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kept fecret are revealed. Can any thing be more ridiculous than this objection The purposes of fuch oaths would thereby be difappointed: for the secret would be communicated without any fecurity or obligation to preferve it; and it would then become optional to grant it or not. As to the ceremonies pretended to be adhibited to this oath, they appear to be innocent in themselves; and if the Mafons ufe any fuch, inftead of afcribing thefe to a fuperftitious regard, charity would conclude they were not without an emphatic and allegorical meaning.

Oaths have almoft univerfally had fome rite or ceremony annexed, which, however infignificant in themfelves, were originally expreffive of fomething that tended to increase the awe and refpect due to that folemn act. The cafuifts all agree, that though the oath is equally obligatory without them, the perjury is however increased by the folemnity. All nations have adopted them: the Hebrews, by putting their hand below the thigh of the perfon to whom they fwore the Pagans, by taking hold of the altar and both, by protending their hands to heaven : in which laft, they have been followed by all Chriftian nations; fome of whom, particularly our fifter kingdom, when they take an oath, touch or kifs the holy * Gen. xxiv. 2. xlvii. 29.

Et, ut mos Græcorum eft, jurandi caufa, ad aras accederet. Cic. pro Balbo.. Gen. xiv. 22.

Sufpiciens cœlum, tenditque ad fidera dextram ; Hæc eadem, Ænea, terram, mare, fidera juro. Virg. An. 12. 196.

[This form is obferved in our exchequer court at Edinburgh.And in confiftorial caufes in our commiflary-court, perfons who make oath do it kneeling, with the right hand on the holy evangel, as the depofition bears; the words of the oath are, "I- do hereby renounce all the bleffings contained in this holy book, and with that all the curfes therein contained may be my lot and portion, if I do not tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth; and 1 hereby fwear, by God almighty, and as I fhall answer to God at the great day of judgment, that I will tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, in as far as I know and fhall be afk ed at me;" and the deponent, while he is repeating thefe words, is on his knees, and has his night hand on fome part of the gospels, the book lying open before him for that purpofe. Women are Twoin in the fame form and manner.]

gofpels: and not only fo, but every private fociety, every court of justice, have forms of adminiftering oaths peculiar to themselves. Shall not then the fociety of Free Mafons be allowed that privilege, without the imputation of fu perftition and idolatry?

The Major's confeffion of the oath, word, and other fecrets of his craft [xvii. 133.] contains a variety of matters infignificant, and ridiculous in themselves, and only fit for the amufement of such perfons as the ignorance and incoherence of the author display him to be.

The Free Mafon does not think him

felf at all concerned to defend and fupport whatever nonsense shall be fathered upon the craft by the ignorant and malevolent. The honour of the fraternity is not in the least tarnished by it.

The whole narrative, particularly the method of difcovering a Mason, the prentice's fhirt, and the Monday's leffon, cannot fail to move laughter even in gravity itself.

The Free Mafons have been traduced as Atheiss, and blafphemers, branded as idolaters, and ridiculed as the dupes of nonfenfe. The hard names liberally bestowed on their fecrets by the Seceders [xvii. 137.], partake of all thefe.

To remove fuch prejudices, and in fome degree to fatisfy the world and inquifitive cavillers, Mafons have condefcended to publish what opinions they maintained, with refpect to the great principles of human action. Their belief in God is founded upon the jufteft notion of his being and attributes, drawn from the light of nature, affifted by revelation. They never enter into the fpeculative regions, fo much cultivated by divines: what cannot be com prehended in his nature, they leave as incomprehenfible. They adore his infinite being, and reckon it the perfection of mankind to imitate his con.municable perfections. Their duty to their fuperiors, to their neighbours, and to themselves, are all expreffed in a manner the moft agreeable to the foundest morality. And when their actions and behaviour, which alone are fubject to

human

human obfervation, and affect human fociety, are conformable to fuch principles, no power on earth has a right to

GENTLEMAN'S MAGA
Mr URBAN,

The Free Mafon profeffes a particu- As

lar regard to the liberal arts; and he makes no fcruple to own, that many of his fecrets have a reference to them. From thefe, juft notions of order and proportion are attained, and a true tafte of fymmetry and beauty is formed. And as the tranfition from the beauties of the natural to those of the moral species are fo eafy and apparent; if there is any virtue, if there is any praife, inftead of flander and defamation, protection and encouragement ought to be his reward.

