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ancient Right as to that Particular, by a little Pretender to Clenching in a neighbouring College, who in an Application to you by way of Letter, a while ago, ftyled himfelf Philobrune. Dear Sir, as you are by Cha•racter a profest Well-wisher to Speculation, you will. excufe a Remark which this Gentleman's Paffion for the Brunette has fuggefted to a Brother Theorift; 'tis an Offer towards a mechanical Account of his Lapfe to Punning, for he belongs to a Set of Mortals who value themfelves upon an uncommon Mastery in the more humane and polite Part of Letters. A Conqueft by one of this Species of Females gives a very odd Turn to the Intellectuals of the captivated Perfon, and very different from that way of thinking which a Triumph from the Eyes of another more emphatically of the fair Sex, does generally occafion. It fills the Imagination with an Affemblage of fuch Ideas and Pictures as are hardly any thing but Shade, fuch as Night, the Devil, c. Thefe Portraitures very near over-power the Light of the Understanding, almoft benight the Faculties, and give that melancholy Tinaure to the most fanguine Complexion, which this Gentleman calls an Inclination to be in a Brown-study, and is ufually attended with worfe Confequences in cafe of a Repulfe. During this Twilight of Intellects, the Patient is extremely apt, as Love is the most witty Paffion in Nature, to offer at fome pert Sallies now and then, by way of Flourish, upon the amiable Enchantress, and unfortunately ftumbles upon that Mongrel mifcreated (to speak in Miltonic) kind of Wit, vul'garly termed, the Punn. It would not be much amifs to confult Dr. T- W (who is certainly a very able Projector, and whofe System of Divinity and fpiritual Mechanicks obtains very much among the better Part of our Under-Graduates) whether a general Inter-marriage, enjoyned by Parliament, between this Sifter-hood of the Olive Beauties, and the Fraternity of the People call'd Quakers, would not be a very ferviceable Expedient, and abate that Overflow of Light which fhines within them fo powerfully, that it daz zles their Eyes, and dances them into a thousand Vagaries of Error and Enthufiafm, Thefe Reflections

may

6

may impart fome Light towards a Difcovery of the Origin of Punning among us, and the Foundation of its prevailing fo long in this famous Body. 'Tis notorious from the Inftance under Confideration, that it must be owing chiefly to the ufe of brown Juggs, muddy Belch, and the Fumes of a certain memorable Place of Rendezvous with us at Meals, known by the Name of Staincoat Hole: For the Atmosphere of the Kitchen, like the Tail of a Comet, predominates leaft about the Fire, but refides behind and fills the fragrant Receptacle above-mentioned. Befides, 'tis farther obfervable, that the delicate Spirits among us, who declare against thefe naufeous Proceedings, fip Tea, and put up for Critic and Amour, profefs likewife an equal Abhorrency for Punning, the ancient innocent * Diverfion of this Society. After all, Sir, tho' it may appear fomething abfurd, that I feem to approach you with the Air of an Advocate for Punning, (you who have juftified your Cenfures of the Practice in a fet • Differtation upon that Subject;) yet, I'm confident, you'll think it abundantly attoned for by obferving, that this humbler Exercife may be as inftrumental in diverting us from any innovating Schemes and Hypothefis in Wit, as dwelling upon honeft Orthodox Logic would be in fecuring us from Herefie in Religi • on. Had Mr. Wn's Refearches been confined within the Bounds of Ramus or Crackanthorp, that learned News-monger might have acquiefc'd in what the holy Oracles pronounce upon the Deluge, like other Chriftians; and had the furprising Mr. Ly been content with the Employment of refining upon Shakespear's Points and Quibbles, (for which he must be allowed to have a fuperlative Genius) and now and then penning a Catch or a Ditty, instead of inditing Odes, and Sonnets, the Gentlemen of the Bon Gouft in the Pit would never have been put to all that "Grimace in damning the Frippery of State, the Poverty and Langour of Thought, the unnatural Wit, and inartificial Structure of his Dramas.

I am, S IR,

Your very humble Servant,

Peter de Quir.'
Thursday,

N° 397.

A

Fecerat

Thursday, June 5.

·Dolor ipfe difertum

Ovid.

S the Stoick Philofophers difcard all Paffions in general, they will not allow a Wife Man fo much as to pity the Afflictions of another. If thou feeft thy Friend in Trouble, fays Epictetus, thou may't put on a Look of Sorrow, and condole with him, but take care that thy Sorrow be not real. The more rigid of this Sect would not comply fo far as to fhew even fuch an outward Appearance of Grief, but when one told them of any Calamity that had befallen even the nearest of their Acquaintance, would immediately reply, What is that to me? If you aggravated the Circumstances of the Affliction, and fhewed how one Misfortune was followed by another, the Answer was ftill, All this may be true, but what is it to me?

