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 ARY^c^ ^lIBRARYOc,
 
 THE SCOTT LIBRARY. 
 
 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE.
 
 " The Athenian Oracle." A Selec- 
 tion, Edited by John Underhill 
 With a Prefatory Letter from 
 Walter Besant. 
 
 London : Walter Scott, 
 24 Warwick Lane, Paternoster Row,
 
 3436 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 -♦♦- 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Mr. Besant's Prefatory Letter . . . . vii 
 
 Introduction xiii 
 
 Part I. — Love, Courtship, and Marriage . i 
 
 Part II. — Popular Science in the Seventeenth 
 
 Century 43 
 
 Part III. — Popular Superstitions and Folk-Lore 99 
 
 Part IV. — Religion and Religious Problems . 147 
 
 Part V. — Miscellaneous Questions and Answers 177 
 
 Appendix 251 
 
 Index 26 
 
 
 G47271
 
 PREFATORY LETTER. 
 
 My dear Underbill, — 
 
 I am very glad to learn that you propose to 
 make a selection from the "Athenian Oracle." Your 
 readers will be grateful to you for an introduction to 
 that quaint collection of old-time correspondence. It is 
 a treasury, a store-house, filled with precious things ; a 
 book invaluable to one who wishes to study the manners 
 and the ideas of the English bourgeois at the end of the 
 seventeenth, or the beginning of the eighteenth century. 
 Their language, their opinions, their points of viezv, 
 their science, their formalities, their social manners, 
 their religion, may be more truly and more vividly 
 learned from these pages than from any other book 
 that I know. The middle-class, under the great and 
 glorious A nna, cannot be learned from Dry den, from 
 Congreve, or any of the poets and dramatists ; because 
 the poets did not concern themselves with middle- 
 class manners, and the dramatists, if they did, studied 
 them with a view to stage exaggeration. Nor can
 
 v i i i PRE FA TOR Y LE TTER. 
 
 the manners of the middle-class be learned from 
 Addison and the essayists. Theirs is the coffee- 
 house life, in which they are at home: but that was 
 only a small part of the citizen's life : these writers did 
 not go home with the draper or the hosier : they did not 
 sit with the citizens wife and daughters in the back 
 parlour behind the shop, talking the permitted common- 
 place, with the required formalities, in the proper grooves. 
 Defoe shoivs something of this life, yet not much, because 
 he is always in his books himself, with his own ideas, 
 which zvere far in advance of those held by the people. 
 The difference between Defoe and the "Oracle" in this 
 respect becomes immediately apparent to the most care- 
 less reader. Those humorous gentlemen, Ned Ward 
 and Tom Brown, certainly do not reflect the life of the 
 middle-class, which has always been outwardly decorous, 
 if rather stupid and rather dull. But the conductors 
 of the "Athenian Oracle" belonged to this respectable, 
 moral, religious middle-class — those who carried on the 
 professions and trade of the country ; they understood 
 very well the class to which they belonged, and the 
 opinions which were held, and should and must be held, 
 by this class. It is, and alzvays has been, until the present 
 day, when the old barriers are being everywhere broken 
 down, a " note " of this class, that in all affairs, whether 
 of conduct or thought, there is but one zvay possible : 
 there is one "proper" thing to do; one "proper" thing
 
 PREFA TOR Y LE TTER. ix 
 
 to say ; one "proper" thing to think. Everybody over 
 forty born in the middle-class must recognise this " note" 
 In the pages of the "Athenian Oracle" were found 
 faithfully presented the ideas of this class as they should 
 be held and as they should be bounded. There is no 
 extravagance, no affectation, and no straining after 
 effect. 
 
 The wonderfod series of essays ivhich lasted through- 
 out the zvliole of the eighteenth century stops short, con- 
 sidered as a picture of contemporary manners, at the class 
 represetited by the "Oracle." The writers either did not 
 know, or they despised, the London bourgeois life : they 
 were not in sympathy with a class which might be moral 
 and decorous, but zvas certainly circumscribed and limited 
 ill its ideas, and by no means ready to receive or to 
 welcome new tilings. The class had no prophet, unless 
 it was the "Athenian Oracle" and its successor, the 
 "British Apollo": those a little higher in the social scale 
 were more attractive; those beloiv — if they were habitual 
 criminals — were more interesting. So that, though an 
 essayist miglit make an occasional observation of the 
 citizen taking his tvalks abroad, the bourgeois at home 
 remained unnoticed, much as he does to this day. If, for 
 instance, we now want to know what the great mass of 
 respectable people think about all sorts of subjects, it would 
 be from their letters to the papers that we should get this 
 information. It would be invidious to select papers, but
 
 x PRE FA TOR Y LE TTER. 
 
 the student of Londo?t middle-class opinions in the year 
 iSp2 can best learn them from the daily correspondence 
 of two London papers. 
 
 Nor is it only the mind of the bourgeois that may be 
 
 found here. We can here read the very language that 
 
 they used. Neither in Defoe, nor in Addison, nor in 
 
 Tom Brozvn, can be found the language of the citizen. 
 
 But it is here. 
 
 A novelist is always a student of manners, language, 
 and ideas. Generally he confines Jiimself to his own 
 generation. Sometimes, however, he harks back for a 
 century or so. Then his chief difficulty is with the 
 current ideas of the time. The manners of the Court 
 and its language he can recover without much 
 difficulty from Elisabeth to Victoria. The language 
 and the opinions of scholars he can also recover without 
 any difficidty. It is not so easy to recover the language 
 and the ideas of the middle-class. It is not impossible, 
 for example, but it is difficult to reconstruct the London 
 citizen of the year 1600. Those who then wrote about 
 him covered him up zvith their conceits and parade of 
 learning. It is much more difficult, hoivever, to do this 
 for his grandson of the year 1660. For his great-grand- 
 son of i6po to 1 7 '20, it is more easy, tlianks especially to 
 the "Athenian Oracle? I have twice essayed the task of 
 getting at middle-class ideas of this age — once in a 
 volume called "Dorothy Forstar," which belongs to the
 
 PREFA TOR Y LETTER. xi 
 
 year iyijf : once in a book called "For Faith and 
 Freedom" which belongs to thirty years before that date. 
 But between 1680 and 1J20 the change in manners and 
 opinions zvas so slight that it may be neglected, In both 
 these tasks I found my greatest help as regards both 
 language and current opinions and floating prejudices, 
 out of all the books which I had to read, in the 
 "Athenian Oracle? If your book enables yourself ", or 
 any student of its pages, or any curious reader, to 
 reconstruct an English family entirely, with its daily 
 life, its daily ceremonies, its prejudices, its ignorances, 
 its honesty, its narrow religion, its dignity, and its self- 
 respect, you will have earned the gratitude of that 
 student. 
 
 I remain, my dear Under Jiill, 
 
 Yours very faithf idly, 
 
 WALTER BESANT. 
 
 United University Club, 
 fanuary 14, i8g2.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The connection between journalism and literature now so 
 conspicuously apparent did not always exist. The earliest 
 English newspapers were newspapers in the very strictest 
 sense of the term. They collected and chronicled news. 
 And the news they chronicled was in the main political. 
 The production of a new play by a Dryden or by an 
 Etheredge, interesting as it was to a playgoer like Pepys, 
 does not appear to have been thought sufficiently important 
 to merit a single line in any contemporary news-sheet. 
 Nor was the literature of the time more indulgently treated. 
 Books were occasionally advertised, but seldom, or never, 
 reviewed. This, of course, is the chief respect in which 
 the journalism of the Restoration period differs from that 
 of our own times. To-day there is scarcely a single news- 
 paper among the two thousand two hundred or more that 
 are published in this country the contents of which consist 
 of news alone. The London Gazette is perhaps the solitary 
 exception. But there are, on the other hand, hundreds of 
 journals that dispense with political and general news 
 altogether. The change dates from 1680. In that year 
 was started the Mercurius Librarius ; or a Faithful Account 
 of all Books and Pamphlets. This publication, which came 
 out twice a month, solicited books, pamphlets, and sheets for
 
 xiv INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the " undertakers," as the promoters styled themselves, who 
 arranged to return them when duly catalogued. The "under- 
 takers " expected sixpence for inserting any book, " nor 
 but 1 2d. for any other advertisement relating to the trade, 
 unless it be excessive long." 1 The Mercurius Librarius is 
 beyond question the first literary journal ever published in 
 this country. 2 Ten years later there appeared, for the first 
 time in the history of the English press, a paper devoted to 
 the every-day interests of the people at large — a paper which 
 could please literary men like Sir William Temple and his 
 secretary, Swift, as well as the ordinary " man in the street." 
 This was the Athenian Gazette, of which we shall have 
 more to say hereafter. In 1709, Steele started the Tatler, 
 which was followed by the Spectator and by the Guardian. 
 In these periodicals journalism and literature became united 
 in bonds that have remained unbroken down to the present 
 time. To-day, of course, there is hardly a single news- 
 paper of standing that does not deal with art, with literature, 
 and with science as subjects of immediate and of striking 
 interest. Not a few of the men whose names shed lustre 
 upon the literature of the Victorian era were, in their early 
 life, connected with the press. For journalism is the cradle 
 — and not, as some have averred, the grave — of literature. 
 
 But it was not always so, as a moment's glance at the 
 early history of English journalism will show. The age 
 which produced Ben Jonson also produced Nathaniel 
 Butter. But the journalist never became a dramatist as he 
 
 1 Andrews, History of British Journalism, i. 72. 
 
 2 Monsieur Beljame, referring to Dunton and the Athenian Mercury, 
 remarks that " on ne saurait lui refuser l'honneur d'avoir fonde avec 
 Succes le premier journal litteraire Anglais" (Le Public et les Hommes 
 de Letlres en Angleterre an Dix-huitieme Siecle, p. 273). This honour 
 really belongs to the founder of the Mercurius Librarius. But Dunton's 
 was the first popular paper.
 
 2NTR OD UCTION. x v 
 
 might have done in these days : he was merely a butt 
 for the playwright's satire. The newspaper press, of which 
 we are now so justly proud, was at that time a very 
 insignificant affair indeed. Information as to current events 
 was for the most part conveyed by means of " news-letters." 
 The writers of these letters worked in a very primitive 
 fashion, and the results they achieved would be contemned 
 by the humblest "penny-a-liner" alive to-day. The "news- 
 writer," who was well known in the reign of Queen 
 Elizabeth, and who probably dates from a much earlier 
 period, received a salary — usually not more than four or 
 five pounds a year — in return for which he sent his patrons 
 all such scraps of information as he might be able to pick up. 
 He continued his vocation long after printed newspapers 
 came into general use. A recent volume in the Reports of 
 the Historical Manuscripts Commission 1 contains a very 
 complete and very interesting collection of news-letters 
 written for pay by clerks in the office of Sir Joseph 
 Williamson, first Clerk of the Council, to Sir Daniel 
 Fleming, of Rydal Hall, in Westmoreland. They cover 
 the reigns of Charles II., James II., and William III., and 
 record much entertaining foreign and domestic news. 2 
 
 1 Historical MSS. Commission. Twelfth Report. Appendix, Part vii. 
 
 2 Two extracts relating to the period covered by Dunton's Athenian 
 Mercury may be quoted : — 
 
 "July 15, 1690. On Sunday, Sir John Gage was committed to the 
 Tower. Yesterday a soldier was arrested for wishing the bullet that 
 hurt the King's shoulder had gone through his neck, and that he knew 
 sixty men of his mind. Dr. Clutterbuck, of Southampton, it is said, 
 has been arrested for holding correspondence with ill people. Thirty 
 persons have been seized in Nottinghamshire." 
 
 " March 3, 1690-1. Yesterday two persons of the number of those 
 who assailed the Earl of Danby, stood in the pillory, but received no 
 affront, by reason of the Press masters, who at the same time pressed 
 sixty young fellows and carried them on board."
 
 xvi 1NTR OD UCTION. 
 
 The race of news-writers was not extinct even in the days 
 of Queen Anne. "It is our custom at Sir Roger's," 
 remarks Addison in one of the Spectators^- "upon the 
 coming in of the post to sit about a pot of coffee to hear 
 the old knight read Dyer's letter; which he does with his 
 spectacles upon his nose, and in an audible voice, smiling 
 very often at those little strokes of satire which are so 
 frequent in the writings of that author." And, again, six 
 years later, the great essayist records a conversation with 
 the Tory fox-hunter as follows: — '"I fancy,' said I, 'that 
 post brings news from Scotland. I shall long to see the 
 next Gazette? ' Sir,' says he, ' I make it a rule never to 
 believe any of your printed news. We never see, sir, 
 how things go, except now and then in Dyer's letter, 
 and I read that more for the style than the news. The 
 man has a clever pen it must be owned.'" 2 News- 
 letters, as is the case with most old institutions, died hard. 
 Steele, when he commenced the Tatler, so far countenanced 
 the principle upon which they were conducted as to provide 
 for a special issue of that journal, with a blank leaf, " to 
 write Business on." But their end came at last ; they could 
 not exist for ever side by side with the printed news-sheet. 
 Their mode of communicating news was too inadequate ; 
 and, what was worse, the news they sent to their clients was 
 often little more than mere hearsay, being indeed at times, 
 like some of the "intelligence" printed in the newspapers 
 of to-day, pure invention. 
 
 These news-letters had sole occupation of the field for a 
 time ; but, after a while, their place was partly taken by 
 news-books. " If any read nowadays," says a writer early 
 in the seventeenth century, 3 "it is a play-book or pamphlet 
 
 1 No. 127, July 26, 1710. 2 Freeholder, No. 22, March 5, 1716. 
 
 8 Burton, A natomy of Melancholy (1621).
 
 INTR OD UCTION. xvii 
 
 of newes." The sort of "newes" these pamphlets recorded 
 — or invented — is indicated in the two titles which we 
 append — 
 
 " Newes from Scotland, declaring the damnable life of Doctor Fian, 
 a notable sorcerer, who was burned at Edenborough in January last 
 
 (1591)." 
 
 "Wonderful and strange newes out of SufTolke and Essex, where it 
 rayned wheat the space of six or seven miles (1583)." * 
 
 Next came the periodical paper, the first of which, so far as 
 can be ascertained, was published by Nathaniel Butter in 
 1622. It was by no means regular as regards the days of 
 issue, nor was the title always the same ; but, in spite of the 
 heavy odds against it, it managed to preserve a certain 
 continuity ; and the so-called Weekly News, imperfect as it 
 was, deserves recognition as being the first genuine English 
 newspaper. Like all unwelcome innovations, it soon came 
 under the lash of the satirist. Butter is the Clerk in 
 Jonson's Staple of News. " I would have, sir," exclaims 
 the old woman in the comedy, 
 
 "... I would have, sir, 
 A groatsworth of any news, I care not what, 
 To carry down this Saturday to our vicar. 
 
 Registrar. — O! you're a butter-woman ; ask Nathaniel 
 The clerk there." 2 
 
 The staple (or emporium) of news sketched by Jonson 
 was, in its way, a by no means unworthy predecessor of the 
 Central News and Press Association of our own day. It 
 undertook, like those agencies, to simplify, centralise, and 
 co-ordinate all sources of intelligence; and it no doubt paved 
 
 1 See Andrews, History of British Journalism, i. 26, 27, for these 
 and similar titles. 
 
 2 The Staple of Neivs (1625), Act I., Sc. iv. 
 
 b 
 
 IS
 
 xviii 1NTR OD UCTION. 
 
 the way for the many newspapers which subsequently 
 sprung up. The Civil War gave a great impetus to the 
 journalism of the seventeenth century. This period of 
 internal strife was also a time of Mercuries and of " Mer- 
 cury women." There were the Mercurius Au/icus, the 
 Mercurius Medicus, the Mercurius Poiiticus, the Mercurius 
 Britannicus, the Mercurius A?iti-Briiannicus, the Mercurius 
 Bragmaticus, the Mercurius Aquaticus, and so on, usque ad 
 nauseam. There is nothing like battle and bloodshed for 
 newspapers. The period of internecine warfare saw the 
 advent of innumerable "Mercuries," while that of the 
 Restoration witnessed the founding of the London Gazette, 
 the oldest journal in existence, either in this or in any other 
 country. It came out for the first time in 1666- — Dryden's 
 annus mirabilis — being issued on Mondays and Thursdays. 
 "The contents," says Macaulay, "generally were a royal 
 proclamation, two or three Tory addresses, notices of two 
 or three promotions, an account of a skirmish between the 
 imperial forces and the Janissaries on the Danube, a 
 description of a highwayman, an announcement of a grand 
 cock-fight between two persons of honour, and an adver- 
 tisement offering a reward for a strayed dog. The whole 
 made up two pages of moderate size." 1 It did not con- 
 tain, and it never has contained, any direct reference to 
 literature, to science, or to art — or, for the matter of that, 
 to many other things which go to the making of a nation's 
 life. 
 
 There was soon to be a change. The late Matthew 
 Arnold, who was never at loss for an epithet, once essayed 
 to define what he called the New Journalism. " We have 
 had opportunities of observing a new journalism which a 
 clever and energetic man has lately invented," — so he wrote 
 1 Macaulay's History of England, chap. iii.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xix 
 
 in 1887. "It has much to recommend it; it is full of 
 ability, novelty, variety, sensation, sympathy, generous 
 instincts ; its one great fault is that it is feather-brained." x 
 Arnold had an able modern journalist in his mind when he 
 penned this passage ; but his adjectives apply with almost 
 equal truth and force to John Dunton, and to the journal 
 which more than two hundred years previously that "clever 2^ 
 and energetic " bookseller had started under the title of the ^* ^ 
 Athe?iian Gazette. The name was adopted on scriptural, 
 not on classical grounds ; for the Athenians, according to 
 St. Paul, "spent their time in nothing else but either to tell 
 or to hear some new thing." 2 The readers of the Athenian 
 Gazette, also, were on their part invited to tell or to hear\ 
 some new thing. The paper professed to resolve weekly 
 " all the most nice and curious questions propos'd by the 
 ingenious of either sex." It ran its successful course for 
 something like six years ; pleasing the contributors of ques- 
 tions by its prompt and interesting replies, and entertaining 
 the general reader by its rich and varied stories of informa- 
 tion. Questions were submitted on all sorts of subjects — 
 on religion, casuistry, love, literature, manners, science, and 
 superstition — and none of them appears to have been too 
 subtle or too absurd to extract a reply from the "knot of 
 obscure men," as Dr. Johnson called them, who conducted 
 the periodical. "There can be no doubt," says Mr. 
 Courthope, "that the quaint humours it originated gave 
 the first hint to the inventors of the Tatter and Spectator." 3 
 Let us now turn aside for a moment to consider the career 
 of the "clever and energetic man " by whom the Athenian 
 Gazette (or Merctiry) was originated. 
 
 1 Nineteenth Century, May 1887. 
 
 2 Acts of the Apostles, xvii. 21. 
 
 3 Addison. By W. J. Courthope, p. 88.
 
 xx INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 John Dunton — one of the Fathers of English Journalism 
 — was born on the 4th May 1659. He was, as he himself 
 informs us, " son, grandson, and great-grandson to a clergy- 
 man - } " 1 and he was, moreover, the fourth lineal descendant 
 of that name. But he was not the fourth clergyman. He 
 was, as Mr. Leslie Stephen puts it, "a flighty youth." 2 He 
 fell in love in his thirteenth year; he declined to learn 
 languages ; and, although he consented to " dabble in 
 philosophy," his ethical studies affected his theories more 
 than his practice. Had he lived in the present day, he 
 would most probably have picked up shorthand, and have 
 drifted quite naturally into journalism and literature. As 
 it was, he was compelled to begin life as a bookseller's 
 apprentice. Life behind a counter was as uncongenial to 
 him as it subsequently proved to be in the case of Gay, 
 and, " in the compass of a few days," he was resolved to 
 make a journey of it home again, having satisfied his 
 curiosity. But, unlike Gay, he was persuaded to return 
 once more to the shop, and after this early ebullition of his 
 rebellious spirit, he settled down to serve his seven years' 
 term. " I cannot but say," he confesses in the entertaining 
 account of his Life and Errors which he afterwards wrote, 
 " that if ever an Apprenticeship was easy and agreeable, it 
 was that which I served ; and, had I not been overborne 
 with headstrong passions, both to my own ruin and the loss 
 of time, I might have made considerable improvements in 
 so good a family." 3 The truth is, Dunton was intensely 
 interested in love-making and in politics — pursuits which 
 take up considerably more time than the young man who 
 
 1 Athenianism ; or the New Projects of Mr. fohn Dunton (17 10), 
 p. 14. 
 
 2 Dictionary of National Biography, xvi. 236. 
 
 3 Life and Errors , p. 43, Nichols' edition (18 18).
 
 INTR OD UCTION. xxi 
 
 wishes to succeed in the world can well afford to spare. His 
 period of apprenticeship having come to an end, he opened 
 business on his own account, " taking up with half a shop, 
 a warehouse, and a fashionable chamber," which he had of 
 " honest Mr. John Brown." Printing was now " the utter- 
 most " in his thoughts, and his earlier speculations sold 
 well. This, as he frankly admits, gave him an ungovern- 
 able itch to be always intriguing that way. Nor, as it 
 happened, was this the only direction in which he showed 
 a peculiar aptitude for "intriguing." Dunton was ever an 
 enthusiastic admirer of the fairer sex ; and it is not a little to 
 his credit that at a time when the Merry Monarch sat upon 
 the English throne he could treat women with a sincere and 
 chivalrous respect none too common even in the Victorian 
 era, and that, in spite of much painful disillusionment, he 
 held to the last his strenuous belief in the possibility of a 
 purely "platonic" attachment between two persons of 
 different sex. Dunton was, of course, mere wax in the 
 hands of the match-making matrons who surrounded him ; 
 and, in 1682, he espoused Elizabeth, a daughter of Samuel 
 Annesley the divine. Samuel Wesley, the father of the 
 Methodist of that name, married another daughter, and 
 Daniel Defoe a third. 
 
 Things went well enough for a few years. Then came 
 Monmouth's insurrection — the immediate result of which 
 was an almost universally felt depression in trade. Dunton, 
 whose business fell off like that of other tradesmen, resolved 
 to make a voyage to New England, where five hundred 
 pounds were owing to him, and where he hoped to dispose 
 of a portion of his stock of books. The fact that he had 
 generously, but somewhat foolishly, become security for the 
 debt of a sister may have had something to do with this 
 voyage — a full account of which will be found in the Life
 
 xxii INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 and Errors already cited. Upon his return to this country, 
 in the year of the Revolution, he opened a shop at the sign 
 of the " Black Raven," in the Poultry, where he carried on 
 business as bookseller and journalist for the space of several 
 years. Here his chief " project " — all Dunton's many ven- 
 tures were described by him as "projects" — was brought 
 to a successful issue. 
 
 Dunton has more than once been spoken of as a "crazy 
 bookseller," and that by persons who ought to know 
 better. He was a bookseller by trade, of course ; but — 
 what is much more to our present purpose — he was also 
 the first journalist of his time. He was full of ideas and 
 rich in expedients, and he possessed an interesting per- 
 sonality, which he lost no opportunity of bringing before the 
 public. No doubt he was what certain modern writers 
 would call a " crank " ; yet, with all his " crankiness," he 
 showed a wonderful knowledge of human nature, its weak- 
 nesses and its wants. To have hit the public taste as he 
 did with his Athenian Gazette was a feat, and a feat 
 of which any modern journalist might feel proud. It is 
 true that he received help in carrying out his "project"; 
 but the original idea was his, and his alone. Here is the 
 story of its inception in Dunton's own words : — 
 
 " I had received a very flaming injury, which was so loaded with 
 aggravations that I could scarce get over it ; my thoughts were con- 
 stantly working upon't, and made me strangely uneasy; sometimes I 
 thought to make application to some Divine, but how to conceal my- 
 self and the ungrateful wretch was the difficulty. Whilst this perplexity 
 remained upon me, I was one day walking over St. George's Fields, 
 and Mr. Larkin and Mr. Harris were along with me, and on a sudden 
 I made a stop, and said, • Well, sirs, I have a thought I'll not 
 exchange for Fifty guineas;' they smiled, and were very urgent with 
 me to discover it, but they could not get it from me. The first rude 
 hint of it was no more than a confused idea of concealing the Querist
 
 INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 xxm 
 
 and answering his Question. However, so soon as I came home, I 
 managed it to some better purpose, brought it into form and hammered 
 out a title for't, which happened to be extremely lucky, and those who 
 are well acquainted with the Grecian History may discover some 
 peculiar beauties in it." ' Ai, 
 
 Such was the origin of the Athenian Gazette. Let" us" 
 now take a brief glance at its production and early history. 
 
 The first number of the new journal appeared on Tuesday, 
 March 17th, 1690-91, and evidently took a certain section 
 of the reading public by storm. It was a single folio sheet, 
 printed on both sides, and bore the title of The Athenian 
 Gazette, resolving weekly all the most nice and curious ques- 
 tions proposed by the ingenious. At the end of the sheet 
 appeared the following ''Advertisement": — 
 
 " All Persons whatever may be resolved gratis in any Question that 
 their own satisfaction or curiosity shall prompt 'em to, if they send their 
 Questions by a Penny Post letter to Mr. Smith at his Coffee-house in 
 Stocks Market in the Poultry, where orders are given for the reception 
 of such Letters, and care shall be taken for their Resolution by the 
 next Weekly Paper after their sending." 
 
 " In a little time after," says Dunton, "to oblige authority, 
 we altered the title of Athenian Gazette." The substitu- 
 tion of Mercury for Gazette really took place in the second 
 number. Nobody has ventured to explain why the change 
 was made; though the reason seems to us to be obvious 
 enough. There can be no doubt that the "authority" 
 mentioned by Dunton was the London Gazette, the con- 
 ductors of which might reasonably complain of interference 
 with a fifteen-year-old title. 
 
 And who (it may be asked) were the men who wrote the 
 periodical which Dunton so opportunely started? They 
 were, says Dr. Johnson in his superior way, "a knot of 
 
 1 Athenianism, p. 114-
 
 xxiv INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 obscure men who published a periodical pamphlet of 
 answers to questions sent, or supposed to be sent, by 
 letters." x In point of fact they were not " obscure men," 
 though, on the other hand, it cannot be urged on their 
 behalf that they belonged to the dii majores of the literary 
 world in which they moved. One of them, Richard Sault, 
 was a mathematician, who prepared — if, indeed, he did not 
 compose — a religious narrative, which Dunton published 
 under the title of the Second Spira. This, by the way, was 
 one of the books which the bookseller afterwards wished he 
 had never seen. Sault, it may be added, eventually re- 
 moved to Cambridge, where he won for himself consider- 
 able repute as a mathematician, and where he was much 
 liked by his pupils and his friends. Another member of 
 the "Athenian Society" — for so Dunton proudly styled 
 his little partnership — was Samuel Wesley, father of John 
 Wesley, the divine. Having quarrelled with his friends 
 while he was yet a youth, Samuel Wesley walked to 
 Oxford, entered himself at Exeter College as a poor 
 scholar, and began his studies with no larger a fund than 
 two pounds sixteen shillings, and with no prospect of a 
 future supply. From that time until he graduated a single 
 crown was all the assistance he received from his friends. 
 He composed exercises for those who had more money 
 than brains ; and he gave instructions to those who wished 
 to profit by his lessons. Thus, by great industry and 
 equally great frugality, he not only supported himself, 
 but had accumulated the sum of ten pounds fifteen 
 shillings when he went to London to be ordained. While 
 engaged as a curate in the metropolis, Wesley married 
 Susanna, a daughter of Dr. Annesley, and a sister of 
 Dunton's first wife. Hence, no doubt, the friendship 
 
 1 Lives of the Poets. Swift.
 
 INTR OD UCTION. xxv 
 
 which led Wesley to take part in the promotion of 
 Dunton's pet project. A third gentleman connected with 
 the Athenian Mercury was " the ingenious Dr. Norris, who 
 very generously offered his assistance gratis, but refused 
 to become a stated member of Athens." The Mercury 
 was for all practical purposes the production of Wesley, 
 Sault, and Dunton. 
 
 The original agreement 1 for writing the Athenian Mer- 
 cury is preserved among the manuscripts at the Bodleian 
 Library, Oxford. The parties to it were Wesley, Sault, 
 and Dunton. The two former agreed to deliver into the 
 bookseller's hands every Friday night "two distinct papers 
 . . . each paper to make halfe a printed sheet of the 
 Athenian Gazette or Mercury." The remuneration was 
 fixed at ten shillings for every number of the periodical 
 printed; and Dunton reserved to himself "power to 
 intermix the said questions as he pleases" — in a word, the 
 right of editing his contributors' "copy." Arrangements 
 were made for a weekly meeting between Wesley and Sault, 
 "to consult of what they have done, and to receive 
 questions for the next week." It was, moreover, agreed 
 between the parties that every volume should have a 
 preface and index, the former to be written by Wesley and 
 Sault for " ios. betwixt 'em." The agreement is dated the 
 ioth April 1 69 1, at which time four numbers of the 
 periodical had come out, while the venture had, to a 
 considerable extent, proved itself a success. 
 
 A curious and interesting picture of the self-styled 
 Athenian Society as it struck the imagination of the satirist 
 is to be found in the New Athenian Comedy by E. S. The 
 
 1 This agreement — for a copy of which the Editor is indebted to the 
 courtesy of Mr. Byron Nicholson, M.A., Bodley's Librarian at Oxford 
 University— is given in full in an Appendix. 
 
 6-*
 
 xx vi INTR OB UCTION. 
 
 initials are those of Elkanah Settle, 1 a playwright whose 
 chief claim upon our remembrance lies in the fact that he 
 was, first by the strength of a party at Court and afterwards 
 by a faction in the State, for a time buoyed up in opposition 
 to Dryden. His " comedy " is described as containing 
 "the Politicks, (Economicks, Tacticks, Crypticks, Apoca- 
 lypticks, Stypticks, Skepticks, Pneumaticks, Theologicks, 
 Poeticks, Mathematicks, Sophisticks, Pragmaticks, Dog- 
 maticks, etc., of that most Learned Society." The follow- 
 ing lines from Juvenal's third satire also appeared upon the 
 title-page — 
 
 " Ede quid ilium 
 
 Esse putes ? quemvis hominem, secum attulit ad nos, 
 Grammaticus, Rhetor, Geometres Pictor, Alyptes, 
 
 1 Elkanah Settle was born in Dunstable in 1648, and died in London, 
 1724. His plays include Cambyses, King of Persia and The Empress 
 of Morocco. Dryden satirises him under the name of Doeg in the 
 second part of Absalom and Achitophel — 
 
 " The height of his ambition is, we know, 
 But to be master of a puppet-show ; • 
 On that one stage his works may yet appear, 
 And a month's harvest keep him all the year." 
 
 The lines were in a sense prophetic. " Such are the revolutions of fame 
 or such is the prevalence of fashion," says Dr. Johnson, " that the man 
 whose works have not yet been thought to deserve the care of collecting 
 them, who died forgotten in a hospital, and whose latter years were spent 
 in contriving shows for fairs . . . might with truth have had inscribed 
 upon his stone — 
 
 ' 1 lore lies the Rival and Antagonist of Dryden.' " 
 
 At the time the Dunciad was published (1728), Settle was poet to the 
 City of London. His office was to compose yearly panegyrics upon 
 Lord Mayors and verses to be spoken at pageants. Upon his death the 
 office was abolished. The New Athenian Comedy was published by 
 Campanclla Restio in 1693.
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxvii 
 
 Augur, Schcenobates, Medicus, Magus, omnia novit, 
 Alticus esun'eiis, ad coelum jusseris ibit." 1 
 
 These lines, by the way, were thought by Dunton to have 
 a " particular reference to his humour and to the history of 
 his life." As Settle's play is a very rare one, we may be 
 pardoned for devoting a page or so to a brief description 
 of it. 
 
 The scene of the comedy is laid in "S Coffee-house, 
 
 Stock's market ; " and the persons represented include 
 "Obadiah Grub, Divinity and Poetry Professor of the 
 Society ; " " Jerry Squirt, Casuist and Physician in Ordin- 
 ary;" "Joachim Dash, Mathematician;" and "Jack Stuff, 
 a subtile, ingenious half author, half bookseller." These 
 four characters constitute the Society, the members of 
 which are all easily recognisable under the thin disguises 
 which Settle causes them to wear. " Grub " is Wesley, a 
 clergyman, and the author of a poem entitled " Maggots." 
 " Squirt " is Dr. Norris, who, according to Dunton, " was 
 wonderfully useful in supplying hints; for, being universally 
 read, and his memory very strong, there was nothing could 
 be asked but he could very easily say something to the 
 purpose upon it." "Joachim Dash" is Sault, and " Jack 
 Stuff," Dunton. As the plays opens, Mr. Freeman and Mr. 
 Hardy, "two worthy gentlemen of the town," are being 
 asked by the coffee-man, Poll, to vacate the room in which 
 they are seated, in order that it be used for a meeting of the 
 
 1 " Riddle me this, and guess him if you can, 
 Who bears a nation in a single man? 
 A cook, a conjurer, a rhetorician, 
 A painter, pedant, a geometrician, 
 A dancer on the ropes, and a physician ; 
 All things the hungry Greek exactly knows, 
 And bid him go to heaven, to heaven he goes.*' 
 
 — Dryden.
 
 xxviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Athenian Society. They refuse to do so until the landlord 
 has satisfied their curiosity with a detailed description of 
 the four members. The following dialogue accordingly 
 takes place : — 
 
 Free. No grumbling ; we must have genealogies and histories too 
 before we stir a foot. 
 
 Poll. If you must then ! Well, the first, the chairman, to speak in 
 the vulgar phrase, is a country parson, by birth a Grub-streetonian, in 
 his sacerdotal capacity a Lincolnshire Sermonian ; but at present 
 strol'd and eloped from his canonical drudgery, and translated to 
 Athenian Helicon ; in plain English, roetry and Divinity Professor to 
 the Society. To sum up his glory 
 
 His Mother, sir, sells Cheese by the Town Walls, 
 And him her dear Sir Astrophel she calls. 
 
 Hard. What a sublime spirit of coffee is here ! 
 
 Poll. The second a Doctor of Physick 
 
 Hard. How, a Doctor ! 
 
 Poll. Yes, and as illustrious a one as ever put Bill to Post ; whose 
 Right famous Renown shall never dye, so long as his immortal Tetrachy- 
 magogon lives. 
 
 Free. That doughty Virtuoso ! That individual puissant Operator ! 
 Nay thou hast hit off a Doctor in the name of ^sculapius. 
 
 Hard. Well, landlord, to the third : what sort of a Quack is he ? 
 
 Poll. Quack ! have a care what you say : I'd have you to know that 
 he scorns your words ; he's neither Quack nor Physician. 
 
 Free. But a politician ! 
 
 Poll. Politician ! no sir, a Mathematician. 
 
 Free. Oh, a Mathematician ! 
 
 Poll. But pray, gentlemen, let me entreat you 
 
 Hard. Yes, thou hast won the field. The Room is thine. 
 
 The Society meets and discusses business over a dinner 
 of black puddings. The Second Spira is mentioned; 
 and jesting references are made to a physical infirmity, 
 from which, there is some reason to believe, Dunton 
 suffered. His carelessness in the matter of personal appear-
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxix 
 
 ance is also made the butt of his companion's coarse 
 humour : 
 
 " Reforme then, Jack ; and pick up, go 
 Powder and prink thyself a Beau." 
 
 The nature of the queries sent to the Mercury is ridiculed 
 in a scene which represents an under-turnkey of Newgate as 
 bringing from a prisoner the question : "Which is the more 
 noble animal, a louse or a flea?" As a piece of literary 
 work, this " comedy " is beneath contempt : its only interest 
 for us lies in the fact that it gives some idea of the way in 
 which the Athenian Society was regarded among its con- 
 temporaries. 
 
 Many causes contributed to the success of the new 
 paper. To begin with, it was just what the public wanted. 
 It was not, as Mr. Leslie Stephen has stated, 1 "a kind of 
 ' Notes and Queries.' " It more nearly resembled the 
 "Answers to Correspondents" column which appears in so 
 many modern journals. There are persons who like nothing 
 so much as advice gratis. Such counsel could without diffi- 
 culty be obtained from the editors of the Athenian Mer- 
 cury ; and the extent to which the public availed them- 
 selves of the advantages offered them was so great that 
 Dunton often found several hundred letters awaiting him 
 at the coffee-house where he and his coadjutors met to 
 discuss matters. 2 The establishment of a Government 
 penny post in London was another help to the Athenian, 
 Mercury. Any person in a position to afford twopence) 
 could with ease obtain an answer to such questions as 
 genuine interest or idle curiosity might prompt him to ask. 
 His letter would cost him a penny, and for the same sum 
 he would be able to obtain a copy of the particular Mercury 
 
 1 Dictionary of National Biography, xvi. 237. 2 Atkenianism, p. 115.
 
 xxx INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which contained the desired replies. The number and 
 nature of the queries sent in conclusively show that the 
 project was, as Dunton put it, " universally received." x 
 
 Nor was it the common people alone who favoured the 
 new journal. Eminent men sent questions to it ; versifiers 
 such as D e Foe , Motteux, Tate, and Richardson wrote odes 
 in praise of it. " Our Athenian Project," says Dunton, 2 
 "did not only obtain among the populace, but was well 
 received by the politer sort of mankind. That great and' 
 learned nobleman, the late Marquess of Halifax, was once 
 pleased to tell me that he constantly perused our Mercuries, 
 and had received great satisfaction from very many of our 
 answers. The late Sir William Temple, a man of clear 
 judgment and wonderful penetration, was pleased to honour 
 me with frequent letters and questions, very curious and 
 uncommon ; in particular those about the Talismans are 
 his." Sir Thomas Pope Blount, Sir William Hedges, and 
 Sir Peter Pett were among the other distinguished men 
 who, if Dunton is to be believed, approved of the journal. 
 "Mr. Swift, a country gentleman, sent an ode to the 
 Athenian Society; which, being an ingenious poem, was 
 prefixed to the fifth supplement of the Athenian Mercury. 
 "Mr. Swift" was at that time secretary to Sir William 
 Temple at Moor Park : he subsequently became Dean of 
 St. Patrick's, and won for himself undying fame as the 
 author of Gulliver's Travels and the Tale of a Tub. His 
 letter to the Society may be given in full : — 
 
 "Moor Park, Feb. 14, 1691. 
 "Gentlemen, — Since every Body pretends to trouble you with 
 their Follys, I thought I might claim the Privilege of an Englishman, 
 and put in my share among the rest. Being last year in Ireland (from 
 
 1 Athenianism, p. 115. 2 Ibid., p. 119.
 
 IiVTR OD UCTION. xxxi 
 
 whence I return'd about half a year ago) I heard only a loose Talk of 
 your Society, and believ'd the Design to be only some new Folly just 
 suitable to the Age, which God knows I little expected ever to produce 
 anything extraordinary. Since my being in England, having still 
 continu'd in the Country, and much out of Company, I had but little 
 Advantage of knowing any more, till about two Months ago passing 
 thro Oxford, a very learned gentleman first shew'd me two or three 
 of your Volumes, and gave me his Account and Opinion of you. A 
 
 while after I come to this Place, upon a Visit to , where I have 
 
 been ever since, and have seen all the four Volumes with their Supple- 
 ments ; which, answering my Expectation, the Perusal has produc'd 
 what you find inclos'd. 
 
 "As I have been somewhat inclin'd to this Folly, so I have seldom 
 wanted somebody to flatter me in it. And for the Ode inclos'd, I have 
 sent it to a Person of very great Learning and Honour, and since to 
 some others the best of my Acquaintance (to which I thought very 
 proper to inure it for a greater Light), and they have all been pleas'd to 
 tell me that they are sure it will not be unwelcome, and that I should 
 beg the Honour of you to let it be Printed before your next Volume 
 (which I think is soon to be publish'd), it being so usual before most 
 Books of any great value among Poets, and before its seeing the 
 World : I submit it wholly to the Correction of your Pens. 
 
 " I intreat therefore one of you would descend so far as to write two 
 or three Lines to me of your Pleasure upon it. Which as I cannot but 
 expect from gentlemen who have so well shewn upon so many 
 Occasions that greatest Character of Scholars, in being favourable to 
 the Ignorant, so I am sure nothing at present can more highly oblige 
 me, or make me happier. — I am, gentlemen, your ever most humble 
 and most admiring servant, "Jonathan Swift." 1 
 
 As for the Ode itself we shall best consult the literary 
 reputation of Swift by allowing it to repose in the musty 
 pages of the periodical in which it first appeared. It fully 
 justified the frank remark of Dryden, "Cousin Swift, you 
 will never be a poet." In after years the author of A Tale 
 of a Tub bitterly regretted having addressed a "knot of 
 obscure men " in so reverential a fashion, and he did not 
 
 1 A Supplement to the Athenian Orach ', p. iii.
 
 xxxii INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 hesitate, when opportunity offered, to refer to Dunton in 
 the most uncomplimentary terms. 
 
 " Among the present writers on the Whig side [so he wrote in The 
 Public Spirit of the Whigs, a reply to Steele's Crisis, published in 
 1714] I cannot recollect but three of any distinction, which are the 
 Flying Post, Mr. Dunton, and the author of the Crisis. . . . Mr. 
 Dunton has been longer and more conversant in books than any of the 
 three, as well as more voluminous in his productions ; however, having 
 employed his studies in so great a variety of other subjects, he has, I 
 think, but lately turned his genius to politics. His famous tract 
 entitled ' Neck or Nothing ' must be allowed to be the shrewdest 
 piece and written with the most spirit of any which has appeared from 
 that side since the change of the Ministry: it is indeed a most cutting 
 satire upon the Lord Treasurer and Lord Bolingbroke ; and I wonder 
 none of our friends ever undertook to answer it. I confess I was at 
 first of the same opinion with several good judges, who from the style 
 and manner suppose it to have issued from the sharp pen of the Earl of 
 Nottingham ; and I am still apt to think it might receive his lordship's 
 last hand." 
 
 Swift's satire o'er-reached itself. His irony was lost upon 
 Dunton, who regarded these references as complimentary, 
 and who quoted them in his Appeal to George I. as proofs 
 that he was not " mad," or " even crazed in his intellectuals." 
 The Athenian Mercury ran its steady and successful 
 course for nearly six years. It was at first issued 
 weekly, on Tuesdays — Mr. Leslie Stephen, by the way, 
 appears to be under the impression that it was always a 
 weekly journal — then, as it grew in popularity, it came out 
 twice a week, on Tuesdays and on Saturdays. At one 
 time, indeed, the amount of material in the hands of the 
 editors was so great that they determined to issue the 
 paper four times a week ; l but, finding that such an 
 arrangement would "clog their undertaking" and " render 
 
 1 Gildon's History of the Athenian Society. {Athenian Oracle, vol. 
 iv. p. 71.)
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxiii 
 
 it useless," they wisely reverted to the old order of things. 
 Every thirtieth number of the Mercury marked the com- 
 pletion of a volume; and with each of the earlier volumes 
 was published a supplement containing the " transactions 
 and experiments of foreign virtuosis ; to which is added an 
 account of the design and scope of most of the consider- 
 able books printed in all languages, and of the quality of 
 the others, if known." These book notices were not 
 continued beyond the fifth volume ; their cessation being 
 due to the publication, through Dunton, of a new monthly 
 periodical (edited by a Mr. J. de la Crosse), entitled The 
 Works of the Learned ; or an Historical Account and 
 Impartial Judgment of Books newly printed, both foreign 
 and domestic; as also the State of Learning in the world. 
 The Athenian Mercury did not cease publication until it 
 reached the end of its nineteenth volume ; the thirtieth and 
 last number of which (February 8, 1695-6) contained the 
 following significant " Advertisement " : — 
 
 "That the proprietor of the Athenian Mercury thinks fit, whilst the 
 coffee-houses have the votes every day and six newspapers every week, 
 to discontinue this weekly paper (the nineteenth volume being now 
 finished) and carry on the said design in volumes ; and in pursuance of 
 this resolution thirty numbers shall speedily be printed altogether to 
 complete the twentieth volume ; the first undertaker designs to have 
 it continued in weekly papers as soon as ever the glut of news is over." 
 
 Notwithstanding this very explicit promise on the part of 
 Dunton, the first number of the twentieth volume of the 
 Mercury did not come out until Friday, May 14th, 1697. 
 Nine more numbers appeared. With No. 10, which was* 
 published on Monday, June 14th, 1697, the Athenian , 
 Mercury, the first popular periodical ever published in this/ 
 country, came to an end. 
 
 Of course the mass of curious and interesting information
 
 xxxi v INTR OD UCTION. 
 
 which the Mercuries contained was far too readable to 
 be allowed to repose in the twenty folio volumes, " neatly 
 done up in marble paper," in which for a time it found a 
 place. Dunton, anxious to make the most of the valuable 
 copyright which lay in his hands, decided to publish a 
 selection from the journal. " The old Athenian volumes a 
 while ago growing quite out of print," he says, " a choice 
 collection of the most valuable questions and answers, in 
 three volumes, 1 have lately been reprinted and made public 
 under the title of Athenian Oracle; two of which I dedi-,' 
 cated to the most illustrious and magnanimous Prince, 
 James Duke of Ormond, Chancellor of the Universities of 
 Oxford and Dublin, and Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. . . . 
 The copy of these three volumes I sold to Mr. Bell, in 
 Cornhill, and is all (as appears by our articles) that he has 
 any right to ; and much good may his success do him, for 
 it is thought he will get above a thousand pounds by it." 
 The Athenian Oracle professed to be "an entire collection 
 of what was valuable in the Athenian Mercuries" The 
 selection now put before the public aims at preserving all 
 that is most interesting and valuable in the four volumes of 
 the Athenian Oracle. The writer of this introductory note 
 is alone responsible for the choice which has been made. 
 
 Such is the history of the Athenian Mercury. We have 
 sketched it from the day when its inception took place 
 in the fertile brain of an eighteenth century journalist 
 down to the time when its contents were deemed worthy of 
 
 1 This reference to "three volumes" in the Life and Errors has 
 caused Mr. Leslie Stephen to suppose that the Athenian Oracle 
 consists of no more than three volumes. There are four. A " Supple- 
 ment," containing not only further questions and answers, but also a 
 History of the Athenian Society and an Essay upon Learning, was 
 published by Andrew Bell in 1710.
 
 INTR OD UCTION. xxxv 
 
 preservation in the form of a book. The tale is complete 
 in itself. But of the journalist who planned the Athenian 
 Mercury there yet remain a few words to be said. Dunton's 
 last days appear to have been far from happy. His first 
 wife died in 1697 — a week or two before the final dis- 
 continuance of the Athenian Mercury — and, ere many 
 months had passed, he espoused Sarah, a daughter of 
 Jane Nicholas, of St. Albans. His second wife had money; 
 but she also brought Dunton the doubtful blessing of a 
 mother-in-law. There were quarrels; Dunton upbraided 
 his mother-in-law for not paying his debts : while, on 
 the other hand, his wife not only fell foul of his printing 
 schemes, but accused him of marrying her for her money ; 
 and the ill-matched pair finally separated. The Life atid 
 Errors of John Dunton, late Citizen of London, written in 
 Solitude, was published in 1705. About this time — or 
 shortly afterwards — Dunton went mad. He took to writing 
 political pamphlets on the Whig side — Neck or Nothing, the 
 attack on Bolingbroke and Oxford already noticed, was one 
 of them — and he endeavoured to obtain recognition for his 
 "political services"; but in vain. His wife died at St. 
 Albans early in 1721. Dunton himself lived until 1733, 
 when he died in obscurity. The only existing account of 
 the later years of his life is contained in a Manuscript pre- 
 served at the British Museum, under the title of " Notes of 
 Biographies by Edward Harley, [second] Earl of Oxford." l 
 The " Note " on Dunton runs as follows : — 
 
 "Dunton (John), late Citizen of London. His Life and Errors 
 written by himself in solitude. He has added several lives or accounts 
 of people to it. 8vo., 1705. This John Dunton writes an Essay 
 proving we shall know our friends in Heaven. This to the memory of 
 
 1 British Museum, Harley MS., 7,544.
 
 xxxvi INTRODUCTION. 
 
 his wife. 8vo., 1698. This Dunton is the author of many libels. He 
 was the author of that libel published in Queen Anne's time called 
 Neck or Nothing ; the materials of which he had, as he has since owned, 
 from Thomas, Earl Wharton, and Gilbert Burnet, that lying Scot, 
 Bishop of Salisbury. This poor wretch Dunton had a gold medal given 
 him of about the value of 30/., which he used to wear about his neck ; 
 but necessity obliged him for bread to pawn it now and then. He 
 died, as I have been informed, the beginning of 1733." 1 
 
 It is perhaps unfortunate that our last reference to Dunton 
 should come from the pen of a political opponent. But 
 while the man had his faults, — faults that were many and 
 glaring, — surely much may be forgiven him in the face of 
 that pathetic figure of the starving journalist, who was 
 driven by dire Necessity to pledge his last and dearest 
 treasure for bread. 
 
 Concerning the contents of the Athenian Oracle little 
 need here be said. The pages of the selection which 
 follows will enable the reader to decide for himself whether 
 the book is interesting, and whether it assists him in forming 
 an idea of the life of the average Englishman at the close 
 of the seventeenth or at the beginning of the eighteenth 
 century. Men well qualified to judge have read the 
 Athenian Oracle, and have deemed it to be of historic 
 value. One thing is certain: the questions printed are 
 given in the genuine and uncorrected language of the 
 querists who sent them in. " There are some persons," 
 remark the writers of the Preface to the tenth volume .*of 
 the Athenian Mercury, "who have lately been very angry 
 with us because we have printed their letters verba'tim; 
 we can assure them that we have disoblig'd none of them 
 knowingly. It has been always our custom to com-mit all 
 queries and cases to the press without any alteration unless 
 
 1 Notes and Queries, second series, ix. a i $-
 
 INTRODUCTION. xxxvii 
 
 we are desired the contrary, or unless they are so very silly 
 that they are intolerable ; therefore the fault is not ours, 
 but the inadvertency of those who complain that they are 
 disoblig'd." For this reason, if for no other, the Athenian 
 Oracle would possess an interest for us. But, language 
 apart, its opinions are well deserving of consideration. We 
 learn from its pages that many of the questions which 
 demand the attention of thinking Englishmen to-day 
 equally puzzled our forefathers in the reign of King 
 William the Third. Love, of course, we have always 
 with us ; for Love remains young, however old the world 
 may grow. Religion offers almost the same problems now 
 as those with which it perplexed the readers of the Athenian 
 Oracle; and in regard to some, at least, of them, the solu- 
 tion would appear to be as far off to-day as it was two 
 centuries ago. It is in science that our chief advances have 
 been made. For the present is truly an hour — 
 
 " When Science reaches forth her arms, 
 
 To feel from world to world, and charms 
 Her secret from the latest moon." 
 
 The readers of the Athenian Oracle knew nothing of the 
 steam-engine, of telegraphs, of the telephone, of the electric 
 light, or of the phonograph. They never even dreamed of 
 such marvels. Yet they were not altogether destitute of 
 scientific knowledge. They were acquainted with Harvey's 
 discovery of the circulation of the blood; they could 
 explain the phenomenon of the rainbow; and they were 
 not ignorant of the theory of gravitation. Thunder and 
 lightning naturally puzzled them ; for electricity is of all 
 sciences the most modern. But while science did not 
 exactly nourish in the eighteenth century superstition 
 was everywhere rife. Hence a host of questions concerning
 
 xxxviii INTRODUCTION. 
 
 witchcraft, apparitions, and the like, together with sober 
 narratives which would be laughed to scorn in these more 
 materialistic days. 
 
 On the whole we fancy the reader will come to the 
 conclusion that the life of the average Englishman of 
 the eighteenth century was not widely different from that 
 led by our countrymen to-day. The differences which do 
 exist lie for the most part upon the surface. In essentials 
 we are pretty much the same. True, we do not string up 
 half-a-dozen criminals in a row at Tyburn ; but who shall say 
 that we are in reality more humane and less immoral than 
 the men who did so ? Customs change and fashions differ ; 
 but the heart of man remains for ever the same. 
 
 JOHN UNDERHILL. 
 Wimbledon, January 1892.
 
 PART I. 
 
 Questions relating to Love, Courtship, 
 and Marriage.
 
 
 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 
 
 Q. Whether it is lawful to marry a person one 
 cannot love only in compliance to relations and to 
 get an estate ? 
 
 A. Had the question only been proposed of such 
 as we don't actually love, it might perhaps be 
 admitted of some imitation, since we sometimes see 
 persons love tenderly after marriage who could hardly 
 endure each other's sight before ; though even such 
 an experiment must be very dangerous and hazardous, 
 and he must be a bold man who dares venture upon it. 
 But as 'tis proposed here, whether we may marry 
 such as we cannot love, 'tis beyond all doubt and must 
 be answered in the negative, since such a practice would 
 be both the most cruel and imprudent thing in the 
 world. Society is the main end of marriage, love is 
 the bond of society, without which there can neither 
 
 i
 
 2 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 be found in that state pleasure, or profit, or honour. 
 He then, or she, that marries for so base an end as 
 profit without any possibility or prospect of love is 
 guilty of the highest brutality imaginable, is united to 
 a carcass without a soul, and are as cruel to them- 
 selves as Mazentius was to those wretches who had 
 the ill fortune to fall into his hands. This being also 
 but too general a truth, as one wittily observes, That 
 he who marries a woman he could never love will, 
 'tis to be feared, soon love a woman he never married. 
 
 Q. Whether if females went a-courting, there would 
 not be more marriages than now there are ? 
 
 A. I am apt to think not so many. At least if 
 they only were to court and we to be silent ; for 
 as courage is the more proper virtue of a man, so 
 modesty is of a woman (though we meet with 'em 
 sometimes in the contrary sexes), for which reason 
 many ladies would die sooner than stoop to what 
 they think so mean a practice, as we have had 
 instances of some who have actually done it. But 
 there's yet more in't than this — 'tis their interest as 
 well as their inclination to be (I won't say only 
 passive, but) on the defensive ; for whether or no 
 they'll be so ingenuous to confess it 'tis certain that 
 most men slight even what they find loves 'em ; much 
 more would they do so, should they easily obtain it ; 
 most of all should it be proffered and almost forced 
 upon 'em. 
 
