poises have the warm blood and entrails of a hog; not to mention what is confidently reported of mermaids or sea-men. There are some brutes that seem to have as much knowledge and reason as some that are called men; and the animal and vegetable kingdoms are so nearly joined, that if you will take the lowest of one and the highest of the other, there will be scarce perceived any great difference between them: and so on till we come to the lowest and the most inorganical parts of matter, we shall find every where that the several species are linked together, and differ but in almost insensible degrees. And when we consider the infinite power and wisdom of the Maker, we have reason to think that it is suitable to the magnificent harmony of the universe, and the great design and infinite goodness of the Architect, that the species of creatures should also, by gentle degrees, ascend upward from us towards his infinite perfection, as we see they gradually descend from us downward; which, if it be probable, we have reason then to be persuaded that there are far more species of creatures above us than there are beneath, we being in degrees of perfection much more remote from the infinite Being of God, than we are from the lowest state of being, and that which approaches nearest to nothing; and yet of all these distinct species we have no clear distinct ideas.' In this system of being there is no creature so wonderful in its nature, and which so much deserves our particular attention, as man, who fills up the middle space between the animal and intellectual nature, the visible and invisible world, and is that link in the chain of beings which has been often termed the Nexus utriusque mundi. So that he who in one respect is associated with angels and arch-angels, may look upon a being of infinite perfection as his father, and the highest order of spirits as his brethren, may, in another respect, say to corruption, Thou art my father; and to the worm, thou art my mother and my sister.' ADDISON. 0. No. 520. MONDAY, OCTOBER 27. Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus· Tam chari capitis? HOR. And who can grieve too much? What time shall end 'MR. SPECTATOR, CREECH. THE just value you have expressed for the matrimonial state is the reason that I now venture to write to you without fear of being ridiculous; and confess to you that though it is three months since I lost a very agreeable woman, who was my wife, my sorrow is still fresh; and I am often, in the midst of company, upon any circumstance that revives her memory, with a reflection what she would say or do on such an occasion; I say, upon any occurrence of that nature, which I can give you a sense of, though I can not express it wholly, I am all over softness, and am obliged to retire and give way to a few sighs and tears before I can be easy. I can not but recommend the subject of male widowhood to you, and beg of you to touch upon it by the first opportunity. To those who have not lived like husbands during the lives of their spouses, this would be a tasteless jumble of words; but to such (of whom there are not a few) who have enjoyed that state with the sentiments proper for it, you will have every line, which hits the sorrow, attended with a tear of pity and consolation. For I know not by what goodness of Providence it is, that every gush of passion is a step towards the relief of it; and there is a certain comfort in the very act of sorrowing, which, I suppose, arises from a secret consciousness in the mind, that the affliction it is under flows from a virtuous cause. My concern is indeed not so outrageous as at the first transport; for I think it has subsided rather into a sober state of mind than any actual perturbation of spirit. There might be rules formed for men's behaviour on this great incident, to bring them from that misfortune into the condition I am at present; which is, I think, that my sorrow has converted all roughness of temper into meekness, good-nature, and complacency; but indeed, when in a serious and lonely hour I present my departed consort to my imagination, with that air of persuasion in her countenance when I have been in passion, that sweet affability when I have been in good humour, that tender compassion when I have had any thing which gave me uneasiness, I confess to you I am inconsolable, and my eyes gush with grief as if I had seen her but just then expire. In this condition I am broken in upon by a charming young woman, my daughter, who is the picture of what her mother was on her wedding-day. The good girl strives to comfort me; but how shall I let you know, that all the comfort she gives me is to make my tears flow more easily? The child knows she quickens my sorrows, and rejoices my heart at the same time. Oh ye learned! tell me by what word to speak a motion of the soul for which there is no name. When she kneels and bids me be comforted, she is my child; when I take her in my arms and bid her say no more, she is my very wife, and is the very comforter I lament the loss of. I banish her the room, and weep aloud that I have lost her mother, and that I have her. Mr. Spectator, I wish it were possible for you to have a sense of these pleasing perplexities! you might communicate to the guilty part of mankind, that they are incapable of the happiness which is in the very sorrows of the virtuous. 'But pray spare me a little longer, give me leave to tell you the manner of her death. She took leave of all her family, and bore the vain application of medicines with the greatest patience imaginable. When the physician told her she must certainly die, she desired, as well as she could, that all who were present except myself, might depart the room. She said she had nothing to say, for she was resigned, and I knew all she knew that concerned us in this world; but she desired to be alone, that in the presence of God only she might, without interruption, do her last duty to me, of thanking me for all my kindness to her; adding that she hoped my last moments I should feel the same comfort for my goodness to her, as she did in that in she had acquitted herself with honour, truth and virtue, to me, I curb myself, and will not tell you that this kindness cut my heart in twain, when I expected an accusation for some passionate starts of mine, in some parts of our time together, to say nothing but thank me for the good, if there was any good suitable to her own excellence! All that I had ever said to her, all the circumstances of sorrow and joy between us, crowded upon my mind in the same instant, and when immediately after I saw the pangs of death come upon that dear body which I had often embraced with transport, when I saw those cherishing eyes begin to be ghastly, and their last struggle to be to fix themselves on me; how did I lose all patience? She expired in my arms, and in my distraction, I thought I saw her bosom still heave. There was certainly life yet still left. I cried, 'She just now spoke to me. But alas! I grew giddy, and all things moved about me from the distemper of my own head, for the best of women was breathless, and gone for ever. } Now the doctrine I would, methinks, have you raise from this account I have given you, is, that there is a certain equanimity in those who are good and just, which runs into their very sorrow, and disappoints the force of it. Though they must pass through afflictions in common with all who are in human nature, yet their conscious integrity shall undermine their affliction; nay that very affliction shall add force to their integrity, from a reflection of the use of virtue in the hour of affliction. I sat down with a design to put you upon giving us rules how to |