Men of the greatest power and dignity, the divine and the philofopher, have not been ashamed, in all ages, to own their relation to this fociety, and to encourage and protect it by their power and influence [xvi. 612.]. But fhould this combination terminate in nothing but wickednefs and folly, can it be imagined, either that men of honour, wisdom, and integrity, would lend their countenance to fraud, and encourage folly, merely to make the world ftare; or that an affociation, refting on fo unftable a foundation, could fo long have fubfifted, without the cement of mutual trust and confidence, which result from virtue and confiften cy alone?

The Free Mafon, confcious of his integrity, and perfuaded of the good tendency of his principles to promote the purposes of virtue and human happinefs, beholds with contempt the impotent ef fects of envy and ignorance, however fanétified the garb, or dignified the title they may affume. In his lodge, which he confiders as the fchool of juftice, love, and benevolence, he is taught to oppofe truth to mifreprefentation, good humour and innocent mirth to fournefs and grimace, the certain figns of malice and impofture.To attend the importunate calls of his enemies, would be to interrupt his tranquillity; and therefore, wrapt in his own innocence, he defpifes their impotent attacks, and for the future will difdain to enter the lifts with champions fo weak and ignorant, fo deluded and deluding.

INE.

S the lives of eminent perfons are the most inftructive parts of hiftory, and are more read, perhaps, than any other compofitions; fo there are very few pieces that are more justly cenfured for partiality; for they are generally the works of perfons interested in the praife or cenfure of the heroes of their hiftory. Wifely therefore have the fovereign pontiffs decreed, that no perfon fhall receive the honour of being fainted before the expiration of a complete century after their decease; in order to take off, by length of time, all fenfe of favour, or refentment, in fuch parties as might have connections with the friends or enemies of the future faint, which might otherwise have influenced their evidence in the examination which always precedes the making a new faint.

These reflections naturally occur upon reading any of our modern lives and they occurred to me, on my reading, a few days fince, the life of Dean Swift, in one of the London Magazines for 1755*, extracted from Lord Örrery, the critic upon his Lordship, and the memoirs published by Dean Swift, Efq; in which, though very concife, the writer has inferted most of the errors of the preceding works: and as the Dean's charity, his tenderness, and even his hu manity, have been impeached, in confequence of his hitherto unaccountable behaviour to his Stella, and of his long refentment fhewn to his fifter; and as no perfon has yet thought proper to redeem that extraordinary genius from thefe imputations of cruelty and pride, by fhewing his connections with Stella in their true light; although I think that there are fome living, who have it in their power, from authentic materials, I flatter myself that I shall not be confured for endeavouring to do this justice to his memory myfelf

It is faid, that Swift made an ac

* [The following anecdotes apply equally to our account of the Dean [xiii 618.], taken from Lord Orrery, as to that in the London Magazine.] quaintance

quaintance with Mrs Johnfon (the lady were truly polite; and whoever had

celebrated by the name of Stella) at Sir William Temple's; that fhe was the daughter of Sir William's fteward; and that Sir William, in his laft will, left her 1000 1. as an acknowledgment of her father's faithful fervices: that fhe was married to the Dean in 1716; and his never owning her for his wife is imputed, by Lord Orrery, to his pride, which made him disdain an alliance with one defcended from fo mean a family; though others impute it to the common rumour, of her being Sir William's natural daughter, as Swift was faid to be his fon. She died (fays Lord Orrery) abfolutely deftroyed by the peculiarity of her fate. His Lordship likewife declares Swift's pride to have been fuch, as to have induced him to refufe all reconciliation with his fifter, for having married a tradesman, though in good circumftances, and with the approbation of her uncle and relations. [xiii. 621, 3, 4.].

