that tho' they charm'd me while I heard them, they cannot be eafily recollected and tho' one cou'd remember them, if they be exprefs'd in other Words, they wou'd not feem to be the fame Thoughts; but lofe all their Grace and Force.

A. Surely, Sir, these Beauties must be very fading, if they vanish thus upon the Touch, and will not bear a Review: I fhou'd be much better pleas'd with a Discourse which has more Body in it, and less Spirit; that things might make a deeper Impreffion on the Mind, and be more eafily remember'd. What is the End of fpeaking, but to perfuade People, and to inftruct them in fuch Truths as they can retain ?

C. Now you have begun, Sir, I hope you will go on with this useful Subject. A. I wish I cou'd prevail with you, Sir, to give us fome general Notion of the elegant Harangue you heard.

B. Since you are fo very urgent, I'll tell you what I can recollect of it. The Text was this, I have eaten ashes like Pfal. cij. 9. bread. Now cou'd any one make a happier choice of a Text for Afb-Wednesday! He fhew'd us that, according to this Paffage, Afhes ought this Day to be the Food of our Souls: Then in his Preamble he ingeniously interwove the Story of Artemefia, with regard to her Husband's В 2

Ashes.

II.

III.

Afbes. His Tranfition to his Ave Maria was very artful; and his Divifion was extreamly ingenious: you fhall judge I. of it. "Tho' this Duft (faid he) be a Sign of Repentance, it is a Principle of Felicity: Tho' it seems to humble us, "it is really a Source of Glory: And "tho' it reprefents Death, it is a Remedy "that gives immortal Life." He turn'd this Divifion various ways, and every time he gave it a new Luftre by his Antithefes. The reft of his Difcourfe was not lefs bright and elegant; the Language was polite; the Thoughts new; the Periods were harmonious; and each of them concluded with fome furprizing Turn. He gave fuch juft Characters of common Life, that his Hearers found their various Pictures faithfully drawn: and his exact Anatomy of all the Paffions equal'd the Maxims

*The Romish Preachers, in the Preamble of their Sermons, address themselves to the Virgin Mary; and are ofttimes very artful in their Transition to it, as our Author obferves. We have a remarkable Example of this in one of the greatest French Orators, M. L'ESPRIT FLECHIER, Bishop of Nifmes, who seems to be oftner than once alluded to in thefe Dialogues. In his Panegyrick on S. JOSEPH he introduces his Ave Maria thus, Every thing feems to concur to the Glory of my Subject; the Holy Spirit, Jefus Chrift, and Mary, are concern'd in it; why may I not hope for the Affiftance of one of them, the Grace of the other, and the Interceffions of the Virgin; to whom we will addrefs ourselves in thofe Words that the Angel faid to her, and which S. Jofeph no doubt often repeated; Hail Mary, &c. Panegyriques, Vol. I. p. 71.

Maxims of the Great ROCHEFOUCAULD, In fhort, I think it was a Mafter-Piece, But, Sir, I fhall be glad to know your Opinion of it.

A. I'm unwilling to tell you my Thoughts, or to leffen your Efteem, of it, We ought to reverence the Word of GOD; to improve ourselves by all the Truths that a Preacher explains; and avoid a critical Humour, left we fhould leffen the Authority of the Sacred Function.

B. You have nothing to fear, Sir, at prefent. It is not out of Curiofity that I ask your Opinion; but because I wou'd have clear Notions of it; and fuch folid Inftru&tions as may not only fatisfy myfelf, but be of use to others: for you know my Profeffion obliges me to preach. Give us your Thoughts therefore, without any referve; and don't be afraid either of contradicting, or offending me.

A. Since you will have it fo, I must obey your Commands. To be free then I conclude, from your own Account of this Sermon, that it was a very sorry one, B. Why fo?

A. Why, can a Sermon in which the Scripture is falfly apply'd; a Scrap of prophane History is told after a dry childish manner; and a vain Affectation of Wit

B 3

runs

runs throughout the whole; can fuch a Sermon be good?

B. By no means: But I don't think that the Sermon I heard is of that fort.

A. Have patience, and I doubt not but you and I fhall agree. When the Preacher chose these words for his Text, I have eaten afbes like bread, ought he to have ainus'd his Audience with obferving fome kind of relation between the mere Sound of his Text, and the Ceremony of the Day? Shou'd he not firft have explain'd the true Senfe of the Words, before he apply'd them to the prefent Occafion?

B. It had been better.

A. Ought he not therefore to have trac'd the Subject a little higher, by entering into the true Occafion and Defign of the Pfalm; and explaining the Context? Was it not proper for him to enquire whether the Interpretation he gave of the Words was agreeable to the true Meaning of them, before he deliver'd his own Senfe to the People, as if it were the Word of GOD?

B. He ought to have done fo: But what Fault was there in his Interpretation ?

DAVID

A. Why, I'll tell you. (who was the Author of the CIId Pfalm) fpeaks of his own Misfortunes: he tells us, that his Enemies infulted him cruelly,

when

when they faw him in the Duft, humbled at their Feet, and reduc'd (as he poetically expreffes it) to eat afhes like bread; and to mingle his drink with weeping. Now what relation is there between the Complaints of DAVID, driven from his Throne, and perfecuted by his Son ABSALOM; and the Humiliation of a Chriftian, who puts Ashes on his Forehead, to remind him of his Mortality, and difengage him from finful Pleafures? Cou'd the Preacher find no other Text in Scripture? Did CHRIST and his Apostles, or the Prophets, never fpeak of Death, and the Duft of the Grave, to which all our Pride and Vanity must be reduc'd? Does not the Scripture contain many affecting Images of this important Truth? Might he not have been content with the words of Genefis, Gen. iij. which are so natural and proper for this Ceremony, and chofen by the Church it felf? Shou'd a vain Delicacy make him afraid of too often repeating a Text that the Holy Spirit has dictated, and which the Church appoints to be used every Year? Why fhould he neglect fuch a pertinent Paffage, and many other Places of Scripture, to pitch on one that is not proper ? This muft flow from a depraved Tafte, and a fond Inclination to say something that is New.

19.