derived his courage from his piety, and was scrupulously careful not to ascribe the success of it to himself. When he came within sight of that prodigious army, which offered him battle at Agincourt, he ordered all his cavalry to dismount, and, with the rest of his forces, to implore upon their knees a blessing on their undertaking. In a noble speech, which he made to his soldiers immediately before the first onset, he took notice of a very remarkable circumstance, namely, that this very day of battle was the day appointed in his own kingdom, to offer up public devotions for the prosperity of his arms; and therefore bid them not doubt of victory, since, at the same time they were fighting in the field, all the people of England were lifting up their hands to heaven for their success. Upon the close of that memorable day, in which the king had performed wonders with his own hand, he ordered the hundred and fifteenth Psalm to be repeated in the midst of his victorious army, and at the words, "Not unto us, not unto us, but unto thy name be the praise," he himself, with his whole host, fell to the earth upon their faces, ascribing to Omnipotence the whole glory of so great an action.

I shall conclude this paper with a reflection, which naturally rises out of it. As there is nothing more beautiful in the sight of God and man, than a king and his people concurring in such extraordinary acts of devotion, one cannot suppose a greater contradiction and absurdity in a government, than where the king is of one religion and the people of another. What harmony or correspondence can be expected between a sovereign and his subjects, when they cannot join together in the most joyful, the most solemn, and most laudable action of reasonable creatures; in a word, where the prince considers his people as heretics, and the people look upon their prince as an idolater!

WHEN Mahomet had for many years endeavoured to propagate his imposture among his fellow-citizens, and, instead of gaining any number of proselytes, found his ambition frustrated, and his notions ridiculed; he forbad his followers the use of argument and disputation in the advancing of his doctrines, and to rely only1 upon the cimeter for their success. Christianity, he observed, had made its way by reason and miracles, but he professed it was his design to save men by the sword. From that time he began to knock down his fellow-citizens with a great deal of zeal, to plunder caravans with a most exemplary sanctity, and to fill all Arabia with an unnatural medley of religion and bloodshed.

The enemies of our happy establishment seem at present to copy out the piety of this seditious prophet, and to have recourse to his laudable method of club-law, when they find all other means of enforcing the absurdity of their opinions to be ineffectual. It was usual among the ancient Romans, for those, who had saved the life of a citizen, to be dressed in an oaken garland; but among us, this has been a mark of such well-intentioned persons, as would betray their country if they were able, and beat out the brains of their fellowsubjects. Nay, the leaders of this poor unthinking rabble, to show their wit, have lately decked them out of their kitchen gardens in a most insipid pun, very well suited to the capacity of such followers.

This manner of proceeding has had an effect quite contrary to the intention of these ingenious demagogues; for, by setting such an unfortunate mark on their followers, they have exposed them to innumerable drubs and contusions.

1 He forbad his followers the use of argument—and to rely only, &c.] Perspicuity and grammar both call upon us to reform this sentence, thushe forbad his followers the use of argument, and [required them] to rely only, &c.

They have been cudgelled most unmercifully in every part of London and Westminster; and over all the nation have avowed their principles, to the unspeakable damage of their bones. In short, if we may believe our accounts both from town and country, the noses and ears of the party are very much diminished, since they have appeared under this unhappy distinction.

The truth of it is, there is such an unaccountable frenzy and licentiousness spread through the basest of the people, of all parties and denominations, that if their skirmishes did not proceed to too great an extremity, one would not be sorry to see them bestowing so liberally upon one another, a chastisement which they so richly deserve. Their thumps and bruises might turn to account, and save the government a great deal of trouble, if they could beat each other into good manners.