 Q. How shall a man know when a lady loves him ? 
 
 A. First find out, if you can, whether she has ever 
 loved any other before, for that renders the case much
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 3 
 
 more difficult ; for one that has been deceived herself 
 knows how to deceive you. Jealousy is counted one 
 pretty sure sign of love, but I think it much such 
 another as convulsions are of life. If a woman tells 
 you she loves, there's no way but believing her ; 
 indeed there are hardly any of the tokens of that 
 passion but are fallible, though the shrewdest sign 
 that a woman loves ye is her marrying ye. 
 
 Q. Whether it be lawful to look with pleasure on 
 another woman than one's wife, when married, or others 
 beside her we intend to make so before ? 
 
 A. 'Tis dangerous, the eye being the burning glass 
 of love ; and looking, liking, desiring, attempting 
 and criminally obtaining oftentimes or always follow 
 one another. But were it possible to stop at liking, 
 which is the last step that can be made short of a 
 precipice, we can't affirm that in its own nature un- 
 lawful. For whatever is fair and proportionable must 
 of necessity strike the eye with more pleasure than 
 what's deformed and horrid. 
 
 Q. What's to be thought of a wife who forsakes her 
 husband for his poverty ? 
 
 A. Hardly anything bad enough, if that poverty be 
 not brought upon him and still continued by his own 
 carelessness or wickedness. 
 
 Q. Whether kisses and chaste embraces may be 
 admitted into that friendship between different sexes 
 which you have formerly mentioned ? 
 
 A. Hold, good Mr. Platonique ! not a lip's breadth 
 further, till you have answered these questions, out of 
 which you may make a shift to pick a resolution of your
 
 4 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 own. i. Because all agree there are no sexes in souls, 
 d'ye think there are none in bodies ? 2. Or are you 
 marble ? 3. Or is your friend of the same substance 
 or kin to St. Francis's Wife of Snow? If not, Hands 
 off! unless en passant as you may embrace or salute 
 a sister or a neighbour. 
 
 Q. Gentlemen, I had once contracted a friendship 
 of the strictest kind and highest degree with a young 
 lady who is (without flattery) one of the noblest of her 
 sex. Our passions, fortunes, and everything else were 
 equal that we seemed designed for each other ; yet if 
 there is such a thing as Platonic love that was all that 
 possessed our souls, at least that we knew : and when 
 all else concluded us lovers (in the strictest sense) we 
 only termed ourselves friends, and we were so far from 
 love that we ridiculed anything tending thereto. But 
 my occasions calling me to Spain (where I continued 
 above a twelve- month) we were forced to part, though 
 with grief to both. During my absence I was possessed 
 with a strange kind of passion which I knew not what 
 to make of: her idea was always with me, and though 
 we continued a correspondence by letters, nothing 
 could satisfy me till my return. As soon as I saw 
 her, I threw myself into her arms and expressed the 
 highest passion I was capable of : she, surprised at my 
 behaviour, was silent for a while, but then received me 
 with a sigh, and told me her parents had promised 
 her to another person, and that though she loved 
 me, yet, thinking I was not subject to the same 
 passion, had given her consent, and they were to be 
 married within a month. But, to be short, after some
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 5 
 
 discourse, I left her, and happily met my rival in a 
 private field : I told him our circumstances, and 
 endeavoured to dispute him out of her ; but when 
 that would not do, I drew, and told him he must 
 fight me or quit his pretensions to her ; we fought, I 
 wounded and disarmed him, but gave him his life, 
 which he requited with surrendering his right in her 
 to me. He quitting her without discovering the 
 reasons, I openly courted her and gained her 
 parents' consent, and am now in expectation of the 
 happy day. And, Gentlemen, I would know of 
 you — 
 
 1. Whether there is or can be such a thing as 
 Platonic love? 
 
 2. Whether I did ill in fighting my rival, since 
 without it we had all three been made miserable ? 
 
 A. Plato, surnamed Xeuo [Query : foios] because of 
 his knowledge in divinity and abstracted speculations, 
 Aristotle was his scholar, and by reason of his acute 
 knowledge in material things he was called yai'os. He 
 being a successor of Plato and envious of his reputa- 
 tion, out of scorn called all abstracted notions Platonic, 
 which soon got an ill reputation, being used as a jest ; 
 though in truth Aristotle was the fool in that and 
 Plato the wise man, as may be seen by comparing 
 their Morals together. The Platonic yet keeps up its 
 abused sense, and custom gives us a ridiculous notion 
 of it. The idea that we have of it now is mostly 
 confined to an uncommon love — viz., that betwixt 
 two different sexes, which, if it had been between two 
 of the same sex might be well expressed by the term
 
 6 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 of friendship. That there is such a thing we have 
 several instances to convince us ; the latest in print 
 is to be found in one of the Gentleman's Journals 
 expressed by a copy of verses, writ by a Platonic 
 gentleman a little before the death of his mistress 
 and himself. The verses were these : — 
 
 Since Love hath kindled in our Eyes 
 
 A chaste and holy Fire, 
 It were a Sin if thou or I 
 
 Shou'd let this Flame expire. 
 
 What tho our Bodies never meet 
 
 Love's Fewel's more Divine, 
 The fixt Stars by their twinkling greet 
 
 And yet they never join. 
 
 False Meteors who still change their place, 
 
 Tho they seem fair and bright, 
 Yet when they covet to embrace, 
 
 Fall down and lose their light. 
 
 If thou perceive thy Flame decay, 
 
 Come light thy Eyes at mine ; 
 And when I feel mine fade away, 
 
 I'll take fresh Fires at thine. 
 
 Thus when we shall preserve from waste 
 
 The Flames of our desires, 
 No Vestals shall maintain more chaste, 
 
 No more immortal Fires. 
 
 Those that have a mind to know the whole story 
 and the fatal effects this copy of verses had on 'em 
 both may consult the said Journal. — To your second.
 
 LOVE, COURTS/IIP, AND MARRIAGE. 7 
 
 A. Yes, certainly, we arc forbidden to do ill that 
 good may come of it ; 'tis an ill act to assault any 
 person, except in one's just defence, and a degree of 
 murder. We wish you as much happiness in your 
 marriage as you promise yourself; but we don't 
 understand how any gentleman can lose his right to 
 anything because another has a longer sword. 
 
 Q. What is love ? 
 
 A. 'Tis very much like light — a thing that every- 
 body knows and yet none can tell what to make of it. 
 'Tis not money, fortune, jointure, raving, stabbing, 
 hanging, romancing, flouncing, swearing, ramping, 
 desiring, fighting, dying — though all these have been, 
 are, and still will be mistaken and miscalled for it. 
 What shall we say of it ? 'Tis a pretty little soft 
 thing that plays about the heart ; and those who 
 have it will know it well enough by this description. 
 'Tis extremely like a sigh, and could we find a 
 painter could draw one, you'd easily mistake it for 
 the other. 'Tis all over eyes, so far is it from being 
 blind as some old dotards have described it, who 
 certainly were blind themselves. It has a mouth too, 
 and a pair of pretty hands, but yet the hands speak, 
 and you may feel at a distance every word that comes 
 out of the mouth gently stealing through your very 
 soul. — But we dare not make any further enquiries, 
 lest we should raise a spirit too powerful for all our 
 art to lay again. 
 
 Q. Part of this letter is thought fit to be inserted 
 in the following words : — I am within a short time to 
 wait on a young lady who is one of the wonders of
 
 8 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 the age for piety, wit, beauty, birth, and fortune, and 
 therefore would desire of your Society a Form of 
 Courtship in answer to the following Query — After 
 what manner should a gentleman at the first visit 
 accost his Mistress ? 
 
 A. Tis pity to rob the old Academy of compli- 
 ments, and we won't pretend to set up a new one in 
 its room. We suppose the gentleman is not for 
 having a form of words for this occasion ; since 
 extempore courtship is certainly the best, whatsoever 
 extempore prayers are. Besides, the lady might 
 chance to read this Oracle, and then he is undone — 
 as bad as the poor Spark who complains he has 
 lost his Mistress already by some such thing — unless 
 he can persuade her that good wits jump, and that 
 both he and the Athenians deserve that name. We 
 suppose therefore he rather desires a direction for his 
 behaviour than his words, which yet is almost as 
 difficult to prescribe as the other, there being a thou- 
 sand little circumstances which will extremely alter 
 the nature of the thing. Mistresses are to be attacked 
 like towns, according to their fortifications, situations, 
 or garrison, no general rule being to be given for 'em 
 — some are weak of one side, some of another ; which 
 a cunning engineer will soon find out. Some are to 
 be mined, some to be bombed, some won by storm, 
 others by composition, others to be starved into a 
 surrender. The pleasantest way of courtship we have 
 ever heard of was that of a very old, very rich, very 
 covetous, very foolish, very ugly " Humble Servant " 
 to a fine young lady, whom having taken abroad in
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 9 
 
 his coach, after some prefatory hums and haws and 
 gentle leers, he pulls out from under his coat — what 
 but his great bossed Bible with silver clasps, etc., and 
 turning to the beginning of Genesis shows her, not 
 that text, " Increase and multiply," which 'tis very 
 likely he held his thumb upon, but another a little 
 after it, " It is not good for man to be alone," and 
 thereupon made her a very seasonable holding forth 
 on the use and excellencies of matrimony. But this 
 method would go near to displease the gallants as 
 well as the ladies, and therefore we shan't much 
 recommend it. For the question in hand and the 
 gentleman's fine Mistress, if she be verily and indeed 
 such a non-parcil as he represents her, in which case 
 we must tell him he ought to produce his vouchers, 
 for lovers are for the most part arrant liars as well of 
 their Mistresses as to 'em, and besides generally a 
 little purblind in the matter — but if she be such a 
 miracle for piety, wit, beauty, birth, and fortune — and 
 a miracle she is indeed if she's but half of all this — 
 we'll tell him what in our judgment would be his 
 most proper method at his first accosting her. He 
 ought to express the highest respect possible, but this 
 more by his actions than his words ; and rather to 
 let her know that he loves — which, if she has wit, 
 she'll soon discover — or at least that he'd be thought 
 to do so — than to put himself and the lady to 
 the trouble and confusion of a formal declaration 
 — which, if at all necessary to be made, there's 
 time enough for doing it afterward on their better 
 acquaintance.
 
 io THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Q. Whether interrupting discourse by repeated 
 kisses ben't rude and unmannerly, and more apt to 
 create aversion than love ? 
 
 A. Not so hasty, good sir ! You have made great 
 progress indeed in your amour, if, like the Tartars in 
 their march, you are got to plundering already, before 
 there was any news of your being so much as arrived 
 in the country. If you get within one step of the 
 last before you have got well over the first, ten to one 
 but you'll make more haste than good speed. To 
 those Oscula quce Venus, Quintd parte sui Nectaris 
 imbuit, as friend Horace has it, before you have so 
 much as made your first addresses. But we'll be so 
 kind to suppose this is only a prudential care you 
 take, that you may know how to behave yourself 
 hereafter, when the business is thus far advanced. 
 Taking it then at that point, the truth is, kissing is a 
 luscious diet ; 'tis too high feeding for a militant 
 lover, and besides, extremely apt to surfeit. He 
 must therefore remember to feed cautiously, as if he 
 were eating melons. Moderation verily is an excel- 
 lent thing, which we must observe from the teeth 
 outward as well as inward, and kiss as well as talk 
 with discretion. It may do like a high cordial or a 
 taste of cold tea, a little now and then ; but he must 
 have a care how he makes it his constant drink, 
 unless he has a mind to burn his heart out. Tnen 
 there are certain times and seasons to be observed : 
 for example, if a pair of soft lips are about to pro- 
 nounce some hard thing or other — some terrible 
 repulse or denial — if they pout and look forbidding
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. n 
 
 and angry — then Noli prosequi may lawfully be issued 
 out, and one that understands the methods of the 
 Court will be for stopping the proceedings as fast as 
 he's able. 
 
 Q. How far may singing and music be proper in 
 making love? 
 
 A. There's nothing which charms the soul more 
 than fine music. Osburn says unluckily after this 
 manner, of a fine woman who sings well, that she's a 
 trap doubly baited. And why is not the same true of 
 a man : there being indeed something so ravishing in 
 music, whether in man or woman, that 'tis almost 
 impossible for anything that's human to resist it ; 
 though in vocal still more than instrumental. It 
 smoothes all the rugged passions of the soul, and, 
 like beauty, bewitches into love, almost before persons 
 know where they are. But even here, as well as in 
 other cases, extremes are to be avoided, nothing 
 being more ridiculous than an eternal " Farewell to 
 Love ; " and a lady of sense and worth would as soon 
 make choice of a singing-master as one who is always 
 tiring her with hard names and doleful ditties. He 
 must, then, sing very rarely or never, unless the lady 
 desires him ; he must be neither too forward nor 
 averse; and must not be of the humour of most 
 songsters, who neither know when to begin nor make 
 an end. His performances must be natural and easy, 
 and carry something of a free and genteel air ; and 
 he must never himself appear too well pleased with 
 them, but order it so that he may seem to oblige the 
 lady, not himself, by his melody. At least let it appear
 
 12 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 to be accidental only, as if by chance, not knowing 
 any hears him, and for his own private diversion. 
 
 Q. How long after the death of a husband may 
 women modestly marry? 
 
 A. We think that pious widow was a little of the 
 soonest, who, when most deeply lamenting at her 
 husband's funeral, and one of the company at the 
 grave whispered her not to take on so heavily, for, 
 if she thought fit, he was ready to supply his room, 
 answered sadly, sobbing, " Thank ye, sir, for your 
 care to comfort a poor disconsolate widow, but 
 indeed I've just now promised another that came 
 before ye." The Ephesian matron, on t'other side, 
 was a little of the longest, though she made up for't 
 afterwards, and was very much in haste when she 
 once set about the business. Nor need we go so far 
 as Ephesus for ladies that have almost worshipped 
 their husbands' tombs for seven years together after 
 their death, and at last expressed the extravagance 
 of their love to their memories by marrying the tutor 
 of their children. But might we propose a term of 
 mourning in this case, our judgment is that the 
 widows' love is too warm, who though like the 
 Indian wives they don't burn themselves with their 
 husbands, are yet for as good as burying themselves 
 alive to keep them company ; and on the t'other 
 side, that her's is too cold who can scarce lie alone 
 till her husband is so. There is a mean betwixt 
 them, and we think a widow does very well in 
 mourning for one twelve-month after she is so, both 
 because 'tis decent and because she generally looks
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 13 
 
 prettier in't and 'twill the sooner get her another 
 husband. 
 
 Q. What is knight-errantry? 
 
 A. Knight-errantry is loving, sighing, whining, 
 rambling, starving, tilting, fighting, dying, reviving, 
 waking, staring, singing, crying, praying, wishing, 
 composing, writing, serenading, rhyming, hoping, 
 fearing, despairing, raving. 
 
 Q. Who are wisest, those that marry for love or for 
 convenience? 
 
 A. There's no degree of wisdom in either, but they 
 are e'en both fools if they marry for one without 
 t'other. Love, without the necessary conveniences of 
 life, will soon wear thread-bare ; and conveniences 
 without love is no better than being chained to a 
 post for the sake of a little meat, drink, and clothing. 
 But if we compare the small degrees of each together, 
 much love and moderate conveniency is far better 
 than the most plentiful estate with little or no love. 
 
 Q. In my minority I married a lady contrary to 
 the knowledge of our parents, and now I'm grown to 
 a state of maturity, I have professed to court this 
 lady whom I have married. The motion has taken 
 such good effect that our marriage is concluded on : 
 Query, Whether we may lawfully be married again ; 
 for if they understand that we have acted without 
 their consent, 'twill certainly prove our ruin ? 
 
 A. There's nothing a sin that is not the breach of 
 some law ; but this is a breach of no law — ergo, it is 
 no sin. 'Tis needless as to you two, but not as to the 
 world. Put the cause thus : I promise or vow to such
 
 i 4 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 a person that I will do so and so. If I repeat my 
 promise to him in a new company, I am not guilty of 
 any breach of promise, but on the contrary it shows 
 my resolution to perform what I first promised. 
 Again, it is lawful for any man to say what it is 
 lawful for him to do, as actions are preferable to 
 words. But 'tis lawful for a man to love, cherish, and 
 be faithful to his wife, etc., always — ergo, 'tis lawful to 
 say so always if there be occasion. 'Tis no sin to 
 marry a hundred times to one wife ; nor is it any 
 mocking of God Almighty in this case, who would 
 have us act so as we may be accountable to our 
 fellow-creatures. There's no more difficulty in the 
 matter than to give several bonds upon the same 
 provisos to be paid at one day. One is sufficient, but 
 more are not amiss for satisfaction. A dumb man is 
 always marrying; 'tis action that is essential, not words. 
 
 Q. I know a young gentleman in love with a famed 
 Beauty, but slighted by her, the same person is 
 loved by another young lady of less beauty but 
 superior fortune : how shall he behave himself be- 
 tween 'em ? 
 
 A. If the case ben't long ere this decided, we'd 
 advise him to drop his addresses to the Beauty for 
 two good reasons : first, because she's a beauty ; and 
 secondly (which is yet a better), because she won't 
 entertain him. On the contrary, to improve his 
 interest in the Fortune if she has no remarkable ill 
 qualities : first, because she's a Fortune (which he'll 
 find the most comfortable importance, in all matri- 
 mony, and much more savour in't than the old
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 15 
 
 knight-erranty way, that thin-gutted, rambling, grin- 
 ning, starving love) ; and secondly, because she drops 
 into his mouth, and there's all the charges of lies, 
 presents, whining, dying, love-letters, maids, porters, 
 etc., clearly saved into his own pocket. 
 
 Q. Your opinion in this case is desired. A person 
 marrying a wife in the month of February '84, and 
 lived with him till May '89 in very good order, 
 sudden left him without any provocation, and hath 
 been absent ever since: he- desires, being much 
 troubled in mind about it, how he may answer for 
 her to know what is become of her, he being willing 
 to discharge his duty to her before God and man. I 
 pray your advice in this matter as soon as possible ? 
 
 A. Put her in the Gazette, and promise she shall be 
 well treated if she will return to you, and if it has the 
 effect, be sure you be as good as your word. 
 
 Q. It has been my fortune to fall in love with a 
 young gentlewoman, and soon after it so happened 
 we have been a fortnight in one house together in the 
 country, by which I have had frequent opportunities 
 of making my addresses to her; and after a short 
 time found her by all her actions to have the like 
 passion for me, although in words the quite contrary. 
 When I come to discourse seriously to her, she in 
 words gives me an absolute denial ; yet notwith- 
 standing I find she endeavours to be in my company 
 what she can, and when with me her eye is always 
 fixed on me ; her kisses are reciprocal when alone, 
 and all other freedom which consists with modesty 
 and {religion are permitted : and yet she affirms that
 
 1 6 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 she does not love me so as to make me her husband, 
 nor ever will, etc. Now, Gentlemen, having had 
 frequent converse with her ever since my first writing 
 to you, I still find her much in the same humour, and 
 not knowing how to take it (lovers being commonly 
 a little impatient), your speedy answer is earnestly 
 desired, whether her words or her actions are to be 
 esteemed the sentiments of her heart? In your speedy 
 answer you will much oblige a real friend to Athens. 
 
 A. You write like a youngster in these affairs. 
 Young women can't forbear speaking what is far 
 enough from their heart. A little strangeness, few 
 visits, or a pretended voyage (which you may allege 
 you are forced to by her unkindness) will set all to 
 rights, and bring her to speak as she thinks. There's a 
 little novel entitled Lysander, or the Soldier of Fortune, 
 which perhaps gives the most lively description and 
 character of a maiden lover, whose education, modesty, 
 etc., give a reverse prospect of everything : though in 
 some cases there's need enough of great caution and 
 prudence, the inconstancy, levity, and prejudices of 
 our own sex being so very notorious. 
 
 Q. Not long since I was passionately in love with 
 a virtuous lady of equal age and fortune with myself 
 and well descended, which I acquainted her with in ?^ 
 letter. But she had no sooner received it, but shie 
 rejected my offer, refusing to join any company wh-,ere 
 she saw me present, and avoiding me as much as 
 possible ; being at the same time, as I understpod, 
 courted by a young gentleman much above x my 
 fortune, who continued his courtship for about two
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 17 
 
 months : though after she declined his courtship, 
 slighted him, and sent for me, and showed me all his 
 letters, telling me if I would prove constant, she would 
 be eternally mine. But within a week after I had 
 another proposal made me from a virtuous and beauti- 
 ful young lady of a much greater fortune, and as well 
 educated as the former. Now I desire your advice 
 (and resolve to be governed by it) whether I can justly 
 and honourably embrace the latter offer and reject 
 the former, there never having been any absolute 
 promise between us ; my inclinations being, I must 
 confess, much more for the latter ? 
 
 A. If you did not engage yourself to the first, 
 there's no reason why you should not embrace the 
 more advantageous proposals of the latter. But by 
 the manner of the expression — that you made no abso- 
 hite promise — you seem to imply that some sort of 
 promise was made, and 'tis probable enough that you 
 might make her some such returns for her obliging 
 offer ; which, if you did, and she understood it as the 
 accepting it, you cannot, we think, honourably get 
 clear of the first engagement. 
 
 Q. I was the night before Valentine's Day in 
 company with two gentlemen, who agreed with me to 
 draw Valentines according to the usual custom ; and 
 amongst several ladies then named, I inserted my 
 Mistress (whom I never can nor shall forget) whom I so 
 strangely fell in love with, as I gave you an account in 
 a former Mercury. Her name being written as usual, 
 and eight others with her, we being very merry, one 
 of the company proposed that we should solemnly 
 
 2
 
 iS THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 vow by all the ways imaginable to endeavour the 
 gaining that person whose name we should happen to 
 draw, and till their deaths never accept of any other. 
 This we all agreed to, and the names being rolled up, 
 I happened to draw my Mistress ; and the other two 
 gentlemen resolved to make good their vow and court 
 the lady that fell to their share, telling me I am obliged 
 to the same. Pray what should I do in this matter? 
 
 A. Perjury is now grown so common a sin that 
 few so much as startle at it, but will still run upon 
 rash and sometimes impossible vows and oaths, as 
 if there were nothing sacred in either, or any curse 
 attending the breach of 'em. Thus in the present 
 case one would have thought the querist should have 
 had work enough on his hands already, but yet it 
 seems he was for cutting out more ; for what would 
 he have done if his Mistress should have fallen to one 
 of his friends, and he had any other of the eight for 
 his share ? Nor has he any great reason to flatter him- 
 self that he shall obtain her person because blind 
 Fortune has thrown him her name. However, since 
 he's now fast by vow, as well as inclination, we know 
 no way for him but to take the advice we have 
 already given him, to begin his attack again, and to 
 follow it with more vigour than ever ; and after he 
 has done all that lies in his power, if she won't have 
 him, he's absolved from his vow, since he never 
 pretended to marry her whether she would or no. 
 
 Q. The enclosed is the copy of a letter that was 
 found in St. Martin's Church. Some that have seen 
 it do not understand the possibility of the gentleman's
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 19 
 
 performing what the lady desires of him in the latter 
 end of her letter : you are desired to satisfy their 
 curiosity, and that it may be in your next Saturday's 
 Mercury; they arc ashamed to press you to the per- 
 formance of it in so little time, nor would have been 
 guilty of so much rudeness, were they not necessitated 
 by their going a long journey the next week, and so 
 should have been deprived of the satisfaction of your 
 answer. 
 
 "HONOURED Sir, — There will be at our house this evening 
 the rich old fellow I told you of, worth 40,000/., therefore if 
 you have any love for my person, or respect for my preferment, 
 be there by seven aclock. Dress yourself as fine as possible 
 you can, and brisk your blood with a moderate glass : approach 
 me with that decency that becomes a gentleman, and when you 
 make love, do it with all the delicacy of expression which your 
 wit can invent, or your eloquence utter, but with the distance 
 and regard as if I were an angel from heaven ; but have a 
 special care of overdoing it, and when it is his turn to speak, 
 make silent love in soft sighs and languishing looks. Stay not 
 too long, that by the opportunity of your absence I may remark 
 what impressions the frights of a new rival has made upon his 
 breast, for a spur of this nature may quicken his speed. This 
 I call honest policy, nor can I see any evil in the design. 
 
 "Dear Sir, you know Matrimony is a sacred tie, and therein 
 I must be faithful ; but if this project takes, let the delicious 
 ^nan assure himself he can ask nothing on this side that obliga- 
 \ 7 on which shall not be granted with all the warmth which 
 ..ve and gratitude can bestow; but remember that I am a 
 maiden, and that he who steals sweetmeats must always leave 
 the closet-door as fast as he found it, and an artist at a pick- 
 lock can do his business without spoiling the wards." 
 
 A. The question is to resolve how her gallant
 
 2 o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 could perform the latter part of the question. To 
 which we answer, by forbearing any attack upon the 
 fort till she has got the old rich commander in it. 
 For the words, " nothing on this side that obligation," 
 seem to be restrictive, and bind not on the other side 
 the obligation. As for " picking of locks," etc., 'tis a 
 nice sort of felony, which we desire to be excused 
 from sitting judges on ; only thus much, if to the 
 words, " I am a maiden," were added the emphatic 
 nozv, the riddle is made plain. 
 
 Q. Whether the authors of the Athenian Oracle are 
 not bachelors, they speak so obligingly of the fair sex? 
 
 A. If they are not bachelors, they are (or would be 
 thought) gentlemen, and all who pretend to that 
 name, as well as all civilised mankind, have ever 
 treated women with that respect and tenderness 
 which their beauty, or, at least, their sex, deserves. 
 Nay, we may go yet farther, and not only affirm that 
 the fiercest nations and most barbarous of cannibals 
 have acknowledged and practised this piece of good 
 breeding, but even the beasts themselves teach it to 
 us, were there any fear of forgetting it as well as 
 many other good lessons. And indeed there seems 
 to be reason as well as inclination and custom to 
 authorise such a practice. We owe the happines e 
 of society, the defence of nations, the best riches < ;( f 
 kingdoms, which consist in the multitude of inhabit- 
 ants — nay, even the continuance of the world, which 
 without them could live at farthest no longer than 
 the next age — to that sex whom we are so willing to 
 oblige. Nor are we much concerned at the censures
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 21 
 
 we may possibly meet with for this piece of justice 
 from some men whose acquaintance among that sex 
 have perhaps been of such a character that they think 
 they may be allowed to rail at all the sex, because 
 some of 'em have given 'em so much reason for't. 
 
 Q. A gentleman, though married, makes his 
 addresses to a young lady, concealing his marriage, 
 not designing anything dishonourable by her, but 
 purely out of a desire to gain her acquaintance, being 
 charmed by her conversation. His wife is since some 
 considerable time dead, and he extremely melancholy, 
 which was imputed to the memory of his loss. But 
 being privately watched, he has been heard to repeat 
 several sentences relating to love, which was supposed 
 to be expressed in his letters formerly written to the 
 lady, and with a great deal of passion when in private, 
 sighing, abruptly calls upon her name, using several 
 other expressions of love, even almost to madness. 
 But being censured by her relations for his former 
 intrigue during his marriage, and dissuaded by his 
 own friends from entertaining any thoughts of love 
 now, 'tis feared by his actions that he will make some 
 desperate attempt upon himself, if not by continual 
 watching or other means prevented. Your advice, 
 therefore, Gentlemen, is speedily desired, and what 
 you think may be the readiest way to divert his 
 malady. And whether the young lady may not, 
 without any cause of reflection upon her honour, 
 entertain him, notwithstanding his former fault (as 
 they are pleased to term it), provided his person, 
 fortune, etc., be not disagreeable ?
 
 22 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 A. This is a very uncommon relation, but if it is 
 the utmost that has passed, we think both the querist 
 and the lady may proceed honourably enough to the 
 highest bond of friendship. For things are as they 
 are in their own nature, and not what prejudices of 
 custom and the groundless opinions of the age repre- 
 sent 'em. 
 
 Q. I am a Prentice to almost out of my time, 
 
 was educated with the advantage of a good Grammar 
 School, and blessed with a volubility of speech, and 
 having frequently dialogued with my master's wife, 
 both in matters of divinity and history, she hath so 
 endeared me to her with her pleasing conversation 
 that I am never easy when I am out of her company. 
 She seems delighted with my expressions, and always 
 looks cheerfully and innocently upon me. I have no 
 inclination to anything unlawful upon her account, 
 nor has she, I really believe, any unchaste thoughts 
 towards me. However, I beg you to resolve me 
 whether it be prudent to continue this conversation ; 
 and if there be no danger that it may improve itself 
 into an unlawful amour, we being both in the vigorous 
 heat of youth and the frailty of human nature too too 
 ready to comply with any temptation or opportunity:, 
 your speedy answer will very much oblige, and may 
 be very serviceable. 
 
 A. 'Tis not impossible but your conversations may 
 still be continued with all the innocency in the world; 
 yet if your master is any way a disagreeable or dis- 
 obliging husband, and your affections wholly free, there 
 may be danger in respect to both of you. The most
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 23 
 
 secure way is to avoid all temptation, and except you 
 are well assured of your own power over yourselves, 
 'twill be best for you to talk less together. 
 
 Q. Some time since happening to be present at a 
 wedding in a country church, I placed myself as soon 
 as the minister began the ceremony just behind a pew 
 in which was a young gentlewoman of considerable 
 fortune, a good face and shape, an acquaintance and 
 relation of mine, together with her mother and brother. 
 A gentleman who stood by came and delivered her to 
 me in the place of her father, he being dead ; having 
 her by the hand, I repeated the words after the 
 minister with an audible voice, and the lady, though 
 she did not speak the obliging words, yet did not 
 endeavour to disengage her hand from mine, though 
 for my part I used all the ceremonies required and 
 made use of at such a solemnity. Pray is this a valid 
 marriage, or how far binding either party ? 
 
 A. We think you did not well to jest in so serious a 
 business as matrimony (verily) is. But if you say you 
 were in earnest, so it seems was not the lady, she not 
 repeating the binding words ; for which reason it can 
 only be a marriage on one side, which is just none at all. 
 
 Q. I'm now courting a young lady, who is, I think, 
 very agreeable, her fortune and quality being equal to 
 my birth and estate. But the mischief on't is, she 
 drinks a deal of coffee, which (according to my philo- 
 sophy) I take to be the occasion of her coyness and 
 aversion for me, and therefore I'd hope some way may 
 be found out to make her less cruel. Your advice in 
 this matter.
 
 2 4 THE A THENIA N OR A CL E. 
 
 A. A pleasant one 'tis, and what wou'd ye have us 
 say in't, since 'tis not likely we shou'd persuade the 
 lady from this Stygian liquor, if you yourself have 
 no power with her ? However, we know but two 
 ways, either to get some of her friends to tell her the 
 dangerous effects of coffee in both sexes, that 'twill 
 make her look old, spoil her teeth, and the like formid- 
 able inconveniences, and have worse than these on 
 men ; whereas chocolate will have the contrary in 
 both. Or if that does not work, fall a-drinking coffee 
 yourself, drink it before the lady till you out-top and 
 conquer her, resolving to drink it as long as she does ; 
 and 'tis not impossible that mere pity for your circum- 
 stances, and fear lest such intemperance should injure 
 the frame of your body and incline you to some para- 
 lytical distemper may have such influence on her, 
 especially if she intends to marry you, as no longer 
 to set you so ill an example. 
 
 Q. I courted a gentlewoman ; but some time after 
 finding myself very behind-hand in the world, I 
 acquainted her with my condition. She being in a 
 way to live very well by her own industry, and think- 
 ing me honest, made me a promise to marry me, when- 
 ever I could make myself even in the world, though 
 I was not worth a groat. But it being probable this 
 will not be done in haste, she begins to be weary of 
 her promise. I desire your judgment, whether she's 
 obliged by it ? 
 
 A. Yes, doubtless, because 'twas voluntary ; and 
 besides 'twas made on so good an account, that 'tis 
 pity it should be broken, if 'twere but for fear of dis-
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 25 
 
 couraging such a sort of honesty, whereof \vc have but 
 too few examples. However, if there's no likelihood 
 of your ever getting into such circumstances as she 
 has made the conditions of your marriage, or not 
 doing it under a long time, it would be generous in 
 you to release her of her promise ; though unless you 
 do so, she can't, we think, get free from its obligation. 
 
 Q. I've had an affection for a virtuous young lady 
 for these two years, but have not seen her this year 
 and half, being at a great distance from her. I never 
 disclosed my passion till within these four months. 
 I've always continued constant to her, not having had 
 the least thoughts of any other. Yet about nine 
 months since I courted another lady, whom I could 
 not love, merely for diversion, who accepted of my 
 courtship, and I thereupon promised her marriage. 
 However, I'm assured my friends won't consent to it, 
 her fortune being far inferior to mine, though the 
 former lady's is equal, and I am assured of my friends' 
 consent ; besides my own inclination being still fixed 
 on her only. Query, Whether I may not break 
 my promise with her to whom I have so great 
 an aversion, and marry the other, whom I still so 
 passionately love ? 
 
 A. First you must ask the loved lady whether 
 she'll have you, and, secondly, the lady that's hated, 
 whether she will part with you, for your declaration 
 to the former does not amount to a promise, and 
 therefore can't clear you from the latter ; whom, if you 
 forsake without her consent and marry the other you 
 can't expect to live happy. For though men fancy
 
 26 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Heaven laughs at lovers' perjuries, or does not at all 
 regard 'em, we know no privilege they have to be 
 forsworn any more than others. Nay, there's little 
 doubt but the crime is as much greater than 'tis in 
 civil cases, or matter of right between man and man, 
 as 'tis a more pardonable injury to rob any person of 
 something that's but of a small value than of their 
 quiet and fame, and probably all the happiness of 
 their lives. The examples of which are so frequent 
 that one would think the credulous sex should take 
 more care whom they believed, and neither be imposed 
 upon by their own vanity, nor the oaths of their 
 faithless lovers. 
 
 Q. 'Twas my misfortune to offend my father ; 
 whereupon he turned me out of doors, and repeated 
 his steadfast resolution never to entertain me as his 
 son. Thus destitute of friends, I made my address to 
 a young gentlewoman (who deserved my betters and 
 refused 'em for my sake) and contracted an inviolable 
 friendship with her, who (though she knew my 
 circumstances, and had no reason to expect an 
 alteration of 'em from the help of my parents) showed 
 me an inexpressible constancy and affection. But 
 now, contrary to both our expectations, my father 
 receives me again ; but, hearing of my contracted 
 love, has declared, except I forsake her and resolve to 
 see her no more upon that account, and take the 
 Sacrament upon it, I shan't be a farthing the better 
 for him, living or dead. Should I unadvisably obey 
 my father in that I might justly expect her destruc- 
 tion in this world, and I think my own in both. My
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 27 
 
 father with great entreaty is willing to refer it ; 
 therefore, I being sensible of your goodness to afflicted 
 querists, hope to make you our arbitrators. Which 
 is the greatest offence in the eye of God, to disobey 
 my father in this particular, or break off my solemn 
 contracted love to her? Pray, Gentlemen, be speedy 
 in your answer, and excuse the troublesome long 
 query of your obliged humble servant. 
 
 A. You have no power to dispose of yourself con- 
 trary to your father's consent ; and if he forbid your 
 proceedings as soon as he heard of them, your vows 
 are wholly void, because God Almighty has in this 
 case given him the disposal of them. But, on the 
 other side, we much commend those parents that do 
 not abuse their authority, remembering they are com- 
 manded not to be bitter against their children, as it 
 would be to contradict them in such an affair, where 
 often the happiness of their lives depends, without 
 they'd a great deal of reason for it. And though you 
 must not marry without his consent, yet you are not 
 obliged to do it without your own. Your father would 
 do very ill to extort any promises from you, and much 
 more so by desiring you to confirm them by the Sacra- 
 ment, since in that holy duty there should be nothing 
 but what's voluntary. So he has done as prudently 
 by deferring his determinations. He ought to con- 
 sider the case of the lady as if it were yours, how she 
 received you when he had turned you out of his 
 favour, and if reason won't prevail with you, we think 
 it better for him not to lay his commands upon you, 
 except it will be your absolute ruin. Thus the only
 
 28 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 way you can lawfully act Is resolving not to be dis- 
 obedient, and try what your submissions and persua- 
 sions may do in the procuring your father's consent ; 
 for 'twou'd be very ungrateful to be accessory to her 
 unhappiness, if it can be possibly avoided. 
 
 Q. A young lady of good family, well bred, of a 
 moderate fortune, and altogether of a fine and airy 
 temper, is courted by an elderly man of a very mean 
 extraction, morose nature, formerly a libertine, of a 
 jealous disposition, but considerably rich : to whom by 
 the persuasions and solicitous desires of her father 
 and other relations she hath promised marriage. The 
 same young lady is likewise courted by a young 
 gentleman of a good family, well educated, suitable 
 fortune, sober conversation, and agreeable temper, but 
 at present without an employment, whom, to please 
 her father and other friends more than herself, she 
 hath refused; though at the same time it's believed 
 she would be more happy with him than her old Spark. 
 Your advice, therefore, as persons unconcerned, is 
 desired, what is most proper for the young lady to do 
 in this affair, and whether she should consummate the 
 promise made at her father's desire, or how she should 
 behave herself to the young gentleman, who she is 
 well satisfied loves her and would marry her without 
 a portion. If possible let me have an answer in th\3 
 next Oracle, for your advice will be of great concern 
 to your thereby obliged servant. 
 
 A. But you, like many others, are in too much 
 haste, Madam, to be soon answered ; for you forgot 
 to date, and we can't tell when your letter came in.
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 29 
 
 And now we do answcr't, wc doubt wc shan't please 
 you, for our advice will be for the lady to marry 
 neither of 'em. Not the younger, because against the 
 consent of her parents, which it appears not that she's 
 like to obtain : nor the elder, because his temper's so 
 disagreeable, and no wonder his former lewdness 
 makes him jealous, it being the natural consequence 
 of it. Nor can her parents force her to any such 
 match, it being but justice to allow children a nega- 
 tive voice in those matters, since all the happiness of 
 their lives depends upon it ; and it being a sufficient 
 trial of her obedience to sacrifice her own obedience 
 to her parents' will, but too great a one to be herself 
 a sacrifice to one for whom she has so much reason 
 to have so great an aversion. 
 
 Q. I'm a married man, but having a very ill wife 
 have been parted from her some years, and design 
 never to live with her more. Now I desire your 
 advice whether I may pray to God to take her to 
 Himself, that I may endeavour to make myself happy 
 in another ? 
 
 A. Sure if she's fit for heaven, she's fit for you ; 
 and if she were as good while you lived with her as 
 she is now, how came you to part ? But supposing 
 the cause was sufficient and she's grown never the 
 better all this while, 'twould yet be handsomer to 
 submit to God's will and wait with patience, or rather 
 pray that he'd convert her than take her away in such 
 a condition. 
 
 Q. Through the pious, virtuous, and witty consti- 
 tution of a young gentlewoman who is married, I am
 
 3 o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 so enamoured that were she single she should be the 
 only she I would attempt to get to be my spouse ; 
 but as she is married I would not for the world 
 attempt anything to endanger her or my own soul, or 
 the reputation of her body. I cannot well avoid 
 seeing her daily. Now I would desire you to deal 
 ingenuously by me, for I am real, whether I sin in 
 the said love, and how? Whether it be a breach 
 of any of God's commands ; and if so, how to avoid 
 it? 
 
 A. All inordinate affection is a sin, and you may 
 know whether your respect for her makes you uneasy 
 and disturbed : if so, you have exceeded the just 
 bounds, and ought to remember that precept, Thou 
 shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife. No doubt we 
 may lawfully have a greater esteem for one person 
 than another, though under the circumstances of 
 another man's wife ; but then there's need of a great 
 deal of prudence in the management of it that it gives 
 no occasion of jealousy, nor grows immoderate in 
 ourselves, nor influences the party to withdraw her 
 affections from her husband, with many more ill con- 
 sequences which often attend such actions. So that 
 it's much safer to avoid what is lawful in many cases, 
 than by the use of our liberty to become offenders. 
 
 Q. A person who has a great indifference for mar- 
 riage [that may be] thinks herself very happy [she 
 knows we can't disprove her], and is extremely pos- 
 sessed with the fears of a bad husband [but is not a 
 bad house better than no house at all?], desires to 
 know if an old maid be really so great a bugbear as
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 31 
 
 that the fear of it should oblige her to marry against 
 all sense and reason ? 
 
 A. O ! such a terrible bugbear that you never saw 
 anything like it (unless now and then you look in a 
 glass), and the very approach of such a creature has 
 frightened many a good virgin out of her wits and 
 into matrimony : to avoid either of which perilous 
 rocks the querist must steer as exactly between 'cm 
 both as she can possible ; neither hearken to any huge 
 He-syrens that would snap her up at a morsel and 
 away with her, and digest her and her fortunes before 
 the year's at an end, nor yet stay so long till the market 
 be over ; and she is turned upon her own hands. 
 
 Q. A lady with a good fortune has a mind to marry 
 and dispose of her person and it, but is unwilling to 
 have either a fool, a fop, or a beau, a cotquean, or a 
 book-learned sot, or one they call a sober, honest man 
 — such a one I mean as goes plodding about all day, 
 minding only the main chance ; in the evening for his 
 diversion drinks his pint, or smokes some hours in a 
 coffee-house with company that pleases him, then comes 
 home and grumbles at his wife if the day's expenses 
 have been a halfpenny extraordinary ; that will buy 
 his wife some good clothes to go abroad with him on 
 holy days or to a neighbour's christening, hardly else 
 allowing her to stir, and sometimes giving her a crown 
 or half-a-crown in her pocket, of which she must 
 render an exact account — I say, a lady being to make 
 her choice, which of these, think ye, is the least evil ? 
 And if she likes none of 'em, what sort of husband 
 must she choose ?
 
 32 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 A. The lady's a little difficult to be pleased, though 
 we confess she seems to have reason. However, we 
 can easily foretell she's not in haste to be married, if 
 she stays till one offers that's not touched with any 
 of the characters she has given. If she desires our 
 advice in exclusion to all these, she may more easily 
 meet with it in our former Oracles than find the man 
 will answer that description we there give ; though 
 we believe the world is pretty even for the quality as 
 well as for the number of both sexes, and perhaps an 
 argument for Providence may be drawn from this, as 
 well as that ; for were it an easy matter for persons 
 exactly paired with excellent qualifications to meet 
 and be happy in one another, and were most of the 
 world in such circumstances, there would not be 
 many; it might be a difficult thing to persuade 'em 
 there were any higher state of life designed for 
 rational beings. Well, 'tis now time to compare these 
 fine rivals one with t'other, and see which of 'em 
 best deserves the honour of a lady's love. For 
 the first, a fool (whom for the present we'll 
 suppose distinguished from his near kindred and 
 followed after — a fop, beau, etc.). Time has been 
 when he stood as fair as any, nay, was snapped at by 
 the ladies, and they almost quarrelled who should 
 have him for a husband. But we would hope 'twas 
 only in those reigns when 'twas so much the fashion 
 to get a wiser man (or at least a brisker) to supply 
 his room ; and are unwilling to believe how much 
 soever they are slandered, that many of the fair sex 
 would make choice of him now, though not for that,
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 33 
 
 yet for no very good reason, that they might be 
 Heads, when he that should be so wanted brains 
 to be so. For we should think a preposterous desire 
 of domination would hardly outweigh the inconveni- 
 ence of his nauseous folly ; besides, that sometimes 
 the lady may be mistaken, for some fools are certainly 
 the most unmanageable beasts in nature ; and a wise 
 woman will not and need not desire to have her will 
 more than a wise man would permit her. Exit fool. 
 
 Now for fop, who only thinks a little better of 
 himself than his elder brother, though of the self- 
 same family. He has a little wit, though more 
 noise ; he wears a feather instead of a fool's cap ; 
 he's not so heavy as his brother, and is hardly so 
 much fool as madman — a dancing, singing, empty 
 New-nothing, just the same for a man that he thinks 
 all women, and may make an indifferent plaything 
 but a very bad husband, unless you intend to share 
 him with all the kind souls in the nation. 
 
 The beau is only a fop of the last edition — a very 
 fortune-hunter, and therefore the ladies must look to 
 themselves, for he aims as sharply at all the young 
 as the crazy King of Portugal used to do at all the 
 old women, and hopes as surely to fetch 'em down 
 with his heart-breakers as t'other with his blunder- 
 buss. He's in love with his clothes as much as the 
 fop with himself, he's all garniture, and if you'd but 
 let him but lay by his hat and wig, would no more 
 take the law of you for a kick or a box o' th' ear, than 
 a ruffian priest can do for beating him, if you'd first 
 strike his cap off. Could a lady change him as oft as 
 
 3
 
 34 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 he does his fashions 'twou'd be a little safe venturing 
 upon him ; but she may have him a better penny- 
 worth if she can find any way to purchase his clothes, 
 for then she has all of him, or at least a more essential 
 part than either his soul or body. 
 
 For a cotquean 'tis an awkward sort of a creature 
 too to make a husband of; but the best is he'll be 
 more troublesome to your maids in the kitchen than 
 to you, and besides you'll be sure to have him much 
 at home, for this two-legged turnspit, exactly con- 
 trary to his brother brute, can't endure to be out of 
 the way when the cook has any business. 
 
 For a book-learned sot, the truth is, 'tis very hard 
 to have him always making love to his books, and 
 forget his own flesh and blood, and it would tempt a 
 lady to wish herself a book (as she in the story), that 
 she might now and then be folded down or turned 
 over. But for the most part those wives have no 
 great reason to complain, if some people were not 
 unreasonable ; for they have their husbands always 
 at home, safe locked-up as their plate or jewels, and 
 resort to 'em for advice as often as there is occasion. 
 
 Lastly, for the sober honest man, who minds the 
 main chance, etc., one would think he should please ; 
 but then he goes plodding about all day, and drinks 
 his pint of wine, or, what's worse, of coffee in the even- 
 ing. Perhaps too stays out late at night ; why all 
 this is pretty tolerable, nor is what follows very ill ; 
 buys his wife good clothes, lets her go abroad to see 
 her neighbours, gives her money to spend there ; 
 though if she has but wit enough to prevent being
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 35 
 
 begged, if she has a good fortune she will reserve so 
 much to herself when she gives the rest, as never to 
 be reduced to such meanness. And if the man has 
 any more, he'll give her a weekly allowance for family 
 expenses, without either requiring or undertaking the 
 drudgery of trifling accounts in so small a matter. 
 However, this character is easily enough distinguishable 
 from the rest, and we suppose the lady means by it 
 a hum-drum soulless wooden fellow, a mere husband 
 with no life, no edge, no conversation — in a word, 
 a trading blockhead, which no ingenious woman sure 
 would be bound apprentice to for life, if she could 
 avoid it, as she may easily do if at her own dispose, 
 since 'tis almost impossible in this case to be cheated; 
 for he's such a kind of a thing, as no disguise will fit 
 him : he must show himself when he puts on his 
 Holy day suit and steps a courting (though leaving 
 word where he is gone, for fear of a customer), nor can 
 he so much as ask the grand question out of his shop- 
 board phrase — " Madam ! what do you please to 
 buy ? " However, even this we think much more 
 tolerable than most of his rivals : the fool is too bad ; 
 the fop, the beau, and brisk, careless fellow will, if 
 possible, beggar himself and you and all his family; 
 the cotquean is a fitter scullion than a husband. This 
 plodding, main-chance fellow will secure you good 
 clothes, and one of the highest pews in the church 
 while he lives, and if he happens to drop off, leaves 
 you another change, and your fortune better than 
 ever. Nor have we forgot him that we left plodding 
 in his study, whom perhaps sympathy makes us
 
 36 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 incline to vote for before all the rest. He's no fool 
 though he looks like one : he's generally sound and 
 honest, so are not fop and beau ; he plagues you not 
 
 in the kitchen like Sir Cot , nor calls you Coram 
 
 nobis for the odd farthings in the buying of a piece of 
 beef as your lump of a Spark behind the shop-board ; 
 but lets you alone to rule and order his family, buy 
 as many fine clothes as you will, do what you will. 
 And if you wouldn't have an angel, where could you 
 ever find a better? And so much for this weighty 
 question on which we have been something long. 
 
 Q. I was lately courting a lady that passed for a 
 great fortune : after so long an acquaintance that she 
 found that I really loved her she ingenuously dis- 
 covered to me she had no fortune. But I really 
 loved her and could not withdraw myself of a sudden, 
 but endeavoured it by degrees. But I thank God I 
 have at last pretty well conquered my passion. But 
 now I find she is in love with me, even to fondness, 
 and all occasioned by my loving her. I have con- 
 vincing proof it's no deceit. I have a small estate, 
 but not enough to maintain us both according to that 
 liberal education we have both been bred in. Since I 
 have been the occasion of her passion, which she says 
 she shall never forego, tell me whether I ought to 
 marry her or leave her in that condition ? 
 
 A. The lady has done very honourably in dis- 
 covering the truth to you, though not over prudently, 
 in passing for what she was not, since it must probably 
 be the occasion of some misfortune or other ; for 
 had she carried on the design to perfection, and
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 37 
 
 married any one under the notion of being a fortune, 
 when they had come to be undeceived, it might have 
 been the cause of continual disquiets between 'em. 
 And so in your case she owes the unhappiness more 
 to the deceit than to you ; and you are undoubtedly 
 free to act as you please, if you made her no promise 
 after you knew she had nothing ; but if you did, they 
 are as binding as if she really had what you first 
 expected. 
 
 Q. A certain gentleman in the C of S 
 
 having a considerable estate and many children, sons 
 and daughters, made his will, and gave to his eldest 
 son ^400 per annum, and to the rest portions 
 sufficient for younger children. Some time before the 
 old man's death, the said eldest son marries to one of 
 the servants of the family against his father's appro- 
 bation, but after the business was done the father was 
 so far from diminishing his son's fortune that, with the 
 consent of the rest of his children, he took ,£50 out of 
 each of their shares, and gave to his said eldest son 
 because he had married a wife worth nothing. The 
 father is since dead, and the son has by his frugality 
 made a considerable addition to his estate. I desire 
 to know whether he is not obliged or compelled by 
 the law and rule of God and man, honesty and 
 honour, to return .£50 to one of the sisters who, being 
 unfortunate in her marriage, is at present in a low 
 and mean condition ? Your opinion may be very 
 serviceable to the distressed. 
 
 A. There's no forcing him to't ; but he's doubly 
 obliged to relieve her by the law of nature, as she's a
 
 38 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 part of his family ; and that out of gratitude, since she 
 was willing to serve him when it was only for his con- 
 veniency; therefore he'd be very base to refuse the 
 assisting her in her necessity. And these would be 
 sufficient motives to a man that is but moderately 
 honest. 
 
 Q. I desire your opinion in this question, Whether 
 or no a woman being in love, may make it known 
 without any breach of modesty? Nay, if she were 
 not rather to be recommended for speaking her mind 
 than to die like a fool ? 
 
 A. 'Twould be an heroical and happy adventure 
 for a lady to break the ice, and give an instance 
 of one that has successfully overcome a tyrannical 
 custom ; but the mischief on't is, the fear of a repulse 
 has hindered many a fine attempt that way. Yet we 
 see no reason why a woman that has sense enough to 
 make a good choice, and knows how as handsomely 
 to discover it, would be obliged to smother her love ; 
 nay, on the contrary, 'twould be the best method to 
 discover it, since by that means she'd soon either find 
 a good reception, or a cure ; for we think it very 
 unlikely a person should long love any one that 
 slighted 'em. 
 
 Q. Gentlemen, I'm a tradesman, and live in reason- 
 able good credit amongst my neighbours ; I follow 
 my business, and by my labour, together with God's 
 blessing, I procure a competent maintenance for my 
 family. My common expense doth not exceed 3d. 
 a day, except occasioned by a relation or some other 
 person, for or in whom I have either esteem or
 
 LOVE, COURTSHIP, AND MARRIAGE. 39 
 
 interest, and yet I am under the misfortune of having 
 a wife that will often upbraid me with drunkenness 
 and idleness, both of which I am utterly averse to. 
 Now I desire to know whether, after all other methods 
 used in vain, I may not make use of stripes in order 
 to the bringing her to a more prudent behaviour. I 
 look upon't as matter of conscience, and therefore 
 desire your speedy answer, which if you grant, you 
 will infinitely oblige your very humble servant. 
 
 A. Stripes ! No, sir, by no means, unless you have 
 a mind to fall under the Woman's Surgery. Get a 
 pretty little padlock for her tongue, and then it will 
 be troublesome to move it without disobliging the 
 inhabitants of her mouth; or if that won't do, draw a 
 tooth once a day, or after every lecture ; or, lastly, 
 procure a preferment for her in Bedlam, and then you 
 may promise yourself a little quiet
 
 PART II. 
 
 Popular Science in the Seventeenth 
 Century.
 
 PART II. 
 
 POPULAR SCIENCE IN THE SEVEN- 
 TEENTH CENTURY. 
 
 Q. Whether fishes may be said to breathe? 
 
 A. This question hath been long agitated pro and 
 contra ; Aristotle denying that they can breathe, Plato 
 and his followers affirm they can. Aristotle, main- 
 taining the negative, reasons thus : Creatures that want 
 organs and instruments of breathing cannot be said to 
 breathe or respire ; but such are all fishes : therefore, 
 etc. The Platonists thus maintain their breathing : 
 All living creatures denied of breath die; but fishes are 
 living creatures : therefore, etc. The Major is erro- 
 neous, for I have known a quarry or rock of stone broke 
 asunder for building, and in a solid place of it there 
 lay a toad with just room for her body and no more ; 
 and when the rock was broken, and the toad came 
 into the open air, it immediately died ; which shows 
 that creatures may live without air. The Aristotelian 
 doctrine is certainly the truth — viz., that fishes do not 
 breathe, having no lungs, the instruments of breathing. 
 
 Q. What is the cause of Titillation ?
 
 44 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 A. My Lord Bacon has observed that a man is the 
 most ticklish where the skin is thinnest, which, as he 
 adds, causes a quicker emission of the spirits ; but this 
 cannot be the efficient reason, because another can 
 tickle me where I cannot tickle myself; and my skin 
 is no thicker when another touches it than when I 
 touch it myself. The certain reason is the abundance 
 of nerves, which are ministers of sensation ; as, for 
 example, the palms of the hands and the soles of the 
 feet are very nervous. Another reason is the unaccus- 
 tomedness of touching those places, as appears in this, 
 that the hand is not so ticklish as the foot, because 
 'tis more used to it. 
 
