder to behold unthinking Man prostrating his Soul to his dread Sovereign in such a Warmth of Piety as they themselves might not be ashamed of! I shall close these Reflections with a Passage taken out of the Third Book of Milton's Paradise Lost, where those harmonious Beings are thus nobly described. Then Crown'd again their Gold'n Harps they took, 'Mr. SPECTATOR, The Town cannot be unacquainted, that in divers Parts of it there are vociferous Setts of Men who are called Rattling Clubs, but what shocks me most is, they have now the Front to invade the Church and institute these Societies there, as a Clan of them have in late times done, to such a degree of Insolence, as has given the Partition where they reside in a Church near one of the City Gates, the Denomination of the Rattling Pew. These gay Fellows, from humble lay Professions, set up for Criticks without any Tincture of Letters or Reading, and have the Vanity to think they can lay hold of something from the Parson, which may be formed into Ridicule. It is needless to observe, that the Gentlemen who every Sunday have the hard Province of Instructing these No. 630. day, Dec. 8, 1714. these Wretches in a way they are in no present Dis Wednes position to take, have a fixt Character for Learning and Eloquence, not to be tainted by the weak Efforts of this Contemptible Part of their Audiences. Whether the Pulpit is taken by these Gentlemen, or any Strangers their Friends, the way of the Club is this: If any Sentiments are delivered too Sublime for their Con ception; if any uncommon Topick is entred on, or one in use new modified with the finest Judgment and Dexterity; or any controverted Point be never SO elegantly handled; In short, whatever surpasses the narrow Limits of their Theology, or is not suited to their Taste, they are all immediately upon their Watch, fixing their Eyes upon each other, with as much Warmth as our Gladiators of Hockley in the Hole, and waiting like them for a Hit; if one touches, all take Fire, and their Noddles instantly meet in the Centre of the Pew; then, as by beat of Drum, with exact Discipline, they rear up into a full length of Stature, and with odd Looks and Gesticulations confer together in so loud and clamorous a manner, continued to the close of the Discourse, and during the After-Psalm, as is not to be silenced but by the Bells. Nor does this suffice them, without aiming to propagate their Noise through all the Church, by Signals given to the adjoining Seats, where others designed for this Fraternity are sometimes placed upon Tryal to receive them. The Folly as well as Rudeness of this Practice is in nothing more conspicuous than this, that all that follows in the Sermon is lost; for whenever our Sparks take alarm, they blaze out and grow so Tumultuous, that no After Explanation can avail, it being impossible for themselves or any near them to give an Account thereof, If any thing really Novel is advanced, how averse soever it may be to their way of thinking, to say nothing of Duty, Men of less Levity than these would be led by a natural Curiosity to hear the whole, Laughter, where things Sacred are transacted, is far less pardonable than Whining at a Conventicle; the last has at least a Semblance of Grace, and where the Affectation is unseen may possibly imprint wholesome Lessons |