FOR my own part, I am of Opinion, Compaffion does not only refine and civilize Humane Nature, but has fomething in it more pleafing and agreeable than what can be met with in fuch an indolent Happinefs, fuch an Indifference to Mankind as that in which the Stoicks placed their Wisdom. As Love is the most delightful Paffi on, Pity is nothing elfe but Love foftned by a degree of Sorrow: In fhort, it is a kind of pleafing Anguifh, as well as generous Sympathy, that knits Mankind together, and blends them in the fame common Lot.

THOSE who have laid down Rules for Rhetorick or Poetry, advise the Writer to work himself up, if poffible, to the Pitch of Sorrow which he endeavours to produce in others. There are none therefore who ftir up Pity fo much as those who indite their own Sufferings. Grief has a natural Eloquence belonging to it, and breaks out in more moving Sentiments than can be fup

plied by the finest Imagination. Nature on this Occafion dictates a thousand paffionate things which cannot be fupplied by Art.

IT is for this Reason that the short Speeches or Sentences which we often meet with in Hiftories, make a deeper Impreffion on the Mind of the Reader, than the moft laboured Strokes in a well-written Tragedy. Trueh and Matter of Fact sets the Perfon actually before us in the one, whom Fiction places at a greater Distance from us in the other. I do not remember to have seen any Ancient or Modern Story more affecting than a Letter of Ann of Bologne, Wife to King Henry the Eighth, and Mo-ther to Queen Elizabeth, which is ftill extant in the Cotton Library, as written by her own Hand.

SHAKESPEAR himself could not have made her talk in a Strain fo fuitable to her Condition and Character. One fees in it the Expoftulations of a flighted Lover; the Refentments of an injured Woman, and the Sorrows of an imprifoned Queen. I need not acquaint my Reader that this Princess was then under Profecution for Difloyalty to the King's Bed, and that she was afterwards publickly beheaded upon the fame Account, though this Profecution was believed by many to proceed, as the her self intimates, rather from the King's Love to Jane Seymour, than from any actual Crime in Ann of Bologne.

Queen Ann Boleyn's laft Letter to King Henry.

Gotten Lib.

ཝ་

SIR,

Y

OUR Grace's Difpleasure, and my @the, C. 10. c. Imprisonment, are Things fo ftrange unto me, as what to write, or what to excufe, I am altogether ignorant. Whereas you fend unto me (willing me to confefs a Truth, and fo obtain your Favour) by fuch an one, whom you know to be mine ancient profeffed Enemy, I no fooner received this Meffage by him, than I rightly conceived your Meaning; and if, as you fay, confeffing a Truth indeed may procure my Safety, I fhall with all Willingness and Duty peform your Command..

BUT let not your Grace ever imagine, that your poor Wife will ever be brought to acknowledge a Fault,

• where

where not fo much as a Thought thereof preceded. And to speak a Truth, never Prince had Wife more Loyal in all Duty, and in all true Affection, than you have ever found in Ann Boleyn with which Name and Place I could willingly have contented my felf, if God • and your Grace's Pleasure had been fo pleafed. Neither did I at any time fo far forget my felf in my Exaltation, or received Queenfhip, but that I always looked for fuch an Alteration as now I find; for the Ground of my Preferment being on no furer Foundation than your Grace's Fancy, the leaft Alteration I knew was fit and fufficient to draw that Fancy to fome • other Object. You have chosen me, from a low Eftate, to be your Queen and Companion, far beyond my Defert or Defire. If then you found me worthy ⚫ of fuch Honour, good your Grace let not any light Fancy, or bad Counsel of mine Enemies, withdraw your Princely Favour from me; neither let that Stain, that unworthy Stain, of a Disloyal Heart towards your good Grace, ever caft fo foul a Blot on your moft Dutiful Wife, and the Infant-Princefs your Daughter. Try me, good King, but let me have a lawful Tryal, and let not my fworn Enemies fit as my Acccufers and Judges; Yea let me receive an open Tryal, for

my Truth fhall fear no open Shame; then shall you

fee either mine Innocence cleared, your Sufpicion and • Conscience satisfied, the Ignominy and Slander of the World stopped, or my Guilt openly declared. So that whatsoever God or you may determine of me, your • Grace may be freed from an open Cenfure, and mine Offence being fo lawfully proved, your Grace is at liberty, both before God and Man, not only to Execute worthy Punishment on me as an unlawful Wife, but to follow your Affection, already fettled on that Party, for whofe fake I am now as I am, whofe Name I could fome good while fince have pointed unto, your 'Grace being not ignorant of my Sufpicion therein.

BUT if you have already determined of me, and that not only my Death, but an Infamous Slander muft bring you the enjoying of your defired Happi& nefs; then I defire of God, that he will pardon your great Sin therein, and likewife mine Enemies, the In ftrumens