 Q. Where extinguished fire goes ? 
 
 A. The more gross excrementitious part of it falls 
 down to the earth, and the more subtle and pure 
 mounts up to its Element ; the reason why we cannot 
 see it so soon as ever its nourishment and combustible 
 matter is taken from it is very satisfactorily answered, 
 Jul. Seal. Exer. 9 — viz., To Sta^av^s sive perspicuum nisi 
 condensetur est doparov, quia visum non terminate ; that 
 is a diapJionous or transparent body, except it be con- 
 densed (as fire is when 'tis nourished with matter), is 
 not visible. 
 
 Q. Why may there not be invented a perpetual 
 motion ? 
 
 A. Archimedes, that indefatigable inquirer into 
 mathematical speculation, having this question pro- 
 posed unto him — viz., Whether he could remove the 
 globe of the world ? he made this answer, That if 
 the proposer could find another basis to fix the foot
 
 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE. 45 
 
 of this engine upon, he would undertake to remove 
 it. In like manner we say: Find us bodies or matter 
 that are qualified for a perpetual motion, and we'll 
 undertake the affirmative of the question. But if 
 upon a particular search of every individual particle 
 of the creation we find nothing but what is subject 
 to change (not by flux of time, for time destroys 
 nothing ; but by motion and antipathies in nature), 
 then it follows that the impossibility of perpetual dura- 
 tion necessitates the impossibility of a perpetual motion. 
 
 Q. Where are swallows in the winter time, and 
 how live they for those six months ? 
 
 A. We are informed in history that as they feel 
 our region to grow colder, they follow the heat and 
 visit the southern countries, which are more moderate 
 in the winter time ; just as beasts and other creatures 
 in Greenland, for the generality, follow the light, to 
 avoid the solitude of that long and tedious night. 
 But as some of these by age, lameness, or accident, 
 tarry behind and are starved, or are made an un- 
 natural prey to one another ; so those swallows that 
 tarry behind, perhaps from the same causes, retreat to 
 ruinous buildings and subterraneous caverns, where the 
 cold makes 'em senseless and void of all appearance 
 of life, as I have tried by pricking and dismembering 
 'em without any sense of pain ; and if they are really 
 dead, as I am satisfied they are, they have no need 
 of sustenance to maintain what is not — I mean life. 
 I remember the Royal Society give an instance of a 
 great cluster of swallows that were found in a pond 
 of water, that were joined together, holding one
 
 46 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 another by the legs, wings, and bills, and the Society 
 concludes that they came there by a voluntary choice 
 of that element ; it looks improbable how they should 
 find one another under water, or be all in a mind to 
 fall together ; I should rather suppose that they crept 
 into some hollow bank near the water, which broke 
 and fell in with 'em. If it be asked how they can 
 revive again, I answer, the matter of fact has been 
 proved, not only in them but cuckoos. And though 
 I give no great credit to what Pliny says, That the 
 heat of the sun does form creatures in Egypt out of 
 the very mud ; yet I doubt not but that the sun 
 meeting with organs already capacitated for anima- 
 tion, together with some other natural cause, may 
 revive swallows ; and the rather because of my own 
 experiment I know that flies that have been drowned 
 two or three days may be brought to life by the heat 
 of the sun, or the application of warm ashes. 
 Q. What is the cause of earthquakes ? 
 A. Tis very improbable that the common hypo- 
 thesis should be a truth — that wind having casually 
 got into the caverns of the earth, should by its 
 struggling to get out again produce earthquakes, 
 since wind of itself has no power to struggle, unless 
 engaged and pushed forward by some other matter, 
 or further wind. We affirm it reasonable to believe 
 that this globe of the earth may be as subject to ruin 
 and decay as the lesser particles of the Creation, and 
 that earthquakes are but the convulsion of nature's 
 frame, caused by an intestine decay and motion ; for 
 no one ever denied there were subterranean passages,
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 4 7 
 
 both channels of water and veins of liquid fire, though 
 more in some places than others, as Mount i^tna, 
 Vesuvius, etc. Now this being granted, a motion is 
 proved, and decay is the natural cause of motion. To 
 this we may add : that these subterranean veins of 
 fire meeting with channels of water not only cause a 
 strife and motion in the bowels of the earth, but also 
 generate air by fumigation and rarification of the 
 water, which air increasing, grows too big for its 
 caverns, and so struggles, and helps on with those 
 convulsions and ruins of nature as we said before. 
 This is manifest in that in many earthquakes, if not 
 in all, where the earth yawns, there have been seen 
 great flakes of fire and smoke to ascend. 
 
 Q. Is the Light a body? 
 
 A. Light is not a body, no more than heat ; both 
 are accidents to one substance — I mean the sun ; and 
 if the sun were not, there would be neither of them ; 
 if it be objected that we have light when the sun is 
 under the earth and uncapable of giving light by 
 means of the earth's interposition betwixt it and us; we 
 answer, it is a mistake, for the sun is then capable of 
 giving light primarily and by reflection from the earth 
 upon the moon and stars, and they, as secondary causes, 
 lend that light to us which they borrow from the sun. 
 
 Q. Why are children oftener like the father than 
 the mother? 
 
 A. The similitude is perhaps very often owing to 
 the good women who are present at the gossiping ; 
 but, supposing for once the truth of matter of fact, it 
 may easily enough be accounted for, because 'tis the
 
 48 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 imagination of the mother not the father forms the 
 child, and she having the idea of the father's face, not 
 her own, in her mind, that of the child may be formed 
 accordingly like him, not her. 
 
 Q. What are the utmost effects of joy, and how 
 does it operate on the affections ? 
 
 A. Sudden joy kills as well as sudden grief: Dia- 
 goras Rhodius, hearing his three sons were victorious 
 at the Olympick Games in one day, died immediately 
 in that transport of joy; and so did Dionysius, 
 Sophocles, and Philippides, upon winning Bays from 
 other stage-players ; and what is yet stranger, Zeuxis, 
 that famous painter, having made the portraiture of 
 an old woman very odly, died with laughing at it. 
 Grief destroys a man by a violent agitation of the 
 spirits, and sudden condensation again, whereby they 
 are too much thronged, their avenues obstructed, and 
 their commerce with the air hindered, so that the 
 heart wanting respiration, is stifled. Joy produces 
 the same effect from contrary causes, namely, by a 
 too great dilation of the spirits : they who die for 
 joy are of a sanguine, soft, and rare contexture ; so 
 that when this dilation of the spirits happens, they 
 leave the heart destitute of succour, and the ventricles 
 closing together, they perish under the passion. 
 
 Q. By what means was it that the sepulchral lamps 
 of the ancients did some of them burn iooo, others 
 1500 years? 
 
 A. There are several inventions that are absolutely 
 lost, and of which we can meet with no more but the 
 name ; and for any persons to say there is nothing
 
 SE VENTEENTI1 CENTVR Y S C1ENCE. 49 
 
 but what they know or have heard of is a ridiculous 
 folly. All that we can say is, That 'tis not impossible 
 but the Romans had this Art, and perhaps that of 
 Tulliola's tomb is a very fair instance. Besides, we 
 have had several such things found here in England, 
 which the Romans left behind 'em in their Urn- 
 burials. We are only certain that the Phosphorus, a 
 preparation now known by almost every little Chymist, 
 may be made to take fire by air or motion, and there- 
 fore might be used in sepulchres with this effect upon 
 the admittance of air into 'em ; but, however, we are 
 not sure that the Romans' invention was the same 
 with ours, or that theirs did not burn all the time. 
 
 Q. What members might human nature be deprived 
 of, as not absolutely necessary, and yet be supposed 
 to exist? 
 
 A. The doctors say, without the spleen, dis- 
 membered of arms and legs, distesticulated, without 
 eyes, nose, teeth, lips, chin, ears, tongue, without part 
 of his skull, shoulders, buttocks, etc., which have been 
 by many instances found not absolutely necessary for 
 existence : and no doubt but Nature would desire 
 a protraction of its existence under worse incon- 
 veniences. A remarkable instance we have in a 
 Turkish punishment — viz., The criminal has a strong 
 bow-string to put about his middle, with some persons 
 at each end to pull it ; the standers-by prick the 
 party with pins, needles, or such like sharp instru- 
 ments, whereby (and the others pulling) he is con- 
 tracted into a very small compass ; and when the 
 Executioner thinks it at the smallest, some one 
 
 4
 
 5 o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 amongst them takes a keen scimitar, and with one 
 blow separates the body in two ; and immediately 
 taking the upper part, places it upon a broad iron, 
 heated for that purpose, which sears the wound and 
 stanches the blood, in which posture, the party having 
 his intestines whole, will live a very considerable time. 
 And it has been observed that when the Mercy-stroke 
 (as the Turks call it) is giving to the wretch, he will 
 move his head, and (as much as may be) his body 
 from it, choosing rather that torment than death ; 
 although he must be satisfied of the necessity of his 
 speedy death. 
 
 Q. Near Corbridge, not far from Hexham, in 
 Northumberland, the late rains having washed away 
 the earth in a place where a torrent was made by the 
 winter rains, there was discovered the skeleton of a 
 prodigious monster ; the skull capable of holding 
 three gallons ; the hollow of the backbone was so 
 large that a boy of eleven years old thrust his hand up 
 it to the elbow; the thigh bone is two yards long, 
 lacking two inches ; his whole height computed to 
 just twenty-one foot, or seven yards ; the skeleton 
 being found by boys, they broke it in many parts, 
 which my Lord Darwentwater, who hath a great part 
 of it whole, would have given some hundreds of 
 pounds if he had it entire ; the skull hath twenty-four 
 teeth in it. I myself have seen one of them in 
 Newcastle, which is one inch and six-tenths of an 
 inch broad, and three inches deep, and is now four 
 ounces, although dried : there is also another tooth 
 of the same to be seen at Widow Ingram's Coffee-
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 5 1 
 
 House in Prcscot Street, in Goodman's Fields. Query, 
 Your thoughts of this, and how long it has lain 
 there ? 
 
 A. Because we would neither be imposed upon 
 ourselves, nor impose upon others, we have been very 
 curious in our searching into this relation, and find it 
 a very real truth, and are assured that the skeleton 
 must be human. We have no history or tradition 
 that gives us an account of what stature and bulk 
 those giants were which were mentioned in Sacred 
 Writ to be before the flood ; and since the flood we 
 can find but very little difference in all ages as to 
 human stature. One great instance we meet with 
 in history, that there are tombs among the Egyptian 
 Pyramids of several thousand years' standing, which 
 are but two yards in length ; and 'tis well known 
 that they never used burning, but embalmed and 
 buried their dead at length. So that we may con- 
 clude all ages have produced something monstrous 
 rather than that mankind were larger formerly than 
 now, and have by degrees degenerated into a little 
 dwarfish race ; as also that in all ages there have been 
 some dwarfs, or very little men. In 1584 there was 
 found a skeleton at Lucerne nineteen foot, which is 
 six yards and a foot long. Maximinius, the Emperor, 
 was eight foot and a half high. In 1557, the 
 Tartarians made an inroad upon the Polonians, at 
 which time a prodigious Tartar was slain by a 
 Polander, whose brow (according to Leonardus 
 Croetius) was twenty-four fingers broad, the rest of 
 his body of that magnitude that when it lay upon the
 
 52 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 ground was so thick that it reached to the navel of 
 an ordinary person. But the most prodigious monster 
 we ever met with in history was that which was 
 found in the Cretan war (see Solin. p. 5, p. [88, and 
 Kornman, lib. de Mir.). The rivers and waters rose to 
 an unusual height, which made great breaches in the 
 earth ; when the floods were gone, in a great cleft or 
 fall of the earth, there was found the skeleton of a 
 man thirty and three cubits long; which, if reckoned 
 according to the common cubit, is sixteen yards and 
 a half. Lucius Flaccus was then Legate, and Metallus 
 himself, allured with the novelty of the Report, went 
 on purpose to the place to take a view of it, and 
 there they saw with their eyes that which upon 
 hearsay they had refuted as a fable. 
 
 Q. What becomes of smoke ? 
 
 A. It ascends into the air, and if in great quantity 
 forms a sort of cloud, as we may see, if we'll but take 
 the pains to go half a mile out of London ; if in 
 smaller, is dissipated by the winds, or lost in the vast 
 tracts of air, as a little water when spilt on great 
 heaps of dust. For that 'tis annihilated none can be 
 so foolish to conceive. 
 
 Q. Whether the seat of the soul be in the Glandula 
 Pinealis ? 
 
 A. That the soul operates in the head in another 
 manner than in any other part of the body, and that 
 the function of thinking or reasoning is performed 
 there, our very senses do almost teach us by that sort 
 of pain which we feel there, after any intense medita- 
 tion ; as we have formerly observed. There we say
 
 SEVENTEEATH CENTURY SCIENCE. 53 
 
 it must be, because there it operates, one of which 
 unanswerably follows upon the other. But how it is, 
 we are as much to seek as how it operates, and where 
 as how, if the precise point, or place, be demanded. 
 Monsieur des Cartes' opinion was generally embraced 
 in the last age, who finding that small gland in the 
 head, which had no use by anatomists assigned 
 thereto, he concluded it the principle and immediate 
 seat of the soul ; but later anatomists have since 
 found a much lower office for it, and that fancy of 
 his is as much decried as it was heretofore almost 
 universally embraced. 
 
 Q. What think you of the Milky Way in the 
 Heavens ? 
 
 A. It's so called from its whiteness ; it divides the 
 heaven into two hemispheres, but not precisely, one 
 of the sections being at the last degree of Taurus 
 and beginning of Gemini, the other at the end of 
 Scorpio and beginning of Sagittary, at which place 
 it's narrower about two degrees than at Gemini, 
 where 'tis ten degrees broad, and is much like a 
 river all along, winding, contracting, and enlarging ; 
 and, dividing itself near the Swan, beyond the tropic 
 of Cancer, one of the branches end near the Equator, 
 the other passing between Sagittary and Scorpio, by 
 the feet of the Centaur, cross the ship Argo, where it 
 is broadest : then goes by the Unicorn over the head 
 of Leo to the feet of Gemini ; from whence, crossing 
 Bceotes, Perseus, and Cassiopeia, it returns again to 
 the Swan. It's pretty to consider the extravagant 
 fancies of the poets and some of the ancient philo-
 
 54 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 sophers about it. Some say that when Juno suckled 
 Hercules and discovered who it was, she spilt her 
 milk there; others that 'tis the space of heaven which 
 the sun's chariot burnt by the ill driving of Phaeton ; 
 others the place where Apollo fought with the giants ; 
 the road of the gods leading to Jupiter's palace ; the 
 residence of heroes ; the mansion of the virtues ; 
 the highway of souls — with innumerable more such 
 whims. The former philosophers, particularly Aris- 
 totle, held it to be a meteor fed by plentiful exhala- 
 tions from the earth, and fired and irradiated by the 
 stars in this place. This opinion prevailed till the 
 use of long telescopes, which discover an innumerable 
 company of small stars there which are not visible to 
 the naked eye ; and 'tis generally concluded that 'tis 
 nothing else but stars, which, being not great enough 
 to transmit their light to us distinctly, the same is 
 associated and united together, thereby causing a 
 whiteness, or a weak and imperfect light. 
 
 Q. What will make persons wakeful that are given 
 to sleep ? 
 
 A. Sleepiness is sometimes to such a measure that 
 'tis a disease; so that proper physic ought to regulate 
 the constitution. But perhaps the intent of the 
 querist may be, What will keep a person awake ? To 
 pass by disturbances and the customs of such philo- 
 sophers as slept with a ball in their hand over a 
 basin, that when it dropt they might awake, we shall 
 mention a nearer instance. A very eminent person 
 at Oxford, having a certain book to finish for the 
 press, and but a little time to do it in, sends in the
 
 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE. 55 
 
 evening for one of his own dishes of coffee, which 
 held above a pint, and secures a quart more for the 
 night-time: he studied all night, and by morning had 
 spent his coffee, and found himself wakeful enough to 
 prosecute the work he had in hand ; and this method 
 he followed (as I take it) for three days and three 
 nights, and finishes what he had to do. Whereupon 
 he ordered his bed to be ready and said he would go 
 to sleep, but lying down he could not sleep ; where- 
 upon the doctors were sent for, and, understanding 
 the occasion, they ordered him to bleed presently, 
 gave him opiates and other things, whereby they cast 
 him into a sleep, which was no short one; but they 
 all concluded, that if he'd waked but a few hours 
 longer, he had never slept any other but his last 
 sleep, having drank of that wakeful liquor to such a 
 great excess. 
 
 Q. In my Lord Gainsborough's Park at Titchfield, 
 in Hampshire, some few years past, a deer was killed. 
 After 'twas broke up, the keeper went to quarter the 
 heart, and the edge of his knife grated against some- 
 thing that was hard, which he found to be a bullet 
 near the middle of the heart; about which bullet 
 there was a callous skin, like horn, by which 'twas 
 supposed that the deer had been formerly shot, and 
 lived several years afterwards: the reason of this? 
 
 A. There are some singular cases of this nature, 
 which will puzzle all the anatomists in the world to 
 resolve 'em. There are instances almost every day, 
 both of men and beasts, who have lived with bullets 
 or stakes lodged in their bodies. The famous knife-
 
 5 6 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 blade which lay so long in the pheasant has been 
 sufficiently talked of; and we ourselves have assur- 
 ance of a certain butcher that killed a bullock which 
 had been a little lame for a year or two before ; and 
 in cutting it up found between the shoulder and the 
 breast, quite covered over with hard flesh, about a 
 foot and a half of an old hedge stake, which it seems 
 had been broken off there some years before. But 
 this is nothing to any such substance in the nobler 
 parts, though even there strange things have been 
 found. Howel in his letters makes mention of a 
 person who lay for some years languishing of a disease 
 which puzzled the physicians, and death was the only 
 cure : at whose dissection there was found (as we 
 remember), in the left ventricle of the heart, a living 
 serpent ; and the German virtuosi give us instances 
 much of the same nature. But neither does this 
 reach : for violence from without seems more mortal 
 than any such substance bred within. To come yet 
 nearer, there are some surgeons who tell us of wounds 
 in the pericardium which have been cured, though 
 never any before that we met with in the very 
 substance of the heart ; nor can it be easily supposed 
 that the bullet in the present case could be lodged in 
 any vacuity there without making a wound to get in. 
 The fact seems to be well enough circumstantiated, 
 and therefore 'tis neither civil nor scarce reasonable to 
 deny it ; but for the reason and manner how Nature 
 could save itself harmless, notwithstanding that callous 
 substance wherewith it guarded itself as is very usual 
 in such cases, we must ingenuously acknowledge we
 
 SE VENTEEiMTH CENTUR V SCIENCE. 5 7 
 
 can't resolve ; and here propose it as a problem to 
 the best professors in the noble art of Chirurgery, 
 whose judgments we shan't fail to communicate to 
 the world concerning it. 
 
 Q. Why is the Sea Salt ? 
 
 A. The reason of it is the Sun, by whose Beams the 
 more thin and subtle parts are exhaled in vapours, 
 when the more gross and terrestrial parts are left 
 behind, and become Adust and Salt. This is evident, 
 in that the Southern Seas are Salter, and that more in 
 Summer, than the others are, and therefore it is that 
 the deeper the Water the fresher it is, the Sun having 
 most power at the top. Upon the same account 
 our Urine is salt, in respect that the thinner and 
 purer part of that moisture, by our inbred Heat, is 
 conveyed and carried from our Stomach through the 
 Pores, when the other settles ; and the longer time it 
 is kept in the Body, the Salter it grows by the power 
 of Heat working upon it ; as 'tis evident, by our 
 much Drinking, when Urine passes quickly, it is 
 almost of the same Nature as it was in the Liquor. 
 
 Q. What is the cause of Thunder? and what is it? 
 
 A. Thunder is generated thus : The heat of the 
 Sun causes an ascension of two sorts of Exhalations, 
 the one of the Water, the other of the more Humid 
 and Liquid Parts of the Earth, as the Juice of Trees, 
 Plants, Herbs, Manured Fields, and such like, all 
 which have a Natural Salt, or a spirituous sort of 
 Sulphur, which meeting together Coagulate, and are 
 of an inflammable Nature, as appears when they meet 
 with proper Matter, to set them on fire, either by
 
 53 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Sympathy or Antipathy ; for Fire will produce Fire 
 naturally ; or Fire may be caused by violent Motion 
 and Rarification of the Air, as when a Flint and 
 Steel are smote together. Now 'tis confessed by all 
 Naturalists that Heat and Cold have the same Effect 
 in many cases ; to mention one, Heat thins and 
 rarifies the Air ; or to speak properly, \s Air rarified; 
 and so does extremity of Cold, for Cold is but a 
 Privation of Heat, and is no part of the Creation, and 
 the destruction or change of its Nature terminates 
 again in Heat; this being premised, it follows, that 
 Cold which lies in the middle region of the Air, 
 meeting with its opposite igneous Exhalations, by a 
 kind of an Antiperistasis, the Exhalation is kindled, 
 and the violent strife is the Cause of that Noise 
 we call Thunder Claps. If we be asked, why a 
 Thunder-bolt is formed like a Pear? (as they have 
 been often found) we answer, 'Tis natural they 
 should have that shape, for anything that is liquid, 
 before its Condensation, falls in drops, some bigger 
 and some lesser, but all drops, just as they fall, appear 
 bottled and shaped like a Pear ; so those bituminous, 
 liquid Exhalations, as they are melted by the 
 Extremity of heat, falling (or rather with Violence 
 thrown) through the Air, become hard. That they 
 arc composed of sulphurous Matter is evident in this, 
 that where a Thunder-bolt falls, there is a strong 
 smell of Sulphur or Brimstone. 
 
 Q. What is the reason that when two viols are 
 tuned in Unison, one of them being touched, the 
 other will answer, though at a distance?
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 59 
 
 A. This is a noble and great proof of the sweet 
 Composure and Harmonious Order of the Creation; 
 and 'tis but a more pure sort of sympathising that is 
 found in all the Creatures, when those of the same 
 Species flock together. 
 
 Indeed, the reason of this Musical Sympathy is 
 something puzzling, and more admired than under- 
 stood by some of our great Music Masters. But 'tis 
 thus effected : 'tis Air that is the proper Vehicle and 
 Conveyance of Sound ; and accordingly as the Air is 
 driven with greater or lesser Violence, it affects all 
 Objects that it meets with. A Cittern perhaps is by 
 its make as much accommodated for the reception of 
 Sounds as any other Instrument, therefore we'll con- 
 sider the Effects of a repercussive Air upon that. An 
 Ordinary Noise will beat the Air every way, and that 
 which meets with these Strings will move 'em all 
 into a distinguishable Audibility, proportionable to the 
 shrillness or smallness of the Voice; this is univer- 
 sally granted by such as have made the Experiment. 
 Now since this Voice, in what Key or Note soever it's 
 delivered, does effect the sounding of so many Notes 
 at once, and that these Notes are proportionable to a 
 greater or lesser Agitation of the Air, then the efficient 
 Cause is the Motion of the Air, and not the Unison, 
 as is generally thought. Though we cannot deny the 
 Sympathy to be more effective than in different Keys : 
 As is evident by a piece of Paper which will violently 
 Tremble upon -a String that is an Unison when it lies 
 almost still upon other Keys, and all by the same 
 agitation of An.
 
 60 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Q. Whether, since Mermen and Mermaids have 
 more of the human Shape than other Fishes, they 
 may be thought to have more Reason ? 
 
 A. According to our promise made before, we shall 
 show you first what may most probably be thought of 
 their Nature and Production ; some think 'em not to 
 be Creatures ab initio, but Monsters got since by 
 unnatural Copulation ; some think 'em to be very 
 Devils, from the strange Effects attributed to 'em ; some 
 that when the Angels fell, those that lit in the Sea 
 were turned into Mermen; and some, that the Devils 
 begat them of Fishes ; some, that Fishes, generating 
 in the Deluge, and seeing drowned Men, by strength 
 of Imagination got something like 'em. But we see 
 no reason but that they were created at first among 
 that infinite Number of other Fishes in the Sea, 
 which bear some resemblance to the Creatures on 
 Earth. Alexander ab Alexa7idro affirms he has 
 known a Merman steal a Woman Causa Concubitus, 
 which, if truth, strengthens the Argument. Ferdinand 
 Alvares, Secretary to the Store-house of the Indians, 
 says, he saw a young Merman come out of the Water 
 to steal Fishes from the Fishermen, and eat 'em. 
 Olaus Magnus says many things of 'em, but his 
 Credit is questionable. PJiilosoph. Tract, mentions a 
 Merman taken in a River in Virginia with a Pyra- 
 midal Head and Fish Tail. In our English Chronicles, 
 'tis affirmed a Man Fish was taken in Suffolk, kept 
 six months on Shore, and stole again to Sea ; but the 
 most authentic and particular Relation we meet with 
 is in the History of the Netherlands — viz., The Dikes
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y £ C1ENCE. 6 1 
 
 were broken near Campcn by an Inundation in 1403, 
 and when the Inundation returned, a Merwoman was 
 left in Dermet Mere, and the Milkmaids, who used to 
 cross that Mere with Boats, when they went to milk, 
 saw a human Head above Water, but believed their 
 Eyes deceived 'em 'till the repeated sight confirmed 
 their assurance; whereupon they resolved one Night to 
 watch her, and saw that she repaired to a Seggy or 
 Flaggy place, where it was Ebb, and near the side ; 
 whereupon, early in the Morning, they got a great 
 many Boats together, and environed the place in the 
 form of an half moon, and disturbed her ; but she 
 attempting to get under the Boats, and finding her 
 way stopped up by Staves and other things, on pur- 
 pose fastened, began to flounce and make a hideous 
 deafening Noise, and with her Hands and Tail Sunk a 
 Boat or two, but at last was tired out and taken ; the 
 Maids used her kindly and cleansed the Sea-Moss and 
 Shells from off her, and offered her Water, Fish, Milk, 
 Bread, etc., which she refused, but with good Usage, in 
 a day or two, they got her to eat and drink, though 
 she endeavoured to make her escape agaifi to Sea ; her 
 Hair was long and black, her Face human, her Teeth 
 very strong, her Breasts and Belly to her Navel were 
 perfect ; the lower parts of her Body ended in a strong 
 Fish Tail. The Magistrates of Harlem commanded 
 her to be sent to them, for that the Mere was in their 
 Jurisdiction. When she was brought thither, she was 
 put into the Town-house, and had a Dame assigned to 
 her, to teach her. She learnt to Spin and show Devo- 
 tion at Prayer ; she would laugh, and when Women
 
 6a THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 came into the Town-house to Spin with her for diver- 
 sion, she would signify by signs she knew their mean- 
 ing, in some sort, though she could never be taught 
 to speak. She would wear no Clothes in Summer ; 
 part of her Hair was filleted up in a Dutch Dress, and 
 part hanged long and naturally. She would have her 
 Tail in the Water, and accordingly had a Tub of Water 
 under her Chair made on purpose for her. She eat 
 Milk, Water, Bread, Butter, and Fish ; she lived thus 
 out of her Element {except her Tail) fifteen or sixteen 
 Years. Her Picture was painted on a Board with Oil, 
 and hangs now in the Town-house of Harlem, with a 
 subscription in Letters of Gold, giving an Account 
 when she was taken, how long she lived, and when she 
 died, and in what Churchyard she was buried. Their 
 Annals mention her, and their Books have her Picture; 
 and travelling Painters draw her Picture by the Table. 
 By the above-mentioned Relation the Querist may 
 be satisfied that she exceeds all other Creatures in 
 cunning and docility, that have ever yet been known ; 
 and probably by her burial might be reckoned in the 
 Classes of Rationals, by the Magistrates, who knew her 
 Life, and suffered a place in the Churchyard for her 
 Interment. 
 
 Q. I desire you to give me the cause of a Rainbow? 
 
 A. The Poets would have Iris, or the Rainbow, to 
 be the Daughter of Thaumas, or Thumasia, which is 
 Admiration, intimating our Ignorance in it, but we 
 have happily surmounted this Difficulty, and have now 
 a perfect knowledge. Light passing out of a thinner 
 Medium into a thicker (as out of Air into Water), if it
 
 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE. 63 
 
 fall obliquely upon that thicker Medium, it is broken 
 and refracted ; but if it pass not quite through, so 
 that it is broken at its going out, as well as its 
 entrance, then it is turned into Colours ; this 
 Natural Effect is a Principle in Optics. A Rainbow 
 is not in a Cloud, but in falling drops of Rain, as we 
 may see by some Fountains which form one in the 
 Air by spouting up their Water, or by spurting Water 
 out of one's Mouth opposite to the Sun, as also by a 
 triangular Prism, or a Glass Vial full of Water of a 
 Conical Figure reversed. The Rainbow is an imper- 
 fect and begun Parhelion, the Light of one being 
 reflected regularly, and the other not. It is nothing 
 but the LigJit of the Sun received into falling Rain, 
 and remitted to our Eye by an Angle of Refraction 
 different from that of its incidence. When the Rain- 
 drops fall, and the spectator is placed betwixt them 
 and the Sun, the Sun-beams passing through these 
 drops are reflected as by a Mirror back again by those 
 which are more remote and passing by those which are 
 nearest they must be twice broken, and, as we said 
 before, must necessarily cause the diversity of Colours. 
 As to the circular Form of this Meteor, one-half of 
 which is lost in the interposition of the Body of the 
 Earth ; 'tis requisite to suppose some Position of the 
 Sun, as at the Horizon, which being reflected, as hath 
 been said, the reflection will be also parallel to the 
 Horizon. This Reflection being twice broken, to wit, 
 at its coming in and going out of each falling drop, 
 and these two Refractions being joined together, dis- 
 tort the Ray about 45 deg., that is, will make with the
 
 64 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 lines parallel to the Horizon an Angle of 45 deg., of 
 which height the Iris will be. Now drops make their 
 Refraction by their sides and lower parts, as well as 
 superior, whence those on either side of the spectator, 
 distant by an Angle of 45 deg., will be seen by him, 
 as also the Iris on either side under equal Angles, 
 so that a right line drawn from the Sun to the 
 Spectator's Eye may be called the Axis of the Iris. 
 The drops higher than the Axis by 45 deg. make 
 their refraction ; those on either side, also distant 
 forty-five degrees, make theirs, and so of all other 
 Angles 45 deg. from the Axis. As for other drops 
 nearer or further from the Axis, they will represent 
 an Iris to others who are not in the same Axis ; 
 so that 20 different Persons, in 20 different places, 
 may have every one a distinct Rainbow to themselves 
 A Rainbow is seldom seen in the Winter, because ot 
 the Rains, which are so numerous as to cloud the 
 Sun ; nor are they to be seen but in the Morning, or 
 Evening, when the Sun is as low as 45 degrees. The 
 Rainbow cannot be irregular, because of any Winds, 
 as the Author that wrote upon this subject has 
 supposed, unless he can prove that an imaginary 
 Angle of 45 degrees can also be blown away from 
 the Position, without which a Rainbow is not at all. 
 
 Q. How does a Fright bring a drunken man to his 
 wits? 
 
 A. The Spirits of the Liquor mounting into the 
 Brain, which intoxicate the Animal Spirits, which are 
 chiefly lodged there, does occasion Drunkenness; but 
 when the Heart is oppressed by a Fright, the Animal
 
 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE. 65 
 
 Spirits fly to its assistance, and in their Passage 
 through the Blood are purified and cleared from the 
 Intoxication, as the Salt Water by running through 
 the channels of the Earth loses its saltitude, and 
 becomes fresh. 
 
 Q. What is the Cause of the Rainbow? If it pro- 
 ceeds from a natural ground, then it was before the 
 Flood. And why cannot Astrologers as well assign 
 the precise time of its appearing as of Eclipses ? 
 
 A. 'Tis only a Reflection of the Sun from a watery 
 Cloud, conveniently situated for our Horizon. For we 
 don't at all question but that there may be thousands 
 of Rainbows undiscernible to us, being only properly 
 placed in such or such a Longitude, according to the 
 Position of the Cloud. There is one thing perhaps 
 newly remarkable. That the Sun is always Diamet- 
 rically opposite to the Rainbow ; and the centre of 
 the Sun and of the Rainbow are in an equal height 
 above the Horizon. So that if the Sun be a great 
 height, you see almost a whole Circular Rainbow; if 
 it be setting, you see but a little segment of the 
 Rainbow Circumference. Astrologers know the 
 Eclipses of the Sun and Moon, because they have 
 their Regular Motion ; but there's no Regularity in 
 Winds, nor (consequently) in the Position of the 
 Clouds, and therefore no certain Knowledge when 
 they will happen. 
 
 Upon the coasts of China, near Pipli, Dehli, etc., 
 are seen Rainbows from the Reflection of the Moon. 
 We believe with the Querist, that they zvere before the 
 Flood, but were not made use of as a Token of the 
 
 5
 
 66 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Covenant, that the world should not again be de- 
 stroyed with Water ; as Baptism was made use of 
 amongst the Jews in proselyting the Gentiles to their 
 Religion, though it was not made a Badge of the 
 Covenant of Grace until our Saviour's Time. Some 
 have observed, that the two chief Colours in the 
 Rainbow, to wit, Blue and Red, fitly resemble the 
 double Destruction of the World ; to wit, the first by 
 Water, the last by Fire. As to that which some call 
 the Watergall, or the Mock Rainbow, that is only the 
 Reflection of the Rays of the first Bow upon a neigh- 
 bouring Cloud ; whence the Colours of such secondary 
 Bow are not so lively as those of the first, but are 
 reversed, the Yellow being the lowest, the Green 
 always middlemost, and the Red uppermost ; for so, 
 by reason of Catoptricks, we see that the species 
 reflected have a different Situation from the Body 
 which produces them, things on the Right Hand 
 appearing on the Left (and contrarily) ; and so 
 Images in the concave of a brigJit spoon, or the 
 Shadows of Bodies which pass along the Streets, 
 entering by a small Hole into a dark Chamber, are 
 reversed. 
 
 Q. Seeing there is daily such a prodigious Quan- 
 tity of Water from all the Rivers running into the 
 Sea, how comes it not to be filled, and so overflow 
 the World ? 
 
 A. There is indeed an inconceivable quantity of 
 Water every hour discharged into the Sea, from 
 those vast Rivers which empty themselves into it. 
 As the Nile, the Volga, the Danube, the Rhine, the
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 67 
 
 Severn; and others in our World, not to mention 
 those vastly larger in America ; all which, if exactly 
 computed, would puzzle a good Naturalist to con- 
 ceive, or give any tolerable Account how the whole 
 Body of the Earth should be sufficient for its perpetual 
 Secretion, etc., draining it through its secret Ducts 
 and Channels. Indeed were all those waters to run 
 in, and have no Vent or Circulation, 'twere impossible, 
 unless there were a proper Abyss to contain it ; but 
 that it must almost immediately overflow the World. 
 As were all the Blood which passes through the 
 Veins to stay in the Heart, a man could not live a 
 Minute. But besides the huge Cavities or Cisterns 
 that Nature has made to contain these Waters on the 
 Surface of our Globe, the Sea being rather larger than 
 the Land, and some Seas to us unfathomable ; and 
 those yet much more vast Receptacles in the Bowels 
 of this Globe, whose Diameter being near seven 
 thousand Miles, supposing we allowed it 500 Miles 
 thick, would have yet above 6000 Miles Capacity ; I 
 say, besides all this, here is undoubtedly a Circulation 
 of Water through the Globe, the Salt Water by 
 secret Passages being forced down through the Veins 
 of the Earth, and by this Percolation casting off its 
 salt, and flowing fresh again in springs and Rivers 
 — all which Reasons are together a satisfactory 
 Account why the Sea does not overflow the Earth. 
 
 Q. How is the Fire made betwixt the Flint-stone 
 and the Steel ? : 
 
 A. Those Gentlemen, whose Philosophy searched 
 no deeper than the Theory, have been at a great loss
 
 68 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 in this Question, till Mr. Hook, in his Microscopic 
 Experiments, put the Question out of all doubt, by the 
 Demonstration which we shall soon speak of; but we 
 shall first show that it has not been the only Fate of 
 this Question, but several others, to be disputed upon 
 wrong Principles, which were taken for granted, as, 
 why Bodies weigh heavier when dead than alive? 
 Why Bodies do not weigh in the Water? And how 
 'tis possible to ignify that Air that is catched betwixt 
 the Flint and the Steel ; or which lies in the Pores of 
 the Flint, and by a Collision of the two Bodies leaps 
 out in Fire, or subtilised Air, all which Principles 
 are notoriously false, as experience has evinced. But 
 to Answer the Question, Mr. Hook, whom we have 
 formerly mentioned, taking a Steel and Flint, and 
 examining by Microscope the Scintillations that fell 
 upon a piece of white Paper, he first thought 'em to 
 be small globulous Pieces of melted Steel, or little 
 Particles of red hot Flint ; but upon further search, 
 he really found that those little red Particles which 
 fell were Vitrifications of the Flint and Steel. 
 
 Q. Whether the Reverse or Recoil of a Gun be 
 at the Firing in the Chamber or before, or at the 
 immediate departure of the Fire from the Muzzle : 
 Gentlemen, Three Wagers depend upon this Question; 
 therefore the sooner you Answer, the sooner we shall 
 drink your Healths, for 'tis to be determined by you. 
 
 A. The learned Lord Brouncker answers this Ques- 
 tion in his Experiments that he made about the 
 Recoiling of Guns, some of which were before the 
 Royal Society, and others after that were made before
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 69 
 
 his Majesty in Whitehall ; he discovered that the 
 Recoil was sooner or later, according to the quantity 
 of Powder used ; thus in the Engine he made use of, 
 if he used under 12 Grains, the Piece ceased to 
 Recoil before it parted with the Bullet ; if he used 
 more, the Pullet parted from the Piece before it 
 recoiled ; the Reason whereof he hath demonstrated, 
 for the Bullet crossing the Axis of the Piece with a 
 greater or lesser Angle, according to the force of the 
 Powder, the recoil is sooner or later ; for a fuller 
 satisfaction in this point, we refer the Ingenious to the 
 History of the Royal Society, p. 236, where they have 
 both a Table calculated for Distances, Charges, etc., 
 as also a demonstration about their hitting or missing 
 the Mark. 
 
 Q. How does a Nettle sting? Whether by leaving 
 part in the Flesh, as a Bee its sting, or by what 
 means? 
 
 A. That Lanugo, or soft Down which covers the 
 Leaves thereof, is in all probability the substance 
 which being darted in the small pores of the Flesh, 
 and by reason of its peculiar configuration sticking 
 fast therein, gives such torment to the part afflicted 
 much after the same manner as Coivitch, tho' more 
 pungent and violent. Now this Configuration suppose 
 hamated or aculeated, when the Nettle is violently and 
 suddenly pressed, seems to be lost and destroyed, the 
 little Stings being broke off, or blunted one against 
 another, which is the reason a Nettle never stings when 
 we press it hard between one's Fingers, though there 
 may be also something in the hardness or callous sub-
 
 7 o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 stance, which the ends of the fore-finger and thumb 
 may have contracted by often using. 
 
 Q. In some Parts of America there is a sort of 
 Snakes called Rattle-snakes, and if it happen that 
 one of those Snakes come under a Tree, and there 
 centres, or stays under the same, and that it so 
 happens that there is a Squirrel upon the same Tree, 
 that then the Squirrel will run up and down the Tree, 
 and leap from one part to another without inter- 
 mission, till as 'tis believed it has almost wearied 
 itself, and then will make a doleful Noise and Cry, 
 without endeavouring to go from the Tree, and at last 
 run down the main Body of the Tree, on that side the 
 Snake lieth, and so run directly into the Mouth of the 
 Snake, and it swalloweth it whole. I desire to know 
 the Reason why the Squirrel does not make its escape 
 from the Tree and Snake, rather than run into its 
 Mouth to its own Destruction. 
 
 A. The Harmony and Discord in Natural Things 
 surpass the Scrutiny of the most Learned. They are 
 so, we see ; but really why, is left only to the Giver 
 of Natures to all things. The Squirrel may be Appre- 
 hensive of an approaching Danger by the Snake's 
 encircling itself under the Trunk of the Tree, and 
 after it has overcome that Fear, it still has an Eye to 
 the Snake, and therefore in pursuit of the Destruction 
 of the Snake, runs into the mouth of the Snake; or 
 the Snake may entice the Squirrel down into its 
 Mouth, by what exceeds our Apprehension to solve. 
 Neither doth the Question mention any Action of the 
 Snake's during this Action of the Squirrel's.
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 7 1 
 
 Q. We have in our Common Books of Arithmetic 
 for the Measuring of a Circle, these two Numbers 
 given to us, 7, 22, for the Proportion of a Diameter of 
 its Circumference. Query, Whether they be exact, 
 and who was the Author of 'em ? 
 
 A. Archimedes, de Dimensione Circuit, has given us 
 these Numbers: Melius gives us 113, 355, which is 
 something nearer the truth: Mr. Kersey has given us 
 1 to 3. 141 58: Dr. Wallis, in his Treatise of Algebra, 
 has enlarged it 1 to 3-14159265358979323846264338 
 327950288^ ; those that please may go further, that 
 of Melius is near enough the truth for Practice. 
 
 Q. Whether the Quadrature of a Circle be 
 possible? 
 
 A. Not till an odd Number can be divided into 
 equal Integer Numbers, which can't be done by our 
 common way of Notation ; what succeeding Ages 
 may find out, we know not, but as in the preceding 
 Question the Proportion of a Circle's Diameter to its 
 Perimeter may be found inexpressly near the truth, 
 though not exactly, so the Circle may be squared by 
 the help of Poligons so near the truth as to deceive 
 the Sense, which is near enough for Practice, as we 
 said in the last Question. 
 
 Q. Being upon a Voyage to the West Indies, in the 
 Latitude of 28 deg., I made an Experiment upon 
 what I heard from an Old Sailor, which was this : I 
 took a quart Glass Bottle empty, and drove a cork 
 into it as fast as I could, without breaking, and with 
 a Lead and Line sunk it to the depth of 60 Fathoms, 
 then took it up again, when the Cork was drawn, or
 
 7 2 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 thrust into the Bottle, and the Bottle full of Water. 
 Pray inform us of the Reason hereof? 
 
 A. We should be glad if any one would make the 
 same Experiment with the mouth of the Bottle 
 downward ; for if it has the same Effect then (which 
 we believe it may), it may possibly proceed from this 
 Cause : The vast Quantity or Columns of Water 
 press the lower and deeper parts of the Sea so very 
 much, that they lie a great deal in a little room ; that 
 is, their Particles are compressed so much that there's 
 very little Vacuum there, and by consequence it's very 
 Natural to press upon, and force into places that are 
 less condense, as into the Bottle, which being full of 
 free, loose Air, might be forced into many times a less 
 room than at first, and therefore be easily worked 
 upon by a surrounding straitened Body. 
 
 Q. Whether may a Man preserve his Life to 
 extreme old Age, without diminishing of his Senses, 
 or Interruption of Health, either by Pains or Sick- 
 ness ? 
 
 A. It's lawful no doubt. If he mean whether it's 
 possible, or whether it may by Medicines be effected? 
 we answer, That it's reasonable in the Theory, but 
 difficult in the Practice Part to obtain such an 
 immortalising Quintessence, or Elixir, to preserve or 
 renovate all sorts of Persons. Some propose the 
 Statics, to eat by weight, and drink by measure, and to 
 have one's Chair so poised that it shall put him in 
 mind when he has the prescribed Commons. Others 
 propose calculating the Nativity, that a Man by that 
 and his Almanac may to a minute see when it's best
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 73 
 
 to take Physic or the Air: or remove his Lodging, 
 and what to Eat. Others prescribe Flesh, others 
 Roots ; and advise reading Chrysippus of Coleworts, 
 Marchion of Radishes, or consult the Herbal ; some 
 propose Milk extracted from the Rays of the Moon, 
 and a Golden Elixir from the Rays of the Sun, or 
 Lilph Broath made of the influence of the Stars. But 
 hie Labor, hoc opus est, to procure these Medicines ; 
 however, that there are such Medicines that contribute 
 to prolonging of Life, without Gout or Stone, that a 
 Man may go off with a gentle Decay, is out of Contro- 
 versy true. 
 
 Q. Pray, Gentlemen, what is the Cause of Suction ? 
 
 A. We answer, the Cause of the rising of Water 
 by Suction is the pressure of the Atmosphere ; for 
 let us imagine the end of a Syringe to be placed in 
 the Water, let the Sucker be drawn up, there is then 
 a space in the bottom of the Cavity devoid of Air. 
 Now all the Water without the Sucker is pressed upon 
 by the weight of the Atmosphere, except that space 
 which is directly under the end of the Syringe ; the 
 Water being thus pressed, does endeavour to free 
 itself, which it does by rising up in the Syringe, it 
 finding there the least resistance. That it is the 
 pressure of the Atmosphere is evident from hence, 
 that all the suction in the World will not raise Water 
 higher than 34 or 35 Feet, which is equal to the 
 weight of a Tube of Mercury of the same Diameter 
 of about 29 or 30 Inches, which is exactly equi- 
 ponderant to a Pillar of Air equal to the height of 
 the Atmosphere.
 
 74 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Q. What Reasons can you give me to prove the 
 Circulation of the Blood ? 
 
 A. 'Tis evident that there is a circulation from 
 hence, there being a continual reciprocation of the 
 Pulse, and by consequence a constant expulsion of 
 Blood from the Heart into the Arteries, and as 
 constant an Influx into it out of the Cava, and seeing 
 the Cava from whence the Supply is never drawn dry, 
 nor on the other Hand the Arteries, never unduly 
 swelled by their continual Reception of the Blood 
 from the Heart, it necessarily follows that this Motion 
 proceeds Circularly — viz., that the Blood is constantly 
 driven from the Heart into the Arteries, out of these 
 into Parts to be nourished, from whence it is re- 
 sorbed by the Capillary Veins, which conduct it 
 back through the larger into the Cava, and so to the 
 Heart again. It may be invincibly proved from these 
 Reasons: — 
 
 i. From the great quantity of Blood that is driven 
 out of the Heart into the Arteries at every Pulse : 
 for though the Ancients that knew not this Circulation 
 imagined that only a Drop or two was expelled by 
 every Systole (which they were necessitated to 
 suppose, to avoid the great Distention the Arteries 
 must be liable to, if any considerable quantity issued 
 into them), yet it is demonstrable that there must 
 needs an Ounce or more be driven in them each time 
 (for granting that there is no other way for any 
 Liquor to pass from the Stomach to the Kidneys but 
 through the Heart along with the Blood), seeing if a 
 Man drink three Pints of Drink it will pass through
 
 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE. 75 
 
 him in half-an-Hour, yea more of Tunbridge Water 
 in that space. And seeing Secondly, that there is 
 commonly as much Blood as Serum, that flows to the 
 Kidneys (the Blood returning back by the Emulgent 
 Veins), it is clear that by the two Emulgents (which are 
 none of the largest Arteries) there must pass in half- 
 an-Hour's time, six Pounds of Liquor, all which must 
 come from the Heart, and how much more, then, 
 may we conceive to be driven through all the other 
 Arteries that run through the whole Body. 
 - 2. Our second Argument to prove it, may be taken 
 from the valves in the veins, which are so framed that 
 Blood may freely flow through them out of the lesser 
 veins into the greater (and so into the Vena Cava), 
 but on the contrary will not pass from the greater 
 into the less, for if one blow into the Cava through a 
 Pipe, there will no wind pass into the smaller veins ; 
 but on the contrary, when the lesser veins are blown, 
 the Air immediately has admittance into the larger, 
 and so into the Cava. 
 
 3. Lastly, 'tis clear from the Ligature in Blood- 
 letting, for whether you Let Blood in the Arm or 
 Foot, the Fillet is always tied above the intended 
 Orifice, and then the Vein below the Ligature will 
 presently grow tumid, but above it will almost dis- 
 appear, which must needs be from hence, that the 
 Blood being driven from along the Arteries towards 
 the Extreme Parts, returns from thence by the veins, 
 and ascends upwards, which coming to the Ligature 
 finds its passage stopped, and so swells the vein 
 below the Ligature, and spurts out as soon as the
 
 7 6 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Orifice is made ; but when the Fillet is loosed again, 
 the Blood regains its wonted Channel. 
 
 Q. Pray, Gentlemen, what is the Reason of the 
 Cohesion of two well Polished pieces of Glass or 
 Marble ? 
 
 A. We answer, 'tis the Pressure of the Atmosphere, 
 which pressing hard upon the Obverted Planes of the 
 Glass or Marble, and there being no air between to 
 resist the External Pressure, there must necessarily 
 follow a Cohesion ; which Cohesion is so strong, as 
 has been Experimented in two Circular Pieces of 
 Black Marble, not three Inches Diameter, that a 
 weight of 80 Pounds fastened to the under Marble 
 was but sufficient to separate them. That it is the 
 Pressure of the Atmosphere will be demonstrable, 
 if you consider the Experiment made by Mr. Boyle, 
 who placed a couple of well Polished Marbles, with a 
 Pound Weight hanging at undermost of them into 
 a Receiver, and when they were suspended at the 
 Cap of it, and the Air drawn out, the Marbles fell 
 asunder, there being no Air to Press upon them as 
 afore. 
 
 Q. What seeing is? Whether there be any Emana- 
 tions from the Eye to the Object, or from the Object 
 to the Eye, or both ? Or how else we are to under- 
 stand it? If you can put the Question in no more 
 apt Terms, you may vary it as you think good, so 
 you take in the sense. 
 
 A. From the Object to the Eye by communication; 
 all Bodies have Atmospheres about 'em of their own 
 Nature, as the Earth has, and these Emanations
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 7 7 
 
 striking upon the Circumjacent Air, which also being 
 continued to the Eye, carries the Motion and Influ- 
 ence, or Properties of these Emanations, as Sound is 
 conveyed to the Ear through the same Medium of Air. 
 
 Q. In two of my Voyages at Sea, among some 
 remarkable things, I met with one I cannot well com- 
 prehend, neither do I find any Writers that have given 
 their Judgment of it : It is three small clouds called 
 the Magelena Clouds, in the Latitude of the Straits 
 of Magelene, in Appearance about a yard asunder, 
 irregular, the biggest about a yard long, having always 
 one Latitude and Longitude. I have been that way 
 twice, and observed them still in the same place. I 
 desire your Judgment of them ? 
 
 A. Perhaps they may be Clouds that are always 
 formed from the smoke of some Volcano or fiery 
 Mountain, in the Terra del fuogo, near those Straits. 
 
 Q. Whether Light be a Body ? 
 
 A. We think tis a Body, from Scripture and 
 Reason. 'Twas created by a particular Act of 
 Almighty Power, when nothing seems to have been 
 besides Body and Spirits; whilst all Accidents, or 
 mere Modes of Being, were either concreated with one 
 of those kinds of Beings, or resulting from them. 
 Again from Experience and Reason. It acts up07i 
 Body, therefore must be Body, if that Actio)t be 
 immediate, as it seems to be ; the Sun-Beams appear 
 nothing but a Body of strange Light; these are united, 
 reflected and refracted, and as really and certainly 
 varied and wrought upon, as a Ball, or bundle of Rods, 
 or whatever other parts of Matter.
 
 78 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Q. What's the Reason that when a Bell is casting 1 , 
 if any one speaks it spoils the sound? 
 
 A. If the Fact be true, it must be from the motion 
 of the Air by the Voice, which it seems affects the 
 Bell when 'tis in that tender condition, of striking on 
 it not equally, may make some alteration in the Pores 
 of the Metal, which are then a-forming, whereby the 
 Bell is rendered less Tuneable and Harmonious. 
 
 Q. A Chyrurgeon at Westminster was sent for to 
 the opening and embalming of a Gentlewoman who 
 had been dead at least Eight and Forty Hours ; when 
 he had opened and disembowelled her, her Heart 
 leaped upon the Table, as all the Spectators saw ; at 
 which the Chyrurgeon struck his Instrument into it, 
 opened it, and out of it he took a large Worm, as long 
 as a Man's little Finger, as thick as an Arrow : It had 
 Two Heads, the one like a Serpent's : He kept it two 
 Days alive. If ye doubt the Truth of the Relation, 
 ye may be satisfied of it at Mr. Stubb's, at the Chyr- 
 urgeon s Arms in Stretton Ground in Westminster. 
 Pray, how do you think it could get thither? 
 
 A. There have been many Instances of this Nature 
 in Anatomical Observations, as well as in other 
 Histories. Howel, in his Letters, gives us one, the 
 German Virtuosi another, with the Picture, and full 
 Description of the Worm, or Snake, call it what you 
 please, found in the left Ventricle of the Heart of 
 a Dissected Body. The difficulty is, how it should 
 get thither ; for Equivocal Generation is now laughed 
 at as much as the wise Epicureans, who defended it. 
 It must then have past by the Blood into the Heart,
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 79 
 
 while 'twas only in Seed, and there have grown 
 to such a bigness. The difficulty still, and almost 
 impossibility to resolve, will be, how the Seed of 
 any living thing could submit in the Form, in its 
 passage through Chyle, etc., into Blood, without being 
 quite destroyed, or altered ? But when anybody will 
 resolve us, how the Seeds of Mites are preserved 
 through Milk, Curds, and Cheese ; for they must owe 
 their Original either to what has been licked up by 
 the Cow, or to the Rennet, and we'll then resolve 
 'em this Question. Though it seems Nature has 
 wrought the Contextures of Creatures so very fine, 
 and curious, that they pass untouched through her 
 Ordinary Operations, as well as they, many of 'em, 
 flee the finest sight and sense of man, unless he's 
 assisted by Art, there being some of those Animals, 
 as those who have observed 'em, assure us, an hundred 
 thousand times less than the Eye of a Louse. After 
 all, 'twill still be asked, whence the Seed of any such 
 Creature should be gotten, this being described with 
 Two Heads, and many denying there's any such 
 thing in rerum Natura ; however, no such in our 
 country ; therefore mayn't it seem more probable 
 that 'twas bred out of Corruption there, than so much 
 as in its seed conveyed thither. We answer, first. 
 If there's no such thing in Nature, neither can this be 
 so ; and indeed we are apt to believe, that there's a 
 mistake in the Relation, and that which is called 
 another Head, is only a Tail, a little Thicker and 
 broader than some other parts of the Body. Monsters 
 of two Heads we grant there have sometimes been,
 
 80 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 as well as with two Bodies ; but then it's plain Nature 
 intended two distinct Bodies, only it happened other- 
 wise through defect of the matter, or other Accidents. 
 
