will give this Letter a place in your Paper, and I fail < remain, Mr. SPECTATOR, May the sth. THE Converfation át a Club, of which I am a Member, laft night falling upon Vanity and the • Defire of being admired, put me in mind of relating • how agreeably I was entertained at my own Door laft Thursday by a clean fresh-colour'd Girl, under the most elegant and the best furnished Milk-Pail I had ever obferved. I was glad of fuch an Opportunity of feeing the Behaviour of a Coquet in low Life, and how the re⚫ceived the extraordinary notice that was taken of her; ⚫ which I found had effected every Mufcle of her Face in • the fame manner as it does the Feature of a first-rate • Toast at a Play, or in an Affembly. This Hint of mine • made the Difcourfe turn upon the Senfe of Pleasure; which ended in a general Refolution, that the Milk-Maid enjoys her Vanity as exquifitely as the Woman of Quality. • I think it would not be an improper Subject for you to examine this Frailty, and trace it to all Conditions of Life; which is recommended to you as an Occafion of obliging many of your Readers, among the reft. Your most humble Servant, SIR, COM ? T. B. OMING last Week into a Coffee-houfe not far from the Exchange with my Basket under my Arm, a few of confiderable Note, as I am informed, takes • half a dozen Oranges of me, and at the fame time flides a Guinea into my Hand; I made him a Curtfy, and went my way: He follow'd me, and finding I was 'going about my Bufinefs, he came up with me, and told me plainly, that he gave me the Guinea with no other intent but to purchase my Perfon for an Hour. Did you fo, Sir? fays I: You gave it me then to make me be wicked, I'll keep it to make me honest. However, M 5 ⚫ not No 38c. ⚫ not to be in the leaft ungrateful, I promife you l'il lay ' it out in a couple of Rings, and wear them for your • fake. I am so just, Sir, besides, as to give every body that asks how I came by my Rings this Account of my Benefactor; but to fave me the Trouble of telling my Tale over and over again, I humbly beg the favour of you so to tell it once for all, and you will extremely oblige, May 12. 1712. Your humble Servant, Betty Lemon. SIR, St. Brides, May 15, 1712. "TIS a great deal of Pleasure to me, and I dare fay will be no lefs Satisfaction to you, that I have an Opportunity of informing you, that the Gentlemen and others of the Parish of St. Brides, have raised a Charity• School of fifty Girls, as before of fifty Boys. You were fo kind to recommend the Boys to the charitable, World, and the other Sex hope you will do them the fame favour in Friday's Spectator for Sunday next, when they are to appear with their humble Airs at the Parish Church of St. Brides. Sir, the mention of this may poffibly be ferviceable to the Children; and fure no one will omit a good Action attended with no Expence. N° 381. Saturday, May 17. I Equam memento rebus in arduis Latitia, moriture Deli. Hor. The Have always prefer'd Chearfulness to Mirth. latter, I confider as an Act, the former as an Habit of the Mind. Mirth is fhort and tranfient, Chearfulness fixed and permanent. Thofe are often raifed into the greatest Transports of Mirth, who are fubject to the greatest Depreffions of Melancholy: On the contrary, Chearfulnefs, tho' it does not give the Mind fuch an exquifite Gladness, prevents us from falling into any Depths of Sorrow. Mirth is like a Flash of Lightning, that breaks thro' a Gloom of Clouds, and glitters for a Moment; Chearfulness keeps up a kind of Day-light in the Mind ; and fills it with a fteddy and perpetual Serenity. MEN of auftere Principles look upon Mirth as too wanton and diffolute for a State of Probation, and as filled with a certain Triumph and Infolence of Heart, that is inconfiftent with a Life which is every moment obnoxious to the greatest Dangers. Writers of this Complexion have obferved, that the facred Perfon who was the great Pattern of Perfection was never seen to laugh. CHEARFULNESS of Mind is not liable to any of these Exceptions; it is of a serious and compofed nature, it does not throw the Mind into a Condition improper for the prefent State of Humanity, and is very confpicuous in the Characters of thofe who are looked upon as the greatest Philofophers among the Heathens, as well as among