The Spectator Volume Iii Part 92

'Hec gelidi fontes, hic mollia prata, Lycori, Hic Nemus, hic toto tec.u.m consumerer aevo.'

Virg.

Hilpa was one of the 150 Daughters of _Zilpah_, of the Race of _Cohu_, by whom some of the Learned think is meant _Cain_. She was exceedingly beautiful, and when she was but a Girl of threescore and ten Years of Age, received the Addresses of several who made Love to her. Among these were two Brothers, _Harpath_ and _Shalum_; _Harpath_, being the First-born, was Master of that fruitful Region which lies at the Foot of Mount _Tirzah_, in the Southern Parts of _China_. _Shalum_ (which is to say the Planter in the _Chinese_ Language) possessed all the neighbouring Hills, and that great Range of Mountains which goes under the Name of _Tirzah_. _Harpath_ was of a haughty contemptuous Spirit; _Shalum_ was of a gentle Disposition, beloved both by G.o.d and Man.

It is said that, among the Antediluvian Women, the Daughters of _Cohu_ had their Minds wholly set upon Riches; for which Reason the beautiful _Hilpa_ preferr'd _Harpath_ to _Shalum_, because of his numerous Flocks and Herds, that covered all the low Country which runs along the Foot of Mount _Tirzah_, and is watered by several Fountains and Streams breaking out of the Sides of that Mountain.

_Harpath_ made so quick a Dispatch of his Courtship, that he married _Hilpa_ in the hundredth Year of her Age; and being of an insolent Temper, laughed to Scorn his Brother _Shalum_ for having pretended to the beautiful _Hilpa_, when he was Master of nothing but a long Chain of Rocks and Mountains. This so much provoked _Shalum_, that he is said to have cursed his Brother in the Bitterness of his Heart, and to have prayed that one of his Mountains might fall upon his Head if ever he came within the Shadow of it.

From this Time forward _Harpath_ would never venture out of the Vallies, but came to an untimely End in the 250th Year of his Age, being drowned in a River as he attempted to cross it This River is called to this Day, from his Name who perished in it, the River _Harpath_, and, what is very remarkable, issues out of one of those Mountains which _Shalum_ wished might fall upon his Brother, when he cursed him in the Bitterness of his Heart.

_Hilpa_ was in the 160th Year of her Age at the Death of her Husband, having brought him but 50 Children, before he was s.n.a.t.c.hed away, as has been already related. Many of the Antediluvians made Love to the young Widow, tho' no one was thought so likely to succeed in her Affections as her first Lover _Shalum_, who renewed his Court to her about ten Years after the Death of _Harpath_; for it was not thought decent in those Days that a Widow should be seen by a Man within ten Years after the Decease of her Husband.

_Shalum_ falling into a deep Melancholy, and resolving to take away that Objection which had been raised against him when he made his first Addresses to _Hilpa_, began immediately, after her Marriage with _Harpath_, to plant all that mountainous Region which fell to his Lot in the Division of this Country. He knew how to adapt every Plant to its proper Soil, and is thought to have inherited many traditional Secrets of that Art from the first Man. This Employment turn'd at length to his Profit as well as to his Amus.e.m.e.nt: His Mountains were in a few Years shaded with young Trees, that gradually shot up into Groves, Woods, and Forests, intermixed with Walks, and Launs, and Gardens; insomuch that the whole Region, from a naked and desolate Prospect, began now to look like a second Paradise. The Pleasantness of the Place, and the agreeable Disposition of _Shalum_, who was reckoned one of the mildest and wisest of all who lived before the Flood, drew into it Mult.i.tudes of People, who were perpetually employed in the sinking of Wells, the digging of Trenches, and the hollowing of Trees, for the better Distribution of Water through every Part of this s.p.a.cious Plantation.

The Habitations of _Shalum_ looked every Year more beautiful in the Eyes of _Hilpa_, who, after the s.p.a.ce of 70 Autumns, was wonderfully pleased with the distant Prospect of _Shalum_'s Hills, which were then covered with innumerable Tufts of Trees and gloomy Scenes that gave a Magnificence to the Place, and converted it into one of the finest Landskips the Eye of Man could behold.

The _Chinese_ record a Letter which _Shalum_ is said to have written to _Hilpa_, in the Eleventh Year of her Widowhood. I shall here translate it, without departing from that n.o.ble Simplicity of Sentiments, and Plainness of Manners which appears in the Original.

_Shalum_ was at this Time 180 Years old, and _Hilpa_ 170.

Shalum, _Master of Mount_ Tirzah, _to_ Hilpa, _Mistress of the Vallies_.

_In the 788th Year of the Creation._

'What have I not suffered, O thou Daughter of _Zilpah_, since thou gavest thy self away in Marriage to my Rival? I grew weary of the Light of the Sun, and have been ever since covering my self with Woods and Forests. These threescore and ten Years have I bewailed the Loss of thee on the Tops of Mount _Tirzah_, and soothed my Melancholy among a thousand gloomy Shades of my own raising. My Dwellings are at present as the Garden of G.o.d; every Part of them is filled with Fruits, and Flowers, and Fountains. The whole Mountain is perfumed for thy Reception. Come up into it, O my Beloved, and let us People this Spot of the new World with a beautiful Race of Mortals; let us multiply exceedingly among these delightful Shades, and fill every Quarter of them with Sons and Daughters. Remember, O thou Daughter of _Zilpah,_ that the Age of Man is but a thousand Years; that Beauty is the Admiration but of a few Centuries. It flourishes as a Mountain Oak, or as a Cedar on the Top of _Tirzah_, which in three or four hundred Years will fade away, and never be thought of by Posterity, unless a young Wood springs from its Roots. Think well on this, and remember thy Neighbour in the Mountains.

