N°44. SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1750.

Όνας ε'χ Δέος ε'ςι.

HOMER.

-Dreams descend from Jove.

POPE.

TO THE RAMBLER.

SIR,

I HAD lately a very remarkable dream, which made so strong an impression on me, that I remember it every word; and if you are not better employed, you may read the relation of it, as follows:

Methought I was in the midst of a very entertaining set of company, and extremely delighted in attending to a lively conversation, when on a sudden I perceived one of the most shocking figures imagination can frame, advancing towards me. She was drest in black, her skin was contracted into a thousand wrinkles, her eyes deep sunk in her head, and her complexion pale and livid as the countenance of death. Her looks were filled with terror and unrelenting severity, and her hands. armed with whips and scorpions. As soon as she came near, with a horrid frown, and a voice that chilled my very blood, she bid me follow her. I obeyed, and she led me through rugged paths, beset with briars and thorns, into a deep soli

tary valley. Wherever she passed, the fading verdure withered beneath her steps; her pestilential breath infected the air with malignant vapours, obscured the lustre of the sun, and involved the fair face of heaven in universal gloom. Dismal howlings resounded through the forest, from every baleful tree the night-raven uttered his dreadful note, and the prospect was filled with desolation and horror. In the midst of this tremendous scene my execrable guide addressed me in the following manner :

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"Retire with me, O rash unthinking mortal, "from the vain allurments of a deceitful world, "and learn that pleasure was not designed the portion of human life. Man was born to mourn "and to be wretched; this is the condition of "all below the stars, and whoever endeavours to 66 oppose it, acts in contradiction to the will of "Heaven. Fly then from the fatal enchantments "of youth and social delight, and here consecrate "the solitary hours to lamentation and woe. Mi"sery is the duty of all sublunary beings, and every enjoyment is an offence to the deity, who "is to be worshipped only by the mortification of every sense of pleasure, and the everlasting exer"cise of sighs and tears.”

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This melancholy picture of life quite sunk my spirits, and seemed to annihilate every principle of joy within me. I threw myself beneath a blasted yeugh, where the winds blew cold and dismal round my head, and dreadful apprehensions chilled my heart. Here I resolved to lie till the hand of death, which I impatiently invoked, should put an end to the miseries of a life so deplorably wretched. VOL. IV.

A a

In this sad situation, I espied on one hand of me a deep muddy river, whose heavy waves rolled on in slow sullen murmurs. Here I determined to plunge, and was just upon the brink, when I found myself suddenly drawn back. I turned about, and was surprised by the sight of the loveliest object I had ever beheld. The most engaging charms of youth and beauty appeared in all her form; effulgent glories sparkled in her eyes, and their awful splendors were softened by the gentlest looks of compassion and peace. At her approach the frightful spectre, who had before tormented me, vanished away, and with her all the horrors she had caused. The gloomy clouds brightened into cheerful sunshine, the groves recovered their verdure, and the whole region looked gay and blooming as the garden of Eden. I was quite transported at this unexpected change, and reviving pleasure began to glad my thoughts, when, with a look of inexpressible sweetness, my beauteous deliverer thus uttered her divine instructions:

"My name is RELIGION. I am the offspring "of TRUTH and Love, and the parent of BENE46 VOLENCE, HOPE, and Joy. That monster "from whose power I have freed you is called "SUPERSTITION; she is the child of DisCON"TENT, and her followers are FEAR and SORROW. "Thus different as we are, she has often the inso"lence to assume my name and character, and "seduces unhappy mortals to think us the same,

till she, at length, drives them to the borders "of DESPAIR, that dreadful abyss into which you were just going to sink.

"Look round and survey the various beauties

"of the globe, which heaven has destined for the "seat of the human race, and consider whether a "world thus exquisitely framed could be meant "for the abode of misery and pain. For what "end has the lavish hand of Providence diffused "such innumerable objects of delight, but that "all might rejoice in the privilege of existence, "and be filled with gratitude to the beneficent "Author of it? Thus to enjoy the blessings he "has sent, is virtue and obedience; and to reject "them merely as means of pleasure, is pitiable "ignorance or absurd perverseness. Infinite good66 ness, is the source of created existence; the pro"per tendency of every rational being, from the "highest order of raptured seraphs to the meanest "rank of men, is to rise incessantly from lower "degrees of happiness to higher. They have "each faculties assigned them for various orders "of delights."

"What," cried I, "is this the language of "RELIGION? Does she lead her votaries through "flowery paths, and bid them pass an unlaborious "life? Where are the painful toils of virtue, the "mortifications of penitents, the self-denying exer"cises of saints and heroes ?""

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"The true enjoyments of a reasonable being," answered she mildly," do not consist in unbounded indulgence, or luxurious ease, in the tumult of "passions, the languor of indolence, or the flutter "of light amusements. Yielding to immoral "pleasure corrupts the mind, living to animal and "trifling ones debases it; both in their degree "disqualify it for its genuine good, and consign it "over to wretchedness. Whoever would be really

"happy, must make the diligent and regular exer"cise of his superior powers his chief attention, "adoring the perfections of his Maker, expressing "good-will to his fellow-creatures, cultivating "inward rectitude. To his lower faculties he "must allow such gratifications as will, by refresh"ing him, invigorate his nobler pursuits. In the "regions inhabited by angelick natures unming"led felicity for ever blooms; joy flows there "with a perpetual and abundant stream, nor needs "there any mound to check its course. Beings "conscious of a frame of mind originally diseased, "as all the human race has cause to be, must use "the regimen of a stricter self-government. Who"ever has been guilty of voluntary excesses, must "patiently submit both to the painful workings "of nature, and needful severities of medicine, "in order to his cure. Still he is intitled to a "moderate share of whatever alleviating accom❝modations this fair mansion of his merciful Pa"rent affords, consistent with his recovery. And "in proportion as this recovery advances, the "liveliest joy will spring from his secret sense of "an amended and improving heart.-So far from "the horrors of despair is the condition even of "the guilty. Shudder, poor mortal, at the thought of the gulph into which thou wast but "now going to plunge.

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"While the most faulty have every encourage"ment to amend, the more innocent soul will be "supported with still sweeter consolations under "all its experience of human infirmities; sup"ported by the gladdening assurances that every sincere endeavour to outgrow them, shall be