as a Gentleman-Usher to the Arts and Sciences.  Mr. Tickell and Mr. Pope have, it seems, this Idea of me.  The former has writ me an excellent Paper of Verses in Praise, forsooth, of my self; and the other enclosed for my perusal an admirable Poem, [2] which, I hope, will shortly see the Light.  In the mean time I cannot suppress any Thought of his, but insert his Sentiment about the dying Words of Adrian.  I won’t determine in the Case he mentions; but have thus much to say in favour of his Argument, that many of his own Works which I have seen, convince me that very pretty and very sublime Sentiments may be lodged in the same Bosom without diminution to its Greatness.

  Mr. SPECTATOR,

’I was the other day in Company with five or six Men of some Learning; where chancing to mention the famous Verses which the Emperor Adrian spoke on his Death-bed, they were all agreed that ’twas a Piece of Gayety unworthy that Prince in those Circumstances.  I could not but dissent from this Opinion:  Methinks it was by no means a gay, but a very serious Soliloquy to his Soul at the Point of his Departure:  in which Sense I naturally took the Verses at my first reading them when I was very young, and before I knew what Interpretation the World generally put upon them: 

’Animula vagula, blandula, Hospes Comesque corporis, Quae nunc abibis in loca?  Pallidula, rigida, nudula, Nec (ut soles) dabis Joca!

’Alas, my Soul! thou pleasing Companion of this Body, thou fleeting thing that art now deserting it! whither art thou flying? to what unknown Region?  Thou art all trembling, fearful, and pensive.  Now what is become of thy former Wit and Humour? thou shall jest and be gay no more.

I confess I cannot apprehend where lies the Trifling in all this; ’tis the most natural and obvious Reflection imaginable to a dying Man:  and if we consider the Emperor was a Heathen, that Doubt concerning the Future Fate of his Soul will seem so far from being the Effect of Want of Thought, that ’twas scarce reasonable he should think otherwise; not to mention that here is a plain Confession included of his Belief in its Immortality.  The diminutive Epithets of Vagula, Blandula, and the rest, appear not to me as Expressions of Levity, but rather of Endearment and Concern; such as we find in Catullus, and the Authors of Hendeca-syllabi after him, where they are used to express the utmost Love and Tenderness for their Mistresses—­If you think me right in my Notion of the last Words of Adrian, be pleased to insert this in the Spectator; if not, to suppress it.’ [3]

  I am, &c.

  To the supposed Author of the ‘Spectator’.

    ’In Courts licentious, and a shameless Stage,
    How long the War shall Wit with Virtue wage? 
    Enchanted by this prostituted Fair,
    Our Youth run headlong in the fatal Snare;
    In height of Rapture clasp unheeded Pains,
    And suck Pollution thro’ their tingling Veins.