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my species, to try my fortune in the country, where I have started several subjects, and hunted them down, with some pleasure to my self, and I hope to others. I am here forced. to use a great deal of diligence before I can spring any thing to my mind, whereas in town, whilst I am following one character, it is ten to one but I am crossed in my way by another, and put up such a variety of odd creatures in both sexes, that they foil the scent of one another, and puzzle the chace. My greatest difficulty in the country is to find sport, and in town to chuse it. In the mean time, as I have given a whole month's rest to the Cities of London and Westminster, I promise my self abundance of new game upon my return thither.

It is indeed high time for me to leave the country, since I find the whole neighbourhood begin to grow very inquisitive after my name and character: My love of solitude, taciturnity, and particular way of life, having raised a great curiosity in all these parts.

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The notions which have been framed of me are various; some look upon me as very proud, some as very modest, and some as very melancholy. Will Wimble, as my friend the Butler tells me, observing me very much alone, and extreamly silent when I am in company, is afraid I have killed a man. The country people seem to suspect me for a Conjurer; and some of them hearing of the visit which I made to Moll White, will needs have it that Sir ROGER has brought down a Cunning- 25 man with him, to cure the old woman, and free the country from her charms. So that the character which I go under in part of the neighbourhood, is what they here call a white Witch.

A Justice of Peace, who lives about five miles off, and is not of Sir ROGER's party, has it seems said twice or thrice at his table, that he wishes Sir ROGER does not harbour a Jesuit in his house, and that he thinks the Gentlemen of the country would do very well to make me give some account of my self.

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On the other side, some of Sir ROGER's friends are afraid the old Knight is imposed upon by a designing fellow, and as they have heard he converses very promiscuously when he is in town, do not know but he has brought down with him some 5 discarded Whig, that is sullen, and says nothing, because he is out of place.

Such is the variety of opinions which are here entertained of me, so that I pass among some for a disaffected person, and among others for a Popish Priest; among some for a wizard, and among others for a murderer; and all this for no other reason, that I can imagine, but because I do not hoot and hollow and make a noise. It is true, my friend Sir ROGER tells them that it is my way, and that I am only a Philosopher; but this will not satisfie them. They think there is more in me than 15 he discovers, and that I do not hold my tongue for nothing.

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For these and other reasons I shall set out for London to-morrow, having found by experience that the country is not a place for a person of my temper, who does not love jollity, and what they call good-neighbourhood. A man that is out of humour when an unexpected guest breaks in upon him, and does not care for sacrificing an afternoon to every chance-comer; that will be the master of his own time, and the pursuer of his own inclinations, makes but a very unsociable figure in this kind of life. I shall therefore retire into 25 the town, if I may make use of that phrase, and get into the crowd again as fast as I can, in order to be alone. I can there raise what Speculations I please upon others, without being observed my self, and at the same time enjoy all the advantages of company with all the privileges of solitude. In 30 the mean while, to finish the month, and conclude these my rural Speculations, I shall here insert a letter from my friend WILL HONEYCOMB, who has not lived a month for these forty years out of the smoke of London, and rallies me after his way upon my country life.

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Dear SPEC.

"I suppose this letter will find thee picking of daisies, or "smelling to a lock of hay, or passing away thy time in some "innocent country diversion of the like nature. I have however orders from the Club to summon thee up to town, being "all of us cursedly afraid thou wilt not be able to relish our company, after thy conversations with Moll White and Will "Wimble. Pr'ythee don't send us up any more stories of a "cock and a bull, nor frighten the town with spirits and witches. "Thy Speculations begin to smell confoundedly of woods and "meadows. If thou dost not come up quickly, we shall con"clude thou art in love with one of Sir ROGER's dairy maids. "Service to Knight. Sir ANDREW is grown the cock of the "Club since he left us, and if he does not return quickly, will "make every mother's son of us common-wealths men.