those who have been defervedly esteemed as Saints and holy Men among Chriftians. IF we confider Chearfulness in three Lights, with regard to our felves, to thofe we converfe with, and to the great Author of our Being, it will not a little recommend it felf on each of these accounts. The Man who is poffeffed of this excellent Frame of Mind, is not only eafy in his Thoughts, but a perfect Matter of all the Powers and Faculties of his Soul: His Imagination is always clear, and his Judgment undisturbed: His Temper is even and unruffled, whether in Action or in Solitude. He comes with a Relifh to all thofe Goods which Nature has provided for him, taftes all the Pleafures of the Creation which are poured about him, and does not feel the full Weight of thofe accidental Evils which may befal him. IF we confider him in relation to the Perfons whom he converfes with, it naturally produces Love and Good-will towards him. A chearful Mind is not only difpofed to be affable and obliging, but raifes the fame good Humour in thofe who come within its Influence. A Man finds himfelf pleafed, he does not know why, with the Chearfulness of his Companion: It is like a fudden Sun-fhine that awakens a fecret Delight in the Mind, without her attending to it. The Heart rejoices of its own accord, and naturally flows out into Friendfhip and Benevolence towards the Perfon who has fo kindly an Effect upon it. WHEN I Confider this chearful State of Mind in its third Relation, I cannot but look upon it as a conftant habitual Gratitude to the great Author of Nature. An inward Chearfulness is an implicit Praife and Thanksgiving to Providence under all its Difpenfations. It is a kind of Acquiefcence in the State wherein we are placed, and a fecret Approbation of the Divine Will in his Conduct towards Man. THERE are but two things which, in my Opinion, can reasonably deprive us of this Chearfulness of Heart. The first of thefe is the Senfe of Guilt.. A Man who lives in a State of Vice and Impenitence, can have no Title to that Evennefs and Tranquility of Mind which is the Health of the Soul, and the natural Effect of Virtue and Innocence. Chearfuluefs in an ill Man deferves a harder Name than Language can furnish us with, and is many degrees beyond what we commonly call Folly or Madness. ATHEISM, by which I mean a Disbelief of a Supreme Being, and confequently of a future State, under whatfoever Titles it fhelters it felf, may likewife very reafonably deprive a Man of this Chearfulnefs of Temper. There is fomething fo particularly gloomy and offenfive to human Nature in the profpect of Non-Existence, that I cannot but wonder, with many excellent Writers, how it is poffible for a Man to out-live the Expectation of it. For my own part, I think the Being of a God is fo little to be doubted, that it is almost the only Truth we are fure of, and fuch a Truth as we meet with in every Object, in every Occurrence, and in every Thought. If we look into the Characters of this Tribe of Infidels, we generally find they are made up of Pride, Spleen, and Cavil: It is indeed no wonder, that Men, who are uneafy to themselves, fhould be fo to the rest of the World; and how is it poffible for a Man to be otherwife than uneafy in himself, who is in danger every Moment of lofing his entire Exiftence, and dropping into Nothing? R THE vicious Man and Atheist have therefore no pretence to Chearfulness, and would act very unreasonably, fhould they endeavour after it. It is impoffible for any one to live in Good-Humour, and enjoy his prefent Existence, who is apprehenfive either of Torment or of Annihilation; of being miferable, or of not being at all. AFTER having mention'd thefe two great Principles, which are deftructive of Chearfulness in their own Nature, as well as in right Reason, I cannot think of any other that ought to banish this happy Temper from a virtuous Mind. Pain and Sickness, Shame and Reproach, Poverty and old Age, nay Death it felf, confidering the fhortnefs of their Duration, and the Advantage we may reap from them, do not deferve the Name of Evils. A good Mind may bear up under them with Fortitude, with Indolence and with Chearfulness of Heart. The toffing of a Tempest does not difcompofe him, which he is fure will bring him to a joyful Harbour. A |