 Q. What degree does Silver bear amongst other 
 Metals, what are the chief Properties of it, and from 
 whence is it that we have the greatest part of it? 
 
 A. Silver is the finest Metal in the World, except- 
 ing Gold ; 'twill beat very thin, and stretch in Wire 
 beyond any sort of Metal but Gold, even as small as 
 a man's hair. It will not rust, but Cankers a little 
 into a pale blue, consumes some small matter in 
 melting, 'tis dissolvable like other metals in Aqua- 
 fortis. And a thin Plate of it, as a great or lesser 
 piece, rubbed with Brimstone, and held over a candle, 
 splits and moulders, because it is Calcined ; the 
 Powder of which paints Glass yellow. It chiefly 
 comes from the West Indies and High Germany, being 
 dug out of Mines in an Oar not much unlike Lead or 
 Antimony, and the richer Veins of Lead are said to 
 have much Silver in them. When this Oar lies open 
 to the Air, it sends forth sometimes branches like a 
 white Moss, of pure Silver, called the Silver-tree, and 
 is said to be imitated by some Chymists, who also 
 pretend to make factitious real Silver by the lower 
 preparation of their Philosopher's - stone ; besides 
 which there is a Counterfeit of it, made by whitening 
 Copper, too well known to those Sparks amongst us 
 who cheat by False Plate or Money. The Touch- 
 stone and Fire are generally the Methods 'tis tried 
 by. A Vessel of it in common use is long a-heating, 
 but then preserves its heat as long.
 
 SE VENTEENTII CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 8 1 
 
 Q. Is there any Cure for Stammering, and what 
 is it ? 
 
 A. There is, for we have known it cured in several 
 Instances. There are more ways than one to do it: 
 The first is repeating many hard words deliberately 
 several times a Day, and for Prevention never speak- 
 ing in haste: The other, keeping a Farthing or some 
 such thing in your Mouth, and speaking or reading 
 with it there. 
 
 Q. Some Years since, a Friend of mine went to 
 the East Indies ; where, after he was arrived he sent 
 a full Account of his Voyage ; in which (he says) he 
 saw the Sun, Moon, and Stars, all at once, at Noon- 
 day ; the Person is of unquestionable Integrity, and 
 the relation appears very unaccountable to me, I 
 would desire your Assistance, how such Phenomena 
 may be resolved. 
 
 A. Father KircJier, in his Description of the Sub- 
 terraneous World, lib. 2, tells us, That by the help of a 
 Telescope, we may perceive the Sun a Body of Fire, 
 unequal in its Surface, composed of several Parts of a 
 different Nature, some fluid, some solid ; and that his 
 Disque is a Sea of Fire, wherein one may perceive an 
 eternal agitation of the Waves of Flame, that in some 
 parts of it there arise a deal of Smoke. Now, it's very 
 probable, that a vast quantity of Smoke might inter- 
 cept and hinder the Brightness of the Sun ; as in 1457 
 from the 4th to the 28th of August, the Sun appeared 
 reddish and not so Bright as the Moon in her total 
 Eclipse : so that then there were many Stars visible 
 at Noon-day; when Ccesar was Murdered, 'twas so 
 
 6
 
 82 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 for a whole year together ; and we can give no other 
 reason for it but the Evaporations of Smoke, which 
 sometimes are so very great as to cause such 
 effects. 
 
 Q. Gentlemen, let me trouble your Society to give 
 me your thoughts upon the force of Thunder, Light- 
 ning, Earthquakes, and Eclipses ? 
 
 A. Lightning and Thunder may go together, since 
 they are the Effects of one Cause — viz., your Unctuous 
 Bituminous sort of Vapours are exhaled as other 
 Vapours are, and mounting as high as the middle 
 Region of the Air, they are encompassed on all sides 
 by the extreme coldness of that Air which encloses 
 them, and in order to their Conservation, reunite and 
 take fire by Antiperistasis, where, striving to get out 
 by their motion in the Air, they make that Rumbling 
 Noise we call Thunder. But because every Person 
 don't understand what we mean by an Antiperistasis, 
 we shall tell 'em. That Nature does not only pro- 
 duce Beings, but fortifies them against the Assault of 
 their Contraries, both in Vegetative and Animal 
 Beings, which stand upon the Defensive, when they 
 are set upon by external Agents, whose contrary 
 Qualities coming to engage against them, they re- 
 double their Forces, and rally all together as it 
 were into a Body, the better to receive their 
 charge. And this is that which Philosophers call 
 Antiperistasis, and everybody may see its Effects, 
 when Water and Fire are put together, or lime and 
 Water, or other unfriendly Opposites. Thus, as we 
 said before, these sort of Exhalations being of a hot
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 83 
 
 and dry Nature, when they are enclosed by an 
 extraordinary Cold, strive to defend themselves ; but 
 being too weak, are cast down with such a Violence. 
 But since the Nature of their Force and Violence is 
 required in the Question, we shall give a very late 
 true Instance of an Accident in Northamptonshire. 
 Sixteen Persons in a Storm retired under a great 
 Ash-tree, where having sat down, one of 'em took a 
 little Dog upon his Lap, and held by both the Ears, 
 another took a Snuff-Box out of his Pocket, and laid 
 some snuff upon his Hand in order to take it, when 
 immediately a Terrible Clap of Thunder, with a 
 Thunder-bolt, fell into the midst of the Ash-tree 
 under which they sat, clove it into four Pieces, killed 
 Four of 'em dead, and wounded Ten more, that 'tis 
 feared they'll not recover, and Two only escaped (and 
 what is wonderful) in the middle of the rest ; the 
 Person that was taking Snuff held his hand to his 
 Nose without letting it fall after he was dead, sitting 
 just in the same posture as when alive ; the other 
 Person with a little Dog, held the Dog in the same 
 posture as if he had been alive, the Dog also was 
 dead. I have read of a parallel Instance in a Church, 
 where about Thirty-six (as I take it) were killed with 
 such another Clap of Thunder, and every Person 
 that was dead sat is if he had been alive. That they 
 were killed is no wonder, but that they were killed to 
 be so soon stiff, as not to fall an Arm, or bow their 
 Heads, is very amazing ; but to avoid being asked 
 the Reason in another Oracle, we'll give our Thoughts 
 upon it here. That the Spirits of Sulphur are
 
 8 4 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 incredibly strong, we need no other Instances than 
 the Effects of Gunpowder, and that they are a chief 
 Ingredient in the matter of Thunder, is evident by 
 the intolerable smell of Sulphur where the Thunder- 
 bolt falls, and that the Swiftness of a thing moving, 
 differs from the Nature of leisurely Motions ; we 
 shall also give you one Instance, which we know to 
 be Matter of Fact. Take an Apple, set it upon a 
 Post, discharge a Piece with small Shot at it, and 
 though it be shot through with five or six Pellets (as 
 has been tried), yet the Apple is not moved itself. 
 Now these dead Persons having nothing to be seen 
 upon 'em, and yet killed, it must be by the subtile 
 Fire, coming along with the Bolt, whose Motion 
 being so violent and swift, it had not time to move 
 the Bodies ; and being so very fine it penetrated 'em 
 without tearing or mangling 'em into Pieces ; which 
 Fire also must be the occasion of the immediate 
 stiffening of their dead Bodies, for Nature was so 
 violently shocked by that unnatural Force, that its 
 frame and manner of acting was altogether inverted, 
 and the Natural Heat so changed, and overcome by 
 that unnatural Fire, that the usual office of cooling 
 by degrees into a stiffness was extirpated and sup- 
 planted by a new method of acting, produced by the 
 spirituous sulphureous Fire, that took possession of 
 the Bodies. . . . 
 
 Eclipses, as they are two, so they have two different 
 causes : We'll begin with that of the Sun ; which 
 is thus effected : the Sun is in a higher Orb or 
 Sphere, more distant from the Earth than the Moon,
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR V SCIENCE. 85 
 
 which is also of a more Opake and Dark Body than 
 the Sun ; therefore, whenever the Moon intercepts or 
 comes betwixt us and the Sun in a right Line, so 
 much of the Sun's Body as is intercepted by the 
 Moon, is Eclipsed. — As to the Eclipse of the Moon, 
 'tis thus. The Moon receives its Light by Reflection, 
 or borrowing from the Sun ; now whenever the Globe 
 of the Earth happens to intercept betwixt the Moon 
 and Sun all in a right Line, so much of the Moon as 
 the Earth hides from the Sun, so much (I say) of the 
 Moon is Eclipsed. Thus much for a plain, short 
 Description of Eclipses. 
 
 Q. Why Chickens hatched in Ovens want Rumps? 
 
 A. The Question ought not to be in general 
 Terms, for all Chickens hatched in Ovens don't want 
 Rumps : This manner of Hatching is a very great 
 Trade in Egypt, particularly in Grand Cairo, and the 
 Levant; and 'tis very common that they want some- 
 times a Rump, Wing, or Leg. The Reason for all can 
 be nothing else but the unevenness of that Heat by 
 which they are hatched ; a Hen affords an equal Tem- 
 perament of Heat, because natural ; but 'tis almost 
 impossible an artificial Heat should have the same 
 effect, being not always equally supplied, or at least 
 not so placed, but that some part should by reason 
 of too much Heat impregnate sooner than another 
 or should sooner cool than another, and consequently 
 not so soon perfect some Parts as it does others. 
 
 O. If the Ostrich digests Iron? 
 
 A. We usually find this Bird pictured with a 
 Horseshoe in her Mouth ; which practice, no doubt,
 
 86 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 has taken life from the Writings of Johannes 
 Longinus, Rhodiginus, Pliny, sElian, and other 
 writers. But Leo Africanus, who lived where these 
 Ostriches abound, says, Surdum ac Simplex Animal, 
 etc. That 'tis a silly sort of a Bird, that devours 
 anything that it finds ; which agrees with those 
 Experiments I have seen made on the Ostrich in St 
 James s Park, which would eat a Stick, a Glove, a 
 Handkerchief, Stones, Nails, or almost anything else; 
 but every little Naturalist will condemn that Opinion 
 of an Ostrich's choosing Iron, etc., as its proper Food, 
 as some believe ; being not at all subject to Chilifica- 
 tion and Digestion by the power of Natural Heat, 
 Iron may be corroded, and the scorious Parts 
 separated by an acid and Vitriolous Humour proper 
 to all Stomachs, much after the nature of Aqua 
 fords. So we read of Persons who have swallowed 
 Rings, Counters, Money, etc., with some diminution 
 when it has been excerned ; and with this agrees 
 the Experiment of Ulysses Aldrovandus, whose 
 Words are these, Ego fern frustri devorare, etc. I 
 observed an Ostrich to swallow pieces of Iron 
 whilst I was at Trent, but yet they were excerned 
 again undigested. 
 
 Q. Pray, Gentlemen, what's the Reason, that stand- 
 ing on the Wharf at Greenwich, at High- water, one 
 may discover the sheep feeding in the Isle of Dogs, 
 which at Low-water we can't discern, though feeding 
 in the same place? 
 
 A. A pretty Observation, and we believe it may be 
 true ; though in the first place 'twou'd do well to be
 
 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE. 87 
 
 certain whether the Sheep are really feeding in the 
 same Place when they are thus visible or invisible, for 
 it seems probable that at Loiv-water they may be 
 grazing in the lower Tart of the Island, just on the 
 Rivage, whereas at High-water they may be forced 
 up nearer the middle, and higher Ground, and con- 
 sequently be seen There ; whereas when lower they 
 were invisible. But supposing the Fact, exactly as 
 represented, we must now see for the Reason : There 
 are two undoubted Appearances in Optics not alto- 
 gether unlike this, one of the Rising and Setting 
 Sun, which some Mornings and Evenings is seen 
 above the Horizon for some time after, and before the 
 Body is certainly above or below it, and can be 
 demonstrated so to be by the Rules of Astronomy. 
 The other, which illustrates this, is that of a Shilling 
 or any piece of Money in a Basin, which if you with- 
 draw yourself from it to such a distance as the edge 
 of the Basin just hinders your sight of the Piece, then 
 order Water to be poured into the Basin, the Piece 
 will seem to arise, and float on the top of the Water, 
 and you'll plainly see it, though before in the same 
 place 'twas quite invisible. Something not unlike this 
 seems to happen in the present Case ; for either the 
 Sheep being a little below the Water, are seen higher 
 than they are, by Refraction, as the piece of Money in 
 the Basin, or rather the vapours which arise out of the 
 Water, being thicker just at the top of it than when 
 further exhaled and almost Horizontal to the Eye, 
 renders the Medium thicker, and so makes the Refrac- 
 tion, by which the Sheep are seen. 'Tis there or
 
 88 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 thereabouts we are pretty sure, and if we han't hit the 
 very White, we ben't far from the Matter. 
 
 Q. Whether there be any such thing as a Cha- 
 melion, and whether the Properties reported thereof 
 are true, that it changes into Colours, and lives upon 
 Air? 
 
 A. That there is such a Thing, we learn both in 
 ancient and modern Histories of Animals. The 
 famous Bocliart has a very learned Dissertation 
 concerning its Nature and Properties, and a late 
 Traveller gives us their Figure, and many pretty 
 Experiments concerning them, they being of the 
 Lizard kind, and generally found about the Walls 
 and among the Ruins of old Houses. The same 
 Author confirms the changeableness of their Colours. 
 Put as for their living upon the Air, though 'tis a 
 pretty Fancy, and does well enough in Poetry, yet in 
 reality it does so much as the Man's Plorse did, who, 
 just as he had brought him to't, died. In short, they 
 have been dissected, and Flies found in their Bodies 
 as well as proper Organs for Digestion, etc., which is 
 an evident Argument they live not upon nothing, 
 since neither can we suppose those Flies, which are 
 found there, would creep into their Bellies of their 
 own accord, nor are we to believe that Nature made 
 anything, any of those Organs before mentioned, in 
 vain. 
 
 Q. What, is the Reason that Millers are usually 
 more Deaf than other Persons ? 
 
 A. We read (Zuin Tlieat.) that those People that 
 live near the fall of the River Nik are Deaf in a little
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. S 9 
 
 time, and cannot hear one another, unless they speak 
 loud, and with an extreme Vehemency ; which pro- 
 ceeds from a continued and too mncJi Extension of the 
 Membrane called the Drum. 
 
 We have an Instance in the Philosophical Trans- 
 actions of a Person that could hear when he rid in a 
 Coach ; but when he was in a Room, or silent place 
 where there was no Vehement Agitation of Air to 
 extend the Sunk Membrane, he heard not without 
 great Difficulty; and thus it is with a Miller, whose 
 employ is amongst a continued Noise of Waters, etc., 
 for the Drum of the Ear being continually stretched 
 by the Agitation of the Air, when he comes out of 
 the Noise, grows remiss, therefore not so capable of 
 hearing as before, just as an Alteration is effected in 
 the sound of another Drum, according to the strait- 
 ness or looseness of its bearing. 
 
 Q. What is the reason that some sort of rotten 
 Wood will shine in the dark, and what sort that is ? 
 I have often seen it, but could never understand the 
 reason, therefore I desire to be satisfied. 
 
 A. All Light that is borrowed, as the Moon, Stars, 
 and such as is nourished by Matter, as Fire, Candles, 
 etc., are reflective, and afford some Emanations and 
 Rays ; but this (as also a glow-worm) yields no light 
 at all, or any Brightness, so as to discern any other 
 Object by them ; therefore their Light or Brightness 
 is not from without, or borrowed. If so, it must be 
 a natural Brightness, which is accidental, as Colours 
 are to Flowers, diversified only in this, these are not 
 discernible but by a real Light, and those arc not
 
 9 o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 discernible but in the privation of Light. This 
 rotten Wood is only the brightest and whitest sort of 
 old Ash, very common, and easy to be got. 
 
 Q. Can we hear under Water? 
 
 A. Yes, very well, as those that are accustomed to 
 dive do relate and affirm. And Fishes themselves 
 will slip away if a great noise is made on or near the 
 Water. Pliny relates, that there were Fishes (in the 
 Ponds of the Emperor of Rome) that would come 
 forth out of the Water, being called by an accustomed 
 Name. 
 
 Q. How comes it to pass, that the Fish called the 
 Cramp Fish, doth benum the Arm of the Fisher 
 without touching it, that he cannot help himself, and 
 seems to him insensible ? 
 
 A. Tis because this Fish sends forth some Humour, 
 or Vapour which has a natural Virtue to benum. 
 Pliny saith in few words, that by the Odour, and 
 certain Wind, or Vapour of his Body, it doth after 
 this manner affect the Members of Men. 
 
 Q. Why is Blood alone of all Humours red? 
 
 A. Because it has its colour from the Liver, that 
 makes it so. 
 
 Q. Being formerly a great Taker of Tobacco, but 
 often persuaded by some Friends that 'twas of no real 
 advantage to any Man, but chiefly maintained by 
 Custom, and some Ladies being averse to it, whom I 
 have a particular respect for, I am willing to leave it, 
 though I know it won't be without some difficulty; 
 and have promised them so to do if you believe it 
 prejudicial, and will honour me with your Opinion :
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE, g i 
 
 to which I desire may be added the Manner 
 of its Growth, and its respective Virtues, if it has 
 any. 
 
 A. This Weed often grows a yard and a half 
 high, with a straight thick Stalk, which emits several 
 Branches with many long and broad Leaves on them, 
 that are rough, of a pale green, unpleasant smell, and 
 bitter taste. Some tell us it has many good effects 
 when applied to the Body : as the Leaf warmed and 
 laid to the Head has often cured the Headache, 
 when it has proceeded from Colds or Wind ; and is 
 used for the Cramp, and such-like pains coming from 
 the same cold Humours ; and especially it cures 
 hollow Teeth, if filled with the Leaf bruised. Its 
 Decoction in fair Water is likewise good for Colds in 
 the Breast, and old Coughs, by removing the Phlegm 
 which causes them. Its Smoke taken through the 
 Nose, and swallowed down, has cured such as have had 
 Ulcers in their Lungs ; by the same reason that Galen 
 tells us, he knew a Baker's Wife cured of that Dis- 
 temper by frequent breathing the hot and dry Air, 
 which she received as she put her Bread into the Oven 
 and took it out again. The Leaves roasted are good 
 for the Wind-cholic. The Indians give it their 
 Children for the Worms. The Smoke blown into the 
 Nostrils, recovers Swooning-Fits ; Scurf, Itch, Chil- 
 blains, and Kibed Heels are cured by being rubbed 
 with it ; as also venomous Wounds, which the 
 Spaniards experienced when they assaulted the 
 Indians, who wounded them with Poisoned Arrows ; 
 having at last found out that the Juice of Tobacco
 
 92 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 wrought the same Cure, as their prepared Sublimate 
 had done before it was spent. The Indian Priests 
 observing all these Virtues, transferred them to the 
 Mysteries of their Religion ; for when they are con- 
 sulted about the Events of War, they suck the Smoke 
 of this Herb through long Canes till they fall asleep; 
 and being afterwards awakened, relate Wonders to 
 their Auditors, telling them they have had Divine 
 Dreams. They also use it to recover Weariness, and 
 support Hunger ; so that by their Preparations, they 
 can take away the Inconveniencies of Hunger and 
 Thirst for two or three days together. But the taking 
 it as 'tis commonly used, is very prejudicial to most 
 young Men, and chiefly to the choleric, it being hot 
 and dry in a high degree : 'Tis also certain that the 
 Smoke of it is bad for the Brain, which it clouds and 
 dulls by stirring up the animal Spirits. 
 
 Q. A gentleman was not long since taken with 
 a Palsy in his Tongue : a skilful Physician being sent 
 for to him, found he could not speak a word, or give 
 an answer to anything that was asked him. On 
 which, the Doctor gave him a book to read, wherein 
 he read as well as ever in his Life ; but when the 
 Book was gone again, was as mute as before ; which 
 Experiment was often repeated with the same effect. 
 Pray what should be the reason of this ? 
 
 A. Some Obstruction of the ordinary Passages be- 
 tween the Brain and Tongue, which hindered the inter- 
 course of the Spirits, might be the cause of his Silence; 
 whereas they might find some other way when the 
 Species were newly taken in by the Eye ; that part of
 
 SEVENTEENTH CENTURY SCIENCE. 93 
 
 the Brain, it's likely, being not in so great disorder as 
 the other. 
 
 Q. Why do we break with more ease a Staff on 
 our knees, taking and bowing it by the ends thereof, 
 rather than by taking and bowing any other part of 
 the Staff nearer the knees : likewise, if a Staff be on 
 the ground, and putting the foot thereon, we may 
 break it more easily, taking and bowing it by the end 
 the farthest from the Foot, rather than by taking it 
 by any other part nearer the Foot ? 
 
 A. To resolve this Question, 'tis a concluded 
 Maxim in the Mathematics (which shall be spoken of 
 more at large in divers Examples on the Question 
 concerning Weight) that the Parts of a Body the 
 most remote from their Centre (that is to say, from 
 their Rest) are more feeble and flexible ; and those 
 Parts which are nearer, are much stronger, to resist 
 our Endeavours in breaking them. So, then, in the 
 two Questions proposed, the Centre is either the 
 Knee or the Foot, insomuch that the Parts of the 
 Staff the most remote from the Centre, are the most 
 feeble and flexible. And the parts of the Staff more 
 near are the more strong, and which do resist more to 
 the endeavour of him that would bow or break it. 
 By reason of which we cannot so easily break a small 
 Staff, or Rule, being very short, as a longer Staff or 
 Rule that is more thick, or big. For being short, all 
 parts are near the Centre (that is to say, the Hands 
 that hold it), and being long, the farther remote will 
 the parts be from their Centre. From hence we may 
 also learn why those parts that we hold in our Hands
 
 94 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 break not, but those do that are between our Hands, 
 which are not held. 
 
 Q. Whether it be better to heat one by Fire or 
 Exercise? 
 
 A. I think it is better to warm us by Exercise; for 
 the Heat of Fire destroys the Natural Heat, corrupteth 
 the Humours, or drieth the Parts. Therefore those 
 who seek no other Heat than that of the Fire, are 
 almost always chilly, and impatient of the least injury 
 of the Air. 
 
 Q. How does Exercise warm us ? 
 
 A. Exercise stirreth up the Internal Heat, and it 
 goeth out at the Pores, which are opened by Exercise, 
 and so it communicates itself to all the parts of the 
 Body. 
 
 Q. Does not Fire the same by opening the Pores of 
 our Body ? 
 
 A. Fire openeth the Pores, and maketh the Natural 
 Heat go out ; but at the same time it dissipates it, 
 which happens not in point of Exercise, that on the 
 contrary carries the Spirits, the Blood, and Heat 
 everywhere. 
 
 Q. Many Persons are not accustomed to Exercise; 
 would it not be troublesome to them to use it in order 
 to warm themselves ? 
 
 A. Bodies that are not accustomed to Exercise 
 receive at first prejudice by it, but they may inure 
 themselves to it by degrees, and rid themselves of this 
 Evil Custom, to change it for a good one, which even 
 cureth many Diseases that proceed from Intemperance 
 and Repletion.
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 95 
 
 Q. Why can we not endure Thirst so long, or so 
 well as Hunger? 
 
 A. Because Hunger is but a simple Appetite of 
 Meat, but Thirst is a double Appetite — viz., of Meat 
 and Refreshment ; so that two Defects are more 
 uneasily to be supported than one. And therefore 
 also we receive much more pleasure in drinking 
 when we thirst, than in eating when we hunger ; and 
 as the Pleasure is greater in the enjoyment, so is the 
 Displeasure and Incommodity in the want thereof. 
 Moreover, Drink suddenly runs and penetrates the 
 Body and all the Parts thereof (as Macrobius saith), 
 but Meat doth insinuate but little and little, and after 
 many Concoctions it changes. 
 
 Q. Whether Snakes kept tame are hurtful by 
 Nature ? 
 
 A. Our English Snakes are only perfect, harmless 
 Worms, with no more Malignity in 'em than Erasmus 
 his Lizards, as now almost every Ploughman and Old 
 Woman knows. That which appears so dreadfully 
 out of its Mouth, and which it brandishes so like a 
 Sting, is only a poor innocent Tongue, more soft, if 
 possible, than any silken Thread. It has Teeth, but 
 never bites anything though never so highly provoked, 
 unless it be its Bran, in which it is usually kept, or 
 the Top of a little grass in the Fields, when let loose 
 to divert itself there. This we have experienced in 
 some of the very largest of their Kind, which has 
 been more than a yard long, and proportionably 
 bulky ; which, when angered, would hiss, and 
 leap at anything, but never do any Injury. We
 
 9 6 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 han't yet had opportunity to examine their Teeth 
 whether there is any Saliva about 'em, as in real 
 Vipers — which we warn the Reader not to take 
 up, by a mistake, in the Fields, instead of the other; 
 their Poison being very deadly, without speedy 
 Remedies, though 'tis thought not so strong as those 
 in warmer Climates. Yet we have seen those People 
 who make a Trade of catching them bite off one of 
 their Heads while they have been living, being bitten 
 by 'em at the same instant in the Lip, or Tongue, till 
 the Blood has issued at the Orifice, which that very 
 Moment anointing with Oil of Vipers they have felt 
 no further harm. 
 
 Q. What's the Reason of applying the empty 
 Shells of some Shell Fishes to your Ear, you may 
 therein perceive a Noise like the Roaring of the Sea? 
 
 A. Those Shells have a Gyral Conformation, not 
 altogether unlike that of the Ear itself. Now the Air 
 being imprisoned in the Turnings and Windings 
 within, has that particular rushing sound, either in 
 forcing itself out, or passing from one Part thereof 
 to another, being forced in by the Motion of the 
 Exterior Air, and wandering about in those Meatus s, 
 or odd Labyrinths wherein 'tis received. 
 
 Q. Has Tobacco no other Name ; whence comes 
 it? 
 
 A. Tobacco is called so by the Spaniards from an 
 Island of the West Indies, where it grew in great 
 plenty. The Indians call it Petun. They call it 
 Holy Herb by reason of its great virtue ; one John 
 Nicot, Ambassador of Francis II., having first brought
 
 SE VENTEENTH CENTUR Y SCIENCE. 97 
 
 some of the seed from Portugal into France to Queen 
 KatJierine of Medici, called it in French Nicotiane, or 
 an Herb for the Queen. In Italy they call it the 
 Herb of Holy Cross, because a Cardinal of this Name 
 carried it first to Rome. It is otherwise called Jus- 
 quiame de Pern. 
 
 Q. What are the Virtues of an Herb that is so 
 common ? 
 
 A. Some value Tobacco, others despise it. Those 
 that have it in esteem say that its Leaves applied hot 
 to the Head cures the Megrim, and old Pains of the 
 Head proceeding from Cold or Wind. If the Pain 
 be obstinate, it must first be rubbed with the Oil of 
 the Flowers of Orange. It is good against the Tooth- 
 ache caused by Fluxion. Its Decoction in common 
 Water cures the Diseases of the Breast, the Asthma, 
 and old Cough. Its Leaves put under Ashes, and 
 applied hot with their Ashes to the Navel, are good 
 for a Wind-cholic, and Crudities of the Stomach ; it 
 likewise kills Worms, if you put a little of its Juice 
 in a Glister. Blowing a little of the Smoke into 
 the Nostrils of a Woman that is in a Swoon, it 
 recovers her. Kibed Heels are cured by being 
 rubbed with it. Wounds, venomous Bitings ; it like- 
 wise preventeth Gangrene. These are some of its 
 Virtues. 
 
 Q. Why is Tobacco abhorred by some ? 
 
 A. Because by its sharp and biting Vapours it dis- 
 turbeth the Head, inebriates, by drying the Brain ; it 
 stupefies, causes Vertigo's, Lethargies, Drowsiness ; 
 it hebetates the Animal Spirits. 
 
 7
 
 98 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Q. These two Sentiments are very different ; tell 
 me yours ? 
 
 A. My Opinion is, that Tobacco Leaf is very use- 
 ful, especially when it is taken as a Masticatory at 
 the Mouth or Nose. But I think that its Smoke is 
 an Enemy to the Brain and the Spirits.
 
 PART ITT. 
 
 Popular Superstitious and Folk-Lore.
 
 PART III. 
 
 POPULAR SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK- 
 LORE. 
 
 Q. Whether there be such a bird as a Phcenix, and 
 why but one in the world, and where that is ? 
 
 A. The ancients say this bird lives many ages — 
 according to ^Elian 500 years — after which it repairs 
 to Heliopolis in vEgypt and builds its nest (or rather 
 funeral pile) of aromatic wood, which by reason of its 
 high situation, is fired by the sunbeams with the 
 Phcenix in it, and out of her ashes another imme- 
 diately arises. This young one no sooner attains its 
 just bigness (which is equal to that of an eagle, having 
 its head crested with divers colours, the neck gold 
 colour, the rest of the feathers purple, saving that the 
 tail is mixed with scarlet and sky colour), but it 
 prepares itself to pay its last duties to the relics of its 
 deceased parent, which it lays upon its back, and 
 carries them into Arabia, placing them upon an altar 
 dedicated to the Sun (for 'tis a bird of the sun), after 
 which it flies up towards heaven, feeding upon dew 
 and the fumes of incense and Amomum ; and instead
 
 102 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 of drink makes use of the vapours which arise from 
 the sea ; abhorring all kinds of grain and other food 
 common to other birds. 'Tis said the first was seen 
 under Sesostris and Amasis, kings of JEgypt, next 
 under Ptolemy, who reigned the third of the Mace- 
 donians : Orus Apollo in his Hieroglyphicks mentions 
 it, as do Manilius, Pliny, Ovid, Athenaeus, Albertus 
 Magnus, Tacitus, Belonius, the last of whom con- 
 founds it with the bird called Manucodratus. But 
 the impossibility of the existence of such a bird is 
 evident ; for according to Lucretius, no single animal 
 can generate, nor is anything more abhorred by 
 Nature than a voluntary death, nor can anything be 
 more contrary to the generation of animals than 
 ashes, which are dry ; dryness being altogether 
 opposite to life and to the corruption which is ante- 
 cedent to every generation. So that it must neces- 
 sarily be a fiction, and only a speech by way of 
 comparison, or by which the ancients would signify 
 something rare and singular in its species ; according 
 to another much of the same nature Rara avis in 
 terris nigroque simillima Cigno. All authors have 
 spoke of it, have borrowed from Pliny, who affirms 
 almost anything as Herodotus saw almost everything, 
 however strange and unheard of. 
 
 Q. Whether is there any such thing as the 
 Salamander, and will it, as vulgarly reported, live in 
 the fire ? 
 
 A. Observe most of these vulgar reports and 
 traditions, and you'll find some grounds or other 
 which gave occasion for them, though they generally
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 103 
 
 make more on't than there really is. So here — there 
 is something of truth in the Salamander's living in 
 the fire, though perhaps not by half so much as is 
 generally reported. Take the most authentic account 
 we can give you thereof from the Transactions of the 
 Royal Society, vol. i., p. 377, where they tell us that 
 one Signor Corvino, an Italian, brought one of those 
 creatures from the Indies, and made an experiment 
 publicly upon it at Rome, casting it upon the burning 
 coals, at which it immediately swelled and vomited 
 a black substance on the nearest coals, which put them 
 out ; when new ones were put in their rooms, he 
 repeated the same experiment, and saved himself 
 thereby from the force of the fire by the space of two 
 hours. But when new coals were applied the third 
 time, the poor creature's stock was spent, his engine 
 would play no longer, and he even fairly gave up the 
 ghost and was burnt to death. 
 
 Q. Is there any such creature as the Basilisk, and 
 whether it is true that it kills with its look where it 
 sees first, and dies if a man first sees it ? 
 
 A. There's no great heed to be given to what old 
 authors tell us on this particular, though here, as 'tis 
 before said, we verily believe that truth and falsehood 
 are mingled together. There are serpents, as natural- 
 ists inform us, which generally go erect, and have 
 something like a crown upon their heads. There are 
 also to this day some serpents of so subtle a poison 
 that they kill with their very breaths, as we receive 
 it from good hands in the modern descriptions of 
 ./Ethiopia and other parts of Africk. Now supposing
 
 io 4 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 any such serpents, as we see no reason to doubt the 
 authority of the relators, it's certain that if they first 
 discover a man when near enough to breathe on him, 
 he's dead : if the man first sees the serpent, undoubtedly 
 he'll do the best to kill him if he can't escape him ; 
 and this is the furthest probability we can reach to in 
 this matter. 
 
 Relation. About a fortnight or three weeks, or 
 some other time, before the death of any person in 
 the family, there is an appearance vulgarly called a 
 Fetch-light or a Dead-mans Candle, so denominated, 
 I presume, from the form or figure of a caudle in 
 which it presents itself. It is observed to come first 
 from the bed whereon the person whose death is 
 thereby signified is to die, and thence to move into 
 all other chambers of the house, where the body shall 
 be carried, either to be coffined, to lie in state, or etc., 
 and to rest for some small space at each of those 
 places where the dead body is to be laid, thence to 
 move the very same way, and about the same distance 
 from the ground as the body is to be carried, until it 
 comes to the Church. It observes with such exact- 
 ness the motion of the body that some persons who 
 have seen these lights, and afterwards the body 
 carried to the grave, affirm that now and then they 
 took notice that the light halted for a short time in the 
 very same place or places where the body was after- 
 wards stopt, either to change bearers, or upon some 
 other occasion. To satisfy you further with what 
 prccisencss this light imitates and, as it were, apes 
 the motion of the body, I shall give you this instance
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 105 
 
 from the mouth of a gentleman of unquestionable 
 credit now in this town. He was some years ago in 
 bed at a relation's house in Carmarthenshire, and 
 being fully awake about one or two of the clock in the 
 morning, he observed a light to come into the room 
 at the door which was on the left hand as he lay ; it 
 came not immediately on the bed on that side which 
 was next the door, but moved round the bed and 
 came up on the other side which was farthest from 
 the door ; whereas it might have come at that side 
 which was next the door. After this it fixed upon 
 that part of the quilt which lay on his breast, and 
 after a short stay went out of the room. About a 
 fortnight after a gentleman died in an upper room of 
 the house, and the gentlewoman of the house (know- 
 ing nothing of this light) ordered the body to be 
 brought down into this chamber, and the person who 
 had seen this light happened to be then also there, 
 and observed the servants to carry the body about 
 the bed, and to put it in on the farther side, according 
 to the motion of the candle. That these lights do 
 appear is a most certain truth, and can be attested by 
 several gentlemen now in town, whose reputation no 
 man will dispute, and by almost an infinite number 
 in the country where they appear. Dr. Nicholson, 
 after Bishop of Gloucester, and Bishop Taylor, who 
 both lived in Carmarthenshire, could not believe 
 that there were such things, until afterwards 
 they were convinced by ocular demonstration, 
 as they themselves owned. There was a man 
 that used to keep late hours in coming home,
 
 106 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 who frequently saw them, and particularly one 
 night acquainted the family that he had seen five 
 or six move at some distance from one another over 
 such a Moor near the Church ; they seemed to ques- 
 tion the truth of his seeing so many at once ; but 
 about three weeks or a month after he called his 
 brother out of the house and showed him so many 
 bodies as he had seen candles at that time, carrying 
 to be interred, all at once in sight. These lights had 
 been seen to rest in highways where some men after- 
 wards died, and upon the face of water where some 
 one was afterwards drowned, as also upon trees where 
 men hanged themselves. I dare not take upon me to 
 affirm that these lights are seen nowhere else ; but I 
 assure you I could never hear that they ever appeared 
 in any place out of the Bishopric of St. David's, nor 
 in any part of that so frequently, if at all, as the 
 County of Carmarthen, where there is hardly any one 
 dies but some one or other sees his Light or Candle. 
 Now, Gentlemen, for my part I can find no reason 
 cither in Nature or Religion for this, and therefore I've 
 had it long in my thoughts to desire yours upon it, 
 and upon the whole state of the case ; then I put these 
 questions: — 
 
 i. What the nature of these lights is? 
 
 2. To what end they appear, since they are never 
 (as I could hear) seen by those whose death they por- 
 tend, but by others ? 
 
 3. How this phenomenon comes to be confined to 
 the Diocese of St. David's, and for the most part, if 
 not altogether, of the County of Carmarthen ?
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 107 
 
 A. We would desire the Querist that he would add 
 to this particular relation an account of the time of 
 these Fetch-Lights appearing; if 'tis in the night 
 only, we may suppose it to be natural, as Will i' 
 tlH Wisp, etc., which are common in all marshy 
 places in England; if in the day-time 'tis unnatural. 
 Till we hear again, we suspend our judgments, 
 promising our thoughts upon the next infor- 
 mation. 
 
 Q. A young gentlewoman, a companion of mine, 
 having entertained a gentleman that was very deserv- 
 ing, her mother thereupon, fearing she would give this 
 gentleman encouragement, sends her daughter to 
 London ; the gentleman falls sick and dies, her mother 
 is invited to the funeral, and entering the room where 
 the corpse lay and drawing near to view it, it imme- 
 diately fell a-bleeding till the mother went out of 
 the room, and then gave over again, which exceed- 
 ingly amazed the spectators. You may be assured 
 of the truth of this, therefore I pray your thoughts 
 upon it? 
 
 A. The blood is congealed in the body for two or 
 three days, and then becomes liquid again in its 
 tendency to corruption : so that the air being heated 
 by many persons coming about the body, it is the 
 same thing to it as motion is, for air that is enclosed 
 in any bodies keeps correspondence with the circum- 
 ambient air, as is plain from all sorts of bodies being 
 colder in the winter than the summer because the 
 air is so. 'Tis observed that dead bodies will bleed in 
 a concourse of people when murderers are absent as
 
 io8 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 well as present, yet legislators have thought fit to 
 authorise it and use this trial as an argument at least 
 to frighten, though 'tis no conclusive one to condemn 
 them. Yet, after all, we grant that many murders 
 have been found out by it, and that God has made use 
 of horses, dogs, crows, and many other inconsiderable 
 things, to serve His ends. But this digression is only 
 by the bye ; and we think it to have no relation to 
 the persons in the question, which we look upon to be 
 a pure natural accident and nothing more. 
 
 Q. My son, about fifteen years of age on Wednes- 
 day, the first of last June, about nine o'clock at night, 
 went to his bed, no sooner laid down but he heard as 
 it were a hand sweeping on the wall, that it came with 
 a rushing noise on his bed's-head, then it stroked him 
 over the face twice very gently, and as soon as the 
 hand was off, he felt a cold wind blow on his face, 
 which made it very cold, but his body was warm, he 
 opening his eyes saw an apparition of a woman clothed 
 in black apparel, which went over the bolster with a 
 rushing noise, he saw the curtain to gather up together 
 as it went out, and the curtains to have a shaking 
 for some time after; then being affrighted, he rose out 
 of the bed and came downstairs. Another son and 
 daughter of mine, a few years since, had seen the like 
 apparition of a woman in the same room with a 
 lighted candle, but when spoke to, it vanished. 
 Several sorts of unusual noises are often heard in the 
 house by myself, and most of the family : I favourably 
 desire to know of you (having a civilised family) 
 what should be the occasion of this disturbance, or
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 109 
 
 whether it be advisable to ask the question of the 
 Apparition ? 
 
 A. What manner of metaphysical matters our souls 
 are we cannot tell, yet we know they really exist and 
 act our bodies, although they are not subject to sense ; 
 yet this doth not hinder but that a spiritual sub- 
 stance may be separated from our body, and may 
 be again clothed with a body or vehicle that may 
 be airy, fiery, or cloudy, and be visible to our senses, 
 although the existence or essence of the spirit we 
 cannot see but its outward clothing. And that 
 such appearances have been in all ages the learned as 
 well as the unlearned affirm from real matters of fact. 
 Such are these following. At Puddle Dock was a 
 house so disturbed that several tenants could not 
 thrive therein. After the fire, Alderman L , pur- 
 chasing the ground, caused a cellar to be dug lower, 
 and there was the body of a man taken up, which had 
 a great nail driven into the skull. The Alderman 
 ordered the labourers to carry the body and bury it in 
 St. Gregory's Churchyard, London, and no disturbance 
 has been since. The other is at the Grange in Lanca- 
 shire, where very many years was an apparition in the 
 warden and in one chamber of the house. It was in 
 the shape of a greyhound ; the precursant noise was 
 like a man hissing to call a dog. This apparition did 
 no hurt, only pull the clothes, insomuch that they 
 made wooden press-beds for that room, which were 
 rocked and more disturbant by the noise than before. 
 When it passed by it was felt as a cold wind. At last 
 digging a high bank to carry off soil to other ground,
 
 no THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 after some loads dug away, there was found the skele- 
 ton of a man, which was seen by the Minister and 
 among the rest by Mr. Moss, a very intelligent gentle- 
 man who now lives in Islington. The skeleton was 
 covered again, and from that time the apparition and 
 disturbances has ceased. And no doubt the appari- 
 tion in the question, if true (because we were imposed 
 upon by the relation of the two brothers that vanished), 
 has some cause and significancy, though beyond our 
 sphere to assign it. However, we cannot be against 
 the speaking to it, or endeavouring to find out its 
 place, time and places of vanishing; and perhaps if it 
 were not a civilised family, it might be more dis- 
 turbant. 
 
 Q. A friend of mine in a garrison besieged, dreamed 
 that a bomb was shot into the town and fell upon 
 his house and set it on fire : immediately he awaked 
 out of his dream, got up, and called up all his family, 
 and left his house ; which as soon as he had done, a 
 bomb was accordingly shot, and burnt his house to 
 the ground. — Query, What reason can you assign for 
 this dream and the effect of it? 
 
 A. Our dreams are as different as are their causes. 
 The natural cause is the constitution of our bodies. As 
 the choleric dream of fire and slaughter, and so of the 
 rest : the imaginary cause is when something has 
 been done or thought on in the day-time, making a 
 deep impression upon the animal spirit, which the 
 imagination prescntcth again when asleep, as the 
 soldier's engagement causes him to dream of another 
 fight. This is also natural to brutes ; a hound will
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. i 1 1 
 
 dream of hunting, etc. But the extraordinary causes 
 of dreams (or rather visions) are angels, and these 
 cither good or bad ; good when we are warned to 
 avoid some imminent evil, bad when the suggestion 
 tends to a greater despair. Of the first was the 
 querist's friend ; of the last was Pope Innocent the 
 Fourth, who was summoned in a dream, Surge miser 
 ct veni ad Judicium, Arise, wretch, and come to judg- 
 ment. We have several instances of both natures 
 which we can rank in no other order than amongst 
 the extraordinary provinces of God Almighty. 
 
 Q. What are we to think of the Kings of England 
 who by their touch only cured the Evil ? 
 
 A. They themselves healed not, but God, — 
 according to the words used by the Bishop, viz., the 
 King touches, but God heals ; so that we ought not 
 to ascribe such cures to any natural causes ; though 
 in history we meet not only with private persons but 
 whole families that have a particular gift of healing 
 such and such distempers, and of others that could 
 inflict such and such distempers. Of the last it is 
 related of the Psylli, Tribales, and Illyrians, who 
 bewitched whom they touched ; and Philostratus 
 makes mention of one in the Life of Apollonius, who 
 killed by his very aspect as the basilisk does. Of the 
 former Vespasian, as Tacitus affirms in his fourth 
 book of his Histories, restored to a blind man his 
 sight. Adrian, as yElius Spartianus relates, healed a 
 man born blind only by touching him ; and Plutarch 
 mentions that Pyrrhus, King of the Epirotoe, healed 
 all that were troubled with the spleen in his time by
 
 i t 2 THE A THEN! A N OR A CLE. 
 
 touching their spleen with the great toe of his foot ; 
 of which toe there was a far greater opinion conceived 
 after his death, in that it was found entire and not 
 consumed by the fire as all the rest of his body was. 
 'Tis related that the family of St. Hubert in France 
 heal such as are bitten by mad dogs. In Italy the 
 family of St. Paul and St. Catherine do as strange 
 things, the first curing the stings of serpents, and the 
 last cure burning, and handle burning coals themselves 
 without any hurt at all. In Spain the families of the 
 Saludators and the Ensalmadores have the gift of 
 healing many (otherwise) incurable diseases only by 
 touch ; some of which instances being done by ill 
 persons, 'tis supposed were assisted by the devil, 
 God Almighty sometimes permitting strange things 
 to be done for secret reasons best known to himself. 
 
 Q. A maid at Windsor dreamed that her father was 
 killing her mother, upon which she starts out of her 
 bed fast asleep, wakes her sister with great noises, 
 that her father was butchering her mother ; she follows 
 her close (being strangely amazed) downstairs ; the 
 first (though still fast asleep) opens two or three doors, 
 runs through the rain as far as Windsor Bridge (which 
 was about a stone's-cast), knocks at an Aunt's house, 
 and cries out, That she must haste to her father's, who 
 was cutting her mother's throat. Her aunt at last 
 wakes her, yet the fright which the dream had upon 
 her spirits could not persuade her but it was true till 
 they all returned and found the contrary. Query, 
 Seeing she was in a profound sleep, and that sleep is a 
 resting of those spirits which could cause so violent a
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 113 
 
 motion, by what was she acted ? And how happened 
 that neither the stones under her naked feet, her own 
 repeated cries, and her knocking at the door, never 
 waked her ? 
 
 A. Sleep-walkers are by the Greeks called Hyptio- 
 boattz : this affection is ranked under the symptoms 
 of the animal faculty. 'Twas never denied but the 
 imagination acts sleeping as well as waking; motion is 
 not unnatural in sleeping, as appears by respiration. 
 All dream more or less, and 'tis no wonder at all why 
 some are more active in their sleep than others, it 
 being only an effect of a strong imagination and 
 greater degree of constitution, as very phlegmatic, 
 very melancholy, etc., though melancholy has the 
 greatest share in sleep-walking. And 'tis from this 
 reason that persons when they are asleep can hear, 
 smell, taste, etc., but can't see, although their eyes be 
 broad open ; for the hinder part of the head being full 
 of spirits (especially at the beginning of the spinal 
 marrow) are stopped up by the bilious, thick vapours 
 which ascend thither in sleeping and hinder all per- 
 ception by the eye. Galen himself records that he 
 went almost a league in his sleep, and waked not till 
 he stumbled at the foot of a tree. Some persons do 
 believe that sleep-walkers are actuated by some good 
 or bad spirit, which gets into the body as into a ship 
 whose pilot is asleep, and guides it at pleasure, carry- 
 ing it anywhere and returning it to the same place 
 again. And to strengthen this opinion, they tell us of 
 one Levinus Lemnius, who walked with his feet against 
 the rafters with his head downwards, and yet fast 
 
 8
 
 ii 4 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 asleep. I f any such action ever was (which we ques- 
 tion), we believe it not an effect of this distemper, but 
 possession, and we are very well satisfied that the 
 instance in the question and thousands more like it 
 proceed from the above-mentioned natural causes, to 
 wit : strength of imagination and irregular constitu- 
 tion ; and something may be in the temper of the air, 
 it being very remarkable that the Atlantic people 
 never dream, the air being so fine and thin that it 
 helps it to digest all crudities and vapours which 
 would ascend into the brain. 
 
 Q. Whether there's any such thing as a Hag, which 
 the common people fancy to be witch-riding, when 
 they are in their bed in the night-time, and as some 
 say when they are perfectly awake, and with such a 
 vehemency that they are not able to stir either hand 
 or foot, or move the least member of their bodies, nor 
 can utter one word distinctly, but make a kind of a 
 erumblimr noise ? If in the affirmative, what instances 
 meet you with in history ? — if in the negative, what is 
 it that is the cause of it? 
 
 A Tis effected both ways, by vapours from crude 
 and undigested concoctions, heat of blood, as after 
 hard drinking, and several other natural ways ; but 
 sometimes 'tis really effected by witches, which first 
 gave the name to the common oppression in sleep 
 called the night-mare. History is full of such 
 instances : I shall only mention one, which I had from 
 a person that was an eye and ear witness to all the 
 matter of fact. A boy that was worn out even to a 
 Consumption by the common load and oppression of
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK- LORE. 115 
 
 a witch in the night-time, sometimes he shifted beds 
 and was quiet for a night or two, but then was 
 afflicted again : he was always well in the day-time 
 and ate his meat well. An elder brother of his that 
 came from the University, hearing the relation of the 
 boy's distemper, supposed the reason of it, and ordered 
 the boy to lie with his father, he himself designing to 
 sleep in that bed ; and when the night came (according 
 to my friend's words) he charmed the room as is usual 
 to retain a thief (for such things have been done, 
 though we believe by no good means) ; and in the 
 nicht-time he heard the lid of the chest under the 
 
 o 
 
 window make a little noise, as if a cat or something 
 else had leaped out of the window upon it ; where- 
 upon he rose and struck a light, and there stood 
 an old woman, a neighbour whom he knew very 
 well, in the midst of the room. He bid her go ; she 
 answered she could not till he dismissed her ; where- 
 upon he took her by the hand and led her down the 
 stairs, and sent her home, and bid her come in the 
 morning. Next morning, as he was discoursing [with] 
 his father, she came and confessed she used to lie 
 upon the child because he was a peevish boy, and 
 hindered her of the relief the family used to give her, 
 but was not minded to kill the boy for his parents' 
 sake. And being questioned by the scholar how she 
 came to use such tricks, she answered that a man 
 came to her house, who relieved her, afterwards 
 fetched blood of her which she showed, and there was 
 a kind of impression of letters, which the scholar 
 pricked again and sent her home ; upon which she
 
 n6 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 was mightily terrified with the apparition of the man 
 threatening her, which she told the scholar ; upon this 
 the parents of the boy caused her to go to the Church 
 continually, and afforded her a relief during her life, 
 but were a long time before they could teach her the 
 Lord's Prayer, and hinder her from stopping her ears ; 
 but at length she overcame all her wicked suggestions. 
 
 Q. A woman at Rochester happening to fall sick 
 was extremely ill almost to death ; she had two 
 children at nurse about ten miles from the place, and 
 she had a great desire to see her children; but those 
 that were about her knew very well that she was far 
 incapable of such a journey. She fell into a very deep 
 sleep, and when she awoke she said that she had seen 
 her children. Those that did watch her told her that 
 she had not been out of her bed. She said that she had 
 seen them, and now was willing to die, which she did 
 immediately. As soon as she was dead, the nurse, which 
 was ten miles distant, came running in a great fright, 
 and said she had seen her mistress, and that she felt 
 her children and turned them (for that was the expres- 
 sion). I pray your sentiments how this could be that 
 the woman's soul should take wing and return again 
 to its old habitation ; or, whether it be consonant to 
 scripture? And whether the soul did aggrandise air 
 so as to make a personal appearance ? 
 
 A. I meet with parallel instances in history. Fulgos. 
 (and also Korman de Mirac. Mort.) relates that there 
 were two brothers, Knights of Rome, the elder of 
 them was named Corfidius, who being in the repute 
 of all men dead, the table of his last Will and Testa-
 
 5 UPERSTITIONS A ND FOLK-L ORE. 1 1 7 
 
 ment was recited, in which he had made his brother the 
 heir of all he had. But in the midst of his funeral 
 preparations he rose with great cheerfulness upon his 
 legs and said that he had been with his brother, who 
 had recommended the care of his daughter unto him, 
 and had also showed him where he had hid a great 
 quantity of gold under ground, wherewith he would 
 defray his funeral expenses. While he was speaking 
 in this manner, to the admiration of all that were 
 present, there came a messenger with the news of his 
 brother's death, and the gold was also found in the very 
 place where he had said. But what is yet a stranger 
 relation, and mentioned by the said last author, is this 
 — Everardus Ambula, a German Knight, fell sick in 
 Germany in the time of Pope Innocent the Third, and 
 when he had lain as one for some time dead, returning 
 to himself, he said that his soul was carried by evil 
 spirits into the city of Jerusalem, thence into the camp 
 of Saladin, who then reigned in Egypt, from whence 
 he was conveyed to Lombardy, where in a certain 
 wood he had spoken with a German friend of his. 
 Lastly he was brought to the city of Rome, the site, 
 the form of places, and buildings of which, together 
 with the features of divers princes there, he most 
 exactly described ; but, what is yet stranger, he with 
 whom he said he did converse in the wood affirmed 
 that he had there at the same time and hour discoursed 
 with this Everardus, according as he had declared. 
 Was Plato and Pythagoras alive, we know what use 
 they would make of these instances towards a trans- 
 migration of souls. Our thoughts upon the whole
 
 n8 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 are only these : that these souls went not to ramble of 
 themselves, but were conveyed by spirits that had 
 some particular commission to guard 'em, and make 
 organs of perception for 'em, for the soul cannot act 
 of itself, but confusedly. 'Tis said when Lazarus died, 
 he was carried by angels into Abraham's bosom, not 
 fled thither himself. These are particular instances, 
 perhaps mostly for the convincing of such persons 
 as believe nothing of spirits or witches. 
 
 Q. Gentlemen, I desire your opinion on the follow- 
 ing relation. My father had a dog which he kept a 
 great many years, in which time I had two brothers 
 and one sister that died, and it was observed that this 
 dog always the day before they died went about a 
 hundred yards from the house and laid his nose to- 
 wards the church where they were all buried and 
 howled in a strange, hideous manner for an hour or 
 more at a time ; and when my father died, he did the 
 same. Now it seems as if this dog had some pro- 
 phetic, or what to call it, knowledge in these matters. 
 Gentlemen, your opinion in the whole would much 
 oblige, yours, etc. 
 
 A. We plainly own we can't tell what to make of 
 hundreds of such instances as these, some of which we 
 ourselves are assured are true. All we can say is, 
 That there must be something in't not natural, since 
 what power in Nature has a dog, more than any 
 other creature, to foresee (or rather foresmell) such 
 accidents ? 
 