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But I am certain, Lord Orrery will be pleased to be convinced that thefe accufations are falfe. Dr Swift would have laid down his life, could it have preferved his Stella; that Stella, who was no otherwise related to Sir William Temple's steward, than by her mother's marriage with him many years after the death of Sir William. And as for his cruelty to his fifter, it is well known, that he maintained Mrs Fenton many years, when a widow; and that the used to fhew his picture to her vifitants with expreffions of the higheft gratitude and affection. That I may how ever leave no room for doubt, permit me to oppofe to thefe imputations the true hiftory of Mifs Johnfon, better known to the world by the name of Stella. When Sir William Temple left Sheen to refide at Moore Park in Surry, he brought down with him, one fummer, a gentlewoman, in the character of a housekeeper, whofe name was Johnson. She was a perfon of a furprising genius: few women ever exceeded her in the extent of her reading; none in the charms of converfation. She had feen the world; her address and behaviour

the pleasure of converfing with her for a quarter of an hour, were convinced that he had known a more genteel walk in life than her present fituation confined her to. She was not fo happy in her perfon as her mind; for she was low of ftature, and rather fat and thick, than well shaped: yet the imperfection of her fhape was fully compensated by a fet of fine features, and an excellent complexion, animated by eyes that perfectly defcribed the brightness of her genius. She was, in few words, the fame among women, that Sir William Temple was among men. Is it furprifing, then, that fuch fimilar perfections fhould attract each other's notice?

This gentlewoman was the widow (as fhe always averred) of one Johnson, a merchant, who having been unfortunate in trade, afterwards became mafter of a trading floop, which ran between England and Holland, and there died. He left her, as the faid, three. children.-The eldeft, a daughter, was brought up in London, and there married one Filby, a baker, by whom she had eighteen or nineteen children; and living in a genteel manner, he was foon ruined, and was fent by their friends into the weft of England, as a falt-officer; whither the accompanied him, with fuch of her children as lived. The fecond of her children was a fon, Edward Johnson; who was put to school a Farnham; and, when of a proper age. was fent abroad, in order to qualify him for trade; but he died there young. The third and laft was her daughter Efther; who only, of all her children, was per. mitted to refide with her at Moore Park; where fhe was educated: and her ap pearance and drefs fo far exceeded the rank and fortune of her mother, and the rest of the children, that the world foon declared Mifs Johnfon to be Sir William's daughter. But had dref fhewn no diftinction between her and the reft of her mother's children, nature had already diftinguished her fufficient. ly. Her mother and brother were both fair; her fifter is faid to have been the fame. The boy was faid to be like his

father;

father; he therefore must be fair too, as the boy was fo to an uncommon degree. Yet Efther's, or, as fhe was usually called in the family, Mifs Hetty's eyes and hair were of a moft beautiful black; and all the rest of her features bore fo ftrong a refemblance to thofe of Sir William T—, that no one could be at a lofs to determine what relation fhe had to that gentleman. And could the ftriking likeness have been overlooked, Sir William's uncommon regard for her, and his attention to her education, muft have convinced every unprejudiced perfoo, that Mifs Hetty Johnson was the daughter of one who moved in a higher fphere than a Dutch trader. The respect that Sir William affected to fhew the child, induced his family to copy his example; and the neighbouring families behaving in the fame manner, the early loft all that fervility that muft have tinged her manners and behaviour, had he been brought up in dependence, and without any knowledge of her real condition. When or where Sir William thought proper to acquaint her with the hiftory of her birth, we profefs not to know; but that he did inform her of the fecret, we have reason to prefume from the following circumftances. As foon as he was woman enough to be intrufted with her own conduct, The left her mother and Moore Park, and went to Ireland to refide, by the order of Sir William, who was yet alive. She was conducted thither by Swift. But of this I am not fo pofitive, as I am, that her mother parted with her as one who was never to fee her again.

Here let me leave the daughter, and return to Mrs Johnfon, her mother; who continued to live at Moore Park till the death of Sir William Temple. Soon after which the refided with Lady Gifford *, fifter to Sir William Temple,

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and his great favourite, as her woman, or housekeeper, or perhaps in both capacities. Upon Lady Gifford's death, the retired to Farnham, and boarded with one Filby, a brother of her daughter's husband; and fome time after intermarried with Mr Ralph Mose, a perfon who had for a long feries of years been intrufted, as fteward, with the affairs of the family, and had fucceffively ferved Sir William Temple, Lady Gif ford, and Mr Temple. He was a widower, and his first wife had been cook to Sir William Temple. Upon the death of Mr Mofe, fhe went to board with Mrs Mayne of Farnham, a gentlewoman, who had a particular esteem for her; and at length retired to Mr Filby's again, and there died, not long after the year 1743. I faw her myself in the autumn of 1742; and although far advanced in years, fhe ftill preferved the remains of a very fine face.