Were not advice thrown away on such a thoughtless rabble, one would recommend to their serious consideration what is suspected, and indeed known, to be the cause of these popular tumults and commotions in this great city. They are the Popish missionaries, that lie concealed under many disguises in all quarters of the town, who mix themselves in these dark scuffles, and animate the mob to such mutual outrages and insults. This profligate species of modern apostles divert themselves at the expense of a government which is opposed to their interests, and are pleased to see the broken heads of heretics, in what party soever they have listed themselves. Their treatment of our silly countrymen puts me in mind of an account in Tavernier's Travels through the East Indies. This author tells us, there is a great wood in those parts very plentifully stocked with monkeys; that a large highway runs through the middle of this wood; and that the monkeys who live on the one side of this highway, are declared enemies to those who live on the other. When the inhabitants of that country have a mind to give themselves a diversion, it is usual for them to set these poor animals together by the ears; which they do after this manner: they place several pots of rice in the middle of the road, with great heaps of cudgels in the neighbourhood of every pot. The monkeys, on the first discovery of these provisions, descend from the trees on either side in prodigious numbers, take up the arms, with which their good friends have furn

ished them, and belabour one another with a storm of thwacks, to the no small mirth and entertainment of the beholders. This mob of monkeys act, however, so far reasonably in this point, as the victorious side of the wood find, upon the repulse of their enemies, a considerable booty on the field of battle; whereas our party mobs are betrayed into the fray without any prospect of the feast.

If our common people have not virtue enough left among them, to lay aside this wicked and unnatural hatred, which is crept into their hearts against one another, nor sense enough to resist the artifice of those incendiaries, who would animate them to the destruction of their country; it is high time for the government to exert itself in the repressing of such seditious tumults and commotions. If that extraordinary lenity and forbearance, which has been hitherto shown on those occasions, proves ineffectual to that purpose, these miscreants of the community ought to be made sensible, that our constitution is armed with a sufficient force for the reformation of such disorders, and the settlement of the public peace.

There cannot be a greater affront to religion than such a tumultuous rising of the people, who distinguish the times set apart for the national devotions, by the most brutal scenes of violence, clamour, and intemperance. The day begins with a thanksgiving, and ends in a riot. Instead of the voice of mutual joy and gladness, there is nothing heard in our streets, but opprobrious language, ribaldry, and con

tention.

As such a practice is scandalous to our religion, so it is no less a reproach to our government. We are become a byword among the nations for our ridiculous feuds and animosities, and fill all the public prints of Europe with accounts of our midnight brawls and confusions.

The mischiefs arising to private persons from these vile disturbers of the commonwealth are too many to be enumerated. The great and innocent are insulted by the scum and refuse of the people. Several poor wretches, who have engaged in these commotions, have been disabled for their lives from doing any good to their families and dependants; nay, several of them have fallen a sacrifice to their own inexcusable folly and madness. Should the government be wearied out of its present patience and forbearance, and

forced to execute all those powers with which it is invested for the preservation of the public peace, what is to be expected by such heaps of turbulent and seditious men!

These and the like considerations, though they may have no influence on the headstrong, unruly multitude, ought to sink into the minds of those who are their abettors, and who, if they escape the punishment here due to them, must very well know that these several mischiefs will be one day laid to their charge.

No. 51. FRIDAY, JUNE 15.

Quod si in hoc erro, libenter erro; nec mihi hunc errorem, quo delector, dum vivo, extorqueri volo. CICER.

As there is nothing which more improves the mind of man, than the reading of ancient authors, when it is done with judgment and discretion; so there is nothing which gives a more unlucky turn to the thoughts of a reader, when he wants discernment, and loves and admires the characters and actions of men in a wrong place. Alexander the Great was so inflamed with false notions of glory, by reading the story of Achilles in the Iliad, that, after having taken a town, he ordered the governor, who had made a gallant defence, to be bound by the feet to his chariot, and afterwards dragged the brave man round the city, because Hector had been treated in the same barbarous manner by his admired hero.

Many Englishmen have proved very pernicious to their own country, by following blindly the examples of persons to be met with in Greek and Roman history, who acted in conformity with their own governments, after a quite different manner than they would have acted in a constitution like that of ours. Such a method of proceeding is as unreasonable in a politician, as it would be in a husbandman to make use of Virgil's precepts of agriculture, in managing the soil of our country, that lies in a quite different climate, and under the influence of almost another sun.

Our regicides, in the commission of the most execrable murder, used to justify themselves from the conduct of Brutus, not considering that Cæsar, from the condition of a