 Q. A gentleman still living, formerly a soldier in 
 the Low Countries, was then quartered at a town
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 119 
 
 called Swole, where was a sucking child in a very 
 strange condition, for when it sucked its mother's 
 breast, the milk that came from it turned into dirt in 
 its mouth, so that the neighbours concluded it be- 
 witched, and the gentleman hearing of it went to the 
 house, and advised the mother to search the pillow 
 which the child lay on ; accordingly she did, and 
 found the feathers strangely and curiously wrought 
 one within another, some of which she brought to the 
 gentleman, who found so much curiosity in 'em as he 
 think exceeded the art of man, and concluded was 
 done by the power of some demon, advising her to 
 burn pillows, feathers, and all together, which she did, 
 and the child immediately thrived and did very well. 
 Pray your thought of it. 
 
 A. We would first be glad to know how the gentle- 
 man came to think of the child's pillow, rather than 
 anything else about it ; but, if we did, we don't 
 pretend to unriddle the devil's meaning in that and 
 one hundred other foolish, ludicrous, idle tricks which 
 he plays in such cases, either to make men fruitlessly 
 curious or perhaps to divert his own pain, or boast 
 his power. Or, lastly, it may be the effect of some 
 task in the nature of a ceremony imposed upon the 
 witch, without which she could have no power to hurt 
 the child, which seems most probable, because it was 
 eased as soon as the pillow was burnt. 
 
 Q. A lady, after she had been in bed about a 
 quarter of an hour, not being in the least inclined to 
 sleep, felt something come up the side of the bed 
 and lie upon her feet ; she, fearing she might neglect
 
 120 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 to lock the door, supposed it might be a spaniel 
 puppy that was in the house, and moving her feet, it 
 went off at the feet of her bed ; but coming about to 
 the same side, it came on again, and placed itself on 
 the left side, she lying on the right, near a quarter of 
 an hour. She endeavoured as much as possible to 
 throw it off, but could neither stir nor speak 'till at 
 length she had power to move, and then it went off at 
 the feet of the bed again ; but came on the same way 
 the third time, and lay on there a considerable while, 
 she being in the same agony as before — sweating 
 and breathing with difficulty, but could not move or 
 speak ; at last it left her, but finding in the morning 
 the door fast locked, and the dog shut up in his 
 usual place, she was extremely surprised, and desires 
 your opinion what it might be that so disturbed her ? 
 
 A. Perhaps she dreamt, perhaps 'twas fancy, or 
 vapours, or perhaps Miss Puss a-purring and leaping 
 off again as often as she turned. For if 'twas a 
 devil 'twas a very foolish one to be content with such 
 a cold place when it might have crept up and lain 
 warm in her bosom. 
 
 Q. Divers persons in the County of Kent being 
 accused for practising witchcraft, were examined by a 
 Justice of Peace, from whom I had a copy of their 
 examinations and confessions. 
 
 T n S 11 of D ton, widow, being ex- 
 amined June 29, 1692, did confess that she had made 
 a covenant with the devil in writing, and signed it 
 with her blood, which dropped from her nose ; that 
 she had four imps whom she called by the names of
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 121 
 
 Vene, Harry, George, and William ; three of them 
 were black and about the bigness of mice, they sucked 
 her every third night ; but William was like a little 
 black man, he talked to her and had carnal copulation 
 with her twice; and by the help of these she did 
 mischief to beasts and men, of which she gave divers 
 instances. 
 
 She confessed the same to many and to the 
 minister of the parish, desiring him to pray for her, 
 and declaring that she was sorry for what she had 
 done. She went on confessing to the last ; but five 
 days before the assizes she was found dead by her 
 bedside in a strange posture. 
 
 Another did upon examination confess that she 
 had imps from an old man and his wife, when she was 
 about eighteen years of age, of which she told an exact 
 story ; that by these she had done hurt, particularly 
 about five weeks ago, she and another of her com- 
 panions went by night in the shape of two cats into 
 the chamber of one whom she named, through a hole 
 in the window, and, finding him in bed upon his back 
 with his mouth open, they poured black stuff which 
 they carried with them into his mouth, and within a 
 little time after he died. A gentlewoman then present 
 told me she spake thus to her, "Woman, you do con- 
 fess impossible things, as that you can turn yourselves 
 into cats, and go through the hole of a window — it 
 cannot be." To which she confidently replied, " We 
 can do it, and have done it." 
 
 A third woman did confess that she had been a 
 witch upwards of fifty years, that she had two little
 
 122 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 things like mice that sucked her, but she never hurt 
 anybody except only one child. 
 
 When the two latter came upon their trial they 
 denied all that they had spoken, and, there being no 
 other material evidence against them but their own 
 confessions, were acquitted. 
 
 It was likewise declared at the same time upon 
 oath that some suspected persons having voluntarily 
 offered themselves to be sworn to clear themselves of 
 the scandal of witchcraft, they were flung bound into 
 the water three times apiece, but could not sink, 
 though they lay a considerable time upon the water. 
 One of these (a young man) said if he were unbound 
 then he was sure he should sink : they loosed him 
 and flung him in again, but he swam higher than 
 before, even like a blown bladder, and rolled upon the 
 water as if he had been down a dry bank. 
 
 I am likewise credibly informed that to make an 
 experiment they hired a fellow then present for 5s. to 
 be flung in, bound after the same manner, who sunk 
 presently to the bottom, and before they could get 
 him ashore had taken a great deal of water in his 
 belly. 
 
 Gentlemen, These things are disbelieved and ridicu- 
 lous, not only by our young pretenders to wit, but by 
 persons of greater sense and sobriety. I desire your 
 judgment upon these three questions : 
 
 1. Is it likely that all these should be the effect of 
 dotage, melancholy, or a disturbed imagination ? 
 
 2. If they be realities, what philosophical account 
 can be given of them ? particularly the sucking of the
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLKLORE. 123 
 
 imps, their turning themselves into cats, and not being 
 able to sink. 
 
 3. Is it lawful to attempt the discovery of witches 
 by swimming, and how far is it an evidence against 
 them ? 
 
 A. To the first we answer that 'tis not for us to 
 give our judgment against that of the Court, who 
 were very likely to have a more particular account of 
 everything relating to the trials than we can now 
 possibly have, and if they saw no reason to condemn 
 the accused, we see none under less advantages, and 
 believe there might be melancholy, dotage, etc., in the- 
 case, though we are not by any means so incredulous 
 as to believe there is no such thing as a witch in 
 nature, who by the help of the devil can act many 
 things unaccountable by any divines or philosophers 
 in the world. 
 
 Secondly. To the second, we can't tell what to 
 think of those things that are called imps, though 'tis 
 certain there are also such, and many witches have 
 died confessing it. 'Tis probable they are nothing 
 else but devils, but how the devil or spirits can work 
 upon matter is yet another mystery unknown to any 
 one in the world. As for witches turning themselves 
 into cats, etc., we can give a better account of being 
 assured from undoubted authors and credible witnesses 
 that 'tis all imposture and cheat, and that such very 
 persons as pretend to do such things are in a sort of 
 swoon or exinanition all the while, as experiments 
 and examples testify ; and therefore the devil docs 
 by some means or other so work upon their fancies
 
 i2 4 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 and imaginations as to make 'em really believe they 
 do such and such things. And as for their gold, their 
 dainties, and other supposed enjoyments, 'tis all 
 fiction and imposition, for notwithstanding their 
 presents of gold, silver, etc., and their supposed 
 revelling and feasts, 'tis evident that they are always 
 poor and almost starved for necessaries. 
 
 Thirdly, such sort of examination by swimming, 
 etc., is utterly unlawful, and a breach of the fifth 
 commandment, and as subject to abuse and deceits 
 as any other trial in nature ; for, suppose the devil, by 
 the permission of God Almighty, has such or such 
 a person under his power, and does by his arts, 
 unknown to them in such a trial as swimming, buoy 
 them up, will it follow therefore that they are witches? 
 Nay, if any person may as well buoy up himself in 
 the water by natural arts, as by certain ointments 
 resist the heat of the fire, it's a very weak consequence 
 to conclude him guilty of witchcraft because a third 
 person, who knows nothing of the matter, cannot give 
 a reason for it. 
 
 Q. I desire your sentiments of the following relation, 
 being true in fact. Some years since I had the 
 curiosity, with several others, to go and see a bell 
 cast. The furnace was made in a great barn ; the fire 
 newly kindled filled the barn with smoke, which 
 made several of the bystanders sick ; amongst the 
 rest, as the metal began to run, I found myself 
 extreme sick ; going to the great doors of the barn 
 to suck in a little air, I dropped down. The people 
 cried out there was one swooned away, which I
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 125 
 
 very well heard, and was enquiring, as I thought, 
 with the rest who it was? At last the people said it 
 was I, and named my name. Nay, thought I, you 
 are very much mistaken ; for though I was very 
 lately sick, yet I never was so well as just now in all 
 my life ; for I was in more felicity than this world 
 could afford or I can express. But in a quarter of 
 an hour I found myself carried into the adjoining 
 field in the midst of a great throng, as sick as heart 
 could hold ; but care being taken, I was well next 
 morning. Your thoughts of my perfect hearing in 
 so deep a swoon, and of that inexpressible joy and 
 ease ; it will oblige your humble servant, etc. 
 
 A. We must beg your pardon if we think there's 
 more mirth than truth in this relation. If you are in 
 earnest and believe what you say to be true, we 
 suppose the whole was only a dream. If you would 
 convince us of the contrary, we expect the circum- 
 stances of the persons and place, and then we shall 
 endeavour to return you an answer ; for 'tis not our 
 business to study the reasons of things that are not. 
 
 Q. I have lately heard a Death-watch, and am verily 
 afraid it is a warning to me soon to quit my earthly 
 tenement : I am willing to go to Heaven ; but before 
 I think too seriously on't I am desirous to hear your 
 opinion, whether it gives but a short or a long 
 summons? 
 
 A. In this case the sooner the better ; you can 
 ne'er be too well prepared for that journey ; nay, 
 twenty to one whether you have any time to make 
 ready, if you don't always keep your account clear.
 
 i 2 6 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 But that we are unwilling to impede your course to 
 heaven, or we could tell you, This Death-watch is 
 but a little worm in the wall, and that it presages no 
 more than many of the like ridiculous stories. 
 
 Q. I have a certain knowledge of a thing that 
 happened not long ago. A gentleman having been 
 robbed, suspected a servant of his, who, being in- 
 nocent, suspected another ; and to be satisfied and 
 clear himself, he went to a sorceress. As he was 
 going he was met by a female as he believed, who 
 addressed him thus, " I know whither you are going. 
 Come along with me, and I will show you who has 
 robbed your master of his money." The servant 
 went with her, and she showed him the shape of the 
 thief, with which he was so surprised that he died of 
 the fright in three or four days. Query, What is 
 your opinion of this ? 
 
 A. This comes from the author of the 44 queries ; 
 I could wish he had been particular in his circum- 
 stances of time and place, and then the relation had 
 been very entertaining. But, however, because he 
 has made an amends in stating the rest of his 
 ingenious questions, we answer. Our opinion is that 
 'twas either the devil himself, who is never idle in 
 such cases, unless restrained by an over-ruling power, 
 or at least some witch or female factoress of the devil, 
 who received both intelligence and power for the 
 young man's unhappy information. As to his death 
 by a fright 'tis ordinary and thus effected : The object 
 (I mean the strange discovery of the thief) being 
 represented to his senses, and the senses conveying
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 127 
 
 too great and sudden a prodigy for the understand- 
 ing to comprehend, the heart sympathised and was 
 oppressed with the confusion. Now the heart being 
 the seat of life, nature for the preservation of its own 
 frame called in the blood to its assistance, the circula- 
 tion of which being either too violent or not coming 
 soon enough, the whole frame suffered too great a 
 shock for a reparation ; mortality always seizing where 
 irregularities and discomposures of natures prepare 
 the object. 
 
 Q. May I venture on the freedom to reprove or 
 chide a spirit or daemon, if they give the first occasion 
 of defence or disturb my quiet ? 
 
 A. First, be sure you don't slander the poor devil, 
 and 'tis not imprisoned puss, or some of your cater- 
 wauling servants that disturb your house, while the 
 fairies and Robin Good Fellow are innocent. If you 
 are satisfied in that point the least thing you can do 
 is to ask Mr. Devil what his business is ? what he 
 makes there ? And why he keeps such a clutter you 
 can't sleep for him ? — and if he can't give a handsome 
 account of himself we see no reason why you mayn't 
 reprove him for his sauciness, though have a care of 
 being rude with him, using any actionable words, for 
 he is a very testy angry fellow, and will be likely 
 enough to take the law of you ; and at common law 
 
 you are certainly cast, for you'll not get one Att 
 
 to undertake your business against him. To be 
 grave, you do not positively assert any fact, and 'till 
 you do that, 'tis hardly worth the while to answer 
 your question any otherwise.
 
 128 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Q. Not long since, walking in a grove adjacent to 
 my house, I found a minister walking alone, very 
 solemnly reading a little treatise, entitled, " A Display 
 of the Happiness of the Blessed." I only saw the 
 title on the top of the two pages wherein he was 
 reading, for he shut the book and put it into his 
 pocket. 
 
 After some little interrogatories (usually among 
 strangers accidentally meeting, when either had a 
 mind to discourse the other) we fell into several 
 miscellaneous discourses ; among the rest concern- 
 ing the state of human nature and of this globe we 
 inhabit. 
 
 I found he was a very good philosopher, and under- 
 stood our more abstruse astronomy very well ; he told 
 me he had a glass of a foot long, through which he 
 could more exactly discern the faces of Jupiter's satel- 
 lites, and of the Stellulce Circumsatiimiales (whereof 
 he affirmed there were thirteen) than we can that of 
 the moon in our longest telescopes. He told me some 
 very surprising observations he had made on that 
 partly lucid and partly opaque star we see revolve 
 continually in collo ceti. He asked me my name, and 
 told me, when he came that way next (which would 
 not be very long), he would communicate to me a per- 
 fect theory of the moon's motion, which he had con- 
 firmed by observations, having before found it out a 
 priori from a new and (from any of ours) very different 
 hypothesis of nature, whereof he hinted to me 
 several very surprising particulars, one of the results 
 whereof was, That our globe did very near approach
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 129 
 
 its final dissolution, and that by a chain of natural 
 causes. 
 
 He told me he heard I was about to act such a cer- 
 tain thing, which, if I did, it would prove very unsuc- 
 cessful : this surprised me more than anything he had 
 yet spoken, being conscious to myself I had never 
 communicated it to any person living. I immediately 
 heapd something like a great stone that seemed to 
 fall out of a tree hard by, whereat turning my head 
 to see, my parson, to my very great amazement, was 
 wholly vanished. 
 
 Sirs, This is a matter of fact and true, but its 
 seeming so incredible in itself has hindered me 
 some time from imparting it to any but one of 
 my intimate friends, who has at length prevailed 
 on me to send it to you : pray, your speedy thoughts 
 thereon. 
 
 A. Since we can have no more than your own attes- 
 tation for the truth of this odd story, we ought at least 
 to have had your name, that we might have better 
 guessed whether you are serious in what you relate. 
 If you are, and a person capable of making a sober 
 judgment of things (as nothing to the contrary 
 appears by your way of writing), it makes the business 
 still stranger. However, 'tis not impossible, at least 
 according to your relation, but that this strange philo- 
 sopher might step aside suddenly into the wood, 
 when you did not mind him, and so lost the sight of 
 him. But if he comes again according to his word, you 
 may try if you can lay hold of him and feel whether 
 he's a ghost or flesh and blood, and when you have 
 
 9
 
 i 3 o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 done thus, and we heard from you, you may expect to 
 hear from us again. 
 
 Q. Within these few days a swarm of bees lit upon 
 the Crown and Scepter in Cheapside ; nobody knows 
 from whence they came. Pray, what construction do 
 you make of it, and whether it may portend some- 
 thing to come? 
 
 A. I should be very loth to incur the title of super- 
 stitious, having already condemned it, or I could tell 
 you that bees were always esteemed by the ancients 
 to be hieroglyphics of wealth ; and, accordingly, for 
 that reason throughout the world at this time, retain 
 the epithet of laborious. I might also add that 
 London, the famed Metropolis of England, has herself 
 assumed the characteristical hieroglyphic of wealth — 
 viz., a bee-hive, as is to be seen amongst the ruins that 
 are engraved round about the pedestal of the Monu- 
 ment. I am also informed not long since there was 
 another swarm of bees that lighted upon a sign-post 
 in Cheapside, within three doors of this. As also that 
 upon Whit-Sunday last, an Eagle (the king of birds) 
 lighted upon the Dragon of St. Mary-le-Bow in Cheap- 
 side, and rested herself for half a day before she left 
 it ; all which considered, if there be ever any happy 
 omens, these mentioned seem to be very fair ones, 
 to wit, portending very auspicious times as to wealth 
 and power in England, particularised by its metro- 
 politan city, which will not have the least share of it. 
 And 'tis to be hoped that this summer's action will go 
 a great way towards it, his Majesty King William 
 being himself an agent, and exposing his own person
 
 S UPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-L ORE. 1 3 1 
 
 in foreign and strange countries for the accomplish- 
 ment of it, perhaps not unfitly represented by the 
 royal, strange bird. But we leave the event of these 
 things, and their interpretation, to the critics of the 
 age, who perhaps may make more pertinent comments 
 upon 'em. 
 
 Q. A Maid Servant of one of my relations, stand- 
 ing at the door, a woman came to her and pretended 
 to tell her her fortune ; in order whereunto she was 
 to cross her hand with a piece of silver, which being 
 done, she told her that if she laid such a sum of 
 money under one of the boards of the garret floor 
 over night, she should have so much more added to 
 it before the next morning ; but instead thereof she 
 found her own money missing, with several pieces of 
 linen and other things which she had particularly 
 named to the woman before she left her, which were 
 taken out of the trunk where there were several other 
 things. Query, after what manner did she convey 
 them away, and whether she not naming of those 
 things which were left hindered her from taking them 
 away, being mingled with the rest ? 
 
 A. The question supposes the woman a stranger, 
 therefore unacquainted with the garret, placing of the 
 boards, or with the distinction of the unseen pieces of 
 linen ; the most probable method in effecting this 
 cheat was a confederacy betwixt the stranger and 
 somebody that knew the linen and the garret, or else 
 the stranger was some person in league with the 
 devil to whom the maid subjected herself by her un- 
 lawful curiosity and desire of sain, without examining
 
 i 3 2 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 by what means she was to obtain it ; her wicked- 
 ness in coveting to be independent of God might very 
 well bring the hidden treasure and what linen she 
 had named under the power of those whose aid she 
 required ; and had she specified that linen that was 
 left, no doubt but they had gone all the same way. 
 
 Q. The querist dreamt he saw a comet, and was 
 extremely frightened at it ; about a month after 
 which the great comet appeared, the last that was 
 seen in England. He desires to know whether there 
 were anything extraordinary in that dream? 
 
 A. There's no reason to believe there was, his 
 dream appearing purely accidental, and formed from 
 the idea of such comets as he had before seen or heard 
 described. There's another person who comes in with 
 his dream too ; that he saw a great man lying dead upon 
 his back in a river, with marvellous large teeth in his 
 head. To which all the answer we think he deserves, 
 is, That 'tis great pity the Roguy Dreamer should 
 not be whipped till he confessed he dreamt all this 
 waking: Another, of a gentleman who dreamt he 
 himself was hanged, and looking over the Sessions- 
 paper found one of the same both Christian and 
 surname, though both unusual, really executed, seems 
 to be of the same nature with the first, which we have 
 already judged only accidental. 
 
 Q. This account is what I have heard so credibly 
 attested that I cannot doubt the truth of it A child 
 of ten weeks old being taken with convulsions, the 
 last fit it had cried out distinctly three times, " O 
 God," and immediately died. There was six people
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 133 
 
 in the room, two of them I know, some of them were 
 so frighted that they fell into swoons. I desire your 
 thoughts of it. 
 
 A. We have many instances of infants that as they 
 were dying, have lift up their hands and eyes and 
 have smiled, although their age incapacitated them to 
 know the use of either hands or eyes, or to be affected 
 with any external object that could raise a smile. 
 Which instances must necessarily have their rise in 
 some internal agent. Perhaps their intellect might 
 have a supernatural illumination to see their innocence 
 and the happiness of the condition they were entering 
 into ; and this might be case of the present instance. 
 Or else we shall offer this physical reason : When the 
 soul was forced to leave the body it exerted all its 
 powers at once, to the highest degree it could, even 
 beyond its common acting by proper organs, and in 
 the strife forced that unusual instance. Just so an 
 extinguishing candle, when 'tis going out, rallies all 
 its powers together, and emits one greater flame than 
 it did all the time it had nutriment enough to 
 sustain it. 
 
 Q. Whether do bells on the harness of a horse 
 cheer the horse, since 'tis supposed that beasts can- 
 not distinguish of harmony or musical sound ? 
 
 A. Pliny (as I take it) has observed that all beasts 
 but the ass are concerned at music. That it delights 
 some is certainly true by daily experience; and that 
 it terrifies others we want not instances. I know one 
 who, when all his company had left him, to run away 
 from a mad bull, fell a-playing upon a base-viol just
 
 i 3 4 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 as the bull had got up to him, upon which the bull set 
 up his tail and ran away. Some we read of that have 
 played bears away, etc. But as to this present in- 
 stance we are satisfied that carriers use not bells on 
 their horse necks to cheer 'em, so much as to lead 
 the rest of the company, for all but their leading 
 horse are without. But that a horse can distinguish 
 music is plain, as those that get their living by 
 dancing horses can sufficiently inform you. 
 
 Q. A person, about some ten or eleven years since, 
 walking in his ground in the country, heard the crying 
 of a young child, and drawing near to the noise, per- 
 ceived it to be a young infant naked. Pity moved 
 him to take it, and carrying it home, nursed it for 
 about the space of six months. One morning the 
 child, lying in the cradle as they thought asleep, four 
 or five people being near it, something rapped at the 
 window ; the child and the rest hearing of it, the infant 
 spoke, which it never was heard to do before, saying, 
 " My Daddy calls," and immediately vanishes out of 
 the cradle, and was never since seen or heard of. 
 Now, Gentlemen, pray give your answer as full to 
 the point as may be, resolving whether it was flesh 
 and blood, or endued with an immortal soul, or not. 
 
 A. Pray send to us the name of the place and 
 persons where this happened; for the relation is too 
 strange, especially since 'tis anonymous, for us to give 
 any credit to it. 
 
 Q. Your design of exposing atheism is worthy and 
 commendable; I shall give you two instances to be 
 inserted, if you please, in the next Oracle. My
 
 S UPERS TJ 7 IONS A A D POL K-L ORE. 1 3 5 
 
 mother's eldest brother died at my father's house at 
 Tacklestone in Norfolk. He dreamt a little before 
 his death that his father was dead and buried five 
 foot deep in water. That which he dreamt of his 
 father bcfel himself, for the grave-maker had no 
 sooner taken up a brick in the Chancel but the water 
 appeared, and also my father set many hands to work 
 to empty the grave, yet it could not be done, but they 
 were forced to lay the corpse into the water ; and to 
 add to the strangeness of the thing there was never 
 any water before or since found either in the Church 
 or Churchyard graves; my father was minister of that 
 place eleven years, and in the wettest seasons he 
 never knew any appear. I think the second more 
 worthy your notice. The Minister of Hendon, near 
 London, told my father of a little child in his parish, 
 who, when it was playing with his companions, said, 
 " I shall die to-morrow and be put into the pit-hole." 
 The child continued well till the next day, and then 
 fell sick and died. 
 
 A. We have already given our opinion of instances 
 of this nature. See our former volumes. 
 
 Q. What think you of the story of the hawthorn- 
 tree at Glastonbury, which has been said to bud every 
 Christmas-day ? 
 
 A. All that Mr. Camden says of it is, that if any 
 one may be believed in matters of this nature, this 
 has been affirmed to him to be true by several 
 credible persons ; it was not in Glastenbury itself, but 
 in Wirral Park hard by it ; however, this superstitious 
 tree, true or false, was cut down in the last reforming
 
 136 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 age, though it seems they did not make such root 
 and branch work with it, but that some stumps 
 remained, at least some branches or grafts out of it 
 were saved, and still growing in the same country, 
 as we learn from the additions to that noble author ; 
 though whether they have the same virtue with 
 the former, or that had any more than any other 
 hawthorn, we don't pretend to determine any more 
 than the fore-mentioned historian. 
 
 Q. I have sent you this true relation, which I had 
 from two gentlewomen lodgers in the house of one 
 who keeps a chandler's shop in Berry Street, St. 
 James's, as followeth : — "About the 25th of the last 
 
 month, about break of day, Mrs. E went to open 
 
 the street door, which she did, and just without it 
 found a tallow candle (as fair as a wax one) burning, 
 the end turned up very finely, some 6 or 7 inches long, 
 which she put out and laid by. The next night when 
 her husband and she went to bed, she lighted this 
 candle ; she was no sooner in bed than she fell into a 
 burning kind of a fever, and continued so long as 
 the candle lasted. Four of the lodgers found four 
 candles more, which was not every morning succes- 
 sively, but every other morning or every third 
 morning, that I did not ask exactly, nor do I suppose 
 it material, each one being some half an inch less and 
 
 less, but none durst burn theirs. Mrs. E found a 
 
 second, but did not use it; and this morning a youth 
 found another at the aforesaid time about day, which 
 he carried up to one of the gentlewomen whom I had 
 it from, who threw it out of the window, saying, " As
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 137 
 
 the devil brought it, let him take it" This may 
 be had upon oath if desired. Your opinion of this 
 matter is requested in your next. 
 
 A. Some authors tell us that candles compounded 
 of human fat are reported to have great operations 
 on people, the devil by this gratifying the desires of 
 profligate wretches, to believe it's in the nature of the 
 candle absolutely, if it be set up lighted in any part 
 of the house, it will keep them sleeping that are 
 asleep. A famous instance of this was printed of a 
 thief who practised this art, but being deceived by 
 one that was out of the house, who came home, he 
 and his confederates were seized, and they discovered 
 their practice, and their murders and robberies, and 
 he that was the most notorious of 'em was drawn in 
 a cart throughout the chiefest city in Norway, and at 
 the corner of every street had his flesh tore with 
 red-hot pincers till he was dead, to deter others from 
 this magical practice. We are not able to dive into 
 the relation contained in the letter, but we believe all 
 to be a trick, and that the fever would have happened 
 without the candle. Albertus Magnus and many 
 authors speak of strange effects of candles and lamps 
 to make sport, as to make people seem without heads, 
 as if the room was full of snakes. 
 
 Q. Reading a book of Mr. John Weaver, called 
 Ancient Funeral Monuments, I found this story 
 following : In the parish church of Newport-Pagnel, 
 in Buckinghamshire, in the year 161 9, was found the 
 body of a man whole and perfect, lying north and 
 south, all the concavous parts of his body, and the
 
 138 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 hollowncss of every bone, as well ribs as other, were 
 filled up with solid lead ; the skull with the lead in 
 it weighed thirty pounds and six ounces, which, with 
 the neck-bone and some other bones full of lead, are 
 reserved in the said church, the rest are taken away 
 by gentlemen that love rarities. Gentlemen, your 
 opinion is desired concerning this, which way the 
 metal should possibly fill the bones ? 
 
 A. In Gresham College there's an Egyptian mummy 
 where the bones are all full of a sort of matter like 
 pitch ; it's as unaccountable how that should get in 
 as lead. There are many arts that are quite lost, as 
 the casting of pillars (such as are in Westminster 
 Abbey), painting in glass, etc., which we could wish 
 restored, but since they are not of absolute use, their 
 loss is more tolerable ; and this instance (if true) we 
 look upon to be of that number ; if it had been 
 quick-silver, instead of lead,- it had been more 
 accountable. 
 
 Q. Gentlemen, I did some time since send you a 
 relation esteemed authentic much to the purpose 
 following: — Anno 1376. July 22. At a town in 
 Saxony called Hameter, being much infested with 
 rats, a musician, called the Pidepiper, happened to 
 come, and agreed with the burghers to destroy them 
 all for a certain sum, and then, tuning his pipe, all 
 the rats danced after him, and in crossing a river were 
 drowned ; he then demanded his pay, which was 
 denied him. Then he set on piping again, and all 
 the children of this place followed him to a neigh- 
 bouring hill, which, opening, swallowed up all but one,
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 139 
 
 who lagged behind. Upon which it was decreed in 
 the town, that besides the date of the Nativity of Our 
 Saviour, they should add, From the time of the going 
 out of their children, so many years, as since that 
 time : which is practised to this day. Now, Gentle- 
 men, your opinion is desired, what this piper was, 
 whether a man or daemon ? — what and whence he 
 had power to effect such a strange thing, etc. ? What 
 became of the children ? — in this you will gratify 
 several curious persons, and particularly the querist, 
 who is your very humble servant. 
 
 A. That they have such an additional date is 
 attested. But 'tis to be observed, that a story seldom 
 loses in the telling ; 'tis possible a man might destroy 
 all or many of their rats by poison, which will imme- 
 diately make 'em run to the water to drink and die 
 there, and 'tis also probable the secret perhaps not 
 being till then practised that out of pretence (like 
 jugglers) he might play the while, as if that was the 
 cause, and afterwards, for want of payment, he might 
 out of revenge take a proper time, when most of the 
 town children were at play together in boats or some 
 other way on the water, to drown most of 'em and 
 make his escape. But for a daemon or anything of 
 that nature, we believe nothing of it. 
 
 Q. Lately reading the History of Oxford Writers 
 in page 244, mentioning the works of Sir Edward 
 Kelley, in the which he gives an account of a bottle 
 of Elixir found in the ruins of Glassenbury Abbey, 
 with the which at Trebona, in Bohemia, Kelly made 
 projection the 9th of December 1586, with one small
 
 i 4 o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 grain of the elixir (in proportion no bigger than the 
 least grain of sand) upon one ounce and a quarter of 
 common mercury, and produced almost an ounce of 
 pure gold. At another time he made projection upon 
 a piece of metal cut out of a warming-pan, and without 
 his touching or handling or melting the metal (only 
 warming it in the fire), the elixir being put thereon, it 
 was transmitted into pure silver. The said warming- 
 pan and piece were sent to Queen Elizabeth by her 
 ambassador, then residing at Prague, that by fitting 
 the piece with the place where it was cut out, it might 
 exactly appear to be a piece of the said warming- 
 pan. The truth of this I very much doubt, therefore 
 most earnestly entreat your thoughts upon the matter, 
 in your next Oracle, to your humble servant, J. B. 
 
 The relation more at large you'll find in Elias 
 Ashmole his Theatrum Chymicum Brittan, London, 
 1652, page 481. 
 
 A. We confess we know not well what to say to 
 many express histories of matter of fact of the same 
 nature. We know not how to believe 'em, and yet it 
 seems hardly modest in all cases to disbelieve 'em. 
 All we say to prevent persons being imposed upon is 
 that some who pretend to understand these matters 
 very well have asserted that if this strange elixir is to 
 be got at all, it must be with small charges, through 
 long watching and exact observation. And for the 
 rest let every man believe as much or little on't as 
 he pleases. 
 
 Q. I'm acquainted with a gentleman and a lady, 
 persons of very good note and credit, belonging to the
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 141 
 
 Court, of whom I had this following relation. In the 
 reign of the late King James, presently upon the 
 death of King Charles II., as they were walking in 
 the Long Gallery in the evening about candle-light, 
 at the further end of the Gallery there seemed as it 
 were an arched door, and in the middle a tall black 
 man, standing bolt upright, and through the door 
 there appeared a light as of many flambeaus burn- 
 ing ; whereupon they stood still, thinking it to be 
 King James, or some great courtier in mourning. 
 But not seeing him stir, they began to be amazed, 
 and had not the power to speak to one another. 
 However, the gentlewoman took such a full view of 
 him as to see that he had plain white muslin ruffles, 
 and cravat quilled very neat. They both saw his 
 face, and were satisfied 'twas that of King Charles II. 
 if ever they had seen him in their lives, having taken 
 such a particular view as they thought they could not 
 be mistaken. Whereupon on the gentleman calling 
 to the sentinel to bring a light, he took the candle in 
 his hand and looked for the door, where he could see 
 nothing but the bare wainscot ; whereupon he asked 
 the sentinel whether there was no door thereabouts ? 
 who replied there was none within a stone's-cast ; 
 and seeing him disturbed, asked if he had seen any- 
 thing ? which he would not acknowledge. The 
 gentleman charged the gentlewoman not to discover 
 it, lest they might come into trouble ; but they are 
 now both ready to make affidavit of it, or give a fuller 
 account if required. Pray your opinion of it ? 
 
 A. 'Tis certain that the credibility of particular
 
 142 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 stories of this nature depends much more upon the 
 faith of the relator, though the truth of them in 
 general we see not how any modest man can ques- 
 tion. In the present case the persons who attest it 
 ought to consider whether they were not about the 
 time they think they saw it under any apprehensions 
 of some such apparition, by the reason the darkness 
 of the place, and the late death of the king ; and 
 whether it were not their own imagination that 
 formed the vision, which if they had been talking of 
 it before, or if they fancied it just appeared and then 
 vanished again, would be thought very probable. 
 But if they had no such apprehensions, if they both 
 saw the same appearance, without frighting one 
 another into the belief of it, if it continued for some 
 time so that they could take a steady and distinct 
 view of it, and their descriptions so agreed one with 
 the other as to the dress, the door, flambeaus, etc., 
 all which is true if the relation be so, then we see no 
 manner of reason to deny that 'twas a real apparition, 
 though the reason of his disturbance and appearance 
 God only knows, who knows how princes come by 
 their end. 
 
 Q. A certain carpenter in Southwark was found 
 dead to all appearance in the neighbouring fields 
 (this was in the sickness year), and was brought to be 
 buried in St. George's Parish, Southwark, was put 
 into a coffin, and lay unburied that night in the church. 
 In the dead time of the night the watch going their 
 rounds espies a naked man sitting upon the wall of 
 the church ; they took him down, carried him to a
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 143 
 
 neighbouring house, and put him to bed. He was let 
 blood, and with other helps recovered, and lived two 
 years after ; but was observed never after to cast 
 a shadow in his walking as others do by the sunbeams. 
 Query, your opinion of the matter? 
 
 A. As for the former part of the relation we don't 
 question the probability of it, having ourselves many 
 certain instances of like nature ; but as for his not 
 casting a shadow as other persons do, we can't admit 
 the truth of it, being absolutely contradictory to reason 
 and philosophy. Those that plead for it ought to 
 give an account who and what those persons were that 
 observed his not casting a shadow before we can 
 be persuaded of such a thing; for however unreason- 
 able the relation is, this we are certain, 'tis very 
 unreasonable to seek for a reason of what has not 
 a being further than in fancy. 
 
 We have received a very ingenious relation of the 
 drumming well in Oundle from a gentleman which we 
 have here published, not doubting the curious will be 
 pleased with it. 
 
 He discoursed several, and amongst the rest was an 
 old man aged eighty-seven. This aged man, when he 
 was a boy, his father was tenant to part of the house 
 where this drumming well is ; and he says they used 
 of the water at all times: whether drumming or not 
 drumming, the water continues the same to be good. 
 There are now four families this well supplies for 
 water; one of them keeps a public-house, and makes 
 very good ale of the same water. The old man also 
 saith he knew at a drumming time that the well,
 
 r 4 4 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 though it be deep, has had all the water drawn 
 out of it to try if they could find any cause for that 
 drumming noise ; to which end, a man being let down 
 to the bottom of the well when empty, the same noise 
 still continued above ; and the man being below in 
 the well had the same noise, but apprehended the 
 noise to be above him. Also he says when he was a 
 boy, at times when the well has drummed, there was 
 a great resort of both gentlemen and ladies, who came 
 in their coaches to hear the drumming; for it was 
 generally thought to be the forerunner of war, or the 
 death of some great person. The noise of the drum- 
 ming is not at all times the same; sometimes it may be 
 heard at forty yards' distance, some will say more ; 
 other times you must hold your head over the well to 
 hear it ; but for the noise, it does not much vary, it 
 does much resemble the beating of a march; for the 
 continuance of its noise is uncertain, sometimes a very 
 short time and other times a week or longer : and for 
 the time of the year, or the quickness or deadness of 
 the springs, I cannot understand that it adds any- 
 thing to its drumming ; for in many years together it 
 has not drummed, or made any noise, as has been 
 observed. What more to say we know not ; for the 
 cause or event of its drumming we must leave to him 
 that knows all things. 
 
 Q. Meeting the other day with your Mercury 
 which treats of Owndle-well, I was in hopes you 
 had been so kind as to have answered my former 
 request. But finding there only a bare relation of 
 its drumming, I am forced to give you this second
 
 SUPERSTITIONS AND FOLK-LORE. 145 
 
 trouble to remind you that my entreaty was not to 
 be informed of the history of that noise (which, 
 perhaps, I understood before as well even as he from 
 whom you had your relation), but of the philosophy 
 and presignifkation of it. Let me, therefore, prevail 
 with you to answer these following- particulars : — 
 
 1. Whence so strange a sound can proceed, the 
 water yet remaining (as I know it uses to be) almost 
 perfectly smooth ? 
 
 2. How it should come to be so regular as to 
 resemble a march? 
 
 3. What can be the cause of its so uncertain 
 returns ? 
 
 4. Whether they pre-signify any future events? 
 And what those may be conceived to be? 
 
 And because your relator has omitted one quality 
 of this well, which is, that it is reckoned much the 
 best water thereabouts for making milk-pottage, and 
 is therefore sent for through the several parts of the 
 town for that use, I am at a loss to know (5) What 
 there is peculiar in this water that makes it so 
 singularly proper for this purpose ? 
 
 A. 1. As for the drumming, we look upon the 
 
 cause to be natural (though we don't deny it in some 
 
 sense to be supernatural) ; the cause very probably 
 
 may be vapours, proceeding out of the earth into 
 
 the sides of the well ; and it may be easily tried 
 
 in the night by a candle let down (on every side) 
 
 within the well. As yet we can give no other 
 
 account. 
 
 2. If the forementioned vapours be the cause, the 
 
 10
 
 146 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 eruptions may be so situated as to be regular as well 
 as irregular. 
 
 3. If the first supposition be true, it must be the 
 crises of the fermentations of the earth, which feed 
 vapours ; and, according as the matter comes to such 
 a quantity, which may be longer or shorter in gather- 
 ing, accordingly it has the above-mentioned effect. 
 
 4. We can't tell you that, but this we are assured, 
 that several accidents happen immediately after such 
 events ; which would have done so if those things 
 never had been, because they proceed from another 
 cause. 
 
 5. Water is always better or worse according as it 
 imbibes the nature of places through which it passes ; 
 'twould be too long to treat distinctly of 'em here.
 
 PART IV. 
 
 Religion and Religious Problems.
 
 PART IV. 
 
 RELIGION AND RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 
 
 Q. Whether the Substance of this Earth shall be 
 destroyed, or only refined ? 
 
 A. By destroyed, I suppose, is meant annihilated; 
 which, though some deny, can proceed from God who 
 is the Author of Being, I doubt not but it may by 
 accident, as Sin came into the World by His with- 
 holding his Influence ; though he can't be the 
 Efficient Cause of either. In answer, if we are to 
 interpret those Scriptures relating to this case in a 
 literal sense (which way I'm inclined to in this and all 
 other, when there's no necessity to the contrary), 'tis 
 plain that the Earth shall not be destroyed or anni- 
 hilated, because it shall only be burnt up, and every 
 one knows that's no Annihilation. What then shall 
 be performed by this burning? The Fire must be 
 either still continued, and so be the place of the 
 Damned, or the Earth be only refined by it, as Gold 
 in the Fire ; or quite transformed into little less than 
 another Substance, or at least endued with very 
 different Qualities, as Earth into Glass, either to be
 
 ISO THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 the Seat of the Blessed, or some New Creatures only 
 known to God. This latter Hypothesis appears to 
 me most probable, as well from Reason as Scripture: 
 the latter having several Texts sounding very much 
 that way: New Heavens and a New Earth ; The 
 Restitution (not Destruction) of all things, for which 
 the whole Creation groans ; and several others to the 
 same purpose. 
 
 Q. Whether the Torments of the Damn'd are visible 
 to the Saints in Heaven ? and vice versa ? 
 
 A. This presupposes another Question — viz., In 
 what State or Condition the Bodies of the Just and 
 Unjust shall arise at the day of Judgment ? The 
 Consequence of which Answer will resolve the first 
 Question ; in order to which, we affirm, That they 
 shall both arise alike, equally Immortal, and equally 
 qualified for an Eternity of Duration, diversified in 
 nothing but their last Sentence. Neither State shall 
 so much as change a Thought, but think of all things 
 together, which will be actually present to the Intel- 
 lect of both. We shall then see, not by receiving the 
 visible Species into the narrow Glass of an Organised 
 Eye ; we shall then hear without the distinct and 
 curious Contexture of the Ear. The Body shall then 
 be all Eye, all Ear, all Sense in the whole, and every 
 Sense in every part. In a word, it shall be all over a 
 common Sensorium ; and being made of the purest 
 yEther, without the mixture of any lower or grosser 
 Element, the Soul shall by one undivided Act at once 
 perceive all that Variety of Objects, which now can- 
 not without several distinct Organs, and successive
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 151 
 
 Actions or Passions, reach our Sense. Every Sense 
 shall be perfect, the Ear shall hear everything at once, 
 throughout the spacious Limits, both of Heaven and 
 Hell, with a perfect distinction, and without confound- 
 ing that Anthem, with this Blasphemy; the Eye shall 
 find no Matter or Substance to fix it ; and so of the 
 other Senses : The reason of this is plain and convinc- 
 ing, for if both (I mean the Bodies of the Just and 
 Unjust) were not thus qualified, they could not be 
 proper Subjects for the Exercise of an Eternity, but 
 would consume, and be liable to Dissolution, or new 
 Changes. Hence we assert that every Individual 
 Person in Heaven and Hell shall hear and see all 
 that passes in either State, these, to a more exquisite 
 Aggravation of their Tortures, by the loss of what the 
 other enjoy ; and those, to a greater increase of their 
 Bliss, in escaping what the other suffer. — See the 
 Parable of Dives' and Lazarus. 
 
 Q. Where was the Soul of Lazarus for the Four 
 Days he lay in the Grave? 
 
 A. It was neither in Heaven nor Hell ; if it had 
 been in Heaven, it had been a great cruelty to have 
 deprived it of the Beatific Vision, and sent it again 
 into its Body, to hazard another possibility of Damna- 
 tion : — If it had been in Hell, then that Doctrine falls 
 to the ground. That there is no Redemption from 
 thence : But we are assured, that Hell was not its 
 Mansion, Lazarus being a Friend, a Disciple and 
 Believer of the Messias ; so that we conclude, that 
 those Angels which had Commission for the Recep- 
 tion of the Souls of Lazarus, the Shunamite's Child,
 
 152 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 etc., had also an extraordinary Order to retain them 
 in their Custody, till the time limited for their re- 
 entry into their respective Bodies, as an extraordinary 
 Translation was to Enoch, Moses, and Elias, both 
 being particular Exceptions from the general Rule. 
 It is appointed for all Men once to die, and after that 
 the Judgment ; which Judgment, or entrance into a 
 future, or irrevocable State, is immediately upon the 
 Death of other Persons, as is evident from the Parable 
 of Dives and Lazarus. 
 
 Q. Suppose Lazarus had an Estate, and bequeathed 
 it to his Friends, whether ought he or the Legatees 
 to enjoy it after he was raised from the Dead ? 
 
 A. The Questioner ought to have added, whether 
 he meant according to the Jewish or British Law ; 
 but we suppose he meant the last. Our learned 
 Civilians distinguish death into two sorts — viz., a 
 Natural and a Civil Death. The first everybody 
 knows without the advice of Counsel, therefore no 
 need to trouble the Enquirer with its definition. 
 There are several sorts of Civil Deaths or Cases-, 
 wherein Persons may be said to be dead in the Law, 
 as to Titles in Estates, etc., Vide Cook upon Littleton, 
 Lib. 2, Cap. II, but this sort of death could no ways 
 concern Lazarus, being personally dead, or reputed 
 so : Therefore the Question is, whether he was dead 
 or no? If dead, whether, upon his reviving, he had a 
 just Title to the same Estate he had before his 
 decease? We are not without many strange Ex- 
 amples of Persons that have lain two or three days as 
 if they were dead, and yet have revived ; and of
 
 REL1GI0 US PROBLEMS. 1 5 3 
 
 others that have been buried before they were really 
 dead. To give an example would be too tedious and 
 impertinent, since there is no body almost but what 
 is satisfied in this truth. But as to La/.arus, his Case, 
 when our Saviour spake first to his Disciples about 
 his Death, he told 'em, Our Friend Lazarus slcepeth, 
 which seems to import something like what we have 
 mentioned, and his Disciples themselves did not 
 understand he meant a Natural death, as appears by 
 their Answer, If he sleeps, he shall do well ; but after- 
 ward he told 'em plainly, Lazarus is dead, which is 
 full to the matter in hand, and agrees with that 
 saying of Martha, By this time he stinketh, having 
 been dead four days. Possibly out of respect to the 
 Miracle, Lazarus might have his Estate restored him 
 again, but he could not claim it by any Title he had, 
 for though he was the same Lazarus, yet his Right 
 and Interest to that Estate which was once his own 
 was founded upon the same Law and Terms as the 
 rest of the Jews and all other mortals hold theirs, — 
 viz., till death ; and that he was dead we have the 
 warrant of the fore-sighted Authorities. 
 
 Q. Whether 'tis possible to commit a Sin, whereof 
 we have no former Idea in our Mind ? 
 
 A. The committing a Sin supposes a Breach of 
 some Law, but there is no Law against what is not, 
 and where there is no Law, there is no Transgression. 
 
 Q. Whether a Confessor may discover Secrets com- 
 mitted to him ? 
 
 A. The Church of Rome may do what they please, 
 who can be pardoned when they please; for an ill
 
 154 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 thing not done, and an ill thing pardoned, are the 
 same in Effect. But amongst Persons that are not 
 deprived of Reason and Civility, the Question seems 
 to bear this Answer — viz., That unless it be matter of 
 Treason against the State, and Injury to our Neigh- 
 bour, such an one is a Villain in Nature, and at once 
 breaks all his Bonds of Duty to Heaven, his Neigh- 
 bour, and himself. 
 
 Q. What is to be thought of the Transmigration of 
 Souls ? 
 
 A. The Notion that we have of it is, That the great 
 Propagators of that Doctrine, as Plato, Pythagoras, 
 Plotinus, etc., taught it (not because they believed it, 
 but) to stir up their Auditors to a desire of great 
 and virtuous Actions, by telling them if in habits of 
 Virtue their Children should be born, the Souls of 
 the greatest Heroes would choose them as proper 
 Mansions for their actuation, and so on the contrary; 
 but it appears so ridiculous a Doctrine to any think- 
 ing Persons, that 'tis scarce worth the Confutation. 
 However, for the Inquirer's sake (who perhaps may 
 think he has got the Soul of Empedocles) I will 
 throw away one argument to proselyte him — viz., In 
 a Transmigration of one Soul in and out of several 
 Bodies, which of all these Bodies must the Soul be 
 joined to at the day of Judgment ? And if it has 
 acted some that have been wicked, and some good, 
 how can it justly undergo one Sentence ? 
 
 Q. Whether the Child at the day of Judgment shall 
 not be grieved at the Damnation of its Parent? 
 
 A. Natural Relation is cancelled in the Grave, and
 
 RELIGIO US PR OBLEMS. 1 5 5 
 
 there is no Consanguinity in Heaven. I shall equally 
 love Saint Peter and my Brother ; and equally hate 
 Julian the Apostate and my Father, under a supposi- 
 tion of an equality in their final Sentence. 
 
 Q. What became of the Waters after Noah's 
 Flood ? 
 
 A. The Earth was environed with Water before 
 it was made a Terraqueous Globe ; and now the 
 Waters are Globulous, and higher than the Earth, 
 whereby (and with those waters above the Firma- 
 ment) the Earth might easily be overwhelmed. 
 Now, knowing whence the water came, we easily 
 affirm that it receded again to its old Stations ; 
 though no doubt but the Earth drank up some, and 
 some were rarified into Air. 
 
 Q. Whether the ancient Philosophers, upon sup- 
 position of living good Lives, can be reasonably 
 thought to be damned ? 
 
 A. No, there is no respect of Persons with God ; 
 but in every Nation, he that fcareth Him, and 
 worketh Righteousness, is accepted of Him. There 
 is a natural Religion written in every Man's Heart, 
 and those that are denied a greater Light shall be 
 judged according to that. Romans ii. and xii., xiv., 
 xv. 'Tis true indeed the Apostle has said, There is no 
 other Name given under Heaven whereby we may be 
 saved, but by the Name of Jesus. But it would be 
 a very narrow, uncharitable Interpretation to limit 
 Salvation to the Letter. What (if so) must become 
 of the Sons of believing Parents, who are born deaf 
 and yet by Signs and Tokens are brought to a
 
 156 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 knowledge of their Duty, and of some one that died 
 for 'em ? 'Tis impossible to make 'em know it was 
 Jesus, and yet not impossible they may be saved. 
 Salvation by Christ is Virtual, and not Nominal ; we 
 may be saved by believing the second Person in the 
 Trinity died for us ; and the Heathens by believing 
 there was a God, believed in Him essentially, though 
 not personally, and so could not miss the benefit of 
 His Redemption any more than the Patriarchs and 
 the Prophets before His Incarnation. 
 
 Q. What was the Mark God set upon Cain ? 
 
 A. The Rabbins say, That his Flesh was crusted 
 and made invulnerable ; and that Lamech, when he 
 killed him, wounded him in the Eye. I know a 
 Gentleman whose misfortune it was to kill his Friend 
 in a Duel (and honourably, according to that Notion 
 the World now has of Honour), and though upon his 
 Trial he came off with his Life ; yet the Action made 
 such an Impression upon his Spirits, that he carries 
 a visible Mark of Horror and Disturbance in his 
 Countenance to this day ; and such an one that 
 causes many thinking Persons, that are Strangers to 
 him, to take a particular notice of him when they 
 meet him. One amongst the rest, meeting him in my 
 company, pulled me by the Arm to take notice of 
 him, and when he was passed by, told me, that Gentle- 
 man has the characters of Cain legibly written in his 
 Face. I told my Friend he had unfortunately killed a 
 Man ; my Friend replied, He did not know it before 
 I told him. I am persuaded that this was Cain's 
 Mark.
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 157 
 
 Q. I buried a Wife and several Children above 
 twenty years since, whom I loved very well, and 
 every day to this hour in my private Prayers cannot 
 forget or forbear an Orison and Commemoration to 
 Almighty God for their Souls. Now I do earnestly 
 desire to be satisfied if this be an Error or not ? 
 
 A. What reasonable Subject there can be for such 
 a Prayer we know not, for the State of that Life, 
 whether good or bad, being unalterable, it must be 
 granted that what endeavours are used to alter it are 
 vain and foolish ; and 'tis no less ridiculous to wish 
 anything may continue in a State which cannot but 
 continue. But besides the fruitless vanity of such an 
 Action, there's a great deal of wickedness in it, for 
 whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin. But there is no 
 Instance, no President, no Promise, nor the least 
 ground in Sacred Writ for such a practice. Now the 
 Scripture being the Rule of Faith, and being silent, all 
 Prayers to that end are faithless, and by consequence 
 sinful, whatever pretence of Love or Friendship may 
 be the Motive. 
 
 Q. A Lady is troubled about her Responses in the 
 Church, because Women are commanded to keep 
 silence in the Church (1 Cor. xiv. 34). 
 
 A. The Apostle there only speaks of Preaching in 
 the Church, as Quaker- Women do ; and not against 
 their joining with the Congregation in Responses, etc. 
 
 Q. Not long since I had a very great occasion for a 
 certain Sum of Moneys, and having no Acquaintance 
 in Town where I could borrow it for such a time as I 
 wanted it, I cheated my Master of the same ; at the
 
 158 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 expiration of the time I made up a greater Sum (and 
 gave it to him for Goods, which were never sold) in 
 our Books, which will be some Moneys clear profit to 
 him when we come to cast up our Accounts. Query: 
 In your opinion, whether or no this is a Sin before 
 God Almighty, and whether I can be pardoned for 
 the same without Repentance ? 
 
 A. We look upon the Action not at all justifiable 
 to dispose of another Man's Money, etc., without his 
 Knowledge, though with a sincere design of restitu- 
 tion, since 'twas a transgression of the Golden Rule, 
 Do as thou wouldst be done by. Possibly the Money 
 might have been wanted before the time it could have 
 been repaid ; as it is, the Circumstances of the Action 
 attenuate the fault, and 'tis very well there's so much 
 sincerity and honesty as to make Restitution. We 
 don't think you obliged ever to mention it to him, for 
 the World is reflective ; only thus much, beg God 
 Almighty's pardon for so inconsiderate an Action, 
 and do so no more, and you may be assured your 
 Innocence will be as secure as your Credit. 
 
 Q. How the punishing Temporal Sins with an 
 Eternity of Torment, consists with the infinite Justice 
 and Goodness of the Divine Nature ? 
 
 A. God, who owes nothing to any Man, and who 
 made all things for his Glory, can't be disappointed 
 in his designs, he will be glorified either in our 
 Happiness or Misery; but this his Sovereignty and 
 Power are not at all contradictory to his Justice and 
 Goodness, for he has enjoined nothing but what 
 there's the highest Equity in Nature for.
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 159 
 
 If we consider after retribution, which is the case in 
 the Question, his Justice is yet more apparently- 
 signal, in punishing the Obstinate with Eternal Tor- 
 ments. There are many reasons which will justify 
 this Dispensation. 
 
 1. That Eternity of Rewards is opposed to an 
 eternity of Punishments ; and if so, there's as much 
 reason to ask how God can be just, and make such 
 an unproportionablc Recompense, as Eternal Happi- 
 ness for a few temporary Services, and imperfect 
 Obedience ? 
 
