his Body bent to the Ground, so that he could not have supported himself had it not been for Comus the God of Revels, and Necessity the Mother of Fate, who sustained him on each side.  The Shape and Mantle of Comus was one of the things that most surprized me; as he advanced towards me, his Countenance seemed the most desirable I had ever seen:  On the fore Part of his Mantle was pictured Joy, Delight, and Satisfaction, with a thousand Emblems of Merriment, and Jests with Faces looking two Ways at once; but as he passed from me I was amazed at a Shape so little correspondent to his Face:  His Head was bald, and all the rest of his Limbs appeared old and deformed.  On the hinder Part of his Mantle was represented Murder with dishevelled Hair and a Dagger all bloody, Anger in a Robe of Scarlet, and Suspicion squinting with both Eyes; but above all the most conspicuous was the Battel of the Lapithae and the Centaurs.  I detested so hideous a Shape, and turned my Eyes upon Saturn, who was stealing away behind him with a Scythe in one Hand, and an Hour-glass in t’other unobserved.  Behind Necessity was Vesta the Goddess of Fire with a Lamp which was perpetually supply’d with Oyl; and whose Flame was eternal.  She cheered the rugged Brow of Necessity, and warmed her so far as almost to make her assume the Features and Likeness of Choice.  December, January, and February, passed on after the rest all in Furrs; there was little Distinction to be made amongst them, and they were only more or less displeasing as they discovered more or less Haste towards the grateful Return of Spring.

Z.

* * * * *

No. 426.  Wednesday, July 9, 1712.  Steele.

  ’—­Quid non mortalia Pectora cogis
  Auri sacra fames’

  Virg.

A very agreeable Friend of mine, the other Day, carrying me in his Coach into the Country to Dinner, fell into Discourse concerning the Care of Parents due to their Children, and the Piety of Children towards their Parents.  He was reflecting upon the Succession of particular Virtues and Qualities there might be preserved from one Generation to another, if these Regards were reciprocally held in Veneration:  But as he never fails to mix an Air of Mirth and good Humour with his good Sense and Reasoning, he entered into the following Relation.

I will not be confident in what Century, or under what Reign it happened, that this Want of mutual Confidence and right Understanding between Father and Son was fatal to the Family of the Valentines in Germany. Basilius Valentinus was a Person who had arrived at the utmost Perfection in the Hermetick Art, and initiated his Son Alexandrinus in the same Mysteries:  But as you know they are not to be attained but by the Painful, the Pious, the Chaste,