Having here inserted this Letter, which I look upon as the only Antediluvian _Billet-doux_ now extant, I shall in my next Paper give the Answer to it, and the Sequel of this Story.

No. 585. Wednesday, August 25, 1714. Addison.

'Ipsi laet.i.tia voces ad sidera jactant Intonsi montes: ipsae jam carmina rupes, Ipsae sonant arbusta--'

Virg.

_The Sequel of the Story of_ Shalum _and_ Hilpa.

The Letter inserted in my last had so good an Effect upon _Hilpa,_ that she answered it in less than a Twelvemonth, after the following Manner.

Hilpa, _Mistress of the Vallies, to_ Shalum, _Master of Mount_ Tirzah.

_In the 789th Year of the Creation._

'What have I to do with thee, O _Shalum?_ Thou praisest _Hilpa_'s Beauty, but art thou not secretly enamoured with the Verdure of her Meadows? Art thou not more affected with the Prospect of her green Vallies, than thou wouldest be with the Sight of her Person? The Lowings of my Herds, and the Bleatings of my Flocks, make a pleasant Eccho in thy Mountains, and sound sweetly in thy Ears. What tho' I am delighted with the Wavings of thy Forests, and those Breezes of Perfumes which flow from the Top of _Tirzah:_ Are these like the Riches of the Valley?

'I know thee, O _Shalum;_ thou art more wise and happy than any of the Sons of Men. Thy Dwellings are among the Cedars; thou searchest out the Diversity of Soils, thou understandest the Influences of the Stars, and markest the Change of Seasons. Can a Woman appear lovely in the Eyes of such a one? Disquiet me not, O _Shalum;_ let me alone, that I may enjoy those goodly Possessions which are fallen to my Lot.

Win me not by thy enticing Words. May thy Trees increase and multiply; mayest thou add Wood to Wood, and Shade to Shade; but tempt not _Hilpa_ to destroy thy Solitude, and make thy Retirement populous.

The _Chinese_ say, that a little time afterwards she accepted of a Treat in one of the neighbouring Hills to which _Shalum_ had invited her. This Treat lasted for two Years, and is said to have cost _Shalum_ five hundred Antelopes, two thousand Ostriches, and a thousand Tun of Milk; but what most of all recommended it, was that Variety of delicious Fruits and Pot-herbs, in which no Person then living could any way equal _Shalum_.

He treated her in the Bower which he had planted amidst the Wood of Nightingales. This Wood was made up of such Fruit-Trees and Plants as are most agreeable to the several Kinds of Singing Birds; so that it had drawn into it all the Musick of the Country, and was filled from one End of the Year to the other with the most agreeable Consort in Season.

He shewed her every Day some beautiful and surprising Scene in this new Region of Woodlands; and as by this Means he had all the Opportunities he could wish for of opening his Mind to her, he succeeded so well, that upon her Departure she made him a kind of Promise, and gave him her Word to return him a positive Answer in less than fifty Years.

She had not been long among her own People in the Vallies, when she received new Overtures, and at the same Time a most splendid Visit from _Mishpach_, who was a mighty Man of old, and had built a great City, which he called after his own Name. Every House was made for at least a thousand Years, nay there were some that were leased out for three Lives; so that the Quant.i.ty of Stone and Timber consumed in this Building is scarce to be imagined by those who live in the present Age of the World. This great Man entertained her with the Voice of musical Instruments which had been lately invented, and danced before her to the Sound of the Timbrel. He also presented her with several domestick Utensils wrought in Bra.s.s and Iron, which had been newly found out for the Conveniency of Life. In the mean time _Shalum_ grew very uneasie with himself, and was sorely displeased at _Hilpa_ for the Reception which she had given to _Mishpach_, insomuch that he never wrote to her or spoke of her during a whole Revolution of _Saturn_; but finding that this Intercourse went no further than a Visit, he again renewed his Addresses to her, who during his long Silence is said very often to have cast a wishing Eye upon Mount _Tirzah_.

Her Mind continued wavering about twenty Years longer between _Shalum_ and _Mishpach_; for tho' her Inclinations favoured the former, her Interest pleaded very powerfully for the other. While her Heart was in this unsettled Condition, the following Accident happened which determined her Choice. A high Tower of Wood that stood in the City of _Mishpach_ having caught Fire by a Flash of Lightning, in a few Days reduced the whole Town to Ashes. _Mishpach_ resolved to rebuild the Place whatever it should cost him; and having already destroyed all the Timber of the Country, he was forced to have Recourse to _Shalum_, whose Forests were now two hundred Years old. He purchased these Woods with so many Herds of Cattle and Flocks of Sheep, and with such a vast Extent of Fields and Pastures, that _Shalum_ was now grown more wealthy than _Mishpach_; and therefore appeared so charming in the Eyes of _Zilpah's_ Daughter, that she no longer refused him in Marriage. On the Day in which he brought her up into the Mountains he raised a most prodigious Pile of Cedar and of every sweet smelling Wood, which reached above 300 Cubits in Height; He also cast into the Pile Bundles of Myrrh and Sheaves of Spikenard, enriching it with every spicy Shrub, and making it fat with the Gums of his Plantations. This was the Burnt-Offering which _Shalum_ offered in the Day of his Espousals: The Smoke of it ascended up to Heaven, and filled the whole Country with Incense and Perfume.

No. 586. Friday, August 27, 1714. John Byrom [1]

'--Quae in vita usurpant homines, cogitant, curant, vident, Quaeque agunt vigilantes, agitantque, ea cuique in somno accidunt.'

Cic. de Div.

By the last Post I received the following Letter, which is built upon a Thought that is new, and very well carried on; for which Reasons I shall give it to the Publick without Alteration, Addition, or Amendment.