 2. Eternal Punishment is an ill Man's Choice, and 
 to one that's willing, there can be no Injury, volenti 
 non fit Injuria. Suppose I'd a Kingdom in possession, 
 and out of my free will and goodness shou'd send to 
 an attainted rebellious Subject, and assure him by the 
 most certain demonstrations that he was capable of 
 receiving, that I'd adopt him my Heir to the Crown 
 and Kingdom, if he'd but gratefully acknowledge it ? 
 If not, he should lie in his Attaindure, and be always 
 subject to my displeasure. Now if instead of com- 
 plying with my Goodness, and his own Interest, he 
 shou'd scorn my Favour, and make choice of his 
 Shame and Folly, would it not be just in me to give 
 him his choice, nay, rather wou'd it not be Injustice 
 not to do it ? 'Tis Man that condemns himself, not 
 God ; 'tis Man that's so barbarous to his own Soul, 
 and snatches Damnation out of the hand of God, 
 whilst he is intreated to forbear. 
 
 3. An infinite God is offended, therefore the Punish- 
 ment shou'd be infinite. He that assaults a Peasant,
 
 160 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 deserves not the same Punishment as he that assaults 
 a King. 
 
 4. A Man habituated to a vicious Life, wou'd sin 
 on to Eternity, if he were to carry a Body about him 
 so long: So that Eternal desires of sinning have but 
 an equal Retribution. 
 
 5. All such as make this Plea are either in earnest 
 or not ; if they are in earnest, they'll secure them- 
 selves ; if they're in jest and look upon Hell to be a 
 Dream or a Chimera, or a Flea-bite, they can't say 
 they are hardly dealt by, if they undergo such a slight 
 Punishment. 
 
 Q. Of what Form was the Serpent in Paradise, and 
 whether such a sort of Creature were not more likely 
 to frighten than tempt Eve? 
 
 A. To tempt a Woman, it is reasonable to con- 
 jecture it had a Man's Face, for there are such serpents 
 in Madagascar ; but there is no necessity to imagine 
 that, or that it had Feet, for by a Motion and Curl 
 of the Tail it erect itself without Feet, and reach the 
 Fruit of the Trees, this Creature being beautiful, with 
 a skin variegated with pretty Colours, also having a 
 natural Subtilty above the other Creatures, 'twas a 
 proper Instrument for the Devil to make use of, who 
 might very probably tell her through its Organs, that 
 it had obtained the gift of speaking by eating of the 
 forbidden Fruit; whereupon Eve might probably 
 believe it might be so; because neither this Creature, 
 nor any other that were named by Adam, could 
 speak; and she might farther conclude it must be 
 true, that if this forbidden Fruit had the Virtue to
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 161 
 
 endue a Creature with Speech and Reason, it would 
 unquestionably furnish her and her Husband Adam, 
 with a superlative Reason, even to attain so much 
 knowledge, as that they both should be as wise as gods, 
 and upon this presumption she might be persuaded to 
 eat, and draw in her Husband. 
 
 Q. Whether Jael did well in killing Sisera ? If she 
 did well, will then Infidelity and Treacherous Murder 
 be lawful towards an Infidel? If not, how is it that 
 she is so much praised, even in an Hymn inspired by 
 the Holy Spirit of God ? 
 
 A. Undoubtedly she did well in what she did, 
 since she is praised by the Dictates of that which very 
 well knew the Merit of the Action, we mean the Holy 
 Spirit ; but we believe that there might be some 
 particulars omitted in the History about the Circum- 
 stances of this War, etc., which would have rendered 
 the relation more commendable and honourable than 
 it is ; which, since we know not, we may very well sit 
 down contented in the general Suffrage the Holy 
 Ghost has given her, Blessed above all Women she 
 shall be in the Tent ; intimating thereby the Action 
 to be just and honourable, though the Reasons of her 
 Action are not set down ; though in the preceding 
 23rd Verse we find the Angel of the Lord cursing 
 such as refused the same Assistance that Jael lent. 
 
 Q. In what Posture and Order did our Saviour eat 
 the Passover and his last supper with his Disciples ? 
 
 A. 'Twas Accubation, or a lying down upon the 
 left side, with the Head borne up by the Elbow, they 
 lay upon three Beds, placed at a convenient height 
 
 11
 
 162 
 
 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 round about a Table, four upon a Bed ; the Head of 
 the Second leaning upon or against the Bosom of the 
 first, and the third against the second. The Order 
 was thus : The Third Bed was for the Master, and 
 whom he pleased ; the First and Middle were for the 
 Guests ; but here they were all Guests, and our 
 Saviour eat only with his Disciples ; so that supposing 
 them to be in Preheminence as they are named, 
 Matthew, etc., they were placed as in the Figure 
 annexed. 
 
 '■pnp '"uijs ''pvujj 'w(Of 'snsdf 
 
 THE TABLE. 
 
 Andr., James, Philip, Bartho., 
 First Bed. 
 
 < o 
 is «■> 
 
 5" 
 
 g 
 
 For though the first place in the first and third Bed 
 was most honourable, it was not so in the second ; 
 but the last place in the Second Bed, which was 
 nearest to the Master of the House, or in this Figure 
 to our Saviour, where Peter lay. — This was not 
 only the Custom of the Jews, but of the Parthians, 
 Persians, Greeks, and Romans. According to the 
 Description of Sallustius, Sertorius, who, lying in the 
 place of Peter (as in the Figure), was slain at dinner 
 by Perpenna, the Master of the Feast (who lay where
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 163 
 
 our Saviour did). For the above Triclineal De- 
 scription read Benmaimon, that great Rabbi, as 
 also Sophocles, Euripides, Atheneuceus Mercurialis, 
 Lipsius, etc. Juvenal and Aristotle say something 
 of it. The Learned conclude the first Original of 
 Leaning and Accubation at Meals was taken from 
 the Gymnastics, who after their Bathing retired to 
 Bed, where they took something to refresh them. 
 
 Q. Who was most in the right, Democritus for 
 laughing, or Heraclitus for weeping? 
 
 A. Both equally in the wrong, one running as far 
 in one extreme, as the other in the contrary. The 
 World is not so bad nor miserable but Heraclitus 
 might have found something in it to have made him 
 smile, with a little more reason than seeing an Ass 
 mumble Thistles ; nor so happy, but Democritus, if 
 he had had much good nature, might have found 
 Objects in't, more than enough to have spoiled his 
 Laughter. In the meantime, as there are few Persons 
 will be laughed out of their faults, so a Man may cry 
 his Heart out, before ever they'll amend 'em ; and, 
 upon the whole, 'twas not at all likely e'ther of these 
 Extravagants should produce any good effect by 
 their behaviour, on the Minds of Men, only making 
 themselves equally ridiculous. 
 
 Q. A certain Gentleman in Love with a Lady (who 
 being already married, and a Virtuous Woman) had 
 no means whereby to fulfil his Desires on her ; where- 
 fore on occasion offered him, murders her Husband, 
 and in decent time after Courts and Marries her (she 
 being altogether ignorant of the barbarous Fact), in
 
 1 64 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 process of Time he discloses to her himself to be the 
 Murderer of her former Husband. Query, Whether 
 in this case she be obliged in Conscience, out of 
 Obedience to the Positive Law, the Law of Nature, 
 and the revealed Law of God, to discover him to the 
 Magistrate? Forasmuch as if she doth, she breaks 
 her Troth given him (who now claims it by as just 
 a Title as her former Husband did) in her Marriage; 
 and if not, she becomes Accessory to the Murder 
 herself? 
 
 A. Perhaps this is as uncommon a case as has 
 appeared upon the Stage for many Ages, and a true 
 Resolution is as nice and tender, as itself is strange : 
 Whether our Laws can show any President of this 
 Nature we know not, nor dare we ourselves pretend 
 to an exact Judgment, but we shall give our private 
 Opinion, which we desire may not be decisive, unless 
 strengthened by better Authorities. We believe the 
 Wife is not bound to reveal her first Husband's 
 Murderer. Our Reasons are : — 
 
 i. Because her Husband that now is, is by the Law 
 of Nature part of herself, and Nature cannot away 
 with the practice of Self-destruction ; everything will 
 defend itself as much as possible, either by opposing, 
 or flying away from the Aggressor. 
 
 2. Because her own Husband is herself by the Law 
 of the Land, and the Law of the Land obliges no 
 one to condemn himself, although it punishes such 
 as do. 
 
 3. The Secret was committed as a Trust, and not 
 on purpose for a Discovery, which ought not therefore
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 165 
 
 to be revealed, especially since this Trust is not 
 vacated by the Obligation above. 
 
 If the Murderer of her former Husband had been 
 anybody else, who also had revealed the secret to her, 
 she ought to have delivered them up to the Magistrate. 
 'Tis not long since we had an Instance of a Person 
 under great distractions and inquietudes of Conscience 
 about Murdering a Person, who sends for a Neigh- 
 bour, makes him swear Secrecy to what he should 
 reveal to him, withal adding, that unless he did reveal 
 it, he could not live ; the other swore, receives the 
 Secret, and falls under the same Distractions as the 
 Murderer was, who upon his Confession became easy 
 and quiet in his Mind. This second Person who had 
 the Secret, • in the midst of Troubles sends for a 
 Divine, and told him the whole, both as to the 
 Murder, and his Oath of Secrecy. The Divine told 
 him, That his Oath (in his Opinion) was void, not so 
 much (as he thought) because it was an unlawful 
 Oath, but because the Hand of God was so mani- 
 festly seen in afflicting the Concealers of such a Sin. 
 The Party immediately informs a Justice of Peace of 
 the whole, and the Murderer underwent the Law. 
 The Custom of the Roman Church is such as hides 
 all Secrets of this Nature revealed to them. One 
 passage occurs, not a little pertinent to the Matter in 
 hand : — There comes a gentleman to a Priest, and, 
 amongst other Confessions, declares, That he had 
 murdered this Priest's own Brother : the Priest 
 enjoins him such Penance and Absolves him. Some 
 considerable time after, this Gentleman and the
 
 1 66 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Priest, walking together over a certain piece of Ground, 
 the Gentleman stopped, saying, 'Twas just in this place 
 that I killed your Brother and buried him. The Priest 
 immediately goes to the Magistrate, and informs him, 
 That passing over such a piece of ground, such a 
 Gentleman told him, That he had Murdered his 
 Brother, and Buried him there ; the Gentleman was 
 taken up, and being Convicted, unbraided the Priest 
 with Perfidiousness and Treachery, contrary to the 
 Obligations of his Cloth ; No, says the Priest, what- 
 ever you told me in Confession, I have and will con- 
 ceal : What you told me out of Confession is the 
 same as if it had been to another Person. 
 
 Q. What became of the Ark when the Flood was 
 over? 
 
 A. It rested upon the Mountains of Ararat. This 
 I am sure of, and no more ; since for the Stories of 
 some Fragments thereof remaining a thousand years 
 or more after, I esteem it perfectly fabulous. In all 
 probability it there lay still where it rested, for a 
 Monument of what happened in it for some succeed- 
 ing Generations, being besides of that Bulk, it could 
 not easily be removed, unless taken asunder, where, 
 'tis likely it remained till Time, which consumes all 
 things, had mouldered it to Dust. And that many 
 a fair Year and Century before those who pretend 
 any part of it remaining in their Time, were in 
 being. 
 
 Q. Why one Hour's Sermon seems longer than two 
 Hours' Conversation ? 
 
 A. Foi several very unlucky Reasons : Sometimes
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 167 
 
 because the Sermon may be duller than the Conversa- 
 tion ; at others, because the Hearer is dull himself, 
 and han't the Wit to like it ; sometimes because those 
 in the Pulpit talk all, and talk sense ; when in Con- 
 versation, those who love it, may hear their own dear 
 selves talk as much and as impertinently as they 
 please; and besides, have this liberty of contradiction, 
 the very Life and Soul of some People. — But the 
 most general Reason for this sad Truth is a very sad 
 one, and that is, the almost universal decay of Piety, 
 added to the natural aversion which the best Men 
 find in their Minds towards Acts of Devotion till 
 conquered by Industry and Pains, which, by the 
 Assistance of God's grace, in time produce contrary 
 Habits. And where those are to be found, where 
 Men are truly pious and religious, they think no 
 Entertainment in the World comparable to that 
 wherein they may be taught the way of Happiness ; 
 nor will they easily be tired with what affords 'em at 
 the same time so much of Profit and Pleasure. 
 
 Q. Is't probable there will be any Sexes in 
 Heaven ? 
 
 A. I believe not. Our Saviour says, that there they 
 neither marry nor are given in marriage ; and if so, 
 what need of Sexes ? And why that in Heaven 
 which there's no need of? All that's of the Essence 
 of a Man will undoubtedly be there, And that's a 
 rational Soul united to an organised Body ; but what 
 Organs will be necessary then we can't tell, however, 
 these cannot. Besides, this difference is only Acci- 
 dental, Man and Woman being in Essence the same.
 
 1 68 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 But in a State of Bliss and Perfection, all that's 
 Imperfect or Accidental shall be removed, and 
 accordingly one would think Sexes should. I won't 
 add for another Reason, what, as we remember, one 
 of the Fathers has said. That were there any Women 
 in Heaven, the Angels could not stand long, but 
 would certainly be Seduced from their Innocency, and 
 fall as Adam did. 
 
 Q. Is't possible for an Estate to prosper, which is 
 gotten by selling lewd and vicious Books, or can he 
 be a good Man that does so ? 
 
 A. To the first it may be possible, but not likely, 
 such ill-gotten gains being not rarely attended with a 
 Curse even in this Life ; and though sometimes the 
 punishment is reserved to the other World, that's but 
 a miserable Comfort. Nor, secondly, can we tell what 
 to think of his Piety, or Morality either, that sells 
 such kind of Books, more mischievous to a Nation 
 than Wild-fire or Poison, and as much or more ought 
 to be punished, since one such Book, for aught they 
 know, may occasion the Temporal and Eternal 
 Ruin of many Persons into whose Hands it may 
 come. But if we should give the same censure of all 
 who print or vend Factious Heretical or Blasphemous 
 Books, at least as Mischievous as the other, and the 
 Publishers, Authors and all, were to be burnt in one 
 Fire, what a Blaze would there be ? 
 
 Q. A Person of a good Birth and Education, 
 having been conscious of a detestable action ; for 
 which, upon a serious consideration being sorry, he 
 resolved to forsake it, and cried, may I perish if I
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 169 
 
 do it. It was his Misfortune lately again to commit 
 the same ; now as his meaning was without doubt 
 void of Equivocation, though his words are not, so he 
 is extremely concerned, and desires to know whether 
 that is a vow that is performed without any Ceremony 
 or Solemnity, as in this particular Case? And 
 whether there are any dangerous Consequences 
 depends on it, more than if the wish had not been 
 made? And what would have been the certain 
 reward of the Sin if continued ? 
 
 A. Such passionate wishes are justly blamable, 
 and indeed are always made without any thought at 
 all ; we have too often seen the unhappy effects of 
 them on such as have accustomed themselves to use 
 them. But they are very different from the Nature 
 of a Vow, that being more solemn ; yet they add a 
 double guilt to the Vice, where the Person continues 
 still to commit it. It being plainly a Sin against 
 knowledge, since his cursing himself, if he com- 
 mit the like again, shows he's sensible of the evil 
 of it. 
 
 Q. A gentleman that was near being cast away at 
 Sea on a Friday, in commemoration of his Deliverance, 
 has ever since kept a Fast on the same Day, but his 
 way of doing it is something extraordinary. He lies 
 a-Bed till four or five in the Afternoon, then rises and 
 goes to the Coffee-house, or Ale-house, comes homes, 
 Sups, and goes to Bed. I desire to know, whether 
 such a Fast be acceptable to God ? 
 
 A. A sad return indeed for the saving his Life, 
 and a Mocking God instead of Thanking Him. He
 
 i7o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 mistakes the nature of a Fast very widely, which con- 
 sists in hard working, not Sleeping, or Idling. Being 
 one part of that Bodily Exercise mentioned by the 
 Apostle, which profits little. The design and end of 
 a Fast in general, is solemnly to Humble ourselves 
 before Almighty God, for our Sins, and for that end 
 we abstain from Meat, Drink, and worldly Labour, that 
 we may the better, Vacare Deo, be at leisure to attend 
 our Souls, having our minds undiverted by anything 
 in this World, and raised above them in Meditation 
 and Devotion. His particular Fast was, it seems, a 
 day vowed holy to God, as a perpetual Acknowledg- 
 ment of his Salvation and Deliverance. But what 
 Fast or what Holiness does he think there is in lying 
 a-Bed, and thereby pampering his Carcass and pleas- 
 ing his Appetite, perhaps more than if he should eat, 
 as upon other days ? Besides that, the old Fasts were 
 expressly kept with watchings, whence the Latin 
 word Vigils and English Wakes to this day. Let him 
 therefore either altogether leave off this Hypocritical 
 Fasting, or else for the future Fast in earnest as 
 becomes a Christian, and one who has received such 
 Blessings from God ; Keep a true Fast from Sin, as 
 well as Meat and Drink ; Examine his Soul, and 
 repent of all the Errors of his Life past ; Be Penitent, 
 and Devout, and Charitable, and Humble, which is 
 the Fast that GOD has chosen, and will therefore 
 accept. And these Considerations may be very useful 
 to any others in the same Circumstances, it being, we 
 doubt, a too common thing to fall into such a wretched 
 Formality in any such stated voluntary Fasts, which
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 171 
 
 makes 'cm better let alone; whereas if conscientiously 
 observed they would be of excellent Advantage to a 
 Holy Life. 
 
 Q. I am in very uneasy circumstances, by reason of 
 a rash Curse, which I unhappily made. The Case 
 was thus : I was provoked to a great degree, and he 
 that was the occasion of it desired me never to speak 
 to him more, upon which (God forgive me) I wished 
 God would Damn my Tongue if I did, and he to 
 double the Curse answered, Amen ; I am in an 
 Employment where it is unavoidable. I desire you, 
 if possible, in your next Oracle, to give me the 
 best advice you can, for I am extremely impatient, 
 though resolved through God's Assistance to hold out 
 to that time. 
 
 A. You are in great haste if you'll stay no longer 
 than the time you have limited, especially in a matter 
 of so much Moment. That your Imprecation was rash 
 and wicked, you yourself are sensible, though it may 
 oblige to Punishment, since it was Voluntary. And 
 your good Friend who said Amen to so Pious a 
 Prayer and clinched your Curse, has a share in the 
 guilt of the Action, as well as you ; though what 
 wonder he should Curse you, who had first Cursed 
 yourself! The Question is, What you arc now to do, 
 and whether to keep such an Oath or break it? (for 
 an Oath it was with a Curse into the Bargain). We 
 Answer, that though it was indeed a rash Oath, yet 
 if the Subject of it be possible and lawful, and not 
 only inconvenient, you ought, we think, to observe it. 
 We say, an Inconvenience only ought not to make you
 
 172 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 break it, though a very high one (because it was in 
 your own power not to have made it). 
 
 As suppose you thereby lose some Advantage in 
 Trade or otherwise ; but if the matter of it, or unavoid- 
 able Consequences, either imply anything Unlawful, 
 as the absolute ruining yourself or Family, 'tis then 
 another Case, and you ought in our opinion not to 
 observe it ; though at the same time severely to 
 Repent your first Rashness in making it, and humble 
 yourself before God for having done it. 
 
 Q. At Easter, 1690, I was forced to receive the 
 Sacrament ; when I, thinking myself unprepared, took 
 the Consecrated Bread, and put it in my Mouth (that 
 I seem to receive), and afterwards in my Pocket, and 
 have kept to this Hour : The Cup I only kissed. I 
 never went to the Sacrament before, nor after, and am 
 very scrupulous of this my present Condition, and 
 would willingly (if it lieth in your leisure) be answered 
 by Ash-Wednesday, as to my Condition, and what I 
 shall do with the Consecrated Bread ? 
 
 A. This is a very Strange Relation, equally notor- 
 ious, for the Uncommonness and Impiety of it, and no 
 superficial Repentance will serve the turn, for so vast 
 an Accumulation of Hypocrisy, slavish fear of Man, 
 and Contempt of so Holy an Ordinance. As for 
 disposing of the Consecrated Bread, there's no absolute 
 necessity (in our Judgment) what you do with it, but 
 the best use we think you can make of it, is, to 
 preserve it carefully in your Closet, to keep you 
 humble, and put you in mind, so oft as you see it, of 
 your Sin.
 
 RE LI G 10 US PROBLEMS. 1 7 3 
 
 Q. How is it to be understood that the Spirit of 
 God moved upon the Face of the Waters, according 
 to that of Genesis, chapter i., verse 2 ? 
 
 A. The Original is Metaphorical, and signifies the 
 act of the Hen upon her Eggs — viz., a hovering or 
 hatching, as much as to say, as the Providence of God 
 Almighty does now immediately superintend over all 
 things that are created. So the Spirit of God did at 
 first immediately hover, hatch, produce, and give a 
 Being to all things out of the heap of first Matter, 
 represented to us under the Idea of a dark Terra- 
 queous Confusion. 
 
 Q. Whether, think you, at the Resurrection, there 
 will be any difference in the Colour of the Ethiopians 
 and other men ? 
 
 A. If their Black Colour be a Deformity now, they 
 will doubtless then be cured of it, rising perfect Men, 
 as they would if lame or monstrous. But that's a 
 Question hardly yet well decided, for they think us 
 as much deformed as we do them. 
 
 Q. I have often observed Ministers, and also some 
 Laymen, that have shown a great deal o( respect to 
 the Church, by keeping their Heads bare, bowing, etc., 
 but do not know of any Example they have for it. 
 And some believe 'tis a pure Superstitious Innovation 
 of our own times ; though I have been told by several 
 that the Jews testified much more Reverence for the 
 Temple ; which, if true, I desire you'd favour me with 
 a few Instances of it, because I believe the ignorance 
 of its ever being used by God's People has been an 
 occasion that many have been offended at the Practice.
 
 174 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 A. 'Tis undoubtedly true, that the Jews were 
 obliged to show a great many external marks of 
 Respect to the Temple, and the Design of its being 
 enjoined, was to inspire the People with a veneration 
 for the Place of God's Worship. They were for- 
 bidden to carry a Stick to the Temple, to enter 
 therein with their Shoes or dirty Feet, or to carry any 
 Silver about them thither. Nor were they permitted 
 to spit in any place of the Holy Mountain. If any 
 one had any occasion to spit, says Maimonides, he 
 must do it in some corner of his Clothes. They were 
 forbidden to use any gesture which declared the least 
 Irreverence, to walk too swift, or to pass by there 
 simply to go to any other place. None were per- 
 mitted to sit in the Court of Israel, but the Princes of 
 the House of David. 'Twas likewise amongst them a 
 mark of Irreverence to pray to God uncovered, and 
 therefore not permitted ; though the contrary practice 
 has since been established in the Christian Churches 
 by the Apostles. Every man, says St. Paul, who 
 prayeth or prophesieth with his Head covered, dis- 
 honoured his Head (i Cor. xi. 4). 
 
 Q. Gentlemen, There is a Public House hard by me, 
 which I do generally use every Night for an hour or 
 two to pass the time away, which is the last thing as 
 I do ; but the inconvenience as I find in using this 
 House is no small trouble to me ; yet I am so 
 bewitched to this House, that I cannot forbear going 
 to it, though I meet with the greatest inconvenience 
 imaginable ; for there I hear a great deal of Wicked- 
 ness, Swearing, and unseemly Talk, and the like;
 
 RELIGIOUS PROBLEMS. 175 
 
 though the first I am not guilty of, but the latter I 
 cannot forbear ; though I make promises before to 
 the contrary, I am so strangely overtaken, though 
 I do not swear, yet my Talk is as filthy and unseemly 
 as theirs to the full. He that keeps the House is 
 reckoned to be a great professor; therefore I do the 
 more wonder at it, that he should suffer such 
 Discourse at his House. Gentlemen, I am afraid I 
 have been too tedious ; but that which I earnestly 
 desire of you is, That you'd deal ingenuously by me, as 
 my case requires, for I am much troubled as I cannot 
 conquer this troublesome Humour. I desire to know 
 whether I do not greatly sin in so doing, and whether 
 it is not a breach of God's Commands, and, if so, how 
 to avoid it? Gentlemen, I hope you will grant me 
 such an Answer as may be satisfactory to this your 
 poor Querist, etc. 
 
 A. The Honesty of this poor Man's Intentions, and 
 the Usefulness of the Question, makes us answer it, 
 though but meanly worded. Our Judgment is, that 
 'tis a Crime in the Master of the House if he en- 
 courages such Discourse, or does not all he can to 
 prevent it, though that may hardly now be possible, 
 considering the present State of the World. How- 
 ever, that you can neither be present at such Dis- 
 course, nor much less a sharer in it without a Sin, 
 such sort of Conversation being plainly forbidden 
 (under filthiness, foolish talking, and jesting) in the 
 Holy Scriptures, which require the greatest purity of 
 Words as well as of Heart and Life: If, therefore, 
 you find you can't avoid this Inconvenience at that
 
 176 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 House, you are indispensably obliged to leave it, as 
 you would a Pest-House, or one just going to fall 
 upon your Head ; though indeed the time you stay 
 there every Night is too long to be employed in such 
 Houses, since you might make better use of it, and 
 spend the Evenings in Exercises of Devotion, which 
 would be both more honourable and comfortable than 
 your present practice.
 
 PART V. 
 
 Miscellaneous Questions and Answers. 
 
 12
 
 PART V. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS AND 
 
 ANSWERS. 
 
 Q. Whom do you suppose to be the Author of the 
 Whole Duty of Man ? etc. 
 
 A. He or they, whoever they were, who so highly 
 obliged the World with those excellent Pieces, seem 
 to answer all curious Enquirers, as the Angel formerly 
 did others. Ask not the Name, seeing it is secret. 
 All that can be done is to tell 'em what is generally 
 said, though little or nothing be certainly known in 
 this matter. Some say the Bookseller and King 
 Charles knew it, others that even the Bookseller was 
 ignorant of the Author, who, as appears from several 
 passages in't, and by the Form of Prayer for an 
 Afflicted Church, writ at least part of those Works, 
 particularly the Whole Duty of Man, during the Civil 
 Wars here in England. Some say the late Arch- 
 bishop was the author, others Dr. Hammond, Dr. 
 Allestry, Bishop Fell ; whoever 'twas, it's plain he 
 had been with the king in his exile, or at least had 
 been conversant in Foreign Parts, by what he men-
 
 180 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 tions of the Popish worship from his own observation ; 
 and whoever 'twas, it is said on all hands he is now 
 dead. That which seems to us the most probable 
 opinion is, that no single person deserves the honour 
 on't, since it appears too great a work for the best 
 head in the world, but rather that some society was 
 engaged therein. And lastly, whoever was the 
 author or authors, we think the Whole Duty of Man 
 the best book next to the Bible that ever was printed ; 
 and they the best writers next to those who writ by 
 inspiration. 
 
 Q. Of what Antiquity is Dancing upon the Ropes, 
 and what may be supposed to give the first Rise to 
 that Practice ? 
 
 A. 'Tis too ancient a Custom to determine its 
 Original. Terence mentions it as a practice in his 
 days ; see his Prologue to the Hecyra ; and long 
 before him we read of it practised amongst the 
 ancient Grecians, not only by Men but by Elephants 
 themselves. Scaliger, in his Exercitations, 232, p. 
 788, speaks of Elephants dancing on Ropes. Aris- 
 totle speaks of walking on Ropes ; as also Suetonius, 
 lib. 7, cap. 6, and ./Elian, in lib. de Animal., tells us, 
 That Elephants were taught to walk upon Ropes in 
 his time ; and 'tis a fair supposition that Men were 
 not less Active in that Age, nor unacquainted with a 
 Practice they would teach to other Creatures. 
 
 Q. Whether the Knowledge of Men or Things be 
 the better ? 
 
 A. Of men undoubtedly, and of all men, oneself; 
 Nosce teipsum, Know thyself, was a Rule of very
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 181 
 
 great weight ; and if it was put to our Society to find 
 out another as great, it should be Age ipse, Act thy- 
 self, do thyself what thou advisest others ; for after 
 all, Knowledge without Practice signifies very little. 
 
 Q. Of what Antiquity be Epitaphs and Elegies ? 
 
 A. Many Instances of Epitaphs in Prose and in 
 Verse may be collected from the old Greek Poets and 
 Historians, who yet were but Children compared to 
 the Caldeans and /Egyptians. But the Ancientest 
 President of Epitaphs must be that recorded in the 
 Ancientest History, viz., the Old Testament, I Sam. 
 vi. 1 8, where it is recorded, that the Great Stone erected 
 as a Memorial unto Abel, by his Father Adam, 
 remained unto that Day in being, and its name was 
 called the Stone of Abel ; and its Elegy was, Here 
 was shed the Blood of Righteous Abel, as it is also 
 called 4000 years after, Matt, xxiii. 35, and this is the 
 Original of Monumental Memorials and Elegies. 
 
 Q. If Solomon had 1000 Wives and Concubines, 
 yet found not one wise Woman, and but one wise 
 Man, ought not then a wise Man to conceal a Fault, 
 if he be excellent (or Princely), and rather judge him- 
 self, than rashly judge and condemn another falsely ? 
 The Question is, Whether Socrates did wisely, when 
 hearing the loud clamours of his Consort, left her as 
 he used to do ; she being the more angry, hasted and 
 flung a Chamber Pot on his Head, he saying only, 
 Ha ! Ha ! I thought after all this Thunder there 
 would come Rain ? Or whether by his Patience he 
 purchased to himself those Inquietudes ? 
 
 A. If he had not done wisely at this time, it had
 
 i8a THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 not eclipsed him, for no Man is wise at all times ; but 
 Socrates raised his Fame more by this cursed Wife, 
 than if she had been better tempered ; he gave her 
 Provocations enough, but her Passion covered his 
 Faults, and his Politic Silence past for Patience ; and 
 it was a pleasure to him to have the opportunity to 
 vent some witty reflection or Saying, whereby his 
 Memory would be registered in the roll of everlasting 
 Fame ; this Story in the Question is one of them ; 
 therefore this sort of Wife was a foil to his Glory, and 
 as reputable to him, and as useful as the Tub to that 
 Tub-Monk Diogenes, and therefore at all times, but 
 especially at this time, Socrates did wisely in con- 
 verting the Clamour into an useful Observation. 
 
 Q. Whether 'tis lawful to read Romances ? 
 
 A. Every one grants that 'tis lawful to read Quintus 
 Curtius, or Xenophon's Life of Cyrus, in both of 
 which, the Loves as well as Wars of two great 
 Monarchs are described. — And if so, we think 'tis not 
 easy to assign a reason why the same Stories mayn't 
 be read, when the Heroes are made greater, and their 
 Actions more complete and lively than before, as in a 
 good Romance they generally are, and particularly in 
 the Grand Cyrus, and Cassandra: Though we think 
 then that the reading these Books may be lawful, 
 and have some Convenience too, as to forming the 
 Minds of Persons of Quality ; yet we think 'em not 
 all convenient for the Vulgar, because they give 'em 
 extravagant Ideas of Practice, and before they have 
 Judgment to bias their Fancies, and generally make 
 'em think themselves some King or Queen or other : —
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 183 
 
 One Fool must be Mazares, t'other Artamcn ; and so 
 for the Women, no less than Queens or Empresses 
 will serve 'em, the Inconveniences of which are after- 
 wards oftentimes sooner observed than remedied. Add 
 to this, the softening the Mind by Love, which are 
 the greatest subject of these sort of Books, and the 
 fooling away so many Hours, and Days and Years, 
 which might be much better employed, and which 
 must be repented of: And upon the whole, we think 
 Young People would do better, either not to read 'em 
 at all, or to use 'em more sparingly than they 
 generally do, when once they set about 'em. 
 
 Q. I find in the Book entitled "The Post-Boy 
 Robb'd of his Mail, or the Pacquet broke Open," a 
 letter of Platonic Love ; it gives me so fair an Idea 
 of that Romantic fancy, that I could almost wish 
 there were such a thing, if there be not ; I desire 
 your Opinion, whether there be or no, and also your 
 Judgment, of that Book, and whether you think it a 
 Fiction or not ? 
 
 A. Since you are not satisfied with what the Gentle- 
 men concerned in that Frolic have said on that point, 
 our opinion is, That 'tis not impossible there should 
 be some that may have so refined a Passion for each 
 other, at least 'tis obvious there are Pretenders to it. 
 As for the Book itself, the Compleat Library for the 
 Month of July has given a very true Character of it, 
 which, though it seemed something extravagant in 
 the Praise, yet upon view of the Performance we 
 acquit him of a false Judgment in what he has said 
 upon it. It contains both Pleasure and Profit ; and
 
 1 84 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Horace, as good a Judge of Wit as any, tells us, 
 Omne tulit punctum qui miscuit utile dulci: He has 
 hit all Points that has mingled the Profitable with the 
 Pleasant In this Book you may find the several 
 Passions that Influence all the Life and Actions of 
 Mankind, the Softenesses and the wrecks of Lovers, 
 the Intrigues and Extravagancies of Lust, the blind 
 Inveteracy of Hate and Indignation, the Pretences of 
 the Debauches and Atheists, the Voraciousness and 
 restless desire of Wealth and Honour, the Vanities 
 that Pride betrays us to, the Effect of Fear and Hope, 
 the subtle windings of Self-interest, how it reigns in 
 all our Actions, in Religious as well as Temporal 
 Concerns. Here you'll find the general Hypocrisies 
 of Mankind unmasked, and, in short, all that may any 
 way contribute to the Pleasure or Advantage of the 
 Reader; the Letters are so Natural, that nothing 
 we've seen published of late (we'll scarce except the 
 Turkish Spy) equals them ; the Comments are always 
 both Pleasant and Witty, never tedious, but full of 
 various and surprising Observations. In short, if it 
 be not Truth, as to Matter of Fact (though we are 
 apt to believe 'tis), yet 'tis so like Truth, that it 
 satisfies the Mind as well ; Nature in them being so 
 well drawn, that it seems not an Imitation of Nature, 
 but Nature itself. 
 
 Q. A Person lately condemned in the County of 
 
 L for a Capital Offence, and the Sheriff on the 
 
 Day of Execution, being unprovided of a Hangman, 
 promised £20 to any one that would undertake the 
 office. The Criminal being therewith acquainted,
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 185 
 
 told the Sheriff, that if he would give his Wife £20 
 he would be his own Executioner ; and was so 
 accordingly. — Query, Whether the Criminal was not 
 guilty of Suicide? 
 
 A. This is a very unusual Instance ; but since no 
 Injury can occur to us by the Supposition, I take it 
 for granted, and answer in the Negative : That he 
 was not guilty of Suicide or Self-Murder, but rather 
 the Author of a brave Action, in acting at once two 
 parts of the Law — viz., Doing and Suffering, in which 
 perhaps he may Challenge all Christendom for another 
 Example. He satisfied the Justice of the Law by 
 Dying, and did a good Action, in being a Minister of 
 the just Sentence of the Law. But 'tis supposed this 
 was not the Consideration that prevailed with him, 
 but his tenderness to his Wife. He knew he must die, 
 and £20 might as well be a Legacy to his Wife as the 
 Reward of another's office. If he was a thinking 
 Man, I should conclude he had read Seneca : D neurit 
 Volentem, Nolentem trabunt Fata. The Destinies lead 
 tht willing Mortal out of the World, but drive out 
 the unwilling. But to prove my first Position : He 
 was a dead Person in the Eye of the Law, and the 
 Law directs no particular Person to be Executioners 
 of its Sentence; but the Law had particularly sentenced 
 him to be Hanged, which Sentence was as punctually 
 observed ; therefore the Law was satisfied, and he 
 committed no Murder in being the Officer of Justice. 
 
 Q. Our Jurors (particularly at Justice Hall in the 
 Old Bailey) that try in Cases of Life and Death, are 
 obliged to be (or at least to tell the Court that they
 
 1 86 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 are) all of one Mind, before they can give, or the 
 Court receive their Verdict. And it being but reason- 
 able to suppose that it may so happen, that one or 
 more of the Twelve may dissent from the Major part, 
 as being of deeper Judgment, etc., or by Building upon 
 false Notions; which yet he believes, and cannot be per- 
 suaded otherwise, but that they are the Truth, etc. In 
 short we'll suppose him to act according to his Con- 
 science, whether otherwise he be in the Right or no, and 
 then Query, How must such a Man act, so as to keep a 
 good Conscience towards God and Man, so as not to 
 be Guilty of the Blood of the Prisoner, as well as of 
 Perjury, if he bring him in Guilty and he is not ; of 
 Perjury if he bring him in not Guilty and he be ; or 
 of hazarding his own Life, and the Lives of his 
 Fellow Jurors, by being shut up, without Food, till 
 one of them Dies ; or else comply, though against his 
 Conscience, that he and they may not undergo that 
 Hardship and Danger? 
 
 A. The Law supposes not only good men, but 
 men of Sense, to be concerned in Verdicts, and if so, 
 Truth never clashing with Truth, they must all be of 
 one Mind at the first, or else upon laying down their 
 Arguments, the Prejudices are soon removed, for 
 Truth will take Place of every unprejudiced Person. 
 Though we willingly grant, that if we take the World 
 as it is, the Majority of Votes would be an Argument 
 of Error : but the Case is infinitely altered, where 
 Persons of Sense and Judgment are concerned. But 
 suppose, as you say, that one amongst the rest, as in 
 the Case of Mr. Crone, does withstand all the rest, and
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 187 
 
 cannot comply without Perjury or Murder, as he pre- 
 tends. To which we answer : If the most reasonable 
 Arguments cannot be enough convincing, 'tis Ten to 
 One but 'tis the Prejudice of Interest, Passion, etc., 
 and not Reason, that holds up the side, and then the 
 Question belongs not to such Persons, for such as are 
 so prejudiced in Cases of Life and Death can easily 
 away with Perjury or Murder. But to go yet nearer, 
 and suppose both sides Honest and Conscientious, we 
 answer : Then honest and Conscientious Arguments 
 will soon decide the Controversy, for 'tis absolutely 
 impossible that so many Patrons of Truth cannot 
 explain it to the convincing One or Two : so that, 
 after all, we conclude the Supposition an Impossibility, 
 or else the Wisdom of our Judges, and the very 
 Essential Parts of our Laws, were Wicked and 
 Unreasonable in enacting such Obligations ; but 
 never could the greatest Enemies of our Laws charge 
 our Laws themselves as Wicked and Erroneous, only 
 the Abuse and Perverting of 'em has and may be, in 
 too many cases, censurable. 
 
 Q. A certain Person has Murdered another, a Third 
 is taken up upon Suspicion, is tried and condemned, 
 and now lies in Prison in Ireland, and though he has 
 got a long Reprieve, yet he is likely to suffer : Query, 
 Whether the Murderer ought to give himself up to 
 the Law, and Free the Innocent, or to conceal himself, 
 and leave the Innocent to suffer wrongfully, or be 
 reprieved from Death by no less than a Miracle ? 
 
 A. 'Twill be a Second Murder to let the Innocent 
 suffer, and aggravated by this — that he is Innocent ;
 
 1 88 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 though we believe no Man is bound to deliver up 
 himself to the Law, for any past Breach of it ; but to 
 avoid such a Future Breach of it, he ought to do it : 
 Since Death is rather to be chosen than Sin, and 
 nobody can doubt but that it is Sin to be guilty of 
 another's Death. But, after all, we believe it very 
 possible to prevent the Death of the Innocent and 
 of the Refuge Criminal too — viz., By giving Timely 
 Notice of it to the proper Magistrate of that Place, 
 with Offer of true Discovery upon Condition of 
 Pardon, or some such-like Method ; but if, after all 
 no Conditions can be got, the Innocent's Life ought 
 to be redeemed with that of the Criminals. 
 
 Q. Sirs, I was going out of Town to my Master's 
 Country-House, not many miles from London, and 
 on the Road I was met by Three Men masked ; one 
 of them scouted out, and the other two came up to 
 me and bid me stand, or I was a Dead Man. I was 
 something startled and surprised at this unusual 
 manner of complimenting, but being somewhat re- 
 covered, and considering I had a great Charge of 
 Money and Jewels, to the value of ^"3000, 15s. od., 
 besides other Papers of Great Concernment of my 
 Master's, I resolved to stand them Two, and to 
 deliver nothing ; but having no Weapon, either 
 offensive or defensive, save a Tuck in a Cane, I 
 presently drew it, which one of them seeing, fired a 
 pistol, but missed me, and I made a Pass at him, 
 but the Noise of the Pistol frighting his Horse, 
 I missed him. The other of the Two gave me a 
 slight Wound with his Sword ; I spurring my Horse,
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 189 
 
 I came just even with him that fired his Pistol, and 
 I gave a home Thrust at his Breast, and stuck him 
 near, or at, or in the Heart, he fell down off his 
 Horse, and never spoke one Word, stark Dead ; the 
 other seeing this, and perceiving the Third Person 
 that was on the scout to give an Alarum, he sets Spurs 
 to his Horse, and rid away with all Speed : Now there 
 was in a Hedge just over against us, a Man that 
 had seen the Skirmish (one of their Gang, as I since 
 am apt to think), he comes over the Hedge on Foot, 
 and quarrelled with my Weapon as unlawful, and 
 that I could not Answer the killing a Man, though 
 in my own Defence, with such a Weapon : I fearing 
 if I had stayed there too long, I might have been 
 apprehended on the Account of my Tuck, rid full- 
 Speed away, leaving the Dead Body and the Man 
 together ; he got it away and hid it, or buried it, 
 for none see it afterwards. Now I. 
 
 Query, If a Man on the Queen's Highway, or in the 
 Street, assaults me, whether I might not draw a Tuck 
 in my own Defence? If I kill him that thus Assaults 
 me with my Tuck, am I liable to any Punishment for 
 my Tuck? If I am, Pray, what is the Punishment? 
 
 A. This is a strange Relation, and we must sup- 
 pose that 'tis either Matter of Fact, and that the 
 Party concerned had a Mind to be enrolled for an 
 Example to future Ages, or else that the Design, 
 under the Notion of a Romance, is to demand 
 whether a Pistol or a Tuck is the most dangerous 
 and unlawful Weapon to kill an assailing Highway- 
 man with : Truly we are not for standing still by any
 
 i 9 o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 means, and have our Throats cut; Tucking, Pistolling, 
 or Basilisking to Death, if possible, is very fair Play 
 in such Cases. The Law of Nature, and other Laws 
 built on that, will Warrant the Action. 
 
 Q. This last Execution-Day, after Prayers said and 
 Psalm sung, one of the Condemned Persons hanged 
 himself, by lifting up his Legs, so that seemingly he 
 was Dead before the Cart was drove away: Pray, 
 your Opinion (though he was inevitably to Die, yet 
 this Act being voluntary, and not the Act of the 
 Law), if he is not guilty of Self-Murder ? 
 
 A. 'Twas judged by several Persons there that 
 'twas Fear and Apprehension of Death that over- 
 came his Spirits and made him faint away, and not 
 any Voluntary Act of his own. 
 
 Q. Who was the first Inventor of the Gag in 
 France ? 
 
 A. In the First Volume of the French Book of 
 Martyrs, or History of the Famous Edict of Nants, 
 you'll find in p. 15 that the use of the gag was first 
 Practised and Invented in the Reign of Henry II. 
 of France, purposely to hinder the Protestants that 
 were put to Death from speaking to the People, or 
 singing Psalms for their Consolation when they were 
 led to Execution. Aubespine (as the Author of that 
 Work relates), who was the first Inventor of it, was 
 some years after struck with the Lousie Disease, 
 which put him into so great a Despair, that he 
 designed to Starve himself to Death ; which furious 
 Resolution obliged those which were about him to 
 open his Jaws with a Gag, to make him take Nourish-
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 191 
 
 meat by force ; so that (as this learned Author 
 observes) he increased the Number of those that have 
 been known to suffer those Torments themselves, of 
 which they were the first Inventors. This cruel 
 Invention of the Gag did not at all diminish the 
 Number of the Protestants ; the Constancy of those 
 who were burned served to make more sensible 
 Impressions upon People's Minds in their Favour, 
 than either their Books or Preaching: But Henry 
 the 2nd, however, was inexorable, and though the 
 doleful Spectacle of those he had caused to be 
 Burned after the Procession above mentioned, and 
 their horrible cries in the Torments of their Sufferings, 
 had so deeply struck his Imagination that the remem- 
 brance of them was a lasting Terror to him all his 
 Life after, yet did he not at all abate his Severities, 
 for they Burned after that some Persons come from 
 Beam into France, only for Preaching the Doctrine 
 of their own Country, among whom Lewis de Marsac 
 was much taken notice of, for that having been a 
 Soldier all his Life, and being dispensed with from 
 having a Rope put about his Neck at the Stake like 
 other sufferers, out of respect to that Noble Profession, 
 he complained that such a difference should be made 
 between him and his Brethren, as if by retrenching 
 anything from the Infamy of his Punishment, they 
 had designed to lessen the Glory of his Constancy. 
 So that amidst these Gags and Cruel Executions, the 
 Churches took the firmer Root, and there were already 
 some that were governed by a regular Discipline 
 and settled Pastors, and at Paris itself, where the
 
 192 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Fires never went out, and under the King's Nose, 
 there was one which had its peculiar Pastor, which so 
 incensed their Enemies, that they got erected certain 
 Courts of Justice, which they called Burning-Cham- 
 bers, which burned a sufficient Number of those who 
 passed for Heretics, to deserve the Title given them? 
 But of these and their other cruel Instruments of 
 Martyrdom you may read more at large in the First 
 Volume of French Martyrology before recited, where 
 you'll find that the French Protestants were bar- 
 barously treated at their very Births, in their Lives, 
 at their Deaths, and even in their Funerals. 
 
 Q. Why mean Persons coming to Honour are 
 generally Prouder and less obliging than gentlemen, 
 etc., who have had better Birth and Education ? 
 
 A. There's no wonder at all in't, because a Courteous 
 and Genteel Behaviour takes a great while to be well 
 learnt, and is seldom acquired unless Men begin 
 from their very Infancy ; which Persons of Quality 
 do, and by constant Conversation either with those 
 above 'em, or else such as are well-bred, they more 
 easily and naturally imitate their Manners, and can 
 at least command their outward Expressions and 
 Behaviour ; besides that, there's certainly something 
 in the strain and Blood. Whereas, on the contrary, 
 those who have had a mean Education have their 
 Minds generally rough, and still tasting of their Birth 
 and Breeding, both because a Habit induced in 
 Infancy or Youth is with great difficulty to be 
 conquered, and because they han't had so much 
 Time or Opportunity to file their Words or Behaviour ;
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 193 
 
 whence they may sometimes appear Proud when 
 they really are not ; there being some difference 
 between Pride and Ill-breeding, though much alike, 
 and very near akin. But further, when such Persons 
 are really Proud, they have not perhaps been Courtiers 
 long enough to dissemble and hide it. Not but that 
 there are Exceptions to be found on both sides; 
 Persons well born, who disgrace both their Birth and 
 Education by ridiculous Pride, which they mistake 
 for greatness of Mind, though the whole Heavens 
 distant from it ; and, on the contrary, there are some 
 of meaner Birth and Parentage, who, by the force of 
 a more than ordinary Genius, have soon learned all 
 the Fitness of Conversation ; and been as obliging 
 and well-tempered as any in the World. 
 
 Q. I'm informed that an Acquaintance of mine 
 accidentally killed a man in the street. None of the 
 Friends of the deceased Party know who was the 
 Amhor of his Death. I desire you'd resolve me 
 whe ther I'm bound to detect him ? 
 
 A. If it were only an unhappy Accident, without 
 malice and design, and in prosecution of no unlawful 
 action, the Law, you know, accounts it not Murder. 
 Nor therefore (we think) will the Guilt of the dead 
 party's Blood lie upon you, though you should not 
 di cover what you have heard on the occasion of his 
 Death. 
 
 Q. Having been employed by some Merchants in 
 this City to go Supercargo to the West Indies, I have 
 carried several Servants over to those parts. Some I 
 have had from Newgate, others have gone voluntarily.
 
 194 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Now when we come in those Parts, we sell those Ser- 
 vants for four or five Years' time, according as their 
 Indenture runs (if they have any) either for Money or 
 in Barter. Now I desire your Opinion whether it is 
 allowable by the Laws of God and Man for one 
 Christian to sell another in the way of Trade, for we 
 endeavour to get as much for them as for any Goods 
 we have. Pray, Sirs, let me have your Opinion in 
 your next, for according to your determination I 
 intend to proceed or desist in that employ, for some- 
 times it is a trouble to me, and I have discoursed 
 several learned Men, but never received any satis- 
 factory Answer. Pray pardon this trouble, and 
 answer my Request, etc. ; you will infinitely oblige, 
 etc. 
 
 A. If by the Laws of any Country a Malefactor 
 deserve Death, undoubtedly any Punishment on this 
 side of it is Mercy. And no Punishment more 
 proper for Theft, which generally proceeds from 
 Idleness, than hard Working, which may also be 
 wholesome to their Minds as well as Bodies, and pro- 
 duce a habit of Industry in 'em, so that they may in 
 time become useful Members of the Commonwealth, 
 especially if they have good Instruction, and their 
 Masters use 'em like Men, not Beasts, and don't 
 forget they are Christians, though if they do 'tis no 
 fault of yours, who are rather merciful in saving 'em 
 from hanging, than a party in that Cruelty which 
 they may afterwards accidentally suffer. 
 
 Q. Whether Evening or Morning be fitter for 
 Study?
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTLONS. 195 
 
 A. We believe there may be some unaccountable 
 difference in Constitutions, which may perhaps make 
 the Evening more agreeable to some, and the Morning 
 to others ; though for the most part the old saw 
 seems to hold, Aurora's a Friend to the Muses : And 
 there may be some good Natural Reasons assigned 
 for't : The Spirits are generally more brisk in the 
 Morning, being newly recruited, the Mind more free 
 from other Objects, than after the Fatigues and 
 variety of Thoughts which almost necessarily follow 
 the Business of a whole day. 
 
 Q. What City is esteemed the most populous in the 
 World ? 
 
 A. Sir William Petyt has undertaken to demon- 
 strate that London is considerably the most populous 
 City in the whole World. This he does in his Essay 
 to Political Arithmetic, the same way that Foreigners 
 have taken to find the Numbers in Paris and other 
 Mediums. Mr. Azout himself, in his Letter from 
 Rome, agrees that London, Westminster, and South- 
 wark may have as many People as Paris with its 
 Suburbs ; but Sir William asserts it has as many as 
 Paris and Rouen put together. 
 
 Q. Of which are most born, Boys or Girls? 
 
 A. We believe their Number is pretty even, other- 
 wise the World would soon be over-stocked with one 
 of 'em. 
 
 Q. In many places beyond Sea they make use of 
 tortures to force a confession of any fact from such as 
 are suspected criminals, and 'tis generally received as 
 the most certain way, not only of discovering their
 
 196 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 own guilt, but likewise all their Accomplices ; but 
 supposing it political, is it not an unlawful means to 
 attain such an end, however successful it may prove ? 
 
 A. There is nothing more uncertain than a con- 
 fession forced by such means, for when Men are so 
 tormented, 'tis very probable, that though it happened 
 sometimes upon such as had some veneration for 
 truth, they would not have at such a time so much 
 presence of mind as to be able to endure a continu- 
 ance of their tortures rather than speak almost any- 
 thing that is put to them. And supposing it always fell 
 upon such persons as were really guilty of a charged 
 crime, may we not reasonably believe, they would not 
 scruple some little addition to it, in accusing any 
 one to free themselves from their present insupportable 
 pains ; and we have had an account of many Persons 
 that have confessed their own guilt and accused others 
 whilst upon the Rack, and have denied when taken 
 off, yet upon a second torture have confirmed what 
 they before confessed ; though no sooner were they 
 again free from being tormented, but they as abso- 
 lutely affirmed it to be false ; thus we see there can 
 be no certain dependence on what is forced from 
 Persons by this way ; and therefore 'tis neither 
 political nor reasonable; but were it both these, we 
 very much doubt the Lawfulness of it ; Christianity 
 and the Laws of Nature seem to forbid it. And 
 many instances might be brought of innocent Persons 
 that by this means have lost their Lives. 
 
 Q. Whether Cock-fighting abstracted from any 
 Vice be lawful ?
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 197 
 
 A. Tis not very exactly worded — but you mean, 
 we suppose, abstracted from the Vices of Swearing, 
 Passion, immoderate Gaming, Cruelty, etc. We 
 answer, we think 'tis not unlawful, since that it 
 may be without any of the Vices, or any other 
 besides Cruelty, will scarce be denied. And as for 
 that, it's possible to Delight in the Valour of the 
 Creatures, who are given for our Diversion as well as 
 Necessity, without being cruelly delighted in their 
 hurting one another. 
 
 Q. Whether if the Men were equally Punished with 
 the Women, for deluding Women or Maids in the 
 Streets or other places, it would not be a good Law, and 
 might not put a stop to the Debauchery of the City ? 
 
 A. Ay, and of the Kingdom too, if you could get it 
 made, Sed Quis, etc., etc., etc. 
 
 Q. Having good Information that several Shop- 
 keepers who are reputed and do pass for honest Men 
 in this City of London, have and daily do change 
 Guineas (picking out) the broadest Money they have 
 by them, for such as they are (it's rational to Judge) 
 very well satisfied are Clippers of the current Money 
 of this Kingdom. I desire your Opinions, Gentlemen, 
 whether such as these are not really to be esteemed 
 as bad Rogues as those that do abuse the current 
 Money of this Nation at such a rate as we daily see it 
 to be? 
 
 A. Indeed we look upon them who thus encourage 
 such Persons, to be as great Villains and Enemies to 
 the Commonwealth as the Clippers themselves, if not 
 greater ; since they are the Principals : For without
 
 193 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 such Abettors the other could not effect it ; and any 
 Person that is assured of it, would do well privately 
 to advise 'em to desist, but if afterwards they still 
 continue the same Practice, they will do as well to let 
 the Town know who they are obliged to. 
 
 Q. Whether a Painter, when he's to draw a Face, 
 ought to take the Features from one Object or more? 
 And whether a Face mayn't be drawn better than 
 ever any was made ? 
 