The reader may wonder, as numbers have done before, that a woman of her refined fentiments and exquifite tafte, fhould marry fuch a man as Mofe. Many have been the conjectures upon the occafion. Perhaps her eldest daughter's diftrefs might make her defirous of re lieving her with the fpoils of the old fteward; or Mofe might be privy to certain fecrets that the was unwilling to have divulged; and therefore fhe might not dare to reject his proposals, for fear of drawing his refentment upon her. It was certainly a match of policy, and the moft refined fenfibility was in her facrificed to one who had not the least idea of delicacy. The lady to whom I am obliged for many of these anecdotes, affured me, that fhe had heard Mrs Mofe, in her freer hours, declare, that fhe was obliged, by indifpenfable ne ceffity, to marry the man whofe fervile manners her foul despised; but that religion taught her to fulfil every duty that could poffibly be expected from the most affectionate of wives. She had fre

ment of his large eftate. And that she might not fhew herself unworthy of his esteem, fhe made a vow, (though in her tender youth), never to marry any other man, but to live his widow: and this the faithfully performed.

quently

quently rejected his offers, but was compelled at length to acquiefce.

Were I to attempt to describe her at full length, I might be thought guilty of the higheft adulation, so extraordinary was the woman that was deftined to please Sir William Temple. Pomfret, in his little poem called The choice, is faid to have given an exact defcription of Moore Park; to have delineated Sir William in the account of his own fancy and tafte; and to have taken his pic ture of the female friend and companion from Mrs Johnfon: to that piece therefore do I recommend my reader.

While the mother thus fpent her hours under the most painful restraint at Farnham, the daughter made furprifing advances towards perfection under the tuition of Dr Swift. In her poem, dated Nov. 30. 1721, intitled, Stella to Dr Savift on his birth-day, we fee, that the attributes all that was excellent in her to his inftructions. It is not furprifing that her affection towards the Dean should be fo great, when we recollect, that it commenced from her earliest age, at a time when the thought that affection entirely innocent; that it was increafed by Sir William's often recommending her tender innocence to the protection of Swift, as fhe had no declared male relation that could be her defender. It was from Sir William's own leffons that fhe received the first rules for her future conduct, which were afterwards continued by the Dean. And that the world may know what was the refult of the joint labours of these two exalted geniuses, I fhall relate a little anecdote for which I have undoubted authority.

When Stella, or Mifs Johnson, refided at Dublin, her noble air, her genteel appearance, and the vifits of many perfons of diftinction, foon gave rife to a report, that he had a large fortune, and that he kept in her lodgings cash, jewels, and furniture, to a very great value. Such a report in Ireland could not fail of attracting the notice of indigent villany. Stella had no male ferwant in the house, and ..o refifiance could be expected from a few timorous wo

She

men.- On the night deftined to deprive the world of one of its moft diftinguish. ed ornaments, (for robbery and murder are terms fynonymous there), Stella had difmiffed her woman for the night; and not finding an inclination for fleep, she took a book, and read for fome time, being all undreffed, with only a wrapping gown over her. When fhe had read a while, the removed the candle to its place for the night, as fhe always kept a light burning; and kneeling by her bed-fide, fhe was more than once dif turbed by a noise at her window. performed her devotions, however, with great calmness and attention; a duty that he never omitted; and then arifing, and advancing towards the place from whence the found proceeded, she faw, through the fafh, a man who seemed to ftand upon a ladder, and to be waiting for her putting out the candle, to begin his enterprife. The fex in general, upon fuch an occafion, would have fainted, fcreamed out, or attempted to have run out of the chamber. Not fo the daughter of Sir William Temple. She knew the cruel temper of the vulgar Irish, and took not the leaft apparent notice of the thief; but feeming to look for fomething, fhe went directly to her clofet; from whence the returned immediately; and throwing up the fash with her left hand, and drawing out a piftol from under her loose wrapping gown with her right, fhe fired at the villain; who immediately dropped from the ladder. She then called up the family; and the watch coming foon after at the noise of the piftol, his confede rates were obliged to fly, and never af. terwards attempted to difturb her. In this cafe Providence feems to have affifted her in an extraordinary manner : for had fhe gone to bed at her ufual time, or had the not employed an hour or two in reading, the cenforious world would never have had it in their power to attribute her death to the pride of Dean Swift.

Lord Orrery thinks this accomplished lady fell a facrifice to the peculiarity of her fate. I cannot oppofe this opinion of his Lordship; a perfon of her deli

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