An hundred bullocks of the largest breed,

With flowrets crown'd, before his altars bleed;
Whilft trophies of the vanquifh'd, brought from far,
Adorn the palace with the fpoils of war.
Mean while the monster of a human beast,
His family's reproach and ftain, increas'd.
His double kind the rumour swiftly spread,
And evidenc'd the mother's beastly deed.
When Minos, willing to conceal the shame
That fprung from the reports of tattling fame,
Refolves a dark inclosure to provide,

And, far from fight, the two-form'd creature hide.
Great Dædalus of Athens was the man

That made the draughts, and form'd the wondrous plan;

Where rooms within themselves incircled lie, -
With various windings to deceive the eye.

As foft Meander's wanton current plays,

Where through the Phrygian fields he loosely ftrays;
Backward and forward rolls the dimpled tide,

Seeming at once two diff'rent ways to glide;
Whilft circling ftreams their former banks furvey,
And waters past fucceeding waters fee:
Now floating to the fea with downward courfe,
Now pointing upward to its ancient fource :
Such was the work, fo intricate the place,
That scarce the workman all its turns could trace:
And Dædalus was puzzled how to find
The fecret ways of what himself defign❜d.

Thefe

These private walls the Minotaur include,
Who twice was glutted with Athenian blood.
Ovid, b. 8. v. 152.

Now, will you not agree with me, that he must have been worse than a fool to caufe fo magnificent an edifice as this to be built, only to enclose a monfter, for which the moft frightful prifon, the darkest and most loathfome dungeon had been too good? In fhort, if Minos, who, in other refpects, was really a very good king, had never been guilty of any other folly in his whole life but this, it must certainly have been more than fufficient to have entitled him to a place in the infernal regions.

FROM all thefe premises then we may conclude, that the most part of those things, which we are apt the moft to admire, are very often nothing else but mere fuperfluous works.

BUT this cannot be faid of Hell: for, befides that he by whom it was founded can make nothing useless, this is, perhaps, of all his works, the one which is of the greatest advantage to the world. In fhort, its being ordained to ferve as a dungeon for the impious and wicked, who there are to experience, for ever, the severity and rigour of his divine justice, is but the smaller part of its diftinction: it ferves alfo to infpire and keep up piety in the world. You must know, and cannot avoid obferving every day with your own eyes, the corruption of the world, at

this time, to be arrived at fo high a pitch, that although we have almost constantly before our faces prifons, gibbets, fcaffolds, pillories, and a thousand other inftruments of judicial punishment, yet all thefe do not prevent the daily, the hourly commiffion of the crimes which deferve these chastisements; and as there would be no longer any safety upon the earth, if these scare-crow employments, which justice has fet up to keep the wicked within bounds were abolished; fo, if you were to deprive men of the dread which they have, and ought to have, of Hell, they would become the fierceft of all favages; and every man would be obliged to follow the example of that monarch, who was called the Iron Prince, from never putting off his fuit of armour, which was of that metal: for, without fome defence of that kind, it would be quite impoffible to ftir out of doors, or even fhew our heads out of a window, for fear of being shot by some wretch: if therefore we perceive ftill fome small remains of probity or virtue, of piety or humanity, in the world, it is to Hell, and the falutary fear which it infpires, we are obliged for it. For, as Horace fays,

The dread of punishment keeps villains honeft.

NAY, I will fay ftill more, and advance a truth, which, however inconteftible, may perhaps appear surprising, nay, even scarcely be believed with fome,

and

and that is, that this fear makes a more lively impreffion on the hearts of men than either the charms of virtue, or the great rewards themfelves promised to those who practise it, commonly do. It has been faid, that the fear of correction keeps flavesto their duty; but we are, in this respect, an hundred times worse than flaves, mere affes, who cannot be drove onwards in the road of virtue, without being. fpurred up continually with the horrors of thofe infernal punishments, which we cannot escape, if we stray from it. Since Hell then is productive of so much good, can we, without injuftice, or even without ingratitude, refufe to it the praises which are its due? It not this praife a duty laid upon us, and which we deferve punishment for any failure in?

Ir is related of the emperor Charles V. who was no lefs valuable for his love of justice, than for the vaft number of his famous atchievements, that one. day going by a gallows, he faluted it, by pulling off his hat; and bowing respectfully, he spoke to it in‹ these words, "O noble justice, all hail!" And this he did from a full perfuafion, that the very fight would debar the wicked from the commiffion of their crimes. Now, if this fingle reafon was fufficient to induce fo great an emperor to treat that tool of ignominy with so much respect, what veneration fhould we not conceive for Hell, which, befides its being the great tribunal of God's juftice upon the wicked after death, is, during life, one of the most powerful

fpurs

fpurs for men, to excite them to the practice of virtue? Should we not, every time we hear its name mentioned, every time that we think on it, every time any image of it is prefented to our view, fhould we not, I fay, after the example of that great emperor, take off our hats refpectfully, and pay it every kind of honour poffible? Let us, with regard to this, imitate those well bred children, whom their precep tors teach to kifs the rod wherewith they have been chaftifed, as being the inftrument of their amendment. Let us in like manner, kifs the images of Hell, and tenderly embrace all thofe who tell us of it, fince it is in this world the principal and fource of ours.

THERE is no one (except the greatest libertine) but must admire the wife eftablishment which the wealthy and famous city of Amfterdam has made of an house of correction, which, in their language,. they call Beeter-Huys: a house almost wonderful, and which is daily working the moft extraordinary miracles. In short, however debauched, however wicked, however abandoned, are the perfons put into it, fcarcely have they spent a few months in it, but they are found to, throw up all their extravagancies,. and become almoft fo many Cato's. Nay, why fhould I fay thofe who are in it? Even the very smell of this improving house, spreads such an healthful odour through the public, that fometimes it has been found fufficient for the reclaiming of a youth just en

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