Dear SPEC, thine eternally,

WILL. HONEYCOMB.

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N° 159. Saturday, September 1. [1711.]

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When I was at Grand Cairo I picked up several oriental Manuscripts, which I have still by me. Among others I met with one entituled, The Visions of Mirza, which I have read over with great pleasure. I intend to give it to the publick when I have no other entertainment for them; and shall begin with the first Vision, which I have translated word for word as follows.

"On the fifth day of the moon, which according to the "custom of my forefathers I always keep holy, after having

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"washed my self, and offered up my morning devotions, I "ascended the high hills of Bagdat, in order to pass the rest "of the day in meditation and prayer. As I was here airing "my self on the tops of the mountains, I fell into a profound 5 "contemplation on the vanity of humane life; and passing "from one thought to another, Surely, said I, man is but a "shadow and life a dream. Whilst I was thus musing, I cast "my eyes towards the summit of a rock that was not far from "me, where I discovered one in the habit of a shepherd, with "a musical instrument in his hand. As I looked upon him he "applied it to his lips, and began to play upon it. The sound "of it was exceeding sweet, and wrought into a variety of "tunes that were inexpressibly melodious, and altogether dif"ferent from any thing I had ever heard. They put me in "mind of those heavenly airs that are played to the departed "souls of good men upon their first arrival in paradise, to wear "out the impressions of their last agonies, and qualifie them "for the pleasures of that happy place. My heart melted away in secret raptures.

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"I had been often told that the rock before me was the "haunt of a Genius; and that several had been entertained "with musick who had passed by it, but never heard that "the musician had before made himself visible. When he "had raised my thoughts, by those transporting airs which he 25 "played, to taste the pleasures of his conversation, as I looked

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"upon him like one astonished, he beckoned to me, and by "the waving of his hand directed me to approach the place "where he sat. I drew near with that reverence which is "due to a superior nature; and as my heart was entirely sub"dued by the captivating strains I had heard, I fell down at "his feet and wept. The Genius smiled upon me with a look "of compassion and affability that familiarized him to my "imagination, and at once dispelled all the fears and appre"hensions with which I approached him. He lifted me from

"the ground, and taking me by the hand, Mirzah, said he, I "have heard thee in thy soliloquies, follow me.

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"He then led me to the highest pinnacle of the rock, and

' placing me on the top of it, Cast thy eyes eastward, said he, "and tell me what thou seest. I see, said I, a huge valley and "a prodigious tide of water rolling through it. The valley that "thou seest, said he, is the vale of misery, and the tide of water "that thou seest, is part of the great tide of Eternity. What "is the reason, said I, that the tide I see rises out of a thick "mist at one end, and again loses it self in a thick mist at the "other? What thou seest, said he, is that portion of Eternity "which is called Time, measured out by the Sun, and reach"ing from the beginning of the world to its consummation. “Examine now, said he, this sea that is thus bounded with dark"ness at both ends, and tell me what thou discoverest in it. I "see a bridge, said I, standing in the midst of the tide. The "bridge thou seest, said he, is humane life; consider it atten

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tively. Upon a more leisurely survey of it, I found that it "consisted of threescore and ten entire arches, with several "broken arches, which added to those that were entire, made 66 up the number about an hundred. As I was counting the "arches the Genius told me that this bridge consisted at first "of a thousand arches; but that a great flood swept away the

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rest, and left the bridge in the ruinous condition I now beheld "it. But tell me further, said he, what thou discoverest on it. "I see multitudes of people passing over it, said I, and a black "cloud hanging on each end of it. As I looked more attentively, I saw several of the passengers dropping through the "bridge, into the great tide that flowed underneath it; and "upon further examination, perceived there were innumerable 30 "trap-doors that lay concealed in the bridge, which the pas

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sengers no sooner trod upon, but they fell through them into "the tide and immediately disappeared. These hidden pit"falls were set very thick at the entrance of the bridge, so that

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