 A. We don't well know what the Ouerist means. 
 If he intends by his Face, an Ideal Face, the finest 
 the Painters can invent, but of no one real Person, he 
 must do as Apelles did, and make all the Beauties he 
 knows club to his one Venus. But if he's to draw a 
 Single Face, certainly he must keep to that Face, 
 otherwise, if he takes the Eye from one and Chin 
 from another, and so on, he only Composes (pardon 
 the Impropriety) a sort of a Beautiful Monster; not 
 but that Painting, as well as its Twin-Sister, Poetry, 
 should have so much Art as to expose Beauties, and 
 hide Deformities, which may be done, and a fine 
 Picture made, and yet sufficiently like to be known 
 from any other. 
 
 As for the other Question, whether a Face mayn't 
 be drawn finer than any was ever made ? If that be 
 true, that there never was an absolutely perfect 
 Beauty, for Feature, Complexion, Air, and altogether, 
 it must be resolved, we think, in the Affirmative. 
 Though of t'other side, 'tis scarce possible to imitate 
 and express that Vivacity and Spirit which we see in 
 some Faces.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 199 
 
 Q. Whether the Devil has not baits enough to 
 allure People to Lust and Vanity, without calling in 
 the Aids of Patches and Paint ? And whether those 
 skins that are bedaubed with them may not properly 
 enough be called Painted Sepulchres, since they too 
 often not only cover, but occasion rotten Bones ? 
 
 A. We have formerly given our own Judgments 
 and the Authority of others on these Points, and told 
 the World that the best and strictest Casuists assert 
 these things not in themselves unlawful. 
 
 Not but that, in our Opinions, 'tis pity any part of 
 a good Face should be covered (though for a bad one, 
 the larger the Patch the better), and for Paint, we like 
 it yet worse, since it certainly spoils a good Face, or 
 but a tolerable one ; and besides, has never been of 
 very good Reputation in the World. But after all, 
 why it should be in itself a Sin we can't conceive, any 
 more than .a Wash to take out Freckles, or Pits of the 
 Small-Pox ; the Argument that's brought against 
 one, equally concluding against both — that it's an 
 Endeavour to make themselves handsomer than God 
 and Nature intended ; which besides would cut off all 
 Perukes, if not most other artificial Ornaments. 
 
 As for our angry Friend's Question, we must beg 
 him not to be as angry with us as he is with the 
 Ladies, if we tell him there's so much Railing, and so 
 little Reason in't, that 'tis hardly worth answering; 
 and that we can't help thinking there's more of the 
 Devil in one uncharitable Censure, than in a whole 
 Box full of Half-moons and Lozenges. 
 
 Q. One that keeps a Public-house desires to know
 
 200 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 what Rules to follow, that he may not displease God, 
 nor offend his Guests, as to the Season of Time, and 
 Quantity of Liquors ? 
 
 A. 'Tis an unanswerable Question ; for 'tis impos- 
 sible for a Person that keeps a Public-house, to 
 carry himself so (under the fore-mentioned Circum- 
 stances) that he should not offend God, and yet 
 gratify his Guests (generally speaking) ; but thus far 
 may be done, which is the most that can be expected 
 — viz., That no just Cause of Offence may be given; 
 and such People as think they have cause, when 
 they have not, you have this satisfaction, That you 
 do 'em a Friendship, and such as all honest Men 
 must applaud, nay, themselves, when they come to be 
 sober. The Method to be taken in such a manage- 
 ment (we conceive) is this, As to the Quantity of 
 Liquors to be vended to particular Persons, no 
 Limits can be assigned, since Persons are of so 
 different Constitutions, that what is necessary to the 
 Refreshment of Nature in some Persons may be 
 Intemperance in others ; so that the Rule here is : 
 You may let all Persons call on till you find they 
 begin to exceed their due Limits ; and when you 
 perceive 'em entering the Confines of Drunkenness, 
 'tis Wickedness in you to let 'em proceed any further, 
 since thereby you become accessory to all the Irregu- 
 larities they shall commit in their Drunken Humours ; 
 and how great ones some have been guilty of then is 
 Argument enough to deter all thinking Persons. As 
 to the Time, you may (as near as you can) safely 
 observe the Custom of your civilised Neighbours ; to
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 201 
 
 exceed may be Scandalous, and bring an ill Repute 
 upon you, and to do less may be against an honest 
 Interest. 
 
 Q. A friend of mine, who is desirous of advancing 
 himself in the World, and one whose Employment is 
 not very agreeable to his Merit, has often acquainted 
 me with his intent of quitting his present Business, 
 and to find out some one or other that may suit 
 better with him. He is about Twenty-Five Years 
 Old, one that has had the Advantage of a very good 
 Education, not given to any Vice that I know of, and 
 one of Universal Probity, very fit and capable of 
 almost any Business ; he understands the Latin 
 Tongue very well, with its Idioms and particular 
 graces, which he has sometimes expressed in Letters, 
 etc. In the Mathematics no less skilled — viz., in 
 Arithmetic not only the Vulgar, but also Decimal, 
 with Algebra ; in the Theory of Astronomy and 
 Navigation, Surveying, etc. And to promote his 
 Advancement, his Friends will not be wanting to 
 furnish him with any Money upon occasion. Now, 
 Gentlemen, the Question is, what way do you think 
 most probable for one so qualified to pitch upon ? 
 Your speedy Answer and Direction in this Case will 
 be very obliging. He's resolved not to act without 
 your Advice ? 
 
 A. He'll do well to keep in his Business till he has 
 at least a great probability of doing better. The best 
 way he can take, now he's at that Age, is to get a 
 good Place, which 'tis likely may be suitable enough, 
 since he either has, or soon may have, most of the
 
 202 . THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Qualities that are requisite ; but we would not advise 
 him to leave a certain Maintenance for anything that 
 should be less than Life, how plausible soever it may 
 appear ; and, with the Interest of his Friends, that 
 won't be found so difficult to be got. 'Tis true there's 
 many ways for an ingenious Man that has Money to 
 take in order to his Advancement, but none that is of 
 less hazard than this. 
 
 The five following Queries were sent us, which we 
 think fit to insert here without any Answer :— 
 
 Q. I. Whether the Churchwardens and the rest 
 who in divers Churches in London, since the Fire, 
 place and set up the King's Arms above the Com- 
 mandments of God, in the place of most Holy 
 Christian Worship, had any Law or Canon to 
 authorise, justify, or excuse them for so doing? 
 
 Q. 2. Whether it is probable that they had any 
 Authority from the Bishop, since in St. Peter's, Corn- 
 hill, St. Martin's, and other Churches, where are and 
 then were Persons as observant of Ceremonial and 
 Episcopal Orders as any, the King's Arms have since 
 that time been placed elsewhere than in that part of 
 the Church ? 
 
 Q. 3. Whether to set them up in that place of our 
 most Solemn Christian Worship over the Command- 
 ments of God, like the Cherubims in the most Holy 
 place of the Temple, over the Ark of God, be not a 
 matter of greater Indecency than the setting up of 
 the Founder's Arms in the Theatre at Oxford over 
 the King's Arms, which were afterwards ordered to be
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 203 
 
 taken down for the Indecency of it, and placed 
 elsewhere ? 
 
 Q. 4. Whether it was not an act of great Presump- 
 tion in them who did it, to do it of their own Head 
 without any Law, Canon, or Authority of the Bishop, 
 and to be looked upon as an Effect of Profane Flat- 
 tery of Princes in such as of late set up Loyalty above 
 all Religion, and inverting the Apostolical command, 
 preferred the Honour of the King before the Fear of 
 God? 
 
 Q. 5. Whether the admitting or conniving at such 
 Acts of Flattery hath not been very mischievous to 
 Princes, and therefore by all Wise and Religious 
 Princes to be rejected with Indignation, and such 
 wicked Flatterers to be discountenanced and sup- 
 pressed as the Pests of the State ? 
 
 Q. I earnestly desire your Friendly Advice and 
 Impartial Judgment on the following case : — I am 
 offered to be Tutor to the Two Sons of a Baronet 
 deceased, whose Estate is above ,£1500 per Annum. 
 My Friends are very urgent with me to accept it, but 
 I am not at present inclined to it for these Reasons : 
 First, the Stipend they proffer me (I think) is too 
 mean ; but £20 per Ann. For being in Orders, I 
 judge they will make me do the Duty of a Chaplain ; 
 and if so, to assign no more for so many Services, 
 seems (to me at least) unbecoming a gentleman to 
 offer, as also insufficient for a decent Support. I 
 have been at great Pains and Charge too, in my 
 Education, and am (or at least I think so) in some
 
 204 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 measure pretty well accomplished for such an Em- 
 ployment. Now I can by no means think £20 per 
 Ann. an Equivalent (which is hardly the Interest) of 
 my Education, or a sufficient Reward for the Pains 
 and Trouble of a Tutor. For the Children are very 
 young ; and though at first this may seem to make it 
 the less Labour, yet it appears to me so troublesome 
 to beat the first Rudiments of Learning into Children; 
 and to be obliged to comply with all their Humours, 
 looks so like playing the Fool, that I think it deserves 
 much more than is offered in the Case. 
 
 Again, I suppose they will be ashamed to offer the 
 Seventh or Eighth Tutor no more, and so many 
 different Tutors the poor Children must have (if not 
 more) before they come to Twenty-One (for who of 
 any tolerable Sense or Ambition would fix and dwell 
 upon ^"20 per Annum). And if so, why may not I 
 reasonably demand more, who (I suppose) am ex- 
 pected first to bear with all the Fooleries of Children, 
 and then to break 'em and introduce the first Semina 
 Literarum ? Why must they have more than I, who 
 but build on my Foundation, and who come to 
 Employment through my Pains, more easy, and in 
 itself more Pleasant and Creditable ? 
 
 It is to be at Home; where, besides the Confinement 
 I reckon I must undergo, how much I shall be plagued 
 between the Fondness of a Mother, and the Imper- 
 tinence of my young Masters, Relations or Servants, 
 who are apt to be censuring the Tutor's Performances, 
 I can't tell; but the Complaints of some of my 
 Acquaintance, who have been very hardly, nay, even
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 205 
 
 unjustly dealt with in such Stations, make me very- 
 fearful how I run myself into a Family, where 
 possibly, I may not be able to live with any Honour 
 or Satisfaction, or yet to get out without having my 
 Temper, my Manners or Abilities called in question. 
 For these Reasons, Gentlemen, I am yet in a mind 
 to refuse the present offer. But, however, to comply 
 somewhat with the Importunities of my Friends, and 
 being yet less inclined to Marry, and take upon me 
 the Cure of Souls, and perhaps being peculiarly fitted 
 (more than every one) for such an Employment, by 
 my Natural Genius, the course of my Studies, and 
 New Designs which I have lately laid down for my 
 succeeding Years to aim at, I should not be unwilling, 
 were these Demands granted. I. A Salary of £50 
 per Annum, to support myself suitably to the Honour 
 of my Character, and the Family I live in; by which 
 being Vindicated from Contempt, or the Fear of 
 Poverty, I may be able without Distraction to study 
 the Temper and Improvement of my young Pupils. 
 2. As absolute a Command over them as may consist 
 with Prudence and their Obedience to their Parents. 
 To use my own method in Teaching, to recommend 
 what Books I please, cither for their Task or 
 Diversion. Not to have the Mother come into my 
 Room, where I am to Instruct them, to take account 
 how many Lessons or how long, nor to listen at the 
 Door whether I Chide or Whip 'em too severely; 
 these to be left to my Discretion ; for if I am not a 
 better Judge of any of these things than a Nurse, a 
 Sister, or a Mother, I am not fit to be a Tutor. 3. To
 
 206 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 have the Command of the Coach and a pair of Horses, 
 not to go to a Cock-fight or a Horse-Race, but to visit 
 the Wisest and best Bred Gentlemen in the Neigh- 
 bourhood, and bring my little Masters acquainted 
 with Men and things, which will at once open their 
 Souls, and be some sweet Diversion after the Torture 
 of Nouns and Participles. Though all this may look 
 big, yet 'tis (I think) absolutely Necessary, and the 
 Estate will bear it. I am not greedy of Money, nor 
 do I desire so great a Salary to gratify my Pride or 
 my Pleasure, but that my thoughts may be more 
 at leisure, and the more exalted, to inspire my 
 Pupils with such sentiments as may make 'em good 
 Christians and true Gentlemen ; and I will promise 
 not to leave 'em till I have made them fit for any 
 Company or any Capacity in the Kingdom. But the 
 Proffer of ^"20 per Annum looks so pitiful, that 
 I may safely prognosticate that they will be poor 
 Gentlemen or Scholars who are Taught by such who 
 will submit to such Drudgery for so poor a Reward. 
 Where the Tutor is not enabled to live like a Man, 
 there it can never be expected the Pupils shall be 
 overlaid with Sense. I have fairly stated my Case to 
 you, and make you Judges both of their Proffers and 
 my Demands, which are most reasonable. For I 
 declare that after all the Persuasions of Friends and 
 Interest, the Reasons above seem to me Convincing; 
 however, I am resolved once more to be guided by 
 you, and to take that course which you shall judge 
 most Advantageous and most Honourable. 
 
 A. Since you have desired our Advice (though it
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 207 
 
 appears to us that you are much more capable of 
 advising yourself), we shall also desire the Liberty 
 of Printing the whole Letter, which is so exact a 
 Pattern for a Tutor's Accomplishments, and Methods 
 and Ends of Teaching, that we doubt not but that it 
 will very much oblige the World. As for your own 
 Determinations, we think we need not to tell you 
 that common Prudence engages every one to do the 
 best for himself, and not to throw off everything 
 because we can't have what we would. What you 
 have urged is very reasonable, but Reason finds not 
 all the Friendship and Entertainment which a very 
 few think it deserves. There's only one thing more 
 to be considered in the Case, and that is the common 
 Providence of God, who though he makes us Offers of 
 things, and gives us Reason to make use of it, yet has 
 his own Ends and Designs in it, making all terminate 
 well for such as do their Duty in any State of Life, 
 though never so Contemptible, and when he Judges 
 'em fit for a better, he wants not means to put 'em 
 into it. 
 
 Q. Whether if People would eat more Salads, 
 Roots, and Herbs, and abstain from such variety of 
 fresh Diet as is used, it would not be more healthful 
 to the English Constitution, and make us more strong 
 and hearty, like our Brethren in Unity, the Dutch? 
 
 A. That there's very much in Diet, and that the 
 Body, nay Mind too, are affected with it, is too plain 
 to be proved, or denied ? and 'tis no improbable 
 Conjecture, that the English Diet, consisting so much 
 in Beef and Mutton, and Strong Meats, makes 'em
 
 2oS THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 to fight so well (and we don't see but that they are as 
 stout and strong, as well, as healthy, though not so 
 large as other Nations), whence the famous saying of 
 Prince Maurice — " That he was always for bringing 
 the English to fight while they had their own Beef in 
 their Bellies ;" when they were fresh come over, and 
 not reduced near the Condition to which the Man 
 brought his Horse. Though this love to Beef is so 
 rooted in the English that 'twill be a very difficult 
 matter to convert them from it ; but if you do, have a 
 care other fashioned Diet does not bring them to other 
 fashioned Fighting : Not that our Brethren in Unity, 
 the Dutch, are the only country who live much on 
 Salads ; for the Jacobites' Brethren in Iniquity, the 
 French, even in their Prosperity (the common People 
 we mean, of whom we are now discoursing), were used 
 to feast on a piece of Bread and a Turnip, but must 
 now be content to eat their Turnip without Bread, 
 since they han't Men to Till their Ground. Nor yet 
 is't any wonder if the poorer hungry Slaves should 
 fight desperately when they come to Storm our Camp, 
 since they are in hopes- of finding there good Store of 
 Beef and Mutton. 
 
 Q. What's your Opinion of the famous Joan of 
 Arc, or la Pucelle d'Orleans, — was she an Impostor 
 or a Saint, — and whether she was justly burnt by the 
 English ? 
 
 A. We think it one of the Strangest Accidents in all 
 our History, it being plainly that simple Girl who beat 
 us out of France, when we were Masters of so great a 
 part of it. If we may believe the account given by the
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 209 
 
 French, who writ her Life, she was not only Chaste 
 and Virtuous, but wonderful Devout, after their way, 
 her Piety having a large share of Enthusiasm mingled 
 with it, — and to this we attribute all the Strange 
 things she did, being herself so fully persuaded that 
 God sent her to deliver her Country, that 'tis possible 
 enough she might really fancy she saw all those 
 Saints and Visions, and Revelations she pretended to, 
 the Truth of which she affirmed to her death, and 
 which gave her so great Credit among the Vulgar, 
 that they not only thought her invincible, but all 
 others who fought under her Banner ; which Persua- 
 sion itself was sufficient in a natural way to give a 
 Turn to all their Affairs, as in effect it did. 
 
 As for her Burning, we think she had hard 
 Measure, nothing of moment appearing against her 
 in all the Process, as the French Author represents it, 
 besides those two unpardonable Heresies, — Beating 
 the English and wearing the Breeches, — -and we leave 
 it to the judgment of any Free-born English woman, 
 whether either of these were Crimes worthy of Death? 
 
 ■ Q. Whether Smoking Tobacco ben't a Vice, as well 
 as drinking, it being a cause of the latter, and of 
 a vast Expense, which might be otherwise better 
 employed ? Pray satisfy your humble Servant. > 
 From Virginia. 
 
 A. We did not think the Hawkers had run so far 
 with our Oracles. However, we must by no means 
 disoblige our new customer, who comes to us from 
 t'other World for satisfaction ; to whom we desire to 
 return another Question instead of his own, which 
 
 14
 
 2io THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 will partly answer it : Whether he thinks eating 
 Bread and Cheese or Westphalia Ham be a Vice, 
 nothing being more plain than that they are often 
 the cause of drinking ? He'll go near to answer, 
 doubtless they are Vices, if a man eats so much 
 Bread and Cheese, that he breaks his Belly, or more 
 Westphalia than he can digest, or knows how to pay 
 for ; or if he spends too much time in't, or eats it with 
 a design to provoke him to drink intemperately. 
 Just so 'tis with poor Tobacco ; but what's that to a 
 Virginian, who sure wou'd ne'er be angry if every Man 
 in England smoked a Sack in a Week. 
 
 Q. Going through Holbourn last Week, 'twas my 
 chance to see the Prisoners go to Execution, some of 
 whom I perceived not at all concerned, as to outward 
 appearance, for their future State. I must confess 
 I've nothing to say against the Ordinary ; for it may 
 be presumed there are always some Offenders left in 
 Newgate, after the Sessions, who commonly prejudice 
 the Prisoners against him who is their constant 
 Preacher. I desire your Opinion whether it would not 
 be a commendable thing for the Clergy of London 
 within the Bills of Mortality to Preach once every 
 Lord's Day to the Prisoners, which would not come 
 to their turns above once in two years? If they say, 
 their Preaching would be to no purpose, because they 
 are generally so hardened when they come thither, 
 that should an Angel from Heaven come down, 
 'twould signify nothing. But I must deny their asser- 
 tion, because there have been Instances of some who 
 have been hardened enough, and yet by Ministers
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 211 
 
 taking pains with them, have been convinced of their 
 wickedness, to that degree, that there has been no 
 doubt made by any of their Salvation and Repent- 
 ance. Whereas neither the Church Ministers nor 
 Dissenters now take any pains with those poor 
 Creatures, though the latter, as well as the former, 
 have liberty, if they please, to do it? 
 
 A. Tis not to be supposed an easy matter to move 
 the minds of such Men as have been long hardened 
 in such courses of Sin as generally bring 'em to 
 such unhappy ends : However, something is at least 
 endeavoured towards it, that they mayn't at once lose 
 their Souls and Bodies, and if but some few are 
 gained, better so than all lost. The Querist very well 
 observes that the prejudices they convey to one 
 another against the Ordinary are likely to be insuper- 
 able, unless 'twere possible to introduce better discip- 
 line among 'em and keep one part of those wretches 
 from infecting the other. In the meantime, what 
 the Querist wishes, we believe, will be readily sub- 
 scribed to by all charitable Men ; though if he'd give 
 himself the trouble to enquire, even the Right 
 Reverend Bishops of our Church have themselves 
 Preached among 'em, and thereby given so good an 
 example as would be an honour to the Clergy to 
 imitate. 
 
 Q. Whether the taking of Tobacco does a man good 
 or hurt ? 
 
 A. Mr. Osbourn, in his Famous Advice to his Son, 
 made up, as all know, only of his own Experiences, 
 tells him that he had himself taken it from Sixteen to
 
 212 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Sixty, without ever rinding it did him one Farthing's 
 worth either of good or hurt. And the same we are 
 apt to believe many more might say if they'd be but 
 ingenuous. However, it's certain enough that in this 
 Case, as well as all others, circumstances extremely 
 alter the thing. What's one Man's Meat and Physic 
 too, is another's Poison — all grant that Tobacco may 
 be of excellent Use to your moist and phlegmatic Con- 
 stitutions, by drying up, or draining off, what would 
 else offend Nature. But on the other side, 'tis almost 
 as much Poison to a dry and choleric Person, as the Oil 
 of it is to a Kitten, when dropped upon its Tongue, 
 or conveyed into its Flesh; rendering him yet more 
 Choleric, and endangering the throwing him into 
 a Frenzy, especially if taken in any great Quantity; 
 for a little Poison can do but a little Mischief. And 
 indeed it is either profitable or hurtful, according to 
 the quantity. We have known some such Gluttons 
 at it as to smoke thirty Pipes a day ; and others so 
 bewitched with it, that they can do almost nothing 
 else. These extremes it was, we may believe, which 
 brought all the Wits of the Age against it when it 
 first obtained in England, if we mayn't rather be 
 tempted to suspect it was King James the First's Royal 
 Pen being engaged in the Cause and proclaiming open 
 W T ar against it, which made all the other Writers 
 draw on the same side (though could that Prince have 
 known what vast Revenues this Plant would in a few 
 Ages have brought to the Crown, he could scarce have 
 had the Heart to be so unmerciful against it). Hence 
 proceeded Jo. Silvester's Volley of shot thundered
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 213 
 
 from Mount Helicon, as well as all the little Pot-gun- 
 Scribblcrs which we find in that Age against poor 
 Tobacco. Nor had the World quite done with it yet. 
 Mcibonius, in a Treatise of his, De Cerevisiis, et 
 Ebriamnibus aliis, Printed at Helmstadt, 1668, men- 
 tions this among other Narcotic Fumes, and is withal 
 very witty upon't, applying thereunto what Virgil says 
 of Cacus — 
 
 " Fancibus tngentem fumum, mirabile dictii! 
 Evomit, vivolvitque dot/ium caligine cccca 
 Prospccium eripiens oculis, glomeratque sub aniro 
 Fumiferam ?ioctem, commixtis igne tenebris." 
 
 Which if you are disposed to be merry, take thus (or 
 some like them) in pure Sternhold — 
 
 Forth from his Jaws 
 Vast Smoke he draws, 
 
 O strange and wonderous Sight ! 
 He draws and spews, 
 And fills the House 
 
 With mingled Fire and Night. 
 
 But notwithstanding all this, and that no Crowned 
 head in Christendom did ever yet smoke, that came 
 to our Knowledge, the Porters in London, and the 
 good Women and Children in the West, are not like 
 to take one Pipe less than they did before — and so 
 we leave them without any further Disturbance at 
 their unenvied Pleasure. 
 
 Q. What sort of Men arc the Poorest in the 
 World ? 
 
 A. Poverty is but a suggestion of our own Fancy;
 
 214 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 therefore those Men are the poorest who think they 
 want most, not those that possess least. 
 
 Q. Whether it be lawful to wear Black Patches ; if 
 not, wherein consists the Sin ? What Command or 
 Precept is broke by it ? For as to those Objections 
 generally brought, as that 'tis a design to mend what 
 God has made ; may not this be as well said of any 
 Ornament we wear, which we think best becomes us, 
 and the same to that other so often used, If we 
 were born with such a spot on our Faces, we should 
 endeavour to get it off, which I believe on the con- 
 trary ; but I am sure as to any other thing we wear, 
 though the most necessary, as a Petticoat, etc., we 
 should be much more concerned to get rid of it, if it 
 came into the World with us ; and so for a Black 
 Hood or Hat on our Heads : But as for any solid 
 Argument or Reason against Patches, I ne'er saw 
 any, except, That to some Persons they give offence, 
 and amongst them I'd never wear 'em ; but in them- 
 selves, if they have any harm, I must confess myself 
 ignorant of it ? 
 
 A. The Lady herself has said so much, in so little 
 room, on her own Question, that 'tis not easy to add 
 anything to what she advances, and we think what 
 she says can hardly be answered. We are not 
 ignorant that many zealous Casuists of late years 
 have very bitterly inveighed 'em, especially those 
 among our Dissenting Brethren ; but yet we find the 
 most judicious of 'em speak but very doubtfully as 
 to their being in themselves unlawful. Thus one of 
 the greatest Men they ever had, in his Answer to that
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 215 
 
 Question, Whether it be lawful for any Person to hide 
 their Deformity by Clothing, or by Spots, or Painting, 
 to make themselves seem to others as beautiful as 
 they can ; He replies, It is lawful for some Persons, 
 by some means, for some good Ends and Reasons, 
 when a greater Evil is not like to follow it, to hide 
 their Deformities, and to adorn themselves so as to 
 seem more comely than they are. The some means 
 he mentioned must be those he had before recited, 
 Spots, etc., or else he says nothing to the purpose; 
 and if they are lawful to some persons, and for good 
 ends, they must certainly be in themselves indifferent, 
 otherwise circumstances could never change their 
 nature. However, he clearly supersedes the common 
 popular objection against 'em (nay, against painting 
 too, which seems much more obnoxious), viz., that 
 'tis a sin to attempt mending God's work, since he 
 clearly grants 'tis lawful in some cases both to hide 
 deformities, and to use means to appear more beau- 
 tiful than persons really are. And indeed the case is 
 plain so far, for otherwise 'twere a sin for one that's 
 crooked to wear a gown that hides it, or that has but 
 one eye to wear a glass one, or indeed for a bald pate 
 to wear a periwig. For the other objection, that if we 
 were born with such patches we should desire to get 
 rid of 'em, the lady docs with equal truth and justice 
 deny both the fact and consequence ; for the fact, 
 what's more becoming than a handsome Mole ? For 
 the consequence, 'tis just none at all, for the reason 
 she gives. If it be urged as a judgment that some 
 have been born with patch'd faces whose parents wore
 
 216 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 'em, we must desire those who think it so to get a 
 little more charity and prudence too to mix with 
 their Zeal ; for first, the thing is plainly natural, 
 and only the common effect of a strong and 
 lively fancy ; and then, secondly, if there's any 
 strength in their argument, it must be thus formed, 
 whenever any child is marked 'tis a judgment of God 
 upon the parent, at least, and that He is displeased 
 with 'em, if they do not first lay down that pro- 
 position they come short of proving anything as 
 to this particular instance ; if they do, they must 
 find some Sin in longing for Strawberries, Claret, and 
 Cow-heels, or at least make those Marks which are 
 so frequent on Children, the Tokens of Divine 
 Vengeance. For the Ladies condescension, not to 
 wear 'em where they'll give scandal, we think it very 
 commendable, though more than she's in Conscience 
 obliged to, for the case of scandal is far different here 
 from that the Apostle mentions at the beginning of 
 Christianity, nor can it be ever supposed that the 
 sight of a spotted Face should destroy any of those 
 for whom Christ died, by tempting 'em to do evil; 
 which is the true notion of Scandal, though far enough 
 differing from what is commonly assigned. And this is 
 at present, after mature Deliberation, our Judgment in 
 the case proposed ; which we are yet ready to change, if 
 they can bring better Reason for the contrary Opinion. 
 Q. Whether trading for Negroes — i.e., carrying 
 them out of their own Country into perpetual 
 Slavery — be in itself unlawful, and especially contrary 
 to the great Law of Christianity ?
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 217 
 
 A. Sir, After a mature and serious Consideration of 
 the Question proposed, I am for the Affirmative, and 
 cannot see how such a Trade (though much used by- 
 Christians) can be any way Justified, and fairly 
 reconciled to the Christian Law ; and here first let me 
 propose my Reasons, and then Answer such weak 
 Pleas as use to be made for it. 
 
 1. I take it to be contrary to the great Law of 
 Nature of doing unto all men as we would they 
 should do unto us, and which, as our Saviour tells us 
 (Matt vii. 22), is the Sum of the Law and the 
 Prophets : For let us put the Case to ourselves, and 
 consider what it would be for a Man to be stolen 
 away from his Native Country and hurried into 
 perpetual Bondage : Or to have a Child snatched 
 from his Embraces and so used, and then see if this 
 Trade and Practice can be any way reconciled to this 
 Rule : And surely they that have the Gospel, and yet 
 sin against the very Laws of Nature, shall have a 
 Severer Punishment at the Day of Judgment, than 
 those Poor silly Wretches that have only that dim 
 Light to guide 'em ; and perhaps those Poor Wretches 
 in Chains, when Death shall make them free, may 
 rise up in Judgment and condemn those more Cruel 
 and unnatural Men, that so unjustly deprive them of 
 that Liberty which God and Nature, had given them. 
 
 2. 'Tis plainly contrary to the Word of God, and 
 forbidden both in the Old Testament and in the 
 New ; see Exod. xxi. 16. He that stealeth a Man 
 and selleth him, or he be found in his Hands, he 
 shall be surely put to Death : The Prohibition is
 
 218 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 general : He that stealeth any Man whatsoever, with- 
 out Distinction, whether one of their Brothers or a 
 Stranger, a mere Heathen or a Pagan : He shall be 
 surely put to Death, the Punishment is Capital, and 
 good Reason for it. For if he that sheddeth Man's 
 Blood, by Man shall his Blood be shed, Surely, 
 Liberty is as dear as life itself, yea, he that intends 
 to sell a Man into some kind of Bondage, would do 
 him a greater Kindness to free him from a miserable 
 Life : And I am well assured this is the Case of some 
 of those Poor Wretches with a Witness. 
 
 Again, in the New Testament, St. Paul, I Tim. i. 
 10, joynes the Man-Stealer with the most Horrid 
 and Unnatural Sinners, Murderers of Father, and 
 Murderers of Mother, and defilers of themselves with 
 Mankind. 
 
 3. Its Practice is a disgrace to Christianity, and 
 makes the Name of Christ to be blasphemed amongst 
 the Gentiles, and (in all likelihood) hinders the Pro- 
 pagation of the Christian Faith in the World. For 
 I am verily persuaded, that if a fair and honest Trade 
 and Commerce had been carried on amongst them, 
 and no Violence had been done to their Persons, 
 Christianity must have gotten as great footing by this 
 time amongst them, as it has amongst the Poor 
 Infidels of New England : Or at least they might 
 have been in a great forwardness to receive that Holy 
 Doctrine, which now they hate and abominate for the 
 sake of this Practice of Christians amongst them. 
 And woe be to that Person that shall by any means 
 hinder that blessed design for which Christ came
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 219 
 
 from Heaven, and both Himself and His Apostles, 
 and many primitive Christians spent their dearest 
 Blood to promote — viz., to have the Mind and Will of 
 God known to the World. 
 
 But perhaps some may make light of this, and 
 persuade themselves they have sufficient Pleas to 
 vindicate the Practice ; I know indeed many times, 
 when a Man's Interest lies in the Balance, a very 
 weak Plea and light Excuse will pass for a weighty 
 Reason ; but for my part (who am a person indif- 
 ferent and altogether unconcerned that way), I could 
 never yet receive any Answer or Excuse that could 
 raise in me the least doubt of the Unlawfulness of it. 
 That which I have heard pleaded for it is to this 
 Effect, viz. : — 
 
 1. Plea : We deny the Charge, we do not steal 
 them, but make a lawful purchase of them. 
 
 A. Purchase them (for Toyes and Baubles), per- 
 haps you may, but lawfully I am sure you cannot; 
 for they which sell them do steal them, or take them 
 away by Violence, and you know the Proverb, " The 
 Dealer is as bad as the Stealer." We are they that 
 call ourselves Christians, that encourage them in such 
 Evil practices, our Law (in many Cases) looks upon 
 the Accessory as bad as the Thief. I am sure the 
 Law of God does. (Prov. xx. 24.) Whoso is 
 Partner with a Thief hateth his own Soul. And the 
 holy Psalmist charges it as a great Crime, when we 
 see a Thief, to consent with him. Psal. 1. 18. The 
 Learned and Pious Bishop Hall, in his Decade of 
 Cases of Conscience, Decade 1st, Case 10, Page 66,
 
 2 2o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Resolves this case, that to buy those goods which we 
 know, or have just cause to suspect, are stolen or 
 plundered, is no better than to make ourselves Acces- 
 sory to the Thief, if you do it with an Intention to 
 possess them as your own {i.e., not return them to the 
 right Owner), for what do you else but ex post Facto 
 partake with that Thief which stole them, and 
 Encourage him in his lewd Practices; since, according 
 to the old Word, If there were no Receivers there 
 would be no Thieves, etc. 
 
 2. Plea : But most of them are taken Prisoners of 
 War by one Petty Prince from another, and sold by 
 the Conqueror. 
 
 A. But who are commonly the Cause of this War, 
 or what do they commonly fight about, but to gain 
 the Booty of the Field, Slaves to be sold ? — And I 
 am credibly informed, 'tis usual for the Traders in 
 this unlawful Commodity to send Presents to some 
 Petty Prince among them, to make War with his 
 neighbouring Prince, to take such Prisoners, and 
 furnish their Cargo ; and who then must answer for 
 all this Blood and Injustice ? 
 
 3. Those Men are more Heathens than Pagans. 
 
 A. Pray, what then ? Have they not a common 
 right to those Temporal Blessings which an indulgent 
 Creator has given them as well as we? Is Dominion 
 founded in Grace ? May a Man that is pleased to 
 call himself a Christian under that Notion wrong or 
 molest such as had not the happiness to be born in a 
 Christian Country? Did our Lord and Master 
 (though the Lord of the whole World) give us any
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 221 
 
 such Example when in the World ? And doth not 
 the Apostle bid us do good unto all Men, and 
 especially unto the Household of Faith, though we 
 ought to be kinder to our Brother Christian, yet 
 surely we ought to do good, or at least to do no 
 Wrong, to mere Pagans and Infidels. 
 
 4. Plea : Did not the Jews buy Slaves ? How 
 often do we Read of the Bond Servants bought with 
 their Money in the Jewish law, and may we not do 
 what God's own People did ? 
 
 A. I Answer First, in the general, That the Judicial 
 law of Moses (whereof this about Bond Slaves is one) 
 is made void, and no Rule (further than it carries a 
 Moral Reason with it) for Christians to walk by, who 
 (as says the Apostle) are not under the Law, but 
 under Grace. But secondly, let us deal with those 
 Poor Negroes, as the Jews were commanded to do 
 with the Heathen. 1. When they had bought them, 
 they were obliged to bring them up in the True 
 Religion (see Gen. xvii. 12, 13). God commands 
 Abraham, He that is Born in thine House, or bought 
 with Money of any Stranger, which is not thy Seed ; 
 such an one must needs be Circumcised, and brought 
 into Covenant with God. 2. Whilst they were in the 
 House they were to be kind and loving towards them, 
 and 'tis often repeated, Be kind unto Strangers, for 
 you yourselves were Strangers in the Land of Egypt. 
 
 5. Plea : The Law of our Land allows it. 
 
 A. The Law of our Land is so far from allowing it, 
 that if an Infidel be brought into this Kingdom, as 
 soon as he can give an Account of the Christian
 
 222 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Faith, and desires to be Baptised, any charitable, 
 lawful Minister may do it, and then he is under the 
 same Law with other Christians. As for our Islanders 
 abroad, from whence they came, what carried them 
 thither, and what kind of Christians the most of them 
 are, I need not inform you : 'tis their great Diana, 
 by this Craft they have their gain, and therefore we 
 can never expect that they should make any Private 
 or Bye-Laws against it. But if the Law be ever so 
 much silent in this Case, he that will do anything 
 that the Law (which can never provide in all Cases) 
 does not plainly forbid, would be but a bad Subject, 
 and I'm sure a worse Christian. 
 
 Lastly, they say, They thereby make them, those 
 useless Creatures, to become greatly Advantageous to 
 Mankind, bring them into a happier Condition, and 
 many of them become good Christians, etc. 
 
 A. How dare we pretend to order Things better 
 than an All-wise Lawgiver has plainly Commanded 
 us ? Or think to put those Poor Wretches to better 
 Uses, than an All-wise Providence seems as yet to 
 have designed them for ? If they came freely, what 
 need a Cargo be carried to purchase 'em ? What 
 need of Chains, and Bolts, and Fetters ? And why 
 do many of those Poor Wretches endeavour to starve 
 or destroy themselves, or leap over-board, if so 
 mighty glad of being carried into perpetual Slavery ? 
 Or if they find themselves happier under their Bond- 
 age than in their own Country, what is the Reason, 
 that when one of their Fellow Slaves dies, all the rest 
 sing and rejoice and dance about him, as foolishly
 
 - MIS CELL A NEOUS Q UESTIONS. 2 2 3 
 
 concluding he is Happily returned to his own Country ? 
 And though some of them may be admitted to 
 become Christians, 'tis more than the Seller knows, or 
 any way obliges the Purchaser to, neither can that 
 atone for the rest. And surely, methinks, what has 
 been said should be enough to convince all such as 
 are not resolved beforehand, that they will not be 
 convinced ; or at least to render the Case extraordin- 
 ary Dubious, and then the clearer Part is to be chosen, 
 especially in this Case, where (if we are afterward 
 convinced, we have done those poor Wretches any 
 wrong) we can never make them Restitution. 
 
 Q. The Reverend Bishop Usher, and the Right 
 Honourable Sir Matthew Hale, late Lord Chief 
 Justice of England, were some time since put in 
 Competition in a Company where I happened to be 
 present I desire both their Characters, and who 
 deserves the Priority, without any Imputation to the 
 other? and if they were guilty of any Imperfections, 
 modestly to disclose 'em, and confess one of 'em to 
 be inferior to the other in Law, Piety, Knowledge, 
 and other heavenly Epithets : and pray your Judg- 
 ment, whether there ever lived any Man for these 500 
 Years who had such a Character as my Lord Hale 
 now has, and I believe always will retain ? I desire 
 you, without any Equivocation or Banter, to give a 
 fair and clear Determination whether of the two you 
 think, on the whole Matter, the Greater Man, several 
 considerable Wagers depending upon it. 
 
 A. These Wager-Men have always some Matter of 
 Moment, and are generally Men of Great ; but
 
 224 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 we forgot, we must not banter. We answer then in 
 good earnest, that this is not at all a fair Question, as 
 'tis here proposed ; for what comparison between two 
 Persons of so different a way of Life ? The Compari- 
 sons of Plutarch are between a General and a General, 
 a Lawgiver and a Lawgiver, Numa and Lycurgus, 
 etc., but never between Numa and Alcibiades, or the 
 like. All then that can here be done is to enquire 
 into the Characters of these two great Men in their 
 own Study and Way of Life, or else more grossly con- 
 sidered, as General Scholars, Men, Christians, English- 
 men. Though this hasty Querist has already decided 
 the case, and given his Note, we see, against the 
 Archbishop, because he had not that Heavenly 
 Epithet of Law, as he very surprisingly expresses 
 it. To begin then their Comparison, as far as our 
 Memory will furnish us ; though for a just Character 
 we know we ought to read all their Lives, and 
 discourse such as personally knew 'em ; but that's not 
 to be expected in a Paper of this nature. 
 
 The good Archbishop — we never heard him called 
 by any other epithet — had the happiness of an early 
 and very particular application to the business of his 
 life; at nineteen was a great divine and disputed with 
 and gravelled an old Jesuit who was not unlearned or 
 unskilled in those controversies; and who himself gives 
 such a testimony of him, and makes him seem, then, 
 a prodigy of learning. My Lord Chief Justice was 
 not so happy in the first years of his youth, though he 
 soon retrieved what he had then lost by his future 
 indefatigable industry. Both of these great men
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 225 
 
 were extraordinary ornaments to their country in 
 their several professions. The Archbishop, an uni- 
 versal scholar, having a vast comprehension of mind, 
 well worthy such a place ; a large soul made for the 
 world, and entertaining correspondences with almost 
 all the learned men in it : being extremely concerned 
 when he knew any such in narrow circumstances, 
 sending 'em pensions while in his prosperity, and 
 setting 'em about that particular study to which he 
 found their genius most inclined 'em. There was 
 nothing in antiquity or history, no time, no language, 
 but seemed as familiar to him as his own ; and how 
 much he obliged the learned world, how extremely he 
 enriched our Manuscript Libraries, scarce any can be 
 ignorant who have but looked into books. Then his 
 piety to crown the rest was highly remarkable in all 
 its instances, in devotion, charity, loyalty, patience, 
 zeal, temper, and moderation ; equal to all fortunes, 
 and above 'em all, and more famous in foreign 
 countries even than his own ; the greatest men in the 
 greatest Courts of the Romish religion inviting him, 
 by the proffer of honourable pensions, to be one of 
 their chiefest ornaments : a great honour, though he 
 gained greater by refusing it. 
 
 For the Lord Chief Justice, though he was not so 
 known to other nations he was very serviceable in 
 our own. A person of strong judgment, great sin- 
 cerity, and equal courage : an Oracle of the Law, and 
 yet understood his religion so well as to equal good 
 Divines by his useful writings on that subject. A 
 contempt of the world not often found in persons of 
 
 J 5
 
 226 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 his high station. An inflexible justice. Not tricking 
 or promising or delaying or starving a poor client for 
 want on't. To all this a firm loyalty. An uncommon 
 piety, prudence, temper, and moderation (which last 
 were once Christian virtues, and we are apt to believe 
 are so still, notwithstanding all the angry bigotry of 
 extreme opinions). Nor have the enemies of either 
 of these great men any more reason to question their 
 loyalty than any of their other virtues, though they 
 lived for some part of their time under an usurped 
 Power, which was their unhappiness, not their crime ; 
 and though they were both courted by the then 
 powers, making use of what interest they had with 
 'em to do good and relieve the distressed loyalists. 
 Hale 'tis true acted under 'em as Chief Justice, which 
 to be sure Usher could not as Archbishop ; though 
 the Judge would never try any State causes, and did 
 justice on some of Oliver's soldiers, and even in 
 causes wherein he was personally concerned, and had 
 packed a jury, which it seems was a practice that did 
 not take its beginning since the Restoration. And 
 in his acting thus he was satisfied and concerned by 
 the resolution and advice of no less men than Dr. 
 Sheldon and Henchman (afterwards Canterbury and 
 London) of the clergy, and Sir Orlando Bridgman 
 and other known Loyalists of the other Gown. And 
 by his acting he preserved in all probability the 
 Tower Records from being destroyed : which was in 
 earnest talked of among those giddy Governors who 
 were afraid the wisdom of their fathers should upbraid 
 'em for being such fools and madmen,
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 227 
 
 As for their domestical concerns, that can't fairly 
 be brought into a man's character, unless he makes 
 himself anyways remarkable by his own imprudence 
 or folly. 
 
 All that 'tis handsome to say on this occasion is, 
 that the imprudence of the one, if he were really 
 guilty of any in his second choice, was more culpable 
 than the misfortunes of the other, because in his own 
 choice and power : whereas the other's misfortunes, 
 to be sure, were not voluntary, supposing all be true 
 which are reported of 'em ; and when they came he 
 bore 'em like Socrates, a wise man, and, which is 
 more, like a Christian. 
 
 And this is all we at present think fit to say about 
 these two very extraordinary persons ; nor shall we 
 presume to shoot a bolt whether of these two were the 
 greater. 
 
 Q. Is it expedient that Women should be Learned? 
 
 A. Knowledge puffcth up the Mind ; therefore if 
 Women were Learned, they would be prouder and 
 more unsupportablc than before. Besides, a good 
 Opinion of themselves is inconsistent with the Obedi- 
 ence they are designed for. Therefore God gave 
 Knowledge to Adam, and not to Eve, who by the 
 bare desire of Knowledge destroyed all. 
 
 Q. Why are they not Learned as Men ; are they 
 not capable to become such ? 
 
 A. They are too delicate to acquire Knowledge, 
 which is not obtained but with great Fatigue. 
 Besides, the moisture of their Brain hindereth solidity 
 of Judgment, which is so necessary for the Sciences.
 
 228 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 Q. Why have they not solidity of Judgment ? 
 
 A. Because the Judgment is an act of the Under- 
 standing, which reflecteth upon its Knowledge, and 
 this Reflection dependeth on a dry Temperature, 
 which is contrary to that of the Brain of Women. 
 
 Q. Have none of them been Learned? 
 
 A. Yes, but 'tis extraordinary. Besides, if we con- 
 sider their works, they are always accompanied with 
 lack of Judgment. They acquit themselves pretty 
 well in their first Essays, but not in their second 
 Thoughts, which are always meaner than the first. 
 On the contrary, Men's second Thoughts surpass 
 their first, by reason of a stronger Judgment that is 
 in Men than is in Women. 
 
 Q. Why the Owl was said of Old to be sacred to 
 Minerva, and dear to the City of Athens ? 
 
 A. O Sir ! for divers and sundry weighty Reasons 
 which you wot not of. Why 'twas dear to the 
 Athenians is a plain case, because 'twas sacred to 
 Minerva, called also Athena, who gave the Name to 
 the City, as is fabled on this occasion. Neptune and 
 she contended to whom it belonged, and they were to 
 have it who produced the most beneficial Gift for the 
 use thereof. Neptune struck the ground, and Presto ! 
 out leaps a Steed capering and flouncing, that none 
 durst come near him till he had tamed and made him 
 fit for Service. Pallas falls a conjuring in her turn, 
 and up Springs an Olive, which as soon as she had 
 declared all its virtues and uses, the Prize was given 
 to her, and the City called after her Name. It's too 
 long to Crack the Fable, and give you the Mytho-
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 229 
 
 logic Kernel on't, for which, referring you to Natales 
 Comes, or where else you can find it, you must further 
 know that the Athenians upon this built a famous 
 Temple to Minerva, and held both her and all hers in 
 great estimation ever after (for Love me and Love 
 my Dog), and so in came the Owl for her share in 
 that respect and reverence that was paid to her 
 Mistress. But the Question is still as troublesome as 
 ever : Why should the Goddess make this Bird her 
 Favourite among all the rest? The Fables again tell 
 you that the Crow was first her delight, but being 
 inclined to tatling, she discarded her, and chose 
 Madge as a sager and wiser Creature, in her room, 
 because it sees in the Night, and is a grave plodding 
 thing. But there was, it seems, likeness in Body as well 
 as Mind, which begat this love between 'em, for Pallas 
 is called yAauKW7ris, Owl-eyed, or rather Owl's Face by 
 the Poets (her Goddess-Ship is extremely beholden to 
 'em for the Comparison), because she has Grey Eyes 
 as an Owl has (which perhaps she kept when she 
 turned herself into a Cat for fear of the Giants ; 
 besides, Grimalkin's Face and Madge's are not much 
 unlike). But there is still a deep-learned reason to be 
 fetched farther than Greece for this huge Friendship 
 between Pallas and the Owl : The Hebrew word 
 for Owl is Tlunsemeth, which Bochart endeavours 
 to prove may be derived from the Verb Mirart, to 
 wonder, or be astonished, because other Birds are so 
 astonished when they see her, and flock about her 
 just like Crows about an Owl. Nay, Aristotle, that 
 curious Enquirer into the Nature of Animals, tells
 
 2 7,o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 ■ o 
 
 us that Fowlers observing this of other Birds, made 
 use of the Owl to ensnare 'em, placing her under their 
 Nets, or on the top of a Tree, where the small Birds, 
 flocking together to so strange a Spectacle, are taken 
 in their Nets or Lime-twigs. But what's this to 
 Pallas ? More than is thought : for first she has her 
 Name a7ro tov 7raAAeiv from shaking or brandishing her 
 Spear, and so dazzling and confounding her Enemies 
 with the very Sight of that and her Eyes together, as 
 still they stood gazing about her, like the Birds about 
 an Owl, till she spitted 'em all upon her Spear as fast 
 as she pleased. But what's more, she is said to carry 
 the Gorgon's face in her Shield, which dazzled her 
 Enemies exactly as the sight of the Owl does the 
 small birds. And what if, after all, this dreadful 
 Gorgon's Face should be only an Owl's head of her 
 own which she carried about with her to amuse those 
 she was to fight with? However, we dare not posi- 
 tively conclude anything in a matter of so great 
 concern, but leave it to the Querist's own prudent 
 Consideration. 
 
 Q. Whether after the King and Queen had each 
 of them declared their earnest Desire of a General 
 Reformation of the Manners of the People of this 
 Nation, and the Justices of the Peace for the County 
 of Middlesex, in pursuance of Her Majesty's Letter, 
 had caused an Order of Sessions for the Execution of 
 the Laws against divers scandalous Sins, and par- 
 ticularly against unlawful Plays and Sports, to be 
 printed, published, and affixed in proper public 
 Places; and the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 231 
 
 had likewise set out an Order to like Purpose; 
 and had, moreover, upon the Petitioning of several 
 Inhabitants of the adjacent Parishes, setting forth the 
 Lewdness and Debauchery, which hath apparently- 
 increased, Tumults, the Bloodshed and Disorders 
 frequently committed, and the continual Danger of 
 Fire to the Houses and Estates of the said Inhabi- 
 tants, at the Fair of St. Bartholomew, by reason of 
 Booths of extraordinary largeness for Stage-Plays, 
 Music, and Tippling, contrary to the Law, being so 
 many Receptacles of vicious and disorderly Persons, 
 and whereby the Trade of the said Fair hath been 
 very much interrupted, had published and posted 
 another Special order concerning the said Fair, to put 
 a stop to the farther spreading of Wickedness and 
 Vice, to preserve the Peace, to provide for the safety 
 of the Inhabitants, and to restore to the Traders the 
 full enjoyment of their Trades, without Annoyance 
 or Obstruction ; And when a happy beginning of a 
 hopeful Reformation was very vigorously prosecuted 
 — Whether under all these Circumstances, to erect 
 Booths of such largeness, and for such Purposes as 
 aforesaid, be not an Abominable Wickedness and 
 Impiety against God ? 
 
 2. Whether it be not an Act of great Insolence 
 and Presumption against her Majesty, who hath so 
 happily given Encouragement to this beginning of a 
 Reformation ? 
 
 3. Whether it be not likewise an Act of Insolence 
 and Presumption against the Lord Mayor and Court 
 of Aldermen ?
 
 232 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 4. Whether it be not such an impudent Opposition 
 to the Reformation lately begun, and now prosecuted, 
 as ought to be resented by all who wish well there- 
 unto ? 
 
 5. Whether the Permission of such an Insolence, 
 Presumption, and Abominable Wickedness, under the 
 Circumstances aforesaid, be not like to provoke some 
 Special Judgment of God for it ? 
 
 6. Whether the permitting of so great an Occasion 
 of Disorder and Wickedness, and so plainly contrary 
 to the Laws, be not a great Blemish to, and Diminu- 
 tion of, the Honour of the City, so famous for good 
 Government in other Respects ? 
 
 7. Whether the Persons who Let the Ground for 
 such Purposes, or to Persons notoriously known to 
 use such Employments, be not equally criminal and 
 punishablewith those who erect the Booth for that end ? 
 
 8. Whether those who pretend the Queen's 
 Authority for these Booths ought not to be enquired 
 after, and duly punished, if discovered ? 
 
 9. Whether the suppression not only of these 
 Stage Plays, but also all other the like ; and of Lot- 
 teries, which are not only pernicious, but also con- 
 trary to Law, and cannot be Authorised either by 
 any Lease of the Lord Mayor or Court of Aldermen, 
 or by any Charter of the Queen herself, or any 
 Authority less than an Act of Parliament, doth not 
 well deserve the Consideration of all those worthy 
 Persons who are willing to their Assistance for the 
 Promoting of the present Reformation? 
 
 A. These are all Questions of very great weight
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 233 
 
 and moment, both with respect to the present Re- 
 formation and the several great Persons therein con- 
 cerned ; and therefore we shan't presume to give the 
 World our Thought upon 'em, without Special Orders 
 for so doing. 
 
 Q. A certain Person on Sunday last, in the Sermon 
 time, was drinking in an Alehouse where he dined, 
 for which he was forced to pay 3s. 6d. Yet the 
 Justice of Peace, who caused the Man to pay the said 
 Money, was the same Day tippling himself in Sermon 
 time. Now I would fain know what treatment this 
 said Justice ought to meet with, and to whom may a 
 Man safely go to inform against him ; for without 
 doubt no Justice will fine or condemn a Justice, but 
 rather send the Informer to Prison ; therefore what 
 ought to be done in this Case, that the Reformation 
 may take its free Course ? For without doubt, if it 
 is a notorious Crime in a mean Man, it is so in a 
 Justice of Peace ! To which for a parallel we may 
 add another we have received, to wit, A Justice of 
 Peace his Son was lately taken in a Tippling-House 
 in the time of Morning Service, contrary to the 
 Statute in that Case made and provided ; whether or 
 no the Constable that searched the House for Tipplers 
 and took him, and afterwards let him go again because 
 he was a Justice's Son, ought not to be treated in 
 Open Court like that Constable you make mention of 
 in your Oracle, vol. iii. p. 33 [He was in open Court 
 turned out of his office. — Ed.], who refused to execute 
 a Warrant for the seizing of Fruit publicly exposed 
 to Sale on the Lord's Day ?
 
 234 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 A. In answer to both these Questions, we affirm 
 'tis a vulgar Error among Justices (and now is the 
 time it will be made appear so) concerning that 
 Maxim, Par in parent non habet pratestatem ; That an 
 Equal has not Power above his Equal, we grant to 
 be a Truth, speaking strictly, without considering 
 whether Circumstances or Exceptions may alter the 
 Case. But let such as only love a General Construc- 
 tion of Things consider that a Criminal is not equal 
 to an Innocent Person, much less with a Magistrate ; 
 and that by breach of the Laws he may (though a 
 Justice of Peace, or a Magistrate) become subject not 
 only to a Magistrate of equal degree, but to an 
 Inferior Officer, a Parliament-man, a Judge, nay, a 
 Nobleman, may be subject to Arrest by a petty 
 Constable in some Cases. If we look into Stows 
 Annals of Henry IV. we shall find the Lord Chief 
 Justice Gascoyne famed for Executing the Laws 
 against the Prince ; and read the Statute, 4 Hen., 
 7 cap. 19, and you will find how careful the King 
 was to see his Subjects have Right done : And what 
 King left fuller Coffers to a Successor than he did ? 
 But to the Instances in the Question : No other 
 Justices can refuse to act upon Information against 
 the first Justice, the other Justice's Son, and the 
 Constable, if the Information appears to be truth ; 
 which let the Informer be well satisfied of, by such 
 sufficient Evidence as the Statutes in those Cases 
 require. 
 
 Q. Some Ladies, very cautious about a Lie, are 
 extremely desirous to know what it is ?
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 235 
 
 A. Tis what they tell every day; and therefore 
 why do they trouble us with such a Question ? 
 
 Q. What Historical Account can you give of the 
 Antiquity of Tyburn ? And who was the Proto- 
 Traitor died there ? 
 
 A. The Records of the Tower, or Newgate, per- 
 haps, will satisfy you. No doubt but a Papist was 
 the first Criminal that suffered, 'tis so long since. 
 Rotten Row in Old Street was the place of Execu- 
 tion before Tyburn. Some will have the Derivation 
 of the word Tyburn from tye up and burn, meaning 
 Execution by Strangling and Faggot ; but 'tis more 
 probable from the River that ran there, as also was 
 the Derivation of Holdburn, formerly named Old- 
 burn, or a River so called, as you may see amongst 
 England's Remarks, in the County of Middlesex. 
 
 Q. Was there ever any such Execution practised in 
 England as hanging in Chains alive ? 
 
 A. Many, about Two Hundred Years since, and 
 some few Instances within a Hundred Years; whence 
 it is common, that you have Relations of Persons 
 eating their shoulders, and as far as they could reach, 
 to preserve Life a little longer than otherwise it is 
 possible. Under this Head comes that famous Rela- 
 tion of the Woman that kept her Father alive for a 
 very considerable time by the Milk of her own Breasts. 
 
 Upon Wednesday, the 4th of November 1691, there 
 was a Triumphant Arch about the middle of Cheap- 
 side, erected in the Manner of two Tables. Over the 
 First was a Draught of the Gun-Powder-Plot, with 
 this Inscription : —
 
 236 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 The Powder-Plot. 
 See, Protestants, what your Fore-fathers bote, 
 Then mark, that Papists plotted heretofore j 
 Admire no more they undermine the Laws, 
 Who undermine your Lords with like applause; 
 Alike their Treachery, alike their Cause. 
 
 Upon the Second Table was a Draught of French 
 Cruelties, thus subscribed : — 
 
 French Cruelty. 
 Monstrous Tyranny, desolate Fiance declares, 
 Whose Civil Butcheries out-do the Wars. 
 The groaning Natives watider for Repose, 
 A?id Exile, rather than Oppression chose. 
 Wars fill the World, and Horrors reign abroad. 
 Whilst William's Cares our Wealth and Peace restored. 
 
 Upon the other side of the Table was drawn the 
 King's Landing, and inscribed : — 
 
 The Prince of Orange's Landing. 
 Just Heavens, who all Oppressions doth oppose, 
 And acts as infijiiiely as he knows, 
 By special Conduct our Deliverance brought, 
 And this we annually celebrate. 
 Thus we give Nassau Thanks, and Heaven bless j 
 That, for the Action; this, for the Success. 
 
 And upon the other was drawn the Siege of Limerick 
 with this Inscription : — ■ 
 
 The Siege of Limerick. 
 A thl one and Aghrim, Limerick, Baltimore 
 Is William's now, and Ireland's Peace secure. 
 No more the Tenor of Bellona's Fears, 
 In all his settled Government appears, 
 His Conquering Hand for future Trophies waits, 
 To balance Kingdoms, and give Laws to States.
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 237 
 
 Just above the Tables was a Britannia, with a 
 Javlin and a Crown. 
 
 On the other Side, just opposite, was a Victoria, 
 dressed in Armour and Spoils. 
 
 There were Five Flags, the uppermost had their 
 Majesty's Arms. Upon the two utmost were writ, 
 Vivat Rex et Regina. Upon the two innermost 
 were writ, No Popery, No Slavery. There were also 
 three curious wheels ; about the first and largest were 
 written, GOD bless King William and Queen Mary. 
 Upon the second, — Delivered from Popery and 
 Slavery, Ann. 1691. Upon the Third, Prosperity to 
 the Protestant Religion. 
 
 The two sides were twisted with Imitation of 
 Orange-Trees, and Oranges growing upon them. 
 
 Q. I am under a very great Misfortune, and humbly 
 beg your Advice ; I have by long and hard drinking 
 almost lost my Eyes, yet I hope if I forsake it, it 
 would much conduce to the Recovery of my Sight, 
 but I am so much influenced by bad Company and a 
 bad Habit, that I find it too hard to do, though 'tis 
 like to cost me so dear as my Eyes ; I beg your 
 speedy Advice, which, by God's Assistance, I do 
 resolve to follow. I pray don't fail, and you will 
 very much oblige, etc. 
 
 A. Nay, if you have more Respect for our Judg- 
 ment than for your own Eyes, we may do some good 
 upon you; this ill Habit is generally more difficult to 
 quit than any, yet since you seem to be sensible of 
 the ill Effects on't, and the Necessity of leaving it, 
 'tis probable you may in Time get rid on't; but as it
 
 238 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 has been long contracting, so you cannot expect to 
 forsake it presently; you must not only resolve 
 against it, but likewise take such Measures as may 
 make your Resolution effectual. Begin with spend- 
 ing one Hour in a Day less in this lewd Company 
 and Drinking than is your usual Custom, and if 
 possibly you can command yourself so far, drink 
 something less; thus make strong Resolutions every 
 Morning: And though you should fail once or twice, 
 or more, let not that discourage you, but still pursue 
 them, and in some time you'll make it easy to you ; 
 and having gained thus much, go on and make it two 
 Hours, and so till you have got the entire Conquest. 
 And if you are so happy as to be successful in 
 the Attempt, be sure never to admit of any such 
 Acquaintance again: But 'tis not only your Eyes 
 that lie at Stake, but your Conscience, your 
 Heaven, your All, your Interest and Duty are both 
 Advocates; think of this, and then act as you think 
 fit. 
 
 Q. A young Gentlewoman married, and in a few 
 years was left a Widow ; her Father took both her 
 and her Children Home, and maintained them all. 
 Her Mother had a Pearl Necklace worth ^"300, which 
 was left at a Goldsmith's for some time, for which at 
 length she sent her aforesaid Daughter to fetch 
 Home ; accordingly she went, and by the way con- 
 cluded with herself to keep the Necklace, and to tell 
 her Parents her Pocket was picked of it coming 
 Home, which she did with all the Signs of a great 
 and real Sorrow; she pretended not to sleep for some
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 239 
 
 Nights, and wept extremely for a long time, which 
 made her Mother and Father to believe her. The 
 Question in Dispute is, Whether it was not as great a 
 Theft in her to wrong her Mother as it would have 
 been if it had been any one's else ; she alleges for 
 herself, her Father gave her no Fortune ; we desire 
 your Judgment if that can excuse her? 
 
 A. Theft is Theft, however circumstantiated ; and 
 'tis (instead of being the better) much worse when we 
 steal from or injure our Benefactors. When, accord- 
 ing to our English Proverb, I make bold with my 
 Friend, 'tis under this reasonable Presumption, that 
 either the Matter is so inconsiderate (and so agreed 
 upon by the general Notion of the World), that 'tis 
 not worth the telling of it ; or else, that if he knew, 
 he would not be displeased, and the Opportunity 
 would slip before I could ask Consent. But the case 
 here is very different, all Methods being taken lo 
 secure the knowledge of the Fact, as also a deal of 
 Lies and Hypocrisy to disguise it, and make it 
 appear something else. Virtue never skulks in the 
 dark, nor needs any excuses ; but Vice, as conscious 
 of its base and mean Demerits, improves all Methods 
 to keep itself unknown. Nor will the Excuse brought 
 in the Question extenuate, but heighten the Crime ; 
 for if a Parent gives not me what I think convenient, 
 I ought not to take away his Prerogative of Disposal, 
 and wrest the Paternal Power out of his Hands ; if I 
 can persuade him to it by reason, or the Intercession 
 of my Friends, or (which is best) carry myself so 
 towards him as to win upon him by Dutiful Behaviour,
 
 2 4 o THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 I do all that I can in the Case, and can sit down with 
 this Satisfaction, That I am not the worse for deserv- 
 ing well. Restitution and Repentance towards God 
 and Parents in this Case is absolutely necessary, if 
 Pardon and Innocence be so. 
 
 Q. Which is the greatest Sin, to be a Night- Walker, 
 or to rebel against one's Parents? 
 
 A. Either of 'em big enough for Damnation ; nor 
 doth the greater at all excuse the lesser, as 'tis 
 often designed in such Comparisons ; but to return a 
 direct answer, we refer you to the order of their set- 
 ting down in the Ten Commandments, where Duty to 
 Parents is pressed before Adultery is forbid. 
 
 Q. Pray inform me why Barbers (above all other 
 Tradesmen) hang out long Poles for a Sign? Upon 
 long debate in Company it's referred to you, there- 
 fore we desire your speedy Answer to determine our 
 Wager thereupon. 
 
 A. The Barber's Art was so beneficial to the 
 Publick, that he who first brought it up in Rome had 
 a Statue erected unto his Memory, as Authors 
 relate ; and in England they were in some sort the 
 Surgeons in old time : And therefore hung their 
 Basons out to make known, at a distance, to the 
 Weary and Wounded Traveller, where all might have 
 recourse. They used Poles, as some Inns still Gibbet 
 their Signs across a Town. 
 
 Q. From whence comes the invented custom of 
 gathering Christmas Box Money? And how long 
 since? 
 
 A. It is as ancient as the word Mass, which
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 241 
 
 Rornanish Priests invented from the Latin word 
 Mitto, to send, by putting the people in Mind to send 
 Gifts, Offerings, Oblations, to have Masses said for 
 every thing almost, that a Ship goes not out to the 
 Indies, but the Priests have a Box in that Ship, under 
 the Protection of some Saint, and for Masses, as they 
 Cant, to be said for them to that Saint, etc., the poor 
 people must put in something into the Priest's Box, 
 which is not to be Opened till the Ship returns. 
 Thus the Mass at that time was call'd Christmas, and 
 the Box Christmass Box, or Money gathered against 
 that time, that Masses might be made by the Priest 
 to the Saints, to forgive the People the Debaucheries 
 of that time, and from this Servants had the Liberty 
 to get Box-Money, because they might be enabled to 
 pay the Priest for his Masses, because No Penny, No 
 Pater-noster ; for tho' the rich pay ten times more 
 than they can expect, yet a Priest will not say a Mass 
 or any thing to the Poor for nothing, so Charitable 
 they generally are. 
 
 Q. Pray Gentlemen, Oblige me with your Advice, 
 whether I had best present a Noble Lord with my 
 address thus ? 
 
 My Lord, 
 Give me leave to tell your Lordship that I am 
 troubled with three Extraordinary's ; I am Extra- 
 ordinary Pensioner, that's bad ; Extraordinary Poor, 
 that's worse; and Extraordinary Modest, that's 
 worst of all ; for it has always been my hindrance : 
 Now if your Lordship shall please to be Extra- 
 ordinary Kind it will much lessen the Uneasiness of 
 
 16
 
 242 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 the other three ; but if they must still continue upon 
 me, and this fourth Extraordinary be wanting, why 
 then for a Fifth I will e'en bear up with my old 
 Friend Philosophy, and an Extraordinary Stock of 
 Patience and Contentment. 
 
 A. Present it, Man ! Yes, by all means ; 'tis indeed 
 the most Extraordinary Address we ever met with ; 
 and whethersoever it takes or misses, it will be as 
 Extraordinary; for so long as our Oracles live, it 
 shall be perpetuated for an Extraordinary Copy ; 
 and it will be no Wonder if every body comes Extra- 
 ordinary short in their Transcriptions of it. We are, 
 
 Extraordinary Sir, 
 
 Yours, etc. 
 
 Q. Whether we are to believe the Story of St. 
 Etheldra, that after being twice married, she liv'd and 
 dyc'd a Maid ? And if true, whether she deserved to 
 be canonised for't ? 
 
 A. Our aforementioned Author says, he believes 
 the Fact. However, he ascribes it rather to Vanity 
 than Devotion, and yet thinks if she was as Excellent 
 at other sorts of Mortifications as at Fasting, she 
 deserved to be Sainted. I Answer more positively, 
 the Fact is very likely to be true, considering the age 
 she lived in ; for when so many Kings turned Monks, 
 what greater Wonder is it that Queens shou'd be 
 Nuns? Many Instances of which I have in Bede, 
 who gives us this Story at large in his Ecclesiastical 
 History. That she deserved Canonization I deny, 
 any more than the Whimsical Styllita did for Preach- 
 ing like an Owl atop of a Pillar for Forty Years
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 243 
 
 together : Nor can any Man make us of another 
 Mind, unless I can first see him prove Celibacy a 
 Vertue. 
 
 Q. Whether the wearing of long Hair be not a Sin 
 against Nature, and Apostolical censure, 1 Cor. ii. 14, 
 and do not occasion unnecessary Expense, and gratify 
 the corrupt inclinations to Pride of Apparel ? Or 
 what other tolerable sense can be made of that Text? 
 
 A. The Apostle reprehends the Effeminacy of such 
 long Hair, crisped, plaited, and set off with Orna- 
 ments like Women ; not that long Hair was a Sin, 
 for Christ had long Hair, as a Nazarite, and other 
 Nations shaved their Heads constantly, and others 
 wore long Hair, and fillited it up, as the Tartars do 
 one long lock, and some Indians all their Hair ; but 
 to order the Hair so as to approach nearer the 
 Woman's custom in that Country, than like Men, was 
 to confound the distinction of Sexes, and become 
 contrary to the Custom of the Country where we live. 
 
 Q. If it be lawful for a Man, having bury'd his 
 Wife, to marry her own Sister, the first leaving 
 Issue behind her ? 
 
 A. The Case is the same, if we turn it to a Sister 
 marrying two Brothers, and of that we have the 
 highest instance in the Controvcrsie of Queen 
 Katherine and her two Husbands, Prince Arthur 
 and Henry the VIII., that ever the World yet saw. 
 'Tis not an easie matter to say anything on that 
 Subject which has not been already said, since it 
 employed at that time almost all the learned Pens 
 in Europe. The chiefest of whose Arguments, and
 
 244 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 which makes us resolve the Question in the Nega- 
 tive, is to this purpose : What's against the Moral 
 Law is undoubtedly unlawful. This is plainly such, 
 Levit. xii. 21, "If a Man shall take his brother's Wife, 
 it is an unclean thing." 'Tis moral, because 'tis added, 
 " That for these things God abhorred the Canaanites, 
 and cast them out ; " who cou'd be obliged, at least 
 before the other was revealed, only by the Moral Law. 
 
 Q. Whether a Man may marry two sisters ? 
 
 A. The Civil Law punishes him who does it, and 
 the Canon is grounded upon the Reverse of Lev. xviii. 
 16, "Thou shalt not discover the Nakedness of thy 
 Brother's Wife, it is thy Brother's Nakedness:" The 
 Reverse of it (which is always included in these 
 Prohibitions) is, " Thou shalt not discover the Naked- 
 ness of thy Sister's Husband, it is thy Sister's 
 Nakedness." Here it is plain, the Sister may not 
 marry her Sister's Husband, and how he can marry 
 her, without she marries him, we know not. God 
 Almighty himself has given one safe Exposition of all 
 such doubtful Degrees of Relation, in one General 
 Expression, Near of Kin, that we marry none that 
 are near of kin to us ; and indeed the World is wide 
 enough for Persons to marry without any Danger. 
 Those that wou'd be Critically satisfied in such-like 
 Cases, may Read the Arguments in the Divorce of 
 King Henry the VIII., when he was for marrying his 
 Brother's Wife. 
 
 We shall here, according to our promises in our 
 former advertisements, subjoin the short Account of
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 245 
 
 Six Nights' Rambles sent us ; and we hope not 
 impertinently, since 'tis to expose one of the capital 
 grievances against which the late Proclamation is 
 levelled : — 
 
 The first night I traversed the Pall Mall, and read 
 the face of every unmasked Lady I met ; and if 
 masked, I started some Question that still gave me 
 an Indication of their temper, endeavouring to light 
 upon as refined, yet modest piece of wickedness as I 
 could ; at last having made (as I thought) the best 
 of the market, away we walked to drink upon the 
 bargain. So after several glasses, and some little 
 insignificant prittle-prattle, I fixed my eyes upon 
 her, and said : — " Madam, methinks I read some 
 lines and characters of goodness in your face, which 
 are not yet absolutely defaced : Your education I'm 
 confident has not been unhappy : Pray be free, and 
 tell me, are you yet proof against the lashes of 
 your conscience ? " " Sir (said she), your design I 
 know not, but I dare not believe it to be ill, you 
 having made such an inquisitive prologue." " No 
 indeed (replied I), my request proceeds purely from 
 a generous pity at your misfortunes, which arc 
 sufficiently slavish." "Alas, sir (said she, and sighed), 
 'tis a slavish riddle, to choose what I hate ; I have 
 repeated these actions, but never without regret 
 and self-abhorrence for such a folly : — This I had 
 peculiar to myself, that I never was mercenary, 
 thinking it a greater baseness to sell my heaven than 
 give it ; I was first betrayed by keeping company 
 with a lady that was not over-modest ; but not
 
 246 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 thinking to engage myself, till one of her gallants 
 
 weakened my resolves, and at last I know not 
 
 what ; but I was ruined, for all my resolves are now 
 too weak to resist, never being able to hold out a 
 quarter of a year together ; but secure my honour for 
 this once by secrecy, and not watching me to my 
 lodgings, and I hope the novelty of this enterprize 
 may have effects upon me, and keep me from 
 doing such actions as must be repented of, or I 
 am undone." 
 
 The next attack was a City Madam, with a 
 melancholy air in her face, which put me upon acting 
 as follows : After having drunk a glass or two, she 
 began to draw a little too near me ; whereupon I 
 rose up, and with as severe a look as I could affect, 
 I said, " Madam, keep off, you think I'm flesh and 
 blood, and I doubt not but that I imitate it near 
 enough to deceive your eyes ; assure yourself I am 
 not what I appear ; Reclaim your whoredoms, or you 
 are lost ; you have but a little time left, make good 
 use of it ; if you are otherwise resolved, view these 
 features, and expect me to be a witness against you 
 at the day of judgment." Here she waxed pale, and 
 swooned away, and as soon as she came to herself 
 again, I left her ; and enquiring the next day about 
 her, I heard she took me for a spirit, and was resolved 
 to follow the advice of her strange monitor. 
 
 The third was a Savoy Bird well skilled in Con- 
 fidence and the depth of pockets, but so simple and 
 foolish in all her Answers that I think nothing can 
 reclaim her but afflictions. Such wretches perhaps
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 247 
 
 may deserve a particular way of treating in the new 
 Measures of Reformation. 
 
 The next cntcrprize was an old friend, a com- 
 panion of mine, whom I overtook caressing a lady 
 near the Maypole in the Strand, but being not 
 
 certain, I kept behind 'em till they came to S 
 
 lane, where, seeing 'em turn down, I made a Halt, 
 and they came up again presently into the Strand ; 
 so resolving to be satisfied, I made up to 'em, and by 
 asking, " What is'taclock?" discovered the truth of 
 the matter. The lady, finding my acquaintance with 
 my friend, scoured off; and he, seeing himself dis- 
 covered, begged my silence, and promised a Reforma- 
 tion, which I hope he has kept to ever since, having 
 given me such satisfaction as argues his sincerity in 
 this affair. 
 
 The fifth engagement occasioned this confession. 
 That she had an easy, tender education, but her 
 Brother grew extravagant, and instead of paying 
 her's and her sister's portions, he spent all, and she 
 having no way left to get her bread, and not being 
 able to work, took up this course, which (said she) at 
 first was very afflicting and uneasy to my conscience, 
 but had worn off by degrees; though, after all, I wish 
 I had begged rather than lived thus dissatisfied; for 
 I have lost my credit, am ashamed of my friends, 
 afraid of my enemies, and which is yet worse, see no 
 probability of living under better circumstances in my 
 life, and must die without hopes of mending it in the 
 other world. 
 
 The sixth and last Enterprize was so like the
 
 248 THE ATHENIAN ORACLE. 
 
 story of Paphnutius's converting a Harlot, that I 
 shall tell that only, perhaps not yet known to every- 
 body. He put on the habit of a soldier and went 
 to an infamous House, and choosing his woman, he 
 desired to go with her into a private room, where 
 none might see him ; she brought him into a 
 Chamber, which he objects against as not private 
 enough; she brings him into another, against which 
 he also objected ; at last she brings him into the most 
 private room in the House. He looks about every 
 way, and asks if they were secure there? and if none 
 saw 'em ?. She answered, None but God or the Devil. 
 And believest thou, said he, that there is a God ? 
 She answered, Yes. And believest thou that he is 
 Everywhere present and seeth all things ? She 
 answered she did believe it. And shall we, said 
 he, sin so shamefully under the eye of the most just 
 Judge that seeth all things ? Hereupon she had 
 nothing to say for herself, but fetched a deep sigh, 
 being ashamed of her wicked life ; and lived after- 
 wards on bread and water, not daring to take the 
 name of God into her mouth, but frequently repeated 
 these words, Thou who hast made me have Mercy on 
 me ; and so she continued three years and died. To 
 this conviction our present instance agrees, and we 
 are not without hopes of like effects in the rest 
 Gentlemen, If the time and moneys spent in these 
 six nights' rambles may reclaim or hinder the 
 debauchery of one single person, I shall think it 
 worth all my labour. 
 
 We might be fuller in our accounts of this nature,
 
 MISCELLANEOUS QUESTIONS. 249 
 
 and of the methods of redressing such evils, but a 
 worthy gentleman, who is very instrumental in this 
 begun Reformation, has already drawn up an Act, 
 which is printed and intituled, " An Act for the more 
 effectual restraining and suppressing of divers notori- 
 ous Sins, and Reformation of the Manners of the 
 People of this Nation ; " which 'tis hoped the next 
 Sessions of Parliament will take particular notice of, 
 in order to the ends designed by it.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 "THE ATHENIAN MERCURY": SOME 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 A GOOD deal of information concerning the manners 
 and customs of a people at any particular age, or in 
 any particular country, may at times be gathered 
 from a perusal of the advertisements that come out 
 in their newspapers. As far as can be ascertained, 
 the first newspaper advertisement ever published in 
 England appeared in the Impartial Intelligencer in 
 the year 1648. It was inserted by a gentleman of 
 " Candish in Suffolk," who was anxious, if possible, to 
 recover two horses that had been stolen from him. 
 This pioneer in the great Art of Advertising had at 
 first few imitators ; but in the course of a dozen years 
 or so, the sellers of books and the vendors of quack 
 medicines both discovered the value of the news-sheet 
 as a means of bringing their wares before the public 
 — a value which they have continued to appreciate 
 down to the present day. The advertisements that 
 appeared in the various Mercuries were, for the most 
 part, of books published, of apprentices, servants, or 
 black boys absconded, or of coaches setting out from
 
 252 APPENDIX. 
 
 London on great and perilous journeys into the pro- 
 vinces. The nature of the announcements which 
 appeared in the AtJienian Mercury — the two-hundred- 
 year-old journal with which we are here more imme- 
 diately concerned — may be gathered from the extracts 
 which follow. We begin with the first advertisement, 
 and the date of publication is in every case given. 
 
 All persons whatever may be resolved gratis in any 
 question that their own satisfaction or 
 curiosity shall prompt 'em to, if they Tuesday, Mar. 
 send their questions by a penny post 17, 1 690-1. 
 letter to Mr. Smith at his coffee-house 
 in Stock's Market in the Poultry, where orders are given 
 for the reception of such letters, and care shall be taken 
 for their resolution by the next weekly paper after their 
 sending. 
 
 We have taken into our Society a Civilian, a Doctor in 
 Physick, and a Chyrurgeon, on purpose 
 to be more serviceable to the age ; where- May 5, 1691. 
 fore we think fit to give notice that all 
 the most nice Physical, Chyrurgical, Anatomical, and Law 
 Questions (that shall be sent us) shall also have their 
 answers in single numbers, or at the end of every 
 volume. We have received this week a very ingenious 
 letter from a lady in the country, who desires to know 
 whether her sex might not send us Questions, as well as 
 men, to which we answer, Yes, they may, our design being 
 to answer all manner of questions sent us by either sex, 
 that may be either useful to the public or to particular
 
 APPENDIX. 253 
 
 persons. But forbear sending till we give public notice 
 that we have answered all those questions we have already 
 received. 
 
 All young gentlemen or ladies that desire to learn the 
 most exact and shortest Shorthand ever 
 before invented may be faithfully taught May 30, 1691, 
 by the Author, William Mason, at his and repeated. 
 Writing-School, the Hand and Pen in 
 Bell Yard, Gracechurch Street, on reasonable terms. And 
 such as please may (at convenient hours, when School is 
 over) be attended at their own habitations. 
 
 The first volume of the Athenian Mercury, etc., is now 
 published, resolving all the most nice and 
 curious questions proposed by the ingenious June 9, 
 from Tuesday, March 17th, till Saturday, 1691. 
 
 May 30th, 1691. Price 2s. 6d. This first 
 volume is neatly done up in Marble Paper, with a general 
 title, preface, and index to the whole. Printed for John 
 Dunton, at the Raven in the Poultry : where all gentlemen 
 may have their sets completed, or any of the single 
 Mercuries that are published every Tuesday and Saturday. 
 
 fjf The Life and Death of the Reverend Mr. John 
 Eliot, who was the first preacher of the Gospel to the 
 Indians in America, with an account 
 of the wonderful success which the August 4, 1691, 
 Gospel has had amongst the Heathen and subsequent dates. 
 in that part of the World, and of the 
 
 many strange customs of the Pagan Indians in New 
 England : written by Cotton Mather : the second edition
 
 254 APPENDIX. 
 
 carefully corrected. London, printed for John Dunton at 
 the Raven in the Poultry. Price, bound, is. 
 
 At the Vaults under Skinner's Hall 
 in Elbow-Lane is a good quantity of Aug. 25, 1691. 
 Nottingham and Darby Ale to be sold 
 at reasonable rates. 
 
 In Plow-Yard in Gray's-Inn-Lane lives Dr. Thomas 
 Kirleus, a Collegiate Physician, and 
 Sworn Physician to Charles II. until Aug. 29, 1691, 
 
 his death ; who with a Drink and and subsequent dates. 
 Pill (hindering no business) under- 
 takes to cure any ulcers, sores, swellings in the nose, face, 
 or other parts; scabs, itch, scurfs, leprosies, and venereal 
 disease, expecting nothing until the cure be finished. Of 
 the last he hath cured many hundreds in this city ; many 
 of them after Fluxing, which carries the Evil from the 
 lower parts to the head and so destroys many. The Drink 
 is 3s. the Quart, the Pill is. a Box, with directions, a 
 better purger than which was never given, for they cleanse 
 the body of all impurities, which are the causes of dropsies, 
 gouts, scurvies, stone or gravel, pains in the head and other 
 parts; with another Drink, at is. 6d a Quart, he cures all 
 fevers and hot distempers without bleeding, except in few 
 bodies. He gives his opinion to all that writes or comes 
 for nothing. 
 
 If any gentlemen or ladies are desirous to learn to speak 
 Latin or French truly and properly 
 according to Grammar rules, and to Nov. 17, 1691, 
 
 explain any author, Mr. Switerday and subsequent dates. 
 (recommended to our present King) 
 has invented a very short and easie method by which they
 
 APPENDIX. 255 
 
 may learn the said languages (if they can but spare two or 
 three hours in a week to be with him) in one year. Those 
 who have learned formerly may recover it in three or four 
 months. He offereth to be bound to everyone for the 
 performance thereof. He teacheth Mondays, Wednesdays, 
 and Fridays in High Holbourn, near little Turnstile, next to 
 the Faulcon ; and Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays in 
 Clement's Lane, near Canon Street, at the Sugar Loaf: 
 where you may have Grammatical and Latin and French 
 Historical Cards, by which he taught Children of 8 or 9 
 years of age to speak Latin and French fluently in 
 a very short time. Three or four youths may lodge with 
 him. 
 
 There is now published a Draught of the Arch that 
 stood in Cheapside on the fourth of this 
 instant November (being his Majesty's Dec. 1, 1691. 
 Birthday) and the fifth (being the day 
 of his Majesty's happy landing in England), done upon a 
 copperplate in Mezzo Tinto work, and may be had at Mr. 
 Bowles, in St. Paul's Churchyard ; Mr. Lence, near Fleet 
 Ditch; Mr. Bourns, at the Square upon London Bridge, 
 and at most Picture Shops. 
 
 For sale by the candle on Tuesday the 24th May 1692, 
 at the Old Amsterdam Coffee-house, in 
 Bartholomew Lane, on the backside of May 17, 1692. 
 the Royal Exchange, at 2 o'clock in the 
 afternoon : 
 
 104 quarter barrels of new Raisons of the sun, being 
 about 12 in a Lot, at 15s. per hundred weight.
 
 256 APPENDIX. 
 
 1 2 Barrels and 4 Hhds. Muscodavo Sugar in 3 Lots, at 
 
 26s. per C. weight. 
 1500 Kid Skins at id. each, in 3 Lotts. 
 85 Butts new Sherry Wine from 5/. to 28/. per Butt. 
 30 Butts new Cales Tent from 23/. to 29/. per Butt. 
 7 Butts new Tent or Alicant, at 28/. per Butt, being an 
 entire parcel and none sold out, to be sold one 
 Butt in each lot. 
 Printed Bills of the particular lots and prices, and where 
 the goods may be seen, are to be had at Charles' Coffee 
 House, in French Court, over against the Angel and Crown 
 tavern, behind the Royal Exchange. 
 
 Next Thursday will be published The Post Boy robbed of 
 his Mail, or the Pacquet broke open, 
 consisting of 500 Letters to Persons of Sept. 27, 1692. 
 Several Qualities and Conditions, with 
 observations upon each Letter. Published by a Gentleman 
 concerned in the Frolic. Price, bound, 2s. 6d. Printed for 
 John Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry. 
 
 Whereas there is lately found out a new way of making 
 glazed taper candles of the finest hard 
 bleached Tallow far exceeding Wax in Nov. 8, 1692. 
 beauty, very lasting and profitable : 
 Richard Ellis being the first Tallow-Chandler in England 
 that found out the true way of making them, has thought 
 fit to give Notice where all gentlemen and others may be 
 furnished with them at 5s. per dozen, which is at his shop 
 at the sign of the Bible in Coleman Street.
 
 APPENDIX. 257 
 
 A small old Spaniel Bitch, little Leggs and a little Head, 
 Liver-coloured and white, the holes in 
 her ears tore out, lost from Mr. Charles Nov. 19, 1692. 
 Clayton's Lodging at Mr. Barrington's 
 in Old Southampton Buildings in Holburn, whoever will 
 restore her shall have ten shillings reward. 
 
 Run away the 7th instant from the Horse Guards at 
 Whitehall, a Boy about 1 7 years of age, 
 thick and short, full-faced, blew eyes, Dec. 10, 1692. 
 short brown Hair, shorn close a-top, with 
 a bag of money of 44/. in a Money Bag wrapt up in a 
 Corn Sack : whoever can discover him so that the owner 
 may have the money again shall be paid 5/., or proportion- 
 able part of it, by Edward Benton, Cornchandler at the 
 said Horse-Guards. 
 
 Next Monday will be published The Second Spira, being 
 a fearful example of an Atheist who had 
 apostatized from the Christian Religion, Jan. 7, 1692-3. 
 and died in despair at Westminster, Dec. 
 8, 1692, with an exact account of his sickness, convictions, 
 discourses with friends and Ministers, and of his dreadful 
 expressions and Blasphemies when he left the World : As 
 also a letter from an Atheist of his acquaintance, with his 
 answer to it. Published for an example to others, and 
 recommended to all young persons to settle them in their 
 religion. By J. S., a Minister of the Church of England, a 
 frequent visitor of him during his whole sickness. Printed 
 for John Dunton, at the Raven in the Poultry. Price 6d. 
 
 17
 
 258 APPEAL) IX. 
 
 The works of F. Rabelais, M.D., or the Lives, Heroick 
 Deeds and Sayings of Gargantua and 
 Pantagruel. Done out of French by Sir Z>dr. 19, 1693. 
 Thomas Urchard, Knight, and others. 
 With a large account of the Life and Works of the author, 
 particularly an explanation of the most difficult passages in 
 them. Never before published in any language. London, 
 Printed for Richard Baldwin, near the Oxford Arms in 
 Warwick Lane, 1694. 
 
 The Undertaker of this Paper is removed from the 
 Poultry to the Raven in Jewen 
 Street, where you may have money Sept. 18, 1694, 
 
 for any Library or Parcel of Books ; and subsequent dates. 
 as also entire Setts of Athenian 
 
 Gazet/s, or single Mercuries to complete Setts, and all 
 other new pieces publisht from time to time. Where also 
 is sold Elixir Stomachium, or the great Cordial Elixir for 
 the Stomach. 
 
 The Writing Engine, for taking several copies of the 
 same thing at once, invented by Mr. Geo. 
 Ridpath, being now brought to perfec- April 9, 1695. 
 tion by the assistance of Mr. Alexander 
 Urwin, Clock-maker in St. Martin's Lane, over against 
 the Church, such as have occasion for any of the said 
 Engines may see the same at Mr. George Ridpath's, at the 
 Blue Ball in Little Newport Street, near Leicester-fields, 
 and be accommodated, according to agreement, with Engines 
 for 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6 copies.
 
 APPENDIX. 259 
 
 AGREEMENT FOR WRITING THE 
 "ATHENIAN MERCURY." 
 
 The following is a copy of the agreement that was 
 entered into by Wesley, Sault, and Dunton for writing 
 the Athenian Mercury. The original is preserved at 
 the Bodleian Library, Oxford (MSS. Rawlinson, D. 
 72, fol. 118): — 
 
 Articles of Agreement between Samuell Wesley, 
 Clerk, Richard Sault, Gent., and John Dunton, 
 Stationer, of London. 
 
 Imprimis. That ye said Wesley and Sault shall deliver 
 into the handes of the said Dunton two distinct papers 
 every fryday night, each paper to make halfe a printed 
 sheet of the Athenian Gazett or Mercury, which said paper 
 is to be a performance of what is promisd No. 1 and No. 7. 
 
 Item. That ye said Dunton shall have power to intermix 
 and place the said Questions as he pleases, and shall pay 
 1 os. sterling for every number in print after No. 4, the 
 account to be adjusted once every fortnight, and the said 
 money to be demanded before. 
 
 Item. That the said Dunton shall be at liberty if he 
 pleases to print but one of the said papers every week, 
 which the said Sault is to continue as he began, or the said 
 Dunton is to be at Liberty to throw up the said paper when 
 he pleases, giving a fortnight's Warning or paying upon 
 demand 20s. sterling a-piece to the said Wesley and Sault 
 upon discontinuing the said paper.
 
 260 APPENDIX. 
 
 Item. That there be a meeting every fryday in the after- 
 noon in some Convenient place betwixt the said Wesley 
 and Sault, to consult of what they have done and to receive 
 new Questions for the next week, and the party not coming 
 before 3 of ye Clock is to forfeit one Shilling to be spent, 
 and the party that has not finisht his paper by that time 
 (excepting Corrections) shall forfeit one Shilling to be like- 
 wise Spent. 
 
 Item. That every Volume which shall be No. 30 
 shall have a Preface and Index to it, the preface to be 
 written by the said Wesley and Sault, for which they shall 
 have 1 os. betwixt 'em. 
 
 Item. The said Westly and Sault shall not desert the 
 said Undertaking without giving the said Dunton a fort- 
 night's notice, or paying upon demand 20s. sterling a-piece 
 for discontinuing the writing of the said paper. 
 
 Item. That the said Dunton shall not take any other 
 person into the said undertaking without the Consent of 
 the said Wesley and Sault, and that ye said Wesley and 
 Sault shall not engage in the like undertaking for any other 
 person but the said Dunton upon the said Dunton perform- 
 ance of the above Second Article. 
 
 Item. That if the said Wesley or Sault should leave off 
 the Undertaking, the other shall be at liberty to Engrosse 
 the whole, or have equall power with the said Dunton in 
 Choosing another partner fitly qualifyed for the undertaking 
 to continue the said paper, and that noe questions shall be 
 put in that have not been seen both by the said Wesly and 
 Sault. 1 
 
 Item. It was agreed that the said Dunton shall gett 
 translated by another hand the Acta Eruditorum Lipsiae, 
 he Journall de Scavans, the Universall Bibliotheque, the 
 1 The words "under penalty " are written and crossed through here.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 261 
 
 Giornali de literati printed at Rome, or any other pieces 
 translated, and added to every volume in as many distinct 
 numbers as he pleases, provided still that all such transla- 
 tions doe not prevent what they otherwise should write of 
 the weekly paper. 
 
 In Witnesse whereof the partyes to these present Articles 
 have sett their hands and Seals this Tenth of Aprill, in the 
 Year of Our Lord 1691. 
 
 Sealed and delivered 
 in the presence of 
 
 James Smith. 
 
 The mark X of 
 
 Mary Smith. 
 
 Sam. Wesley. 
 Richard Sault. 
 John Dunton.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Each volume of the original Athenian Oracle contained " an 
 Alphabetical Table for the speedy finding of any questions, 
 by a Member of the Athenian Society ; " the quaint wording 
 of the entries contained in which has been preserved in the 
 following Index. 
 
 Apparition, a wonderful instance of 
 it, 10S 
 
 Apparition seen in the Long 
 Gallery at White Hall, etc., 140 
 
 Apprentice familiar with his Mis- 
 tress, whether safe to continue 
 so? 22 
 
 Ark, what became of it after the 
 Flood? 166 
 
 " Athenian Oracle," are the authors 
 bachelors? 20 
 
 Barbers, why are Poles their Signs ? 
 
 240 
 Basilisk, is there any such Animal? 
 
 103 
 Bees, a Swarm lit upon the Crown 
 
 and Scepter in Cheapside, what 
 
 do they portend ? 130 
 Bell in casting, if one but speak 
 
 then, why does it spoil the 
 
 Sound? 78 
 Bells upon a Horse's Harness, do 
 
 they cheer him? 133 
 Bleeding of Dead Corps, what do 
 
 ye think of it? 107 
 
 Blood, of all humours, why red ? 90 
 Blood, what Reasons can you give 
 
 for its Circulation ? 74 
 Bones of a Man's Body, all the 
 
 hollowness fill'd up with solid 
 
 Lead, how cou'd it be done ? 137 
 Bottle empty and well Cork'd, and 
 
 let clown a Sixty Fathom under 
 
 Water, when 'tis drawn up, why 
 
 is the Cork within the Bottle? 71 
 Bowing, and keeping the head bare 
 
 in Church, is there any Example 
 
 for it ? 173 
 Boys or Girls, of whether sort are 
 
 the most born ? 195 
 Brother, his unjust conduct, 37 
 Bullet lodg'd in the Heart of a 
 
 Deer, how cou'd it live ? 55 
 
 Cain, what mark did God fix upon 
 
 him? 156 
 Candles, strange relation of some 
 
 found lighted at a door, etc.," 
 
 136 
 Case of a young gentleman deeply 
 in love, 16
 
 264 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Case of one going every Night to 
 a certain Public House, etc., 
 
 174 
 
 Chamelion, is there any such Crea- 
 ture? 88 
 
 Cheating, whether lawful in any 
 case? 157 
 
 Chickens, hatched in an Oven, why 
 do they want Rumps? 85 
 
 Child, a strong relation of one found 
 in a countryman's ground, 134 
 
 Child of ten Weeks old, cry'd three 
 times, O God, and dy'd, the 
 Reason of it? 132 
 
 Child, whether griev'd at the Dam- 
 nation of its Parent? 154 
 
 Children, why more frequently like 
 the Fathers ? 47 
 
 Christmas Box Money, whence rose 
 the Custom ? 240 
 
 Circle, are 7 and 22 the true pro- 
 portion betwixt the diameter and 
 the Circumference? 71 
 
 Cock-fighting, abstracted from Vice, 
 is it lawful ? 196 
 
 Coffee, how can a lady be persuaded 
 from it ? 23 
 
 Cohesion of two polished Pieces of 
 Glass or Marble, what's the 
 reason of it ? 76 
 
 Comet, a Dream about it, was 
 there anything extraordinary in 
 it? 132 
 
 Confessor, may he discover secrets? 
 
 Courtship, a curious case, 25 
 Cramp-fish, why doth it benum 
 
 the Fisherman's arm without 
 
 touching it, that becomes almost 
 
 insensible? 90 
 Curse, a dangerous Case about it, 
 
 your thoughts of it, 171 
 
 Damned, are their Torments visible 
 
 to the Saints? 150 
 Death Watch, is there anything in 
 
 it? 125 
 
 Democritus or Heraclitus, whether 
 
 in the right? 163 
 Dogs, can they foretell the Death 
 
 of any Person? 118 
 Dream and its fulfilment, 1 10 
 
 Earth, whether shall it be destroy'd 
 
 or refin'd? 149 
 Earthquakes, what is the Cause of 
 
 them? 46 
 Elixir, an Account of a Bottle of it 
 
 found in the Ruins of Glassen- 
 
 bury Abbey, 139 
 Epitaphs and Elegies, of what 
 
 Antiquity are they ? 181 
 Estate, gotten by selling lewd 
 
 Books, can it prosper? 168 
 Etheldra, .St., is the story true 
 
 about her Virginity ? 242 
 Ethiopians, will they differ in 
 
 Colour from other Men at the 
 
 Resurrection? 173 
 Exercise, How does it warm ? 94 
 Exercise, Would it not be trouble- 
 some for some to warm them- 
 selves by it ? 94 
 Extraordinary Address to a Noble 
 
 Lord, 241 
 Eyes, almost lost by bad Company, 
 
 how shall he do to preserve 
 
 them ? 237 
 
 Fast-Day, a Remarkable Instance 
 
 of one, 169 
 Females, if they courted, would 
 
 there not be more marriages ? 2 
 Fetch-Candle, frequently seen in 
 
 the Diocese of St. David's, what's 
 
 your Opinion of it ? 106 
 Fetch-Lights, what's the Nature of 
 
 'em ? 104 
 Fire, extinguished, whither goes it? 
 
 44 
 Fire, how made betwixt Flint and 
 
 Steel? 67 
 Fire, is it better to warm one, or 
 Exercise? 94
 
 INDEX. 
 
 265 
 
 Fishes, do they breathe ? 43 
 Fright, how can it make a Drunken 
 man sober ? 64 
 
 Gag, in France, who first invented 
 it? 190 
 
 Gentleman, how must he address 
 his Mistress? 7 
 
 Glandula Pinealis, is it the seat of 
 the soul ? 52 
 
 Guinea-changing, a Question of great 
 Importance about it, 197 
 
 Gun, whether it recoyles, at or be- 
 fore it Fires ? 68 
 
 Hanging alive in Chains, was it 
 ever used in England ? 235 
 
 Hawthorn - Tree at Glassenbury, 
 what think you of it? 135 
 
 Interrupting discourse by kissing, 
 ben't it rude and unmannerly, 
 etc. ? 10 
 
 Isle of Dogs, why standing on the 
 Wharf at Greenwich, may one 
 see the Sheep there at high Water, 
 and not at low? 86 
 
 Jacl, did she well to kill Sisera ? 
 
 161 
 Joan of Arc, or La Pucelle 
 
 d'Orleans, what's your Opinion 
 
 of her? 208 
 Joy, what are the utmost effects of 
 
 it? 48 
 Jurors, in Cases of Life and Death, 
 
 how can we suppose 'em all of 
 
 one Mind? 185 
 Justice of Peace, who Fin'd a Man 
 
 for Tippling in Sermon time, was 
 
 found so himself the same Day, 
 
 what does he deserve ? 233 
 
 King's Arms, shou'd they be fix'd 
 in Churches above the Command- 
 ments? 202 
 
 Kings, what do ye think of their 
 touching to cure the evil ? in 
 
 Kisses, are they allowable in Friend- 
 ship betwixt different Sexes ? 3 
 
 Knight Errantry, what is't ? 13 
 
 Knowledge, of Men or Things, 
 whether more desirable? 180 
 
 Lady and two suitors, 28 
 
 Lady disturbed in her bed, your 
 
 thoughts of it, 119 
 Lady, how may a Man know when 
 
 she loves him ? 2 
 Lady, mayn't she with Modesty 
 
 enough reveal her Passion? 38 
 Lady, passionately in love with one. 
 
 What is to be done in this case ? 
 
 36 
 Lady, what sort of a Husband 
 
 would ye advise her to? 30 
 Lamps in Sepulchres, how did the 
 
 Ancients make them burn so 
 
 long ? 48 
 Lazarus, what became of his estate 
 
 after he reviv'd ? 152 
 Letter, found in St. Martin's 
 
 Church, 18 
 Light, is it a Body? 47, 77 
 Long Hair, is it lawful ? 243 
 Love, a Case between a Gentleman 
 
 and his Mistress, who hath shewed 
 
 him all Favours Imaginable, and 
 
 yet affirms she doth not love 
 
 him, 15 
 Love, a difficult case about it, 14 
 Love, an uncommon difficulty 
 
 concerning it, 26 
 Love and Marriage, a difficulty 
 
 about it, 21 
 Love and Murther, a curious Ques- 
 tion upon 'em, 163 
 Love, what is it ? 7 
 Lye, some ladies very cautionable, 
 
 desire to know what it is? 234 
 
 Magalana, your thoughts of the 
 Clouds so called, 77
 
 266 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Maid Servant, a story about her 
 and a Fortune Teller, 131 
 
 Man seized with a Palsy in his 
 Tongue, so that he could not 
 speak a word to his Physician, 
 who giving him a Book could 
 read as well as ever he did in his 
 Life, the reason of that ? 92 
 
 Man, whether the greater, Bishop 
 Usher or Sir Matthew Hale? 223 
 
 Marriage, a difficult Case about it, 28 
 
 Marriage, a difficult case about the 
 promise of it, 24 
 
 Marriage, a question about it, 23 
 
 Marry a person one loves not, is it 
 lawful? I 
 
 Marry, is it more prudent to do so 
 for Love or Convenience? 13 
 
 Members, which of 'em might a 
 man want and yet live ? 49 
 
 Mermen, whether more reasonable 
 than other Fishes ? 60 
 
 Milky Way, what do ye think of 
 
 it? 53 
 Millers, why more Deaf than other 
 
 Men ? 88 
 Minister, an apparition of one, 128 
 Ministers, within the Bills of 
 
 Mortality, what if they should 
 
 Preach to the Prisoners every 
 
 Lord's Day? 210 
 Motion, why not perpetual ? 44 
 Murther, is another person that's 
 
 privy to it obliged to discover it? 
 
 193 
 
 Necklace of Pearl kept by a Daughter 
 from her Mother, is it theft ? 238 
 
 Nettle, how does it sting? 69 
 
 Night-Walkers, a relation of six 
 nights' rambles after 'em, 245 
 
 Noah's Flood, whither went the 
 waters? 155 
 
 Oath, an instance of one, 168 
 Old Maid, is it so great a Bug-bear 
 as usually represented ? 30 
 
 Ostrich, can it digest Iron ? 85 
 Oundle Well, the Philosophy and 
 
 Presignifications of it? 143 
 Owl, why said to be sacred to 
 
 Minerva? 228 
 
 Painter, what method should he 
 
 use to draw a face ? 198 
 Passover, in what Posture did our 
 
 Saviour and his Disciples eat it? 
 
 161 
 Patches, are they lawful? 199, 214 
 Philosophers that lived well, can 
 
 we suppose them damned? 155 
 Phoenix, is there such a bird ? IOI 
 Pied Piper, was he a man or Daemon? 
 
 138 
 Platonick Love, is- there such a 
 
 thing? 4 
 Poorest, what sort of men are so? 
 
 2I 3 . . 
 
 Prayers for the Dead, is it an 
 
 error ? 157 
 
 Pride, why are mean Persons after 
 Advancement most guilty of it ? 
 192 
 
 Publick House, what's the best way 
 to manage it ? 200 
 
 Punishment, why eternal for tem- 
 poral sins? 158 
 
 Quadrature of a Circle, is it pos- 
 sible? 71 
 
 Rainbow, was it not before the 
 flood, and can't the time of its 
 appearance be predicted? 65 
 
 Rainbow, what's the reason of it ? 62 
 
 Rattle-Snake, why will a Squirrel 
 run into its mouth? 70 
 
 Re-Marriage, is it in any case law- 
 ful? 13 
 
 Responses in the Church, whether 
 lawful for a woman ? 157 
 
 Rival, may one duel him? 5 
 
 Romances, whether 'tis lawful to 
 read 'em? 182
 
 INDEX. 
 
 267 
 
 Rope-Dancing, how ancient is that 
 
 custom? 180 
 Rotten Wood, why shines it in the 
 
 dark ? 89 
 
 Sacrament, a dreadful Instance of 
 
 the Abuse of it, 172 
 Salamander, is there such a Creature? 
 
 102 
 Sea, why don't it overflow by 
 
 reason of the rivers ? 66 
 Sea, why salt ? 57 
 Seeing, what is it ? 76 
 Self-Murder, can a condemned 
 
 criminal be guilty of it ? 190 
 Senses, may they be preserved in 
 
 their vigour to old age, 72 
 Sermons, why seem they so long? 
 
 166 
 Serpent in Paradise, what form had 
 
 it? 160 
 Sexes in Heaven, is't probable there 
 
 will be any ? 167 
 Shell-Fishes, what's the reason of 
 
 their Noise when apply'd to the 
 
 ear ? 96 
 Sickness- Year, a Man found then 
 
 dead in the fields, and brought 
 
 to be buried, came to life again, 
 
 142 
 Silver, what degree does it bear 
 
 amongst other Metals ? 80 
 Sin, is being a Night-walker, or 
 
 Rebelling against Parents great- 
 est ? 240 
 Sin, whether it can be committed 
 
 without an Idea of it ? 153 
 Singing, is it proper in making 
 
 Love? 11 
 Skeleton, Prodigious, a Question 
 
 about it, 50 
 Sleep-Walking, a strange instance 
 
 of it, with a question upon it, 
 
 112 
 Smoke, what becomes of it ? 52 
 Snakes kept tame, are they hurtful 
 
 by Nature ? 95 
 
 Socrates, did he manage his Wife 
 
 prudently ? 181 
 Sorceress, a visit to one, 126 
 Soul of Lazarus, whither went it 
 
 when he lay in the grave ? 1 5 1 
 Spirit of God, how did he move 
 
 upon the face of the waters ? 173 
 Spirit or demon, may I reprove it 
 
 if it should disturb me? 127 
 Staff, why break with more ease on 
 
 our knees bowing both ends, 
 
 rather than by taking any other 
 
 part? 93 
 Stammering, is there a Cure, and 
 
 what is it? 81 
 Study, whether Evening or Morning 
 
 the fitter for it ? 194 
 Suction, what's the Cause of it? 73 
 Suicide, is the condemned criminal 
 
 guilty of it who executes himself? 
 
 184 
 Sun, moon, and stars, can they be 
 
 all seen at noonday ? 81 
 Swallows, where go they in Winter, 
 
 and how do they subsist ? 45 
 Swoon, can a person hear distinctly 
 
 that is in one? 124 
 
 Thirst, why can't we endure it so 
 
 well as Hunger ? 95 
 Thunder, Lightning, Earthquakes, 
 
 and Eclipses, what influence have 
 
 they? 82 
 Thunder, what's the Cause of it? 
 
 57 
 Titillation, what's the Cause on't? 
 
 43 
 
 Tobacco, Athenians opinion of it, 
 
 98 
 Tobacco, has it no other name ? 96 
 Tobacco, is not the smoking it a 
 
 Vice ? 209 
 Tobacco, is the taking it healthful 
 
 or no? 211 
 Tobacco, the manner of its Growth, 
 
 and Virtues of it ? 90
 
 268 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tobacco, why abhorred by some ? 
 97 
 
 Torture to force a confession, is it a 
 lawful means? 195 
 
 Tradesman has an unquiet Wife, 
 may he bring her to her Duty by 
 Stripes? 38 
 
 Transmigration of Souls, what do 
 ye think on't ? 154 
 
 Triumphant Arch erected in Cheap- 
 side, 1691, described, 235 
 
 Tuck, is it a lawful weapon in self- 
 defence? 188 
 
 Tutor and Chaplain, some difficulty 
 about his Stipend, 202 
 
 Two Strange Relations, one of a 
 Dream, another of a young 
 Child, 134 
 
 Tyburn, what account can you give 
 of its Antiquity? 235 
 
 Valentines, Three gentlemen, draw- 
 ing for them, vow'd to court 
 whom they should draw, one 
 desires to know what he shall do 
 in such Case, 17 
 
 Viols tuned in Unison, why do 
 they sympathise? 58 
 
 Vipers, wherein consists their 
 Venom? 96 
 
 Visits and visions in sleep, how 
 performed? 116 
 
 Water, can we hear under it? 90 
 West Indies, is it lawful to barter 
 away Servants or others there? 
 
 193 
 What will make persons wakeful 
 
 that are given to sleep ? 54 
 Whole Duty of Man, who was the 
 
 author of it ? 179 
 Wife, if an ill one, may I pray God 
 
 wou'd take her to himself? 29 
 Wife leaving her Husband for his 
 
 Poverty, what's to be thought of 
 
 her? 3 
 Wife leaving her Husband without 
 
 provocation, what punishment is 
 
 there for her? 15 
 Wife, mayn't one love another 
 
 man's? 29 
 Witchcraft, an Instance of it, 118 
 Witches, are all their confessions 
 
 anything but the effect of dotage 
 
 and melancholy, 120 el sea. 
 Witch-riding, is there any truth in 
 
 it ? 114 
 Woman, may one look upon her 
 
 with Pleasure? 3 
 Woman, how long after death of 
 
 her husband before she can 
 
 re-marry? 12 
 Women, is it expedient they should 
 
 be learn'd ? 227 
 Worm in the heart of a dead person, 
 
 how could it get there ? 78 
 
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